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feature
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Ilustrations by Thomas Tomczyk
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Alfonso Reader
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Alfonso
Ebanks, the editorialist, has enchanted Bay Islands Voice
readers with his wit and imagination for over three years.
Now he proves his storytelling abilities with a series of
autobiographical short stories.
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Son
of Vesta Irene Moore, a homemaker, and Allen Ebanks, a merchant
marine Alfonso was born on the November 15, 1940 in 'Sand
Fly Bay' on Guanaja's north side.
At the age of two his family moved to live on the Lower
Cays where later he attended Cristobal Colon public school.
At 17 he moved to Tegucigalpa to study meteorology and radio
communications. After graduating he worked for four years
for the Honduran government after a few years and quit and
went to sea as a banana boat mechanic.
This was just the beginning of Mr. Alfonso’s adventures.
He worked as a meteorologist in Tegucigalpa, Guanaja and
Puerto Lempira, an electrician. He served as an USAF Sergeant
in Texas, Massachusetts, Turkey and France. Then he reinvented
himself as an IBM engineer in New York City, Pennsylvania
and Washington D.C. These are just a few of his trades.
In 1976 Alfonso moved away from the hectic live of New York
to his native island where he currently lives and operates
his lobster boat on Guanaja's Fruit Harbor Bight. He is
married and has seven children.
"I like to share my ideas with others, even if they
do not always agree with me on everything," writes
Alfonso who's favorite authors include Isaac Isamov, Robert
Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clark, H.G Wells and Jules
Verne. We bring you some of his short stories and a unique
perspective on the island life. Welcome to Barry's world.
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Saergant
Who?
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As
I descended the stairs of the hotel on my way to the street
I remembered that I had no change for the taxi. I tried to
make change with the concierge, but he could not help me and
absent-mindedly place the bill in my shirt pocket and exited
the building.
The day was sunny and the balmy breeze from the ocean made
it an ideal day for walking so I decided to complete my errands
by walking instead of taking a cab. I had gone about two blocks
when a clean-shaven, well dress gentleman that exuded confidence
and the odor of a not too expensive cologne approached me.
I became very defensive, as is always the case when I'm not
on my home turf. The gentleman was very courteous and his
mannerisms had a somewhat military bearing. This made me a
little less apprehensive. Before he identified himself he
asked me whether I was from Utila or Guanaja, I told him where
I was from, he then extended his hand and told me that he
was Sergeant Martinez and he had been recently assigned to
the police force in Guanaja. He went on to tell me the mayor
and the vice major (calling them by name) had promised to
help him but had not done so.
His story was heart breaking he told me that his young son
had fell from one of the docks onto a cayuco and the kid had
seriously fractured his arm and the doctors had recommended
that some x-rays be taken of his ribs as well because of the
immense pain the kid was suffering. Sergeant Martinez with
tears in his eyes begged for my help because he was sure that
his son had broken ribs and that this could lead to a more
serious medical condition.
I reached into my shirt pocket, where I normally keep taxi
money, and passed him the money that I had there. It was then
that I noticed that it was a five hundred-lempira bill. I
tried to pull it back, but it was too late. The sergeant had
already began folding it and was slipped it into his pocket
he then donned some rather nice sun glasses and after thanking
me graciously and wishing me a nice day he departed.
Later
back in the hotel the more I thought about the incident the
more I believed I had been fleeced and that all that name-dropping
was to set me up for the kill. Eventually I forgot about the
whole affair and wrote it off as an error in judgment due
to me being a sucker for sad stories.
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Many
months later I was again in the same hotel and my wife upon
returning from shopping looked a little perturbed so I queried
her and she reluctantly replied that she believed she had been
defrauded of some money. Without mentioning the amount she had
given away she told me that a well dressed man had come up to
her requesting help because his wife was in hospital and had
an urgent need of a blood transfusion.
A bell went off in my head and I then asked her if this person
had pretended to be a "sargento de policia" in Guanaja
she nodded her head affirmatively and I knew that she had become
another victim of the mysterious police sergeant (this time
he called himself Sgt. Rodriguez) that makes a living by swindling
kindhearted islanders.
