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Roatan and Bay Islands Discussion List Archive
| Posted On: | 01-Mar-2005 |
| From: | "J. Edwards Real Estate_Parrot Tree Plantation" |
| Subject: | [roatan] HONDURAS THIS WEEK NEWSPAPER |
Monday, February 28, 2005 WRITTEN EXPRESSLY FOR HONDURAS THIS WEEK by DON PEARLY DO YOU RMEMEBER Just a short time ago there was an amount of runaway railroad legislation concerning zoning, that was about to be made into Honduran law? Do you also remember the people of Roatan got together, pulled their resources and political contacts and stopped that runaway train cold? The proposed legislation then went to various discussion groups and a compromise was reached. There was give and take, but the bottom line was mutually agreeable to most all concerned. Well, the people of Roatan have another problem confronting them. Honduras this Week publication is known for accentuating the positive, because it wants to help promote tourism and foreign investment as much as possible however, we are a world-wide publicly read newspaper, and we are journalists at heart, and as such we must address a new negative situation. We do this because we owe our readers honesty, but we also do this to try and bring to light the real situation so that together we can find the solutions. ISLAND CRIME Yes, there is such a thing as crime in paradise, and we have just experienced some of it on Roatan. From looking at the chat sites one might believe it is a full on crime wave with lawlessness taking over the Bay Islands. This is not the case however; it is certainly serious enough for the committee to take some immediate action. At least two felonious break-ins occurred within a two week period. Now this may not sound drastic to some of you living in high crime areas such as New York, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Denver or Miami, but to a small town community it is very serious and a reality check of the first order. LOOKING FOR A SHORT FIX AND LOOKING INTO LONG TERM SOLUTIONS Small groups gathered together all over the island to discuss what to do.HTW attended five in the past few days and finally a gathering of about one hundred concerned ex-Pats, locals and authorities today, Monday the 28th. It was attended by, among others, The Governor of the Bay Islands, The Honorable Clinton Everette, The Mayor, the Honorable Jerry Hinds, The head of the Tourist Police Inspector Baharona and the second in command of the National Police Force stationed on Roatan. When confronted by actual victims of these recent crimes and accused of being slow in responding to calls, failing to collect evidence at the crime scene and failing to follow through on leads supplied by the victims themselves, their response were with explanations that fell very short of appeasing the assembly. The officers stated there are only eighty five Police officers assigned to the entire Bay Islands sector and they, Roatan only receive a portion of that number. They also stated none of the assigned officers have families living on Roatan and that up to thirty of their men and women are off island on holiday at all times. They also complained about the serious lack of equipment and that they usually had but one vehicle running at any one time. They admitted the French Harbor area and East was virtually uncovered due to this lack of men and equipment. The Inspector said that area was protected only by a handful of traffic officers stationed in French Harbor itself. At that point Mayor Hinds took the floor and stated it was futile to think Central government would have solutions to our immediate needs. He suggested a Town Meeting where he would describe his plan for the immediate protection of the island’s inhabitants. It had to do with donations of private money, combined with a new “Security Tax” placed on everyone living here. He promised to have the details within the next two weeks. He also re-stated the ultimate solution would be to establish Roatan as a “Free Port” which would allow us to handle our own policing in a more productive manner. He said there have been times he personally called for one of the three officers in charge of Roatan only to find all three of them off the island at the same time. Governor Everett stated the island had but four investigators working and that was not nearly enough personnel. He also spoke of putting into effect legislation requiring the airlines and the ferry boat companies to record identification on every passenger on and off the island. The Governor was very supportive of the upcoming Mayor’s meeting plan. Mr. Julio Galindo, a Mayoral candidate in the upcoming elections thought the group should send the Governor, The Mayor, several business people and himself to Tegucigalpa to meet personally with the Minister of Security. He felt it was the Central Governments job to provide the island with proper Police protection and they should be made aware of our near crisis situation. Ms Rosa Hendricks spoke of needing private funding in order to provide housing for the D.G.I.C. (investigators) personnel trying to live on the island. Mr. Vegas spoke of controlling the immigration problems that he was convinced was at the root of the crime problem. He also pointed out the honest Hondurans pouring onto the island, although not necessarily guilty of criminal activities were guilty of overloading the already stressed public services by not paying their share of income and property taxes. So you see the power of numbers is once again at work on beautiful Roatan. Any thoughts on the subject? E-mail mayan.....hn http://www.roatanet.com To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/roatan/ roatan- : | |
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