SXMElections.com

80 students bid farewell, leave to pursue studies

AIRPORT--Some eighty students left home to continue their tertiary education in the Netherlands after an emotional goodbye amongst family, friends and dignitaries at SXM Airport on Sunday. Friends and family gathered for the bittersweet milestone departure, which brought on a range of mixed emotions. Last-chance pictures and videos were captured amidst tears, long hugs and bright smiles. The well-wishers enthusiastically waved goodbye to the students until they were out of sight. SXM Airport, in collaboration with Domino's Pizza, bade the students farewell during the third annual "Bon Voyage" event, providing music, entertainment, pizza, snacks and a photo booth they were free to use Read more

Rogers sworn in as VKS Commander

PHILIPSBURG--The weather gods looked down kindly on Antonio Rogers as he was sworn in as the new Commander of the Vrijwilligers Korps St. Maarten (VKS) on Saturday afternoon, providing a break on a rainy and windy day. Invited dignitaries including Chiefs of various justice departments, ministers, representatives of the Royal Netherlands Marines, friends and family of Rogers were seated underneath a canopy outside the Government Administration building to watch Rogers take his oath. Members of the VKS and Netherlands Royal Marines stood to attention to welcome the former Police Inspector, who completed 41 years' service in the Police Department, to his new post. A speech was held by former commander Lt Read more

Trade unionist dies of lupus in Colombia

ST. PETERS--Seasoned trade unionist and former Windward Islands Civil Servants Union President Patricia Pantophlet (57) passed away in Bogota, Colombia, on Friday, August 1, after a period of illness. Pantophlet, who was a very vocal trade union leader and who championed the rights of workers in St. Maarten for many years, had been battling lupus for some time. She fell ill and was airlifted to Colombia on July 10, a representative of the family told The Daily Herald. She was accompanied by one of her sisters. In addition to being a trade unionist, Pantophlet held several positions over the years Read more

Brave local men fight a fire, dwellings destroyed

ST. PETERS--A number of dwellings on Apricot Road, just around the corner from Marigot Hill Road, were destroyed by a fire Saturday morning. People were awakened by flames around 7:30am. A group of local young men immediately started to fight the fire. They ensured all dwellings were evacuated, gas bottles were removed from the scene and a tied-up dog was released. They collected water hoses from people's gardens, with which they attacked the flames. A number of fire officers who were on their way home from work diverted to assist, despite not wearing any safety equipment and having just finished a night shift of duty Read more

High Schools Invited To Nominate For Annual President Of Parliament Award

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – President of Parliament Hon. Gracita Arrindell has asked high schools to consider nominating somebody for the Annual President of Parliament Award. The public and organizations still have an opportunity to do so. The application documents are on the parliament's website. Persons have until August 15, 2014 to submit their nominations. The website address is: www.sxmparliament.org and can be found under the documents section on the right side of the site Read more

Dp # 12 Candidate Starts Weekly Messages, Our Seniors Need More Attention, Says Hubert Pantophlet

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Increasing the purchasing power of our senior citizens is one of the four primary issues Mr. Hubert Pantophlet plans to tackle in the four-year parliamentary term, when elected. Pantophlet, the nr. 12 candidate on the Democratic party slate, made his remarks in the first of his weekly messages aired on 98.1 Pearl FM last week. "Senior citizens should not feel forgotten and unappreciated in a country that they helped to build," Pantophlet said, while adding that our seniors need more attention. "Our current tax system holds our people captive in a society where the cost of living is not on par with our net pay Read more

Prime Minister Wescot-Williams Hands Condolence For The Victims Of Flight Mh17 To Dutch Representative Gert Versluis

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The Prime Minister of St. Maarten the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams presented the condolence books of the people of St. Maarten expressing their condolences to the victims of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH 17 to Dutch Representative Mr. Gert Versluis on Friday. Prime Minister Read more

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Up Cautioned About Holding Elections During Hurricane Season

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – The board of the United People's Party (UP) is grateful that minimum affects has been experienced with the passage of Tropical Storm Bertha on Friday night into Saturday, and that there was no major incidents. "However, several campaign posters came down due to gusty winds associated with the tropical storm. Our leader the Honourable Theodore Heyliger cautioned the Honourable Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams about hosting elections during the hurricane season for these same reasons Read more