I've found out since that there are dozens of victims of this
bogus sergeant and that he is still out there some where on
the streets of La Ceiba. If you are not one of his many victims
then you'd better be on the your guard whenever a well dressed
gentleman approaches you with tears in his eyes requesting your
help because he will hold you up, not with a gun, but with his
good manners and sad tales. |
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An
Old Man’s Dilemma
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After considering the old man statement the headman of the judges
agreed that they would not destroy the good with evil. As a
matter of fact, they would not destroy the nation if the could
find any good men in politics.
This made the old man feel a little better because he had a
lot of friends and family in the nation. He could not help but
wonder if they would they spare the country if there were only
fifty honest politicians. The old man posed the question and
was told that "yes," they would spare the nation if
they could find fifty honest men in government.
The old gentleman sighed and a smiled a smile of relief but
as he pondered the situation his smile changed to look of bewilderment
because he could not be sure that there were fifty honest politicians
in his country.
The old man begged the indulgence of the three gentlemen and
would not let them depart his presence until he obtained their
promise that they would not destroy his country if they could
find one decent and honest politician. The old man knew that
across the waters corruption was at an all time high and that
graft and avarice had invaded the whole body of government.
He also knew that corrupt officials were to be found in every
branch of government starting with the ministers right on down
to the cop on the street.
The only rule that held true was the old adage that says: "The
bigger the fish the bigger the bait." After letting the
strangers proceed on their journey the old man returned to his
seat in the door and he was quite confident that in spite of
his dislike for dishonesty he had saved his country from certain
destruction. The old man reasoned that there had to be at least
ONE good man in politics over there.
Early the next morning there was quite hullabaloo on the street
in front of his house and as he made his way towards the crowd
he could not help noticing the reason for the outcry. Out across
the placid waters great billows of black smoke filled the horizon
from east to west and there could be no doubt that the smoke
was coming from an all consuming fire.
He and his neighbors stood around watching the flames and smoke
leap ever higher into the sky, and then someone asked: Old man
what manner of beast is that? With tears in his eyes the old
man replied: That my friend is Honduras burning! |
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old man from the outer islands stood looking out across the
waters that separated him from the mainland he sat in silence
as he remembered the dilemma he had faced and hoped he would
never again have to face such a situation.
It all started one day as the old man sat in the door of
his house during the heat of the day. As he sat looking out
towards the road he spotted three travelers passing by. Being
a generous man he ran out to greet them and invite them to eat
and rests before continuing their journey.
During the discourse over the meal the old man became aware
that these three men were not ordinary travelers. He found out
that they were on a mission of great importance and that these
three men had the authority and the power to destroy nations.
They were the judges and the enforcers and their weapon was
fire.
The old man then asked why would the powers that be want to
destroy a whole nation and he was told that a nation would surely
be destroyed if its politicians failed to meet the minimum universal
standards of decency and honesty. The old man shivered and became
afraid when he remembered that these strangers were heading
in the general direction of the seat of government of his own
nation. The old man begged to be excused for his ignorance,
but he argued that these wise and illustrious gentlemen would
surely not destroy the good with the evil. |
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The
Night of The Rainbow
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In
the early morning of December the twenty first of nineteen sixty-one
I left the military compound at Puerto Lempira carrying a small
bag in one hand and a machete in the other. The bag held a few
personal belongings and the machete was for any snakes I might
encounter on the way to the big almond tree at the landing area
on the shores of the Caratasca Lagoon.
From there I would find a ride to the other side of the lagoon
where there was an American owned seafood packing house and
fishing compound. This was the time of year that many of the
shrimp boat captains would be heading home for the Christmas
holidays and I was intent on hitching a ride with somebody,
anybody going to Bonacco.
I was leaving behind my job at the weather station as my present
partner had agreed to cover my shift for the week that I was
to be away. My partner's name was Pedro and he was the fourth
partner I had in the four months I had worked at the station.
All the other partners had been rotated out after thirty days,
apparently the bosses had forgotten about me even though every
month I radioed in a request for a transfer from my assignment
out here in the boondocks.
Without anybody's permission I was taking me a little vacation.
It never crossed my mind that I would never return to that weather
station, to the buggy beans mess hall or the coral snakes in
the rolls of Teletype paper.
