THE EDITOR, Sir:
WE WHO live and work in the Linstead area of St. Catherine are very grateful to your columnist, Mr. Desmond Henry, for so vividly and accurately describing the conditions that prevail in the market environs and other parts of this town.
The traffic chaos caused by scores of taxis jostling each other for passengers, together with the filth and general disorder, makes any well-thinking citizen ashamed and frustrated. Cleanliness and public order are low priorities for central and local government authorities who service this rural township.
It is sickening to see the daily accumulation of garbage. The best efforts of the cleaning crew are inadequate to cope with the volumes that are generated. For some strange reason the mountains of garbage accumulated after Saturday market are not removed until Monday.
Another part of this disgusting scenario is that all of the filthy drain water that Mr. Desmond Henry refers to is washed into the river at the Banbury bridge. This river joins the Rio Cobre on its way to the Spanish Town treatment plant.
If there was ever a situation needing urgent attention the town of Linstead would be at the top of the list.
Disorder and chaos have become so much a part of our way of life in Jamaica that we can hardly expect any change for the better. Is it too late to ask Mr. Bobby Pickersgill and Mr. Arnold Bertram to do something about this messy situation. Surely, the 'buck' must stop with these gentlemen!
I am, etc.,
KENNETH NEWMAN
Box 8, Linstead,
St. Catherine
