Road Closures
From 4 p.m.: A.J.C. Brouwers road closed at Welgelegen road. No more traffic towards Church Hill roundabout. Zagersgut Road closed at the Coralita Road. No more traffic towards Bush Road. Bush Road closed at the Zagersgut road. No more traffic in the direction of Church Hill roundabout.
From 4 p.m.: Walter A. Nisbeth Road closed at the Prince Bernard bridge. No more traffic toward Bush Road.

From 4:30 p.m.: Walter A. Nisbeth Road closed at the W. Percy M. Labega Street. No more traffic toward Prince Bernard Bridge.

From 4:45 p.m.: Manzanilla Steeg closed at WA Nisbeth Road. No more traffic direction W. A. Nisbeth Road. Tamarind Steeg closed at the W. A. Nisbeth Road. No more traffic in the direction of W. A. Nisbeth Road. J. Richardson Road closed at the W. A. Nisbeth Road. No more traffic in the direction W. A. Nisbeth Road.

From 5 p.m.: W.A. Nisbeth Road closed at H. Beaujon Street. No more traffic towards Prince Bernard Bridge.

From 5:15 p.m.: C.W. Vlaun Street closed. No more traffic towards W.A. Nisbeth Road.  W.A. Nisbeth Road closed at the Salt Pickers roundabout. No more traffic towards Prince Bernard bridge.

From 5:30 p.m.: Peterson Street closed at the Cannegieter Street. No more traffic direction Salt Pickers roundabout. W.A .Nisbeth Road closed at the Salt Pickers roundabout. No more traffic towards Peterson Street.

THE HAGUE /St. Maarten – VVD-MP André Bosman will remain openly critical about the developments in St. Maarten, he told Caribisch Netwerk-reporter Jamila Baaziz after reading her interview with Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams. “As long as the Netherlands had the ultimate responsibility through the guarantee function I keep looking after it.”

“I do not want to flaunt the guarantee function all the time but it helps to threaten with it. Justice Minister Duncan has left now. If we do not see action in the countries themselves, we have to intervene,” Bosman said. He added that he “could well imagine” that the guarantee function would have been activated if Duncan had remained in office.

Bosman said that he finds it remarkable that Prime Minister Wescot-Williams says that the integrity in St. Maarten is well-regulated, while she is linked through family ties with the recently rejected plans for the Justice Park. “The prime minister had to be the icon of integrity. Especially the prime minister has to be transparent and honest.”

Bosman does not understand Wescot-Williams’ recent statement that everything has been regulated properly.”If St. Maarten has regulated the integrity well, the rules have to apply to everybody, Bosman said, “Why has it not been made public that her son is involved in that project? Duncan knew this and I think the prime minister knew it as well. And why did the parliament not ask questions about this?”

Bosman has not been in touch with Members of Parliament in St. Maarten, but he says: “I am certainly going to do that.”He understands that on an island like St. Maarten a politician quickly has ties with people who are involved in projects and plans, but, he says: “Be open about it and make sure that you are not involved in the decision making process.”

Dr. Muller, who has 25 years of experience in his field, started working at the hospital last Monday. Dr. Tilanus will begin on June 1.

“The employment of these specialists is an important initiative in providing quality care to the general public,” the SMMC stated in a press release. “The new general surgeon and pediatrician will be working together with General Surgeon Dr. Holiday and Pediatrician Dr. Offringa respectively. St. Maarten Medical Center looks forward to a good working relationship with the specialists and hopes to employ more specialists to serve the community of St. Maarten and its neighboring islands.”

Next week Saturday SMMC-representatives will be at the Flinx Recruitment Expo Dutch Caribbean (Fred) at the World Trade Center in Rotterdam to attract more specialists and medical professionals to work in St. Maarten.

The letter in which the eight MPs request the meeting is dated May 15 and was submitted to Samuel. “The reason for requesting this meeting is the fact that a new majority coalition has been formed and it has become necessary to replace the chairman reflecting the new political reality,” the letter states.

It is signed by the two members of the DP-faction – Leroy de Weever and Roy Marlin – the five members of the UP-faction – Gracita Arrindell, Sylvia Meyers, Jules James, Johan Leonard and Ruth Douglass – and by Independent MP Romain Laville.

Article 27 of the rules of order state that public meetings of parliament have to be called within fourteen days after a request by at least three MPs. Date and time are decided upon by the president. Article 35 deals with calls for urgent meetings, but unlike article 27, it does not contain a rule about the time within which the meeting must be held. In paragraph 3, the article states that “the chairman decides about the day and the time the urgent meeting is held.”

The problems are not limited to the Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations but they are also found at the dependencies in Caribbean Netherlands of the Ministries of Education, Culture and Science, Social Affairs and Labor, and Public Health, Welfare and Sport. “These problems show similarities,” the audit chamber writes. It is of the opinion that Plasterk has to take action.