On the morning of the twenty-second the sky was overcast as
we left the docks, the smoke of the natives cooking fires going
straight towards the heavens meant that there was no wind, if
there was no wind, there would be no waves a very nice day indeed
to travel by sea. There were three boats in our little convoy
as we headed out of the lagoon into the open sea one behind
the other.
Against the advice of mostly every homeboy at that packing house
I had elected to sail on the motor vessel Libby. This little
boat was the oldest and the shabbiest of the lot and I had been
told that it would probably sink during the voyage. I decided
on the Libby because the other two boats had full crews on board
and Libby was being sailed by her captain and no crew. I was
not much of a sailor as I suffered from motion sickness, but
I figured that if I went along at least Captain Bob would have
someone to chat with during the crossing to Bonacco.
The weather had been nice as we coasted it down to Punta Patuca.
As night fell huge black clouds rolled in from the west, the
moon disappeared, the wind started to pickup, the rains began
to come down in torrents and we lost track of the other boats.
By eight o'clock the wind was blowing at close to hurricane
force out of the Northwest with a sea like I had never seen
before.
Later, the rains had stopped and there was just enough moonlight
filtering through the overcast that I was able to see the waves
like so many great black monsters with gray hair coming at the
little boat ready to devour us. It was scary and I believe even
the captain was a little afraid. It was during this maelstrom
that I was told by the captain that I would have to get up and
take my turn at the wheel he then set the course at two hundred
and seventy degrees.
I was not an experienced sailor but I did posses knowledge of
charts, wind, ocean currents and drift factors, remember weather
was my profession. I mentioned to the captain that I did not
know the exact course from Punta Patuca to Bonacco but under
the present conditions I thought we should be steering a few
points north of west, to which he replied that he had sail this
route at least a hundred times and we would steer two seventy
degrees I shook my head in agreement and held on to the wheel. |
When
ever he was not looking at the compass I would steer two eighty
and I did this all during my turns at the wheel. Some time toward
midnight the captain informed me that he had received a mayday
from one of the other boats, but he did not know if we were
ahead or behind the boat that called. He told the other captain
to use his spotlight and maybe in that way we would able to
locate him and we did.
The other boat was some miles behind us, so we came about and
headed in the direction of the light, the boat that called us
was taking on water and desperately needed the gasoline pump
we carried on deck. Upon arriving at the other boat and after
some great maneuvering by both captains we were ready to transfer
the pump to the other vessel. We lashed our gasoline pump to
a rope that was thrown to us and upon a signal I released the
line that secured the little engine to the deck of the Libby.
Our task was finished and we resumed our two seventy course.
A few hours after leaving the other boat, the wind had abated,
the rains had began again and the night was pitch black but
up ahead there was something strange going on, the wind made
a shift not consistent with a northern and there was light of
some kind up ahead but we were nowhere near our destination
and the other two boat were still behind us.
When we got closer to the illuminated area we broke into a clearing
in the middle of the ocean and we were suddenly surrounded by
towering white clouds illuminated by a moon that hung like a
great electric globe in the ash colored sky and here we sat
at the bottom of this vertical tunnel formed by billowing clouds
on a sea that had become completely calm. At the top of this
tunnel in the southwest quadrant was a rainbow, yes a rainbow,
I had seen hundreds of rainbows in my lifetime but never at
night, it was a fantastic thing to see.
The rainbow had no real colors but its graceful arch had all
the shades of gray, we stared at the rainbow until we came out
of the circle of clouds and the wind and the waves brought us
back to reality. One of the boats we had left behind sunk some
time towards morning while the second boat rescued the crew.
The second boat had to be assisted by another vessel equipped
with a radio direction-finding device. After seeing the rainbow
it took us a very long time to reach Bonacco and because of
the rain and wind and maybe a little because of our course we
were passing the island on the south side.
If not for the kindness of a Captain Reese on passing ship that
gave us our position and a new bearing by radio we would have
gone pass completely. I did not know it at the time, but later
I found out the there was a great commotion in Bonacco about
the three missing boats coming home from La Mosquitia. By the
way, I got home just in time for Christmas and was so scared
I even forgot to get seasick. |
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The
Sierra Pina Ghost
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iA
few years ago I was a witness to an astonishing event that
has since made me change my way of thinking on matters supernatural.
