No napping – road deaths rising again!

By Jean Lowrie-Chin | from Jamaica Observer column | 15 July 2013

Earlier this year, Prince Michael of Kent presented the Award named for him from the International Federation for Road Safety to Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller in her capacity as Chairman of the National Road Safety Council (NRSC).  Jamaica was being honoured for our work in road safety resulting in a significant fall in the number of road fatalities, with last year’s 260 deaths being the lowest in three decades. 

Hon. Dr. Morais Guy (left), Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing; and Dr. Lucien Jones (2^nd left), Vice Chairman/ Convenor, National Road Safety Council (NRSC) and Paula Fletcher (background), Executive Director, NRSC commend 8 year old Laraine Williams of Mona Heights Primary School who was the winner for Category 1 (children aged 6-9), in the NRSC Road Safety Poster Competition. Celebrating with Larraine are her parents Mr. and Mrs. Williams. Laraine achieved a NRSC Champion Trophy, Replica Trophy; $30,000 and a gift basket. The event was the NRSC Poster Competition Awards Ceremony at Knutsford Court Hotel on Thursday, July 11.

Dr Lucien Jones, the dynamic Vice-Chair and convenor of the Council explained that their monthly meeting is virtually a Cabinet representation, at which the bright minds of several Government agencies pool their ideas.  The Jamaica Constabulary Force have to be singled out for the energy and professionalism which they have dedicated to our nation’s road safety. However, the first six months of this year have been troubling, recording a 20% increase in fatalities over the similar period last year – we are now at 145 deaths.  This was disclosed by Dr Jones at the NRSC poster competition awards last Thursday.

Speaking at the Awards function, Dr Morais Guy, minister without portfolio in transport, works & housing urged us to be more engaged in responsible road usage. He announced that a new Road Traffic Act (RTA) should be passed by the House before the end of this financial year. “The new RTA will allow us to adopt international best practices to Jamaica’s traffic regulation environment,” he said. “For example, there will be a ban on the use of cell phones while driving. Of significant importance to the Ministry of Transport is that the modernization and reorganization of the Island Traffic Authority will be streamlined and fast tracked when the new RTA is passed into law.”

He continued, “My Ministry is in agreement with the recommendation of the new RTA, for the court to order driver re-testing of repeat offenders…On other matters of traffic safety, the Transport Ministry has been working to strengthen the road safety functions in the following spheres:  road safety audit management; crash data system; crash investigation, analysis and reconstruction; defensive driving; and road safety engineering.”

Speeding is the lethal factor in road crashes. NRSC Executive Director Paula Fletcher recently cited studies by crash reconstruction experts which showed that falling from a three-story building is equivalent to crashing at 50 miles an hour, while falling from a 12-story building is equivalent to crashing at 100 kilometres per hour.

The cost of road crashes in both human suffering and financial loss is tremendous.  At our church, we are still reeling from the tragic deaths of Maritime Institute students 18-year-old Luke Dillion and 21-year-old O’Brien Tapper.   In February, young Tiffany Stewart, a student at NCU, died when the bus she was riding in, had a head-on crash.

Sterling Soares, Chairman of the National Health Fund, lead sponsors of the NRSC, reflected on the heartbreak of crashes, and the strain they place on Jamaica’s health system.  “Children are a gift from God,” said Mr Soares. “and indeed, we are all children of God.  As one family, let us treat each other better on our roads.”

Champions in the National Road Safety Council (NRSC) Road Safety Poster Competition pose with their prizes at the Awards Ceremony at Knutsford Court Hotel on Thursday, July 11. The Champions are (2^nd left) Laraine Williams of Mona Heights Primary School, Deon Simone Green (4^th left) of Brown’s Town Community College and Mishawn Chin-See (3^rd right) of Wolmer’s High School For Girls. Sharing in the celebratory occasion are (from left): Paula Fletcher (background), Executive Director, NRSC; Dr. Lucien Jones, Vice Chairman/ Convenor, National Road Safety Council (NRSC); Hon. Dr. Morais Guy (left), Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing; and Mr. Sterling Soares, Chairman, National Health Fund (NHF). The Competition ran from May 20 to June 28, and was sponsored by NHF.

