Dear Editor, I am an eternal optimist. The glass is always half full rather than half empty. My Letter to the Editor of April 9, 2020, entitled FOOD FOR THOUGHT in which I concluded THIS COUNTRY STATUS EXPERIMENT HAS FAILED, for some may have been considered out of character for me. But, the forced business closure due to COVID-19 required by Government (a move I endorsed and applauded), while business owners still have to operate under the yoke of 50-year-old archaic Labor Laws, do that to a person! How is it POSSIBLE or FAIR that owners and managing directors of…
Author: The Publisher
~ Dr. Lloyd J. Richardson was the first chairperson of the Parliament of Sint Maarten ~ PHILIPSBURG – Looking back on ten years of autonomy within the Kingdom of the Netherlands reveals how fast memories fade. When StMaartenNews.com posed the question: who was the first Chairperson of Parliament after 10-10-10, only one reader came up with the correct answer: Member of Parliament for the UP Party, Dr. Loyd J. Richardson. Dr. Richardson presided over the first meeting on 10-10-10 as the oldest Member of Parliament. That same day, Parliament elected Drs. Gracita Arrindell as its President. Arrindell was optimistic and…
PHILIPSBURG –- Successive governments since 10-10-10 have been epic failures. That’s not an opinion, but a statement based on findings of the General Audit Chamber that are published in its report Retrospective – Ten years of the General Audit Chamber. “There has not been much in terms of positive change and accountability is still absent. It is like watching the same film year after year, the same structural errors, a continued lack of reliable information, and with that, the same passivity.” The report notes that the answer to achieving increased financial autonomy lies in improving financial management. “The situation cannot…
PHILIPSBURG – The Court in First Instance has declared the Pro Soualiga Foundation inadmissible in its injunctions against the state of the Netherlands and its Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations. The foundation wanted the court to forbid the Netherlands to establish the consensus kingdom law Reform Entity and to prohibit that the state uses the Kingdom Charter against St. Maarten. StMaartenNews.com reported already in August, shortly after the foundation had submitted its petition to the court that the demands stood on shaky grounds. But the court did not even get around to a judgment of the arguments because…
As we commemorate today, 10-10-20, 10 years of Country Sint Maarten since 10-10-10, we must inexorably conclude: “We have nothing to be proud about!” The past weeks we have reviewed the state of the mental health of our country. A countty is judged by how it takes care of its most vulnerable. Our most vulnerable are abandoned, forgotten and left isolated. To fix these problems in our country the next ten years, we need to train our own people and amass an army of strategically placed personnel, educate a cadre of competent managers and instill and inspire a new generation…
~ Are the workers better off today than ten years ago? ~ PHILIPSBURG — The labor Union WICSU-PSU is reflecting back on the last 10 years of St. Maarten being a ‘Country’. The question that comes to mind is What do we have to look back on? Ten years in a change of status from the former Netherlands Antilles to Country status, what are the highlights of this era especially for the working class of this Country during this new status? As union, we are disappointed that the report when it comes to the worker is not one of change,…
Building Our Country: Pivotal Moments by Eugene B. Holiday Governor of Sint Maarten Philipsburg, Sint Maarten Saturday, October 10, 2020 Fellow Sint Maarteners, Good Morning, Introduction Today, October 10, 2020, we observe the 10th anniversary of Sint Maarten’s Country status. The tenth anniversary of Country Status is an excellent moment to stop and take stock of our experiences in the past decade and to prepare for the challenges and opportunities for the coming decade. Today’s observance is a moment to renew our commitment to the goal of Country Status. That is to improve the wellbeing of the people of…
PHILIPSBURG — On Saturday, October 10, 2020, the Police Force of St. Maarten is celebrating its 10th anniversary. On the occasion of this Police Day (‘Korpsdag’), the police union, NAPB (Nederlandse Antillen Politiebond), is extending the following message to all police officers. 2020 has been a difficult year for law enforcement. It started out as a hero for COVID-19. All of a sudden everything changes, because of the actions of one (1) person. And certainly, we are condemning those actions of those people, but I am seeing police officers now second-guessing their job or positions they took. Let me just…
By Hilbert Haar The tragic story of Caulette Julien who died at the Mental Health Foundation on August 25 after spending almost three weeks in solitary confinement has triggered many questions that are still waiting for answers. These questions focus on the qualifications of interim director Kitty Pelswijk, on the cause of Julien’s death and on the rules that apply to locking up psychiatric clients in a tiny cell. I have not been able to find any local legislation that is relevant to the latter topic. Related article: Psychiatric patient dead in solitary confinement Entrepreneurs have a tendency to assume…
CAY HILL — Before the late Caulette Julien was locked up in the isolation cell of the Mental Health Foundation, another woman was in this cell. 29-year old F.L. was released on April 6th this year after three months in solitary confinement and taken to the airport to be deported. Things got out of hand at Princess Juliana International Airport. The woman panicked. According to witnesses, she had been taken to the airport from the Mental Health Foundation (MHF) in Cay Hill by police officer Winston Amarello, the husband of Dr. Kitty Amarello-Pelswijk, the current interim director of the MHF.…
