2025-01-30 - Channel 5 Belize

Good Samaritan Donates 102 Pints of Blood in 30 Years

Blood is essential for every living person. It plays a crucial role in delivering oxygen and nutrients to our bodies and defending against harmful microorganisms. In medical emergencies, a shortage of blood can be life-threatening. That’s why having a steady supply of blood donors is so important for the health of our community. In tonight’s edition of Belize on Reel, we shine a spotlight on Ronald Stuart, a remarkable Belizean who donated his hundred-and-second pint of blood earlier this month. News Five’s Britney Gordon brings us his inspiring story.

Britney Gordon, Reporting

Seven years ago, I was diagnosed with anemia. My doctors told me my hemoglobin count was at a six, less than half the average level for females my age. At just seventeen, I had to undergo a blood transfusion. The hardest part of this ordeal wasn’t the large needle or the long hours at the hospital but finding willing donors. If it weren’t for the generosity of Samaritans like Ronald Stuart, my life might have turned out very differently. While he wasn’t one of my donors, Ronald has donated an incredible one hundred and two pints of blood to the Belize National Transfusion Service over the past thirty years.

Ronald Stuart, Blood Donor

“My first donation was in July of 1995, and my most recent was earlier this month, and I can give only once every three months, and it has been something that I am committed to do as long as I’m able to, because there is a need and we need to have more persons who are willing to assist because from time to time, we’d hear about persons making appeal for blood donations, but blood can only come from other human beings. So we need to be a part of making sure that the adequate supply continues to be available.”

Stuart’s journey as a blood donor began when a few coworkers encouraged him to join them in donating. Hearing heartfelt gratitude from families in need inspired him to dedicate his life to this noble cause. Nowadays, his phone is constantly buzzing with texts and calls from strangers desperate for blood. And whenever he can, Stuart is always ready to step up and help.

Ronald Stuart

“One was a foreigner whose father was in Karl Heusner, and it so happens when I came, the nurse told me that someone with your name, the spelling was different was looking for somebody for blood, but didn’t know anybody who could give. And so I told her, I said, okay I’ll give on behalf of that person. She told me afterwards that person literally cried because we have the same sounding name. And when she was experiencing need and seeking blood for her father, I showed up.”

Stuart suggests keeping a list of at least five people in your contacts who are ready and willing to donate blood on your behalf. This way, you’re prepared for any unexpected health emergencies. Adrian Martinez, the supervisor at the Belize Blood Bank, assures us that becoming a donor is a straightforward process.

Adrian Martinez, Supervisor, Belize Blood Bank

“U sually we request for blood. blood donors to be have a clean health status, right? You need to be healthy, no medications. And we do ask some questions on travel history, and then any immunization. The questionnaire is divided into three different sections. Most of the donors need to be eighteen years old and above, up to sixty-five. You need to have a valid identification card. The questions and answers. Depends on your answer, then you might be temporarily deferred or temporarily or permanently deferred.”

The blood bank uses fourth-generation tests to screen for HIV, all subsidized by the Ministry of Health. Stuart treats every donation as if it’s his first, always making sure he’s in the best possible health to give blood. He even revealed that he hasn’t touched a soda in the last fifteen years.

Ronald Stuart

“First and foremost, being very active not necessarily going to the gym, but being physically active. I do a lot of walking I’ve been I signed up for the million steps challenge that the Belize Diabetes Association has initiated. And between the 2nd of January and the 16th of April the challenge is to complete a million steps or five hundred miles. So I have embarked on that. That’s one way. Eating very healthy minimizing the carbohydrates, drink a lot of water and adequate rest.”

Each year, the blood bank collects around seven thousand units of blood, which accounts for less than five percent of Belize’s population. Belize aims to reach a point where one hundred percent of its blood supply comes from voluntary donors. This goal is crucial for maintaining a safe blood system and offering various services at different locations.

Adrian Martinez

“When we go about, we go recruiting for voluntary blood donors. That means the blood we collect is donated free to the blood bank so that we could help others. You can be a voluntary blood donor. You don’t really have to donate for someone else because the emergency strike at different times and is It is our mandate to have blood in reserve for the general populace. By donating voluntarily, you are helping someone, you are providing a safe blood supply for our country, and then you are doing your part as a Belizean.”

Seven years after my blood transfusion, my hemoglobin count is a healthy thirteen point seven, and I’ve even become a blood donor myself. Stuart, the interim president of the Belize Blood Donors Association, is a true champion of this cause. When he’s not busy donating blood, he’s out there encouraging others to join him in the life-saving mission.

Ronald Stuart

“In most instances, the day that I’m here to give, I’m already thinking about the next three months that I’m scheduled to return and look forward to it because it is so critical for viewers and those who are listening to this newscast and this piece to understand. How much we have a role to play in making sure there’s an adequate supply. Somebody has to do it. And why not that person being you?”

