There is an ongoing dispute tonight within the executive council of the Belize Ex-Services League, despite a recent Supreme Court ruling in favor of the organization’s membership. The problem is the result of a proposal to sell to the proprietors of Golden Princess Casino, the property where the existing headquarters has stood since its establishment in 1945, at the end of World War Two. The newly built gambling den, located adjacent to the Belize Ex-Services League on Newtown Barracks, does not include adequate parking space for its patrons. As a result, it is now eyeing the parcel, a prime piece of real estate on which dozens of elderly men and women, including World War Two veterans, congregate on a weekly basis. This evening a group of men, together with Vice Chairman Keith Pipersburg, were shut out of their building after arriving to discover that new locks and chains had been installed on the doors.
Keith Pipersburg, Vice-Chairman, Belize Ex-Services League
Keith Pipersburg
“Our guys came this afternoon and I got a call that somebody have put new locks on the gate and new chains on the door. Now last week Wednesday, thre was a court case of the national executive council brought against us—an injunction to lock us out—they lost. We came today and we found out somebody—I cannot accuse them because we have no eyewitness. We ask the police to come here to give us an eyewitness report that they have seen the chain, they have seen the lock. That’s all we want from them. We have taken pictures of both for future. Now we will burn it off.”
Isani Cayetano
“I understand that you will be returning to court on Monday either to…”
Keith Pipersburg
“We will consult with our lawyer on our next step because to me it is in violation of the court order.”
Isani Cayetano
“What is the basis of this ongoing dispute between those at the bottom and those upstairs of the executive council?”
Keith Pipersburg
Right beside you…that’s a casino. If you look it has no parking lot. Somebody in our organization, in the upper, promised them this property as a parking lot. But for that to happen, they will have to demolish the branch. You notice I used the word demolish…so far we haven’t gone as yet, we are still here. This hasn’t happened, but they’re trying.”
Belize City police were called in to record details of the incident; however, the officer on the scene refused to do so without first being shown the recent court order.
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