Gazette .

September 28, 1999 Dear Sir, I am writing to express my disgust at the way seniors are being treated over the new Land Tax billing.

I can appreciate my new valuation has resulted in the half yearly tax going up from $1,257.80 to $2,376.

However my complaint concerns the "relief'' now given to seniors.

Whereas previously from a $1,200 (round figures) tax I was awarded $500 "relief'', now from a $2,300 tax I get $400 "relief''.

The bottom line is that my Land Tax has risen 337 percent.

And to think this is "The New Bermuda''.

ANTHONY J. BUCKLEY Smith's Parish Human Gert is worse September 27, 1999 Dear Sir, One area highlighted by Gert is the hideous fortress type wall that was built on the Winterhaven property across from Gravelly Bay -- a blight on one of the most beautiful areas of public road in Bermuda and a desecration of all that is held sacred of the naturalness of our island. What was built on that property is an affront to every Bermudian living in Smith's Parish.

It is my understanding that one cannot build within fifty feet of the road.

How did this family come to acquire a property that was purchased by the Bermuda Government? How were they allowed permission to construct a wall right on the main road -- especially in light of the fact that a four-member Bermudian family living within one half mile was denied permission to close in an obsolete porch on an old house that was built right on the road? The closed-in porch would have presented no eyesore as this wall has done. What is the Planning Department doing about preserving the beauty of Bermuda? Are they aware of how much they have allowed to be ruined already? If the occupants are enforcing American standards of creating a walled-in fortress there are plenty of places in the United States where they can happily wall themselves in. Are they walling themselves in because they don't want to see people in wheel chairs or are afraid of the hospice run by STAR for AIDS patients next door? If they are building a wall to protect the public from falling into their swimming pool, let them build it behind the trees and around their pool, rather than ruining another piece of Bermuda with a display of ugly concrete -- a piece of Bermuda we have cherished for generations.

I urge everyone who finds this wall offensive to call your MP, call Planning, call everyone you know and start a petition.

Every Bermudian travelling the road please note the dead cedar tree on the left-hand side of that wall. At one time it was one of the most beautiful, perfectly-formed cedars left in Bermuda and was the object of a children's story called Cedarliddle. It was badly salt-damaged during Hurricane Felix but did have some green on one side. That hideous wall was built right on top of the roots of that cedar. It is now totally dry. They killed the cedar. In my opinion that is an offence in itself. I purposely walked down South Shore the day of the hurricane just to confirm that Gert had toppled the wall. For me it was a celebration. People of Smith's, it is time to unzip your lips. Don't let them re-build on the main road. Speak out. Make David White proud of you.

We've all listened to the furore over the destructive wake of Gert. Wake up! Look at the destruction of Bermuda taking place at Ship's Hill by Human `Gert'. Weep that you did not put your name on the petition to stop this desecration. Look at the scorched earth policy of the land adjacent to Frick's Point in Tucker's Town that is now visible from the Causeway to the common many who are not allowed into that guarded sanctuary. This is your Island, Bermudians! Are you going to let them chip, and dig, and gnaw away at it until it is no more than piles of concrete and edifices to sacks of human fluid that will no longer be here in twenty years? You say Gert was destructive? Nature will cure what she has done, but Nature will never be able to eradicate what greed has brought.

JOAN K. ASPINALL City of Hamilton Avoiding a repeat September 28, 1999 Dear Sir, The events that created four dolphins being swept out of their South Shore compound had been foretold. Kerry Todd was not there on South Shore as the dolphins were swept out to sea. If she was there she did not come down to the compound to help the dolphins. The truth was that the dolphins were alone. The weather was bad, the surge was huge. Maybe Dolphin Quest thought that the compound would be fine and had closed for the day like other Bermudian businesses.

When I climbed down the hill to get closer to the dolphins there was no dolphin staff next to the compound. The animals were on their own and in distress as white water poured in huge surges over the breakwater. The inner compound started to come apart and the animals did the best they could to fight the surge and as the debris gathered Dolber became trapped in netting against the rocks. I could see that unless I helped her, that was where should would die. There was blood in the water and that just sped up my action. In between the huge surges I jumped down onto the breakwater and freed Dolber so that she could get in the larger compound. If these actions constitute doing nothing to Ms Todd, then so be it. I do not expect everyone to agree with my actions but all I saw were animals alone and in harm's way and did the best I could on my own. The Royal Gazette had run a front page photo that morning of the four dolphins at Dockyard giving the mistaken impression that the dolphins were safe. The picture was half-true, I became the voice of the dolphins left behind.

Dolphin Quest had always promised to move the animals to safety if hurricanes or storm surge ever threatened them. The ability to move them should have meant that Dolphin Quest never allowed a breeding programme to take place at the South Shore facility because it would probably mean that mother and calf not be moved. The original objectors had warned of just the scenario that happened but the evacuation plan was promised by Dolphin Quest to blunt such concern. The plan, if in place, failed and hopefully the inquiry will address this shortcoming.

My future energies will be for the improvement of the safety for the animals and that a second inshore compound is established for the safety of the dolphins. There has to be external supervision of Dolphin Quest by the Bermuda Government so that there are no future repeats of what happened to those four dolphins on South Shore in the surge of Hurricane Gert.

GRAEME OUTERBRIDGE Southampton Thanks for helping Derik October 4, 1999 Dear Sir, Please allow me the space in your paper to publicly express my gratitude to all the people who helped (and are still helping) my daughter, Derik to get through her harrowing ordeal.

