This year’s Carnival Kings and Queens Competition was a family affair with two clans with long-standing history in the individual mas tournaments coping the top prizes. 

At the end of the hotly-contested competition at the Queen’s Park Savannah on Tuesday night, Ted Eustace — the son of three-time Carnival King Tedder Eustace — won the kings segment with his portrayal Psychedelic Nightmares. Eustace’s older brother, Curtis, himself a nine-time winner, placed sixth. 

The costume, one of the largest in the competition, consisted of six ghastly skeletons with glowing eyes, dressed in colourful suits, which were mechanically controlled by Eustace. Eustace, dressed in a shiny blue bodysuit and afro wig, managed to effortlessly heave the “retro inspired” costume acrosss the stage while dancing to a soca remix of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. 

He left the audience which filled the Grand Stand in stitches as he mimicked the deceased King of Pop’s signature crotch-groping dance move. “It is a family tradition, especially with the Eustaces’. I could not have done it without my brother, Marcus, who designed this costume,” Eustace said in a brief interview after the results were announced. 

In the Queen’s competition, veteran masquerader Gloria Dallsingh’s “Artemisia” D Warrior Queen, beat 15 competitors including her daughter-in-law ,Laura Rampersad, who came in sixth place, to claim this year’s first prize. Dallsingh’s son, Marlon, who assisted her in designing and constructing her costume, placed ninth in the Kings competition. 

Not content in being left out of the family tradition, Dallsingh’s five-year-old grandson, Antonio Rampersad, also participated in the Junior Kings Competition and placing fourth. Dallsingh’s portrayal of a Persian warrior queen dazzled the audience and the judges with its liberal use of purple and gold reflective foil and the intricately designed shield and swords which embellished it. 

“I am very proud that I was able to portray the costume well after all the hard work we put into designing it. It was a real family effort by a Carnival family,” Dallsingh said. Dallsingh and her son are the reining South Carnival King and Queen and will seek to defend their titles for a third straight year at last night’s competition in San Fernando. 

“I think we will make it a hat-trick. We will be winning all over,” Dallsingh said. While the highlight of the night was undoubtedly the senior competition, the 21 masqueraders vying for the junior crowns clearly outshone the much more seasoned contenders with their electrifying dance moves and colourful portrayals, all of which did not employ the use of frames and wheels used by many of the seniors. 

Junior Carnival Queen Natalia D’Abreau’s I Dream of El Dorado, consisting of thousands of yellow and white feathers and sparkling rhinestone, fit its title as it appeared to be a treasure found in the fabled lost city of gold. 

Like D’Abreau, the primary colour of Junior Carnival King Jardel Aguillera’s costume, Man of Glory, was gold. It left many in the audience rubbing their eyes as it glittered under the lighting on the stage.  

Tuesday’s competition saw last year’s monarchs, Roland St George and Stephanie Kanhai, being convincingly dethroned and left pondering their plans for next year. They placed seventh and ninth respectively, from a shortlist of 16 competitors in each category. 

The audience at the Savannah was noticeably larger than last week’s preliminary stage, a pleasant change from the spare crowds which have been the norm since the competition was moved from its traditional home, that is, the Dimanche Gras show on Carnival Sunday night. 

The show was free from strong winds and rain that usually have a devastating effect of costumes, with all masqueraders completeing their performances without incident.     

Those present were treated to a presentation of traditional Carnival characters who performed alongside guest artists David Rudder, Alison Hinds, Blaxx and Ricardo Drue. 

Results

Junior Carnival Queens:

1. Natalia D’Abreau — I Dream of El Dorado.
2. Ariya Lyder-Baptiste — Yaa Asantewaa-Queen Mother of the Ashanti.
3. Naomi Noel — Lady Soucouyant Emerges from the Midnight Sky.
4. Cyan Lue Sue — Magic Over Marianne.
5. Vaughnecia Mieres — Maui Queen of Polynesia.
5. Junelle Bonaparte — The Sun Dancer.
7. Jeanessa Neptune — A Black Souvenir Doll.
8. Priya Nagasar — The Enchanted Cobra Queen. 
9. Ashley Rambharose — Maharani-Queen. 
10. Brianna De Peaza — Ajuoga the Witch Doctor.

Junior Carnival Kings:

1. Jardel Aguillera — Man of Glory.
2. Jesus Martin Carlow — Draco D Last Dragon.
2. Merrick Barnes — Tempo of the Serengeti.
4. Antonio Rampersad — Spirit of D Carnival.
5. Yannick Holdip — Mr Paradise.
6. Keron Fang — The Congo Man.
7. Armando Shampoo — Call of the Wild.
8. Keegan Farrell — Sbtinka Antinanco Magical Eagle of the Sun. 
8. Tishayne James — The Natural Mystic Tribute to Uncle Dex.
10. Denzil Forde — Nyahbinghi High Priest.
11. Malachi Renn — Mangchux Spiritual Leader and Mediator of Conflict.

Senior Carnival Queens:

1. Gloria Dallsingh — “Artemisia” D Warrior Queen.
2. Peola Marchan — Yacahuna, The Goddess of Tuloc, She Who Dwells in the Great Volcano.
3. Kay Mason — Sounds of Everlasting Love.
4. Roxanne Omalo — Medusa — The Last Gaze.
5. Savitri Holassie — Mystical Goddess of Light and Life. 
6. Laura Rampersad — Goddess of Victory.
7. Alendra Bailey —  D Bailey Dynasty.
8. Eyika Luby — Pink Orchid Mantis.
9. Stephanie Kanhai  —  The Virgin Queen. 
10. Lisa Peters — Birds of Paradise.
11. Pamela Gordon — Colours of Life — Love, Joy, Happiness.
12. Kerina Badal — Hialeah- The Mystical Fantasy of a Sun Dancer.
13. Leslie Ann Boisselle — A Musical Ensemble in D Pan Yard.
14. Charmaine Emile — The Aztec Menace. 
15. Ruth Adams-Mendez — Lady Africa. 
16. Donna Phillip-Forde — Gloriana, The Virgin O Queen. 

Senior Carnival Kings 

1. Ted Eustace — Psychedelic Nightmares. 
2. Ravi Lakhan — Night of Horror.
3. Jha-Whan Thomas — The Dying Swam — Ras Nijinsky in Drag as Pavlova.
4. Fareid Carvalho — Guardian of the Sun. 
5. Wade Madray — Quecha the Spirit of Spring. 
6. Curtis Eustace — Demonato Prince of D Forbidden. 
7. Roland St George — Hocus Pocus.
8. Glenn Dave Lakhan — Night of the Owling Creature. 
9. Marlon Rampersad — Drums of War. 
10. Keston Benthum — Elfurdrakos.
11. Ronald Baize — Bois of Moruga. 
12. Lionel Jagessar Jr — Howakan, The Eternal Guardian of the Hunt.
13. Earl Beckles — Spirit of the Rainforest Guardian. 
14. Kelly Sheldon Peters — Who the Cap Fit.
15. Nicholas Britto — Cane on Fire, Camboulay.
16. Christopher Saldenha — Gladstone Guardian. 

Jha — Whan Thomas crosses the stage in a costume created by veteran masman Peter Minshall, titled The Dying Swan, Ras Nijinsky In Drag As Pavlova during the finals of the Kings of Carnival Competition at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain, on Tuesday. 

Second place winner Peola Marchan with her portrayal of Yacahuna, the Goddess of Tuloc, She who Dwells in the Great Volcano during Tuesday's finals of the Queen of Carnival 2016. PHOTOS: SHIRLEY BAHADUR

Police are advising hunters to be more vigilant and remain in groups whenever they go hunting following the accidental shooting death of a man on Wednesday.

According to police reports a man, identified only as Sheldon by his two friends, was out hunting in the Mayaro forest around 6 pm when the trio separated. The reports stated that one of the men saw an animal and fired. When he went to retrieve his kill he found his hunting partner bleeding on the ground.

The duo left the forest and made their way to the Mayaro Police Station where they reported the matter. Police officers with the help of a National Operation Center helicopter were sent in an attempt to retrieve Sheldon’s body. 

In an unrelated incident, a 56-year-old truck driver was killed yesterday after a landslide caused a piece of the hill at the Claxton Bay Quarry to give way, burying the man instantly.

Ricardo Kato, of Sobo Village in South Trinidad, died at the scene. Police reports said the incident took place around 3 pm. 

Workers said Kato exited a truck and was standing at the bottom of a hill when the land caved in. Attempts were made to rescue him but by the time his body was retrieved he was already dead.

Investigations continue.

Five teenagers have been charged with larceny and breaking and entering of a grocery and bar in Biche.

The young men, whose ages range from 16 to 19, were charged and remanded into custody after appearing before a Rio Claro magistrate on Wednesday.

In total six were charged, and the sixth person is 21 years old.

Five of the men pleaded guilty. All six were remanded.

On Friday, when the men re-appear before the court for tracing and sentencing, the 18-year-old who pleaded not guilty, is expected to be placed on bail.

They are suspected of robbing a local grocery and bar of more than $20,000 worth of alcohol, cigarettes, cash and other items on Saturday night.

On Sunday the officers of the Biche Police Station received information which led to a search warrant being executed on a house along Gadar Avenue, Biche.

Some of the items were recovered at the house.

The officers then proceeded to the back of the house for about half a mile before they discovered the rest of items in some bushes spread out on a tarpaulin.

Five of the suspects were held at the scene. The CCTV DVR which was stolen from the bar was found floating in a river near where the men were arrested.

One of the men had a previous conviction for a break-in the Princes Town area.

All six suspects are from the Biche area.

The team of officers responsible for the breakthrough in the case included Cpl Joseph, PCs Manna, Borneo, Lara, Mendoza, Tom and WPC Ferguson.

Cpl Singh is leading the investigation.

A gas explosion by a Kleen Rite Dry Cleaners has injured three people and caused traffic to back up from the east and west side of the Audrey Jeffers Highway. No fatalities have been reported.

Fire fighters are in the process of responding to a fire at Mucurapo Road, St James. Around 1.15 pm today, police reports revealed that a gas truck's hose caught on fire in an explosion by Kleen Rite Dry Cleaners on Mucorapo Road. 

An LNG (liquefied natural gas) company was refueling gas tanks behind the dry cleaners when the pump caught afire. One of the two men who were refueling the tanks ran inside the business and alerted everyone in the building. However, the owners wife, Sabrina Ali, and two others Nirmala Jagdeo and Shanelle Noel were injured and taken to the hospital. 

Kleen Rite is adjacent to the NP gas station on  Mucurapo Road. On the other side of Keen Rite is Sherwin Williams Paint Ltd. Behind those establishments is an underground pipeline. The fire has spread to the Sherwin Williams. 

