Lia Head … impromptu survey ::: What are YOUR thoughts on the Straw Vendor Debacle??? :: please post 🙂
September 23 at 9:16pm · Comment · Like
Sawyer Oscar: free them! we have no law against what they did and the people who sold them the items, in the usa i might add, r still free!!
September 23 at 9:23pm · Unlike · 1 person
Lia Head: great point!!!!
September 23 at 9:23pm · Like
Anastasia Campbell: When will we as Bahamians take responsibility for our actions?!!! They broke the law!!! How is that the Government’s fault? Man the hell up and be accountable for your own actions.
September 23 at 9:25pm · Unlike · 4 people
Cerys G Howells: like i told orthland bodie…it starts with the government and trickles down to the police and onto the people. how you renew the business license of a company you KNOW sells bootleg DVDS? and in the 90s bootleg VHS tapes? those ppl sell .
Lia Head: Amen lil mama!!!!
September 23 at 9:27pm · Like
Anastasia Campbell: Agreed Cerys!!!! Counterfeit goods shouldn’t even be allowed to be sold in the Straw Market.
September 23 at 9:29pm · Unlike · 2 people
Tavarrie Smith: ”see yall in three years” and das my 5cents !!!
September 23 at 9:29pm · Unlike · 1 person
Cerys G Howells: and oscar, u dont kno if theyre building a case against those manufacturers…..no1 put a gun to their heads and made them buy them. theyll get theirs, apparently theyve been watching those women from MAY….they have surveillance of them receiving counterfeit goods and im sure that footage would be used against the manufacturers as well but i cant say…wrong is wrong, i dont care who made what
September 23 at 9:29pm · Unlike · 2 people
Cerys G Howells: how they expect us to abide by the laws when they dont enforce them? thats why ppl arent afraid to run lights, speed or break minor laws. man when i was living in miami, i wouldnt dare run a red light, those cops didnt play!! we have no respect for laws in this country, i dont care what they may be
September 23 at 9:31pm · Like · 1 person
Anastasia Campbell: After reading the first post and listening to the various talk shows it’s evident that Bahamians think those women did nothing wrong. I am shocked and appalled that we think buying and selling illegal goods is okay!
September 23 at 9:32pm · Like · 2 people
Antoinette Toni Cox Butler: Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Due Diligence or answer to uncle Sam. The slack laws of or lack there of in the Bahamas has nothing to do with the rest of the planet. Intellectual property rights in ya belly. lol Make an example out of them so that the others can clean up there act in the staw market. Ohhhhhh sorry, not straw market…..Little china. lol
September 23 at 9:35pm · Like · 2 people
Lia Head: i agree with all the points here … and everyone’s OPINION! – so let’s not point fingers at our opinions … because it is VERY true that we have NO LAW enforced against this counterfeit business … i am happy for all the replies so far! we need to do better as a people … i have a roundtable discussion tomorrow and i wanted to see what people were thinking … this is great research! 🙂
September 23 at 9:36pm · Like · 1 person
Lia Head agreed Anto!
September 23 at 9:36pm · Like
Stanley Wilson I think that this is just the beginning…Look for more situations like this in the future..The main reason for saying this is the fact that the copyright owners of Gucci etc. have now resorted to hiring Private Investigators to help them c…
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September 23 at 9:40pm · Like
Antoinette Toni Cox Butler The Bahamian Law enforcement agencies should be ashamed that The U.S. arrested our people for something they were warned about over and over by the U.S. Embassy. They did nothing about it here so what they expected??? We were asked by the E…
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September 23 at 9:51pm · Unlike · 3 people
Sawyer Oscar @cerys. I feel u, my point is, we do not have laws aginst selling counterfeit goods and that is y the police cannot confiscate the goods…did u c the customs controller on tv? they have to allow the stuff in the country once the duty is paid … we r lax in passing laws and enforcing laws…the ladies will be freed…thing is, these stores r all nyc, miami, la etc. And this same us govt still allow them to operate.