Ever since I got over my childhood fears of things that go
bump in the night I became a true skeptic on things spiritual
and I have debunked or explained away many yarns of incidents
on apparitions and ghosts and such.
The happenings leading up to the event referred to above started
on a Monday night in a small railroad-type apartment in the
Colonia Sierra Pina of La Ceiba.
I was already in bed when the noise started and at first I
attributed the sounds to rodents moving about in the attic
but after awhile I noticed that it was not a random sort of
sound. I thought I detected a pattern to what sounded like
marbles being rolled across the floor from the far side of
the room to the side nearest to my bed. And then, after a
pause, the pattern of the sound would reverse itself.
After listening to this racket for quite a while I realized
that this was not going to go away so I got out of bed and
walked across the room to where the light switch was located.
Upon turning on the lights the sounds stopped and there were
no indications of rodents or anything else in that room, or
the adjoining room that was separated only by a waist high
partition and a doorway in which hung a heavy curtain.
That Monday night I did not get much sleep, but I did not
discount the possibility that the noises were being generated
by rodents. I was sure that these sounds had a very rational
explanation and I would discover it once I could figure out
how to turn on the lights without getting out of bed.
After having to success with the lights I went to town and
purchased a powerful flashlight and returned to the colonia
and waited for night. As twilight announced the approaching
night I became anxious and went to bed earlier than usual
and after placing my flashlight under my pillow I waited,
and nothing happened. After a few hours of this I decided
that "it" was not going to show up. Very disappointed
and a bit uncomfortable with that big flashlight under my
pillow I decided I would have to try to find out what had
made the noises some other time, I then placed the flashlight
on the floor next to the bed and promptly fell asleep.
The sound of rolling marbles woke me sometime around one o'clock
in the morning and at first I did not remember the flashlight
so for a few seconds I laid there listening to the ruckus.
When I was fully awake I reached for the flashlight but the
moment that my hand touched the shaft of the flashlight it
was hit from many directions with such a force that I lost
my grip on it and it fell to the floor.
I did not try to retrieve the flashlight nor did I get out
of bed to cross the room to the light switch. The noise stopped
after I lost the light but I could not go back to sleep and
I lost another night's sleep.
The next morning my roommate convinced me that we should move
away form this apartment and I must say that after finding
the flashlight dented and with a broken crystal I was not
too hard to convince so I commenced looking for another place
right away and found one. We could not move-in to the new
place for another week or so, which meant that we would have
to spend another few nights in this "haunted" place.
Neither of us looked forward to spending another night in
that apartment at least not in the dark, so about five o'clock
in the evening we turned on all the lights and intended to
keep the lights burning all night.
We showered early and got ready to face our antagonist, we
closed and locked the doors leading to the room we used for
a bedroom and the adjoining room, empty but for a small refrigerator,
as we donned our sleeping apparel. With the lights in both
rooms at full blast we noticed a movement of the curtain that
covered the doorway of the adjoining room.
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The
curtain was lifted and held open by the hand of a small boy
child of about six or seven years of age. We could see the boy
child quite clearly as he was illuminated form the front by
the light from the room we were standing in and was outlined
from behind by the light of the room from whence he came. The
boy was bare feet and shirtless, his only clothing was a pair
of blue shorts that was held up by some sort of a string tied
in a bow at the navel.
As I stood there in awe the child looked me in the eyes and
smiled at me in a knowing sort of way then stepped back into
the adjoining room releasing the curtain which fell back into
place with a swinging motion. Seconds later I followed the child
into the adjoining room and found nothing, the door leading
out of that room was securely bolted and the room was windowless
so there was no way out and after I had searched behind and
inside the little refrigerator I decided that we had seen a
ghost.
My girlfriend tried to say something but I motioned her to be
silent while I got paper and pencil so that we could record
our experience before we had time to discuss it. Our written
accounts were identical except that she did not see the smile
or the missing front teeth and I believe that she missed the
smile because she had not finished dressing and had probably
looked away as she searched for something to cover her self
with.
As we finished our written accounts and discussed the event
for a bit the whole colonia lost electric power and we went
into complete darkness. We had no choice but to get into bed
and wait for the sounds of marbles to start up. But the sounds
never came.
