Gap is widening

May 31, 2003

Dear Sir,

I have discovered that economic empowerment does not mean what I thought it did. The way it is being used nowadays is to rearrange the deck chairs. To whom that hath shall be given. There is nothing wrong with that.

Those who already have well-paying jobs are changing one well-paying job for another well-paying job because the jobs exist. Also, those who already own a business or businesses can acquire another business or businesses. Those who already have apartments on rent can acquire another apartment complex. We read about these successes weekly.

But, what is being done for those at the lower end of the scale - the single mother with two and three jobs, or the prison inmate on his release or the wall sitter. Nothing, absolutely nothing. The gap is widening and that's not between black and white, but between black and black.

So, Black Alliance, go back to the drawing board.

By the way, can you imagine the outcry if a group should be formed calling itself White Alliance or one setting an agenda for white males?

KEEN OBSERVER

Seeing the light(s)

June 4, 2003

Dear Sir,

I heard on David Lopes' talk show this morning, in conversation with P.c. Shannon Lawrence, that the Police Traffic Enforcement Unit are going to be targeting specific offences during certain periods.

I'm sure that I'm not alone in supporting the Police on this, and one thing I would like to see being targeted is bad manners at traffic lights (especially by cycle riders), and offenders dealt with accordingly. I agree with P.c. Lawrence's comments about lights, though. I was always under the impression that vehicles were allowed to show white lights to the front, red lights to the rear, and have amber indicator lights and that was it, period. I've seen several vehicles with various little coloured lights (some of which even change colour while the vehicle's in motion) where the windscreen washer jets should be, and I've seen some weird and wonderful colours of taillights (particularly on cycles) which I very much doubt have been passed by TCD.

I would also like to see drivers being actively discouraged from using their hazard warning lights while they're towing something, particularly because one can't use the indicators while the hazard warning lights are in use, so how does one signal an intention to make a particular turn?

I'd also like to see a clampdown on pedal cyclists who think that just because they're riding pedal cycles the rules of the road don't apply to them. I believe that such is the case in places like North America, but I was always given to understand that pedal cycles in Bermuda (as in the UK) had to obey the same rules as motor vehicles (e.g. don't ride on the sidewalks, don't ride the wrong way on one-way streets, use a white light to the front and a red light (or at least a red reflector) to the rear during the hours of darkness and so on). I get the distinct impression that parents either can't be bothered to teach their children the rules of the road or else don't know them themselves.

On that subject, I'd like to see a document attached to the issue of a driver's licence with wording something like this: "By signing my name on this driver's licence, I hereby testify that I have read and studied the Bermuda Traffic Code, and I can't get away with using the excuse 'I didn't know that' any time I may be stopped by the Police for committing a road traffic offence." Any comments?

DAVIE KERR

St. George's

Flirting with Cuba

June 11, 2003

Dear Sir,

Regarding the Government's dangerous flirtation with Cuba: They are quite right to support the downtrodden, degraded and deprived Cuban people. But to become entangled with a vicious Communist dictatorship is sheer folly.

Think about this. One man's complaint to the TV media led to the closure of the US Base and the sale of Chelston.

What if a Congressman or a Senator is alarmed by Bermuda's reckless overtures to Cuba and decides that the very expensive US Customs and Immigration facilities at our Airport should be withdrawn?

What if that same person decides that Bermuda is pro-Cuba and thus pro-Communist and therefore that Bermudians cannot be trusted to roam about the US? We might then all require visas to enter the US.

Since the beginning of Bermuda's history we have understood that the giant to the west is our friend and our closest neighbour. The US is also the major supplier of tourists and international business, not to mention imports.

Why on earth are we endangering that to flirt with a communist dictatorship?

DAVID L. WHITE

Paget

Mistreating our visitors

Dear Sir,

There has been much ado about the Cuban connection and whether we should do or should not have anything to do with them. I think that it's a good thing to send our worn-out buses to Cuba. We should also send that old worn-out ambulance that some fellow was so glib about on television. In fact, we should round up whatever old, worn-out stuff we can find and send it all to Cuba. Why not? Can you imagine the well-to-do of Cuba riding around in our old worn-out stuff? The well-to-do everywhere in the world goes first class, even in Cuba. All of that old worn-out stuff will directly benefit the working class of Cuba. What have we got against them?

