Wilful damage

August 12, 2009

Dear Sir,

Where there is a need to cut a tree it must be from the border of said property. It's private ... that's what ownership makes it.

A tree is a living and sentient being, it's been shown they have feeling through trauma. To trespass on private property and destroy, kill, decimate etc., a tree that, oh by the way, is the property of owner of said property and as such has value, monetary, sentimental, is wrong. It's had a history, it's been around a lot longer than quite a few people.

As it has value, and it is on private property, the tree cutter must have wilfully and maliciously caused property damage ... somebody go charge this guy and have him brought before we, the People, it's called wilful damage.

TREE HUGGER

Warwick

Don't kill our dreams

August 13, 2009

Dear Sir,

I can no longer sit idly by watching the Ministry of Education make yet another blunder and put my child's education in jeopardy. This Ministry has shown the Victor Scott School family nothing but disrespect and disregard in its dealings with the issue of the principal and the school counsellor.

We have been disrespected because no representative from the Ministry has had the common decency to come to the school and speak to the parents. We have not been given any information of any kind in regard to this matter from the Ministry.

Many of us did not know until the final days of school that there would be a new principal in September and we still don't know who that person will be. If no one has been chosen how can there be a smooth transition?

The children in the public school system are already too far behind. There is no time to deal with a transition. The students need to get right down to the business of learning in September.

Dr. Tucker has been an excellent principal who really cares that all students learn. She pushes the teachers to not only focus on the average learners but to make sure every child is progressing. In this manner she is able to weed out the lazy teachers and ensure progress for every child. I don't know about other parents but this is what I want for my child. My child is in Victor Scott and not private school because of her and what she is accomplishing through the teachers.

No mention has been made of how far she has brought the school, of how much progress has been made in the Terra Nova results. Why is one selfish person and his petty grievances being allowed to stop this progress? Obviously it is not her alone, like I said above, she pushes the teachers and the teachers push the children. I know if the school were failing she would get the blame for it so she deserves the credit for it succeeding as well.

Perhaps we have been disregarded as that back of town school that only has the children of gangsters in it anyway. Those people won't care who their new principal is because those children are destined to be the next generation of wall sitters. Well believe it or not gangsters have feelings. They have dreams for their children to do/be better but by getting rid of Dr. Tucker the Ministry is killing those dreams and maintaining the status quo. I really hope this country is prepared to deal with the social and financial cost of this debacle, because it will be felt in generations to come.

VICTOR SCOTT PARENT

Pembroke

Improve our roads

August 13, 2009

Dear Sir,

I read with interest Dr. Froncioni's article and I sympathise with his comments, however there are a few fundamental elements missing in all discussions on road safety. Firstly, speed is always quoted as the number one problem, if that were true then Germany's accident rate would be ten times ours, instead of the other way around.

Bermuda probably has the lowest speed limit in the world and the highest accident rate, so lowering the speed limit would only mean you would hit things more slowly, which of course isn't a bad thing!

I spend several months of each year driving in the United States and the thing that strikes me most, when I return, is just how bad the roads are in Bermuda. Not only is the surface bad on a lot of major roads, but road markings are virtually non existent. The millions of miles of roads in the US have markings on the road edges, cats eyes separating the lanes and reflective signs at corners. It is just a pleasure, at night, to see the road clearly defined a hundred or more yards ahead of you by the cat's eyes. Contrast this with Bermuda where you have unmarked grey roads with grey walls either side and if it's dark and raining, then the roads are right up there with the most dangerous third world country.

I do not agree that only drunks have accidents at night, if there is no contrast between the road and the kerb/wall then it can happen to anyone. I am convinced that if the roads had cat's eyes and were marked to the standard of most developed countries, then even drunks would have a chance of spotting a change of direction in time to avoid it.

It's one of life's mysteries why nothing is done. If only we had some senior person in the Ministry of Transport who had many years experience driving in the USA!

PETER FORSTER

Hamilton Parish

Support black artists

August 14, 2009

Dear Sir,

I was interested in the specificity of the remarks by the Chamber of Commerce. If shoppers spent an additional $70 locally? The Chamber did not indicate how many shoppers over what period of time. I do believe that it is in our general interest to have retail shops. I also believe that we in the black community should begin to give ourselves permission to buy what is not strictly "utilitarian" by supporting our local black artists. A painting does last longer than a pair of shoes.

