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THIS WEEK”S SUMMARY
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CHURCH COMMUNITY CONDEMNS SHOOTING OF POLICE CORPORAL—02/09/08
Police corporal Peter Salkey and his church brother, Junior McKenzie, were talking after a Seventh-Day Adventist church service in Westmoreland when two gunmen attacked them. The church community is outraged at the shootings. Salkey is hospitalized in critical condition, while McKenzie, who also remains hospitalized, is reported as being in stable condition.

NATIONAL GALLERY TO EXHIBIT BELISARIO WORKS—02/10/08
The National Gallery of Jamaica will open a smaller version of “Isaac Mendes Belisario: Art and Emancipation in Jamaica,” in March 2008. The exhibit was originally shown at the Yale Center of British Arts and will use Jamaican loans to the original, plus other loans from several Jamaican art collections. About 150 objects will be shown. The exhibit was organized in commemoration of the bicentenary of the end of British slave trade.

10-YEAR-OLD DONATES US$500 TO DEAF STUDENTS—02/10/08
Kimberly Harris, an American who was born to Jamaican parents, has decided to donate US$500 to the Lister Mair Gilby School for the Deaf in Hope Estates, Papine. Kimberly received the payment from Hands Across Jamaica for Righteousness for giving a guest address at the Jamaica Conference Center in May 2007 at the launch of the MAP Keeper’s Club.

JAMAICAN GOVERNMENT CONSIDERING LEGALIZATION OF ABORTION—02/11/08
The government of Jamaica is looking at a plan to legalize abortion. It has been prompted to take action because health officials believe legalization would protect women from injury and even death resulting from illegal operations. Rudyard Spencer, Health Minister, said a committee is reviewing a plan, which would consider public opinion in the matter.

NEW TOURIST ATTRACTION IN OCHO RIOS—02/12/08
A new tourist attraction, “Mystic Mountain,” is located 700 feet above sea level and offers a semi-evergreen forest and a natural spring. The area provides a 360-degree view of the island’s coastline, St. Mary’s eastern shore, St. Ann’s Bay, and the Murphy Hill mountain ridge. The 100-acre tourist attraction will open in three months a feature the “rapture in the rainforest” adventure, bobsledding, eco-friendly aerial trams, walking trails, and other attractions.

JAMAICAN PLANS TO TAP RELIGIOUS TOURISM—02/13/08
Jamaica plans to take advantage of the growing market for religious-oriented tourism in order to boost the economy of the island, according to government officials and business leaders. A new convention center is expected to attract millions of travelers who attend religious conferences outside of their home nations, said Edmund Bartlett, Tourism Minister. The center is scheduled for completion in 2009. The worldwide religious tourism market totals some $18 billion per year and includes about 300 million travelers, according to the World Religious Travel Association.

JAMAICAN BILLIIONAIRE DONATES J$105 MILLION—02/14/08
Michael Lee-Chin, who is listed in Forbes Magazine as one of the 500 wealthiest individuals in the world, has donated about US$1.48 million to Northern Caribbean University (NCU), which is owned and operated by the Seventh-Day Adventists. The donation was made toward building a nursing school and a freshman scholarship program. Lee-Chin is chairman of AIC Limited and the National Commercial Bank of Jamaica Ltd.
HOLNESS OBJECTS TO CONDOMS IN SCHOOLS—02/15/08
Minister of Education, Andrew Holness, stands by his position that condoms should not be distributed in Jamaican schools. Holness says the revised health and family life education program used in secondary schools is aimed at empowering students to make good lifestyle decisions. Schools are responsible for telling students about the choices they have to protect themselves against unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease.

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JAMAICAN DIASPORA NEWS
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JAMAICAN BAKER A SELF-MADE MAN—02/11/08
Charles Earle Boothe, originally from Clarendon, Jamaica, transformed his small Caribbean bakery into an international business. Boothe, 60, died recently after several years of fighting cancer. Charles Jr., 34, Boothe’s son, says his father wanted to work for himself in the tradition of following the American dream. Boothe went to New York in the 1960s and worked as a machinist, but he always wanted something more. When he moved to Broward in Florida in 1986 to be closer to his sister Olive, he decided to try a patty business to serve the growing Caribbean community in the area. Boothe was very successful and respected in the community.

PHOENIX DOWNTOWN TO HAVE JAMAICAN RESTAURANT—02/12/08
The latest business to join the move to downtown dining is the Bread Fruit, a Jamaican restaurant that will be located near the dorms of Arizona State University. Dwayne Allen, the owner and a native Jamaica who has lived in the state for 18 years, will recreate his favorite childhood dishes, using a secret family recipe for jerked chicken. He will also focus on healthy eating, and no foods will be fried in his restaurant. Allen plans to open the restaurant in April 2008.