Fire tenders from the Wrightson Road and the Woodbrook Fire Station attempted to extinguish the blaze. However, around 2.15pm the fire reignited. 

Police officers were also notified. There is currently a pile up of traffic backing up along the Western Main Road.

Traffic heading east along the Audry Jeffers Highway have been diverted onto the west-bound lane of the highway all the way to Hasely Crawford Stadium. Some vehicles are being cautioned to turn around by Mucurapo Road and the Audry Jeffers Highway. Vehicles heading west from the highway are being diverted onto Ariapita Avenue. 

National Security Ministry helicopters were hovering over the fire scene. 

Investigations are ongoing.

Curtis Pierre, the 15 year old Tranquility student of Upper Valley Road, Cascade who was reported missing last Monday, has been found.

According to a release from the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service the teenager was safely returned home.

The TTPS said based on information they received the young man was found in the St Magaret’s area late on Wednesday afternoon.

Curtis was reported missing on Monday by his mother Kindra Commissiong.
Investigations are continuing.

The TTPS is thanking members of the public for their assistance in trying to locate and ensuring the teenager’s safe return.

Mindful of the cancellation of a number of fetes and a decreased number of attendants to certain events for this Carnival season, soca super couple Ian Alvarez (Bunji Garlin) and Fayann Lyons-Alvarez have decided to hold their annual children’s show in Arima for free.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Lyons-Alvarez said the event, held on Carnival Saturday in Arima, which was usually something paid for by parents would be their gift to children this Carnival.

She said: “It’s always been paid for by the parents of the children who buy the tickets.

“We have been to a number of the fetes ourselves and we saw a number cancelled and we realised that money is an issue for a lot of families so rather than cancelling the children show we decided to do it for free.”

Lyons-Alvarez said there was a decrease in crowds at a lot of events this season.

“We see it because we are on the stage and we spoke to some of the promoters and there has been a decrease in attendance in terms of people.

“We know a lot of people are feeling it with respect to the events,” she added.

Lyons-Alvarez said since the word “recession” had popped up in terms of the country’s economic situation people have been conservative with their spending.

She said the show was very dear to her family and so their team had to make certain adjustments.

“It isn’t a money-making venture for us. We usually hire artistes but this year we are not contractually hiring anyone but we do have artistes friends who said they would come through.”

“We have GBM, TC, Teddyson John, TC, Drue and others,” she added.

She said the show was also a mechanism to give young, upcoming artistes a space to perform.

“We pick kids from the audience to come up and entertain us. We have dancers and there was a girl like young Bunji. She freestyled and she was in primary school. A lot of parents ask for their kids to perform.”

She recalled memories of going to watch mas on the street as there was no space for children to see artistes when she was younger.

She said: “Bunji grew up in the church but I remember going out on the streets to watch mas. We didn’t have an actual event to go to see all the artistes. It’s a way for the kids to meet the artistes who they love for Carnival.

“It’s also a nice way for artistes to interact with the kids who will grow up and pay to watch them in fetes.”

The Board of Inland Revenue (BIR) will deal with culprits charging more than the 12.5 Value Added Tax rate where necessary. Fast food establishments should also be using the 12.5 per cent VAT rate, Communications Minister Maxie Cuffie has said.

He spoke about the issue at yesterday’s post-Cabinet media conference at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair.

On the issue concerning implementation of the new 12.5 per cent VAT rate, which became effective last Monday, Cuffie said the Trade Minister had established a hotline (800-4277) for consumers to call in concerns.

Cuffie said the Trade Minister said she had gotten calls and the hotline was being used. “She also said people have been calling in from supermarkets,” he added.

The Trade Minister also announced that a team of ten inspectors from the Consumer Affairs Division would be on patrol to monitor merchants and other suppliers to ensure proper compliance with the new VAT rate.

Asked what sanctions or measures could be taken in instances where people were charging more than the 12.5 per cent rate on items which do not have this, Cuffie said there were measures the BIR could take to treat with that situation.” The situation could be dealt with through the VAT office,” he said.

Asked about restaurant and fast food outlets in particular which may be overcharging VAT, he said there was VAT on certain types of rice, flour and other items on the Finance Ministry had provided “but not on fast foods, so all fast food outlets should have changed their rates of VAT and dropped it from 15 per cent to 12.5 per cent.”

On uncertainty by booksellers who have also complained about specifics on the VAT issue, Finance Minister Colm Imbert has said he would publish a list of the items which carried VAT and those without VAT in a pullout in the newspaper this weekend to clarify the situation.

PM for Caricom meeting in Belize

Prime Minister Keith Rowley will make a presentation on crime when he attends his first Caricom meeting—the  27th Intersessional conference—over February 16 to 17 in Belize.

Communication Minister Maxie Cuffie, announcing this yesterday, said Rowley would leave February 15. 

He will be accompanied to the meeting by a 12-member delegation, including the Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs and Minister in the Ministry of National Security Dennis Moses. Other members of the delegation are largely officials of the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Cuffie was unable to say if Finance Minister Colm Imbert would again act as Prime Minister as happened when Rowley was overseas recently. (GA)

A routine trip to a Claxton Bay quarry turned fatal for a La Brea truck driver after he was buried alive in a mudslide on Wednesday.

By the time Ricardo Caton, 52, was dug out from under the dirt and taken to the Couva District Hospital he was already dead.

The incident took place around 1.30 pm.

According to a police report, Caton, employed with Solid Rock Transport Ltd, had gone to collect sand at the quarry in Coco Road.

