est. 2007

Barbados Underground

Bringing News and Opinions to the People

Stop the Guns|Close High Risk ATMS After 6PM

The following exchanges took place on BU Diaspora blog between family members Hants, Sargeant and BU David between the hours of 8:22AM and 3:22PM on July 18, 2017.

 

  • Hants July 18, 2017 at 8:22 AM

    Woman dies following ATM shooting.

    If possible, avoid using an ATM after dark. If you must, choose one that is well lit and not in an isolated location

    As you leave the ATM, be aware of anything suspicious. If you think you are being followed, go to an area with a lot of people and call the police.

    Try to avoid using an ATM by yourself; take someone you trust with you or only use an ATM when others are around.

    http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/98773/woman-dies-following-atm-shooting

  • David July 18, 2017 at 12:35 PM

    @Hants

    Don’t even use this ATM during daylight hours.

  • Sargeant July 18, 2017 at 1:27 PM

    @David
    Don’t even use this ATM during daylight hours
    +++++++
    That statement gives me chills as you have implied that the simple act of completing a routine transaction during daylight hours can be injurious to one’s health. I use ATMs when I’m in Bim but they are in very public locations and I always have my wits about me. I used to access an FCIB unit located in Sheraton Plaza next to the FedEx office and it was closed/relocated to the interior of the complex. I often wonder if the move was logistics or if it was due to the numerous people who use to hang around the steps at the Eastern entrance to the mall and who have clear view of customers entering/exiting the enclosure.

  • David July 18, 2017 at 2:13 PM

    @Sargeant

    This branch is and has shown a vulnerability to robberies. Forget ATM!

    Hants July 18, 2017 at 3:22 PM

  • @ David,

    Thanks for the “warning”. Barbados is not like it used to be.

    Daylight robbery was not part of “we culcha”.

    Condolences to the family of the victim.

 

What made the exchanges chilling for BU David was the reality Barbados has lost its ‘virginity’. There is no need to be prolix on this issue. What WE are going to do about it should be a national  priority.

  1. How are the guns entering Barbados?
  2. Is the business community dong enough to ensure their place of business is secure for customers?
  3. How can we hold parents and guardians responsible for their children’s upbringing.
  4. Are we building the kind of society that will produce virtuous citizens?
  5. Is the police force adequately equipped with the required resources?
  6. Is civil society doing enough to build community outreach programs?

The commercial banks took the unusual and unprecedented decision a few weeks ago to stop giving loans until the government reviewed the law/procedure on how tax clearance certificates were to be issued for property transfers. BU recommends that all financial institutions close ATMs after 6PM that are located in areas known to be a greater security risk. The RBC can start the ball rolling at the University Drive location.

64 responses to “Stop the Guns|Close High Risk ATMS After 6PM”

  1. Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger

    Beware of your surroundings around ALL ATMs, you could be watched and followed, even in the crowed areas like Massy and not notice, particularly in crowded areas.

  2. Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger

    Functioning, well maintained CCTV cameras, ya gotta include that and reiterate that those cameras should be well maintained, their high resolution existing,…at all times.

    More CCTV cameras are needed….across the island.

  3. lawson Avatar
    lawson

    where is a bajan duterte when you need him, get some backbone and punish these guys it wasnt that long ago people were hung for stealing.

  4. David Avatar
    David

    Why do we rush to enforcement and forget about the nurturing part of the solution.

  5. Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences Observing Blogger

    Lawson…..Canada has been having some horrible murders and other crimes recently….how are yall stopping them….

    ….Canada does not believe in hanging or any other types of executions. ..so what are you saying here.

    Homolka should have been executed, but is haunting the streets instead.

  6. David Avatar
    David

    BARBADOS is a small society, let us (stakeholders) agree to an action plan and implement with haste and force. Those of us on the Rock know where the issues are located. Homegrown solutions abound, however, the will, the will.