We had to remain in that apartment for another week but we never
heard the marbles again. Before we left the apartment my neighbor,
a cab driver, took me to see an old lady that lived a few blocks
away, this old girl told me a story of an event that had taken
place in that apartment many years before.
According to the old lady two young boys had been left alone
in the apartment while the mother went dancing. In the apartment
was a fifty gallon drum half filled with water, it was surmised
that the younger kid, two-three-years-old, climbed up on a chair
and fell into the barrel and in a attempt to save his brother
the older child, six-or-seven, also fell in.
Upon returning from the dance the young mother found that both
of her children had drowned in the drum of water. I could never
find a logical explanation for the manifestation that took place
in that small apartment on that balmy night in Sierra Pina and
today if I'm asked if I believe in ghost, first I tell this
story then I reluctantly answer, yes. |
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Reco's
Emergency Measures
by Thomas Tomczyk
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RECO obliged and in the company's meeting room tempers soon begun
flaring as patronatos accused RECO side of calling them ignorant and
maneuvering the word "rate" of the previously signed agreement.
RECO on the other hand accused patronatos of living in "fantasy
land."
As Rosa Danelia, president of the Bay Islands patronatos remained
on vacation, Mirna Puerto, patronato vice president from Colonia de
los Maestros, took over as the head of the negotiators. Puerto presented
a four point letter in which patronatos expected the February "bill"
not "rate" to be continued to be paid by all RECO consumers
regardless of the energy consumption, or fuel price changes. Another
demand was that from August onwards the entire "fuel adjustment"
be eliminated. If these demands are not met read the letter "we
are ready to be without electricity."
"You want RECO to subsidize your electricity. This is fantasy.
Put your feet on the ground of Roatan," said Felipe Danzilo,
RECO's legal assessor since 1994. The meeting showed that RECO board
remains unable to effectively handle demands of the patronatos and
has so far signed every demand put in front of them. As Danzilo printed
out a RECO agreement to keep the February rates for May and June,
patronatos quickly asked for the rates to be extended through July.
Without question the document as reprinted and signed to appease the
patronatos.
If before patronatos were striving to portray themselves as defending
the rights of small consumers, in the talks became evident that patronato
members weren't preoccupied with getting an honest rate and working
with RECO on improving the company's situation, but at getting the
lowest electricity rate possible, regardless of consequences.
RECO in its current structure and world fuel prices reaching $75 a
barrel cannot be profitable even if it collects 100% of its bills
with .88 Lempiras /kilowatt fuel adjustment. "The last month
we made a profit was in 2004," said Bodden. The financial situation
is complicated further as RECO is trying to make the final payment
of 90,000 Euros for the delivery of a 2.2 Megawatt Wartsilla Generator. |
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For five hot summer days, RECO decided that work is more important
than sleep and 65,000 Roatanians with 1,000 El Salvadorian tourists
ended up losing sleep and waking up grouchy. Between July 30 and August
3, RECO introduced cost saving measures and cut power to the entire
island between 4am and 7am. The measures coincided with the August
spike in tourism when Roatan hotels filled with El Salvadorians guests
on weeklong holiday.
The power cuts allowed savings of around 12% or 1,500 gallons of fuel,
the fuel that RECO desperately needed, but had no funds to purchase.
Patronato leaders encouraged their constituents to only pay the "February
amount" of their monthly bill or not to pay their bill at all.
RECO collections rates, usually in their high 90's, in June and August
fell to 63% and company started running out of cash. RECO hands were
tied as the company signed a May agreement that didn't allow them
to cut off overdue customers. According to Clint Bodden, acting General
Manager, RECO in 2006 has lost Lps. 10 million.
On August 1 at 5pm, RECO was asked to meet with the patronato representatives
the following day at noon. |
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Fact
or Fiction
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Canadian
developer is charged with fraud for taking investors money to build
a resort that over the last three-and-a-half years has produced
little but controversy.
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Bay Islands still offer a place where you can be whoever you say you
are. If you've fixed you're moms lamp you're an electrician, if you've
helped your roommate with a website- you're a website designer, if
you have an idea for couple hundred condos- you're a developer. People
far and wide are hearing the mantra 'come to Bay Islands and you can
be whom you say you are," at least for a while.
