Police ranks in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) on Monday managed to locate a patch of land that had been cultivated between bushes on which 750 cannabis sativa plants were growing.A section of the cannabis plants that were uprooted and destroyed on Monday in Region ThreeAccording to Commander of that region, Senior Superintendent Linden Lord, an operation was carried out between 10:15h and 11:00h on Monday where several ranks from the La Grange Police Station conducted a “drug farm eradication” at the Inner Bagotville Backdam, West Bank Demerara.He noted that each of the suspected cannabis sativa plants measured between one to 12 inches in height and that they had been planted on five sections of the land (beds).Commander Lord explained that the policemen uprooted all of the plants and destroyed them, except for two plants that had to be lodged and taken for analysis. When the police ranks arrived at that location, there was no one around.It is unclear who planted the cannabis at that location and as such, no arrest has been made. Investigations are continuing.According to the Region Three Police Commander, even small numbers of “ganja” plants, once destroyed, make a difference since it prevents the cultivators from accessing the illegal substance to sell to the public.He added that more drug eradication activities are slated in the near future in his region.
Arrest made in relation to AMBER Alert and homicide
RCMP arrested a 22-year-old male suspect today in relation to the homicide of 27-year-old Terry Blanchette, who was found dead in his Blairmore home yesterday morning.He is a resident of that community, and his name is not being released.He is now in police custody for questioning also in relation to the disappearance of Terry’s 2-year-old daughter Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette, who was abducted from the home at 3:30 AM on Monday morning.- Advertisement -The investigation into the child’s whereabouts is on-going.Hailey’s mother, Cheyenne Dunbar, was in contact with police about the investigation prior to the Amber Alert being issued.Police have located a white van in the Blairmore area and are investigating if it is related to this case – it is too soon for police to know if this is the van that was reportedly seen near the Blanchette home early Monday morning.Advertisement The Amber Alert issued in relation to Hailey’s disappearance is still in effect, but will be renewed at 2:14 pm today as they only stay in effect for 24 hours.Anyone with information that might assist police is asked to call Crowsnest Pass RCMP at 403-562-2866.Those wishing to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers with information at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).
Emergency responses take time
AD Quality Auto 360p 720p 1080p Top articles1/5READ MOREBlues bury Kings early with four first-period goals “You might have a deputy who’s used to working in Canyon Country get a call somewhere in a new area of Castaic,” he said. “It’s going to take a bit for them to find it. The desk runs the location through a global positioning system, but it still takes time.” And while response times to emergencies are improving in Santa Clarita, where the city pays for additional personnel, police and firefighters complain that they are hindered by drivers who ignore their emergency lights and sirens. “It’s a little harder to notice a radio car as opposed to a big red fire engine,” he said. “We’re a little lower to the ground, and in the daylight sometimes we’re hard to see. Not everybody hears them.” Dunkle suggests motorists crack their windows slightly so they can hear outside their soundproofed cars. “Carmakers are building vehicles with double steel with the goal of decreasing the sound of the engine and road, which also blocks out the noise of the sirens,” he said. “I know people like their comfort and convenience of quiet cars, but this way you’d hear us and be able to react.” “It’s always been a problem,” said Capt. Mark Savage, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department. “Cars are getting quieter and more and more people are using their cell phones, which are a distraction when emergency vehicles are trying to get through. People have their sound systems up and are not paying enough attention to the road; they don’t hear or see emergency vehicles responding.” The growing population and accompanying traffic clogs roads and can delay emergency responses, Savage said. “There are times when the amount of cars on the road affects our ability to negotiate traffic. We can only respond as safely as traffic conditions permit.” Carol Rock, (661) 257-5252 carol.rock@dailynews.com 160Want local news?Sign up for the Localist and stay informed Something went wrong. Please try again.subscribeCongratulations! You’re all set! SANTA CLARITA – Response times for routine nonemergency calls are increasing in the Santa Clarita Valley’s fast-growing outlying communities where too few deputies patrol a huge area, a local sheriff’s official said. Lt. Mike Dunkle said response times are down for emergency calls, but mounting for other calls in the areas outside the city of Santa Clarita. “We have a huge unincorporated area that is growing and growing and there are not enough deputies to cover it,” Dunkle said. The plethora of new streets unfamiliar to deputies doesn’t help. Dunkle said deputies constantly have to try to familiarize themselves with new neighborhoods so they know where the streets are when a call comes out. That’s particularly true in the sprawling area outside city limits. 