Kudos to parents and teachers who encouraged their charges to enter the NRSC poster competition, and congratulations to the talented youngsters who emerged with the top posters: Laraine Williams of Mona Heights Primary School (6-9 y-o category); Mishawn Chin-See of Wolmer’s High School For Girls (10-14 y-o) and Deon Simone Green of Brown’s Town Community College (15-19 y-o). We also have to commend the teachers at Mona Primary and Mona Prep who coached their pupils to deliver beautiful prayers and a ‘road safety rap’.  That’s why we can’t use the recent JTA debacle to prejudge!

 

Fab vibes after GraceKennedy Education Run

Happy participants after the GK run - was lovely to see Her Excellency Mathu Joyini & husband - distinguished South African colleagues.
Miss Jamaica finalists were on spot and JDF team won company category.
Was great to see legendary Roy Thomas - seen here being interviewed - I have been reporting on him since the late seventies when he triumphed in the Guinness Road Races.
Kudos to 'Franno' Francis and Dianne Ellis whose company Running Events have got road races down to a science!
Happy that our PROComm/CCRP team woke up in time to run - we are so proud of our client GraceKennedy Group!
All this effort to educate Jamaica's precious children! Congrats to Simone Clarke-Cooper and her dedicated organising committee!!
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GraceKennedy Education Run/Walk

A picturesque walk this morning through downtown Kingston and along the waterfront! All proceeds to the GraceKennedy Foundation and Grace & Staff Foundation - educating thousands of Jamaican children for over 40 years!
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An honourable man - Harry Truman

Via Patsy Lee ...

Harry Truman was a different kind of President. He probably made as many, or more important decisions regarding our nation's history as any of the other 32 Presidents preceding him. However, a measure of his greatness may rest on what he did after he left the White House.

The only asset he had when he died was the house he lived in, which was in Independence, Missouri . His wife had inherited the house from her mother and father and other than their years in the White House, they lived their entire lives there.

When he retired from office in 1952 his income was a U.S. Army pension reported to have been $13,507.72 a year. Congress, noting that he was paying for his stamps and personally licking them, granted him an 'allowance' and, later, a retroactive pension of $25,000 per year.

After President Eisenhower was inaugurated, Harry and Bess drove home to Missouri by themselves. There was no Secret Service following them.

When offered corporate positions at large salaries, he declined, stating, "You don't want me. You want the office of the President, and that doesn't belong to me.. It belongs to the American people and it's not for sale."

Even later, on May 6, 1971, when Congress was preparing to award him the Medal of Honour on his 87th birthday, he refused to accept it, writing, "I don't consider that I have done anything which should be the reason for any award, Congressional or otherwise."

As president he paid for all of his own travel expenses and food.

Modern politicians have found a new level of success in cashing in on the Presidency, resulting in untold wealth. Today, too many in Congress also have found a way to become quite wealthy while enjoying the fruits of their offices.

Good old Harry Truman was correct when he observed, "My choices in life were either to be a piano player in a [brothel] or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference!"

We ought to have cloned him!

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Celebration of Tony Parry's Life

Rev Sonia Davidson beside mounted photograph of Tony Parry with his Sister Angela

Ralston McKenzie reads Psalm 46

Elizabeth Terry sings the Ave Maria

Norma Brown-Bell reminisces about the full life of Tony Parry, quoting friends and colleagues

Steve Golding sings 'What a Wonderful World'

Just attended a beautiful celebration of the life of Georgian Tony Parry, who was a popular broadcaster and later supervisor at RJR. The Service was held at the Temple of Light, and conducted by Rev. Sonia Davidson and Rev Ann Shand.
Tributes were given by niece Marlene Dilworth, Norma Brown-Bell and readings by Mr R Gethfield and Ralston McKenzie.
There were memorable renditions - 'Ave Maria' by Elizabeth Terry and 'Wonderful World' by Steve Golding.
May his soul rest in peace.
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Henley Morgan’s formidable fix for Jamaica

Dr Henley Morgan - man of vision ... and action!

by Jean Lowrie-Chin | Observer column for Monday 8 July 2013
Nelson Mandela once said, “A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.” He could have been speaking of Jamaica’s own Dr Henley Morgan who has spearheaded multiple companies in his sparkling model of social entrepreneurship.