  7. Anne Avatar
    Anne

    This a very sad state of affairs. It is just so scary. I go to ATM too. No one can be too careful. People can watch you. Personally I do not go there at night. Crime is becoming a serious problem here and people seem not to be able to go about their normal duties. I do hope that the perpetrators of this terrible crime will be brought to justice. People who are not willing to work but want to rob and kill. My condolences to the family of the decease.

  8. David Avatar
    David

    @Anne

    According to the statistics the number of crimes reported compare favourably with prior years. This of course does not align with public perception.

  9. David Avatar
    David

    We want to hear more from NGOs, PAREDOS, Church, TRADE UNIONS, Scout and Guide Associations, Optimists, Rotary etc

  10. Lee Avatar
    Lee

    I have a theory that pistols are coming from Venezuela, through Trinidad fishermen and eventually onto Bajan pseudo-fishing vessels at sea. Dealers from those countries are attracted to the US dollars that they will get in a sale in Barbados. They may be of U.S. manufacture, but guns are so common on the streets in Venezuela and Trinidad – and so are thugs. The next shipments will include the thugs themselves. The situation is desperate enough over there, and we Barbadian residents are their closest fat ducks !!!

  11. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    “According to the statistics the number of crimes reported compare favourably with prior years. This of course does not align with public perception.”

    The reality is statistics of reported crimes do not necessarily reflect the accrual crime situation in Barbados, because, and for a number of reasons, many crimes committed are not reported to the police.

    Some victims, for example, do not consider the crimes perpetrated against them merit complains to the police.

    Then there are issues of trusting the justice system. Some people, especially those living in urban communities, do not trust the motives or the effectiveness of the police and the court system. Some are of the opinion that, because of where they reside, the police would not be too enthusiastic about helping them, while others, due to fear of reprisals, may not want to be drawn into an investigation that will involve testifying in court, and more so in situations where the perpetrator is known to the victim.

    David BU’s comment re: “Why do we rush to enforcement and forget about the nurturing part of the solution,” has merit because many of us do not view crime as a community problem, but only taking its effect seriously when it affects us personally.

    As long as an individual, their relatives or friends are not victims of crimes, they blame the government, police, present numerous solutions and after ranting and raving during the so called “9 day wonder” period, things “go back to normal.”

    It seems as though my friend Cheryl and the National Task Force on Crime Prevention are more interested in compiling crime statistics than examining and analyzing why crimes are committed.

  12. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    From the days of European colonization and economic exploitation through the brute force of slavery the Caribbean has always been a hotspot for violence and crime- from piracy and smuggling to lynching and slave riots to outright war between European countries, as John can passionately enumerate.

    What is playing out today is a potentially explosive cocktail of pervasively high rates of unemployment especially among the young males mainly as a result of a drastic shift away from agrarian-based economic production to one of services like tourism thereby creating a large pool of a potential workforce deemed ‘excess to requirements’ along with the illegal drug trade leading to a massive ‘underground’ economy dealing with contraband and stolen goods.

    When the profits are reduced significantly in the production, distribution and retailing of marijuana there will be a concomitant reduction in the crime and violence associated with the illegal trade as it has happened with the alcohol and tobacco.

    The importation of illegal marijuana- along with its security enforcer illegal guns- has created the market for bribery and corruption of both political and bureaucratic officials including people handling regular flows of US $, the currency of the illegal trade.

  13. David Avatar
    David

    @Artax

    You are the statistican among us. What we need is a deep dive to determine relationships / correlations with gun, educational performance of segments, deterioration of standard of living, the moving povertline number, government austerity program and other factors.

  14. Well Well @ Consequences Observing Blogger Avatar
    Well Well @ Consequences Observing Blogger

    gun trafficking has been popular for years, from US, through Puerto Rico, Dominican republic and on through the Caribbean.

    the gun manufacturers are the culprits.

