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NEWS IN BRIEF
FOR GENERAL DISTRIBUTION
Top News in the Print Media: The JIS, The Gleaner & The Observer
From the Overseas Department, Jamaica Information Service
Tuesday September 16, 2003
MURDERS UNABATED
The Gleaner: Despite attempts by the nation's security forces to combat the rampant violence infecting the island, this year's murder rate is now in line with that of 2002. Minister of National Security, Dr. Peter Phillips, last night admitted that the recently heralded three per cent decrease in murders, attributed to the success of the controversial anti-crime initiative, is no more.
"It is true that in respect of major crimes we are still down over last year to the tune of some nine per cent but, in relation to murders, whereas at the end of March we were some 25 per cent below what it was last year, we are now on par," Dr. Phillips said. He was speaking at last night's meeting of the Rotary Club of St. Andrew North at the Hilton Hotel, New Kingston.
The Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) said yesterday that there were 673 murders reported up to September 14 last year. The comparative figure for 2003, which was up to Sunday, was 672.
SPOT MARKET WEIGHTED AVERAGE RATE
CURRENCY___PURCHASES_____SALES
__US$_______59.3808_____59.6210
__CAN$______42.4759_____43.4459
__GB£_______92.4305_____94.9319
PMI MAKES PROGRESS
The Observer: The Peace Management Initiative yesterday said it had made some headway in talks with members of several Spanish Town communities where the latest flare-up of violence has claimed a dozen lives.
"It was a very enlightening meeting. It was very instructive, because we were able to identify some of the problems and to address them in-house," PMI head, Bishop Herro Blair, told the Observer.
The leaders had decided to return to their communities with the message that "peace and dialogue are essential to their survival," Blair said.
He added that many of the persons at the talks expressed disgust with the upsurge of violence.
NOU SECURES FUNDING
The Gleaner: The National Ozone Unit (NOU) of the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) recently secured just over $3.2 million dollars (US$57,200.00) to continue its efforts to eliminate the use of Ozone Depleting Substances (ODSs).
The money, which was granted by the Multi-Lateral Fund For the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol Secretariat was renewed, as result of Jamaica's improved compliance record.
Under the extension, the NOU, which oversees the management of the Montreal Protocol in Jamaica, will continue its Terminal Phase-Out Plan (TPMP) for Chloroflouro-Carbons (CFC's) implemented earlier this year and the institutional strengthening programme begun in 1997.
The island is right on target for achieving the goals of eliminating the use of Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) and reducing its consumption of CFCs.
ILLEGAL GAMBLING CRACK-DOWN
The Observer: Thirty-five persons have been arrested and charged with unlawful gaming since last week, as the authorities intensified their crack-down on the billion-dollar illegal gaming operations across the island.
The most recent of the raids was carried out late yesterday evening in Oracabessa, St. Mary, where seven persons were held in a shop from which police say illegal ‘Cash Pot’ tickets were being sold.
"A group of people was seen in a shop buying illegal Cash Pot tickets from Silvan Geddes," said a cop who participated in the raid and who declined to be named.
He said that makeshift tickets, written on paper from an exercise book, were taken from Geddes, who was charged with illegal bookmaking.
NEW COURT TERM OPENS
The Gleaner: The Michaelmas session of the Home Circuit Court opens today with more than half of the 180 cases listed for trial being murder cases.
A check by The Gleaner yesterday revealed that the list had 91 murder cases, but with new cases being added to the list that number could increase.
When the Easter session began on April 23 there were 202 cases scheduled for trial. When the term ended on July 31, the four criminal courts had disposed of 48 cases with those remaining on the list being traversed to this term.
JIS NEWS
Tuesday September 16, 2003
GREEN LIGHT TO TOLL AUTHORITY
The Senate on September 12 approved the Toll Authority Management (Regulations) 2003, clearing the way for the Toll Authority to begin its work, and for the toll road to open soon.
Transport and Works Minister, Bobby Pickersgill, had set a September 15 date for the opening of the toll road between Bushy Park and Sandy Bay, but had indicated that the date was tentative, given the fact that the Regulations governing the work of the Toll Authority, which was set up to oversee its operations, had not yet been passed.
The House of Representatives approved the Regulations on Tuesday, September 9.
COMPACTOR TRUCKS FOR NSWMA
Ian K (Agencies) Limited is to deliver 10 of 20 Renault garbage compactor trucks to the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), at a ceremony to be held on September 22 at Devon House.