As far as a relationship with the Government of Cuba goes arguments both pro and con are compelling. Right now all I can say is that such a relationship could be a good influence on Cuba. They might want to be more like us. Did you ever think of that? Wouldn't that be an acceptable outcome of such a union?

One another note, all of this mugging of our visitors has to stop. They pay good money to come here, then they are being mugged on the street, they get mugged in their cabins on board their cruise ships (these muggers use dogs) and then they're dragged off to court to be mugged by magistrates who compare their marijuana (just about all they have left) to an overpriced steak, tells them that Bermuda is an expensive destination, and picks their pockets again. I certainly hope that all of the vestiges of David Dodwell's 'Let Yourself Go' blitz has disappeared completely. Anyone who sees that advertisement and decides to come here because of it will be in for a real shock.

AL EASTMOND

Devonshire

Paradise lost?

Dear Sir,

Once upon a time there was an Island. The Island was fringed with pink coral sand the sea was blue, and palm trees stood tall like guardians watching silently over the land.

One could be forgiven for thinking that this was a storey written hundreds of years ago telling the legend of the beautiful Island of Bermuda. But alas, no. This storey was true only two generations ago. The people of the island lived mostly in traditional Bermudian houses, fished, farmed, went about their business and life was good.

If the people of that generation could see how their descendants had ignored the duty of care that such a beautiful land deserves they would turn in their graves.

They would see old values and traditions ignored all in the name of progress and that progress measured by profit. They would see the roads made for horses jammed with a fast, relentless line of cars and trucks. They would see beautiful old houses where they had lived and loved and brought up families knocked down and replaced with buildings that are designed with one motive in mind.

Of course one could be described as cynical to suggest that when money becomes involved that tradition and respect go out of the window. But this is not a cynical argument. It is a sad and true reflection of the way our society thinks today.

Buildings like the old Palmetto Hotel have already fallen to the developers ax. The Island Coffee House, East Broadway and Fisherman's Cottage on Middle Road, Southampton are ongoing victims.

Also, recently planning permission has been granted to erect 12 condominiums on a property called Westpoint at Shelly Bay. This will involve the demolition of a beautiful old Bermudian house built in 1711 along with its attached original outhouses and smokey which is believed to be the oldest in Bermuda. There is even a grave site within one of the buildings! The land will be mostly cleared of trees to facilitate the building work and this will there change the face of Shelly Bay forever. How is permission obtained for such a scheme when there is so much emphasis put upon sensitive development which takes into account the heritage and traditions of Bermuda? Who are the people who give out these permissions. Do they not understand that they are directly responsible for the future well being of the Island? The fact that are prepared to wipe out 300 years of history at the stroke of a pen is beyond belief. Does the National Trust of Bermuda have any say in matters such as these?

Should they not be standing up and defending this site when they have had ample warning that this is going to happen?

The owners, planners, developers and architects of developments such as these claim to have Bermuda's interests at heart and describe themselves using such phrases as "sympathetic and sensitive to traditional values". One could be forgiven for stating that there is nothing sympathetic or sensitive about these people.

In many ways they have Bermuda's cultural future in their hands and are directly responsible for preserving what little we have left. What in fact is the case is that they are responsible for the destruction of Bermuda's architectural heritage. Bermuda's land mass is already 13 percent concrete! The fact that there are many places on the Island that are wholly suitable for new houses to be built without having to destroy old ones seems to have conveniently escaped notice. Take the old American bases for example. There is plenty of room for everybody to build all the houses that they choose at no cost to Bermuda's heritage.

The Planning Department needs to take a long, hard and objective look at their policy regarding sites of historical and architectural importance before handing out permission to redevelop these sites for once precedence is established it is very hard to say no to future proposals of a similar nature. Sadly for Westpoint and other houses like it, time is running out and if something is not done soon this island will truly become another Paradise Lost.

DEMOLISHED

Paget

An apology to the US

June 2, 2003

Dear Sir,

On behalf at most Bermudians I would like to offer my apology to the American consul for the thoughtless remarks directed to him by Renee Webb on the House of Assembly last week.

