Sir Howard remembered

More tributes have come in following the passing of  former Governor-General Sir Howard Cooke on Friday at the age of 98.  

Sir Howard who was appointed as Jamaica’s fourth head of state on August 1, 1991, has been praised for exemplary public service, and for a life dedicated to the improvement of  Jamaica.

Sir Howard, who died on Friday, was regarded as one of the pioneers in Jamaica’s political movement and who also played a role in the establishment of the regional integration movement.

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, hailed him as an unflinching regionalist who was committed to the upliftment of people. 

“Ever since he became involved in public life in that pivotal year of 1938, Sir Howard’s heart and mind have never wavered in commitment to the upliftment of his people.
“An unflinching regionalist, it was fitting that he was elected to the West Indies Federal Parliament in 1958. None could fail to be moved by his warmth, his broad, endearing smile and his captivating generosity of spirit. He embraced all and was a model of inclusiveness and non-partisanship. His passing has left a deep void in our national life,” she added.

Opposition Leader Andrew Holness said “Teacher Cooke” will be remembered for his contribution to education.

“We ask that in respecting his memory the country recalls his commitment to the education of the nation as well as to the development of decency in political activity,” said Holness, a former Education Minister.

Meanwhile, former Prime Minister, P.J. Patterson said Sir Howard’s work spanned religion, politics, agriculture and sports.

“He did a lot of organizing work for the People’s National Party, he was a salesman in the insurance industry, he was a farmer who loved the land, he was also a sportsman  - a cricketer of class and of course  in the church he was a monumental figure .

A teacher by profession, Sir Howard was a  founding member of the governing People’s National Party (PNP), in 1938.

In 1958 he was elected to the West Indies Federal Parliament as the representative for the western parish of St. James.

From 1962 to 1967 he served in the Senate, after which he sat in the Lower House, from 1967 to 1980.

Sir Howard was President of the Senate from 1989 to 1991 and served on the executive of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

Sir Howard also held several Cabinet portfolios, including education, pension and social security, and labour and the public service.

He was president of the Senate from 1989 to 1991 and served on the executive of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

Sir Howard, who was appointed Governor General in 1991, retired from active public service in 2005.

View the original article here

Sir Howard remembered

"Parish" remembered as a leader among his peers

GERALD Ashley Webber, a late driver of Banks Trucking Limited who passed away on August 9, was remembered as a champion driver who took his career seriously and mastered the art of delivering products safely across the island.

Affectionately called ‘Parish’, Webber passed away at age 64.On August 31, his relatives, friends, mourners and well-wishers gathered at a thanksgiving service to celebrate his life at the St Mary The Virgin Anglican Church on Molynes Road in St AndrewFollowing opening remarks by Reverend Barrington Jones, the casket bearing his remains was carried by pall-bearers from the back of the church to the altar, signalling the start of the service.Francis Robinson, a former colleague and close friend of Webber, offered the first tribute.“He was not only a strong person in character, but in voice. He was a leader whom the other drivers looked up to over the years. The younger drivers looked up to him. He was an icon among the drivers and a giant among men,” Robinson said.He then went on to reflect on conversations they had before Webber’s untimely passing and hailed him as a champion driver.Another unidentified mourner remembered Webber as a man who had a passion for trucks.“That’s why he was a good truck driver,” the mourner told Life Tributes.Webber’s niece, Christina Campbell, delivered the eulogy.According to Campbell, Webber, who was born on November 26, 1948, was a loving and caring person.“He was a good and caring father and later, grandfather. As a provider he was the best. He would say, ‘Don’t worry man. Everything will be all right.’ Although he is gone, the memories remain and make the pain of losing him more bearable,” she said.Webber was also remembered as an individual who offered good advice and wise counsel, especially to other drivers of the various trucking companies he had been employed to during his career.Immediately after completing his secondary level education, he launched his career by joining his father, a previous contractor, working several construction sites before becoming a trucker.Webber is survived by his wife Marcia, daughter Ashley, adopted son Omar, grandchildren Ajahne and Neil, and a host of other relatives and friends.His remains were interred at the Meadowrest Memorial Gardens in St Catherine.Webber’s wife Marcia is a picture of grief as his daughter Ashley tries to hold back the tears.Ashley Webber reads the first lesson during the thanksgiving service for her father’s life.The mourners bow their heads in prayer.Pall-bearers carry the casket bearing the remains of Gerald Ashley Webber.Webber’s grandchildren Neil (right) and Ajahne say a final farewell to their grandfather.Webber’s niece Christina Campbell delivers the eulogy. (PHOTOS: MICHAEL GORDON)

View the original article here

"Parish" remembered as a leader among his peers

Brazil children massacre remembered

23 July 2013 Last updated at 20:34 ET By Donna Bowater Rio de Janeiro The Candelaria massacre was one of the worst child killings in Brazil’s history Over the last 20 years, slowly at first but increasingly conspicuously, Yvonne Bezerra de Mello’s phone has fallen silent.

