A note of thanks

March 23, 2010

Dear Sir,

I am a survivor of the house fire on Mount Hill that your paper reported about and hoped that you would allow me the space to thank a few people and organisations who have helped me on my road to recovery. Thank you in advance for your indulgence. It was almost a month ago that I was awakened in my home by the smell of smoke. I escaped only with the clothes on my back as I helplessly watched my worldly possessions succumb to the devastating flames of a fire that started in an adjacent apartment. First and foremost, I would like to thank my Lord and Saviour for sending an angel to wake me up minutes before the roof collapsed and I thank Him everyday for sparing my life to see another day

The recovery from this will not be swift, as starting from scratch is a process that will take some time, but I know that with each day I'm blessed with... I am one step closer. I am truly humbled and overwhelmed by the support financially, spiritually and emotionally that my family, friends, Queen's Club family and Pool League colleagues have shown to me since this event. Their time, donations, and comfort that they have given freely to me, even in a time recession, has been nothing less than stellar. Words cannot even begin to express how grateful I am for their assistance nor can they express the depth of appreciation that I'm experiencing in being a part such selfless organisations of good hearted people.

Without you, the journey down the road of recovery would have been a daunting task but I am a lot further down that road because of your generosity I would only feel right in publicly acknowledging the efforts of these organisations and people because they should be commended for their tireless hard work in rebuilding a life.

The Queen's Club: To your management and members, your kindness has allowed me to truly see the brightness of the light that is the Queen's Club family. Your donations and continued support are invaluable.

The Bermuda International Pool League: To the members and former members that took time out of their busy schedules to lend their talents to participate in a benefit tournament. With special mention to Gary Bascome, Wendy Trott, Trevor "Kidd" Mouchette, Verda Burgess, and Raymond Young for the organisation of these events.

The St. George's Cricket Club and Craig Trott: whose generous donation was truly overwhelming.

Della Greenslade, who along with the help of her church, was gracious enough to donate clothes and other items so that I was able to go back to work.

Carol Seaman and Mitch Cann, for your emotional support just minutes after the event took place.

Wendy Pitt and Stanley Ward: who allowed me to salvage what little I had left by providing transport so that I could gather what was left and allowed me the time to collect my thoughts until I could secure a safe haven.

Wendy "Wifey" Trott and Maurice "Reecie" Trott: for taking me into your home and providing me with comfort and a meal until I could find and secure an apartment.

Verda Burgess: for your outpouring of support and willingness to help when times got tough and The Blue Waters Anglers Club for putting on a benefit dinner and Bar-b-cue.

The man affectionately known as "Q", I promised him that I wouldn't mention his name, but if you know me you know who he is, your generosity, vision, support, spiritual guidance and friendship is truly irreplaceable.

Devon and Stacy Cann and my former neighbours who gave me coffee clothes and a blanket in those wee hours of the morning.

Julie Nelson: for your tireless efforts in securing new accommodations on such short notice.

My employers: for their patience, understanding and willingness to give me the time necessary to assemble my life together.

From the bottom of my heart Thank You all!

You truly embrace the spirit, kindness and heart that is the Bermudian Spirit and I hope that you will be fully blessed for your compassion and selflessness towards me.

I am happy to report that I'm slowly but surely getting back on my feet. Although it will take time to heal and rebuild from this loss I will get there. Thank you all for renewing my hope and giving me the ability to move forward. God Bless

COLLEEN LEWIS

The fact is...

March 12, 2010

Dear Sir,

The letter written in defence of Mr. Robert Mulderig, Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Butterfield, by "Shareholder, Pembroke", in the March 11, 2010 issue of The Royal Gazette, is one person's opinion. In my opinion your previous editorial concerning the bank problem was spot on. Unfortunately, many, who are shareholders, will disagree with the comments expressed by the letter writer. Mr. Mulderig was on the bank board that allowed the bank to increase its holdings of Collaterialised Mortgage Obligations (CMOs) and Asset Backed Securities (ABS), in 2007, according to the Standard and Poor's (S&P) Ratings Report on the Bank of Butterfield dated September 4, 2008. The report went on to describe how the Bank of Butterfield increased these investments in 2007 from seven percent ($279 Million) to 17 percent ($829 Million).

