Here is NEWS that was mailed to my readers on October 27, 1998:-
October 27, 1998 Bajan News ---------- THE EAGLE HAS LANDED -------------------- (latest news on this story, the bird, an Osprey, died of a broken neck.... trying to get out of the cage, it managed to get it head through an opening and stuck... trying to free itself, it broke it's own neck... it has been turned over to the museum for preservation) A large migratory bird was discovered by Omar Harris and David Mondore at Hope Road in St. Lucy. The giant brown and black bird, described as an eagle, was caught and caged by the young men.... however, it only lived a few hours.... The boys were quite distressed over its death. OCEAN AT RISK ------------- "Researchers have found evidence that major sources of nitrate and phosphate from golf courses and condominiums are contaminating the sea." John Nicholls, manager of Folkstone Marine Reserve in St. James, is concerned that coastal pollution from an over aggressive tourism associated with the West Coast is damaging the fringing reefs. Robert Hinds, a senior member of the Atlantis Submarine crew, has told me that pollution of the West Coast waters if far more extensive than many people realize... and what is worse, NOTHING is being done to HALT or even MINIMIZE it... the destruction continues unabated !! From their vantage point in the cockpit of the submarine, the crew can see the dead fish, the debris, the polluted reefs and water... the rapidly growing areas of algae formation that is altering the biological balance of our "paradise" which we so proudly tell the visitors about. Since the Atlantis depends on tourists, they strive to carry visitors to the very best we have to offer... but it is almost impossible to have a "clean" cruise without some evidence of pollution ! I remember Barbados, as it was in the early 70's and I marvel at the change which has taken place over so SHORT a time frame.... what will my island home be like in 10 years or even 5 ? Like a voice crying in the wilderness... both myself and persons of similar viewpoint... can do nothing to stop the giant wheels of "civilisation"... which will ultimately destroy the world. WORKERS FED-UP -------------- Drilling at a rig in Windsor, Christ Church came to a halt on Wednesday, Oct 21, when nearly 30 employees refused to work. The Panda Drilling and Production Corporation, another foreign employer playing the fool with our labor force. Meetings between their executives, the Union and the General Manager of the Barbados National Oil Company Limited (BNOCL) resulted in promises to pay-up, and address other grievances, so the workers went back on the job around 1:00p.m. But whats the matter with these foreign companies ?... surely they should have learned a lesson from all the recent long list of industrial disputes.. aired in the Press. RASTA ROYALS SET TO VISIT ------------------------- His Imperial Highness Prince Ermias Sahle Selassie and Princes, Bekere Fikre Selassie and Dawit Yohannes of Ethiopia will arrive in Barbados on November 5 to take part in the Fourth International Rastafari Gathering scheduled for November 1 to 14. Prince Sahle is the grandson of His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, and due to the early death of his father, he was raised by the Emperor (who Rastas worship as the Messiah) himself. Whether you believe Rasta or not, I think Barbados is set to eclipse Jamaica and the other islands, as the GLOBALLY acknowledged "center" of the Caribbean ! DISEASE MAY LEAD TO CRISIS -------------------------- The already short-staffed Queen Elizabeth Hospital, is at it's limit to handle the MRSA outbreak, which I reported previously (please see my Past Newsletters at http://barbadosphotogallery.com/updarchive.htm). While the Hospital Administration claims that "there is nothing to be alarmed about" since only 7 confirmed cases exist. Nursing staff are awaiting the results of their tests, done 5 weeks ago and the results are not back from the lab yet !! Several have sore throats and the additional health care burden imposed by the quarantine... is causing a serious disruption of service to patients. NUPW General Secretary Joe Goddard is appealing to the Ministry of Health to start a recruitment campaign for the much needed 175 nurses to stabilize the situation at the hospital. What do you think would happen if a really serious "outbreak" of something more deadly was to occur ??? I would like to see the public of Barbados make that hospital an election issue... but we are a care-free bunch... except for the poor unfortunate few who become "statistics" of one kind or another. OFFSHORE SCHOOL --------------- A school for the kids of foreigners attached to Offshore companies, Embassy officials and expatriates. Strictly "top quality" all the way and using state of the art equipment and qualified teachers... the fee will be Bds.$15000 per year for non-boarding students. Personally, I think it is insulting... are they saying then that our Bajan schools are full of UNqualified teachers and short on equipment ???? I thought we had one of the highest education standards in the world and what about "EDUTECH 2000", the classroom of the future, which our government is spending MILLIONS to set up ???? Or perhaps it is that the rich, spoilt brats must not "mix" with our local poor children ????? could there be some apartheid involved ???? The MOTIVES will probably be as varied as the nationalities of the parents who might send their children to such a school. but I am proud to say, we got Bajans overseas, topdogs in their fields... who came from a background of poverty... through our "deprived and depraved" public school system... not some "exclusive" private school... but nobody would want to admit that THEIR kid is a "spoilt brat", so they have to find all other kinds of external excuses why their children don't excel. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTROVERSIAL MATERIAL.... EXTREMELY controversial material.... follows: You definitely DO NOT WANT TO READ THIS...if you are a "sensitive", "decent" and "refined" person. EXIT IMMEDIATELY... and I thank you for your patronage !! BELOW is GRAPHIC MATERIAL ABOUT VARIOUS SEX ACTIVITY... VIOLENCE and RACE you have been warned ! