Dear Sir,

Regarding the June 14 article headlined “Burch clash with garage owner caught on video”, we would like to comment on a statement made by Lieutenant-Colonel David Burch during the confrontation with Mark Sousa of Cardoza’s Garage.

We support Colonel Burch’s efforts to address the longstanding concerns of the neighbourhood and his attempt to enforce a court order, but we do take exception to his contention — perhaps made erroneously in the heat of the moment — that “this has been going on for 50 years”. This time frame would include part of the period of our father’s 40-year ownership of the business. The magnitude of today’s issues did not exist during his tenure. Our father, Jessie Cardoza, was one of the first licensed mechanics on the island. He built the garage and established the business in the 1940s when there was no neighbourhood to speak of.

It flourished and expanded within the limits of the law under his management until his death in the late Seventies. The neighbourhood grew up around the business. His relationship with the neighbours was civil and he made every effort to accommodate any of their concerns.

ELEANOR and DONNA CARDOZA