ROTARY CLUB OF SINT MAARTEN CELEBRATES ITS 45TH ANNIVERSARY PHILIPSBURG, SINT MAARTEN – March 29, 2017 – The Rotary Club of Sint Maarten celebrated its 45th anniversary with a special dinner celebration at Moomba Restaurant in Maho on Thursday, March 29, 2017. To commemorate the occasion the Rotary Club awarded a Paul Harris Fellow to its only remaining charter member, Richard Gibson. Mr. Gibson accepted the award and recounted several of his memories from the early days of Rotary on Sint Maarten. Mr. Gibson went onto say, “It has been a pleasure to be a Rotarian for all of these…
Author: The Publisher
Dear Editor, The long awaited governing program has finally been released under the name Solidarity for Prosperity. I commend the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), comprised of the NA, USP and DP factions, for producing such a colorful and comprehensive document. Comprehensive in the sense that it identifies practically all the issues and challenges that our society is faced with. Unfortunately though, this document does not meet the requirements of a program or a plan but can be considered an upgraded or glorified version of a manifesto. According to the dictionary, a manifesto is a written statement declaring publicly the intentions…
GREAT BAY – Asked about the reaction from Central Bank President Emsley Tromp to Finance Minister Richard Gibson’s public statement that he had not passed the screening, Minister Gibson (see file photo) said yesterday that, in his opinion, Tromp had not been upset (as this newspaper suggested) but that he thought the statement premature. “He said it was premature and that he still has the option to appeal. That is exactly what I said last week when I made it known public that he had not passed the screening. If his lawyer is taking this to court he has misspoken…
GREAT BAY – SZV and Vamed are working towards an out-of-court settlement, Minister Emil Lee (Public Health) confirmed yesterday, but he added that he is not aware that a settlement has been reached yet. “Looking at how the court case has impacted the development of the hospital our goal has been to negotiate a settlement so that the process can continue,” the minister said. “There have been discussions but they are not finalized yet. There is a desire to reach an out of court settlement so that we can proceed with the hospital the country needs. There are detailed discussions…
GREAT BAY – Pro bono attorneys Geert Hatzmann, Sjamira Roseburg and Shaira Bommel reached an agreement with Justice Minister Rafael Boasman yesterday afternoon about their outstanding invoices. Earlier this week, Hatzmann announced a possible strike if the invoices would not be paid by tomorrow. “The minister has indicated that he and his colleague of the Ministry of Finance, Richard Gibson, will make sure that all outstanding payments will be made within a week and at most within two weeks,” Hatzmann said in a statement. “In the future all invoices will be paid within a month when there are no calamities.”…
There is no doubt that the government got the message about the dump: it was the prime topic at the Council of Ministers press briefing. Minister Christophe Emmanuel made a couple of statements yesterday that may come to haunt him. Soon there will be no more fires on the dump and – even better – dumping garbage on the landfill will soon be a thing of the past too, he said. These are surely bold statements but the question will come up sooner or later how realistic they are. The definition of the term soon is of course open for…
GREAT BAY – The dump on Pond Island took center stage during yesterday’s Council of Ministers press briefing. Minister Christophe Emmanuel emphasized that the dump is a priority. “We are working on it,’ he said. At the same time, the minister said that he will not come with a comment every time the dump is on fire. “That is because next week the dump will be on fire again, and the week after as well. Right now you will see pockets of smoke on the dump. People, there is no time that the dump is not on fire,” Emmanuel said.…
GREAT BAY – Minister Rafael Boasman (Justice) said yesterday that the Progress Committee has given him the time to implement his plan for the Pointe Blanche prison. The minister said that the plan of approach for the police is progressing well. “In a few months I expect to have met all the requirements. The prison is a different story though.” Boasman said that he intends to bring Pointe Blanche up to international standards: “But that is not something we can do in a month or two.” The prison does not have a staff shortage, the minister pointed out, but a…
GREAT BAY – “I know my son. If you told me he got into an argument with the police I would believe you. If you told me he got into a fight I would believe you. But my son would never rob a supermarket,” the distraught mother of Edwin Eventon Anselmo Bruney told this newspaper yesterday. The Common Court of Justice sentenced 23-year-old Bruney last week to 48 months of imprisonment for the January 5, 2016 armed robbery at the Dessam Supermarket in St. Peters, for the possession of a pellet gun and for the ill-treatment of two of his…
Dear Editor, It is nine in the morning and a purple dawn is rising with difficulty in the east while a strong ice-wind is blowing over the cold North Sea to the west. It is February 2008 and I am standing with fifty of my fellow Master students at the Volgermeer Polder, a former toxic waste dump for the city of Amsterdam. In front of us two million square meters of garbage and dangerous chemicals are being transformed into a natural reserve by engineers contracted by the city of Amsterdam. My professor, Dr. Joyeeta Gupta –a Nobel Prize Laureate- lectures…
