Dear Editor,
I had just left UTS from paying a bill, yes, I still stand in line instead of going on line. I believe the more people go on line the less jobs become available and because it seems as if there is no incentive for the government of St. Maarten to be innovative and look for secondary means to fall back on when our tourism is not any more as it used to be, I am walking the talk. Along with that, because of increasing cybercrime and credit card and ATM schemes I believe the longer business could be handled personally I will stand in line.
Not to forget that there is very little personal contact with each other anymore. Everything is via the cell phone. Haven’t we all been complaining about the way we are being attended by those people in the government building. I believe that that good morning and good day and that smile has been replaced by the cell phone. So, I will stand in line smile, greet everyone, even though some people are surprised when one enters a building and wish them a good morning or good day with a distinctive voice.
Coming back to where I started this letter, when I ran across a long-time acquaintance who was back on the island to repair her home which was destroyed by [Hurricane – Ed.] Irma, in talking about construction the name utilities came up so the conversation turned into “where all the local hardware stores gone?” Names like Carib Lumber, Builders Paradise, Van Grieken, Wilmart, Island Material and so on were mentioned. There was some old talk so competition against the locals was mentioned.
I have mentioned several times that because of the infrastructure of St. Maarten, is so that if you are on the road long enough you will meet several people at least twice a day so once in a while a conversation may start and, as usual, depending on the relationship with each other certain information is passed on. I have learned to be a good listener and thanks to the Lord my memory is still alright. So, there are some things that come to mind in connection with government not protecting the locals against unfair competition.
Because we live in a hurricane belt and it is inevitable that we will be threatened or hit by hurricanes certain members of the St. Maarten Island Council and later Members of Parliament have made deals with persons who were willing to make deals with investors got involved in the hardware store business, sold their products at less than the purchase prices (bought for $10, sold for $8) and in no time the local St. Maarten hardware stores could not compete anymore and were obliged to close doors. Consequence is that there was no control on the prices in the hardware stores. And when government was approached by the local businessmen with what was happening the locals were told that that is free enterprise and the government could do nothing about it.
Case in point, because of price gouging by the hardware stores after Irma government was obliged to publish the maximum prices that the people of St. Maarten should pay for products at the hardware stores. So, this made it impossible for the local aspiring entrepreneur to do so. One could not take the risk to grow in one’s own country because one was not and is still not protected by government. So, I have to ask like that lady: where are all the local hardware stores?
When I told someone that I was going to write a letter to the Editor of the Herald concerning this, he said they help outsiders come in, now they themselves are suffering because things have gotten out of control. The outsiders have grown so powerful, so they themselves can’t get building material for themselves anymore so they decided to do the only thing they can do is to fool the people by publishing maximum prices which they should pay for building material.
I read that the French side accepts that they are been plagued by gypsies. When are we going to try to curtail what is happening on the Dutch side? Don’t we know that it is so blatant here that a few guys living on Anguilla are so brazen that on busy ship days they rent a car for the day and transport tourists around the island?
By the way, I still feel offended by those who voted against the “safe school plan”.
Russell A. Simmons
I have a name this I know,
Don’t call me bad names – how will I grow?
Call me honey, love and sweetie pie
Sharing kind words with me make me feel like I AM UP IN THE SKY!
I know we have freedom of expression and feelings
But let’s think before we talk, chat and discuss –
Words can hurt and have meanings!
Life is not disorder and chaos!
Think before you talk and say things
Use your brain and reasoning
If it will hurt – close your mouth
Walk away, take some time or just turn to the South
Privacy is close to our hearts
We all need to respect each other and do our part
Knock, say, “Excuse Me, Please, May I help you?”
Hello! The Rights of the Child is here for us too!
LOOK! We are NOT living in a zoo!
Teacher Camille Fahey Blackman
Sacred Heart School Saba 2018
Dear Editor,
In the paper of November 23 I was elated to read that businesses in the country will no longer be allowed to sell or serve alcohol to minors below the age of 18. I further read that one of the rebuttals was that more police officers will be required to be able to control the adherence to that law. I must admit that my first reaction was “who are these clowns?” But as I read further and, being aware of the situation in the Front and Back Street, I do not know if that was farfetched.
The jewelry stores relatively serve more alcohol to their clients than the restaurants and bars in Philipsburg. I will continue to advocate “out with the old and in with the young,” because this is another case which all those older heads have been knowing this for years.
