Dear Editor,

Which is more important, protecting the rights of the consumer or bolstering the profits of these unscrupulous businessmen? It was a shocking moment last week to hear an inspector informed the public that his team found a product among consumer goods that is used to alter the codes to prolong their shelf life. He further confirmed that the matter was brought to the Prosecutor’s Office and was advised that, in order for his department to take stringent measures against these dishonest businessmen, they would have to catch them red-handed. If this is not stupidity at its best then nothing else is.

How could the Prosecutor’s Office give such ill-advice? Where is the logic behind their decision? Are both entities saying that unprincipled businessmen can tamper with the codes on food items without any form of penalty? This is absurd! No wonder the population has no confidence in either government officials or the justice system. Which businessman is going to modify a code in broad daylight? These kinds of immoral actions are done behind closed doors after hours. Here is a solution: if the concerns expressed by the inspector regarding the fear of harm this behaviour could bring to the consumer, then the resolution is to ban the product completely.

Why is it that the consumer has to be always at risked, while the business owners get away scot free? The consumer’s rights have been taken away. When it is not about exorbitant prices that are making us paupers, it’s about these numerous inferior products that have saturated this island. If government cannot protect us or the justice system, then why not give these mendacious grocery owners the authority to run the country? While we are on the topic: is it me or has anyone else experienced that in certain grocery stores it appears that products like Clorox and fabric softeners tend to be diluted, while in other outlets the same items maintain their full strength?

It is high time that government and the justice system decide which is more important, protecting the rights of the consumer or bolstering the profits of these unscrupulous businessmen. We are sick and tired of all these injustices and this tunnel vision of looking at issues that are vital to the well-being of the people. Stop the nonsense! Consumer protection should be your number one priority!

Joslyn Morton

Dear Editor,

Many years ago, before I came to St. Maarten, an American couple came to the police station with a road map asking for directions to a restaurant. The desk sergeant attended to them and I noticed from their reaction that they did not understand what was been explained (lack of knowledge of the English language.)

I stood there contemplating how to intervene, at the risk of embarrassing my superior or permitting these tourists to leave with the wrong impression – that not even by the police station they could not get correct directions. I decided not to let them leave without the correct information, and in what I thought was a tactical way asked them to show me that they had understood what was explained while correcting them. In doing so they got the information they wanted and left thanking us and commenting on the willingness of the people to help.

Later on in the evening another major called me and told me that the desk sergeant was not pleased because he had felt that I had showed him up. I explained to him that in contemplating to act I relied on the desk sergeant to understand that in that instance for me the name of the country had priority, and that he should consider my action as me coming to his rescue and not showing him up.

Because this story was getting a tail I had decided that I would refrain from intervening when anyone was having a problem attending to the public in English, and to avoid not serving the public adequately I requested a meeting with our boss and the desk sergeant to explain the reason for my action at that time. It was decided that if the desk sergeant noticed that he needed assistance with the English-speaking public he would call on me when possible.

A rock and the hard place; the lesser of two evils – when do we make that choice? Should not this be investigated thoroughly? We are in the middle of trying to solve integrity issues and because a person decided to choose the lesser of two evils he is threatened to be taken before the courts. Who is above the law? Press conferences, the gazette, newspapers, opinion page in the newspapers, editorials, Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, g-mail etc. As it seems to be accepted nowadays at some point in time, from the highest to the lowest government employee has used the previous media to communicate government information to the public.

Is A. M. wrong for letting the public know, via the same media which government employees at some point in time have used, that a high-ranking public servant did something wrong? Whether or not the way it was done was wrong, was the content of the message factual or not? Does that take away the wrong-doing of that high-ranking official or differently, does it make what the minister did right because that employee did not use the right procedures?

What message are we sending to those who we ask to give tips on wrong doing? Are we telling those who are against snitching that government also is against snitching? Are we telling the people who could know something about the spate of robberies and shootings that they should be careful and not give information? When one snitches is it not almost always about something that really happened? If we continually say “know better do better” and people do better are they wrong? So will both the situations be dealt with? And if both parties willingly did what they did, which one weighs more – the one who did wrong, or the one who used the common method of communication nowadays to let the public know about the wrong-doing of that high-ranking public servant?

What I know is if I am coming from the right, even though I am driving in the wrong direction of a one-way road and there is a collision at the intersection, I am not wrong for the accident because I am fast traffic from the right. I will be fined for driving in the wrong direction.

Being a minister should not exempt anyone of wrong-doing. Had that employee known about the wrong-doing of the minister and did not do anything about it would he to be cited for omission to report it, if proven that he knew? Is the Justice Department really going to waste taxpayers’ money to deal with A. M's situation? To do what, mess with another young St. Maartener because of lack of integrity of a high-ranking government official? Is sweeping it under the rug not worse than spilling the beans? What message are we sending?

