Keep skies quiet, at leastJune 17, 2002Dear Sir,I’m the ‘Helcopter Lady’, whom no doubt Mr. Smatt will surely remember; objecting to a throbbing bladed aircraft hovering over our gardens (private property!) round and round while the tourists or whoever is taking photographs, invading our private domains.

I would like it clearly understood I do believe that there should be an helicopter for rescue missions, I also understand that aerial photography is necessary for surveying the Island statistically, but, dear God please do not give permission (if this is being contemplated) for the tourists to be taken around the Island for possibly half an hour’s pleasure at the expense of losing for us all, the last rampant of our peaceful island, the skies.

There would seem to be enough noise pollution on the ground, traffic/watercraft/and the constant drumbeat during party time and holidays, this is all part of living on a small island so close to each other, so it has to be tolerated; but do we now have to go to the skies, can’t we leave that for the birds and keep our lovely island as peaceful as we can and as we so often advertise — let it be true. “Bermuda Is Another World”.

Once we allow this invasion it will be very hard if not impossible to reverse. I would hope that if there are other people who share my concerns that they make their voices known in this section.

DIANA WILLIAMS

Pembroke<$>

Keep the Trail safeJune 13, 2002Dear Sir,I write in support of the comments of the correspondent who had a bad experience while walking on the Railway Trail in Somerset. I too, walk there and have had the same experience.

As I see it the problem has developed gradually as the absence of policing has made then illegal users bolder. This is a natural progression. I remember when I did not have a bike and then I was mentally critical of the riders who passed on the inside; who raced to the head of the queue at stop signs; who rode down the middle of the two lanes into town. Then I got a bike. My disapproval of bike rider’s habits lasted perhaps two weeks. Then I slowly got into the swing of things. Two months later I was leading the pack and would have been the first one to get a ticket, if any Policeman made it his duty. But not to worry, there will not be any Policemen concerned about this.

Before the cutbacks in the Police Service years ago now, there were Policemen who acted independently in traffic matters as problems arose. That has stopped. There now seems to be a sort of work to rule. No Policeman does anything unless, army style, he has been ordered to do it, it seems to me.

The patrolling of the railway right of way is a token thing. A Police car drives by, sometimes slowly, sometimes rather quickly and you can almost see back at the station someone ticking off a list and saying: “Been there. Done that!” But there is no Police presence at any time to the best of my knowledge. There is not even a once a month radar speed check. It would really pay off.

If, just for information, a Policeman did come to the Railway right-of-way and stay for a couple of hours passively observing, he would find the same offenders at the same times each day, probably going to work by that which is now the regular route. Will they give notice to these people who have been duped into a false sense of security by long police inaction before hitting them with tickets? You see I have a split personality about this. Outrage against and sympathy with the lawbreakers at the same time.

BERTRAM GUISHARD

Sandys Parish

What velocity?June 17, 2002Dear Sir,I am writing about this service that the Bermuda Torturing Company (Whoops, sorry Amnesty, I mean the Bermuda Telephone Company) is offering called ‘Velocity’. The advertisers at BTC claim that ‘Velocity’ means fast. Well that is wrong right from the start. Get a dictionary and look it up. Velocity is a measure of speed and direction. My observations and measurements of this ‘Velocity’ have revealed the speed of a slug having an afternoon nap in the direction of a bunch of loonies.

I have been waiting to increase my connection to the Internet using DSL for months. In January the website showing availability informed me that March would be the due date for my area. It is now June and although the website has normally kept one month ahead of me it is saying that June is the month. I called today and the customer service representative told me service was not available in my area. I knew that but it would be available within two weeks, right? Wrong.

Let down yet again. Not really. I expected this from the company that likes to beat everyone with a stick.

How far had their placement of ‘Digital Loop Carriers’ progressed? I had the silly idea to try a few numbers out of the phone book to see if DSL was available in their area. Here is a list of places that the DSL service is not available for:

North Rock Communications Ltd. (Funny, they offer it don’t they).

