Cops still probingRib Kage attack

The Constant Spring police said they are intensifying investigations into a confrontation at the Rib Kage restaurant in St Andrew last month, which left three relatives nursing serious injuries.

According to reports, on Saturday, June 27, two of the men went to Rib Kage, along Constant Spring Road, to pick up the youngest sibling.

A policewoman on duty at the Constant Spring Police Station told The Gleaner yesterday that the police had received reports that, on their arrival, the young men were chopped and stabbed by other men already at the location.

The parents of the boys, in a letter written to The Gleaner, said the brothers suffered "punctured lungs, head wounds, protruding intestines and ruptured colons".

The parents, who said the matter was reported to the Constant Spring police, complained it did not appear the matter was being handled with the urgency.

St Catherine labourer killed

Louise Clarke said she was hurting from the death of her grandson, less than a day after burying another who was also shot and killed by the police.

"Is yesterday a buried one and now another funeral. Me can't take anymore," Clarke said.

Dead is Albert Clarke, 28-year-old labourer of McCooks Pen, St Catherine.

The Gleaner learnt from the grandmother that the shooting took place about 5 a.m. Sunday after she heard, "Police, police, open up!"

She said after Clarke went on to the veranda, he slipped and when he got up he was shot at point-blank range by the police.

The police said Clarke had engaged them in a gun battle, during which he was shot and killed and a handgun seized.

The Bureau of Special Investigations is probing the matter.

Palladium leaves Savoury taste

One year ago, 19-year-old Portland native Doren Savoury travelled all the way to Westmoreland to visit his aunt. At the same time, the Grand Palladium hotel in Hanover was about to open its doors and had been convening a series of job fairs.

Desperately in need of a job after honing his culinary skills at the St Thomas HEART Academy, Savoury attended one of the job fairs. The rest his history.

Now 20, Savoury is one of the chefs at the Barbecue Grill in the sports bar at the luxury hotel. But his experience is not peculiar.

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett revealed that Grand Palladium's arrival on the tourism landscape has helped Jamaica in the midst of the global economic crisis.

Speaking at an awards ceremony to mark its first year, Bartlett revealed that the Fiesta Group had pumped US$159 million and has employed approximately 1,000 people.

"They are not just filling rooms, they are growing our tourist market," Bartlett declared. 'It (the Grand Palladium) is the biggest single development in Jamaica and the largest employer in Hanover," he added.