  15. Gabriel Avatar
    Gabriel

    An elementary matter like CCTV cameras continue to elude both the public and private sectors.Its a first class device to keep track of criminals,crime and law breakers on the roads and highways.Every business place especially malls and hotels,restaurants,stores,busy streets in Bridgetown,Oistin,Holetown,Speightstown,tourist visitors’favourite locations islandwide should all have hi-res cameras with remote access. Churches and cemeteries are not exempt.This should be an initiative of Stuart Layne of Tourism Development and Rudy Grant of the BHTA who should be talking about this glaring mis-step,instead of telling people who in his opinion are not paying taxes.JA.That is nothing to do with you.Make sure you pay yours and leave the rest to the BRA,you fool.

  16. BMcDonald Avatar
    BMcDonald

    “Why do we rush to enforcement and forget about the nurturing part of the solution,” Because in this crisis enforcement MUST lead the way. In the menu provided above number 5 must become a priority. We throw ever increasing resources at tourism in an era when one homicide involving a tourist from a developed western country will quickly go viral on the internet and severely impact the local economy. We have to increase the resources, both land based and maritime, available to the Commissioner of police. Yes we can engage in so called “nurturing activities” at the same time, but absolute priority must go to crime prevention enforcement. Resources include, a significant increase in police personnel so their visibility can increase in underserved communities, where they are needed. Significant public investment in CCTV in mercantile districts, along roadways and in hot spot areas. Vehicular resources, so police can be more nimble. Respect is due to our Police for the herculean task which results in solving the vast majority of violent crimes. Also give them the resources, futher training and support which they need. So that they can meet the crisis and stabilize the situation for the “nurturers”.

  17. lawson Avatar
    lawson

    WW you are preaching to the converted they should have hung her, but you are exactly right our open door immigration policy is causing a lot more violent crimes. I agree with you keep the fu&9ers out. But your problem is home grown a bunch of gangster rappers that no-one seems to want to take on …they all know who they are….just do the math it is a limited number of people it could be. Barbados will have to decide if it wants tourism in the present form or all inclusive s where no-one leaves the compound. Which is not good for anyone on the island.

  18. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    @David , you use an interesting (and effective) editorial gambit…you say that there is no need to prolix and then list five points which could be topic sentences to deep and extended prolix and analysis.

    You also say “Why do we rush to enforcement and forget about the nurturing part of the solution”; but our society is now so deep in a malaise that we must of necessity use draconian enforcement even as we continue to redevelop effective nurturing.

    But all good. It highlights the complexity of this issue and brings the competing narratives into focus.

    I would suggest to you that Bdos lost its virginity long, long time ago. That is said figuratively on serious crime issues as you suggest but there is the direct link to the seeds that gave us the youth creating this mayhem.

    Many of the thirty-somethings and older men doing these crimes or leading the younger criminals were sired as outside children with no proper guidance, one of a litter of children in a disadvantaged environment or grew up in a foster care setting. OK, stop for a moment all.

    …I am NOT saying that all children of the type are criminals. Of course not. But many of these criminals do meet those census checks.

    So one must be prolix to deal with that and respond to your queries re “how can we hold parents and guardians responsible for their children’s upbringing” and “are we building the kind of society that will produce virtuous citizens?”.

    The other plank to that foundation is the 99% of middle class or more broadly speaking well-to-do families are tainted by some aspect of our island’s drug criminality ….whether it be via a cousin or niece there is not one Bajan who does not have a ‘bad’ connection to the culture. And some of these criminals also come directly from within some of these ‘outwardly, well formed’ well-to-do family units.

    Much to be prolix about (maybe wastefully and repetitively so) on this matter…as there has been lots of long talk in previous blogs.

    So suffice to end with your other competing narrative: If bank executives have to close ATMs at 6 PM to guide thinking people that they should not be seen taking cash at that time (at certain spots) then we might as well establish social draconian measures and prevent people from having as Pieces would say those ‘waste foops’… clearly many must be (are) too stupid to think for themselves!

