Philipsburg:--- The Kingdom has bunch of dishonest people charged President of the Windward Island Civil Servant Union William Reed. The unionist was reacting to the fact that St. Maarten would no longer receive the 3 million guilders they were promised to renovate the prison instead they would have to make do with the 8 million guilders that is available to them.
Reed said the monies that they now have can only patch up the prison that is in a dilapidated state. He said he is trying to make contact with the island Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards who he believes has to intervene in these matters as a State representative, one that represents the Minister of Justice and most of all he Richards is a St. Maartener. Reed said the Kingdom is trying to push the burden of the prison in the lap of the local authorities when they take up the Country Status which is an extra burden for St. Maarten. "If Curacao could have received a brand new prison and had the opportunity to close down one of their existing prisons then St. Maarten should get the same opportunity. I feel St. Maarten is getting unfair treatment, and to date the prison is lacking the much needed personnel."
Reed said that a proper prison is very important for St. Maarten in its new setting and that crime is not decreasing.
The WISCU leader said he needs to know what would be in place to steer the youth from its present trend. Reed said while working at the prison he saw a number of youths being incarcerated in a facility that offers them nothing more but violence. The prison he said has prisoners as young as 16-years with a very negative attitude and there is nothing in place to better educate them, he said motivating youths behind the present prison walls is an uphill battle but it has to be done if there is going to be a change in societal behaviour.
"I feel the leaders of this island have a moral obligation towards the youth. However, the people cannot sit back and point fingers at the Minister of Justice or the Lt. Governor. Everyone has a role to play and the time to begin is now if the island is to get is country status." Reed said a change has to begin in the schools has to institute certain programs which is geared towards the youths. He further explained that while he was in Curacao over the holidays he noticed the government there has initiated programs where youths speak to the youths in order to motivate them and steer them in a better direction.
He said one of the biggest handicaps for St. Maarten is that there is no local television station that has local programs. He said the two local stations on St. Maarten are dormant and non existent, and if they do exists then government should be providing some kind of subsidy to these stations which would give them the possibility to air local programs. Furthermore the owners of these stations are doing a very poor job in promoting their stations as well as St. Maarten. Reed said the business community and government needs to subsidize the local stations since they would be servicing the community.
"Right now St. Maarten has a cable station and everybody's eyes are glued to CNN. All we have here is a half news program provided by the private sector." The strength of a nation is the airwave he said all social aspects are concentrated on the airwave with their messages. "There are too many things on St. Maarten has to be projected and the way to start is by having these stations up and running if they are to start with nation building.
