ICE Strike: Day 16
• Mediators
pull away
• Without a clear accounting, there will be no
agreement
As the strike enters it's third week, there
seems to be no clear end in sight. The government is
being careful not to show too weak a hand, and at
the same time not drop the axe, as it faces other
confrontations of strike from the teachers unions
and others who are on the wings waiting to see the
results.
Negotiations at many different levels and with
different interested groups has not resulted in
clear and cut resolution.
Some workers interviewed over the past week say they
are willing to get back to work but are being
stopped by their union leaders. The Central Bank
will not move from it's decision to authorize only
the issue $40 Million in bonds at this time and the
offer of the Banco Nacional to place the $60 Million
balance has not gone anywhere.
ICE and the government have both declared the strike
illegal, but neither is taking any steps to enforce
that.
Immigration
can again detain and deport illegals
Thursday,
the Constitutional Court known as Sala IV,
overturned a previous decision that impeded the
immigration department from detaining and
deporting persons found to be illegal in the
country.
For the last couple of months, immigration
officials were had their hands tied by a 'Recurso
Amparo' and action brought before the
constitutional court that saying that
immigration officials were acting illegally in
detaining and deporting individuals who had
committed no crime in Costa Rica and/or were not
wanted in other countries.
Immigration officials, in conjunction with
interpol, drug enforcement officers, child
welfare agents and other departments, made
intensive raids on different establishments,
primarily nocturnal bars and clubs, in San José
and other beach communities, detaining tens of
persons whose migratory status was questionable.
Marco Badilla, director of immigration, tells
that the raids will start up again shortly and
according to - un-named - sources close to
insidecostarica.com, they will be acting with a
vengeance, showing a strong hand over the coming
weeks.
North American and European visitors to Costa
Rica have 90 days stay in the country before
they must leave or extend their status. Most
other countries have 30 days - few need a visa
prior to arrival to Costa Rica - and depending
on immigration officials at the entry point, who
have the right to reduce that.
After the visitor stay expires, the individual
is now deemed to be in the country illegally and
is subject to detention and deportation. It is
recommended by immigration officials that
everyone carry a their passport or a copy, which
includes the entry stamp.
If detained, a person has 5 days to demonstrate
his status in the country and takes steps to
legalize it. Failure, can mean deportation.
Students
transfer from Costa Rica to LaVerkin
Cross
Creek Programs in LaVerkin, Utah, have received
one or two transfer students from the Dundee
Ranch Academy, the youth behavioral management
school that was closed down after the Costa
Rican authorities raided the campus last week
and jailed its owner for 27 hours.
It's unknown how
many more students will transfer to Cross Creek,
said Ken Kay, president of the World Wide
Association of Specialty Programs and Schools (WWASPS),
a trade organization that oversees 11
independently owned youth behavioral management
schools in Jamaica, Mexico, Costa Rica and the
United States.
Peter Brennan, a
spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in San Jose, said
Dundee's owner, Narvin Lichfield, was arrested
on what Costa Rican authorities considered human
rights violations. Lichfield was released last
week, but a judge has ordered him to stay for
six months awaiting possible criminal charges.
No charges have
been filed against Lichfield or WWASPS, Kay said
in an interview Wednesday evening. He also had
said Costa Rican prosecutor Fernando Vargas
single-handedly caused the riot. Vargas has been
removed from the case for unknown reasons, the
Associated Press reported.
Some angry
parents, however, have written to newspapers
about the tough punishment of children, saying
treatments were especially harsh on those who
tried to run away.
Kay said children
who tried to run away would be expelled. He said
he was not aware of any children who tried to
run away or who were expelled.
Some parents
questioned the transfer of former Dundee staff
member Kenny Wilson to another school. But Kay
said Wilson left Costa Rica not because the
company tried to cover up any assault or rape.
He denied Wilson's involvement in any assault or
rape.
Man sentenced for
molesting children
A
man who fled North Carolina seven years ago to
escape accusations that he was a serial
child-sex offender has pleaded guilty to eight
felony charges involving molestation.
Daniel Webster Hovis, who was extradited from Costa
Rica, entered his surprise plea Wednesday in
Dare County Superior Court.
After listening to testimony from four victims
and an affected family member, Superior Court
Judge J. Richard Parker sentenced Hovis, 57, to
40 years in prison.
The judge thanked the victims, now young women,
for speaking out.
"It's been a long time coming, and I am
very grateful that he won't be able to cause any
more harm to children and their families,"
a 24-year-old woman told the court.
Hovis, a resident of the Lake Gaston area and
Colington Harbour, Dare Country, when the crimes
took place, pleaded guilty to two counts of
second-degree rape, two counts of second-degree
sex offense and four counts of taking indecent
liberties with a child.
Assistant District Attorney Robert Trivette said
he was prepared to finish jury selection and go
to trial Wednesday. He said he was not sure why
Hovis decided to plead guilty.
Employed as a boatwright, a charter boat captain
and a craft jeweler at flea markets, Hovis had a
history of sexual offenses in Florida, North
Carolina and Costa Rica, prosecutors said.
Four investigators with the State Bureau of
Investigation and the Dare County Sheriff's
Office spent thousands of hours tracking him to
Costa Rica and working on the 18-month
extradition process.
The offenses in North Carolina were committed on
girls ages 9 through about 13. According to
records prosecutors read in court, Hovis preyed
on children who lacked fathers in their lives
and acted as the kindly guardian who bought them
computers, bicycles and clothes.
He also let the girls drive his truck while they
sat on his lap and fondled them as they got in
and out of his boat when they rode in it.
A search of his Lake Gaston residence turned up
a box of hundreds of photographs of the girls,
some of whom later attended Manteo High School.
Although they were clothed, the girls were posed
in provocative positions, Assistant District
Attorney Nancy Lamb told the judge.
A woman who is now 30 and lives in Florida said
she decided when she was about 21 to track down
Hovis and report him, according to prosecutors
and her testimony Wednesday. On July 30, 1998,
she finally found his name on a list of the
SBI's most wanted criminals.
Hovis was found in a Costa Rican jail and turned
over to North Carolina authorities last year. He
was serving a four-year sentence in Costa Rica
for molesting a 4-year-old boy.
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