Professional Documents
Culture Documents
S TATIA N EWS
V OLUME 1, ISSUE 16 O CTOBER 13, 2009
Marihuana,
E DITORIAL page 2
Apna, page 3
Education, page 4
My Best Friend
Project, page 7
Knip Trees are giving fruit now
Announcements,
When I watch Gerrit Krol on BVN, he page 8
derlandse Antillen tegemoet.” Let’s ho‐
always says: “Lekker weer op de boven‐
pe the Antillean cabinet will take their
windse eilanden, onbewolkt, geen kans
responsibility serious.
op regen” and I always have to laugh.
Gerrit Krol thinks we don’t like rain.
It’s great to live on an island like this.
You worry about it’s future, you talk
We love rain!
politics all the time, and still, every day,
you enjoy living in this beautiful unspoi‐
Yesterday night and this morning some
led fertile part of the world. Unspoiled if
rain fell. It was about time, because all
we clean up the dump and fertile, that
the grass was brown. Now you see some
is, if enough rain falls...
green coming up again.
Enjoy Statianews,
Statia is a beautiful place to live and let
us hope it will stay that way.
Annemieke Kusters
In politics, some strange things are going
on in the cabinet in Curacao. Let’s hope
they make a good decision about the
candidate for our new Gezaghebber.
Bijleveld says: “Ik zie met vertrouwen de
M ARIHUANA
On today’s press conference, Mr. Roy Hooker and Joshua did not agree with that: “Marihuana doesn’t
Mr. Joshua Spanner had a discussion about Marihu‐ make you steal, when you smoke a joint, you have a
ana. nice meditation, you eat something and you go to
Joshua said: “From when I was born, alcohol was sleep. That is not what happens if you drink alcohol.
legal, nobody made a fuss about that. People die
from alcohol, but alcohol is legal. Statia agreed for He thinks that if everyone is aloud to have 5 marihu‐
euthanasia, which is assisted suicide. They agreed ana plants in their yard, just like in Holland, there
on same sex marriages, no problem with that. But would be no reason to steal.
they don’t agree for the free purchase of marihua‐
na. The effect of marihuana on one’s health are far He also said that a coffeeshop would help get the
less then the effects of alcohol. smoking of joints off the streets and that the soft
drugs policy in the Netherlands are used as an exam‐
Mr. Hooker replied that mariahuana tend to open ple in neighboring countries in Europe.
the door to illiciet drugs. And that youngsters are
stealing to get money for it.
A PNA
Last week in Shedding Light, Mr. Roy Hooker, our first weekly press conference we had, that the 2,1
commissioner of Finance, gave some explanation million NAF Statia still owes Apna will not be paid by
about pensions. Today, on the weekly press confer‐ the Dutch, but has to come from local taxes.
ence with the executive council, again, the APNA
was mentioned. Now a lot of people have been paying money to the
pensionfund without being registered. The question
An example is were that money went.
To explain the situation, it is good to voice the con‐ APNA problems all over
cern of some people. There is for example one
teacher at the Gwendoline van Puttenschool, who All over the Antillean islands you hear strange
has been working there since 1995, and who has things about debts to Apna. On the frontpage of
been paying Apna money for his pension. This man Monday’s Daily Herald it says: “Bijleveld‐Schouten,
is retiring now, only to find out he was never regis‐ through her spokesman on Monday, confirmed
tered in the pension fund. When asked about this statements by Bonaire’s leader of government Jopie
specific situation, Mr. Hooker said that this man has Abraham that she stopped payment of NAF 52 mil‐
a right to his money and after his registration, he lion to pay off debts to general pension fund
will get his money. He also said that this is the re‐ APNA.”
sponsibility of the board of that school.
52 million? To APNA? That can’t be true! And if it’s
Teachers and pensions is a difficult matter. Mr. true, what did happen on Statia? How big is our
Hooker said that a lot of teacher stay here for two debt to APNA?
or three years and they have to make sure that
their pension money will be paid out after their Vervangend Pensioen
retirement. If you can prove you paid the money,
you must be able to receive it. Mr. Hooker said a laborer that has worked for 30
years, will get 150 NAF “vervangend pensioen” if he
The debt to APNA never was registered and never paid for his pen‐
About the debt Statia has to Apna: It remains a sion. He also said that some people have to buy
mystery. It said in the Daily Herald that the federal back their pension, because they haven’t paid
government received 3,2 million NAF was to pay off enough over the years. He reassured that if any one
Statia’s debt to Apna from 1999‐ 2005, and in the has been paying for their pension, they have a right
13,2 million debt relieve that Statia got from Hol‐ to that money after retirement.
land, the debt to Apna from 2006 – 2008 was in‐
cluded. I remember Mr. Hooker saying, in the very
P AGE 4 E DUCATION Oct. 13, 2009 S TATIA N EWS
Sergio 10 years ago at the Sergio 10 years later in his
Sugartown Bus Stop. new place, close to the
Bus Stop.
The First & Last Stop or Wings & Things is at the corner of the Korthalsweg and Sandy Road.
P AGE 6 D ISCUSSION Oct. 13, 2009 S TATIA N EWS
P AGE 7 L OCAL N EWS Oct. 13, 2009 S TATIA N EWS
Not only would this one‐on‐one time be beneficial
to the kids as a social outlet, but it could be another
means of the medical school giving back to the
community. A child can feel special that they are
being paid attention to by having someone they can
open up to without any worries or inhibitions while
the mentor can serve as a positive role model/
influence.
At the end of each program a grand "Mentor/
Mega D and Misha Spanner, project planner of the Mentee Talent Show" will be organized in which
Mega D Youth Foundation. both the medical school and community would be
invited to the event.
There are many anticipating volunteers from the
medical school community who have been rallied
together to participate in this program. The pro‐
gram will be that a mentor (medical student) would
be paired with a child from the local elementary
schools and would be required to meet with the
child at least once a month every month.
In these meetings, the mentor would serve as a
"Best Friend” or a big brother or sister and partici‐
pate in some recreational activity not consisting of Boys will be tutored by male students, girls by
funds (movie from a laptop, sports, park, beach, their female counterparts.
P AGE 8 A NNOUNCEMENT Oct. 13, 2009 S TATIA N EWS