Arrival of the trucks is very timely, coming on the heels of notices sent out by the Authority, advising residents in a number of communities in the Corporate Area and Clarendon, that there would be disruption of their garbage collection, with 24 to 28-hour delays due to the suspension of its supplementary fleet.
The trucks were ordered for the Government under a sole-agency agreement between Renault Trucks and Ian K (Agencies), which since 1978, has seen the company supplying the government with over 100 garbage units, 50 fire trucks, 80 heavy duty trucks, and 80 sprinklers, commencing with the first initiative in 1978, involving 133 trucks.
The trucks are paid for by means of a loan obtained by Ian K (Agencies) for the Government from BNP Paribas of France, at extremely good rates and repayment terms. This arrangement with the French bank dates back to the very first transaction in 1978, which was brokered by Ian K (Agencies).
LIVE COVERAGE OF PARLIAMENT
The Government is pursuing plans to provide live television transmission of the proceedings of Parliament and Parliamentary Committees on a regular basis, by April of next year.
Senator Burchell Whiteman, Leader of Government Business in the Senate, made the announcement on September 12 while responding to questions posed by Senator Bruce Golding in the Senate.
He informed that at the request of the Ministry of Information, the Creative Production and Training Centre (CPTC) began to provide live coverage of Parliamentary proceedings, sittings of the Standing Finance Committee, Budget Debate presentations and sittings of the Senate last April.
HAMILTON DENOUNCES DISCRIMINATION
Public Defender, Howard Hamilton, Q.C., has denounced discrimination against HIV positive persons, and has given instructions for the preparation of draft legislation for an Anti-Discrimination Bill, to protect these and other persons from all types of discrimination.
Addressing a JIS Think Tank session recently, the Public Defender said that in his capacity as Chairman of the National AIDS Committee, he had received a high number of complaints from HIV positive persons, who complained of discrimination at workplaces, including government institutions.
“I have a considerable amount of complaints which come to my office,” Mr. Hamilton lamented, describing the level of discrimination that has been reported to him as “horrendous”.
“I’m hoping we’ll have one piece of legislation that deals with any form of discrimination, as is done in some of the Commonwealth countries,” he said.
280 TEACHERS’ AIDES BEING TRAINED
About 280 National Youth Service (NYS) volunteers in North East Manchester are being trained as teachers’ aides. The volunteers will participate in a special Career Exposition, scheduled to be held at Knox Community College, Cobbla campus, on Wednesday, September 17.
It is expected that upon completion of the month-long training programme, the NYS volunteers will be placed in institutions at either the early childhood or primary level throughout the island.
This is in keeping with a commitment given by Prime Minister P. J. Patterson to place greater emphasis on the development of the early childhood human resource of the country.
ACCESS STATUS OF APPLICATIONS ONLINE
By the end of this year, customers of the Registrar General’s Department (RGD) will be able to access the status of their applications online, instead of visiting or calling the offices that are located across the island.
Chief Executive Officer of the RGD, Dr. Patricia Holness, who made this disclosure at a JIS Think Tank session recently, pointed out that this was only a natural progression, having implemented the Application Tracking System (ATS) some four months ago, which was designed to electronically track the status of applications submitted by RGD customers.
The ATS, which was developed by the Department of Records and Information Management at the RGD, and headed by Michael Terrelonge, is part of the Department’s continuing thrust to increase the level of customer satisfaction, which hovers around 95 per cent.
CIVIC PARK SET UP IN SAV-LA- MAR
The Westmoreland Parish Council in collaboration with Lift Up Jamaica has established a civic park and monument in Savanna-la-mar at a cost of $5 million.
The Savanna-la-mar Civic Park and Monument is presently undergoing final landscaping and beautification works. The park will be used for the upcoming Heroes and Veterans Day observances on October 20.
The building and park will be the official venue for civic ceremonies and other related functions in the parish.
Boasting a historic cenotaph, a building with two shops for the sale of literature, gifts and souvenirs, a patio, sanitary facilities, a fountain and several all-weather-seating facilities for the public, the establishment is expected to benefit residents from across the parish.