What in fact happened was that management and the board, apparently, recklessly and conveniently forgot the previous conservative view that risk must be spread and put an additional $550 Million into these investments, which was the bank's undoing. Rather than congratulating him for helping to save the bank, he is in fact one of the authors of the bank's current situation. The fact that no director immediately stepped down from their seat on the board in the aftermath is significant. At this point, to regain the credibility of the Bank of Butterfield with the suffering shareholders and the future potential investors, the entire board involved in this disaster should be replaced at the earliest opportunity, hopefully at the next AGM.

ANOTHER SHAREHOLDER

Southampton

Leave city administration alone

March 11, 2010

Dear Sir,

There is an old saying, (idiom) "If it ain't broke don't fix it". Considering that the Corporations have been successful in their undertakings and, in particular, are financially stable, I feel they should be left as independent entities. The current teams work together very well because they are committed to the task; all want the same thing which is to make the cities viable and workable for everybody including our visitors. They have made up their minds that working together is like a marriage; you have to make it happen. From the time of the current team's election success they hit the ground running, knowing they need to get done as much as possible in the three years they have.

The main thing that I admire is that they believe in an open-door policy. I also like the fact that they have had several walkabouts and plan several more. They have met most of the people who work and live in the city, so that now everyone is comfortable giving their input whether they be on Front Street or on North Street. I do feel that running a country is hectic, time consuming and stressful, and since the government have so many projects on their plate, they should leave well-enough alone, and the corporations remain as they are, in capable hands. The government can then concentrate on doing the very best they can on all the projects they are currently attending to.

FEB

Southampton

A note of clarification

March 26, 2010

Dear Sir,

I would like to point out a correction to the letter sent in by Mr. Leslie James Smith which was printed in The Royal Gazette on March 24, 2010 regarding his description of the bus terminal in the City of Hamilton. Although the existing structure is on property owned by the Corporation of Hamilton, it was not designed by the Corporation nor was it constructed by the Corporation. In fact, the Corporation of Hamilton had very little to do with its creation. The project was designed, built and managed by Works and Engineering, a department of the Bermuda Government. The overall design was copied from one seen in Cuba, as reported in The Royal Gazette some years ago.

W.A. BLACK

Paget

Time to decriminalise

March 24, 2010

Dear Sir,

"I'm Tired". When I write these words I can think of the funny bar scene from "Blazing Saddles" or more frequently of late I think of business as usual in Bermuda, which is oh so depressing.

I'm tired of the new generations of kids who have zero respect for people or property. Many of those kids are now young adults with absolutely no idea of how they will survive in 2010 Bermuda. Far too many are poorly educated and poorly parented. A myriad of reasons why and the consequences of poor education and parenting has been postulated by so many commentators but nobody really does anything to effectively deal with it. Now that the PLP Government has taken the road that may well lead us all to financial ruin I expect that not only the kids but their parents who may also have suffered from an ineffective education and poor parenting will swell the ranks of the unemployed and we will have a will have a huge unemployed and unemployable underclass who will see no way out of their personal depths of despair.

There is no doubt that introducing gambling will result in increased crime, as has been seen at every other location. Coupled with the drug trade, that will no doubt grow with those desperate addicts of both drugs and gambling we will have a society that will be the envy of no one. Bermuda was beginning to grow together as a unified nation; now we have unified and organised gangs, both political and criminal, although there may be little difference in the overall outcome of their actions and inactions based upon recent history.

Criminal gangs are maintained by obscene profits from the drug trade. This criminal funding can be cut off with the stroke of a pen without adding a single prospective addict to those whose lives have already been ruined. With legal arrangements and support care, decriminalise (not legalise) all drugs and allow Government to provide what the casual users and addicts want on free or low-cost prescriptions. Government could even supply based upon a means test so that the casual users could pay a little more to help support the programme. De-stigmatise drug use so all people can talk to their physicians about their needs in confidence. Educate and wean those off drugs if that is their choice but with an honest Government and physicians in charge of supply, it will be no worse than it is now except that the worst affected addicts will be able to get safe drugs without the need to cheat, steal or prostitute themselves to get their next fix.

