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HORACE HINES, Observer West reporter
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Russell. Sumfest is a national event
MONTEGO BAY, St James - Robert Russell, the promoter of Reggae Sumfest, has threatened to cancel the 15th staging of the annual event if allowances are not made for the concert to go beyond the hours stipulated by the Night Noise Abatement Act.
" It is a national event, and if we were to have to close that event at midnight Thursday night - which is what the Night Abatement Act says - then we could not stage the event, we would have to cancel it," Russell argued.
Under the Night Noise Abatement Act, entertainment sessions are allowed to go until midnight on weekdays and until 2:00 am on weekends.
But Russell said he did not expect the Act to apply to the musical event which is dubbed the "Greatest Reggae Show on Earth".
"The Night Noise Abatement Act won't affect us. Sumfest will go on to the time it usually does. The festival is declared a national festival and because of that, the Night Noise Abatement Act will be relaxed a little for the staging of the festival," said Russell, who is also the chairman of the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo).
But yesterday Commander of the St James Police Division, Superintendent Steve McGregor said that so far, the police hierarchy has communicated nothing to him to suggest that Sumfest was immune to the Night Noise Abatement Act.
"We have not recieved any information from anywhere yet to suggest that. And they (Sumfest promoters) have not produced anything to the contrary, and I have not gotten any communication from my higher authority to say I should do anything different from the norm," Superintendent McGregor who has earned the reputation in western Jamaica as a tough cop, told the Observer West.
In April, the hierarchy of the Area One Police Division, adopted what they described as a zero-tolerance approach toward offenders of the Night Noise Abatement Act, invited all promoters to a meeting where they sensitised them to the consequences of breaches of the Act.
The subsequent shutdown of the popular 'Japsey Thursday' dance by the police sparked a massive demonstration by patrons along sections of Barnett Street and Barnett Lane.
Patrons from all over the world, who are expected to converge on the Catherine Hall Complex in Montego Bay on Reggae Sumfest Dancehall Night come Thursday, July 17, will consider themselves short-changed if the show is not allowed to go beyond midnight.
According to Russell, Reggae Sumfest employs a number of Jamaican people and gives business to hotels, craft markets, airlines, restaurants, ground transportation operators and brings in over 6,000 people who spend over half a billion dollars.
Dancehall king Beenie Man and his perennial rival Bounty Killer are featured among the many artistes booked to perform on Dancehall Night.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Russell. Sumfest is a national eventMONTEGO BAY, St James - Robert Russell, the promoter of Reggae Sumfest, has threatened to cancel the 15th staging of the annual event if allowances are not made for the concert to go beyond the hours stipulated by the Night Noise Abatement Act.
" It is a national event, and if we were to have to close that event at midnight Thursday night - which is what the Night Abatement Act says - then we could not stage the event, we would have to cancel it," Russell argued.
Under the Night Noise Abatement Act, entertainment sessions are allowed to go until midnight on weekdays and until 2:00 am on weekends.
But Russell said he did not expect the Act to apply to the musical event which is dubbed the "Greatest Reggae Show on Earth".
"The Night Noise Abatement Act won't affect us. Sumfest will go on to the time it usually does. The festival is declared a national festival and because of that, the Night Noise Abatement Act will be relaxed a little for the staging of the festival," said Russell, who is also the chairman of the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo).
But yesterday Commander of the St James Police Division, Superintendent Steve McGregor said that so far, the police hierarchy has communicated nothing to him to suggest that Sumfest was immune to the Night Noise Abatement Act.
"We have not recieved any information from anywhere yet to suggest that. And they (Sumfest promoters) have not produced anything to the contrary, and I have not gotten any communication from my higher authority to say I should do anything different from the norm," Superintendent McGregor who has earned the reputation in western Jamaica as a tough cop, told the Observer West.
In April, the hierarchy of the Area One Police Division, adopted what they described as a zero-tolerance approach toward offenders of the Night Noise Abatement Act, invited all promoters to a meeting where they sensitised them to the consequences of breaches of the Act.
The subsequent shutdown of the popular 'Japsey Thursday' dance by the police sparked a massive demonstration by patrons along sections of Barnett Street and Barnett Lane.
Patrons from all over the world, who are expected to converge on the Catherine Hall Complex in Montego Bay on Reggae Sumfest Dancehall Night come Thursday, July 17, will consider themselves short-changed if the show is not allowed to go beyond midnight.
According to Russell, Reggae Sumfest employs a number of Jamaican people and gives business to hotels, craft markets, airlines, restaurants, ground transportation operators and brings in over 6,000 people who spend over half a billion dollars.
Dancehall king Beenie Man and his perennial rival Bounty Killer are featured among the many artistes booked to perform on Dancehall Night.
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