When your Government keeps trumpeting that Tourism IS the Economy peopIe wiII eventuaIIy see tourists themseIves as the main revenue source, THE commodity. You are expected to be nice to these hordes that overrun your country bringing with them behaviour that disrupts your society, their money, attitudes etc. even if they dont mean to, their money making peopIe feeI poor. So why not expIoit these peopIe? Rip them off, bang them on the head as they have a stroII on the beach. If you teII peopIe that foreigners are their source of income they wiII treat foreigners as such. Its a case of kiIIing the goose that Iays the goIden egg but the situation shouId have not been aIIowed to deveIop in the first pIace. Condos, Iand grabs, marinas and uncontroIIed cheap immigrant Iabour cannot be sustained without ruining the structure of a society which was once regarded worIdwide with such high esteem, in a tiny country with such a smaII popuIation. In an ideaI worId tourism woud be restrained, buiIding wouId be curtaiIed and immigration wouId be strictIy controIIed …and then you wouId have Cuba! UnfortunateIy it is too Iate for Barbados to do that as it has been corrupted by the intoxicating scent of easy money.

Barbados’ pristine image was/is largely a domestic myth. Many Bajans overseas were/are concerned about stories they heard/hear of crimes, even if not reported in mainstream media. High levels of crime against visitors is/was known within the industry and amongst tourists, even when not reported by the mainstream media. Both sets of stories circulate/circulated widely. Now there is some media acknowledgement. But many visitors (nationals and foreigners) come to Barbados already wary of at least crimes against property and persons. They fear both.

Many locals and visitors see little evidence that the police have an interest in dealing with crime or criminals, not least due to an obvious tolerance of clear wrong doing. If my five year old can see and understand ‘crimes’ that go on near her school, why cannot a law enforcement officer. She knows about those “funny smelling” cigarettes the men are smoking on the street corners.

Acquaintances (Caribbeans and North Americans) who come to live here quickly search out security firms and measures to protect themselves, but even that does little to allay fears, and certainly does not stop attempted crimes. Locals say “get yourself a big dog”, implying that they are aware of criminals in their vicinity, whether they exploit opportunities or plan crimes carefully.

The negative impact on tourism may not be rapid, and is not under the control of Bajans. But once it gets rolling, it’s a wave that is hard to turn back, except by putting tourists in separate areas. That method is already well known and widely practised: see gated communities, and enclave all-inclusive resorts.

There are crimes of commission and crimes of omission.

livinginbarbados

Give us Bajans a break.

You are from a country where a Jamaica Minister once said that Jamaicans are the most wicked people on earth. You are from a Country where gunmen surrounded a house with the occupants inside, set it on fire and and shot dead everyone who attempted to flee the fire with the result that every one was consumed either by fire or gunshot. You are from a country where as people lay dying from a traffic accident there were being robbed by onlookers at the scene.

Please, save your advice for Jamaica they need it more. Heaven knows that.

This is part of our problem people who hate us walking into our country and applauding every dastardly act being committed.

DAVID

You can disagree with LivinginBarbados, don’t feel duty bound to agree with every thing he writes, a lot of what he writes makes no sense at all!

livinginbarbados // March 23, 2009 at 6:44 am
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There is crime everywhere and Barbados has its share. The police in Barbados are relatively efficient. They can do better but next to cops in Trinidad and Jamaica, they are dynamic sleuths.

Barbados solves bulk of its crimes. Does Jamaica solve any of theirs? The incompetence in the Bob Woolmer case was alarming.

Jamica’s crime is pervasive and intractable. Not so in Barbados. Barbados safety reputation is not a myth. The reported cases of crime support the reputation. Bajans dont list crime as their main worry as Jamaicans and Trinidadians do.

However Barbados has to remain vigilant and safeguard its citizens and visitors. The death of the Canadian woman was dastardly and wicked and against the run of play.

Her attacker has to be caught and brought to justice asap.

ha ha ha ha CcC ease up pun living in Barbados. I do understand how his “tone” actually his writing style can rub some the wrong way. He does have a lot to say and we should find the willingness to read his comments, though difficult such may be. What i have done, to allow me some ease with reading his bajan experience, is to remain focus on the fact that he is Jamaican, and believing that there is more tolerance amongst bajan for him than can be found in Jamaica.

