Robbed and conned; cut the crap; CTL myth

Egerton Chang, Contributor

I would hate to think that my experience is/was the norm in Jamaica, for I was robbed at knifepoint when I was just 11-years-old and conned when 12.

Having just started at St George's College in 1962, I was attending my first school track and field meet conducted at Emmet Park. A fellow student and I, returning home, took a shortcut behind the Holy Trinity Cathedral when we were accosted by a man brandishing a knife, demanding money. I cannot recall what he took from my friend, but he took a chain that I had around my neck.

Around the same time, I was returning home from riding my bicycle around the back of CIBC Bank (now CIBC-FirstCaribbean) on Half-Way Tree Road (opposite Holy Cross Church). It was almost 6 p.m. and I was walking alone on the sidewalk in front of the bank, pushing the bicycle.

I was approached by two youngsters, one around my age, then 12, and the other somewhat younger, approximately seven, begging some money. Wanting to give them something, I realised that all I had was a 5/- (5 shilling/50 cents) note.

Now 5/- was a good amount of money in those days, with a round spiced bun and soda costing 1/-. The older boy, who had a quart bottle of white rum in his hand, offered to get it changed. As I hesitated, he offered to let me hold the bottle while he went for the change.

As my father operated a supermarket, I was familiar with the cost of the rum. Because I knew it sold for over 10/- (10 shillings), I knew it was 'safe' to give him my 5/- note while I held the rum. As he gave me the bottle and I turned over my 5/-, he grabbed back the rum and both ran off. A bit startled and befuddled, it quickly dawned upon me that I had just been conned out of my 5/-.

I was far from the inner city at the times of these two incidents. Yet, I wasn't far from the criminality. And that was 1962-63.

CUT THE CRAP

Yet almost every day, we are conned and robbed without the threat of personal injury or even given a bottle of 'whites' to hold, but 'hol' dung tek wey' nonetheless. And we are seemingly powerless to respond.

Take, for example, the case as presented in 'Crappy sewerage charge', a letter to the editor, published on Saturday, April 5 in The Gleaner. Written by John P. Azar, managing director of KingAlarm. The letter states, inter alia:

"In our case at KingAlarm, we were never consulted by the NWC prior to the utility running its sewer lines. We were never asked if we wished to use the service. We were never advised of the plan to run the lines close to our premises, nor were we ever advised of the project's completion.

Our 'advice' was simply to see a charge of more than $50,000 on our monthly water bill for a 'sewerage' service that we do not use, have never used, and have no intention of using."

To make matters worse, all must pay an upfront cost to connect to the sewer line, often totalling over $100,000. Which of us has $100,000 at hand to use at a moment's notice, even if we wanted to? This is not chicken s.

This is in addition to the large 'investment' we all made in building a pit to obtain building approval in the first place. All for the privilege to be double-charged by the NWC.

Mr Azar pleads,  "If there are any within the legal profession who have the mettle to test this law through the courts, I now ask that they contact me directly. It is not about the cost of fighting such a case versus the cost of paying this monthly sewerage charge; it is about right versus wrong."

Mr Azar, I have $10,000 to put on the side of right. Please set up a 'defence' fund to plead the case of what's right. I am asking others, so minded, to contribute to this fund.

Mr Azar gives his email address as john_p_azar@kingalarmjamaica.com. Contact him if you are also on the side of right and not might.

CAYMANAS MYTH

An article was published in Track & Pools on Saturday, April 5, 2014 which was not attributed. Titled 'Sunday racing growing from strength to strength at Caymanas Park!', it portrayed (devoid of actual figures) a Caymanas Track Limited that is performing better on Sundays than on Wednesdays, a line consistently being fed by CTL.

Since the beginning of the year, horse racing has been conducted on three Wednesdays and on four Sundays.

So mi get it, so mi gi it.

As can be seen in the table that accompanies this column, it is a myth that CTL is performing better on Sunday races than on Wednesday races, which it is meant to replace. As can be seen, this is after muscling up Sundays with better races, promotions, entertainment packages and various feature races that Wednesdays rarely get. As can be seen, this is before having to pay double time to its staff for work on Sundays. As can be seen, this is before forgoing most of the 'rights fee' (which goes straight to CTL's bottom line) it is accustomed to getting from the bookmakers, most of whose branches cannot sell on Sundays.

To be fair, Wednesday, January 1, and Wednesday, March 5 were public holidays. On the other hand, these Sundays were handpicked by CTL as being the ones best able to generate the greatest financial returns. They were not selected at random.

Wednesday, February 26 was a 'normal' Wednesday, yet it did better than all the Sundays, save one, and did better, decidedly better, than the average of all these Sunday racedays ($25,177,047 vs. $24,232,472).

Moreover, it doesn't take a genius to realise that Sunday racing must be detracting financially from Saturday races. Punters just don't have the financial resources to fully support back-to-back racedays. Those who have ears, let them hear.

And what if CTL were to devote the same time and effort to Wednesday races? That would put Wednesdays on an equal-opportunity footing with Sundays, and it would not be difficult to see even a 10 per cent increase in Wednesday sales. That would further separate the men (Wednesdays) from the boys (Sundays).

CTL, mi haffi beg yu, no crucify mi on this Easter weekend.

Egerton Chang is a businessman. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and e_rider69@hotmail.com.

CAYMANAS SALES - Local Races (Wednesdays versus Sundays 2014)

• Wed Jan1 $34,005,124
  
• Sun Jan26 $26,025,769
• Wed Feb26 $25,177,047
  
• Sun Feb16 $23,137,179
• Wed Mar5 $29,658,237
  
• Sun Mar16 $23,277,812
• Sun Mar24 $24,489,126