Please permit me space to vent my outrage. I am a single parent. My son's father pays maintenance. He doesn't pay it on time. He pays it every three or four weeks. He is supposed to have his son every other weekend. He has to pick him up at a certain time on Fridays and return him at a certain time on Sundays. He picks him up when he feels like it, sometimes shows up after he has been out drinking expecting to be allowed to take my son on the bike with him.

He disappoints my son so often, I got fed up and took him to court. What a joke! Basically what I was told was that I should teach my son to expect that sometimes there are difficulties in life and to lie to him about why his father didn't pick him up for the weekend.

The other thing was that I shouldn't complain about him making his payments irregularly, as long as he eventually makes them. Now I understand that there are fathers out there who don't pay at all, but this boy has a court order stating that he must pay weekly. My son needs to eat weekly, not every two or three weeks.

So what I got from the Family Court is that I must make my son go with his father even if my son doesn't want to and I should be grateful I am getting the money even though it's weeks down the road. Please tell me, does this make sense? SINGLE MOTHERS BEWARE! Southampton Feeling walled in May 18, 1999 Dear Sir, How on earth did your reporters miss the big move of Gates Fort from St.

George's up to Pitts Bay Road and Fort St. Catherine out to the end of Tucker's Town. Both were brilliant moves as one can now protect the inlet at Pitts Bay from the Forty Thieves and the other can protect the sand dollars from all those weekend boaters. In fact the only thing missing from these fortresses are the guns and there are plenty of those in the sea off Fort St.

Catherine.

Could someone please tell me what has happened to the Department of Planning to allow such enormous walls, support walls, whatever, to be built? It now appears that anything goes, regardless of the environment or the ugliness.

Obviously one can now put in a pool even though it may not fit into the contours of the landscape. After all we must have our pool as the sea is miles away.

I think back to the gentleman who wrote a letter to the Editor years ago commenting on the fact that the Department of Planning had forbidden him to build a wall over six feet and how was "that house'' on Harbour Road permitted to have a wall obviously well over six feet. If he had a problem with that then he should drive down to Tucker's Town and look at the wall down there which has devastated the entire area. It looks as if it is a compound for elephants. How sad it is to look back and remember how peaceful, how Bermudian and how charming Tucker's Town used to be and look at it now! SADDENED Pembroke Legislating morality May 18, 1999 Dear Sir, The community has been told for months that the Police are short-handed, and that is the reason why the roads are not properly monitored, and violent crime appears to be on the increase.

If this is the case, why is it that the Police had the manpower to mount a Gestapo-type raid on a nightclub where consenting adults were enjoying a little fun? What those ladies were exposed to was what they had paid to see -- and it was probably far less risque m than what is freely available at most of the magazine stores on the Island.

Any concern about that event should have been directed to whether the performers had work permits -- and whether payroll tax had been deducted -- which is the procedure every other Bermuda business has to follow.

It is high time this community grew up and hypocritical prudes went back in their holes. Let's start minding our own business. Legislated morality does not work.

VOTER Paget Praise for TCD officer May 27, 1999 Dear Sir, There are usually so many letters having "a go at someone'', I feel that I must write on a happy note.

A couple of weeks ago my husband and I left on a long journey from Somerset to that piece of land known as TCD Examination Centre to re-license our car.

Arriving there at 11.40 a.m. we figured that we would have a long wait and end up getting someone who needed to go to lunch NOW. Imagine our delight and surprise when a lovely lady served us, complete with a great sense of humour and friendliness. That lady's name is Rose Martin. When we left, (usually in a bad mood for the last 40 odd years of going to TCD), we were in high spirits, feeling that we had a great outing visiting with Ms. Martin.

If TCD could have an award for employee of the year, I am sure that it would be on Ms. Martin's mantelpiece year after year.

Thank you Rose Martin for making such a chore a genuine pleasure.

KATHY MOORE Somerset