The Boswell Wilkie Circus is back
The circus is doing a Proudly South African show, with excellent local acts, including Suzanne Wilkie with her delightful dogs and beautiful ponies, on Sunday afternoon, November 24, in the Big Top at the Boswell Wilkie circus farm at Randvaal.It will be a fun-filled family show, a 90-minute escape to the glittering fairytale world of circus.In October 2001, the Boswell Wilkie Circus gave its last show as a “travelling” circus, after nearly 50 years on the road. Since then the circus folk have been delighting both adults and children giving them the opportunity to perform in their own show on birthdays and special occasions.But here it is again – the real thing, an afternoon in the fantasy wonderland of the circus.Tickets are R39 each, which can be booked online at the Boswell Wilkie Circus web site. Detailed directions are also on the site. Light meals and drinks can be obtained at the Cafe du Cirque and there is a fresh produce shop on the farm.Source: Boswell Wilkie Circus
Mutola’s girl Caster off to London
Twenty-one-year-old Caster Semenya is aiming for gold in London. (Image: IAAF) MEDIA CONTACTS • Sascoc +27 11 483-3788 RELATED ARTICLES • Semenya takes gold for SA • Remarkable South African women hailed • Laureus honour for Blade Runner • SA producer gets Olympics for KoreaValencia TalaneWhen Caster Semenya said to a journalist recently she was more worried about football team Kaizer Chiefs taking the Premier Soccer League title than about her own qualifying session, she wasn’t joking.A lot has happened since: Chiefs has shattered the dreams of its supporters by falling to a less-than-prestigious sixth spot on the log and Semenya has, indeed, qualified – and effortlessly – for the 2012 London Olympic Games in the 800m category.She triumphed at the Yellow Pages III Track and Field meeting in Pretoria on Friday 20 April – the date set for the kick-off of the Team SA Fridays campaign – finishing in a time of 1:59.58 ahead of Monique Stander and Mapaseka Makhanya, the second and third place finishers respectively.Controversial testThe 21-year-old from Limpopo province has been in the limelight since an investigation into her gender after she won gold in the women’s 800m final at the 2009 International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships.The IAAF argued at the time that it had to investigate this as hers was one of “the sort of dramatic breakthroughs that usually arouse suspicion of drug use.”The body cleared her a year later and ruled that she could return to international competition.The courageous University of Pretoria student went on to achieve silver at the next IAAF event, this time held in Daegu, South Korea, in 2011.Caster can do itSemenya has been coached, since late 2011, by former Olympic 800m women’s champion Maria Mutola of Mozambique. A running legend, Mutola holds 13 gold medals from a variety of international athletics tournaments including the Olympics, the IAAF World Championships and the Commonwealth Games.Of coaching Semenya, Mutola said: “This is a huge challenge for me to start with Caster. She is a great young athlete.”Mutola believes that Semenya is capable of breaking the record in her event in London, set 29 years ago by Czech Jarmila Kratochvilova in July 1983.Semenya is not the only South African track and field athlete to qualify, and as more qualifying events are lined up, hopes are high that the athletic team will be further boosted.Twenty-seven-year-old 400m hurdler LJ van Zyl is also off to London. He is number one on the top ten list of the fastest men in his speciality in the country. Van Zyl won gold at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics in Jamaica. He also took bronze at the 2005 IAAF World Athletics final in Monaco.Another 400m hurdles qualifier is 22-year-old Cornel Fredericks, winner of a silver medal from the 2010 African Championships in Athletics in Kenya. He holds the second best 400m hurdles time for a male athlete in the country, a category dominated by Van Zyl.Irvette van Blerk also qualified for the Olympic women’s marathon by clocking a time under the qualifying standard of 2:37.00. Van Blerk finished 18th in Sunday’s marathon, securing a place for herself and joining Rene Kalmer, who clocked 2:29.59 in Yokohama in October, and Tanith Maxwell, to make the number of female marathon runners three for Team SA.Although five men qualified in the marathon, Athletics South Africa has said only the fastest three will go, which means the team will be made up of Stephen Mokoka, Coolboy Ngamole and Lusapho April.
