All in one year
Hopefully the last major event of the year was the accident involving an American Airlines aircraft. As it turned out, it was not really a “crash” in the sense of having dropped out of the sky, but it missed the runway, crashed through a wall fence and ended up on the other side of the road to Port Royal. The best word to use in this case is “accident”.
The fact that the approach lights were not working now turns out to be a non-reason for the accident. Not only have all other aeroplanes landed there without incident since November when the lights stopped working, but there is no such international law. In any event, the aeroplanes have their own approach lights which I believe not only signal the tower but provide some lights for visibility for the aircraft pilots.
In Jamaica helicopters carry searchlights when hunting down criminals. Indeed, one person in 1976 jokingly remarked during the state of emergency that when the helicopter flies at night with the searchlights in full beam they saw when “ackee open pon tree”. Because of the AA accident there was a flashback on radio about plane crashes in and around Jamaica and the Avianca crash near Montego Bay in 1960 was remembered and spoken about.
Earlier this year when there was an attempted hijack in Montego Bay, I would allude to the Avianca crash, but I incorrectly put it as happening in 1958. I am both sorry and happy about the error. I am sorry to have misled my readers and realised my mistake only last week. Some people have made me feel that I am an alien from outer space because I am usually accurate. I am happy and relieved that I am after all a part of the human family.
Earlier this year too there would be a controversy over Rampin’ Shop. The controversy started when Ardenne High School principal Esther Tyson wrote about it in a newspaper. One event that there has not been much mention of is the fact that Windward Junior High (formerly Windward Road All-Age School) won the TVJ Junior Schools’ Challenge this year.
When I was a child, primary school children were poor, went to school barefooted and by all reports, primary schools in Jamaica had over-crowded classrooms and were looked down upon by the elite. Today one such school, having become a junior high, has come first in an All-island Schools’ Challenge Quiz. Robert Phillips, who was two forms above me at Jamaica College and himself an educator, is peeved that there has been very little prominence for this achievement by Windward Junior High.
In 2009 Usain Bolt, ambassador-at-large, broke his own Olympic record to retain the title of fastest man in the world. This year alone, Bolt openly admitted to his earlier experiments with ganja, was in a bad car accident, received honours disproportionate to his achievements and took sides in the Gully-Gaza controversy, which hopefully has now come to an end owing to the prime minister’s intervention a few weeks ago.
In 2009 the national president of the Seventh Day Adventist Church became governor-general. This caused quite a controversy that was really confined to Adventists themselves who felt that their beliefs and rules would be compromised. In the end, everything quieted down but Sir Patrick Allen has not yet been put to the test. Since he became governor-general, Queen Elizabeth has not arrived here on a Saturday to see exactly what he would do.
The dual-citizenship cases of a few members of parliament would cause by-elections this year, all of which were won by the Jamaica Labour Party. The issues are not yet finished and will be carried over to 2010. Will the JLP win any more by-elections in this climate of taxation anger? Who knows?
In 2009 there was the announcement that the headquarters of the Jamaica Defence Force would be removed from Up Park Camp to Vernamfield in Clarendon. I wrote of my concern about using Up Park Camp for housing and extending the political garrison. I have no problem with moving the JDF HQ to Vernamfield. But I have a problem in using Up Park Camp to strengthen a political garrison.
This year I wrote on at least three occasions about the way “robot” drivers and vendors are treated by the authorities. I am like a lone voice in the wilderness on these matters but the struggle continues. It was a year when there was an acid spill in the Kingston Harbour and a year when fish died in the Black River and Appleton Estate in St Elizabeth would dispute whether it was caused by dunder or by the engine of a boat. Now the sea by Port royal is being monitored for any spill from the damaged American Airlines aircraft.
A good new year’s resolution would be to monitor our waterways to ensure that they are not polluted any further than they already are. Another new year’s resolution could be to pass on historical information once you hear or read it. Have a Happy New Year!
