Adrian Frater, News Editor

SPENCER

Western Bureau:

The Ramble Community Development Committee (CDC) is yet to decide on whether it will continue its court challenge to stop burials at the controversial Royale Rest Cemetery in Burnt Ground, Hanover, or seek a negotiated settlement through Health Minister Rudyard Spencer.

"The CDC will be meeting tomorrow (today) to make a decision as to which course of action we will pursue," said Ambleton Wray, the chairman of the Ramble CDC. "Our member of parliament Dr D.K. Duncan is currently in dialogue with the health minister and he is expected to update us at our meeting."

When Spencer visited the Burnt Ground area last week, and met with residents from the 30 communities surrounding the cemetery, he refused to answer some of the probing questions asked citing the application filed in the Supreme Court by the Ramble CDC seeking leave for a judicial review of the National Environment and Planning Agency's (NEPA) decision to grant a permit for the cemetery.

"If you want me to deal with it (the cemetery issue) then you know what you will have to do," Spencer told the residents, hinting he would be willing to pursue a negotiated settlement if the court action was withdrawn.

The residents have flatly rejected the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report which NEPA presented to Spencer and which he subsequently signed off on in January, effectively granting permission for the Delapenha's Funeral Home, owners of the controversial cemetery, to start burying bodies there.

Following several demonstrations, in which residents thwarted attempts to bury bodies at the cemetery, experts in the field of hydrogeology have joined with the residents in challenging the accuracy of the EIA report which was done by Dr Ravidya Burrowes.

Comprehensive research

Prominent local hydrogeologist Michael White, who did a comprehensive research on the area and has intimate knowledge of its underground springs and soil type, recently released a paper supporting the residents' contention that a cemetery in the area could contaminate their water supply.

"Based on the work he has in the area, we believe Mr White is an expert on the situation," said Wray. "He is the one with the best first-hand knowledge of the area."

"We were not invited to the meeting," Marcia Delapenha, a director at Delapenha's Funeral Home, told The Gleaner following the meeting attended by the health minister. "All we know is what we have heard on the radio."

adrian.frater@gleanerjm.com