Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
S TATIA N EWS
V OLUME 1, ISSUE 13 A UGUST 31, 2009
An exciting Statianews with Saba news in it too. When This “Conclusie” is very important. It shows a good view Reply to Mr. Ber-
will someone from Saba write in this newsletter? This on the situation. If I may speak for Statia, I could think of a
newsletter reaches all the departments in Holland. And few departments that need extra help from Holland or
nard Schmidt, opin-
the members of NAAZ. And a lot of politicians and high even fall under Dutch responsibility. And maybe some ion in Dutch, page
and low civil servants in the “future former Dutch Antil‐ departments must be independent of Dutch interference 9, 10, 11
les”. (like your future ex‐wife, just joking.) And Statia‐ in conducting tasks.
news reaches normal Statians on Statia and abroad.
Unfortunately, I still don’t print it out, because I have no On page 9, 10, 11 I give view about the future of our New Press Confer-
money. If you want to sponsor me, or help me with education. I was triggered by a dramatic accident I heard ences by GIS, page
money, please send an email to: info@statianews.com of this morning. This accident was personal, but it can
The “hillpeople” read it too, and the landowners abroad happen to all of us. By pure bad luck, all of us can be a
11
too. victim. We could get hit by a hurricane for instance.
The Soccer game on
Saba stops paying Antillean Central taxes and drops the I decided not to wait with my opinion. I had to write
Antillean flag (page 2) about education in Dutch. It’s called “Reply to Mr. Ber‐
Saturday, page 12
nard Schmidt”…
Julian Woodley, together with the commissoners of Music, Rootsriders
Constitutional Affairs of Saba and Bonaire signed a Enjoy,
“Conclusie Tripartiet BES”. In it, simply said: The delega‐
are coming Sept. 9,
tions of the three island do not see enough tasks perfor‐ Annemieke Kusters– Jansen page 13.
med on island level. The three islands were promised to
be treated as three different entities and that there Small agenda: Mr. Henk
would be the possibility that within the equal (juridical)
( 1966, huisvrouw, getrouwd, vier kinderen, twee Kamp will be on Saba
laws, some difference can exist on the different islands. in Holland, twee hier op Statia (lijkt wel Cari‐ today and on Statia on
This difference in handling tasks was put in the bisch…), was vroeger docent maatschappijleer op Wednesday. Mr. Hyden
agreements, because in discussions with the Dutch and het Aloysius College in Den Haag, heb pedagogiek Gittens will give a press
the delegations from Saba, Statia and Bonaire, it was gestudeerd in Leiden onder prof. Rien van IJzen‐ conference this mor‐
concluded that there are differences in the capacity to doorn, maar daar kan ik me niet meer zoveel van
conduct some tasks. It appears there is uniformity in
ning. Check 91.5 FM and
herinneren…) local television, especi‐
stead of diversity. They urge the Netherland to stick to
the agreement about diversity. ally Thursdaynight at 8.
P AGE 2 P OLITICS August 31, 2009 S TATIA N EWS
Determined to die
Widow? Yes: fatally injured, on his deathbed Des
Roses had finally said “Oui” to Françoise. She had
taken stock of the situation: the father of her chil‐
dren was dying and the colony was in turmoil. In or‐
der to safeguard what she saw as belonging to her
and her children, she married the dying Des Roses “in
extremis” as is the legal term for such a marriage.
Count D’Estrées’ storming of Fort Ceperou in Cay‐
Fortunately – and how opportune? ‐ he had signed enne in 1676 (Painting by Charles Morel after a
his testament in favor of Françoise the night before sketch by Paul Merwart (1903) in the museum of
he was killed. However, the Dutch were now in con‐ the Department of Guyane).
trol. So the very day after she married and lost her
husband, Françoise was on one of the Dutch ships,
requesting that the notary on board register her hus‐ The new French authorities did not seem eager to
band’s testament. acknowledge Françoise’s rights. And just as deter‐
mined as she had gone on board a Dutch ship in
J.F. Artur, who a few decades later wrote a history of search of a notary, she now boarded a French ship –
French Guyana, gives an explanation for the timing of to seek redress in Paris, the capital of a country
Des Roses’ testament. He writes that “determined to where she had never been. She returned with let‐
die, he had made up his will the night before the at‐ ters from the Ministry in Paris supporting her case.
tack.” “Even after the fort had been surrendered, he
entrenched himself in a corner of the town square Fort Oranje
together with some fifteen or sixteen men. He was Her quest to secure Des Roses’ legacy for herself
injured right away by a hit in the thigh” – according and her children was successful. In 1685, Des Roses’
plantation (that she operated together with ›
P AGE 5 S UMMER S PECIAL / T AXES August 31, 2009 S TATIA N EWS
M AZINGA ON THE B AY
For months already, Wim de Jong and his crew are
working on that little warehouse on the bay. Some‐
times you see Leontine and Tony Durby working
there too in the weekends. Not so long ago, they
were sitting there every weekend, hammering ce‐
ment from the old bricks. They are renovating that
old building to make “Mazinga on the Bay”, a second
giftshop (we already have a Mazinga in Oranjestad)
with a small apartment attached to it.
Jim Coffey together with Clem John.
was likely constructed sometime in the 1730s. A
full archaeological report by Secar is forthcoming.
Last Friday August 28, the Masonary crew has
started. Jim Coffey and Randy Henry from “Walter
Associates” are working very hard to first
strengthen those parts of the building that are im‐
They are so low‐key about it, that nobody pays atten‐ portant for the structure. When they are finished
tion to their work. But if you ask Leontine about it, with all the masonary, the building will look exactly
she gets very passionate. It has been her and Tony’s how it looked in the 1730’s. “Walter Associates” has
longtime dream to renovate this building. “These old won several awards in the US for their restorations.
buildings supposed to be Statia’s pride and we want For Mazinga on the Bay they do not use normal
to contribute to their preservation.” cement, but the mixture with lime that was used in
the old days. Wim de Jong will plaster the inside
They started out in this building with their diveshop
“the Happy Hooker” in the 70’s and 80’s. A lot of
people remember the good times they had there.
The building has been deserted since the nineties
and finally will come in use again.
If you think about it, this building will actually be the
first building on Statia that will be completely reno‐
vated in the old style. Leontine and Tony decided to
ask professionals to do research. You can check their
report on www.statianews.com In this report you can
find some beautiful paintings and pictures of what
lower town looked like in the glory days of Statia. The
research that was done, reveals a lot about Statia’s
colonial past. In this report you can read that Statia’s
lower town is undoubtly one of the best preserved walls with this same material, that was developed
18th century trade districts of the Caribbean. The back then to resist the Caribbean weather. When
Mazinga on the Bay building is believed to be the you want to follow the restoration, go to
headquarters for the West Indies Company and it www.mazingaonthebay.com ‹
P AGE 9 O PINION August 31, 2009 S TATIA N EWS
The honourable Lt. Governor Mr. Hyden Gittens with the first lady Mrs. Sylvana Gittens. praying at Queensday April 30, 2009.
In the back, Mr. Gerald Berkel, acting Lt. Governor. (picture by Jan van Duren)
P AGE 12 S PORTS August 31, 2009 S TATIA N EWS