St Thomas residents concerned about road erosion

St. Thomas:

Fresh concerns are mounting as road users are becoming in-creasingly fearful of a section of the Roosevell to Springfield road in St. Thomas.

For a long time, motorists who ply that route on a daily basis and even those who occasionally have had to travel on that thoroughfare, have expressed concerns about decreasing road space. They claim the road is being eaten away by erosion.

In recent times, a major section of the Roosevell to Springfield road has been reduced to single-lane traffic as a large section has been taken away by the sea.

Recently, large cracks have begun to appear on the road surface, causing even more discomfort and greater anxiety to users of the road.

According to a senior medical official from the health department in the parish who spoke with The Gleaner, the condition of the roadway is "a disaster waiting to happen".

- Arthur Green,

Strong support for 'Peace Day'

As the world turned its attention to another of the United Nations' commemoration days which seeks to bring to the fore circumstances and situations that warrant global attention, Jamaica had its contri-bution to make and the people of St Thomas came out to register their support for 'Peace Day', which was held on Tuesday.

The day's event had students from various schools in the parish, youth organisations, civic-minded individuals and business leaders marching through the town in a symbolic gesture.

According to one of the organisers, "It is a strong message to all that we really want peace around here."

The walk, which took marchers along a number of the town's main thoroughfares, culminated with a cultural presentation which was preceded by a few speeches - all of which urged persons to work hard to secure peace.

- Arthur Green

Attempted suicideat Trinity Primary

St mary:

Peace Day activities were disrupted last Tuesday at Trinity Primary School, Trinity district, St. Mary, after a nine-year-old grade four male student attempted suicide in a classroom.

According to information gathered, the student, along with other students, were inside one of the classroom playing. It is understood that the boy managed to grab hold of a piece of cord which he said he was going to use to hang himself. The others did not pay him much attention believing it was a prank.

They left the classroom but later returned to find him 'sweating out' on the ground, being choked by the piece of cord.

An alarm was raised and the rope was removed from his neck. He was taken to the Port Maria Hospital where he was admitted.

Meanwhile, the guidance coun-sellor at the school said she was treating the matter with the utmost confidentiality and declined to disclose information related to the attempted suicide.

- Nedburn Thaffe

Vocational fair

Westmoreland:

The Petersfield Vocational Training Centre in Westmoreland, as part of its mandate to have more persons certified for the job market locally and internationally, will be hosting an 'assessment fair' on its grounds on March 13.

The fair will run from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. under the theme 'Empowerment through Certifi-cation'. It is designed to facilitate persons with certain skills to commence the process of certification.

Activities will be concentrated on the following skills: general construction; elec-trical installation, food preparation; customer service/working with colleagues; and, computer/data entry and retrieval.

- Junior Grandison

Farmers threatento give up ondairy business

Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth:

Faced with constant bush fires, praedial larceny and continuous increases in operational costs, one dairy farmer in St Elizabeth is seriously contemplating throwing in the towel.

Garth Burke, who operates the Pepper Dairy Farm in the parish, said if things do not change for the better by year end he will be calling it quits.

"I am giving myself until the end of 2008 before I make my decision," Mr Burke told The Gleaner, following a tour of his 500-acre farm, part of which was destroyed by fire, allegedly by arsonists.

Over four days last week, up to 200 acres of Mr Burke's fields were destroyed by fire.

"Every year at this time, the grass on which 600 heads of cows feed on is set ablaze by arsonists," the perturbed farmer said. "Most of the farmers are leaving the dairy business because they can't make a living. In 1998, dairy farmers use to produce 38 million litres of milk a year and now they are producing 14 million litres a year."

- Michael McLean