FOUNDATION reggae and dancehall artiste, Lincoln ‘Sugar’ Minott passed away Saturday night at the University Hospital of the West Indies in St Andrew.

According to Peter Burke, a close associate of the singer, Sugar Minott had complained of feeling ill on Saturday and was taken to the hospital where he died at minutes after 10 pm.

“Sugar had a heart condition and it was about a year and a half ago that he got the first scare. He was in Canada at the time and I was with him. But as soon as the flutters subsided, Sugar was back to being his old self. That is just how he is,” Burke told the Observer.

“This is just so sudden and unexpected. Sugar Minott has made a major contribution to the music business … he was truly an icon and I am going to miss him tremendously,” Burke said,

Sugar Minott, who was born Lincoln Barrington Minott on May 25, 1956, earned for himself the moniker Godfather of Dancehall. He is credited with being the pioneer, who, by laying vocal tracks over the original tapes from the ’60′s, rather than using a live band — as was the norm in those days — caused a revolution in the sound that brought a new style to Reggae music known as dancehall.

A prolific songwriter and singer, Sugar Minott is has over 60 albums and is known for such anthems as Herbsman Hustling, Mr DC, House is not a Home, No Vacancy, Good Thing Going and Never Gonna Give Up Jah.

The veteran singer also distinguished himself as a talent scout/producer and early on in his career established his Black Roots label, which led to the creation of a sound system and a company, Youthman Promotions, to give young artistes a “buss”. Artistes such as Little John, Triston Palmer, Barry Brown, Tony Tuff, Junior Reid, Yami Bolo, Don Angelo, Tenor Saw, Nitty Gritty, Garnet Silk who did his first recording for the Black Roots label, Tony Rebel, Colorman, Daddy Freddie, Johnny Osbourne, Steve “Shalom” Harper are among those who passed through Youthman Promotions.

On hearing of his passing, singers Freddie McGregor, Johnny Osbourne and Leroy Sibbles reportedly volunteered to do a spontaneous tribute at the Rose Garden in Brooklyn New York, where Sugar was scheduled to perform last night. Minott also reportedly had gigs in California later this week including the popular Reggae on the River on July 18.

The Reggae music fraternity has been rocked by a number of deaths in recent months. Minott’s death follows on the heels of IRIE FM founder Karl Young and Voicemail member O’Neil Edwards.

Not a whole lot of kind words were said today.

Jesse James and second ex-wife Janine Lindemulder spent Monday trading barbs in an Orange County courtroom as the fight over custody of their 6-year-old daughter Sunny continued.

While Lindemulder maintains that it’s James—and, at times, Sandra Bullock—who has kept her from speaking regularly with her child on the phone, the now thrice-divorced West Coast Choppers owner continues to argue that his porn-actress ex is just plain unstable.

Though James didn’t go into it on the witness stand, his attorney told Family Court Commissioner Thomas Schulte during today’s hearing that Lindemulder once threatened to kill his client.

James testified, meanwhile, that Lindemulder admitted to him in a phone conversation that she was on strong antidepressants and had a bad reaction when she tried to change meds.

But she counters that she’s been there all along for her daughter—minus the four months she spent in a halfway house for violating probation on a tax-evasion charge—and that it’s James who hasn’t kept up with her court-approved visits and phone calls.

Her attorney, Richard Masson, said that James had promised his client $4,000 a month in support and offered to fly Sunny to Oregon to visit her mom during her stint in the halfway house.

James has said no such conversation ever took place.

As for Sunny’s famous former step-mom:

Lindemulder is arguing that Bullock has tried to poison her own daughter against her and that James’ decision to move to Austin with Sunny is “wholly unjustified.”

She has filed court papers contesting James’ plan, arguing that Bullock would have stayed in California if she wanted to be close to Sunny. (So which is it, cares too much or not enough?)

James has said that he hopes Bullock and Sunny continue to have a relationship, but also that his family doesn’t have the paparazzi problem in Texas that they have here.