Contact: Celia Lindsay
For further information about any of these news items,contact the Overseas Department at
[email protected]
. The Jamaica Information Service web page address is
www.jis.gov.jm
.Telephone: (876) 926-3740-8 / 926-3590-8, Fax: (876) 926-6715
COMMENTARY
Tuesday September 16, 2003
THE OBSERVER
THERE GOES GENERAL SHARON AGAIN
WE can't say that we are shocked by the Israeli government's open admission that murdering Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, is one of at least three options on which it has agreed in principle to remove him as a factor in the Middle East conflict.
For the Israeli government is headed by General Ariel Sharon who, in an interview published by an Israeli newspaper earlier this year, said that he should have "liquidated" Mr Arafat 20 years ago during Israel's invasion of Lebanon that drove Mr Arafat's Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) to Tunisia.
The same General Sharon who headed Unit 101 that, in the 1950s blew up houses on the West Bank killing 69 Palestinians, including women and children.
The same General Sharon who, as the Israeli defence minister in 1982, allowed Maronite Christian militiamen, under the charge of the Israeli army, to enter refugee camps in Beirut to massacre thousands of Palestinians.
Since his landslide election victory in February 2001, we have had very little reason to believe that Prime Minister Sharon is committed to securing a peaceful settlement to the Middle East conflict. For, he made his intentions clear with his accelerated building projects in occupied territory from 1990 to 1992 -- actions that have made him the most unpopular Israeli politician among his opponents and deeply hated among Arabs.
But perhaps General Sharon feeds on such enmity and is genuinely unable to see beyond the sight of his Uzi. So diplomacy, as far as he is concerned, is probably an irritant, largely unnecessary when dealing with his Arab neighbours.
General Sharon and his cabinet of warriors should be guided by the chorus of international condemnation that has greeted their latest murder prescription. They should recognise that killing Mr Arafat would only serve to further inflame and deepen this unfortunate conflict that has so drained Israelis and Palestinians for decades. So too would any attempt to expel or totally isolate Mr Arafat, as was announced Sunday by Israel's industry minister, Ehud Olmert.
We have commented in these columns before that sidelining Mr Arafat, as was done under the US-engineered road map for peace, could not be sustained. For neither Mr Arafat nor the Palestinian people would sit by and allow their position to be weakened, especially by someone with General Sharon's sordid history of violence against Palestinians.
It is clear that the strikes and counter-strikes that have coloured this conflict in recent months, have eroded any amount of trust that existed on both sides.
What, therefore, needs to be done is a rebuilding of that trust and a re-opening of the door to dialogue.
===========================================
THE GLEANER
ANOTHER FILTHY HARBOUR
PICTURESQUE LUCEA Harbour has joined Kingston Harbour as a place to enter at one's own risk. The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) has issued a 'no swimming' warning for the harbour due to potential health risks posed by the large amount of raw sewage and garbage flowing into it.
Tourism development inexplicably bypassed Lucea and became concentrated in Montego Bay to the east and Negril to the west. The town, sitting on one of Jamaica's beautiful harbours, has been trying to play a late catch-up game. The pollution of the harbour to the point of a 'no swimming' notice having to be issued by the environmental authorities will be a major blow to the marketing of Lucea as an ideal tourist destination. The town's people who use the harbour for recreational and fishing purposes must now also stay out of the water or enter at their own risk.
But this, according to NEPA, is a classic case of fouling one's own nest. NEPA believes that raw sewage is being deliberately pumped into one section of Lucea Harbour but, despite several attempts, no perpetrator has been caught so far. Soak-away pits, in the absence of a central sewage system, allow sewage to be released into the harbour via an old main drain still being used in the town. The harbour, apparently, is also being used as a garbage dump and is further polluted by run-off from farms on the surrounding hillsides. It now has the distinction, in NEPA's estimation, of being one of the "worst polluted" harbours around the island.
And this status is not likely to change anytime soon without decisive action by leadership within the town itself, by the local authorities, and by the responsible public agencies. NEPA has made its declaration. Lucea urgently needs a modern sewage disposal system, which is a responsibility of the cash-strapped and debt-ridden National Water Commission. The town will need an efficient waste management system which presumably is the responsibility of the National Solid Waste Management Authority which was established in April last year under legislation repealing the Litter Act. The Authority is awaiting final approval of regulations to pursue its role.
The Parish Council has a role to play; it should adopt the attitude of other councils showing a greater sense of urgency in Local Government. But civic pride and civic action has the most critical role to play.
We certainly would not want to conclude that the people of Lucea are obviously happy to live in their own mess and to stand by and watch their economic prospects in tourism and other areas become more deeply smothered in filth.
