Letter to the Editor
Cayman Ministers' Associationwrites:
An Open Letter to the Minister of Tourism
Minister of Tourism, Environment and Transport,the Hon. McKeeva Bush, at a press conference on Thursday December21 at Pedro St James, announced that he was contemplating liftingthe Sunday and holiday cruise ship ban currently in force herein Cayman.
He was quoted by the media as saying that the ban was "...a policy that I believe is hypocritical," and one which hadcost the government "a tremendous amount of revenue."
This was cause for some concern among the membership of the CaymanMinister's Association, which were raised with the Minister ina letter dated 3 January, 2001. The following is the text of thatletter to the Minister.
Dear Mr. Bush,
Cruise Ships on Sundays
Concern is felt by the Cayman Ministers'Association over a media report on the 22nd December that thecurrent Sunday and holiday cruise ship ban, which was institutedby the former government, has been described by you to be 'hypocritical',and that in principle you have decided to lift the ban.
The Association is on record as having expressed in a letter ofthe 30th August 1999 to the former Minister of Tourism "oursupport and thanks for the action of not issuing licences forvisits on Sundays and the Holy Days concerned, which we considerto be in agreement with the Christian mind of the community andsupportive of the intentions of its laws."
We note also that in an article in USA Today of February 5, 1999,the former Minister is quoted as saying:
"I think most people understand the decisions the CaymanIslands made. I don't think the government intends to close allbusiness down on Sunday. But it's like a piece of granite: Ifyou keep chipping away at it, after a while you don't have anythingleft. ... And if you keep chipping away at Christian values, youfind that after a while the only thing that dictates what happensis the almighty dollar."
We find such comments to be refreshingly direct and far from hypocritical.We are requesting that (if indeed the newspaper report is correct)you will reconsider your decision in principle.
We support the concern the former Minister expressed over theerosion of Christian principles in our community, and considerthat the families of the community are affected by this. At yourconvenience we would like to form a small delegation to meet withyou on the matter, and we will be grateful to hear from you indue course.
Yours sincerely,
(The Rev'd)
Nicholas Sykes
CMA Secretary