By Hilbert Haar Here is a story for people like me whose ability to hear is going down the tubes. At age 68, my hearing is not what it used to be. Sometimes, my wife has to ask me something three times before I understand what she is saying. That is obviously a source of irritation. Being a guy, I postponed going for a hearing test like forever. But last week I finally went to this place in Marigot where a very nice lady did the test. It’s computerized and very accurate. The test showed that my hearing in the…
Author: The Publisher
By Hilbert Haar The court story about the youngster who fired a flare gun at a guy who came at him with a two by four has triggered some questions, in particular this one: why was this case even brought to court if the prosecutor acknowledged that this was self-defense and that all charges should be dropped? Some may see this as a futile exercise – wasting time and money on lawyers, prosecutors and judges. But that is not so. Imagine that you are charged with, say, attempted manslaughter. That is a serious accusation and people around you will start…
PHILIPSBURG – School children were lining up under a tent in front of the Belair Community Center on Thursday morning – the fourth day of the massive eye testing initiative launched by the Lions Club of St. Maarten for the second time under the slogan Eyes for a Brighter Future. Project coordinator Lion Davey Woods said that up to Wednesday 1,344 children and 93 teachers had taken the test. Out of the 1,344 children, 364 – an astonishing 27 percent – needed glasses. “260 Received their glasses on the spot,” Woods said. “For the other 100-plus children their glasses have…
PHILIPSBURG – On September 6, exactly one year after Hurricane Irma hit St. Maarten, Barbara van der Woude will publish a book about the disaster – available at Kindle but also in print as a pocket book. The title is still a work in progress, but the content is clear: a bundle of interviews with people who lived through the monster storm. Among those interviewed are Ton van Kooten, Richard Gibson, Norman Wathey, Nico Boersma, Paul Boetekees, Dorette Pfennings (sxmpaws.com), Suzy Maidwell and Conan Westemeyer. Van der Woude, whose boyfriend Erik van Engelen previously worked at the Board financial supervision…
POND ISLAND – On Tuesday, May 15, staff from the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau (STB) visited the St. Maarten Vocation Training School group 4 Business Administration class, where they received a presentation from STB. STB is continuing with its efforts of bringing greater awareness about the country’s Tourism Industry to the school population. STB Lisa Noel gave the presentation to the students. The presentation was a very interactive one that sought to test the students’ knowledge about the industry while at the same time teaching them about how they too play a role in helping to shape the country’s main…
PHILIPSBURG – The Court in First Instance sentenced a 17-year old kid to community service for fencing a scooter. The boy was involved in an accident on November 26 of last year with his two-wheeler and when the traffic department examined the scooter it became clear that someone had tampered with the VIN-number. When police asked the boy where he got the scooter he said that a friend had given it to him and that he did not have to pay for it. It soon became apparent that the scooter had been stolen. The defendant, a Sundial School student, admitted…
PHILIPSBURG – The Court in First Instance dropped all charges against a 21-year old man who had fired a flare gun at a civil servant who had threatened him with a two by four on September 12, 2017. The defendant, Kely S. had found shelter with a woman after Hurricane Irma. The civil servant, B., aged 51, was apparently not happy with this arrangement. It remained unclear in court whether the woman in question was the civil servant’s girlfriend. On September 12, the civil servant approached the house, smashing windows with a big piece of wood. Police came and the…
Here on St. Maarten doing paperwork is not our strongest point. Yet that is what is absolutely required in order to get the funding from the Disaster Fund for social projects on St. Maarten. See the related story here. The conditions are as follows: The duration of the projects is 1.5 years max and they have to be completed by December 31, 2019. Comment: Forget about the ending, let’s get started first. NGO’s have to avoid conflicts of interest within their organization, so they have to avoid family relations. Comment: Something we usually find hard to avoid here on St.…
Dear Editor, Going through two elections within a mere seventeen months and emerging from that experience as the third highest vote getter with 580 votes, qualified me to become a Member of the Parliament of Sint Maarten. But what does that mean? I was soon to find out after the swearing-in ceremony which took place on Easter Monday, April 2nd, 2018. Cramped together in a hall at the Governor’s Office, the fifteen elected parliamentarians listened to the wise counsel offered by His Excellency, the Governor, prior to him administering the oath of office. Unfortunately, due to limited space, each parliamentarian…
PHILIPSBURG – Police officer Bernadette Augusta Harrigan saw red during an argument with her sister on September 30 of last year and she took a swing at her sibling with a claw hammer. The sister sustained a slight injury and Harrigan, 43, was sentenced for her acts on Wednesday to 60 hours of community service, after the prosecution dropped charges for attempted manslaughter. The two sisters live in the same building – one upstairs, one downstairs. When the sister wanted to install security cameras, Harrigan objected and when her sister persisted by installing them anyway, she took a hammer with…
