‘Reckless’ dumping post, claims trucker

Truck driver, Ronley Holder, is calling on Minister of Agriculture Indar Weir to apologise for a post on his Facebook page which suggested that he was caught dumping garbage illegally at Edgecumbe, St Philip.

Holder, who is distraught over the fact that pictures of his truck was posted on the page which suggested that it was involved in the act of illegal dumping said he is currently in discussion with his lawyer about the possibility of taking legal action because he has evidence to prove that the  allegations are false.

The 42-year-old freighter claimed the post was “reckless” and had the potential to cause him to lose money as persons are now calling him inquiring why he is being linked to illegal dumping. He said the situation has caused him and his family much distress and noted that the pictures are showing him and his passengers sitting in the truck.

“I did not dump any stuff anywhere. I went to the Government dump and dump my stuff. I have my ticket proving that I dump my stuff yesterday, February 6, at 9:10 a.m. and the stuff, weighed 55 kilograms which would be a half-ton. Mr. Minister, you owe my family and my friend an apology. We were wrongfully accused.

“You all trying to blame us for something that did not happen. At least you could have reached out to us and find out what happened. You have the authority and power to find out the licence plate number, who is the owner and contact that person, but you didn’t. You just go with what you heard and run with it,” Holder said during an interview with Barbados TODAY.

On Saturday morning, on Weir’s page was posted pictures of Holder’s truck, with the truck driver, his wife, and a friend sitting in it. The page also had a picture of what appears to be a pile of garbage. The note attached to the pictures on Facebook said, “these guys were caught at 8 30 a.m. today (Saturday, February 6, 2021) dumping illegally on Edgecumbe’s property”.

“At a time when we’re on a national pause, big men can find it fitting to breach the curfew and go dumping illegally. Last year we did a cleanup at Three Houses (Sandford to Three Houses Park) as several acts of illegal dumping by many Bajans using cars, vans, and trucks, have turned the entire area into a dumping ground. This has to stop and there must be some action taken against this glaring type of legal infraction. We have to protect our environment and join in the fight to control rodents and mosquitoes.”

However, seeking to clear their name on the issue, Holder and his assistant Andre Best told Barbados TODAY that they did not dump any garbage in the area the minister identified. Best explained that they did go to the Edgecumbe area with dried branches and limbs on the truck to see if they could have dumped the stuff there at an old quarry.

However, Best said when they got to the location they saw a bobcat in motion and cleaning taking place in the area and decided to leave immediately with the stuff still on the truck.

“The bobcat man, whoever he working for, he called his employer so when we get by the junction at the main road which people see in the pictures, the jeep pull up and actually blocked us from coming out on the main road and actually take three pictures that I saw post on social media.

“And then I see pictures with rubble stating that we are illegal dumpers. The first time I ever see this rubble is in these pictures. This guy in this white jeep marked RentEquip actually blocked the truck from turning out and he was acting out. We ain’t answer back. We ain’t say a word. When he done do what he had to do, we just move off,” Best said.

Best said that if they had been caught dumping, the pictures would have shown “the truck lift up and the stuff dumping off”.

“Furthermore, my partner drop me back home and he called the dump, and the dump say them open and he carried the stuff to St Thomas and dump them. When he was coming back home he called me and tell me he reach home, I still got the messages in my phone. Then I was home continuing my work and my mother show me all the pictures circulating, and Indar Weir, the politician is who post them. So we saying we will clear up we name on this because it got the whole of Barbados feeling that we are illegal dumpers and that is not the case,” Best said.

Best, who said he has a three-week-old baby at home, explained that prompted him to asked Holder to take the dried grass and limbs away from his home to eliminate any breeding ground for mosquitoes.

“Now that we got the time I asked him to come and carry away the dry limbs and grass and stuff because I don’t want mosquitoes biting my new-born baby,” Best said.

Holder said because he did not expect to be caught up in an illegal dumping scandal, he did not collect his ticket from the Sustainable Barbados Recycling Centre (SBRC) where he dumped the stuff on Saturday.

However, when accompanied by a Barbados TODAY team to the St Thomas facility on Sunday morning, workers there confirmed that Holder did visit the location just after 9 a.m. on Saturday and issued him with a copy of his ticket. The SBRC workers reminded him that while he does not have to, it was his right to ask for a ticket whenever doing business there.

Holder said what hurt him most about the situation is that the man who jumped in front of his truck and took the pictures hurled curse words at him and his passengers when they did not deserve it.

“The white man start getting on bad cursing telling us we doing this all the time,” said the truck driver. He also claimed that the man said ‘somebody got to pay for this here’.

“But I didn’t dump any stuff. All the stuff was still at the back of the truck. I phoned the SBRC about 8:49 a.m. to confirm if I could take the tree limbs and the lady say yes and I took them there and dumped them.

“The only problem was I didn’t take any pictures with me dumping the stuff because I didn’t know it would have gone that far. In the pictures that posted you could see all the tree limbs in the truck. I don’t engage in illegal dumping,” Holder said. (anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb)