Father Killed By His Stepdaughter's Boyfriend

San Carlos Carrots A man was killed in front of his family in Gales Point Village yesterday evening. Randy Bowen, a father of 3 girls, was killed by the boyfriend of one of his daughters.
Jomarie Lanza spoke to his mother today:

He was murdered inside his own home here in Gales Point Village. 39 year old Randy Bowen, a father to 3 girls, had reportedly gotten into an argument with his step daughter's boyfriend, 23 year old George Smith on Wednesday evening, resulting in his fatal stabbing. His mother says that her son's second eldest child alerted her to what had transpired at their house.

Barbara Bowen, Mother of Deceased
"I was a home it was my little granddaughter the second one called me and said granny please come, come help my Pa and bring somebody she said because they hurt my dad so I asked who hurt your dad?"
"They stabbed my dad and he's on the ground and so I hurry ran and went without my slippers. And when I went there I met my son on the ground but they looked like they had already tampered with him already because it had a dressing on the ground close to the body and you know if someone stabs you you'll see the blood but it looked like they had cleaned off all the blood and everything off him so I think they should hold her for questioning too."
"I don't like how they chanced my son out of his life. You know I wasn't there to see what happened but only the woman and daughter know and I think the police should question her too."

According to a police report, the men had gotten into a heated argument - and Smith ended up stabbing Bowen in the left side of his chest- killing him almost instantly - and in front of his family.

Shortly after, Smith turned himself into police - and they also recovered the alleged murder weapon - a pocket knife.

Bowen worked as a watchman at White Ridge Farm, and had decided to come home since yesterday was a holiday. His mother says that was the last time she saw him, and he didn't mention to her that he was having issues or problems with his step daughter's boyfriend.

Barbara Bowen, Mother of Deceased
"No he never told me that he had problems because the young man who stabbed him doesn't even live here. You know it's his step daughters boyfriend."
"Yesterday was a holiday so he came in and he was out here but when I left from here I don't even know what time he left and that's when I got the call cause when he comes he usually stays downstairs watching tv with my son."
"I'm very sad and heartbroken it just breaks my heart to see my grandchildren cry my granddaughters they cried it's so sad."
"My son, he was a lively person, he likes to dance, he likes to dance and he was loved by the whole village regardless of what."

Smith remains detained pending charges. Notably, this is the first murder in Gales Point village that we have reported on in at least 5 years.

City's Favorite Restaurant Owner Locked Up For Weapons And Weed

San Carlos Carrots And from a murder to magistrates court here in the city, a well known business owner was detained on Tuesday night along with her common law husband. Police were responding to reports of shots being fired off the top of a building on Caesar Ridge and that took them right to Thelma's restaurant.
And that's the start of the story on how the legendary "Ms Thelma" ended up in court today. Jomarie Lanza has more:

She is one of Belize city's best known restaurant owners and most loved cooks, but this morning "Ms Thelma" legally known as Telsefora Arana had to walk the gauntlet at the magistrates court, along with her common law husband 50 year old Curtis Rhaburn. The couple was arrested on Tuesday night at their home - which also doubles as her restaurant, where police found weed and a weapon. The couple was arrested and charged for kept firearm, kept ammunitions and drug trafficking. Appearing in court this morning, Rhaburn wasted no timeand pleaded guilty to all 3 charges. Their attorney OJ Elrington explained:

OJ Elrington, Attorney at Law
"So the magistrate after the two accused Ms Thelma and her common law Mr Rhaburn, Mr Rhaburn has conceded and accepted that the items found were his items and so he pleaded guilty and as a result Ms Thelma was freed of all charges against her however the court in considering its sentence made the decision that it could not fall within the provisions of the law when it comes to firearms and ammunition so the firearm and ammunition act says that once you are convicted of it that it carries a mandatory custodial sentence so when there is a provisional that if it is that you do not have a previous offense or conviction that you can get a non custodial sentence. Our position was and is that the previous offense did not fall underneath the firearm act and therefore it does not have a previous conviction, however the magistrate coming to his decision ruled that he believes that any conviction and therefore he did not have the discretion to give him a noncustodial sentence but the magistrate did in making his considerations and mitigating factors reduce what he thought to be the mandatory five year sentence to reduce it all the way down to a number of factors which you would have heard Anita."

