Judy Fitzpatrick

PHILIPSBURG--"I just want to work and live," said an emotional Elisabette Bernard as she related the story of her battle to survive and her fears of losing her job, her medical insurance and possibly her life.

Losing her medical insurance would mean that Bernard, a Room Attendant hired by Gubert Services N.V., which provides services to Sonesta Maho Beach Resort, would be unable to access the costly treatment she needs to survive.

"She can die within a few weeks if she stops treatment," said Internist Dr. Theo Jolles in describing the gravity of Bernard's predicament.

Bernard, a Haitian immigrant working for the same employer since 2006, was diagnosed in September last year with end-stage renal disease, a chronic kidney failure condition. Her kidneys have lost their ability to function and she needs to have dialysis thrice weekly or she could die from her accumulation of own body waste within a matter of weeks.

The problem is, 40-year-old Bernard said, that all indications point to her employer not renewing her fifth eight-month labour contract when it ends on March 5 because she is considered to be "too sick" to work. Her employer said this decision was still uncertain. Losing her job would mean she immediately would lose her Social Insurance Bank SVB health insurance coverage.

Several persons have decried this situation, saying Bernard falls into the large category of primarily immigrant workers exploited by some employers who take advantage of loopholes in the labour laws to bar hundreds of workers from permanent employment and thereby from sustained medical insurance coverage.

Critical

Bernard said she had been feeling unwell for a while, but had only sought medical assistance in September last year after she became very ill. Dr. Jolles said Bernard already had been in a critical state with severe bleeding in her stomach, heart failure and other critical conditions related to her renal condition when he started treating her.

After intensive treatment and four operations, Bernard was outfitted with a catheter for dialysis purposes. She is now much better, but her battle to survive is far from over. She has been in and out of the hospital since her diagnosis and had been unable to work. However, her doctor said that with continued treatment she would be able to perform "some type" of work "very soon."

Bernard, who has had five successive short-term contracts with Gubert Services, said her employer already had declined to seek renewal of her employment permit.

"He told me [last November] I was too sick," she explained. Her permit expired on August 25, 2009. This means that by the end of her contract she will have been "undocumented" for six months of her eight-month contract, an infringement that can attract a fine of up to NAf. 100,000, though this is seldom applied.

Bernard said she also had been told that her contract would not be renewed due to her condition, an assertion her boss Carlo Zambrini has denied. He said such a topic had never been raised with management and, at this stage, making a decision would be premature.

He said he needed Bernard's doctor to clarify certain issues before making a decision, because while Bernard had indicated that she might have been able to return to work by the end of January, her house doctor had said she has a chronic illness for which she needs to be treated thrice weekly.

Zambrini said Bernard having a chronic illness does not necessarily mean she will be unable to work, as he too has a chronic illness, but he still works. He also denied refusing to renew Bernard's employment permit, saying the company could only seek renewal when it received the documents from the employee and it was not something he handled directly.

However, he questioned whether it would be wise for the company to retain the services of someone who was or was likely to become a liability, adding that the company would evaluate Bernard's case this month. He also said that if her survival depended only on her job, the company must consider whether and with what expectations her services should be retained.

Nathaly Pieters, a social worker at St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC), said the uncertainty was taking a toll on Bernard, who does not have any family members in St. Maarten and who hails from the section of Haiti recently rocked by one of the 10 deadliest earthquakes in history. Therefore, returning home at this stage is not an option.

Loophole

Even as Bernard is at her wit's end about her future, Workers Institute for Organised Labour (WIFOL) President Theophilus Thompson said Bernard was probably a victim of a system that allows unscrupulous employers to discard their employees when they do not need them anymore.

He said Bernard should not have to worry about contracts ending now that she is ill, as her years of service should automatically make her a permanent employee, enjoying the benefits of job security and, as a result, of sustained medical insurance coverage.

He said many employers used short-term labour contracts to keep their employees from benefiting from permanent employment status, a situation against which the union fraternity in St. Maarten has been lobbying for years and one that Labour Commissioner Hyacinth Richardson has promised to address.

Thompson explained that while the current labour regulations stipulate that workers should become permanent after a maximum of three consecutive contracts not exceeding three years and with breaks of no more than two months in between, employers used loopholes in the law to circumvent this requirement.

He said many companies, primarily in the hospitality sector, gave their workers short-term contracts, sent them home for three months when these contracts expired and then rehired them, so they never became permanent.

Contending that his union, which represents many hospitality workers, is very concerned about the abuse of short-term contracts, Thompson said Sonesta Maho Beach Resort was a "modern day slave camp" and a breeding ground for "gross exploitation" of workers. Thompson said the unions understood that short-term contracts could not be completely eliminated, but the abuse of these contracts in the hospitality sector must stop.

Zambrini, the Deputy General Manager of Sonesta Maho Beach Resort who also oversees Gubert Services, said St. Maarten's seasonal economy and Sonesta's occupancy figures determined how many workers were required and could be kept on the payroll during the "off" season.

He said Bernard had been given one six-month and four eight-month contracts since she joined Gubert Services. At the end of each contract she was "given a break" and called back after 2-4 months. He said that on one occasion she had not worked due to personal reasons.

"The employer has to deal with what is there to share in terms of occupancy figures and revenues," Zambrini said, adding that he too took breaks in "critical times."

Thompson argued that if the laboriousness of Bernard's job was an issue, her employer should be able to reassign her to less strenuous duties.

Dr. Jolles said that if Bernard lost her job and her medical insurance coverage, even with public aid she would not be able to afford the costly dialysis treatment she needed. Figures from SMMC show that it costs US $435.28 per dialysis treatment, which is $1,304.84 for Bernard's thrice-weekly sessions. This excludes cost for medication, supplements, regular blood tests, doctor's consultation fees, etc.

Most dialysis patients also need multivitamins, iron, blood pressure medication, and insulin and/or other diabetes medication, if they are also diabetic.

"The most expensive of all of these necessities is the medication to keep up the red blood cells in the body. This medication costs 1,300 guilders a bottle [in Bernard's case roughly 208 guilders] each time they dialyse," Pieters said.

Stemming abuse

Commissioner Richardson said he would be seeking legal advice and meeting with the Labour Minister soon to discuss how to stem the abuse of short-term contracts, as many workers were being affected. He hopes to spearhead a campaign to change the law to compel employers to permanently hire workers for jobs that are continuous.

He also said that companies dependent on the seasonal economy should be able to put into permanent service the minimum number of workers they needed to run their operations and only contract the additional labour they needed during the "high season."

A bigger concern

Thompson, Jolles and Pieters said Bernard's predicament was not unique in St. Maarten, as many employers tended to terminate workers when they were considered no longer of benefit to them.

Pieters: "People should not be treated like they are worthless because we do not have direct use of them to benefit ourselves. This is basically what is happening in our society in situations not only with illegal immigrants, but in everyday life. People no longer care for others who don't help them profit, and it's ridiculous."

"Many people come to St. Maarten to work and when something like this happens, everyone discards them and the responsibility falls on the hospital," she said.

The expense incurred by "self-responsible" patients is a long-standing concern for SMMC General Director Dr. George Scot.

Figures from the hospital show that 4.8 per cent of the 28.2 million guilders it billed in 2008 represented unpaid bills from uninsured patients, mainly undocumented residents who could not afford to pay or just never paid. Some 4.2 per cent of the 25.7 million guilders billed in 2006 was left unpaid and three per cent of 23.6 million guilders billed in 2006 represented unpaid bills from the uninsured.

Awareness

Bernard's predicament also highlights the need for more awareness about the severity of kidney disease and the importance of early preventative measures.
Jolles said most kidney patients could delay end-stage renal disease by "sticking to the rules": taking their medication and following-up on doctor visits.

"People usually have long episodes of pre-renal failure before they need dialysis and more than half of the people on dialysis could have delayed or postponed renal failure if they had stuck to the rules," Jolles argued. "People don't realise the severity of it until it's unavoidable."

Bernard's was one of those cases that could have been delayed, Jolles said, adding that he had detected signs of kidney disease when she first visited him three years ago, but she had never followed up with medication or treatment visits.

In an earlier interview, SVB Head Reginald Willemsberg had told this reporter that many immigrant workers tended to put work over their health, which resulted in their medical cost being much higher than that for the "average resident."

"They usually work very hard and don't take care of themselves. Even when they are sick, they continue working. When they do decide to go to the doctor is when their illness is at a critical stage and the cost to get them better is high," he said.

Thompson agreed with Willemsberg. "Even though they are sick, many workers are afraid to take care of themselves because of job insecurities, even though they may have been working for companies for years."

Jolles and Pieters said Bernard seemed not to be aware of the severity of her situation, probably due to the language barrier, among other things. During her interview with this newspaper Bernard was adamant about returning to work and said that if she had known the catheter would "cause all these problems, I wouldn't have done the operations." She said she just wanted to work. "I have to pay bills," the still weak-looking Bernard explained.

There are currently 34 persons with end-stage renal disease who dialyse thrice weekly at SMMC's Dialysis Department. One of these patients is from Saba and four are from St. Eustatius.

Jolles said the number of cases had been on the rise since the department started with one patient 20 years ago. In 80 per cent of the cases, hypertension and diabetes were underlying factors.

The study "How Healthy is St. Maarten" shows that hypertension and diabetes are two of the more prevalent diseases in St. Maarten and the main health concerns. Jolles stressed the need for people to be more health conscious.

Bernard, who moved to St. Maarten in 2004 for a better life, said she felt sad.

"I have no children, no husband and no one to help me. I am the only one who can help me and I want to work," she said.

Parties say the ball is now in her employer's court.

GENEVA--The International Red Cross Movement has helped more than 200,000 Haiti earthquake victims thanks to contributions from millions worldwide who have committed themselves to restoring Haiti.
St. Maarten residents have contributed about US $150,000 and 43,500 pounds of food, water and medical supplies to help the struggling island rebound from a 7.0-magnitude earthquake nearly a month ago. The quake was the seventh deadliest in recorded history, according to Wikipeedia.org .
With 21 groups dispatched to Haiti, the Red Cross has deployed the most Emergency Response Units (ERUs) ever. Seventeen were dispatched to East Asia in 2004 after the December 26 tsunami.
The Red Cross said Sunday that volunteers in Haiti had distributed more than 1,000,000 litres of safe water daily through 88 outposts in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The quake struck just miles south of Port-au-Prince on January 12, killing hundreds of thousands and leaving millions injured and homeless.
The Red Cross said 20,000 persons were getting hygienic restrooms and 300 latrines were being built. About 9,600 persons have been treated through the Red Cross.
Relief supplies from Panama's PanAmerican Disaster Relief Unit (PADRU) to Haiti reached 639 tonnes a little over two weeks after the disaster. Red Cross ERUs have collected more than 1,800 tons of relief items.
The Red Cross says it plans to continue relief work in Haiti for at least another three years, hoping to restore livelihoods to about 300,000 persons. The international community will continue to appeal for donations.

THE HAGUE--Dutch Government announced on Friday that it has started the reorganisation of the backlog in payments of the Island Territory of St. Eustatius to the general Antillean pension fund APNA.
The amount of the money is NAf. 6,686,652.15, almost 2.3 million euros, and involves the backlog up to and including 2005. The backlog in payments of 2006 and 2007 will also be paid as soon as the Council for Financial Supervision CFT renders a positive advice. The amount for 2006 and 2007 is NAf. 1,384,667 (55,280 euros).
The debts of the Island Territory of Curaçao will also be paid of the Country the Netherlands Antilles, it was announced in a press release issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations BZK on Friday.
The reorganisation of Curaçao's debts was agreed upon in the most recent Political Steering Group (PSG) meeting on December 9, 2009.
In the near future, an amount of more than NAf. 43 million (some 15.5 million euros) will be paid to Curaçao so the debts of Study Financing Foundation Curaçao SSC, the garbage collection and waste processing company Selikor, the drug rehabilitation foundation FMA, the educational centre Feffik, the road fund Stichting Wegenfonds Curaçao and the bus company Autobusbedrijf Curaçao could be paid.
The Netherlands is reorganising the debts so the new entities, Countries Curaçao and St. Maarten, and the BES islands - Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba - as part of the Dutch Constellation, could start with a clean sheet when the Country the Netherlands Antilles is dismantled October 10, 2010.
As agreed upon in the Final Declaration of November 2006, there are conditions attached to the debt reorganisation, such as financial supervision and good governance codes. State Secretary of Kingdom Relations, Ank Bijleveld-Schouten, has ceased payments to Bonaire "because it is unclear whether the island wants to stick to the earlier agreements," it was stated in the press release.
Bijleveld-Schouten starts a five-day visit to Aruba and Curaçao this Monday. On Monday, she will first visit Aruba where she will meet Governor Fredis Refunjol, several members of the cabinet, Chairman of Parliament Andy Lee and the faction leaders of the political parties. On Tuesday, she meets with Aruba's Council of Ministers and will visit the Police Force.
On Wednesday, Bijleveld-Schouten will be in Curaçao. The main agenda point during that visit will be the progress of constitutional reform in the Kingdom. On Thursday, there will be a political consultation with the Country the Netherlands Antilles, Curaçao and St. Maarten.
On the agenda of the PSG will be the cooperation of the police forces of the new countries and the corps for the BES islands, as well as the joint facility to combat organised and international crime. Bijleveld-Schouten will return to the Netherlands on Friday.

MARIGOT--Young St. Maartener Geronimo Samson (13) passed away in hospital late Tuesday evening after collapsing on the running track during a warm-up at Alberic Richards Stadium in Sandy Ground.

Vigorous efforts to revive the boy in the stadium by the Fire Brigade paramedics and other medical emergency staff were unsuccessful.

Samson was a student of Caribbean International Academy (CIA) in Cupecoy and had been registered in an exercise clinic run by Club Avenir Sportif at the stadium, attending twice a week.

Club President and group trainer that day Patrick Trival said he was shocked, saddened, and very surprised at what had happened to Geronimo.

“He collapsed after just five minutes of warming up,” said Trival, who was the first to administer first aid on site.

“Geronimo had been with me for three years without any problems. He was not one who was an athlete or pushed hard. He was there for the exercise and to have fun with his friends.”

Trival confirmed that medical certificates were required of all children doing sports on the French side in order to get a French Federation licence. He said he did not know if Geronimo had any health problems.

While there is some speculation that the teenager might have experienced a heart attack, up to press time the cause of death could not be ascertained.

PHILIPSBURG--Two 20-year-old men were sentenced Wednesday to 28 months, 12 of which were suspended, on two years’ probation for having committed an armed robbery at a Chinese supermarket in Dutch Quarter.

“I didn’t think,” said Hemar M. Edwards (20) Wednesday in explaining why he had committed the November 3, 2009 robbery. The rigger at a Cole Bay shipyard said he needed to buy some parts for his motorbike which he wanted to use during the St. Maarten Day celebrations on November 11.

Edwards, who was wearing a Halloween mask, had stormed the store together with Coia O. Wenham (20), who was also standing trial on Wednesday. Wenham had been wearing a straw hat during the robbery. A third suspect, only identified as “Akeem,” who had provided the gun that was used in the attack, is still at large.

Two supermarket employees were held forcibly, after which the robbers made away with US $200. “I only wanted some cash,” said Edwards during his trial. “I did not have any intention to hurt anybody.”

On November 8, 2009 the police found the gun and some ammunition hidden in Edward’s car.

Prosecutor Rienk Mud considered theft with violence and extortion proven. He said the ease with which the perpetrators decided to rob a supermarket was shocking. “It is too crazy for words that out of the blue two local guys who had never been in contact with the law before start out robbing a store.” He asked the judge to impose three years, one of which was to be suspended, on two years’ probation.

Attorney-at-law Jason Rogers said the demand was rather severe. He wanted to put things into perspective. He said his clients had shown remorse, and had already spent almost three months in detention.

Judge Monique Keppels considered the charges proven and said it was “incomprehensible” that men with a clean police record had committed crimes like these. She, however, granted a reduction of two months on the sentence because both men had overspent their time in police detention.

~ Says govt envisions a ‘fast-track’ compulsory education project ~

CAY HILL--“Children should not suffer because of decisions their parents make,” Leader of Government and Education Commissioner William Marlin said in reaffirming government’s commitment to continue with the introduction of compulsory education.

“Government has decided that we will tackle the problem once and for all,” Marlin told participants in a compulsory education summit held at the Belair Community Centre on Wednesday.

He said undocumented children had been trickling into St. Maarten over the last 30 to 35 years and today the situation had become a “monster that we cannot control, but one that we cannot ignore … [or] walk away from, … one that we have to tackle head on.”

He said government had envisioned a “fast-track project” for the continued introduction of compulsory education to be financed through Dutch aid. He said, though, that to reach this chapter, yesterday’s summit was necessary and proper documentation of the issue was needed.

The preliminary findings of a study on the issue of undocumented children were released to education stakeholders during the summit.

Marlin, who spearheaded the implementation of compulsory education for young pupils in September 2009, three months after his coalition government took office, acknowledged that continuing with its implementation would be a challenging task for St. Maarten that would have to go hand-in-hand with the closing of loopholes to ensure that it would not recur.

He said there were businesses creating breeding grounds for undocumented children by keeping their workers illegal.

“If we do not put the proper checks in place to go out and find those people who are hiring undocumented people on purpose so that they can exploit them and so that they can create the perfect breeding ground for undocumented children, we will solve the problem in 2010 and in 2020 it will come right back to bite us,” he said.

Compulsory education also has to be accompanied by the “closing of the fence,” to ensure that persons who come as visitors do not remain here.

He likened compulsory education to a “two-edged sword,” saying that while some agreed with it, there were others who didn’t.

He said, though, that it was “criminal” to deny children an education when they were born here and when the “system” had allowed them to reside here.

“It is our responsibility to help these people to realise that it is wrong. It is wrong to allow this to continue. … It is a crime to have children born in St. Maarten being allowed to live in St. Maarten and to basically allow them everything else – to catch a bus, go to the movies, Carnival Village and shop in the supermarkets and go to the doctor, but they are not allowed education.

“The child who … has an education has a future ahead of him or her,” he stressed.

Government had been postponing the implementation of compulsory education for too long and the situation had ballooned out of control, but it is now time to be proactive, not time to play the blame game, he said.

Rewinding the clock in history, Marlin said the issue of education for undocumented immigrant children dated back to the 1970s when there were the first signs of immigrant children without papers being educated here.

He said several of those who had been educated then were now well-educated adults. He alluded to one case in which a former undocumented student who had been attending a so-called “undocumented school” several years ago was now a law school graduate who had just applied to work for the government of St. Maarten.

He also referred to another case in which someone who had been undocumented while young was now completing her education as a medical doctor. He said if these persons had been denied education back then, they probably would not have been able to contribute to society.

“I think solutions should always … have been found to accommodate the educating of children,” said Marlin, an educator by training and a former schoolteacher and principal. “Regardless of their status, … the fact is, as long as the system allows them to live here … we cannot continue to turn a blind eye.”

