Roundabout statues are important symbols
PHILIPSBURG – The statues at local roundabouts are important symbols but they are not official monuments, Minister Jorien Wuite (Education, Culture, Youth and Sport) said at Wednesday’s Council of Ministers press briefing. The statue of One Tete Lohkay and the statues at the Salt Pickers roundabout near the police station have both been damaged by Hurricane Irma. One Tete Lohkay has completely disappeared from its pedestal at the roundabout near Learning Unlimited.
One Tete Lohkay, the runaway slave girl that became a legend in St. Maarten’s history, is even more of an important symbol because of the approaching date of July 1 – Emancipation Day. But her statue will not be around this year for any official commemoration.
Minister Wuite said that the statues have been developed over the past five to ten years by the Department of VROMI as a way to beautify roundabouts. “This issue has to be addressed between the departments of Culture and Vromi,’ the minister said. we have to look into whether there is a budget for the restoration of these statues. They have an important value as to our identity.”
Finance Minister Mike Ferrier immediately supported his fellow-minister: “From a St. Maarten point of view we will find a budget for this,’ he said. “It is important that we at least restore the island to what it was before and these statues should come back.”
Ferrier said that Prime Minister Leona Marlin-Romeo has been diligently working on the replacement of the flag at the Cole Bay lookout point. “A stronger flag has been ordered; I am not sure whether the flag that went up today is a stronger one.”
The minister said that the lighting of the flag project also deserves an upgrade. “The whole idea was: if this flag is up all night it needs to be properly illuminated. Right now the bottom part of the mast is lit, but the flag isn’t.”
Ferrier pointed out that the flagpole stands on private property belonging to the Bell-family. “We are still trying to entangle how this whole project came to be. We see tourists walking up to the flag while the idea was that they would take photos from the original lookout point with the flag in the background. We are concerned about the safety of our tourists and we want to make clear that they are walking up there at their own risk.”
The flag project is a great idea, the minister added, even though it was “put up in a hurry for whatever reason.”
The red light at the top of the flag pole – a hazard light installed for civil aviation purposes – will also be replaced. According to Ferrier this light is “way underpowered” and hardly visible. “Those lights on other hills are visible especially in bad weather. This one will be replaced.”
Photo caption: Right on time – on Flag Day – a new flag went up on the flag pole on the Bell property. Photo Hilbert Haar.
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