Vendor wants to sell in peace

Sheryl Salmon, who has been a vendor in Manchester for nine years, feels that her livelihood is being threatened as she was denied the chance to register to sell in a bus park in Mandeville.

She believes that the authourities don’t want her to register because her 21-year-old son got into an altercation with one of the workers attached to the Municipal police last year.

“She said to my son: ‘Bwoy, a prison yuh fi deh,’” Salmon related. She told the CENTRAL STAR that her son told the woman some very harsh words.

Salmon said that argument took place in the morning, and by 4 p.m., a contingent of police visited her stall and threatened to stop her from selling because they heard she had children sleeping at her stall at nights.

“The officer say him a guh report me to CDA and mi tell him say mi wi pay him fare cause mi children living better than you. They all attend prep school, suh yuh can’t tek care of them better than me,” Salmon said.

FOUR CHILDREN IN SCHOOL

“I had three children who were 13, 14 and 15 that slept with me at the stall for a week in September last year because they had no one to stay with them at home. I am not leaving them alone at home cause anything can happen, so they would sleep there in the nights and go home go get ready in the mornings,” Salmon said.

She said that her permit to sell in the park expired on November 1, and despite attempts to get it renewed, the authorities have not been accommodating.

Salmon, who currently has four children in high school, said that she depends on sales from her stall to take care of them.

She said that since being denied the chance to sell in the park, her life has been a living hell as she has started to fall behind with some of her bills. Salmon said she has even resorted to selling on the streets.

Several attempts to speak with representatives of the Manchester Municipal Corporation proved futile.