James testified today that Bullock took care of Sunny while he spent time in an Arizona rehab facility after the Michelle “Bombshell” McGee story erupted.

His daughter has her own phone now and Bullock, who’s splitting her time between Austin and New Orleans, knows how to get a hold of her, he said.

A teacher from Sunny’s school testified Monday that Bullock once told her, “Quite frankly, I’m glad Janine is in jail. She can go ruin someone else’s life.”

“Both Miss Bullock and Mr. James made derogatory comments,” said Alex Bon of Carden Academy in Huntington Beach. “Sunny looked in shock.”

Bon said that she was instructed not to send any of the child’s artwork to Lindemulder, whom she decribed as “very loving towards Sunny,” while she was in jail.

James also acknowledged that Lindemulder has had four clean drug tests recently, and that their daughter loves her mom very much.

Schulte requested that both sides start coming up with some visitation scenarios should James relocate to Texas with Sunny and ordered everyone back in court tomorrow.

(CHARLESTOWN, NEVIS–MONDAY, JULY 12, 2010) Premier of Nevis, the Hon. Joseph Parry gave God thanks for guiding Nevis through economic challenges the island had faced.  He made the statement when he delivered remarks at a Thanksgiving Service, in celebration of the 4^th Anniversary of the Nevis Reformation Party (NRP) led government. The service was held at the Charlestown Wesleyan Holiness Church on Sunday.

“We appreciate how good God has been to the people of Nevis and the island of Nevis.  So we are here today to give thanks in every way, “commented Premier Parry.

The Premier noted that the NRP has had four years of hard work, four years of being together and four years of positive changes, which he said could have not been done without the presence of God.

During the ceremony, the Premier stated that the Four Seasons Resort Nevis has been closed for two years and things had been tough financially for the island.

Despite the loss of jobs and economic hardships in Nevis, the Premier ensured that a number of Four Seasons workers were employed in the construction of homes, in the housing development of Cherry Gardens where 115 homes have been built.

A number of Four Seasons workers have also been employed in the civil service.  According to the Premier, it was important to note that while workers were laid off regionally and internationally, the NRP led Administration managed to keep on its employers with full pay.

“While a number of countries have been seeing financial cuts, starvation, distress and riots, Nevis has not seen soup kitchens or hand outs because many have been able to do well and survive and to that we must give God thanks,” said the Premier.One of the highlights of the speech was when the Hon. Joseph Parry mentioned that the re opening of the Four Seasons Resort, Nevis would be on December 15, 2010.  He also noted that the opening would coincide with the return of the American Eagle airline. Flights would resume from Puerto Rico to Nevis also on December 15^th.

“We give God thanks because along with the efforts of the Government, God is rewarding not just the Administration but especially the people of Nevis,” said the Premier.

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Antigua and Barbuda has established diplomatic relations with Egypt, in a signing ceremony held at the Egyptian Mission to the United Nations in New York on Friday. 

“Our UN Ambassador Dr John W, Ashe and his counterpart from the Egypt, Ambassador Maged Abdelaziz, jointly signed the communiqué establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries and also formally requested the Secretary-General of the United Nations to distribute the document to the other 190 member States of the organization,” said Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer. 

“Our two countries have long enjoyed cordial relations both within and beyond the United Nations, so I am particularly pleased that we were able to conclude this formal agreement to establish diplomatic ties here today. The only question is “what took us this long?”” said Ambassador Ashe at the conclusion of signing ceremony. 

Ambassador Abdelaziz concurred as he recountered his surprise when he was told that there was no formal diplomatic relations between Antigua and Barbuda and Egypt. 

“Both you, Ambassador Ashe, and I have an excellent working relationship at the UN and we have had to work together on some of the most important issues facing the organization, so you could only imagine my surprise when I was told that our two countries did not have formal diplomatic relations. In the end, I am glad that this is no longer the case, and we can now proceed to strengthen our bilateral cooperation on the basis of this initial step” said Ambassador Abdelaziz.