….I was reading de udder day dat a guy faked being a policeman for six months. He had a police uniform, and sevice weapon and all.

@ all
concern about interntional fall-out from the unfortunate death of a Canadian guest/tourist to our Island, is not new. We go through such worry and concern everytime there is such an incident in the Caribbean, and while such worry and concern can have a positive effect of having more of us redouble our efforts thereby keeping such incidents to a minimum, we must also be mindfull that this is not the first incident of violence againts a visitor, in Barbados and the caribbean for that matter.
So what has been the impact to a country’s tourism sector after such an incident? Lets look at Aruba after the disapperance and death of Natalee Holloway, in 2005. This incident dominated American news and by extention international news in a way and probably would be for a much longer time than the recent murder in Barbados can our would ever be able to achieve. Is Aruba suffering significant fallout? What about Tobago and the murder of a Swedish couple? are they no tourist in Tobago today? are they shutting shop as a result of it?

I do not intend to make light of this sad incident, but this will not have the effect that some are at this point imagining.

Negroman……continue to keep it real. What we have here are the affects of mental slavery and indoctrination where the life of one white person is valued high above the life of a black person. The #1 Sector in Barbados should be the people of Barbados. Negative forces are not trying to take over the country. It has already been taken over. From the time we were shackled hand and feet and brought from the womb of our mother under duress, we were and are ruled by negative forces. So if you think that November 30, 1966 really has any significant meaning for Black Bajans, think again. An independent people does not have to wait hand and foot on the crumbs that fall from the table of the oppressor. A free people don’t live in fear, so let the damn chips fall where they may. And since Necessity is the Mother of Invention, like a Phoenix rising out of the ashes Bajans too will tap into that genius DNA that has been dormant for too damn long. Reject the devil’s philosophy.

…’cite’… not ‘site’

Do you know that tourist arrivals in Iraq are up?
……………………………………….
lol

Arrivals in Afghanistan up too, and nuff green gettin’ spen’ but the tourises wearing camouflage…

AAAAAAAAAghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

@Adrian Hinds
Accepting that there may not be a straight cause and effect.

For Aruba, tourism receipts, which account for 80 percent of export revenues, declined by 2 percent in 2006 as tourist arrivals fell. Part of that might have reflected the negative publicity. There was a rebound in 2007/8, but general economic conditions were more favourable.

So, Barbados may suffer an initial drop off due to negative publicity/wider concerns about safety. Whether there is a rebound or no drop off depends on what tourist really experience and feel.

The blogs play a mixed role. By being frank they expose but also frighten some people, especially if they do not know or understand the local context. I can cite specific stories on BU and BFP that have had that result.

Benchmarking does little to allay fears. Tourists (especially North Americans) react quickly and negatively when they hear that risks are high, irrespective of what is done. The sight of armed police at Long Beach, while meant to assure perhaps, could have the opposite effect, as people now think things are really out of control.

Re “The Jamaica constabulary could not even get it right with the death of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer who died during World Cup Cricket in 2007.”

and

“The incompetence in the Bob Woolmer case was alarming.”
————————————————–
How was this so? It was eventually determined that Bob Woolmer was NOT in fact murdered, and died because of a complication of his diabetes.

Following the stress of the defeat to the Irish, it should have been obvious that high catecholamine levels stimulated a pathologic process that resulted in. diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) in Mr Wolmer as it is is well known that DKA can be triggered by severe physical stress, as Wolmer undoubtedly experienced on that day.

DKA is commonly precipitated not only by a lapse in insulin treatment but more often by an acute infection, trauma, or infarction that makes usual insulin treatment inadequate.

As the blood becomes more acidic, ketoacidosis can cause falling blood pressure, coma and death.

Major components of the pathogenesis of diabetic ketoacidosis are
1- reductions in effective concentrations of circulating insulin and
2-concomitant elevations of counterregulatory hormones (catecholamines, glucagon, growth hormone and cortisol).

Many of the pathological changes seen in DKA are less the result of an absolute lack of insulin, as they are the result of an alteration in the balance of insulin and the other counter-regulatory enzymes.

The Jamaican constabulary could not have been expected to know the facts above, no more than the commenters on this blog. The incompetence in the Bob Woolmer case was no more alarming than occurs in Barbados.

Clearly the persons who commented above have never been present at any crime scene with the top officials of the RBPF as I did for over 14years.

