Dear Editor,
There are some things that one shrugs his shoulder at, but then there are other things that should not be permitted. On Friday March 24th, while driving down Back Street I noticed a man who was speaking Spanish to a female who was standing on the sidewalk, doing body work on a car which was parked on the sidewalk in the area of Tamarindesteeg.
Initially I thought the person was washing the car there so I did not worry about it. But as I drove on it hit me that it was sandpaper and not a sponge or a cloth that man was using. I decided that the patrol will pass by there sooner or later and attend to that person for using the sidewalk to do bodywork on his car. I was in town again on Saturday and intentionally drove by where that person was working on that car and, lo and behold , he was there diligently doing body work on the car.
Today is Tuesday and that car is still parked on the left-hand side of the road, well primed and it
seems ready to be sprayed.
I need not mention the harm that spraying of cars can cause people especially when done in the open. I am not directing this criticism to the police alone because I am sure from Friday to today people from all layers of this community have seen that operation and I dare say no one has done anything about it. That leaves the question with me: “Who is conscientious in this country?”
Now this. I read the letter to you from John A. Richardson and again I say “Eureka” It reminded me of a saying that I have heard from time to time here in St. Maarten, “But d’ain gon’ happen here.” So my question is, “Are we not noticing the growing tension in the land? Dont we compare statistics from one year to the other’? Don’t those people in government realize that words like “scale back” and “being subtle” are there for a reason?
For years I have been hearing that a hungry man is an angry man. There are 24 times in the bible where reverence is given to the word “crave” and I believe craving does not give a good result. Not everything the old people say was interpreted correctly but I believe in “All crave all lost.”
My thanks, John Richardson.
Russell A. Simmons
