E DITORIAL INDEPENDENT NEWSLETTER J ANUARY 28, 2010 ISSUE 22 S TATIA N EWS I try to write about what is going on the beautiful Caribbean island St. Eustatius. This is not easy for me because it’s hard to find out things. A lot of times people tell me to pay more attention to the radio and to what everybody is saying on the televsi‐ on. Sometimes I do, but it doesn’t make things more clear. I have to be objective too, that makes it even more difficult, I can’t guess things. Election day was bright, the night was bright too, in town, a party atmosphere. The result was clear. DP, Zaandam. Back to the normal world, with windy and cloudy weather for days, I realized I actual‐ ly can’t write about politics. I feel a great urge, but I really can’t. Change and Statia’s Pain Page 2 A Touristic Statia Page 3 Statia passes dan- gerous dogs law Page 4 Pensioners yes, Marina no Page 5 Concert for Haiti Page 6 Alida Francis new Communications advisor, Page 7 The Golden Rock Leatherbacks, page 8 Announcements, Page 10,11 Links, Page 12 Maybe there is someone out there who is wil‐ ling to, for example, make Papa Zaandam the Frog, Roy the Black Panther, Joshua the Old Lion, Woodley the Big Brown Bear, Clyde the Hind and Laurens the Doberman Pincher and make story’s about their adventures in Statia’s political landscape. I can’t do that, so please, kids, young people, help me make Statianews more fun! Mail me on [email protected]Thinking about these men fighting each other, I realize what is missing. Statia needs women in power! Adelka can’t do it alone! (see, I just can’t help myself…) Enjoy the news, Annemiek
Transcript
EDITORIAL
INDEPENDENT NEWSLETTER
JANUARY 28, 2010 ISSUE 22
STATIA NEWS
I try to write about what is going on the beautiful Caribbean island St. Eustatius. This is not easy for me because it’s hard to find out things. A lot of times people tell me to pay more attention to the radio and to what everybody is saying on the televsi‐on. Sometimes I do, but it doesn’t make things more clear. I have to be objective too, that makes it even more difficult, I can’t guess things. Election day was bright, the night was bright too, in town, a party atmosphere. The result was clear. DP, Zaandam. Back to the normal world, with windy and cloudy weather for days, I realized I actual‐ly can’t write about politics. I feel a great urge, but I really can’t.
Change and Statia’s Pain Page 2 A Touristic Statia Page 3 Statia passes dan-gerous dogs law Page 4 Pensioners yes, Marina no Page 5 Concert for Haiti Page 6 Alida Francis new Communications advisor, Page 7 The Golden Rock Leatherbacks, page 8 Announcements, Page 10,11 Links, Page 12
Maybe there is someone out there who is wil‐ling to, for example, make Papa Zaandam the Frog, Roy the Black Panther, Joshua the Old Lion, Woodley the Big Brown Bear, Clyde the Hind and Laurens the Doberman Pincher and make story’s about their adventures in Statia’s political landscape. I can’t do that, so please, kids, young people, help me make Statianews more fun! Mail me on [email protected] Thinking about these men fighting each other, I realize what is missing. Statia needs women in power! Adelka can’t do it alone! (see, I just can’t help myself…) Enjoy the news, Annemiek
So Statia actually was the last island to decide what they wanted for their future. The people voted for “no change”; the status quo; remaining in the Dutch Antilles. And then Statia’s representatives went to Holland, the Dutch explained that remaining in the Dutch Antilles could not be an option, because all the other islands voted against being ruled by Curacao. They realized the vote of their island was not strong enough. The other islands and Holland wanted the train set in mo‐tion. The pain is here: The people from Statia that were in Holland could not face up against this massive plan. They were outnumbered. Two separate countries and three separate islands with direct ties with Holland‐were the two options. Where would Statia’s vote fit in? Almost 5 years have gone by and I don’t know if the grief is gone. Statia has to change, but does Statia really want to change? “Change and remain the same..”, I heard a while ago. What does Statia want to change and in what sense does Statia want to remain the same? Annemiek
There is a town hall meeting about “CHANGE” in the Community Centre on February 4 2010. You can read about it in the GIS newsletter, the informer, on page 6, check: Informer January Speaker will be Miguel Goede, from the Uni‐versity of the Netherlands Antilles. You can check his website: www.miguelgoede.com
In the Amigoe of January 26, I read a quote from Helmin Wiels, leader of the PS in Curacao. According to Wiels, Curacao made a historical mistake when Aruba stepped out of the Dutch Antilles and became a sepa‐rate country. Curacao only got 2 of the 8 seats that Aruba left behind. De other 6 went to the other is‐lands. Knowing that Bonaire and St. Maarten have 3 seats now and Statia and Saba have one, I realized that it must be only since 1983 or something, that Statia has a senator in Curacao. I called Joshua (W.P. Spanner, DP) to ask if this is true. He told me that since 1956, St. Maarten had one seat in the Antillean Parliament for the Windward Islands. At one point, Statia and Saba went as far as trying to boycott the federal elections, because they were op‐posed to the power St. Maarten had over them. The WIPM (the now ruling party on Saba) was a political party for all three islands and so was Claude Watty’s DP (the now ruling party on Statia). At the end of the 80’s there was a first round of refer‐endums about the structure of the country Nether‐lands Antilles. In these times, the prime Minister of the Dutch Antilles, Fourier, born on Bonaire, came to all the islands to promote to vote for the status quo. And apparently, they all did. About the same thing hap‐pened in 1993. Joshua told me to read: “Know your political history” by Edgar and Julian Lynch. The last round of referenda started with a referendum on St. Maarten in 2000. At least, that is what I read in an article by Tanja Fraai on April 4, 2005, just before the referendum on Statia (see www.rnw). St. Maarten voted to become a country within the Netherlands Antilles. In 2004 Bonaire and Saba voted to become a part of Holland. So in April 2005 this was the situation. Curacao and Statia knew what the other islands had voted for. The politicians on Curacao knew that St. Maarten, Bonaire and Saba did not want anything to do with Curacao anymore. They probably also knew that the people of Curacao were going to vote just like the people of St. Maarten.
