Florence Hall, Trelawny – The police were put on high alert yesterday amidst reports that residents who had failed to secure tickets for the Olympic Gala celebrations at the Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium, were planning to storm the venue.

Commanding Officer for the parish, Superintendent Linnette Williams-Martin, said she had heard the reports, but gave sturdy reassurance that organisers of the event, honouring the Olympic athletes who started their western tour of the island Tuesday and patrons attending the event, which was scheduled to kick off at 5:00 in the evening, had nothing to worry about.

“There is enough security. More than enough,” she assured the Observer West yesterday.

“There is not a problem,” she added, noting that a joint military/police security detail would be in place to offer adequate protection.

Residents of the area have been complaining bitterly since Tuesday, when the athletes journeyed by motorcade to the historic seaside town, that they were not able to secure tickets to the free event. They claimed that unscrupulous persons, who had managed to hoard tickets for the event, were selling them for as much as $500 a piece.

By yesterday afternoon the residents’ anger had apparently overflowed and there were reports that the four tyres of the vehicle belonging to the parish manager of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) – the agency responsible for distributing the tickets to the public – had been slashed.

Residents had reportedly accused the agency of showing favouritism in distributing the tickets.

“Di whole ting distributed like a politics,” said an unidentified woman who called the newsroom yesterday. “Certain people get lump sum and a sell them back and young men in the area threatening to tear down the fence if they can’t get in.”

Superintendent Williams-Martin said she had heard of the selling of the tickets, but had had no proof of such activities.

Meanwhile, Mayor of Falmouth Colin Gager condemned the reports that residents of the town had been selling the tickets.

He said the council, which was integrally involved with the planning of the event to honour the Olympic champions – five of whom are from the parish – would not be supporting any such illegal activity.

“We wouldn’t be supporting anything like that,” he said. “This would be illegal. It’s a free event for this side of the island and I would not be supporting this.”

He said, however, that it was obvious that not everyone would be able to attend the event which can accommodate only 12,000 seated patrons although its total capacity is 25,000. He said the stadium could only accommodate a certain amount and that the police were conscious about crowd control and cited this as the reason it was a tickets only event.

The JCDC was responsible for distributing tickets in the parish while the parish Council had the responsibility to distribute to business places and government agencies. The agency’s regional manager, Marjorie Leyden-Vernon, said yesterday that some 12,600 tickets had been allocated for distribution. In neighbouring Montego Bay, the JCDC office said it distributed some 1,292 tickets, while the Westmoreland office distributed 400.