OCHO RIOS, ST ANN:

The St Ann Parish Council has announced traffic and vending changes for major towns in St Ann's Bay, Ocho Rios and Brown's Town. All traffic changes will take effect as at 6 a.m. on Monday and will last until Saturday, December 27.

For St Ann's Bay, traffic changes will see the following: vehicles entering the town from Harbour Street or the AGR Byefield Highway via Bravo Street will be diverted left on to Park Avenue and on to Main Street in the vicinity of the Esso gas station.

Park Avenue will operate as a one-way street, so vehicles will not be allowed to enter from the Main Street end.

Bravo Street will also operate as a one-way street from the police station, north to Musgrave Street.

On Christmas Eve, Main Street will be blocked to vehicular traffic from the Bravo Street to Wharf Street intersections at 5 p.m., as vending will be allowed on Main Street after that time.

In Brown's Town, vehicles entering from Discovery Bay and Runaway Bay will detour at the roundabout at Cool Oasis, east along Huntley Avenue.

In Ocho Rios, vehicles exiting Rexo Plaza will not be allowed to turn right.

There will be no street vending in Ocho Rios as the council says there is adequate space in the market.

In Brown's Town, vending will be allowed in the car park from 5 a.m. Monday, until 8 a.m. Sunday, December 28.

In St Ann's Bay, vending will be allowed on Main Street from 5 a.m. Monday 22, until 8 a.m. Sunday, December 28.

For persons wishing to use the car park or Main Street for vending, registration with the market manager is required.

- Carl Gilchrist

PORT MARIA, ST MARY:

The Port Maria police are trying to find the whereabouts of 20-year-old Oeka Moodie, who they believe can assist them in the investigation of a murder, which took place in the parish recently.

Moodie is said to be the girlfriend of 22-year-old Mark Bogle, electrician, of Galina, St Mary, who was found with multiple stab wounds on his bedroom floor last Tuesday. Police believe Moodie and Bogle were living together until the time of the murder.

According to reports, about 10 a.m. last Tuesday, the police were summoned to the house after residents reported hearing noises.

Upon their arrival, Bogle's body was seen lying face down in a pool of blood with his hands and feet bound with duct tape and his mouth gagged. The body was wrapped in a transparent plastic bag.

Close inspection revealed that the body had over thirty stab wounds. The girlfriend has not been seen since.

The Port Maria policed are continuing their investigation and are asking anyone with information to come in.

- Nedburn Thaffe

PORT MARIA, ST MARY:

Students at the Stewart Town Basic School in St Mary will begin the New Year with an addition to their curriculum after the school was added to the list of those in the parish to benefit from a donation from Pryce Computer Foundation (PCF).

Clive Pryce, chairman of PCF, donated two computers, a scanner and a printer to the school recently and promised to help the school establish a computer lab for use by the community.

Pryce said come January, he plans to start teaching the teachers how to use the computers so they, in turn, can teach the children. He said he also planned to donate language software, such as Spanish and French.

He said the long-term goal was to establish a computer lab at the school for use by residents of Stewart Town. This would help the school to raise funds to sustain the operations of the lab and possibly other areas of need.

Principal Annalease Kelly thanked the PCF for the gift.

- C. G.

PORT ANTONIO, PORTLAND:

A division of Cari-Med Limited gave the Port Antonio Infirmary pharmaceutical and hospital products valued at over $350,000 on Wednesday.

Mickelle Powell, agency manager at Cari-Med, explained that the donation was made possible with assistance from Cari-Med's sister company, Kirk's distributors.

A total of 70 people currently occupy the infirmary, which is manned by a matron and 23 staff members.

Sharon Burke, matron of the institution, expressed thanks for the timely donation, saying the supplies would go a far way.

- Gareth Davis