Letter of the Day - A view from the Gulf

THE EDITOR, Sir:

HELLO AND good day to The Gleaner staff and all the good people of Jamaica. I have to say that I really appreciate the time and effort that The Gleaner staff place in getting the news on the Internet so we born Jamaicans who are far away can get a piece of Jamaica. A big thank you goes out to all of you. You may not hear it often but THANKS...I really appreciate your paper.

I am a Jamaican-American sitting here in the Gulf and my only true link to Jamaica is through the Internet with The Gleaner. For the last few years of reading the paper I have seen all kinds of violence happening in Jamaica and it seems to be getting worse. The news only reports so much of the violence but I know that there is much more happening than what is being reported.

As a matter of fact Jamaica is now the crime capital of the world. It is getting to be the most feared country to travel to in the world. I have heard so many people that have always wanted to go to Jamaica, change their minds because of the crime. I have to agree with George's article in the paper. Something needs to be done to take Jamaica away from the criminals and bring it back to decent people. I can remember the days growing up in Jamaica when we could walk the streets at night or leave our doors open at nights without fear.

A few years ago one of my in-laws was shot dead at my back door in Savanna-la-Mar. Things like that never happened years ago when I was there. There are too many guns in Jamaica in the hands of killers. Here in the military when we punish someone for doing something wrong we make an example out of that person so it will put the fear into others to keep them straight. Officials need to put the fear into criminals in Jamaica to keep them from running wild. Until then Jamaica will belong to the outlaws and the rest of the Island will be at their mercy.

Yardy from far away.

I am, etc.,

PATRICK BECKFORD

363ecesceme1@psab.af.mil

Via Go-Jamaica

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