September 23 at 10:46pm · Like
Gigi Gonzalez Ok this is nothing to do with Bahamain Law.. we do not have laws aginst selling counterfeit goods and that is why the police cannot confiscate the goods….Also this has nothing to do with selling the good at the marke tbecouse we know ther…
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September 23 at 11:49pm · Like · 2 people
SheSo Major As someone that schools in New York. The “Fashion Capital”, I’m chucking because counterfeit goods are sold on Broadway, Canal, 42nd, 34th and every other street corner in the broad daylight. The police men KNOW where, when, how and by who…
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Friday at 12:02am · Like · 2 people
Marlon Johnson As I hear some of the commentary on this in the street, it gives me great insight as to why our country is the way that it. I understand that these vendors have admitted guilt. They broke the law in a country which they had visited. They kn…
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Friday at 5:50am · Like
Sue Smith Like it or not they have broken the law of that country (the US). I think it is against the law here too – the US had asked the Bahamian police to help them previously. Needless to say, nothing was done at this end tho didn’t the police here seize some straw market guys stuff a year or two ago if my memory is correct ? I think the police in NY possibly think like the police here – it’s okay for our people to do it, but don’t let a foreigner come in, cos then we’ll enforce the law.
Friday at 5:54am · Like
Erica M. James I agree with Marlon. 31 checked bags of bags? The second Bahamians reach Miami they get in a car and put on their seatbelt- because that is the law there and we all know it. The second they land in Nassau, they drive loose- because the law isn’t enforced here and we know that too. Women working in the market are savvy. They know business and have become masters at making limited options work. They took a risk and they lost.
Friday at 10:38am · Like · 3 people
Suzette Parker Also Lia the situation of the purchaser is more grave in this instance because they are buying illegal goods for RESALE in another country ignoring commercial US export laws. The intent to resell for profit makes this an ILLEGAL INTERNATIONAL ENTERPRISE.
Friday at 1:25pm · Unlike · 3 people
K. Quincy Parker Lia. To answer the question about what our laws say, I direct all and sundry to the Bahamas very own Copyright Act, which speaks clearly on the subject of “national origin:”
7. (1) The works specified by subsections (1) and (3) of section 6 …
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Friday at 2:45pm · Like · 2 people
K. Quincy Parker I agree, though. Great debate. Sad commentary on our piratical selves, but interesting discussion nonetheless.
Friday at 2:46pm · Unlike · 1 person
Sue Smith @K.Quincy . So they are breaking both the laws here and the laws in the US . Ah well , they don’t have a leg to stand on.
Friday at 6:10pm · Unlike · 1 person
Sawyer Oscar @quincy…i’ll have to review that, don’t think that refers to the same thing
Friday at 9:47pm · Like
Dionne Benjamin-Smith THANK YOU QUINCY!!!! Thank you for posting the copyright law which covers this very thing. Artists know this law probably better than anyone (thank you Chris Mortimer) because we are creators of intellectual property and should know our rig…
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Friday at 9:57pm · Like · 1 person
Dionne Benjamin-Smith On to some constructive suggestions………
With the opening of the new Straw Market (and NOT Flea Market), this is a great opportunity to change some things so that we show that we are about the business of doing the right thing.
1. Maybe w…
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Friday at 9:57pm · Unlike · 2 people
Lia Head a heartfelt THANKS Dionne … and to all others too! 🙂
Friday at 10:28pm · Like
Sue Smith With the greatest respect to Jackson Burnside, while Bahamian culture is a wonderful thing, the majority of folks from north America and elsewhere go on vacation looking for “sex, drugs and rock and roll”. (Not quite literally, but you get…
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Saturday at 9:22am · Like
Suzette Parker @Dionne & Sue–I think that in order to be a cultural mecca you must first build & perfect that stuff for yourself, your country. Yes it will appeal to tourists but it should not be manufactured for tourists. I think when an aspect of Bahamian culture gets so extraordinary–music, art, crafts, dance then you may have a hotel, resort saying–how do we get our guests to that or bring it to them? But it has to be genuine not just a marketing effort or a generic packaged attraction.
Saturday at 11:55am · Like · 3 people
K. Quincy Parker Dionne, I feel you. Sue, I understand your position, but consider what Suzette is saying. The very idea of marketing a so-called Bahamian culture manufactured exclusively as a marketing gimmick for tourists is repugnant, and should be decried at every opportunity.
But the fact is, what makes a person choose between New Orleans and Nassau? Or Las Vegas and St. Lucia? Once you’ve done the sun, sand and sea vibe, you’ve done it, and it loses its pull when compared to the rich, vibrant LIVING culture of “other” – wherever other is. That is what we are missing in The Bahamas. We are so concerned with the tourist dollar that as soon as any aspect of our culture starts to gain a little bit of traction, we immediately seek the best way to get it in front of tourists, and the reason Sue can say that it won’t be a major attraction is because the tourists sense the falsity of the proposition.
After all, when they come to The Bahamas with us, what is it they want? To experience The Bahamas the way WE do. THAT is where Suzette’s argument is so strong. If we want to talk about culture, the FIRST part of the conversation has to be about US.
