The Editor, Sir:

Bruce Golding's announcement of road repairs in the communities of our gold medal athletes (up to Tuesday) seems to have come too soon as now one is awaiting a further aggrandisement of the rewards that will be meted out to these athletes.

There is no doubt that Melaine Walker's community deserves good roads too, and one can only reasonably guess that they are in a bad condition. We are still expecting gold in the women's 200 metres and relays. What about the athletes who compete in these events and what about their communities?

Celebrating success

Golding's attempt to be popular might very well work - indeed P. J. Patterson's announcement of a national holiday when the Reggae Boyz qualified for the World Cup made him immensely popular. Patterson seems to have been wiser, however, in that what he did affected the entire nation. We were all able to celebrate the success of the Reggae Boyz by sitting down and doing nothing for an entire day or partying.

Golding's decision will only affect the persons who live in the specific communities that these athletes come from. I urge and beseech the prime minister that if he really wants to have his ratings improve, then he should broaden the scope of the roadwork to include all of Jamaica. I would wager an entire year's salary that if he were to do this his ratings would soar and the Jamaica Labour Party and his government would be in a commanding position.

I am, etc,

MARK A CLARKE

makeis@yahoo.com

Stony Hill P.O.

Kingston 9