Assault in Paradise

I picked up a copy of Card Player Magazine recently and leafed through the pages.

For nearly a year, I served as a staff writer at Card Player. The publishers were June and Phil Fields, a genial couple who made the job fun.

June was the gambler in the family. She played poker and enjoyed a good drink with the guys while her husband kept the books. They were a good team.

After the couple had sold Card Player to Linda Johnson, who sold it to the Shulman brothers, the magazine began sponsoring poker cruises to the Caribbean. Card Player currently has a cruise scheduled for St. Maarten where their passengers will spend a week playing poker, eating island food, and hopping around a tropical paradise.

I know St. Maarten very well. I was a reporter for a daily newspaper and lived there two years.

It pains me to say this, but it's true, and I don't hedge my bets when it comes to leveling with my readers. St. Maarten is a beautiful island with many bays, beaches, restaurants, resorts, gambling establishments and other delights.

But it is dangerous, especially for gamblers.

The danger is heightened by a glitch in Dutch law. All the casinos located on the Dutch side of the island is owned by two governments, France and the Netherlands.

While the casinos, banks, resorts and even some of the restaurants have security guards, under Dutch law, they are not permitted to carry guns.

It makes it very easy for armed criminals, especially from the French side, to take advantage of unarmed tourists -- especially tired visitors who have spent an evening dining, dancing, drinking, and gambling.

During my two years as a journalist on St. Maarten, I came across many stories of armed robbery, violence, and even murder against tourists and business owners. I still cringe when I think of some of them like the two American women who were robbed and terrified by a couple of islanders who threatened them with a machete and gun.

They kept the women prisoners in their condo all night and forced them to use their ATM cards to deplete their bank accounts. They finally left as the sun was rising over the ocean.

The Atlantis a casino located next to a golf course near the French side. It has several security guards who try to protect the public, but unarmed security guards are no match with criminals who do not hesitate to use their guns and machetes.

The road leading from the golf course to the Atlantis is extremely dangerous, especially at night.

One evening a poker playing friend of mine left the casino. He had parked his car down the road and had been drinking. He had also won about $1,200 at the game and was feeling no pain from the rum and Coke he had been consuming.

As he left the casino, he waved goodnight to two security guards who were standing near the entrance. He walked about 50 yards when two men on a Moped pulled up next to him. One pulled a gun, and they demanded his money within sight of the security guards.

My friend's senses were altered by bravado and the amount of rum he had consumed. He decided to put up a fight. It was a poor decision.

They fired two shots. One crippled him, probably for life. The guards did nothing to intervene. As he lay on the ground writhing in pain, they went through his pockets, took all his money, and left him lying there.

He survived the gunshot wounds, but was airlifted from the island for treatment. As far as I know, he has never returned to St. Maarten.

On a personal note, I have many friends in St. Maarten. I love the people. Most of them.

But until the Dutch change their laws and allow private security officers to carry guns, St. Maarten, nicknamed 'The Friendly Island,' will continue to be Sr. Maarten, the Dangerous Island. I wish the passengers on the Card Player cruise the best of luck.