Email the St. Maarten tourism bureau: info@st-maarten.com
The guys were attacked with a wrench and the police couldn't care less. Just as telling, the local newspaper report keeps putting the term "gay bashing" in quotes as though it's not quite real somehow. Note that the article is wrong about Jefferson's job, he works at CBS News, not NBC.
Senior NBC Nightly News producer Richard Jefferson, who was vacationing in St. Maarten, was one of two men rushed to St. Maarten Medical Center around 3:30am Thursday after they suffered a severe beating by a group of men who the victims say were “gay bashers.”I know Dick Jefferson. I'd met him several times at journalist conferences. From what I recall, he's not just a senior producer, he's THE senior producer of CBS News. This is really horrendous.
While Jefferson was able to walk, he sustained severe cuts on the back of his head and his lower back.
The second victim Ryan Smith had a fractured skull and has been unable to speak properly since the incident.
The men, who were reportedly beaten with a wheel wrench, expressed concern that the police here did not seem to be too concerned about crimes of this nature. They said the police’s failure to even contact them following the attack made it seem as though they sanctioned the “brutal beating.” ....
Jefferson said he had learnt that many people, including management at Sunset Beach Bar, Maho St. Maarten, a nearby casino and Bamboo Bernie’s, had called the St. Maarten Police, but no one showed up. He said he had called the police station on Thursday around 1:00pm and had spoken to a detective, but no one showed up at the hospital or called.
Also contact the St. Maarten Bureau for Constitutional Affairs - apparently they're still part of the Netherlands and want to become an independent country. Feel free to explain to them that they just hurt their cause: sxmconstiburo@sintmaarten.net
