I would like to know why fuel prices in Bermuda keep going up and up as it had this week, where gas is $1.12 cents a litre, and in the US gas prices keep coming down as low as 67 cents a gallon in some places.

Maybe we should get our gas straight from the gas stations in the US. Put it in a tanker then ship it to Bermuda's gas stations, Shell or Esso. I guess by the time Government adds its tax it will be half the price we pay now.

Also, how come cigarettes now at some stores are as low as $27 a carton, a savings of $14. This should be the $14 tax for Government and cut the fuel prices so no-one would have to dig deeper in their pockets to buy gas to get around Bermuda, and also large cigarettes ads in newspapers and in and outside of shops, gas stations, etc., advertising lower price on cigarettes should be a no no.

PATRICK JOHANSEN Flatts Three cheers for BUEI March 18, 1999 The following was sent to the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute and copied to The Royal Gazette .

*** Dear Sir, What wonderful memories I have of Bermuda! The evenings at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute were a highlight of my visit. Emory Kristoff's lectures, the delightful dinner at La Coquille and the many interesting people I met.

The Institute is an impressive facility -- congratulations on such an accomplishment! I am enclosing my application for membership. I only wish I could be there to enjoy the programmes and events.

Thank you again for your warm hospitality.

ANN EYSTER Tallahassee, Florida Our side of the story March 4, 1999 Dear Sir, After reading so much publicity about the dispute of the nurses at KEMH, I find it necessary to write and clear up a few facts. First and foremost, the issues that are being discussed are not new. They are grievances that nurses have had for a long time and have fallen on deaf ears. Unfortunately, it has finally reached a peak and nurses are not taking it anymore. The time has come and they have decided to take a stand against all of the mistreatment that they are receiving from management and the BPSA for that matter. Yes the BPSA in my opinion are not representing them to the fullest, but they are their only representative with a spoken voice. It is time to get the facts out.

1. Management have know for some time that the new programme management system was coming into effect and changes were going to be made. Did they think that the nurses already in management positions were just going to accept lesser, demeaning jobs regardless of the fact that the pay would remain the same. My opinion -- more thought should have been put into better jobs for them ahead of time and discussing it with them, considering it was only ten jobs to think about.

2. Nurses have been known to wear white uniforms way back when. We are now approaching the 20th century and nurses should have the right to decide on particular colours that would be suited for the particular department that they work in. Anyone knows that white is a difficult colour to maintain in a hospital especially when you work constantly with blood; blood products and other chemicals that can easily get on your clothes and there goes a nice white shirt which cost approximately $25 to $30. My opinion: one colour in which a department decides on or have the hospital supply white uniforms which can be given to nurses when such spills occur. Considering nurses supply their own uniforms, how can they dictate what to wear? In any institution that I know of, if there is a certain uniform requirement, it is supplied by that institution or some variations will occur. And to make matters worse, they are now being told that certain shoes, jewellery and long polished fingernails will not be allowed. Is that a hospital or military institution? I wonder. The simple solution would be to wear identifiable name badges which states names and job descriptions to avoid any conflict of who a patient or family member may be talking to.

3. Communication is another issue between management and staff. Most people know how to communicate effectively in some form. If there is a problem in this area then the person responsible for communicating to staff should not be in a position to do so. If they are dictating from a higher source, then do so without cutting corners and giving half of the information and leaving the rest to be figured out to staff. Hence comes the miscommunication. My opinion -- have regular staff meetings not just to discuss recent events but to also find out how the staff is getting on and if they have any problems or concerns that need to be addressed by management. It is one thing to say that "my door is always open if you have any problems'' but show that you are truly concerned and want to resolve any issues. Not every issue would have a favourable outcome, but if one feels that they are being heard and a genuine effort is being made, a workable solution can be reached. Mrs. Burgess-Fain, communications person for the hospital, should also make a greater contribution to the staff by making herself available not only to the press but by also going to some of the staff meetings for approximately ten minutes to see if any communication issues can be addressed by her.

4. Nurses pay is another issue. In Bermuda, no doubt we are one of the highly paid countries. But in order to compete in the wage war, nurses' pay must be increased to be on target with other civil servants whose jobs are essential services to Bermuda. I am certain that the community does not have any idea of the wages of nurses, considering that it is a highly stressful and critical job to be in. The fact remains that everyday, they are involved in the maintenance of lives. Needless to say that mistakes are made under stressful situations, therefore more vacation time should also be considered. Three weeks per year is no time to have a break and come back to work refreshed.

Consider that the whole three weeks is taken at once as many foreign nurses do to travel back home, they have to wait until the following year to accumulate more vacation time. Hence many, many sick days. In order to compete in this society, wages must be compatible to others in similar fields also the ever changing increase in living in Bermuda which may account for so many foreign nurses working in Bermuda and not Bermudians pursuing a career in nursing, as it is not economical to them when they can make just as much if not more than nurses in another field which does not require as much education, stress and pressure. My opinion -- review the wages of nurses in the next negotiation and increase vacation time to at least five weeks per year, thus allowing nurses to have a least one week off approximately every three months. Wages should also be based on a particular area that you work in because not every nurse has the same duties. A diabetic nurse who councils patients with diabetes does not have to administer medication, change diapers, give bedpans to patients, communicate with patients, families and doctors on a regular basis. A ward nurse does not have to be subject to the different types of emergencies that come to the emergency deptartment (as you can imagine, they get all sorts of gross cases) and are exposed to all sorts of diseases and infections. It is not until after exposure and tests are run that they find out what they have been exposed to and once they get to the wards, the disease/infections are identified in most cases and steps are taken to contain the spread the disease/infection. Also a nurse who draws blood or ECG nurse who does tests to monitor the heart do not have jobs which require much interaction and exposure to patients, which is why I say that although every nurse's job is important, a compatible wage should go with the type of nursing that one does. The reason that this wage division cannot occur with firemen is because a fire is a fire is a fire!! Imagine if you had firemen that responded to just house floods or car accidents compared to all emergencies regardless of the extent.