If a qualified, financially comfortable relative of ours came home one day and announced that he was going to leave his cushy New Kingston office and set up shop in Trench Town, we would probably suggest that he see a psychiatrist. Yet that is what Henley Morgan did nearly ten years ago, transforming the lives of hundreds of Trench Town’s citizens with career training and employment creation.

Dr Morgan’s Agency for Inner-city Renewal (AIR) has been the oxygen that has revived a community where ‘young men dying and mothers crying’ was an everyday occurrence. Since setting up state-of-the-art offices and conference rooms which serve the community for their meetings as well, Dr Morgan has nearly 500 persons on his payroll who work with some of Jamaica’s leading manufacturers, in addition to scores involved in cultural and agricultural projects.

“My commitment is to use business strategies to solve a complex social problem,” he declared at a recent press conference. “There are three ways you can help a person: hand out, hand down, or hand up.”

Honey Bun hires 100 persons through Dr Morgan's placement company

The dedicated social entrepreneur has chosen the ‘hand-up’ method, one that Public Defender Earl Witter in his report on the Tivoli Gardens incursion, listed as a recommendation at the end of the report: “That the Government initiates such a study as is suggested by the Agency for Inner–City Renewal (AIR) and the Institute for Social Entrepreneurship & Equity (I-SEE) as precursor to designing an entrepreneurship model to drive economic and social development of Tivoli Gardens/West Kingston.”

Dr Morgan’s recruits and trainees come from not only Trench Town, but also Tivoli Gardens, Majesty Gardens, Payne Lands and other communities. “We are not politically affiliated nor linked to any religious denomination,” says Henley, “so there are no barriers for those who want to make something of their lives.  There are people who want to label our inner-city folks as “lazy” and “worthless” and they are so wrong! Our people want to earn their way and take care of their families. That is what social entrepreneurship is all about, not giving handouts but providing opportunities.”

Dr Morgan refers to the last Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report that recognizes Jamaicans as entrepreneurial leaders – Jamaican women are Number Five, while Jamaican men are Number 12!  “Yet we live in an economy where financial institutions give to people who are rich in pocket and poor in ideas, rather than the other way around,” he says ruefully.

Event planned for JaMIN

With the help of the USAID, AIR recently launched The Jamaica Music Institute (JaMIN) – a modern recording studio that is also a centre for international certification in Protools Engineering, equipping students with a globally marketable career. Executive Director is that visionary Yekengale and consultant is Stephen Stewart who is also CEO of Harry J’s Studio – USAID funded their studies in California, so that they are now able to train others.

Last year, again with USAID assistance, AIR started the Productivity Empowerment Project (PEP) with a greenhouse right there in the middle of Trench Town.  The yield has been so great that last week, representatives of the US State Department broke ground for an expanded 3,000-square-foot greenhouse farm.

“Remember there was a lot of bulldozing in these areas,” noted Henley. “So there are large tracts of land that can accommodate greenhouse farming.  Every evening, 60 persons arrive at AIR to be trained not only in greenhouse agronomy, but in marketing and community governance.”

Henley Morgan wants us to promote our diligent Jamaicans, so he is planning the Trench Town Trade and Investment Fair, working ‘primarily through corporate foundations to engage micro-entrepreneurs from across the island, with the intention of bringing them into the mainstream of the economy.’  This is an unapologetic advertisement for the event which will be held from November 14 to 16.

This event will finally give talented, humble Jamaicans a showcase for their resourcefulness and ingenuity.  Buying Jamaican gives us not only a warm patriotic feeling, but also value for our money.  We need to have more faith in ourselves and our handiwork, and invest in ourselves. 

 

We were heartened by the solid Jamaicans who stood with Henley to promote the Trench Town Fair at a recent press conference: Winsome Wilkins, Earl Witter, Oliver Jones, Junior Lincoln, James Samuels, Trevor Spence and Ambassador Byron Blake, who also spoke on behalf of AIR’s inspiring patron former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson.

Last week, a permanent exhibition on the life of Norman Manley was launched at his birthplace in Roxborough, Manchester, on the 120th Anniversary of his birth.  However, I believe the best tribute to this National Hero would be the recapturing of his Jamaica Welfare vision in the work of the Social Development Commission, using the Henley Morgan model.  Having attended the recent Diaspora Conference, Dr Morgan says the passion that overseas-based Jamaicans have for their country is amazing.  “They want to invest, but it will not happen until we solve the problem of crime,” he says. “If we fix crime, we will fix our economy.”