BRAZIL--Four major Brazilian wholesalers (travel agent firms and tourism-related companies) are now on board to strengthen promotions between St. Maarten and Brazil with American Airlines.

The wholesalers will assist in driving some of the Brazilian airlift to St. Maarten via Miami on American Airlines. If Commissioner of Tourism Frans Richardson is successful in securing a twice-weekly year-round flight from GOL airlines today, the American Airlines deal will complement that service.

Wholesalers MMP Gapnet, Master Turismo, Monark and Nascimento have also guaranteed their services in St. Maarten’s efforts to secure the GOL flight. Their cooperation in promoting the destination is vital to Richardson and Tourism Bureau Head Regina Labega, who can now meet with GOL with significant support from the Brazilian tourism market already secured.

Richardson said he had met with American Airlines Director of Sales in São Paulo, Brazil, Jose Roberto Trinca and they had agreed to the joint promotions for the Brazil-Miami-St. Maarten flight. Details of the joint promotions will be released at a later date, he said.

“This just gives us additional options as we try to expand our presence in the South American market. We already have a long-standing relationship with American Airlines; this is a win-win for St. Maarten and the airline,” Richardson said.

He added that he remained confident going into today’s meeting with GOL executives, who have expressed that they will be seeking assistance from St. Maarten in aggressively marketing the flight to ensure its success.

“Our combined efforts with these wholesalers, along with South America’s largest wholesaler CVC and our representative Ricardo Ramon, are a clear indication of our commitment to make any potential agreement work. Like I’ve said before, we recognise the importance of this market and we will do what’s necessary to make it a success,” he said.

The GOL flight will be via Bogotá, Colombia, to St. Maarten. The current seasonal charter flight from Brazil executed by CVC using a GOL aircraft is completely booked.

PHILIPSBURG--Police rejected on Wednesday media reports that a man had been arrested for the Christian Lloyd killing.

In a press release Wednesday, police spokesman Inspector Ricardo Henson assured that authorities would report any arrests in the investigation into Lloyd’s death.

Lloyd (37) was found dead at his home in St. Peters on January 25.

The Daily Herald reported Wednesday morning that a suspended policeman G.S. had surrendered to authorities for the killing. Prosecutor Rienk Mud would only say Tuesday that persons were being questioned.

Henson said, “Contrary to the reports that have been circulating in the local media, no one has been arrested by the police in connection with this case.”

He promised there would be official information once an arrest was made.

“The Police Force wants to inform the general public that when a suspect in this case is arrested, the media will be informed. Until an arrest is made, the Police Force will not be giving any further comments or information with regard to this ongoing and very sensitive investigation,” Henson said.

PHILIPSBURG--A member of the notorious Scary Movie gang that wreaked havoc in 2005 in robbing a number of casinos, jewellery stores and other businesses on the island, stood trial Wednesday on a number of thefts with violence charges.

R.A.R. (28) was sentenced in 2005 to five years and four months for his part in these robberies. He was released in March 2009.

On Wednesday, he stood trial for allegedly having taken part in raids on security guards at Ruby Labega School and St. Dominic High School, an attack on staff at Shell gas station on L.B. Scott Road, burglary at the same gas station, and a robbery at a nearby Chinese restaurant. All of these crimes were committed in November 2009.

Prosecutor Rienk Mud asked for seven years for these crimes, but R.A.R. tried to convince the court that he had only played a minor role in these crimes. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, however, R.A.R. had been the planner of these crimes, which were carried out by three minors, who were also tried on Wednesday in closed-door sessions.

R.A.R. admitted that he had helped the youngsters of 15-, 16- and 17-years-old gain entrance to the schools by breaking the doors, but denied he had taken part in overpowering and binding security guards that were on the premises, and in stealing various items and money.

He said he was supposed to have been on the lookout when his accomplices attacked two employees of the Shell gas station, in which a woman was robbed of her purse. But he claimed he had gone inside a video store across the street instead.

According to the Prosecutor, R.A.R. had been planning the crimes, but he remained in the shadows when the crimes were actually committed, leaving the dirty work to his much younger accomplices. Mud, however, dropped the charge that R.A.R. had also been involved in the robbery of the Chinese restaurant.

Attorney-at-law Geert Hatzmann cited psychological reasons for a lesser sentence, but his request for an expert’s report on his client’s state of mind was turned down by Judge Monique Keppels. This did not deter the lawyer from playing the card of lesser accountability in his effort to obtain a milder sentence for his client. It will not become clear if he has been successful or not until February 24, when the judge will present her decision on the matter.

PHILIPSBURG--A 36-year-old man stood trial Wednesday on charges that he allegedly had sexual contacts with two minor girls. Carpenter M.G.P. is facing six years in jail if the Court considers it proven that he had committed illicit sexual acts with his stepdaughter and his wife’s cousin.

The suspect admitted that he had had a sexual relationship with his wife’s cousin between August 2003 and August 2005. The girl was older than 12 at that time, but had not yet reached the age of 15, which is the age of consent in the Netherlands Antilles.

M.G.P. said he was “a little” seduced by the girl, who was tall for her age. He told Judge Monique Keppels that he had only discovered later that she was only 14. “She looked like 15 or 16,” he told the judge. He said he ended the relationship when the girl became jealous and had started making problems.

M.G.P. denied he had ever been in a sexual relationship with his stepdaughter, from August 2004, when the girl was 10-years-old, until August 2009 when she was 15.

He said the girl had been a handful and disobedient, and had been roaming the streets at will, indicating that according to him she had fabricated the allegations to get even with her stepfather.

According to Prosecutor Rienk Mud, M.G.P. was performing damage control. “He admitted only partially to the allegations. That’s a nice story, but I don’t believe it at all.”

The Prosecutor said Wednesday that the case started rolling after the cousin was referred to a psychologist because she was auto-mutilating herself. After the stepdaughter had left her home, the cousin, who knew that M.G.P. also had sexual contacts with his stepdaughter, brought the case into the open.

According to his stepdaughter, the man started abusing her when she was ten. “I thought I had finally found a dad,” she had told the Police, “but look what he has done to me.” The Prosecutor said he had little doubt that M.G.B. had committed the crimes.

In her final plea as a criminal lawyer, attorney Anjenie Lachman said her client, who is suffering from leukaemia, is denying the allegation that he had had sexual contacts with his stepdaughter or had threatened her.

“The girl is very unruly. She had tried to commit suicide with a razor blade when she was 12. She’s currently living together with her 24-year-old boyfriend,” Lachman said in a brief sketch of the victim’s character.

Maybe the girls had fabricated the story of sexual abuse, said Lachman in pleading for a sentence equal to her client’s pre-trial detention, or a suspended sentence. The Judge will give her decision on February 24.

BONAIRE--Bonaire’s Lt. Governor Glenn Thode has used his authority, based on Article 98 of the Islands Regulation, to withhold proclamation of the referendum ordinance passed by the ADB/Nicolaas majority in the Island Council last Friday.

  This means that the referendum ordinance can be annulled by Antillean Governor Frits Goedgedrag.

  In that case, the Island Council must meet again to deal with the draft ordinance. This has put in doubt whether the island’s third population consultation on constitutional affairs can still take place on March 26 as planned.

  In his letter to Goedgedrag, Thode argued that the ordinance did not sufficiently take into account the United Nations (UN) report “Recommendations of the Needs Assessment Mission to Bonaire – December 1 to 5, 2009.” He referred to advice on the date, the question formulation, the international practice of consensus in such cases and voter restrictions.

  Based on the aforementioned, Thode concluded that the referendum as planned “cannot withstand the test of international law.” It would be in violation of the general interest of the Dutch Kingdom, and would be at the expense of Bonaire’s interest in particular.

PHILIPSBURG-- Philipsburg Jubilee Library is hosting a Black History Month lecture based on the theme “Towards a discrimination-free society” Thursday from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. Thursday’s keynote speaker is Jose Lake Jr.

He will be discussing the struggle for equal human rights in St. Maarten and for the realisation of the right of self-determination.

The evening also will include presentations by poet Akoma (Nigel Fabian) and Rui Bagina. Music will be provided by Far I (Winston C. Burnette).

The first Black History Month lecture was given on January 28 by Reverend Wycliffe Smith. Cultural presentations were made by Ras Bushman, poet Lenworth Wilson Jr., and the Seventh Day Adventist dance group Hands of Praise.

~ Maho Group also has strong presence ~

BRAZIL--“The current charter flights from Brazil are booked solid and we are confident about adding more,” Commissioner of Tourism Frans Richardson said on Tuesday, speaking from São Paulo, Brazil. He alluded to upcoming meetings with GOL Airline executives in an effort to secure a year-round bi-weekly flight from Brazil.

Richardson is in Brazil this week following up on tourism opportunities for St. Maarten. The visit comes in the wake of a visit made to the ABAV Tradeshow in Brazil last year. St. Maarten has been looking at its positioning strategy as it relates to the vital South American market, which has been labelled by market industry experts as the fastest-growing and most vibrant tourism market in the Western hemisphere.

Richardson’s week-long itinerary includes the launching of St. Maarten’s new branding strategy in Brazil. He said this had been very impressive for the Brazilians. He will also meet with Brazil’s largest tour operator CVC and have a series of other meetings, none more important than his meeting with officials of GOL Airlines on Thursday.

“We recognize how important this market can be for our tourism product. Securing of agreements with South American carriers, using Venezuela as a hub, is one of the areas of interest for St. Maarten, which remains interested in enhancing its efforts to meet objectives as a year-round tourism destination. We are eager, with the branding strategy and other factors, to showcase St. Maarten’s potential to South American airlines,” Richardson said.

GOL will be seeking assistance from St. Maarten in aggressively marketing the flight to ensure its success. When airlines start servicing an island, Richardson explained, they tend to want to feel secure that the destination will do its share towards the success of the service.

In that context, he expressed his thanks to the Sonesta Maho Group for being present at the event. “The Maho Group continues to show that it is a true partner with the Island Government. I was told their presence here in Brazil at this event is the first time in 12 years a hotel in a foreign destination has shown the level of interest that Maho does,” Richardson said.

As for the launching of St. Maarten’s new branding, Richardson said the Brazilians had expressed awe at the visuals of St. Maarten and the potential for business here. He said he personally had given a number of interviews to approximately 60 journalists, who will now feature St. Maarten in their respective publications throughout Brazil.

“There is a reason that so many destinations are looking towards South America and in particular Brazil. While many countries in the world were hard hit by the recession, Brazil is one of the few that weathered the recession. Since 2003 more than 20 million of the 198 million people in Brazil have risen above poverty and 32 million have entered the middle class,” Richardson said.

“They are a vibrant travelling market, which is a direct spin-off of their strong economy. They also view the Caribbean as a preferred destination, which is evident from the fact that our current charter flights with GOL are booked solid, in some cases overbooked. St. Maarten is taking into consideration that the competition in the region has increased significantly and that St. Maarten should step up its efforts to take advantage of the vibrant Brazilian travel market.”

Exceptional long-term growth is forecast for Brazil, which is expected to be the fifth largest economy in the world in five to 10 years.

AIRPORT--Custom officers at the airport held a Curaçao-born man Tuesday for trying to smuggle two packets of cocaine into St. Maarten.

The suspect was caught with 540 grams of pure cocaine. Officers stopped him as he arrived on an Insel Air flight, Windward Islands Customs Head Anthony Doran said.

The man had a vacuum-sealed plastic packet of cocaine strapped around one leg. Doran said he had been uncooperative.

He was at least the fourth person flying from Curaçao with packages of cocaine strapped to their legs since December.

Body-packing smugglers, or body packers, prefer to carry the drugs attached either to their legs or along their torsos.

PHILIPSBURG--A policeman who has been suspended by the force reportedly surrendered to police this week for killing model trainer Christian Lloyd more than a week ago.

The Daily Herald understands that G.S., who still has a case pending in court challenging the termination of his services, turned himself over either late Monday or early Tuesday, confessing to causing the head injury that killed 37-year-old Lloyd. Lloyd was found dead in his home in St. Peters on Monday, January 25, and his autopsy was performed Tuesday this week.

Authorities refused to confirm any arrests or confessions. Another officer, also with initials G.S., has been implicated wrongly in the case.

Prosecutor Rienk Mud was unwilling to reveal much about the investigation into Lloyd’s death. He said investigators were talking to persons who possibly were involved. “We’re questioning several people in the Lloyd case,” Mud said, “I can’t comment any further.”

Lloyd died from a violent attack, Mud told this newspaper last week. Friends and family believe Lloyd had been dead at least a day before a cousin and his girlfriend found his body lying on a blood-stained bed.

The response has been overwhelming. Dozens of people who knew Lloyd mourned the loss, remembering him as a giving and generous person whose passion was making girls models and pageant queens. Friends celebrated his life with a candlelight memorial on Sunday.

The suspect S. is the first person who has been held for the killing, according to reports. He reportedly was suspended from the force for misconduct.

Police Sergeant G.S., who owns a security firm, was not involved.

According to some media reports, the suspect was sent to Curaçao Tuesday, but that information could not be confirmed.

Police refused to comment.

PHILIPSBURG--Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards has rejected a request from the opposition Democratic Party (DP) for a meeting with him to discuss issues pertaining to the January 22 Parliamentary elections, the role of the Island Council and other matters.

DP leader Island Councilwoman Sarah Wescot-Williams and DP Island Councilman Roy Marlin are taken aback by Richards’ response in which he directed the party to take its complaints/issues to the Island Council and/or to the Executive Council.

Wescot-Williams said Richards’ response was “very much regretted.”

Richards who is chairman of the Island and Executive Councils, as well as of the Main Voting Bureau, said in a letter to Wescot-Williams that after “careful consideration” he could not honour the request for a meeting and the party would be “better served” by contacting the Island Council or the Executive Council for a hearing.

Wescot-Williams told a press conference held in the Parliament Building Tuesday, “More and more the Island Council, the legislative arm of government, is being sidelined” and the request for a meeting with Richards was to obtain a clear indication of what exactly has been happening to the council’s important function.

In addition to the role of the Island Council, the party also wished to discuss several issues pertaining to occurrences on the Parliamentary election day, January 22. Chief among these, Wescot-Williams said, was the closing of some polling stations for the counting of ballots at the end of the voting period.

Party representatives at some polling stations reportedly had problems observing the counting of ballots and had to call the Main Voting Bureau for clarification about whether they could have been allowed to stay on as observers.

Another issue DP said it wanted to discuss was the use of St. Martin’s Home as a polling station. Wescot-Williams said the home was an ideal choice in theory, but not in practice, because voters had to park some distance away and walk to the station.

~ Says she was marginalised ~

PHILIPSBURG--After twenty years of service, Rhoda Arrindell is leaving University of St. Martin (USM) on the grounds that she had been marginalised over the past two years and not given the opportunity to function.

Arrindell, who holds the post of Language Division Head, said she made a request for her contract to be dissolved in December 2009, which is still in process.

Arrindell, who has been awarded USM’s best female lecturer eight times, told The Daily Herald on Tuesday that she will be completing her PHD, but hasn’t decided her next career move yet.

She said the working environment at USM had been tense. “I wasn’t allowed to work professionally and I was constantly marginalized,” she said, adding that others had been doing her job.

In a letter to her students, colleagues and acquaintances on Tuesday, Arrindell said USM had been like her second home and her students her extended family.

“My decision to walk away from the academic institution has not been an easy one. However, developments within the last two years, and particularly within the last six months, have contributed to my resolve. Because of my explicit critiquing of questionable and, in some cases, arguably, unethical practices and policies with regard to USM board and executive management, I was being forced to work in an environment which consistently compromised my personal and professional integrity,” she said in her letter.

“Rather than being allowed to work as a professional, I was constantly being referred to as ‘the union’ and marginalized because of my initiative in seeking union representation for the USM staff. And because of my personal and professional values, I could not go along with the current situation.

“I have not wavered in my belief that all of us have a role to play in the development of our St. Maarten society. However, regrettably for me, my role is not at USM, at least not at this time. To those of you who have asked me to reconsider my decision, I thank you for your concern and words of encouragement. Know that wherever I am, you and USM will always remain dear to me.”

Arrindell says she is still employed by USM, as her lawyer is busy working out the details of her severance with the administration. She will not be on campus regularly as she was told that her presence “will no longer be required on the premises of the university,” not even to collect her cheque.

She said she had been asked by USM President Josianne Fleming whether she wanted to continue teaching and she had confirmed her willingness and availability to do so.

“In the end, the decision to not permit me to teach this semester was not based on my expertise or over twenty years of experience in higher education, but on the opinion that my mere presence would disrupt the tranquillity of the institution. In spite of this, rest assured I am not far in spirit, and that I will continue with you in the struggle for USM and the people of St. Maarten from wherever I am,” she said.

“The first phase in this struggle is the securing of a Collective Labour Agreement (CLA), on which I will continue to work along with the WIFOL (Workers Institute for Organised Labour), until it has become a reality.”

She told her colleagues to remember that the right to be unionized is a fundamental right, which is open to all employees of USM regardless of their positions. “The WIFOL is your voice vis-à-vis your employer. Do not be persuaded otherwise. Seek out the union for any questions or concerns you might have regarding your status as an employee.

“To my students, thanks for allowing me to play a part, as small as it was, in helping you to chart your future. I have complete faith that you will go on to make your mark on the world. And should you think there is still something I can help you with, you can always contact me. Again, thank you all for the wonderful experience,” she said in her letter.

SABA--A special mass celebrated by Father Dan for Sacred Heart teachers and pupils closed Catholic School Week at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in The Bottom Tuesday morning.

Attending were all Sacred Heart pupils and teachers, members of the School Board, Commissioner Chris Johnson and Island Council members Akilah Levenstone and Rolando Wilson.

Catholic School Week focused on strengthening the Catholic identity. Sacred Heart School Board President Lynn Johnson said the idea for the Week came from the semi-annual meeting of the school boards of all Catholic schools in the Diocese at its headquarters. During the recent 50-year celebration projects, the Diocese had determined that the Catholic schools were in an identity crisis and this programme was developed to correct this.

Each Sacred Heart grade had a specific focus. For example, First Grade pupils looked at behaviours as a means to measuring if they were good Catholics, meaning no fighting, smoking, or watching violent movies. Other students were asked to find out who had baptised them and their parents.

The project resulted in a folding screen with names of the priests who had served on Saba, their dates of service, and which children had been baptised by them. Grade Four interviewed Sister Alice of the Living Water Community, while sixth graders spoke to Father Jansen to learn about their lives of consecration to the Lord.

Tuesday was chosen for the mass because it is the feast day of the Presentation of Our Lord Jesus in the Temple. The significance of this day is that it is the day on which persons who have consecrated their lives to the service of God celebrate their vow of service. In fact, said Sister Jennie of the Living Water Community, this consecration begins with baptism.

As the service closed, Sacred Heart teachers were called to the altar to receive a lighted candle from Sister Jennie and Sister Alice in remembrance of the theme of the week, “Let Your Light Shine Before Men.”

