Faced by the gloomy prospect of a drowning death on March 14th this year when he was hurled overboard, while on a fishing trip east of Anguilla, Sam Webster of Island Harbour lamented that he would die without seeing “Obama become President of the United States”.

The National Bank of Anguilla’s 20th Annual Primary School Football Tournament, known to attract large crowds from throughout the island, is now in progress for a three-week period at Coronation Ball Park in The Valley.

Tell-tale signs on vegetation, some scars on the infrastructure and severe erosion of beaches in Anguilla, bear evidence of the swift passage of Hurricane Omar with sustained winds of approximately 73 miles per hour and gusts of 80 mph in the early hours of Thursday, October 15.

The Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School took a plausible decision when Monday this week, September 8, was set aside as Motivational Day for Third Form students under the theme I am a Promise. It is one of the largest forms at Campus A with the youngest students, fresh from Campus B, with special needs for settling in, getting off to a well-rounded start and building a foundation for higher learning and spiritual and social development.

The large auditorium at the Road Primary School was filled to capacity on Tuesday, September 9, where Government officials, teachers and students as well as residents in South Hill and Blowing Point, gathered for the Renaming Ceremony and Anniversary Celebrations of the learning institute. The person at the centre of the high profile event was former Headmaster, Adrian T. Hazell, whose name has now been given to the school in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the development of education in Anguilla. Smartly dressed and accompanied by his wife, Mrs. Dorothy Hazell, and Colin, one of their three children, the well-respected erstwhile educator entered the auditorium to a rousing welcome and standing ovation from the mammoth crowd.

The current effort by the Government of Anguilla towards constitutional development is a matter of continuing interest on the island. In view of this, The Anguillian, in cooperation with the Social Security Board, will be publishing, over the coming few weeks, in serial form, a paper delivered by Dame Bernice Lake, DGGN, Q.C. at the 8th Annual Walter G. Hodge Memorial Lecture in June this year. The first installment of that lecture follows:
Throughout the region, which we know as the Eastern Caribbean States, there is a shared evolution from the classification of colonial territory to that of emergent democratic nation states. That process has been evolutionary rather than revolutionary, and, for that reason, our sense of nationalism is not as frenzied and fanatical as those nation states who have come through the cauldron and crucible of armed conflict with their colonial masters.

While the Flag/Temenos project is temporarily closed, Ashtrom, the construction company, and the Ministry of Social Development of the Anguilla Government, have taken the opportunity to work towards the completion of the Football Stadium at the Ronald Webster Park annex which had been halted for sometime now.

Contractors in Anguilla have been advised to build with integrity in order to stave off the effects of devastating hurricanes and earthquakes as well as quick corrosive penetration from the salt marine environment through the poured concrete down to the steel bars.

Members of the public will have an opportunity during the observance of the upcoming Traffic Week in Anguilla to attend special written test classes in driving outside the normal times, Sergeant Marva Brooks, who is in charge of the Traffic Department of the Royal Anguilla Police Force, has announced.

The first ever historical and cultural film on Anguilla, climaxing with the much celebrated 1967 revolution, is to be the island’s highlight presentation at the Caribbean Festival of Arts (CARIFESTA) which will be held in Guyana from August 22-31. A premiere of the short film entitled Our Anguilla was shown at the Soroptomist Club Centre late last week with a capacity crowd in attendance.

On Tuesday, August 12, 2008, the Honourable Kenneth Harrigan, Minister of Infrastructure, Communications, Utilities, Housing, Agriculture and Fisheries, in the Government of Anguilla, pleaded guilty to two Summary Charges of being in possession of unlicensed firearms. The weapons were described in the Magistrate’s Court as being a Titan Tiger special .38 Revolver and a Remington Shotgun. Mr. Harrigan, who had been licensed previously to hold the firearms, had failed to renew the licences for a number of years.

J’ouvert Morning, a highlight of the Anguilla Summer Festival is usually a bustling event as hundreds of Anguillians and visitors make their way to Sandy Ground in a street jam session. As was the case this year, as in previous years, the musical and dancing trek mushroomed into a big fete on the beach as the milling throng awaited the start of a week of exciting boat races.

It will be ten days of frolic and merriment in Anguilla following the grand opening ceremony and fireworks display of the 2008 Summer Festival at the Landsome Bowl Cultural Centre in the Valley township on Thursday, July 31.

For several hours the flow of traffic was severely hampered on Friday afternoon, July 25, causing much congestion at the western end of the island. It resulted when a concrete truck carrying a load of a ready-mixed concrete, to one of the tourism projects, overturned in the Lower South Hill area after colliding with a utility pole.