We hope Jampro will direct a part of its sizeable budget to the Trench Town Trade Fair.  We suggest they provide monetary assistance to the desolate, traumatized residents of garrison communities, so they may be allowed to hone their talents and promote them at the event. Then all the other investments they have been seeking via those expensive trips and verbose presentations, will follow. By their deeds, we shall know the politicians who will activate Dr Henley Morgan’s proven ways to prosperity for poor Jamaicans.  We hope to see them at the Trench Town Fair come November 14.

L'Acadco shines in 30th Anniversary Season

So glad we caught the final night of L'Acadco's 30th Anniversary Season - 'Waves of Pearls'.
Founder and Artistic Director Dr L'Antoinette Stines was a masterful conductor - her 'orchestra' of dancers and musicians shone brightly.
From Bob Marley to Shabba, from heartbreak music to social comment and Black History, the evening was woven seamlessly by storyteller Amina Blackwood-Meeks.
Photos show L'Antoinette saying thank you to all the contributors. What a fine spirit among collaborators - Dr Stines is an inspiring leader. This show can travel and stand strong anywhere! Congratulations - so proud of my Alpha schoolmate!
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Telegraph sport: Andy Murray wins Wimbledon 2013 men's final

True grit: Andy Murray battled expectation and inclement weather to prevail on Centre Court

Picture: REUTERS
By Telegraph Sport, and agencies5:50PM BST 07 Jul 2013
Andy Murray ended 77 years of hurt for British tennis as he clinched the Wimbledon men's singles title.

Read more at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/sport/tennis/wimbledon/10165335/Andy-Murray-wins-Wimbledon-2013-mens-final-with-straight-sets-victory-over-Novak-Djokovic.html
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Allison Peart - new Rotary President

Kudos to Allison Peart, who was installed as President of the Rotary Club of Kingston last Thursday.  It seems only a few years ago that Rotary had been averse to women members, so this is indeed a proud moment.  

Allison is Country Managing Partner & Tax Partner at Ernst & Young – what a blessing that this brilliant lady returned from Canada to her homeland 10 years ago!

She makes housecalls

A diligent caring doctor – my family can attest!

Getting it done Owen James’ way

Observer column for MON 1 July 2013
By Jean Lowrie-Chin

JAMES... maintaining true journalistic tenets while building a business to deliver services and make a profit can be challenging

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Getting-it-done-Owen-James--way_14601636#ixzz2XvDjyEez

To understand how seriously Owen James takes every task he is faced with, let us go back to the mid-eighties, when he was given permission by JBC General Manager Ulric Simmonds to build a news team.  Owen devised his own aptitude test and asked the famous Carl Stone to tweak it. 
 Owen's 'Magnificent Seven'
He then proceeded to interview 77 candidates and from them selected the following persons: Yvette Rowe (now lecturing at Carimac), Mark Thomas (Comms Manager at Jampro), Mary Bailey (teacher in Canada), Joylene Griffiths (Comms Manager at Scotiabank), Carole Beckford (international publicist) Michael Gonzales (Communications specialist and business owner), and Sandrea Falconer (State Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for Information). He also designed a Code of Practice for journalists at JBC in the early  nineties – something he had promised Director/General Manager Claude Robinson, a professional he describes as having "strong levels of emotional intelligence".
Owen James is a laser-eyed media man whose talent was spotted early after her joined the Star desk at the Gleaner Company in 1973.  He remembers Star editor Jack Anderson, counselling him to tone down his carefree life as he saw his potential – within two years, he was promoted to Star Editor.
On the Gleaner's recommendation, he received the prestigious Harry Brittain Fellowship, and studied in London, where he was mentored by the legendary Sunday Times editor Harold Evans.  It was from Evans that he learned streetwise techniques - he counselled him that if he were not in touch with folks like taxi drivers, bartenders and bellhops, he would be out of the loop with tabloid news.
Owen's studies and wide reading equipped him to relate to persons of every walk of life.  Long before the word 'networking' was fashionable, Owen had built himself a network which would make him one of Jamaica's most successful news directors and enable him to establish his own business, All Media Services Limited in 1998.
Owen took to technology like the proverbial duck to water, and this enabled him to work smart, though still very hard.  All Media turns out two broadcast business news programmes daily, two weekly television programmes including the full-length 'On A Personal Note', maintains a business news website (now under re-construction) and provides video and editing services.  Besides that, Owen is one of the best media coaches ("for decision-makers only," he says) in the business – do a few mock interviews with him and you can face the music!
The Kingston-born St Mary-raised Owen James is passionate about Jamaica and his fellow Jamaicans.  He will hunt down new business talents and expose their accomplishments, as he believes this will help to motivate others to step up.  He says his devout mother impressed upon him the importance of looking out for others at an early age, in spite of their limited means.
To understand the speed at which Owen James moves, he sent me the following thoughts within a few hours of my request.  They are so rich that I am sharing them verbatim:
Owen James: "Since the creation of my company All Media Services Limited 15 years ago, I have learnt several lessons which have ensured its longevity in an environment which really does little to encourage entrepreneurship and legitimate business activity."