Logic Communications Ltd. (Did I just say that)

Ace Group of Companies (Even big corporates are out of luck)

Bermuda CablevVision Ltd. (The ground can swallow this company for all I care. They are controlled by the same holding company.)

Swanoco Holdings Ltd. (Although next door Sir John will have to go without)

Best of all is — Bermuda Telephone Company.

STEVE WATTS

(The first one here; the other one will know what I mean)

Pembroke<$>

PLP position is clearJune 5, 2002Dear Sir,I could “never in all my born days” (to use a very old Bermudian expression) have told anyone in this whole world that “the PLP’s independence issue is extensively muddled and needs to come into clear waters.”

Those preposterous words were attributed to me in the full-page feature on “Bermuda Marking the Queen’s Jubilee” over the byline of Renee Hill in The Royal Gazette <$>dated Tuesday, June 4, 2002. The fact of the matter is that there isn’t anything muddled about the PLP’s stance on independence for Bermuda. The Party’s undeviating policy, best articulated by the late leader L. Frederick Wade, is clear-cut, and the Government under Premier Jennifer Smith is to be applauded by so meticulously pursuing it.

The policy, simply put, it is this:

The fundamental first step upon assuming the government in making Bermuda a truly democratic and independent country would be electoral and constitutional reforms. In other words, ridding Bermuda of a Constitution bristling with gerrymandered consistencies designed to perpetuate the centuries-old practice of rendering white votes in the country more valuable than black votes. Wise and far-sighted tacticians in the PLP knew it would take all of the first term of PLP Government to do effectively accomplish that objective. They have been proven right. We only have to instance the time-consuming processes of the Boundaries Commission, and realise how close to the end of its first term, it would take Government to implement the Commission’s recommendations, and for the Party to prepare for the next momentous election.

I explained my reluctance to Renee Hill to engage in any ad hoc<$> survey such as she was undertaking on the questions of independence, the monarchy, and the 1995 Sir John Swan Independence Referendum that she threw in for good measure.

I was presumptuous enough to believe I was giving Renee Hill a liberal education by referring her to Dale Butler’s book on ‘L. Frederick Wade and His Legacy’ (the Foreword for which I wrote), and to the very last paragraph in my own book, ‘Freedom Fighters — From Monk to Mazumbo’ hoping she would better comprehend our genuine commitment to bringing about, with a sense of urgency, a non-racist, independent Bermuda where justice and equality are not just by-words.

Meantime, we are prepared to show a teeny-weeny bit more tolerance for those scribes and political activists, who ought to know better, and others who seemingly enjoy the notoriety they gain taking put shots at the PLP on it independence platform. Obviously, they would want us to have an overnight fa|0xe7|ade of independence, rather than the real thing, for which the Party is studiously on course.

IRA P. PHILIP

Former PLP Chairman & Senator

Sandys Parish

Driver was ‘poor witness’June 12, 2002Dear Sir,On May 30, I was driving to work behind a Nissan March.Well, Mr. Nissan March, you really showed that tourist/visiting expat not to overtake you on Harbour Road, didn’t you?

It was quite clear from the fact that the guy was riding an Oleander Cycles rental scooter, wearing an Oleander cycles helmet, and from his obvious hesitance on our roads, that he was not a resident here (or, if so, hasn’t been for long). You showed him that you wouldn’t allow him to get out of “the middle lane” by keeping your car nudged right beside him at all times.

When the poor guy was actually able to get out of “the middle lane” and in front of your car you showed him again by recklessly overtaking him just after Aberfeldy’s driveway when there was barely enough space for your car to fit! This caused the bike who was overtaking you at that time to swerve dangerously onto the other side of the road in front of oncoming traffic, and caused the guy that you were so determined to overtake to almost crash into the wall!

Well — do you know what you showed me on May 30, Mr. Nissan March? You showed me that you need to remove the Jesus sign hanging in your rear window. What a poor witness for Jesus you were today. Either get rid of the sign or stop being a hypocrite.

NOT IMPRESSED

Southampton