The problem with the Bob Wolmer investigation was that the international press were looking for some “hype” and “fowl play”, and pressure was brought to bear on the local officials, who even called in Scotland Yard.

Consequently, the blood chemistry results submitted by the Antiguan Fitzmore Coates, who has spent his whole life in Chemistry were ignored.

From the time I heard that there were no toxins in the blood or any marks on Wolmer’s body to suggest trauma, my diagnosis was DKA secondary to a myocardial infarction secondary to increased counter-regulatory enzymes resulting from the severe stress encountered by the coach that day.

After many weeks of “go-ing and fro-ing, ” I was not surprised to hear that Bob Wolmer died of “natural causes.”

The uneducated commenters on this blog are in no position to criticize the Jamaican constabulary for incompetence in the Bob Woolmer case, as there was none!

Why am I not surprised at your comment? It is easy to bash others who we hae or do not know, and hard to give praise where praise is due.

The details in my hogwash is the hogwash that you hope your doctor will share with you when you and your relatives are sick.

If you did not understand what I wrote, you can use a book called a DICTIONARY to look up the words, or Google to corroborate what I said.

The details of my hogwash is exactly what causes the death of many diabetics in Barbados and around the world daily. My hogwash is designed to enlighten and educate- but I cant spoon feed you with respect to vocabulary.

FYI, I followed the Bob Wolmer case in the International press daily. I read all the hype and waited patiently for them to declare the obvious; that Wolmer had died of natural causes due to his diabetes.

I am sorry that you dont understand my hogwash Sir, but what I have said is sound doctrine that cannot be refuted.

Its sad that you can only in your obvious ignorance make such a silly statement. Your ad hominem attack can not detract from my knowledge or scholarship, however.

I am sure, that David would have learned from my essay, and would appreciate the standard of information I deliver to the forum. When professionals like me post on BU, we bring a level of expertise that is rarely seen in our daily press.

I repeat, it is unfair to blame the Jamaican constabulary in the investigation of Bob Wolmer’s death, since the Jamaican police could not discover that a crime was commited, because IN FACT, NO CRIME WAS COMMITTED. THE MAN DIED FROM NATURAL CAUSES.

What I found appalling was that the Chemical analysis of a graduate of the UWI in Chemistry, who has worked for over 30 years post graduation at his profession was doubted. Scotland Yard did not find his analysis wrong when they came.

Sometimes clicking on to BU brings entertainment, but BU ought to be seen also as a source of SERIOUS INFORMATION. That being the case……….

Let me try to make things simple for those among us who think it hard to work on their vocabulary, because this issue about this important complication of diabetes must be grasped by the BU family, as it may lead some of you laymen to intervene sooner rather than later, and possibly help save the life of a friend or relative..

Stress results in the body producing chemicals in glands above the kidneys called the supra renal or adrenal glands called catecholamines ( i.e adrenalin and noradrenalin OR epinephrine and norepinephrine according to which side of the Atlantic you live.)

Adrenalin and noradrenalin will among other things directly INCREASE HEART RATE.

Always remember this. DIABETES MAKES EVERY CONDITION YOU HAVE WORSE and EVERY CONDITION YOU HAVE, CAN MAKE DIABETES WORSE.

It is therefore expected, and it does happen, that uncontrolled diabetes due to stress can easily lead to heart attacks in diabetes, as the high levels of catecholamines will affect heart rate. It will also cause a rise in sugar levels in the body by stimulating the liver to make glucose from protein or other precursors in the body (gluconeogenesis.).

So though stress will kill non diabetics, it will kill DIABETICS faster.

Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a complication of diabetes and an emergency that sends diabetics to hospital on a regular basis. It is perhaps the commonest thing that sends diabetic diabetics to hospital.

It can be brought on even though you have been taking your diabetic medication and following your diet rigidly.

An acute infection such as the flu, or something as simple as a stick while gardening or a stone bruise can cause a diabetic to spiral out of control and skid into hospital in DKA coma and at death’s door.

It can also be brought on by an acutely stressful event.

How can this be called hogwash, when this can happen to your friend or relative anytime?

Many of the pathological changes seen in DKA are less the result of an absolute lack of insulin, as they are the result of an alteration in the balance of insulin and the other counter-regulatory hormones.

