The 'goat debate'
published: Tuesday | June 8, 2004

THE EDITOR, Sir:

THE 'GOAT debate' in the Hanover Parish Council between Mayor Crooks and two councillors (Samuels and Gilpin) was hilarious. Only in Jamaica could we have had such a debate. Councillors Samuel and Gilpin said that the goats provide an essential service ('helping to clean the town'); services that the Hanover Parish Council should be providing.

The law on the books does not seem to matter to these councillors. The councillors, in heaping high praises on the goats, berated cows ­ once a symbol of wealth ­ as a nuisance. We know also that these goats take their job seriously (stay on the job) and can be seen going home at 5:00 p.m. each day. These goats must have displaced some ­ or very soon will displace ­ sanitation workers in Hanover.

The Hanover Parish Council should repeal/change the present law on the books and enact new laws recognising the sanitation worth of goats. This could serve as a test for other cash-strapped parish councils. Finally Mr. Editor, I would like to know who cleans the copro the goats deposit in the public square.

I am, etc.,

AUTHNEL REID

Middlesex, NJ

Via Go-Jamaica