I know most Bermudians do not share her thoughts.

We all know where we would be without the help of the US on many ways we would be an Island 'dead' in the sea. We, the people of Bermuda, do not like to be linked to Cuba in any way, shape or form.

If some people 'love' Cuba so much why not go there to live!

DISGUSTED BERMUDA

Devonshire

The wrong direction

June 2, 2003

Dear Sir,

Our Minister of Transport is going in the wrong direction. New technology has developed the two stroke engines to be cleaner, quieter and more efficient than four stroke engines. There was no need for legislation to ban two stroke engine for the future, import four stroke longer bike, which are less environmental friendly, cost more and are more costly to maintain to say nothing of more speed.

HFS

Devonshire

Attack on uniforms

June 4, 2003

Dear Sir,

Please grant me the space to reply to a letter entitled "Of uniforms and violence", dated May 22 and printed on June 4. At the start of this letter it seemed that the writer had a valid point with the few retailers who sell school uniforms.

By the time I reached the third line of the second paragraph, I was completely infuriated. How dare they attack the immaculate uniform that I have seen. Furthermore, to say that it was "copied" from Warwick Academy's and MSA's! Get real! How many different varieties of "school uniforms" can you get? These schools do not even wear the same colour. Cranberry and grey vs. navy blue?

This proves my theory of the public not willing to accept new and allow for change. Everyone knows that the secondary schools mentioned no longer exist by those names, and have come to terms with that fact. Some have even been out of existence for longer than the five plus years that CedarBridge Academy has been in existence.

For your information, Northlands is a Primary School, Sandys Secondary became Sandys Secondary Middle School, and Warwick Secondary became Spice Valley Middle School.

I encourage you, the writer of this absurd letter, to seek help with what ever issues you may have and seek the correct facts. I guarantee you that "paradise on earth" will come a lot quicker if people like you did not waste time attacking CedarBridge Academy - a school of excellence.

JANAYA RAYNOR

Caught by surprise

The following letter was sent to the Postmaster General and copied to The Royal Gazette.

June 3, 2003

Dear Sir,

It is with regret that I must write to you, yet again, about the Postal Service of Bermuda. To wit:

In New York, I posted on May 6 a letter addressed to Mr. and Mrs. M. Hankey, 15 Grosvenor Court, Pembroke HM 19 advising them of my intended arrival in the island(s) on May 19.

Imagine then that upon my arrival in Bermuda at 9.30 a.m. on May 19, my telephone call to the Hankeys caught them by surprise since my letter had not yet been delivered. I telephoned and spoke with a supervisor, who said he had been only six months in his position and was checking all procedures.

I can assure you that, after investigations here in New York since my return on May 31, my letter was coded and sent from the city on May 7 and your service did not deliver until May 19 - not a good reflection on your organisation.

I hope this letter will instigate enquiries, uncover lax and lackadaisical handling, and institute faster procedures of mail delivery.

HARRY ATKINSON

New York

Antagonising Americans

May 25, 2003

Dear Sir,

I have said this before and I thought the PLP Government would have listened very carefully to what I had said about this beautiful paradise Island being in certain danger of cutting off the valuable hand that is feeding us. Don't they have anyone in this PLP Government who reads the Editorials? Well, I sure hope they read and understand this that, you, the Bermuda Government has become a part of Caricom, you have decided to send some buses to communist Cuba, you want cultural ties with Cuba and now you want to have an opening for a Cuban airline.

Will somebody please tell me what is it that the PLP Government doesn't understand about reality. The reality is that if you continue to drift further and further away from the United States of America as you are doing, you will definitely cut off the valuable hands that is feeding us. All of us.

We just can't do anything without the American dollar - you better believe it. Under the PLP Government, Bermuda is hanging onto the United States by a thread, so much so that if the PLP wins the next election, I'm sure the United States will think twice about doing any kind of business here in Bermuda.

Let me say this, the way that crime continues to take place here in Bermuda, if any one of the American people who come to Bermuda ever gets into any kind of situation like that Canadian visitor got into a few weeks ago. Then you will see and clearly understand what I'm saying here.

CAL WALES

St. David's