COPS BLOCK BOLT PARTY

Western Bureau:

Tempers flared yesterday between residents and the police, at a community meeting in Sherwood Content in Trelawny, over where a homecoming celebration for sprint star Usain Bolt should be held.

Sherwood Content, in the yam-producing parish, was home to triple gold-medallist Usain Bolt before his recent relocation to Kingston. The residents had being planning to celebrate Bolt's Olympic success, but the police in Trelawny are adamant that the residents' selected location is a security risk.

The Sherwood Content Community Centre had been the selected venue to host Usain's homecoming. These plans were crushed, however, when the police refused to grant permission for the event.

One angry male shouted: "Dis a whey Bolt come from and unnu a tell wi seh wi caah keep a celebration fi welcome wi hero? Dat a foolishness!"

Security risks

Superintendent in charge of Trelawny, Linette Williams-Martin, in an effort to calm the irate residents, explained that Bolt was an international sprint icon who had to be protected against security risks.

"When it comes to traffic management, it is impossible because of the narrow roads, and two vehicles cannot hold on the roads. Apart from that, there are not sufficient parking areas, and a number of other security risks. This is Bolt. This is not an ordinary Jamaican," the senior officer said.

She said the community would have an opportunity to interact and celebrate with Bolt when he visited Waldensia Primary and the basic school, where a treat for the children would be staged.

"Bolt will be here spending some hours with the children, so it's not that Bolt won't be coming into his community. Besides, they will also be having a motorcade," Superintendent Williams-Martin stated in her appeal to the Sherwood Content residents.

Usain's father, Wellesley Bolt, was also adamant that his son would not attend any event that posed a security threat to him.

"When I saw what happened at the airport, it was chaos, and one of his hands almost got dislocated, and we cannot allow that to happen. You can't go beyond the police, and they said that the event cannot be held here," he said.