He was standing at the back of the truck in a mining area when mud slipped off a 30-feet ridge and fell on top of him.

Relatives were told he was unconscious when he was pulled out from under the dirt. His sister, Monica, who saw him at the hospital said dirt was in his nose and mouth.

At her home at Sobo Village yesterday, Eutrice Caton, who suffers with arthritis, said her son was her “right hand.” 

The woman who will celebrate her 81st birthday next Friday said he used to do everything for her.

“He live up the road but he always here. My husband died. Every morning before he went to work he would come here and make sure I good.”

The father of four adult children, Eutrice said her son was a hard worker. She said he also ran a food outlet, selling chicken and chips, and had planned to expand the business this year. 

An autopsy yesterday revealed death was due to compression.

Sgt Mohammed of the Couva CID is investigating.

Tonight, 20 artistes will present their best possible performances to audiences at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in a tighter, more compact and better produced International Soca Monarch Competition.

The artistes, who hail from T&T, Barbados, St Lucia and Grenada, are the creme de la creme of hundreds of entrants to the popular annual competition on Fantastic Friday seeking to dethrone reigning Groovy Monarch Olatunji Yearwood.

Over the years, the competition has earned a reputation of beginning the Carnival revelry, which continues with parties until J’Ouvert morning and ends with Tuesday mas through the nation’s streets.

From the inception of the International Soca Monarch in 1993 to the last event in 2015, there has always been a clear favourite, with very few surprises in between.

Super Blue (Austin Lyons) reigned from inception until  2000, then came the toss-up between Bunji Garlin (Ian Alvarez) and Iwer George from 2002 to 2008.

In 2009, Fay Ann Lyons-Alvarez’s win was predictable and Machel Montano’s most recent five-year domination wasn’t a surprise.

Today this changes as in addition to a promise of tighter performances, a more compact show and an improved broadcast product, the competition is also the most unpredictable.

Chairman of the Caribbean Prestige Foundation for the Performing Arts (CPF), Peter Scoon, in an interview yesterday said over the 

last few years CPF had been trying to improve the overall quality of the show.

Once led by founder of the competition, William Munro, the show has introduced some of the most notable soca artistes to international audiences.

“Over the last couple years we have been trying to improve the quality of the broadcast and the look and feel of the show.

“We have been successful with the stage and having the stage look spectacular and with the quality of the broadcast, particularly last year when we had high quality cameras,” Scoon added.

He said problems with the flow of performances were addressed for tonight’s show.

In addition to a decreased number of competitors and the combination of the soca sub genres of Groovy and Power into one category, technical issues were also being addressed.

“Over the years we had different bands coming to support the artistes, so we will have one band to cut down on time,” Scoon added.

He said there had been a changing of the guards.

“The younger ones are writing and performing excellent pieces.

“This year we have 20 top songs, where before there would be ten top and 15 mediocre. This year we have 20 and of those 20 anyone can win and we expect everybody to put out a serious effort to win,” he added.

He said for international audiences, the organisers were experimenting with improvements for the pay per view and would continue to develop it.

This year the show will be broadcast the next day as a packaged product on CNC3 when the winners will be announced.

Tonight, gates open at seven with a pre-show at 9 pm.

The actual competition starts at 10 pm and will be followed by a one-hour performance by Machel Montano.

“It’s (soca monarch) a national treasure. It is the event that promotes the soca and soca is so important to T&T,” Scoon said.

To say the moko jumbie is not mas is to insult the people who dedicate their lives to the craft.

This was the opinion of eight-time Carnival King Peter Samuel.

Samuel, who played Tan Tan and Saga Boy, Devil Ray and Man Crab, yesterday congratulated this year’s King of Carnival Ted Eustace on his victory.

In an interview, he spoke about the comments by Marcus Eustace, who designed the 2016 Carnival King Psychedelic Nightmares, and other competitors regarding the third place costume, The Dying Swan, Ras Nijinsky in Drag as Pavlova, designed by Peter Minshall.

Eustace had said: “If you call that mas, how would it look if next year everybody play moko jumbie. That is not a mas. That is why the stands are empty.”

 “Let us look at moko jumbie. It is an integral part of our mas since I was a child. To say it is not mas is an insult to people who dedicate their lives to that artform,” Samuel said.

He said while the remark regarding the moko jumbie was ludicrous, it was even more absurd to blame Minshall’s design for the stands being empty.

“When I was playing king, both the North and Grand Stand were filled. I have been to Savannah every kings preliminaries before I started playing mas and I have watched the audience get smaller and smaller over the last ten years to the point where we don’t use the North Stand at all anymore.”

He said it was even more strange since no one, including judges at this year’s preliminaries for King and Queen of Carnival, knew the third placed costume was designed by Minshall.

“At the prelims, the only costume out of 98 got any response from the crowd was that one and nobody knew it was Minshall,” he added.

He said it was in poor taste for any designer or masquerader to criticise the costume.

“To blame Mr Minshall and the moko jumbies for having the stands empty was the most ludicrous things I have ever heard.

“From a performance point of view I enjoyed every moment of his (Jha-Whan Thomas) performance of that costume.”

“To see it come alive, to see this 20-foot ballerina on point. It was mind blowing,” Samuel added

Mas designer Rosalind Gabriel said moko jumbies were traditional mas.

She added: “I thought it was classic, simple, different and depressing and it tells the story of our Carnival.

