Dear Editor,

  The detention of my son has certainly brought me a lot of sadness, frustration and anger.

  I still feel as if Theo was kidnapped. On that night, without formal notice two masked police officers abducted him from his cell; took him to a car that rushed him to a flight for Bonaire. They were in such a rush that they “forgot” his gout medication.

  In Bonaire they’ve been interrogating him, sometimes for up to 8 hours with only a break for lunch. So, imagine this, my son is in pain because of gout and he is getting slammed for hours by Dutch interrogators.

  These are the facts, as I just got back from seeing Theo in Bonaire. When I asked Theo “how the Dutch treating him” he said, “Boy, Mommy, they bad … they bad … they question for hours and hours … they even ask questions about Pa (his grandfather) … just like how you see it in the movies, that’s how they question you … rough, not letting up and attacking.”

  After hours of pressuring my son they ask him to sign the interrogation statement in Dutch. They made him sign when he tired and in pain from gout. He even catch them writing a statement he did not make. This is another manipulative tactic; Dutch is not his first language.

  The question they tried to trick him with had to do with his grandfather (my father). Theo told them “how they kill his grandfather and they’re still not satisfied.” They persecuted my father, my brother and now my son.

  As a mother, everyone can relate to my pain. My son was ripped away without notice to his family or lawyer. He is in pain and away from his familiar surroundings. God forbid something had happened to my son on the way to Bonaire and I would never see him again.

  After hearing how they interrogate Theo and the tactics of moving him to Bonaire and “forgetting” his medication, you have to believe it is all part of their plan. Even as I write this, I was just informed that Theo now has a fever and his gout has flared up again.

  Thank you Stuart, Frankie, Luc, Rolando, Sarah and Christopher, for showing courage by taking a stand for my son. You are true St. Maarteners. The fact that Rolando and Christopher put aside political differences to make a stand gives me hope.

  We now have a court verdict to bring Theo to Pointe Blanche, so just like the order to send Theo to Bonaire came from our St. Maarten Government, now let’s see how long it will take to bring him back.

  I want my son returned to St. Maarten!

Lillian Agnes Wathey

Dear Editor,

  I am not an educator by profession but I can remember from the time I went to Sunday school and had to recite memory verses  and recitations, on occasions my father would test me to see if I knew my piece. From then already I knew the meaning of the word "intonation".  He would ask me if I knew the meaning of certain words in the recitation and we would look them up together in the dictionary and he would make me read the meaning. You should not speak about things you do not know anything about.

  As I grew older, he always insisted that I look up strange or difficult words. That is why I thought of the word symbiosis. If I happened to ask him the meaning of a word, I would get that well-known look, meaning, "you know what you have to do". One day when I dared ask him why he always insisted that I make use of the dictionary, he took the dictionary sat me down next to him and said, “If you ask me the meaning of a word and I tell you this is what you will miss by not consulting  the dictionary.

  ”You probably will not get the right pronunciation of the word from me (phonetics). I might not be able to explain you completely because many words have several meanings just as several words are written differently  but sound the same (hear, here, hair, hare).  Along with that, while leafing through the dictionary, you will come across some words that you did not even know existed.

  I do not have dictionaries in my car and I rarely use my phone to Google words at home. One would think that the word "symbiosis" is not an everyday word, how could I have recognized that word, and I would be the first to agree. The truth about that is that after looking up a word in the dictionary the thought came to me to check the meaning of Simmons.

  I could not find the meaning and wondered if the original word could have been symmons. That also was not the case, but I came across "symbiosis" among other words and checked out the meaning.  Googling is the same. One only sees one word at a time, whereas there are approximately ten words to every page in the dictionary.

Russell A. Simmons

Re: treatment Flamingo Beach Resort Owners have received from Diamond Resorts International.

There are a number of owners, including myself, who would like to know why we are being charged a maintenance fee for a timeshare we cannot use. Additionally, we would like answers from Diamond Resorts International about the lack of progress at the Flamingo, and whether Diamond Resorts is purposely dragging their feet, due to their being compensated by the insurance companies each day the resort remains closed.

  Little, or no work, is being done at Flamingo Beach Resort, while other resorts that suffered worse damage, (Maho Sonesta Beach Resort) are already up and running.

  The other theory I have is that Diamond Resorts International is purposely dragging their feet so that owners will walk away from their timeshare, giving them more inventory to sell. Owners were initially told the resort would reopen in 2019, and are now being told that it won't open until June 2020. This is unacceptable and we would like Diamond Resorts International to provide us with some answers immediately!

  I would appreciate any help you can provide us with. Thank you.

Mary Jane Nichols

Owner Flamingo Beach Resort

Dear Editor,

  Please allow me a little space in your newspaper to publish the following article which I think will bring about some awareness to those people who like to have domestic animals around them.

  I am a resident of Belvedere, and have been for some years now, but I notice the practice of some neighbors who have dogs in their yards of not taking care of their animal. They ignore their dog on a daily basis, not bothering to give it some food or even some water. Personally to me, this is abuse to the poor innocent animals.

  Others just think it's a good idea to let their dogs wander, maybe in search of scraps of food or rummage through the garbage bins. Some of these dogs are really bad dogs. Some German shepherds, bulldogs and some just local backyard dogs can be seen on a daily basis just roaming the streets and barking at passersby in a very fierce manner ready to attack.

  There is this next door neighbor who owns a bulldog, but neglects to look after it. He leaves the dog's poop in the yard for days and weeks at a time, where the dog is tied up. One can imagine the stench around the area, not to mention the big blue flies that it attracts. This is not healthy for the tenants who live around the area. Numerous complaints were made to the SMHDF but up to this time seems like nothing has been done to remedy the situation. Those who live nearby cannot open their doors or windows due to this situation, especially when cooking.

  This article is not to bash anyone who have dogs, because I am an animal lover myself. There is an old saying that a dog is man’s best friend, but that is not any way to treat a “best friend”. These situations must be rectified. If I am not mistaken, I think in the contracts of the SMHDF, there is a clause which states "No Dogs Allowed"

  So we are appealing to the management of the SMHDF to please address these situations as soon as possible. We, the residents have a right to walk or stroll through our area without having a fear of being chased by a pack of ferocious dogs or stepping in dog's poop.

  No, these are not stray dogs, I am sure their owners live somewhere around. If by chance some are strays, then the Animal Welfare should be called to take care of them.

  Seems like right now there are more dogs than residents, due to the fact some families think it's fun to have like 4 or 5 in a small space. This is also abuse to the animals, not having enough space to move around.

  We have to be kind to the animals and by all means try our best to take care of them, seeing that they are unable to take care of themselves. If this turns out to be too difficult a task for you, then leave the dogs alone, for in this housing complex there is a rule no dogs are allowed.

Thank you very much,

A concerned resident of Belvedere

Name withheld at author's request.