FOR GENERAL DISTRIBUTION
Top News in the Print Media: The JIS, The Gleaner & The Observer
From the Overseas Department, Jamaica Information Service
Tuesday September 16, 2003
MURDERS UNABATED
The Gleaner: Despite attempts by the nation's security forces to combat the rampant violence infecting the island, this year's murder rate is now in line with that of 2002. Minister of National Security, Dr. Peter Phillips, last night admitted that the recently heralded three per cent decrease in murders, attributed to the success of the controversial anti-crime initiative, is no more.
"It is true that in respect of major crimes we are still down over last year to the tune of some nine per cent but, in relation to murders, whereas at the end of March we were some 25 per cent below what it was last year, we are now on par," Dr. Phillips said. He was speaking at last night's meeting of the Rotary Club of St. Andrew North at the Hilton Hotel, New Kingston.
The Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) said yesterday that there were 673 murders reported up to September 14 last year. The comparative figure for 2003, which was up to Sunday, was 672.
SPOT MARKET WEIGHTED AVERAGE RATE
CURRENCY___PURCHASES_____SALES
__US$_______59.3808_____59.6210
__CAN$______42.4759_____43.4459
__GB£_______92.4305_____94.9319
PMI MAKES PROGRESS
The Observer: The Peace Management Initiative yesterday said it had made some headway in talks with members of several Spanish Town communities where the latest flare-up of violence has claimed a dozen lives.
"It was a very enlightening meeting. It was very instructive, because we were able to identify some of the problems and to address them in-house," PMI head, Bishop Herro Blair, told the Observer.
The leaders had decided to return to their communities with the message that "peace and dialogue are essential to their survival," Blair said.
He added that many of the persons at the talks expressed disgust with the upsurge of violence.
NOU SECURES FUNDING
The Gleaner: The National Ozone Unit (NOU) of the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) recently secured just over $3.2 million dollars (US$57,200.00) to continue its efforts to eliminate the use of Ozone Depleting Substances (ODSs).
The money, which was granted by the Multi-Lateral Fund For the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol Secretariat was renewed, as result of Jamaica's improved compliance record.
Under the extension, the NOU, which oversees the management of the Montreal Protocol in Jamaica, will continue its Terminal Phase-Out Plan (TPMP) for Chloroflouro-Carbons (CFC's) implemented earlier this year and the institutional strengthening programme begun in 1997.
The island is right on target for achieving the goals of eliminating the use of Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) and reducing its consumption of CFCs.
ILLEGAL GAMBLING CRACK-DOWN
The Observer: Thirty-five persons have been arrested and charged with unlawful gaming since last week, as the authorities intensified their crack-down on the billion-dollar illegal gaming operations across the island.
The most recent of the raids was carried out late yesterday evening in Oracabessa, St. Mary, where seven persons were held in a shop from which police say illegal ‘Cash Pot’ tickets were being sold.
"A group of people was seen in a shop buying illegal Cash Pot tickets from Silvan Geddes," said a cop who participated in the raid and who declined to be named.
He said that makeshift tickets, written on paper from an exercise book, were taken from Geddes, who was charged with illegal bookmaking.
NEW COURT TERM OPENS
The Gleaner: The Michaelmas session of the Home Circuit Court opens today with more than half of the 180 cases listed for trial being murder cases.
A check by The Gleaner yesterday revealed that the list had 91 murder cases, but with new cases being added to the list that number could increase.
When the Easter session began on April 23 there were 202 cases scheduled for trial. When the term ended on July 31, the four criminal courts had disposed of 48 cases with those remaining on the list being traversed to this term.
JIS NEWS
Tuesday September 16, 2003
GREEN LIGHT TO TOLL AUTHORITY
The Senate on September 12 approved the Toll Authority Management (Regulations) 2003, clearing the way for the Toll Authority to begin its work, and for the toll road to open soon.
Transport and Works Minister, Bobby Pickersgill, had set a September 15 date for the opening of the toll road between Bushy Park and Sandy Bay, but had indicated that the date was tentative, given the fact that the Regulations governing the work of the Toll Authority, which was set up to oversee its operations, had not yet been passed.
The House of Representatives approved the Regulations on Tuesday, September 9.
COMPACTOR TRUCKS FOR NSWMA
Ian K (Agencies) Limited is to deliver 10 of 20 Renault garbage compactor trucks to the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), at a ceremony to be held on September 22 at Devon House.
