Children at the Mary's Children's Home in Kingston enjoy their snacks in the company of State Minister in the Ministry of National Security, Senator Arthur Williams (right), who visited the institution on Thursday. - JIS

Mustard Seed home opened

KINGSTON:

Martha's House, an apostolate of Mustard Seed Communities located at 1E North Street, down-town Kingston, was officially opened yesterday.

Martha's House opened its doors to two abandoned orphans living with HIV/AIDS and since then, 29 children in state custody, ages two to 13 have been taken in and cared for.

The new home is situated beside Matthew 25:40, another Mustard Seed care centre devoted to children living with HIV/AIDS.

Two years ago, when both Matthew 25:40 and Dare to Care in St Catherine could no longer accommodate infected babies and children, Martha's House was opened to fill the void.

Martha's House is the third Mustard Seed home to be situated downtown Kingston. Mary's Children's Home for pregnant teenagers is also located on North Street.

- Contributed

Cattle farmers meet agriculture minister

ST ELIZABETH:

As part of their commitment to the cattle industry, cattle farmers in St Elizabeth had a face-to-face discussion with the Minister of Agriculture, Dr Christopher Tufton, at the Port of Call Hotel in the parish, to outline some of their concerns.

Some farmers cited the difficulty of the availability of by-products to make feed for the cattle, especially given problems in the marketplace for local producers to remain competitive.

Other farmers spoke about cattle theft, while others said they hoped for a renewal of the industry to draw young people towards it.

In response, Tufton reminded the more than 50 cattle farmers that best practices would need to be applied for the agricultural sector to move forward. Tufton went on to challenge the farmers to devise new strategies to sustain the dairy/cattle industry.

The minister also told the group, which consisted of mostly elderly men, that hoteliers were having problems with the inconsistency of supplies, poor quality of produce as well as low output.

- Rayon Dyer

Residents in fear over eroded road

SPRINGFIELD, ST THOMAS:

Fresh concerns are mounting as road users are becoming more and more fearful of a section of the Roselle to Springfield main road in St Thomas, which is eroding.

In recent times, more and more of the Roselle section has become single-lane only, as the sea has washed away large portions of the road along the coastline.

Recently, the well-used strip has come under even greater pressure and large cracks have begun to appear in the road surface, causing even more discomfort and greater anxieties to users of the road.

The Gleaner understands that tenders have been invited for sea-defence material and as soon as the coastline defence mitigation is activated, rehabilitation work on the road will begin.

According to National Works Agency Parish Manager Tony Brown, these activities are due to commence in the near future.