ONLINE READERS" COMMENT - Richard "Danny Germs" Austin, a man who was never forgiven

Sunday, February 08, 2015 | 4:46 AM    

The following is a comment from the Jamaica Observer website after news broke on Saturday of the death of former West Indies and Jamaica cricketer Richard Austin.

‘Danny Germs’ was not been a non-entity to many who remember him as a Jamaican player.

I am so ashamed at how the Rebel players were ostracized by our society and left to fall into destitution, poverty and drugs. It is a myth that we Jamaicans are a loving people. When we turn against someone it’s usually to the extreme and we carry that grudge for life. We turned our backs on Lawrence Rowe, Herbert Chang and ‘Danny Germs’. Rowe was able to escape to the US, no such luck for Danny and Herbert.

Yes, Danny and others took “blood money” to go play cricket but Colin Croft, Ezra Mosley, Franklyn Stephenson and Lawrence Rowe have all gone on to do well, I guess that is because none of them were in Jamaica.

I am in the Cross Roads area quite a few days per week while working and would buck up on Danny Germs begging, he was always respectful and most times I would buy him something to eat, patty, a bun, a drink.

Here was a fellow man who made a major mistake in life and it hounded him, with help from us, to an early grave. There was no second chance for him, no redemption, he was not strong enough to beat his drug habit and move on and we as a society just looked on and scorned him.

We need to really look at ourselves and see how we treat people. ‘Danny Germs’ wasn’t a thief or a murderer but we treated as if he had killed many without regret. We treated him worse than a mongrel dog begging in the street.

I am happy to have listened to ‘Danny Germs’ rambling about West Indies cricket, “these boys have no passion” he muttered once, and he was correct. He came along when there was no way to get into a team made up of Greenidge, Haynes, Richards, Homes, Logie and Lloyd, today we would have easily walked into this lacklustre bunch.

Walk good ‘Danny Germs’. I know you up there batting with Sir Frank, Learie, Mass George and company.

DaleG

dalegonsalves@yahoo.com

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ONLINE READERS" COMMENT - Richard "Danny Germs" Austin, a man who was never forgiven

ONLINE READERS COMMENT: Little protection in the Witness Protection Act

Saturday, January 10, 2015 | 1:48 PM    

Dear Editor,

We have seen and have sincerely regretted the fact that the New Year has began with 24 people being murdered in seven days.

Our legislators have assured us, with convincing words, that they will not allow crime to gallop away in 2015.

But, the fact is that no matter how often we have been told by the ruling authorities of their passion to tackle crime, no matter how serious or how committed they seem to be, in the final analysis, the crime monster always seems to be winning the battle, or having the upper-hand.

In other words crime is out of control, sometimes it’s slightly down, then it rises again; and too many people are dying.

When we hear the talk so many times, of bringing the crime under control, that means, it’s already out of control. It’s bigger than us and the monster still stands tall–undefeated. We need to bring him down.

One of the key strategies in fighting crime is that people should be free and fearless to report crime, or to give evidence in court; and this means, feeling a great sense of security and reliance in the Witness Protection Act.

But lamentable, this is not so as people are in fear of their lives. Some of them have been killed for giving evidence. We cannot confide in the Witness Protection Act, and this is a great-blow to the crime fighting strategies.

We talk about putting measures in place; one of the most serious and deadly measures that needs to be put in place, when crime gets beastly bad, is to unleash the death-penalty. The more devastating and out of control the crime-rate is, it’s the more we should speed-up the death-penalty.

Donald J Mckoy

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ONLINE READERS COMMENT: Little protection in the Witness Protection Act

OBSERVER ONLINE READERS COMMENT - The role of the Online forum moderator

Wednesday, January 07, 2015 | 3:07 AM    

Dear Editor:

Please take full compliments for producing a great paper which I like to call “the little paper that grew”, since I’ve watched the Observer evolved to be the Number One paper for information. Congratulations much sir.

Thanks also for the opportunity in allowing readers to participate in meaningful discussions, but I must also be critical about the role of the moderators on your forum. The biggest mistake forum owners make when taking on forum moderators is expecting them to police the community.