In other words whereas insulin works by controlling high levels of sugar in the blood by lowering blood sugar levels, the counter-regulatory hormones have the important role of automatically raising the blood sugar levels when needed, so that a balance can be maintained. So whereas high sugar levels can cause coma, and death; low levels can also cause coma and death.

The hormone, insulin on one side and the counter-regulatory hormones on the other keeps everything in balance.

Anything that affects the levels of either one or the other can spell disaster for the diabetic- irregardless to how well they are controlled at any point in time.

How can this be called hogwash, when this can happen to your friend or relative anytime?

Ordinary policemen cannot be expected to know or understand the ramifications of the Chemical Pathology of Diabetes. So because some one on the blog hates Jamaicans, or don’t think that Jamaicans should live in Barbados, or opine on BU, or believe that Jamaicans are dirt, does not entitled them to engage in criticizing the Jamaican constabulary for incompetence in the Bob Woolmer case, as there was none!

Bob Woolmer most likely died from a myocardial infarction or heart attack due to increased counter-regulatory enzymes resulting from the severe stress he encountered by the defeat of his team by the lowly Irish that day.

Because the international press chose to beat up on the Jamaican constabulary does not mean that commenters on BU who are ignorant of what transpired should follow suit. It is not fair.

That same scenario might well have happened in Barbados, in March 1981 the night Ken Barrington died from a heart attack, after witnessing the over to Boycott from Holding and the over to Botham that day!

Kudos to the Barbados Police Force for being so quick to make an arrest:

Mon, March 23, 2009
Arrest in slaying of Canadian in Barbados

By BETH JOHNSTON, Sun Media 

Terry Schwarzfeld was attacked and beaten on a Barbados beach. The Ottawa woman died on March 18, about three weeks after the assault. (File photo)

Barbados police arrested a 24-year-old Barbadian man over the weekend and are expected to charge him with the attack that killed Terry Schwarzfeld.

Swartzfeld, 60, a beloved member of Ottawa’s Jewish community, died March 18 in Ottawa hospital. She never regained consciousness after she and her daughter-in-law, Guelph resident Luana Cotsman were beaten with a wooden plank and robbed on an isolated stretch of Barbados beach Feb. 28 – FULL ARTICLE

Georgie Porgie

“But then I am trained!”

Monkeys can be trained too, so what is that saying about you?

Geez CCC…..is that the best retort you can come up with???

Man just admit that GP got ya good and tek ya licks like a man nuh !!

Bonny Peppa

I will let you be one of my medical students if you get permission from JC.

You see, you so hot and spicy,I fraid I might be tempted to put some horns in she, and that I might wind up pun dis forum like Ri Ri and Chris, or she might put some warm licks in you self.

I am sorry to get upset with Carson Cadogan, but I get angry with folk when I get the impression that they are not respecting our local expertise and think that the foreign press or folk out of the region always know better than we do.

That boy Coates was a good humble boy. He came to Bim in 71 with a CIDA scholarship, and a wicked evil man from the States who could not teach, fail the boy twice, in two sucessive years because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

This wicked teacher made a pass at a Grenadian class mate of ours at a party one weekend when he was drunk.

She came in the lab the following Monday morning and was telling the story to Coates, who is Antiguan. The man fail both of them for two sucessive years, cause he was ashamed. Luckily GP wasnt there, or he would of failed me too. The girl had to transfer out of the Natural Science Faculty eventually, and Coates had to run to Jamiaca to finish his first degree.

By that time his CIDA scholarship was expired. He wanted to do Medicine and would no doubt have made an excellent doctor. He stayed in Jamaica and worked for the Jamaican Chemical Labs. I have no doubt that this man’s work is good.

I was very proud to hear that it was his work that stood up to the test when Scotaland Yard came down to investigate.

A lot of good dedicated students went through UWI in the 70’s, and do the region proud today. I dont tolerate no foreign press talking bovine excrement about the work of some of these folk, who have already been unfairly and harshly treated by these foreign people already.

The teacher from the USA that failed my colleagues taught 2/3rds of the Chemistry course and was real, real lousy. He had no right to hurt these young folk.

There was another bastard from Bristol, now deceased, who, when I mentioned to him that another colleague from St Lucia had been accepted to Mona to do Medicine, told me straight off the bat.. ” OVER MY DEAD BODY.’