Many years ago, when I was on patrol during the night shift, there was this youngster staggering across the road as he walked in the direction of St. Peters via the L.B. Scott Road. After stopping him and questioning him we found out that he had been drinking Schlitz beer which he punched out of the soda machine place by the Cul de Sac gasoline station. Not too long after that I noticed that there was no more Schlitz beer available in the soda machines.
I was told between the grapevine that my report in the police log reached the then Lt Governor the deceased Max Pandt who forbid the sale of beer via those machines, because there was no way the police would be able to control the serving of alcohol to minors. Yes, and many of those same older heads who are there today were there then.
I further read that “it is so that to date only the second initiative law by a Member of Parliament to be passed in Parliament since its existence” and I asked myself with what intention was that added to the article? Is this something to celebrate? Since 10-10-’10, only two initiative laws but seven toppling of government and with another one on the horizon. I also read the article on line and asked myself, what does the Lions have to do with the amendment of a law? So I am still confused.
When I worked on Curaçao on two occasions I was nominated for a citation for exceptional duty, but I refused to accept it because I was aware that every day there is some policeman who performs exceptional duties. Everyone in their own way. Beside that, that is what I was paid to do .Police people are called upon to do that which the everyday man is not called upon to do. Similarly the fireman.
So, in reading that article I told myself if I was part of this government I would be ashamed to let people know that only two initiative laws have been passed since 10-10-’10. What have the others been doing for their overblown salaries?
Work on the public transportation. Place bus stop signs in the right places. Do not permit any kind of bus association to dictate for government, and get rid of those bus stop huts which are placed strategically and used to sell commercial ads, only to disrupt traffic a little more than it already is. Change the entrances to tire repair centers which are on the main roads so that the flow of the traffic on the main roads is not constantly impeded by vehicles driving in and out of those tire repair places. Why does the already distraught public continuously have to be hampered in their movement by those who have it?
There is enough very useful work for members of Parliament to do. All they have to do is look up the articles in the Algemene Politie Verordening, drive around the country and there are many laws that could be amended to suit St. Maarten. The MPs asked the people for their vote so that they could do good things for the people, not solely for themselves.
To be ambitious is commendable, just do not be too ambitious.
Russell A. Simmons
Dear Editor,
This topic is for people to think for themselves.
Social justice is a political and philosophical concept which holds that all people should have equal access to wealth (wealth redistribution, which is communism), health, wellbeing, justice and opportunity.
In political and social sciences, communism is the philosophical, social, political, and economic ideology and movement whose ultimate goal is the establishment of the communist society, which is a socioeconomic order structured upon the common ownership of the means of production and the absence of social classes, money and the state.
Communism includes a variety of schools of thought, which broadly include Marxism and anarchism, as well as the political ideologies grouped around both. The deception is the word equal access to wealth, you have to create wealth and that comes from individual responsibility. You cannot legislate wealth. Wellbeing is for the individual to perform to achieve his or her goal, it is the government task to provide opportunity for all.
Justice has to do with what is right and fair? It is not right to take from people who achieve more and give it to others who have achieved less. Is it right to take points away from A students and give it to D students to make it equal and so call fair? No, that is wrong.
Healthcare is a necessity but it comes with a price and a responsibility also. The best way to afford healthcare is to create wealth. That is why government has to be innovative to create opportunity for the masses to become more self-reliant. You cannot tax people to death and expect them to become more self-reliant.
Free market capitalism opens the door for people to do business and endeavor in business by entrepreneurship. To create wealth is to lower the taxes which creates more jobs in turn produce revenue so health care can become affordable. But social justice (equal access to wealth or wealth redistribution is in fact making every person equally poor. Feel free to disagree with me.
But notice, Hugo Chavez and Maduro try that in Venezuela, look at the end results, it leads to destruction.
You have never seen people from a capitalist country run to a socialist or communist country, it is always the other way around that because social justice equals communism.
Social justice has been practiced for the longest while with the deception for the common good of all. And the end result is always destruction.
The key to success is for government to provide equal opportunity but to be successful, that is the individual responsibility. Social justice tells people they are victims and that it is the other person’s fault they are poor. That ideology is a recipe for disaster. It creates hatred and jealousy and leads to anarchy.
No system is perfect, but free-market capitalism is the best, no wonder people from socialist and communist countries will walk 5,000 miles to come to a capitalist country.
