Author: The Publisher

Princess Cruise Lines is “extremely disappointed in its personnel,” the company said after it received a $40 million fine in a court in Miami for environmental violations that have been going on since 2005. We have never had any illusions about cruise companies and this statement adds to this feeling. We figure that, to install what has been called a ‘magical pipe’ that enables a cruise vessel to dump thousands of liters of oil-polluted water into the ocean, you need to know something about the construction of these huge floating hotels. The personnel members who work on these ocean mammoths…

Marijuana poses a greater mental health risk than any other substance, including class A drugs, according to new research out of Denmark. Regular users of the herb, particularly its super-strength varieties, were found to be 5.2 times more likely to develop schizophrenia than non-users. This compares to 1.9 times more likely in the case of hallucinogenic drugs and 1.24 times for amphetamines. To ascertain the link between marijuana use and schizophrenia, the researchers combed the medical records of more than 3.1 million people. The mass medical records search looked at people diagnosed as being marijuana abusers by doctors and those…

Okay, the numbers are from the Netherlands but a divorce rate of 40 percent is still something that warrants out attention here. The institute of marriage is no longer the rock solid recipe for a happy future, and the divorce rate only tells half the story because many couples don’t even bother and opt for simply living together – yet they do split up as well. The consequences of this trend for any community are devastating; single parent families are struggling to make ends meet and they have less time to spend with their children who are more often than…

GREAT BAY – United St. Maarten party leader MP Frans Richardson has vehemently denied that he is a shareholder of Checkmate Security, saying that he is “in no way, shape or form connected or part of any management team and shareholder” of the company. Richardson stated that the Checkmate-director is a friend of his and that he has known him since he was a child. The term ‘childhood friend’ is incorrect according to the statement, given the fact that Richardson is 15 years older than the Emerald-suspect. We publish the unabridged text of Richardson’s statement today on our Letters to…

GREAT BAY—An employee of the New Love Restaurant says he was harassed by several men and a woman on the Boardwalk early on Wednesday morning. Patrick Pascaud who was born in the Netherlands says he was at work in the restaurant when a white woman asked for his identification card. “Who are you and what do you want my ID card for?” he asked. The woman repeated the question and he again asked her who she was. She did not answer but went away and came back with four men. He claims that when the men came, one of them…

By Hilbert Haar GREAT BAY – The Cadastre office has struggled in the past with incompetent employees and notorious troublemakers, it appears from internal correspondence this newspaper has in its possession. But some of the troublemakers of the past are now part of the Cadastre’s management team. Remarkably, there are no locals in the current management team. Franklin Ch. is from Statia, Robert B. from the Netherlands and Marcia P. is from St. Lucia-Anguilla descent. The Cadastre appointed one employee, identified as Austin Ph. in 2011 as a surveyor, after having worked as an assistant before. But in the course…

Dear Editor, The SMCU wants to point out that TelEm is still without a CEO after the parliament election of September 26.  The prime minister mentioned right before the election that three new members would be added to the board in six weeks after the election and right after the CEO would be appointed. We are now in the month of December, nine weeks after election and the three board members that passed the screening are still not appointed to allow the one board member to resign from his position and become CEO as the prime minister planned. In the…

The situation at the Cadastre is screaming for a solution, as is the one at TelEm that has been rudderless without a CEO for more than seven years now. Both the company and the land registry office are important to the island. Apparently there is a lack of willpower or decision making acumen that brings these situations to a complete standstill. Any private sector company would have gone belly up a long time ago under such aggravating circumstances. At the Cadastre, we remember the solo action of Member of Parliament Christophe Emmanuel to have someone appointed to the director’s post…

Member of Parliament Frans Richardson on Wednesday said it is sad and unfortunate to see the media, local and foreign, still attempting to connect him to companies and affairs he has nothing to do with. The MP was referring to reports in Dutch and local media which in his opinion is trying to connect him with Checkmate Security Services and the challenges facing management of the company. “Management who the media wants me to go out and vilify before someone has their say under the law,” the MP said. He said it is not the first time the media has…

On one thing we agree with MP Frans Richardson: it is unfortunate that his name has been linked to the Emerald-investigation in the sense that he has been portrayed as a friend of the director of Checkmate Security. But it is even more unfortunate (also for MP Richardson) that it is not possible to obtain an independent verification of his statement that he is in no way involved with the company and that he is not a shareholder. This means that for now we’ll take the MP’s statement at face value. For lack of other information, this matter will move…