Heartbreak for Alice as Crab Circle reopens

After seeing the reopening of Crab Circle, a saddened Alice Waugh is uncertain of what the future holds for her.

The vendor sold at Crab Circle for roughly 40 years, but her unsanitary actions that were caught on video led to its temporary closure. She visited the location on Thursday as vendors resumed selling and told the news team that she wants to be trained and become certified, hoping to one day be allowed back.

"Yeah mi will dweet yes," Waugh said, adding that she was pleased to see her fellow vendors selling. One vendor, Racquel 'Marsh' Walker, told THE WEEKEND STAR that she sold alongside Waugh for 30 years and felt her pain.

"Alice miss out here. Honestly, what she did was wrong, but at the end of the day, she was here for over 40-odd years, yuh understand. Me know seh she nah guh tek dis easy; it a guh have a great impact pan har," Walker said. "Mi feel it. Tears in my eyes because mi understand ... being whisked away from something that you love, it can't be nice."

Walker added that while setting up and selling her items at the reopening, she witnessed Waugh passed the location multiple times.

"Nuh joke, Alice pass here about 10 times from morning... . She been calling mi phone suh mi know mentally it a disturb har because if all a dis neva happen, she would a out here," Walker said. Some customers shared that they would purchase from Waugh if she returned.

"As long as her nails [clean] and she sanitise and she have the proper things, I would have still supported her because everybody need a chance," said Simone Ruff. "That's fi har way of living. Mi nah guh mek she hungry me is a crab lova people do mek mistake." THE WEEKEND STAR team observed many persons asking "Where is Alice?", some out of mockery and others out of genuine concern.

Waugh's daughter, Tamara Simpson, said since the closure of Crab Circle, her mother has been very unhappy because selling there brought her joy.

"She's down 'cause har mind is on there ... she nuh normally deh here. When time, she know seh she gone a Heroes Circle. She come in a night time, go ah har bed [and] she a look fi guh back out a morning," Simpson said. "Suh yuh know when she deh a yard, yuh know she have a lot pan har mind. It's been stressing, and then all the comments, all the bad energy dem can lead to depression or other things."

The 22-year-old, who grew up watching her mother sell at Crab Circle, admitted she was disappointed that her mother is unable to return.

"I'm feeling depressed and stressed and unhappy with this. But it's part a life. That was har only income suh yuh know we afi guh have other planning but it's gonna be hard," Simpson said.

Waugh did not complete the training programme administered by the HEART/NSTA Trust, which all the current Crab Circle vendors did. However, Howard Harvey, career development officer of HEART/NSTA Trust Leap Centre, said Waugh is welcome to join the training programme.

"Once Alice ready and come in we'll help har same way," Harvey said. "HEART Trust don't discriminate when we're providing training for anybody at all. Forgiveness was given to us by God from the beginning, so HEART don't discriminate."