Dear Editor,
In The Daily Herald of Thursday, November 19, 2015, on page three the headline read “Today is deadline for permit to access town during closure.” I concluded that this was an ongoing process and that that was a reminder. I did not recall reading anything about that so I proceeded to read the article. The article stated that the letter to the businesses was dated November 16 (Monday) and that the applicant had until today, Thursday, November 19, to submit the application for a permit to access the restricted areas.
Applications submitted after the deadline will not be processed. I do not know who wrote or approved that letter to the businesses and residents of the Philipsburg shopping area, but if the original letter was written in the same style, I am not sure that the responsible person is the right person for that position. That letter sounded as if it came from the desk of a dictator. It began with the margin of days (Nov.16-19) and continued with “the need to undertake stringent safety measures to enhance the safety and security in Philipsburg area immediately requires no elucidation.”
There are a lot more things that are happening which need no elucidation, but are not addressed. This sounded like the head commissioner of police putting the emphasis on the measures to be taken while talking to his staff. I would have rather read in that letter to the clients of the COCI something similar to this. “....due to the latest increase in armed robberies in the shopping area of Philipsburg, especially during shopping hours the COCI in cooperation with the justice department have resolved to take among others the following measures in connection with access to Philipsburg shopping area during the 2015-2016 tourist season...”
And then there is a permit “granting restricted access” which is confusing to me. Does that mean that the permit of each person will specify which area he is limited to. “No application will be processed after November 19, 2015. The same day the article appeared in the newspaper. Again, who is that dictator. I believe that this is information given to people whose daily living will be disrupted by measures taken as a consequence of negative deeds of which several of them are the victims. Besides that this is not an emergency.
I am not getting soft; on the contrary, but it is time enough for all of us to realize that our tone also has influence on the environment. Those in position of decision making should learn that the position already affords them a certain sense of authority and if they do their job in a serious manner they do not have try to impose on people.
Now my other question. Because that decision taken will hamper many residents in their everyday movements would it not have been easier to keep an informative meeting with the residents rather than to order them around. The residents of Philipsburg shopping area are not the criminals. Now this. Permit me to say that my colleague looks like Denzel Washington in that Monday, November 23, 2015, picture. Either that or it is the result of the old saying “let sleeping dogs lie.’’ And then that reaction. Some people try to make a joke, Many other nervous ones laugh.
Russell A. Simmons
