Sunday, March 8
– Air Jamaica airplane, Flight 040, flying from Baltimore in the United States to Montego Bay, made an emergency landing at the John F. Kennedy Airport, New York, after two of its tyres blew out on take-off.
The aircraft was flown to New York, where the airline has repair facilities, for the tyres to be changed. However, when the airplane was inspected it was discovered that debris from the tyres had gone into an engine, which would need to be overhauled. A substitute plane was used to complete the trip. The plane had to dump 15,000 pounds of fuel into the Atlantic Ocean in order to make the emergency landing.
– Mike Tyson chased James ‘Bonecrusher’ Smith around the ring for 12 rounds before winning by unanimous decision to add the World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight title to his World Boxing Council (WBC) crown. Smith held on to his fellow American throughout the fight, and referee Mills Lane of the United States took a point away from Smith in the second round, and again in the eighth round for excessive holding. Tyson, 20, the youngest heavyweight champion in history, opened the fight with a left hook, throwing punches from a crouch.
Monday, March 9
– The United States Supreme Court ordered the US Government to relax the standard it uses to decide whether to grant asylum to illegal aliens, who say they will be persecuted if forced to return home. In a ruling that could have broad implications for US immigration policy, the court ruled 6-3 that the government must grant asylum to a refugee who will not return home because of a “well-founded fear” of persecution. The Reagan administration had argued that asylum should be granted only when a refugee could show “a clear probability” of persecution.
Tuesday, March 10
– A draft constitution for Haiti that weakened the power of the presidency and, among other provisions, makes Creole and French the country’s official language, was approved. The document will replace constitutions that were rewritten several times during the 29-year Duvalier dictatorship to allow Francois ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier and his son, Jean-Claude, to rule virtually by decree. A referendum was scheduled for March 29, to be followed by national elections in November, and the inauguration in February 1988, of Haiti’s first freely elected president in at least three decades.
Wednesday, March 11
– Directors of the NCB Group of Companies elected Dr Keith Panton as chairman of the group. Panton is the chief executive of Alcan Jamaica Ltd and vice-president of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica. The board elected Panton as chairman, replacing Chris Bovell. Panton was educated at Kingston Technical High School. He gained a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and English at Wilmington College in Ohio, United States. He later achieved a Master of Arts and doctorate in labour economics and economic development with personnel management, a subsidiary area, from Washington State University.
– Prime Minister Edward Seaga presented The Prime Minister’s Medal of Appreciation for Outstanding Services in the Field of Arts to Madge Sinclair, internationally acclaimed Jamaican actress and television star. Sinclair, who was paying a courtesy call on Seaga at Jamaica House, said she was “pleasantly surprised” at receiving the award as it was totally unexpected. A Jampress release said she brought Seaga up to date with the progress of her career and outlined some of her plans for the future, which, she said, included promoting Jamaica as a prime location for filming movies. Seaga told Sinclair one of the many things which he admired greatly about her was her continued interest in Jamaica.
Friday, March 13
– The Senate passed a bill amending the Dangerous Drugs Act. Twenty-nine million people in the world abuse ganja, the Senate heard, as it completed debate on the bill amending the act, and then proceeded to pass it. Independent Senator Dr Lloyd Barnett supported efforts to deal with drug problems but warned that errors should be avoided. “Don’t succumb to facile assumptions,” he cautioned, as he pointed to the fact that increased penalties often failed to solve problems. Senator Barnett said it was a maxim that you should not inflict greater harm on the victim than already existed, adding that some of the provisions of the bill should be examined.
Saturday, March 14
– A Concorde supersonic airliner landed in Kingston for the first time at the Norman Manley International Airport. It arrived from Honolulu, Hawaii, and left for London an hour later. Concorde, regarded as the Rolls-Royce of aircrafts, which landed here just for refuelling, is part of a British Airways round-the-world charter service to a London group called Alta Holidays for Goodwood Travel. But British Airways Dawn Weller said that a low flypast was arranged to mark the aircraft’s initial touchdown to the capital city. Concorde has already flown several trips out of Montego Bay during British Airways’ recent and temporary tourism promotion link-up with Air Jamaica. Concorde did a Kingston flypast shortly after its inaugural flight to Jamaica.