  19. David Avatar
    David

    @BMcDonald

    Trying to reconcile your comment with that of Rudy Grant’s who is head of the BHTA who is quoted that the crime situation has not yet impacted tourism. If key stakeholders continue to play the Mas how will urgency to fix the problem be reached?

  20. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    Hmmm…..6 is missing…..identifying the reason for the need of the guns!

    Miller,touched on it when he mentioned the legality of ganja but its more than that I posit others such as a dysfunctional justice system,an outdated prison system, a country that is rudderless and a lack income generating projects for school leavers and young boys primarily.

    Some one or organisation should do a study on how Jamaica,Trinidad or even newbie on the killing scene St.Lucia got so…..and see how far down the same path we are and if we can correct ourselves in time?

    We always want to administer drugs or operations after the fact as opposed to dealing with preventative medicine.

  21. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @ David,

    We used to tell Canadians how awesome Barbados was for vacationing.

    Now we have to add ” but it is not as safe as it used to be “.

  22. David Avatar
    David

    @Hants

    The upside is that we are not yet as bad as some of the other islands.

  23. Gabriel Avatar
    Gabriel

    One thinks the element of returning criminals from the big cities in the US,Canada and U.K. with their criminal connections in the other Caribbean might be at play here.Reducing the value of the ganja by legalizing some component of its use might be worth the risk.

  24. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    Another bunch of stupid teenagers at the center of these crimes….where are the days when teenagers would steal mangoes and coconuts or get into serious trouble for pelting rocks and breaking Ms Jones windows and such folly….

    Dem killing peoples now, just so for a few measly dollars or to appease their Don in a drug fight.

    @David as much as we are not as bad as other islands, we also have no freaking idea how to stop ourselves sliding over the precipice as they all have done.

    I remember a friend telling me about a teenager – just like these boys accused of this crime – who along with his mum were killed in St. Lucia (years ago) because they had ran afoul of their drug partners with the sale of product at a certain school there.

    We have had similar killings too.

    And Gabriel needs to readjust his lens because the US started returning convicts to BIM in a serious way since the early 90s in the days of Bush the father (not sure when the UK started the same process earnestly) so our criminal enterprise is well grounded and ready to explode just like our sister islands….

    Legalizing ganga always sounds promising..until the slew of addicts (like drunkards) start to wreak their own havoc.

    No easy answers whatever!

  25. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    During the past few weeks three murders were committed in the Black Rock area. When events such as these occur, the “arm chair experts” come out of the “wood work” to make all types of unsubstantiated statements and assessments of what occurred.

    One of these “arm chair experts” wrote the following comments in response to an article, in today’s edition of Barbados Today, about the recent robbery/murder:

    “BIGSKY July 19, 2017 at 5:16 am: Black Rock has been in the news now so many times, some kind of gang or organization down there. There are places in Barbados that if you hear the name mentioned you would ask, “Where is that?”

    What information did the author of the above comments used as a basis to conclude: “some kind of gang or organization down there?”

    These types of irrational comments only serve to exaggerate the situation.

  26. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    The amazing thing about this unfortunate incident is that lawyers such as the same David Commisiong we are now praising in this forum and Andrew Pilgrim will rush to defend the perpetrators when they are caught and fight “tooth and nail” to make sure they spend only a few years in prison at the expense of tax payers (including the victim’s relatives).

    Or they would wait until after the “perps” spend 10 or 15 years in jail to make an application to the court for their early release.

  27. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @Hants July 18, 2017 at 3:22 PM Barbados has lost its ‘virginity.”

    Sadly Barbados has never been a virgin. Barbados is a society born in the violence and greed of sugar plantation slavery. Our youngsters have learned that if you want something badly enough, that is if you are greedy enough, then you are entitled to take it using any violence necessary. And how can we call them back when that is who we are. The wind was sown. We are reaping the whirlwind.

