Women wash clothes along the Mount Vernon main road. - Norman Grindley

AS PART of our mission to be the People Paper, THE WEEKEND STAR has been highlighting problem areas across the island. Our reporter, Carolyn Johnson, along with photographer Norman Grindley, will focus on a particular area until the problem is fixed. Now we will have a rough idea of how long the relevant authorities take to deal with some of the problems affecting our country.

Because we realise that the National Works Agency (NWA) has their hands full dealing with the effects of the constant rain, FIX IT will acquit them from any blame this week. (They will need the time to at least plan their repair strategy before the water dries up and motorists see the sinkholes that threaten to swallow up their vehicles.)

So, this week we take the journey back to Platfield, St. Mary to look at the broken ford which has disintegrated even more as rains continue to lash the island.

"De oda day I was going up with some goods for my shop and I had to park. We had to move de goods from one side to the other an head it straight up," Mrs. Mackie a resident from the area told THE WEEKEND STAR yesterday about the ford. "Jus a likkle piece leave now because a de constant rain."

The weekend STAR first featured the ford which is a part of the main road in the district, in August. When the weekend STAR visited the community the residents had warned that it was only a matter of time (and rain) before the ford was completely destroyed if it was not repaired. Then, it had been broken at one edge where a bamboo pole with a red flag had been erected to warn persons not familiar with the area of the danger.

Since then, Mrs. Mackie explains that the bamboo has been removed and placed nearer to the road.

Now, the residents are lamenting, "it gone." They are hoping, however, that the councillor, Richard Creary, will come through for them.