resort came to Statia. After his third visit to the is‐land he has been turned away by government. Due to indecisiveness and micro management of especially the former lt. Governor Mr. Gittens, who personally got himself involved in design, size, num‐ber of rooms and availability of land the project and negotiations with one of the last developers ran completely out of hand. The result of his interven‐tion was that almost one third of the island was to be developed by this developer. This of course did generate a lot of opposition.
To Koos it’s a great disappointment that govern‐ment has been so indecisive and not really assertive and accommodating not only upscale (golf) resort development but any kind of tourism development on the island. Koos wants to say this: 1. The best option for the development of the is‐land lies in tourism. This does not mean that there should be no room for other activities like for in‐stance agriculture. 2. Since the island is too small for mass tourism, an upscale type of tourism seems a logic option. 3. A golf course should not be the goal of tourism development, but merely an added activity to at‐tract upscale tourism. Leave the decision up to the developer to calculate the feasibility of a resort with or without a golf course. Annemiek .
In the last edition of Statianews, I wrote that no‐body on Statia, except maybe Koos Sneek, wants a golfcourse. I did this to provoke Koos Sneek and it worked. Koos Sneek has been the head of the board of Steba (St. Eustatius Business Association) for years, he still often is a spokesperson for Steba now as a normal member of the board. Steba’s big question always has been: “How can we develop the economy of Statia?” The answer to this question to Koos is obvious: do like the other Caribbean islands do and concentrate on tourism. Statia is not suitable for mass tourism, so the best option may be upscale tourism with 4/5 stars hotels. The people that stay in an upscale ho‐tels need activities. They can climb the Quill or go diving, but they also need other activities like horseback riding, hiking and maybe golfing. Having a golf course on Statia is not only Koos’ idea. Since 2004 government has been working along with STEBA to find investors. This is the story Koos told me: In 2004 STEBA and the government, including mem‐bers of the Executive Council, Mr. Roy Hooker and Mr. Hyden Gittens, went on a trade mission to the Netherlands to talk with, among others, Jart Sluiter of Dutch Golf, who owns several golf courses. After these meetings Steba worked together with the University of Twente on a feasibility study and an impact assessment study. In 2006 Steba and local government have organized an economic conference where tourism develop‐ment including upscale tourism and a possible golf resort were prominently featured. In 2007, STEBA went to Bermuda for the annual Caribbean hotel and Tourism Investment conference together with Mrs. Alida Francis and again Mr. Hooker and Mr. Gittens. Two weeks after that conference the first developer interested in the development of a golf
Jan. 28 2010
SPATIAL PLANNING CONTINUE; A TOURISTIC STATIA
PAGE 4 LETTER TO THE EDITOR NEWS
STATIA NEWS
The legislation provides details of how to properly confine the dog on the owner's property and re‐strain the dog when outside the owner's property. A temporary exemption is also permitted for preg‐nant dogs and puppies younger than 6 months of age to delay the sterilization. The current list of breeds includes: 'Pitbull', the American Staffordshire Terrier, the Fila Brasileiro, the Dogo Argentinano, the Mastino Napolitano, the Bullmastiff, the Doberman Pincher and the Rott‐weiler. This list may be changed by the Lt. Gover‐nor. Penalties for not following the law are at most two months in jail or a fine of at most 5000 guilders. The government also has the authority to have the dog put to sleep if they deem it necessary. The law states that the exemptions must be obtained within 13 weeks of the enactment. Kind regards, Shelley Works St. Eustatius Animal Welfare Foundation [email protected] www.seawf.com
Dear Statia Pet Owners, In December, the Statia government passed a law regarding dangerous dogs on the island. Below is a brief summary of the law. You can download the complete law in Dutch from our website at www.seawf.com. Effective Dec 2, 2009, St. Eustatius enacted a law that prohibits importing, breeding, selling or keeping certain breeds of dogs (including partial breeds) or any dog that is determined to be dangerous or ag‐gressive. The law has 2 purposes. One is to prevent more of these dogs from being on Statia. The sec‐ond is to prevent the existing dogs from doing any harm to people or other animals. Owners of these dogs may keep the dog if they ob‐tain a special exemption (ontheffing). In order to obtain the exemption, an owner must do the follow‐ing: 1) have the dog sterilized, 2) obtain a microchip, 3) ensure that the dog is properly confined, 4) ap‐propriately restrain the dog when outside of the owner's property. A licensed veterinarian must cer‐tify that the dog is sterilized. The microchip number must be included on the exemption form. The ex‐emption must be approved by the Lt. Governor.
