Dear Editor,
I looked into the pitiful eyes of the scrawny brown puppy and a silent rage flowed through my being. As I stood before the huge garbage dump that greets customers, workers and everyone visiting the Mackenzie Market in my home town of Linden, I saw everything that was wrong with the leadership of our town.
There are many fast foods shops and fruit and vegetable stalls located in the market and business seems to be always thriving. Why all the waste is dumped at the front of the market continues to puzzle me.
The sight of flies buzzing around, cats and many hungry dogs feasting on rotten food and vegetables mixed with broken bottles, soggy cardboard and plastic bags is nothing short of repulsive.
The stink pervades the air and drifts into the new Linden Care office and other places of business in the immediate environs.
I visited Guyana in late 2011 coming up to the national elections and made a fuss about this sore and unacceptable situation. In October 2012 on my return to Linden, one is still greeted with the same sight.
What happens now is a Town Council truck arrives very early in the mornings and removes some of the rubbish. This happens about 6 am. Around 8 am the heap begins to be mountainous again and remains all day and night.
The area is never sanitised after the ad hoc removal and the single Town Council worker charged with that duty finds pleasure in beating the dogs, much to the amusement of passers-by.
One morning he hit the little brown puppy so hard, I left the veranda of Jacs hotel and had stern words with him. I find cruelty to animals revolting. Many seemed to be indifferent to cruelty to animals. I raised the issue of the countless stray dogs at Linden, with Regional Chairman Sharma Solomon. He promised to look into it. At least he made a note in his diary.
I now call on the Linden Town Council to relocate the garbage bin from the front of the market. I also wish to inform Lindeners that cruelty to animals is not acceptable in any civilised society the world over. I would gladly contribute to the establishing of an animal home at Linden. The little brown dog and its pitiful look still lingers in my mind.
Yours faithfully,
Norman Browne
