Fraser slams Walwyn for lack of lighting at Softball field
During the House of Assembly sitting today May 10, 2012, Hon. Fraser was at the time offering his contributions to the debate on the Recreational Trust (Amendment) Act, 2012 when he heatedly stated that while the Virgin Islands has a good record of providing facilities it had the nastiest record as far as maintaining them.
With provisions made in the Bill for an Executive Director, the very outspoken representative said he hopes that will help but he is of the view that it will not change anything.
“I consider it to be despicable and deplorable, the fact that the Old Recreational Ground where Softball is played, has no lights and the Softball League opened a week ago. And they have to play on Saturday and Sunday. This is the ancient past. These things don’t happen anymore. We play ball any time anywhere. These people have to work. The sun is hot. This is unacceptable,” he firmly stated.
The electricity poles which were deemed unsafe were removed on May 4, 2012 and the facility has since been without lighting, affecting games from being played during the night.
Minister for Education and Culture, Hon. Myron Walwyn, who had presented the Bill, interjected and stated that for the sake of clarity that over the past months he had got calls from parents expressing concern over the safety of their children regarding the poles which has not been replaced in “umpteen years”.
“And they were rotten to the core. There was a particular pole …if it had gotten a hard wind, that pole would have fallen to the ground and hurt somebody’s child,” he said.
He said the decision was made to take down the poles which were found to be “rotten to the core”.
“We had to take down every last one and when they came down, I could not believe those poles were up there for that length of time and we have our stalwarts playing at that field.”
Minister Walwyn said he knows it’s the “season we can talk what we want to talk” but the truth must be told that the poles were up for a long time and he was glad to see them down as safety was paramount.
He further added that the new poles have already been ordered which are not cheap and will be erected soon with the lights replaced.
In rising again to continue his debate, Hon. Fraser said he didn’t want it to seem that he was “beating up” on the new member but that when a member rises it should be a point of invitation or a point of order.
Hon. Fraser said he had wanted the information himself and the point he was trying to make was the lights are needed “we have to get them up by whatever means necessary” regardless of which administration took them down.
He also advised not to purchase wooden poles next time, but to buy aluminum ones and to ensure that the lights are also adequate. On that note, he told the House of the inadequate lighting at the Sea Cows Bay Softball field.
The Third District representative sternly told members of the House who were heckling during his presentation that “this is not a joke” and he was not blaming Hon. Walwyn but that the Minister is the person responsible.
“And once you are the man you are responsible … Don’t start talking about what you meet, you are the man. So lets get the facilities in order … all the problems the Territory have you are here to fix them and I will help you fix them that’s all am doing, and reminding you that the problem exist and we need to get it fixed.”
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