Michael Ranglin, deputy chief executive officer for food trading at Grace Foods Limited, presents the Grace Trailblazer Trophy to Michael Watson, recipient of the 2007 Grace Trailblazer Award for Kingston and St. Andrew. The presentation was made at the final Grace Trailblazer Roadshow for 2007 at the Police Officers' Club on Hope Road, St. Andrew. The awardee also received $50,000 for having met a high percentage of the criteria for selection. Trailblazers were also recognised in St. James, Westmoreland, St. Thomas, and Clarendon. - Contributed

NCU gets PhD accreditation:

MANDEVILLE, Manchester:

Following a recent visit by a team of assessors from the University Council of Jamaica (UCJ), Northern Caribbean University (NCU) has had three more degrees accredited.

The degrees now accredited are: The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Education, as well as the Associate of Arts (AA) in English and the Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English.

The accreditation of these degree programmes brings to 21, the total number of programmes offered by the institution that have been accredited by the UCJ.

Earlier this year, the institution received accreditation for its Bachelor of Science in medical technology, while six other programmes were re-accredited.

- Contributed

Grace Trailblazer award goes to IT specialist

Michael Watson, 25-year-old information technology (IT) specialist was last Saturday selected as the 2007 Grace Trailblazer for Kingston and St. Andrew. The award was presented to him at the final Grace Trailblazer Roadshow for 2007, held at the Police Officers' Club on Hope Road.

The Trailblazer received $50,000 cash and a trophy for having met a high percentage of the criteria for selection set by the company.

The criteria include excellence in the following categories: science and technology; arts and culture and outstanding work within their communities and at the same time making strides in self development.

To date, six persons have been recognised in the following parishes: St. James, Hanover, Clarendon, Westmoreland, St. Thomas, Kingston and St. Andrew.

The Grace Trailblazers awards are part of GraceKennedy's 85th anniversary celebrations.

- Contributed

Plans to expand runway abandoned

St. Margaret's Bay, Portland:

The Airport Authority of Jamaica (AAJ) has abandon plans to extend the runway at the Ken Jones domestic airport in St. Margaret's Bay in Portland.

Director of projects at the AAJ, Patrick Saulter, said the aerodrome is overshadowed by hills on one side and is compounded by a crosswind, which could create serious problems for landings and take-offs, should the runway be extended.

He said this was discovered during a feasibility study conducted by a team of inter-national engineers.

Mr. Saulter also said there are no plans to install night lights, which would accommodate night flights. He says due to darkness created by the hills at the entrance to the runway, it is unlikely that night flights will ever be accommodated at that facility.

In the meantime, the aerodrome remains open to users of chartered flights daily.

- Gareth Davis

Council to serve evacuation notice

FOLLY, Portland:

The Portland Parish Council is on the verge of issuing eviction notices to persons operating business illegally along the Folly strip in Port Antonio, as the area is earmarked for major development.

Mayor of Port Antonio, Benny White explained that the Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ) is to carry out rehabilitation work on the Folly strip, along with the construction of a cruise ship pier along the West Harbour peninsula, to accommodate larger cruise vessels to Port Antonio.

The parish council boss pointed out that the Ken Wright shipping pier, in Port Antonio, is only able to accommodate cruise vessels carrying fewer than 700 passengers, because the channel leading to that pier is not wide or long enough to accommodate mega-liners.

The mayor noted that the PAJ has therefore taken the decision to construct a new pier along the West Harbour, which will be able to accommodate mega-liners carrying up to 5,000 passengers.

- Gareth Davis

Musgrave vendors reject offer

PORT ANTONIO, Portland:

Vendors at the Musgrave market in Port Antonio have refused an offer made by the Portland Parish Council to have them relocated temporarily, to an abandoned craft village at Allan Avenue.

The parish council has admitted that it was forced to select the abandoned craft village as th site for the vendors, after they failed in their bid to acquire the BoundBrook Wharf from the Banana Export Company (BECO), which was to house more than 450 vendors during the repairs.

The market is scheduled to undergo major rehabilitation from the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) to the tune of $41 million. Of that amount TPDCo says it will provide $23 million and the council is expected to find the remainder.

- Gareth Davis

Two more schools get sanitation upgrades

St. Elizabeth:

Over 500 students and teachers from St. Vincent Strambi Catholic High School and Top Hill Primary School in St Elizabeth are today benefiting from newly constructed flush toilet sanitation facilities.

The facilities, donated by Food for the Poor working in collaboration with corporate Jamaica, cost $1.2 million.

The charity organisation converted two of its single units into both male and female sanitation blocks at Top Hill Primary School with a total of seven toilets, four wash basins and one urinal for the male section.

St. Vincent Strambi Catholic High School received a new sanitation block divided into six stalls, each equipped with a flush toilet and a wash basin. Absorption pits were also constructed at bothinstitutions.

- Contributed

Dalley commends nurse practitioners

MONTEGO BAY, St. James:

Minister of Health, Horace Dalley, has commended nurse practitioners for their invaluable role in providing comprehensive clinical services and primary health care to undeserved communities across Jamaica.

The minister, in a speech read by Dr. Delroy Fray, consulting surgeon of the Cornwall Regional Hospital, at the nurse practitioners' 30th anniversary and 54th seminar at the Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort in Montego Bay on Wednesday, noted that nurse practitioners were competent and caring professionals who went beyond the call of duty when required.

Nurses, he noted, were integral to the healthy lifestyle programme, which empowered the individual to take control of his condition, while advocating behaviour change.

The nurse practitioners programme was implemented in 1977 to address the need to provide comprehensive clinical services to undeserved communities and to augment the work of the community medical officer.

To date, a total of 372 nurse practitioners have been trained, 42 of whom are from other Caribbean countries.

- JIS