The Editor, Sir:

I listened recently to the youth mock council sitting and noted with interest the concerns of our young people about their emotional and mental health which is being eroded by the constant threat of violence, especially in inner-city communities.

Another major problem which faces them is noise. We are bombarded daily by noise on every side. I have noticed in recent years as well that Portmore is becoming increasingly 'ghettorised' as people from depressed communities have come to settle there, bringing their loud, coarse behaviour with them. We are hard-pressed to find even one night per week when there is no sound system blaring and disturbing our rest. How can working adults be truly productive if they are deprived of their rest each night? How can students succeed in their studies if they have to contend with this noise, the threat of violence, and harsh economic conditions, especially in single-parent households?

Recently, I had the misfortune of seeing a bus on my way home from work in which music was blaring and a schoolgirl was gyrating on the groin of her male companion, much to the delight of the other schoolboys. She was egged on by them and called 'goodas', etc. The fact that they were still fully clad did little to console me. How did we sink so low that our young people have totally lost their sense of morality and propriety? We continue to perpetuate the cycle of promiscuity with the filthy billboards and posters plastered all over the country with young women 'exposing their culverts' (according to Mrs. Gloudon). I don't know why Mayor McKenzie doesn't take those down instead of the signs on people's businesses. Our Carib-bean neighbours have had the good sense to ban passa-passa, the Dutty Wine and a lot of the other trash we export under the misnomer of 'culcha'. Give me a break!

Wake up Jamaica, we have sunk into the gutter and it is only our collective determination which will enable us to claw our way out of it.

I am, etc.,

Karen Henry

Portmore