New police station triggers renewed call for improved sports facility in La Plaine

Ron Green
Ron Green

Former parliamentary representative for La Plaine and Minister for Sports, Ron Green, has lamented the lack of progress on improving a sporting facility in that community in light of the commissioning of a new “much welcomed” $3 million plus police station there.

“Patience is growing thin, especially since, a much welcomed and overdue new $3 million Police Station in La Plaine completed over the last year and opening today, signals that things can be done when so minded. Unfortunately the very same youth, who may end up in the new cells could have taken a better path if sporting activity was open to them,” Green said in a news release.

He claimed that for four years an improvement project which was expected to bring the facility up to par was expected to last no more than a year, and now four years later, it is still incomplete.

He said this has caused the Laplaine youth many setbacks.

“The La Plaine Youth Sports Academy, so vibrant during the 2008 to 2011 period has ground to a halt. Generally, except for Basketball, all sporting leagues and competitions have ceased due to the unavailability of the field. Football teams competing in the annual Dominica Football Association (DFA) Leagues have either not trained or been forced to travel to Riviere Cyrique or Grand Fond to train,” Green complained.

He said the facility was first opened in 1999 and the upkeep and repairs were done by community volunteers but in 2011, some improvements were required.

According to Green, the Dominica Foot Ball Association in collaboration with the Government undertook the project.

“For whatever reason…. poor supervision, finance, disinterest… the Improvement Project has floundered.  Still today the eastern and northern sides are rough and dangerous, drainage is incomplete, supporting gabian baskets are collapsing, surface grassing is below par, seating stands are rotting and there is an air of abandonment and frustration. This atmosphere of alienation has contributed to increasing drug use among our youth, and severely dampened the enthusiastic spirit for sports in the Community,” he stated.

The former sports minister said efforts by concerned groups to get Government to act on the matter seemed to have fallen on deaf ears.

The Laplaine Police station was commissioned on Friday 14th August 2015.

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38 Comments

  1. FAST N FURIOUS
    August 17, 2015

    Mr Green, you were once the minister for education / sports, what did you contribute to your constituence ? stupesssss, man go & chille out, drink your little wine & coconut water, eat your little watercress & go take your sea bath. labour kar coutinay twavia.

  2. DFR
    August 17, 2015

    Some of you comments towards Mr. Green are frankly disrespectful ! Even if you may not agree with him the man is still a citizen and has every right to voice his opinion. Two wrongs do not make a right ! The man is also looking out for his constituency . He also has a point . If we want the youth to succeed we must give them outlets . We all benefit when your comments are fair and positive !

  3. Doc. Love
    August 17, 2015

    Does Mr. Green really expect the Skeritt led administration to improve sports facilities with the little money he has in the treasury. Skeritt is hearing talk of the shutting down of the country, the Salisbury people are very unhappy with the manner they are treated and could take to the streets again. The bus drivers, the PWD workers are unhappy, only God alone knows when this country will erupt in violence, if you were Skeritt wouldn’t you beef up your armed forces and facilities. It is no coincidence that while all that violence is in the air, we are hearing about more police stations being commissioned, more is been spent of police vehicles and equipment. Don’t expect any expired tear gas this time, the real thing will be available this time.

    • BEB
      August 17, 2015

      Which police station was built or commissioned where there wasn’t a police station? Presently Soufriere is without a police station and there are a few of them to be renovated. You should realize that the police officers require proper living accommodation to live and work, remember they are spending more times at the police station than their homes

    • BEB
      August 17, 2015

      Could u tell me where or which police station was commissioned or built where there was never a police station already built? The police officers living in the Districts need proper accommodation to live and work as they are spending more times in the police station than their homes
      Presently, Soufriere, Colihaut and Capuchin are without police stations and there are a few to be renovated, so if right after this, the Gov’t would provide funds to build a police station in Colihaut or Soufriere, would u say that the Gov’t is building a Police State?

      • BEB
        August 17, 2015

        Sorry for posting twice

      • Francisco Telemaque
        August 17, 2015

        That is because you doh know what you doing eh, you doh know how to operate your computer we man, or your jumbie telephone cell phone!

