Molestation is about powerFebruary 2, 2011Dear Sir,I feel impelled to respond to R. Marshall’s letter to the Editor printed in The Royal Gazette of Tuesday, February 1. He states that he is “totally against this same sex marriage” because of experiencing sexual molestation in his teen years. He, and the reading public, need to understand that sexual molestation or forced sex of any kind is the antithesis or exact opposite of the mutually consensual nature of marriage, whether that marriage is between same sex or opposite sex individuals.Sexual molestation, like rape, is not really about sex at all. It is about power and force or coercion. It is often about inflicting humiliation and sometimes even pain. It is about someone making you do something you don’t want to do or are too young to make a knowledgeable choice about. Many men who prey on young boys also prey on young girls. They often live otherwise heterosexual lives. It is not about the gender of the victim, it is about his or her perceived vulnerability. Thank you for affording me this opportunity for clarification.PASTOR SYL HAYWARD -HARRISPembrokeContrary to the core valuesFebruary 4, 2010Dear Sir,According to the Rosewood Hotels website, one of their core values is “we embrace the environment and surroundings”. Being the main participant in a development that goes against basic planning and environmental regulations would seem to be contrary to their core values.I’M JUST SAYIN’St George’sPs I would like to know how the management and owners of Rosewood Hotels would feel if these kind of environmental violations took place in their own community.It smacks of a conspiracyFebruary 6, 2011Dear Sir,Your reporting this weekend re the Special Development Order (SDO) that the Bermuda Government is planning to issue to Tuckers Point (TP) smacks of a conspiracy...This development sits in the middle of constituency #7 Hamilton South and I am not surprised that TP is seeking an SDO from the Government to develop raw land to help bail them out of their financial mess… After all, your newspaper touched on this same subject at least six months ago, and both the Government under Premier Ewart Brown and TP denied such an SDO was being discussed or planned… Now we know that your story was indeed accurate and on the mark and both the Government and TP were trying to deceive the public.The issue here, in my humble opinion, is that TP is having a very difficult time financially and one could argue that the company is on the verge of bankruptcy and defaulting on their loans loans which are largely due to HSBC Bank of Bermuda Limited the same group who are the principle creditors to the Bermuda Government. Are you seeing the connection here, Mr. Editor?As such, TP have now officially approached the Bermuda Government with a view to have an SDO issued to them in the “hope” that such will rescue them financially. In large part any financial bonus created from the SDO will go to HSBC to repay the massive loans that TP have in place. Word on the street is that this number is over $100 million… My question is why should the Bermuda Government offer an SDO that will eventually take away a large portion of Hamilton Parish woodlands in order to make good the HSBC loans? This is wrong and any MP who votes for this SDO should have their head examined and the voters in their constituencies should likewise hold them to account.When a Bank has loans that go bad, it will put aside capital as a “provision” for such bad loans. What we are seeing with the issuance of this SDO is a rescue of TP that ultimately bails out HSBC’s loan to them… What ought to happen is that HSBC, having identified a “bad loan”, should attempt to sell off the loan to outside investors. This could well mean that HSBC receives just 20 to 30 cents on the dollar for the TP loan, but it also means that the new buyer will have a lower capital threshold upon which to make the TP business profitable… Issuing an SDO which ultimately leads to the selling and development of raw, virgin, protected real estate will not solve the financial problem of TP and, ultimately, it only helps the loan book of HSBC…Bermuda’s open spaces have been disappearing rapidly of late. The idea of issuing an SDO to TP to expand development is contradictory, because their present development has not yet been profitable. Therefore the only conclusion one can draw from this is that HSBC is trying to get their “pound of flesh” from both Tucker’s Point and the people of Bermuda by having the Government grant an SDO… This is wrong and Bermuda’s MPs and Senators should reject the SDO request outright…ALLAN D. MARSHALL JPUBP Candidate for ParliamentHamilton South, District 7A weak defenceFebruary 4, 2011Dear Sir,I was interested by Alvin Williams’ defence of the Government in today’s Letters to the Editor. First, he defends the $1 billion deficit as investments in social programmes, housing projects and other initiatives. While I concede we need to invest in Bermuda, we are clearly not getting value for our money. Let’s not forget that this debt is part of an overall annual budget of nearly $1 billion per year and this is excessive for an island of this size. I also need to point out three other things:1) The debt needs to be repaid (by us);2) Going forward we will be spending millions of dollars a year on interest (instead of social programmes and other initiatives);3) Nearly every Government-related capital project has been mismanaged and over Budget (including the examples he listed) … that benefit no one (unless you are a cement supplier in Dockyard).While I am hopeful the Premier can develop a financial strategy that will be sustainable let us not kid ourselves; Bermuda’s deficit is a very real problem and will one day need to be addressed, almost certainly at a significant cost to every man, woman and child on this island.I am also surprised he decided to use the National Stadium as an example in his defence. While all of Bermuda will agree this has been a disaster for more than 20 years, 12 of those years have been under the same Government he is defending and it is still not finished. At the same time, the “they messed it up first” defence has worn thin with many Bermudians … let’s look forward, not backwards.KENT SMITHSt. George’s