    @Hants July 18, 2017 at 3:22 PM “How are the guns entering Barbados? Is the business community dong enough to ensure their place of business is secure for customers?
    How can we hold parents and guardians responsible for their children’s upbringing.
    Are we building the kind of society that will produce virtuous citizens?
    Is the police force adequately equipped with the required resources?
    Is civil society doing enough to build community outreach programs?”

    Good questions, but you missed a very important one. You have missed one question. What is the responsibility of the young man/men who shot this woman? After all they did not have to shoot her. They did not have to rob her. Who in their right mind thinks that a daycare “auntie” has money to spare? The woman was likely working for significantly less than $150 BDS per day, and for this little money she had to be on the job by 7:30 a.m. and then to spend decades cleaning piss, sh!t and vom!t, maybe the piss, sh!t and vom!t of the same people who shot her.

  28. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @Artax July 19, 2017 at 10:29 PM “During the past few weeks three murders were committed in the Black Rock area.”

    The woman was in her own community, the place where she went to school, and where she spent much of her life working, looking after some of those who now fancy themselves gangsters, and looking after their children as well.

  29. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @David July 19, 2017 at 7:23 AM “We want to hear more from NGOs, PAREDOS, Church, TRADE UNIONS, Scout and Guide Associations, Optimists, Rotary etc.”

    But David NGOs, PAREDOS, Church, TRADE UNIONS, Scout and Guide Associations, Optimists, Rotary etc. are not shooting anybody.

    I think that most of all we need to hear from our violent young men.

  30. David Avatar
    David

    Can’t the NGOs mentioned and others facilitate that communication?

  31. TheGazer Avatar
    TheGazer

    Following this story here and elsewhere.

    Wondering if closing high risk ATM after 6:00 p.m is part of the solution. This seem to be on the highway to becoming a nation where we have ceded parts of the street and part of the day to criminals.

    Let’s get more cameras and police on the street. We are always concern about the use of excessive force, but the police should be unleashed on these thugs.

  32. TheGazer Avatar
    TheGazer

    Following this and another story elsewhere. It is surprising how young these criminals are. Their viciousness is well past their years.

    Either extreme wickedness or extremely ignorance or full of despair. These cracks have to be fixed somehow.

    It is funny, how one of the solutions is legalizing ganja, even when the crimes are not ganja related.

  33. David Avatar
    David

    The suggestion to close ATMs is an extreme suggestion meant to force attention to the worrying issue of crime in our small communities. Do you believe more lighting and CCTV would have deterred these snotheads?

  34. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    Simple Simon July 20, 2017 at 12:06 AM #

    “The woman was in her own community, the place where she went to school, and where she spent much of her life working, looking after some of those who now fancy themselves gangsters, and looking after their children as well.”

    @ Simple Simon

    WHAT IS YOUR POINT?

    I knew the lady, her father, siblings, husband……. her brother and I went to St. Stephen’s Primary School together, played cricket on Ellerslie’s “pasture,” football at UWI and road tennis in the streets.

    My friend, I grew up in that same Black Rock community…….. a community “bourgeoisie” people like you refer to as the “ghetto.”

    And unlike many people who grew up in these areas that would not “look back” when they move to the “heights and terraces,” not wanting their friends to know their roots………… I am in that same community often, liming with the “good, bad and ugly.”

    So, Simple Simon, you can preach your shiite to others……. not to me.

  35. David Avatar
    David

    As a society yes blame the parents but we are all responsible when 15 and 16 year olds are unable to apply a value system to not know to kill or rob innocent people. The point about the middle class looking back to assist those not fortunate is a good one. Have we built a society that is relevant to our landscape?

  36. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    Closing ATM’s after 6pm, to reduce danger re robberies? Merely a bandaid to a problem.

    The robberies will just move to daylight.

    Anyone willing to kill a woman in cold blood (two men vs one woman to rob and she ends up dead is cold blood) is extremely dangerous and the fall of dusk evident or absent is irrelevant.