First and foremost I thank God for saving Derik from a more serious fate and giving me the strength to get through this rough period of our lives.

I'd also like to thank Dr. Delmont Simmons; Dr. Steven Trott; Dr. Stephen West and Dr. Alex Barron for trying to keep Derik as comfortable as possible while still doing a professional job; all the nurses and staff on Gosling Ward at KEMH for making her stay as pleasurable as possible and also for her special birthday cake, card and birthday party; Lori Burchall and Rachelle Paquette for their prayers, time and company and for setting up the charity fund that my daughter will surely benefit from; Eileen Pitcher and the others who assisted me at the accident scene when I didn't know what to do; Eileen Pitcher, again, for setting up a fund to help with medical bills and the Hamilton Princess staff for their donations; Lillian Robinson and William Wood for their continued support; Beverly and Christy Holder, Elizabeth W. Smith and Sheila V. Tyrell for their donations; Greta and Isaac James for the lovely birthday gift that was left for Derik on her hospital bed while we were out; my family for their support, time and patience; Orlanda Bascome for staying there with Derik when I couldn't (and even when I could); Godmas Kim (Richards) and Kathyann (Dill) for being at the hospital almost every day and everyone else who prayed, sent their well wishes, sent flowers and gifts and made donations for my precious baby girl.

You showed me that there are still people that care. By the grace of God and with your prayers and support you made a terrible, near tragic experience bearable. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

ANGELA DILL Pembroke P.S. I almost forgot to thank Police Commissioner Jean-Jacques Lemay for his concern and for "getting the ball rolling'' at Police headquarters and also Inspector Anthony Mouchette for keeping me abreast of new developments and helping out in any way he could.

Insurer was off the mark September 29, 1999 Dear Sir, Your article last Thursday (September 23, 1999) describing the dispute between Inter-Ocean Re and Business Insurance Group (BIG), a unit of the Superior National Insurance Group, contained many false and provocative comments by Superior National's chief executive officer, Chris Seaman. While, as the article notes, I do not plan to engage in Mr. Seaman's kind of mud-slinging, I do feel that it is important that the record clearly reflect the true nature of our dispute, which is based on a fundamental business principle and involves our resort (for the first time ever) to a well-established mechanism to resolve business disputes.

Reinsurance is a business dependent on the utmost good faith of the purchaser towards the reinsurer. Inter-Ocean, which has never before in its history had a dispute with any of its clients, filed a straightforward arbitration, consistent with industry practice and its contract with BIG, based on its belief that BIG had materially failed to meet this standard. Inter-Ocean is confident of the merits of its case.

Superior National is continuing to make a scattershot of false and spurious allegations, none of which address the merits of the underlying case. It would seem that this is part of a strategy to damage Inter-Ocean's reputation. We choose to stand on our record of fair dealing and consistent profitability. it is also unfortunate that Mr. Seaman finds it necessary to resort to baseless personal attacks.

Our professional standards preclude us from responding in kind and we do not intend to litigate this matter in the press. Inter-Ocean will instead press forward with the pending arbitration and will abide by the final decision of the arbitrators, as will, we are assured, our retrocessionaire, American Re-Insurance Company, Despite Superior National's attacks on Inter-Ocean, our business has not been adversely affected by this situation. Inter-Ocean's ratings from Standard & Poors and A.M. Best remain unchanged at A and A-, respectively. And Inter-Ocean's management continues to enjoy the full confidence of its investors and clients.

Finally, I want to thank those people, in Bermuda and elsewhere, who have called me to voice their support and understanding for Inter-Ocean in this matter.

MERVIN G. HOLLAND III President Inter-Ocean Reinsurance Company Still worried about tower September 30, 1999 Dear Sir, I refer to an article which appeared recently in your newspaper. It included comments made by Dr. Bobby E. Leonard in connection with the controversy surrounding cellular transmission towers.

Dr. Leonard urges the public to become informed about the issue. With all due respect to Dr. Leonard, many members of the public are well informed and remain concerned. It is comforting to know that there are scientists like Dr.

Leonard who believe transmission towers are not hazardous. However, there are many very well qualified and knowledgeable scientists -- including Dr. David Carpenter who say the emissions from cellular towers are or may be hazardous to humans. Dr. Leonard must know this.

Furthermore, even the views of scientists like Dr. Leonard who support the industry perspective, provide only limited assurance. Dr. Leonard's opinion, as reported in The Royal Gazette , contains a worrying qualification.

Apparently Leonard says that with non-ionising radiation, "the chance for cancerous mutations is far smaller than for ionising radiation''.

This does not provide much assurance to me. It acknowledges that there may be an opportunity for cancerous mutations to be caused by non-ionising radiation, even though the opportunity is much smaller than would be the case with ionising radiation.

As far as I am concerned, even experts who are very sceptical of the possible hazard do not go far enough. Erecting these towers near residences and schools cannot be justified in view of the uncertainties on this issue.

STILL WORRIED IN WARWICK IOD funded scholarship October 4, 1999 Dear Sir, Regarding your picture caption showing me presenting the W.G. (Buddy) Franklin scholarship, I would like to point out that the scholarship was generously contributed by the Bermuda branch of the Institute of Directors. It is an annual scholarship of $2,300 given to students concentrating on achieving a business degree. The IOD is looking to support the future business leaders of Bermuda.

I intended the publicity to go to the IOD in recognition of their efforts in promoting future business leaders. If anyone is interested in joining, our chairman is Ken Spurling on 292-0640.

PATTI DALY FRANKLIN President/Owner Franklin Travel