By Hilbert Haar Medwork Corporate Health Solutions is a provider of occupational health services. For employers who contract these services, Medwork is the first stop for employees who are unfit to work due to illness. Medwork takes people’s house doctors out of the equation and that changes the position of employees dramatically. I cannot say this for every general practitioner in St. Maarten, but I do know that there are at least some doctors who are prepared to declare their healthiest patients unfit for work upon request. With Medwork that is obviously not going to fly. The company is paid…
Author: The Publisher
By Hilbert Haar A ticking time bomb and a government with a history of ignoring court rulings; two observations from the court ruling that orders the government to finally take action and do something about the persistent problems with the dump on Pond Island. For the plaintiffs – Barbara Cannegieter, Camiel Koster and the BZSE law office – the court ruling feels like victory. However, the question remains whether the fire suppression plan that must be in place by May 2020 is a sustainable solution. In May, stmaartennews.com reported about government-contacts with a company called Multriwell in the Netherlands. For…
PHILIPSBURG – The Court in First Instance put the Ministry of Public Housing, Urban Planning, Environment and Infrastructure (VROMI) with its back against the proverbial wall on Friday with a ruling that orders the government to complete its fire suppression plan for the dump on Pond Island by May 1, 2020, the latest. Non-compliance carries a penalty of 10,000 guilders ($5,587) per day with a maximum of 10 million (just over $5.5 million). Plaintiffs Barbara Cannegieter, Camiel Koster and the BZSE law office will not be the beneficiaries of these penalties; the court considers that disproportionate enrichment. Instead, penalties will…
PHILIPSBURG – Slander, defamation, insults; these are the key ingredients of what St. Maarteners know as melee. Playing out mainly on Facebook and on gossip web sites, it is a popular pastime from the writers of this stuff and their readers alike. And so far, this circus has continued with impunity. In a way it has become part of the island’s culture. The last time a blogger was in court for – get this – “threats, insults, stalking, defamation and slander” – was somewhere in 2015 or 2016, when the prosecutor’s office finally put the infamous blogger Judith Roumou in…
PHILIPSBURG – The unexpected – and possibly counterfeit-alcohol related – death of several American tourists in the Dominican Republic in May has inspired MP Rolando Brison to spring into action. The events in the Dominican Republic, Brison said, are “a clear and present danger” to countries that do not have grip on the safety of imported alcohol. The tourists who died in the May all drank alcoholic beverages from the minibar in their hotel. So far, the link between these deaths and the alcohol has not been firmly established. However, according to an article in Rolling Stone, “all victims had…
PHILIPSBURG – On behalf of the Government of Sint Maarten, Prime Minister Leona Romeo Marlin extends heartfelt condolences to the family, colleagues, friends, the staff and all the children in the care of the late founder of the I Can Foundation, Ms. Cassandra “Debbie” Gibbs. “Sint Maarten has lost a great community leader and advocate for the fostering of youth. Ms. Gibbs immense contribution to her cause of saving youth at risk, will never be forgotten, my thoughts goes out especially to the children and the community of Dutch Quarter,” said Prime Minister Romeo Marlin. Over the years, the I…
PHILIPSBURG – Two days after the I Can Foundation orphanage in Dutch Quarter marked its 23rd anniversary, its founder Cassandra ‘Debbie’ Gibbs unexpectedly passed away, leaving the staffers who found her body last Friday morning in shock. With Gibbs, St. Maarten has lost an icon of immeasurable value. “Today I lost a friend who meant so much to the SXM community. My heart goes out to all her children and her family, friends, staff and colleagues,” Myriam Haar, who worked in the recent past with several of the I Can-children through a volunteer emotional coaching program, wrote in a Facebook…
~ Features roadside peanut hustler in first video interview~ PHILIPSBURG — StMaartenNews.com is excited to announce that a new video series entitled “SXM Side Hustles” is launched today, bringing awareness to the people of St. Maarten about side hustles that can bring in a little extra money without having to quit their regular paying jobs. The launch includes the first video interview with a roadside peanut hustler name Mr. Herman. This is a part of the SXM Side Hustles publication. Through the new publication, StMaartenNews.com will introduce topics that are not usually taught anywhere, like practicing group economics, crowdfunding, solidarity…
GREAT BAY – Minister of Justice, Cornelius De Weever, and Chairman of the Board of the VKS, Franklyn Richards, on Tuesday morning signed an agreement for the deployment of VKS Officers for the House of Detention and Prison Point Blanche. “The Voluntary Corps of St. Maarten (VKS) has been supporting and will continue in carrying out its duties supporting building the community of St. Maarten,” said Richards. The agreement signed between the two entities states that the VKS should deliver members of the Voluntary Corps on a daily schedule to the Point Blanche Detention Center as determined by the Director…
That human behavior is unpredictable is a fact. With all the smart inventions predicted in Star Trek – from the Universal Translator, to the Medical Tricorder and the Communicator – all nicely wrapped up today into one device called the Smartphone – successfully predicting human behavior remains a challenge. Don’t believe me? Answer me this: has anybody ever seen anyone taking a selfie in Star Trek? Who could have predicted that human behavior. Also, who could have ever predicted with all the commotion leading up to his successful election campaign result in 2016 and the turbulent track record of having…