    That said, when there is ‘rent a gun’, which are freely available, many semi-automatic (as evidenced by Police raids which uncover a slew of weapons each time), we inherently have a problem.

    No doubt these guns exist due to the lucrative drug trade, which is likely funding much.

    When things brown for you and I, yet plenty of spanking new cars and mansions being built, yes mansions, the only conclusion is that the drug trade is raking in the corn.

    I suspect that the West Coast is a huge demand centre, probably for the exotics which bring $$$$$.

    When the criminals have more earning capacity than the hard and experienced previous middle income earner, you know that there is a problem.

    Who do you think is calling the shots (ouch) now?

    That said, these sort of robberies are additional damage when ‘the fellows’ need more cash for some reason that their regular business does not provide.

    Drugs and corruption are ruining this place. The two are hand in hand. Because now the drug people got more cash than anyone else to buy where they want (who they want?).

    Sad times.

  37. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    This debate goes directly to the real issues of the Alma Parris debacle…not the semantic definitions of developmental issues, or how the closure was managed but the real substance that there is a cohort of Bajan youth with scholastic achievement well below accepted norms who are quite content to spend their lives pillaging and working in a criminal enterprise.

    ‘Sir/Mam’ , sayest any one of them ‘wha you trying to teach me all dat…I gine get my money robbing and killing people’.

    I will not disparage Black Rock or Kingsland or Long Gap so I’ll just say that type remark is ‘straight out of Compton’…no one here cares if a US ‘hood is disparaged.

    However the yuts doing the crimes, their wayward parents and shocked citizens are all out of Bim.

    As often said here this will be another nine-day wonder except of course for that lady’s family who have a life time burden.

    And as we soon approach another school year we start another round of kids being lost in the shuffle.

    Time for some concerted police dragnets in communities (high n low); a protracted period of interdiction of early morning ‘fishing’ escapades; establishing more police mobile centers and the aforementioned high Def CCTV in the gaps off center in places like Spooners Hill, Haynesville, Gemswick, Maycots Bay etc.

    Does the govt have the will or integrity (not tainted by cheap politics) to proclaim a state of emergency and institute that harsh police dragnet strategy over one month and possibly three.

    What a hue n cry there would be…but what crying we will yet be doing in times to come if we can’t accept that this is a problem that is ALREADY beyond our control which needs immediate draconian remedial action.

  38. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Artax
    Bushie is here trying to understand why you cussed Simple…? You both make good points.
    Unless of course, like Bushie, you just like cussing her….

    @ David
    What close what ATM what??!!
    What is it that you do not understand by our ass being “in the grass..”?

    This is what is meant by being up shit street.
    Are you going to close the roads to deal with the lotta traffic chaos and death too?
    Will the Sewerage plant be closed to avoid flooding the streets with ‘doo-doo’?
    Should we close the Parliament? …or just build jail bars around it?
    How about the national financial chaos? …declare bankruptcy?
    …and the health breakdown…? bigger cemeteries?
    …and then there is the garbage…the potholes….the NCDs …. the school mess…. the layoffs…

    Boss…. the Titanic is on her way down.

    Joke of the morning so far is Gazer …who wants to be ‘tough’ on these criminals…. Check yesterday’s papers and see what happens to cops who want to be ‘tough’ on young lawless idiots – It is called Bajan shiite lawyers…. so Gazer can kiss THAT thought goodbye.
    Same as the jackasses here on BU who have issues with parents/teachers who cut the asses of such young thugs when they do shiite…

    We are into a loss-loss scenario …when the waves are lapping on the deck, …the bow is rising and HMS Brassbados is getting ready for the big dive….

    The ONLY possible solution is well beyond us……
    It involves sackcloth and ashes, but we are too proud, too stupid, too retarded and much too brass-bowlic to even contemplate such a solution….

