[OPINIONS]:::The Western Mirror Is A Winner

No. 59 Friday, February 26, 2010
[POSTED BY::: Frank L R Manborde] 
I read with much interest Mr. Robert Dalley's two part article titled 'Robert Dalley's Winners of 2009 that was published in your Western Mirror recently. Mr. Dalley named and commented on his six personality winners for last year. His two part article was put together in a creative and intellectual way which made a great read for me.

   I would like to single out two of his named winners and also contribute in this article my own point of view in reference to Mr. Lloyd B. Smith and Agriculture Minister Dr. Chris Tufton. Mr. Smith of the Western Mirror is one journalist who I admire a great deal for being a hardworking editor in chief of the paper and a senior journalist who has made a positive impact on journal­ism over a number of years and continues in an analytical way to be a prominent editor in Jamaica.
   I have been a reader of the Western Mirror newspaper since it was established in 1980 and have taken pride in the fact that the newspaper has now evolved into a respectable one today.
   As Mr. Dalley has truthfully pointed out that the Western Mirror today out-sells its competitors and has gained a reputation for being a credible, professional and balanced paper reflecting the views of the citizens both in western Jamaica and in other areas of the country. We readers can at all times depend on the paper to bring to us the relevant news that is taking place across the western part of the island, when other papers lag behind in this situation.
   When other newspapers are partisan and give unfair coverage to issues that are happening in the country, the Western Mirror stands out as a beacon of honesty and fairness printing and reporting the news as it occurs in an accurate manner giving both sides of the story. With. reference to political coverage I extend my sincere thanks to the paper and its editor, Mr. Lloyd Smith for publishing all the views of the political parties and for not taking any sides when reporting on these issues.
   As an occasional contributor to the Western Mirror, I must mention that I have always received comprehensive coverage from the paper giving me an unfettered opportunity to express my political points of view; When I was a PNP councillor I received a fair amount of coverage in terms of my writings to the Western Mirror. And when I resigned from the PNP and became the JLP's Councillor Caretaker for the Little London division and also wrote to the newspaper, I received the same level of opportunity to express myself in the paper. This is to state clearly that the Western Mirror is a professional, fair and balanced newspaper serving the interests of the citizens and I extend my congratulations to the editor for publishing a professional and interesting paper.
   Agriculture Minister Chris Tufton is one of the bright hard working members of the Bruce Golding cabinet of which I am so proud of and on every occasion that I have meet him he has always displayed a wide understanding of the agricultural sector. He has accomplished so much over the period of time (two years) that he has been a cabinet minister. He is reforming .the agriculture sector which is vital to the economic development of the country and we need to give him our full support. He has taken many new parliamentary bills to Parliament on the reform of the sector that will assist to upgrade the sector and protect the fisheries aspect of the industry which is in serious trouble at this time. I do hope that the minister will be successful in divesting the sugar factories including Frome so that the government will not have to keep subsidizing those government operated factories that have been a financial burden on the country for a long time.
   On behalf of the Jamaica Labour Party's Little London division I congratulate Mr. Smith and the Western Mirror along with Minister Tufton for being outstanding winners. Excellent choices, Mr. Dalley of which I support you on and had to take time out to write this article to the Western Mirror. In concluding, I also extend my sincere congratulations to Mr. Dalley for being an outstanding opinion writer to the Western Mirror all throughout the past year of 2009 and wish him continued success. He is one of my favourite opinion writers of the Western Mirror and an intellectual writer who is informed on many political and current affair issues in the country and that is why his articles are so popular whenever they appear in the Mirror.

JLP Councillor Caretaker
Little London Division
Westmoreland
[email] fmanborde at yahoo dot com