Funny thing he is now long dead, but the St Lucian lad is a big maguffy consultant in St Lucia today.

Do you know the number of folk whose transfer forms that white man from Bristol refused to sign? Do you know the number of young West Indians from Barbados, the Windwards and Leewards whose dreams that man destroyed?

Then when he finished, he got UWI to appoint a big buller man from Bristol as head of the Biology Dept at Cave Hill before the woman who had set it up, and drilled so many of us to become competent students of Science.

Georgie Porgie

Here are some sobering statistics for you and LivinginBarbados:-

2007, 1574 men, women and women were murdered in Jamaica. One weekend in Dec. 2007 alone saw 14 people murdered.

2008, 1600 men, women and children were murdered in Jamaica. The highest total on record.

I know that these statistics are embarassing to you and LivinginBarbados. But that is just how Jamaicans are.

Their national sport is murdering each other in large numbers and who ever else they can get their hands on.

Can you tell me how many of these murders were solved by the Jamaica police force? Let me tell you. very few. There are more killers walking the streets of Jamaica free than in any part of the civilised world.

The total number of people murdered in Jamaica for 2007 and 2008 are more than all the people murdered in Barbados for the past 150 years.

LivinginBarbados can put that in his pipe and smoke it!

Oh go suck a lemon.

We recognise that lie from a distance.

So big deal,we should shut up just because some foreigner mis understand our frustration and our passion because of our local problems.

Pleeeeeease.

Do we always get the context when we are reading an american blog?

Huh?

Carson
I am a Bajan. I lived and studied in Jamaica, and I am well aware of the difficulties in Jamaica.

However, my debate with you has nothing to do with crime and violence in that country, but was totally about the competence of the Antiguan, Fitzmore Coates, and his stellar Chemical analysis that was able to withstand the test of Scotland Yard’s scrutiny. Why cant you accept that I know what I am talking about in this matter?

What ever are the ills of Jamaican society, there are also positive things that emit from thier civilization. But that was/is not the issue that I am harping about.

However incompetent you think their Constablary to be, in the case of the death of Bob Wolmer in March 2007, I will continue to submit to you that the Jamaican constablary can not be held responsible for determining that he WAS MURDERED, WHEN HE DIED OF NATURAL CAUSES AS THE JAMAICAN FORENSIC DEPARTMENT AND SCOTLAND YARD ASCERTAINED……. as as I had speculated from day one.

A man cant be murdered and die from natural causes simultaneously, even if the natural cause was induced.

If you bring six sexy nude dancing girls into the bed room of your old grandfather, whom you know to be prone to heart attacks, it might be deemed that your motive was to murder him. I will let the lawyers argue dat one.

I dont care how many folk get murdered in Jamaica or how many that the Jamaican police solve. I am debating ONLY the cause of death of one ex cricketer Bob Wolmer, who was determined to have died from natural causes- and not murder.

I am imploring you to learn from the Biochemistry lesson on DKA, as it is very common among our people, and might be even at your very door step, or that of a freiend or relative. Learning that lesson is of greater import than worrying about the Jamaican murder rate.

Do you know that when we were students in Jamaica, that many of us proud Bajans looked down our noses and said that certain things we saw in Kingston, could NEVER occur in Barbados? We had to eat our words years later.

We can not have the number of murders that Jamaica has ever, because we dont have the population. Our country is smaller than thier smallest parish man!

You can now carry on by yourself, as it seems that unlike monkeys, you can not be trained.

I gone ya hear? And I done wid you wid dat!

Georgie Porgie what sort of quack are you? Difficult to think you really are an MD. Your response on Rihanna was appalling. You are an unpatriotic Bajan as well if you are Bajan. Who the hell cares about Coates? All we know about his alleged competence is that he is your friend. Stewps!

Cadogan is correct you are misleading BU. You and BFP are a perfect fit.

51%

Anonymous // March 23, 2009 at 10:11 pm

Georgie Porgie what sort of quack are you? Difficult to think you really are an MD.
……………………………………………………….
Both are right according to how you look at it. Georgie was just dealing on tourism note where he is stating that the murders have not interfere with tourist arrivals; and yes, I agree with him. However Carson point relates to the wanton murders and how our ten murders if so many per year would take many years to reach just one calender year of Jamaica’s murders. Carson is also right, it is the context that would affect the argument.