Burglars strike 15 homes

Police are urging homeowners to secure their property after 15 burglaries were reported over the weekend.

A burglary took place at a Bellevue Drive, Paget residence sometime between Friday and Sunday, when an unknown culprit gained entry into the pool house and stole a 20-inch flat screen television.

On Sunday morning a burglary took place at Bo's Lawn Equipment on Middle Road in Warwick and $100 in cash and 40 to 60 cartons of Marlboro Light cigarettes were stolen.

Police are also asking residents, particularly those in the area of Knapton Hill in Smith's Parish and Paget, to secure their homes.

They are also urging the public to be wary of individuals selling electronic items who cannot verify where the items have come from, as many laptop computers and DVD players have recently been reported stolen.

Man robbed

A 22-year-old Smith's man was punched in the head and robbed of a gold chain he was wearing after being assaulted in Hamilton in the early hours of the morning.

Police received reports that between midnight and 2 a.m. on Saturday, May 13, the victim was robbed as he walked through Chancery Lane in Hamilton. He had been approached by an unknown man who asked him for money. When the victim refused, the man punched him twice in the head.

A fight broke out between the two and the victim's chain was taken from around his neck. The suspect is described as a black male of slim build, approximately 6 foot two, dressed in a black coat and riding a pedal bike.

Anyone with information regarding this incident should call the Hamilton Criminal Investigation Unit on 295-0011.

Leak under control

Firefighters were called to the Fairmont Southampton Princess hotel to deal with a leaking container containing chlorine gas around 1 p.m. on Friday.

Lieutenant Dana Lovell said 13 firefighters from Port Royal and Hamilton stations attended the scene wearing breathing apparatus. They flipped the 150-ton cylinder upside down and placed it into a barrel of water to contain the leaking gas.

The container was then loaded onto a Works and Engineering hazardous materials truck and taken to a specialist facility at Dockyard to be dealt with, said Lt. Lovell. The road leading to the hotel was closed off on the Middle Road side as a precaution although there was no need for an evacuation and the scene was declared safe just after 2 p.m.

Hotel manager Allan Trew said the chlorine was stored in a metal container behind the hotel to use in waste water treatment. He added the fire department was called as a precaution and the leak had not affected guests at the hotel.

Application for shed

A golf club has sought final Planning permission to build a new 5,200 square feet steel maintenance shed and a chemical store with "explosion proof lights" near a listed building.

Riddell's Bay Golf and Country Club want to build a new maintenance building, bathroom, lockers/break room and office with a detached exterior chemical store at No. 26, Riddell's Bay Road.

The proposed 75 feet long, 69.4 feet wide and 12 feet high shed would be constructed in an excavated bank and yard area, according to a Conyers & Associates file at Planning.

The Development Applications Board (DAB) already approved proposed quarrying at the listed building site in June 23, 2004.

The listed building, the clubhouse, is an important example of its period, it said.

"The original part is an early to mid-19th Century Georgian house once home to President William Smith," it said.

The total proposed site coverage was up to 21,376 square foot, it would be served by a Reverse Osmosis Unit and "lights to be explosion proof in the chemical store," it said.