Arrival of the trucks is very timely, coming on the heels of notices sent out by the Authority, advising residents in a number of communities in the Corporate Area and Clarendon, that there would be disruption of their garbage collection, with 24 to 28-hour delays due to the suspension of its supplementary fleet.
The trucks were ordered for the Government under a sole-agency agreement between Renault Trucks and Ian K (Agencies), which since 1978, has seen the company supplying the government with over 100 garbage units, 50 fire trucks, 80 heavy duty trucks, and 80 sprinklers, commencing with the first initiative in 1978, involving 133 trucks.
The trucks are paid for by means of a loan obtained by Ian K (Agencies) for the Government from BNP Paribas of France, at extremely good rates and repayment terms. This arrangement with the French bank dates back to the very first transaction in 1978, which was brokered by Ian K (Agencies).
LIVE COVERAGE OF PARLIAMENT
The Government is pursuing plans to provide live television transmission of the proceedings of Parliament and Parliamentary Committees on a regular basis, by April of next year.
Senator Burchell Whiteman, Leader of Government Business in the Senate, made the announcement on September 12 while responding to questions posed by Senator Bruce Golding in the Senate.
He informed that at the request of the Ministry of Information, the Creative Production and Training Centre (CPTC) began to provide live coverage of Parliamentary proceedings, sittings of the Standing Finance Committee, Budget Debate presentations and sittings of the Senate last April.
HAMILTON DENOUNCES DISCRIMINATION
Public Defender, Howard Hamilton, Q.C., has denounced discrimination against HIV positive persons, and has given instructions for the preparation of draft legislation for an Anti-Discrimination Bill, to protect these and other persons from all types of discrimination.
Addressing a JIS Think Tank session recently, the Public Defender said that in his capacity as Chairman of the National AIDS Committee, he had received a high number of complaints from HIV positive persons, who complained of discrimination at workplaces, including government institutions.
“I have a considerable amount of complaints which come to my office,” Mr. Hamilton lamented, describing the level of discrimination that has been reported to him as “horrendous”.
“I’m hoping we’ll have one piece of legislation that deals with any form of discrimination, as is done in some of the Commonwealth countries,” he said.
280 TEACHERS’ AIDES BEING TRAINED
About 280 National Youth Service (NYS) volunteers in North East Manchester are being trained as teachers’ aides. The volunteers will participate in a special Career Exposition, scheduled to be held at Knox Community College, Cobbla campus, on Wednesday, September 17.
It is expected that upon completion of the month-long training programme, the NYS volunteers will be placed in institutions at either the early childhood or primary level throughout the island.
This is in keeping with a commitment given by Prime Minister P. J. Patterson to place greater emphasis on the development of the early childhood human resource of the country.
ACCESS STATUS OF APPLICATIONS ONLINE
By the end of this year, customers of the Registrar General’s Department (RGD) will be able to access the status of their applications online, instead of visiting or calling the offices that are located across the island.
Chief Executive Officer of the RGD, Dr. Patricia Holness, who made this disclosure at a JIS Think Tank session recently, pointed out that this was only a natural progression, having implemented the Application Tracking System (ATS) some four months ago, which was designed to electronically track the status of applications submitted by RGD customers.
The ATS, which was developed by the Department of Records and Information Management at the RGD, and headed by Michael Terrelonge, is part of the Department’s continuing thrust to increase the level of customer satisfaction, which hovers around 95 per cent.
CIVIC PARK SET UP IN SAV-LA- MAR
The Westmoreland Parish Council in collaboration with Lift Up Jamaica has established a civic park and monument in Savanna-la-mar at a cost of $5 million.
The Savanna-la-mar Civic Park and Monument is presently undergoing final landscaping and beautification works. The park will be used for the upcoming Heroes and Veterans Day observances on October 20.
The building and park will be the official venue for civic ceremonies and other related functions in the parish.
Boasting a historic cenotaph, a building with two shops for the sale of literature, gifts and souvenirs, a patio, sanitary facilities, a fountain and several all-weather-seating facilities for the public, the establishment is expected to benefit residents from across the parish.
