16836: (Hermantin) Palm Beach Post- Radio for Haitian community returns (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

THE PALM BEACH POST
Wednesday, September 24
Radio for Haitian community returns


By Gariot Louima, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 24, 2003



DELRAY BEACH -- The disc jockey slipped easily from one language to the
next. The subject was bike safety, and community service officer Barbara
Scherz was explaining the need for Haitian parents to get helmets for their
children.

"If the Haitian parents don't have helmets, we can provide them with
helmets," Scherz said. "We can have them fitted for helmets too."

The disc jockey translated Scherz's comments for the listeners of the
Creole-language radio broadcast. Then, in brisk Creole, she added her own
commentary -- children on bicycles need to wear helmets just like "mon ki
kondui motosiklet," people who drive motorcycles.

"It's basic information, but it's important information," guest DJ Karlie
Richardson said following that 30-minute program this spring.

It's information that rarely reaches Haitians in their own language.

Delray Beach city officials have been trying to change that with a series of
programs on Radio Haiti Amerique WHRS-AM 980 designed to give the Haitian
community a basic understanding of everything from code enforcement to
commission meeting procedures.

They launched the series in the spring and took a brief hiatus this summer.

The broadcasts will return Oct. 9, and will run every Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
through Nov. 20, said city spokesman Ivan Ladizinsky. Once aired live on
Tuesday evenings, the show was moved to Thursday so it wouldn't conflict
with city meetings.

There are about 31,000 Haitians in Palm Beach County, according to the 2000
Census. And 6,351 people in Delray Beach considered themselves to be of
Haitian ancestry, according to the census.

Radio is the most important form of communication in Haiti. And when
Haitians move the the United States, they continue to rely on radio
broadcasts for everything from daily updates on the political situation at
home to death notices.

City Engineer Randal Krejcarek will be the featured guest on the Oct. 9 show
to talk about safety issues. In the following weeks, guests will include
Mayor Jeff Perlman and Commissioner Alberta McCarthy.

In mid-spring, police officer Skip Brown talked about the police
department's Haitian Roving Patrol program and the Haitian Citizens' Police
Academy. Scherz, also of the police department, talked about community
policing and bike safety.

After interviewing the guests, Richardson invited listeners to call in with
questions.

An unidentified man asked in Creole, "Why is it that when a Haitian is in an
accident with a white man, the Haitian always gets the ticket?"

Richardson, former deputy director of the Haitian American Community
Council, translated the gist of the question, excluding the reference to
race. "What he's asking," she said, "is why does the Haitian always seem to
get the ticket when he's in an accident with a non-Haitian."

Scherz's response was simple: The driver at fault gets the ticket.

gariot_louima@pbpost.com

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