Many Roatan real estate professionals have a problem deciding whether
Rick Mortell, 60, is not-so-skilled developer, or worse. While Mortell
claims that most of his investors in Roatan Port Royal Resort (ex-Wyndham)
are OK with time delays and changes not everyone is convinced. One
of the 30 original investors, Penelope Leigh, an American living on
Roatan is suing Mortell in a Roatan court for fraud.
On July 30 at Gio's Restaurant in French Harbour, Mortell was arrested
by two DGIC officers and taken into custody. The same evening Congressman
Jerry Hynds, who according to Mortell is neither business partner,
nor client, intervened on his behalf and Mortell was released to stay
at his Executive Inn Hotel room. "He just knows that this is
a 'real project,'" explains Mortell of Hynds' intervention, whose
Canadian passport is still detained by the police.
Mortell doesn't necessarily bring a track record of real estate development
success to the table and even his involvement in development is erratic.
At one point Mortell owned a wholesale optical company in Vancouver,
says he was involved in subdivision developments in Canada and in
1980s was involved in development of Galleon Beach Resort in Cayman
Islands. In 1999 he attempted to develop Caribbean Resorts in US Virgin
Islands through a $1 million share public offering, but Mortell says
that "due to [1995] Hurricane Marilyn the market changed, [and]
project didn't go anywhere." In 2002 he was again unsuccessful
this time starting a Mexican restaurant and Sports Bar in Bayone,
Florida. In 2003 he moved to Roatan but his luck hasn't changed.
Mortell explains that for the past year all work on his Roatan development
was slowed down due to the bottleneck in issuing a SERNA environmental
permit for the project. "This was a miscalculation on our part,"
says Mortell who brought in two of his daughters, Tara and Erika,
to help him with the marketing the project.
And 'slowed down' is an understatement. The only sign of human presence
on the project's north shore site is an abandoned storage shack, a
dozen milk cows grazing on the lush grass and machete cuts on the
thick mangrove stumps. The artificial beach has been taken back by
the sea and the road cut to the site is overgrown with vegetation
and practically impassible.
Just east of Camp Bay and bordering a huge mangrove expanse of Saint
Helena Island, the 30 acre site borders possibly the most pristine
part of Roatan Island. Its natural lagoon is home to disappearing
saltwater crocodiles, birds, but the ecosystem has been obviously
disturbed.
Mortell explained that the project was originally planned for West
Bay, but after problems with the purchase of land, sometime in 2004
he bought 30 acres of East End property from Albert Jackson, who was
offered 20% stake in the company, through Mortell's "Bay Islands
Enterprises" company.
The project's website tells visitors that the "resort will be
completed and open for operations in late 2007," but Mortell's
has a record of unrealistic claims. "Have you ever heard of a
truly guaranteed real estate deal? Not likely, until now," he
wrote in a letter to potential investors in 2005, and signed it as
a developer of Viva Wyndham.
The development's website that promotes the sale of condotel units
still has a Wyndham association with it: roatanvivawyndham.citymaker.com,
even though Wyndham Resorts has posted a website disclaimer: "there
is not a Viva Wyndham project located or planned for Roatan, Honduras.
Any use of the names or marks "Viva", "Wyndham"
or "Viva Wyndham" in connection with such a project is unauthorized."
Viva Wyndham was the brand that originally attracted investors to
the project. Mortell says that around 120 investors bought the 200
first phase units and, according to the British Columbia developer,
the sale of the second phase will begin in September with the resort
beeing planned for around 500 units.
In order the planned 200 first phase units to be pre-sold, Mortell
couldn't do it alone. He had to count on the help of real estate agents
willing to promote and sell his Viva Wyndham development. Most Roatan
real estate offices decided not to promote the development at all.
"It just didn't hold water," said Century 21 Roatan rep
Al Johnson and he wasn't alone. "The developers [Mortell] couldn't
give us straight answers to simple questions. Most troubling, they
were already selling investor lots, taking deposits and setting up
staged payment programs. (…)The deal smelled fishy to us. (…)
We declined the developer's invitation to promote the project,"
wrote Lief Simon, International Living Real Estate Editor.
The deal looked right to Larry Schlesser owner of Roatan-Real Estate.
