Butler issues warning over monster truck show debris
SPORT and Cultural Affairs Minister Dale Butler says the Government is to consider toughening the conditions for hiring Kindley Field after debris and trash from Monday's monster truck show remained on the site yesterday morning.
Hundreds of youth baseball players will play their season-ending All-Star games tomorrow on the diamonds either side of the site, which was yesterday morning still littered with broken glass, pieces of mangled metal from destroyed vehicles and piles of trash.
Organisers of the Youth Athletic Organisation (YAO) Baseball League and parents expressed outrage yesterday that the site had not been cleaned up sooner and voiced fears that children might injure themselves playing among the detritus.
Although the St. David's site is owned by the Bermuda Land Development Company, it is managed by the Ministry of Sport and Cultural Affairs.
Youth baseball has been established there for around 20 years.
Workers from DNA Entertainment, which staged the show, were on site cleaning up yesterday. Mr. Butler expressed concern and visited Kindley Field after hearing about the baseball parents' concerns.
"The DNA people are down here cleaning up right now and they have promised it will all be done before Saturday, when the baseball games take place," Mr. Butler said yesterday morning.
"My Ministry is legally responsible for the field and the deal was that DNA would have it all cleaned up in five days, before the next user needed it.
"But I am concerned about this case and I think we will take a look at toughening our conditions to make it three days rather than five in future."
DNA spokesman Devrae Hollis said everything would be cleaned up to meet the terms of the agreement.
"We are cleaning up right now, but there is a lot of trash here, such as Tradewinds bottles and ice cream containers, that is not from what we sold," Mr. Hollis said yesterday morning.
"The baseball parents have nothing to be concerned about, we will clean it up, as agreed."
Baseball organisers contacted the media, expressing concerns about the rubbish from the show strewn around close to where the children would be enjoying their biggest day of the baseball season.
On DNA's web site, the Thrill Show was advertised thus: "Motorcycle Madmen take to the sky in an acrobatic aerial assault, and the thunder will rumble you out of your seat as the monster metal militia takes over the field. Extreme Demolition! Mass Destruction!"
Some of the results of that destruction were still lying on Kindley Field four days later.
Dave Bedard, president of the YAO Baseball League, said: "We spoke with Mr. Hollis and he told us that he would clear up the mess by the end of the next day.
"We asked that the Thrill Show be put on after the end of the baseball season, but the Government pressured us into accepting this.
"It looks like Iraq. There's jagged metal and broken glass lying around, car doors and bumpers that have been ripped off and just left there. And there are piles of trash lying alongside the road near the Airport.
"We do 100 per cent of the work on our facilities which are now some of the best-looking sports facilities on the island. We've been playing there for 20 years. We don't understand why the Government would not insist that the organisers clean up their mess immediately."
YAO League treasurer Bambi Pimental, whose 12-year-old son Ryan Bull is one of the players, said: "We were concerned that the children would go walking around between the baseball field and go investigating among the rubbish and broken glass.
"The fear is that someone's going to get hurt. The garbage is another issue. It has been blowing around."
The show created controversy when a spectator was injured following a scramble to get clear of a monster truck that was momentarily out of control. Mr. Hollis made a public apology for the incident.
Mr. Butler said that if DNA Entertainment did not live up to its obligation to clean the site before Saturday morning, it would adversely affect the company's chances of hosting another event on the site.