Guyana prison fire
On Sunday, inmates at Guyana’s largest prison allegedly burned down the largely wooden facility and exchanged gunfire with prison officers, one of whom later died at the hospital. Live videos were posted on Facebook as the prison burned. A Beaconite couldn’t help but ponder the situation in the Virgin Islands. Her Majesty’s Prison is certainly a lot more peaceful than other prisons in the region, but it nonetheless has seen multiple adverse incidents in recent months. She hopes local authorities will learn from the incident in Guyana, and double down on efforts to properly secure the Balsam Ghut facility. Carrying out more random security checks to remove contraband items might be a good place to start.
By the numbers
During his midterm statement on Monday night, Premier Dr. Orlando Smith admitted that his government has “not done enough to communicate at all times with the people of the territory about our efforts.” In light of that statement, here are the Beaconite’s favourite numbers of the week:
• It has been 27 days since the Beaconite hand-delivered a letter to Dr. Smith’s office in hopes of scheduling a midterm interview. Despite several calls to his office since then, no interview has been scheduled.
• It has also been 27 days since the Beaconite hand-delivered a letter to Health and Social Development Minister Ronnie Skelton’s office in hopes of scheduling a midterm interview. Despite several calls to his office since then, no interview has been scheduled.
• It has been 140 days since Dr. Smith held a press conference.
For his part, the premier did promise in his speech that his government would “fix” the disconnect “with more regular updates and communications.” This Beaconite hopes so.
Double your pleasure
One of a Beaconite’s major regrets over his 3.5 years in the Virgin Islands is that he hasn’t visited Puerto Rico more often. Located just 90 miles west, Puerto Rico has some of the most beautiful cities and people the Beaconite has ever seen. Though he went there for a conference in 2015, he didn’t get a chance to explore the island in earnest until last week. The Beaconite thoroughly enjoyed seeing Independence Day fireworks, exploring San Juan, delving deep into the Camuy River Cave Park, and doing other fun activities. In fact, he found the island so nice he wants to see it twice, and so he booked a ticket return this weekend.
Gov’t vehicle
A Beaconite believes that there could be a legitimate reason for a public officer to drive a government vehicle on the weekend. For instance, perhaps there is a government event or other public function. However, he can see no reason why such a vehicle should be parked in a no-parking zone. But this is what happened on Sunday morning in front of the Pasea Estate Rite Way. A Jeep Cherokee with the statutory-body plate number GSB 76 remained in the no-parking zone for the entire time the Beaconite completed his grocery run. He hopes that authorities, who have encouraged the public to report potential abuse of public vehicles, will investigate. And if the driver has an explanation, the Beaconite would be happy to consider publishing it in this section next week.
QEII Park
A Beaconite has been pleased to see more improvements to the Queen Elizabeth II Park, where he often jogs alongside an increasing number of other park visitors. A few trashcans have been added fairly recently, and a fence has been constructed around a pond and a ghut near the children’s play area. These are positive steps. However, he has one more request: The ghut is foul smelling and it appears to need cleaning. He hopes this can happen soon. And over the longer term, the ghut also might need to be redesigned so that it can empty itself out more effectively. In spite of the ghut issues, however, the Beaconite continues to be extremely pleased with the beautiful park, which he finds to be a wonderful addition to the capital city.
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