Nelson Mandela: a life in service
South Africa’s first black president, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, spent most of his adult life fighting apartheid. He died last night, aged 95, at his Houghton, Johannesburg home, after enduring a prolonged lung infection.The former Nobel Peace Prize Laureate’s death has brought the country to a standstill with many condolences still pouring in from world leaders, celebrities, and ordinary South Africans.Brand South Africa chairperson, Chichi Maponya, expressed deep sorrow at his passing saying, “Madiba embodied our hopes and the realisation of our dreams.“We are in deep mourning following this loss of indescribable magnitude which is today reverberating across the world. During his imprisonment for 27 years, Madiba carried the aspirations of multitudes of our people who yearned for a free and democratic South Africa.”He added that Mandela had inspired South Africans and people around the world to fight for South Africa’s liberation, despite the seeming impossibility of this vision.“One of the greatest gifts he has bequeathed to this nation is the courage and strength to believe in a tomorrow that is better than today, a tomorrow in which our people live in dignity and prosperity,” he said.Many South Africans who were devastated by the news of Mandela’s death took to the nation’s streets in a show of mourning last night. Some gathered at Mr Mandela’s home in Houghton to light candles and celebrated his achievements. Others congregated outside Mandela’s former home on Soweto’s Vilakazi Street.United States President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron were among world leaders and dignitaries who paid fulsome tribute to Mandela as a moral giant and a beacon for the oppressed.27 YEARS A PRISONERLet us draw from Nelson Mandela’s wisdom. Let us be inspired. Let each and every one of us continue to walk forward into the future as he didMandela spent 27 years in jail for his attempts to overthrow the country’s white-minority government before being freed in 1990. He led the African National Congress (ANC) liberation organisation in negotiations with the National Party to secure South Africa’s first inclusive election in 1994.Born into the royal Tembu family in July 1918 in the village of Qunu, in Umtata in the south eastern Transkei, Mandela rose from relative rural obscurity to challenge the apartheid government.He became commander-in-chief of the ANC’s armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), in 1961 and underwent military training in Algeria and Ethiopia the following year.While underground back home in South Africa, Mandela was captured by police in 1962 and sentenced to five years in prison for inciting workers to strike, and leaving the country illegally.In 1963 he was charged with sabotage and sentenced in 1964 to life in prison at the infamous Rivonia Trial with a number of other ANC members.He became South Africa’s first black president in 1994 and, after just a single term in office, stepped down as president in 1999.In retirement, Mandela focused his energy on his new role as a roving elder statesman and leading HIV/Aids campaigner before retiring from public life in 2004.His last major public appearance was in July 2010, at the final of the Fifa World Cup at the FNB Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg.Mandela is survived by his third wife, Graça Machel, three children, 17 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren, and four step-children from his marriage to Machel.
