The Tribune

BUSINESS EDITOR, 
The Tribune

ON April 7, 2014, an article appeared in The Tribune Business Section regarding the Orchid Bay legal matter in which I was critical of an ex parte decision made by Supreme Court Stephen Justice Isaacs, and thus by extension of Justice Isaacs. During The Tribune interview, I prefaced my remarks on the case by emphatically stating that “Justice Isaacs has a reputation for fairness”, however this point was omitted from the article by the journalist for “legal” reasons. This omission, of course, was and remains irrelevant, and my criticism of Judge Isaacs’ decision was wrong.

It was not my intention to disparage Justice Stephen Isaacs or any of the Judges of the Supreme Court. I have great respect for the Judiciary of The Bahamas and the tireless work that they do in a system that they have met in place and have little control over, usually with inadequate resources. Also, they are grossly under compensated given the complexity of the task.

As the guardians of justice their work is exemplary and as a participant in actions before the Civil Side of the Supreme Court I have personally seen the herculean effort that is required and provided in relation to each and every matter.

Too often today we as human beings seek to blame others for our shortcomings, our failures, our lack of vision, our inability to properly plan, and when we do formulate a plan, our inadequacy to effectively implement the plan.

As a student athlete in Saint Augustines College’s (“SAC”) dominant high school basketball programme in 1973, we had arguably the best high school basketball coach in the history of The Bahamas in the form of the late Mr Vincent Ferguson, who also played professional baseball in the United States. Mr Vincent Ferguson’s motto was simple: follow instructions, good defense leads to good offense, play the hardest that you can at all times, learn the basketball plays, implement the plays, make no excuses and take responsibility for your actions. As a member of Mr Ferguson’s team when you did make a mistake, oftentimes your reflex would have been to look at Mr Ferguson, who would invariably look at the ground and you knew immediately that he was disappointed in your choice. I truly believe that most people who played on Mr Vincent Ferguson’s teams apply his motto to everyday life.

I realise that my comments as reported in the article that appeared in The Tribune Business Section on Monday, 7th April, 2014 have had the effect of criticising Justice Isaacs and his decision in circumstances where legally he is not in a position to defend himself, and for that I apologise.

Like my old basketball coach Mr Vincent Ferguson would have done, I believe that Judge Isaacs simply looked at the ground when he read The Tribune article.

PAUL GOMEZ

Nassau

April 21, 2014