Responding to a devastating incident over the weekend—murder and mayhem in a place of innocence where Belizean men, women, and children gather to recreate, Police Commissioner Chester Williams said that the organizers of an event that featured football matches, did not provide adequate security. The Commissioner said that, had the organizers approached police top brass for security at an event where gang members were in the audience, they would have told them that they needed 10 officers, not the 3 who were at the venue, the Marion Jones Sports Complex. The Commissioner said that the organizers bypassed police top brass, and instead made an arrangement with officers at a lower level, because “they don’t want to pay for 10 police.”
We live in a free country, a country where everyone who is not in jail is free to attend public events, so people who are members of gangs will turn up if that is their interest. The day some of us — businessmen, police, lawyers, peddlers, and gangs — started feeding off the cocaine shipments passing through our country, we lost our tranquility. No one is safe anymore. Small shops, house parties, sports events from primary school level to semi-pro, are not insulated from the violence. Everyone, everywhere, needs security, but 10 police officers, only a few can pay for those services.
Organizers of shows that feature top entertainers from abroad are among the few that make enough profit to cover the cost of 10 police officers. Shows that feature reggae artists from the Caribbean are huge events patronized by crowds which include a sizable number of Belizeans, including “Islander” Belizeans, who studied at universities in the Caribbean. When top artists from the Caribbean perform here, it’s a time for them to fraternize and rekindle the vibes of island life. They have the kinds of jobs that give them the disposable income to pay for the high-priced tickets in the VIP sections. They can pay for the service of 10 police officers!
The people who organize these little sports events are the salt of the Belizean earth. They provide invaluable service to our country, contributing to culture, to hope, to joy, to the preservation of the national fabric. Few receive financial remuneration for their efforts; many donate from their meager pockets to keep the games going.
The games are not without reward. For the selfless organizers, there is camaraderie, and joy in laboring for others; and for the talented/dedicated young athletes they promote, there’s a chance at glory. For the few sports organizers who see monetary reward, seldom does the payment approach $5 per hour. We must be the only country in the world where referees and police officers earn more money at sports events than the organizers. Since the introduction of semi-pro, a few athletes have played for pay, but there are no big contracts in Belize.
Something is wrong with us. The input in sports from our political leaders, all of them, is way below par. Apart from minimal financial support, they provide little scrutiny of organizers, coaches, and affiliates. Not everyone involved in sports makes the grade. As with all activities human, there are issues; it happens even in the best organizations. Predators, unscrupulous gamblers, people with the kind of records that should preclude their participation in the games, wangle their way in and corrupt the process. If they are left to their devices, there will be sad endings.
Our former colonizer, the British, and our present de facto colonizer, the US, put a premium on sports. They hold athletes, coaches, and organizers to higher standards than the general public.
Because of our neglect, year after year, government after government, in our two cities and seven towns there is more interest in foreign athletes than in our own. That’s a terrible stain on Belize. No one should have more interest in other people’s children than they have in their own. The proud Belizean leader should be affronted, concerned by that, and commit himself/herself to doing their best to see our own prosper. For need of 10 police officers, there was tragedy and mayhem. The purity of the games was defiled.
There is no guarantee of success in anything under the sun. All we have is our best. What we put out for our athletes and sports organizers is far from that. We treat our sports events as a side show.
Organizing sports events and maintaining clubs are costly in money and time, and in our small market there is tremendous need for the public to carry more of the burden. Organizers can’t carry the load alone. The government must decide on the events that qualify for subsidy. Taxpayers must foot the bill for security, to support organizers who do it for love of our youth and country. It won’t break our treasury. To give amateur sports a little boost, government should pay for the referees too.
Tainted alcohol, tainted marijuana
Vanessa Etienne, in a story in People, said that experts were warning travelers (tourists) to be careful when drinking, after “a string of deaths linked to tainted alcohol … sparked concern among health officials across the world.” She said that in recent years the WHO had reported “poisonings from adulterated alcohol … in Cambodia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Libya, Mexico, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, South Africa, Turkey and Uganda”, and that the “outbreaks range from 20 to more than 800 victims, with fatality rates of over 30% in some instances.”
In the terrible Prohibition days in the US, when people were poisoned, killed by tainted liquor, calloused prohibitionists saw such incidents not as tragedies, but only as opportunities to further their agenda. Shockingly, some in the anti-marijuana lobby are of the same mind as the unconscionable prohibitionists. They have no sympathy for marijuana smokers who are poisoned, made into addicts, or killed by a tainted product.
Former US president, Bill Clinton said he tried it, but didn’t inhale; former US president, Barack Obama said he smoked it when he was in college. Former US president, Joe Biden had a progressive view on marijuana, and his administration worked on legislation to move the drug from Schedule I, which includes the most dangerous drugs, to Schedule III, a moderate category. New US president, Donald Trump also has a progressive view on marijuana. A report in USA Today prior to the last US election said Trump said he would vote YES to Amendment 3 in Florida, which “would allow for the possession, purchase and use of marijuana for non-medical purposes by adults 21 and up.”
Our present government gauged a favorable wind and moved to legalize marijuana and create a “new growth industry” that included both hemp and the hallucinogenic form of the plant. But a law to legalize marijuana was put on hold when the Evangelical community, leaning on legitimate concerns, hysteria, and banking matters, was able to rally sufficient votes to trigger a referendum.
Disappointingly, the government insists on “Marijuana: New Growth Industry”, or nothing at all. There is so much to gain from legalizing marijuana STRICTLY for use here, for putting the production, sale and use of marijuana under the STRICT control of government. If only to protect our people from dangerous, tainted weed, we should. With alcohol legal, drinkers are very unlikely to be exposed to adulterated products. It is a constant threat to those who smoke marijuana.