For two decades, Ms Mello, 66, has kept the same landline number at her spacious apartment in an affluent beachside area of Rio de Janeiro so that survivors of one of the worst child massacres in Brazil’s history could keep in touch.

More than 60 young children sleeping rough outside Candelaria church in central Rio escaped alive after police summarily opened fire on them on a winter night in 1993. Eight children and teenagers died.

“I never changed my home number so in the first 10 years, they called me all the time,” Ms Mello says, sipping camomile tea.

“I was in touch with the survivors for many years. Many of them have died. Little by little, they don’t call any more. So the end was tragic.”

Frantic call

For Ms Mello, a social worker and teacher who had worked with the Candelaria children for years before the massacre, the events of 23 July began with a phone call.

“They called me and said there was a lot of turmoil. There was a union protest and there was a lot of police,” she says.

“I went there at 17:00. Then suddenly, the police came and they arrested one boy, who didn’t belong to the group. He was sniffing glue. They were very upset and threw some stones at them. I stayed there until 20:00.

“There were no cell phones, no way to make a collect call from a public telephone. So I gave them three coins and I said if something happens, call me.

“That day, all my family went to bed and I stayed up watching television, fully dressed. They said I was the first one to get the call.”

When Ms Mello arrived on the scene, she found the children, frantic and waiting for her to arrive.

After trying to revive the dying or dead, she organised the survivors and took them in her Volkswagen van, eight by eight, to the police station.

There are conflicting accounts of what was behind the shooting, which took place at 23:00. Some claim police wanted revenge for an earlier scuffle; others claimed they were off-duty officers paid to clear the city of street children.

Justice served?

According to an Amnesty International report, nine men were said to be involved in the shooting. After years of judicial proceedings, three police officers were jailed.

Nelson Oliveira dos Santos Cunha was sentenced to 261 years in November 1996, Marcos Aurelio Dias Alcantara was sentenced to 204 years two years later, and after repeated appeals, Marcos Vinicius Borges Emanuel, was jailed for 300 years in 2003.

Red figures on the pavement in front of the Candelaria commemorate the dead

Two of them have since been released. The third, Marcos Emanuel, received a pardon in June 2012 and was allowed to leave prison. But this year an appeals court overturned the pardon and now he is being sought by police.

“The anniversary of the crime is cause for reflection on the persistence of police violence in Brazil,” Amnesty International said in a statement. “In the case of Rio de Janeiro, after two decades, there has been a succession of extrajudicial executions of the same type.”

Short lives

In the meantime, it is suspected that almost all of the survivors have died, many in equally violent circumstances.

Continue reading the main story

To this day, we don’t know why the massacre happened”

End Quote Patricia Oliveira Organiser of the Candelaria massacre memorial “The last two I heard from, one was shot three years ago and one girl was arrested and taken to a place for crazy people. Gina. They called me and said she talked about me,” Ms Mello added.

Elizabeth Cristina Borges de Oliveira Maia, known as Beth to her friends, would have been around 35 today but was shot dead on her doorstep in 2000, the month before she was due to testify at an appeal hearing for Emanuel. Local press suggested it was a drug gang-related killing.

Sandro do Nascimento, 21, is the best-known of the survivors after he took a bus full of passengers hostage and was shot dead, along with one of his hostages, after a stand-off with police. His story was turned into the film Bus 174.

At a special commemorative mass at Candelaria church on Friday, Catholic pilgrims, campaigners and social projects gathered ahead of World Youth Day to remember the victims who died in the tragedy and since then.

White roses piled up beneath the cross outside the church where the names of the eight murdered children were painted.

“To this day, we don’t know why the massacre happened,” said Patricia Oliveira, 39, one of the organisers of the memorial. “It’s a time to reflect once more.”

New generation

The city authorities declined to comment on the anniversary, saying they were busy with preparations for the visit of Pope Francis, who arrived on Monday.

Flicking through the crayon drawings of the Candelaria children showing their brightly-coloured messages of peace and hope, Ms de Mello described how the situation on the street had changed.

After continuing to teach street children under a bypass for four years, Ms Mello has now opened her own school in the Mare complex of favelas. Projeto Uere is a model school with 480 children.