~Rep. denies claim~

PHILIPSBURG--The island’s student representative told students in Tallahassee, Florida, for whom they should vote in the January 22 Parliamentary Election when they were issued tickets to come home, opposition leader Sarah Wescot-Williams told the press Tuesday.

Student representative Arthur Lugisse emphatically denied this claim when called by this newspaper. He said in a telephone interview from Florida that he has always advised students not to take tickets from one party and go home and vote for another.

“We should be open an honest about where we stand politically. I told the students to be conscious of whom they took tickets from. In the past I went to the airport to find students with three tickets: one from the Democratic Party (DP), National Alliance (NA) and People’s Progressive Alliance (PPA) and this should not be,” Lugisse said.

Wescot-Williams had noted in the press conference that students being offered tickets to come home to vote is not new, but what was of concern now was that the student representative had been getting politically by telling them who to vote for. Lugisse is on the government payroll.

To this, Lugisse said he had always been a neutral person until recently, when he decided to support NA leader Commissioner William Marlin, but at no time had he told students whom to vote for.

He said that Wescot-Williams had made many promises to students, but never delivered, while Marlin after hearing the plea of the students for St. Maarten materials paid for four boxes of materials and shipping “out of his own pocket.”

This and several other things led him to support Marlin, because he found Marlin to be a man who did what he said.

“Marlin asked if I wanted to come down for the elections and I told him yes and for the first time I took part in the party’s celebrations. We are going to country status and we all have to be open about supporting St. Maarten,” the student representative said.

Lugisse put Wescot-Williams’ claims down to stress. “She is stressed out and fighting a battle she is losing. I am not mad with her. I just leave her to God.”

~DP raises outstanding issues~

PHILIPSBURG--The National Alliance (NA)/Heyliger government is seeking to have the firm KEMA conduct an independent cost and quality control/feasibility study of the proposed waste-to-energy plant that is to be built by Windward Roads Infrastructure to tackle the island’s growing garbage problem.

Approval for the control was tabled in the Central Committee Monday, because it will cost more than 100,000 euros, which excesses the amount that the Executive Council is allowed to sign off on without Island Council approval.

Democratic Party (DP) leader/Island Councilwoman Sarah Wescot-Williams said at a party press conference Tuesday that DP had no problem with the matter being sent directly to the Island Council as long as all questions posed are answered in timely manner and a copy of the Terms of Reference is received.

DP members question the independent control included the scope of the study and if government will have to renegotiate contracts based on the results.

Island Councilman Roy Marlin (DP) said that such independent controls are common when government is doing a project, with the aim of ensuring the prices quoted are realistic and, in this case, that the capacity of the waste-to-energy plant is within proportion to the needs of the island.

NA faction members wanted further deliberations in the Central Committee on the hiring of the firm.

Also discussed in the Monday’s meeting was a proposed change to the Island Ordinance on the Spatial Development transition stipulation, in other words the procedure that is to be followed for applying and granting planning/building permits when no guidelines (temporary or otherwise) exist.

Government intends to outsource the development of the pending preparatory resolutions to a private firm. Funding for this has been requested from the Development Fund of the Netherlands Antilles USONA.

Meanwhile, Wescot-Williams has raised several outstanding issues with Central Committee Chairman George Pantophlet; chief among these is a status report from St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies.

The opposition party had requested last year that all government-owned companies give the Island Council – in a central Committee setting – a status report. So far all companies except the harbour group have done so.

“So far we have heard nothing further from or about the harbour,” she said.

Also pending for handling are several topics referred back to the Central Committee during the September 4, 2009 Island Council meeting. On that list are the Code of Conduct for civil servants, the draft law on the Office of the Ombudsman, the new Electoral Law, registration and financing of political parties.

“We simply cannot understand the delay or hesitation about bringing these to the Central Committee [for deliberations],” Wescot-Williams told the press Tuesday.

PHILIPSBURG--The St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA) met with the Executive Council on Thursday, January 28, to discuss the lack of a structured public private partnership, the challenges hotels are facing and crime, among other things.

In its opening statement, the SHTA informed the Executive Council of the challenges hotels are facing. The combined occupancy and room rate for 2009 shows a 27 per cent drop over 2008 and the average spending per visitor has decreased. This pattern is being seen in other sectors as well. Wholesalers, for example, are reporting problems with receivable collections and an increase in requests for lengthening payment terms of outstanding bills.

Furthermore, research going forward shows that hotels are already discounting heavily for the 2010 summer season as well as for the high season, which is also a testament to Dr. Emsley Tromp’s statement at the SHTA’s Annual Meeting that 2010 would be the most economically challenging year.

After the introduction, the other agenda items were handled.

The SHTA also requested an update on the status of the Tourism Authority. Commissioner of Tourism Frans Richardson said the final draft should be finalised within the first two weeks of February and the SHTA would then receive a copy for final comments.

The SHTA had been asked to take part in a four-day workshop to assist in designing a project that could be used for the 10th European Development Fund (EDF). The participants in the workshop decided on a hotel/hospitality school. The SHTA has requested updates since then, but was told that the plan had been delivered to the Executive Council.

Richardson said no document had reached the Executive Council yet, but he would seek clarity on the matter.

The SHTA relayed its concern that if the economy worsened, so would crime, and therefore suggested that St. Maarten should follow the French side and increase police presence on the streets.

According to the SHTA, Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards agreed and had stated that crime was also a social issue and therefore had placed a lot of emphasis on public/private partnership and community involvement. He also had listed several actions being undertaken to address the issue. These include:

* Reorganizing the police force: This plan is expected to be approved in February and implemented soon after.

* Letters have been sent to the Central Government requesting reinforcements. These will be coming to the island soon.

* The island is working with several Dutch municipalities and Suriname on a trajectory to obtain additional reinforcements. This is in process.

* A surveillance system will soon start in key areas.

Richards also stated his desire to alter the application requirements for the Police Force, mainly the language component.

The SHTA stated that after reviewing some of the travel Websites, it had learnt that traffic was one of the top complaints from visitors. This was also reflected in the results of the Exit Survey the SHTA conducted at the airport a few years ago. The SHTA believes this is largely due to the lack of a structured public transportation system.

The SHTA was then given a progress report on the Changing Lanes project, in which public transportation is being addressed. This project is set to begin within the next two months. Some of the plans being explored include:

* Ensuring that public transportation covers all areas (and to bring an end to gypsies).

* Stopping buses from running along Back Street and establishing a bus terminal near town instead. “Ferries” will then be available to take persons into town.

* Building a road through the lagoon, from the airport to the Dutch/ French border in Bellevue.

* If things continue to worsen, Government may have to consider restricting the number of cars per household.

The SHTA had also hoped to discuss Sustainable Development, but because the subject was so broad and covered an array of issues, such as waste management, zoning and reef protection, Lt. Governor Richards requested that the SHTA schedule a follow-up meeting.

ST. PETERS--Teachers and students at Starlight Education Centre were captured standing on the porch of the school around 10:00am on Monday, with the entrance to the school tightly padlocked.

  Reports reaching this newspaper indicated that the school had been closed since last week Wednesday and that students at one point had been accommodated at a sports complex in Philipsburg.

  However, Starlight Director Carmen Hodge declined to comment on the situation or to give clarity when contacted by The Daily Herald yesterday. She did not confirm or deny that the school had been closed and only said she had nothing to say at this time as she had been “working on something,” referring to an apparent solution.

  One year ago, in January 2009, Starlight made headlines when marshals placed padlocks on the grilled doors at the entrance of the school in keeping with a court order of April 2008, in which Hodge was given two days to vacate the premises. She had not heeded that order as she said she neither had the funds nor an alternative location. She eventually found a solution with the aid of some anonymous business persons and the school was reopened after a month.

  Some 180 students, ten teachers and a cleaner were affected by the closure at that time. However, the details of the current closure could not be ascertained.

  Starlight is one of an estimated 10 schools catering to hundreds of primarily undocumented immigrant children in St. Maarten, who in the past were barred from mainstream education.

  In August 2009 Leader of Government and Education Commissioner William Marlin reopened Charles Leopold Bell School in Cole Bay to accommodate children without residence papers, in keeping with the government’s commitment to facilitating compulsory education.

  This phased introduction of compulsory education is expected to continue to allow older children to enter mainstream education.

PHILIPSBURG--Commissioner in charge of Public Works Theo Heyliger has questioned why management of Princess Juliana International Airport can’t give back to the community it serves. The Commissioner was responding to the many complaints and calls about a deplorable stretch of road in Simpson Bay with pleas to repair it post haste.

  The road is filled with huge pot holes and water is constantly settling on the road, eroding the foundation. While not shirking his responsibility to solve the problem, the Commissioner said the drainage problem on this road was created when a portion of the lagoon was filled in by PJIA. As a result, the water cannot flow into the lagoon and settles on the road. Compounding matters is the fact that this area also happens to be one of the lowest lying areas in Simpson Bay.

  Heyliger said he had approached President of PJIAE Eugene Holiday on numerous occasions with the proposal to patch or pave the road, considering government’s liquidity situation. The Commissioner added that the repairs to the road could also be taken up in PJIA’s plans to expand the runway.

  “He simply refused,” Heyliger said. “Why can’t the airport, sitting on US $87 million, give back to a nearby community and have a simple patch of road fixed? I have asked Mr. Holiday to consider doing so with the construction of PJIA’s roundabout as well as on other occasions, but he refused. If the Harbour can recognize its role to its community and fixes potholes and contributes to infrastructure improvements, why can’t the airport simply give back? They created the problem,” Heyliger said.

  He said the little available funds are being earmarked for the major roads. “However, I will continue to work diligently on finding a solution for this road,” Heyliger concluded.

BONAIRE--The Island Council adopted the Bonaire 2010 Referendum Ordinance with a majority but no consensus. The referendum will be held on March 26.

  As expected, the five members of the ADB/Nicolaas coalition voted in favour and the four UPB members against. The other stipulations in the law, such as the presentation of the question and the eligible voters, were also approved.

  After a six-hour meeting in Pasanggrahan, during which all members made the most of their speaking time, no agreement could be reached on the two largest obstacles, namely the presentation of the questions and the eligible voters.

  UPB stood firm that many European Dutch citizens should be excluded from voting because it would be very convenient to the coalition. Furthermore, as far as the opposition party was concerned, the option for “association” was over and done with; that constitutional relationship had been discussed and worked out in 1993, but other choices had been made in the meantime.

  In turn, the ADB/Nicolaas coalition kept hammering at the fact that the choices made in the draft law had been well substantiated, according to international law.

  As an example, they mentioned the upcoming referendum in New Caledonia (a French territory), where inhabitants were only allowed to vote after they had lived on the island for 20 years. Even that was permitted, according to the European Court for Human Rights.

  ADB leader Jopie Abraham therefore wondered why European Dutch citizens with only a three-year contract to work on the island should be allowed to vote on the future of Bonaire.

  For Anthony Nicolaas (ex-UPB) it was mainly important that the referendum be held, he said, irrespective of the date and questions.

  The most notable thing about the meeting was the introduction by Lt. Governor Glenn Thodé at the start. As Chairman of the Island Council, he made use of his right, according to Article 69 of the Islands Regulation ERNA and Article 25-2 of the Rules of Order, to make an urgent appeal to the council members to reach a consensus.

  This led to an outraged remark from Abraham on the lack of objectivity.

  Thodé also asked members to reconsider the restriction of the right to participate in the referendum: “I want to state that our Island Council represents the entire population of Bonaire and not just a part. Therefore, I advise the Island Council to consider whether it actually wants to restrict the right to participate in the referendum.  “What are the reasons to bar people you represent based on our normal suffrage, from voting? Think about the Arubans who have been living here for two years, or children of Bonairean citizens born in the Netherlands and having returned to the island. Must we fear their vote?

THE HAGUE--Dutch State Secretary of Kingdom Relations Ank Bijleveld-Schouten is travelling to Curaçao next week for a meeting of the Political Steering Group.

  The agenda of the meeting, which is being planned for Thursday, February 11, is not known yet, but as usual, the main topic of the discussion will be the constitutional reform process involved in dismantling the Netherlands Antilles and creating Countries Curaçao and St. Maarten.

  The target date to realise new relations in the Dutch Kingdom is October 10, 2010, and the legislation trajectory needs to be completed in the Parliaments of the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles before that date. Curaçao and St. Maarten have to comply with a number of conditions before they can become countries.

  Whether the future countries have complied with these conditions, which include setting up a properly functioning system of law and order, will be assessed at a vetting Round Table Conference (RTC) in September 2010. This RTC, the third one, will be chaired by Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende.

  Before travelling to Curaçao for the Political Steering Group, Bijleveld-Schouten will go to Aruba for a two-day working visit.

MARIGOT--A 26-year-old man suspected of raping a 37-year-old woman in French Quarter on Saturday, January 30, has been transferred to Guadeloupe where he is being held in custody.

  The woman alleged she had been raped in her own home, but had managed to escape and call for help. A Gendarmerie patrol was dispatched immediately and the presumed perpetrator was caught that same afternoon. Items allegedly stolen from the victim’s house were found in his possession.  The investigation revealed that the man had served time in jail for similar offences committed on March 18, 2008.

~ Says Roy Marlin will represent DP ~

PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party (DP) leader Sarah Wescot-Williams is not likely to attend next week’s Kingdom Political Steering Group (PSG) meeting in Curaçao, as St. Maarten takes the final lap towards country status.

  Wescot-Williams said a women’s conference was being held at the same time and she would not be able to travel with the St. Maarten delegation on Tuesday, February 9.

  However, the former constitutional affairs commissioner said the DP would be represented by former commissioner Roy Marlin, who had deputised for her in constitutional affairs matters when the DP was in office. “So the DP will be represented at the meeting,” she told The Daily Herald in an invited comment on whether she would be attending.

  The DP leader, who has been accused of not supporting the process since she has been in opposition, said she had been informed of the PSG meeting “a few days ago” and had indicated at that time that she couldn’t leave due to a women’s conference. She said Roy Marlin’s presence would ensure “continuity” in the delegation.

  Wescot-Williams, who also has been accused of abandoning the last PSG meeting held in St. Maarten in December, said she had received the official invitation for next week’s meeting yesterday, Monday.

  She said information on the constitutional change process was not forthcoming and she also had requested that an Island Council meeting, a meeting of the Permanent Committee on Constitutional Affairs (PCCA) or another forum be held to give all members of the Island Council an opportunity to be apprised of the developments associated with the dismantling process and to give their input, but she hadn’t received a response to her request.

  Wescot-Williams said she wasn’t given any opportunity to give an input in the PSG talks and had requested in the past that preparatory meetings be held in St. Maarten prior to the steering group convening.   The first PSG meeting for the year is scheduled in Curaçao for February 11. The St. Maarten delegation is expected to have bilateral talks with Dutch State Secretary of Kingdom Relations Ank Bijleveld-Schouten a day ahead of the talks.

PHILIPSBURG--A Sundial School student stabbed another boy at the school Monday, hospitalising the victim.

  The details are unclear, but The Daily Herald understands that one student took a blade and stabbed another in the elbow, in the chest and in the back. This newspaper was told the wound to the back was the worst. Police did not have an official report up to press time Monday.

  It is the second violent report related to local schools in four days. The first, a shooting from a school bus Friday, shocked the community. Police held nine teens in that incident.

PHILIPSBURG--Financing for the taking over of Central Government tasks in St. Maarten and the staffing of the new departments in preparation for Country St. Maarten continue to be major concerns for St. Maarten as it prepares for the Kingdom Political Steering Group (PSG) meeting in Curacao scheduled for Thursday, February 11.

  St. Maarten is expected to table these concerns during the talks that will bring together representatives of the Central, Curaçao, St. Maarten and Dutch governments.

  The St. Maarten delegation will travel to Curaçao on February 9 and hold bilateral talks with Dutch State Secretary for Kingdom Relations Ank Bijleveld-Schouten on February 10, a day ahead of the PSG talks.

  Leader of Government and Constitutional Affairs Commissioner William Marlin said on Monday that he was hoping to get clarity on Dutch assistance for St. Maarten for this process during the bilateral talks with Bijleveld-Schouten.

  In remarks at a meeting between heads of departments in St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius that fall under the Justice Ministry and the special unit tasked with the dismantling of the Justice Ministry, Marlin reiterated St. Maarten’s concerns about the lack of financing for the taking over of Central Government tasks here and for the staffing for these yet-to-be-developed entities.  

  “I cannot emphasise enough that one of the challenges that St. Maarten faces in this process is different from Bonaire, Saba, Statia and Curaçao,” he said.

  He said that while this discussion always seemed to “step on toes,” it was simply “a reality check.”

  He stressed that only one part of the Country Netherlands Antilles had been developed over the years – Curaçao – and this posed challenges for St. Maarten which now has to accept tasks and responsibilities that never had existed here before and for which financing and human capital was not readily available.

  “Willemstad is where the government was seated and that’s where all the expertise was developed. …  It is not a criticism toward Curaçao, it is just the reality. The challenge for St. Maarten is building the institutions to the level where we can independently function as a country,” Marlin said.

  Several strides were made during the PSG in St. Maarten in December. These include agreement that the new Police Forces of Curaçao, St. Maarten and the BES Islands will each have a special crime fighting unit to tackle organised and cross-border crimes and the units will work together. 

  That agreement was considered the laying of a “solid foundation” for the new entities that will be created in the Dutch Caribbean. Parties are expected to hammer out the details of how the cooperation will work during next week’s consultation.   The vetting of the islands is also expected to be discussed.

MARIGOT--The We Agree with Culture Association will organise its third annual Agriculture Fair at the market gardens in Bellevue on Sunday, February 7, from 10:00am until 11:00pm.

  A highlight of the fair is always the sale of fresh produce from the amazing variety of crops grown on the site. Sales are brisk and it’s wise to come early to avoid disappointment. But it’s not all about the produce. The fair is a day out for the whole family and offers arts and crafts stands, homemade products, clothing, handmade jewellery, and so forth. Some vendors will come from St. Kitts, Anguilla, Martinique, and Guadeloupe.

  In addition Ital food pies, soup, soya, fresh juices, will also be available. Traditional live music will be provided during the day by The Jolly Boys.

  Speakers invited include Senator Louis-Constant Fleming who loaned the land for the project, Roland Richardson, Daniel Arnel, Ras Sankofa of the St. Kitts Agricultural Department, Jocelyn Richardson of the Dutch-side Agriculture Department, Dr. Bichot, Ras Jah Bash, and Sista Ijahnya of Anguilla.

  There will be poetry, singing and dancing from the stage during the evening. Performers include Jah Call, Najah, Lord San, Sister Cegan, Simple D, Dread I, Iness, Akoma, Lucinda, Jahneral Blunty, Remo, Nubian Sun, Saige, Disciple, and the Imbali Dancers.

  Ras Jah Bash of the Solidarity Rastafari Organisation said there was a need to revive agriculture on the island and it was a means to create employment for the youth; hence this year’s slogan “Creating Employment through the Land.”