Britney Gordon for News Five.

Police Officer Sent Home for Shooting GG’s Dog

An officer stationed at the Governor General’s residence has been fired from the Belize Police Department after shooting and killing the GG’s small but feisty dog. Commissioner of Police Chester Williams explained that a tribunal reviewed the case and recommended the officer’s dismissal. But this raises a question: why don’t other officers face the same consequences when they shoot and kill pets during operations? Here’s what ComPol Williams had to say about it.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police

“The matter went before a tribunal, the tribunal found him guilty, dismissal was recommended and I upheld the decision of the adjudicator. I believe that, and I am sure that the public on a whole is going to agree that if you have a policeman deliberately follows a dog and shoots and kills a dog, something’s wrong with you.”

Reporter

“Hadn’t there been diary entries about this dog being a fierce little dog and he tended to give the officers who served duty there, tended to give them trouble.

Chester Williams

“Even if that were the case, at the particular moment when the dog was shot, that was not the case.”

Reporter

“Sir, but did you pay special attention to this case because it’s the head of state and we know that when puppies were killed or the dog was shot, Nipsey was shot, not killed, and they shot one on Pickstock Street. Those officers aren’t dismissed, sir.”

Chester Williams

“Again, you have to look at every situation based on the facts. The circumstances under which they occurred, and all the cases that you mentioned just now the circumstances are different.”

City Council to Revamp Maintenance of Streets and Drainage

The frequent downpours in Belize City have left many streets in dire need of repair. Today, a resident from the Pen Road area reached out, asking the Belize City Council to assist those living in Waller Alley. This alley, located off Pen Road across from the basketball court, has turned into a large pool of water due to the constant rains. Jehvon Ramclam, a local resident, mentioned that schoolchildren have had to get creative to navigate the flooded alley until it’s fixed. Belize City Mayor Bernard Wagner acknowledged the issue, stating that the rains have taken a toll on the infrastructure. He assured reporters that the council is working hard to address the flooded streets, potholes, and drains as quickly as possible.

Jehvon Ramclam, Resident, Pen Road

“If you notice, the hole is down there somewhere, the hole is through there, all the way there, so too. In the morning, when the, um, we got young pregnant women live through there too. When the pregnant women come home from school, they have to walk barefooted. They mess up, they really mess up. Then, we got people back there, we do here all kind of things. Nobody want to walk through that, if you go do their hair or nothing. So, we really need help.”

Marion Ali

“What do they do to navigate through the mud and the swamp?”

Jehvon Ramclam

“They walk, they walk through it, they don’t have no next choice, no next option. If you notice over there, there’s one rubber boots over there, so.”

Marion Ali

“So they leave their shoes and their rubber boots there and walk?”

Jehvon Ramclam

“They leave their rubber boots there, and then they put on their tennis when they reach out, go to school and whatnot. When they come back, that is the same thing. They have to take off their shoes and walk through it.”

Marion Ali

“How many families would you say live back there?”

Jehvon Ramclam

“About ten, and ih goh way da back cause da wa alley. Way da back ih goh. Yes ma’am.”

Marion Ali

“And you live back here too?”

Jehvon Ramclam

“ Partly. I live cross the street but da like I live back ya because I deh back ya nearly every day.”

Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City

“ We are completely looking at how we change the way we address drains maintenance, chopping of grass, potholes, we know that the current system that we have in place has not worked, does not work, um, for the residents of the city, and, and, and we are very aware of that and so we are working on a new system which will be really powered by GIS where we’ll be really dividing up the entire city north side south side into different grids we call them grids. 24 such grids have been identified and what we’ll be doing we’ll be having dedicated teams for each grid so you’ll have a chopping team, you will have pothole teams, you will have, um, drainage maintenance team within the scope of each grid and they will be dedicated to that area. So, it provides accountability. That, um, if I am in this area, I become familiar with the terrain, um, I come, I become familiar with the residents in the area and it is more responsive. But again, one of our priority areas is drainage. That is key and so within the scope of this year, we’ll be ensuring that we focus on infrastructure, potholes, decent streets, ensuring that the drains are clean and maintained in a timely fashion. That is very important for us.”

Reporter

“What about sidewalks?”

Bernard Wagner

“Sidewalks again, everything is on the table, safety of our residents are always important. We’re not only worry about the motorists, but we always worry about the pedestrians, the kids. And so, if we have to put sidewalks in certain areas, we certainly will look at that.”

Mayor Calls on City Residents to Report Litter Bugs

While discussing Belize’s garbage dumping hotspots, the mayor mentioned that the council is still cracking down on littering. He pointed out that finding evidence of these violations can be tricky, so he urged residents to report any offenders or help by snapping photos of the act in progress.

Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City

“ We have enforced on several occasions in Belize City. It carries a hefty fee and if caught in the act, but it’s a joint effort between the DOE and the Belize City Council. But we have done a lot of work, enforce that on several occasion, but you have to have the real evidence. So it really requires participation from the community as well. If they see people dumping, if they could quickly notify the officials or enforcement team or the D.O.E. and then we could have that evidence to really ticket them and really pursue it the way we want to.”

DOE Approves Caye Caulker Fuel Depot Project

Last month, residents in a Caye Caulker neighborhood voiced strong opposition to the proposed construction of a petroleum station and fuel storage facility near their homes, citing safety concerns. At the same time, the Caye Caulker Tour Operators Association came out in support of the project. Elvis Landaverry, the managing director of the Petrol Alliance Group Holding Company Limited, quickly reassured residents in an open letter, stating that the project had been thoroughly researched and strategically planned. The Department of the Environment has given the project the green light. Today, Environmental Technician Marco Escalante told News Five that the company had to meet all the necessary requirements.

Marco Escalante, Environmental Technician, Department of the Environment

“Because of the location, the tanks were also required to be within a vault – are required to be within a bulk. The setbacks for a service station for, for tanks within bulk above ground would be 15 feet from the property line.”

Marion Ali

“They met all the requirements you’re saying?”

Marco Escalante

“Yes, based on the guidelines, yes, but so even after we look at the plans and what’s not go through the guidelines, we still have to wait for the fire department, you know, because they might have some concerns with the location and whatnot. However, they did provide your no objection on September on October 30, like I said, 2023, and thereafter we proceeded to draft an environmental compliance plan. The environmental compliance plan, as you may know, um, has several conditions within the document that they have to abide by, um, during the construction and eventually the operation of the service station. This would be basically the ECP would establish, you know, at how many tank will be there. They, have to be within a vault. They have to have all water separators, et cetera. And meet whatever criteria, whatever they land, whatever recommendations the fire department also required.”

A New Vehicle Fleet for CitCo

Back in 2018, when the Belize City Council first took office, they acquired a fleet of new vehicles to help their departments get around more efficiently. Fast forward six years, and those vehicles have seen some significant wear and tear. The fleet, which includes both diesel and electric vehicles, is now being traded in for a brand-new set. Mayor Bernard Wagner announced today that the council is investing one point two million dollars in this new fleet.

Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City

“When we came into office in 2018, we only had like two pickup trucks to facilitate service for the city enforcement and traffic management. And at that point in time in 2018, we made a loan for 12 trucks for a five-year period. The trucks really did well for us. They performed well over that period of five years, but they deteriorated and depreciated over time and so as to not have them depreciate to the point where you don’t get back anything. What we have done with the existing trucks is trade those back in and in return get these twelve new pickup trucks. Seven of them are diesel and five of them are EVs and so with the trade-in value that we took, it really lessened the amount but the total value here, the 12 pickup trucks along with the three Foton utility trucks really run us about one point two million dollars. We’ll deploy in enforcement, we’ll deploy in traffic, we’ll deploy in works, we’ll deploy in sanitation, cemetery, all of these core departments require this sort of mobility. And so, having, and it’s made no sense for us to have vehicles that are run down, you spend a lot in maintenance, so it’s always good that you are able to trade in and get new equipment, which really take down operational costs.”

Mayor Wagner: Public Responsible for Broken Traffic Lights

Residents of Belize City have noticed that some traffic lights, especially those on Vernon Street, are frequently out of order. Mayor Bernard Wagner explained that the lights were in perfect condition, but reckless driving has caused the damage. He shared more about the council’s plans to fix the current lights and install more across the city. Here’s what he had to say.

Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City

“ Vernon Street. If only our residents begin to drive with care, we would have less of these problems. Every time we fix that light, somebody drive and broke down the posts. So, that has to stop. And the residents have to be held accountable at some point in time to, to be held accountable to pay for the damage, the cost of public property because it creates an inconvenience for the residents and see you are not coming to us. If that individual didn’t crash into that traffic light, we wouldn’t have had that problem. But again, accident happened. And so we are, that specific light is run by the MIDH. Right. But we have met with them to really, we have gotten a quotation to really get that fixed up. And so, I believe very shortly that will be resolved.”

Reporter

“And about the new lights?”

Bernard Wagner

“The new lights are all working very good. The one on King Street, we are waiting to have the area painted properly and, and marked so that we don’t have any issues there at King and Regent.”

Reporter

“Are there plans for more?”

