. Melanie lumberyard relocates to avoid attacks The operators of a lumberyard at Melanie Damishana were shutting up shop yesterday and moving to another location because of repeated bandit attacks. Scared: Looknauth Prashad  Looknauth Prashad, manager of the RSM Lumber Yard and General Hardware located in the compound of the Melanie Cinema, told Stabroek News yesterday that he and his boss, Muntaz Ali, were simply fed up. On February 14, they were attacked and robbed for the fourth time since September and, according to Prashad, a lone gunman made another attempt on Friday. Moving out: The R.S.M. Lumber Yard at Melanie Damishana, East Coast Demerara  (Photos by Aubrey Crawford) “Since last Friday [Feb-ruary 14] we were trying to make a decision, but we were just holding out to see if things would have changed. Then [on Friday] at about 12:30 [pm], I was sitting right here at this desk, when a guy came up with a bicycle and whipped out a handgun.  He say, ‘Pass de money! Pass the f...ing money!’ So I say, ‘Me ain’t got money.’ By that time a customer came in and the customer start to say, ‘Wuh going on hey? Wuh going on? Yo all can’t do this kind of thing.’” Prashad said the gunman got scared, put his gun in his pocket and rode away. It was after that incident that Prashad’s boss said it was time to move the business to Enmore, further up the coast. “I am feeling very disgusted. The gun... when they place the gun to you - your head, your belly - you can’t eat, you can’t sleep. You just imagining things in your sleep night-time. No government official did not even come to give you a word or support. I apply for firearm and it is... pending. I [am] feeling traumatized and scared of being killed. You nervous, you shaky when these men done pull the gun on you... As such my boss consider his losses over thousands of dollars and he decided to close down the business at Melanie,” said the manager. The lumberyard has been in operation for about six years. Its relocation would mean some inconvenience for about six employees, who are living in the area. “We wouldn’t knock them off, we would find other work for them in the meanwhile. Since the cinema close down, we are trying to do other business.” Sunday,  February 23, 2003 .