Contact: Celia Lindsay
For further information about any of these news items,contact the Overseas Department at
[email protected]
. The Jamaica Information Service web page address is
www.jis.gov.jm
.Telephone: (876) 926-3740-8 / 926-3590-8, Fax: (876) 926-6715
COMMENTARY
Tuesday September 16, 2003
THE OBSERVER
THERE GOES GENERAL SHARON AGAIN
WE can't say that we are shocked by the Israeli government's open admission that murdering Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, is one of at least three options on which it has agreed in principle to remove him as a factor in the Middle East conflict.
For the Israeli government is headed by General Ariel Sharon who, in an interview published by an Israeli newspaper earlier this year, said that he should have "liquidated" Mr Arafat 20 years ago during Israel's invasion of Lebanon that drove Mr Arafat's Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) to Tunisia.
The same General Sharon who headed Unit 101 that, in the 1950s blew up houses on the West Bank killing 69 Palestinians, including women and children.
The same General Sharon who, as the Israeli defence minister in 1982, allowed Maronite Christian militiamen, under the charge of the Israeli army, to enter refugee camps in Beirut to massacre thousands of Palestinians.
Since his landslide election victory in February 2001, we have had very little reason to believe that Prime Minister Sharon is committed to securing a peaceful settlement to the Middle East conflict. For, he made his intentions clear with his accelerated building projects in occupied territory from 1990 to 1992 -- actions that have made him the most unpopular Israeli politician among his opponents and deeply hated among Arabs.
But perhaps General Sharon feeds on such enmity and is genuinely unable to see beyond the sight of his Uzi. So diplomacy, as far as he is concerned, is probably an irritant, largely unnecessary when dealing with his Arab neighbours.
General Sharon and his cabinet of warriors should be guided by the chorus of international condemnation that has greeted their latest murder prescription. They should recognise that killing Mr Arafat would only serve to further inflame and deepen this unfortunate conflict that has so drained Israelis and Palestinians for decades. So too would any attempt to expel or totally isolate Mr Arafat, as was announced Sunday by Israel's industry minister, Ehud Olmert.
We have commented in these columns before that sidelining Mr Arafat, as was done under the US-engineered road map for peace, could not be sustained. For neither Mr Arafat nor the Palestinian people would sit by and allow their position to be weakened, especially by someone with General Sharon's sordid history of violence against Palestinians.
It is clear that the strikes and counter-strikes that have coloured this conflict in recent months, have eroded any amount of trust that existed on both sides.
What, therefore, needs to be done is a rebuilding of that trust and a re-opening of the door to dialogue.
===========================================
THE GLEANER
ANOTHER FILTHY HARBOUR
PICTURESQUE LUCEA Harbour has joined Kingston Harbour as a place to enter at one's own risk. The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) has issued a 'no swimming' warning for the harbour due to potential health risks posed by the large amount of raw sewage and garbage flowing into it.
Tourism development inexplicably bypassed Lucea and became concentrated in Montego Bay to the east and Negril to the west. The town, sitting on one of Jamaica's beautiful harbours, has been trying to play a late catch-up game. The pollution of the harbour to the point of a 'no swimming' notice having to be issued by the environmental authorities will be a major blow to the marketing of Lucea as an ideal tourist destination. The town's people who use the harbour for recreational and fishing purposes must now also stay out of the water or enter at their own risk.
But this, according to NEPA, is a classic case of fouling one's own nest. NEPA believes that raw sewage is being deliberately pumped into one section of Lucea Harbour but, despite several attempts, no perpetrator has been caught so far. Soak-away pits, in the absence of a central sewage system, allow sewage to be released into the harbour via an old main drain still being used in the town. The harbour, apparently, is also being used as a garbage dump and is further polluted by run-off from farms on the surrounding hillsides. It now has the distinction, in NEPA's estimation, of being one of the "worst polluted" harbours around the island.
And this status is not likely to change anytime soon without decisive action by leadership within the town itself, by the local authorities, and by the responsible public agencies. NEPA has made its declaration. Lucea urgently needs a modern sewage disposal system, which is a responsibility of the cash-strapped and debt-ridden National Water Commission. The town will need an efficient waste management system which presumably is the responsibility of the National Solid Waste Management Authority which was established in April last year under legislation repealing the Litter Act. The Authority is awaiting final approval of regulations to pursue its role.
The Parish Council has a role to play; it should adopt the attitude of other councils showing a greater sense of urgency in Local Government. But civic pride and civic action has the most critical role to play.
We certainly would not want to conclude that the people of Lucea are obviously happy to live in their own mess and to stand by and watch their economic prospects in tourism and other areas become more deeply smothered in filth.