A 32-year-old Pembroke man was sentenced to two weeks' in prison yesterday after Acting Senior Magistrate Carlisle Greaves said he needed to have more respect for the law.

Crown counsel Koshea Scott told Mr. Greaves on February 8, Jeremiah Burrows, of Cox's Hill Road, was spotted by Police standing on a sidewalk near the Beach bar on Front Street. They were responding to a report of a fight.

According to Police reports, Burrows smelled strongly of alcohol and began swearing. “F*** you. you are just a reserve (officer). F*** you and the magistrate. It's only a misdemeanour,” Burrows reportedly said.

But during the Plea Court session, Burrows apologised repeatedly for his actions and said he was arguing with someone else who was not before the courts. “I did not mean anything by it,” he said to Mr. Greaves. However, his remorse fell on deaf ears.

“Everybody thinks they can curse and bring down everybody,” Mr. Greaves said. “It's time to go to jail.”

When he heard this, Burrows asked that the magistrate reconsider incarcerating him and pleaded for a stiff fine instead. Mr. Greaves refused: “See, people have no regard for the law. Never underestimate the jail.”

A thief escaped with cash that had been collected for donation to charity from Kit ‘n' Caboodle early on Friday morning.

Police were called to the store in the Bermudiana Arcade on Queen Street at 12.33 p.m. There they spoke with the complainant, who stated the culprit broke into the store and stole $560 in cash as well as an unknown amount collected for charity.

Inquiries into the incident are underway.

Dr. Seuss day at Youth Library

The Youth Library will be having a Dr. Seuss Fun Day today from 11 am - 3:00 pm. The event is in celebration of the well-loved author Dr. Seuss' birthday and it promotes the love of reading and the benefits of reading in our children's education.

There will be different activities each hour: 11 a.m. stories; 12 p.m. movies; 1 p.m. games; 2 p.m. magic show by Bermuda Magic.

The youth library on Church Street will be closed on Monday for upgrade work on the lighting.

Homeless man remanded for robbery

Thirty-three-year-old Kenneth Ralph Burrows was remanded in custody after he was charged with robbing and wounding his victim on February 26.

Burrows, of no fixed abode, was not required to enter a plea as he will be indicted in Supreme Court.

He will appear for mention on March 5.

A 49-year-old Southampton man appeared confused in Magistrates' Court yesterday when he learned he will have to stand trial for 31 counts of fraud although he had already paid the money back.

Derrick Phipps, of Palm Valley Road, was charged with stealing and uttering several checks belonging to Fine Dine In Ltd. between September 20 and October 15 last year.

Despite admitting that he stole the cheques, Phipps pleaded not guilty and said he believed he was appearing in court to have the charges against him dropped.

When the manager of the company confirmed that Phipps had repaid the stolen funds and did not object to having the charges dropped, Mr. Greaves said: “So you only called the Police until you got your money back. Private citizens cannot waste the court's time.”

Mr. Greaves set the man's bail at $5,000. Phipps is to return to court on March 5 for mention.

The Bermuda Fire Service attended four medical calls on Thursday but fortunately were not called upon to fight any fires.

Fire personnel were called to an incident of food poisoning of an 18-year old male on North Shore Road in Bailey's Bay shortly after 8.30 in the morning. Just over an hour later they attended another incident on North Shore, this time a single vehicle accident near the Aquarium involving a 35-year old male with a shoulder injury.

Fire then moved down to St. George's, where they attended a 32-year old female with severe back pain on York Street just before noon, and a 42-year old female who fell to the floor just after 7 p.m.

Government's computer department has moved to Southside St. David's. A Government spokesperson yesterday also announced that the former Computer Systems and Services Department (CSSD) will now be called the Information Technology Office or ITO.

The move which was approved in the spring of 2002, took place in January 2003 and sees the bulk of the operation and staff switched to Channel House at Southside. According to the spokesperson while the majority of the 32 staff are now at Southside, a small group will be stationed in Hamilton at all times to provide technical support and maintain the servers in the Data Centre.

A release from the Department of Communication and Information read: “This change is part of a cohesive and carefully thought out program that has restructured the management function to allow for greater efficiency and flexibility in the provision of Information Technology and related services within the Civil Service.

“Under the new model, the ITO will assist all Government departments with their information technology needs. Meanwhile, the Departments will be empowered to take the responsibility for securing desktop computers and organising routine technical support.”

These changes came about after a study that Allied Business Consultants (ABC) performed. As a consequence, a new Governance Model for Information technology has been instituted.

Part of the ABC's recommendation was to decentralise the technical support and systems development efforts to the various departments within the Civil Service. Government hope that this move will encourage ownership, autonomy and creativity in the development of IT initiatives.

Moreover, Government felt that decentralising some duties previously performed by the CSSD would allow the ITO to concentrate its efforts on planning and supporting the core infrastructure and thereby continue to develop the technology platform to support the Government's e-government agenda.

Tenants will benefit from apartments that were previously used as tourist accommodations in Smith's Parish.

The Angel's Grotto Guest House on Harrington Sound Road is changing four tourist apartments into six residential units.

There are currently two existing residential units on the property. Five of the apartments will be two-bedroom, while the sixth unit will be a three-bedroom. The change of use application was granted to BCP Limited by the Department of Planning this week.

Planning permission has only been granted for the change of use, and BCP Ltd. will have to apply for planning permission for the actual development and receive approval before being issued with a building permit.

BCP Ltd. will also have to provide parking and manoeuvring for seven cars and the site shall be landscaped within three months of being granted the certificate of occupancy.

The 40,800 square foot lot is zoned Residential 2 with green space conservation areas. They will also need to provide a communal garbage storage area.