Rein in rude bus driver

April 2, 2002

Dear Sir,

I am trying to control the urge to rant and rave about the horrendous shape this country is in.

Let me just give you one perfect example of how the Tourism ministry is flogging a dead horse.

At 11.15 a.m. today I was parked opposite the bus terminal when I heard someone laying on their horn without a break. I looked to see who this annoying person was only to witness a bus driver aiming his vehicle directly at an elderly couple (about 80 years old) as they tried to make it to the bus terminal island.

He stopped his bus approximately three to four feet from the couple and finally got off the horn when they made it to the sidewalk. One can only imagine how he scared them to death with that beautiful manoeuvre.

As I stood there thinking to myself what a fine ambassador he was for the Island, this same driver got out of his bus and started to cross the road . Another older couple (again 80 years or so) were on the crosswalk and seeing this driver stopped and asked him a question.

This... person... didn't even acknowledge their presence but just walked right past them (they probably didn't say good morning correctly).

Five minutes later I saw him coming out of Cafe Latte with what I'm sure was a supergrande mocha moron.

I am sure that this driver's despicable and hostile behaviour towards these visitors was most likely brought on by him being a loyal Somerset Eagles fan and he is still vexed at the thrashing his team got from Boulevard on the weekend.

Whatever the reason, this man should not be allowed anywhere near our visitors. Aside from this driver being brought up on charges of vehicular assault against the first couple, perhaps Mr. Allen could give him a course of shock therapy to rid this 'person' of his disgusting behaviour.

I'm sure this Government will allow this incident to slide by just like all the others that get reported, but maybe we can atleast be truthful to our visitors and put a plaque under Mr. Johnny Barnes' statue to read 'The Old Bermuda' and then across the street we can have one which reads 'The New Bermuda'.

Above that plaque should be a statue of this driver giving everybody the bird. Stop blaming 9-11 and deal with the real problem.

I went to the second couple and asked them if I could help them and they were looking for the booth to buy tickets. What nerve! Next they will want to know how to get to the beaches!!!

Bus licence No. 9620 - 11.15 a.m., April 2, 2002 Bermudian male. I dare the Tourism Ministry or the Transportation Ministry to act on this complaint.

Anti-drug zeal is absurd

March 31, 2002

Dear Sir,

I see now that even proper and respectable Bermuda is being drawn into the theater of the absurd caused by the US-led international drug prohibition.

I could not help but chuckle to myself while reading your recent story about Bermuda soldiers smelling enough like cannabis to alert the ubiquitous drug dogs upon returning from training in the ganja capital of the world.

Quite a funny story, actually. Somehow reminiscent of an old Keystone Cops episode.

The sad part, of course, is that the self-respect and dignity of the Bermuda soldiers was sullied at the hands of this most pernicious drug prohibition. But even Abraham Lincoln knew that prohitibion was harmful to any society. He said that "prohibition strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded."

Indeed, as events in Bermuda have demonstrated once again, prohibition seeks out dignity and common sense and destroys them slowly but thoroughly. I always thought you folks in Bermuda had a little more sense than to follow the mindless zeal of the American drug prohibition.

No doormat for the defence

March 24, 2002

Dear Sir

As a professional prosecutor of more than 20 years experience, I was astonished to read of the diatribe against myself and my former Canadian colleagues by the current Attorney General and chief law officer, Dame Lois Browne Evans.

I say it is astonishing because the Attorney General above all others should be expected to understand the role of the those Crown counsel she (or more recently her delegate, the DPP) instructs to appear on her behalf in criminal cases.

It has long been the case in common law jurisdictions such as Bermuda and Canada that counsel appearing for the prosecution should regard themselves as ministers of justice whose job it is to assist in the administration of justice.

The paramount duty of any Crown is to see that justice is done, even if that means an acquittal. Having said that, ours is an advocacy system, where both sides must present and argue their respective cases. As Henry Bull, a respected Ontario Crown Attorney has said, a prosecutor ought to regard himself as part of the Court, rather than as a pure advocate, but that this role did not imply that "the Crown must be supine in the performance of their duties."

