My husband and I have been vacationing in Bermuda for the last 40 years and love the island. We spent the first week of December motoring through Louisiana and Mississippi. We couldn't believe the number of casinos in the cities and small towns.

After speaking to the residents of these places, the casinos have brought nothing but trouble. All the wrong people are gambling and the crime rate has skyrocketed.

I hope the Government never allows casinos in Bermuda.

HEATHER BURLING PillarVille Guest House Southampton A non-believer speaks December 22, 1999 Dear Sir, How can anyone believe the assurance that income information required to be declared on next year's census form will be confidential? One Minister has in recent months disclosed the details of a family trust in Parliament in order to bolster a specious piece of reasoning concerning the awarding of Government contracts. What right does any Minister have to poke their nose into any private matters of any family? In keeping with the transparency of the current Government it is perfectly clear that such information will be accessed by all those Ministers who are abusing their power and position and trading in divisive party politics.

As with the land tax rationale, this information will be used to target a specific sector of the population.

Personal income is exactly what it says, personal, and what is more confidential.

Therefore, as with any survey, if it is to be confidential then there will not be a requirement to declare one's name and address, otherwise clearly there will not be an inclination to disclose one's personal income. The statistics will still be gathered but will be truly confidential.

How many people like the thought that their next door neighbour has access to their family income details? Watch out Bermuda, this kind of data collection is the forerunner to direct taxation, whatever excuse is used to sugar-coat it. If any of you have lived in the taxed environment of the UK, USA or Canada you will not want to see such development here.

PHIL CRACKNELL St. George's P.S. As an aside, who is being awarded Government contracts now, all the cronies and relatives of the current ministers? More Police needed December 20, 1999 Dear Sir, I have just listened to the news report on VSB about an underaged boy who sustained serious injuries in a bike accident along Ord Road this past Saturday.

Well I'm hardly surprised that finally one of them has had an accident.

I live along Ord Road and I can attest to the fact that these underaged boys ride bikes up and down the Railway Trail day after day, at speeds that make your skin crawl.

I have witnessed on many occasions, both on the railway tracks and on the road, young boys riding bikes at terrific speeds with even younger children on the seat in front of them -- and those children can be no older than six! The reckless manner in which these boys ride is frightening and I am afraid to let my children enjoy riding their bicycles on the tracks for fear of meeting up with these lads in question.

Is the answer to have a crackdown on these kids who spoil pleasures for others? Where are the Police patrols? Where are the parents of these children? Do they not `police' their own children? Ord Road has long been a hang out for many youths -- and in recent years, thanks to persistent neighbours it has been cleaned up a great deal, but recklessness continues along this road, and I really wish there were the resources somewhere for it to stop.

I would recommend traffic control devices of some sort -- there are plenty of examples to follow from other countries.

Ord Road is a long, straight road and a temptation for speeders and if the opportunity to speed was taken away we would see a difference in the safety.

Otherwise we should perhaps demand more Police in the area then the speeders up and down Ord Road would have to slow down, and if we were really lucky they would just `go somewhere else'.

ORD ROAD RESIDENT Warwick Ships should pay up December 22, 1999 Dear Sir, What have things come to when local lawyers and highly thought-of politicians are fighting to have fines reduced of boat skippers convicted of dumping oil in the oceans off Bermuda. What is the price on tipping your toxic waste into the sea? What precedents are being set here? Future captains, after weighing up paying the pittance of a fine against the real cost of proper disposal, will elect to pump out near our reefs instead.

Perhaps then these misguided appeals will be regretted.

Consider this with the laughable statement that polluting the ocean with oil is wrong because it affects our tourism industry. How could it ever be right to pour oil into the ocean? But first place in the stomach turning contest goes to Trevor Moniz who cited mitigating circumstances of "...the wind was blowing offshore...'' while second place goes to Jerome Dill with "...it was night time...''. Perhaps Mr.

Moniz and Mr. Dill might want to compile a price-list comprising factors like wind-direction, tidal flow, distance to shore and amount of oil dumped. This could be distributed to the shipping lines and they could pre-pay their marine excretions.

SNARK Devonshire Not time for a change December 21, 1999 Dear Sir, Why do we always think we have to change things? Par-la-Ville Park is delightful the way it is -- nestled in the city centre next to our old post office, the meandering walkways giving it a private charm that is needed in the hustle and bustle of the city, especially with the increased madness of office workers and cruise ship passengers. Witness the number of people who come in there on a daily basis to get away from it all, eat their lunch, lay in the sun and just take in all the foliage.

We don't want to be organised into seating areas around a concrete fountain! The park has it share of loiterers now, laying off next to a cool fountain will seem even more enticing! If children need to interact with water send them to the beach or the aquarium! I know architects love to redesign and show off their talents, but this time it's not needed! Change the toilet and entrance, but leave the park the way it is! A charming compliment to our oldest Post Office.

V. ROBERTS Southampton Driver must come clean December 22, 1999 Dear Sir, I am getting desperate! A taxi driver dropped my dad and I off at Berry Hill Road around 6 p.m. on Thursday, December 16.

We had two grocery bags and I had drycleaning which I left in your cab.

It has been now a week, and I have made several calls to the cab companies, and I have been hoping you would return the clothes to Blue Ribbon Drycleaning on Reid Street. The ladies there told me a cab driver called and said he had someone's dryclearning and that he would be dropping it off.

Everyday I go to the drycleaners and you still have not dropped off the clothes.

My husband really needs the top half of his dark grey suit and I could really use my black pants. Please, please, please make my Christmas (and my hubby's).

NITA GREWAL Paget Don't look back in anger December 22, 1999 Dear Sir, Bermuda is in trouble because Bermudians fail to accept two facts: 1) Department stores are a thing of the past throughout our world and, while one or two may survive, the rest are white or orange -- elephants. Jennifer Smith was correct.

2) Bermudians, fat and rich these past 30 or 50 years, have collectively moved against tourism which they see as demeaning to well-educated and successful people. They have not considered their future and have rejected their past as servitude.

WATCHING Paget No more sour grapes December 20, 1999 Dear Sir, I have just purchased "Moods of Bermuda'' -- what an excellent collection of photographs -- every person participating in this book should be extremely proud of themselves.

Come on Mr. G. Outerbridge -- It's time to drop the "SOUR GRAPES'' attitude.

S. RICHARDSON Pembroke