Dear Editor,
A couple of weeks ago I saw an article in the newspaper which caught my attention because it's the same situation I'm dealing with in regard to the government of St. Maarten.
As a young entrepreneur, my first goal was to gather young men just like me to work and give back to the community. After the devastation of Hurricane Irma that goal went into full effect.
Eager to give back, we started working for the government of Sint Maarten during the Irma clean-up, like many others. The end date was set for April 2018. Sadly, the last months of the clean-up program we did not receive payment since February 2018.
We continued the clean-up despite not being paid because we had an agreement which we wanted to fulfil. We were told at the end we will receive the payment in full. Fast-forward 6 months later after many phone calls and visits we are still waiting for payment.
Hoping that the government of St. Maarten would keep in mind that for some young men it’s hard to find jobs. Therefore, doing outdoor activities and constantly moving is ideal for some, but when you can't pay them for their hard work it has negative consequences.
As a result of not being able to pay the young men for their work, sadly, one of them was arrested for robbery as a result of finding a way just to get by. Not because they are young men means they have their parents to fall back on. Some of them are who their parents depend on. I, however, believe if payment was made to him accordingly he might not have chosen that path.
The government of St. Maarten needs to be aware of the negative effect neglecting young men in our community can lead to and in order to better the community of St. Maarten, they must first better themselves.
A young entrepreneur
Name withheld at author's request.
Dear Editor,
So, I leave Simpson Bay at the Burger King restaurant at 5:00pm yesterday and stop dead in traffic. I wait the usual 15 minutes for things to move a bit and nothing. Not a wheel turns. “Hmmm,” I muse, “must be an accident on the hill,” so I turn around and head towards the bridge.
I get to the bridge and note traffic stopped dead in the road all the way to the airport. “Gee, must be a really bad accident,” I think to myself.
The bridge is stopped dead as well, but moves. So, 30 minutes later I get by Ace and traffic is still slow, but moving, and another 15 minutes later I am at the bottom of the hill and lo and behold, there is no accident at all – it is two traffic cops screwing up traffic so badly it’s almost hard to believe. They have two lanes of filter traffic stopped dead while one lane muddles around the corner and heads up the hill.
So understand this: the European cops who invented roundabouts so that multiple lanes could filter simultaneously, which works just fine every night, now suddenly decide to become human chicanes and make sure that every single person on the island has absolutely no chance at all of getting home at any reasonable hour.
News flash to the Traffic Department: you got rid of the traffic lights and put in the roundabouts for a very good reason. If you don’t remember what that was, let me remind you: it’s because they make traffic flow better.
You did the same thing when you stuck a guy at the Harley Davidson intersection in the mornings and backed traffic up to Marigot every day. Please send your traffic cops back to their desks and let the traffic take care of itself. It does a hell of a lot better without your help.
An hour and 15 minutes to get home in Great Bay from Simpson Bay. In a word: “Unacceptable!”
Steven Johnson
Dear Editor,
This topic might be too difficult for most people to understand. Socialism is a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community (big government) as a whole.
People who favor socialism love one world government also named Globalism.
Socialism loves using the strategy to fool people under the term collectively for the betterment of society. Make no mistake, socialism uses words like progressive and liberalism in order to control people.
Many people in the world today want everything for free. But in order for a government to give money to people it must take it from others. Socialism preaches the doctrine that you are a victim and that the working man should pay for your healthcare and education because you are unfortunate in this evil selfish world. Make no mistake, the end goal of socialism is communism. In Marxist theory a transitional social state between the overthrow of capitalism and the realization of communism.
Open borders policy is for people of the poorest countries illegally entering other countries that are economically better than where they came from. This massive influx of people leads to more chaos.
Open borders, free healthcare and free education is a doctrine that sounds good but in reality not possible. Globalism and socialism will be used to foster the Anti-Christ system into this world.
Another big catch, you put the false teaching of false religion against Christian and Jews. This is the real big catch. Because religion controls people so if you can destabilize that you, the Big Government, become God.
To deceive people you must attract them with a catch. The catch is this, you put races against each other, for example, black people against white people. This will create chaos. You instigate the masses of poor people to hate rich people to create more chaos.