While we are obliged to be painstakingly fair and may not adopt the tactics some defence counsel may favour, we do no service to the public interest which we serve when we become doormats for the defence.

The Crown is permitted to press its case to its legitimate strengths and if we fail to do so we are derelict in our duty. Christmas Humphreys, a barrister with long experience as Treasury counsel at the Old Bailey said, as a prosecutor, he believed "in hard hitting, but with blows that are scrupulously fair."

These principles are well known to the law and were taken seriously by every prosecutor regardless of national origin whom I worked with in my six years of public service in Bermuda.

It was apparent to me when I was practising in Bermuda that Lois Browne Evans, as she then was, was member of the defence bar who represented her clients as well as she could. I can assure members of the public that under the then Attorneys General, Saul Froomkin and Walter Maddocks, I too represented my clients, the Bermuda public, to the absolute best of my ability.

I make no apologies for that. Nor do I apologise for the fact that conviction rates on serious cases were higher then than they appear to be since the current Attorney General has assumed office, notwithstanding the various recent inquiries into the failures in the criminal justice system in Bermuda.

The nine individual Canadians (by my count) who served the prosecution service in Bermuda so well, for so long, are gone - most of us for years. Why Dame Lois feels the need to lash out now is not clear to me.

Perhaps the Attorney General would find her time more profitably spent on the current state of criminal prosecutions rather the forensic successes of an earlier generation of Bermuda Crown.

STEPHEN R. HARRISON

CROWN COUNSEL

Kamloops, B.C. Canada

ATI worth the applause

March 31, 2002

Dear Sir,

I applaud the new policies of the Bermuda government which explore alternatives to jail time for non-violent drug offenders ('Minister confident ATI will stop prison's revolving door" - March 27).

Jail sentences for minor drug offenses - smoking pot or growing it for your own use, for example - does not rehabilitate anyone. Instead, it exposes an otherwise normal citizen to "real" criminals, transmitting bad habits and disdain for the government.

Treatment programmes which allow the offender to carry on with their lives as productive citizens are less expensive and more effective. I have no doubt that Bermuda will be a better place for these new policies.

ADAM WIGGINS

DIRECTOR, NEOTERIC

Pasadena, California

Ounce of prevention

March 26, 2002

Dear Sir,

I refer to the letter to the Editor from Dr. Leslie Holder that recently appeared in .

Dr. Holder expressed his view on the lack of cigarette smoking laws versus the new law requiring the use of car safety belts. He compared the number of people who died from the effects of cigarette smoking each year to the lack of any statistics showing preventable deaths from non-use of car safety belts.

Dr. Holder and I are on the same page regarding the use of tobacco. I wrote an article that was published in August, 2000 under the headline, "When It comes to tobacco, Bermuda is struck in the Dark Ages".

However, I believe that the good doctor has missed the point regarding the car safety belts issue. He wrote about his investigations regarding numbers who may have died but he did not mention in the number of injuries sustained, some quite serious, from the lack of seat belt usage.

We should not only be concerned about possible deaths. Injuries that leave individuals and families suffering should be a major concern. An ounce of prevention is still worth a pound of cure.

Kudos to college kids

March 26, 2002

Dear Sir,

Thank you to the sponsors and participants in the Bermuda College Trashathon 2002, spearheaded by the Student Chapter of the International Association for Administrative Professionals and the Student Government on Saturday, March 23.

Sixty-one large bags of trash - mostly alcoholic beverage bottles and soda cans - were collected. The areas covered were parts of the Paget and Hamilton Parish railway trails, public roads near Bailey's Bay Cricket Club to Coney Island, Corkscrew Hill, and the area around Bermuda College.

We appreciate the support received for this community service project in helping make Bermuda a better place to live.