Put them in the stocks

December 18, 2002

Dear Sir,

Shame on the young people that desecrated the Old Town of St. George's. what sort of young people do we have here? Hooligans!

When or if we get them put them on the 'Stocks' right there on the Square every day for a few hours and also have them clean it up. There must have been some one who saw them or heard them. What's the matter with you? The old saying "Don't want to get involved! " Shame.

Tiger stunt a non-starter

December 19, 2002

Dear Sir,

This letter is sent in response to the front page article about the tiger Fuji at TigerMart - published in December 18.

The people in charge of public relations at Exxon Corporation's headquarters in the US will by now have seen article about the caged up tiger Fuji being abused for promotional purposes at the TigerMart on Richmond Road. I expect them not to be very pleased, because no major corporation wishes to be associated with animal abuse and they would therefore not allow their franchise takers anywhere in the world to ever let events like the one at the TigerMart on Tuesday take place under a roof that carries their company logo.

TigerMart Manager Raymond Tannock Jr., who was quoted in article, does not appear to grasp the implication of what he obviously thinks was a fantastic publicity stunt. The roaring trade his shop did on the back of parading an animal in a cage could very soon turn into empty cash registers.

The letters to the editors in recent days call for a boycott of the Tarzan Zerbini circus. Let's take this a little further: Any company, not just a circus, which abuses an animal for promotional purposes, deserves to be boycotted as well. When I bought breakfast this morning and refuelled my car, I did so for the first time under a roof that carried a different logo.

Burrows no folk hero

December 14, 2002

Dear Sir,

This weekend, as usual, I plough through the weekend papers including The Bermuda Sun. In the Sun was an article, a sort of eulogy I suppose one could say, for Mr. Buck Burrows. For some mystifying reason, The Sun saw fit to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Mr. Burrows' passing.

It is always very commendable when a man stands by his "good friend", no matter what. This is a quality which indeed separates men of character from those who have less substance. I think Mr. Furbert can be applauded for standing up for his friend Mr. Burrows.

However, I also feel that it is certainly taking things to far to imply that Buck Burrows' place in the history of this Island is anything other than what he was most famous for. He was a thief and a murderer. He was tried in the highest court of the land, found guilty and hanged for the crimes he committed.

Mr. Furbert may have fond memories of their friendship, and appears to have thought it somewhat "cool" that this man made his living as a thief. I believe he lauded him in the Sun as "a very clever thief".

That leaves me wondering where Mr. Furbert's values lie since he appears to feel that being a very clever thief is something to be commended.

This (apparently accomplished) thief also murdered the Governor of the Island, together with his Aide, and not satisfied with that, went on, with an accomplice, to tie up two other men in a supermarket robbery - like hogs, and murder them as well. I cannot imagine the families of these unfortunate victims seeing Mr. Burrows as anything other than the murderer he was convicted of being.

Nor can I imagine anyone in their right mind seeing any benefit in celebrating the anniversary of a time when this Island was pretty much covered with battle trained soldiers (fresh from the horrors of the Northern Ireland conflict.)

Soldiers who, from my observation at the time, could easily have caused considerably carnage in the back of town had they been provoked by the blacks who were rioting though the streets, destroying (interestingly enough) many black establishments in the he process.

While we seem to be reminiscing all this, I recalled that for years after that sad event there was talk of a third person involved. Someone whom the then government had to spirit away through the airport dressed as a woman. Someone who was directly related to a person who held a very sensitive position in Bermuda at the time.

In fact I once badgered on old senior statesman about until I got an earful from him to the effect of: "Leave it along. Things had to be done in the interest of the stability of the Island. We did what we had to do". Go figure.

I guess we'll never really know who killed John F. Kennedy either. Maybe some things are best left alone.

During the depression years in some American Midwestern states, people there had to suffer the duo popularised by Hollywood as Bonnie & Clyde. Hollywood seemed to want us to view these two as "folk heroes", much the same as Mr. Furbert seems to be remembering Buck Burrows.

These two rampaged around the country robbing banks, and in the process, killing innocent people. They were thieves and murderers, no more and no less. If we are to believe the Hollywood version, they died, quite appropriately I thought, in a hail of gunfire on a lonely country road.

It is very thin glue which holds this little Island community together. The glue comprising The Law of the Land and the common decency of the people of Bermuda.

In this New Bermuda which the PLP seems to feel is so wonderful for everyone, this glue seems to be thinning down quite a bit.

We now hear of men carving each other up with machetes, apparent gang warfare, hooliganism in its various forms, alleged misappropriation of funds, even fraud. And we ALL suffer total crazyness on our roads.

It is no longer safe for women, of any race, to be out late at night. Visitors wonder if indeed they can window shop without getting stabbed in the back. We have Jamaicans threatening - in your newspaper Mr. Editor, that blood may run in the streets if Bermudian blacks do not lighten up on them. Not a particularly impressive New Bermuda I'm afraid.

I vaguely recall, in the distant past, a safer Bermuda when we had another government, with perhaps a different concept on the safety of general public.

In this apparently endless quest which black Bermudians seem to have for some form of cultural, or folk hero whom they can eulogise, they might consider looking to people like Mr. Freddie Yearwood, who to my knowledge has done much to help quite a few young black men.

To Mr. Mansfield Brock who has been a tireless educator of black (and white) Bermudians his entire working life. A man in the opinion of many, who should he chose to do so, could bring some much needed clear thinking to an abysmally polarised political scene. Obviously, also to Dr. Ratteray and his associates who pushed for very significant change in life for black Bermudians.

These are but a few, and there are many more.

The point here is that these people did not run around with a shot gun strapped to their leg, and we've not heard them cherished as "very clever thieves". What's more, they have all affected very positive change - for blacks in Bermuda, without seeing the need to rob and kill in the process.

In closing, as I mentioned earlier, one can certainly admire Mr. Furbert for standing fast for his friend Mr. Burrows. One can sympathise with anyone who loses a good friend - for any reason. But I feel that if we get to the stage where we, in casting around for folk heroes to look up to, have to settle for thieves and murderers, we may just as well climb back into the trees from whence we all came.

Bermuda's best

December 18, 2002

Dear Sir,

On November 30, at approximately 2.40 p.m. my husband and I noticed that our neighbour's house was on fire at White Hill Lane in Sandys. I quickly reacted by phoning 911 and must commend the Fire Department on their immediate response as they were on the premises within minutes and had a raging fire from a window on one side of the house under control in no time.

I had never experienced seeing how quickly a fire could spread and now appreciate that "every second counts". My first concern was for anyone who might have been in the house and fortunately the only two people that were in the house were safely standing outside. If not for the quick response from the Fire Department the situation could have been far worse.

I would like to thank the Fire Department for their prompt response and for a job well done.