{"id":2534,"date":"2019-07-15T18:38:42","date_gmt":"2019-07-15T18:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/westernmirror.com\/?p=2534"},"modified":"2019-07-15T18:43:25","modified_gmt":"2019-07-15T18:43:25","slug":"honoured-for-dirty-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/?p=2534","title":{"rendered":"Honoured for dirty work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Clinton Pickering<\/em> – <\/strong>Freelance Writer<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last Thursday marked\na historical milestone in the St James Municipal Corporation on how it treats\nthe least among its various categories of workers.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an unprecedented move, Corporation Chairman and Mayor of\nMontego Bay, Councillor Homer Davis, placed five public cleansing workers on a\npedestal and presented them with plaques of appreciation and gift baskets for\nthe contributions they have been making to the cleanliness, health and safety\nof Montego Bay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vernal Smalling, Gary Dobson, George Thomas, Simon Watson\nand Levi Irving were honoured guests at the regular monthly meeting of the\ncorporation for a presentation that Senator, Councillor Charles Sinclair,\nhimself a former chairman and mayor of Montego Bay, lauded as the best gesture\nhe had seen since being a councillor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presenting them, Mayor Homer Davis commented on the public\nat times questioning why certain things were not being done in the city and\nnoted, \u201cSometimes persons don\u2019t understand that there are persons who go, in my\nopinion, far and beyond what most of us would have done in making sure that our\ndrains and culverts within the city are cleaned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said most of the drains and culverts the men had to clean\nwere as much as 40 years old, \u201cand I\u2019m sure that most of us would not want to\nbe near to see some of the things that they are encountering and taking out of\nthese drains.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mayor Davis alluded to the problems and challenges in the\ncity, and how some people behave, not in the best interest of each, \u201cand so we\nhave men, who, as their daily tasks, go around and keep these drains clean so\nwhen it rains they don\u2019t flood that easily.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having consulted with Superintendent of Roads and Works,\nBryce Grant, on \u201cgiving credit where credit is due,\u201d Mayor Davis voiced that\n\u201csometimes we tend to recognize those in high places or who we regard as those\nin high places but I recognize persons for their work, not the position or the\nplace that they are in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his endorsement, Senator Sinclair commended Mayor Davis\nfor the \u201cvery good gesture,\u201d declaring, \u201cIt is the best gesture I\u2019ve seen since\nI\u2019ve been at the St James Parish Council, now Corporation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MOVED TO TEARS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senator Sinclair went on to make an impassioned plea for a\nformer member of the cleaning crew, Joseph Hamilton, to be recognized also\nposthumously. He argued that Hamilton was treated very shabbily by a former\nadministration and a fight had to be put up for him to get some compensation\nafter \u201cworking so hard\u201d over many years, as he was told \u201cthat he had to go and\nthey refused to give the gentleman even a gratuity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he recalled the case, Senator Sinclair, who admitted to\nbeing seen as a tough person, was moved to the point of shedding tears and had\nto pause in his presentation as he became choked up and slumbered in his chair\nuntil he recovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Michael Troupe, the only PNP councillor present\nat the time, congratulated Mayor Davis for acknowledging the workers. \u201cI\u2019ve\nbeen here for over 20 years and I know and I saw the work that they have been\ndoing,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cI\u2019m always saying sometimes when we put on big things\nat parade and getting people big plaques, we must always involve even one of\nour own staff and today, you have demonstrated that these gentlemen are one of\nthe most important (groups) among us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Troupe, who once served as deputy mayor, admitted\nthat \u201csometimes (when) I saw the work that they are doing, I turn my face the\nother side because the stench that comes from those drains, and sometimes they\njust take it on like is nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To councillor Davis, he said, \u201cI want to big you up Mr.\nMayor; it\u2019s not all the time we see eye to eye.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an unprecedented move, Corporation Chairman and Mayor of Montego Bay, Councillor Homer Davis, placed five public cleansing workers on a pedestal and presented them with plaques of appreciation and gift baskets for the contributions they have been making to the cleanliness, health and safety of Montego Bay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1384,1383,1382,800,1381,169,1380,30],"class_list":["post-2534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-awards","tag-drain-cleaning","tag-drain-cleaners","tag-homer-davis","tag-mayor-of-montego","tag-municipal-corporation","tag-thursday","tag-western-jamaica"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2534"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2536,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2534\/revisions\/2536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}