Dear Editor,
When in passing I hear people saying that the police don’t care, it hurts me. Why should it hurt me? It hurts me because if it gets so far that the civilian can reach to that conclusion, that tells me that this is a pattern.
There have been instances in which I also have witnessed certain behaviors in the community which I can certainly say that in my days we would not pass that without attending to it. But I know that sometimes we would go come back because of what has priority.
You might ask yourself then why am writing this letter to you? After church on Sunday I had to stop in the area of the Sundial School because of the traffic. There were two ladies standing at the side of the road and I heard when one them who was referring to the supermarket opposite the school say: “They couldn't even pick up the empty bottles.” When I looked at what she was referring to, I saw the empty bottles on one of the three benches that were intentionally put there to accommodate whoever wanted to sit there and have a drink or perhaps also a snack.
I do not get any pleasure in having to mention this, but this is nothing in hiding. I believe, no I am sure that everybody who is involved in policing this country have seen this scenario. And not only there but by too many supermarkets. I do not know if the laws have conveniently been changed to accomodate the permit holders of supermarkets (of which, by the way, several are locals). In my days we did not know anything about a permit for a supermarket including a restaurant and bakery.
And with the same breath I have to mention that no kind of control is done by these supermarkets. (Prove me wrong.) I know that I will be mashing some corns but nobody can tell me that Chief John is not aware that by several supermarkets on Sint Maarten the proprieters have put benches on the outside of their place of business and whoever is passing by, whether with children in the car or not, can see people openly drinking alcohol. Are there not anymore laws in the books governing drinking in public?
I expect a reaction like "what about those people playing dominoes by the same Sundial School? My answer to that is “Exactly.” They are playing dominoes and the same way that question exists, the same way that question about openly drinking in front of the supermarkets should also be asked.
I am aware that two wrongs don’t make a right, so this would be playing right back to what should be done. Control and regulate the permits that everyone could get their fair share.
Those who are disregarding their duty as parents by hanging out in front of the supermarkets every afternoon, go home and supervise your children so that we would not have to be constantly hearing what the children of today are doing. And to the parents let me say this, especially the mothers, “Believe it or not, when you walk the street with your ‘inside, outside’ you turn off more men than you attract. Men do not stick with women who are “cheap”. And I know for a fact that “children become what they see, much quicker than what they are told.” Dress your children appropriately. Especially your “girl-children”. Leaving the children up to themselves is also a no-no.
I have asked this question on several occasions. This time I will direct it to the Minister of Justice. "Waarom maakt U geen gebruik van de Algemene Politie Verordening (APV)? The traffic ordinance regulates the behavior of the drivers. The APV regulates and sanctions the behavior of the general public. Loitering, the use of obscene language in public, nudity in public, public drunkenness, illegal assembly, etc.
I was very pleased to read about the intended investment for a drug rehabilitation facility. In this way those who are drunk will not be able to referring back to those who are “high” in public.
Let us make a start, but we have to be vigilant because, like I always say, I can stop my mouth from talking but I cannot stop my ears from hearing.
Someone was commenting on the last Parliament meeting. This person said that there was talk about who locking up who. When I heard who was involved I said to myself, “they not going to get my opinion in this.”
What we need is responsible parenting. We need parents having heart-to-heart talks with their teenage children. We need parents who can coordinate with their children’s teachers on a regular basis. And whether she is already a mother or not, a 13-year-old girl is not a woman. She is a female and even a mother, but she is not a woman.
Russell A. Simmons
