Same experience

Dear Editor:

Well done on your Coordinator's Note carried in Hospitality Jamaica edition of Wednesday, February 20.

As you can imagine, I have to pass the particular Montego Bay KFC traffic lights cited in your commentary very frequently on my way to the Town House restaurant. I, like your friends, am very fearful of driving up alongside a gang of boys waiting for me. The other day I decided to give them the contents of change in my purse. After handing it over to one young boy, it was inspected and thrown back at me, hitting my head with "dat caan buy nothing". I now go the long way round on Queens Drive, but I see the same washers are now at the Baywest intersection plying their trade.

In regards to the hotels' huge electricity bill ('$18 million electricity bill shocks resorts'), I wonder if they have the system that I have seen especially in Spain where the room's electricity is turned on when the room pass card is inserted into the meter, which means that the air conditioner, etc., are on only when the room is occupied.

Best regards,

I am, etc.,
Julia Snead

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Child labour

Dear Editor:

I noted with interest your article about the youthful window washers in Montego Bay. It may be helpful to know where the basic problem lies in dealing with this problem. While the boys are annoying, disrespectful, fear-inducing, and rude, what they are engaged in is also ILLEGAL.

Namely, child labour, which is clearly contrary to the recently passed Child Care and Protection Act.

Responsibility for addressing this issue and enforcing this law lies with the Child Development Agency (CDA) through its various departments. However, as in many other instances where the CDA is mandated to assume responsibility but doesn't, this is one which it chooses to ignore.

There may, of course, be legitimate reasons for its slowness to action but my guess is that it is a simple case of lack of will and commitment.

This particular aspect of the bigger child care and protection picture is one that should be easily managed and solved. Please continue to agitate on its behalf. Unfortunately, there is a whole mountain of other issues that the CDA refuses to act on that are much more serious and far-reaching than a few squeegy boys, but that is another issue for another time - though I have been searching for many years for someone in the journalistic field to take an interest in it. Maybe you can drop your role as a tourism reporter and take on the new role of investigative reporter.

Thank you,

I am, etc.,
Ron Good