“The minister has a coordinating role in Caribbean Netherlands. According to the General Audit Chamber that role can be interpreted in a meaningful way,” the audit chamber’s report states. Plasterk said in a reaction to the report that he will make the ministers aware of their responsibilities, but that they remain themselves responsible for their policy in Caribbean Netherlands.

According to the audit chamber so far the minister of Kingdom Relations has no insight in the handling of the division of the estate of the former country Netherlands Antilles. This is due to the fact that the committee that has to make a proposal to arrive at the division of assets and liabilities between the Netherlands, Aruba, Curacao and St. Maarten, provides insufficient insight in the progress of its work in progress reports. The insight in the progress of programs to strengthen the administration, the legal order, the economy and the education system is also still insufficient.

The Netherlands has made €522.8 million (close to $680 million) in advance payments available for these programs for the period 2006-2012. In 2014 the evaluation of the programs will be ready.

Marlin described the ground breaking ceremonies as “another step for the St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation in carrying out the housing vision, to assist in the dream of people who wants a roof over their heads.”

He spoke of students who would return from studying abroad and want to live in a certain environment. He noted that although they may be able to afford rents such as $1200, they give their families a safe and decent dwelling.

He stated that even though they may pay the rent, they will be contributing to someone’s mortgage or pension as well. He indicated that even though that mortgage may be paid out, “with these kinds of initiatives they will have an opportunity to be able to start off by owning their own home instead of paying rent for 20 or 30 years.”

He explained that once they own the properties after paying the mortgage after several years they can move on by selling the property and move on to a different district where they may be able to own instead of a two bedroom home “with a swimming pool with a picket fence and a dog in the yard,” Marlin added.

He further noted that he understood from members of the community that the parcel of land which the Housing Development Foundation has purchased for this project was earmarked for a playground. He mentioned that when some members of the community heard about the development, they were upset which resulted in some hostility among residents when they see “more and more of their green spaces being made into housing projects.”

“May 16 is known as Ground Breaking Day since it was one year ago that the foundation broke ground for the 16 villas of the Belvedere project,” Director of the foundation Henry Lynch said. He mentioned that yesterday was also the day that they have received the keys for the last sold home in Belvedere. He jokingly said that “they have been working so hard that they even forget to shave their faces.”  Lynch indicated that they are still working to find affordable properties to build and sell more homes to the people of St. Maarten at affordable prices.

He explained that the property that have acquired in the Ebenezer Estate is nearly 1,800 square meters and they plan to build 2 two bedrooms homes and 4 three bedrooms for sale which will range from $147,000 to $180,000.

The minister responsible for infrastructure, William Marlin, has constantly inquired how it was possible to build so many homes on such a small property, Lynch said. He explained that even though the property is small they are able to fit the homes which will be larger than the Belvedere ones.

He maintains that the profit made from these houses will go towards building more affordable homes and indicated that it will be completed within 6 months and as a result the buyers will be able to move into their new homes by Christmas.  He called on all interested persons to contact their offices if they are interested for further information, Lynch added.

After finding out that another march with the same purpose is going to be held today he said that it is better to support the march which Lisa Alexander announced on Wednesday. “I am asking the people to all support this march. I will add my march to this one so we will have more people to spread the word to our government,” he said.

The solidarity march will begin at 4p.m. at the Le Grand Marche on Bush Road. “I ask everybody to bring along their grievances in writing, and sign the petition” Wilson said. “We will march from Le Grand Marche on to the government building where we will present those grievances and demand new elections.”

While most would agree that the initiative by the prime minister to encourage members of the civil service, as well as public service to lead a healthy life style, the recent developments is not being well received by others, especially Pantophlet, a certified zumba and fitness instructor.

Pantophlet, who has been involved with Zumba for the better part of 6 years, said that she was certified in Jamaica and is a member of the Fitness Travel Professionals, whose headquarters in based in the USA.

“I have come to realize how many great things zumba has done for me but some people on St. Maarten is not putting health as their number one priority,” Pantophlet stated. In her effort to get the attention of the 9 to 5 workers, Pantophlet was instrumental in getting the management of TelEm and Ennia involved.

“It was by far easier to get people involved at the place of employment after they had finished working for the day,” Pantophlet added. But she did not only cater for the ladies who wanted to lose a few pounds, she also got involved with ranks from the VKS and that was where the intensity and approach varied.

“Some people are now taking zumba on a negative sense, zumba is a dance movement that has positive effects on the mind and the body and the sessions for the ladies and men are completely different.”

But in light of the recent attacks on Prime Minister Wescot-Williams, Pantophlet was adamant in her defense. “People need to keep politics out of zumba, there are other pressing issues that have to be dealt with on St Maarten, after a long week of work, people need an opportunity to get some stress relief and unwind,” Pantophlet pointed out.