  The association benefited recently from a 12,500-euro grant from the Collectivité that has enabled it to be self-sufficient for water from wells and a dam that have been constructed on the site.   The market gardens are open for produce sales weekdays from 6:30am until 2:30pm, and closed on Saturdays. The site is located just off the main road between the Cole Bay border and Bellevue, Marigot.

PHILIPSBURG--Radio host Mercedes “Elektra” Wyatt’s “Wake up with Elektra” turns five today, Monday, February 1.

“I really enjoy waking up in the morning and doing my show; I have a lot of passion for my show and I do it with a lot of love. I don’t have words to explain what it is like when you feel comfortable and happy doing what you love to do,” Wyatt told The Daily Herald.

She started with a bi-weekly night show in 2004. Her morning break came when she pitched the idea to Laser 101’s Head Francis Carty, she remembered. Wyatt celebrates this milestone with her annual Pink Party this weekend.

Wyatt thanked her mother for her help and support. “There are not enough thanks for her in the world. I couldn’t be who I am if I didn’t have a mother like this and that inner strength she possesses,” Wyatt said.

Wyatt, teaming up with Caribbean Liquors and Tobacco, celebrates the anniversary with the launch of Belvedere 1X vodka at the party. The party is scheduled for this Saturday, February 6. It will feature music by DJ Outkast, and the dances by Voodoo dancer, along with drag queens and Barbie boys.

Wyatt said Saturday’s event would be the first of a pink-themed year.

~ Tony Pantophlet: We have invested in our own ~

CAY HILL--Health Care in St. Maarten and Saba was given a boost on Friday evening when 35 persons took the oath as Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs).

Of the 35 graduates, seven were from St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC), 19 from the White and Yellow Cross Foundation, two from St. Maarten’s Ambulance Department and seven from Saba.

Leader of Government Commissioner William Marlin praised the nurses, saying they belonged to a "special group of people," for the meticulous and caring work they did. He told the graduates and the capacity crowd at Belair Community Centre that the system did not compensate nurses the way they deserved. He also expressed hope that this would improve.

State Secretary for Health Patrick Illidge and Health Commissioner Hyacinth Richardson also praised them for their achievement.

A number of officials from Saba also attended the ceremony, including A.M. Edwards Medical Centre Director Dr. Gijs Koot, Health Commissioner Bruce Zagers, Leader of the opposition Saba Labour Party (SLP) Akilah Levenstone and Saba Health Care Department head Milva Linzey.

The LPN course and the exams were facilitated by SMMC’s Education Department team Tony Pantophlet and Brunilda Illidge, who were both praised throughout the ceremony and showered with roars of applause from the graduates and audience for their role in upgrading the workers. Pantophlet and Brunilda Illidge have played pivotal roles in upgrading a number of health care workers in the Windward Islands over the years.

Marlin said it was a calling to be a nurse and urged the graduates to improve their skills whenever they had an opportunity.

Both Pantophlet and Brunilda Illidge stressed the importance of the nurses delivering quality care as they put their skills to work.

Pantophlet said it was not an easy road, as many of the graduates had wanted to give up in the course early on. However, he had always encouraged them to continue. He said he was very proud of the graduates and urged them to treat patients the way they would want themselves or their loved ones to be treated.

He said, too, that nurses should not only care for the patients’ health, but also their social and emotional needs. "St. Maarten has to be proud; we have invested in our own," Pantophlet said.

Clarence Richardson of SMMC’s Supervisory Council said he knew it had been difficult for many of the nurses, as many of them had jobs and families, and some were single parents who juggled everything else with their classes. He commended them for their perseverance and their dedication.

Nursing School of the Netherlands Antilles IFE Director Sonia Ursulita-Rombley said she had been impressed with the nurses’ performance in their exams, stressing that they all had focussed on quality care. She said IFE would continue to cooperate with St. Maarten, even after the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles.

At the end of the ceremony, the nurses from St. Maarten and Saba presented tokens to Brunilda Illidge and Pantophlet.

~ William: It brings out best of St. Maarten ~

CUPECOY--When Porto Cupecoy is fully operational, it is expected to create jobs for over 200 residents, Leader of Government Commissioner William Marlin told the large group of persons who attended the grand opening of the US $150 million property Friday evening.

The Orient Express Hotels property is a luxury seaside village featuring 182 apartments and 20 retail spaces which include four restaurants, a supermarket, boutiques, pharmacy, hair salon and other establishments in which primarily local persons will be employed. Work will also be created in maintenance, housekeeping, in management and in its luxury marina and in other areas.

Marlin said the property, whose upscale apartments combine European elegance with Caribbean flavours, is unique as it does not resemble any other property here. "The setting in which it is has brought out the best of St. Maarten," Marlin said.

Porto Cupecoy Project Director Bernard Sarme went a step further saying that he was so confident in the sturdiness of the property that he is not concerned about hurricanes or earthquakes. "We have quite a few thousand tonnes of concrete below ground and above ground and...I do not care if there is an earthquake or a hurricane, it will never move. You can buy this place and feel quite secure," Sarme declared.

Marlin, who helped to cut the ribbon to officially open the property, described Porto Cupecoy as "magnificent."

He was high in praises to the developer for having confidence in local contractors, about nine of whom, along with several sub contractors and other resident workers, helped construct the property.

Marlin said government would like to build a police substation in the Lowlands/Cupecoy area and said Sarme had assured him that he will speak to property owners in the area on the possibilities of obtaining a location for this to be realised. Marlin said this will be a "win, win, win," situation.

Calling the project an "important development," Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Orient Express, Filip Boyen, said the project had taken five years and "more than a few grey hairs" to become a reality. He said he was proud of the achievement and he was thankful to the people and the government of St. Maarten and grateful to the developer for the fantastic work. "I’ve travelled all over the world and I can say there is a special sense of excitement in St. Maarten that bodes well for the future of the island and for the continued success of this project," he said.

Sarme said it had been a "long battle" to bring the project to reality and a lot of people had given him "grey hairs." He said the goal is to eventually create a shopping centre at the property to help complete the all-inclusive setting and to avoid traffic woes. "I figured if I have a nice place here with nice shops and nice parking, people won’t have to travel to Philipsburg and Marigot; we can have everything here under one roof," he said.

He was high in praises to those who helped to bring the project to reality, including the team from Energiser N.V., whom he said completed their last building hours before the opening, in keeping with their word that they will complete it.

Over 70 per cent of the apartments have also been sold, Vice President Director of Global Real Estate Phillip Geus told The Daily Herald.

Porto Cupecoy embodies the characteristics of a true Mediterranean village with high-end shopping, dining, services and amenities, in addition to residences and a luxury marina.

Porto Cupecoy embodies the characteristics of a true Mediterranean village with high-end shopping, dining, services and amenities, in addition to its residences and marina.

The architectural inspiration for the property is Portofino, located on the Italian Riviera, and the community is similarly anchored around a marina, the most exclusive and upscale on the island.

The marina has a unique structure in that the majority of yacht slips will be owned by the community’s residents and rented on their behalf by the marina management, when they are not in use. The prices for yacht slips, including mega yacht slips up to 200 feet in length, range from US $150,000 to US $3 million.

Homeowners will be able to enjoy a wide range of on-site amenities, including tennis courts, swimming pools, several dining options, as well as concierge and "white-glove" marina services. For residents interested in renting out their home or boat slip while not in use, the community has its own dedicated professional on-site vacation rental management programme, which will create hassle-free rental revenue for owners. The beach is immediately across the street, 50 yards from the community’s entrance.

PHILIPSBURG--National Alliance (NA) Parliamentarian George Pantophlet says it seems the citizens in the Kingdom of the Netherlands have to fight for rights equal to those of their counterparts in the Netherlands.

In a press release on Sunday, Pantophlet said: "In the midst of having to deal with the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles, which includes division of assets and liabilities, currency issues, the central bank, consensus kingdom laws, Committee for Financial Supervision, our justice system, the Police Force – in short, putting our infrastructure in place to take over the tasks now provided by the Central Government – we as citizens of the Kingdom of the Netherlands have to fight for our rights, equal rights within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

"At a time when we need the most cooperation from all partners, especially big sister, we are told no voting rights by almost all the members of the First and Second Chambers. But we are told about equality in the Kingdom and that we have to accept gay marriages, euthanasia and who knows what else.

"We were told to get our immigration problem under control, so we instituted the Brooks Towers Accord, and the Netherlands said that non-nationals will have easy access to the Netherlands and the Dutch nationality. Then we have the law that is still being proposed to send Netherlands Antilles problem youths back to the Netherlands Antilles while at the same time giving more rights to European Dutch to reside in the Dutch Caribbean islands.

"And today, as far as I know without any discussions with the representatives of the Netherlands Antilles, the vast majority in the Second Chamber approved the legislation proposal to amend the Kingdom Law on Dutch nationality.

"How much effect can a few English-speaking persons from the Netherlands Antilles have on a population of 16 million? I mention English because that was the previous requirement for the islands of St. Maarten, St. Eustatius and Saba, while in Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire it was Papiamentu."

"If remaining within the Kingdom of the Netherlands brings with it the need to be able to speak, write and understand the Dutch language, why weren’t we given an opportunity to at least take part in those discussions?

"But, of course, it is a Kingdom Law approved by the First and Second Chambers, which are the highest legislative bodies in the Kingdom. The democratic deficit continues. Now I am reading where members of the Second Chamber are complaining about the decision of the Executive Council of Bonaire to exclude a group of European Dutch nationals from voting in the March 26, 2010, referendum.

"I believe the efforts of those two bodies should be on assisting St. Maarten in ensuring that all finance generated on the island remains here. These finances are needed to set up our dependencies and have a strong starting position (November 2, 2006 Final Agreement).

"I have always said that big sister (the Netherlands) has the financial and human resources with which to assist St. Maarten. It is time to put these to work in the interest of the people of St. Maarten. Then I would not have to ask the question: what rights do we have?" he said.

PHILIPSBURG--Two men were shot after an argument in Dutch Quarter on Friday, one in the upper left leg and the other in the left foot.

Victim M.B. told police that he had been driving near Star Ocean supermarket when he saw a man J.J. approaching, pointing an object from under his jacket. B. stopped his car, exited and he and J. argued. The second victim, M.G., was hit by accident.

"Both parties started pushing each other, at which time a gun that J. had hidden under his shirt fell to the ground," police spokesman Inspector Ricardo Henson said in a written statement. J. picked up the gun and a shot went off, hitting M.G., who was sitting on the step of the supermarket.

G. told the police he had heard a second shot when he tried to return home.

The two victims were taken to hospital, where the police questioned them. Doctors removed the bullet from G’s foot. The bullet that struck B. passed completely through his leg.

PHILIPSBURG--Informateur Pedro Atacho will begin deliberations today to poll the sentiments of political parties that obtained seats in the January 22 parliamentary elections and of social partners in the Netherlands Antilles on the formation of a new Central Government.

The political parties will be sent an invitation letter as well as a list of questions to help facilitate the talks. Atacho said he would register the expectations of the social partners regarding the new Central Government.

At 9:00am today, he will meet with the social partners in Curaçao. These include the Council of Churches, the Chamber of Commerce, trade association "Vereniging Bedrijfsleven" Curaçao, the organisations of unions and the non-organised unions, the Platform of Non-Governmental Organisations and the press association Prensa Uni.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, he will meet with the social partners in Bonaire. On Wednesday and Thursday, he will meet with the social partners and the political parties in St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius on their respective islands.

On Monday, February 8, Atacho will meet with the political parties in Curaçao and in Bonaire.

Atacho said that based on his discussions with the political parties and stakeholders, he would be able to come to a preliminary conclusion on which parties are willing to cooperate and, in doing so, give content to the information instructions given by the Governor of the Netherlands Antilles.

He is also scheduled to meet with Aruba’s Prime Minister Mike Eman on Thursday, February 11, to discuss the Aruba’s willingness to support the island territories of the Netherlands Antilles in their bid to obtain their respective new constitutional status.

On February 12, Atacho will present his preliminary report to the Governor of the Netherlands Antilles, which will include a "declaration of intentions" of those political parties that will form a majority in Parliament and which are willing to discuss the formation of a new government.

PHILIPSBURG--A workshop on dualism themed "Dualism in Country St. Maarten 10-10-10," will be held for Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards, Island Council members, and several other officials at Sonesta Great Bay Beach Hotel on Wednesday, February 3.

The concept of dualism creates the division of power between the Council of Ministers (executive branch) and the Parliament (legislative branch). These two branches of government will be the new institutions that will govern country St. Maarten, the Government Information Service (GIS) said in a press release on Sunday.

Commissioner Xavier Blackman, Island Secretary Joane Dovale-Meit, Quartermaster for the Parliament of Country St. Maarten Cassandra Janssen and the Sector Directors are also expected to attend the workshop.

"Dualism, the separation of powers, assures checks and balances between the two branches of government, ensuring that the executive branch is supervised by the members of the legislative branch, who are representatives elected by the people," it was stated in the release.

"The current structure of Executive Council and Island Council will cease to exist on 10-10-10 and be replaced by the Council of Ministers and the Parliament of Country St. Maarten. Persons who are Members of Parliament will not be able to sit in the Council of Ministers at the same time."

The workshop is organised by the Island Secretary’s office in collaboration with the Dutch Association of Municipalities (VNG). VNG experts will share their knowledge based on their experiences of dualism in politics. Dualism workshops were first introduced to Dutch politicians in 2002.

Dutch VNG experts will present the pros and cons of dualism based on experiences in Holland. A discussion will then take place on how to introduce the concept of dualism in the new governmental institutions for country St. Maarten at the political level, to achieve a balance between the executive and legislative levels of government.

The four VNG experts who will be providing information to the workshop participants are Nico Schoof, Gilbert Isabella, Marieke Verhoeven and Famke Kweekel.

PHILIPSBURG--“He was a simple person and we will miss him,” said one parishioner during Father Thomas Krosnicki’s final church service in St. Maarten on Sunday.

A large number of persons turned out to listen to Krosnicki’s last service at St. Martin of Tours Roman Catholic Church on Front Street. The crowd spilled onto the stairs.

Also in attendance were Leader of Government Commissioner William Marlin (National Alliance) and Democratic Party (DP) leader Island Councilwoman Sarah Wescot-Williams.

Krosnicki, who has ministered to the Catholic community in St. Maarten since 2005, will be leaving.

One parishioner who showered Krosnicki with praise, described him as a simple person whose “yes” was “yes” and whose “no” was “no.” She said he would be missed.

Krosnicki told the congregation he was thankful for the kindness he had received from the people of St. Maarten. He singled out the Government of St. Maarten for its assistance in his operating here and said Wescot-Williams had been one of the first persons to visit him when he first came to St. Maarten.

The new parish pastor is Father Robert “Bob” Johnson, who started ministering here January 15. He came directly from Antigua and Barbuda, where he had been serving for the last 20 years. His appointment is for three years. He told The Daily Herald on Sunday that he hoped to continue the enthusiasm and spirit he had found in the Catholic community in St. Maarten.

PHILIPSBURG--Prosecutors condemned a man on Friday for entering the Courthouse and sitting through a hearing with a gun in his belt.

That man was Hamilton Richardson, a well-known retiree who played baseball for many years and earned several titles. He was sitting through an appeal hearing for Island Councilman Louie Laveist on Thursday when many spotted him with a .38 calibre revolver under his suit jacket.

Prosecutor Rienk Mud called Richardson’s conduct “intolerable,” saying that, as a role model, Richardson should be more aware of his actions. “Mr. Richardson is showing a very, very bad example,” Mud said, warning that St. Maarten’s problems with gun violence are not a joke. “You should never walk the streets [with a weapon].”

His words early Friday seemed to foreshadow a shooting later in the day, after an apparent gang clash. A high school student in Cul de Sac shot at other students from a school bus with a revolver (see related story). That weapon was the same calibre as Richardson’s.

“It’s intolerable that people carry weapons into the courtroom,” said Mud, adding that he planned to address the Court staff concerning the apparently lax policy on checking persons entering hearings. “It’s totally intolerable.”

Mud had not heard about the incident until The Daily Herald called Thursday night. In response to the information, the Prosecutor’s Office checked whether Richardson had a gun permit to determine its next action.

In fact, Richardson is legally allowed to carry a gun based on a permit issued in November 2009, Mud said Friday. “He can literally walk the streets with the gun on his hip,” said Mud, criticising the freedom civilians have to carry their firearms.

He said Richardson should have shown more discretion in carrying the gun, and should not have been allowed to take it into the courtroom.

Shootings claimed the lives of five of the seven homicide victims last year.

“We as prosecutors would like to see as few guns as possible on the island,” Mud told this newspaper.

This newspaper could not reach Richardson on the phone Friday for comment.

~ Bishop Ellis Foundation also gives $2,000 ~

 PHILIPSBURG--The solidarity of the Catholic community of St. Maarten with the suffering people of Haiti was evident in the financial support it garnered last weekend.

The special collection taken at all Masses in the Catholic churches in Philipsburg, South Reward and Simpson Bay amounted to US $8,250. The parish-based Bishop Ellis Foundation contributed an additional $2,000 to the parish collection in view of the urgent need of the people of Haiti.

The local Catholic parish noted that with more than 150,000 dead and some 3,000,000 displaced survivors, the staggering need of suffering Haiti looms large before the world. The Catholic Parish of St. Martin of Tours, along with all the Catholic parishes in the Diocese of Willemstad, has responded generously to the present need in Haiti.    

PHILIPSBURG--The need for more medical specialists in St. Maarten, staff shortages at St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) and the black market sale of medicinal products on the streets were some of the issues raised during the Philipsburg Mutual Improvement Association’s (PMIA’s) eight annual Lionel Bernard Scott Lecture Thursday evening.

Panellists agreed that a clear vision was needed for health care, as St. Maarten moves towards her new status as country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Health Commissioner Hyacinth Richardson, who addressed the audience at the end of the over three-hour long lively discussion, said the issues raised had the attention of government and had his concern.

Medical specialists

Some members of the three-man panel spoke of the chronic shortage of medical specialists in St. Maarten, as well as the impeding crisis in the delivery of women’s health care, when two of the three existing gynaecologists stop operating by year end.

Gynaecologist Dr. Michel Petit, one of the panellists, will be retiring this year, while Dr. Tjon Kon Fat is expected to leave this year. This will mean that gynaecologist/obstetrician Dr. Randall Friday will be the sole gynaecologist to serve St. Maarten along with midwife Regina Janga.

The commissioner said the pending shortage of gynaecologist is being addressed, and another gynaecologist is expected to be recruited in a few months. He said, also, that government will be asking Dr. Tjon Kon Fat and Dr. Petit to remain a bit longer.

Panellist Dr. Glen Bryson, who runs his own clinic in Dutch Quarter and who has been operating as a general practitioner in St. Maarten for the past two decades, was very frank in his opening remarks. He painted a grim picture of the situation as it related to the delivery of medical care. He said health care needed more attention. Authorities who should be addressing the issues in health care, Bryson noted, appeared to be “happy,” “complacent” and satisfied with the status quo.