“It brought interest into the competition because when costume after costume is similar and something different comes around it brings interest.”

Gabriel said the criticism was strange considering last year’s Queen of Carnival was a moko jumbie.

“Brian MacFarlane has put his Kings and Queens on moko jumbies before. I don’t understand the criticism,” she added.

She said there was a space for all in Carnival. 

“There is a space for those who want to portray mas on wheels and for those who do not and they should be able to play happily together,” she said.

Another mas designer, Brian MacFarlane, said moko jumbies were very much a part of Carnival culture.

“It has been a part of the mas for years. I saw no reason why it couldn’t be part. I think it should be welcome. I thought it was a very beautiful costume. I loved it very much myself,” he added.

Staff of the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) went into panic on Wednesday night as a memorandum circulated by the Chief Executive Officer hinted at job and salary cuts.

The memo is titled “seven per cent cutback in 2016” and refers to a request from the Ministry of Health on a directive from the Office of the Prime Minister to review overall expenditure at the various health institutions under the SWRHA.

It mandates managers and supervisors to review the expenditure under their control and identify measures which can be implemented to mete out a seven per cent cut.

The memo, dated January 22, gives managers until today to suggest such measures, “inclusive of salaries and goods and services,” as cost-cutting measures.

It was signed and distributed by the SWRHA CEO, Anil Gosine.

Contacted by the T&T Guardian yesterday, he said personal salaries would not be cut but they were looking to reduce the number of temporary contract employees across the organisation.

“They will be trying to ascertain if these employees’ services are required or necessary at all, at this time.

“In some institutions we have short-term temporary staff who come on for small projects. If these are completed we will not need their services any longer. These employees are given month-to-month or three-month contracts that, depending on the projects, will not be renewed,” he said.

He added: “As long as you are permanent or contracted and your performance appraisal is positive, it means we will continue to have your service.”

Another area being targeted for heavy cutbacks is overtime.

Gosine noted while permanent employees who have good performance appraisals were not at risk of losing their jobs, excessive overtime would be clamped down.

“We are looking at reducing overtime, asking employees and heads of department if it is really necessary. So we are asking managers and supervisors to reduce the overtime expenditure,” he added.

Executive members of the SWRHA will meet later this month to discuss the various suggestions and plans from each of the southern institutions before finalising which cuts will be made.

Gosine said it was important that the many health services did not suffer. “I am not going to reduce services, just trying to have a more efficient service.”

Pharmaceuticals will not take a hit as the CEO assured the cuts would not incorporate a reduction of drugs ordered to supply the SWRHA.

Employees, he added, were working with them and the decision-making was not independent of them.

“We are requesting that those employees who use the various materials, disposables and supplies budgeted for the ministry, to see how it can be used in a more efficient manner,” he added.

Reigning Carnival Queen Gloria Dallsingh capped off a fantastic season on Wednesday night when she and her son, Marlon Rampersad, completed a hat-trick in the Kings and Queens competition, titled Night of the San Fernando Monarch.

It was also a big win for Dallsingh’s band, Kalicharan Carnival, as Rampersad’s wife, Laura, was third in the Queen of the Bands Competition behind runner-up Lionel Jagessar and Associates’s Kerina Badal, portraying Hialeah, The Mystical Fantasy of a Sundancer. 

In the King of the Bands Competition, Lionel Jagessar and Associates’ Howakan, The Eternal Guardian of the Hunt, portrayed by Lionel Jagessar Jr, was second with Legall and Friend’s Fire and Ice, presented by Roney John, in third.

Weary but elated, Dallsingh said after winning the national title, she was always confident she and Rampersad would win their third consecutive titles. 

However, she believed it was her ability to manoeuvre her heavy design around the stage that got the judge’s approval.

“Last night  (Wednesday) I won as National Queen and it has been 30 years I have been playing queen. 

“I’ve always wanted to be the national queen and I made it. I was confident that my son and I were going to take it in South because I told him we were going to make the hat-trick. I told him we were going to make history in San Fernando.”

Rampersad, who stood hugging his mother, said he owed everything up to God and his mother’s talent. 

He said it was a fantastic year with Laura finishing sixth on national competition on Wednesday night at the Queen’s Park Savannah and their son coming in fourth in the National Junior King of the Bands.

The Skinner Park stage was a bit sweeter for the masmen as for the first time in years there was a sizeable and vocal audience cheering on their performances. 

However, creativity seemed to be lacking by some designers as many of the costumes looked like recycled pieces from years gone by.

Even Queen Gloria and King Marlon’s costume, though dazzling spectators’ eyes, were reminiscent of previous winning pieces. 

Dallsingh’s Artemisia, D Warrior Queen, which depicted one of the rulers in the First Persian Empire, was a mix of fuchsia, gold and black expansive design using wire, net, fibreglass, beads and rhinestones.  Rampersad’s Drums of War was a similar design to Dallsingh’s, who created both costumes. It depicted a Persian chief beating a drum to signal his troops for war. 

Queen Victoria wows ‘em 

It was a close race between two of south Trinidad’s powerhouses in the Calypso Monarch competition with Selvon “Mistah Shak” Noel edging out Victoria Cooper, sobriquet Queen Victoria, for the title. 

Mistah Shak’s patriotic composition of Generation Next told the story the nation needed to hear in saving T&T from the plague of violence. 

With many children already engaged in criminality, Generation Next calls for right-minded adults to show youths the right way to live.

“Teach them about love and prayer, teach them about truth and right,” Shak sang.

