An Unwholesome Situation in Gville

According to the article this area has become a gathering place after sundown (or before) for "squatters" to drink, smoke pot, crank up their music, and relieve themselves without the bother of searching out the nearest WC. The area residents have joined together to complain to M. Magras . Further, they point out the les gendarmes are aware of the situation but seem impotent or unconcerned. À suivre...

What happened to the Gazebo

And, as was reported in an earlier forum thread, the sort of impropriety decried in the article is not limited to a single location. Church properties in both Lorient and Gustavia have suffered desecration at the hands of the same or similar puerile troublemakers.
Doesn't speak well for the future of the culture of Saint-Barth, ÀMHA, and isn't exactly harmonious with the image the OT will attempt to portray this Saturday in the Hamptons...n'est-ce pas ?

I was harassed in the parking lot at both March U and Oasis, each time around around 8 PM.

I live in Oakland so this isn't something exactly foreign to me, but I also something I haven't seen on this island. It's my first time here in five years, although I've been coming here since the early '80's. Perhaps it's not a new phenomenon? And, compared to the rest of the Caribbean, it's harassment "lite".

Still.. not pleasant.

Harassed in what way?

At Marche, I was returning to my car and had what would easily be classified as a drunken, older man come up to me asking for money. It was dark, unexpected and disconcerting. I said no and he didn't leave, I did.

The situation at Oasis it was similar but with a younger crowd. This was Sunday night and the parking lot had a number of cars and trucks with people hanging out. As I mentioned, it's a daily occurrence at home, something I'm very familiar with. I've lived in a city for 30+ years and know how to take care of myself. I generally know when I don't have to worry. At Oasis it wasn't a comfortable situation and the young guy who approached me was unclear about what he wanted because he was pretty out of it. Again, I left.
I certainly didn't feel threatened the way I would have at home, but I was surprised at how uncomfortable I found the situation to be.

I'm originally from the Bahamas, having been born to American parents on one of the Out Islands. One of the things
I've loved about St Barths was the similar feeling to that time. Everything changes, even this island. I think it's important to be realistic about that and adjust expectations.I think the original article in this thread speaks to that.

Both very uncomfortable situations and even more so as one wouldn't think it would happen in commercial parking lots in the early evening.

I don't like the sound of this at all. You're right, everything changes .... I hope that the police might be aware and can perhaps patrol more often?

Other than checkpoints, both the municipal police and the Gendarmes are rarely seen after dark.

Perhaps THAT is the problem...those groups are well aware of that fact. I guess unless someone complains or policies change, this will continue.

That's why they keep targeting scooters at checkpoints - DUI, no helmets and no "green card".

Is possession of pot legal in the COM? The original article indicates that the authorities respond to complaints by saying these people are not aggressive but apparently ignore the fact that they're smoking pot openly.

JEK said:

That's why they keep targeting scooters at checkpoints - DUI, no helmets and no "green card".

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I think that's terrific but I'm wondering if these two incidents might mirror others that could be happening with no one reporting them? It's a tough call but I think I would feel the same as barbh...very uncomfortable.

KevinS said:

Other than checkpoints, both the municipal police and the Gendarmes are rarely seen after dark.

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I second that.

cassidain said:

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According to the article this area has become a gathering place after sundown (or before) for "squatters" to drink, smoke pot, crank up their music, and relieve themselves without the bother of searching out the nearest WC. The area residents have joined together to complain to M. Magras . Further, they point out the les gendarmes are aware of the situation but seem impotent or unconcerned. À suivre...

Click to expand...

And, according to our friend Le Corbeau, six months hence and nothing has changed regarding the open trafficking and use of "merde" in Gustavia:



This is distressing and one of the reasons I avoid Gustavia after dark.

We haven't been coming to St. Barth nearly as long as many of you, but over all the years we have been coming I never thought I would feel unsafe in any way. I know things change, but this saddens me.

There seems to be a crowd hanging around Oasis parking lot all the time. Except for taking up all the parking spaces they don't seem to be dangerous or threatening. Of course that was last year. This report together with past reports will make me more alert.

I have noticed this group of youngsters growing over the years and yes they can be very disrespectful when walking past them as they blurt out rude remarks to women including my daughter but we NEVER feel threatened. I often get annoyed and confront them and remind them to tone it down a bit and it seems to work. During a visit to the island in 2010, I entered the bakery in Colombier along with my daughter and her girlfriend and over to the right were 2 young men sitting and drinking coffee, I recognized one of the young men from the rowdy group that hangs outside of Le Select and I noticed he was looking at the girls and grabbing his crotch which made me very angry. I did my best to ignore him while I was peeking through the glass case deciding on what i wanted and I glance over and noticed the punk had a full erection in his pants and grabbing it as he stared at the girls. At that point, I walked straight over to him and confronted him telling him how rude and disrespectful he was to behave like that in public, I didnt care who was listening, I was very upset with this character. I told him if he wants to meet some nice girls then next time stand up and introduce yourself in a friendly manner instead of making yourself out to be a sex starved pervert. His friend started laughing and they both left the bakery and the waitress behind the counter apologized to me and mentioned that the young man does that quite often. WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE? if you know he does that often then throw him out and dont allow him to come back. My point is to not be uncomfortable with these guys and just walk right up to them and remind them in a nice way that they are being rude and disrespectful. I honestly dont believe these guys are dangerous or harmful, they just need to be confronted when they step out of line and reminded that you will report them if it happens again.

This is QUITE a story and I commend you to have the guts to confront them....and they should definitely be reminded that they are behaving in a disrespectful AND unacceptable way. IMO it this is also very intimidating especially when you have your family with you. What's keeping them from pulling a weapon on you and/or following you back to your villa? You just never know... I COMPLETELY agree that the owner of the bakery should throw them out - and since it was a waitress that told you that they do this often, SHE should pass this along to the owner. Of course, that might have already been done and perhaps the owner is intimidated.

Gotta go to Rosita and Ellen for their perspective...insight please. OBTW, would love to be there if that type behavior occured to Rosita and Ellen when JP and Rosemond was around.