Sean Nero

He said judges had grown in­creas­ing­ly un­com­fort­able go­ing in­to the head­quar­ters of steel­bands, es­pe­cial­ly those in the north, be­cause of crime. At yes­ter­day's Panora­ma pre­lim­i­nar­ies fea­tur­ing small and medi­um con­ven­tion­al steel or­ches­tras on Vic­to­ria Square, Park Street, in Port-of-Spain, Williams said: "Judges are fear­ful of go­ing to some pa­n­yards even with the es­cort of Guard and Emer­gency Branch Of­fi­cers..."We are get­ting pres­sure from spon­sors, too, be­cause of the lack of ex­pose they re­ceive when the pa­n­yard pre­lim­i­nary is held in the pa­n­yard. They want max­i­mum re­turns on their in­vest­ment."