Adams was a fine officer

December 30, 2008

Dear Sir,

Congratulations to The Royal Gazette and to Matthew Taylor on your two front page interviews with retiring Assistant Police Commissioner Carlton Adams (RG December 29 and 30).

As a retired expatriate police officer who had the privilege of working closely with Carlton Adams when he first donned a police uniform, and for many years afterwards, I can say with first-hand knowledge that he is one of the finest officers ever to serve in the Bermuda Police Force – either Bermudian or expatriate.

Unfortunately, he has what some might perceive as a “fault” which may have hampered him in reaching the pinnacle of the Police Force. That is, he has always spoken very frankly and honestly and has never hidden from the truth – a rare quality in this day and age when so many of our community leaders only say what is politically correct.

He was trained in criminal investigation work by the very best, including former Police Commissioner Clive Donald, Deputy Commissioner Lenny Edwards, and Detective Superintendent John Joseph Sheehy. He learned his craft well and his loss to the Police Force will be enormous.

On that point I would add that Carlton Adams has always kept himself physically fit and active. At the age of 59 he still has a wealth of knowledge and experience, and I understand that he is being required to retire for no other reason that he turns 60 in 2009.

At a time when Government is struggling to recruit both local and overseas police officers it makes no sense to require a man of Carlton Adams’ exceptional ability to retire, particularly as consideration is about to be given to the introduction of legislation prohibiting age discrimination.

One only has to read your two newspaper articles to know the depth of the man. Rarely can I recall a senior police officer speaking so candidly about the crime situation in Bermuda, and making so much sense.

If our Government is truly committed to the ongoing process of Bermudianisation, I suggest that the Minister responsible for the Police Service do whatever is necessary to retain this outstanding Bermudian role model as a senior police officer.

RETIRED FORMER POLICE OFFICER

Smith’s

Madness on our roads

January 1, 2008

Dear Sir,

I must confess to being rather amused by the continual comments of concern put forward by Bermuda’s so-called leaders regarding our traffic woes.

The fact of the matter is this - those that could begin to help reduce the carnage, aren’t. Their talk is cheap. The political leaders of the day (and I use the words leaders loosely) risk losing votes if they actually take any real steps that would begin to reduce the nonsense that takes place everyday on our roads.

There is nothing stopping the authorities from enforcing the laws of the land, yet they don’t and that is clearly a choice they make. They allow vehicles that are too large for our roads, they allow vehicles to have illegal tint, they allow people to drive at night with fog lamps on (why do people do this!!??), they allow people to speed, they allow noisy bikes to populate our roads, they allow the use of a “third lane” by bikes - the list of factors contributing to the carnage goes on and on.

The courts are lenient, the judges hand out woefully inadequate penalties, the blind eye of the law continues to be turned, and leadership from our politicians continues to be missing. So let’s stop pretending to be surprised when we have death on our roads for it is us who are enabling it.

As with every result in life that we do not like, until there is a real change in how we manage our traffic and our roads, we are likely to continue to get the same results

So, Dr. Brown, as Transport Minister, and Mr. Jackson, as Police Commissioner, like it or not, this ball of wax is really in your laps. When are the two of you going to step forward to facilitate the change in traffic management that must first be made in order for any real change to begin to take place on our roads?

EHT

Hamilton Parish

Crisis waiting to happen

January 2, 2009

Dear Sir,

So, we have three OB-GYN’s to service the whole country, one ENT, and our own family doctors are not allowed to visit us when we’re in the hospital?

We’ve got nursing and other staff at the KEMH who either don’t understand us, or we don’t understand them.

We’re flying people off the Island on Lear Jets at a rate of two to four daily – all paid for by Insurance companies – who are paid by working folks’ insurance premium.

Does anyone see a crisis just waiting to happen?

Who’s in charge? Who’s making the decisions on our health care options?

And – last question – where do the MP’s and their families go for medical treatment?

Just wondering ....

SHELLS PARADISE

Devonshire