Ross Sheil, Staff Reporter
Corporal Hugh Malcolm (second right) of the Above Rocks police in St. Catherine shows Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas (third right) a landslide which has cut off a section of the road on which the station is situated. The area poses grave danger to commuters, particularly at nights, as there are no street lights in the vicinity. The commissioner and other members of the force toured several police stations in St. Catherine ( Image taken from The Daily Gleaner, Wednesday October 14, 2005 ). - NORMAN GRINDLEY/DEPUTY CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
A POLICE car plunged over the side of a precipice caused by landslide in Above Rocks, St. Catherine, yesterday morning. The driver suffered minor injuries.
It was the same precipice shown on the front page of last Wednesday's Gleaner, with Commissioner of Police Lucius Thomas and others inspecting the area.
According to District Constable Garfield Forbes of Above Rocks Police Station the police will be hampered by the damage. "Even if someone is walking along the road, driving by that person is impossible in that narrow section. And at night it presents a hazard and has to be approached slowly."
The landslide outside the gate of St. Mary's Church, Above Rocks, has reduced Creary's Road to single lane traffic as the surface has gradually broken away. Concerned Above Rocks police had already reported an earlier similar accident, when a car was damaged when it drove partially over the edge.
Father Joseph Dorniak of the church had written to K.D. Knight, Member of Parliament, in a letter dated August 29, although he said the MP did not respond.
ESTIMATE MADE
"I received the letter and long before I had been in dialogue with the Minister of Transport and Works, Robert Pickersgill. A team was sent to survey the road and an estimate was made," Mr. Knight told The Gleaner on Friday, although he was unable to specify when repairs would commence.
Contacted by The Gleaner Minister Pickersgill's office confirmed that a start date for the work would soon be announced following further surveying work by the National Works Agency (NWA).
Amongst other concerns Fr. Dorniak said that police, if called, might be unable to come to the church's aid.
"We are very concerned since we have 1,850 students here and their education is threatened with each landslide that makes the church less and less accessible. We have a large van and it can barely pass at the moment," he said.
The church operates three schools: a basic school, a college and a pre-vocational school. For the past 60 days, since he took over the mission, the school has been inaccessible to waste collection trucks which cannot pass on the road, he added.