Rhaburn was sentenced to 12 months for the firearm offenses and fined $1200 for the drug charge. His attorney has filed an appeal:

OJ Elrington, Attorney at Law
"So the Appeal is we are appealing the sentence, essentially while it is that we respect the decision of the magistrate my client has given me instructions that he wants to appeal the sentence and we are appealing the sentence on the ground that the magistrate did have the discretion and the authority to be able to give a non custodial sentence because essentially in his ruling he indicated that he did not and his interpretation of the law is that he did not have the discretion to grant a non custodial sentence. We disagree with that position and we believe that it is and he does have the discretion so long as it is the offense for which he was previously convicted is not an offense under the firearm act and essentially so that is what we are doing we are already in the process of making an application for leave to appeal and stay of the execution and bail pending the appeal of this decision."

Elrington said that even a year in his view is a harsh punishment for a first time offender but the magistrate noted that Rhaburn knew well that he did not have a gun license and he noted the starting point for the sentence was 5 year, but deducted a total of 48 months leaving him with 12 months to serve.

Why Caye Caulker Chairlady Went After Wendy's Fence

San Carlos Carrots The 66 foot beach reserve that should be preserved in every coastal community is very much an issue in what might be called "dynamic ferment". It is enshrined in law - but on the ground, it's another story. In island communities where beach frontage fetches super prime real estate value - the issue is very contentious - and without authority, or on dubious authority many landowners fence in the reserve. The thing is, every square foot of beach frontage is worth many thousands of dollars - and every foot that can be claimed - exponentially increases a property's value.
Well, the Caye Caulker village council says "no mas". They had a showdown yesterday with one well known beachfront property owner, Wendy Auxilou. It was caught on camera and we spoke to the chairlady about it today via zoom:

"Move it from deh main and rip it down caz this da street"

Seleny Villanueva - Pott, Caye Caulker Chairlady
"Well, it was a trigger yesterday because, like I explained, that barrier was not there and it was placed back yesterday. So it was removed earlier in the year and it was left open. And now it's it was put back And the minute it was put back, the villagers, the community members started to call different council members and said, are we going to allow this is this what we want?"
"It was open and free. And I believe that even community members are fed up of not having access to what is theirs. That's an easy access way from the from to on from the water taxies. Everybody uses it as a, you know, passageway to access the water taxies quicker."
"So we we believe that we should have access the community should have access to it. And that's simply what the bulldozer was doing, removing removing the barricades. This is a beach access. This is street. So we want to open it up to have the golf carts pass, so people can so they removed one one of the middle piece out of it. Miss Auxilou claimed that she was out in exile."
"And then she came back on the island. And when she came back, she came back in full force. She decided that she was going to block again the area. There are many areas on the island of Caye Caulker where you feel like there is no longer any beach. And the community has been behind us to do something about these areas because they want their beach, they want their when they go for a night stroll, they want to be able to go down the beach and feel that, you know, they will not be threatened by anyone."
"And where there's a street, you can't own a street. If we sit down and watch, we will be taken over and, you know, the island has been pressuring on numerous occasions to to claim what is rightfully for for the people of Caye Caulker. If we don't do anything to protect it, we will we will lose it. And we are slowly losing it."
"And I believe the incident of of putting up the barrier just triggered triggered the council yesterday and we really, really have been tired of it because there are days when we feel that we're making one step forward, two step backwards, and we really want the government to assist us in addressing these issues."

We got a comment from Wendy Auxillou via text this evening and she said, quote, "election silly season is in full swingâ€¦ When I left the country 1.5 years ago there were bollards at the perimeter of my mother's property boundary designed to prevent golf carts from using the beach as a raceway, but which in no way prevented the free flow of pedestrians or bicyclists. They were there for many years until they were removed by the Chairlady while I was away. Yesterday I was putting them back when the Chairlady and her entourage came with cameras in handâ€¦.It's victimization and nothing but a witch-hunt for election soundbites." End quote.
But, the Chairaldy says they are fighting a bigger struggle to maintain control of their community's precious and finite land resource:

Seleny Villanueva - Pott, Caye Caulker Chairlady
"We've had a relationship with natural resources where they sent out a team and they did several evaluations going from where we had the fire all the way up to the split and they conducted several investigations where they pointed out several encroachment. And we have dialoged with some of these people. We have sent letters to them. We've asked them, please cooperate with us."
"This is where your peg mark is. Please bring down your fence and allow us to have access to what is ours and to no avail, to no avail. There is so much going on right now in terms of beach reclamation. We understand that there's a big project about to start with maybe 120 feet of reclamation on the west side."
"These things we're not even aware of. So this for us is just the beginning of what we want to, you know, make the nation aware of. There are several things that when we ask natural resources about they have no knowledge of it, that's what we're told. We don't know how reliable that is but we see things happening on ground."
"We just want to ensure that we have a say or we are aware of what is being done."

