Dear Editor,

Now it is that the Methodist Church was given a building permit and not a building stop. If the Church had gotten a building permit, why would a building stop have to be issued? The Methodist Church did not have a building permit for Belvedere. What the Methodist Church did have was a liaison between the Church and a National Alliance member who expected to do what he wanted, and the taxpayers must now bear the brunt – a NAf. 500,000 (half a million guilders) brunt. Not because the Public Works Department is in disarray, should anyone blatantly lie. And who is caught in the middle? The Methodist Church.

When the Seventh Day Adventist Church wants to build a school, and the Catholic Church wants to build another church in Cole Bay, or the Muslims want a new mosque, they too should disobey the law and have Government correct their mistake. Where in the world, say where could something like this happen?

How come Commissioner Frans Richardson did not blame the DP Government for this one? You know why? Because when the Church is built, he and his colleagues will want to say the NA built the church. Wrong, it's the taxpayers (Methodists, Catholics, Pentecostals, Seventh Day Adventists, and all others) who would have built the church, as well as the civil servants who are now again being blamed.

The Methodist church did not have a building permit for Belvedere. If Commissioner Frans Richardson knows it has a building permit, he should show it.

The Lt. Governor should remember, "Good governance." How come this was not sent up for annulment?

So Theo Heyliger is being indirectly blamed for this too. He is in charge of the building permits and inspection. Theo, stand up like a man and defend your workers, especially now that you are looking for their votes. Otherwise, it's up, up and away.

The government doesn't have money to pay civil servants their retroactive pay. The government is blaming civil servants for leaking information to the press, but gets the Island Secretary to write the letter telling us this.

Yet, the same government lies through its teeth about, of all things, a church. But we wonder why we can't move ahead, why people in Holland think so low of us, why 10-10-10 seems to be moving further and further away. When you bring the heat of the Christian community on you, you had better run for cover. And The Daily Herald should do some more research before publishing these flimsy stories. Either have good sources or none at all.

Guillaume Carty