National Alliance Deeply Saddened By The Passing Of Patricia Pantophlet

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The National Alliance family is deeply saddened by the passing of trade union stalwart, humanitarian, vocal community activist and woman-of-grit Patricia Pantophet, 57, in Bogota Colombia, where she was flown for medical attention in early July. Pantophlet was the sister of National Alliance number two candidate Member of Parliament George Pantophlet Read more

Minister Lake Assists In Securing Temporary Shelter For Fire Victims. Commends Boys On The Block For Heroic Action

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI) Hon. Maurice Lake sprang into action on Saturday after learning about the fire that gutted four homes leaving seven victims homeless. Minister Lake organized his team from Ministry VROMI to arrange temporary housing for the seven fire victims. "St. Peters is my hometown Read more

Nagico Collaborates With Police To Implement Crime Prevention Measures

GREAT BAY, St. Maarten - NAGICO Insurances has partnered with the St. Maarten Police to undertake crime prevention and reduction measures within the business community, with an emphasis on armed robbery awareness. After weeks of discussions, a management meeting was held on Thursday afternoon July 31st between the two organizations to discuss the increase in robberies in the business community and steps that could be taken to reduce this. Another topic discussed was the increase in stolen vehicles and the plan of action to curb this trend. "As the largest insurance company on the island, we are no doubt concerned about the increase in the spate of robberies targeting the business community Read more

Health Authorities Monitoring Deadly Ebola Outbreak Closely

St. Maarten (DCOMM) – Minister of Public Health Cornelius de Weever said on Thursday that public health authorities at the Ministry of Public Health are closely monitoring the Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, adding that Ebola does not pose an immediate threat to the country. “We are being proactive and very vigilant and closely monitoring developments daily with respect to the advices from the World Health Organization, Pan American Health Organization and the Caribbean Public Health Agency,” Minister De Weever said.“Ebola does not pose a threat to the country, but we must monitor.” Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans Read more

Former Mayor Fleming Endorses Wife And Speaks Of Island Unity

St. Maarten - Former St. Martin Mayor Albert Fleming shared his vision for the unification of the northern French side and southern Dutch side of the island. “I am a people person and I love my country,” said Fleming. “Things on the French side are not going well because of the direction the politicians took on article 74 without having done a study. That’s one of the reasons why I left government because we don’t have the structure. We are in the crossroads of an extremely difficult situation financially, especially as a result of when the euro went into effect,” Fleming explained Read more

Notices July 31

Friday, August 1 FUN DAY Back to school flight simulator club fun day. For children and adults A full day of flying fun on simulators Time: 9:00am to 5:00pm Place: John Larmonie Center (across from Vlaun Auto/next to Great Bay Sport Auditorium) Price: US$10 per pilot or $15 for pilot and your first officer and $7 each additional trainee friend. Facebook: Jerry loveflysxm Email: \n This e-mail address is being protected from spambots Read more

Notices August 1

Friday, August 1 FUN DAY Back to school flight simulator club fun day. For children and adults A full day of flying fun on simulators Time: 9:00am to 5:00pm Place: John Larmonie Center (across from Vlaun Auto/next to Great Bay Sport Auditorium) Price: US$10 per pilot or $15 for pilot and your first officer and $7 each additional trainee friend. Facebook: Jerry loveflysxm Email: \n This e-mail address is being protected from spambots Read more

Editorial - Political leave

Some have expressed surprise after reading in Thursday's paper that civil servants who are candidates in the August 29 parliamentary elections will be granted extraordinary leave of absence.The arrangement is for a maximum of three months, with full pay during the first and partial pay during the remaining two months. However, as was acknowledged by Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams Read more

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Editorial - Political leave

Some have expressed surprise after reading in Thursday's paper that civil servants who are candidates in the August 29 parliamentary elections will be granted extraordinary leave of absence. The arrangement is for a maximum of three months, with full pay during the first and partial pay during the remaining two months. However, as was acknowledged by Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams, with just four weeks until citizens go to the polls it will boil down in most cases to a month off with 100 per cent salary. An argument could be made that this is not fair to those appearing on political lists who don't work for government Read more

