Miss Dominica Marcia Baptiste was crowned the Jaycees Caribbean Queen for 2010 in the wee hours of Saturday morning.

Consistency sealed the victory for the 25 year old who now holds three crowns – Jaycees, Miss Dominica and Miss Caribbean World.

“Hard work and dedication paid off for me,” said the newly crowned queen.

Baptiste emerged winner over 10 other delegates taking the crown, Most Environmentally Inclined  and Best Evening gown in what can be described as a very close competition.

First runner-up was won by Miss Anguilla Sangrena Harris, who also copped  Most Congenial Delegate.

St Kitts/Nevis’ representative Sudeakka Francis was adjudged Second runner-up, walking away with Best Talent.

Miss St Lucia was the third runner-up.

Trinidad and Tobago’s contestant Cherrese De Abreau took the Best Swimwear and and Miss Photogenic, while Miss Montserrat Sherelyne Dyer won the interview segment.

Antigua’s newly crowned Queen of Carnival Dorri Benjamin did not make any waves, according to the judges, in the contest.

The show lasted some six hours, three hours more than the organisers anticipated although it started promptly at 8 pm.

It started out  a night of fun, talent and grace, and it was enlightening on environmental issues.

There was strong focus on  how may  positively affect and promote awareness about  the issues affecting the global environment.

But as the night wore on the absence of sideshows to fill in the many long blank moments on stage affected the overall production.

At those times when the lights were dimmed, the emcees did little to engage the audience between the segments.

While this weekend will be dominated by the Carnival activities, the Parham Seventh Day Adventist Church will be offering an alternative for those who are not so inclined.

Under the theme, “Let us give him our highest praise,” Gospel Fest will take place this Sunday evening starting at 7:15 pm at the Parham Basketball Court. Gospel Fest, started some six years ago, is organised by the Parham SDA Family Life Department.

Eugene Benjamin, one of the co-ordinators of the event said, “This programme is particularly designed around this time when we have a lot of festivity that is not Christian-like. We designed it to encourage Christians, and in this time, to meet the needs of Christians socially.”

Performing at the Fest will be several local acts including the Youth Chorale coming out of Old Road, Fifty Strong children’s choir from the Potters SDA church and community, Unspoken (a pantomime group) and Parham SDA’s all-male choir.

Guest artist Nadine Isaac, out of Trinidad and Tobago, said that those who attend can expect to have a great time. “You can expect to participate in worship. You can expect to come and be blessed (and) to participate in giving God the highest praise,” she said. “We’re definitely going to have a good time when giving God praise.”

Benjamin advises that persons attending come with their umbrellas as the concert will carry on even if it rains. “Over the years we have had some showers of rain. This year whether it rains or not we will be going forward.”

The following day will be a Family Fun Day at Parham School. There will be things to eat from various Caribbean islands, basketball, cricket, tug of war, sack races, and the bounce castle.

Two major concerns were highlighted in the recent series of consultations that were held here in the lead-up to the Caricom/Canada Trade and Development Agreement.

Firstly, the issue of transportation and trade barriers that presented challenges to producers of goods trying to penetrate the Canadian market, and secondly, in terms of the music industry, that Canadian laws enforce a quota on local content in their media making it more difficult for foreign artistes to succeed.

Meanwhile, Trade Commissioner Sharon James said she was satisfied with the enthusiasm shown by stakeholders in the private sector to get involved in the Canadian market.

James is hopeful that Antigua & Barbuda will be able to increase its export of rum and hot sauce into the Canadian market under the current CARIBCAN agreement. The country is also looking to include trade in services with areas such as Information Technology, Professional Services and music included in the current negotiations in the upcoming CARIBCON/Canada Trade and Development Agreement.

The consultations, which were declared a success by the Division of Industry and Commerce of the Ministry of Finance and the Economy, were held July 19 -20.

Dear Editor

How can we keep on saying that things are bad in Antigua? Yesterday my wife and I journeyed to the new Epicurean supermarket and we were taken aback by the large crowd of shoppers with their baskets stocked so high with food and drinks galore, that you would swear it was indeed Christmas in July.

While there must be some truth to the adage “new broom sweep clean”, given the type of spending we saw yesterday, I am left to conclude life in Antigua is sweet.

Dear Editor

I have been calling Public Works for a long time now. As a matter of fact, I have even gone there personally several times as well. I just cannot take this anymore.

The last visible road on the right as one travels in the direction of Hermitage Bay Hotel is in more than a deplorable condition.

I heard a loud bang just last week and when I looked out my window, to my horror, a car had gone right into a large ditch located right at the front of my yard. That ditch has now cut the road in two.

Even coming out or leaving my yard is a great problem because I too can end up crashing into that death trap the same way. Yes, it is that dangerous.

The man had to call someone to assist him out of the ditch and not only that, his wheel and the right side of his car were damaged.

We need help here.

The main road was “fixed” during the election season and repair had begun on the other side roads as well, but nothing at all was done to this road, along with several others in this neighbourhood.

Poor “arwe”; soon from now, we will not be able to drive or even walk on this road.

El Hombre were the lone outright victors in the All Saints Community Football League (ASCFL) on Thursday night when the team, which was founded by national and Barracuda player, Ranjae Christian, inflicted a 2-0 whipping on Seaview Farm at McPond Playing Field.