you will attract these kind of professions, with new pos‐sibilities for the other local inhabitants and respectively a higher standard of living. I am one of these pensioners, I know I am talking about my own benefit, but if you want to develop the island, you have to get people in that spend, and for Statia, these people are the pensioners. Our 6 children and 13 grandchildren have all been on Statia regularly, and they all love it. But without our sponsoring, they would never choose Statia as their trav‐eling goal. Another thing: As a sailor, I have visited most marina’s in the Caribbean and our catamaran has been parked on Statia for months. Statia has the same problem that St. Kitts has, the waves and the usual winds are not parallel; a large swell can occur that is very unpleasant for “sharp” yachts. For a catamaran that’s not so bad. The swell also appears at the harbors. On St. Kitts you can see that although there is a protected marina, the swell does come in the marina, around the corner so to say. This makes it uncomfortable for the ships. On Statia this problem also exist, that’s why it is not realistic to think that a marina is a good idea, apart from the fact that Statia does not have a lot to offer for someone that passes by. In my opinion, an idea for a marina, just like an idea for a golf course, should be put in a drawer. Aad Went
This is a letter from Aad Went to Annemieke Kusters(translated from Dutch) Dear Annemiek, As always I have read your news with a lot of pleasure. After two weeks of snow and cold weather, Statianews is the warm shower I needed. About “more people” ton the island, I want to say the following: (“more people” was discussed in the last edi‐tion, about spatial planning, A.) Tourism on Statia will always consist of divers and people that seek quietness. The divers do not do a lot for the island, and just a small group, mostly foreigners with dive‐shops benefit of divers. Young families don’t come to the island, because they have nothing to look for. Only education needs young people, they generally don’t stay long, and for the rest there is only work in construction for young people from outside the island. Until now the experiences with these people have not been too positive. The pensioners is a group that will find a unique combina‐tion of sun, safety, quietness and space, typical things they look for. This combination is unique in the Caribbean. I have seen all the Caribbean islands and none of the is‐lands have this combination. The pensioners are in need of houses, constructors, elec‐tricians, mason bricklayers, car repairers, supermarkets, hospitals, doctors, nurses, good restaurants, and the list goes on. With a larger group of pensioners on the island,
Jan. 28 2010
PENSIONERS YES, MARINA NO
PAGE 6 LOCAL NEWS STATIA NEWS
Major Sponsors were: ‐ Eutel N.V., ‐ Lions Club, ‐ Old Gin House, ‐ G.I.S. ‐ Bringamosa Association, ‐ Dominicano Association, ‐ Guyanese Association, ‐ Jamaican Association, ‐ St. Eustatius Curaçao United Association, ‐ St. Kitts‐Nevis Association, ‐ Surinam Association, ‐ Minus 2 Foundation, ‐ Manpower Services, ‐ Runn Things. ‐ CTC TV We want to say thanks to all other sponsors, indi‐viduals that contributed, and the entire community of Statia for your support! Olton Berkel
It was crowded in the neighborhood of Charley’s Place last Saturday January 23. The Jamm Boyzz Band in collaboration with the 'How Yo Mean' Crew, the local Red Cross, and the Rebels Band High Definition organized a grand fundraising music festi‐val for Haiti. They called it "TÈT ANSAM FOR HAITI" (heads together for Haiti) It was hosted by the 'How yo Mean Crew' (Jah B, Pala & DJ Sense), the participating artists were: ‐ The Aloï Dancers, ‐ Lena & Vercely, ‐ Bianca Schmidt, ‐ Joey & Friends, ‐ The Man from the 5th Floor, ‐ Rebels Band High Definition feat. Hot Spitta, ‐ Jamm Boyzz Band feat. Benjamin Arthur. The night was a great success. The audience had a good time and Naf. 5000,‐ was raised.