Never one to mince words, Queen Victoria targeted the country’s financial crisis in her political commentary, calling for Opposition People’s Partnership (PP) members to be jailed in her song, titled The Aftershock.

Likening the PP’s reign to an earthquake, Queen Victoria said the aftershock was an emptied Treasury. Steve Pascall, stage name Ras Kommanda, was third with She Never Write Me.

Impulse takes soca monarch

It would appear that experience counted for everything in the soca segment of the show as Wayne “Impulse” Modeste won with his somewhat comedic rendition of Matrimoney.  Last year’s winner, Kyle Cowie, finished second with Defending It, a song strictly about defending his 2015 title, while Herminey “Myney” Victor with Rollin and Savina “Savi Sav” Hector with Permission tied for third.

Birds and bandits. This is all the Central Market in Sea Lots, Port-of-Spain, has to offer vendors who are to be removed from the Salvatori building site. Spokesman for the vendors, Steve Fletcher, made the comment during an interview with the T&T Guardian.

At last week’s statutory meeting of the Port-of-Spain City Corporation at City Hall, mayor Raymond Tim Kee told members of the media that the vendors are to vacate the premises by mid-February.

In a brief interview at the Salvatori site, Fletcher said he was disgusted at what he saw at Central Market.

Fletcher recently visited the market and videotaped the conditions at the market.

He said there were rats running, bags of garbage, rotten galvanise, leaking pipes, rivers of bottles harbouring mosquitoes, bird faeces every where and vagrants.

“That is a place that was going to be used for the fish vendors and they refused to go there,” he said.

Fletcher, a father of five, and stepfather to 10, said the coconut business he did at the Salvatori site was his livelihood.

He said the lives of the people were more precious than the parking lot which would be replacing them.

 “They killing the city. Is human life not worth more than a parking lot?” he asked giving a coconut two chops with a cutlass.

Wendy Walker, a nail technician, who was at the market for six years but moved to Salvatori, said she used to do nails at Central Market and sold underwear.

“My customers were told and they said they will be getting a new nail technician. So I going home to scratch and then I will tell my landlord I scratching.” 

She said in addition to problems it had an overwhelming smell of the area.

“It have a smell from Beetham and John John, the abattoir and down there,” she said.

Walker said the area would also harbour animosity because of the competition they would represent.

“That is a fight down place and now we would be going there,” she said.

It have birds there defecating on people head. People getting rob. Seriously, that place is between Beetham and John John,” she said.

Walker said she had to give away some of her goods because of birds  were defecating on the items.

“You know how many clothes I had to give away? And the place smelling frowsy. Bird messing on your head and feathers all in your head and your customer head. I saw them rob an old lady, I was so sorry for her. The man (bandit) said the ‘Lord is my shepherd I shall not want, now give me your handbag.’”

Lisa Alexander, one of the other vendors who is a grandmother, said she was not able to go back out on the streets and sell goods.

“Is 35 years I sell on the street. I know. I don’t want to go back in that thing. I got hold four times for that. I have a heart problem now and I not able,” she said.

Alexander said the only result of this is that vendors will go back out on the streets and sell.

“Then is the police holding you and paying excessive amount to get it back and not all you getting back. It is the poor people suffering. We vote PNM and they not helping us,” she said. 

Customers who visited Fletcher and Alexander said it was not a good idea to move the vendors. Some customers said they would not go the Central Market.   

Eleanor Blackman said the area was convenient because it was on Independence Square.

Nicole Bennett, another customer, said it will be an inconvenience if the vendors move because she comes to town four days a week, she said as she bought  portugals from Alexander.

Christina Vincent, a tourist, who was bought coconut water from Fletcher, said she saw too much crime in Trinidad.

“For a person living outside I would not go there,” she said.

A response from an e-mail sent from officials at the Urban Development Corporation (Udecott) said the aggrieved vendors they will not be given another extension.

Meanwhile, Tim Kee said he was willing to meet with the vendors.

A betting shop employee who tried to retreive his employer’s bank deposit from an armed bandit was shot twice in the thigh during a daylight robbery in San Fernando yesterday.

André Lovelace, 47, was undergoing emergency surgery yesterday at the San Fernando General Hospital to remove two bullets from his thigh.

Police said around 4 pm Lovelace had just left work at Goodwood Racing Services along Coffee Street with a knapsack containing $7,000 to deposit in a bank on behalf of the business. 

However, as he walked onto the adjacent La Coullie Street, he was ambushed by the gunman who demanded the bag. 

When Lovelace refused, the gunman tried to grab it and both men began to struggle. 

Eventually Lovelace was shot twice and as he fell to the ground, the gunman picked up the bag and ran off through the crowded street.

Lovelace was taken to hospital by a private vehicle. San Fernando CID, including ASP Rawl Ramdeo, Insp Don Gajadhar, Sgt Inshan Teeluck and Cpl Vinton Dinoo, responded and launched a search for the gunman.

Police were yet to hold the suspect and were hoping to get CCTV camera footage from surrounding properties. 

Investigators also believe Lovelace was targeted and again advised business owners to use more secure ways to deposit their money at financial institutions. — (KF)

The police are seeking the public's assistance in locating two secondary students who have gone missing.

The two 15-years-old were reported missing by their parents in two separate incidents.

According to reports, Joshua Borneo, a pupil of the North Eastern College was reported missing by his mother Denise Briggs on Tuesday.

He is slim built, weighs about 125 pounds and has a low hairstyle.

