{"id":27904,"date":"2012-11-12T08:58:30","date_gmt":"2012-11-12T13:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/?p=27904"},"modified":"2012-11-12T11:46:05","modified_gmt":"2012-11-12T16:46:05","slug":"fash-art-event-marred-by-gambling-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/2012\/11\/fash-art-event-marred-by-gambling-controversy","title":{"rendered":"Fash Art Event Marred By Gambling Controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-27905\" title=\"vote-yes-booth\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/vote-yes-booth-e1352728517345.jpg\" alt=\"vote yes booth at Fash Art\" width=\"300\" height=\"163\" \/>The organizers of the Fash Art show have taken sole responsibility for the presence of &#8216;Vote Yes&#8217; vendors at an event which was held at the Public Treasury building last week Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Fash Art said the pro-gambling group was a sponsor of last weeks event.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the event promoters said &#8216;Vote Yes was a late addition to their vendors list and that they did not have clearance from the Treasury Department to be at the government office.<\/p>\n<p>The event, a showcase of visual artists, took place after working hours.<\/p>\n<p>The group added that &#8216;Vote Yes representatives were asked to dismantle their display after Public Treasury employees voiced concerns to Fash Art over the pro-gambling promotion.<\/p>\n<p>A picture of the booth at the event caused a stir on the social networking site Facebook this week, with many users questioning why the group was allowed to push its agenda inside a government building.<\/p>\n<p>Prime Minister Perry Christie has repeatedly said that his administration will take no sides in the gambling debate.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We the producers of the event held at the Public Treasury building on November 2 take sole and full responsibility for the public backlash of hosting the &#8216;Vote Yes group during our private event,&#8221; Fash Art said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The treasurer has been a major supporter of the arts in The Bahamas and sanctioned the event on the grounds of hosting the artists and pre-approved vendors. It was our late decision to include the &#8216;Vote Yes organization and share their information with our audience.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Treasurys personnel did ask for their dismantle and we honored their request.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>One user of the Facebook group Bahama Voice, under a post on the picture of the &#8216;Vote Yes set up, said the photo suggested the government wants people to support legalizing web shops.<\/p>\n<p>Another user of the group said &#8216;Vote Yes should not have been allowed to further its cause in a government building.<\/p>\n<p>However, Fash Art said it is unfair to blame the government for the groups presence.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s unfortunate that a celebration of young talents in our country at a private event has been misinterpreted as an opportunity for government influence during a fragile moment in our political climate,&#8221; the group said.<\/p>\n<p>The referendum is set for December 3.<\/p>\n<p>The Christian Council has launched its &#8216;vote no campaign to counter the advertisements put out by pro-gambling groups.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #888888;\"><em>Taneka Thompson<\/em><\/span><\/strong><br \/>\n<strong><span style=\"color: #888888;\"><em> Guardian Senior Reporter<\/em><\/span><span style=\"color: #888888;\"><em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The presence of &#8216;Vote Yes&#8217; vendors at an event held at the Public Treasury building last Friday has stirred many people to question why the group was allowed to push its agenda inside a government building.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[26,105,82,137,40,266],"class_list":["post-27904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-style","tag-arts","tag-events-2","tag-fashion","tag-gambling","tag-government","tag-style-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27904\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}