Costly and frustrating

March 7, 2005

Dear Sir,

Not registered? Not Bermudian?

My husband and I are born Bermudians who enjoy holding both Bermudian and British passports. When picking up my child's passport, I noticed it did not have the stamp "Holder is registered as a Bermudian". This is a very important detail that will no doubt cause a great deal of grief if we go independent.

Current policy is that before the stamp can be placed in the passport, I have to "register" our child as a Bermudian by paying $10 and filling out section 5(2) of the Bermuda Status Application Form despite the fact that both my husband and I are "registered" Bermudians.

Passports issued to children with Bermudian parents should simply be stamped "Registered as a Bermudian' at the time they are issued. The immigration department have all the necessary information in their hands when a passport application is made ? both hard copies and in their computer database.

This is one more example of the civil service creating work for themselves. It is an area where Government employees administer favouritism amongst their comrades. It is biased, costly and frustrating Government policy paid for by taxpayers.

If you fail to "register" your son as a Bermudian, does it mean that he will not be called into the Regiment at 18?

March 8, 2005

Dear Sir,

Having just read the letter by "Wanting a Breath of Fresh Air", I felt the urge to write and say how much I agree!

New York City has a law regarding smoking in public places. Florida has a law regarding smoking in restaurants. Why not Bermuda? Why should those of us in Bermuda who choose not to smoke be forced to smoke whenever we go out for dinner?

Tio Pepe Restaurant and Island Cuisine have both decided to go smoke-free, making the dining out experience that much more enjoyable. Sadly, both of these restaurants are out of town. I challenge the restaurants in town to follow suit.

Who will be the first non-smoking restaurant in the City of Hamilton? The consumers of Bermuda need to speak out on this issue.

I add my voice to Fresh Air!

There are at least three smoke-free restaurants in Hamilton. One is the Barracuda Grill, Bistro 12 in the Walker Arcade is smoke-free in the restaurant, although not in the al fresco section and recently the Silver Spoon on Victoria Street said it was banning smoking.

'

March 15, 2005

Dear Sir,

The Anglican Church community seem to have forgotten very quickly about the very sad and upsetting situation the Anglican Bishop of Bermuda dropped the congregation of St. Mark's Church in Smith's parish into a few years ago. The Bishop pushed for a certain inexperienced person to be the Rector of St. Mark's ? this against very strong opposition by the St. Mark's congregation. This new inexperienced Rector's performance at St. Mark's after his Induction proved disastrous for the people of Smith's Parish ? attendance dropped drastically, it was a struggle to get a Vestry, Sunday School closed, almost no Guild and the choir almost fell apart ? it was terrible and a lot of ex-members of St. Mark's have still not returned to the Anglican Church.

Now the Holy Trinity Church congregation has met with the same bullheadedness from the Bishop. It would appear the Bishop is trying to close down the Anglican Church of Bermuda. What would the Archbishop of Canterbury think if he knew his flock were turning to other pastures away from the Anglican Church. Surely the Bishop is not doing the job he is expected to do ? perhaps a meeting should beheld at the Cathedral Hall ? this week after Easter ? and let the attendance at that meeting speak for itself. It should be an open meeting and perhaps the Bishop and his Synod could be available to answer questions ? especially the one mentioned in the Press of late ? "What Bermudians are waiting to be Rectors in Bermuda ? who?" The Anglican Church in Bermuda is in serious disarray and why ? because the Bishop who really should lead his flock is distancing himself from his people and making himself very unpopular on the Island.

Every month we see in of employers who proudly stand with their employees who have just completed 40, 35, 30 etc. years of employment with their company ? proudly because everyone has happily recognised that a good job has been done by the employee. No mention by the employer that these employees should move on to another location. I am sure the congregation of Holy Trinity and others would endorse the fact that Canon Tilson has done a fantastic job at Holy Trinity Church and Hamilton Parish ? so why does the Bishop feel this man should move on and out of the country. Maybe the Bishop should move on ? how long has he been Bishop?