"I've never met him [Mortell], but I'd like to. |
It
wasn't Rick who sold us our condo, it was Larry Schlesser,"
said Peter Kuhlmann, 60, describing that his trust in the project
was based on his trust in Schlesser. "The distance issue was
offset by him talking of a casino, 18-hole golf course and a resort
destination," said Kuhlmann, one of the first 30 buyers of
the condotel.
"I was unaware that other real estate operations declined their
[Mortell's] services. (…) presume that they did so later versus
earlier," wrote Schlesser who will continue to receive a fee
percentages for his ex-Viva Wyndham buyers as they continue to make
payments. Schlesser became Mortell's top promoter on Roatan, and
admits to selling around 20 of the Viva Wyndham units, in the "several
months," of their work relationship. Several other realtors
put that number at between 30 and 60.
Schlesser explains that he saw Wyndham as a positive development
for the island. "Mr. Mortell agreed to bring to the island
Wyndham management and personnel. They included a vice president
of Wyndham and a couple of architects. They visited more than once,"
said Schlesser who after "several months" parted ways
with Mortell.
The project did a few twists and turns since then: it moved from
West Bay to east of Paya Bay, it lost its Viva Wyndham association,
all inclusive status, and casino and golf course are no were in
sight. In spring on 2003 Kuhlmann, paid $5,000 payment for the Viva
Wyndham in West Bay and followed-up with 10% scheduled payment on
his $139,000 one bedroom, 750 square foot condotel. His next scheduled
payment is supposed to take place once the ground is broke.
Kuhlmann, a retired manager from Fort Worth, already owns a home
on Roatan and his $20,000 investment isn't going to make, or brake
him. "I'm possibly one of the last people that think this is
still going to happen," said Kulhmann. "If Rick wanted
to run with the money he'd be gone already."
According to Mortell over a year after deciding on partnering up
with VivaWyndham, he decided that the "all inclusive"
nature of the resort was not in line with his expectations. A year
after cancelling the Viva Wyndham association the developer "has
not finalized any agreement" and was unable to go beyond a
letter of intent from a major hotel chain whose name he can't disclose
on record. "The change is better news for investors as they
went from a three to five star resort," says Mortell. He did
disclose however the name of the hotel chain to his investors, who
in turn circulated it widely to Real Estate agents.
In one such instance Roatan Realty received a letter from one of
the ex-Wyndham investors trying to sell their unit. "We are
working towards finalizing the agreements with InterContinental,"
read the Mortell signed letter with attached photos of "construction
of the site is progressing," commentary of beach and roads
being constructed. In fact, the majority of work on the site was
done several years ago by Albert Jackson before Mortell purchased
the property. Roatan Realty declined to represent the seller.
According to Michael Cox, a developer of Turtling Bay outside of
Corozal, who has been working in development since 1962, any international
chain interested in coming into representation of 'Roatan Port Royal
Resort' would need to limit their liabilities with potential lawsuits
from investors not happy with the change. With the passing of time
Mortell's partnering with an international chain is getting more
difficult. "The project needs roads, power, and right distance
from the airport. It's a beautiful place and it's going to come,
but not right now," said Cox. "Rick overstepped his boundaries
by relinquishing his relationship with Wyndham without consulting
all his clients. If this was in the US, this would be long over
and all the investors would have their money back." In the
US at least, a developer has an implied covenant, or warranty with
his clients to begin developments reasonably soon and not vary from
the original promises. But this is not the US.
According to Cox the right way to proceed at this point would be
to provide a good faith accounting of all the remaining money, put
it in escrow account and work out an agreement for action with all
the investors. "For the benefit of the investors and reputation
of the island you have to stop the bleeding," said Cox, who
declined to sell Wyndham two years ago because "it wasn't a
good enough deal I could promote to my clients."
Mortell says that there is no time restriction on completion of
the project and investors have to wait until the project is completed.
Meantime, the developer is pursuing other investment opportunities,
purchasing land around the island and is even in conversation to
purchase French Harbour Yacht Club to build another group of condominiums.
First step in getting the project back on its feet will be the August
24 court hearing.
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Cubans,
Again
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Residency
Changes |
| On
June 26, 12 Cuban men on board of the Carnival Ship Carnival Valor
arrived on Roatan after being picked up at high sees between Cayman
Islands and Bay Islands. Valor's captain contacted Bay Islands Immigration
Chief Mario Pacheco to arrange for the Cubans to be discharged from
the ship, but Pacheco explained that Honduran law doesn't permit admission
of undocumented persons. The dozen continued their journey onto Belize.
