Three weeks after the front page featured a story on a West Bay home going up in flames, the 3 July 1975 edition of The Caymanian Compass contained a photo of a Mount Pleasant store destroyed by fire. The shop, leased by Lewin Parsons and known as ‘Dawson’s Store’ after its former owner, had just been fully stocked. Parsons said he was trying to determine how much he lost, estimating it was around $7,000 worth of goods.
A portion of the page 4 editorial focused on the Cayman Islands Taxi Association, noting that Ira Walton, the organisation’s president, would be urging members to reduce fares by up to 20%, and saying, “Tourists’ complaints about our taxi rates go back years.” In addition, due to pressure from the association, airport bus services are restricted, the editorial said, noting, “Cayman is one of the few countries in the world where incoming tourists are unable to take airport delivery of rented cars.” Offering four possible solutions to “high taxi rates”, it said that a “policy of self-restraint by the cabbies is in their best interest”, while warning that if the public starts feeling the drivers are abusing their monopoly position, there will be more pressure to scrap the present system.
Also on page 4 was a photo of passengers coming off the MS Southward to be ferried over to shore. The caption noted that the cruise ship was “taking up some of the slack during [the] slow off season” by bringing in hundreds of tourists to Grand Cayman once a week.
In the second section of the newspaper was the story, ‘Work can be fun if you use “common senses” ’, stressing the need to “unwind”. Noting the “frantic pace” of life, the article said, “Combine a pile-up of cooking, cleaning, running errands, looking after kids and perhaps even a job, and the end result leaves few moments for relaxation.” A photo accompanying the story suggested one way to relax: taking a “luxurious bubble bath”.
