July 24, 2006

Dear Sir,

One of the signs of a dying society is rudeness to one another, and my wife and I experienced that first hand in our most recent trip to Bermuda. Both my wife?s stepdaughter and our son were married on consecutive weekends in May.

The first extreme rudeness occurred following our son?s rehearsal dinner at the ?Trat?. We walked to Reid Street about 9.30 p.m. to wait for our ride, and were verbally assaulted by a vomit-stained drunk inquiring as to our preference for an unusual sexual practice. He persisted even following my suggestion that he was being rude and that we knew his mother had not raised him that way. No police or locals were present to help us. Fortunately others in the wedding party came out soon thereafter to end the incident.

The second incident was during a drive around the Island where we stopped at Somerset Long Bay. One family was picnicking with very loud music in the park, so we moved to the beach where we were assaulted by an even louder, sexually explicit music that completely masked the charm of the lapping sea.

As long as an increasing number of people in Bermuda choose their exercise of freedom over any consideration of the rights of others, a sign of coming anarchy, we will invite our Bermudian relatives and friends to visit us in Indianapolis where the streets are safe and the parks quiet.