Nice behaviour at one of Bermuda's best high schools? And you want the parents to take the blame for what our kids do in school or in the street. I say, "No Way'', because the "government'' or "the protection for children'' should be held responsible for this bad behaviour. For it is they who have taken our powers away to correct our children. As a parent, I say these kids needs a stronger hand on them. They need a real taste of punishment. In my day, a parent would use anything that they got their hands on to correct their child, but today a parent might get away with raising their voice to their child.

Open up Nonsuch Island and stick these rude monsters there. Make them clean and fix up the island. Don't give them any timeframe of their stay. They can only leave if their behaviour improves quite a lot. Make them earn the right to leave such a place. I'm just getting very tired of the blame shifting from one to another.

These kids know that they have their parents over a barrel. So what are parents suppose to do? I can assure you that should my child get into trouble with the law, I will help her once, then after that the law will have to deal with her. She knows that if she does wrong then she will have to deal with the consequences and so should these kids.

ANNOYED MOTHER City of Hamilton Need the `true facts' March 10, 1999 Dear Sir, I refer to your editorial of Friday March 5.

The person who wrote THE UBP in PAGET WEST obviously is not a member of the UBP Paget West.

You state that the committee selected Sen. Patricia Gordon Pamplin as it's by-election candidate. This is not correct nor honest. All members present who were eligible to vote on the selection of a candidate did just that. The people chose Sen. Gordon Pamplin as our candidate. Yes, Mrs. Ann Cartwright-DeCouto put her name forward at the meeting but did not get the most votes. Also another put his name forward but withdrew when it was discovered that he did not fulfill the requirements of a candidate.

You mention "racial imbalance'' and "lack of experience'' with regard to the elected UBP members in the House of Assembly. Race did not come into the by-election voting. Most present were not of the black race. Many of the Government's members of Parliament are inexperienced. How can one become experienced if he is not given a chance to learn by serving in the House? It would have been good if Paget West members had run in the bye-election but then you would have criticised them as well.

In future please print the true facts.

LIZ Paget Address traffic problems March 6, 1999 Dear Sir, According to today's (Saturday 3/6/99) Royal Gazette , a crackdown on double parking will begin in the City of Hamilton starting on Monday, March 8 and may I, as a delivery driver say; it's about time! Now let's see somebody do something about the cyclists who ride on the centre line as if it were a separate lane. At 8.45 a.m. on any weekday morning, one only has to drive west on Harbour Road in Paget to become a victim of this three lane scenario. I can't believe anyone who is smart enough to hold a job would be stupid enough to use the centre line as a traffic lane! But hundreds do. Not only on Harbour Road but on Middle Road (in Devonshire and Paget) as well.

And while I'm on annoying traffic problems, what's with these mental defectives who ride around in cars making boom-boom noises so loud that you can't hear your own radio in your own car with the windows rolled up? The only good thing about these `boom boom noise mobiles' is that you know these drivers will be totally deaf in about five years. But by then of course they'll be towing small trailers because deaf people need much larger systems to be able to hear at all. When I had my first car (an Austin A-60 Cambridge) it once failed TCD because it had four six inch speakers built into the rear parcel shelf in addition to the two four inch front speakers, used with about a 10 watt cassette player. Maybe regulations could be written to get these `boom boom noise mobiles' out of everybody's lives.

It seems to me that the significance of these problems stem from a lack of enforcement not from a lack of existing regulations.

SPANISH POINT VOTER P.S. What's with the oil company Genius who decided to supply a prize to the loudest (most obnoxious) `boom boom noise mobile?' To those who would say people have a right to make their cars as loud as they wish, I say other people have a right not to be disturbed by inconsiderate `boom boom noise mobile operators'.

`Ban' these hazards! March 10, 1999 Dear Sir, As I pondered the number of deaths from Communication Tower Emissions (zero) and the proven cases of cancer (zero), I went back to an earlier study "The Biological Effects of Low-level Ionising Radiation'' by Arthur C Upton, in the Scientific American, February 1982.

The study ranked the risks of 30 hazards, based upon ACTUAL deaths in the US.

Since we should ban the Towers because of what is unproven evidence, I would like to see the following PROVEN hazards banned as well: 1. Smoking 150,000 deaths 2. Alcoholic drinks 100,000 deaths 3. Motor vehicles 50,000 deaths 4. Handguns (banned in Bermuda) 17,000 deaths 5. Electricity 14,000 deaths 6. Motorcycles 3,000 deaths 7. Swimming 3,000 deaths 8. Surgery 2,800 deaths 9. X-rays 2,300 deaths 10. Railroads 1,950 deaths (fortunately we already got rid of this "risk'') 11. General Aviation 1,300 deaths (this is most disturbing as both tourists and locals are at risk) 12. Large construction 1,000 deaths 13. Bicycles 1,000 deaths 14. Hunting 800 deaths (We've got a handle on this one) and; 15. Home appliances 200 deaths (now I really want to see this last one banned, as ALL our homes have these hazardous, life threatening devices, and usually within reach of children! Space does not permit listing of all 30 risks, but I think the general public, even those of us below Mr. Thompson's superior intelligence, gets the point.

Yo, Steve, let's just go back to fishing and farming for the whole population.

You ready? WARWICK WORKER Affordable rents needed March 6, 1999 Dear Sir, I would like to address this letter to Mr. Nelson Bascome MP. I know you will do the best you can for people who cannot afford these outrageous prices. They are out of control and not right for the future of Bermudians. It's very frightening when people who do not earn anything over $600 a week are told to get out all over the Island by greedy landlords. We also need small places for one person, men and women, lots of studios and maybe a building that can rent rooms for $400 a month with a kitchen, with certain rules to abide by. So many landlords are putting people out to "fix up'' to get a lot more rent from all these people who are coming in every day and unless this Government will curb this, we are in trouble for ever.

Bermudians cannot keep up with this housing shortages and high rents. Some will argue it's good for the economy and gives us lots of jobs, but it's now out of control and the majority of Bermudians have had to suffer.

These greedy landlords think nothing of giving people notice to rent to exempt companies and buildings and condos are still going up all over the place -- they're not for Bermudians.

Big business and money only goes to a certain segment of the population, the rest do not get anywhere. The roads, houses, schools are overflowing and our Island does not seem like a tourist resort. Mr. Bascome, you keep going with Morgan's Point and do not let anyone discourage you. Bermudians deserve a break and everyone should be able to live together up there. We need decent places to live maybe you receive less profit, yes, but you can make a big difference in lives. Big business is not always the answer. This Island is the only place these Bermudians can live, but then so much of it has been sold to foreigners. And there are people who do not even care how the other half lives. They have their house and their highly paid jobs and expect people to be content with the little pay and manage the best they can.

Bermuda is considered to be the richest island, how can it be, we do have a lot of `haves' and lots more `have nots'.

The new Bermuda Government has a big job to do to turn things around, some of these problems were the UBP's, because they did not listen to the people and put business first and forgot about the ordinary people's problems. That is why they lost the election. Now can you understand why the Club Med had squatters, it's cold and wet and they had nowhere to live! BERMUDIAN Devonshire