Cabinet Minister Anthony Eden said he was saddened by the decision of the Liquor Licensing Board to grant the variance of a liquor licence that will allow Jacques Scott to move its Red Bay Plaza store to Countryside Village in Savannah.
Speaking at the Cabinet press briefing on Friday, Mr. Eden said he was making his remarks not as a member of Cabinet, but as an elected representative in Bodden Town, which he called his first responsibility.
‘I don’t think there is a soul in the Cayman Islands that doesn’t know my stand on this thing,’ he said.
Mr. Eden, like others, has objected to the opening of a liquor store in Savannah.
‘Here’s a community wanting to be different, wanting to preserve a part of Cayman life I’ve lived in for six decades,’ he said. ‘It’s sad.’
In particular, Mr. Eden said he had great difficulty with the proximity of the liquor store to the Savannah Primary School.
‘It will be literally back-to-back with this establishment,’ he said.
‘There are so many other places in the Cayman Islands Jacques Scott could have gone to.’
Mr. Eden spoke about some of the dangers of alcohol and said he probably went to more funerals in the Cayman Islands than anyone except the leader of government business.
‘We see the carnage on the roads. We go up and sit with the families and sympathise. I venture to say the huge majority of [road deaths] are a result of liquor.’
Mr. Eden said that if he were a business owner, ‘no matter what business I had, I would have respected the wishes of the people in the community.
‘I’m not fool enough to think there won’t be drinking,’ he said. ‘What I’m saying is we had a wonderful opportunity – for all of us – to have something done about it.
‘All I ask is for us Caymanians to be aware and to stand up for our people.’
Mr. Eden said he knew some people did not agree with him.
‘I have no apologies to no one. My primary responsibility is to the 1,697 constituents that elected me,’ he said. ‘Until they tell me otherwise, I have to represent their views.’
When a meeting was held about the possibility of having the liquor store open at Countryside Village, a hand vote was held and the result was overwhelming, Mr. Eden said.
‘It was 64 to four against.’
Mr. Eden said the Liquor Licensing Board had a right to make the decision it made.
‘I have my right to not be happy with it,’ he said, adding that he was seeking his own legal representation in the matter.
One thing Mr. Eden is not doing is boycotting the other stores in Countryside Village, as some other people are doing.
‘I don’t believe the other tenants should be penalised,’ he said. ‘Up until Wednesday I shopped at that Foster’s.’
Related Videos
