I would like to extend my sincere condolences to Mrs. Loretta Richardson and the rest of the Richardson family as you mourn the loss of Joe Richardson, a man that was well admired by all over the years for his humble and steadfast personality. St. Maarten has lost a hero! On the 3rd of August, 1973, I was just 20 years old when I had the privilege to cast my first vote for this great man fondly called “Joe for so”. He was devoted to the upliftment of this beautiful Island and he was selfless in his pursuit for growth…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG – The Central Committee of Parliament continued on Thursday with the handling of the 2018 budget in a setting that began in the morning, continued into the afternoon and, after an adjournment trundled on towards the end of the afternoon and into the early evening. Members of the Council of Ministers were present to answer questions, MPs asked for clarifications and later on they peppered the ministers with yet more questions about a myriad of subjects. The parliamentarians stayed on topic and from their attitude it seems that there is little objection against the budget, even though there are…
PHILIPSBURG – MP Wycliffe Smith (SMCP) got almost instant satisfaction from his remark during Thursday’s Central Committee meeting about the 2018 budget that Parliament should be more involved in the country’s financial management. Finance Minister Mike Ferrier declared Smith’s suggestions applicable with immediate effect. Smith noted that the Parliament should be more involved in overseeing the country’s financial management. “It cannot be that only when the budget has to be approved, Parliament has to drop everything to meet the date that the government or the Kingdom government sets. Parliament needs to become more pro-active.” Smith pointed out, based on a…
PHILIPSBURG – Incineration of garbage, the production of electricity from waste and mining the existing landfill are part of the options Minister Miklos Giterson listed for the improvement of landfill-management during Thursday’s central committee meeting about the 2018 budget. But the minister did not say a word about the waste-to-energy facility his predecessor Christophe Emmanuel presented in December of last year. Minister Giterson referred in his address to the Central Committee to a SOAB-report about the management of the landfill. That report found shortcomings in the terms of reference. Those terms are now under consideration and a new version should…
PHILIPSBURG – More than 3,400 elementary school children will take part in a massive eye screening exercise organized by the Lions Club from May 14 to 18 at the Belair community center together with Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity (Vosh), an Omaha, Nebraska-based non-profit organization that will send nineteen doctors and assistants along with three fast screening machines to the island. The total cost of the project is around $30,000; 80 percent of that amount has been raised through fundraising and donations from local sponsors. Vosh handles the balance of the funding, Davey Woods, chairman of the organizing Lions-committee said…
~ Two month celebration being planned ~ The St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) on Wednesday announced April 22, 2019, to May 6, 2019, as the dates for the 50th anniversary of St. Maarten Carnival. “We are going to go all out for Carnival’s golden anniversary. It will be a celebration to remember,” SCDF President Alston Lourens said, adding that the Saves The Dates campaign is underway via social media. The official part of Carnival 2019 (when Carnival Village opens and closes) spans two weeks, exactly 14 days. The pre-Carnival events, the SCDF explained, will start mid-March and run until…
PHILIPSBURG – Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus (Justice and Security) got a firsthand taste of the destruction Hurricane Irma inflicted on St. Maarten during his visit to the island that was preceded by stops in Saba and Statia. On Wednesday afternoon, the minister gave a short press briefing in the conference room of Holland House, together with local Justice Minister Cornelius de Weever and Dutch Representative Chris Johnson. Grapperhaus arrived in St. Maarten right after the second Carnival Parade on Tuesday. On Wednesday he began his day with a meeting with Prime Minister Leona Marlin-Romeo, Justice Minister De Weever and State Secretary…
PHILIPSBURG – The Central Committee meeting about the 2018 budget continues on Thursday morning at 10 a.m. under pressure of a deadline set by State Secretary Raymond Knops who demanded on Wednesday morning an approved budget by Tuesday at midnight the latest; otherwise the Kingdom Council of Ministers will unleash an instruction on St. Maarten. The preliminary budget debate in the Central Committee was not one for the ages. There was no packed public tribune and only a lackluster interest from some twenty-odd online viewers. The topic could not even bring all parliamentarians to Wilhelmina Street. Remarkably absent were Frans…
PHILIPSBURG – Two men who are charged with an attempted robbery at Prime Distributors on December 8, 2016, are facing prison sentences of one to one-and-a-half year. The Court in First Instance will pronounce its rulings on May 23. Sheldon Lionel H. is facing the heaviest punishment: 18 months in prison with deduction of the 86 days he spent in pre-trial custody. The demand against this 38-year old defendant is based on making preparations to commit an armed robbery, firearm and marijuana possession and theft from a neighborhood supermarket on September 8, 2017, in the wake of Hurricane Irma. Co-defendant…
PHILIPSBURG – Todrick Kahim F. will appear in court on July 18 to stand trial for the fatal stabbing of 27-year old Derrick Wilson on November 18 of last year. The 43-year old defendant was arrested shortly after the stabbing that occurred during a fight near a supermarket on Genip Road. While Wilson did not survive the fight, Todrick F. also sustained serious injuries. F. is furthermore facing the execution of a conditional prison sentence of two weeks. That punishment stems from a conviction in March of last year on charges of ill-treatment with a weapon. Four witnesses of the…
