Every so often city residents come to us complaining about the problems in their neighborhoods, ranging form poor drainage to bad streets to just hard times. Tonight we have another story like that, the only difference is that the person complaining is not a Belizean and while some may argue she has little to complain about, she is not only doing that, she is also taking action. We found 50 year old American Jane Mercer in the middle of the Buttonwood Bay Boulevard literally standing in the way of traffic. Why? Because she's mad and just won't take it anymore.
Alfonso NobleReporting,
50-year-old Jane Mercer stood in the middle of button wood bay boulevard this afternoon with two plastic lawn chairs as her only defense against oncoming traffic. And it is no ordinary traffic, she stood in the way of tens of tons of metal and soil.
Jane Mercer,
"I am out here to protest the dump trucks coming up and down Buttonwood Bay Boulevard. The trucks have totally ripped the road up. It's been an ongoing problem for the last year. Now we have to tolerate more dusts and filth coming into our house and it's an ongoing thing every single day and it's a health problem. It's definitely a health hazard. I try to stop the trucks from coming down and in of the truckers told me that if I got into his way again, he's going to run me down because he has insurance. I am totally desperate. I am asthmatic; right now I'm having difficulties with my breathing. And now it's becoming a serious health problem not just for me because I am sure all my neighbors around me here are feeling the impact of this dust."
And mercer says that dust has totally consumed her life, every single time one of these behemoths makes its way on the boulevard it raises dust driving her to today's actions of just standing in the middle of the road to prevent the inevitable mauling of the road that was once paved.
Jane Mercer,
"There was must be an alternate route for these trucks to take or they have to start watering the street to keep dust down until such time as more construction is finished there and they can repair Buttonwood Bay Boulevard. I'll stand out here all day if I have to, I'll lay down on the road. But one truck driver has already told me that he'll run me over if I get in his way on his next trip back because he has insurance. Standing out here trying to stop them, find another route, chew up another street, leave Buttonwood Bay alone."
But it does seem odd that this 4 foot 5 50 year old red head, an American woman going through all this trouble. But mercer says she has to.
"For sure I'm the little white ass in the neighborhood. Everybody thinks because I'm white and I've only been in Belize for ten years, what right do I have to complain, I wasn't born here but that's bull. I care about this country just as much as any body else and I'm quite sure a lot more than some Belizeans do because I have the guts to get up there and put my face in the news. Nobody else will complain about it. Growing pains is fine, I understand growing pains but it's a total disrespect. Why do we have to live with this for the last year and its becoming a worse problem now. Its being exacerbated by more trucks coming down."
We visited the final destination of the land fill and a supervisor told us that the trucks are being routed through button wood bay boulevard because the street there was already damaged and in an effort to prevent others from being damaged they are opting to use this road. As for the time frame for the trucks being driven through the road, well it's going to be for the next 9 days. Today's traffic however is expected to be the heaviest.
Mercer says that tomorrow, she'll visit the people running the fill in an effort to try and get some relief from the dust.
7NEWS produced for broadcast by News Director Jules Vasquez
Edited and Prepared for the internet by Keith Swift
