BLAINE, Wash. – New rules requiring passports or new high-tech documents to cross the United States’ northern and southern borders are taking effect Monday, as some rue the tightening of security and others hail it as long overdue.

The rules are being implemented nearly eight years after the Sept. 11 attacks and long after the 9/11 Commission recommended the changes. They were delayed by complaints from state officials who worried the restrictions would hinder the flow of people and commerce and affect border towns dependent on international crossings.

In 2001 a driver’s license and an oral declaration of citizenship were enough to cross the Canadian and Mexican borders; Monday’s changes are the last step in a gradual ratcheting up of the rules. Now thousands of Americans are preparing by applying for passports or obtaining special driver’s licenses that can also be used to cross the border.

“It’s sad,” said Steve Saltzman, a 60-year-old dual Canadian-American citizen as he entered the U.S. at the Peace Arch crossing in Blaine, Wash., on Thursday. “This was the longest undefended border in the world. Now all of the sudden it is defended, and not nearly as friendly.”

Near the border crossing, local Blaine resident Mike Williams disagreed.

The play’s the thing! Except when President Obama and the First Lady show up.

Some of the loudest applause at “Joe Turner‘s Come and Gone” Saturday night was for the First Couple, who received a five-minute standing ovation from before the show.

“We had no idea he was going to be here,” Maisha McGill, 28, said. “We were really lucky to come tonight. People were standing on top of their chairs clapping for him.”

The show finally started more than 45 minutes late at 8:47 while employees flickered the lights on and off in an attempt to calm down the clapping audience.

The Obamas had arrived shortly before curtain time and theatergoers who crowded the sidewalk were delayed by heavy security.

Nobody seemed to mind.

Jean Lundy, a 39-year-old unemployed finance worker from Jersey City, was sitting four rows in front of the President near Meryl Streep and Olympia Dukakis.

“We were in the presence of greatness,” he said.

He didn’t know the Obamas were going to the show and even tried selling his tickets before the show after a date canceled on him.

Instead, he brought Caesar Collins, 37, a Jersey City firefighter.

Collins updated his status on Facebook.com throughout the show.

“Some people were just hating on me,” he said with a chuckle.

The Obamas’ day started with daughter Malia’s soccer game near the White House before they dolled themselves up and jetted off to New York to have dinner at Blue Hill.

“I am taking my wife to New York City because I promised her during the campaign that I would take her to a Broadway show after it was all finished,” the President said.

As the motorcade left Greenwich Village and drove up Sixth Ave. to the theater, crowds of people – at times about eight deep – gathered on the sidewalks of the blockaded streets to wave as the Obamas passed.

For their date night – a tradition the Obamas have tried to keep up since moving into the White House – the President chose a dark suit and a white shirt, but skipped the tie. This was his first visit to the city as President.

Michelle Obama stepped out in a sleeveless black dress, open-toed sandals and a sleek updo.

Ernie Hudson, who plays Seth Holly in the August Wilson play, said the cast was elated to perform for the Obamas.

“We just do our best job every day,” said Hudson, famous for his role in the “Ghostbusters” movies. “It’s an amazing play about African-American migration at the turn of the century. It’s a very powerful play.”

Ray McGill, 24 of Queens said the play was “amazing” although somewhat eclipsed by Obama.

“A lot of people were excited and taking pictures of him,” he said. “He didn’t attract too much attention, all things considered.

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ALEXANDRIA, St Ann – Prime Minister Bruce Golding yesterday ordered the closure of the Armadale Juvenile Correctional Centre in this parish after a fire killed five wards of the state, injured 11 others and destroyed a dormitory at the all-girl facility Friday night.

At the same time, the prime minister has appointed retired high court judge and former president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Paul Harrison to conduct an inquiry into the tragedy that took the lives of Ann-Marie Samuels, Nerrissa Gooden and Rachel King, all 17 years old; and Kaychell Nelson and Shauna-Lee Kerr, both 15 years old.

Pudence Doeman holds a photo of her daughter, Shauna-Lee Kerr, who died in Friday night’s fire at the Armadale Juvenile Correctional Centre (in background). (Photos: Alesia Edwards) Photos Digitally Enhanced by Rorie Atkinson

“What happened here last night (Friday night) was a terrible tragedy, five of the girls here perished, a number of others injured, three of them quite seriously,” Golding said following a tour of the centre early yesterday morning. “We have made contact with the families of those who died, we are doing everything possible to provide them with comfort and consolation.”

He described the centre as unsafe and said that the remaining girls should not be allowed to continue living under the present condition.

