| PRIVATE LINE: Slave trade in focus
But the horrors inflicted during The Middle Passage on the forefathers of so many of us by people claiming to be civilised remain a gruesome reality. The treatment of the "human cargo" on those dreadfully overcrowded, three-month-long journeys across the Atlantic was, from all accounts, brutal. The slaves were tightly packed (some stacked "spoon-fashion" i.e. one on top of the other) in spaces smaller than that of a grave. Those shackled together, sitting on deck, at least had the benefit of a little ventilation!). But whether above or below deck, many developed sores from the chafing of the chains, and according to one account, ". . . some had festering wounds, with maggots eating away their flesh". In such deplorable conditions (the decks were described as "a mass of human waste"!) many slaves suffocated, developed dysentery or other diseases, or never survived the voyage.
Biggest tenant to buy former Fruit of the Loom plant
ST. MARTINVILLE, La. -- The modular home factory set up after Hurricane Katrina in an industrial building shuttered for years is now buying the facility, with tax-exempt bonds to finance the deal and a 10-year property tax exemption to help it along. Louisiana System Built Homes occupies 300,000 square feet of the International Trade Center _ a Fruit of the Loom plant when it shut down in 2001, putting 3,000 people out of work. The modular home company's chief executive officer, Aubrey Shoemake, told the St. Martin Economic Development Authority last week that he is buying the 1 million-square-foot building. The board unanimously adopted a resolution sponsoring $10 million in low-interest, tax-exempt bonds to buy and renovate the plant. Shoemake is buying the building from Larry Leger of Carencro, who bought it a year ago from the development firm which had bought it out of bankruptcy.
Land purchase creates a rift
LARGO - Signs at the entrances of the Palm Hill Country Club mobile home park in Largo tell those passing by that the 55-and-older park is resident-owned. Turns out, that's not exactly so. And a dispute over whether the residents should buy the park is causing a deep rift among some residents, some of whom fear they'll be priced out of their homes. Residents of Palm Hill, one of Pinellas' largest mobile home parks, own their homes and all improvements, like the streets, sewer lines, pools and clubhouses through a cooperative. But the land the park sits on belongs to the John S. Taylor family of Largo, which leases the land to residents. Now, the cooperative's board has proposed buying the land from the Taylor family for $76-million, an idea that neighbors on either side of the issue complain has led to verbal attacks and scare tactics.
|
