MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Penguin News Update.

Headlines:
Record times for athletes; Extra ExCo sessions; Two ?assisting' police; Mail expected today; Quark case adjourned; This week's cruisers.

Record times for athletes

THE FALKLANDS team at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Bendigo, Australia have overcome nerves to smash their own records or ?personal bests'. The team suffered a set back early this week when swimmer Hannah Arthur-Almond (14) was diagnosed with Glandular Fever; despite her illness however Hannah was still hoping to compete in the 50m Freestyle event in the early hours of this morning. Her swim team mate Edward Freer (15) has been kept busy with a host of events. While none of the team expected to be in medal contention, any disappointment at their placings was replaced with pride at their improved personal bests. On Wednesday Edward competed in two races and, according to team manager Steve Dent, he "literally blitzed" his personal bests. Steve explained, "His qualifying time for the 200m Freestyle was 2:59.28. The official time (on Wednesday) was a blistering 2:41.36, the best part of 18 seconds faster than previously." Edward then competed in the 200m Breastroke event and with a previous time of 3:22.00 he managed to again better that with a time of 3:19.40. Yesterday Edward was joined in the pool by Dion Robertson (14). Steve said Dion was first out looking, "...very nervous at the start of the 100m Freestyle event." Dion's qualification time for this event was 1:25.21 and he managed to slash eight seconds off his previous best finishing in 1:14.57. In his heat Edward, who qualified at 1:14.2, finished in 1:11.02. The 50m Breastroke was up next and again Dion stepped out into the blocks first. He qualified in 54.48 seconds and managed to beat this again with an impressive 46.93 seconds. Edward also continued the run of successes slashing two seconds off his previous best of 42.77, swimming in 40.74 seconds. Swimming coach Pam Freer said, "They have exceeded all of our expectations by taking so much off their times. We are also very pleased that so far all their swims have been ?clean' swims. "All of this just proves how a little bit of competition can stretch them and inspire them to do better." Runner Roxane Morrison (17) also competed on Thursday, in her first and only event on the track, the 400m. Seeded in heat two against strong opposition, including the Scottish representative from the 2002 Commonwealth Games, Roxane was nervous at the start. However Steve said she started well and managed to finish in a "very credible" time of 74.14 seconds. He commented, "I was very pleased with her final time and that she has managed to beat her previous personal best." The final day of events, which took place last night Falklands-time, had Dion, Edward and Hannah all competing. Reports from these races will be in Penguin News next week.

Extra ExCo sessions

TWO special sessions of Executive Council were held in November, prior to its regular monthly meeting on Thursday 25 November. The special sessions were held in order to address two specific issues - the state of negotiations on the restructuring of Stanley Services Ltd and the Gordon Forbes arbitration. Commenting on the Stanley Services meeting, His Excellency the Governor Mr Howard Pearce commented, "It appears that the outstanding issues have now been resolved. Some further work needs to be completed. A public announcement will be made in due course." Mr Pearce said Executive Council considered written advice from Counsel, "...in relation to the recent decisions by the Court of Appeal in the Gordon Forbes arbitration case." He commented, "Since aspects of the case remain before the courts, it is not possible to make any further statement at this stage." News from the November 25 meeting on page 6.

Two ?assisting' police

TWO people are "assisting police with their enquiries" after a vehicle was taken and driven into a nearby building. In the early hours of Wednesday morning, the vehicle was taken from an address on Callaghan Road and driven a short distance before leaving the road and scraping along the side of a building on Endurance Avenue. A police spokesperson said both the vehicle and the building sustained "considerable damage". He added that later on Wednesday, "...two persons were identified and are now assisting officers with their enquiries." The police spokesperson added that the cause of a fire which gutted a house on Davis Street has not yet been determined. He commented, "We are awaiting results of forensic tests."

Mail expected today

THE backlog of airmail to the Falkland Islands is still yet to clear. Following the arrival of only a small quantity of airmail on Monday's flight from the UK, the Chief Executive released a statement apologising for, "...the continued breakdown of new systems introduced by the UK Royal Mail which have resulted in no mail arriving..." He added however that the government had, "...received an assurance that all mail was despatched but was too late to connect with the flight." The mail, totalling around 173 bags and weighing about 950 kilos is now expected to arrive on today's flight. Mr Simpkins said that a categoric assurance is also being sought that the problems of the last two months have been permanently resolved by the Royal Mail and that Falkland Islanders can expect the resumption of a normal service in the lead-up to Christmas and from now on. He added, "I would like to emphasise that staff at the Stanley Post Office have been doing their very best in difficult circumstances. "The problems are not of their making (they are waiting for post too!)"

Quark case adjourned

FALKLANDS Councillor and Director of Quark Fishing Ltd Mike Summers was again in court on Wednesday to hear his company's legal representative enter pleas to a series of charges. Hugh Ferguson of Ledingham Chalmers, representing Quark Fishing and Freiremar AS, entered pleas of not guilty to all the charges, which relate to incidents alleged to have taken place between May 4 and June 28, 2004. As charterers of the fishing vessel Ibsa Quinto, Quark Fishing is accused of being in breach of licence conditions having taken 33 tonnes of fish above the total allowable catch (TAC) of 300 tonnes. The Spanish company Freiremar AS is charged with similar offences as owners of the Ibsa Quinto. Quark Fishing is also charged, as owners of the fishing vessel Jacqueline, with being in breach of regulations designed to minimise the incidental mortality of seabirds on or about June 6. The cases have been adjourned until February 9; a trial is expected to take place at the end of April or in early May 2005.

This week's cruisers

The cruise ship Shokalskiy(carrying 42 passengers) will call into Sea Lion Island today before heading around to Stanley tomorrow. On Monday Amsterdam (1380) will be in Stanley, anchored in Port William. On Thursday Europa (202) will visit West Point Island and Saunders Island.

Remember December 8 will be a public holiday to celebrate Battle Day. All Government departments, other than those providing essential services, will be closed.