If I lived on the island of St. Martin (as a whole....) I'd have serious concerns, too, regardless of which side. The acrid aroma of burning trash is terrible and I doubt it knows the borders and that its supposed to stay on the side where its created, so really, no one is immune from its effects even if its primarily a Dutch side concern.

Years ago we had a local dump in the next town that kept catching on fire and it had nothing to do with dump dwellers or scavengers but with the methane gases that built up underground and were easily combustible, igniting sometimes into raging infernos creating disgusting and health effecting fumes. For the island Fathers to make the innocuous statements about keeping windows closed is ludicrous.

It's not like this is a new problem to the island and every new administration (administrator) acts like they never heard of the problem before. And they all opt for studying the situation - the time for studying is done. It's time they applied some of those studies and actively do something for ALL the people of the island.

I know government gives a lot of money from their coffers for 'fun' things like Christmas decorations, regatta funding, Carnival funding and lots of other things islanders enjoy but c'mon peeps, this is a health issue and before monies are spent on any of these fun items, health and safety matters such as these need to be seriously addressed. Perhaps instead of these donations, or heaven forbid - the raises for government officials, and don't forget the celebratory galas and off island travels in search of more revenues and potential visitors, they should take this problem seriously and DO SOMETHING CONSTRUCTIVE FOR ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE ISLAND regardless of which side you call home and regardless of whether you're a resident or a visitor since all can be so adversely effected by this on-going health problem.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/smashpc.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/smashpc.gif" alt="" />