Frans Richardson

SMNN -

GREAT BAY:--- "It is sad, very sad, that some people would deliberately take a decision of government meant for the good for our youth and create a big controversy from it about the separation of church and state." These were the initial comments of Commissioner Frans Richardson regarding the ongoing debate about remarks he made at the ground-breaking ceremony for the new Methodist Church building in Belvedere last Saturday. He reiterated that the decision of the Executive Council, taken unanimously, to assist the Methodist community in the construction of a new chapel in the Belvedere area to serve Dutch Quarter, Middle Region and environs, was meant as compensation for an oversight of government.[More....]

It's been a while since I felt like blogging, Flipper's email asking me to write something for the site a couple days ago was on my mind but honestly, I'm just too fed up with it all. But then, today reading the Daily Herald's (nice new site by the way DH!) story about Frans and George saying they don't think SXM should have separation of Church and State I no longer had any choice.

I've covered religion and SXM's religious nuts a few times over the years, one my first blogs here was titled Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay, I was sick and tired of reading religious clap trap and homophobic hate speech in our papers, and about 3 weeks later the two CBS gay guys got whacked over the head with a tire iron in Maho. Links to some of my other blogs can be found on one I wrote last year titled 'State and Church Separation?'

Before I get stuck in to this lovely meaty morsel laid before me, let me just state as I have done in the past that it is not my intention to offend those with religious beliefs. However, I reserve the right to have and hold to my own non religious beliefs and that means it's probably impossible not to offend those with them when speaking my mind. You have been warned.

The Daily Herald -

PHILIPSBURG--There will be no separation of church and state in St. Maarten, said Commissioners Frans Richardson and Hyacinth Richardson, both of the National Alliance, on Saturday. Their remarks, which are considered controversial, were made during the ground-breaking ceremony Saturday for the construction of a Methodist chapel in Belvedere – a project the National Alliance/Heyliger Island Government plans to fund to the tune of some NAf. 500,000 that is already attracting much controversy in the community.[More....]

SMNN - 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 of the Church, 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 Commissioner Frans Richardson blatantly lie, and who is caught in the middle? The Methodist Church.
When the Seventh day Adventist want to build a school and the Catholic Church wants to build another church in Cole Bay, or the Muslims 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.