Development Contract signed between Collectivité and State

MARIGOT--The 2014-2017 Development Contract was signed Wednesday by Préfet Philippe Chopin and President of the Collectivité Aline Hanson. The Préfet noted that the State's contribution has risen by 9 million euros compared to the last 2010 contract signed between then President Frantz Gu Read more

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Govt finalising talks with APS for new govt building

~ NAf. 20M needed to finalise work to building ~ PHILIPSBURG--Government is finalising negotiations with general pension fund APS regarding investing in the new government administration building, says Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams. Wescot-Williams told reporters on Wednesday that government needs some NAf Read more

Roy: Heyliger not leading by example

PHILIPSBURG--United People's (UP) party leader Member of Parliament (MP) Theo Heyliger is "not leading by example" with his challenge to Justice Minister Dennis Richardson about the guidelines for election campaigning, says Democratic Party (DP) MP Roy Marlin Read more

NIA students to youth art festival in Curaçao

PHILIPSBURG--Three students of National Institute of Arts (NIA) and co-director Clara Reyes will be travelling to Curaçao today, Friday, to participate in the Dutch Caribbean Youth Art Festival. Reyes and students Ray Angel Boasman (12), Zoe van Zadelhoff (12) and Dashan Prince (16) are scheduled to be in Curaçao August 1-10. The three students showcased the material they are to perform in Curaçao before a small audience, which included Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams, at John Larmonie Centre on Thursday evening. The three young students recently attended the Art Saves Lives’ Cross-Cultural Artist Exchange in New York and have been working hard during their summer vacation preparing to represent St Read more

OSPP town hall meet curtailed by no power

COLE BAY--The first town hall meeting of One St. Maarten People's Party (OSPP) had to be cancelled last evening due to a power failure at the Salvation Army Headquarters in Cole Bay. It was the only building in Cole Bay out of power. The meeting was due to start at 7:00pm, but candidates and supporters were left standing in the dark. A technician from utilities company GEBE arrived around 8:30pm to try to remedy the issue. By then, the party leader, former Commissioner Lenny Priest, decided to call it a night. OSPP will continue with its town hall meeting today, Friday, in Rupert Maynard Youth Community Centre in St Read more

About 80 students will leave for Holland Sun.

AIRPORT--SXM Airport will be transformed into a hub of activity on Sunday when about eighty students leave the island to pursue tertiary studies in the Netherlands. The airport, in collaboration with Domino's Pizza, will be bidding farewell to the students, SXM Airport said in a press release on Friday. This will be the third year SXM Airport will be hosting a ceremony for the largest batch of departing students. Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams and Education Minister Patricia Lourens-Philip will be addressing students before they board the KLM flight to the Netherlands. The departing students will be given SXM Airport-branded bags full of gift items, while Domino's will distribute pizza and refreshments to them Read more

OSPP 2nd meeting cancelled due to centre’s unpaid electricity bill

ST. PETERS--It appears that lightning has struck twice for One St. Maarten People's Party (OSPP). The party had to cancel the second planned town hall meeting of its campaign for parliament on Friday night. The meeting was due to take place in Rupert I. Maynard Youth Committee Centre in St. Peters, but there was no electricity; a similar circumstance to what occurred on Thursday at the Salvation Army Headquarters in Cole Bay where the party was slated to hold its first town hall meeting. Party leader former Commissioner Lenny Priest was not pleased with having to cancel a second meeting. The electricity was off at the centre, because the foundation that runs it did not pay the electricity bill. The OSPP leader said it was "unacceptable" utilities company GEBE, owned 100 per cent by government, would disconnect a community centre "for one outstanding invoice or some other matter." He agreed that the foundation, like any other institution, must have its finances in order to avoid embarrassing situations, but pointed out that OSPP is aware of many large businesses that owe GEBE "huge amount of money and they are still connected." Priest had publicly asked Shareholder Representative for GEBE Minister Maurice Lake, who hails from St Read more