RESIDENTS OF Seaforth, St. Thomas, braved the rains that have been persisting in this section of the island to appeal to the authorities for help in training the rivers flowing through their communities. From previous experience, they are fearful that the heavy showers expected could create serious flooding.

Councillor for the Seaforth division of the St. Thomas Parish Council and Mayor of Morant Bay, Joan Spencer, joined the residents in their protests.

- Arthur Green

THE NATIONAL Works Agency (NWA) has heeded the call of residents of Treasure Beach, in St. Elizabeth, and has begun work to construct a canal from the Great Pond to the sea.

While pleased with the NWA's response, councillor for the Pedro Plains division, Vernon Ebanks, voiced his concern that the work might not be completed in time to avert widespread possible flooding, should a hurricane strike.

The hurricane season began on June 1 and promises to be a very active one.

Treasure Beach, Great Day, Old Wharves, among other districts in the area which were severely flooded during the passage of hurricanes Wilma and Emily, last year, are at risk.

- Rayon Dyer

ANGRY RESIDENTS and motorists blocked the entrance to the Marshall's Pen and Mike Town main roads in Manchester, on Thursday, to draw attention to the poor road conditions.

The placard-bearing protesters used old cars, tree trunks, stones and other debris to block the road leading to the busy Winston Jones Highway.

One homeowner, Roger Wright, told Across the Nation that the poor condition of the road also affected persons living nearby as it creates a severe dust problem during the dry seasons. He said he, along with several other residents, had been calling on the authorities to correct the problem for years and they had only received promises in return.

- Angelo Laurence

COMMISSIONER OF Police, Lucius Thomas, has reiterated that corruption will not be tolerated inside the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) under his watch. The commissioner, who was addressing members of the community and the Mandeville Police Civic Committee, on Monday, at the International Chinese Restaurant, said the fight against corruption was on.

"Sadly there are a few (police personnel) who continue to hurt the force with their indifference to duty and their involvement in corrupt activities," Police Commissioner Thomas said.

He said the modern police force that he was in the process of building has "absolutely no room for those whose activities are no different from the criminals in the society."

Mr. Thomas also challenged members of the public to play their role in the fight to clean up the force by not paying bribes to police officers.

- Angelo Laurence

CUSTOMERS OF the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) will no longer have to live in fear that they will have go without electricity on weekends because of disconnection by the company.

The company is currently not enforcing a disconnection policy on weekends, following a more than year-long battle with Reverend Oliver Daley of the Ridgemount United Church.

Rev. Daley started his campaign after a member of his congregation related to him the stress she suffered after the electricity to her home was disconnected, although she was a long-time customer. He organised a public meeting with the Office of Utilities Regulation, the Consumer Affairs Commission and the JPS earlier this year. Through these fora, customers were able to articulate the hardships they suffered when their service is disconnected without notification and on weekends.

- Angelo Laurence

THE NATIONAL People's Cooperative Bank of Jamaica, popularly known as PC Bank and the Farmers Bank, and which at one time boasted over 100 branches, now has 42 outlets in its islandwide network.

This reduction, which is seen as a process of rationalisation and modernisation, followed closely on a 1993 Statistical Institute of Jamaica report, which found that most of the branches were plagued with acute managerial and financial problems.

Allethia Morris, a spokesperson at the Bog Walk branch in St. Catherine, told Across the Nation that the bank had not relinquished its core business of providing affordable loans for small farmers. She said about 50 per cent of the bank's present clientele are small farmers.

- Elgin Taylor

A SUB-COMMITTEE of the St. Catherine/Clarendon Principals' Association (Cluster 26) met recently to formulate a proposal to lobby the Government and the Jamaica Teachers' Association for the introduction of a substitute teacher programme in the island's school system.

Convenor of the group, Maureen Dunn, principal of Toll Gate All-Age said, at a forum recently, that such a programme was necessitated by the fact that teachers doing part-time studies are absent from their institutions on certain days of the week this created stress on other staff members who have to fill in for them. She pointed out too that the problem is exacerbated when a school has to deal with multiple absences of this nature.