We'll keep following the story

He Accused Senior Citizen Of Pulling Gun On Him, 71 Year Old Says He's Being Extorted

San Carlos Carrots There are at least two sides to every story - and on Tuesday night you heard Brian Requena's side of an alleged gun threat from a 71 year old. He says police were not acting on his complaint and dragging their feet on arresting the senior citizen for a gun offence which leads to automatic remand.
Well, the other side to that story is that the alleged perpetrator, today made a complaint alleging that Requena is trying to extort him. Reports say that he claims Requena tried to get fifteen thousand dollars out of him to drop the charge. Requena did tell our interviewer that, unsolicited, he was offered 1,500 dollars by someone acting on behalf of Chiu which he rejected.
That figure may be the only thing the two sides agree on.
We'll keep following to see where this one goes.

Bottleneck Of Guat Students At The Border, Fonseca Says It's A Question Of Efficiency

San Carlos Carrots On Monday, you saw the lines of Guatemalan students who were held up on the Belize side of the border due to immigration issues. These students attend school in Belize - a practice that's been happening for decades. But have the number of students been multiplying rapidly - too fast for even the border officials to keep up? The Minister of Education says there's always been a steady stream of Guatemalan students and that the ministry is trying to work out the issues at the border.

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education
"I don't think there is more. I think there have been a couple of bottlenecks recently. But there's always been a steady flow of Guatemalan students who come into our education system mainly to learn English. And we have always, as a matter of policy for the government of Belize, regardless of which administration, we've always welcome them and we've treated them with dignity and respect. So, you know, anytime these issues arise, yes, we try to address them, we engage with the immigration authorities to try to work out whatever bottlenecks exist. So, yes, we are engaged on that issue and whatever issues have arisen, we are trying to address them."
"Belize has a lot has a longstanding policy of engaging with our neighbors. We have been a welcoming society, as you all know, we welcome citizens from all over Central America to our country. So, you know, in terms of Guatemalans, you know, primary schools, as you know, there are very, very minimal fees. They pay those fees when they have to go to school. For the most part, primary education in Belize is free. So, you know, that policy remains in place and we welcome, these are young students, young people who want to learn English and participate in the education system in Belize. And we don't want to deny any young person an opportunity to an education."

There are currently 913 primary and high school students from Guatemala who cross the border daily to attend primary and high school in Belize.
When they were regularized in 2017 with the introduction of student cards, it was just under 400 students. Before Christmas, it was under 900.

MOE Still Working Out Teachers' Late Salaries

San Carlos Carrots And while the ministry is working on that, what about the Belizean teachers who have had problems with their salary? Before the new year, the BNTU threatened to demonstrate this month, but the ministry promised to get all their salaries in before Christmas. They were able to give the funds to the managements on time, but many of those managements still haven't disbursed all payments to their teachers.
Fonseca says they're still working on it, and on the system on a whole, but they've scheduled an all day stakeholder meeting as well.

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education
"Yeah, I think for the most part, I think there may be a few individual cases outstanding. But I think for the most part, based on our reports that we have received back from the managing authorities. We feel that, you know, over 95% of these issues have been resolved. And we have engaged with the, the BNTU you, of course, since the start of the year. And we are, you know, working on any specific individual cases that they bring to our attention. As soon as we find out about them, we try to resolve them. So, I feel good about where we are, and we are planning another meeting. I think we're scheduling it for the 23rd of this month, January, where we will, it's called a stakeholder meeting. And all day meeting where we will have the ministry of education, we have BNTU, the managing authorities, we will also bring in the Treasury Department, the accountant general, Social Security, where we will have an all this sit down to discuss any outstanding issues and address any concerns moving forward."

Reporter:
"They've pointed to an archaic system that has largely contributed to these delays. How do you, as a government minister, seek to address this particular issue?"

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education
"Oh, we are addressing it. We are addressing it. We have been working on it for, you know, more than a year. The difficulty is digitization of all of these records and data and material. So, you know, with any system that you're putting together, input is critically important. So getting the correct data, you know, has been a very, very challenging process. But we are well underway with that process. So we are absolutely satisfied and confident that, you know, going into the, the new school year this year, in September of this year, that we will have all of these issues resolved so that moving forward, not just we're doing this, of course, for our teachers now but what we want to put in place is a system that will benefit everybody moving forward. So this will not be a problem for any future Ministry of Education, for any future teachers. So we're very confident about that."

