by Colin Hyde
About this apparent friction over a fundraising initiative that was spearheaded by a brother named Mr. Andrew “Passy” Haylock, I don’t know any of the people involved, but leaning on what is out there, all that has been written and said, I gather he’s not a bystander, and that he’s a guy with a very big heart. Working from there, I don’t know that he knew he would receive flak for the heavenly cause when he set up that Dollar Drive, which I understand was a success. I believe he acted spontaneously and sincerely in response to the most tragic RTA in our history.
It was a socialist move in a capitalist country. Of the 9 families that were directly impacted (including the injured persons), one or two or more might have felt they would have done better in a financial sense if they had set up their own Go Fund Me page. Within a few days it was announced that the Dollar Drive would be shut down, and the story coming out was that it was Mr. Passy’s response to parties that weren’t pleased with the initiative.
As I said, it was a socialist move in a capitalist country. Our old folk will tell you that there was a time when our people shared everything. Those were the colonial days. Since independence, a lot has changed. A lot has happened in Belize to make us lose trust in each other. Today, no one is above suspicion. I don’t know what the friction was about, but I expect there would also be suggestions about the management of the funds.
We mustn’t be afraid to talk. Brother, if you have a clean heart, don’t be upset; forgive, and anyone who wants an apology from you, they deserve it. Those persons who were devastated to the extent where they were helpless, it is for sure they are grateful. In that moment when the anguish was at its worst is when people were most likely to give, and you stepped up, hit the iron while hot. What you did does not deter families from setting up their personal Go Fund Me page. There are dependents who were left behind, and some families have more needs than others.
From here, all I see is a giant move on Mr. Haylock’s part.
Dicey trip ended in terrible tragedy
From the get go, from the moment Mr. Parham and the crowd in his vehicle left Benque Viejo, it was a very dicey trip. We don’t know what the investigation will turn up, and the reports from the police that reach the media are usually bare, so we are likely to learn only a little more than we know now. In the accident with the youth basketball team a couple weeks ago, all we have is that they were traveling in a van, and two tires failed, blowouts.
We are pretty good with human interest stories. That’s important. It’s important to honor the memories of the departed, console the injured, and support the families. The human-interest stories serve as a warning too. When we observe the pain caused by RTAs, it should make us be more careful. A proper report of a thorough investigation is also about preventing accidents. An informed people make better decisions. Two blowouts on a van—we should be told why.
Turning to the accident that claimed 10 lives: with 9 people in the car, it’s a good guess that 5 adults were in the back seat, 3 on the seat and 2 sitting in laps, and 3 adults in the front seat, with the child in the lap of the passenger sitting by the door. If the car was a standard-transmission vehicle, the driver would have had difficulty changing gears with someone sitting so close beside him. The tires and drive train of the vehicle were under tremendous strain. The speed at which the vehicles in the accident were traveling and other details of the accident are pending.
If you are a regular on buses, you will understand why so many people were in that car. Buses don’t travel late at night. Young ladies especially wouldn’t want to sleep out. Of course they could have hired a taxi. Why they didn’t, well, we’ll leave that at that. One of Ruduel’s family members said he made two trips to Melchor that day, and the trips involved a part for his car. Until we learn more, we assume he met up with the group from the Call Center and they piled in.
What we know for a fact is that this tragedy begins with an extremely overloaded car. We also learned that Ruduel did not stop at a checkpoint. Okay, we know his car was overloaded. If he stopped, some young people would have had to come out, and the police might also have decided to put a charge on him.
From it left Benque, that vehicle’s front end was “floating.” There was very little margin for error. Preliminary reports are that the car drifted into the lane of the SUV at Mile 68 on the highway. They were oh so close to San Ignacio when tragedy struck.
Word difference
Trusting my ears, I, ehm, see Brother Nuri has declared in favor of the terminology “road incident”, over “road accident”. I think this new description started at Love FM, and now it is creeping up. I’m not a linguist, and until a linguist says so, or the Amandala says we will use the term “incident” to describe an RTA, I’ll stick with the old description.
Mango, of EcoOnline Global, in its piece, “What is the difference between accidents and incidents?” said, “An accident is an event that has unintentionally happened, that results in damage, injury or harm. An incident is an event that has unintentionally happened, but this may not result in damage, harm or injury. Therefore, every accident can be an incident. However not all incidents can be termed as an accident.”
In usage, incident implies intent. If someone jumps off a bridge, that is an incident; if someone slips off a bridge, that is an accident. If someone walks up to you and slugs you in the mouth, that is an incident; if someone swings their hand and you just happened to walk by and you got cuffed, that is an accident. I wouldn’t imply intent on anyone who is involved in an accident, especially a fatal one. That jurisdiction is for the court.
I can see that “incident” could be used to avoid repetition, which is after we’ve established that it was an RTA. Of course, I don’t have the hayr aaf a di haas tayl eena mi han.
Dr. J got absolutely blasted for unfair criticism of Lebron
Damien Peters, in a piece in Basketball Network, put a Mutombo-like block on Dr. J for his statement that he wouldn’t consider Lebron James even for his all-time third team, because Lebron picked the players he teamed with. In sports, hate is okay, but noh taak fool.
Dr. J, Julius Erving, is beloved. He couldn’t dribble a lick – he bounced the ball up and down, and he was but a fair shooter from 15 feet; but when Dr. J left the floor, he walked on air. “Air” Jordan couldn’t carry his shoes up there. You know hype, how good the American media is at that. Those bohgaz sold a 60-year-old Tyson in a fight, and a banana with a duct tape plaster for a fortune. To boost their guy, Michael Jordan, they have him in a little air show where he unnecessarily shifts the ball from one hand to the other. Julius defied gravity! But when he landed, he was mortal.
Dr. J’s excellence on the court doesn’t give him license to degrade Lebron. For fans and players that put team play over scoring, when Lebron came out of high school he was Magic Johnson with better rebounding, defending, strength, and stamina. A sportswriter, Skip Bayless, with his relentless attacks on Lebron because he didn’t have as good a jump shot as Jordan, actually turned Lebron into a shooter. Today, Lebron shoots much better than he did when he landed in the NBA, but he’s no Gervin, Bird, or Curry. He takes far too many of the money shots, shots he should pass off to teammates who have a better eye. It’s all because of that Skip Bayless.
If Lebron never left Cleveland, that city would never have won a championship. The way the league is set up, you get the best players through the draft or if your club owner is big on buying players. Lebron, a “one man” wrecking crew, couldn’t win a championship by himself, and his owner wasn’t buying, so year after year he and his team were great, but not good enough.
After Lebron left Cleveland, the team collapsed, and that’s how they won the lottery and got the great Kyrie Irving. Later, Lebron returned to Cleveland and he and Kyrie teamed up to win a championship.
It’s possible Dr. J’s “slander” of Lebron has to do with Lebron’s connection with the rapper Combs. Apparently, Combs and James are friends, and he has gone to these parties that are being called infamous. All I can say about that is that many young men with cash would go to celebrity parties. And where young people are, the scenes can be wild. I’ll leave that at that. I am about basketball here.