Bryson argued that while there are about 20 general practitioners operating here, the island territory “desperately needed” more: an eye specialist, urologist, neurologist, cardiologist, oncologist, gynaecologist, surgeon and midwives.

However, one of the medical doctors at American University of the Caribbean (AUC) School of Medicine, who said he attended the session to get an idea of the health care system on island, questioned whether it was feasible for St. Maarten to have a medical specialist in every area. He questioned whether this was justifiable given the island’s population. He also queried whether it would not be more practical and feasible for the French and Dutch sides to cooperate and make use of each other’s medical practitioners and services.

Panellists and moderator Eugene Holiday said the issue is a political one. While the French and Dutch sides have close ties historically, each side is governed by different laws.

Panellists also spoke of the difficulties encountered in attracting medical specialists to St. Maarten. Alluding to the difficulties encountered by Dr. Friday when he returned to St. Maarten to operate, Petit said certain issues were making it less attractive to start up here.

Richardson said he had been assured by SMMC General Director Dr. George Scot that medical specialists would be recruited for St. Maarten. He said Scot had indicated that this will be done in collaboration with a medical institution in the Netherlands. “I can tell you that we will be able to bring the specialists here,” said the commissioner.

Care at SMMC

The working environment at SMMC was one of the issues that drew much reaction from the audience.

While Petit was critical of the working environment at SMMC and said the service level at SMMC had dropped over the years, panellist Dr. Felix Holiday was in defence of SMMC, saying that the service is at an international level.

Petit said the hospital is severely short staffed which he said has a direct effect on the delivery of quality care. He said SMMC, in its attempts to lower its cost for profitability, is sacrificing care. He said he has seen the level of service at SMMC plummet over his 30 years operating in St. Maarten and there was a dire need for more staff. He said, for example, there were only two nurses assigned to one ward and if one of them went on vacation, it was a strenuous task on the other.

Touching on the issue of salaries, he said medical professionals abroad were also earning much more than at SMMC.

Orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Jack Bocher, a member of the audience, alluded to one case in which one person had been trained abroad in orthopaedic care, but subsequently left to work elsewhere where the pay was much higher.

Holiday stood up for the care at SMMC, arguing that SMMC treats many tourists, in addition to the local populace, and its service was at an international level. He said also that many cruise lines come to St. Marten because the SMMC is able to deliver quality care.

Taking a jab at Petit’s arguments, Dr. Bocher said the SMMC should not be ridiculed because of someone’s personal issues with Scot, an assertion that Petit dismissed.

Street sale

In his very candid presentation, Dr. Bryson spoke about the sale of drugs on the streets. He said antibiotics, birth control pills, and hormonal pills can all be purchased on the streets.

He also alluded to the wide use of detoxifiers and intestinal cleansers which he says people spend a lot of money for to “purge out” but which he said has little medicinal benefits.

Bryson said over the years the focus has been placed on tourism while health care has been neglected. “Health care needs to be developed,” he told the capacity crowd.

Other issues raised at the forum include the revamping of the medical insurance system and the need for a vision for health care.

One panellist also said that medical professionals should be included in the discussions for the National Health Insurance System (NHIS) being developed for Country St. Maarten.

Mental health

In response to statements by Mental Health Foundation (MHF) President Eileen Healy about the lack of attention to the MHF and the foundation’s need for land to develop and offer better services, Richardson said land has already been identified for the foundation in the vicinity of the St. Maarten Park (zoo). Richardson said he had asked Healy to follow up on the matter. However, if she did not, he will.

The commissioner, who said he had met with Healy about three times since taking office, said he is aware of the issues. He said over the past seven months, he has been working on several issues including averting a strike at the SMMC and assisting Dr. Friday to obtain his license.

On the issue of students returning, Richardson said, while in the past students who returned were told that they were overqualified, he has already brought back a health care professional who currently works at the Sector Health Care.

The Health commissioner told the capacity crowd that he has had several meetings with people in the health sector since assuming the health portfolio and their concerns had his attention. He stated would do whatever he could to iron out the problems that exist.

The forum, themed, “Health care in St. Maarten, its status and future,” was lively and informative.

PHILIPSBURG--Sheriff Security Force plans to launch its lifeguard services under Tuckpro N.V. in March.

“We conducted a thorough study of our present landscape as a premier tourist destination and we realised that visitors need to have the assurance that there is a team looking out for their safety while they’re on the beach,” Sheriff PRO Torana Bryan said in an e-mail response to questions. “Our efforts should be able to eliminate those ‘swim at your own risk’ signs that are prominently featured on our beaches.”

Tuckpro will be Sheriff’s sister company. Bryan said TucksPro staff included two paramedics, three EMTs, 14 Emergency Medical Responders, and 26 lifeguards.

It also has three ambulances, four lifeguard vehicles and two boats for rescues.

Guards will be certified according to international emergency response standards, including those of Windward Islands Emergency Medical Services (WIEMS), the American Heart Association (AMA), National Raad Zwemdiplomas and the American Lifeguard Association.

Bryan said Sheriff was looking forward to working the Coast Guard, St. Maarten Sea Rescue Foundation and other maritime organisations.

The services are scheduled to start on March 1.

PHILIPSBURG--Two children from across the region have become the first beneficiaries of RBC/RBTT Bank’s Caribbean Children’s Cancer Fund.

The first to receive financial assistance for medical treatment were two boys, a 16-year-old from Grenada and a two-year-old from Trinidad and Tobago. Applications for funding other childhood cancer patients are also being considered.

RBC and RBTT launched the Caribbean Children’s Cancer Fund in June 2009, with a starting contribution of approximately US $188,000. In total, the organisation will donate approximately $940,000 to the fund over the next five years and has pledged to raise more money over the same period to fight paediatric cancer.

RBTT employees across the region have carried out several fundraisers in support of the cancer fund since its launch, including an art competition, bake sales, bingo, flea markets, movie days, Christmas card sales and breakfast mornings.

Through their efforts, as well as substantial donations from the public, an additional sum of approximately $60,000 was deposited to the cancer fund on December 31, 2009. RBTT and RBC thanked all who had contributed to the initiative.

Fundraising activities will be carried out in all RBTT jurisdictions over the next five years in an effort to fight the growing problem of childhood cancer in the Caribbean.

POINTE BLANCHE--Local authorities plan to send a container full of animal feed, drinks and paint buckets back to Puerto Rico, believing the items to be contaminated.

Firemen clothed in hazardous material suits on Friday removed dozens of cans of old paint and paint thinner from 34 barrels that were in a container sent from Puerto Rico recently.

The container was destined for French St. Martin, but the consignee could not pay, The Daily Herald understands, and it was turned over to another shipping company.

“We’ve been back and forth with Puerto Rico [for a while],” said a representative of the Dutch St. Maarten cargo service that contacted local authorities. The container had started to smell and they worried about its contents.

Customs and government’s Hygiene and Inspection Departments watched as fire fighters, in two teams of two, uncovered the barrels, revealing smaller buckets of paint stacked three or more to each barrel.

The buckets were deemed to be for disposal purposes: metal, rust-covered lids fused to the old containers, which seemed soaked in dried paint. Fire-hazard warnings on the buckets were faded.

Firemen pried the barrels open one at a time, to verify the contents. Old paint and paint thinner were in the buckets.

According to persons in the shipping industry who saw it, the consignment form was incorrect. It did not indicate that there were chemicals in the container and did not suggest that there was possibly contaminated food.

Workers revealed a dangerous mingling of waste chemicals with human food, chicken feed, malted drinks and matches.

Senior Fire Officer Frans Nieuwenhoven condemned what authorities think was an attempt to slip used chemicals in St. Maarten/St. Martin for illegal disposal.

“We are not a dumping place for other countries,” Nieuwenhoven said.

Most paints are polymeric combinations of natural oils or synthetic polymers. The binding agent in paint can be dangerous to the environment and additives for texture or composition can be hazardous to human health.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not list the reagents in paint as substantial environmental hazards. However, disposing of these substances should be done in a safe manner.

PHILIPSBURG--Thirty educators falling under the organisation of the St. Maarten United Multipurpose Educational Foundation (SUMEF) took part in a two-day follow-up workshop hosted by the Academic Pedagogic Centre of Holland.

Content of this training being sponsored by the Cees Pot Fund is similar to that of Foundation-Based Education in terms of the hands-on approach being applied by teachers and strategies being used for certain subjects and for problem children in the classroom.

The focus of this third session identified various techniques of embracing students with different learning levels and helping them become more productive in the classroom. The educators were introduced to creative ways of motivating students with disruptive behaviour.

Facilitator Dimph Rubbens noted that the educators had been instructed on the adaptive learning method, whereby different approaches are used for different groups of students. Two groups identified were those who want to learn a certain subject, but encounter difficulties in doing so, and those who can learn, but refuse to focus.

She also noted that she was satisfied to see that the methods facilitated by her colleagues Guus Perry and Lian Staal during the last training session had been applied in the classrooms. She visited the classroom setting of each school under SUMEF to observe and evaluate the teaching styles.

The Academic Pedagogic Centre will be facilitating two more sessions with the educators, one in June and the last one in January 2011. At the end of the training each teacher will be given a certificate signifying the upgrade.

The undocumented schools functioning collectively under the SUMEF are A.C.E. Foundation, Starlight Educational Centre, School of the Arts Foundation and Sophia Camp. These schools cater to approximately 500 undocumented students altogether.

CUL DE SAC--Police held nine teens and seized a revolver after a gang clash in Cul de Sac that led to a shooting from a school bus Friday afternoon.

A gang from the district allegedly attacked the school bus near Cake House bakery and supermarket. A passenger retaliated, firing at least one gunshot from the bus window, police said. Witnesses remember hearing two gunshots. One didn’t come from the bus.

A stray bullet struck a car’s windshield and lodged in its headrest.

Witnesses told police that young men on L.B. Scott Road had barraged the bus with bottles. The driver decided to keep driving to Philipsburg “to avoid the worst,” police spokesman Inspector Ricardo Henson said in police statement Friday.

Police intercepted the school bus on Bush Road near Save-A-Lot home supplies, escorted all of its teenage passengers out of the bus and searched them. Officers found a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver in a girl’s schoolbag stuffed next to books and other school supplies.

G.D.’s bag was hidden under the school bus seat, Henson said. The gun had five bullets and one spent shell in the chamber.

Police confiscated the gun, along with two machetes and three knives they found on the bus.

Police are investigating.

PHILIPSBURG--The National Alliance (NA) thank you victory party, originally scheduled for tomorrow, Sunday, has been rescheduled.

The party will now be held on Sunday, February 7 at the Emilio Wilson Historical and Cultural Park.

In a press release, the party said the postponement was due to another function being held at the Emilio Wilson Historical Park on that same day.

The party apologises for any inconvenience the postponement will cause and expressed hope that the public will turn out in numbers to celebrate its historic victory.

NA captured all three of St. Maarten’s parliamentary seats in with 6,940 votes - 3,380 more that the main rival Democratic Party (DP), which fell short of a seat by 161 votes, losing its sole seat.

The election had been historical in many respects, as the NA accumulated the most votes any single party has ever received in an election in St. Maarten. It was also the first time in two and a half decades that a party managed to capture all three of St. Maarten’s parliamentary seats. The last time this was done was in 1985, when the DP copped all three seats. NA received 2,630 more votes than it received during the last Parliamentary elections in 2006.

~ Issue 20-page document in own defence ~

PHILIPSBURG--ROB Sector Director Joseph Dollison and New Works and Maintenance head Claudius Buncamper eviscerated the SOAB concept report in October 2009 that outlined alleged wrongdoings at the department and concluded that both should be dismissed from their functions for mismanagement of the department and possibly should face criminal charges.

In their 20-page response to the concept report, which they sent to SOAB in October 2009, Dollison and Buncamper addressed the allegations in the report point for point and told SOAB its concept report was suggestive, filled with non-factual statements, lacked understanding of the functioning of ROB and VROM, misinterpreted a number of procedures, and was based on hearsay from the convicted former head of VROM.

Based on his and Buncamper’s explanations and clarifications, Dollison urged SOAB to adjust the “revolting quality” of its concept report before submitting it to the Executive Council.

He told SOAB he would hold the organisation and the investigators personally liable for the unjustified manner in which it branded civil servants with 25 years of service as “unqualified” and “unable” to run the department, particularly if most of it was based on comments from an emotional former civil servant.

Despite answering the charges against them, Dollison and Buncamper never received a response from SOAB on its concept report. SOAB issued its final report to the Executive Council in November 2009 with the same and additional allegations against Buncamper and Dollison, including the advice to dismiss them and the charge that they were not capable of running the departments for which they are responsible.

Dollison and Buncamper responded to the Executive Council this month, along with additional defence statements. They also presented several documents to their legal team to corroborate their defence in a court of law should it ever go that far.

They said SOAB, through its report, had failed to meet the objective of presenting an improvement plan for the department, one of the main requests of the Executive Council. Buncamper also contended that SOAB’s own statement that no certainty could be attached to the accuracy of certain things in its report undermined the report’s validity.

He said the use of words like “probable” and “expect” and statements like “we could not determine” rendered the report completely absurd and the charges against personnel undeserved. He said it was unthinkable that the Executive Council would identify any punishable acts based on a “hearsay” report.

Furthermore, Dollison said that based on the non-factual statements and SOAB’s irresponsible handling of the report, he could only conclude that SOAB had already drawn its conclusions about the departments before the investigation was carried out. Dollison did not deny that administrative errors could have taken place because of a shortage of staff and by his predecessor at VROM.

He said he had assumed responsibility for VROM in late 2005 and problems outlined in the SOAB report from 2005 to 2009 were similar to those before 2005, and thus could be placed on the shoulders of the former head of VROM.

Also, Buncamper said he had deputised for Dollison on very few occasions and could not be held responsible for a number of allegations laid out by SOAB. Additionally, Buncamper was not the only senior civil servant at the department to have deputised for Dollison and approved signed permits. However, this other civil servant was not mentioned in the SOAB report.

Dollison provided detailed descriptions of the various departments, staffing upgrades, the measures that had been taken to improve the departments, the cooperation with the Legal Affairs Department and the cabinet of the Lt. Governor in amending old legislation, and explanations for many of the permit processes for several projects SOAB had tagged as inappropriate or unclear.

He said SOAB’s “hearsay” conclusions that had led to its stringent advice to the Executive Council were not appropriate, as they were based on rumours and innuendos. Wherever shortcomings were discovered and could be substantiated, immediate actions had been taken to address those shortcomings. During the course of 2009, he said, more positive things than negative ones had occurred at the department.

He dismissed SOAB’s allegation that he had had civil servants make drawings for his personal projects as “completely untrue.” Dollison said his personal projects had been drawn up by independent architects. He said that during the construction of his projects, he had requested inspectors to check and double-check that all was in order and being carried out in accordance with the law.

Dollison also challenged SOAB to provide examples of its suggestion that ROB management had pressured personnel or signed documents before proper reports were made or signed off by the relevant department head.

He said permits for one reason or the other took months or longer to be processed in some instances. In those instances (some of which appeared in the media), he said, personnel would be instructed to pay added attention, as the process obviously was hitting a snag somewhere.

He said that in one case, a simple letter from the Executive Council had taken six months to reach the developer of a project and the former head of VROM had misplaced the documents for this project twice. Dollison said he often received deadlines from the Island Secretary with which he had to work.

Buncamper said the impression the report created of permits being issued before a request or without a proper request or payment was farcical and not possible. He said payment was made at the Island Receiver’s Office on presentation of a payment order issued by the building permits section of the department and signed by Dollison and/or his deputy. The building permit number is then placed on the receipt of payment.

If through administrative misplacement these payment orders could not be located by SOAB, Buncamper contended, this did not give SOAB the right to make suggestive statements that people requesting the permits had paid a particular price before a payment order was issued.

Addressing SOAB’s claim that department personnel were not qualified to execute complex projects, Buncamper said this assertion was not correct, as three qualified section heads of the department had been assigned to every mega-project over the last two years.

SOAB’s charge that the relevant laws were not followed and in some cases totally ignored was based on an interview with one civil servant and unproven, Buncamper said. He said it was public knowledge that the building code ordinance was outdated and did not consider modern construction methods that could be misinterpreted.

He said that despite many requests to have the ordinance amended, Sector ROB was still waiting on approval from the Executive Council to spearhead the amending of said ordinance.

Buncamper said there was nothing illegal or strange about his signing a permit for one of Dollison’s projects in Dollison’s presence. He said it was an old arrangement that stipulated that no one might sign a permit that referred to personal or family projects. The same principle is in place for the Executive Council when it approves building permits for family members of Executive Council members. The council member does not sign, but the decision is taken in his or her presence

Buncamper said SOAB had made serious accusations in its concept report, some of which had been fabricated by SOAB. He said the opinion that a civil servant who might have done something wrong in the past was incapable of stopping was disappointing and questioned the integrity of every civil servant, especially in the cases where SOAB could not base any of its findings on facts.

Dollison and Buncamper are awaiting the decision of the Executive Council. Both men’s legal representatives have made it quite clear that should the Executive Council attempt to punish their clients, they will take the fight to a court of law.

“The draft report contained various incorrect statements. The investigative method was questionable, to put it mildly, and did not reflect the requisite objectivity needed to conduct an impartial investigation and make a proper report. Our clients presented SOAB with a 20-page well-documented response on the draft report, outlining all the factual misrepresentations, the unfounded and even suggestive conclusions that were, preliminary, drawn in that report,” the attorneys said.

~ PvdA party suspects political motivations ~

THE HAGUE--The Labour Party PvdA in the Second Chamber suspects that political motives have played a role in the decision of Bonaire’s Executive Council to exclude a group of Dutch European nationals from voting in the referendum.

According to PvdA Members of Parliament John Leerdam and Paul Kalma, the Executive Council is violating an advice of the United Nations (UN) which already referred to a large number of incorrect issues in the proposals of the referendum committee.

Leerdam and Kalma on Friday posed a series of written questions to Dutch State Secretary of Kingdom Relations Ank Bijleveld-Schouten. They wanted the State Secretary to take action and correct the situation.

The MPs sought clarity about the draft Island Ordinance Referendum Bonaire 2010 which says European Dutch nationals can only vote in the referendum if they were living in Bonaire before January 1, 2007.

Bonaire’s government plans to organise a referendum on March 26 relating to the current constitutional process to integrate Bonaire into the Netherlands as a “public entity.” UPB Leader Ramonsito Booi has already raised the issue of exclusion of a group of Dutch European nationals.

“Is it true that the Executive Council with this decision rejected the UN advice to give voting rights to European Dutch nationals living in Bonaire before September 15, 2009?” Leerdam and Kalma asked the State Secretary if she shared the UN’s view that the current draft Island Ordinance is “problematic” and “unjustly” excludes many citizens from voting.

The MPs wanted to know whether the Dutch European nationals in question were allowed to vote in the recent Parliamentary elections and which regulation in the area of voting rights was applied for Dutch European nationals during the 2004 referendum in Bonaire.

Leerdam and Kalma assumed that political motivations of Jopie Abraham of the ADB party played a role. They asked Bijleveld-Schouten whether she suspected that this was indeed the case.