The big catch is this, to control all chaos that now exists you need a massive police state and a Big government to be the brains to solve the challenge. This is how the Socialism then leads to communism with big government (elite) establishing the Anti-Christ system.
Most people cannot understand this. But when we talk about thinking out of the box it also has an evil way of thinking out of the box to dominate people. The useful idiots are usually the young people who love things for free; you deceive them and the future of the world is in your control.
The doctrine of deception is to control the world by first creating confusion and then becoming God to save man from himself. The masterful plan of an Anti-Christ system.
The conclusion is the end goal of socialism is the Anti-Christ system of communism.
The Patriot Miguel Arrindell
Dear Editor,
Building back better was and still is the buzz word 13 months after the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma to the country, classified as an extremely powerful and catastrophic Cape Verde hurricane, the strongest observed in the Atlantic in terms of maximum sustained winds, and the strongest storm on record to exist in the open Atlantic region, and the second-costliest Caribbean hurricane on record, after Maria.
Dear Editor,
On June 15, 2018, the seventh Governor’s Symposium was held under the theme, “Climate change and small Island states: A call for strategic action.” During this meeting a number of concerns were raised as it related to climate change and the impact that it will have on St. Maarten as well as various Islands.
The Hon. Governor Eugene Holiday said, “St. Maarten is running out of time to enact timely climate change measures.” He also stated that he is optimistic that acting now we can save the day for future generations.
Hon. Prime Minister Leona Romeo- Marlin labeled climate change as a threat to our economy and wellbeing. She stated that we must be pro-active and must make all effort to mitigate the effects of climate change. We must act now to strengthen our resilience.
Mr. Joseph Isaac, head of St. Maarten’s Meteorological Department also voiced his concerns and presented numerous options as to how to mitigate the impact of natural disasters.
Mr. Derek Downes, Windward Islands Bank director, made this statement: “Postponement of action is not an option, and it will lead to higher cost.”
It was predicted that in the next 20 to 50 years, St. Maarten will no longer have an airport as it will be covered under water along with low-lying areas such as Simpson Bay, Cole Bay, Philipsburg and Sucker Garden to mention a few.
To this point I am not aware of any serious actions taken to mitigate the impact of climate change on St. Maarten, however all parties agree that the time to act is now.
What is even more irrefutable is the fact that so many people including myself have being getting dreams and visions about a terrible earthquake and tsunami hitting this island and neighboring Islands. God has been speaking to people and we simply cannot ignore these warnings.
St. Maarten, please wake up! Our lives and the very existence of our country are at stake!
i am calling on the people of St. Maarten and neighboring islands to please cry out to God for mercy. I am calling on the Government to cry out to God for mercy for the country that you lead and I am calling on the church to wake up and cry to Almighty God. Let us repent before God and seek His mercy. I am sure that a terrible disaster is hanging over St. Maarten’s head and it is not 20 to 50 years from now, but right around the corner. I believe God is able to divert it and even if God allows it to come to pass, because we turn to Him many lives will be saved.
I am calling on the churches on this island to seek God!
It is an individual and collective effect. We cannot continue on the same trend. The survival of the country depends on us. (Chronicles 7:14)
It is time to humble ourselves, turn from our wicked ways and seek God so that He can show us mercy and save this country.
While the government is talking about mitigating disaster which is commendable, we as the church know the power of prayer. God still answers prayers.
I do not prefer to use this medium as a means of addressing the churches. However, because of the urgency of the matter and the time it will take me to set up appointments with the various leaders and visit the various churches, I have no choice. It is high time for prayer.
I have a mandate from the Lord to gather the people who saw the vision of disaster and the watchmen of this country and it shall be done in Jesus’ name.
A few persons have already contacted me and we are engaged in prayer for this island. Persons from abroad have also contacted me and they too are praying for us. Please feel free to contact me, my number is 522-7201. I am envisioning the various churches on the Island engaged in prayer on a particular day and time at our respective place of worship interceding for this country, therefore it is important for those leaders who catch the vision to contact me. We will also organize a day and time to gather at the beach and pray. I am envisioning the people on this Island especially the churches lined up on the beach, symbolic of a wall of defense for this island, praying.
God bless and keep St. Maarten.
Dieanna Wilson