Many see the main role of moderators as enforcers of the site rules, as people who delete posts they don’t like and lock topics the moment they run off-course.

If these are the priorities of moderators, they are doing it all wrong. A community must never be repressed, but moderated effectively – this means adopting a laissez-faire approach and allowing members a large amount of freedom, within the rules, of course.

If moderators crack down on members the second they step out of line, you will be sending a negative signal to your community that free speech is not tolerated on your site.

Some moderators are definitely politically biased too…only allowing posts which support their party. This will discourage readers from getting involved – hardly the ingredients for a successful community! When you take on forum moderators you need to make it clear exactly what you expect from them. Most see themselves as forum police officers and will only edit/delete/lock content without creating any themselves.

This is a mistake – make sure your moderators know that their primary role is to encourage interaction, to encourage member involvement, and to encourage a sense of community within the forum. No point in having comments ‘pending’ for days, only to show up later when it is no longer relevant to the news…and it kills the natural flow of the discussion too.

There’s also no logic behind some censored/blocked posts where if you cut and re-paste it, it magically shows.

Have moderators working around the clock too, since people post from around the globe at all times. Forum moderators are there to encourage interaction – NOT stifle it!

Errol Gager

legager25@gmail.com

321 Dawes Rd

Toronto Canada

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OBSERVER ONLINE READERS COMMENT - The role of the Online forum moderator

Tablets for top readers - Digicel awards five students from western Jamaica

Contributed Javaede Stevens and Shaday Ellis of Wilson’s Run Primary are very excited to about their new tablets.

Five students from western Jamaica have reason to celebrate with the news that they are being recognised by the Digicel Foundation for strides made in their reading levels.

Javaede Stevens, Orlando Scarlette, Mikilah Fernandez, Hue-Mario Malcolm and Shaday Ellis, were identified under the partnership with the Ministry of Education, Digicel Foundation and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The top performers from Petersfield Primary in Westmoreland, Lucea Primary in Hanover and Wilson’s Run Primary in Trelawny stepped out ahead of the more than 14,000 students enrolled in the first cohort of 32 schools from rural Jamaica.

Each awardee’s school fees will be covered until they complete their primary education. They also received a $50,000 educational grant and an Android tablet computer.

Javaede Stevens said; “I am so happy that I can use my tablet to learn more.”

Blossom Rhoden, mother of Orlando Scarlette, shared: “It is so important to know what is happening with your children. Orlando loves his teacher, and she has given me so much support in helping him do better in school.”

In addition to the improvements they have all made in their reading levels since being enrolled in the enrichment programme during the last school year, the students have also shown development in other areas including behaviour in school, manners and other subject areas outside of the programme.

Kareen Malcolm from Wilson’s Run Primary says; “I am elated that these students are being recognised even way up in the hills.” Many of our students are from poor socio-economic backgrounds and may not have opportunities like those being given through this award.”

The enrichment programme was designed in collaboration with the Ministry of Education to provide academic intervention for low performing students in primary schools. It seeks to foster improved performances by diagnosing and strategically treating students’ identified learning needs.

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Tablets for top readers - Digicel awards five students from western Jamaica

Readers want a European coach for Reggae Boyz

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaicans, at least those responding to the Jamaica Observer Online poll feel that the Reggae Boyz would be best served by a European coach, if not a local.

Over the week of the poll — from what area of the world should the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) recruit the next Reggae Boyz coach— 41 per cent of respondents said Europe.However, 37 per cent felt that a local coach should be recruited. And despite Jamaica’s affinity to South American football and the fact that the country’s only trip the World Cup was with a Brazilian, only 19 per cent of respondents would want a coach from that part of the world.Meanwhile, a coach from North America had little support polling a mere three per cent.Former Reggae Boyz head coach, local-based Theodore Whitmore tendered his resignation following the Boyz’ 2-0 defeat to Honduras in that country on June 11. That loss culminated of a string of unfavourable results that included home defeats to the Mexico (1-0) on June 4 and the USA (2-1) on June 7. Prior to those games, the Boyz also lost 2-0 away to Costa Rica on March 26.Like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/jamaicaobserverFollow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/JamaicaObserver

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Readers want a European coach for Reggae Boyz