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.

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Illegal Olympic DVD being sold

Jamaica's performance at the recently concluded Olympic Games in Beijing, China, is being sold illegally on a DVD in downtown Kingston and Half-Way Tree, St Andrew.

Despite obvious copyright infringements, vendors have been selling the DVD for $100.

The demand for the item is so great that when THE STAR checked the first four vendors, they claimed to be "out of stock".

"Bway, yu late; mi don. Check further dung di line cause mi out a stock ya now. Dem a sell fast; about 10 mi sell from day," one vendor said.

The vendors say that the DVD was made available for sale about a week ago and has been in great demand since.

"Da DVD ya is like a collector's edition, eno. Everybody want one. A whole heap a people a request dem," one female vendor, Iris, told THE STAR yesterday after the DVD was finally obtained.

The front of the DVD bears an image of Asafa Powell receiving the baton from Usain Bolt in the final of the 4 x 100 metres relay event for men.

'100 % JAMAICAN'

The cover is labelled 'Beijing 2008' and has other inscriptions such as '100 % JAMAICAN' and 'THE SPRINT FACTORY'.

The one-hour-and-40-minute-long DVD was recorded from the broadcast of a Jamaican television station and shows the 100- and 200-metre events for men and women, the 400-metre race for women, the 4 x 100 metre event for men, the 4 x 400-metre event for men and women and the women's 400-metre hurdles.

At the end of the DVD, Jimmy Cliff's Harder They Come is played in the background, while messages, such as 'Beijing 2008 Jamaica Sprint Factory', 'Jamaica Rules the World' and 'History, Ours to Remember' are flashed across the screen.

When THE STAR spoke to the police about the DVD they said they were not aware of it but they would be conducting investigations.

Name changed.

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René Simoes fired?

Unconfirmed reports out of Honduras are that René Simoes, Technical Director of Jamaica's Football team was fired this morning by Jamaica Football Federation's(JFF) president Horace Burrell.

Simoes' dismissal came following Jamaica's 2-0 loss to Honduras last night. The coach was reportedly given notice about his dismissal while he was in his hotel room in San Pedro Sula.

When contacted by THE STAR, Howard McIntosh, chairman of the JFF Technical Committee said; "...not making any comments on the matter. I cannot say one way or the other anything on the matter."

Efforts to contact other members of the JFF executive were unsuccessful as they were said to be in Honduras with the team. A call to the team's hotel revealed that the delegation had already checked out.

Simoes, who guided Jamaica to its only World Cup appearance in 1998, returned as manager of the country's national team earlier this year.

Simoes resigned from the Reggae Boyz in February 2000, but took up the position again on January 5, he replaced Bora Milutinovic, who was fired last year.

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'I am a US citizen because of Obama'

published: Thursday | September 11, 2008

Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer


Pastor Ed Goldson - Contributed

AS A youngster travelling around Jamaica with his father, a pastor, Ed Goldson was inspired to follow in his footsteps and preach from a church pulpit.

Last year, another inspirational figure altered his life.

Goldson said Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate for United States president, influenced his decision to become an American citizen.

Citizenship application

"Once he declared himself for the presidency I applied for citizenship," Reverend Goldson told The Gleaner by telephone from his home in Seattle, Washington.

The 63-year-old Goldson is pastor at the Renton First United Methodist Church in Seattle. He became a US citizen on July 31.

Along with another Jamaican and 74 immigrants from 36 countries, the Kingston-born preacher swore allegiance to the country he has lived in since 1965, at the US Citizenship and Immigration Services in Seattle.

In February, he attended Obama's rally in that city which drew a crowd of evangelic proportions. Goldson believes Obama, son of an African father and white American mother, has the right ingredients to become the next president of the United States.

Obama's vision

"He has a vision not just for America but for a new world, and I want to be part of that world," Goldson said.

Obama announced his candidacy in February, 2007. He not only won handsomely in state primaries where there is a large black base, but in predominantly white states.

Goldson said friends, parishioners and neighbours have long known which candidate is going to get his vote. Not only does he discuss Obama's policies, his home is adorned with campaign merchandise supporting the charismatic Illinois Senator.

He believes given America's checkered racial history, it would be good if Obama wins.

"It would speak loudly not only for America, but the world," he said.

Goldson has been a pastor with the United Church for over 35 years. He has served that time in the Pacific Northwest, a region that does not have a large black population.

He started out at the Mallory Avenue Christian Church in Portland, Oregon in 1972. Six years later, he moved to Seattle in neighbouring Washington state to become pastor at the Grace United Methodist Church.

America was not receptive to blacks when Ed Goldson arrived in New York City in 1965. The Civil Rights movement, led by Martin Luther King, was in full cry and militant groups like the Black Panthers prowled urban centres.

Goldson began his theological studies at Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Missouri, a largely white area.

"There wasn't a lot of riots in the town where I went to school but there was certainly a lot of racism," he recalled. "There had been another Jamaican there before me, Carmen Lyons. I thought to myself, 'if she can survive, so can I'," he added.

Served Jamaica well

Goldson is the eldest of the Reverend Selvin Sydney Goldson's four children. Goldson senior served the United Church in Jamaica throughout St Mary for many years.

In over 40 years living in the US, he has seen token runs for president by black activists like Julian Bond and Eldridge Cleaver. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton put in spirited showings in 1984, 1988 and 2004, respectively.

None of them, however, compares to the 47-year-old Obama whose message of change has gone beyond the US. In Jamaica, reggae singer Coco Tea has done a song in tribute to him, so too dancehall star Mavado.

Goldson, who is married to an African-American and father of one son, is confident Obama will create history in November.

"Up to recently I thought he would win a landslide, but there's a category I'm concerned about (white women for Hillary Clinton) who could have a big say. But I think he's going to definitely win," he said.

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