He was last seen wearing a white t-shirt, blue and white three quarter pants and black sneakers.

In the next incident, Victoria Edwards of Church Street, Dow Village, South Oropouche was reported missing by her mother on Wednesday.

She was last seen at her home around 10pm.

She is of African descent, five feet tall, slim built with long braided hair.

Anyone with information about their whereabouts is asked to contact the police.

The murder toll has now risen to 51 with the murders of a Moruga woman and a man from Toco.

This morning, at about 2.40 am, Ishma Ali, 39, from L’anse Mitan Road Moruga was sleeping in her home when she was awoken by her dogs’ barking. 

Ali’s husband, Lincoln Samaroo got up to see what was outside. He was shot in the left leg. Fearing for his life, the man ran into bushes to evade the shooters. 

He returned to the scene with the police and found Ali’s body on the ground. She was shot once in the chest. 

There are no motives for this shooting.

Investigations continue. 

In an unrelated killing police say the shooting death of 20-year-old Shaquille Wilson is linked to his involvement in the drug trade.

According to police, around 10.45 pm last night, Wilson of Anglais Road, Cumana was at home when his sisters heard gun shots. They later found him bleeding. The young man was taken to the Toco Health Facility where was pronounced dead. 

Newly-crowned extempo champ and former government minster Winston “Gypsy” Peters yesterday accepted responsibility for the alleged mismanagement of the economy during the People’s Partnership term.

Peters, who fell out with the United National Congress after he was not selected to contest the Mayaro constituency, said everyone had to share the blame—himself included—for spending the “country’s money like crazy.”

He was responding to questions following the 2016 draw for positions in tomorrow’s final of the National Calypso Monarch Competition, which will be held at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain.

The draw took place at the Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organisation’s (Tuco) Kaiso House.

At the semi-finals held at Skinner Park, San Fernando, on January 23, Peters’ performance drew some applause but plenty toilet paper waving from the audience.

Peters said: “I am not blaming anybody. I am blaming everybody including myself. All of us, because some people want to say this one do that and the other one do that, but we all spend the country’s money like crazy.

“Some people would say the government do that, but who did the government give the money to?” he asked, adding: “Those same people who complaining now, they get free thing here, free thing there. Freeness. Come to work and don’t go to work. They come to work and eh do what they supposed to do when they even there, and them same people complaining now about the money, and this one waste the money. We all waste the money. We all do the things that we do and that is what is unfortunate about this whole thing.”

Confident about his compositions ahead of tomorrow’s final, Peters said he had not done much preparing.

He said: “I am already prepared, I wrote my songs. I sang my songs. The judges came, they saw me, they selected me and I am going to the Savannah just the way I am. I don’t prepare for anything. I put my clothes on and go and sing.”

Asked how he felt to be singing in position number five, Peters said his wish came true when he pulled that number.

“I came here wanting position number five because I just like it,” he said, adding: “It is a good place to sing. You get a good feel somewhere between there as to what is happening and the mood of the people.”

Again expressing confidence in his ability, Peters said: “I am always confident in anything I do. My confidence is not easily shattered.”

Pressed to say if he had any surprises planned for the audience, Peters said: “I place the confidence in my songs so that is why I go on stage without anybody. I don’t believe in props.”

“I really believe that should be a separate category called visual aid or something because that is not presentation, that is a different thing. If you write a song and every time you have to go on stage to sing it, you have to carry something to depict it, then something is wrong with that song as far as I am concerned.”

However, he went on to describe his fellow competitors as “good.”

“I think they are all good people and good entertainers and singers. The young ones that are coming up and we have some veterans who are tested and proven, so we know everybody there, every shadow is a gunman.”

ORDER OF APPEARANCE

1 Marsha Clifton (Lady Adanna)

2 Victoria Cooper-Rahim (Queen Victoria)

3 Dr Hollis Liverpool (Chalkdust)

4 Karene Asche

5 Winston Peters (Gypsy)

6 Carlos James (Skatie)

7 Selvon Noel (Mistah Shak)

8 Weston Rawlins (Cro Cro)

9 Devon Seale

10 Heather Mac Intosh

11 Helon Francis

12 Roderick Gordon (Chuck) (2015 Monarch)

The Institute of Marine Affairs (IMA) is denying that there is a fish kill at La Brea, insisting instead that it is a case of fishermen dumping an unwanted catch of low demand fish.

Further to the IMA’s preliminary findings, La Brea Member of Parliament Nicole Olivierre is now instructing the organisation to conduct toxicology testings on the carcasses to determine the cause scientifically. 

“The first step that has to be taken in trying to ascertain the source of the fish kill is to actually have the IMA do some sampling of the fish that came up and do some toxicology testing to determine exactly what it is that has caused the fishes to die.

“Once we have ascertained that, then we will be able to work backwards and see exactly what the source of that toxicology substance is, so we could then take steps to identify the source of any pollution that is out there,” she said.

Olivierre, who is also the minister of energy, responded to questions about the troubling issue in her constituency, during a site visit to Wells Services Rig 4 located in the Petrotrin Field at Sudama Trace, Fyzabad, yesterday.

La Brea fisherfolk are speculating that toxic waste being dumped from one of the companies operating along the Gulf of Paria may be responsible for the dead fish washing ashore.

However, the IMA, which visited one of the affected beaches, Carat Shed Beach, La Brea, earlier this week, released its preliminary findings which suggest the likely cause of the fish kills is the dumping of unwanted catch by an unknown party or parties.

