When are the senior citizens of this country going to wake up to how they are being treated? The pension raise given last September is now to be completely wiped out by The Bermuda Telephone Company, and we are to find additional money to have a telephone, a vital necessity.

Does anybody really care? Is this the way we celebrate "The Year of Older Person''? MAJOR ALBERT BENJAMIN Warwick Object to rate increase January 13, 1999 Dear Sir, I am disgusted by the pending application by BTC to hike its domestic charges, quite incredibly from $16 per month to $34 per month for basic service. BTC seeks to justify its actions by pointing to a new Government directive requiring the company to reduce its fees to international carriers which it says will cause it to lose money.

In 1995, the Department of Telecommunications announced a new and comprehensive policy of promoting and protecting competition in the telecommunications industry which was designed to allow for the orderly development of the telecommunications sector in Bermuda from a monopolistic to a competitive environment. One of the specific aims of the policy was to ensure that the people of Bermuda are provided with reliable and affordable access to quality public telecommunications service.

Four years later (now), the people of Bermuda are just beginning to reap the benefits of the introduction of competition to this industry. One such benefit is Government's recent directive to require BTC to reduce its connection fees with international carriers. Long distance calls are suddenly cheaper. How does BTC respond? By applying to double domestic rates. So much for the benefits of competition! And who will suffer? Naturally, the lower income Bermudian who has to pay the same basic charges as the high income earner.

This is a regressive measure. BTC says it will lose $10 million due to the cut in international rates. $10 million in profit? I hope that the Telecommunications Commission will reject the application.

If you share my sentiments, write to the Telecommunications Commission before January 25 and tell them so. They are waiting to hear from the public.

JULIANA JACK Paget Be friends of fish January 13, 1999 Dear Sir, Hey! Wait a minute everyone. Look at what is going on here! Bermuda's environmental statutes are disintegrating! We are regressing! We are talking about the lifting of a ban on fishpots, or even of a partial restoration of their abuse. This goes against the grain of affluent, environmentally concerned nations.

The indiscriminate killing of all fish that wander into these pots will again quickly reduce the local fish population, increase algae growth on the reef and kill our reefs. It is that quick! Our island's platform is so small and steep, it takes years for regeneration of species.

Not only does this go against the grain of our tiny Island's morals but it is in stark contrast to our esteemed Premier's and esteemed Minister of Tourism's promises to promote Tourism with a vengeance never seen before. How can we go out and promote the crystal clear and wonderfully clean water, touting some of the best snorkelling, scuba diving and glassbottom boat experiences in this part of the world, and then on the other hand commit ecological suicide by removing the very marine life that people are coming to the Island to see! Let's all share in this outcry, demand more public input and again be Friends of Fish.

FRIEND OF FRIENDS OF FISH Southampton Culture key to Island January 8, 1999 Dear Sir, As Richard Fell pointed out in his excellent letter, Bermuda's artistic community deserved more than the piteous lack of attention and recognition given to its contributions during the past year.

If asked about "Art'', probably most people would answer with the old adage that they know little about it but they know what they like. More and more of us now spend our working lives at sedentary jobs in grey surroundings, where the lack of colour and movement predominate; where grace of line or speech is gone. The narration of a balance sheet is, for most of us, neither uplifting nor enlightening. Without the drama of characterisation, expansive gestures, or mime, storytelling is reserved for a lucky child's bedtime. For adults it has become so restricted it has degenerated into gossip. (Singing and dancing in the corridors is discouraged.) During the last year the previous government may unwittingly have furthered the perception that "Art'' is to be discouraged in our community by dropping the word "Cultural'' in a pre-election Ministerial reshuffling.

Perhaps this was a spin-doctor's idea for catching more votes, as the words "Cultural'' and "Culture'' seem to have gathered connotations of esoteric elitism (pretentious fertiliser produced by masculine cows). If so, let's hope the new government has the presence of mind to restore this Ministerial responsibility under a more down-to-earth title.

Although the word "cultural'' encompasses anything informative, it is also recognised as restorative, with a capacity to improve. "Culture'' is a catch-all word for literature, the humanities, the arts, education and instruction. (Yes, I have been reading my thesaurus.) If a child's education was confined only to the development of reasoning and logical faculties deemed essential to "get on'' in our world, with the treasures to be found in the arts remaining out of reach, this child's life would lack a very necessary balance.

If no emphasis is put on the arts by Government, if its availability is not broadcast through the media, then Bermuda will indeed become a cultural desert. As more and more emphasis in the workplace is put on the financial sector (creative mathematics), Bermuda's character is changing to accommodate this need. An attempt to counteract the accompanying stress and physically destructive effects caused by the increasingly rapid pace in our working lives has resulted in a worldwide proliferation and enthusiasm for exercise.

If we were to include the restorative, literally therapeutic aspects of the arts, it would further enhance our existence. Colours, shapes, movement, imagery and music all affect our mood and imaginations. While positive depictions may simply provide enjoyment, they also allow us to meditate on them, listening to what they may have to say to us individually. Even disturbing representations in art can be therapeutic in that we are stimulated to react against the negative. The arts encourage the ability to expand a type of communication which cannot be found on the Internet. They also offer intellectual stimulus or insight which, although it is often outside the scope of the logical, reasoning mind, still enriches it.

Our new Premier personally places a high premium on the arts. Perhaps she might be encouraged to create a new Ministry which will not only foster the arts but ensure that they become an integral part of all our lives.

DIANA TETLOW Southampton Confused by UBP stand January 8, 1999 Dear Sir, How can the UBP on the one hand, Mr. Editor, make so much fuss over Bermudian Dr. Ewart Brown's pledge of allegiance to the US and on the other hand advocate, promote, argue and justify the hiring of non-Bermudians or people who have foreign allegiances to other countries, to head up and run their Police Force and their Attorney General's Chambers? I don't understand it, Mr. Editor. Perhaps, you can explain it! DR. CLARK GODWIN City of Hamilton