Dear Editor,
Incidents experienced on the Island of St. Croix that require the attention of mental health and public health officials.
It was in the month of May, 2004, mid-day and I was driving along the road outside of Sunny Isle between Island Medical Center, just before approaching the entrance to Innovative. My peripheral vision was attracted to a Black man, standing upright with his pants down around his ankles, bare legs and behind exposed and lo and behold, he had a piece of paper in his hand. It looked like a brown bag-and the man was wiping his behind. He was in clear view, along the roadside, and next to him was a load of feces, crap, doo doo, whatever you want to call it. This man was seemingly unconcerned and went about his business to do his business publicly. I could hardly believe what I was seeing. This individual is indeed of need of some type of help and should not be wandering the streets using any place for a bathroom.
The second incident occurred outside of the Bank of Nova Scotia in downtown Christiansted. I was using the ATM machine and standing close to the machine was one of the walking wounded,–bearded, dirty and with a rather menacing look. When I completed my transaction, there he was, right in my face, begging for money. I was a bit unnerved so I went to the bank and reported the situation. I was informed that others had made similar complaints and the bank had called the police and the police told the man to move on and to stop bothering people. But, as the bank officials told me, the begging man keeps returning. This individual also requires attention from mental health and public health officials.
Sincerely,
Gloria I. Joseph
St. Croix
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