I realise that for a great many in the black community, having given ten percent to the Church and spent $8 on loaf of bread, my comments may seem absurd or even obscene!

However, what I would suggest is that everyone going on a shopping trip first spend $70 (or more) locally and everyone who is building a new house, or refurbishing an old, consider buying either a painting or a sculpture from a local black artist – and for those who do not currently do so, buying a book by a local black author!

EVA N. HODGSON

Hamilton Parish

In defence of Editor

August 11, 2009

Dear Sir,

>I write in support of Royal Gazette Editor Bill Zuill who offered me a job as a reporter and trained me – and I am a male black Bermudian. I would normally stay out of the public eye as I feel there are more important issues to address in these times but I owe Bill at least this much. He took a chance on me, as at the time he hired me I had no professional qualifications nor experience but I loved writing and investigation. How Bill saw that that love could turn into a useful skill is still a mystery to me.

In 2000 I was a part-time employee at the Bank of Butterfield in the Marketing department. I cut out newspaper clippings that had reference to the Bank and I wrote short articles for the newsletter. Needless to say, this was not the most difficult job.

I knew Royal Gazette reporter Raymond Hainey socially. On the odd occasion we would see one another around the Island and as I liked writing (it was my favourite subject in school), I loved talking to him. Raymond had this undying love of investigation and writing – the way he spoke about diving into ambiguity to ferret out the truth – well it was clear why he did the job. I knew Raymond to be a good guy because when he wasn't reporting, he was a reserve policeman.

Despite receiving almost daily abuse from random callers to "go home" or being subject to innuendo that he was the Opposition's weapon against Government, he would put on the blue uniform and in the late night would keep the country safe. He never reported on any issues he dealt with and he never used it to justify his objectivity. That was the kind of guy he was and so I figured that must be the kind of people that were over there at the Gazette.

One day, Raymond asked me for one of my articles and I gave him a few. I thought he was going to use one to inspire a story in the daily. About a week later Raymond ran across the road to me and said "Bill would like to meet with you". I replied, "Who's Bill"?

Bill hired me based entirely on those articles. I was made a trainee reporter and my tutor was Stephen Breen. Bill paid a speedwriting coach to come into the office and every Wednesday after work, another trainee and I would go to the conference room for class. This was in addition to the day-to-day instruction trainees received from their tutors – and I can assure you it was a great deal of instruction. Every word, sentence and paragraph was analysed by the tutor, then by the chief reporter then by the sub-editor and then by the news editor. It was a crucible.

Then one day, Bill tells us he's flying an editor in from the UK to provide further training. The editor's name escapes me but I remember the Gazette hired out one of the rooms at the Bermuda College and my fellow trainee and I went there for two or three weeks. We went over journalistic writing in detail. Opening par word counts – structure – "hit 'em in the face" theories. We wrote and wrote and wrote until you couldn't feel your fingers at the end of the day.

By the time we got back to the newsroom, I felt like there wasn't anything I couldn't tackle. Of course I was wrong but I was finally taken away from my tutor and assigned to a shift partner. This is the person you work lane shifts, holidays, etc with. For me this was Matt Taylor who had the uncanny ability to irritate even the calmest politician with his consistent questions. He and Patrick Burgess were my big brothers and they showed me that journalism was far more than a pay cheque – it was the application of our fundamental human rights and the ultimate check to organisational abuse. We were no different than any other person on the street however we had an obligation to make sure that every other person on the street had access to information.

Needless to say, I had my fair share of calls telling me to "go home".

It wasn't long before Bill brought in a writing coach from the US. He was this really lively guy with a white beard, red face and a fairly healthy waistline – he looked just like Santa Claus. Despite being a writing coach the editorial team and him would go at it over all kinds of things. I remember he once said something like before you even got to the scene of the story you should have the story worked out in your mind. Well, I thought the editorial staff were going to throw him out the door the way they reacted.

Though open to criticism, reporters believe in something called "journalistic integrity" which is essentially the belief that all things are equal and only the facts matter after they have been ascertained.

