I would like to add my own feelings of dismay and horror over the Rebecca Middleton case: Worst of all, the fact that no-one wishes to accept any responsibility for the failure in the justice system.

Specifically, I would like to relate to our taxi services in Bermuda or should I clarify the lack thereof. I live in St. George's with friends who live in St. David's. It is always near to impossible to get a pick up, any time of day from St. David's, especially if it's only for a short ride and small fare.

These friends have gotten a taxi from the Airport on more than one occasion and when the taxi driver asked where they were going and they responded to St.

David's, he was unfriendly and probably unhappy due to the small fare incurred. This is a case of service versus inconvenience. Our taxis should be here to provide service -- period! Regardless of time, weather or parish. If they realised this themselves, we'd all be further ahead and maybe Rebecca would be alive today. I have had one taxi driver in particular shake off his mats that we had our feet on before he assisted with the removal of luggage from the trunk. Obviously in this instance -- his taxi was more important than his patrons.

I am not solely blaming the taxi service in Bermuda for Rebecca's death, however do acknowledge the possibility of prevention.

Bermuda has shot themselves in the foot with this one -- now it has to accept the consequences such as boycotting, bad publicity and whatever else local and foreign people see fit.

DISGUSTED St. George's Bermuda's image stained January 5, 1999 Dear Sir, Bermuda's reputation as a safe, tranquil destination is in serious jeopardy. I was just blessed with the opportunity to study in Russia, and I was greatly saddened at the dichotomy between what I had learned about the country's condition and what I experienced there.

CNN, the same network that was broadcasting the outcome of the Rebecca Middleton case to millions of homes across the world, portrayed a nation and a people in the bleak light of the financial crisis that was and still is a major concern there. Naturally, my understanding of Russia was shaped by the media. I went there expecting to see blank-faced, grey figures milling aimlessly in shadowy streets. Instead I found a people possessing a resilience that had seen them through the battering of two world wars, and the reign of Stalin, a figure arguably more sinister than Hitler. I found unflinching spirituality and a dogged determination to live and enjoy whatever rewards can be gleaned from life.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the world was still spinning on its axis in this country that was purportedly so embroiled in chaos that the possibility of revolution was hinted at by journalists across the globe. Yet life went on there. Just as life goes on here for us in the wake of the Middleton trial collapse. But I can assure you the average Canadian knows very little about Bermuda, just as the average Bermudian knows very little about Russia. I used to go to school in Canada, and beyond repeatedly confusing it with the Bahamas or Barbados, I learned that most Canadians thought of Bermuda as a sunny, palmetto-shrouded paradise somewhere around or in the weirdness of the Bermuda Triangle.

Now that perception is stained by the blood of an innocent girl who was brutally raped and murdered on her holiday. And then, to add insult to injury, her memory has to this day been deprived of justice. Bermudians know that crimes like this rarely ever happen, and the community's disgust with the murder and the conduct of the case is evident to anyone who comes here.

But Bermuda is easily one of the most expensive destinations in the world. We really have to sell our safety, and no amount of glossy brochures can do that if the populace does not have faith in its own legal system. Many of the people across the world now learning of the Middleton trial collapse will not have a balanced perspective of this tragedy or an informed context for it.

Consequently, these petty attacks on The Royal Gazette for objectively reporting the truth of how we are portrayed and perceived in the world need to end. Focus should be shifted to a Police force that is clearly not effective.

I have seen how bad international press can unfairly devastate a country, and I can only hope that the new government will see the outcome of the Middleton case and its inevitable media-influenced fallout as a clarion call for immediate serious change. Thank you for your time.

TIM LEE Smith's Parish Island behind the times January 5, 1999 Dear Sir, Bermuda must learn to adapt quickly was one of the headings on the front page of The Royal Gazette , Wednesday, August 12, 1998.

