Tells youth to put down the guns
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – YET another message entreating the youth of the nation to shun criminal activity has been sent forth. This time, however, it was issued by Deputy Prime Minister the Hon. Shawn Richards and he was directing his comments specifically to the youth of Sandy Point, the area for which he is the Parliamentary Representative.
The Deputy Prime Minister was making a presentation on Thursday (Aug. 11) evening at the government’s townhall meeting held in Sandy Point when he issued the appeal.
He said he recalls the days when gun-related crimes were “foreign to Sandy Point” but there has been a notable increase of these instances in that area.
“That kind of crime is foreign to Sandy Point. I used to be able to boast and say that with all of the homicides taking place in St. Kitts and Nevis, we have had zero or very little here in Sandy Point. And it really used to be zero. But recently, we have had a number of shooting incidents here in Sandy Point; some which have resulted in the death of persons.
“Tonight I want to make a special appeal to all of the people in St. Kitts and Nevis, but as the Minister from Sandy Point, as the Minister of Youth, I want to make a special appeal to the young people of Sandy Point to put down the guns.”
The Hon. Richards agreed that Sandy Pointers have been labeled as boastful individuals but he said they are actually a people proud of their successes. He told his listeners that rather than being proud for the wrong reasons, those with differences should set them aside and work towards the enhancement of their home town.
“I say to the young people of Sandy Point, let us continue to live as we lived before as brothers and sisters. We have SPIRIT, and when you look at SPIRIT, you see young people from…all over Sandy Point, regardless of political affiliation, regardless of their social or economic class in life, coming together to form SPIRIT and to ensure that we have a successful community festival.
“Just as we can come together for SPIRIT and for other things, let us come together as a people. Let us put our differences aside. I plead to you the young people of Sandy Point, let us put our differences aside and move forward towards the positive development of Sandy Point.”