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- PRE-TEENS HAVING SEX -------------------- Adults are, once again, alarmed at the childrens sex lives. Some "latest research" reveals that 30% of Bajan boys are having their first sexual "encounter" at age 9... but the girls are not having theirs until age 15. So the debate is going on... WHO are the young boys having sex with ??... is it younger girls, older girls or each other ! One writer suggests that they maybe only BRAGGING, perhaps they are not really having any sex at all ! But the authorities are really concerned because the AIDS figures continue to climb and many people are getting infected in their early teen years. A panel is to be set up to find out WHY children are so disobedient to parents and teachers.. In my opinion, the first thing adults should do, is just ACCEPT that children have the right to have sex... any kind of sex, according to their preference.... it is THEIR choice. Acceptance will make the children more comfortable talking about their sexuality and the adults will be in a better position to guide them. As long as the position is maintained that "children are NOT supposed to be having sex"... then I tell you, NOTHING will change... children will continue to have sex... and adults will continue to be alarmed at it.... and AIDS figures will continue to climb. HOMOSEXUAL LOVERS QUARREL -------------------------- 30 year-old David Anthony James walked out a free man after a jury found him not guilty of the murder of his 70 year-old lover Ian MacGregor. It seems that Ian MacGregor was very jealous of David having sex with females... and David brought his girlfriend into MacGregors house... when MacGregor confronted him, a quarrel ensued, with MacGregor getting the worst of it. It is possible that David may have been responsible for MacGregor breaking his leg, the complications of which led to his ultimate death... it is also possible he may have fallen because he was drunk. But MacGregor himself did not admit any of this to the authorities, when asked what had happened to him... he told them that there had been a breaking and entering of his house and that he had been knocked down by the intruders who had stolen his watch. MacGregor met James at a gay party in My Lord's Hill, and shortly after that, James took up residence at the Blue Lagoon, MacGregors mansion, they were lovers for 3-4 years. MacGregor was a white, Australian living on our island for donkey-years... as far as I can ascertain he never worked in his life... he was independantly wealthy by inheritance or "gifts" from his sister... and spent most of his life drinking and partying. Homosexuality... legal or illegal ???... this continues to attract quite a few writers to the press... but the sex lives of Bajan males are not determined by a "law" !!... it is absurd, does a "law" stop somebody from being gay ?????... quite a few gay gentlemen are in the Police force, the Defence force... and in all probability among the Magistrates and Judges themselves !!!!! STAG PARTIES ------------ Wayne Jackman, proprietor of the club "21 and up" on Baxter's Road is planning to open a more "classy" club catering to shows for Stag Parties to meet the demands of tourist weddings. Recently, some girls from his club found themselves before the Law Courts for indecent exposure... getting a little carried away and showing the audience everything they had to offer! Mr. Jackman, deplores this type of behaviour and is attempting to scrub his image with the Police and public in general. Several evangelists have held "meetings" outside his club... they have been praying against the club and trying to get Jackman to come out and talk to them... they want to "save" him and shut the club down ! Can we really blame them ? ministers are supposed to speak out against this sort of thing... but some of them are a little over zealous, so they actually come INTO the club... and "partake" of the show !!!!! Mr. Jackman is quite amused at this. He claims to be a God-fearing man, too... and a Church goer !!!! In case you are not aware of it... Barbados... has a church on every street corner... and a sex-hungry population... so it is not difficult to see WHY there is a little ambivalence on the part of some individuals. ON RACIAL STEREOTYPING ---------------------- In a subtle but amusing article, Richard Hoad, in the LOWDOWN, manages to reveal the folly of racial stereotyping... while still expressing the "white" viewpoint that thinks it hilarious that black people should be, for want of a better paraphase, "trying to dignify their ancestry by racial association with the Egyptians and the concept of a Black Jesus". Mr. Hoad, like most Bajan whites, probably believes that blacks descend from savage and primitive barbary... and that they have been "civilised" by the white race... who posessed superior intelligence and where charged with the divine mission of converting and "training" them (through slavery, perhaps ?). While Mr. Hoad constantly tries to identify himself as, in his own words, "an ill-bred oaf"... or a simple goat farmer (which he is)... a careful examination of his articles will reveal that he holds that view, in common with most Bajan whites, that believes that the majority of black people are lazy, incompetent, intellectually stunted and aggressive. His sense of humor and careful choice of words... shield him from any direct accusations... and indeed, he could ask,"Who ME ??? do you have a complex or some "chip" that you could pick this out of my "innocent" babbling ??" He is amusing though... and you mighty get a chuckle out of this: "Secondly, I would avoid racial stereotyping. Like how Carl Jackson writes that Bill Clinton plays the saxophone,"a typical black man's instrument". I myself have played sax nigh on 40 years - "long and ben'-up" is how it's usually described - and find insulting the suggestion that it typifies a black man's instrument. I myself am most certainly not thusly appurtenanced."
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