Yvonne Bezerra de Mello now runs a school in a poor area in Rio

“Working the streets was very complicated and that’s why I had to do prevention work, and I opened my school,” she says.

“Today, it would be impossible to do this kind of [street] work with [the growth of consumption of] crack [cocaine]. With crack, they’re like zombies.

“I think there are the same amount of kids neglected. There’s a lot of street kids in Rio. They go to the streets because they can’t come home. That happens, still today. If you see the small kids working, it’s because their families send them.

“People can’t live without love and they come to the streets to find love. The street was their family. They looked after each other, they held together their group.

“[The police officers] stayed in jail for maybe 11 years, not more. It’s terrible. If they sentence them to 30 years, they should do 30 years. The problem in Brazil is impunity. This system, I can’t change.”

View the original article here

Brazil children massacre remembered

Slain cop remembered as the perfect policeman

THE pews of the Highgate Gospel Assembly in St Mary overflowed with mourners who had turned out to pay tribute for the life of slain policeman Corporal Alphanso Bonnetto Gossop two Saturdays ago.

Gossop was attacked and shot close to his home on Sunrise Crescent in St Andrew earlier this month.His alleged attackers were quickly nabbed by alert cops and have been charged with murder, conspiracy to murder and illegal possession of a firearm.Gossop was described as a career cop who dedicated his life to the service of his country yet his life was senselessly snuffed out by scoundrels hell-bent on wreaking havoc on the society.As the casket bearing his remains lay draped in the national flag his colleagues and relatives paid tribute to the native son who gave his all to national development during his tenure on earth.Clearly shaken by his colleague’s brutal demise, head of the Police Federation, Sergeant Raymond Wilson, called for all well-thinking Jamaicans to take a stand against crime.“Today is no doubt a sad day. Gossop was a committed public servant, a patriot who was brutally murdered in broad daylight. Men of these atypical personas are few and hard to come by. As a people we must be committed and stand up. The police need your help to battle these reprobates who walk the streets,” Wilson said.Gossop spent 18 years as the bodyguard of Denise Eldemire-Shearer, the widow of former Prime Minister Hugh Shearer.Eldemire-Shearer was tearful as she paid tribute to a man who had grown to become part of her family.“When I got that call I cried for Gossop. I cried for my country. He protected me since 1998,” she said.Gossop who was 55 at the time of his death was born in Orange River, St Mary. He was the fifth of six children born to Clarice Vernon and Hubert Gossop.In 1977 he enlisted in the constabulary and was trained at the Port Royal Police Academy. His first assignment was at the Kingston Central Police Division. By 1981 he was transferred to the Protective Services Division where he served as the close protective officer to government minister Dr Kenneth BaughGossop was again transferred to the Kingston Central Police Division and also did a stint at the motorised patrol before he returned to the fold of the Protective Services Division.He was promoted to Corporal in 1999, a rank he held until the time of his untimely passing.Head of the Protective Services Division Superintendent Barrington Simpson, who delivered the eulogy, described Gossop as a cop with the right attitude.“If there was a perfect policeman then he could be described as such. He had the right attitude, discipline and deportment. He was gentle and caring although he could be stubborn at times,” Simpson said.Gossop’s nephew, Andrew Gossop, who is also a member of the constabulary, so called for Jamaicans to bell the crime cat.“Please help the police in the fight against crime. You don’t know whom the guns are going to be turned on next,” he said.Tributes were also offered by Gossop’s daughter Monique who read a poem and his colleague from the Protective Services Division Sergeant Andrea Campbell who belted out a heart- rending rendition of the hymn Oh What A Sunrise.Corporal Alphanso Bonnetto Gossop is survived by his wife Levene, eight children, five siblings, his family in the constabulary and a host of other relatives and friends. His remains were interred in the Marlborough Cemetery in St Mary.The late Corporal Alphanso Gossop.Gossop’s wife Levene holds their daughter Aleah close to her during the Thanksgiving Service.Jamaica Labour Party Chairman Bobby Montague comforts Denise Eldemire-Shearer as she cries for her late bodyguard.A section of the congregation of mourners who turned out to say their final farewell to Corporal Alphanso Gossop.Head of the Protective Services Division Superintendent Barrington Simpson delivers the eulogy.The police guard carries the casket bearing the remains of Corporal Alphanso Gossop. (PHOTOS: MICHAEL GORDON)Gossop’s daughter Monique is a picture of emotion as she reads a poem.

View the original article here

Slain cop remembered as the perfect policeman