SAN PEDRO DAILY, June 19, 2013,Belize,news,features,newspaper, information,resource,Caribbean,Ambergris Caye,San Pedro,Caye Caulker,

Helping hands-
Restoring the beach

The San Pedro Town Council is working to restore the beach of Ambergris Caye following the passage of Tropical Depression II which moved across Belize on Monday June 17th. While the island and the country was spared from the worst, Ambergris Caye was battered with the rains, wind and the waves which certainly did roll in its fair of debris that washed along the shore lines.
On Tuesday the Mayor of San Pedro Town and Vice Chairman of the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) – San Pedro Operational Committee Daniel Guerrero was supervising beach restoration work. “We did an assessment of the island immediately after the passage of the storm and we are ready to work to restore the island and bring it back to normal. The storm brought mostly debris and brought land erosion in some areas. What happen is that the sand from the shoreline was brought more on shore. The only place underwater is San Mateo. A few of the private docks were damaged so it is not much. It will take us two to three days to clean up the beach from the debris and we should be up and running like normal,” said Guerrero who was accompanied on site by members of NEMO San Pedro Branch.
Yesterday, Guerrero announced that he would need all hands on deck to clean the beach after the storm. Since early, beachfront residents were out cleaning up the debris and other stuff that washed up on beach. Joining in the cleaning was a group of 49 traveling from Raleigh, North Carolina USA who are on the island doing missionary work at the Holy Cross Anglican School. The group comprising mostly of high school students accompanied by nine adults joined workers with rakes and wheelbarrows to clean up the debris left behind by the storm.
Speaking to The San Pedro Sun group leader Liz Stroff said that while on the island, they saw the notice sent out by The San Pedro Town Council for volunteers to assist in work to restore the island after the storm. “We are on the island and are currently doing volunteer work at Holy Cross Anglican School. We saw that the council was in need of volunteers and since the school is closed because of the storm, we decided to bring the group out to help along the beach. Our original goal was to come and volunteer so it wasn’t a difficult thing to redirect our efforts to cleaning up the beach. We are happy that we are able to assist the island in recovering from the storm. We have a beach and we know what it is after a storm and what it brings up on the beach so we can relate to the island,” said Stroff. “We are happy and sincerely grateful to the group from Carolina who came out to assist us in the beach clean up,” said Guerrero.
The SPTC provided the youngsters with rakes and wheelbarrows as well as drinking water. Mayor Guerrero and members of his council along with NEMO personnel joined the group on the beach near Boca del Rio Park to show their support and appreciation. The San Pedro Sun would like to thank the group and the Town Council in keeping La Isla clean! Kudos guys!
San Pedro Sun

New Division at San Pedro
High School Has
First Graduation Class

San Pedro Adult Continuing Education (SPACE ) is the new name given to what once used to be St. Peter’s College. After running into administration problems and closed down by the Ministry of Education, San Pedro Junior College was given the license to operate this adult education institution. Others refer to this new school as San Pedro High School Night Division because it is employing high school teachers and following a curriculum similar to San Pedro High.
This past Sunday, June 16, 2013, SPACE held its historic first graduation ceremonies for nine seniors who proudly marched up the aisle at the Angel Nuñez Auditorium in their blue gowns. The emcee Alex Nuñez welcomed Salutatorian Sheila Olivarez to greet the many friends, relatives, spouses and boyfriends to the ceremony. The invited guest speaker, Mr. Clive Welch of Lighthouse Christian Radio, concentrated on impressing unto the graduates the many useful meanings of the word “continuing” and coaxed the graduates into setting high goals and pursuing their dreams.
The graduation ceremony was held under the kind patronage of Board Chairman, Mr. Algemiro ‘Milo’ Paz, who along with his wife distributed diplomas, awards as well as gifts. Topping the Class of 2013 of SPACE was Miss Lupita Dominguez who was honored as Valedictorian. The honors of Vote of Thanks went to Miss Felicia Rejon.
Thus came to an end a very touching historical ceremony of SPACE that operates under the banners of San Pedro Junior College and San Pedro High. The Institution is also running a program for The University of Belize offering a Bachelor’s Degree in Tourism. The graduation ceremony for SPJC is set for July 6.
Ambergris Today