"Bermuda has been slow to adapt to changes in the industry. It has not adapted faster than the competition has been changing.'' In respect to the Taxi Industry computerised taxi despatching systems came on line, in Canada as early as 1970. Therefore, we here in Bermuda are almost 30 years behind the times.

January 4 became the official day for the victory celebration of our newly elected Progressive Labour party win which ended the 30-year reign of the United Bermuda Party on November 9 last year.

Since then the Island seems to have gone into `a wait and see mode'. However, I refuse to sit back and wait to see if they are going to fail or succeed.

Therefore, in an attempt to jump start the decision-making process, I submit the following: It is now 1999 and the day has gone when we had a UBP Government that ignored the findings of their own investigation into the Taxi Industry and its findings found in the Drinkwater Report and now the PLP is faced with the setting up of various Government bodies to look into the legacy of a failed UBP Government: which was seen by many to have become conceited, arrogant, unapproachable and complacent over and during this 30-year period.

This label was largely due in part to the instability shown over the years by the constant chopping and changing of the various Ministers and Party heads: by the time a minister got his feet wet or was fully briefed upon his/her respective portfolio, they were moved to another Ministry and in respect to the Transportation Ministry we had Maxwell Burgess, Wayne Furbert and finally Mr. Erwin Adderley as Minister of Transport within a short three-year period.

I therefore question the appointment of a practising doctor as our new Minister of Transport who has an enormous responsibility to his patients, of which, can eventually lead to his (a) unavailability during decision making periods (b) his eventual resignation because of his work overload.

The Party should have looked toward persons like El James and Randy Horton -- individuals who would leave their respective jobs as teachers or managers and devote their time and expertise to help with the investigative process of their respective portfolio.

I have already detected a problem with the new Minister's unavailability. This Minister has already started to treat us, the general public and those of us found within the taxi industry with the same mentality and attitude as did the previous Ministers of Transport.

I hereto refer to his comments appearing in the papers of forming a Taxi Advisory Committee with a view for them to look into the eventual introduction of Computer Taxi Despatching: having them to report to him their findings.

These comments should be seen by all not just those found within the taxi industry, as an outright insult to our intelligence. In short, this new Minister is simply `grandstanding' because of his appointment. You see, it does not take a rocket scientist to see that all necessary legislation is already in place and that similar technology does already exist and is being used here in Bermuda. Commercial credit card swipes, pagers and cellular phones are all using digital technology which would support the introduction of such equipment as Computer Taxi Despatch.

The day after the election, the PLP was reported as saying they promise to both `listen and care for the people'. The Royal Gazette November 10,1998 issue, on the front page.

The people asked for a prioritised taxi system before someone else gets hurt.

But, we are being told by the Minister of Transport to wait for the findings of the newly appointed Taxi Advisory Committee which may take upwards of a year to formulate its findings and report back to the Minister.

DO THE RIGHT THING Warwick Applause was justified December 31, 1998 Dear Sir, The applause and expressions of joy at the Cenotaph Memorial Ceremony on November 5 has drawn much harsh criticism. On December 31, there was a memorial ceremony -- no, a "home going service'', so the wounds of the loss were very new and fresh, very immediate, very personal, for Mrs. Edith Lowe.

Mrs. Lowe was the mother of the much esteemed and recently elected to parliament Rev. Dr. Larry Lowe. She was also a deeply loved, highly respected and much revered and honoured "mother of the A.M.E. Church''.

On that occasion there was also much applause and expressions of joy, including expressions of pleasure at the presence and participation of the Premier. I suspect that a farewell ceremony for, let us say symbolically, for purpose of illustration, a "Mrs. John Smith'' would have been a very different experience. In any event, if the critics of the first event had been present at the second event they might not feel so offended.

The previous Government has maintained such a deep divide between our two communities that, for some, there is not even a recognition of our cultural differences, much less an understanding of those differences.