March 12, 2005

Dear Sir,

As a frequent visitor to Bermuda, I come each year three weeks and stay in my time share at the St. George's Club. One of the things my wife and I did each year was bring a few articles of clothing back with the Trimingham's label. And of course the little shopping type bag given by the store served as a souvenir.

It was akin to visiting Harrods in London, a landmark, a cultural identity. A bit of Bermuda will now be gone for us.

Is there nothing to be done. A Government bailout? Lamenting the loss but coming to Bermuda this Saturday,

March 10, 2005

Dear Sir,

When the northern section of Burnaby Street was opened to two-way traffic some while back, I must admit that I had my reservations on how it would work out, but I'm pleasantly surprised that it seems to be going OK.

Now, I remember nearly 40 years ago that the southern section of Cedar Avenue (between Church Street and Victoria Street) was also two-way, but it was reduced to one-way traffic back in the 70s as I remember. I think it might be worthwhile giving consideration to reintroducing two-way traffic on that stretch of road, but, as I think it's quite a bit narrower than Burnaby Street, I'd like to suggest the following restrictions on parking:

1) Parking on one side of the street for motorcycles ONLY, maybe with a loading zone or two for goods vehicles delivering or picking up in the area, and 2) No parking at all on the other side.

On the subject of parking, I'm rather surprised to see that the Corporation of Hamilton still allows parking on Victoria Street opposite the site of the new bus terminal on Washington Street, as the road has been narrowed by the construction site.

If parking is still to be allowed there during construction, I think that the number of parking bays should be reduced, and vehicles should only be allowed to park parallel to the kerb as is done elsewhere in Hamilton. I would also very much like to see motorists who do park there under the current end-on system reversing into the parking bays, instead of going nose-in and then having to reverse out into the Victoria Street traffic!

March 10, 2005

Dear Sir,

Seldom have I been more annoyed than I was when I read of the Minister of Tourism's misuse of his Cabinet weight to lend some sort of boost to the tragically misguided Dolphin 'Oasis' project.

He is however quite right to point out he is not an environmental expert.

One shameful display of captive dolphins is quite enough, and does nothing to enhance the tourism product. Adding another will indeed draw negative attention to a community, which is supposed to be educated and genteel.

No, Dr. Brown! This is tourism we neither need nor want. It will cost us far, far too much in terms of the environment and animal welfare. Decent, educated people will not be lured to Bermuda this way, any more than would instituting bear dancing in St. George's Town Square.

Since there are many others across all sections of the Bermudian community who feel the same about this issue, you may rest assured we shall rally all the support we can get to oppose this sustained physical and emotional cruelty to marine mammals. We shall go from school children to senior citizens campaigning against the proposed imprisonment of magnificent, intelligent creatures in a frantic attempt to breathe life into your ailing patient 'tourism'.

ANIMAL DOCTOR

Pembroke

March 8, 2005

Dear Sir,

I refer to your front page story of Monday, March 7 headlined 'Stranded in freezing waters', with a picture of Paul Watson in what appears self-appointed naval Commander uniform.

On his visit to Bermuda over 20 years ago he appeared on our television condemning the entire Canadian people and the entire Royal Canadian Mounted Police because he was violating their laws with his escapades.

He also tried to solicit funds in Bermuda for his further escapades and had to be informed by our Commissioner of Police to desist because he was not a registered charity in Bermuda. The Mayor of St. George's was unable to collect the wharfage dues before Mr. Watson left Bermuda.

Isn't it ironic that on this occasion he has had to seek the help of the Canadian people whom he is so quick to condemn. It is also ironic that he had to enter Port aux Basques, Newfoundland. He would not be made welcome by the Newfoundlanders.

This is the sort of person who brings discredit to the noble cause of true environmentalists throughout the world.

QUESTIONING ENVIRONMENTALIST

Sandys