According to Pantophlet, zumba fitness sessions which became popular since 1990 is extremely popular in most countries. In her response to the critics, the prime minister went as far as inviting her fellow politicians to get involved and Pantophlet was only too happy to shed some light in that suggestion.

“The training for the ladies is different for the men, if I am training the men, the moves are different, but some men prefer to stay away because they think that it’s all about wining and dancing.”

Pantophlet re-iterated the call made by the prime minister for more people to get involved in the zumba fitness sessions. “It is the view of some that when the prime minister spend 1 hour on Fridays in the sessions when she has the time, she is not doing her work, but that is her way of getting stress relief and a chance to interact with normal people ahead of the new week,” Pantophlet said.

However, Pantophlet’s major concern is what will happen to Patti’s Zumba Fitness, if the people are encouraged to stop attending the sessions. “It is not Tempo money they are paying me who is a local, I am doing this for the benefit of the community. What is it they want to see somebody else running the sessions, do they want to see a door closed for me, what is the main reason for these attacks.”

According to Pantophlet, she applauded the article that was written by the prime minister which appeared in the media yesterday. “I keep reading these articles and why suddenly is zumba a bad thing, why is suddenly zumba a political topic, some people just have to stop being so small minded,” she concluded.

The 23-year-old defendant told the court that he was not involved in the robbery and that this was the reason he appealed his sentence.

The judges reviewed video footage of the robbery in the court room. It showed how two robbers with tee shirts pulled over their heads entered the supermarket around 8 p.m. One of them jumped over the counter and went for the cash register. The other robber forced a customer down on the ground and stay put – holding a gun against his head. The footage did not reveal much detail about the possible identity of the robbers.

The 13-year-old daughter of the supermarket owner told police officers later that she had seen one of the robbers carry a black bag with the logo of the United People’s party.

Another witness told police how the robbers ran into her garden after the robbery, that the defendant was carrying a UP-bag and a gun and that he told her they had just “touched up the supermarket.” The robbers stole $350 from the cash register.

During a search at the defendant’s house, investigators found a black UP-bag, a black shirt like the ones the robbers wore, and a pair of gloves. During the robbery, the two men had been wearing similar gloves.

Detectives found a pellet gun in the garden of the witness. The Dutch Forensic Institute NFI later found the defendant’s DNA-profile on the weapon.

But the accused, nicknamed Burger, explained that someone had offered him the gun for sale and that he had handled it but in the end did not buy it.

Solicitor-General Stein considered the explanations by the defendant unlikely and said that the statements made by the witnesses and the technical evidence are sufficient proof for a conviction. He asked the court to confirm the verdict from the Court in First Instance.

Attorney Bommel maintained that the witness statement is unreliable and that it had not been signed either. “On essential points the statement does not match that of others. “The witness apparently has something to hide,” she said, adding that the video footage offers insufficient supporting evidence. That her client’s DNA was found on the weapon is “insufficient proof that he had the weapon at his disposal,” attorney Pommel said and asked the court to acquit her client.

The court will pronounce its ruling on June 5.

In the letter Wiels made critical remarks about UTS’ role in what he considers the illegal SMS2Win lottery, a product of Robbie’s Lottery and its owner Robbie dos Santos. Wiels wanted to know whether the construction whereby call credit bought at UTS is used to buy SMS2Win-tickets is legal.

In its press release UTS maintains that it has the necessary concessions through its subsidiaries to exploit telecommunication infrastructure and to offer telecom services. One of the products UTS offers is the so-called premium text message service for which it has signed contracts with several content providers.

“Such a contract regulates the use of our technical facilities by content providers to offer products to end users via sms-services. By sending a sms (text message – ed.) to the sms shortcode of the content provider end users are able to buy services directly from them.”

UTS maintains that it offers its technology to the content provider. UTS is responsible for the telecom service and it pays taxes on the telecom services and associated administrative services it sells to the content provider. The content provider – in this case Robby’s Lottery – is responsible for the service it offers via the sms network to the end user.

According to UTS the content provider is responsible for paying taxed and license fees and this party also has to determine in which country these charges are paid. “This is also true for a content provider that offers lottery-services to Chippie end users.”

UTS emphasized that the end user determines what he or she does with the call credit bought from the company. As this newspaper reported already reported on May 8, three days after Wiels was murdered, UTS charges content providers a service fee and it pays the providers once per month the amount Chippie-users have spent on lottery-tickets. UTS waited with an official reaction until after Wiels’ funeral.

“In the past three years the amount UTS received for this fee represents not even one percent of the total consolidated net income of the UTS-group,” the company stated.

UTS maintains that it is not responsible for the content of the communication that flows through its network of for the sale of products and services that are offered on website that are accessible through the company’s internet connection.

UTS also stated that local authorities have never indicated that it is prohibited to offer end users the option to use their call credit to buy services of other providers.