“This facility will have to be closed,” said the prime minister. “I have spoken with the acting commissioner of corrections… we are identifying alternative locations where we hope to be able to move them very quickly, and we are hoping that within a very short period of time we will be able to have them relocated.”

Yesterday, National Security Minister Dwight Nelson, who visited the centre with Golding and Police Commissioner Hardley Lewin, said that following discussions with the Ministry of Education, the remaining 45 wards will be moved to the Tranquillity Bay facility in St Elizabeth. Until then, however, they will be temporarily relocated to the Stony Hill Heart Academy in St Andrew.

Describing the tragedy as “unfortunate beyond description” Nelson extended condolences and sympathy to the families and loved ones of the victims and said that his ministry, which has overall responsibility for juvenile correctional facilities, “stands ready to assist in anyway that is deemed necessary”.

Nelson also welcomed the prime minister’s decision to set up a commission of inquiry into the fire which the Government expects will determine the full extent of the incident, the condition that existed at the centre and how it could be addressed.

Shauna-Lee Kerr in happier times.

“The facilities here are clearly not adequate, and it is possible that that might have contributed, to some extent, to the tragedy, but given the severity of the tragedy and given the casualty that we have suffered – five of our girls having died – it is something that warrants investigation at the highest level,” Golding said.

Both Golding and Nelson said that the Government would assist with the funerals of the girls.

According to the police, about 8:00 pm Friday they were called to quell the rowdy behaviour of some of the girls, but stones and other missiles were hurled at cops who responded to the call.

The police said that while they were trying to restore order, they discovered that a section of the dorm, which housed 23 girls, was on fire. The fire spread quickly, engulfing the entire building and trapping the girls inside.

Police said they were able to rescue some of the girls through a rear window. However, after firefighters put the blaze out the bodies of the five girls were found among the rubble. The injured girls were rushed to the St Ann’s Bay Hospital for treatment. Three have since been transferred to the Kingston Public Hospital.

Neither firefighters nor Armadale officials have said how the fire started, even as it was alleged that the blaze was triggered by the lighting of a mattress by one of the girls who was misbehaving.

It was also alleged that when smoke was seen coming from the building, security officials assigned to the centre could not immediately find the key to open the door.

News of the tragedy brought Pudence Doeman, mother of Shauna-Lee Kerr, to the centre early yesterday morning. The visibly shaken woman, who travelled more than 111 kilometres from Hanover, clenched two photos of her daughter who was placed at the centre just over a month ago.

“A carelessness mek mi pickney dead, straight negligence and everybody a hush, hush. Mi want to know what happen to her,” Doeman demanded. “What dem a tell me don’t mek sense, but mi just listen ’cause she gone already. Mi think she woulda safe, that’s why me mek her come here, ’cause she wasn’t behaving herself. Betta mi did mek her stay pon di road and give trouble.”

Another mother, who claimed her daughter was the first to make it out of the burning building, said she would be seeking legal advice on how she could get back her uncontrollable daughter from the Government.

“Five of them from one dorm, it is sad, I am upset, and Monday morning I will be going to the Children’s Advocate and Probation Officer for my daughter because she and the other girls are not safe and I want her back alive, not dead,” the mother, who did not want to be identified, told the Sunday Observer.

Other relatives of the wards wept uncontrollably when security personnel at the gate failed to provide information on the status of their loved ones. One woman threatened to break down the gate if she could not see or hear from her child. Shortly after, the child was taken to a window, much to the delight of the mother.

Within the last year, the wards have been involved in at least three incidents. Eleven of the girls reportedly escaped from the centre last year to attend a dance in a nearby community. They were also involved in another incident which led to some of them being transferred to the Fort Augusta Adult Correctional Centre in St Catherine.

In February this year, the juveniles became unruly, injured several warders at Fort Augusta and doused others with excrement during a riot.

“They are an unruly, ill-mannered bunch of girls and we do not want them to deal with anymore,” one warder told the Observer at the time.

FREDA Fraser used to spend hours in the sun, ploughing the Manchester clay soil to plant cash crops, while anxiously hoping they would not be destroyed by heavy rain or drought.

Last Wednesday, as heavy rains pounded the parish forcing many farmers to wait nervously on the inside of their homes, she comfortably tended to a bountiful yield of tomatoes – thanks to the greenhouse technology.

Princess Ferguson (left) explains how early she must get to the market in order to get good produce while her colleague Lucy Palmer looks on. (Photos: Garfield Robinson)

Fraser is now able to work at a moderate pace throughout the day, protected from all elements. She is gratefully aware that another farmer in her Yonder Pond community would have to plant six times the amount to get the yield she is expecting in a few months.

