WESTERN BUREAU: THE REMOVAL of a green 40-foot trailer which houses the constituency office of Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) candidate for eastern Westmoreland, Donovan Foote, caused him to turn up more than an hour late to carry out his nomination exercise.

Yesterday, Mr. Foote told The Gleaner that his nomination papers also went missing with the trailer, and that he was forced to seek replacements and secure new signatures.

The attorney-at-law, who is challenging Prime Minister P.J. Patterson for the East Westmoreland seat, also turned up at the wrong venue for nomination, contributing to his lateness. He arrived at the Maud McLeod Comprehensive High School just after 11:00 a.m., but the nominations were being done at Darliston Primary School. He arrived there at 11:20 a.m.

The trailer was removed from its location in Darliston on Sunday by the police. Superintendent in charge of the parish Glen Hudson told The Gleaner that the trailer was removed for security reasons, as it was parked in an area being used as a taxi stand, and was causing some concern among the taxi operators.

However, Political Ombudsman Bishop Herro Blair told a press conference yesterday that the trailer needed to be moved because "permission had been granted for a political meeting to be at that area today".

Bishop Blair said the police subsequently moved the trailer at about 6:30 p.m. to Savanna-la-Mar, to keep it safe. He said the police reported that persons were planning to damage the container, but were prevented by the weather.

According to Superintendent Hudson, he had spoken to Danville Davidson, of the JLP, regarding the removal of the trailer. Mr. Foote, however, said he was not told why the trailer was moved. Speaking to The Gleaner following his nomination, Mr. Foote said the trailer was parked in a cul-de-sac and not at the taxi stand as stated by the police.

However, Mr. Patterson, who completed his nomination exercise at about 12:30 p.m., said Mr. Foote had breached the law by parking the trailer in a public place. Speaking to hundreds of PNP supporters who had gathered outside the school, Mr. Patterson said the presence of the trailer had upset some of his supporters.

"The JLP candidate placed on the public thoroughfare, the square of Darliston, a trailer. That is a breach of the law, breach of the public law and a breach of the road traffic act. It was pointed out to him, it was pointed out to the police. My supporters have been greatly upset about the physical presence of that trailer," the Prime Minister said.

JLP spokeswoman, Dorothy Lightbourne, said the party was investigating the incident and would be issuing a release after its probe.

"We understand that container was Mr. Foote's constituency office and the removal, coming as late as it did (Sunday) would not have given him sufficient time to make other arrangements," Mrs. Lightbourne said at yesterday's press conference at the Election Centre in Kingston. "Even if it was removed for safety, it was moved quite some distance away."

Mr. Patterson accused Mr. Foote of stepping outside of a ruling by the Political Ombudsman that no party flags or symbols should be placed in the public domain.

"The Political Ombudsman has recently given a ruling about the presence of flags in public places, it is obvious that you can't put a campaign office in a public place, it is against the law and bound to result in a reaction. Whether anybody should be prosecuted for having put it there in the first instance is a matter for the police to decide but certainly I want to refute any suggestions that the unit that was moved was a unit placed there by the Electoral Office of Jamaica and secondly that there has been any attempt by me or my supporters to prevent anybody who is campaigning in this constituency from being able to do what they can do in accordance with the law...," Mr. Patterson maintained.

In the meantime, Mr. Foote said the unit was also damaged during the move.