Bahamas Christian Council (BCC) President Bishop Delton Fernander said that while the council supports the implementation of a sexual offenders registry, he believes the government must inform the public first.

“The church has always been in support of the registry,” he said.

“We have also stakeholders who have been collaborating with the state and what that will entail.”

He added, “We want to be as careful as possible because minors just turning into adults could end up on the register as is in other jurisdictions doing the things that they think might just be casual fun or casual sex.

“So, we really, really have to first inform what gets you on the register and then also be mindful that not everyone on the register are violent offenders.

For millennia, all of earth’s living things have depended on water for its survival. Up to 71 percent of the world’s surface is covered in water, it exists in the air, in the soil and even in the human body which is up to 60% water. According to research, however, only 3 percent of the earth’s water supply is drinkable which makes water conservation all the more important.

Already known across the country for its efforts to protect and improve local water systems, Waterkeepers® Bahamas, is part of a global organization dedicated to ensuring that the world’s water supply is protected. As part of its efforts, the group has formed countless partnerships with environmental groups both locally and abroad. Most recently, those partnerships resulted in a multicultural exchange between Bahamian students and their counterparts in China.

Last week a group of 23 participants of Earth Successor and Qiantang River Waterkeeper® from Hangzhou in the province of Zhejiang, China was welcomed to Grand Bahama Island by a very enthusiastic group of local Waterkeepers - a meeting which was proposed during a Waterkeeper Alliance Board retreat held back in March of 2019.

“The board retreat was an amazing networking opportunity for members of our local Waterkeepers team,” explained Fred Smith, International Region Rep for the Alliance. “We were able to exchange ideas and swap details about upcoming projects.“ This led the team to visit the Chinese Waterkeepers to participate in a series of sessions that focused on addressing water-related issues, from conservation to protection. Inspired by the enthusiasm of their Bahamian counterparts, the group accepted an invitation to Grand Bahama Island to see how the Bahamian Waterkeepers are working to maintain clean Bahamian water systems.

The group accompanied by Min Zheng, Waterkeeper Alliance Senior Organizer, Asia, Hao Xin, Waterkeeper Alliance South East Asia Regional Representative, as well as Professor Qiangjun WU, Lead Advisor for the Earth Successor organization; the environmentalists were treated to an action-packed itinerary which included a beach profile field assessment, visits to the Rand Nature Center, Paradise Cove reef balls, the newly opened first land-based coral farm, Coral Vita and island excursions to the Sharklab in Bimini.

“We are so pleased to have facilitated this wonderful cultural exchange” Ingraham noted. “This visit allowed Bahamians - both students and adults - to showcase our beautiful ecosystems. their trip and ours proves that distance is no longer a barrier to learning in the 21st century and that we may be diverse in cultures but we are all working towards preserving our planet earth, and her waters for future generations.”

A group of 23 participants of Earth Successor and Qiantang River Waterkeepers from Hangzhou in the province of Zhejiang, China were welcomed to Grand Bahama Island by a very enthusiastic group of local waterkeepers - a meeting which was proposed during a Waterkeeper Alliance Board retreat held back in March of 2019.

As an organization, Waterkeepers Bahamas has formed countless partnerships with environmental groups both locally and abroad. Most recently, those partnerships resulted in a multicultural exchange between Bahamian students and their counterparts in China.

(Photos courtesy of Waterkeepers Bahamas for Barefoot Marketing)

Serial groper Sidney Cooper struck again when he groped a policewoman in court yesterday.

The Nassau Guardian watched the brazen act unfold as Magistrate Samuel McKinney was about to sentence the 43-year-old recidivist for groping an 18-year-old girl in the downtown Nassau area and causing harm to her on June 12, 2019.

Two policemen — a sergeant and assistant superintendent — were standing about three feet from Cooper, who was in front of the prisoner’s bar, when he lunged towards the policewoman as she walked past

There was a time when children itched to get outdoors to roll around in the grass, climb trees, and just generally engage in whatever they found to amuse themselves with. Today, they have no problem staying indoors with their electronic gadgets engaging in the latest game or “conversing” with friends. This isn’t a Bahamian phenomenon – it’s a worldwide one. But it was just a few decades ago in The Bahamas that it was almost normal to see families, especially those engaged in the straw industry, sitting on porches together engaged in real conversation while grandma, her children, and her grandchildren plaited straw and “worked” bags as they called it to sell to the tourist market. This practice and these kinds of scenes are virtually non-existent now. It’s a dying art that the Ministry of Tourism is looking to resurrect to foster the sustainability of through craft demonstrations at the Junkanoo Summer Festival (JSF).