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The Star - Thursday, 2009 April 23 

Prime Minister Bruce Golding last night called on Jamaicans not to riot following the possible announcement of a gas tax today.

The prime minister, who was making an address to the country, was responding to rumours that disruptions are being planned in anticipation of Finance Minister Audley Shaw’s presentation today. Golding pleaded with citizens to consider such actions carefully.

“What purpose would that serve? Would it close the Budget gap? No! Would it force us to restructure the budget by reducing the grants we give to our basic schools, or the provision of medical supplies to our hospitals, or by laying off thousands of public sector workers? Absolutely not,” the prime minister declared. read more

The Gleaner - Wednesday, 2009 April 22 

As accolades continued to pour in for the security forces, the men who carried out the mission in which 21-year-old hijacker Stephen Fray was apprehended and his hostages rescued without injury said yesterday the merit of their training in a situation which had the potential of going awfully wrong was tested.

“My first concern was that he (Fray) might try to harm the passengers and crew and the detrimental effect that would have on Jamaica….read more

The Star, Tuesday 2009 April 21. 

Friends and former schoolmates of Stephen Fray, the man now in police custody after Sunday’s hijacking of a CanJet plane at the Sangster International Airport, have expressed shock at his involvement in the event.

Several comments on the 20-year-old’s hi5 and Facebook pages described him as handsome, sweet and nice. In fact, on his hi5 page, Stephen, a graduate of Cornwall College and the Montego Bay Community College, described himself as a “cool, laid-back kinda person … suh dem seh! I’m very easy to talk to, trustworthy.”

One female, who has known Fray since high school, …read more

The Star-Monday 2009 April 20. 

A hostage stand-off at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, St James that lasted over nine and a half hours, ended after 6 a.m. this morning when members of the military and police stormed the aircraft and overpowered the hijacker.

A 20-year-old Montego Bay resident, Stephen Fray took over the CanJet Airlines charter flight shortly after 10 p.m. after evading several checkpoints and boarding the aircraft.

Armed man

A statement last night from Kent Woodside, the vice president and general manager of CanJet Airlines, said “An armed man boarded CanJet Flight 918 which had landed at Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay.”

The statement added, “Flight 918 had departed from Halifax at 7:15 p.m. The flight was due to travel from Montego Bay to Santa Clara, in Cuba. There were 174 passengers and eight crew scheduled to leave Montego Bay on Flight 918.”

Fray who spent most of the time on the aircraft in the back cabin reportedly demanded fuel, and a cellular phone…read full story

One year old as a blog yet conceptualised as a mailing list four years ago, GFFB will be moving from strength to strength. Yes, you will see some changes over the coming months which will make this blog addictive for the Jamaican Diaspora and friends all over the world. Nuff said - onward, forward !

Later. 

The first anniversary of the GFFB Blog will be celebrated on 2009 April 20. It was therefore decided that this blog will be given a new shot in the arm (a rebirth), recognizing that things have been dormant here for a while. The new name is GFFB-JAMAICAmade. We have come a long way since our first email Bulletin went out nearly 4 years ago. The evolution to a Web site and a Blog has been remarkable.

Many of our members/contributors have pledged to become active again over the next year and therefore this will propel GFFB JAMAICAmade to new levels of success.

Thank you for visiting and commenting on the activities of GFFB-JAMAICAmade and remember your comments can be as short as one word…or as long as the Island of Jamaica…LOL.

Keep in touch.

Admin.