Somali pirates attack Dutch warship

HNLMS Tromp (F803)

Every so often, someone does something amazingly silly that make you just laugh. This was the case when Somali pirates mistakenly tried to hijack a Dutch frigate today. The HNLMS Tromp is loaded with all kinds of missiles, torpedoes, really large guns and other armaments.

This warship is almost twice the size of another Dutch warship--the HNLMS Van Amstel--that visited Trinidad last year.

We could use a couple of fighting frigates in our Coast Guard.

Excellent Trini youth

Top: Model Trini 13-yr-old, Nick Sinanan.

Bottom: Chilean looters.

Just when some are ready to give up on our nation’s restless youth, we hear an inspiring story like this:

“Nick Sinanan has more hobbies and talents than most people will have in their entire life. And he is just 13.

Nick runs on Lafayette Middle School’s track team and is captain of the school’s soccer team.

He also plays ice hockey, is a black belt in karate, a member of the children’s Mardi Gras outfit Krewe of Augustus, a scuba diver and mixes music on turntables in his spare time. He also excels at academics. “My favourite subject, besides lunch, is math and science,” he said, jokingly.”

Just in case anyone thought Chileans showed any more restraint than Haitians in the aftermath of earthquakes, there is a first person account of Chilean youth rampaging through the capital city’s streets robbing anyone they found. This was mere minutes after the earthquake, at 4 am!

At least the Haitians waited a few days before looting. And their looting was mainly for food, whereas many Chileans seemed to have a preference for TVs and other electronic goods.

No wonder vigilante groups emerged.

Take note, T&T.

Preparing for our own earthquake

Since Haiti’s 7.0 magnitude earthquake and now Chile’s 8.8, some Trinidadians and Tobagonians have been paying attention and wondering about our readiness for our own ‘overdue’ quake.

Waiting for a government directive through the Office of Disaster Planning and Management (ODPM) may work. But it certainly won’t pay. Far better to prepare ourselves, family and community by stockpiling water/food, a redundant security system—preferably in conjunction with our immediate community—and medical supplies, plus whatever other preparations we’d need to rebuild and return to some degree of normalcy. In short, we need beans, bullets and band-aids. 

And training.

Organise family emergency drills. Then at the street level. Then at the neighbourhood level. Then the entire community, if possible. Video everything, then look for weaknesses and strengths. Eliminate or reduce the weak parts of the plan, and build on the strengths.

Document and pass on to other communities. Rinse. Repeat.

While on the subject, shouldn’t the Tobago-based Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) pilot program finally reach Trinidad? Maybe AFTER the disaster…

T&T’S CHILE RESPONSE

“Prime Minister Patrick Manning and his Government is monitoring the situation in Chile and will take appropriate steps soon.”

The Chilean government does not want outside help, and has said so itself:

‘Chile has so far not requested foreign assistance, saying it can handle the immediate relief effort.

Foreign Minister Mariano Fernandez said Chile did not want aid offers to be "a distraction", adding: "Any aid that arrives without having been determined to be needed really helps very little."’

Civilized people don’t go where they’re not wanted. Are we savages?

Police officer shot

Special Branch officers provide close protection to local and foreign dignitaries while on T&T soil.

A police officer was shot during an attempted robbery, last night in Trincity.  The young officer, who is attached to the Special Branch, was in the company of a few friends outside a house in Trincity, when a man approached them. The man drew a handgun and demanded the laptop computer of one member of the group.

The officer challenged the bandit, who then fired first, wounding the officer. Displaying excellent marksmanship, the officer fired five times, with all five shots on target. The bandit died on the spot. Surely he must have known that “the wages of sin is death”.

Unfortunately, even after doing his duty, this courageous officer had a long painful delay at the Mt Hope Hospital. Doctors kept him waiting several hours before attending to him. Even after calls from senior law enforcement and national security officials to the hospital.

The highly-trained operator was described by witnesses as “a bodybuilder type”. Muscular mass can often make the difference between life or death. As it is, our friendly, neigbourhood law enforcement hero narrowly escaped with what has been described by witnesses as “a flesh wound”. He is resting comfortably in stable condition.

We thank the young officer for his quick thinking, decision-making and courageous action, and wish him a speedy recovery. We hope the service provides him, and his family with the necessary support at this challenging period in his life.

The residents of Trincity should visit (taking tokens of appreciation) this  model officer, who displayed such heroic behaviour. He is truly an example of Trinidad and Tobago’s finest.

PetroTrin Guns and ammo Stolen

“Investigations were continuing last evening into the disappearance of 17 guns and a quantity of ammunition from the Pistol and Rifle Club at Petrotrin’s Pointe-a-Pierre refinery. The weapons were used by members on the club’s shooting range, the Express was told. 