Government drugs can be "tagged" so the source is known and the consequences of dealing in untagged drugs should be severe, if any dealer remained and saw any benefit of supplying when there is no financial gain. Once the addicts have another no-cost or low-cost and discrete supplier in their Physician, they will no longer be beholden to the gangs for their needs. With security and a political commitment the major dealer, gang leaders and sellers can be identified and put away for a long time, preferably with hard labour so they can suffer while being punished.

Personally, I'd hang the non-addicted dealers and save the country $80,000 a year to house, feed and support them in luxury. (I'm surprised more of our pensioners don't commit crimes so they can get so well looked after!) I know that support from our defence attorneys, some of whom have gotten rich defending the indefensible, will be needed to make this work, but what is of greater value, the unholy dollar or our community?

I'm sure many of The Royal Gazette's readers will be horrified by the thought of decrimalising drugs but I believe there are many benefits. Yes, I'd rather there was no such person as a drug addict, but there are and always will be no matter how hard we try to stop people becoming one. Let's decriminalise their unfortunate illnesses and remove the gang benefits that accrue from starting a new generation of low-esteem children on the road to ruination. This is not the overall solution but gang activity; including shootings are going to destroy our island home if we do nothing. A few hundred gang members and the victims of their drug businesses will destroy what tens of thousands of us honest Bermudians have spent our lifetimes building. It won't be a case of the haves and have nots, none of us will have anything.

Financially, decriminalisation also makes sense for Government too. Illegal drug supply is a multimillion dollar business as is the un-winnable war against them. I'd rather an honest Government had the funds to pay off the debts they have created. Huge savings in policing can be made as most crimes are acknowledged to be drug related. Savings in vehicle, home and business insurance can be achieved as drug addict crimes decline. Social Services will be needed less as family income is used for the family and not the addict's next fix. Lives will be saved. It needs a strong Government and legal profession to take the leap towards eliminating the key income generating business that keeps gangs strong and then preventing a new line of illegal business from being established. Are any of our so called leaders prepared to think outside of the box to save our little nation? I hope so because I'm really tired of living with the prospects of the alternatives.

I'M SO TIRED

Pembroke

Looking to the future

March 25, 2010

Dear Sir,

I refer to a recent letter signed "Concerned Citizen", of Warwick commenting on the absence from the House of two of the three MPs representing the Bermuda Democratic Alliance, during a vote on exempting cruise ships from paying cabin tax. The letter writer also noted that he had not heard anyone from the Alliance actually speak on the motion.

He didn't mention whether any of the UBP MP's spoke although I assume that John Barritt did. I can't speak on why the Alliance voted with the PLP but this kind of nitpicking attack on a barely four-month old political Party does show that the UBP is clearly concerned about them — and well they should be. If the letter writer, who is clearly spending a fair amount of time on the third floor of the Arcade, is suggesting that because, at a particular point in time, only one of the three Alliance members were present, I strongly suggest that he go back in his own Party's history — and not that far back, I might add — and check the attendance and speaking records of his own representatives. Methinks he might want to look in the mirror first!

When you only have three MPs to represent your views, you pick and choose your battles. When you are a growing political movement, you try to be efficient as well as effective. When you are a Party which wants to do things differently and, at the same time, use its resources wisely, you try to work for the betterment of Bermuda, not just oppose for the sake of opposing.

I guess when desperation sets in, these little attacks are to be expected. Maybe its because the Alliance has almost 1500 supporters on Facebook (read: a lot of young people) and over 300 paid up members, many of whom contributed far more than the minimum fee. Maybe it's because the Alliance is the future and, in these times of absolute incompetence and mismanagement, the people of Bermuda are looking to the future for inspiration, rather than the past.

JOHN FAIELLA

Southampton

What cooling off period?

March 31, 2010

Dear Sir,

In May, 2009 our Government decided not to pursue the $6.8 million owed to us by Union Asset Holdings Ltd. (wholly owned by the BIU) over the Berkeley school debacle. In return the union membership agreed to halt any "wildcat" strikes and sudden downing of tools to allow the Collective Bargaining procedures to run their course. They agreed to a 48-72 hour "cooling off" period before any industrial action would take place.

What happened last week when the Parks Department downed tools because two of their members were disciplined? Was there any "cooling off" period as promised? Will our Government pursue getting any of our money back for this illegal action?

R. KEILL

Smith's