Police question Councilor Juan Alamillia over land deals and illegal checks

A high ranking police source has confirmed to The San Pedro Sun that they are investigating two separate reports against an island resident. Last week, Police received two separate reports involving Juan Alamillia, a councilor of the San Pedro Town Council. Our police source confirmed that a Canadian investor, Ralph Riener visited the station and informed police that sometime last year, he paid Alamilla $5,000 in exchange for a dredging permit. Riener further told police that he also paid Alamilla a down payment of $35,000 for a parcel of beach front property with $35,000 remaining; total cost is of the property is $70,000.
Up to the time of the report, Alamilla had failed to produce the dredging license and the land documents. According to the source, Alamilla was asked to visit the station for question. Police said that Alamilla had until noon on Wednesday, February 10th to settle the matter or criminal charges would proceed.
The Sun was also informed that Alamilla was also allegedly question for several Belize Bank checks which had been signed and written by him (Alamilla) to several Hardware stores on the island for products received. Those checks were from a checking account that had been closed as far back as 2008. Police confirmed that indeed they were acting on such a report and that Alamilla had been made aware of the reports.
In an interview with The San Pedro Sun, Alamilla confirmed that he was questioned by police but denied having been arrested. “I visited the station, where my attention was called about the issues,” stated Alamilla. He continued to explain that last week, he made settlement arrangement regarding the checks and this past Wednesday afternoon, he signed a promissory note to settle the issue with Riener.

Students learn about community workers

As part of their class activities, Standard 1 students dressed up as Community Workers and later headed out to visit establishment within San Pedro Town. Their goal? To learn about community workers and know what role they play.
As such, the students visited The San Pedro Sun office and learned about how a newspaper is produced.

Through dialogue, The San Pedro Sun discovered that the students love learning about critters in the Visitor Guide and would love to have it back.

PM Barrow to address the nation

Prime Minister of Belize Honorable Dean Barrow is addressing all Belizeans in the annual State of the Nation Address. The event is taking place at the Radisson Forth George Hotel in Belize City and commenced at 10:00 a.m. The event will also lead to the Prime Minister’s last quarterly press conference for the fiscal year 2009-2010. In anticipation of his address, Prime Minister Barrow is speaking on issues ranging from the current crime situation in the country to recent Country Poverty Assessment Report to inflation, the economy and the cost of living. Tune to Love FM on 98.1 for the live broadcast of the event. In addition, The San Pedro Sun will be present at the event and will have a full review on the PM’s State of the Nation Report.

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Scouts Bake Cakes!

Dear Editor:

This Saturday our mission was to bake a cake but not 'pack' cake. It had to be home-made. We also had to beat it without a mixer. It had to be with hands and spoons.

Thanks to Cub Scout leader Sylvia Flores and Cub Scout assistant Maribel Ramirez, we were able to make our yummy cakes.

Each cub made their own cakes. Those cubs were Yasir, Emanuel, Manuel, Michael, Carter, Armando, Jennessa and Abrianna.

We once more extend the invitation to join us.

Thank you!

The Cub Scouts

Preliminary hearing outcome for Swift and Garnet adjourned

The preliminary hearing for the murder charges against Brionne Swift and Victor Garnet continued on Monday at the San Pedro Magistrate Court. On January 26th, the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) referred the murder charges to a preliminary hearing to see if there was sufficient evidence to send the case to the Supreme Court. Both Swift and Garnet are accused for the January 2009 double murder of Eduardo “Brahlee” Gutierrez and James Swan that occurred in the Rocky Point Area on north Ambergris Caye.
That same day, Magistrate Emerson Banner heard arguments from Swift’s defendant attorney Richard “Dickie” Bradley. In Bradley’s argument, he pointed out that there was no concrete evidence to point Swift to the murder scene. In fact, Bradley stated that the statements submitted for evidence were contravening each other.
At the end of Bradley’s summation of his arguments, Magistrate Banner explained that he would reserve his ruling on the preliminary hearing until Monday, February 8th, 2010. When both accused went into court on Monday, Magistrate Banner adjourned the case for Tuesday, February 16th on the request of Attorney Bradley who could not be in court for the ruling.
Both Swift and Garnet were remanded to the Hattieville Prison until February 16th, pending the results of the preliminary hearing.
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