Not only are most black people far more likely to care about what our very racist society did, and has been doing, to blacks, long after the War was fought and won by black and coloured colonials from all over the world, than they are about what Hitler may have done if they had not won the war but they believe that it is a part of their humanity to give overt expression to the various emotions which they may experience, including those of joy on any given occasion, especially those of joy in the face of the pain of a great loss. Certainly not to give overt expression to the joy they felt, for whatever reason, at a ceremony memorialising abstract ideals rather than a personally loved one would have been hypocrisy and a denial of their most fundamental humanity. To ask for an apology for our humanity when for generations we have retained that humanity -- rather than becoming the beast that the treatment meted out to us intended us to become -- by finding and expressing joy wherever we could find it amidst the daily humiliation, insults, frustration, discrimination and pain inflicted on us, in varying degrees over the decades, both before and since the Hitler regime, is absurd.

Let us hope that this Government will make it possible for us to at least recognise the legitimacy of the cultural existence and emotional realities of the other even if, initially, we neither understand it or appreciate it.

EVA N. HODGSON Bailey's Bay P.s. Surely Bermuda is sufficiently sophisticated to make a sane and technically appropriate response to the libellous blackmail of this publicity seeking, insecure individual who is using the terrible murder of Rebecca Middleton to gain attention and a sense of importance for himself? Why no searches of MPs? January 5, 1999 Dear Sir, I wonder how many of your readers are aware of whats happening in the "New Bermuda?'' I understand that when Members of Parliament return from overseas, they are not issued with a returning residents card at the Immigration desk. This way they are not subject to a Customs search, so can bring in what they want with no questions asked.

I hope that one of our "New Bermuda'' M.P.s can explain this.

PERPLEXED Devonshire Council needs reviewing December 24, 1998 Dear Sir, With reference to the article on page 25 of Tuesday's paper, and the comments by Mr. Colin Cambell, who is apparently the President of The Institute of Bermuda Architects: Much pontificating about how the local architectural community should deal with the new wave of foreign design expertise allowed to operate on the island.

Not long ago one saw Mr. Cambell's picture in your newspaper as a member of the newly formed Immigration council. What comes to mind immediately are the good old seventies when Mr. Ralph Marshall of the then Marshall, Bernardo Architectural firm was also the Minister of Works and Engineering.

I recall in the case of Mr. Marshall, the chuckles that arose over his decidedly unusual positioning as a member of the incumbent government party at that time. The head of an architectural firm having a decided "in'' on many of the choicer projects in the making on the Island.

This new situation with the appointment of Mr. Cambell to the Immigration Council surely puts him in an ideal position to stand squarely in the way of any competitive firm's application, where collaboration with a foreign design firm is involved.

There has been some discussion as to how appropriate Mr. Russell's appointment to the Council is, in the light of his alleged attitude towards foreigners. In that light, and in view of the clear conflict of interest in the case of Mr.

Cambell's positioning on the Council, one does wonder if this government may not want to have a second glance at the composition of such an influential -- not to mention powerful advisory council.

JACK GAUNTLETT (JD) Paget Threat was unacceptable December 30, 1998 Dear Sir, I read with concern your front page article of 30/12/98 stating Laverne Furbert's concerns regarding the reporting of your political editor, Mr.

Raymond Hainey.

To the intelligent observer it would appear that this is a government official threatening to revoke the work permit of someone they dislike and disagree with.

The Rebecca Middleton case is a tragedy for both her family and the island community of Bermuda.

It is only right that Bermudians have all the facts about the case and as much insight as possible into how the Island is viewed from outside its shores.

If Mr. Hainey's neutrality or ability to present a factual report is under question, then surely the said articles should be contested, and rightly so.

For Ms Furbert to publicly threaten the livelihood of any person in the name of the immigration department where such a threat would appear to be based on a dislike of a person and a dislike of accurate factual reporting is unacceptable.

To attempt to suppress information is to take the first step towards press censorship.

I suggest in future it is better to address a delicate subject matter rather than launching personal attacks and threats, thus setting a most unfortunate precedent.

DR. J. VARDY Paget