From Beef Burgers to Friendly Strangers, Indian Immigrants Recall Their First Days in The US
On Aug. 25, 1949, Roshan Sharma got his first glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge as the SS President Wilson approached San Francisco, California. The 22-year-old from Bhumbli in Punjab had braved a long, uncomfortable journey on the ship from Hong Kong, subsisting on the only vegetarian food available: boiled rice, potatoes, and fruit.Read it at Quartz Related Items
Aston Villa hand Steve Bruce task of restoring former glories
Aston Villa have handed much-travelled manager Steve Bruce the task of leading the former European champions back into the Premier League.Bruce, former manager of Villa’s arch-rivals Birmingham City, replaced Italian Roberto Di Matteo, who was sacked after 124 days in charge with the club 19th in the Championship standings following their relegation from the Premier League.”Its a wonderful opportunity. It is one of the big clubs of this country. To be given the opportunity to manage it is terrific,” the 55-year-old Bruce told the Villa website.”I relish the challenge of trying to take the club where it wants to go and needs to be — and try to turn around the misfortune we seem to have had over the past few years.Bruce has been without a club since he quit as Hull City manager in July after leading the team to Premier League promotion with a playoff victory over Sheffield Wednesday.The former Manchester United captain, who has managed several English clubs including Wigan Athletic, Sunderland and Sheffield United, was interviewed for the England manager’s job before Sam Allardyce was appointed in July.”With his track record, not only at leading teams to promotion from the Championship, but also vast experience in the Premier League, I believe we have secured the services of an excellent manager,” Villa owner Tony Xia said.Villa, seven-times English champions, won the European Cup in 1982 and finished runners-up to Manchester United in the inaugural Premier League season in 1992-93.Their fortunes declined, however, under a succession of different managers and they finished 17 points adrift at the bottom of the standings last season to be relegated from the top flight for the first time since 1987.advertisementIn the recent transfer window we focused on character, personality and experience,” Chief Executive Keith Wyness said.”These three words can be applied in spades to Steve Bruce and I look forward to working closely with him as we turn the club around and get us back to where we all want to be.??
Sergio Aguero hailed as Manchester City legend after record goal number 178
Sergio Aguero, fresh from becoming the top scorer in the 137-year history of Manchester City, said he would be giving away his historic match shirt as a special memento for his son Benjamin.The popular Argentine was hailed as a “legend” by team mates and former City greats alike after scoring his 178th goal for the club – another crucial one – during their thrilling 4-2 win at Napoli in the Champions League on Wednesday.Aguero’s strike put City 3-2 ahead in the 69th minute of a remarkable game and he revealed that he would be taking home a prized souvenir for his eight year-old son.”He texted me, saying ‘if you score, bring it (the shirt) to me’,” the 29-year-old said after going past the 177-goal landmark of Eric Brook that had lasted for 78 years.Vincent Kompany, City’s captain, led the tributes to Aguero by calling him a “true legend” while their former England international Francis Lee tweeted that he was a “superstar”.Aguero’s feat has been compiled relentlessly over the six years he has been at City ever since he struck twice in a memorable Premier League debut in August 2011 against Swansea City.It took him nine minutes to score his first goal and there have been many memorable and significant ones since, not least the 94th minute winner in the last match of the 2012 season against Queens Park Rangers that brought City the Premier League title.Manager Pep Guardiola reckoned goal number 178 in his 264th match for City was the only fitting way for the talismanic striker known universally as ‘Kun’ to break the record “because it was such an important goal to make it 3-2.”advertisementThe Spaniard added: “It’s amazing, another part of the history and legend for the club.”Although Raheem Sterling added a fourth in injury time, it was typical Aguero sharpness that broke Napoli and allowed Guardiola’s side to become the first English team to win a European tie at the Italians’ San Paolo stadium fortress.After a pulsating game, Guardiola reckoned that beating Napoli, the free-scoring league leaders in Serie A, twice in two weeks was an “incredible achievement”.”They are perhaps the best side I’ve faced in my career,” he added.”We tried to block their left flank, but they got there first and were too strong. They massacred us for 20 minutes and we didn’t have the courage to play. I am glad with the way we reacted.”One down to a Lorenzo Insigne goal, City hit back through headed goals from their centre backs Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones either side of halftime, before Jorginho checked their momentum from the penalty spot.”I am so proud because I know the side we beat,” added Guardiola, who has now overseen 22 unbeaten matches as City boss.”I am in love with Napoli, with the way they make short passes and they didn’t give us time to think in the opening 20 minutes.”Yet while City have booked their place in the last 16 with a maximum 12 points, this attractive Napoli side are now in grave danger of missing out on the knockout stages with just three points in third place.Their manager Maurizio Sarri could take scant consolation in how “we caused problems for a very strong team, probably the best of all right now.”