    Perhaps wunna can consider forming a circle around the monument at the Garrison and chanting some satanic verses as a last resort – since that is the philosophy that we have chosen…

    Good luck with THAT shiite….!!!

  39. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @Artax July 20, 2017 at 5:52 AM “Simple Simon WHAT IS YOUR POINT?”

    My point is that the lady felt that in her own community she was safe, and indeed she should have been safe, and she was betrayed, very likely by someone of her community, or from a working class community just like hers. She did not deserve to be shot running the ordinary simple errand that we all do everyday.

    @Artax July 20, 2017 at 5:52 AM My friend, I grew up in that same Black Rock community…….. a community “bourgeoisie” people like you refer to as the “ghetto…And unlike many people who grew up in these areas that would not “look back” when they move to the “heights and terraces,” not wanting their friends to know their root”

    Dear Artax: Now how do you know that I am bourgeoisie? How do you know that I refer to other people’s communities as “ghetto”? I do no such things.

    The Simple grew up very, very, simply. Why do you think that my moniker is “Simple?”

    The Simple had no shoes until secondary school. How can parents buy shoes when they have 7 children born between 1945 and 1959 all in school at the same time? Only the big children going to school in town got shoes, we the little ones going to school in the country went barefoot.

    The Simple grew up not in the “ghetto” but in what some people regard as even worse. The Simple grew up in the country working the land with the parents, lining the ground before the digging of cane holes. Does anybody remember how to line a ground by using a thin rope with the marks for the size of the cane holes painted on? (I must admit that I never dug cane holes because that is not child’s work) dropping cane plants, heading canes out of the steep fields, dropping factory mud on the harvested cane fields every Easter Monday, planting yams every single May Day, harvesting yams every New Year’s Day, eating yam everyday from New Years Day until the “hard time” began on August Monday, pulling weeds everyday after school all during the rainy season. Minding cows, sheep, pigs and chickens, slaughtering chickens. The Simple planted yam, okras, cassava, cucumbers and butternut squash at the beginning of this raining season and spent 3 hours yesterday weeding and re-planting, and will do the same tomorrow and every other day throughout the rainy season. The Simple would do the same everyday, but due to old age has to take a day of rest or do light inside work in between.

    The Simple is a life long hard, hard worker, and will continue working until I drop dead; which is why the Simple can afford to be neither “B” nor “D” nor “Solutions” nor “Barbados National Party” nor “UPP”. But the Simple votes at every election, and sometimes gets a pick working at a polling station, but is completely apolitical. The Simple does not owe any allegiance to any political party because the Simple has never asked for, expected nor received anything from any political party.

    Don’t let my laborious attempts at standard English fool you.

    The Simple is not “bourgeoisie” and has NEVER referred to other people or to their communities as “ghetto”

  40. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    After all the long talk the 2 young men armed with guns who accosted an unarmed old woman who was just minding her own business and who shot her dead are PRINCIPALLY responsible.

    But also responsible are their fathers who abandoned them.

    Their mothers who failed to properly socialize them.

    The people who import guns.

    The officials who “wink” at the importation of guns.

    The drug dealers who sell drugs to foolish children and end up “prickling-up” their neurologically immature brains.

    The politicians who are bereft of good ideas, and who refuse to listen to good ideas from others, on how to educate these vulnerable young men and include them in paid work force.

    The capitalists who seek more and more profits and who prefer to bank their money in New York and Miami, and Zurich and refuse to reinvest their money in Barbados.

    There is lot of irresponsibility to go around.

  41. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @Bush Tea July 20, 2017 at 7:28 AM “Unless of course, like Bushie, you just like cussing her…”

    Morning Bushie. A good day to you.