The MPs wanted the State Secretary to immediately seek clarity from the Executive Council and to see if there are possibilities to correct the restriction of voting rights of Dutch European nationals. 

PHILIPSBURG--The Antillean Parliament’s Justice Committee applauds community-rooted efforts to curb crime, but says the groups need to work together.

The committee will convene meetings on the floor of Parliament to discuss crime in the Windward Islands.

Members were on the island Thursday and Friday for meetings with anti-crime groups. Present at the press conference were Justice Committee Chairman Marlon Jamaloodin, Members of Parliament (MPs) Rodolphe Samuel of St. Maarten, Nelson Navarro and D. Isenia, and Elco Rosario of the Crime Task Force St. Maarten.

MP Samuel said that although some community groups were well organised and active, others needed to improve their organisation. “In addition, these groups would do well to work together in … preventing and solving crime,” according to a press statement from Government Information Services (GIS).

Samuel added that the Justice Committee would request more information on the crime situation, would look closely at the numbers, and would come up with some short-term solutions and preventive measures that could be taken. It also will look for ways to decrease crime in the long run. He added that efforts had been made to curb crime, but the results had not been seen as yet. More organised groups need to be well functioning, he said.

The Justice Committee will construct a report and have discussions in Parliament to address the issue of crime in the Windward Islands, especially in St. Maarten.

THE HAGUE--Members of the Second Chamber are happy to hear that a date has been set for the referendum in Bonaire. They are hoping that the question that will be posed to the people on March 26 will be an objective one.

“About time,” said Member of Parliament (MP) Ronald van Raak of the Socialist Party (SP). “Very good,” said MP Bas Jan van Bochove of the governing Christian Democratic Party CDA. MP John Leerdam said he was happy that finally a date was set. “I respect the referendum,” he said. MP Johan Remkes of the liberal democratic VVD party didn’t have an explicit opinion about the referendum. “It is an autonomous authority to call a referendum,” he said.

The MP’s did have some concerns about the organisation, more specifically about the question that would be posed to the people during the referendum. “I am very curious to know what the question will be because it has to be an objective one,” said Van Bochove. “I want to know which question will be posed because that will make or break the referendum,” said Van Raak.

According to Van Raak, the question should not be politically loaded. “The question should be about the execution of the October 2006 accord with the Netherlands. The people should be asked whether they agree with the execution of that accord or not,” he said.

Leerdam said he wanted to know the character of the referendum. “Is it an advising or decisive? How should we interpret the results?” The referendum in any case is a waste of money, said Leerdam. “Can’t we use the money for other social purposes, like youngsters? Parliament elections, Island Council elections, referendum, it all costs loads. I am watching this with hawk eyes,” he said.

The MPs agreed that the outcome of the referendum can’t be a reason to reopen the negotiations with the Netherlands. “We have made agreements with Bonaire’s previous Executive Council and we are not going to create room because of a referendum. The State Secretary has already made it clear: either the agreements are carried out or we start the road to independence,” said Van Bochove.

“We will not accept renegotiations. Bonaire’s government was closely involved in the trajectory and has given its consent to the accord signed at the mini-conference,” said Leerdam. “Re-negotiating is not an issue. The only alternative is independence,” said Remkes.

Referendum or not, the legislation process should continue so Saba and St. Eustatius can become part of the Netherlands as ‘public entities.’ “Saba and St. Eustatius should not suffer because of these jokes,” said Remkes, obviously referring to the Bonaire referendum.

Van Raak suggested holding a simple referendum in Saba and St. Eustatius to make sure that the citizens of the two smallest Antillean islands support the continuation of this process.

PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten Nature Foundation received a much needed donation of US $1,700 from Heineken St. Maarten this week, to continue with its conservation programmes.

The funds were raised through the sale of white “Enjoy Heineken Responsibly” bracelets during the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta in March 2009. “During the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, we wanted to raise exposure concerning the importance of keeping our island and its waters clean,” said Heineken St. Maarten Managing Director John Leone.

Leone noted that Heineken St. Maarten had started with the green “Meet You There” bracelets in 2006, followed up with “Serious ‘Clean’ Fun” bracelets in 2007 and “St. Maarten Heineken Regatta” bracelets in 2008. The company contributed white bracelets last year, he said.

He also noted that the company had received $10,000 through this programme over the years. “We are very happy that we were able to generate an additional $1,700 to give to the Nature Foundation. We hope we can continue to work together to find solutions that benefit the island’s natural environment for all to enjoy,” said Leone.

“We are extremely grateful for this contribution. The foundation is funded purely through grants and fundraising efforts. A donation like this makes a significant difference to the work we do.

“The natural environment is one of St. Maarten’s most important resources. Clean beaches, healthy seas and green hills are the reason why many of our visitors come here every year,” said Marisa Brandy of the Nature Foundation.

“It is everyone’s responsibility, from the individual to our government and from small businesses to large international corporations, to protect our natural resources and to conserve the beauty and biodiversity of our island for the benefit of current and future generations.”

Brandy said the foundation would use the money to cover the salaries of staff members, as the foundation was experiencing a severe financial crisis. “Nature Foundation is proud to partner with corporations like Heineken and is incredibly thankful for having Heineken St. Maarten as a positive working partner,” she said.

The foundation and Heineken St. Maarten also thanked Shipwreck Shops and the St. Maarten Yacht Club especially for merchandising these items, and individual volunteers for their efforts in selling these items during the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta.

The bracelets for the 2010 St. Maarten Heineken Regatta will be on sale soon. For more information on conservation projects in St. Maarten, contact the Nature Foundation at info@naturefoundationsxm.org or tel. 542-0267.

In cooperation with St. Maarten Pride Foundation, Heineken St. Maarten also institutes a beach cleanup programme called bright beaches. This programme gives non-profit organisations that are willing to eliminate trash from our beaches access to funds Heineken St. Maarten has allocated from the sales of Heineken products, particularly Amstel Bright beer. For more information, persons can contact St. Maarten Pride Foundation.

BELVEDERE--Belvedere Community Centre will be staging its Valentine showcase in the centre’s garden on February 13 from 8:00pm to 12:00am.

The community at large is being encouraged to “come and laugh until your belly bust with guest stars ‘Shaquita Buttercup Butterfly Bling Bling,’ ‘Sugar Daddy,’ ‘Wig Walker,’ and ‘President Barrack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama.’”

Special guest artistes will include Byron Green, Vernon Verwoord and Douglas Jones, along with performances by the youngsters of the Belvedere Community Centre singing some favourite oldie-goldies.

Snacks and drinks will be on sale. Tickets are already on sale at the centre, Chill Out, Majestic and Van Dorp for NAf. 9 or US $5.

MARIGOT--French side carnival this year will be held from February 7 to February 17, the organisers announced Thursday.

In a changing of the guard, L’Amicale du Personnel Territorial is organising the event under the slogan “2 gether we jammin’” in conjunction with troupe organisers and partners Arts and Culture Department, Dauphin Télécom, St. Martin Tourism Office, Caribbean Liquors and Tobacco, and Beach Plaza Hotel.

Carnival President Jules Joe promised the event would be on a par with previous carnivals, not necessarily bigger but better organised.  

The children’s parade will be held on Sunday, February 7 organised by La Caisse Territoriale des Oeuvres Scolaires with some eight establishments expected to take part. With the Haiti crisis still fresh in people’s minds, the grand concert “St. Martin United for Haiti” scheduled for Thursday February 11 at the Louis Vanterpool Stadium from 7:00pm is a fundraiser. Featured local artists include Patoo 2, Duttysham, Prince, and Oswald. Entry fee is US $5.

Friday’s Carnival Kick Off concert at 7:00pm features Jade, Velly, Cromex and Tequila, and Reggae Dancers. At 9:00pm Panthers Vibes and Nuff Respect band take the stage. Entry fee that night is $10. Saturday February 13 is Zouk Stars Night with Youth Waves starting at 9:00pm.

The Grand Parade is on Sunday afternoon February 14 and will start as usual from the Agrément roundabout around 1:00pm and follow a circuit through town to finish in the stadium where a free Calypso Show will be held. The Mardi Gras Parade (second lap) is on Tuesday from 1:00pm and follows the same route. A free Rap concert will be held in the stadium afterwards.

The Black and White Jump- Up is on Wednesday February 17 at 3:00pm. Carnival closes that evening with the burning of King Vaval on the waterfront.

PHILIPSBURG--Former Democratic Party (DP) commissioner of social affairs, labour and youth Louie Laveist admitted Thursday during the hearing of his appeal against his conviction for fraud, forgery and bribery that he had made mistakes, but maintained that he had not committed any crimes.

“I have no criminal bone in my body,” an emotional Laveist told the three judges of the Joint Court of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba and those present in the public stands, among them DP Councilman Petrus Leroy de Weever.

“I do feel that I am innocent,” Laveist said in explaining while he was appealing his sentence of 18 months, nine of which were suspended with three years’ probation, a NAf. 5,000 fine, and a ban from holding office for five years.

Solicitor General Ton van der Schans totally differed in opinion with the embattled politician, and considered all charges legally and convincingly proven. He requested the Joint Court to impose 24 months, nine of which were to be suspended, with three years’ probation and a five-year ban from office.

Laveist, a politician since 1998 and Island Council member since 2003, denied he had forged minutes of Culture Club Foundation, of which he had been the chairman. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, this was done to defraud co-financing organisation AMFO of NAf. 22,750 in subsidy for a so-called “Moral Values” project, including the 2004 St. Maarten Day “Rally Around the Flag” project.

AMFO had requested Laveist’s abdication as the foundation’s chairman to avoid conflict of interest, which Laveist said Thursday had been difficult to accomplish, considering that he also had been Commissioner of Culture.

He qualified the fact that the change of the board had never been registered officially by a notary as an “oversight” and an “honest mistake” for which he apologised.

Some NAf. 5,000 of AMFO’s subsidy landed in Laveist’s pocket. This was in reimbursement for an advance he had made to the foundation, he explained to the Court.

But this also pointed to a conflict of interest, said Court President Gerard Lewin. “I agree with this 100 per cent. It was not right, but it became the norm to do things this way. But foundation money was not used for my personal gain,” said Laveist.

He also denied that he had accepted a bribe in connection with the furnishing of the new Administration Building. According to the charges, Laveist and his assistant Roberto Richardson went on a paid trip to Canada to visit the factory of a supplier of office furnishings.

“I thought it was a good educational trip for me. It was just for orientation that I went to Canada. I was never pressured to give the contract to this manufacturer,” Laveist said. He stated that the trip had had a private character.

He was also confronted with the charge that he had accepted a US $6,000 donation to Culture Club Foundation from Bargains Unlimited in exchange for work permits for sales representatives. Laveist said he had only requested that the Executive Council reconsider its refusal to grant the company the requested permits.

According to the charges, Laveist was also involved in the employment of an undocumented foreigner. Laveist explained that Barbershop 2 where this person had been employed belonged to his sister and his nephew, and that he had only mediated on his nephew’s behalf with Labour Department head Rafael Boasman. However, he denied having had any knowledge of illegal employees.

Asked whether he would want to become a commissioner again once the five-year ban was over, Laveist said he wanted to vindicate himself first. “My career is not on my horizon right now. I have learned a valuable lesson. I should not have accepted anything from anyone. I apologise to the entire community for not thinking straight.”

“I am humbled here today,” he said in stating that he would be willing to perform community service; for instance, in teaching drama and writing in schools.

“No matter how you twist and turn, it is all a matter of conflict of interest,” said the Solicitor General. The former commissioner had practised no transparency at all and had been mixing public and private interests for a number of years, he said. “He has abused public office for personal gain at the expense of government and the public interest.”

Laveist’s attorney Cor Merx pointed to some technical deficiencies in the handling of the investigations. He further stated that the charges of forgery, fraud and bribery could not be proven, and therefore pleaded for his client’s full acquittal.

The Joint Court will hand down its decision in Curaçao on February 11.

PHILIPSBURG--“We need to continue to big up our young people when they excel, achieve or even when they give their best efforts,” Democratic Party (DP) leader and Island Councilwoman Sarah Wescot-Williams said in a congratulatory message to St. Maarten Academy PSVE students who were honoured on Wednesday for their academic achievement.

The students were honoured for doing well during the first half of the academic year.

Wescot-Williams said the students’ achievement is yet another positive showing by the youth.

“We often complain that not enough is publicly said about the positive sides of our youth in general. Equally important is to give them a chance to do all the above, at the same time teaching them that success does not come easy; that life’s path can be a treacherous one, and many more of the lessons that we were taught as youngsters ourselves,” she said.

“As former Commissioner of Education, it is satisfying to see our students excel and given the recognition for such.

“In this light, I congratulate the St. Maarten Academy PSVE students who have excelled during the first half of the 2009-2010 academic year. I encourage them to set an even higher standard towards the end of the school year. To challenge themselves even more. Positive peer pressure works,” she said.

“It is my hope that the pressure to excel will rub off on many of those around you.”

WILLEMSTAD--Antillean Minister of Education, Public Health and Social Development Omayra Leeflang (PAR) described in a broad outline the status of affairs on social equality and women’s rights on the islands at the United Nations (UN) in Geneva. She did not avoid the less favourable aspects, but specifically emphasised the positive ones that can be distinguished.

After an announcement on the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles, Leeflang stated that this constitutional process requires substantial time and energy, sometimes overshadowing other matters.

“Nevertheless, the Government of the Netherlands Antilles still remains aware of its obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The provisions of this and other treaties on human rights to which the Antilles subscribe are implemented to the best of our ability,” Leeflang reported to the CEDAW UN committee.

“Unfortunately, every now and then we face impediments for a quicker implementation of all provisions regarding these treaties as well as of recommendations and/or general comments from the various committees. We also face difficulties in submitting all reports on time.

“This is certainly not unwillingness on our part -- as we appreciate the comments from you and the other committees -- but the Antillean Government is experiencing difficulties with collecting information due to lack of qualified personnel and available means. Nevertheless, government continues to strive for the reports being submitted on time,” Leeflang informed the committee in Geneva.

She mentioned the progress regarding a law protecting children against pornography (including virtual pictures), prostitution and sexual cruelty.

Leeflang also elaborated on how human trafficking is specifically being tackled by the Antilles and separated from the general revision of criminal legislation regarding abduction, fraud and people smuggling. In this manner, human trafficking can be prosecuted and punished on its own much quicker.

As far as Leeflang understands, the Advisory Council will be handling this next month. Once adopted, a specific law against human trafficking will enable the Antilles to conclude a number of treaties, among which the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children.

This is in addition to the endorsing of the UN treaty against Trans-national Organised Crime and the Treaty of the European Council regarding action against human trafficking.

Leeflang also announced that the Antilles have a special public prosecutor for domestic violence.

She was proud of the Antilles being the only country within the Dutch Kingdom that had had five female prime ministers until now. The participation of females at both government levels is striking -- also with the recently held Antillean Parliament elections where a party led by a female won on Curaçao and several parties had many female candidates. One party on St. Maarten had had more females than males on the candidates list.

Leeflang further listed various provisions which had been enforced or will be shortly, such as compulsory education from four to eighteen years of age, attention for the boys lagging behind in education, pushing back unemployment and the increased labour participation of females, more flexible rights regarding pregnancy, maternity and breast-feeding, re-introduction of medical provisions for pensioners, increase of the old age pension, recognition by biological fathers of children at the request of mothers or the Guardianship Board and choosing the surname of father or mother.

THE HAGUE--A vast majority in the Second Chamber on Tuesday approved the legislation proposal to amend the Kingdom Law Dutch Nationality (Rijkswet op Nederlanderschap).

A total of 140 Members of Parliament (MP’s) said “yes” to the amendment to the Kingdom law which makes it more difficult for foreigners in the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba to attain Dutch citizenship. Ten MP’s voted against.

Once proclaimed, the amended law will make the criteria to obtain the Dutch nationality much stricter. These include a proper command of the Dutch language and having knowledge of society and of the constitution of the Kingdom. Applicants will have to pass an exam.

The amended law mainly serves to reduce multiple nationalities, double passports in the Netherlands. Opposition parties Party for Freedom PVV and the one-member Verdonk faction voted against the law proposal. The two parties wanted a more far-reaching law change which completely eliminated double nationalities.

WILLEMSTAD--The Dutch Parliament Second Chamber’s decision to bypass the Netherlands Antilles Parliament to engage in direct talks with the Island Councils in no way deters the process of constitutional change, said President of Parliament Pedro Atacho.

The Antillean Parliament is ready and prepared to be part of the Dutch Parliament when the time comes to debate the Consensus Kingdom Laws associated with dismantling the Antilles and forming Countries St. Maarten and Curaçao and Dutch public entities Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba.

The Dutch Parliament made clear on Wednesday that it didn’t accept the conditions of Atacho for a meeting in Curaçao late February.

Atacho had written to Second Chamber’s Permanent Committee for Antillean and Aruban Affairs NAAZ asking for the Antillean Parliament to meet with NAAZ for informal talks prior to the formal handling of the first set of Kingdom Consensus laws late March or early April.

This, however, won’t happen, said NAAZ chairman Willibrord van Beek on Wednesday. And so the Antillean and Dutch Parliaments will only meet in a formal setting during the handling of the Kingdom Consensus Laws.

NAAZ bypassing the Antillean Parliament and meeting only with the Island Councils is “its good right,” as it is the right of the Island Council, which is autonomous from Parliament, to be part of the meetings, Atacho said.

Atacho told this newspaper that the motion to bar Member of Dutch Parliament Hero Brinkman of the Party for Freedom PVV from the Antillean Parliament still stood if he didn’t apologise to the people of the Netherlands Antilles for calling “the majority of the people a band of corrupt crooks” during his last visit to Aruba. He had also insulted Aruban politicians.

The Antillean Parliament President said that the people of the Antilles should in no way think that the issue with Brinkman is clouding the constitutional process because Parliament will be part of the Second Chamber debates on the change of the Kingdom Charter.

“It is a very awkward situation though, because Mr. Brinkman apologised to the bartender whom he had hit while drunk, but there is no apology for the Antillean community,” Atacho said.

Democratic Party (DP) Parliamentarian Erno Labega views the move by NAAZ as another way to sabotage the bipartite meetings because the Second Chamber does not want to put pressure on Brinkman to apologise.

Labega added that, instead of pushing for an apology once and for all, NAAZ has opted to use Parliament as a “scapegoat” by claiming the terms for informal meetings are not acceptable. “This was just an excuse to make other arrangements.”

PHILIPSBURG--The Executive Council announced yesterday that prices for unleaded, diesel and cooking gas will be increased as of tomorrow.

Unleaded gasoline will be increased by NAf. 0.16 cents to 1.93 per litre and diesel by NAf. 0.15 to 1.70 cents per litre.  The 20-pound cylinder of cooking gas or LPG will increase by NAf 5.00 to NAf 35.60 and the 100-pound cylinder will increase by NAf 22.40 to NAf. 125. Bulk purchases for cooking gas are also being increased by NAf. 0.05 to NAf. 1.40 per pound

PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten’s Main Voting Bureau hit a snag Wednesday morning when it was discovered that numbers from some of the polling stations had been entered into the wrong columns/lines by the station heads in their reports.

This led to a re-check of the report numbers submitted by the chairpersons of the 16 polling stations to ensure all numbers were in order.

Main Voting Bureau Chairman Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards told the press that numbers had been logged on the “wrong line,” making it necessary to reopen the “suitcase” with original documentation from Friday’s Parliamentary election. However, he did not elaborate on what exactly had gone wrong with the entries.

However, that process will not affect final count of votes and the overall election results. The Main Voting Bureau, by law, has to double-check the documentation from the polling stations within days of the elections, to make the election results official.

Verification of the elections results should be released on Thursday or Friday.

Friday’s election saw William Marlin’s National Alliance (NA) win all three of St. Maarten’s parliamentary seats, leaving main rival Democratic Party (DP) out of the last Parliament of the Netherlands Antilles.

There was no protest against the results by any of the three parties that contested the elections. The third party was Gracita Arrindell’s People’s Progressive Alliance (PPA).

WILLEMSTAD--The division of cabinet posts within the new Central Government should be proportional, says Constitutional and Home Affairs Minister Roland Duncan of the National Alliance (NA).

Duncan also contends that PAR’s proposal that there should be a smaller cabinet with fewer ministers and no state secretaries should also reflect proportionality.

Antillean Governor Frits Goedgedrag had asked the parties that earned seats in Friday’s elections for the Antillean Parliament to what extent they deemed a business cabinet desirable or essential, in view of the limited time available for the large-scale transfer of tasks to the Island Territories.

NA currently has one minister, one state secretary and the deputy minister plenipotentiary in The Hague, with its two seats in the Antillean Parliament. In last Friday’s elections the St. Maarten party won all three seats allocated to St. Maarten.

PAR will most likely lead the formation of a cabinet as the largest party. Considering its intention to form as small a government as possible, Duncan stated that the size of the parties should also be proportionally reflected in the new cabinet.

According to well-informed sources, PAR wants to try to form a cabinet of at most five or six ministers and no state secretaries. A new ministerial post especially entrusted with the dismantling process is a possibility that will be discussed.

Leader of Bonaire’s UPB Ramonsito Booi stated that PAR had tried to form a smaller government in the past, but that such had not been successful in practice. Personally, Booi also thinks it is not necessary to form an extensive cabinet.

An analysis of the pending work could be done swiftly and decisions could then be made on the required ministerial posts, according to Booi. “We should not enter into a discussion with one another for the remaining six to seven months. It all boils down to us finalising the process. The end is more important than the means.”

In general, this was also Booi’s advice to the governor. “We must form a government as chosen by the population, and that is to finalise the constitutional reform course with the Netherlands.”

The UPB leader believes that the ADB/Nicolaas Island Government forms an impediment to this, and discussed this with Goedgedrag as well. Bonaire’s Executive Council has decided to hold a referendum on March 26, the same day the new Antillean Cabinet is to take office, on what was negotiated by the former UPB Government.

Pueblo Soberano (PS) leader Helmin Wiels believes in a business cabinet that will handle matters quickly and efficiently in order to finalise the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles. In his opinion, there is no need to appoint state secretaries, and in view of the elections later this year, a business cabinet would be best to complete the transfer of tasks.

“We should avoid the situation in which politicians hold campaigns and immobilise Government again,” said Wiels, whose party captured two seats in the Antillean Parliament last Friday.

It is the expectation that elections for the first Parliaments of Countries Curaçao and St. Maarten will be held in July. Nomination for these elections will take place around May, and the new Parliament and Government of the Netherlands Antilles will have been in office barely two months at that time.

Wiels further stated that, in his conversation with the governor, he had brought up the fact that the smaller islands had exceptional power now because of the new division of seats for Curaçao in the Antillean Parliament being seven-seven (seven for coalition parties and seven for opposition parties). “From the statements made by Minister Roland Duncan, one can already observe that the smaller islands have a greater say, as NA demands two ministers.”

According to Wiels, Curaçao made a historic mistake when Aruba left the Antilles. Of the eight parliament seats that became available at that time, Curaçao demanded only two, and the remaining six went to the other islands.

To the governor’s question regarding important policy matters other than constitutional relations, Wiels answered that all possible corruption cases within Government should be investigated as soon as possible.

He added that patriotism among the population should be cultivated as well, while “nation building” required the necessary attention, the proposed Kingdom Law on Movement of People should be stopped, there should be one type of Dutch citizen within the entire Kingdom, the guarantee fund for car insurance should be activated, and the Netherlands should be obligated to comply with the United Nations’ international treaty regarding economic, social and cultural rights, based on the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

PHILIPSBURG--Bria Sorton was at school Monday when she heard that her friend and mentor Christian Lloyd was dead.

She refused to believe it then. She still doesn’t.

Like many other young girls and women, Bria (16) was Lloyd’s student. He helped groom Bria for the crown at last year’s St. Maarten Carnival Teen Queen pageant. Lloyd was a long-time friend of Bria’s mother Sheila and the two were close.

They were preparing for another pageant in the days before he died.

“He had so many plans for this year,” said Bria, who described Lloyd as a strict, but fun-loving disciplinarian. “He had everything ready. We had the dress; we had already started practising talent. He was so excited.”

They had until April to be ready.

A cousin found Lloyd dead in his St. Peters home Monday morning. The 37-year-old was lying on the bed bleeding from a head wound. He probably had been dead for at least a day.

Authorities confirmed Wednesday that Lloyd, a well-known model trainer, had been killed. He is the first homicide victim for the year.

Friends and family mourned that morning and cried in the St. Peters streets as police confiscated his body for the investigation. “Not my Christian,” a woman wailed as comforters pulled her close.

Another friend watched in shock as investigators combed the man’s home. “I was going to come see him [Sunday] you know, but my mind changed,” she said.

Bria was called that morning with the tragic news. She reacted as many might have, refusing to believe and demanding another answer.

“I just hung up … and then called my mother,” said Bria. She recalled her mother, a designer and dress-maker, crying as she picked up the phone. Bria left school that morning.

Lloyd’s sudden death was a shock to the teen. In disbelief, she tried to contact her friend, hoping that he was okay and that he would answer. “I called his phone over and over again, but it kept saying it was off,” she said, choking back tears. “Then I started crying.”

His closest friends remember talking to him as recently as Saturday.

Not even next-door neighbours saw him leave his house Sunday. Many passed the home, noticed the door ajar, but didn’t look in. It wasn’t until Monday that a cousin and his girlfriend, suspecting something amiss, decided to check on Lloyd.

Lloyd was very guarded, friends say. He would open the door to his Watermelon Road home only after visitors knocked and he had checked to see who they were.

But in socialising, he was relaxed, jovial, and “he’d just tell jokes and make your belly burst,” another cousin said.

Everybody’s Christian

Ask anybody who knew Christian Lloyd about him and they would tell you the same thing: he was a passionate man with an eye for fashion and skilled at turning girls into models and pageant queens.

Friends and family, without knowing, repeated the same words about his demeanour – fun-loving, loved a good argument – and his generosity. “He’d give you the shirt off his back,” said one of his oldest friends. “That was Christian.”

“He was nice, but he was bold too,” said Bria, remembering nights with Lloyd at her home choosing dresses and discussing pageants. “He loves his job and loves to model.”

According to friends and family, Lloyd enjoyed parties, joking, and his work with aspiring models and pageant beauties. He loved his mother so much that, three years ago, when he learned she was sick, he uprooted his life in New York and returned to St. Maarten. “He didn’t plan to come back,” a friend said. “He came to take care of his mother and stayed by her side until she died.”

After she passed in 2008, Lloyd seemed different to friends. He was more apprehensive about contact and was more careful. In the months before his death, however, he seemed to be doing better. “He was just calming down,” his friend said.

Friends faced with the reality of Lloyd’s death shook their heads and said, “Not my Christian.”

“Anything you want, he give to you,” one woman said.

“You need a ride to Grand Case, Christian would say ‘Come, let’s go,’” another friend said.

Passion for model-making

Christian Lloyd is best remembered for his life’s passion: model-making. “Anytime he entered a contest, if the girl didn’t win, she would place well,” said radio host and comedian Andrew Dick.

Another friend remembered that Lloyd had been about 18 when he and St. Maarten-born U.K. choreographer and trainer Francis Mathew started coordinating. “It was something he always loved to do.”

And it was something he always did well, said competitors.

“He was a brilliant young man,” said dancer-choreographer Clara Reyes of Imbali Centre for Creative Movement. “He was someone who I always looked up to.”

She remembered Lloyd as a “freaking funny person” and a “worthy opponent.” “Anytime I went up against him in a queen show, I would lose,” Reyes said. “He was someone I was proud to lose to.”

Reyes is considering a memorial event for the young man, but she wants her student Rudolph Davis, one of Lloyd’s cousins, to return from Curaçao before planning. “I think for his funeral all the drag queens should come out in full regalia to celebrate that side of him,” she said.

“He loved it thoroughly; we always encouraged him to start his own business,” she continued.

Lloyd helped Andrew Dick’s Hot Strotterzz Modelling Agency in several competitions since it started in 2007. “All I can say is Christian was a good friend. He is responsible for four of the Hot Strotterzz’ 11 titles,” Dick said. “The man was a genius when it came to preparing young people for queen shows.”

Make-up artist and designer Bevil Byam had worked with Lloyd since 1995. He said Lloyd had taken an immediate interest in pageantry and training. “He started doing shows himself and saw some success,” said Byam, who remembered Lloyd as “accommodating.” “He has a good eye.”

Though not as developed as in other countries, St. Maarten’s pageantry scene will miss Christian Lloyd, Byam said. The biggest reminders probably will come during show time. “For those who are familiar with the circuit, I’m sure there will be some flashbacks,” Byam said. “They’ll think about how Christian would’ve done it.”

‘Pumpkin’

Pumpkin was his nickname for many of his friends. He would call Bria Sorton, among others, just to say hello, leading with his almost trademark phrase. “Sometimes, he would call and just say, ‘Pumpkin, how you doing,’” Bria remembered. (D. Robin)

PHILIPSBURG--Amongst the projects for which nine million guilders financing was agreed by Dutch funding agency USONA are one aimed at strengthening government’s Legal Affairs Department, the installation of a conveyer system for sensitive documents, and a new version of the Youth Social Formation programme.

Leader of Government Commissioner William Marlin signed the contracts with USONA yesterday, Wednesday. He said that in improving government’s capacity as far as legal support was concerned, emphasis in strengthening its Legal Affairs Department would be placed on preparing the necessary legislation for St. Maarten as a country.

This NAf. 2.4 million project will have a duration of 21 months. Marlin said legal experts would be brought in for a short period to help jumpstart the process. Thereafter, four recent graduates will be recruited for the long haul. He said part of the project in its totality would be to upgrade and train policy advisors in Country St. Maarten.

He also elaborated on the installation of a conveyer system in the form of vials designed to ensure security in the transport of sensitive documents from one government department to another. This system will be installed over a one-year period at a cost of NAf. 670,000.

Last, he introduced the execution of the newer version of the Youth Social Formation programme, which caters to school dropouts not equipped with a trade or the skills to obtain a job. He explained that the programme would not be attached to any one institution. Courses and trainings will be provided by a number of facilitators. This three-year project at a cost of NAf. 1.6 million will target youngsters 16-24 years.

EBENEZER--The Preparatory Secondary Vocational Education (PSVE) section of St. Maarten Academy on Wednesday honoured 43 students who performed well during the first part of the 2009/2010 academic year.

Those honoured averaged 75 per cent or more with no failing grade for the first term of the school year.

Eleven students averaged 80 per cent or higher; eight of whom were first-formers, two second-formers and one a third-former.

Jenice Forbes’ 90 per cent average was the highest for the entire school, followed by Fiona Seenarain’s 87 per cent, Francisca Lamour with 86 per cent, Jahvaughny Ayee with 85 per cent, Sharda Guercin’s 83 per cent, Hurisa Glascow, Nalini Persaud and Huiqiang Su with 82 per cent each, Tjshana Horsford with 81 per cent, Addul Zaegers with an average of 80 per cent and Ravindra Dayaran who scored 80 per cent for the first term.

During an “achievement day” ceremony at the school to honour the students, brief addresses were delivered by Lourdes Brooks-Lake on behalf of the School Board for Secondary Education, PSVE Principal Solange Duncan, school Director Velda James and Executive Assistant to the Executive Director Roberto Arrindell.

The officials encouraged students to continue to excel and to strive for excellence. Those honoured were advised to become role models for their peers. Brooks-Lake in particular applauded the fact that the PSVE is capable of being a source of good news as she said had been exemplified by the celebrations.

The School Board, staff, and parents look forward to continued noteworthy performances from not only these students but others in the school, school officials said.

~Appeal Court to rule February 11~

PHILIPSBURG--The Solicitor General asked the Appeal Court on Wednesday to impose the maximum prison sentence of 30 years upon Devon C. Otto (29), whom he held responsible, among other crimes, for the murder of Stanley Gumbs.

Gumbs (21) was shot and killed on March 31, 2008, outside an adult entertainment centre in Sucker Garden.

Solicitor General Ton van der Schans said Wednesday the Prosecutor’s Office was not satisfied with the 24-year sentence imposed by the Court of First Instance on September 1, 2009. The Solicitor General said the severity of the crimes committed would justify imprisonment for life, but in order not to take all opportunities away from the suspect he would ask for 30 years instead.

Otto is also appealing his conviction. He is upholding his innocence in most of the cases, and stated that he didn’t kill anybody.

Otto is not only charged with having shot and killed Gumbs in what appeared to be a case of mistaken identity, but also with attempted manslaughter, threatening with a firearm, theft with violence imposed on American tourists in the vicinity of a popular nightclub in Simpson Bay, and threatening a police officer and two members of the Voluntary Corps VKS. All these crimes were committed in March and April 2008.

The case against Otto started in December 2007, when the French authorities requested his arrest and extradition for armed robbery and rape committed in French St. Martin.

Otto was arrested in a house in St. Peters in April 2008. A Ruger firearm and ammunition were found during a search. Police investigations revealed that Gumbs had been shot and killed with bullets fired by a Ruger P95.

Otto, however, denied the gun was his. He told the three judges of the Joint Court that he had received the gun from a friend one day before his arrest.

According to the Solicitor General, Gumbs’ murder was a “deliberate liquidation,” while in his eyes, Otto had also exerted “severe violence” in the other crimes.

Otto, with his feet shackled during the entire hearing, said false statements were made against him. He flatly denied any involvement in the Gumbs murder, and said he had not played a major role in the other crimes. Otto admitted that he had been at the scene of the crimes, but said he had not played an active role.

Attorney-at-law Shaira Bommel considered her client’s sentence to be far too high. “My client knows that he had done things that are wrong, but feels that certain crimes are being pinned on him.” She specifically mentioned that her client had not been involved in the attempted murder case of March 21, 2008, during which a man was shot in his chin. The Court will present its ruling on February 11.

PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party (DP) Island Councilwoman Maria Buncamper-Molanus has requested Local Chief of Police Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards to supply her with statistics that show the increase in crime as well as the types of crime committed last year compared to 2008.

She said that officials should give sufficient attention and accountability to tasks that affect the business community directly.

In her letter, Buncamper-Molanus acknowledged that the responsibility of justice lies with the Central Government, but questions if the Office of the Local Chief of Police and the ways things are done here should be viewed differently because of challenges that come with escalating crime.   “So should we be doing things differently leading up the constitutional reform? Should there be more involvement from the Island Government and the Local Chief of Police?” she questioned.

Efforts to combat crime were highlighted in the letter, which included the Central Government’s proposed reorganization and coaching of the Windward Islands Police Management Team, an ongoing campaign to recruit new police officers, an established cooperation between the police forces of the Windward Islands and Rotterdam and projects submitted by St. Maarten to improve the police force and give residents and visitors a sense of higher security and peace of mind.

She requested clarification on the agreement with Rotterdam and St. Maarten and more facts and figures on the recruitment status.

“Increased police presence and proper equipment are recurring calls from those involved. If this is indeed the main issue, why are these issues not given priority?” the island councilwoman said.

She continued, “We have had justice ministers come and go, but we have the same problems. The constant factors in this equation are the people of St. Maarten, crime and the responsibility of the Local Chief of Police.”

Fighting crime is everybody’s business, she noted, as she requested a prompt response from the Office of the Local Chief of Police. “This issue is a critical concern and would benefit the people of and the visitors to St. Maarten,” she said.

THE HAGUE--The Dutch Parliament’s Second Chamber has decided to bypass the Antillean Parliament and engage in direct talks with the Island Councils. It made clear on Wednesday that it didn’t accept the conditions of Antillean Parliament Chairman Pedro Atacho for a meeting in Curaçao in late February.

“I am disappointed,” said the Second Chamber’s Permanent Committee for Antillean and Aruban Affairs NAAZ Chairman Willibrord van Beek about Atacho’s letter, which he had received on Tuesday.

According to Van Beek, Atacho had stated in his letter that the Antillean Parliament didn’t want to have a meeting with NAAZ in February, but preferred to have informal talks prior to the formal handling of the first set of Kingdom Consensus laws in late March or early April. This, however, won’t happen, said Van Beek. And so the Antillean and Dutch Parliaments will only meet in a formal setting during the handling of the Kingdom Consensus Laws.

Atacho furthermore stated that Member of Dutch Parliament (MP) Hero Brinkman of the Party for Freedom PVV would not be welcome at the Antillean Parliament as long as he hadn’t offered his apologies to the people of the Netherlands Antilles for calling their politicians “corrupt” and a “bunch of crooks” during his last visit to Aruba. Brinkman had also insulted Aruban politicians at that time.

Van Beek stated in a meeting of the NAAZ committee Wednesday that Atacho hadn’t taken into account that the Second Chamber also wanted to meet with the Island Councils of Curaçao, Bonaire, St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius during its visit to the Netherlands Antilles to discuss the constitutional future of the islands.

Van Beek’s original plan had included organising meetings with Bonaire and Curaçao in the latter island, and travelling to St. Maarten to have a meeting there with the Island Council. The Island Councils of Saba and St. Eustatius were to be invited to come to St. Maarten. Van Beek said it would be too costly for all Island Councils to travel to the Netherlands. Curaçao had already indicated that it wanted to come to The Hague.

Initially, Van Beek had planned to also meet with the Antillean Parliament in Curaçao, but NAAZ decided to drop that plan after Atacho’s letter. The Committee members agreed that the meetings with the Island Councils should proceed. “We have said that we also wanted to talk to the Island Councils, and I think it would be a bit short-range to say that we are not going anymore based on the reply by the Antillean Parliament,” said MP Bas Jan van Bochove of the governing Christian Democratic Party CDA. “We will not allow the Antillean Parliament to dictate to us,” said MP Brinkman.

Brinkman’s apologies to the Antillean people are not a condition that has to be met in order for the Dutch delegation to travel to Curaçao, because NAAZ’s meetings with the Curaçao and Bonaire Island Councils would take place outside the Antillean Parliament anyway. Van Beek said he was considering renting the conference room at Avila Beach Hotel for this purpose.

Van Beek told the Committee that the planned visit of NAAZ to Curaçao hadn’t been well received. Besides the fact that the Antillean Parliament didn’t want to meet in Curaçao in February, and the condition that Brinkman had to publicly apologise, Atacho stated in his letter that the Antillean Parliament didn’t want to discuss the recent report of the Democratic Deficit Committee at this point. According to Atacho, the report should be discussed at a later stage, when the Parliaments of Countries Curaçao and St. Maarten have been established.

MP Ronald van Raak of the Socialist Party (SP) was obviously highly irritated by the discussion about the trip to the Netherlands Antilles and Atacho’s letter. “I feel like I’m in kindergarten. I’ve had enough of this back and forth,” he said, and left the meeting prematurely.

No date has been set yet for the meetings in Curaçao and St. Maarten. Van Beek said he would be contacting the Island Councils to establish a date.

ST. PETERS--The extension at Sister Magda School is being constructed without a building permit, Department of New Works and Projects head Kurt Ruan confirmed Tuesday.

However, Ruan explained that the permit was being processed and “will be ready soon.”

Commissioner of Education William Marlin broke ground to signal the start of the construction last week Wednesday, January 20.

According to Ruan, there had been delays with acquiring stamps for the permits and some other issues. He declined to elaborate.

Department of Education Project Manager for Innovations in Education Angela Dekker was far more vocal when The Daily Herald, on Ruan’s suggestion, requested her to comment via phone.

Dekker dismissed the inquiry about the building permit and wanted to know, “Who is the person behind this?” referring to The Daily Herald’s source of information. She said everything pertaining to the permit had been submitted in the correct and legal manner.

Dekker also asked why the media wanted to publish the information about the permit. “Do you prefer to have the children on the street? What is the problem? Will you put it in the newspaper that we are all wrong, including Angela Dekker and USONA? Do you think we can do this with Dutch money?” she asked. And, before referring this newspaper back to Ruan, she suggested that this newspaper had ulterior motives.

As part of the Innovations in Education project, a new two-storey building is being constructed. There will be a large, open play area and the building will consist of a canteen, storage room and restroom facilities on the ground floor. The first floor will also contain a classroom, a resource centre and two offices.

The project is being financed with Dutch development funds through USONA.

PHILIPSBURG--Two “professional” commissioners will be added to the current St. Maarten Executive Council in February to help with the heavy workload associated with preparing for country status and the seven ministries that will come into being as of 10-10-10.

Constitutional Affairs Minister Roland Duncan (NA) will present the law on the expansion of the Executive Council and Island Council of St. Maarten to the Council of Ministers on Thursday.

Duncan told The Daily Herald the Legal Affairs Department had completed the draft law last week. After approval by the cabinet this week, the draft goes to Parliament, where Duncan hopes it will be signed off on in February.

The draft law provides for the number of commissioners in the Executive Council to be increased from five to seven, matching the number of ministries that will be established for Country St. Maarten.

However, the two additional commissioners cannot be members of the Island Council. Therefore, the National Alliance (NA)/Heyliger government will have to appoint two “professional” commissioners (vakgedeputeerden) who will not be able to vote in the Island Council, but will have full rights and responsibilities in the Executive Council.

The professional commissioners will be like Finance Commissioner Xavier Blackman, who was appointed as “vakgedeputeerde” in June 2009, when the NA/Heyliger coalition took office. They can be appointed as soon as the law has been adopted by the Parliament of the Netherlands Antilles and published in the official Gazette.

Another part of the draft law deals with the expansion of the Island Council of St. Maarten from 11 members to 15, matching the size of the Parliament for Country St. Maarten, the minister said.

This expansion will become effective after the next Island Council election, which should take place around June/July as a precursor to country status. Duncan explained that the next election would be an early one for the Island Council, because this is due in April 2011.

The draft legislation also provides for the dissolution of the Island Councils of the five island territories, an arrangement not provided for under the Islands Regulation ERNA. A Kingdom Consensus Law also regulating this early dissolution is before Parliament for handling.

The 15-member Island Council will later evolve into the Parliament of Country St. Maarten, because the elections will take place before country status is attained.

Yet another area covered in the draft law is the adoption of the constitutions of Country St. Maarten and Country Curaçao by the existing Island Councils in the coming months.

A two-thirds majority will be needed to adopt the constitutions. Should this quota not be reached, the current Island Council would have to be dissolved to allow even earlier elections. The newly-elected council would then have the authority to pass the constitution with a simple majority.

This mechanism to facilitate the passing of the constitution has been built into the law especially for Curaçao, because there are issues there about the way the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles and the entire constitutional change process has been proceeding.

WILLEMSTAD--Minister of Education, Sports and Culture, and Public Health and Social Development Omayra Leeflang (PAR) is leading an Antillean delegation of nine in Geneva, Switzerland, in connection with the periodic “examination” of the Kingdom of the Netherlands before the Committee of the United Nations that supervises compliance with the Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women.

It is the Kingdom’s turn today, Wednesday, to present the fifth periodical report in the “Palais de Nations.” This will take place during a morning session starting at 10:00, and during a follow-up session starting at 3:00pm.

The reporting sessions started on January 18 and will end on February 5. During these three weeks, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Malawi, the United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands, Egypt, Botswana and Panama are all reporting on their efforts to effectively and permanently combat discrimination against women.

The committee supervising compliance with the convention is an independent body of 23 experts in the field of women’s rights from around the world. Cornelis Flinterman represents the Netherlands in this committee until December 31.

Cuban Magalys Arocha Dominguez and Jamaican Barbara Evelyn Bailey represent the Caribbean area. The whole of South America is represented by one person, namely, Brazilian Silvia Pimentel.

All the committee members are considered “experts of high moral standing and competent in the areas of special attention covered by the convention.”

The eight nations now ratifying this convention will be given the opportunity to hold a “constructive dialogue” with the committee on the extent to which, and how, women in their territory enjoy human rights. The dialogue will conclude with the committee’s final observations.

The committee will acknowledge whether the relevant state has made progress in its compliance with the convention, express detailed concern as to possible gaps in implementation or insufficient compliance with convention provisions, and/or recommend measures for more thorough and consistent enforcement of convention stipulations.

Besides Leeflang, the Antillean delegation consists of Ludmila Vicento (Justice), Virlène Els (Labour Affairs), Florentina Ng (Education), Christian Palm (Social Development), Xiomara Rojer (Public Health), Michael Bonafasia (Social Insurance Bank SVB), Darryllin van der Veen (Foreign Relations) and Joy Arnell (St. Maarten Women’s Desk).

Aruba’s Minister of Economic, Social and Cultural Affairs Michelle Hoogboer-Winklaar (AVP) is leading that country’s delegation, consisting of four women.

The Dutch delegation, led by State-Secretary of Education, Culture and Science Sharon Dijksma (PvdA), consists of 18 members. The Kingdom’s delegation therefore totals 31 members, of which six or seven are men.

WILLEMSTAD--National Alliance (NA) leader Williams Marlin met with Governor of the Netherlands Antilles Frits Goedgedrag Tuesday afternoon to discuss the formation of a new Central Government cabinet following Friday’s parliamentary elections.

Marlin told The Daily Herald that talks centred on what type of cabinet should take up the reins of government in the stretch to country status. He said the preference was for a political cabinet and not a business one, which usually takes office after a crisis.

The responsibility should lie with the politicians who went out into their communities and asked the people for their support, Marlin said.

The governor met with and gave all party leaders who received one or more seats in the parliamentary elections a list of seven questions dealing with the cabinet formation that they have to return by Thursday.

The questions, according to Marlin, reflect the topics discussed during the meeting.

In Friday’s elections the National Alliance captured all three parliament seats allocated to St. Maarten leaving main rival Democratic Party out of what is to be the last parliament of the Netherlands Antilles.

Based on the consultation with the leaders and the answers supplied, Goedgedrag will decide whether an “informateur” - the person who will hold informal talks with the party leaders to see if they are willing to be in the Central Government coalition - or a “formateur” - who will move right ahead with the formation of the new cabinet – will be appointed.

This new parliament and similarly the cabinet are only expected to last seven months, because the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles and the emergence of country St. Maarten and country Curaçao are slated for October 10.

The new parliament that will take office on March 26 will have as St. Maarten parliamentarians Rodolphe Samuel and George Pantophlet, who have been serving in the current legislative as of June 2009. Joining them will be Henrietta Doran-York, a first timer to parliament.

PHILIPSBURG--The 70 social apartment units at Hope Estate should be ready to house their first tenants by mid February, barring any unforeseen circumstances, according to Commissioner in charge of Public Housing William Marlin.

The three apartment buildings, consisting of 34 one-bedroom apartments and 36 two-bedroom apartments, are being constructed by Liccom N.V. and are viewed as a crucial small step in securing affordable housing for low income earners, individuals and small families on St. Maarten.

Financing for the construction, approximately NAf 8.2 million, was made possible through the harbour buyback funds. Monthly rent payments will not exceed NAf 450 and some of the 70 apartments on ground level have already been allotted to physically impaired persons who have been deemed able to live alone and unassisted and to some seniors citizens.

The other apartments will be allocated to people high on the housing needs list kept by the St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF). This list has about 1,100 applicants with almost 200 of these living in dire circumstances.

WILLEMSTAD--Undocumented people can still make use of the Brooks Tower Accord (BTA) to regulate their status, although the submission period has ended.

National Alliance (NA) Parliamentarian Rodolphe Samuel urged people to file their applications as soon as possible. There are a lot more people in the community who can benefit from the BTA, an effort to control and regularise immigration on the islands, he said.

Justice Minister Magali Jacoba told Parliament Tuesday that applications for residence permits for undocumented people could be filed up until February 28. An application must include all documents needed to file the request, as well as a letter addressed to the Minister requesting inclusion under the BTA, Samuel said after the meeting.

Meanwhile, special provisions are being looked at for Haitians who need passports and other documents renewed in their country, but cannot access them now because of the devastating earthquake that brought the country to a halt.

Several hundred people, particularly in Curaçao and St. Maarten, registered last year to legalise their status in the Netherlands Antilles under the BTA.

Parliament also heard from the Police Force of Curaçao and the Prosecutor’s Office about the rise in youth crime and delinquency. This is a problem that also faces St. Maarten, Samuel said via telephone.

He had suggested to Parliament that provisions be made to employ social inspectors who would look into complaints early on and survey living and other environmental conditions to stop social issues before they develop into petty or violent crimes.

The Police Force and the Prosecutor’s Office have been requested to provide Parliament with figures on youth crime and other related matters.

Samuel is one of two St. Maarten Parliamentarians who were re-elected to their posts in Friday’s parliamentary elections. George Pantophlet (NA) was also re-elected.

Democratic Party (DP) Parliamentarian Erno Labega was not re-elected. His term will end on March 25.

The new parliament, termed the last for the Netherlands Antilles, will take office on March 26. It is expected to have a life of only seven months because of the dismantling of the Antilles and the emergence of Country St. Maarten, Country Curaçao and the Dutch public entities of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba (the BES islands) on October 10.

THE HAGUE--The Dutch Parliament’s First and Second Chambers are not in favour of giving residents of future Countries Curaçao and St. Maarten active voting rights in Dutch Parliamentary elections.

With the exception of the one-member OSF faction in the First Chamber, all First and Second Chamber parties present at Tuesday’s joint meeting of the Permanent Committee for Antillean and Aruban Affairs NAAZ stated that they were against granting active voting rights to the islands.

The factions stated this in response to a recommendation of the Democratic Deficit Committee.

The Committee, chaired by Netherlands Antilles Deputy Minister Plenipotentiary in The Hague Mavis Brooks-Salomon, had suggested allowing Dutch citizens of the two countries active voting rights as a means of reducing the democratic deficit within the Kingdom.

The BES islands Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba will automatically acquire voting rights in the Second Chamber elections when they become part of the Netherlands on October 10.

The Committee had analysed the democratic deficit and come up with suggestions that were made in a report called “Choosing for the Kingdom,” presented on November 11, 2009.

The Dutch Caribbean partners within the Kingdom generally believe that the Netherlands plays a too dominant role in the Kingdom, especially because decisions relating to the Kingdom are made by the Netherlands.

Benefit

“We don’t see any benefit in granting voting rights,” said Member of the Second Chamber Bas Jan van Bochove of the governing Christian Democratic Party CDA.

“We are not in favour of active voting rights,” said Member of the Second Chamber John Leerdam of the Labour Party PvdA, which forms part of the coalition.

“We have our doubts as to whether this is even possible,” said Christian Union (CU), the smallest coalition partner, represented by member of the Second Chamber Cynthia Ortega-Martina.

Opposition parties agreed with the ruling parties on this one. Member of the Second Chamber Johan Remkes of the liberal democratic VVD party said “no” to the Committee’s recommendation. “I don’t think it would be proportional,” said Remkes, referring to the small size of the islands compared to the Netherlands.

“Active voting rights are not the solution to the problem of the democratic deficit,” said Member of the Second Chamber Ronald van Raak of the Socialist Party (SP).

Member of the Second Chamber Hero Brinkman of the Party for Freedom PVV said things should be placed in the right context, with the Netherlands having a population of some 16.5 million.

Member of the First Chamber Jan Laurier of the green left party GroenLinks said his faction couldn’t give a definite “yes” or “no” to the recommendation on voting rights.

Little brother trauma

Only Henk ten Hoeve of the OSF faction in the First Chamber supported the Committee’s suggestion. He agreed that active voting rights would reduce the democratic deficit, since the people of the islands would feel more involved in the Dutch Parliament. Ten Hoeve noted that the Antillean electorate was very small compared to that of the Netherlands.

Ten Hoeve said voting rights would positively contribute to reducing what he called the “little brother trauma.”

Liaisons from the Antilles and Aruba Parliaments, and in future, from the Parliaments of the three Dutch Caribbean countries, as well as video-conferencing – other suggestions of the Committee – would have less effect in reducing the “little brother trauma,” said Ten Hoeve.

The other parties agreed that video-conferencing was not a bad suggestion, but all doubted that it would work. “It will only work for five minutes,” envisioned Bas Jan van Bochove.

However, parties did acknowledge the importance of communicating between the parliaments, but doing so through liaisons was considered a bad idea. “Liaisons are superfluous and would only lead to more bureaucracy,” said Ronald van Raak.

Parliamentary meetings

The semi-annual Parliamentary Consultation in the Kingdom POK should be done away with immediately, agreed most parties. “POK is dead and we should not make any efforts to revive it,” said Johan Remkes. “Whatever happens, no more POK,” said Hero Brinkman.

John Leerdam and Cynthia Ortega-Martijn said POK in its current form obviously didn’t work, just as the Committee had stated.

Leerdam and Ortega-Martijn said parties on both sides of the ocean should discuss how to better structure their contacts before definitely killing POK.

“You should not throw out your old shoes before you have new ones,” said Leerdam.

“We should give the meetings more content and work with themes,” said Ortega-Martijn.

Brinkman said that meetings between the Parliaments, if they were to continue, had to be public. “We are very much in favour of transparency,” said Brinkman.

Remkes and Van Bochove agreed that contact meetings between the Parliaments, in any case, needed to be shortened to one or two days. “Meetings have to be leaner and meaner,” said Remkes.

State of the Kingdom

All parties supported the Committee’s recommendation to have an annual so-called State of the Kingdom, presented by the Kingdom Council of Ministers. In this State of the Kingdom, Government would reflect on developments in the Kingdom. “It will lead to more pondering about the quality of our Kingdom,” said Jan Laurier.

Van Raak warned that the State of the Kingdom should not be overdone. “We should not make a big circus out of it,” he said.

Parties showed much appreciation for the work of the Committee and described the report as “good” and “broad.” It was agreed that the First and Second Chambers would continue their deliberations on the report until after State Secretary of Kingdom Relations Ank Bijleveld-Schouten had submitted the formal response to the report on behalf of the Dutch Government.

ARUBA--Dominico “Don Co” Arends (72) died in a traffic accident in Aruba on the road from Kibaima to Tanki Flip early Sunday morning.

The car he was driving had a head-on collision with a pick-up truck near insurance broker “Seguros Aponte” at Tanki Leendert. Witnesses said the truck turned on to the main road, but ended up in the lane for oncoming traffic.

Arends, who was not wearing a safety belt, died almost immediately. The male driver of the truck P. was held on suspicion of driving while under the influence after he had admitted having had a few drinks, but insisted he was not drunk, only a bit tired.

A woman who showed up looking for P. got angry when told he had been arrested and even hit a police officer. She strongly resisted when they decided to detain her and suffered a head wound, for which she was treated at the hospital.

MARIGOT--The Collectivité’s new drive-through recycling facility (Déchèterie) at Galis Bay Port will officially open on Tuesday, February 2, with an inauguration, Vice-President Pierre Aliotti disclosed at a press conference at the Department of Sustainable Development office on Monday.

While the new facility has been partially ready for some time, there was a delay while waiting for container sorting bins and a management contract to be awarded. The company Espace Verdé from Guadeloupe has been chosen to manage the facility, which conforms to French and European Union (EU) regulations. A total of three employees working in rotation will supervise drop-offs of recyclable materials by the public.

Up to 18 different items can be accepted at the facility in clearly marked bins. These include glass bottles, paper, cooking oils, automotive oils, car batteries, domestic batteries, paints and solvents, metals, electronic equipment, monitors, fridges, freezers, ovens, dishwashing machines, clothes washing machines, garden waste, furniture, and packing materials.

Items not accepted include hospital waste, gas bottles, car tyres, neon tubes, explosive materials, car wrecks, animal carcasses, and medicines.

Drivers simply enter the facility at one end, drop off their items by following the symbols marked on the bins, and exit the other end. Light vehicles are allowed two entries daily. Pick-up trucks or vehicles with towed trailers may make one entry a day.

Access to the facility is free, but is reserved for residents of French St. Martin with French-side licence plates. Professional companies, shops, commercial businesses and artisans are not authorised to use this facility and must drop off at the French Cul-de-Sac eco-waste site.

Nicole Piper, who has been appointed the first “sorting ambassador” of recycling, is charged with spreading the message about responsible waste disposal and care for the environment, and will be working in the field with three other staff members.

“Our job consists of educating the population on how to sort rubbish and keep the island cleaner,” said Piper. “It’s also very important to educate the younger generation to make sure they adopt the right habits. The key is with the children, because they are open and receptive and less likely to develop bad habits if they are instructed early. So we will be working at all levels to educate the population. We have to change our behaviour, because when we dispose of rubbish, we do have bad behaviour, but don’t realise it. In order to have a sustainable environment for future generations, we have to start with changing ourselves now.”   

The overall cost of the project was 822,000 euros, funded from various sources, while management of the facility is estimated to cost the Collectivité 280,000 euros per year.