What happened about the following? I read the following in” In the Heart of Showbiz” (NY: chelcpress, 2011).

A letter to Caribbean editors was sent in an attempt to invite journalists to investigate why the paintings were not returned by the Commonwealth to the Prospective Donor and Artist:

18 February 2011 call for a journalistic investigation
of what happened in Dominica

When: Deadline: end of February 2011:
Story by Caribbean journalists (particularly student editors)

Beginning 1 March 2011:
Story by American and European journalists

Beginning 30 March 2011:
Telecast: “60 Minutes” (CBS)

Who:
I am Warren Allen Smith, who in the 1970s and 1980s had a column, “Manhattan Scene,” in journals throughout the Caribbean, including Dominica’s The Educator.

What:
A U. S. citizen, I was friends with Dominica’s Premier Edward O. Le Blanc (1923-2004) and, upon his death, commissioned two oil paintings to be offered to the Commonwealth of Dominica for public viewing, much as in the U.S. we have statues and paintings in our Capitol.

When:

Unable to contact Dominica’s Prime Minister to discuss sending the paintings see the country’s website, and numerous telephone calls resulted in hearing from no one in charge), I contacted Dominica’s Ambassador to the United Nations who came to see the works being crated - he helped arrange for their dispatch. He told me and the painter (FIT Professor Karen Santry) that there was insufficient time before the island’s independence day celebration to arrange for us to visit to “hand over” the paintings to the Commonwealth, in the likely event the works would be accepted, but that we would be invited for such a ceremony. I paid for the shipment and made tentative arrangements for the painter and two others to accompany me whenever a date could be arranged. As a non-political 88-year-old American citizen, I proposed donating the works entirely because of my close friendship – we exchanged letters for two decades.
How:
By registered mail, I wrote Dominica’s Governor and Prime Minister to return the two paintings by February 13th, for I had not been asked to “hand over” the works for two years and now wanted to make arrangements to donate them to the New York headquarters of the United Nations.

I now ask fellow journalists to investigate why the rulers of Dominica are illegally holding my art. Could the individual who arranged for the island’s independence now be out of public favor? Are the paintings unsatisfactory? Why are the heads of state not responding? Only as a last resort do I intend to contact the U. S. State Department for help.

Shame on Dominica!

What happened about the following? I read the following in In the Heart of Showbiz (NY: chelcpress, 2011).

A letter to Caribbean editors was sent in an attempt to invite journalists to investigate why the paintings were not returned:

18 February 2011 call for a journalistic investigation
of what happened in Dominica

When: Deadline: end of February 2011:
Story by Caribbean journalists (particularly student editors)

Beginning 1 March 2011:
Story by American and European journalists

Beginning 30 March 2011:
Telecast: “60 Minutes” (CBS)

Who:
I am Warren Allen Smith, who in the 1970s and 1980s had a column, “Manhattan Scene,” in journals throughout the Caribbean, including Dominica’s The Educator.

What:
A U. S. citizen, I was friends with Dominica’s Premier Edward O. Le Blanc (1923-2004) and, upon his death, commissioned two oil paintings to be offered to the Commonwealth of Dominica for public viewing, much as in the U.S. we have statues and paintings in our Capitol.

When:

Unable to contact Dominica’s Prime Minister to discuss sending the paintings see the country’s website, and numerous telephone calls resulted in hearing from no one in charge), I contacted Dominica’s Ambassador to the United Nations who came to see the works being crated - he helped arrange for their dispatch. He told me and the painter (FIT Professor Karen Santry) that there was insufficient time before the island’s independence day celebration to arrange for us to visit to “hand over” the paintings to the Commonwealth, in the likely event the works would be accepted, but that we would be invited for such a ceremony. I paid for the shipment and made tentative arrangements for the painter and two others to accompany me whenever a date could be arranged. As a non-political 88-year-old American citizen, I proposed donating the works entirely because of my close friendship – we exchanged letters for two decades.
How:
By registered mail, I wrote Dominica’s Governor and Prime Minister to return the two paintings by February 13th, for I had not been asked to “hand over” the works for two years and now wanted to make arrangements to donate them to the New York headquarters of the United Nations.

I now ask fellow journalists to investigate why the rulers of Dominica are illegally holding my art. Could the individual who arranged for the island’s independence now be out of public favor? Are the paintings unsatisfactory? Why are the heads of state not responding? Only as a last resort do I intend to contact the U. S. State Department for help.

Shame on Dominica!

Attached: Registered letter snail-mailed to Dominica’s Governor and Prime Minister
Available: Addresses of family members and friends for possible interview (including the Canadian judge who wrote the LeBlanc biography, for which I wrote the foreword)