Dear Editor,
Why are meetings of Parliament transmitted and broadcast? Do not those Members of Parliament realize that people are listening and also have an opinion? Do they still not get it that they are in there working for the people and not only for themselves? And do not they realize that anytime they do anything against a child, some mother’s belly hurts? So why did those MPs who voted against that "safe school plan" believe it would be politics as usual?
My conclusion is that those MPs who voted against that plan are telling the people of Sint Maarten " We do not care whether your children fight or not, we have to do what we have to do." But I hope they remember this day also when election time comes around. All of this is recorded and that same cell phone which is used for "social media" is going to be around.
Could not those MPs be the bigger man and point out what they think should have been changed in or added to the proposal, deliberate on it and pass it unanimously? I believe everyone would have noticed that the people in Parliament are positive when it comes to the youth. I am not an MP, but I know that where there is a will there is a way. Instead, those MPs dug deep to find faults because that it what it is about, ridicule those who support government instead of making a little effort to work for the benefit of the people.
For those MPs who try to dismiss the fact that social media contribute to negativity, I would suggest that they google what Bill Gates said concerning the internet and cell phones?
In the last month on three occasions I had vivid discussions with two ranking government employees concerning the negativity caused by social media, and ironically while sitting in a living room at the third person's home there was a news bite on the TV stating that Face Book had just hired ten thousand more employees with the sole purpose of trying to eradicate negative posts. There were already ten thousand working in that department and Face Book employed 10,000 more. Not me Face book.
I pity those MPs who so indulge in opposing their colleagues, who support government, that they did not jump at the opportunity to show their willingness to help the youth. A clear case of self before country. I believe that the parents should keep this in mind. I am going to. Nobody votes against proposals to help the youth. Would it be farfetched if the thought of this being a way of preventing them from becoming overqualified?
And yes, the use of social media causes fights among the youth of Sint Maarten. MP Brison is not that old not to know this. I have a simple solution that has worked during the time that I worked as discipline coach at PSVE and St. Maarten Academy (2006-2007) I demanded from the school board not to permit the use of cell phones by the students in school nor permit them on the premises. Random searches were carried out, the guilty were dealt with adequately and at the end of the school year I was told that the passing percentage went from 57 percent the previous school year to 87 percent that year.
I was glad for the academic success of the students, but I was much more satisfied with the fact that during that school year, statistics should bear me out, the police came to that school only four times in connection with fights. One of those four times was for a student who had fought in the weekend and the juvenile police came to look for him at the school on Monday morning in connection with the investigation.
A serious and responsible discipline coach with the authority to confiscate cell phones during school hours would be a very big deterrent, and the students would find themselves more and more involved in the things of the school instead of texting during class.
I am still under the impression that MPs do not understand that there are no opposition parties in Parliament. There are members who support the government and MPs who vote for or against proposals, no matter who the proposals come from. Ask Donald Trump what tweets can do.
Russell A. Simmons
Dear Editor,
I read in the paper that there will be baseball clinics on November 13 and 15. And I said to myself, we have just had the world series in which two Antilleans played against each other and very little was written about it in the sport pages.
Since I was seven years old I have been running behind foul balls and picking up bats on the Lago Sports Park for the then Baby Ruth Baseball club. We have always had baseball players of major league caliber in those days both on Aruba as well as on Curaçao, but there were no scouts coming to the Netherlands Antilles during that time, so the majority of the players of caliber retired as AA players, making room for those coming up behind them.
As time went by the Netherlands Antilles became affiliated to the wider baseball world and Aruba and Curaçao combined players and traveled abroad, displayed their talent and in doing so Baseball of the Netherlands Antilles became known abroad. Since 1996 there have been names like Jones, Kingsale, Bogaerts (Brown) and Simmons playing Major League baseball and presently there are 9 Antilleans in the Majors of which all of them are tops in their collective teams.
If the names Jones , Kingsale, Brown and Simmons resemble well-known names in the Netherlands Windward Islands, all four of these players have their roots in Saba and Sint Maarten. Yes, their grandparents are from up here.
Andrew Jones played from 1996 till 2012 and won a gold glove in his first 10 years playing center field for the Atlanta Braves, He also holds the record for the most home runs hit in a season for the Atlanta Braves – 51.
Eugene Kingsale played with the Baltimore Orioles from 1996 till 2003 and is presently scouting players in the Caribbean region.
Xander BOGAERTS (Brown) joined the Boston Red Sox in 2013 and is already in possession of two world champion rings.
Andrelton Simmons, presently playing shortstop with the Los Angeles Angels, joined the Atlanta Braves in 2012 and has four gold gloves, one platinum glove, five consecutive awards as best defensive shortstop in both leagues, and several other fielding awards from his teams.
The other Antillean players are Albies (Atlanta), Girigorie (Yankees) Janssen (Dodgers), Profar (Texas) and Schoop (Brewers).
Because baseball is played in 30 states in the USA and these players are popular on their teams, the names Curaçao and Aruba are constantly mentioned all over the USA. The X-man and Simba, as Bogaerts and Simmons are popular known, are again the best this year, the X-man member of the world champion Boston Red Sox and Simba best defensive shortstop in both leagues and the gold glove winner for shortstop in the American league.
Collectively Andruw Jones, Xander Bogaerts and Andrelton Simmons have fourteen 14 gold gloves, one platinum glove and two world champion rings along with the other awards.
Russell A. Simmons
Dear Editor,
One day in 1982, I wrote an essay entitled “Waarom St. Maarten onafhankelijk moet worden” for Mr. Bijnsdorp’s Dutch class. Though I hated the class (not because of the teacher, but because I hated writing essays in Dutch), I was proud of that essay and my performance. Not only was I pleased with my good mark, but, for the first time, I had written on a topic I felt passionate about. You see, I believed then at the age of 16, as I do now, that independence is the only way for the people of St. Martin to fulfill our aspirations as a nation and realize our full potential.
Dear Editor,
The Maho Group announced at the end of October that they signed an agreement to rebuild their eco-friendly solar power farm.
The new panels will increase generating capacity with a potential to generate a maximum of 1.15 megawatts of power. The project is to start in June 2019.
Other environmentally-friendly developments at The Maho Group properties are eco-friendly building materials and new thermal insulating sliding doors.
In a statement from The Maho Group at the end of October, it stated that Sonesta Maho Beach Resort, Casino and Spa and Sonesta Ocean Point Resort will become two of the most energy-efficient resorts in the Caribbean once reconstruction works have been completed.
I would like to take the opportunity to commend Management at The Maho Group for their eco-friendly interventions in lowering their group’s carbon footprint. Every business has a responsibility to do this.
2017 was the year of Sustainable Tourism Development, according to the United Nations. Sustainable tourism development is when all aspects of tourism’s impact are taken into consideration when developing a plan for a project.
This entails looking at the socio-cultural, economic and environmental impact. The Maho Group during its rebuilding phase post-[Hurricanes – Ed.] Irma and Maria looked at the environmental impact of its properties and how sustainable tourism can make business sense.
The solar park reduces their energy bill; it uses the energy generated from natural sunlight thereby making optimal use of environmental resources. This is the way forward for our country and I encourage other businesses to look at how they can reduce their carbon footprint.
The agreement was signed with China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) Dutch Caribbean, a subsidiary of a Chinese owned company that specializes in energy and renewable energy projects.
Stuart Johnson
Minister of Tourism and Economic Affairs
Dear Editor,
We, the St. Maarten Nature Foundation, are concerned once again regarding the way beaches, beach access and beach recreation have been managed in the country.
