HARBOUR NIGHTS DRAMA

The first Harbour Night of the year did not get off to a very good start when at least 19 people, including a young boy, were injured when two horses dragging a carriage ran amok along Front Street on April 25.

The out-of-control animals ploughed into the back of a dense crowd of unsuspecting tourists and locals watching a Gombeys' performance, trapping people beneath the wheels of the vehicle. Police, ambulances and firefighters rushed to the scene and shocked eye witnesses reported seeing victims with head wounds and others unconscious being put onto stretchers.

A Public Safety Ministry spokeswoman said 19 people were hurt but none of the injuries were life threatening. The casualties treated at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital were a mixture of visitors and locals.

MIDDLETON CASE ISSUES CONTINUE

The family of murdered Canadian teenager Rebecca Middleton failed in a legal bid to get fresh charges against the suspects in their daughter's killing on April 16. Top lawyer Cherie Booth QC, wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, represented them in asking Bermuda's Chief Justice to quash a prosecutor's decision not to reopen the case.

No-one has ever been convicted of murdering the 17-year-old, who was raped and stabbed to death while on vacation in Bermuda in 1996. Ms Booth attempted unsuccessfully through a Supreme Court judicial review, to persuade Chief Justice Richard Ground that the case should be re-opened and fresh charges pressed against the men originally accused of killing Rebecca.

In May, Chief Justice ruled he could not interfere with a previous ruling by Director of Public Prosecutions Vinette Graham-Allen that the case should not be re-opened.

Although James Guthrie QC, representing the Director of Public Prosecutions, acknowledged the family of the 17-year-old suffered "great injustice" through the failure of Bermuda's authorities to bring the alleged culprits to justice; he said, it would be legally wrong to re-open the case against Kirk Mundy and Justis Smith, the pair arrested for the crime in 1996.

A documentary on the botched case was broadcast to at least a million viewers across Canada in November.

MEDICAL CLINIC FIGHT

A petition was circulated and scores marched on Cabinet on April 10 to demand Government reconsider the closure of the medical clinic, formerly the indigent clinic, scheduled for the end of June.

The clinic treated up to 1,500 patients at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital who could not afford health insurance. However, Government said it was uneconomical to keep the facility open. Premier Dr. Ewart Brown said the closure would create "considerable savings" and that up to 30 doctors would be willing to treat patients at a cost of $5 each visit.

Patients would be placed on the government health insurance plan (HIP). One of those in opposition to the closure was shadow health spokeswoman Louise Jackson. Mrs. Jackson said the revamped medical clinic offered state-of-the-art care in superb surroundings similar to a number of other neighbouring units at the hospital.

"No one can say you get inferior care at the Medical Clinic," she said. In March, Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) hit back at claims its members have a conflict of interests over the controversial closure of the Medical Clinic.

Bermuda Public Services Union leader Ed Ball had alleged some health professionals on the BHB stood to gain patients in their own practices as a result of the demise of the Government-funded centre.

However, the BHB insisted it had not been involved in the decision-making process which led to the closure, meaning no conflict of interests was possible. After a two week extension, the doors were finally closed in July.

CEDARBRIDGE MOULD CRISIS LINGERS ON

The Cedarbridge Academy mould crisis from 2006 continued this year, despite repeated reassurances from Education Minister Randy Horton that the campus was safe after a million dollar clean-up effort.

As students settled into their regular school again, after a long period spent at the old Berkeley Institute campus, one teacher in February, was suing the Ministry of Education for allegedly stopping her wages. Teachers weren't giving the clean-up a gold star, and instead staged a sick-out in April.

Mr. Horton conceded teachers were still experiencing symptoms at the school. Also in April, about 150 CedarBridge pupils staged a 30 minute demonstration over their frustration over mould health concerns enveloping their school building.

In May, a report on the CedarBridge Academy mould crisis recommended the sacking of principal Kalmar Richards and others in charge. Mrs. Richards, described herself as "deeply disappointed" with the outcome of the probe into the crisis which led to the school's temporary closure last November.

She said the report, penned by overseas environment expert Kamoji Wachiira and a two-man team, was "muddled with inaccuracies and contradictions". If Mrs. Richards felt she was taking unnecessary blame, she was not alone.

Ross Smith, the man in charge of maintaining the school, complained he was being made the fall guy by the panel that probed the mould, because he was lowest on the totem pole. In July, Government was accused of stifling debate on the CedarBridge's mould crisis after failing to allow MPs to discuss a damning report in the House of Assembly.

And as the school year came to a close, it was revealed that two staff members who had been sickened by the mould had been fired for using up all their sick leave. The Bermuda Public Service Union planned to appeal the sackings.

RANDY HORTON BRIEFLY DEPOSED BY NEWCOMER

Cabinet Minister Randy Horton flew back to the island at the end of April to face controversy surrounding his branch's decision to dump him as Progressive Labour Party candidate which one party source described as a "stitch up".

It was claimed that the "unprecedented" dropping of a sitting Minister by their local branch was a power play carried out by a small group people while Mr. Horton was off the Island and unaware of the meeting. But other party insiders said Mr. Horton had taken the seat for granted and had not performed well as a minister.

Mr. Horton lost out heavily to Somerset Bridge Recreation Club (SBRC) president Marc Bean but one highly-placed PLP source said only nine or ten people had attended the meeting while the PLP membership in Southampton West was several times that.

Mr. Bean, worked as a consultant in Government, served on the Bermuda Independence Commission and was highly regarded in the party.

Despite pressure from some quarters, Mr. Bean,said he would not stand aside. However, Premier Ewart Brown said independent polling will "cancel out aberrations" wherever they might surface in the party's candidates' selection process.

In the 2007 election Mr. Horton went on to win his Southampton West seat and Mr. Bean lost his Southampton West Central seat.

April Statistics

Figures released by the Department of Child and Family Services revealed a 20 percent jump in reported cases of child abuse, and the number was expected to rise.

More than a third of families' spending in Bermuda was going on housing, nearly double that of the United States. Mainly due to rent increases, households spent more than $740 million on housing in 2005, a rise of seven percent on the previous year's figure of $694 million.

Almost three quarters of residents supported the current male-only military draft.