WINAIR was stopped from flying critically ill patients from Saba and Statia to St. Maarten after 50 years of doing so successfully, professionally and with zero loss of life; young people under 18 years are not allowed to operate boats with even a 2HP out-board engine because the Coast Guard is going to "apply the law"; local fishermen can't go out at night to fish or early mornings to pull their pots, because they run the risk of being taken for drug dealers by the same Coast Guard; now DIVI LITTLE BAY decided that it is too dangerous to visit Fort Amsterdam and its surroundings, a favorite place of my childhood friends and I to roam in the fifties and sixties when I lived "Downstreet" at the "foot of town" in Philipsburg. I fully understand the fear of lawsuits that are so frivolously brought by especially US citizens against companies that do business in the USA and have either deep pockets and/or good insurance coverage, but the DIVI move to put up a fence and require all of us to get their permission to visit "our" fort again highlights how ulterior motives and the application of sometimes ridiculous, badly thought-out, good-for-big-country laws are quickly changing the "way of life" on little Sweet St. Maarten/St. Martin Land, the same "way of life" that probably drew DIVI and many others (who now profess to know so much more than us) to our shores. Here is what I suggest: When the government finds the millions of dollars to buy the Emilio Wilson Estate, hopefully they will find a few more so the most historic fort on Dutch St. Maarten can be bought back and opened with no restrictions to all of us again. In the mean time a request to Divi: TEAR DOWN THAT FENCE! (Ronald Reagan) and suffice with lots of signs, warning not-so-smart people that they roam the fort at their own responsibility!
MJF
Michael J. Ferrier