Meteorology Dept. says
more rains for coming days

NEMO keeps close contact with the Meteorology Department that is stationed at the Philip Goldson International Airport. An hour after the NEMO advisory, the MET Office indicated that at three p.m., tropical depression number two was located near latitude eighteen point three-eight north and longitude ninety-one point nine west; that is essentially at the Bay of Campeche near the Gulf of Mexico. Chief MET Officer, Dennis Gonguez, told News Five’s Jose Sanchez that there will be more rains during the next two days and we should all keep our eyes on the next system on the horizon.

Dennis Gonguez, Chief Meteorologist
“That’s just about entering the Bay of Campeche. It is moving towards the west-north-west at ten miles per hour and it has maximum sustained winds of thirty miles per hour.”
Jose Sanchez
“When it comes to the rains, is it almost fully gone? How much more weather should we be seeing?”
Dennis Gonguez
“Well the system, although it will be in the Bay of Campeche, will still be supporting some unstable conditions over our area. So we can still see some two to three inches spread out over the couple of days. So we could see two to three inches spread out between Wednesday and Thursday.”
Jose Sanchez
“In terms of the severity of it as a tropical depression, what’s your synopsis?”
Dennis Gonguez
“Well the major threat from it was the rainfall. We got as high as thirteen point five inches of rainfall in Pomona from Sunday, Monday and today; we had thirteen point inches of rainfall at Pomona. At Melinda in the Stann Creek District, we also had nine point five inches of rainfall. So we had significant amounts of rainfall associated with this system and that is typically with a tropical depression. The threat might not be from the winds, but we have the threat of heavy rainfall, intense rainfall associated with tropical depressions.”
Jose Sanchez
“Are you aware of any flashfloods or any runoffs throughout the country?”
Dennis Gonguez
“Well I have received some information from the hydrology unit here. They’re saying that the North Stann Creek River is at flood stage, I believe it is flooding by now. The Mullins River is also at flood stage. The Sittee River at Kendall is also rising and rivers in the south such as the South Stann Creek, the Deep River and most of the others for the south are above normal and are rising.”
Jose Sanchez
“Should we expect those levels to continue to rise over the next couple days or should it…how long before it actually levels out?”
Dennis Gonguez
“Another two to three inches spread out over the next two days or so, then we can expect those rivers to continue to gradually rise.”
Jose Sanchez
“In terms of safety, is there any particular community that should be on the lookout for this floodwater?”
Dennis Gonguez
“I don’t know of any in particular, but those in low-lying and you know that you are prone to floods annually, then you should be on the lookout for rising waters.”
Jose Sanchez
“As a part of NEMO, have you discussed any particular issue, since we are not getting a full communication from NEMO?”
Dennis Gonguez
“Well NEMO has been sharing its bulletins with us. We do the input of the meteorological side and they have been sharing bulletins with us.”
Jose Sanchez
“And as you have said before, it is going to be a very active season and it started that way.”
Dennis Gonguez
“Right. We’re only into the second, approaching the third week of June and we’ve already had two tropical depressions and one became Tropical Storm Andrea. So it seems that this system will be a bit active.”
Jose Sanchez
“Nothing currently on the proverbial horizon?”
Dennis Gonguez
“Well there is another active tropical wave entering the eastern Caribbean and that looks again for the weekend. So we have to keep our eyes open as the weekend approaches.”
The MET Office is open seven days a week. In addition to radio updates and advisories issued on its website, there is a hotline with a recorded forecast that anyone can dial and get a weather update. That number is 225-2480.
CH5

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THOUGHT OF THE DAY
The true aim of every one who aspires to be a teacher should be,
not to impart his own opinions,
but to kindle minds.
F. W. Robertson

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