I am standing in line – or rather in a disorganized congregation of desperate souls- in the parking lot of St. Maarten’s Princess Juliana International Airport, once the second busiest airport in the Caribbean, now a shell of sheetrock, concrete, metal and glass; the main terminal building is completely gutted. My partner is some feet away, seeking shelter from the searing mid-day sun in the shadow of a delivery van flipped unto its side, all its windows blown out and its bonnet lying across the street. On the van’s bent fender a parrot is inexplicably perched, ogling the some one-thousand…
Author: The Publisher
GREAT BAY — On Friday, September 15, the French authorities, represented by the Prefet Madame Anne Laubies and President Daniel Gibbs met with the Governor, drs. Eugene Holiday, and the Council of Ministers of Sint Maarten to discuss the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. The meeting continued with the Governor and a delegation of the Council of Ministers consisting of the Prime Minister, Mr. William Marlin, and Minister of Justice, Mr. Rafael Boasman, on Saturday afternoon, September 16. The curfew between Sint Maarten and Saint Martin, which was the source of misunderstandings was synchronized. Authorities agreed that effective Sunday, September 17,…
Philipsburg — Minister of Tourism and Economic Affairs Mellissa Arrindell-Doncher has asked residents to be vigilant and report all instances of price gouging in the wake of Hurricane Irma. The Minister had already received reports of price gouging before the hurricane impacted the area, and now wants to send a clear message to businesses that this will not be tolerated. Heavy fines will be issued to any supermarket, lumber company, ect., caught charging exorbitant prices. The public is also being asked to save their receipts and report suspected price gouging. This will assist the Economic Inspection Department is controlling and…
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT The Ministry of Education Culture Youth & Sport hereby makes it known that the Public Schools’ Management has not been able to get in touch with all staff members via regular communication routes. All teachers and staff are asked to get in touch with their school managers as soon as possible. All are asked to report to their schools on Monday September 18th at 10:00 am to be informed about their schools’ status and to inform management of their status, availability etc..
GREAT BAY — The men who were arrested recently in St. Maarten for failing the curfew were sentenced by the Public Prosecutor to ‘work punishment’ (werkstraf). Three men have been offered a transaction to work voluntary without pay. They were offered each 40, 40 and 20 hours work and have accepted this sentence. The 20 hours was for a minor. He also waived the amount of money (a couple of hundred dollars) he had on him at that time of the arrest. Meanwhile, seven people were arrested last night by the police of St. Maarten (KPSM) for violating the curfew.…
Great Bay — As a direct result of hurricane Irma which has devastated this 37 square mile island, many of its citizens will have a story to tell, some more compelling than the other. Michjel Jeune is just one of those persons. By Milton Pieters Jeune, a mother of two daughters who resides in one of the upstairs apartments located on Sea Island Cotton Drive, Cole Bay, had her first line of defense broken down when she asked her landlord to install hurricane shutters. As far as she was concerned, it was the right thing to do. “He said he…
By Julie Alcin South Reward — “I walked around and got really sad, and as I sat staring at my classroom, I just wanted to cry, but the best way to deal with it is to get something and start cleaning,” says Derrick De Ruitte, a Geography Teacher who has been teaching at Milton Peters College (MPC) for one year and an half. MPC was left in ruins after Irma struck the island – leaving teachers to clean up behind its mess. The roofs of the classrooms were broken down and the floors were flooded.”I started with my bare hands.…
by Julie Alcin When a natural disaster occurs, there are two ways one can react: the right or the wrong way. Although there are people who choose to react by breaking into places and raiding everything as if there is an apocalypse leading to our impending doom, there are also those who manage to keep their calm and work hard to put things back together. There are those who lost everything, yet still find the strength to give anything. Most of us survived a category 5 hurricane when we didn’t think we would. But the affects were devastating, and for…
SXM Airport — Just as airlift is vital to St. Maarten’s tourism economy, so it is for the recovery process to normalize the situation on the island, to fly in aid and relief goods, food and water, to evacuate tourists and other temporary visitors, workers and their families and to offer an escape for those in urgent need of medical care, for those with young children and elderly family members and for those who have lost everything on the island during the passing of Hurricane Irma. Although the SXM Airport was badly damaged, the clean up of the runway was…
Cul-de-Sac — The day after Hurricane Irma passed word spread fast in the Cul-de-Sac area and beyond that Cake House Supermarket was giving out free bread to neighborhood residents. Residents were simply asked by the Cake House Supermarket manager, Rolex, to adhere to one simple rule: “Line up in an orderly fashion and no misbehaving, else we will stop giving out bread immediately.” Initially, the supermarket gave out two breads in a sack per person. But as more people came from as far as Sucker Garden and other districts, this amount was quickly rationed down to one bread per person.…