This is first attempt at landing of Cubans in Honduras since 16 landed
at Palmetto Bay. |
Beginning
in July Roatan immigration no longer handles renewal of residency
permits. All persons doing their yearly residency renewals have to
go to immigration office in La Ceiba, located across from San Isidrio
Institute (M-F: 7:30am-3:30pm, 442-0638), present their documents,
receive a renewal form, then go to Banco Atlantida to pay a $20 fee.
With the payment confirmation La Ceiba Immigration issues residency
renewals and after 30 days the applicant can return to pick up the
new residency card. |
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Firemen
of Roatan
 |
| At
the fire station post. TOP: Sergio Castro, STANDING: Lidio
Aranda, Blanca Funez, Miguel Angel Reyez, Hector Membreño,
fire chief Marco Santa Maria, BELOW: Jesus Miranda, Noe Garcia. |
August was a particularly costly month for fires. Within six days
three fires consumed six buildings.
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On
August 7 Baptist Church and a home burned down in French Harbour
by a fire ignited by faulty electrical installation. A fire in Gravels
Bay, Sandy Bay and Flowers Bay consumed three homes. "With
RECO power being turned off and on it puts an extra load on electric
systems," said Chief Santa Maria, who in January took over
for Chief Woods.
According to chief Santa Maria the Roatan Municipal pays around
Lps. 110,000 to keep the operation and subsidizes the Santos Guardiola
Municipal by attending to emergencies there free of charge. This
could soon change as Oak Ridge is due for its own fire and ambulance
station. A fire truck purchase planned at the end of the year, one
from Roatan Municipal, two satellite fire stations in West End and
Oak Ridge are planned to open in December.
Equipped with two fire trucks and an ambulance the 11 firemen of
the Dixon Cove fire station have already acquired some new equipment.
They use 800 foot long hoses and seawater pumps in addition to their
500 gallon water trucks.
Two sets of Jaws of Life, air compressor, all together $60,000 worth
of life saving equipment were donated by Broward Sheriff's Office
Department of Fire Rescue with the help of retired firefighter Joe
Peterkin. In September Florida firemen are expected to offer Roatan
firemen a course in using the equipment.
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| feature
story / editorial
/ local news
/ business______________back
to top |
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New
goals at the Chamber by
Thomas Tomczyk
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Bay
Islanders to receive social security benefits and an employment
bank
I
On June 16 a new Chamber of Commerce board of directors was elected
to represent the over 700 Bay Islands businesses for the next two
years.
One of the first goals of the Chamber's new president, Andres Cardona,
is to create a resumé and employment bank to serve in relieving
the archipelagos qualified labor shortage. Beginning in August all
Bay Islands businesses were contacted to provide a list of positions
that they needed filled. Through an advertising campaign all Bay
Islanders looking for employment will be asked to submit their resumes
that will be available at the chamber and eventually on the chamber's
website.
"We hope to become a voice for Bay Island's businesses and
serve as information source for investors thinking about investing
here," said Cardona, who took over the position from Rita de
Morris, who was one of the founding members of the organization
in 2001.
The BI Chamber of Commerce is working with the central government
of creating a national social security structure. In December Bay
Islands could become the sixth Honduran Department to begin offering
a retirement and disability funding and BI Chamber of Commerce will
begin coordinating the effort beginning in November. 1% business
and 3.5% employee contribution will be funneled to central government
who will offer retirement plans for persons who worked for 180 months
in the system.
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The
Chamber is a place for education as well. Electrical and computer
technician, arts, handicraft and English courses are offered throughout
the day at the chamber's Coxen Hole classroom. The courses have
produced success stories with its graduates finding employment in
RECO and even teaching. Mrs. Grizelda Solis, from Coxen Hole is
an example of such a success story. She has taken several handicraft
courses and now teaches handicraft at the Chamber herself. "She
has embodied what this is all about," said Cardona.
One of the Chamber's challenges is to make the chamber more representative
of Utila, Guanaja and Cayos Cochinos. There are six members on Utila
and only one on Guanaja.
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