The Patriot Miguel Arrindell
Dear Editor,
St. Maarten’s Day is my favorite Holiday. It is a day on which I reflect on what it means to be a St. Maartener and how I can be a better citizen of my amazing country. It is also a day where I am on a singular mission to gorge myself on the food and drink that makes our island unique. But, unfortunately, I can’t do so in good conscience without using my own plate and cup and knife and fork. For St. Maarten, our Pearl in the Caribbean Sea, has a major plastic problem: everything our food is served in is made out of single use plastics.
We have significantly lagged behind in taking concrete steps to ban single use plastics. As an island nation we must go the way other Caribbean countries and territories have, including Jamaica, Dominica, and soon Anguilla, in banning single use plastic products. Whilst I can appreciate the steps taken in the right direction by Parliament, it might already be too little too late. If we don’t act urgently, St. Maarten will again lag behind the region in terms of addressing a sustainability issue, much like we are lagging behind in moving towards renewable energy.
But it is also up to us to force change, which, I’m afraid, is easier said than done. This despite us trying to push our society in that direction with the Reduce Reuse Program. A clear example of this is when I posted on social media my disappointment in the St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation for them still allowing a balloon jump-up anno 2019. I was met with condemnation and criticism, berating me for not “approaching the SCDF with alternatives instead of criticizing,” as if the SCDF has been living under a rock instead of on top of one, ignorant to the global and regional response to the damages that single use plastics, especially balloons, cause to the ecosystems and wildlife that makes St. Maarten unique.
The balloon industry is the only one that encourages consumers to litter with its product. The Ocean Conservancy, the well-respected global ocean conservation organization, ranks balloons as the third deadliest form of marine litter after ghost-nets and single use plastic bags. However, the SCDF is not the only organization to blame; everywhere on our still beautiful island we clean up balloons that were released during parties or events littering our coasts and wetlands, plastic bags choking wild flora and fauna, and cigarette butts and straws competing with the very sand our beaches are famous for.
This goes to show that the mindset of our people needs to change; we need to hold ourselves and our actions accountable just as much as we need to hold government and businesses accountable. As the cliché goes, we have to “be the change we want to see in the world.” But that does not mean that our Government and Parliament shouldn’t take the lead, as they should, in enacting the change our country so desperately needs. And after what we have been through and are still going through, not only needs but deserves.
It is curious to see how the use of plastics is so ingrained in our community. When I go for takeout I take my reusable containers with me. The reactions I get range from disbelief, incomprehension, humor and resignation. I am often met with blank, vacant looks when I mention that the same styrofoam container that we discarded is fuel to the continuously blazing fire at the landfill. Plastic is, after all, a petroleum product, much like the gas in your car.
It is also curious, given our societal and cultural norms, that BPA, or Bisphenol A, the dominant chemical in single use plastics such as styrofoam food containers and plastic bottles, can have negative reproductive health effects, especially in men. BPAs are endocrine disruptors that can cause impotency and prostate cancer in men and reproductive hormone issues in
women. This chemical is now being found in the fish we eat, transferred into our bodies through ingested microplastics.
Recycling, unfortunately, is not the solution, especially for a Small Island Developing State such as St. Maarten. A state that is already struggling with solid waste management issues and the way we approach our garbage problem. St. Maarten, per capita, produces nine times more garbage than any other country in the Caribbean. Given our susceptibility to climate change events (read Irma) and our limited land space, given the personal interests often involved in the garbage management industry, and given our track record in managing solid waste, a ban is the only solution to curb the impact of plastics.
Although, in lieu of a ban, recycling can make a small difference, and the work being done by businesses and organizations that encourage recycling should certainly be recognized and highlighted, recycling is just a bandaid. It is the grownup version of squeezing one’s eyes shut and covering one’s ears and screaming lalalalalala so as to ignore reality. It is an “easy cop-out for cowardly governments,” according to an article from the independant.co.uk. Eighty per cent of all plastic can’t be recycled and 100 per cent can’t be recycled indefinitely. Eventually plastic will remain in our environment, causing the human and environmental health effects I mentioned earlier.
Recycling itself depends heavily on global markets and global environmental policy, markets and policies that are susceptible to the volatile nature of global politics and the global market. Politics that go way beyond our Sweet St. Maarten Land’s ability to navigate successfully. That is why governments in fellow Caribbean countries and territories are putting the future of their islands and their people above a temporary convenience. We should not have a St. Maarten’s Day where our crab-backs, chicken-leg and johnny-cakes, pigtail soups and guavaberry punches are served in single use plastic containers; celebrating our sweet country while simultaneously defiling her. We need to ban single use plastics. Now!
Tadzio Bervoets
