Dear Editor,

This is an open letter to the commissioner of police, the deputy superintendent in charge of Ocho Rios and the minister of culture re Obscene Publications (Suppression of) Act – dacrying obscene objects (large erect penises on rastafarian carvings) in Fern Gully.

I am an attorney-at-law and I believe a decent citizen of Jamaica with a fair degree of moral standing. I wish to bring to your attention the above matter as I wince every time I drive through Fern Gully with my young daughter who is almost three years old, as there are several rastafarian sculptures with large erect penises further enlarged for a more egregious effect.

These sculptures (“obscene objects”) are in my view in breach of section 2 of the Obscene Publications (Suppression of) Act. The section reads inter alia, “Any person who –

(a) for purposes of or by way of trade, makes or produces or has in his possession, any obscene objects…shall be guilty of an offence.”

The Concise Oxford Dictionary, 10th edition, defines obscene as “offensive or disgusting by accepted standards of morality and decency”.

The situation is worsening as at least six separate stalls along the Fern Gully now display for sale these obscene objects (in my view) that are multiplying not only in the number of objects for sale but the size and erection of the penises prominently protruding from the sculptures.

The decline in our moral standing as a nation is traceable to glaring lawlessness. These obscene objects are just one of many examples of depravity throughout the island. The decent Jamaicans still left in this island must stand together and act or fall together leaving our children’s future at serious risk of blight.

Kent Gammon

kentgammon@gmail.com