 OWEN'S SIX LESSONS

Lesson 1: Plough back the earnings into the business and take a small salary. This strategy has yielded tangible results.
From a business which started in an unused bedroom with one computer; the business now has several high-end editing suites; high-end and low-end video cameras and an archival system superior to what exists in the newsrooms of the free-to-air television stations. For example our benchmark for locating and physically holding material taped twelve years ago is four minutes.
Lesson 2: Efficiency. When you hire and train personnel to multi-task, your cost-efficiency ratios improve. A perfect example is my personal financial programme 'On A Personal Note': look at the number of credits on that programme and measure that against typical half-hour local TV programmes.
Lesson 3: Take the emotion out of business. If a program can't pay its way, no matter how emotional I feel about it, I jettison it. View failure as a learning tool!
Lesson 4: Honesty and integrity: Maintaining true journalistic tenets while building a business to deliver services and make a profit can be challenging. We have restricted our paid services to those which do not impact on the journalistic integrity of the programmes we own.
At the height of the economic drought over the past two years when the advertising dollar began getting scarce a business colleague suggested that like the TV stations do in the mornings  we should charge for some interviews. We refused to go that route as it would impact on the credibility we have built up over the years.
Lesson 5: Accuracy: I have been a stickler for accuracy ever since my early journalistic years at the Gleaner Company Limited and Later the JBC. I have honed it to the point that I can boast that anything I disseminate, however controversial, can withstand any court action.
I do my own stress test on all controversial information I receive from all sources – no matter how credible.
Lesson 6: Learning from successful entrepreneurs and managers I have interviewed. I learnt from Douglas Orane – one of Jamaica's best ever managers and visionaries that bigger isn't necessarily better. We could barely fit our camera into his office at the turn of the century when we were doing our interview on the Unilever crisis and the strategies he utilized to successfully maneuvre GraceKennedy through that crisis. So when we began earning enough to have an office we decided on a small 700-square foot space in a good location.

I also asked Owen to give me some of his thoughts on the current state of Jamaica's economy.  "I am no economist," he insisted. "I am a purveyor of information. However, historically the Jamaican economy appears skewed towards owners of huge sums of capital as well as traders and not entrepreneurship."
He continued: "It also appears more skewed towards creating more poor people and 'hustlers' and an informal tax-evading culture than encouraging legitimate tax-paying businesses and entrepreneurship. One only has to look at various World Bank reports on the ease of doing business in Jamaica and the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor's (GEM's) numbers on the rate of business failures in Jamaica."
A dedicated father himself and a quiet philanthropist in his own right, Owen is disgusted at "the irresponsible siring of children by those who cannot afford to rear children."  He believes that this is a major cause of crime and poverty in the island, and a situation largely ignored by politicians and civil society leaders.
"Apparently programmes to provide disincentives for this trend don't result in votes so this source problem has been largely ignored by both major political parties," he opined. "So we have huge problems with an over-burdened health care system that we cannot afford; problems with housing and squatting and the resultant efforts to create a welfare-type state without the resources to do so!"
When we consider the effort and perseverance of this young journalist from rural Jamaica who has built a successful business and lifted so many others, we see myriad possibilities for our young people and the importance of mentorship. Let Owen James' example inspire us to show some faith in our youngsters and be the mentors they need.