10 popular personalities for 2010

Mel Cooke continues to look back at some of the most popular figures who dominated the media landscape in 2010.

 

• The Rev Al Miller

Al-ternately preacher and driver

Among his varied engagements, the Reverend Merrick 'Al' Miller is known for is his invocation of blessings upon the efforts of the Reggae Boyz. But in 2010, he seemed to be juggling roles more adroitly than Maradona at his peak ('Hand of God' and all) could flick a football around.

Was the goodly reverend a preacher? Was he Father Confessor, number one on speed dial and resident courier for members of the Coke family to the police after the Tivoli incursion? And, after being intercepted on Mandela Highway by the police driving the vehicle in which perhaps the number-one fugitive in the Western Hemisphere, Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, was travelling, was Miller really the true 'Driva?' The Jamaican version of the Transporter, even?

One thing is certain, though. After the Mandela Highway interception on June 22, nearly a month after the Tivoli incursion, Miller was definitely "a person of interest" (an ominous term, dank with the tremors associated with a lack of specificity) to the police and was eventually charged with harbouring a fugitive and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

In a story published in The Gleaner on June 4, Miller said the surrender of Leighton 'Livity' Coke, brother of accused drug kingpin Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, had been arranged for three days before its execution.

Miller said the process started when he got a telephone call that Livity wanted to turn himself in and needed his help. He met him at an undisclosed location in the Corporate Area. From there, they drove to the Half-Way Tree Police Station, where he was taken into custody.

Miller also escorted Sandra 'Sandy' Coke into police custody.

In a Gleaner story a day after the Dudus capture, Miller said Coke had contacted him on the day of the interception and requested his assistance to be taken to the United States Embassy in Kingston. "I, therefore, made arrangements with his lawyers because he wanted to go ahead with the extradition process. So we communicated with the US Embassy, because that's where he said he would feel more comfortable," Miller told The Gleaner.

Miller declined to say where he met Coke or with whom at the US Embassy he had spoken.

The shepherd was not abandoned by his flock, though, and Miller seems as resilient as ever. In his moment of return to his congregation at Fellowship Tabernacle prior to a court appearance and posting $200,000 bond, he was buoyed by the hymn Arise, Arise.

• Chris Gayle

Captaincy doubtful, batting masterful

Two questions dominated cricketer Chris Gayle's career on the pitch coming up to November 2010: Was he West Indies captain or not? Was he on a retainer contract or not?

In mid-November, there was only one question about the man with legendary 'Gayle' force: Just how many runs would he score against Sri Lanka in the Test at Gallittere? It turned out to be 333, and in what may just have been a 'suck salt' letter to write, West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president Dr Julian Hunte wrote to the brawny, sometimes bearded Jamaican:

"It fills me with pride to send you heartfelt congratulations on your historic innings of 333 against Sri Lanka at Gallittere. Congratulations firstly on achieving your highest individual score and one which propelled the West Indies to 580, allowing for a declaration.

"Your innings was an epic feat of aggressive resilience and I salute you on behalf of the West Indies Cricket Board and all the people of the Caribbean for whom you are a cricketing ambassador.

"As you know, not only is your score the highest by a West Indian against Sri Lanka, and the highest by a West Indian in the subcontinent, but it now holds the record for the highest individual score by a West Indian batsman outside the Caribbean, surpassing the great Viv Richards' 291 against England at The Oval in 1976.

"In the past two years, you have shown your maturity as a batsman and a leading member of the West Indies team. Your statistics speak for themselves and this innings follows the two great ones you played against New Zealand and Australia."

• Don Wehby

'Grace-ful' rise to CEO

Men of figures are infamous for being remarkably dry and terse with words - Finance Minister Audley Shaw being a prominent exception.

However, it seems that Don Wehby, at 46 years young, chief executive officer heir apparent to Douglas Orane at Jamaican mega-company GraceKennedy, can spin a line as well as he can run a balance sheet. In 2007, he was asked by Prime Minister Bruce Golding to assist in the Ministry of Finance and Public Service. Two years later, in an interview with The Gleaner, he compared the ministry's operations to a 1962 Ford Cortina being asked to drive at 120 miles per hour in 60 seconds.

He should know a thing or two about getting up to speed in short order. Just this month, a number of changes at GraceKennedy were announced which will see Wehby succeeding Douglas Orane as head of the conglomerate in relatively short order.

It has been a meteoric rise for Wehby who holds a Master of Science in Accounting, a Bachelor of Science in Accounting, an ECA, a Fellow Chartered Accountant, and a Certificate in Advanced Management.

He joined GraceKennedy Limited in 1995 as group finance manager and, next July, Wehby will be GraceKennedy's CEO.

• Everald 'War'-mington

Taking on all comers

South West St Catherine Member of Parliament Everald Warmington is not known to mince words, but even by his high 'warring' standards, he took on a formidable foe in former Prime Minister Edward Seaga in the middle of the year. Describing Seaga as "a bitter old man", Warmington recommended a retirement after retirement for Prime Minister Bruce Golding's consistent critic: that he simply go somewhere (presumably very far) away, very quietly.

In March, Warmington marched to his own drumbeat out of Gordon House, staging a one-man walkout after House Speaker Delroy Chuck refused a divide vote on the debate of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica report. Warmington could not have been unmindful of his party's slim parliamentary majority when he declared: "The leader of the House cannot speak for me in this respect. I came here from South West St Catherine where the people supported me. I came here with the second-largest number of votes in Jamaica. I came here with a majority larger than those in garrison constituencies."

And rounding out the year spraying salvos with a swagger that should have made the other Warlord - Bounty Killer - proud, Warming-ton was on (where else?) the warpath, even with the press in late October. The members of the fifth estate were forced to make a statement and ask that PM Golding reaffirm his party's commitment to a free press. "Using terms like 'gutterism' and 'pure filth' to describe the work of journalists, and unfounded accusations of journalists 'creating news of themselves', belittles the status of the Parliament which Jamaicans are encouraged to respect and hold in high esteem," the Press Association of Jamaica said.

• Usain Bolt

Injured back on track, broken hearts off

Asafa Powell was having a dream season until he hurt his back in July running against Jamaican colleague but sprinting foe Usain Bolt, who earlier that month, had equalled 'Safa's' 2010 world-leading 9.82. Then Bolt had his own bad back, leading to a very rare loss over the 100m, this one to American Tyson Gay in August, after which he cut his 2010 season short due to 'tightness' in the lower back.

Still, later that month, he signed a hefty endorsement deal with sports company Puma.

A year without a major championship seems much prep time and relaxation for sprinting's Superman anyway, and 2010 was a year when Bolt turned down a leg of Highway 2000 being named in his honour, accepted a two-bedroom house in Florence Hall, Trelawny, and had his biography launched.

However, claims of speedy passage through a couple young women's lives had tongues wagging for less than the proverbial 15 seconds. By December, Bolt's Facebook following had reached a whopping three million people.