Corkscrew Hill junction May 10, 2001 Dear Mr. Mcleod, Every night as I leave Hamilton via East Broadway, I remind myself to write this letter to your department.

As with every city, there is a congestion of traffic at certain peak hours of the day. The bottleneck we experience at the junction of East Broadway and Corkscrew Hill is a real concern. Commuters are kind enough to let a car or two out into the main flow of traffic on East Broadway.

However, after this has been done a couple of times, the traffic comes practically to a standstill along our two-lane "highway''.

I cannot help thinking that a traffic light should be installed on Corkscrew Hill to allow the traffic to enter onto East Broadway at pre-determined time intervals. After speaking with several colleagues, the consensus seems to be that commuters would rather stop for a 15-30 second interval and allow cars to enter, than to continually stop and go as every other car allows someone else to merge.

It is an accident waiting to happen. I know personally, I try to allow cars to join the traffic flow (which by the way, does not "flow'' mean something that moves?!) during the morning commute. I always feel sorry for those trying to merge at Ord Road (but I digress).

Is there any possible way to install a small set of lights on Corkscrew Hill that will connect to the flashers that are presently in place near the Bakery parking area (perhaps replacing the flashers that are presently there) -- and then finally connecting with the light at the crossing on Crow Lane? Ideally, the traffic could stop right before Corkscrew Hill and allow those commuters to gain access.

Once the light on Corkscrew has turned red, if anyone has pressed the lights to cross at the cross walk, they could cross at that point in time.

I am sure that because the idea sounds easy, that it probably is not, however, I appreciate the time you have taken in reading my letter.

JENNIFER GUNN City of Hamilton cc: Royal Gazette (I am sending it to them because I am sure there are others in our community who have thought of the same idea and would be interested in finding a solution).

Rest home response May 11, 2001 Dear Sir, Again, we would like to respond to the article in today's Royal Gazette .

Although we appreciate the coverage given to the issue at hand we have concerns that because all of the original letter was not published in full, as a letter to the editor for everyone to read for themselves, some things have been taken out of context.

First of all we would like to make something very clear. Ms Starling and I have absolutely no wish to make Sandys Rest Home into a political football between the Minister Mr. Nelson Bascome and the Shadow Minister Mrs. Kim Young.

Two things I would add however, are that as far as I know Mrs. Kim Young has not been in Sandys Rest Home since we have been volunteering there and the deterioration in the buildings did not happen overnight but over a quite a long period of time.

Nowhere in my letter did I infer that the residents were not receiving "quality care'' as stated by Mrs. Young and I will reiterate that Mrs. Flora Trott and her staff do the best they can under the circumstances and it is lack of equipment, supplies and the state of the physical plant that are the main contributing factors to all of this.

As far as closing the home down if it is not up to standard as Mrs. Young suggests, I feel that this home can be made into a comfortable and functional part of Seniors Rest Home care in Sandys Parish. Already we are receiving donations of furniture from Rooms to Go and the Daniels Head Village and calls from concerned citizens who wish to give back to the community by helping to make Sandys Rest Home a comfortable and welcoming place for these Seniors to live.

Again, as we said, let's forget the politics and get on with the job at hand.

HELEN P. GALLAGHER SUSAN STARLING Friends of Sandys Parish Rest Home Press freedom/bias May 11, 2001 Dear Sir, In response to your reply to my letter to the Editor, I would like to ask a few questions and/or provide some clarity.

You state that in addition to the newspapers the Island has two broadcasting companies, innumerable magazines and now the internet. Surely you jest that what we have is worth boasting of a vibrant media! The only two monthly magazines we have are RG and The Bermudian -- one which is owned by your company, and the other which could hardly be considered the news.

Beyond these we have Bottom Line, which is also owned by your company and Bermudian Business, which is owned by the same company that publishes The Bermudian. It should be noted that you personally stand as Editor in Chief for not only The Royal Gazette and RG Magazine, but for Bottom Line as well.

I won't even bother address your inclusion of the Internet, as that is a completely laughable proposition. As for your assertion that the two broadcasting companies add something significant to the "wide range of views'', one must wonder how this can be taken seriously when one of them regularly takes direct quotes from what is published in the newspapers. It is quite clear in my eyes that your notion of a media carrying a broad range of views is completely self-delusional.

Four out of nine of the channels above are owned by your company, and three of those are edited by you.

Of the remaining five, two are owned by one company, and only one is published on a bi-weekly frequency -- the rest are monthly and quarterly. It is quite easy to see that (especially in Bermuda) diversity of views in the press cannot be measured by the number of press channels.

Quite frankly, I find your attempt to put forth such an argument to be misleading at the least. If Bermuda had a thousand newspapers, we'd be even worse off if all of them were owned and edited by people who possess the same points of views on what is "considered of great importance''.

In closing, your defence that professional reporters are trained to pursue objectivity, has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not they conform to their training, or if their Editor in Chief requires this of them.

Your argument is of no more relevance in the evaluation of corrupt Police officers, lawyers, priests, accountants, investors, etc. Yet, all of these "professionals'' are subject to review and discipline by first and third party organisations, whereas the Press is not. Surely, something is wrong with this picture.

RED INK Sandys Parish Editor's Note: The Royal Gazette has a higher regard for its broadcast competition and newspaper competition than the writer does. All chase news with vigour and if one outlet drops the ball, another one is quick to pick it up.

Every station and newspaper has places or programmes where a wide range of views are exchanged, including news stories, Opinion pages (from people as diverse as Robert Stewart and Rolfe Commissiong in this newspaper), letters to the Editor and innumerable talk shows.

While the writer may wish for more media outlets, there are few communities of 60,000 people which are as well served as Bermuda. But there is always room for more competition.