SAN PEDRO DAILY,July 28, 2007,Belize News,Features,Newspapers, Information,Resource,Caribbean,Ambergris Caye

Burglary victim’s girlfriend
charged with theft

Yesterday we reported that forty-three year old Marlon Monsanto had been charged with burglarizing the home of San Pedro resident Andy Tillett. But in an ironic turn of events, tonight the victim’s girlfriend is the one in the hot seat as cops believe she stole thousands of dollars from her former employer. On July seventh, officers on the island arrested and charged forty-four year old Denise Patricia Lopez for twenty counts of theft after the owners of the Halliday Hotel reported that thousands of dollars in receipts were missing. According to the manager, between January and June Lopez was the hotel’s office assistant and was told to make several cash deposits. But subsequent checks with the bank revealed that thirty-seven thousand dollars never made it into the hotel’s account. Lopez has pled not guilty to the charges. Read More

Businessmen have a role to play in good governance says U.S. Ambassador

United States Ambassador to Belize, Robert Dieter has suggested that one area where the business community should push for progress is in the quality of regulations promoting private sector development.
Dieter was speaking to businessmen and women at the 6th annual general meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce in Belize last Thursday, where he was the guest speaker.
“One indicator important to the business community is regulatory quality,” Dieter said.
“This measures the ability of government to formulate and implement policies and regulations promoting private sector development.
“In terms of regulatory quality, Belize fell from the 58th to the 45th percentile. Moreover this was Belize’s worst ranking. This seems an area where the business community should push for progress if the business climate is going to encourage investment.”
Contrary to what some would have you believe, democracy delivers tangible results. It is an empirical fact that democratically governed nations “are more likely to secure the peace, deter aggression, expand open markets, promote economic development, protect [non-citizens], combat international terrorism and crime, uphold human and worker rights, avoid humanitarian crises and refugee flows, improve the global environment, and protect human health.”
On this same theme he went on to say:
“Those countries that lack institutional structures or mechanisms to make their governments and elected officials accountable will fail to deliver on democracy’s promise. It is ultimately the people and often the business communities that must remain vigilant and continually demand that the government remain responsive to their concerns.”
Dieter chose to talk about the role of the U.S. embassy here in Belize.
“Our mission simply stated” he said, “Helping to build and sustain partnerships with democratic peaceful well governed states that are responsive to the needs of their people and are responsible actors in the international community.
“We recognize the value of democracy and freedom and that makes our nation strong and believe that these values are essential to development and prosperity. Read More

Chefs brush up on skills with international expert

In an effort to inspire local chefs to keep spicing up menus across the country, for the last four years the Belize Tourism Board has been sponsoring a series of instruction courses for all manner of cooks. One such course ended today at the Institute for Technical Vocational Education and Training in Belize City. There was a whole of chopping, stirring, baking, and frying going in the ITVET kitchens this morning as the participants in the Advance Culinary Training Course whipped up their last meal.
June McKoy, Cook, Fido’s Restaurant and Bar
“I am making the callaloo right now. ... It consists of coconut milk, chicken stock, thyme, okra, and that’s all sautéed in a pan.”
Trinell Smith, Chef, Robert’s Grove
“We’re doing plantain with bacon and garlic.”
The eighteen cooks, chefs, and caterers all came to class with at least two years experience under their belts. But none could pass up the opportunity to study for five-days with Professor Phillip Crispo of the Culinary Institute of America.
Phillip Crispo, Facilitator
“This course is designed for cuisines of Latin America so we looked at all southern and central American cuisines and then we spend some time talking about ingredients and some of the history and the cultures that influence the cuisines then we come into the kitchen, I do a couple of demonstrations and then basically the students have complete recipes, quite comprehensive recipes, and then they go ahead and produce that food.” Read More

Tackling Corruption

By Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

Most developing countries are plagued by corruption that proves to be disadvantageous to the country's poor. If these countries want to see any improvement, they need to reform their policies and invest more into every aspect of governance says Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria's former Finance Minister, in her Sabot Memorial Lecture to the Center for Global Development.
A frontal assault on corruption requires a comprehensive strategy as any piecemeal approaches may only serve to re-direct corruption to other sectors of the economy. Developing countries need to take ownership of the fight against corruption themselves as they can least afford to be corrupt given their resource constraints.
Three components
A comprehensive strategy must be comprised of three components: a diagnostic survey to assess the dominant areas of corruption, sustained political will to tackle corruption and developing institutions to help change incentives (that is, stronger sanctions for corruption and improved benefits for ‘clean’ practices).
Political corruption must be tackled centrally as part and parcel of the reform and should include reform of electoral cycles and systems as well as political party and campaign finance reform.
A move towards use of public monies for political party and campaign finance would facilitate greater transparency and accountability. Read More

NOTICES/LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The Consequences of the DFC Report
What of the DFC Report?
Godfrey Smith

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.
If you love what you are doing,
you will be successful
Albert Schweitzer

HEALTH AND BEAUTY

Aromatherapy - Cures for Everyone
by Bibi Chapmam

Dandruff
This scalp disorder seems to affect nearly everyone at some time in their lives. It occurs when dead skin cells accumulate on the scalp and fail to shed themselves normally. They build up, then fall off in large scales. There are other problems which have similar symptoms to dandruff, such as psoriasis and eczema, so if in any doubt check with your doctor.
Try massaging the following blend into your scalp twice a week before shampooing. Leave on for thirty minutes before washing with a mild shampoo. Add six drops of rosemary and four drops of cedar wood oil to 4 fl. oz (100 ml) of jojoba or avocado oil. Also add one drop of each essential oil to your final rinsing water after shampooing.

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