~~Adz:Left~~ The Minister of National Security Dwyer Astaphan came on radio last night, Sunday 10th June 2007 and instead of explaining the disappearance of my brother Dr. William Billy Herbert and his five companions and releasing the Scotland Yard report in its entirety, or discussing the escalating criminal activity that has been plaguing our Country, he chose to talk about the 10th of June 1967 some 40 years past in an effort to distract the citizens from the escalating crime in our Nation.
He brought on his panel a few ex defense force personnel one to say that he was picking up mangoes at Bayfords on the night in question!
One of these men Errol Maynard chose not to say that he had since been taken to court (I gave evidence in that case) and the Judge found that he lied when he said that he had shot Richard Caines in his shoulder. Maynard was ordered to pay Mr. Caines 80,000 dollars for libel.
Astaphan chose to read from two books written in Anguilla, but why didn't he choose to give a balanced picture and read from the transcripts of the Courts right here in St.Kitts in which all, I repeat all the persons detained by Bradshaw for that 1967 incident were released and found not guilty? In fact some of the men sued the Government and were awarded substantial sums of money for wrongful imprisonment.
These are the facts and not assumptions about what would have taken place as Earl Clarke tried to tell us.
Astaphan went on to say that because Dr. Herbert was a friend of Ronald Webster, he was guilty by association, of the so-called attempted overthrow of Bradshaw's Government. The Deputy Prime Minister Sam Condor stood up in Parliament and said that Noel "Zambo" Heath was his friend. Just a few months ago, Heath was convicted of importing cocaine into the United States, By Astaphan's logical assumption are we to assume that by association, Condor is also guilty of the offence?
~~Adz:Right~~
It is time that Dwyer Astaphan gets rid of this passionate jealousy that he has against the Herbert family with his weekly bitter writings in the Labour Spokesman and his utterances on radio and become concerned about the crime that is crippling our country.
I would suggest that Astaphan makes use of the services of the prison psychiatrist.
In 1993, one of the Labour Freedom Fighters in his red Labour T- shirt threw bottles and stones and smashed up my car and house in which my 80-year-old mother and Aunt were with me. Isn't ironic that that same Freedom Fighter was remanded to prison just a few weeks ago for offenses against the same Labour Minister who told him in 1993 to "mark a man?" Crime is crime regardless as to which political party you belong to. Stray bullets don't ask, "who did you vote for?"
As a citizen of this country, I am pleading with Denzil Douglas to put aside being the Leader of the Labour Party and be the Prime Minister of this Federation. As Prime Minister he is obliged to ensure the safety and security of all the citizens of this Nation.
Crime is crippling our country and the Prime Minister Douglas can no longer delegate the security and safety of this Nation to junior Ministers. Just how he chose to relieve Minister Hendrickson of the Ministry of Works when we had major electricity problems before the last elections, so to he needs to relieve the present Minister of National Security of his duties and take on the mantle in order to safe guard our citizens.
Our people are living in fear. Many of our Nationals are afraid to come home for fear of stray bullets. Tourists will soon be warned about coming to our shores. Our country is in a state of chaos. Over 100 murders have occurred in a few years and less than 10 have been solved.
The double murder of L Green and his wife is still much talk of the town and to date not even one arrest has been made in that case.
Everyday we see and hear on TV of hundreds of young men and women been shot down in the streets of Iraq, we have our own Iraq right here in St. Kitts with our very own young people been gunned down like flies in the streets.
It is time to become militant against crime and all potential criminals. We have to be pro-active in our approach and not wait to talk about crime after the fact. The time is now not wait a few days before an election or after someone close to us is murdered. The time is now to fight and prevent crime.
Signed Alicia (Al) Herbert Powell
