Outspoken Catholic priest Father Harcourt Blackett made this comment yesterday during a thanksgiving service at the Alleyne School in St Andrew in honour of Senator Irene Sandiford-Garner.

"Presently, a great deal of time is wasted handling Crop-Over, which is only a small portion of culture," Blackett told the 300 people attending the ceremony.

". . . Perhaps the time has come when the Government should allow some other agency or organisation to take over Crop-Over, or parts of it, and pay more attention to the neglect of real areas of cultural development in Barbados."

Blackett also called for a monetary charge on trucks involved in sand-mining in St Andrew and people picnicking on the East Coast.

He complained that the trucks were "mashing up the roads" and the picnic crowd left the East Coast dirty.

The money collected "would go for the development of St Andrew and its people", he explained.

Sandiford-Garner, the losing candidate in the battle for the St Andrew seat in the January 15 general election, said her dream was to see St Andrew "put back on the map again".

She said she also wanted to see more of the buildings and roads in the parish named after outstanding sons and daughters of the soil of St Andrew.

She suggested too the achievements of St Andrew folk like former Government minister DaCosta "Joy" Edwards and former parliamentarian Dame Ermy Bourne be fully documented.

She joined with Father Blackett in calling for the roundabout near the St Andrew Parish Church to be named after late West Indies cricketer Sir Conrad Hunte and a bust of the batsman erected there.

Her promise to constituents was: "I will never let you down." (TY)