calling trw

the way i look at it is if crucians and west indians actually gaveashit this problem would have been addressed years ago but as usual they'll do nothing for anyone unless there's something in it for them,mr springer is just running for the senate again and thats the only reason he's addressing it now,i feed these guys all week long because alot of them don't want to listen to a sermon before they get food and clothing and so yes i slip them soup or if they have cash or not enough i'll give them a burger and yes my boss bitches about it and i just tell him to shut up because it's the right thing to do and i'll pay the difference and to his credit he's never once taken my money

you are right trw.
i agree with you.
not in the too distant past, the island was so much more in tune with the inhabitants of the place...i mean there was corruption then too, but not in the massive amounts there is now. things were taken care of and there was pride...there were soooo many jobs as well and both the east and west side were busy, albiet, the west has always been the more laid back of the two towns...but things were popping. bars and restaurants did so very well and there were more tourists. they had just begun recovering from the fountain valley golf course massacre when i arrived there in 1974...(i lived there until mid 1981). i do feel, from what i have read here on this board...that most things have gone downhill where the government is concerned and what said government does with federal funds earmarked for things such as education, homelessness and so on.

before i go on...i do not want to be wordy, but i am trying to convey something here and i do so not want it to be misconstrued or ones to take offense. the way ones type things may not be how others interpret them, therefore it is difficult to determine whether ones are being sarcastic, cruel, or just plain funny...because we do not know one another...therefore sometimes we get upset with each other...for no reason. trw...i have meditated heavily over some of the things that you have said and that i may have misconstrued them as you being mean. i have decided that you just have a really offbeat sense of humour and are possibly a nice guy.

i know with certainty that when HESS and Martin Marietta started cutting back things started falling apart...because HESS employed so many local people...as did Martin Marietta until it was no more...without that income, even ones that owned houses were forced out of them and had to begin living in apts. and projects simply to survive. before that time, there was a connectivity within the island as a whole...people still cared about one another and there were so many softball, cricket and soccer vibes...lots of things for the youth to do...schools were not the best, but they were not like they are now. then the big hurricane came and ruined so so so much...and many never recovered from that...i know that for a fact because a family of my best friends from st croix were displaced and moved here with me for a very long time until they could get on their feet. it was a tight squeeze here with a two bedroom house designed for 2 that turned into for 6 people, but we did it because that is how we did while living on island when there were problems...we helped each other no matter what. i know that ones still help each other now, but...hardly anyone can afford to help and be involved with others when they can barely feed their families. i see ones write that ones should get jobs and so...where are they? there are not near enough jobs for ones when one of the potential major employers on the island does not provide more income for the island...instead they would rather hire contractors to do a job a local used to do...i know these things for a fact because my ex was an A operator at HESS. tourism is at a real low and not just because of the economy...but because the ones heading tourism are not using their heads in my opinion. i mean has the casino paid their taxes to the island yet, and if they did is that how the governor built the new bathroom in his security barracks? so the economy and natural disasters have occurred and caused devastation and here comes the good old government...who feels that although they are under US jurisdiction, they are also under their own jurisdiction, so lets manipulate the funds a little more...we are a small island...who has time to look into our fuckery? you see me? so no one did anything about the fraud...so they got a little bolder and started manipulating funding in a bigger more blatant way...got more creative and gave bigger words to lies, thinking that no one would notice.

then we have the local police...back then (sounds like i am old), for true, there were some that were on the take shall we say, but not many. the police at that time were more like the police portrayed in the denzel movie, the mighty quinn...they were policing in a family matter...minor things were taken care of with a family talk...as long as ganja was not blatantly flashed about, the gardens were most times left alone. not many were on the take. now, with the murder rate as high as it is, crime arising at an alarming rate (and i blame these things partially on the economy, as ones are forced to do things they would never do in order to feed their families...ones that would never give hard drugs a first look have succumbed to them...in their eyes there is no hope), the homeless rate rising, and HIV/AIDS running about undetected...the police...no matter how corrupted and familial they have become, are overwhelmed. the west indian males pride is a funny thing...they would hardly ever, unless forced into a corner, admit that they are overwhelmed...and the last thing they would do when their manhood is in question as far as controlling their portion of the world is concerned is tell someone they needed help...and DO NOT call a west indian man incompetent...OH MY...you see what i am trying to get too...of course they ran the federales off...they did not want them to see their incompetence or helplessness in their lack of controlling the island...so it will just get worse and worse....and as far as citizens stepping up and saying anything...well, with the fear of retaliation from gangs and/or police or neighborhoods...well there is nothing worse than a rat in the caribbean...i have witnessed evidence of what happened to some rats while living there and it was not a pretty site. and now that neighborhood unity is not what it once was in many parishes on island, citizens fear retaliation even more. so the few non corrupted cops are really helpless.

when there are no jobs, and things get to a certain point, sometimes ones figure out how to use the system...fear of being homeless will lead young women to feel that if she has a youth, at least she will get housing and food from the government...even though the government is not maintaining these projects as they should, at least it is a roof. and she feels if she is underage and perhaps her mother or father is laid off and cannot find a job...her having a baby would guarantee them all having a roof over their head...and of course she will allow her boyfriend to stay over several nights a week...because when the food runs out he will get some...even if he has to sell a little weed in order to buy it. it is mostly swagger from these youth...deep down they are scared...but we would never know it the way guns are flashed....that is another vibe...find where the guns are coming from...several agencies are obviously not doing their jobs...obviously eyes are turned the other way when cash passes hands...even to someone with a government job.

and what is happening is...
a new generation of undereducated youth are growing up
there are still no jobs
failing and less than adequate health care in these times
the government is more corrupt and blatant about personal purchases than ever before
the schools are falling apart
the neighborhoods are falling apart
people are hungry
and the homeless rate is growing and growing

st croix is developing into a third world country at an alarming rate...and although there are ones there, both locals and continentals, that can maintain through working hard at the few jobs there are or have supplemental income to aid them in their day to day living...please realize that hopelessness is a disheartening and debilitating thing...i feel it is the state of the island as a whole that is to blame and not a particular people.