The tourist town of Ocho Rios, St Ann has one of the dirtiest rivers in Jamaica. Garbage has been dumped at several points and this river which flows through the town emits a foul odour.

On a recent visit to Ocho Rios, I saw tourists taking pictures of the river while seemingly holding their breaths. It is obvious that they were bothered by the smell as they kept fanning their noses and shaking their heads in disgust. Obviously, they will show these pictures when they return to their homes. So in addition to crime, violence and corruption, we will also be famous for dirty, murky, smelly rivers in one of our major tourist towns.

I also noticed that the section of the river that flows under a bridge on the 'by pass' is the home of vagrants. Cartons lying around, and cloth hanging on make shift clothes lines were quite obvious. These people seem quite at home, but are an eye sore to locals and tourists alike.

Something has to be done as soon as possible to rectify these problems. We cannot afford to lose our tourists, and treat our own people - especially business owners, their employees and users of this town with such scant regard. Not at this time when we are a part of this global financial crisis when every dollar is important.

I am, etc.,

NEBERT PRYCE

nebertpryce@yahoo.com