Dear Editor,
Once again I am forced to highlight a matter of grave concern hoping to draw attention to the combined opposition, human rights, Red Thread and any other organization that could help address this situation with fairness, and to have measures put in place swiftly so that the management of Buddy‘s Pool Hall and Night Club could carry on their business in a more humane manner and stop this gross display of arrogance and abuse of power, thereby bringing some kind of justice and relief to myself and family.
On Friday, June 22, 2012 at 23:40 hrs just twenty minutes before the midnight hour, a sudden burst of drumming pierced the air, violently startling me, the entire household and I am quite sure all the other residents out of their sleep.
This included my granddaughter, a very young baby, who was so scared it took hours to get her to calm down, stop crying and go back to sleep. The sudden jolt gave me a massive headache and total hopelessness and despair engulfed me. The event was a party dubbed the “Wedding House Experience” or something of that nature.
The lack of consideration displayed by beating drums outside the building at that hour knowing that people had already retired to their beds is completely outrageous, after which we had to cope as always with the heavy bass battering our brains and total stress and discomfort until 03:45hrs of Saturday morning.
It continued on Saturday night – no drums on this occasion – with the loud heavy bass invading our home which never stopped until around the same time on Sunday morning. Sunday too we were (and are) never spared. Every day from Sunday to Sunday that heavy bass is in the house; when it isn’t beating and battering our brains it is just there annoying us and taking away our peace and comfort.
On May 8, 2012, I was called into ‘A’ Division for an interview concerning numerous complaints since 2010 to various offices of noise abuse emanating directly from both the Pool Hall and the Night Club on Sheriff Street. There were about eight or nine other ranks both male and female present there, with a senior interviewing officer.
It appeared as though the interviewing officer already had a mindset as to which direction he would go, and it surely wasn’t mine, He said the EPA had visited Buddy’s and had come to the conclusion that the music coming from there was safe, and that he could rely on the word of a name he called from the EPA, but I cannot recall same. After I sat there listening to the report of one of the three investigating officers, two of whom were absent from the interview, I realized that this exercise was nothing but a big farce.
The unprofessionalism of one of the three investigating officers (two were not present) surfaced in her verbal report when she chose to highlight things that weren’t her concern. There was also her findings, and in that regard if she had been properly briefed she would have known she was only confirming some of the points she was putting forward which I had already stated in a letter shortly after her visit.
The interviewing officer’s attitude was harsh, unfriendly, unprofessional and downright disrespectful in my opinion, as he conducted the interview. While we debated I suggested that he deploy ranks to come to my room to get the evidence, for it was more prevalent there, to which he angrily bellowed that he wasn’t sending any of his ranks in my room because next he could hear that something was lost.
He then pointed to three of the ranks sitting there, one after the other asking them mockingly, “You wan’ go in she room? You wan’ go in she room? You wan’ go in she room?” and a burst of laughter erupted from them. In shock and anger I responded angrily to them by saying, “Wait, this is what I come to? A joke?” Twice I asked them this question.
Words and space will not permit me to give every detail but the interview ended with him deploying three other ranks to visit on the days we are most affected. Wednesday, the next day, was one of the days; it was a silent as a graveyard and this isn’t how it usually is, but we all know the wall has ears and I asked that at least they come into the yard because the heavy bass is always there too. To date, I cannot say what transpired since again unprofessionalism has deterred him from at least sending correspondence about the findings and closure.
And as always the music that was turned down to deceive during the so-called investigation is now blasting through again; it’s right back to square one especially on the days we’re most affected.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address provided)
Editor’ note
We sent a copy of this letter to the Guyana Police Force, the Environmental Protection Agency and Buddy’s Entertainment Complex for any comment each of them might wish to make on the portion of the letter which concerns them. We received the following comment from Mr Ryan Shivraj, the Managing Director of Buddy’s Entertainment Complex:
“The letter appears to make allusions to multiple incidents which I would firstly like to summarise.
“One is referring to music, specifically its disturbing volume which allegedly emanates from Buddy’s Night Club on weekends. The second alludes to an incident which occurred with a group of interviewing officers of Division ‘A’ while a complaint is being was being made. Finally, the complainant describes what appears to be an obvious conspiracy when ranks were deployed to investigate the reported grievance on a similar offending night.
“That being said, my comments can only rightly be directed towards the first of the events. I regret to learn of the wide spectrum of emotions such music has caused the complainant to experience, from simply ‘annoying us’ to being engulfed by ‘total hopelessness and despair.’ This troubles me greatly, but I find it somewhat peculiar.
“Our building has been sitting at the centre of numerous neighbours for many years with a club business on a busy location, namely, Sheriff Street. Yet, no one else except this one person, has ever expressed any complaints directly or indirectly to us. This particular party has made quite a significant number of noise nuisance reports to various bodies over a number of years, but none has been proven true.
“As is standard practice, complaints to any relevant bodies would be investigated without any notice when the club is in session. Groups who have already evaluated our nightclub numerous times include the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and multiple officers from the local police. All of these groups have dismissed the reports upon investigation. Furthermore, with acknowledgement to this particular complainant, we have even also met with organizations who do not typically handle matters of this nature, including the Ethnic Relations Commission and the Ministry of Home Affairs. Again, these reports were found to have no merit.
Were our nightclub located in a residential area, this would have been another matter. Instead we share a commercial district with an assortment of entertainment settings, many of which we are told may also play a melody or two.
“All things being considered, we find the actions of this complainant to reflect great discrepancy. While tenacity is to be admired, we have to bear in mind the frequency of reports in spite of various evaluations and the overall context of the situation. Furthermore, this has even led us to question the intention behind the complainant’s actions.“