Russell A. Simmons

Dear Editor,

It seems to be that there are some people on the island hell bent on destroying good things. The one thing this Island is most famous for, is keeping tourists and locals alike, happy. The one thing we simply can’t do is destroy beach areas, especially in Simpson Bay.

I am referring to what is surely going to be the wanton destruction of Kim Sha beach to so-called property developers. Who they are nobody knows. Many rumours abound that there is a land swap deal. By whom and to whom are still a well-kept secret. And, what do they want to do with it?

Their plans are being kept under close wraps till whatever the deal is, has been finalized. The traditional beach bar called La Bamba, the dive hut and a large car parking space are all slated to be going in this deal. Tuesday evenings at La Bamba have become one of St. Martin’s iconic evenings with hundreds of revellers joining in their Latin Nights. All this is going to be bulldozed and it has happened all so quickly. Is there something murky about this?

What is going to happen to the partying on the beach for the Heineken Regatta for example?

Name withheld at author's request.

Dear Editor,
I was shocked to read about the three men who were arrested at our airport last Saturday, a day after Friday’s terrorist attacks in Paris. It has been confirmed that they are Syrian nationals. The fact that they were travelling with false passports is an indication that they did not come here with good intentions.
The words of our minister of Justice: “There seem to be no indications of planned acts of terrorism in St. Maarten” are not in the least reassuring. The fact that they are here is an indication that a catastrophe might be in the making.
It cannot be ruled out that these men are terrorists, killers of innocent men, women and children, who have either fled in order to escape arrest, or came here to carry out a terrorist attack.
Thank God our immigration officers were competent enough to detect their false documents. These men obviously did not expect to be caught on such a tiny island as ours. My admiration goes out to these officers.
Given the fact that the USA and both France and Holland have dropped bombs on Syria, and lots of American tourists come here, the terrorists could have targeted this little Dutch-French island to simultaneously take vengeance on Holland, France and the USA. The idiom: To kill 2 (read 3) birds with one stone comes to mind here.
The perfect targets would be our international airport and/or harbour where there are thousands of American tourists and only a handful of unarmed security guards. I once jokingly pointed out to one of the guards-a former postal worker-that he is unarmed, untrained and therefore utterly helpless in any emergency.
I then asked him, “What would you do if confronted by an armed man? Without hesitating, he replied, “Mr. Hodge, I would run away.” We both laughed at his reply, but we both knew he would do exactly that. I can’t blame him. It would be insane for an unarmed security officer to attempt to tackle someone with a weapon. Many countries have tightened security at their airports; what are we waiting for?
I used to think that our little island was safe from what’s going on in the rest of the
World; I no longer entertain that thought.
All security guards at the airport and at the harbour should be armed with uzis and properly trained on how to use them. We don’t want them to miss their targets. Another concern is that the toys our police officers are wearing will not protect them or us from terrorists. These precautions would not scare away tourists; on the contrary, they would make them (and us) feel safe.
In 2001, I heard from several people that Arabs residing on the island had rejoiced and celebrated after the 9-11 attack on the World Trade Center had taken the lives of more than 3,000 innocent people and injured almost 10,000.
I was also told by several persons that one of those, who were involved in the 9-11 attack had been on St. Maarten.
If these rumours were true, it cannot be ruled out that these three Syrians could have friends or family members on our island, who are willing to accommodate them and provide them with the information (and perhaps even weapons) they need to carry out their ungodly acts here.
As far as I know, containers that come to the island are not inspected by the authorities. Terrorist-friendly Arabs–if they are indeed here-could have imported more than just furniture and hardware into the island. They could also be funding terrorism overseas with all their unpaid tax monies.
I used to praise European countries that are accepting-even welcoming-tens of thousands of refugees who are fleeing Syria, Iraq and other troubled countries. The vast majority of ‘refugees’ are actually immigrants fleeing abject poverty and seeking a better life in Europe and the USA. God will bless these countries, I often said.
However, my attitude changed after I read reports of how these ‘refugees’ are gang- raping, violating, severely ill-treating women and young girls and instilling fear and dread in the population of their host country.
They insist on introducing Sharia law and enforcing their ungodly culture and way of life on their host countries. The fact that the governments of the host countries are doing nothing to protect their own people from these dangerous criminals is beyond me. I guess all these happenings boil down to politics. The host country wants to show the world how generous and humanitarian they are.
They do this to the detriment of their own citizens.
Asking the population and border officials to be on high alert is not good enough. All countries, including St. Maarten, should close their borders to these murderers who are intent on killing Jews and Christians. This may sound inhumane, but the safety of our people should be our government’s first priority.
The French government has extended the state of emergency to all her overseas territories, including French Saint Martin. What are we waiting for? Let’s not bury our heads in the sand! Let’s not wait until after the unthinkable has taken place to take action.

Clive Hodge