Bernard Wagner

“Of course there are plans for more. We are looking at hat area by Vernon Street in the afternoon time. I think we have to work smarter rather than harder and having a enforcement person standing on Vernon and the canal side every day is not smart. And so we do plan to put a light there to really manage that area. We look at Western Avenue and its intersection with the George Price Highway. That’s another area that we are looking at. And so we never stop, We are very strong and a smart city and having manual labor. We have passed that now. We have to be smarter.”

Japan Donates Second Garbage Truck to Belize City

Belize City is about to get a facelift! Thanks to the Government of Japan, a second compactor truck has arrived to help tackle garbage management. This generous gift is part of the Japanese government’s Grassroots and Humanity Security Project, which kicked off in November 2022. This new truck joins the first one donated last February, and together, they’re set to make a big difference in keeping our growing city clean and beautiful. News Five’s Marion Ali was at Memorial Park to capture the moment. Here’s her report.

Marion Ali, Reporting

The brand-new compactor garbage truck, generously provided by the Government of Japan, will join the first truck they donated. Councilor Kaya Cattouse, who oversees sanitation, says this powerful equipment will help make those messy spots look much nicer and more appealing.

Kaya Cattouse, City Councilor, Belize City

“The arrival of this second truck marks an expansion of our capacity to meet the growing demands of Belize City. Last year, when we received the first compactor truck, we immediately saw the difference it made. Not only in the efficiency of waste collection, but also in the morale of our hard-working sanitation teams. We were able to tackle more of the hot spots, effectively reducing illegal garbage disposal, and extended file up of trash along the garbage collection routes.”

Japan’s Ambassador to Belize, Nobuyuki Shirakata, shared the practical reason why the donation was necessary for the rapidly growing city.

Nobuyuki Shirakata, Japan’s Ambassador to Belize

“Japan’s consistent investment in Belize’s solid waste management is bearing fruit and is enabling the Belize City Council existing facilities to become more efficiently operational to provide reliable collection of waste disposal services for the population of over sixty thousand residents in the municipality. Annually, twenty-one thousand six hundred and sixty-five metric tons or over sixty-six metric tons daily of garbage waste is earmarked for collection.”

Belize City Mayor Bernard Wagner says these trucks will handle the extra work that isn’t covered by the garbage collection contract between the City Council and Belize Waste Control.

Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City

“Having two trucks now to provide that service along with our dump trucks really make up, have us operate much more efficiently and effectively. We provide that sort of back end for those areas that people just dump garbage in areas that are abundant. And so, these two trucks really help us in alleviating that sort of behavior in our city.”

The compactor trucks will transport the waste they collect to the Belize City garbage transfer station off the George Price Highway. Marion Ali for News Five.

Keep the City Clean, Report Litter Bugs

Belize City Mayor Bernard Wagner is calling on residents to take an active role in curbing illegal dumping by reporting litterbugs in action. While the Belize City Council enforces anti-littering regulations, Wagner says catching violators remains a challenge without solid evidence.

“We have enforced it on several occasions in Belize City. It carries a hefty fee if caught in the act, but it’s a joint effort between the DOE and the Belize City Council,” Wagner stated.

However, he stressed that public participation is key. “You have to have the real evidence. If they see people dumping, if they could quickly notify the officials or enforcement team or the DOE, then we could have that evidence to really ticket them and really pursue it the way we want to.”

“It really requires participation from the community as well. If they see people dumping, if they could quickly notify the officials or enforcement team or the D.O.E., and then we could have that evidence to really ticket them and really pursue it the way we want to,” Wagner added.

Feinstein Group to Appeal High Court’s Ruling on Stake Bank Land Acquisition

The Feinstein Group has vowed to challenge the High Court’s decision that the government’s compulsory acquisition of 23.4 acres of Stake Bank Island is constitutional.

On Wednesday, Justice Rajiv Goonetilleke ruled that the acquisition, set to transfer the land to Honduran company OPSA, serves a legitimate public purpose and does not violate the Constitution. Feinstein’s legal team, led by Godfrey Smith, argued otherwise, claiming the move benefits OPSA in a private dispute. However, the court found no merit in their case and awarded costs to the government.

In response, the Feinstein Group stated, “We will not give up the fight for justice, fair play, and for what rightly belongs to us as a Belizean company.”

The group claims the ruling undermines property rights and investment security in Belize.

“After carefully reviewing the judgement, our attorneys remain convinced that the compulsory acquisition is unconstitutional and not for a genuine public purpose. We have therefore instructed our attorneys to immediately file an appeal to the Court of Appeal against the High Court decision,” it added.

With Prime Minister Briceño announcing major port developments, attention now turns to whether Mediterranean Shipping Company remains interested in acquiring Stake Bank.

The Feinstein Group stated that it “will use all resources at its disposal to defend itself and expose the wrongdoing of the government, wherever it may lead,”