No one is above the lawJanuary 6, 2011Dear Sir,I am speechless after reading Sen. Wilson’s (the former Attorney General none the less) comments regarding Ministers and parking tickets. On what planet is it OK for lawmakers to be above the law? If someone drives a dark, blue Toyota (i.e. a Ministerial car) they are entitled to park wherever they choose? What other laws do Ministers choose to ignore? Perhaps we should extend these parking “privileges” to their personal cars or even to their friends and family! When are members of Government going to realise they must lead by example. This type of behavior is inexcusable as it is telling the general public it is OK to ignore the law. You cannot ask people to abide by a set of rules when you refuse to do so yourself (especially when you are the very people who create the laws).KENT SMITHSt. George’sDo it on timeJanuary 5, 2011Dear Sir,I would like to question why the countdown for New Year’s was late? I was trying to celebrate with my family when I saw the cable box said 12.00 and the countdown hadn’t even started. This happened last year as well. It is kind of the television company for doing this for us, but if your going to do it, do it on time!ERON HILLBermuda InstituteBring back Indigent ClinicJanuary 3, 2011.Dear Sir,It is a new year and we have a new administration which seems intent on changing the tone or climate(?). In view of the current recession and the financial difficulties faced by many, might consideration be given to the reopening of that clinic that brought some relief to those whose lives ensure that they already face a greater struggle than do others?EVA N. HODGSONHamilton ParishP.s. Irrespective of the motives to which initial clinic may have owed its origin.Change your thoughtsJanuary 4, 2011Dear Sir,It’s the new year, but you’ve got to realise that the new year is not going to change you. Just because it’s a new year, it’s not going to make any difference in a new year or your life. The only way there’s going to be a change is if you are willing to go within and make the change. People make all sorts of new years’s resolutions, but because they don’t make any internal changes, the resolutions fall away very quickly. “I’m not going to smoke another cigarette, or whatever,” someone says. Right away, it’s put in a negative phrase rather than one that will tell the subconscious mind what to do. In this situation you could say instead, “all desire for a cigarettes has left me and I am free”. Until we make the inner changes, until we are willing to do the mental work, nothing outside of us is going to change. Yet the inner changes can be so incredibly simple because the only thing we really need to change are our thoughts.SENSEI BURNELL WILLIAMSPembrokeA poor excuseJanuary 2, 2011Dear Sir,Please allow me these few lines to inform the Bermuda Broadcasting Company (ZBM) that quite a number of Bermudians including this writer cannot afford CableVision and it was a shame that we were deprived of channels 9 CBS and 7 ABC over the Christmas holiday which as far back as I can remember never happened before. BBC blames this on a lightening strike against their TV transmitter which, I am satisfied did happen but was poor excuse in this age of advanced technology for not finding alternative means to continue operating. VSB TV suffered the same fate but they found a way to keep channel 11 coming through for which I applaud them. Now we are into the new year and still no channel 9 or 7. Bermuda Broadcasting Company like to boast to being Bermuda’s most watched station but they sure goofed over the Christmas holiday for which I am yet to hear an apology from them over ZBM radio. On another note; when it comes down to communications VSB has the BBC beaten by a mile. Make a call to VSB TV or radio you will more then likely receive a personal response. Not so with BBC. Correct me if I’m wrong.A. ANDERSONP.s. To Mike Bishop and his staff of operators at VSB, thanks for the personal response as opposed to leave a message and we will get back to you or if you know your etc., etc., etc., and on and on which is a typical response one gets from many business establishments in Bermuda today.Take another lookJanuary 7, 2011Dear Sir,Recently, a flap has been made about the Hon. Sen. Wilson’s parking tickets. Although I have serious political disagreements with her, I’d like to offer your readers a defence of the Senator in this situation. First, I’d like to establish that I am not a PLP member, nor even a Bermudian, so that my perspectives cannot be seen as blind, ‘knee-jerk’ support of PLP leadership. Senator Wilson’s career as a public service has had its ups and downs, like any public servant. When any public servant makes highly-charged political decisions, those decisions are guaranteed to anger half of their constituents, and Senator Wilson is no exception. Regardless, I wouldn’t want to have her job and its weighty responsibilities. I ask Bermudians to take another look at the parking fiasco, even though my opinions may not be popular.Not long ago, when Kim Wilson and I had an intellectual complaint about a criminal justice matter during her tenure as Attorney General and Justice Minister, I emailed her to offer my opinion. Much to my surprise and delight, she promptly telephoned me at home, at night, from her office, during a time when she was engrossed with several weighty political demands, some of the most challenging of her career even though I made clear that I had grave doubts about a government legal perspective under her remit. She called me well after 5pm, in order to have a chance to speak before I left the island for an extended educational training course. The Senator took the time to hear my concerns, accepted my concerns as valid and worthy of consideration, and offered her differing perspective eloquently and kindly.She spent approximately half an hour on the phone with me, long past “quittin’ time” and the end of her work day. I found her to be incredibly hard-working, diligent, legally sharp-as-a tack, polite, warm, and willing to have disagreement but yet with an open mind about change for the future. Having spent the majority of my youth as a petty criminal in the US for which I have since been Pardoned, by the way I was frankly shocked at her kindness and devotion, which is unusual for an overworked, underbudgeted public servant. I ask readers to consider that the Senator has gone far and above her line of duty, and continues to do so on behalf Bermuda in her new Ministry. She is neither arrogant nor possessed of the ‘self-entitlement” seen in many past Ministers. I feel that any mistakes or missteps she might have made were the lesser of two evils, and I assure you, she could be making a lot more salary in the private sector, and yet has chosen a path of public service, providing a level of care for Bermuda that is rare among public servants.Finally, with regard to a petty traffic ticket, I’d be honoured to pay it for her, despite my own strained financial resources during this difficult time in my own life. Am I seeking political favours from her? Not a chance, because I don’t need them she extended trust to me, as a stranger with no political advantage to herself, and she helped me without any request for her own benefit she’s just a darned nice lady. I can understand the working classes’ concern of fairness about parking tickets, and yet I ask that, if we cannot forgive what looks like an administrative problem over a mere $70, the we’re all failing to see the forest for the trees. That Senator works hard for us all, has a great raft of ideas for bringing back polite Bermudian culture, and shows no sign of the selfishness we see in politicians around the world.I propose that we allow Ministers to enjoy parking privileges de gratis while on duty. For every $70 fine we ‘lose’, we may be costing Bermuda far more by hampering Bermuda’s ability to pull ourselves up by her bootstraps to fix the economy, social well-being, and overall restoration of decency for which we were once known. Call me biased, if you will but my bias is for good reason: The Wilson family, for no good reason I can readily see, has provided assistance and advice to me, time and time again, for no apparent gain, on numerous occasions, despite our heated political disagreements. Did she misspeak, off the cuff, about the parking ticket? Maybe it wasn’t the best political move on her part, but, by Jove, I like her. It’s time for us to re-think about how we treat our Cabinet’s parking especially in the case of this particular Senator. We’re quite fortunate to have her.ALAN L. GORDONSt David’s