  42. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Simple
    🙂

    Bushie gotta be careful yuh…
    Based on your upbringing, you sound a lot like Bushie’s little sister …. whose ass always needed cussing anyhow …. even though she remains the Bushman’s favourite gal in the WHOLE WIDE world….
    LOL

  43. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @Artax July 20, 2017 at 5:52 AM “I am in that same community often, liming”

    And Artax, the Simple doesn’t lime. I did not grow up around limers. The Simple grew up around workers. The Simple is still a worker, and when the produce is ripe everybody gets some.

    That is my Barbados, my Barbados then, my Barbados now, and my Barbados forever.

  44. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    I gone. More work calls.

  45. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    We are still avoiding the ROOT cause….Simple Simon touched it slightly by pointing to our slave/plantation past and I would say that is part of it but we should have evolved beyond the stage of Jamaica and Trinidad by now.

    We need to forget the sack cloth and ashes foolishness and do some serious introspection if we wish to save our country as no amount of border patrol,army,police,fines are going to save this situation.

    No one seems to have heard of the news of the two teenager assisting the police with the chopping to death of the man at Todds in St.George……more caught up in killing.

    The country is visionless and like all creatures lacking direction will turn on its self.

  46. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    @ Simple Simon

    The way you’re going on and on and on with this “running ‘bout in the country bare-foot” shiite, you’re beginning to sound like Denis Lowe trying to solicit “sympathy votes”…… Posting multiple contributions on the same issue is a sign of insecurity (and I believe you’re not insecure).

    If you continue along this line, I’m anticipating in your next contribution you may ask me to produce a LEC from Hugh Wooding Law School……. giving Angela Skeete and Carson Cadogan the opportunity to make it the topic of every discussion in this forum.

    It’s good to know you don’t lime or grew up around limers, but grew up around workers, I’m proud of you……. yours must be a boring life having to work 24 hours per day.

    I on the other hand, work similarly to you and with the produce of my hard work I could give back to the community. However, I could still find the time to lime and relax with others who choose to work as hard as I do.

    At the end of the day you growing up with workers and I (as you implied) growing up among limers, I am sure we are BOTH SATISFIED with our ACHIEVEMENTS, without thinking that growing up poor gives an individual special entitlement.

  47. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    This is what Bimmers can do……..
    Adonijah Alleyne
    19 hrs

    My nephew, in whom I am well pleased!
    405: Dr. Andrew Alleyne: Using Algorithms to Automate Decision-Making in Energy Management, Automobiles, and Manufacturing – People Behind the Science Podcast
    peoplebehindthescience.com
    http://www.peoplebehindthescience.com/dr-andrew-alleyne/

  48. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @Artax July 20, 2017 at 5:52 AM “Simple Simon… a community “bourgeoisie” people like you refer to as the “ghetto.”

    @Artax July 20, 2017 at 1:43 PM “you’re beginning to sound like Denis Lowe trying to solicit “sympathy votes”…”thinking that growing up poor gives an individual special entitlement.”

    Dear Artax: Why so touchous? Please remember that it was you who attacked me first at 5:52 this morning and again at 1:43 p.m. I don’t know what I do you. I never talked anything about special entitlement, or LEC certificates. If you are not feeling well today, please take your [psychiatric] medication, go to bed nice and early and maybe we can talk tomorrow.

    I gone. More work calls.

  49. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    All I said essentially is that Barbados was born and nurtured in an extremely violent history.

    Is that a lie?

    I also said that we need better fathering, better mothering, better education, better policy making, and greater financial commitment to Barbados by those who have.

    Are those things lies?

    And I get my a-ss cuss.

    Why?

  50. TheGazer Avatar
    TheGazer

    I was thinking that empowering the police was a part of solution. Give them the power to kick ass without taking names. But what if they aligned themselves with the party in power? Police state? The road to a ‘dictatorship”?

    Solutions are fraught with danger..
    Out of the frying pan and into the fire

    Simple’s solution will bear results in the distant future “better fathering, better mothering, better education…” . What about this generation? We cannot ignore them.

1 2
Newer Comments

The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.

Trending

Discover more from Barbados Underground

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading