Dear Editor,
I would like to encourage persons in the community to join the war against COVID-19 infection by registering and getting vaccinated against the disease.
An impressive number of people of all ages have already taken the vaccine, thanks to various promotions and public service announcements. However, there still remain many in the community who are adopting a “wait and see” attitude or are flatly refusing to be vaccinated at all.
I have recently had my second shot of the Pfizer vaccine. I respect the views of everyone, whether they choose to take the vaccine or not. However, I believe that unless more in the population take the vaccine than do not, there is a greater chance that COVID-19 will be around longer than necessary, and it may even give other variants of the virus a chance to take hold in St. Maarten, as they have in the ABC islands of Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire.
Herd immunity makes it possible to protect the population from a disease, including those who cannot be vaccinated, such as babies or those who have compromised immune systems. Using the concept of herd immunity, vaccines have successfully controlled deadly contagious diseases such as smallpox, polio and many others in the Caribbean community. We can make part of the infusion.
For me, it’s all about herd immunity, which will make it more difficult for the virus to spread in St. Maarten.
If achieved in our community, herd immunity will allow us to move back towards pre-COVID normalcy and help protect vulnerable people and hopefully restore our tourism-based economy.
This is the main reason I made a point of taking the vaccine myself and I feel the need to share that with others, as other prominent persons and organisations in the St. Maarten community have done, as a means of supporting the various teams that are administering the vaccines in an impressive and efficient manner in St. Maarten.
My gratitude goes out to all the front-liners in the medical field.
Helen Salomons, General Director
St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF)
Dear Editor,
Anguilla’s politicians see us as a zero-sum game. They are self-serving and full of themselves. They are overpaid for the little bit of work they do, collecting a pension after 10 years of service from a system to which they contributed zero. Not only don’t they contribute to the pension fund, but they also collect a fat gratuity check on the way out. They drive around in a government SUV, not to mention that gas is paid for by the government. Folks, you must suspend belief to believe this sort of thing.
There are those gifted with alternative options, and then there are those who have only one option, living on the rock no matter what. It’s incumbent upon us to forget about the party system and heed the clarion call to defend and preserve Anguilla for future generations. We have come too far and have put too much in that beloved bone-dry rock to see lignum vitae and ground lizards take precedence over us.
Martin Luther King Jr. said, “We remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Once again, we are hoisted with our own petard. Do we honestly expect the British to look out for our best interests? They don’t care about the BAMEs (Blacks, Asian) on their island, much less the ones on a rock some 2,300 miles away.
As it stands right now, the trees and lizards have it a lot better than us, for they are protected. The Brits will spend 285 billion pounds for an unusable airport on St. Helena, where it takes a jet three tries to land, while we, like the albatross, are straddled with a 500-million-dollar debt. They will develop the Falklands’ fishing industry but are happy to let others poach in our territorial waters. The last White Paper stressed the importance of partnership between the U.K. and its territories. Can anyone genuinely point to any association that has existed between us?
The late U.S. Congressman John Lewis implored us to get into what he referred to as “good trouble” His warning applies to anyone, anywhere, who becomes an agent for good. Whether it’s Myanmar, Hong Kong, China, or the good old USA, in his 1960 inaugural speech, John Fitzgerald Kennedy encouraged his people to: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” So, my fellow Anguillians, your country cries out to you, “What will you do for me?” Are you willing to fight for that which our forefathers left for us?
’Til next time, may God bless Anguilla.
Tyrone Hodge
Dear Editor,
I am a bit confused about the airport situation. Maybe you can help me clear things up:
Isn’t the outgoing CEO [chief executive officer – Ed.]:
1. A local?
2. The guy who made sure much more insurance money was paid out to the airport?
3. The person who sealed the deal with the WB/NL/EIB that our government says it is committed to?
4. So therefore the one who secured 100 million to rebuild the airport?
5. And the person who just led the bidding process which is currently underway?
And isn’t the Holding:
1.The same Holding that has been there for years even before Irma?
2. The same Holding that delayed the financing and presented so-called alternative financing?
3. The same Holding supporting the COO [chief operating officer] who actually was there also even before Irma?
4. The same Holding supporting the COO who wasn’t able to actually get financing before?
5. The same Holding supporting the COO who wasn’t able to get a good deal and pay-out from the insurance company?
So I’m confused, but is this really what I’m seeing?
Also a few other questions:
In the last election was there a political party called The Airport Holding that won the election?
Does the elected government even have a say anymore? If this is the case then can the Holding sell and privatize the airport if it wants, seeing that it seems no one can tell them otherwise?
To be honest this situation is something that I just really can’t figure out.
Name withheld upon author’s request.
Dear Editor,
So now that the educated local professional has been fired (unceremoniously, I might add), who will get the job to run things at PJIAE [Princess Juliana operating company – Ed.]?
What will be the requirements for the new CEO?
Must it be a man? Can it be a woman?
Must he/she be a “born-here”?
Must he/she have a specific skin color?
Must he/she come from a specific cultural background Must he/she have experience in (re-)building international airports?
Must he/she have experience in professionally running an international airport?
Must he/she be able to think for him/herself?
Must he/she be able to on a high level deal with financiers, bondholders, bankers, lawyers and government?
Must he/she be capable of and prepared to kiss butts?
When asked to jump, must he/she have the frame of mind not to ask “why”, but “how high”?
Answers to these questions may give the island population a better insight in what could be the next chapter in the saga of getting the airport fully restored, up and running sooner than later. After all, it is the most important piece of infrastructure for St. Maarten, is it not?
A final question, the answer of which should be smoked out and laid bare, is: Who is pulling whose strings at our once award-winning International Airport, still in shambles 3 years and 7 months after Hurricane Irma?
Michael J. Ferrier
Dear Editor,
It seems that a permit may have been granted or is about to be granted for another supermarket on Well Road. For those who are not aware, Well Road located in Cole Bay is less than 1 km long, and currently has 3 supermarkets.
