Dr. Who?
A doctorate is an advanced degree meant to be earned through years of hard work leading to the mastery of an area of study. And many doctorates are exactly that. In recent years, however, Beaconites have noticed a rapid increase in the number of people purporting to have a doctorate degree. On closer inspection, they realised that some of them earned their purported qualification through one of the growing number of diploma mills that apparently hand out the degrees with abandon. Forced to conclude that not all PhDs are created equal — and unable to fairly assess the degrees earned by everyone who might be mentioned in this newspaper — Beaconites have decided on a style change. Starting next week, only medical doctors will be identified with the prefix “Dr.” in the Beacon. Everyone else will get the “Mr.” or the “Ms.” given to other people. The decision came after careful thought. Beaconites don’t wish to take away from the accomplishments of people who have earned legitimate doctorate degrees. But they also don’t want to glorify people who have cheapened the concept of higher education by forking over some cash to a diploma mill.
Long stock and six barrels
A Beaconite was riding his motorcycle past the Multi-purpose Sports Complex Tuesday when he saw about half a dozen police officers walking in pairs down the sidewalk, each holding a long gun that appeared to be loaded. This sight would give him pause at any time, but the circumstances were especially peculiar. Why were they walking instead of sitting inside the safety of a cruiser? Why were clips loaded into the magazine wells of the firearms? They were headed in the opposite direction of Road Town Police Station, but they didn’t appear to be responding to a crime in progress. Indeed, they were walking at a fairly casual pace, and they didn’t appear to be breaking a sweat as they neared U.P.’s Cineplex. The Beaconite’s attempt to learn more about the Tuesday show of arms from the Police Information Office was not successful. Like many residents, however, he remains concerned about gun violence in the territory. Two nights before, he heard very distinct gunfire near his residence: two shots in quick succession followed by another. This isn’t the first time he has heard gunshots near his apartment late at night either. Being directly above Huntums Ghut adds to the action after the sun goes down, and the reporter has grown accustomed to the noise. Police, meanwhile, have not provided any information about gunshots recently, and they have also stayed mum on online reports of an attempted armed robbery on Monday at a bar and restaurant on Fort Hill.
Thanks, HOA
A Beaconite was happy to receive emailed documents from the House of Assembly two days after they were tabled on Oct. 18. She hopes the HOA is returning to its traditional practice of automatically distributing such documents to the media shortly after they are tabled. This practice was standard in past years, but in recent months the HOA had changed course and often provided some documents only on request — and often after weeks of delays. The Beaconite believes that the documents — which become public when they are tabled — should be circulated immediately, and she is glad to see the HOA moving back in that direction. Additionally, she believes such documents should be made available to the general public for anyone to easily view. Ideally, the HOA could post them all on a website the day they are tabled. Such a practice is a valuable part of the HOA maintaining transparency in its processes.
