By Barbara Gayle,
Staff Reporter
THE SHABBINESS of the Supreme Court building, King Street, downtown Kingston, has finally caught the attention of some members of the Jamaican Bar Association who passed the hat last Saturday to collect funds to give the building a facelift.
Members of the public and court staff who turned up at the courthouse on Monday morning said they were pleasantly surprised to find that the tiles on the ground floor of the building were spotlessly clean. The Bar Association had paid to have the tiles which were badly discoloured, stripped and cleaned professionally.
Many lawyers spent most of Saturday cleaning Justice Square, the frontage to the courthouse. Also, they cleaned the gardens and planted flowers.
Attorney-at-law Arlene Harrison-Henry who is vice-president of the Jamaican Bar Association, told The Gleaner yesterday. "We felt as persons in the system, committed to the system, that we want to play our part in maintaining our standards."
She said they felt that rather than merely complain about conditions at the courthouse, they should instead do something about it.
Mrs. Harrison-Henry said the association was planning to form a maintenance committee to ensure that the area would always be well kept.
Also on the Jamaican Bar Association's "do" list are plans to restore the fountain in Justice Square. Mrs. Harrison-Henry said there were no lights in Justice Square at night and they were going to see to it that the lights work again.
The deplorable conditions, particularly the dirty walls at the courthouse, had sparked numerous complaints over the years from members of the public, especially jurors. Government officials have finally decided to do something about the situation because over the last two weeks workmen have been busy painting the courthouse.
