50 years ago: High school crisis averted; turtle sculpture damaged

[ad_1]

The front page of the 26 Sept. 1973 Cayman Compass carried a very dramatic headline: ‘High School Crisis Averted’. This referred to rumours of the principal resigning from Cayman Islands High School and some teachers striking, with a few telling the Compass they didn’t want to be seen to be talking, “as they might be accused of telling the Press stories”. The start of classes was delayed, with “unofficial – but usually reliable sources” describing a meeting between school staff and government officials as “stormy” and “full of uproar” with accusations of “sabotage” and “treachery” bandied about. In the end, though, order was restored and government pledged efforts would be made “to meet the requirements of staff and equipment”. Classes resumed at 12:45pm.

A much-less exciting, but still noteworthy, item was a picture of a container being loaded onto a truck. Headlined ‘Another “First” From London’, the photo depicted the first container to arrive in George Town from London, by way of Miami. Windward Shipping Co. was the “originator of the container service to Grand Cayman”, and Moxam Industries unloaded it from the ship, Gulf Stream.

A photo on page 2 highlighted the vandalism over three successive nights of a concrete turtle by the entrance to the Mariculture Tourist Shop at what is now the Cayman Turtle Centre. Most of the damage was to the back and neck of the statue, with the writer asking, “Why would anyone want to destroy an inanimate turtle which took some time to be moulded?” 

Highlighted under ‘Business Women In The News’ was Algar Wood, of Wood’s Furniture Shop, who starts her day at 6am getting her children ready for school, after which she helps her husband with the business. The mother of eight – aged from 5 to  19 – said of her busy days: “I can hardly find the time to get off my feet, day or night.”

[ad_2]

Source link