Claudine Housen, Staff Reporter
Residents of Ramble and the surrounding communities of Shettlewood and Burnt Ground in Hanover demonstrate in front of the proposed site for the Delapenha Funeral Home cemetery on the border of Shettlewood and Burnt Ground in the parish, yesterday. The residents are calling for an environmental impact assessment to be done to determine whether a cemetery is suited for that site. - CLAUDINE HOUSEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
WESTERN BUREAU:
TIRED OF being ignored by the authorities, the resi-dents of Ramble and surrounding communities in Hanover took to the streets from as early as 6:30 a.m. yesterday to protest against the proposed Delapenha Funeral Home burial site in the community.
The site has been in contention since last April when residents discovered that Delapenha Funeral Home had purchased, what they claim, is agricultural land with the intention of turning it into a cemetery.
The residents further claim that National Environmental and Planning Agency (NEPA) approved the construction of the cemetery without properly informing them and that an environmental impact assessment (EIA) was not done on the property.
"We are demanding that an environmental impact assessment be done on the project," said Debbie Rowe-Lewis, secretary for the Ramble Community Develop-ment Committee.
According to Mrs. Rowe-Lewis, the residents fear that the cemetery, which is located 200 feet above the sole water source in the community, will contaminate their drinking water and put their health at risk.
STUDY NOT MANDATORY
In response to the protests, Dale Delapenha, managing director for Delapenha Funeral Home, said that an EIA study was not mandatory for the construction of a private cemetery.
"Not in all cases of cemetery construction is it required to do an environmental impact assessment study," Mr. Delapenha said. "For example, the last private cemetery constructed in Jamaica, was not required to do one so why should we do one?"
According to Mrs. Rowe-Lewis: "We know that formaldehyde is one of the embalming fluids and it is listed as number seven on the United Nations list of cancerous substances. Our greatest fear is for the contamination of the water source that supplies the 30 communities in an around Ramble ... We will not be satisfied until the EIA is done."