As for the Craft Market, Di, that’s almost exactly what was behind the idea of having two separate markets: one would be what you describe, and exclusive to locally made materials, and the other would be where goods from elsewhere could be vended. But your suggestions ought to be put in a white paper and circulated. Let the policymakers see that people actually DO care about what they are doing in our names.
Oscar, if you check the Act, this exact situation is covered by the sections I cited.
Last point, to Sue. The average US tourist goes where the marketing people tell them to go. Period. That’s why we have to be in the marketplace, with our own brand to sell. If we have something of interest to sell them, they will buy it. But before we talk about selling to them, we have to deal with the fact that WE are not connected, and that our “culture” happens for the most part in disjunct isolated pockets.
Saturday at 7:56pm · Like · 2 people
@ Dee the truth will set you free!!! What happened to the barefoot bandit? Brent and others put shoes on his feet and gave him a get out jail free card!!! He broke the LAW TOO! Serveral Bahamian laws… but we continously bow … yesssir yessir!!! but our poor vendors nooooooooooooooo they must do the time since they did the crime…. oh ye hyprocrites!
i agree, that there appear to be 2 type of laws in our land….maybe this is now the event to cause us to change all that. what they did was wrong, we shouldnt pay a cent to assist. if they could afford 4 trips per yr with 10-15 over weight bags per trip they mussy dealing in all type of shit in dat market. USA was rite for busting them, their national security is important to us. As well as many companies who operate illegally have ties to terrorist, so profits could be use to fund another 9-11 event. wake up bahamians, we being crooked tooooo long man
I wish BP would drop this matter. the more I read the posting of some of these people, gives me a heartache.
I assume most of us who visit this site and find the reading interesting, are adults. what is unfortunate is, that we can’t differentiate between right and wrong.
I don’t want to dump on the misfortune of the straw vendors, however, what they did was illegal and wrong.
I would be disappointed if the government of this commonwealth, takes a penny of tax payers money in trying to fight this matter.
I believe, the government should carry out a raid in the straw market and remove ALL counterfeit items from the market.
We must be a people governed by laws, if not, God help us all.
Debates on such is not being fueled by BP but the people. As you can see we have yet to join this debate, but when we do we will tell this WUTLESS government a piece of our mind.
We could be all over the place flying helicopters and beckoning to the call of these investors, but when it comes to the Broke *** poor, nothing is done!
Yinner better WAKE THE HELL UP!
BP
Lock them up and throw away the key! How are us rich folks supposed to have prestige when the underclasses are counterfeiting our handbags? If you owned stock in these brand name companies you might understand that the Straw Market vendors are stealing. Plain and simple. Go to jail, go directly to jail, do not pass Go and do not collect $200.
IF WE HAVE NO LAW ON SELLING OR BUYING COUNTERFIET GOODS SUCH AS BAGS AND WATCHES THEN CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHY DID THE POLICE RAID THE CHINESE ON EAST STREET SOUTH ABOUT A YEAR OR TO AGO FOR SELLING KNOCKOFF GOODS AND THEY WENT TO COURT FOR THAT IT SAMES LIKE NO ONE REMEMBER THAT IT WAS AGAINST THE LAW THEN AND IT IS THE SAME NOW
Brent obviously has the wrong portfolio….it is clear to me that he does not care about black bahamians. All bahamian (PLP or FNM) need to understand that your consulate in a foreign country is suppose to support and ensure that your receive equitable treatment…can someone explain this to Brent
If they were 9 white / conchie joe women we would be bending over backward to help those ladies. But because they r poor black women who r rude uneducated and brass we condemn them.
It is life the police going after the small drug pusher while the big boys who are ‘connected’ go free!!! There is not equitity here!!!!
wow, that may be true but you know what…sux to be the straw vendors because at the end of the day THEY COMMITTED A CRIME! I have little sympathy for these ladies primarily because they knew or should have known that the sale of fake goods (or copy-written items) is against many countries laws even our own. Fact is The Min. of Tourism, the US Embassy and The Royal Bahamas Police have held meetings with Straw Vendors in the past regarding the sale of these items so, they should have known better and by the way, ignorance is no excuse of the law. If you want to look at it as a race,class thing…go right ahead but in the end the law was applied and used and they will suffer for it.
@ BARBARA YOULL LIKE MAKE EVERYTHING SO RACIST AND WHO MORE RACIST THEN BLACK PEOPLE NOW
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