Hand in Hand Ministries destroys St. John Vianney’s fence

Ruckus erupted in the south side this afternoon when two entities of the catholic Diocese went head to head over and old land dispute. The staff and principal of Saint John Vianney School interrupted their monthly meeting when they were disrupted by a loud bang outside. What they found when they went outside was a construction worker for Hand in Hand Ministries breaking down a part of the school fence. The fence runs through a piece of land that both parties lay claim to and have been disputing for over a year. Watching the fruits of their labour being dismantled sent the teachers into a frenzy and they stopped the worker from demolishing the fence and then formed a blockade in front of it. News Five headed to the scene of the confrontation where the principal and teachers defended their territory, claiming Hand in Hand, has no right to do anything on the land without consulting with them.

Felix Sutherland, Principal, St. John Vianney School

Felix Sutherland

“Over the last year and a half we were meeting with Hand in Hands Ministries over this parcel of land. The last meeting we had we were told that whatever effort that we are going to make would be in consultation with each other and that we would try to resolve whatever issues we have that it would be mutually beneficial to everybody involved. So I found it kinda strange or at least to say in bad faith when I found out that our fence was being torn down.”

Delahnie Bain

“So you plan to stay out here or—what’s the plan?”

Felix Sutherland

“Ma’am, the fence that you are seeing was built from selling ideals, chips, dollar day, rags day so we gotta do what we gotta do. They did not even extend courtesy to inform is that they would do any kind of construction and when they intend to begin so we will do what we need to do. I want to see it come to light where we could both understand each other, respect each other and like their mission’s name, we could “hand in hand” so that everybody benefits. I have no problem with anybody benefitting; that’s my objective. There are areas that they could complement where we fall short. So we could work harmoniously but this sets a bad pace.”

Kayla Arnold

Kayla Arnold, Standard 4 Teacher, St. John Vianney

“I’m not only appalled by the situation, but I’m disgusted by it because it’s something whereby how could you just break a fence, especially in this situation. I mean there are protocols and there are procedures in doing things. We the teachers were in our monthly staff meeting when we heard the bang. If it wasn’t for that maybe tomorrow when we come our fence would have been down. What are we to do as teachers when we have about seven hundred students running around at break time? How are we to control them with an open fence? What are we to do when there are gunshots around? Because this cement fence has saved students already. It’s really disheartening not only for the teachers but for the students as well because the students are as appalled as we are and so are the parents because it’s the parents blood sweat and tears that are in this fences.”

While we could not get an on camera comment, we were told by Hand in Hand personnel at the scene that the Catholic diocese is aware of what they are doing.