The only other team to have walked away with three points on Thursday were defending champions Real White, but they won by default over Corinthians who did not show for what was expected to be a meeting of rivals. Real White continues to head the table with 30 points.

In their encounter however, El Hombre had a double strike from defender Jamie Phillip who scored in minutes 64 and 68 after another defender, Bernard Watts, had given them the lead in the 36th minute.

The victory lifts El Hombre to 14 points at mid-table while Farm, who had defaulted to Cologne on Wednesday, remains on 10 points.

In another encounter also played on Thursday, Police salvaged a late draw against Bassa when T Jerome shot home from an acute angle in the 70th and final minute to draw the lawmen level at 1-1 after Tenoy Andrew had given Bassa a one-nil advantage on minute 36.

Police move on to five points while Bassa edged on to 13.

The league is expected to climax on Sunday when Real White tackle rivals Youth Vibes in a contest that could very well determine which of the two teams will take home this year’s title.

Youth Vibes are on 24 points, six adrift of Real White but have played two matches less than the defending champs.

The All Saints League is sponsored by LIME, Cool & Smooth and Senator Chester Hughes.

The Antigua & Barbuda Football Association’s (ABFA) national women’s league is slated to resume August 7 after breaking for the country’s annual Carnival celebrations.

This is according to coordinator Micah Samuel who, during an interview with OBSERVER Sports, expressed delight with the quality of play he has seen thus far, stating that the teams have been playing with enthusiasm under coaches who are also doing “quite well.”

“I am pleased … about the young ladies’ play on the field; for instance, 5P’s are doing extremely well, there is a Villa team as well under the guidance of Sowerby Gomes that are doing extremely well also,” he said.

“I have to mention also, the Sap contingent, but they seem to be like a pedal swinging from one side to the other; occasionally they come out with a win, while at other times they don’t do too well,” Samuel said.

“I am also impressed by the Police team, the enthusiasm from the officers is really good and another team that plays with enthusiasm is the John Hughes contingent under the guidance of Curtis Charles.”

The league was organised as part of the ABFA’s efforts to revive the women’s version of the sport here in Antigua & Barbuda.

Besides an annual competition hosted by the Concerned Parents/Teachers Sports Association (CPTSA), women’s football has been almost dormant for the past five years.

The International Swimming Association (FINA) has instructed the Antigua & Barbuda Amateur Swimming Association (ABASA) that they must hold general elections by November 30 of this year.

This is according to a list of recommendations dispatched to the ABASA executive by FINA representative Guillermo Martinez, who met with the association a couple of weeks ago.

The FINA/ABASA meetings resulted from a suspension placed on the swimming association by the Antigua & Barbuda National Olympic Committee (ABNOC) last year after the two bumped heads over various issues.

At the forefront of the fallout was the fact that the Association has failed to host elections for over 15 years prompting the Olympic Committee to seek the intervention of FINA in assessing the state of affairs of swimming on the national level and make recommendations on the way forward.

Speaking with OBSERVER Sports on Friday, President of ABASA Bruce Williamson said that they are governed by a constitution which guides the way general elections are held and that those guidelines must be followed before that particular recommendation can be implemented.

“We have received the recommendations but we are an association that likes to follow protocol so we are currently reviewing them and will make a decision as to whether or not they are possible to implement as recommended,” Williamson said.

“As for the elections, this is something that cannot be implemented just like that because we are governed by a constitution so we would first have to call a general meeting and allow the body to implement a general election.”

It was also recommended that the ABASA devise and publish, via the national media, requirements for school/club membership by July 2010 and respond to such applications received within 20 days of submission.

The local body was also asked to update its constitution in accordance with prescribed FINA guidelines including instructions on the electoral process for schools/club membership and submit same to FINA not later than October 15, 2010, for approval.

A recommendation was also made for the compilation of a more ambitious National Development Programme by September of this year, to include, in addition to the open water, competitive swimming events in an effort to increase the numbers of swimmers.

While soca lovers will be at Antigua Recreation Grounds cheering on their favourite Soca Monarch contestant tonight, an emancipation celebration will be in progress at Betty’s Hope Estate.

It’s called Watch Night and the activity starts at 8 pm.

Chairman of the 200 Committee Dorbrene O’Marde said the event will open with an hour of fellowship, drinks and snacks and at 9 pm the official programme will get under way.

King Frank-I will be the master of ceremonies with entertainment from the National Choir, Trinity featuring Pannist CC Cochrane, featured poet Maurine Lee-Simon and O’Marde will be addressing the gathering. Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer is also expected to give an address leading up to the midnight hour, following which a libation will be led by African Dancer Zucan Bandele.

Speaking of the significance of the ceremony, O’Marde said it’s to highlight the significance of the very important date, August 1.

“It is our commemoration of what we consider one of the most important dates in Caribbean history, which is August 1, 1834, the abolition of slavery,” he said.

The 200 Committee seeks unity of who they refer to as emancipation people. According to O’Marde, they are individuals throughout the region who fought for and won their freedom on August 1.

“And so we’re about that sort of unification – the commemoration of important dates and importantly, about translating historical facts, analysing them and applying them to our every-day situation,” he said. “So we deal with that analysis of history and its application to the contemporary situation.”

There are 10 members of the committee, including King Frank-I, Ambassador Anthony “Mamba” Liverpool, Vaughn Cumberbatch, Dr Lester Simon and Saiid Green.