I'd like to take this opportunity, in light of the new attention being paid Bermuda's traffic problem, to make some simple and logical suggestions.

Organise car pools amongst the people you know, however vaguely, in your area.

Post notices at work suggesting shared driving amongst people who share routes. Park your car at Darrell's Wharf or Belmont if you're coming in from the west and take the ferry. The ferry's easy, and there's a schedule in section 6 of the new phonebook. Have your schoolchildren do the same. Take the bus once or twice a week. If you live near your office, try cycling, or walk once or twice a week. Maybe on sunny days when there's no shopping to do you could use a motorbike instead of the car. Do not buy a larger car. Perhaps, eventually, the Government will assist with official car pool programmes, more extended parking at the ferry terminals, and even a ferry between Belmont and Somerset Bridge. While we wait for a solution from on High, we can start by taking some of the responsibility ourselves. You won't notice the difference right away, but eventually, if we all do our small part, the traffic will thin. These solutions provide an opportunity to get more exercise, do more reading, and ultimately, do a little something to slow the deterioration of our environment.

KATE HUNTINGTON Pembroke Mums say thank you June 7, 1999 Dear Sir, As President of Meet-a-Mum Association (Mama) I would like to extend my personal thanks and that of all Mama's 400 or so members to companies that have kindly donated their support and help in aid of Mama's charitable aims.

In particular a special thanks is due to International Bonded Couriers (IBC) and Sedgwicks.

Mama is now engaged in decorating the Emergency Paediatric Room at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, with Tara Jackson in the emergency department spearheading the idea, along with some artistic Mums: Charlotte Codling, Debbie Larcher and Samantha Stevens.

Mama has already had pledges for corporate support for this venture -- watch this space for more `thank yous'! Thank you again to IBC and Sedgwicks.

SARAH LORIMER-TURNER President Meet-a-Mum Association Clean up this trash! May 31, 1999 Dear Sir, The 24th of May marathon is a truly wonderful local event which anyone who has the nerve and endurance can enter and receive the applause they all deserve.

But I wonder about the water bottles and drinking cups that are left behind strewn in the bushes and waysides on the route. In all the years that we have had this marathon, runners have been able to get to the finish line without hundreds of bottles discarded in their wake. What has happened? Have the professional races begun an irresponsible trend of sip-and-throw? Are the amateurs imitating them? The same thing has arisen among the End to End walkers. It is time for organisers to be held responsible for a follow-up clean up or use another environmentally friendly method of hydrating participants. What did the grand marathon runner Stanley Burgess do to prevent dehydration? The morning following the race I collected 13 discarded water bottles on a short walk of about 300 yards It was interesting to note that half of them had only a mouthful missing and each bottle had a price sticker of 99 cents. It certainly illustrates how wasteful a culture we have become and taints the image of this revered Bermudian event. A week has passed and now we have hundreds of squashed bottles by the road.

FRANCES EDDY Invest more in its service June 7, 1999 Dear Sir, You know, Mr. Editor, the Telephone Company said they had to increase local rates by a huge amount to stay in business after it bought Logic; then it thought about buying Quantum ($15,000,000) and has a legal battle to buy Cablevision. The Minister of Telecommunications should step in to prevent the Telephone Company from buying Cablevision when the company has to increase its rates so much and it can not give a decent local service. It should invest more in its service not investing to destroy competition.

To top it all off you get a phone book that falls apart after several months and its full of advertising. Who gets all the money for the advertising? The Telephone Company and Island Press/Bermuda Sun.

After reading North Rock's complaints in yesterday's paper it looks like the Telephone Company is attempting to stall North Rock just like it turned out (legally) with Quantum.

It must be great for the Telephone Company to have so much money to kill off or buy competitors, while having a monopoly on local service and then freely go in to competition with North Rock and other small businesses that sell computers and service networks to make a living.

Why does the Telecommunications Ministry allow the monopoly to use monopoly cash to compete with others, expand its power but nobody is allowed to compete with it? JUGULAR City of Hamilton