Ambassador Kwan Succeeded By New Chargé David Hodge

San Carlos Carrots The US Embassy has announced a new ChargÃ© d'Affaires for Belize to succeed Ambassador Michelle Kwan. David Hodge is described as a career diplomat, who previously served as a Senior Advisor in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. Prior to that he was the Consul General in SÃ£o Paulo, Brazil, the Deputy Chief of Mission in Guatemala, and the ChargÃ© d'Affaires in Panama. He also served in Washington as the Director for Public Affairs and Public Diplomacy, and in a range of other positions in Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, Thailand, Portugal, and Mozambique. Hodge speaks four languages, including Portuguese, Spanish, and Thai, and is accompanied in Belize by his husband, Romano.
Incoming President Donald Trump may nominate a new Ambassador to Belize - but in his last term he did not make that nomination until the last few months in office - and the Ambassador designate was never confirmed - nor did he arrive.

Belizean Author Illustrates The Maya Underworld In New Fantasy Novel

San Carlos Carrots Belizean book lovers have a new novel to add to their "TBR" pile. The Land of the Night Sun is a fantasy novel targeting preteens that is set in Belize. It's written by Ian Gibson, who's also an illustrator with Cubola Publishers, and the book includes illustrations that bring the adventures of the main character, Itzel, to life.
Courtney Menzies was at the launch today and has this story.

The Land of the Night Sun tells the fictional tale of a young Maya girl Itzel who travels to the underworld of Xibalba to find her recently deceased grandmother. It's a fantasy novel infused with Mayan mythology, written and illustrated by Belizean author Ian Gibson. At the book's official launch today. Gibson explained he wanted to fill the vacant space for Belizean fantasy novels.

Ian Gibson, Writer/Illustrator
"Ever since I was a kid. I've loved to read fantasy books and I had always wanted to write one of my own. I used to write short stories as a kid, and then I thought that Belize could really have like a fantasy series of its own, like its own Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings or Percy Jackson."

"So that's how it came to be. And I work as an illustrator, so I've been illustrating other stories and really wanted the opportunity to illustrate my own. It's a fantasy book about a girl, a maya girl who she goes to visit her grandmother who lives in this remote village in the Highlands, and she and her grandmother passes away, but her grandmother left her this very special, mysterious necklace that grants Itzel access to the underworld."

"So she falls into the underworld, trying to search for her grandmother. And along the way, she meets all these Maya gods and folklore characters like Tata Duende and Lady X'tabay"

And he wrote this novel with a specific age group in mind.

Ian Gibson, Writer/Illustrator
"I feel like there are a lot of books out there for teenagers and a lot of books out there for like, really young kids. But there aren't that many for like pre-teens, like 10 to 13 year olds. So that was that was the age group I have in mind. But but really, there's no upper age limit. You can enjoy it as a teenager or an adult."

"I try to make it as entertaining as possible. it's, I guess, ultimately a serious story because it's about a girl who's coping with the death of her grandmother. But despite that, there's a tons of jokes and it's like it's a really funny story, and I hope that the illustrations give it a lot of extra character and really grabs your attention."

And it did. The students at St Mary's who got the preview of the novel can't wait to read it.

Kaylie Castillo, Standard 6 Student, St. Mary's Primary School
"I actually love the book, especially how they described it because I personally like writing and I also like reading too, especially comics. And this book actually inspired me to like save up and go buy one of these books. I actually like the adventures that the girl actually went on. So it's very inspiring because me, myself, I actually like going on adventures myself."

"This book, it actually like it describes how Belize... It describes the animals, the gods, the people in Belize, especially, how the girl. She's actually like adventurous and it's good that she goes on adventures like these. Reading books actually strengthens your mentality. So I. I actually personally think that everybody should go and buy this book."

And this is just book one of the trilogy. Gibson has planned.

Ian Gibson, Writer/Illustrator
"Tree of Life. It's basically, so this trilogy, I would say is as if it was Lord of the Rings The Tree of Life would be The Hobbit. So it's like its own separate shorter story set in the same world, but in the distant past and has completely different characters except for the same gods because they're still around."

Reporter:
"So it's kind of like a prequel."

Ian Gibson, Writer/Illustrator
"Yeah, it's like a prequel kind of. I feel this project I started like in late 2020 and finished, I guess, end of 2021, early 2022, so about a year and a half or so."

Reporter:
"But you also mentioned that one day you decided, I'm going to write this book, but you had the idea for the book long before?"

Ian Gibson, Writer/Illustrator
"Yeah, for ten years. It was just like, I mean, there's like a really rough idea. I had it still as a character, I'd say didn't even have a name at that time. But I just like this idea of of this girl that goes to the underworld and meets a coyote, and she's looking for her grandmother. And so that and I that was basically all I had to work with for, for several years until I finally got serious about writing it."

Reporter:
"Any plans to put this into some sort of, I don't know motion picture movie."