“I really experience plenty and learn a lot about greenhouse,” she said beaming. “When I am under here, I am in the cool and can do any amount of work. If I was outside in the sun I couldn’t.”

Unfortunately, Fraser does not yet own her own greenhouse but works at the Christiana Potato Growers’ Co-operative Association’s mother farm greenhouse project in Devon, Manchester. She longs for the day when she can set up her own but for now the high cost makes it almost impossible. It costs upwards of $300,000 for the smallest greenhouse.

“Every farmer should be exposed to this technology because it is a wonderful thing and I can see the benefits,” Fraser said.

The technology has taken off in the farming constituency of Manchester North East, where many farmers have eagerly bought into its benefits. Now they say that while they welcome their member of parliament Audley Shaw’s support for agriculture so far, they want him to provide financial assistance to small farmers so they can acquire their own backyard greenhouse.

Frederick Mills tends to his cabbage field.

For those who can make the investment, the yields received, they say, will give greater returns if they can be guaranteed steady markets for their produce.

Frederick Mills had to scamper for shelter as the rain came down suddenly while he tended his cabbage farm during the Sunday Observer’s visit to his home in Ticky Ticky. He, too, wants a greenhouse so that he can work even when it rains, while providing him with higher yields.

“Things are so expensive (yet) when you get something out of the field the price is so cheap you can’t see your way,” he said.

Princess Ferguson has to reach the Christiana market by midnight ahead of other vendors, if she is to buy the finest produce from St Elizabeth farmers at the right price.

“Me come by 12:00 am fi buy the load then me go home and have a nap and come back by 7:00 am,” she said, adding that she sells six days a week.

Some days business is good but this rare. With the rainy months coming, Ferguson will be forced to sell carrot at “dirt cheap” prices since it cannot stay for long in the fields. The greenhouse technology will benefit her too, since it would enable farmers to reap all year round and to sell at more reasonable prices. At the same time, most constituency residents believe the unemployed and unskilled youth roaming the community can now go into farming since it no longer has to be a ‘dirty’ job.

Through the efforts of the Christiana Potato Growers’ Co-operative Association, more farmers say they will become involved in the technology sooner than later. The co-operative has also established its own tissue culture lab which will make life easier for the more than 17,000 registered members in Manchester, Trelawny, St Ann, St Elizabeth and Clarendon.

Tissue culture is a scientific method of multiplying clean plants which are not disease-resistant, but will not become contaminated with bacteria and fungus.

Dr Gordon Lightbourn, the plant molecular breeder at the lab, said the plant is placed in a fertiliser-type mixture in a test tube then sterilised with distilled water. The lab, which has been open three months, can accommodate up to 70,000 plants, with one test tube producing over 10,000. Current plants in the lab include cucumber, melon, various types of irish and sweet potatoes, ginger and even ornamental plants. The goal, Lightbourn said, is to produce 100,000 plants per month.

“From this three test tube of irish potatoes we got 36 test tubes in four weeks,” he said.

Alvin Murray, general manager of the co-operative which has been around since 1959, said farmers with greenhouses will be able to supply large hotels and restaurants, thus putting a permanent ban on the importation of ground produce.

He noted that most farmers are idle from November to February as they await the end of drought. But if rain water is harvested in catchments for greenhouse irrigation, Murray said they can produce all year. He wants to see the hillsides of the constituency become fruit orchards, with the lower slopes used for greenhouses and the huge craters left by
the bauxite companies utilised as water catchments to provide irrigation.

Murray added that with greenhouse generating greater yields, markets must be found to allow farmers to bypass middlemen and go straight to the buyer.

“If you look at the list of things the hotels want, their challenge to us is that we would never be able to supply that amount,” he said, adding that the farmer working outside stops reaping after four months while the greenhouse produces all year.

Those farmers who believe they will never afford a greenhouse said they want Shaw to assist with cheaper seeds and fertiliser. And greenhouses aside, many of the more than 50,000 residents say they long for piped water.

“Sometimes we haffi tek taxi go get water,” explained one resident who said this can cost as much as $400 both ways.

Devon residents are also clamouring for Shaw to return the health centre to the community as they can no longer afford transportation cost to Christiana for even the most minor medical services.

Hundreds of students camped outside the offices of the Students’ Loan Bureau (SLB) offices in this file photo. – File

STACI-ANN regrets going to the Students’ Loan Bureau for assistance to finance her tertiary education.

She claims her peace of mind has been disturbed since she graduated from the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) four years ago.