St. Kitts & Nevis – July 12, 2010: Over sixty drivers have been caught violating the tint laws, just in the past two weeks alone.  “Over those two operations we have had fifty-five vehicles ….actually had their tints removed at the site,” Head of the Police Traffic Department, Inspector Cromwell Henry said. “Last Friday we had a smaller operation where we had 10 vehicles asked to remove their tins so over the last two weeks we have had 65 vehicles removing tint,” Henry said. and the last operations we have been assisted by the police force,

          The law prescribes that windscreen and window tint, not be darker than 35%, but additionally dictates that even with a tint on windscreens and windows, the interior of a vehicle must be visible to a person standing outside. “There are two basis why we require tint to be at a particular level. One: safety in terms of the driver being able to clearly see the road, especially in poor lighting conditions or bad weather conditions and security. We don’t want people to use the tint as their shield to do their criminal acts,” Henry said.

          The tint violation carries a hefty fine and could see uncooperative violators having their vehicles seized. “(The officer) can summons you to appear before the court where I think the penalty is $1500…. Or the officer can have you remove the tint; retain the vehicle until the violation is corrected,” explained Inspector Henry. He said that he spoke to a person who provides tinting for vehicles and he at times advises his clients when the tint is too dark. But the motorists in question still go ahead with the dark tint.

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – JUST 7 days after three armed, masked bandits converged upon one of O.D. Brisbane’s delivery trucks and robbed its two occupants of an undisclosed sum of money, the office of Sky Safari and a number of its workers were the latest robbery victims.

According to a police press release, sometime after 2:00 p.m. yesterday (Jul. 11), three masked men, two of whom were armed, entered the Sky Safari office at Wingfield Road in Old Road and robbed the employees of an undisclosed sum of money.

The release further stated that investigations are ongoing and the police are appealing to persons with information on this crime to contact the Old Road Police Station at 465-6250.
   
This has been the fourth robbery of business entities in the past few weeks, which has caused management of a number of  business to employ additional security measures.

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, JUNE 24^TH 2010 (CUOPM) – The new law term in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) will see new judges assigned in two member states.

 St. Kitts and Nevis’ Attorney General and Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs, the Hon. Patrice Nisbett has disclosed that the Secretary of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Judicial and Legal Services Commission in St. Lucia, Kimberly Cenac-Phulgence has informed him and the Attorneys General of Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the British Virgin islands of the assignment.

 “I have been directed by His Lordship, the Hon. Hugh A. Rawlins, Chief Justice to inform you of the following assignments: (1) His L:orship, the Hon. Justice Errol Thomas, High Court Judge, has been assigned to St. Kitts and Nevis with effect from 1^st September 2010. (2) His Lordship, the Hon. Justice Francis Belle, High Court Judge, has been assigned to St. Lucia with effect from 1^st September 2010,” said Cenac-Phulgence in the June 23rd 2010 correspondence.

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, JUNE 24^TH 2010 (CUOPM) – St. Kitts and Nevis now has its full complement of magistrates.

Hon. Patrice Nisbett

This has been disclosed by Attorney General and Minister of Justice and Legal Affiars, the Hon. Patrice Nisbett.

He told the Communications Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister (CUOPM) that former Resident Magistrate at St. James Magistrate’s Court in Montego Bay, Jamaica, Her Worship Karen Hyacinth Hill-Hector has been appointed Magistrate’ of District “B” Sandy Point, St. Kitts.

Mr. Nisbett noted that on taking office in February this year, he made a commitment to ensure that the Magistracy had in place a full complement of magistrates so as to ensure that the administration of Justice at that level is done in an effective and efficient manner.

“And that the backlog of cases that was created as a result of the limited manpower resources would be considerably reduced and lead to a swift disposal of matters,” said the Hon. Attorney General.

The Jamaican-born Magistrate received her Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of London in 2000 and the Certificate of Legal Education from the Norman Manley Law School in 2003 and was admitted to practice at the Jamaica Bar in November that year, having previously served as Deputy Clerk of Courts Kingston and St. Andrew, Criminal, Civil and Family Divisions.

She served as Clerk of Courts/Prosecutor in St. Thomas, Jamaica from 2003 to 2005, Part -Time Lecturer at the University College in the Caribbean in Kingston Jamaica from 2004 to 2007 and served as Crown Counsel, Attorney General’s Chambers in Jamaica from January 2006 to January 2009.

She served as Resident Magistrate, St. James Resident Magistrate’s Court, Montego Bay, Jamaica in criminal, civil (common law), Civil (Land) Civil Equity) and Probate and Administration.

Magistrate Karen Hyacinth Hill-Hector, who took up her appointment on April 1^st 2010, is married to former crown counsel and legal counsel at the National Bank Group of Companies, Mr. Stephen Hector of Bird Rock.

Basseterre, St. Kitts, May 12, 2010 (SKNIS): On Monday (May 10), the Ministry of Sports formally recognized the outstanding achievement of West Indies female cricket player Deandra Dottin, who set a world record in St. Kitts during the ICC World T20 (Twenty20) 2010 Tournament.

Dottin scored an amazing century for West Indies Women against South Africa Women in the opening match of the ICC World T20 Tournament on May 5. Playing at Warner Park in St Kitts, the 18-year-old right-hander from Barbados, hit nine sixes and seven fours in a record-breaking 112 not out off just 45 balls: the fastest century recorded to date.

“It’s a tremendous feat,” Minister of Sports Honourable Glenn Phillip remarked, as he presented the outstanding female cricketer with a commemorative award. He graciously congratulated Ms. Dottin and wished her and the team well for the remainder of the tournament, which resumes with semifinal matches on May 13 and 14 in St. Lucia.

Minister Phillip then presented Ms. Dottin with local artwork, depicting the Berkeley Memorial – a monument which features a clock and drinking fountain erected in 1883. This special piece was donated by Maurice Widdowson, the proprietor of Island Hopper, a local mini department store.

Ms. Dottin, overwhelmed, thanked the Minister of Sports for the wonderful tokens and applauded the fans in St. Kitts and Nevis for supporting the tournament and rallying behind the female West Indies Team.

“I feel that we, then, must all become motivated, in the spirit of the nation as family, to become more alert. We must become more alert to the ways in which an ever-expanding behavioral waywardness in many countries, and society’s shrugging acceptance of it, just might now represent those figurative termites taking up residence in all that, together, we have worked so hard to build,” said Dr. Douglas, during his weekly live radio call in programme.

Noting that this coming Saturday, May 15^th, is being observed as International Families Day around the world, Dr. Douglas said there is a great deal to be gained by pausing to think about an International Families Day.

He told listeners on the one-hour programme syndicated on five radio stations that the main purpose of family is to provide a sense of physical and psychological safety to children, to provide an environment in which a child’s ability to differentiate between right and wrong is ever stressed, and ever reinforced.

“The purpose of family is for the older generation to pass on to the younger generation the positive behaviors and the constructive practices that have enabled them the older persons to cope, to survive, and hopefully, to thrive – not only materially, but spiritually and morally as well, as higher level beings.  The purpose of the family is to instill in young people a clear sense of all the do’s and don’ts, to ensure that they have keen feelings of guilt when clearly defined rules have been violated, and to create emotional discomfort when there has been a violation of another family member’s trust,” said Prime Minister Douglas.

Dr. Douglas noted that healthy societies require members of all families to believe and know – without a doubt – that pariah and outcast status will result from the stealing and selling of other people’s possessions.

“Healthy societies require members of all families to believe and know – deep in their bones -  that incest, fathers having relations with daughters, or brothers having relations with sisters, will cause them to be rejected, reviled, and reported to the authorities.    Healthy societies must have parents who are concerned about the character of their children, and family members who treat older relatives with patience and respect.  Healthy societies require families – rich, poor, and in-between – to value and recognize, more than being “flashy, more than being “cool,” the importance of actually being “decent,” said the St. Kitts and Nevis leader.