Ian Gibson, Writer/Illustrator
"No, no plans of my own. But if I'm approached by some animation studio, yeah, I'd definitely be up for that."

For today, only the book was sold at $25, but for students the cost would only be $20.

The book is available at several locations, including The Book Center, Brodies, and all four libraries in Belize City.

PM Briceno Reflects On Former PM Price's Leadership

San Carlos Carrots George Price's birthday was observed as a holiday yesterday for the fourth time. As usual, a ceremony was held, but this time it was at his home - and soon to be historical site - on Pickstock Street.
But, in the first phase it's a botanical garden and that was the site of yesterday;s observance. During his speech, Prime Minister Briceno reflected on his time as Price's fellow Cabinet member, and the type of leader he was.

John Briceno, Prime Minister
"He was seated next to me in the cabinet in the cabinet room, and many times I would look at him and say well, how did you all do all of this? And in his humility, he would always say, you know, back then things are so much easier than today, today it's so much more complex. But in his humility, he would never accept that, you know, the great challenges that he met and the many in many instances where you have the superpowers of the world trying to tell him you cannot keep this country that you call Belize without giving something to Guatemala."
"And so I always use that as a guiding example as to what did he do when I'm finding these challenges. His approach to leadership was simple, but yet very powerful. He framed even the most complex matters in ways that were easy to understand. I was offering clear guidance and direction. His thoughts were minimalist but always profound, his clarity of vision was unmatched."

"He had an economy of words that was way ahead of his time. Even before social media platforms. And one of the things I loved about the surprise that nobody was below him, that he would give attention to the most minor details and would listen to anybody on the street such as prepared to to speak with him."

Turning The Price Family Home Into A Historical Site

San Carlos Carrots And at the ceremony, the government announced a major project in Price's honor. While last year, they introduced a book of his speeches, this year, they published a book of selected letters from Price's collection of documents. On top of that, the project includes the botanical garden we told you about and more. Minister Fonseca spoke more about it yesterday.

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Culture
"I mean, this is a very, very exciting project, very exciting initiative. It's something we've, you know, we've been working on really for more than two years. Of course, you know, we had to engage with the Price family. Their support and their approval was, of course, critical to the entire project. So we're very happy we spent several months talking to them about, you know, what we wanted to do. And as you all know, about six months ago, we signed an MOU with the Price family, giving NICH really custody of this property, to care for it and maintain it. So this is really the next step in that project, that effort. Of course, Mr Price You know, everybody who knows about his history and his legacy knows that, you know, he was very concerned. He was way ahead of his time in terms of the environment, environmental consciousness. And he's, you know, he's legendary for picking up garbage and that sort of thing. But he loved to plant trees. And of course, other members of his family, including Ms Meg Craig was very, very involved with the environment and the work of the Audubon Society and other organizations. And so we thought it was absolutely fitting for us to conceive this project of establishing a botanical garden right here in Mr. Price's family home, in his backyard. And so we've teamed up with FCD, friends for conservation and development. We're working with, of course, through a NICH, with many other partners as well, to make this a reality."
"This project will see the restoration of the home, the Price home. So we want to preserve, of course, its, its full nature and the infrastructure, but obviously there's a lot of work to be done in terms of the foundation and, and fixing it up. So that will be a big, big project that we undertake, starting later this year as well. And then the booklet, Good Belizeans. We wanted to of course, share, as I said in my remarks, we want to always continue to promote and preserve the legacy of George Price, especially for our young people."
"We have an obligation and duty at NICH to preserve and promote the legacy of this great man, the father of our nation. And so one of the ways we're doing that is to produce booklets, and make them available for free through our websites and portals. So this booklet, Good Belizeans will be available for free through access 501 on the Ministry of Education website. And it's a collection of his letters."

How Much Does A Mile Of Road Cost? Well, It Depends.

Untitled Document How much does it cost to pave a mile of road? 20 years ago when the price worked out to about a million a mile - we were all shocked. But, the experts will tell you that with drainage and weather resilient surfaces it can be a whole lot more than that.
Most recently, the 44 million dollar "Expansion and Rehabilitation of The Phillip Goldson Highway Mile 8 to 24.5" works out to about 2.6 million dollars per mile.
By comparison, the Coastal Highway - with its major bridges and 10 foot culverts was about 4.4million dollars per mile.
In our interview with the Chief Engineer at MIDH he told us that for this latest project there were other costs and expenses to take into account aside from the construction of the road itself. He explained what those were.

The rehabilitation of the PGH is phase 2 or a continuation of the last project which re-surfaced from mile 24 to the Corozal border.

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