The Editor, Sir:

The article, 'Sligoville ripe for development' by Howard Campbell, published in The Gleaner, (February 6), provided an interesting story on a stadium and the first free village in Jamaica. It looks at the real social and economic conditions in that community.

I agree with the writer that Sligoville is ripe for development, particularly in the area of heritage tourism. There ought to be certain richness about the first free village at Emancipation.

Of particular importance is the fact that Pinnacle, located in Sligoville, was established about 1939 on approximately 600 acres of land by Leonard P. Howell, the founding father of the Rastafari Movement.

Pinnacle, described as the first Rasta commune, was also an industrial mission reflecting the component of self-reliance in the thinking of Rastafari.

In 1954, this commune/industrial mission was destroyed by the police and the property belonging to the Ethiopian Salvation Society was seized by the state. The Pinnacle land was given away either for free or for peppercorn rate to land developers.

In my writings and in letters to government ministers, I have called for the reclamation of sections of that property to establish a heritage site. Imagine a kind of mecca-type design recognising one of the most important forces to emerge for Jamaica.

I will call on the Minister of Culture, Minister of Land and the leadership of the Jamaica Heritage Commission to look into this matter.

I am, etc.,

LOUIS E.A. MOYSTON

Constant Spring Road,

Kingston 8.