indication of the state of the youth. She happened to stop in to grab a bucket of greasy grub for her newsroom colleagues when chicken bones flew.

It appeared to start when a table of black school girls taunted a nearby table of white school girls with the words, "What are you staring at...?''. A few more antagonistic words were exchanged, and one of the white girls responded that she "didn't have time for young children''. With that, the girls flew at each other -- faces were slapped, hair pulled, chicken bones used as weapons, and school shirts ripped off.

Hester's eyes were popping out by this time as other customers watched the all-out catfight in dismay, however, KFC counter assistants and managers continued packing chicken pieces and nuggets as if it was just another day at the restaurant. Shaking her head, Hester made a quick escape -- informed later that parents ended up getting involved too, giving one of the girls a good slap in the face.

Speaking of schools, there's been much chatter in the media this week about the state of public education on the Island. Fingers have been pointed in all different directions, but what hope can we possibly have for the children of Bermuda when teachers cannot even get it close to right with their own kids.

One of the paper's reporters called the home of an annoyingly unreachable headmistress of a certain high school this week, but instead got through to a teenager, presumably her daughter, who didn't have the foggiest clue about answering the telephone. When asked if the headmistress was there, the girl mumbled no and was about to hang up the phone when the reporter asked if she might leave a message. The teen sighed, sucked her teeth and replied, "I guess so.'' Now Hester is sure that every teacher would agree that education has to begin at home. Basic communication skills and politeness would be a good place to start! Hester was out working on her tan last week, when she should have been writing her column. She was stretched out a friend's yacht, dreaming she was somewhere on the French Riviera being entertained by a tall dark and handsome gazillionaire, when who should come whizzing by in a ski boat but our resident billionaire Ross Perot .

Giving her the Presidential wave, he sped on to his palatial digs in Tucker's Town, only to be met by his staff and helped into another boat in his fancy fleet, his James Bond-style speed demon. After taking that one out for a purrrr, the Texan returned home, just in time to see dinner delivered to his doorstep! Whether it's Ross's wealth ($4 billion in the bank at last count) or his power (remember On Wings of Eagles), he certainly has pull: A local fisherman sailed up to his dock to deliver fresh fish for his supper.

Hester couln't believe her eyes when she read in this week's paper some comments on the Island's traffic problems by former Transport minister Wayne Furbert of the UBP.

After throwing out the xenophobic suggestion of banning most expats from having cars here, he went on to declare (did he just wake up) that "I hate to say it but...a major contributor to traffic congestion was the number of cars that have hit the roads since the law was changed to allow second-hand cars here...'' Hello Mr. Furbert! Wasn't it your very own party that stupidly changed the law several years ago in what was nothing more than a vote-winning political exercise that directly contributed to the traffic mess we are in now? Hundreds of residents took advantage of then Transport Minister Ralph Marshall's relaxation of restrictions on selling second hand cars in the months following the change several years ago and the number of cars on the road passed the 20,000 mark for the first time ever.

Politics is a family affair in Bermuda, and keeping track of which Cox, Lister or Scott said this or did that can sometimes be too much, even for a veteran observer of local affairs like Hester.

So she hopes she can be forgiven for mixing up her Scotts a couple of weeks ago when she reported that Tourism Minister David Allen and Government Senate Leader Milton Scott had taken a free flight on a private jet to the launch of the Crown Dynasty service from Baltimore. It was in fact Works Minister Alex Scott who took the flight with Mr. Allen.

Sen. Scott also called Hester's editor after she described how he sat through an exploding wine bottle episode at the Harbourfront a few weeks ago. Sen.

Scott insisted that although he had eaten at the restaurant, he had seen no such thing...Hester guesses he must have been totally focused on his sushi.