Poor staffing is an issue of great importance. How can duties be carried out effectively when staffing is so poor? People do not realise that without proper staff, work standards will be down. Who suffers? Patients. I do not know how educated people in management do not realise this. If funds are down then one can give. It is a poor excuse when a patient needs pain medication and is calling for a nurse to come and she cannot get to them as soon as possible because she is busy attending to another patient who is just as ill.

If there was perhaps another person available to give them what they needed then there may be less family members complaining that their loved one was neglected for a period of time. Or if there were more staffing, a patient in the operating room would not be sent out to the recovery room so fast because of a back log when that patient needing to have surgery as an out-patient having to have surgery cancelled because there is just not enough staff to cope with a days workload. Hence, people have to continue to suffer with their ailments until they can be fitted in. My opinion -- Hire more staff in a timely method -- have plenty of time to look for new prospects or develop a waiting list and begin the process of paperwork in the meantime so that when a position becomes available, not a lot of time is wasted to get them employed.

It is my prediction that until all of the issues are dealt with, we will see more nurses disputes and possibly more talk of strike action until nurses get a fair deal. I would also like to challenge anyone to dispute any of my comments and prove me wrong.

Nurses have finally come together to make a stand and improve the working relationship with management and staff and come to a solution that is fair for all. In order to do this, issues must be dealt with so that duties can be carried out which goes along with the hospital motto "The patient is the reason we are here''. But without changes, the patients may be there without nursing staff to care for them.

KNOW THE FACTS Warwick Negative stereotyping March 17, 1999 Dear Sir, What's racist about Mr. Peter Woolcock's cartoon on Friday, March 12, Mr.

Editor, is the unnecessary perpetuation of negative stereotyping of black people. You see, Mr. Editor, no black boys tried to blow up any school and Mr.

Woolcock could have very easily chosen a white boy for his cartoon but he didn't! Instead of having a black mother make the stupid comment "if you can't control him -- who can?'' Mr. Woolcock could have very easily had a white mother make the stupid comment but again he intentionally and calculatingly didn't! That's what's racist about Mr. Peter Woolcock and his cartoon, Mr. Editor, which, in his own words, "was not meant to be funny!'' DR. CLARK GODWIN City of Hamilton Race `never an issue' March 17, 1999 Dear Sir, In today's editorial (March 17th, 1999) you write that your newspaper needs "to be held accountable'' for its actions; that you "welcome comments and criticisms'' of your work. When I read this I thought that perhaps I could correct at least one of your newspaper's mistakes of a few months ago. I did try to do this at the time but was not successful.

I was mentioned by name in the editorial of October 10, 1998, headed "Healthy Sign'' which discussed the racial aspects of political affiliation in Bermuda.

I was off the Island at the time and when I returned a few people contacted me about it. So, I wrote a letter dated October 18 to set the record straight from my point of view. This letter was never published.

Bearing in mind that this editorial was written just prior to the General Election, by your predecessor, I felt, as did others, that the reference to me was designed to score political points about a predecessor, I felt, as did others, that the reference to me was designed to score political points about a perceived racial imbalance within the PLP.

The Editor stated that Kathleen Bell (me) had found it "uncomfortable'' as a member of the PLP because of race. The implication was that this was the reason why I had left the PLP.

Race was never an issue or a problem for me when I was active within the Progressive Labour Party. In my opinion the PLP has always been healthily realistic regarding the subject of race. Also, I have always felt that when white people become racially "uncomfortable'' it is because they have a problem which is theirs to address.

I wrote in my letter of October 18 that I had become uncomfortable with the PLP for the same reasons Gilbert Darrell, Walter Brangman, Lionel Simmons, Charles Jeffers and others found themselves out of sync with the direction of the PLP at that time. Again, for the record, all of this took place well over ten years ago and race was not the issue for them, either! Also, huge policy changes have taken place within the PLP since then -- maybe we played a part in these changes? This may seem trivial to you, but it is not as far as I am concerned. My political involvement has long been over and whatever relevance I may have had it's surely now a thing of the past. Which is why I was so surprised to see my name suddenly pop up in an editorial and in this context.

I was very pleased to see a Progressive Labour Party victory last year and as I wrote in a letter to Premier Jennifer Smith, Bermuda finally has a change to become a functional society in every sense of the word -- in our relationships with each other -- in our educational system and goals -- in how we do business generally.

I look forward to a Progressive Labour Party win in Paget West, and I also hope for the development of a cohesive and coherent Opposition, something our Parliamentary system has to have in order to function properly.

KATHLEEN M. BELL Paget Let voters decide! March 20, 1999 Dear Sir, I find it deeply disturbing that the Progressive Labour Party is engaged in a campaign to disenfranchise all of the constituents of Paget West. If they succeed in Paget West, what will be next? As you said in your editorial of March 19, "Why not just let the voters decide?'' DONNA SMITH Paget Well-deserved win March 21, 1999 Dear Sir, While I am naturally disappointed as the coach, and on behalf of the quiz team, that Warwick Academy did not achieve a hat-trick of wins, I would like to congratulate Mount St. Agnes on their well-deserved win, especially coming from behind to win the competition. I would also like to congratulate all the schools this year on their behaviour and sportsmanship.

During the three years in which I have been involved with the quiz, the standard of the competition has risen. Each year the teams have improved and this year demonstrates just how hard all of the schools involved have worked.

I look forward to next year's competition.

DAVID SENIOR Warwick Academy Quiz Team Coach