        Let your friend Mountain Chicken Crapo brain Skerrit teach you how to post!

        Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!

      • Doc. Love
        August 18, 2015

        We have long passed a police state, we are now in a dictatorial corrupted state.

    • BEB
      August 17, 2015

      DNO!!! What is happening to my comment? At one time I’m seeing it and then I’m not seeing it another time I cant understand it.

  4. Gwen
    August 16, 2015

    You had the darn opportunity to do so when your party was in power, you did zilch. Instead you even agreed to have the secondary school built in Castle Bruce.

    Ron stop wasting your time, try to enjoy your retirement and the rest of your time on earth. Alay pose couw.

    • LANSAL
      August 17, 2015

      how can you chastise a man that was in power for 4.5 years when a government in power for 15 years and we cannot see the projects that they did that could lift dominica from poverty

  5. BEB
    August 16, 2015

    Mr. Green, are u saying that if the youths do not have a proper facility to recreate themselves,they are going to end up in the cells of the new police station, this was wishful thinking, why u urself never ended up in a police cell, because I would deem u to be a man of integrity, so it would be impossible for a man like u to find urself in a police cell. By the youths hearing what u said, are going to lead them to violence. With all politics aside, I’m glad to know that u
    recognized the long awaiting police station

  6. faceup
    August 16, 2015

    Mr Green I thought that you retired or was fired. You are now to old for our party UWP….Man give it up..You have enough land to plant bananas to occupy your time…

    • faceup
      August 17, 2015

      We need a young vibrant UWP candidate in Laplaine…Time out Mr Green 8-O

      • LANSAL
        August 17, 2015

        so why u not presenting yourself… he wants to retire but it seem like allu want to criticize skerrit and on the other hand accept his handouts… FACE DE HARDTIME LIKE MR. GREEN IF YOU WORTH YOUR SALT

  7. calpit
    August 16, 2015

    He was the minister of sports………hmmmmmm boy mister brave to bring that up.

    • FAST N FURIOUS
      August 17, 2015

      Shame on Ron Green

      • August 17, 2015

        It’s obvious that Dominicans seem to lack the ability to disagree without being disagreeable . Politicians disagree all the time and then have a beer later when the crowd subsides; Dominican politicians must learn to do that .

  8. kimrah
    August 16, 2015

    I agree with you 100%

  9. Francisco Telemaque
    August 16, 2015

    You are still talking fart about playing field, that was the focus of your campaign lasts year, and before; and long before, that is why you lost again; your lack of vision for significant development in your village has sealed your political fate.

    You are finished as a politician, yet you are still holding on to your playing field idea!

    Couldn’t you thought of something industrial for the youths of the village to do: something which could have generated some employment? Sports are played for recreation, and relaxation. Employment empowers people economically. Unless one plays professional sports for money, the happy hour sports you talking about pays no bill!

    • Bagaila Bande
      August 16, 2015

      Amen!!

    • DC
      August 16, 2015

      This is too funny! I laughed until I got hiccups, in fact, I am still laughing uncontrollably. Thanks for the laughter!

    • Leve Dubout
      August 17, 2015

      The fart seems to be in ur mind. U forget it is the DLP Gov’t who has been there for 15 years–where are the Jobs??? Ou meme pa konnet valeh sports

      • BEB
        August 17, 2015

        Don’t hit the brother too hard, he is one of u all, he was just mad about the way Ron Green handled the Election Campaign of 2009. He is blaming him for the demise of the UWP not in power.

      • Francisco Telemaque
        August 18, 2015

        BEB, that boy Green is so disappointing, that he has even disappointed himself!

        He was so certain he was going to become Prime Minister of the country, that he ran to Barbados and renounced his American Citizenship. Now he is sitting on his Butt, without even a senators pay. The older we get the harder life becomes financially, right now any benefits he could have enjoyed from the days he worked in the United States are down the drain.

        He was so busy trying to messed up Skerrit for being a Frenchman born Dominica Prime Minister, he went and damage himself when he trampled his American citizenship. Everyone knew when he served in Edison James government, he was an American, and did not care: yet he tried to dig a pit for that crapo Skerrit; in which he Green fell into, the same deep hole in the ground we dig for others we usually fall into!