Financing her loan repayment and basic living expenses at the same time from the salary she earns was driving her to the cliff, Staci-Ann says.

“I was repaying my student’s loan but I had to stop because I realised that it was ridiculous. I was paying them and I could not live,” Staci-Ann tells The Sunday Gleaner.

The student-loan delinquent is a hybrid of frustration and desperation. Her voice cracked every decibel it rose as the sounds of the depressed woman filled the small Kingston apartment which she calls home.

“The worse thing I ever did in my life was to get a loan from the Students’ Loan Bureau. It has been a nightmare,” Staci-Ann tells The Sunday Gleaner.

One week ago, The Sunday Gleaner reported that more than 7,000 students owe the SLB over $760 million.

The story rubbed Staci-Ann’s sensitive nerve and she did not hesitate to tell her story.

“You look around you at everyone failing and challenge yourself to do differently and so you end up making a deal with the devil. Sad. That is exactly how it feels after taking this loan,” Staci-Ann said in her email to The Sunday Gleaner.

Her debt

The NCU graduate said she borrowed less than $500,000 from the SLB to pay her tuition fees at NCU, where she read for a bachelor’s degree. When she graduated in 2004, the SLB wrote to her telling her that it was time to begin settling her account. Her debt with the bureau stood at nearly $800,000 and she was required to pay almost $30,000 per month for six years to clear her loan.

Last week, Staci-Ann’s father received a letter from a collection and recovery service which warned him that should he fail to pay nearly $1.5 million within seven days the bureau would be taking action, including seizing his assets.

“I don’t have any assets, all I have is my life. I would love to pay it but I don’t have the money to pay. She is struggling too. Last Sunday, I called her in Kingston and she said ‘Daddy, I don’t even have dinner …’.”

He adds: “I love my children and she wanted to learn. It has been me alone; no mother; just me … . I have stood up with her and now they want to hang me … but I am not hiding and I am not running away,” Staci-Ann’s father says.

Staci-Ann tells The Sunday Gleaner that she made an attempt to pay the SBL but at great sacrifice. Then one day she gave up.

As anguish and despair rippled though her voice Staci-Ann related her life of challenges deep in Manchester and her continued fight for survival in the Corporate Area. She says that if the Bureau was structured in such a way to take into account her socio-economic conditions, and that of so many other delinquents, only then would the true story about non-payment of SLB loans be told.

“I am not looking for excuses but I wish those persons who say we are unwilling to make the sacrifices to pay back our student’s loan could understand,” Staci-Ann says.

Her story begins.

“Life was so bad. When I was younger, clothing was luxury, one I never got. My father was a carpenter, to this day I am still trying to find out why he did not build a proper house.

“I used to sleep on board, a bed with cloth on it … there were no sheets,” Staci-Ann said.

She tells The Sunday Gleaner that she would spend nights as a child crying and singing to herself on top of a rugged hill where her house rested.

“I have always wanted better and I thought education was my way out,” Staci-Ann says.

She says that her father withdrew the last $30,000 from his account for her to start university. At NCU Staci-Ann said she took a job in custodial services to help her meet daily expenses. But it was always clear to her that the SLB would be her only option.

She tells The Sunday Gleaner that she tried her best at university and even though she did not graduate with honours she entered the working world with a sense of glee and hope.

“… I was wrong. I was naive to believe that I would get a degree, work and be able to honour my loan obligation and at the same time stay alive.

“When I started working, the SLB wanted almost $30,000 per month and that was virtually all my take-home pay. There were times when I paid the student loan and just cried because I could neither travel to work nor pay my rent. I could no longer handle it, I had to stop,” Staci-Ann says.

“When I came to Kingston I did not have anywhere to live. It was my friend who asked somebody who asked a friend to put me up. I lived in a cellar – a basement … . I never said that to anybody; not even my family knows.”

No more sacrifice

The 28-year-old debtor tells The Sunday Gleaner that, once she stopped paying student loan, she took the opportunity to acquire things such as a bed, sofa, chest of drawers and refrigerator – things she never had before.

“I didn’t have a home. I needed a home for once. I grew up without a home. I have lived in so many places with so many people having them tell me it’s time to go. I needed a home, a real home. This is what I always wanted,” Staci-Ann says, her eyes surveying the 8×10-feet quad in which she now lives.

“Does this mean that I am not sacrificing, or is it because I am not sacrificing my well-being anymore?”

The feisty young woman tells The Sunday Gleaner that she has every intention of repaying the bureau and she intends to start doing so soon. Today, her monthly net salary amounts to approximately $44,000 per month, which matches her expenses.