JAMAICAN-BORN PILOT HONORED BY U.S. CONGRESS—02/13/08
Barrington Irving, Jamaican-born pilot, was honored with a resolution by the United States Congress to recognize his effort in becoming the first black pilot and the youngest pilot to fly solo around the world. Irving completed his 27-day flight, which totaled 26,800 miles, in June 2007. The congressional resolution encourages initiatives like Experience Aviation, Irving’s nonprofit organization that helps underprivileged youth to look for careers in aviation and aerospace industries.

JAMAICAN GAY ACTIVIST WANTS REFUGEE STATUS IN CANADA—02/14/08
A top Jamaican gay activist, Gareth Henry, has traveled to Canada and is claiming refugee status. He says that 13 of his friends have been murdered in Jamaica since 2004. One of them, a 22-year-old who was suspected of being gay, was chased by a mob to the harbor. He couldn’t swim and the crowd watched him drown. Henry, an activist with Jamaica’s gay-rights organization Jamaican Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG), has had his own bad experiences as a gay man in Jamaica as well.

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SPORTS
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AUSTRALIAN OUT OF RUNNING AGAINST SIMPSON—02/10/08
Sally McLellan, who was to have been matched against visiting Jamaican sprinter Sherone Simpson, 2006’s fastest woman in the world over 100 meters, will not be able to make the run. She pulled a hamstring during a 100-meter heat in the Queensland Championships, and Sharon Hannan, her coach, believes it is very unlikely she will meet Simpson in the upcoming 200-meter match.

JAMAICAN BOBSLED TEAM RECEIVED STARDOM, THEN RIDICULE—02/11/08
The Jamaican bobsled team was looking for fame at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, and when they experienced a major crash, they got it. Their story was made into a Hollywood movie, and the four team members were instant stars. However, their celebrity came at a price, and they also faced ridicule, jealousy, and contempt from others. They were looking for respect at Calgary, said Dudley Stokes, pilot of the sled on the day it crashed, but the crash ended that hope. He says he has drawn strength and inspiration from the experience over the years, however.

JAMAICAN ATHLETES STAR AT INDOOR MEET IN NEW YORK—02/12/08
Several Jamaican athletes were in fine form during the New Balance Collegiate meet at the Armory in New York. Kimberley Williams, former Vere Technical and national junior representative, led the way with an impressive 13.72 meters in the female triple jump. Williams attends Florida State University.

JAMAICAN BOXER TO FACE TITLE HOLDER—02/13/08
O’neil bell, former undisputed cruiser-weight champion in Jamaica, will fight former light heavy-weight titleholder Tomasz Adamek, in a title elimination match in Katowice, Poland, on April 19, 2008. The handlers of both boxers have agreed to a deal that will avoid an IBF-ordered purse bid. The winner will receive a chance to fight titlist Steve Cunningham.

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DEVOTIONAL
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Responding to Love

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, and across every language and culture where the day is celebrated, people took the time to affirm and reaffirm love. Unless by mutual agreement to bypass the day's sentimentalities, not many relationships would survive where one person 'forgot' the obligatory tangible show of affection. Rightly or wrongly, regardless of the state of one's relationship, it is what is expected.

While February 14th is almost universally set aside for this purpose, the believer is in the unique position of hearing affirmations and reaffirmations of love every day. While whispers of "I love you" from our loved ones bring joy and delight to most hearts, God reminds us of this fact at different times during the days. Unlike human love, His love is unfailing and unconditional, even when we ourselves are unlovable. As we go through the hustle and bustle of our days, His ongoing faithfulness is a practical demonstration of that love. Through the prophet Jeremiah He reminds us, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you" (31:3, ESV). God wasn't just content on loving us, but like a good lover, He demonstrated that love in a manner that no one else could. In Romans 5:8 we read, "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us", and lest we fail to understand the magnitude of this love, Jesus, God in the flesh, told us, "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). Has anyone else done that for you lately?

It is not likely that anyone laid down their lives this past Valentine's Day to prove their love, but God gave us the ultimate gift as tangible proof of His love , His Son Jesus Christ (John 3:16). Just as we found appropriate responses to the acts of love from our loved ones, so God's demonstration demand an equally appropriate response. I am reminded of the words from an old hymn:

"Were the whole realm of nature mine / That were an offering far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine / Demands my soul, my life, my all."

That was the hymn writer's response. What is yours?

CEW

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CREDITS/SOURCES
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The weekly news is compilation of new articles from top Caribbean and Jamaican news sources.