Jamaica News

Norbert Graham, a 52 year old woodcutter of Shaw Castle in St. James, died in hospital yesterday, after he was reportedly hit by a tree branch at Mount Horeb in St. James. According to reports, Graham was on a farm cutting down a tree, when a branch fell and hit him on the head. He was taken to the Cornwall Regional Hospital where he later died from his injuries.

A recent search of prisoners at the all female Fort Augusta Adult Correctional Facility, reportedly turned up at least five instances where mobile phones were hidden inside the vaginas of prisoners. Unconfirmed reports indicate that the phones were wrapped in tissue and tied in plastic.

According to reports, prison officials introduced new hand held metal detectors that were able to alert them of the possibility of metal objects that were not visible to the naked eye. In these instances, the prisoners in question were taken to the Kingston Public Hospital, where doctors conducted searches and the mobile phones found hidden inside their vaginas.

14 year old Delano Martin of Greenvale, Manchester, reportedly hung himself on Monday (July 12) after telling his mother that he would hang himself because she had refused to send him to summer school.

According to reports, Martin had told his mother that he wanted to go to summer school. She reportedly told him that he would be going the next day. This is said to have angered the child who reportedly told his mother that he would kill himself if she did not let him go. His mother later found him hanging from a rope on their verandah.

Its been just over a week since Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke was extradited to the United States to face gun running and drug trafficking charges, and vendors in the Downtown Kingston area are reporting that buttons bearing his image and words are among the fastest selling items right now.

The buttons, which are reportedly being sold for $200, feature two pictures of Coke, along with the words “I Love My People” at the top and “President Dudus” at the bottom. The “I Love My People” is apparently quoted from Coke himself, said just prior to his extradition.

Unconfirmed reports indicate also that matching t-shirts are being printed at this time, and will be available for purchase soon.

Desrene King, a 42 year old cane cutter from Frome in Westmoreland, died yesterday after she was reportedly struck by lightning.

Reports indicate that King was among a group of people who were planting cane on an estate, when lightning struck at approximately 3 p.m. King was reportedly struck by the lightning, and was rushed to the Savanna-la-mar hospital where she later died.

According to Dr. Beverly Wright, of the Manchester Health Department, some vendors at the Mandeville Market in Manchester are using formaldehyde (a deadly chemical that is used to preserve dead bodies before burial) to prevent their fish from spoiling. Dr. Wright made the disclosure during a Board of Health meeting at the Manchester Parish Council yesterday.

According to reports, in March of this year, a resident became ill after eating a fish that had been purchased at the market. The Ministry of Health was alerted, and they instantly took nine samples of fish from various vendors in the market. The samples were sent to the Government’s laboratory in Kingston for testing, and all nine samples tested positive for the chemical formaldehyde.

Indications are that the police will be investigating the matter in order to determine how the vendors came in possession of the chemical. Secretary Manager of the Manchester Parish Council, Alfred Graham, and Mayor of Mandeville Brenda Ramsay, have reportedly summoned fish vendors who sell in market to a meeting at the council’s chambers some time next week.

June 18, 1985 – The Jamaican dollar drops two cents against the United States dollar, clearing at J$5.60 to US$1, a new low. The transaction rate for the US dollar in the commercial banking system as from today will be J$5.56 buying and J$5.60 selling.

A resident of Old Harbour Bay in St. Catherine, reportedly spent nine days recovering in hospital recently, after he was bitten on the penis by a large pig. According to reports, the man (who is also the owner of the pig) wanted to sell the pig, so he and another man entered the pig pen and tried to catch it. The animal reportedly became violent and bit him twice, including once on the penis, resulting in his immediate hospitalization.

The family of 14 year old Norris Smith of a Flankers address in St. James is in mourning, after the boy reportedly hanged himself on an ackee tree, as a way of protesting his mother’s plan to leave Jamaica in order to work in the United States. The incident reportedly happened on Thursday (June 10), and his mother – Marcia Reid – has vowed to serve God and never to travel abroad again for economic reasons.

Reid, a single mother of five, reportedly said that she had been working as a security guard on the night shift for 11 years and had become tired of struggling to make ends meet. She reportedly told the three of her children who lived with her, that she was leaving for the US to work so life could be better for all of them and that she would be leaving them in the care of others. Norris was to be left with his father.

After hearing the plan, Norris reportedly threatened to kill himself, but Reid did not take the suicidal threats seriously.

Ivan Smith, a 75 year old farmer of Barclay Town district in Gayle, St. Mary, was killed yesterday after he was struck by lightning.

Reports are that at approximately 2 p.m. yesterday afternoon, Smith was outdoors tending to his pigs, when the lightning struck and injured him. He was found by relatives who took him to the hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries.