Savanna-la-Mar, WESTMORELAND
A LARGE contingent of traffic police from St. James has teamed up with 22 others in Westmoreland to combat the mounting traffic congestion in the parish, especially in Savanna-la-Mar.
According to Deputy Mayor for Savanna-la-Mar, Councillor Bertel Moore, the initiative came out of a meeting on Wednesday with traffic heads in Westmoreland and Assistant Commissioner of Police, Keith 'Trinity' Gardener, and was made effective immediately.
The new scheme, Strategic Traffic Enforcement Programme, will also look at the proper allocation of traffic officers in Westmoreland as it was obvious that there was a lack of personnel in some areas while others were too fortified.
Dalton Laing
Walderston, MANCHESTER
JUST TWO weeks before the official start of the hurricane season on June 1, there is no disaster coordinator for the parish of Manchester. However, the secretary/manager of the parish council has given assurance that preparations for the season are ongoing during the current month.
Former parish disaster coordinator, Cherina Smith, is
no longer employed to the Manchester Parish Council but, according to secretary manager, Winston Palmer, shelter managers have recounted first-hand experiences of the past during two meetings, in an effort to assist in preparations. Drain cleaning, not confined to the seasonal preparation, is also ongoing.
Byron McDaniel
Black River, ST. ELIZABETH
DISASTER PREPAREDNESS coordinator for St. Elizabeth, Yvonne Morrison, says the disaster management system in the parish is 50-60 per cent ready for the upcoming hurricane
season.
Ms. Morrison told The Gleaner on Thursday that there are 94 emergency shelters in the parish and inspection is still being carried out on all the shelters to fine-tune their readiness. She said that the Emergency Opera-ting Centre will be based at the Black River Primary School as usual, adding that the location is ideal for the purpose.
Rayon Dyer
Black River, ST. ELIZABETH
FISH VENDORS in the Santa Cruz area, who continue to sell their goods on the street side, could face prosecution if they refused to comply with the orders of the St. Elizabeth Health Department.
During a recent meeting of the Public Health Committee
of the St. Elizabeth Parish Council, it was suggested that "given that a suitable selling area was put in place the vendors could be forced to comply with the orders from the health department".
Rayon Dyer
Port Maria, ST. MARY
A FRAUD ring is under investigation by the St. Mary police who are trying to track down persons tendering counterfeit currency at many business establishments, particularly in the parish capital of Port Maria and its environs. Many proprietors are reporting significant losses having collected the notes they deemed to
be real.
Over the past day or two a number of $1,000 counterfeit notes have been tendered to bars in and around the district of Sandside, according to
one bartender who has been
affected.
Lisia Lynch
Montego Bay, ST. JAMES
AS OF next year, the Trelawny Yam Festival will no longer be staged on the streets of Albert Town because the National Works Agency (NWA) will not allow it.
The NWA recently served notice on the Southern Trelawny Environmental Agency (STEA) that it would no longer allow it to 'close the town' to stage the event there. STEA is the body responsible for the organising and staging of the event for the past nine years.
Noel Thompson
