BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Friday 24th July 2020)- Residents of St.Kitts-Nevis are being encouraged to monitor the developing system of the new Tropical Storm Gonzalo closely and have their hurricane plans completed, as the peak months of the hurricane season draw near.

Such advice has been issued by the St. Christopher Air & Sea Ports Authority (SCASPA) Met Office in monitoring the movement of a newly-formed tropical storm called Gonzalo expected to pass the federation this weekend.

On the morning of Thursday 23rd July 2020, SCASPA Met Office in collaboration with the Antigua Met Services provided an update on such watchful activity of the storm positioned just about halfway between the continent of Africa and the Caribbean Island chain.

“On its current trajectory, it is expected to pass well South of St. Kitts & Nevis. However, due to the fact weather can be dynamic in nature, any northern deviation from the current trajectory can bring it closer to St. Kitts & Nevis and the Northern Leeward Islands,” it was stated.

It was further explained that at that moment “we are uncertain of the exact magnitude of any potential impacts from the system as it is expected to continue developing while moving towards the Island chain.”

The two-day weather forecast that day valid until 8:00 am the next day outlined-cloudy with a 60 percent or moderate chance of showers and a 20 percent or slight chance of thunderstorms and for Friday 24th July- cloudy with showers and 50 percent or moderate chance of thunderstorms.

On Thursday 23rd July, a hurricane watch was issued for the island of Barbados as Tropical Storm Gonzalo strengthened.

BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Friday 24th July 2020)- Well-known Cultural Preservationist Winston ‘Zack’ Nisbett says COVID-19 safety guidelines will be of top priority for the upcoming 14th annual Traditional Instrument Musical Workshop in light of the what has been described as the new normal regarding the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The summer workshop, which caters for children ages 5 and up, is slated to take place at Zack’s Historical- Cultural Library and Museum located at Buckley’s Estate from Monday 27th July to Saturday 22nd August 2020, 9AM to 1PM daily Mondays to Fridays while the Saturday is expected to see the closing ceremony.

In an interview with Nisbett, who is the coordinator of the workshop, he highlighted he that he has already met with Chairman of the COVID-19 National Task Force Abdias Samuel when quizzed about plans and preparations this time around.

“The workshop this year is with a difference because we have the COVID-19 pandemic which is disastrous and to get something done with some sort of professionalism is a daunting task. However, I’ve indicated it to the COVID-19 National Task Force [Chairman] in the person of Abdias Samuel who indicated that he’ll be bringing the Chief Medical Office Dr. Hazel Laws to pay a visit to see where I’ll be hosting the function.”

According to him: “I’ve already gotten some hand sanitizers from the St.Kitts-Nevis Carib Brewery Ltd. I’ve also recognized the importance of the children who will be at the workshop wearing masks and so protocols will be observed there.”

Asked about what measures to be put in place at the hosting venue and for such a setting involving children, he shared: “In an environment like mine at Buckley’s Estate, we will be putting things in place like I said but as children, they would want to play with each other. Nothing is wrong with that but it’s all about how that will be done in terms of them being monitored on a proper basis to make that whatever they do, they do it in a decent way and to ensure that their hands are always clean.”

“ There is a pipe close to the workshop area with soap so that they can keep washing their hands frequently so that even when they’re playing the banjo and the making of the fife in particular, they will have to be close but with the masks it will be of some assistance and even if they don’t have the masks, we’ll make sure at all time they are certain standards so it wouldn’t be the usual hugging and that sort of thing but rather we’ll make that the physical distancing significant,” Nisbett added.

When questioned about if there will be a restriction in the number of participants attending the workshop, he commented: “It appears to me that we’ll have a number of young participants like ages 4, 5 and 6. It appears as though we’re going to have about 40 to 50 students but I think that will be too much so we’ll try to monitor it down to about 20 to 25; that will be good enough because we’ll have two tutors. With the safety concerns surrounding COVID-19, we will have good spacing so we can space them out and so on.”

Nisbett gave assurance that all instruments will be sanitized and that participants will each be provided with an instrument for their personal use.

“We have more than enough instruments and God bless Mr. Willy Dore because through him, we have an excessive amount of instruments and that will be explained in a broader perspective later on.”

The chosen theme for this year’s workshop is ‘Discipline Continues to be the Key.’

Nisbett pointed out that the main objective of the annual event is to create an inspiring and motivating environment for our disturbed youths from underprivileged backgrounds, mainly from Buckley’s area and its environs.

He said the workshop this year is expected to be a two-part one.

As understood, the banjo, guitar and cuatro will be taught Wilmoth Solis better known as the Mighty Jules out of Dieppe Bay while the fife segment- sponsored by Mr. William ‘Willy’ Ferdinand Dore a renowned educator-will be taught by a former student Givings Isaac who is the son of Joaf Payne a longstanding musician of Grand Ash 2 fame.

Notably, Delisle Walwyn and Company Ltd. sponsored the workshop for the past 11 consecutive years.

Individuals interested in partaking in the workshop are asked to contact Nisbett at 664-9016 to register.

BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Friday 24th July 2020)- President of the West Line Bus Association Rambo Webster has corrected rumors going about social media indicating that bus operators staged a strike on the morning of Thursday 23rd July 2020.

A video making its rounds on Facebook and WhatsApp that day shows buses stationed in the parking lot section of the Caribbean Cinemas in the Buckley’s community.

This media house contacted President of the West Line Bus Association Nicholson ‘Rambo’ Webster who said “the issue has nothing to do with the passengers nor the government.”

According to him: “We had an emergency meeting because we have some issues on the terminal with a male police officer and we needed to get the matter addressed and so we decided to take a course of action after consulting police.”

Asked if the issue has to do with one officer, he pointed out that the matter “escalated with one particular officer but we’ve been having challenges with more than one officer.”

As understood, the issue has to do with double parking accusations by police which has led to bus drivers being arrested with a most recent contention episode taking place on Wednesday 22nd July.

Commenting on whether any progress has been made in trying to tackle the matter, Webster said that Assistant Commissioner of Police Adolph Adams went into a meeting to speak to the matter and has given assurance that the matter will be addressed likewise Minister of Tourism, Transport and Ports Lindsay Grant who has also given assurance.

“We have seen some results”, Webster expressed whilst noting that police officers were “sent to make some adjustments.”

An apology is extended to passengers for any inconvenience caused by the disruption of service following the 8:00 AM called meeting.

BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Friday 24th July 2020)- Officials at the National Emergency Management Agency have acknowledged reports by residents that an earthquake rocked the federation of St.Kitts and Nevis before sunrise on Thursday 23rd July 2020.

As documented by the UWI Seismic Research Centre: “An earthquake was recorded at 5:36 am local time at this location: Lat 17.42N and Long 62.45W. The event was magnitude 2.7 and occurred at a depth of 1.3 km. It was reported felt in St. Kitts and Nevis. Full details will be posted to the website shortly.”

Some residents in St.Kitts-Nevis quickly took to social media- particularly Facebook- indicating that they felt the shake and asking others if they did also with some people saying they were up at the time while the earthquake rocked others out of their sleep.

BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Friday 24th July 2020)- Senior citizens could soon benefit from an even quicker turnaround time in paying bills at the St.Kitts Electricity Company (SKELEC) Ltd. office as more people not in that age category make good on the company’s tech savvy and moderns means of doing business.

Such is the view of SKELEC Public Relations Officer Gawain Fraites who shared such an insight following a question posed by this reporter on the topic at a customer service launch activity of its Interactive Voice Response (IVR) at its office on Central Street on Friday 10th July 2020 following its official media launch the day before.

“For the senior citizens, it actually works out well. During COVID-19 what we realized is that our increase in sign-ups for paying their bills online was massive. The number of persons paying their bills online boosted by a high percentage and so it helps and then now the senior citizens they don’t have to come in and wait in a long line even though the senior citizens had their own lines but they don’t have to wait in the longer lines because a lot of the senior citizens they are not going to switch; they’re going to trek into SKELEC wait to pay their bills but now that we have more persons are paying online and they’ll be switching and paying their bills over the phone, a lot of the senior citizens can easily get into and out of SKELEC office a lot easier.”

“We are giving out a little token to members of the public who come in and pay their bills. We haven’t done anything in a while because you know because of COVID we didn’t have a Customer Appreciation Month which is usually in May. So we decided that let’s just try to have something small whereby when persons come in we give them a little token of appreciation to say thank you. We tell them how the system works and how easy it is. So instead of most of them coming here to our office to pay their bills or make enquiries, they could do all that over the phone. They could simply call 465-2000 and do their enquiries, pay their bill or update their accounts over the phone so all that is what we’re telling persons. We’re also giving out some flyers as well because the flyers actually show the persons how to use this system in the breakdown …,” he told reporters.

That day, customers were given a complimentary glass of apple cider and IVR tokens including pop sockets and pens.

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Friday 17th July 2020)-Credible information reaching this media house indicates that a nurse who resides in the community of Conaree was a first responder in the aftermath of a recent two-vehicle crash that took place along the island main road in the vicinity of that village.

That accident took place on Saturday 11th July 2020 sometime in the early afternoon.

As seen in eyewitness photos and videos, the collision involved a pickup truck and a car. That care was extensively damaged while the other vehicle got damaged as well.

Images circulated on social media show the driver of the car apparently in the car which was a rental with concerns expressed for his well-being.

As gathered, the nurse made her way towards the vehicle with the injured driver in being able to respond to that emergency situation while the ambulance made its way to the accident scene.

This media house contacted the Police Public Relations Department but was unable to get officials details on the crash before press time.


More information to be provided once details become available.