Police said the arms and ammunition were stored in a vault on Friday evening. But when workers arrived around 4.30 p.m. on Saturday, the door to the vault was open.”

This immediately brought to mind the robbery and theft of 15 guns from the Woodbrook security firm.

There are changes taking place in this country. If you stay calm and block out the ‘noise’, you can perceive some of these changes. Many clues around us. In the political arena, law enforcement, military, business and even in the underworld. A sea change is coming.

HATSAN AT44PA

A small quantity of the Hatsan AT44PA (PA for Pump Action) will arrive in the country in about 6-8 weeks. Get ready for pump action fun. It’s another 10-shot Pre-Charged Pneumatic. 

Air rifle: The Quigley V5

The Quigley V5

Imagine an air rifle that is totally self-contained, requiring no external power source. It never needs ‘breaking’, filling from a Scuba tank nor replacing bottles of CO2. Now imagine this rifle is also more powerful than most factory manufactured. Imagine it comes in pump action, and performance improves with use. Imagine your petite 120 lb sister can both pump and shoot it with ease.

The inventor of the Quigley Version 5 makes all these claims. Unfortunately for T&T airgunners, the Q5 only comes in caliber .22. However, work has already started on a .177 version called the “Joshua”.

Now if only we can convince the inventor to produce one with a smoothbore barrel.

Water rationing; thieves; school pigeons; police ambushed

Photo: Newsday

WASA begins water rationing throughout the nation from midnight tonight. So stock up, however you can. It may be a good idea to leave the power blasting until normal service has resumed.

MARACAS BAY THIEVES

Thieves stole “more than $8,000, 15 cellular phones, gold jewelry, watches, cameras, clothes and identification cards…” from cars parked at the popular Maracas Beach.

PIGEON DROP-INS

Pigeons have infested Marabella North Secondary School, prompting teachers to leave the premises. Perhaps some South-based airgunners can help reduce the pigeon population there. Good practice and you’d be helping your community.

POLICE AMBUSHED

Stolen Vehicles Squad police officers were ambushed by alleged drug-dealers in Sea Lots. The officers were forced to make a hasty exit from their vehicle while returning fire. 

Seventy police officers raid club; no arrests

It took 70 police officers to produce the above items in a raid on a Couva nightclub. With 150 patrons searched, there were no arrests.

ARIPERO KILLING

Police were more successful in ending the ‘careers’ of two robbers-cum killers in Aripero, after a robbery. Two unarmed men chased after the bandits, resulting in one chaser—unsurprisingly—being shot and killed.

Had the owner of the grill shop been armed, he could have saved his employee’s life.

A catastrophe of major proportions

When Haiti's ambassador to the U.S., Raymond Alcide Joseph called it “a catastrophe of major proportions" he was correct. So major that it affects a number of countries in the region and has even prompted Senegal to offer land (a whole fertile region if Haitians accept the offer and arrive en masse).

It is so sad to see the photos and videos showing daily life in a country with an overnight homeless population of two million. This is one time when the strong survives and the weak fall by the wayside. Literally. Gangs of marauders, armed with machetes, sticks, guns and make-shift weapons pounce on the weak, defenceless and unprepared. Daily. Nightly.

Escaped prisoners are wreaking havoc. So out come the dogs of war. Foreign soldiers patrol and secure. Can you imagine in the aftermath of a major environmental disaster, foreign soldiers patrolling our ravaged country, giving orders to civilians at the end of a rifle, in languages we don’t understand?

But there is hope. There’s a story about a neigbourhood watch on steroids—a mini local government-of-sorts—protecting their inhabitants and territory with organization, planning, co-operation and force of arms. They even have checkpoints, patrols, a food/water distribution system and medical care. Their leader, Dickens Princivil, is a polite cello-playing, pistol-toting man who never even knew his neighbours before the disaster. What’s more he has options. With a US visa and the means to leave the country he continues to stay. To help.

Generosity is outpouring to Haiti now. Even small businesses have been collecting donations—cash and food—to send. The challenge is getting the money to where it’s meant to go, rather than ending up in private bank accounts in foreign countries.

Surely now is the time to take stock of our own situation here in T&T and boost up our own preparedness levels with more and appropriate supplies, training and planning.

Powerful earthquake rocks Haiti

A major earthquake of 7.3 magnitude hit Haiti today around 5 pm.Haiti's ambassador to the U.S., Raymond Alcide Joseph calls it “A catastrophe of major proportions."

Just a few weeks ago, I mentioned the active volcanoes in the Caribbean. And now this.