Jan. 28 2010
CONCERT FOR HAITI
PAGE 7 LOCAL NEWS STATIA NEWS
On Monday evening, Commissioner Woodley, the Board and staff of the Foundation bid Francis farewell thanking her for loyal and dedicated service. Lady Francis holds a degree in Journalism from the School of Journalism I in The Netherlands. She be‐lieves firmly that knowledge and information is educa‐tion. Therefore, throughout her professional career she continued to sharpen and expand her skills in the areas of protocol, public relations, marketing and events management. “I am eternally grateful to the Tourist Board, staff, the Island Government and stakeholders in the tourism and hospitality sector locally, regionally and interna‐tionally for their support. Undertaking this new ven‐ture provides a unique opportunity to continue serving the people of Statia in an equally important capacity. I look forward to continuing good personal and profes‐sional relations with all stakeholders “.
Oranjestad‐ Statia’s Director of Tourism, Lady Alida Francis, is taking a one year leave effective February 01, 2010. Francis will join the team of Regional Service Center (RSC), where she will work as Communication Advisor.
Jan. 28 2010
ALIDA FRANCIS NEW COMMUNICATIONS ADVISOR
ABOUT ALIDA FRANCIS (from the pressrelease: ) Francis is Director of Tourism of the St. Eustatius Tourism Development Foundation since September 1992. Throughout her tenure she has worked tirelessly to promote St. Eustatius as a special interest tourism destination. Some accomplishments include the Statia Tourism Policy document, development of the tourism website, St Eustatius Investment Guide, Tourism Week and the Tourism Awards programme. Additionally, she has helped to expand the role of the Tourism Founda‐tion to include units for Product Development & Research and Training & Quality Assurance. Under her leadership the Foundation has established ties with several colleges and universities in The Nether‐lands.
Apart from work, she has served St. Eustatius in various capacities to include; The Statia Saba Small Business Promotion Fund, Statia Flag & Coat of Arms Committee, STENAPA, Winair Supervisory Board of Directors, St. Eustatius Festivities Commit‐tee, Board of Bethel Methodist School to name a few. Her commitment and dedication to the people of Statia and their development earned her honor‐able recognition from H.M. Queen Beatrice of The Netherlands in 2007 as Knight in the Order of Oranje Nassau.
PAGE 8 LOCAL NEWS STATIA NEWS Jan. 2010
THE GOLDEN ROCK LEATHERBACKS
This team is going to St. Maarten for the Carib Swim Team Invitational Swim Meet on January 31. In front: swimmers S’Ade Williams and Fernando Hassel, In the middle: S’Ade’s mother Julia Williams, swimmer Naomi Smith, swimmer Frances Avery, Fernando’s mother Sharine Hassel, In the back: coaches Dr. Mike Lonergan and Tina Smith.
Statia has got a new swimteam, the "Golden Rock Leatherbacks". Officially the name is the St. Eustatius Aquatics Foundation. Tina Smith is the president, Julia Williams is the treasurer and Sharine Hassell is the secretary. The Aquatics Foundation started this month and already has 7 swimmers. The Leatherbacks prac‐tice Monday—Friday 5—6 PM and Saturday 2—3 PM in the public swimmingpool at the Cottage Ballpark. Their first international competition is this coming Sunday January 31 on St. Maarten. More info: contact Tina Smith at [email protected]
IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO RAISE A CHILD…, ANNOUNCEMENT FROM BUREAU YOUTH AND FAMILY
Maybe it is hard to imagine but sometimes a child is better off living somewhere else than with his or her own parents. Often it is a temporary solution. In many cases the child can be placed with its own family or network. Sometimes this isn’t possible. For these children we are searching for people with a little space in their hearts, who temporarily want to be a foster parent. The center for youth and family is organizing the foster care. We will support the foster parents with training and guidance during this process. We will also make an effort to make a good match between family and child. Everybody is invited to come to our meeting On Tuesday February 9th 2010 At 19.00u at the Government Building Center for youth and family
PAGE 11 ANNOUNCEMENT STATIA NEWS
For more information, please check:
.
Jan. 2010
PAGE 12 LINKS STATIA NEWS
If you want to see the newsletter the Dutch Minis‐try of Internal Affairs made for Bonaire, Statia and Saba, please check here: (it is in Dutch) Informatie krant Bes eilanden (in Dutch) If you want to read the newsletter of Statia’s com‐pulsory education office, please check here: Newsletter compulsory education You can check the Newsletter from Government Information Service here: Informer January 10
