PHILIPSBURG--The Tallahassee-St. Maarten Foundation TLH-SXMF honoured four persons and two organisations Friday, in celebration of the twelfth anniversary of the Sister City partnership between St. Maarten and Tallahassee, Florida.
Many local students have been able to get a higher education at Tallahassee universities and college through the in-state tuition that the sister city agreement brought into effect.
Honoured were Don Hughes, Deputy Prime Minister Theo Heyliger, Oswald Francis, Diana Hendrickson-Fleming, the St. Maarten Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation SCDF.
Each honouree was presented with a framed certificate of appreciation which bore accompanying text indicating why they had been honoured, during a ceremony held at Dr. A.C. Wathey Legislative Hall.
Voice of St. Maarten Radio Network owner and broadcaster Hughes was called the "Godfather of Radio."
Known as "the Boss" and "Big Daddy OJ" in his younger days, Hughes manages the country's first radio station, a task shared in the past with the late veteran politician and Hughes' close friend Vance James, Jr. He's a multi-faceted entrepreneur, who is also a contractor and a politician.
Heyliger, who was late for the ceremony and had just arrived, collected his certificate and then left for another engagement. He was honoured for "his vision and leadership" in signing the agreement in Tallahassee in 1999, when he was Tourism Commissioner of the then Island Territory of St. Maarten.
Retired police Major Louis Brown was honoured as "Godfather of Sports, while St. Maarten Chamber of Commerce and Industry and SCDF were honoured for their participation and support of revellers who went to Chicago, Illinois, in 1994-95, Detroit, Michigan, in 1997 and Tallahassee, in 1999.
That year, some 125 people from the public and private sectors visited Tallahassee for a cultural and socio-development promotion by the then St. Maarten Promotional Committee (SMPC), a branch of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Oswald Francis' certificate was collected by his daughter Connie Gumbs-Francis, while Diana Hendrickson-Fleming's was collected by a representative.
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