SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland -
The Department of Correctional Services yesterday gave the 14-year-old daughter of one of its inmates at the St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre money to buy clothes and books for the new school year.

According to Comissioner of Corrections June Jarrett, yesterday’s gesture was made possible through a new unit launched by the correctional services two months ago to assist children whose parents are imprisoned, with a view to prevent them from falling prey to criminal activities.

“In this unit, we have social workers who assist the children with counselling,” Jarrett told the Observer West. “Our duty is to ascertain the welfare of the children”.

Jarrett, who used her personal cash for yesterday’s donation, expressed the need to launch a project to generate cash for the new initiative in light of the fact that several other children are being assessed.

She said the Westmoreland student was selected after interviewing inmates. “When contacted we found out that the child needed books, a bag and shoes to go back to school. So yesterday during a visit I handed over money to the grandmother of the child. We were accompanied by social workers and probation officers from area,” she said.

The young student, whose father is serving a 10-year sentence for a charge of manslaughter, was grateful.

“I am so very happy for what you have done for me and
I hope this happiness and joy will be spread to other children,” she said.

Her grandmother was so overwhelmed that she could not hold back the tears.

Meanwhile, to complement to the new welfare unit, the Department of Correctional Services last week staged a parenting seminar at Fort Augusta for inmates who will be released within the next three months.

[Press]

Two separate families – six persons, including two children – are now homeless after fire destroyed two two-bedroom houses at Barracks Road, Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland on Thursday.

Pauline Reid, owner of the house, where it is believed the fire had started, said she lost everything in the blaze. She said that about 1:30 p.m., while sitting in her living room one of the children entered and went into one of the bedrooms. Moments later, she heard the child saying that he was burning ants.

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The life of bubbly sixteen year-old student of Petersfield High School was extinguished in tragic circumstances Wednesday afternoon, after she was stabbed multiple times by another teen with whom she had a dispute.

The dead girl has been identified as Nordia Campbell of Barracks Road, Savanna la mar and of Grange District. while the perpetrator; a student from the Frome High School in the parish, she was arrested and charged with the capital crime.

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During the course of this week, a number of heavily armed police units were deployed all over the city of Montego Bay in a bid by the Jamaica Constabulary Force to rid the parish and mainly the towns of the large number of suspected lotto scammers infesting the streets.

The lawmen targeted persons using the money transfer outlets but they mainly focused on the drivers of ‘hype’ motor cars (crissas) flowing through traffic along the busy streets. Barnett, Harbour, St. James and Market Streets were the areas mainly targeted. Most of the vehicles are owned and driven by very young teenagers who have just reachd the age to acquire a licence and it is very unusual to see them clad in the latest fashions cruising the town in first class vehicles.

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The Jamaica Trade and Invest (JTI) last Thursday officially opened its Export Centre and Business Information Point (ECBIP) Westmoreland satellite in this town, promising to provide better support to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the parish.

The opening of the centre brings to 11, the number of such facilities established across the island through partnerships involving the Private Sector Development Programme, Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC), JTI, and the Jamaica Export Association (JEA).

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Canefield-burning criminals are getting the better of the special constables in Westmoreland, according to their head, Jonathan Boyd.

“We are trying our best but we are not having the desired results because of the limited resources that we have to police the vast area,” said Boyd, commander of the Westmoreland Division of the Island Special Constabulary Force (ISCF).

Boyd’s not-new complaint follows last week’s request by Agriculture Minister Christopher Tufton for security to be beefed up in the sugar cane-cultivation areas in the parish, in the wake of widespread illicit burning of canefields.

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ORLANDO Salmon otherwise called ‘Gunner’ of Prospect district, Westmoreland, was shot dead by gunmen and the house he was in set ablaze by his attackers this morning.

Police said that at 12:20 am, Salmon was at the house when gunmen kicked open a back door and entered. The gunmen immediately opened fire hitting him before setting the house ablaze.

Salmon ran from the house and collapsed in the yard where he died. The police and fire brigade were summoned and one unit from the Savanna-la-mar Fire Department extinguished the fire.

SWEET RIVER, Westmore-land – The Westmoreland Police and members of the Narcotics Squad yesterday busted a major car-stealing operation while on a ganja eradication drive deep inside the woods of a section of the Sweet River community known as Pipers Corner.

The police party removed the scrapped remains of what appeared to be three new motor cars and a portion of car parts, including a set of model rims.

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A number of concerned farmers, who reside in the small, hilly community of Moreland, located in the parish of Westmoreland, on Tuesday morning, gathered at the home of one of their neighbours to offer their sympathies following the disappearance and slaughtering of his donkey ‘Sam’.

The 65 year-old farmer, a Mr. Grey, related a sad story to this reporter about his dear, departed animal (Sam) which had been the bedrock of his working life since for some 10 years. According to him, on Friday last, he was at his two apartment board dwelling house when he was approached by two men who offered to purchase the animal at a cost of $12,000.

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Armed with numerous police warnings and tips on how to avoid being robbed particularly during this holiday season, some taxi operators in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, for the most part, are happy to have made it this far without a single major incident. However, the same cannot be said of a few who have had their lives threatened been robbed, beaten and their cars stolen.

The Western Mirror was told women are being used as sidekicks or as point persons in most of these alleged robbery attempts, in which at least two taxi drivers were said to have been taken away by knife wielding, gun pointing women.

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