As a reporter, you must never take a side and you as sure as heck do not, whatsoever, even think about establishing the who, what, why, when or how before you get the facts. I remember Stephen Breen was particularly irate at the coach and was surely going to be the first to lay his hands on the coach. Journalistic integrity is like a religion to reporters and to suggest they don't have it stings them deeply – to advise them against it was heresy.

I recall when I failed to adhere to that belief. It was a standard day at Magistrate's Court with the normal rota of summary offences being paraded in front of a particularly strict magistrate. A new Crown counsel was prosecuting and this Magistrate (I felt) unnecessarily blasted the Crown, and really embarrassed him over inexperience. We have to remember this is a public setting and this Crown counsel was far from incompetent.

Feeling this was unjust and being a superhero (in my own mind's eye), I wrote that article to clearly reflect that abuse of power and shameful conduct. Well, it backfired. Rather than writing the magistrate as unjust and authoritarian, I set a scene of incompetence and inexperience on the Crown's part. I absolutely failed in my duty.

My role in society was not to judge but to present the facts for others to do so – as cleanly and objectively as possible. We redrilled that at the Gazette and I learned. Eventually, I was able to stand away from the occurrences and report on what I saw and heard. Training at The Royal Gazette was class-based a few times – it was reality-based all-day, everyday.

I am critical of Bill Zuill in several areas but in the areas of training, dedication and objectivity, he has no equal on the Island. I do not know what the The Royal Gazette was in the 1960s as I was not there – I can only state what The Royal Gazette is in this time period. Having spent two years under the leadership of Bill Zuill, I am confident in his love for country, dedication to equality and objectivity and single-minded obsession with finding the truth of the matter and reporting it to the benefit of all.

Thanks Bill – you are a true soldier. I only wish I could put my name on the bottom of this letter, but Bermuda isn't that kind of a country anymore.

AUDACITY

City of Hamilton

Road is dangerous

August 11, 2009

Dear Sir,

While fully appreciating the comments of Dr. Froncioni in The Royal Gazette I would take issue with some of them.

"Driving while impaired" by extension means the person made the decision to drive while that person's judgment was "impaired".

The end result should not mean death because of a dangerous flaw in a road layout and, because the person may have been speeding etc.

You deal with the facts, and while you make every effort to change driving habits etc., that does not mean that you don't make efforts to reduce the severe consequences where you can.

Anyone looking at the gate posts near the Crow Lane bus stop can readily appreciate that the eastern post, if not both, needs to be relocated further onto the property and realigned along with the wall so that anyone, failing to take the turn properly, is not met by a large concrete structure.

In the past five or so years three people have been killed at this place and something should have been done before now.

While there is a huge emphasis, and rightly so, on "driving while impaired", statistics provided by the Police appear to indicate that only ten percent of accidents are the result of this, thus 90 percent are due to other factors.

A factor, rarely mentioned, is the quality of street lighting whereby areas of light are followed by areas of darkness and then areas of light.

In effect it is similar to lighting a room with a 40 watt bulb when a 100 watt bulb is needed.

The end of the dual carriageway at Crow Lane is flawed and that flaw needs to be corrected before another person is killed there.

JOHN R. KANE

City of Hamilton

Robbed by Government

August 12, 2009

Dear Sir,

"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

Just recently, the Hon. Derrick Burgess, JP, MP, Minister of Works and Engineering stated that the Government had robbed one of our sons of the soil.

My immediate reaction caused me to ask: "Has the government robbed me also?"

Of course! They have robbed me, the students and the people of Bermuda for almost 31 years. In 1978, I returned to my homeland as Bermuda's first internationally, qualified curriculum coordinator and I have never had a job commensurate with my qualifications, skills, competencies and abilities.

Let me hasten to add that what is even more critically important is that the government, both UBP and PLP, have robbed me of freedom, justice and equality which is afforded me under the Constitution of Bermuda, a dependent territory.

I am still waiting for this humane and compassionate government that offered the Uighurs housing, employment and citizenship to acknowledge, apologise and compensate for the insults, injustices and indignites meted out to me a born and bred Bermudian.

Continuing in the struggle for freedom, justice and equality.

MURIEL M. WADE-SMITH, Ph.D.

Smith's