        Hahahahahahahaahahahhahahahahahahhahahah. The first secretary of the treasury of the United States, more than two hundred years ago was…

    • mickael
      August 17, 2015

      not sure how the police station is industrial but anyway. sports is a little more than recreation: sport is education, sport is culture, sport is about values you give children so they can stay on track a maybe make a living by entering professional arena or staying out of the Streets. and probably you don t know but sports but a few examples mabe the government can use. you need people to organise sports , manage the facilities, developpe the activities etc.. called sports officers thats administrative; you need coaches to obviously train, plan and execute the program. and just to finish you need athlètes to represent you cause as you realise dominica has hardly won anything significant in the past 30 year or more. but i know that the “it good like that is the song in dominica now so …” please don tlet yourself down you re Worth more than what you get

  10. Magaret
    August 16, 2015

    Agreed, love it.

  11. James A. Evans
    August 16, 2015

    Police st ation again what about the future generation of Dominica I am sure Skerrit has built a basket ball court for his son on the grounds in vieux case and on the ground of his cond. in Long Island

  12. Jay prosper
    August 16, 2015

    It’s amazing when individuals who had the power to make things better for their community keep talking when they are on the sidelines. When mr. Green was minister of education and sports, why didn’t he construct a proper playing for his community. I am not saying that I like the conditions of the fields in the district but he had the opportunity to bring them up to par. What has he done for laplaine, boetica, and delices? If u really love your community, u should stop the hate and help unite the people.

    • Francisco Telemaque
      August 16, 2015

      Prosper, I think it is stupid of you to talk about hate, I agree that Ron Green is the most incompetent politician Dominica ever had, and he proved that when he became leader of the UWP. He does not have the ability to lead, that is why I say he has single handedly destroyed the UWP.

      While he was leader of the UWP, they had a very good chance of defeating Skerrit, however, he could not even put a political manifesto together; each time he was asked about it all he did was talk crap like, soon it will be on line. How stupid could that be, since more than 90% of the voting public in the country does not own a computer!

      Rather than talk about some sort of development plan, that would lead to job creation, he stayed there talking crap about he will give the farmers a stimulus, and give civil servants a raise. He is not actually preaching any hate, nor causing division, he is simply wasting time right now wishing he was capable of defeating Petter!

      • Nonsense
        August 18, 2015

        What insult to the Dominican public for you to state that more than 90%of the country do not own a computer….you need to shut the hell up and and stop insulting the people of this country

    • Leve Dubout
      August 17, 2015

      Learn ur history Jay. When was the first modern Sports Complex delivered to LaPlaine? By whom? What was done in Boetica and Delices in the short 4 1/2 years?? Who has been the most dedicated to sports in LaPlaine for over the last 30 years?? And who has had the power to do for 15 years?? Think Brotherman, think. And if you doh know, ask.

    • FAST N FURIOUS
      August 17, 2015

      Double thumbs up.

  13. DC
    August 16, 2015

    Mr. Green, with all due respect, my dearly beloved PM is working. He is the best that we have ever had, and he is very mindful of what needs to be done. Two new Stations in one week. How remarkable! PM, we honor you! No matter the malicious tactics of the opponents, you shall be victorious! They attempt to paint a negative picture of Dominica, however, we know the truth: things irie in Dominica man! my mom just celebrated her 70th birthday and had a blast with friends in Dominica, lots to eat and drink, realistically, here in FL, I see deprivation, hopelessness, poverty on a daily basis, many cannot afford to celebrate like my mom and friends. PM, keep up the good work!

    • BRAIN DAMAGE
      August 17, 2015

      Things irie in D/ca?… ok . Leave Florida and come down here in D/ca. Giving you less than a week, then you will learn to speak Spanish.

  14. NotaSlave
    August 16, 2015

    They won’t build on schools anymore. All they build will be prison prison

  15. Anthony ismael
    August 16, 2015

    Trips and more trips overseas.

  16. kisses
    August 16, 2015

    Mr green wat u have said is very very accurate!!! Where has all the money allocated for this playingfield gone???? We need answers!!

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