The IMA based its findings on the fact that the most popular specie of fish which washed ashore was mullet which preliminary market data indicates there is a low local demand for at present.

The institute said it also observed, during the investigation, that fishing was taking place within the same area, with live healthy salmon and blinch being caught by fishermen and that there were no abnormalities relating to water quality at the sites in question.

Quizzed about the claims of fishermen, Olivierre said, “Fish kills are a major concern because La Brea is a fishing community. So we want to make sure that the fish that is caught in the area will be safe.”

To this end, she said, she would make every effort to ascertain the source of the toxin, if any, which was causing the death of the marine life in that particular area. 

Without empirical data, she said, they could not assign blame to any company or individual.

In response to claims that toxicology tests done last August, when a dolphin and other species of fish washed ashore, were never released, Olivierre stated that she has asked a representative from the ministry to contact the IMA to obtain those results.

“So we can look into it, to see exactly what findings came out of it, to determine the source of the substance that is leading to this fish kill because we want to make sure fish caught in this area are safe.”

The police search for child sex predator Franklyn Chea Callender ended yesterday when he was found hanging by his neck from a rope tied to a mango tree near Cemetery Street, Princes Town.

Police found, strapped to his stomach, a laptop which is believed to contain more pictures of him engaging in sexual activity with children. 

Members of the Police Service Cyber Crimes Unit were said to be going through the computer “with a fine-tooth comb,” yesterday, to see if the five-year-old child of his former lover was his only victim or if there were pictures/videos of others.

Callender’s body was discovered by passers-by hanging from a four-foot length of rope suspended from a mango tree some 30 feet off of Cemetery Street, metres from a nearby burial site. Police were contacted and a party of officers led by ASP Rohan Pardasie, Cpl Nanan and others went to the scene. Police removed the body and District Medical Officer Francis viewed it and ordered it removed to the Forensic Science Centre for an autopsy next Wednesday.

Sources said his body was positively identified by the mother of the infant who shared an intimate relationship with him. She confirmed to police that he was the man seen having oral sex with her child in several video files on his cellular phone.

ASP Pardasie yesterday took the opportunity to warn mothers against leaving their children with strangers, especially males.

The stomach-churning events began on February 1 when the woman, a mother of three, was shown the pictures of her innocent child by her brother, who had accidentally discovered them when he went to silence Callender’s phone after the alarm went off.

The woman confronted Callender and he ran out of her house. Since then, the 31-year-old security guard, who had addresses at both Maingot Road and Gajadhar Lands, Princes Town, had been on the run after his distraught ex-lover reported her findings to the police. Callender is the son of a retired police officer.

Reports indicate that he and the woman, who is also a security guard, met while working together and developed a relationship. They started living together shortly thereafter. The woman, who appeared on Ian Alleyne’s Crime Watch programme on Thursday, said he was a good man and started taking care of her daughter after the child’s grandmother became ill.

As the search intensified, however, police discovered that Callender was a known sex predator, having appeared before a Princes Town magistrate only last week to answer charges of rape and robbery. He was out on bail when he betrayed the trust of his lover, who left her daughter in his care whom he assaulted.

Inspector Don Gajadhar of the Southern Division police is continuing investigations.

In an unrelated incident, a 33-year-old Scarborough landscaper is being investigated for allegedly committing a sexual offence against a child. The report was made this week and the man was held yesterday by police. The Child Protection Unit is spearheading the investigation.

A 20-year-old Toco man who ignored his brother’s warnings was shot dead outside his home on Thursday night.

Speaking with the media at the Forensic Science Centre, St James, yesterday, Shaquille Wilson’s brother, Kodie Francois, said he was “fed up” of speaking to his brother about his life choices and the friends he kept. 

He said that his brother was “hardened” and was arrested on two occasions as a result of the choices he made and the company he kept. 

“He was a normal brother, sprightly and jovial. I have no idea why anyone would want to kill him. It is probably because of the same bad company that he kept. I fed up talk to him about it. He even stayed with me for a while and I tried to get a job for him but he went back to Toco,” Francois said of his brother who was the baby in the family, being the last of seven children.

Francois added that the community of Toco, not known for violence, was becoming more urban and evincing the negative aspects of youth delinquency. He said he moved out of the area a long time ago and the village he knew then was different from the present one as “plenty of them youths on negative scene.” 

According to police, around 10.45 pm, Wilson, who would have turned 21 next Saturday, was at his Anglias Road, Cumana, home when he was shot through a window as he spoke on his cell phone. 

Wilson, who lived adjacent to his family, was later found bleeding by his sisters. He was taken to the Toco Health Centre but was pronounced dead on arrival. His killing has taken the murder toll to 51 for the year.

In an unrelated shooting death, the hunter killed on Wednesday night in the Mayaro Forest has been identified as Sheldon Rattan. 

Rattan, 33, died after he was mistaken for a deer by his hunting partners Rampersad Maraj, 58, and Victor Mendoza, 45. According to police reports, Rattan and the men went approximately ten miles into the forest off the Gudron Oil Fields Guayaguayare, on Wednesday afternoon and set up camp. 

Sometime during the hunt, one of the hunting dogs spotted a deer and began chasing it. One of Rattan’s friends fired at the deer, hitting Rattan once in the chest instead. The hunters left for help at 8 pm and arrived at the Mayaro Police Station around 5 am Thursday and alerted the police. Rattan’s body was removed some 12 hours later.