On December 7th of 2007 – 16 year old Faron Felix was gunned down near his home on Gill Street. His killer sought cover behind the concrete walls of a basketball court at the corner of Central American Boulevard and Faber’s Road. Faron was the second of Therese Felix’s son to be killed and on the day of his funeral – an angry community tore down the wall. Well now a chain link fence has replaced the concrete wall, new rims have been installed, and it has been renamed in honour of Faron Felix. The ribbon to the Faron Felix Basketball Court was cut this morning and after we spoke to city councillor Phillip Willoughby and Terry Felix – the son of Therese Felix and President of her memorial foundation. Felix questioned the timing of the opening and the naming – while Willoughby says it’s all about sports.
Phillip Willoughby, City Councillor
“Yes it has a great deal of significance in this area particularly because as you know there have been shootings and rivalries in this area for some time now and we are saying to the young people in this area, let the battlefield become the playground. Let us be competitive through sports and arts and education.”
Keith Swift,
Isn’t this blatant electioneering in the sense that this is two days before the election?
Phillip Willoughby,
“As I said time and time again Keith from the first day in office I hit the ground running as it pertained to youths, sports, and cultures to the very last day I am still on the ground running and working for the people I represent.”
Terry Felix, Therese Felix Foundation
“It doesn’t feel no way. It is a reminder but we shouldn’t name a court just because somebody died. It is hard to explain because in a sense it is kind of good because it is in his name but it is in his name because he dead. We don’t really want it like that but it already happened already. But they should have positive things like this come out without crime happen or something like that because it is after he is dead and we should have had it before he died, come out and beautify the place. And then now like how election is coming, everybody is coming out and doing things and we don’t really like that. We want them to come not only for crime and violence but anytime once people need it. So it is kind of good in a sense but not really.”
A basketball tournament will be held on March 9th at the Faron Felix Basketball Court. The fence was rebuilt with funds from the Ministry of Sports and Culture.
