It seems like there is a plague of gullibility affecting or community recently.

Last week there was the report of a woman who was sexually abused by a man who claimed to be a medical professional involved in performing house-to-house breast examinations.

Reports have also reached us of two sisters from St. Vincent who each lost $5,000 when they paid a strange man to find them men to marry so that they could obtain their immigration green cards. They both gave this man cash over two months ago and the man cannot be found since.

These incidences of abuse and scams on the unsuspecting, and those in great need seem never ending. People are desperately in need of something daily. They need to solidify their immigration status, get documents to rent an apartment, get a mortgage, buy a car, or something. In their desperation they shell out large sums to people they hardly know, but who convince them that they can fulfill their needs. In so many cases these facilitators can and will never be able to do anything to help, but to take one’s money and run. Difficult situations have opened the way for an entire new breed of scam artists.

Dear Editor:

We want to thank you for the coverage your paper gave in relation to the swearing in of the new Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson. However, we would like your paper to take a stand against all the negative things being said about Sister P. To listen to all these people calling in on talk shows you would think she is totally inadequate. She must be very good to have held off the fight put up by the so- called bright men like Dr. Phillips and Dr. Davies.

This woman has been in politics for over thirty years. She has never lost an election. She has sat patiently and learned form leaders like Michael Manley, Edward Seaga and P.J. Patterson. She is a combination of all those leaders and more. I can tell all those doubters that she is ready to lead Jamaica, and jost of all she is not known for being corrupt. Tell all the doubters to just leave Sister P alone. She is going to make all Jamaicans proud.

Strangely, but not surprisingly, an important bill passed in the state of Massachusetts last week received relatively little media coverage. Lawmakers in that state overwhelmingly approved a bill that requires all its citizens to have some form of medical insurance. Under the new law the required funding for providing health coverage to that state’s estimated 500,000 uninsured to is to be sourced from a combination of financial incentives and penalties.

Under the law, poor people will be offered free or heavily subsidized coverage; those who can afford health insurance but refuse it will face huge tax penalties until they get coverage, and those already insured will receive a modest drop in their premiums.

What is even stranger is that Massachusetts is the first state out of 50 in these United States to require all its citizens to have health insurance. It is well reported that an increasing number of Americans are living without health coverage, and an increasing number of employers are unable to provide their employees with adequate, or any, health coverage.

A few weeks ago we watched a news report of a mother who had just lost her home in a Tornado in Oklahoma. She was surrounded by three frightened young children, but this woman continued to lament the loss of her home and prized possessions, while making no reference to her real prized possession – her children, who although scared were alive and well.

It made us wonder how many people really care – as in unconditionally love – for their children. Recent news has been widespread over the past few weeks about the tragic beating death of 14 year-old Martin Lee Anderson at a boot camp in North Florida. Last week another newspaper reported on the frequent incidents of Miami-Dade students being arrested for misbehaving in school. We just cannot condone that this is the way that our children should be treated.

Now, we hasten to add that relating to children in today’s modern and crazy environment is no easy feat. However, this does not allow us to shirk our duties as parents. We have to face and overcome the challenges that make our children act as if they are possessed. It is the role of parents, guardians and teachers to be responsible for and guide the discipline and general behavior pattern of the child.