Woefully misleading

November 8, 2006

Dear Sir,

Let me first state, while I am impressed with the new generation of wireless data services recently rolled out by Cellular One, I must take issue with the dynamics of your method used in which to promote these new services.

What is discernible in all of cellular one ads, is the words "UNLIMITED WIRELESS INTERNET" in exchange for a flat rate of $89 or ranging in this price parameter, (referring to the"BULL"). I am made to understand that when one signs up for this service, there is a fine print on the form stating that the service is in fact not unlimited, and the customer will be charged for any bandwidth that exceeds 1GB.

According to contemporary dictionaries, the word "unlimited" is defined as : having no limits in range or scope; outright: without reservation or exception.

With that being said, the fact that Cellular One continues to perpetuate the term "unlimited" in all of its ads, is not only woefully misleading, but certainly falls far from paradoxical. I was told by a close friend, upon signing up for the "BULL", and expecting to pay the "unlimited" rate of $89/month ... when the bill arrived, she was charged some $1, 500.00. Eventually the bill was settled.

To counter by hiding behind the clever fine print on the sign up forms, is a feeble defence. The English language word "unlimited" cannot be subject to any profit driven revision. I would strongly advise that this matter be given some more thought.

Successful fund-raiser

November 12, 2006

Dear Sir,

Last month, we marked the Ninth Annual PartnerRe Women's 5K Run & Walk with another record turnout ? 885 women and girls ? raising funds and awareness to target female diabetes.

Thanks to the generous participation of our title sponsor, PartnerRe Ltd., and all our supporting sponsors, we were again able to donate all race proceeds to the Bermuda Diabetes Association (BDA), this year's chosen charity for the event. PartnerRe matched the entry fees total for a grand donation of $30,000-to be used for educational campaigns and community outreach to fight the growing problem of diabetes in our community.

On behalf of Mid-Atlantic Athletic Club (MAAC), I'd like to extend a big thanks to all our supporters, volunteers, participants and sponsors, including PartnerRe, Butterfield & Vallis, Post Cereals, APEX Construction Management, Pulp & Circumstance, C-Travel, Logic, Stefanel, Sportseller, HWP, Dunkley's, Barritt's, Powerade, Howe Enterprising, Strands, Cecile, The Body Shop, The Reefs, Bermuda Gas, Island Construction Services, RMS Construction, Miles Market, Waterloo House, Fairmont Princess Hotel, Parfait Cosmetics and The Little Theatre.

The grand tally raised by the PartnerRe Women's 5K has now topped $100,000 since the event began in 1998-money that has supported important female causes, including programmes to fight heart disease and breast cancer, physical abuse and drug dependency. We celebrate our 10th anniversary next year, and invite all women and girls to walk or run on October 14, 2007 in what we hope will be another successful fundraising event.

Thank you!

Let's memorialise Sergey

October 31, 2006

Dear Sir,

Thank you for the article about Sergey Preminin on October 6, 2006. I was gripped by the story that I cut it out and it has sat on my coffee table ever since.

I do not know why I failed to remember that tragedy of K-219 in 1986. Perhaps like the majority of rock suckers I have been so focused on personal day to day struggles and unable to appreciate the bigger picture of outside events threatening us in Bermuda. I thank the for re-educating me.

Sergey Preminin is a hero of the noblest type. He performed his duty and sacrificed his life for our sakes, for people he never knew and would never meet, for the ocean and its creatures, and for planet earth as a whole. We must not underestimate just how painful and agonising his death was. Bermuda should recognise his bravery and erect a monument. I would like to see a life size statue of him at Dockyard.

Some Bermudians will cry out in disgust, "A Russian in Bermuda! What's he got to do with us?" No island is a world unto itself; we are the global community. All our actions (or sadly our lack of actions) have far reaching effects.

The creatures of the deep, which have never seen the sun, speak of Sergey's bravery; the whales sing him praises; and the waves clap in harmonious rhythm to his greatness.

Target road menaces

November 15, 2006

Dear Sir,

So now it's official. 35 kph will give us gridlock. So what else is new? Mr. Caines did his best, (at the news conference) but I wouldn't want to be in his shoes for all the tea in China. Imagine having to justify such a state of affairs? But before you all brand me as an anarchist, let me make it real simple for you. The only motorists who need to be targeted, are the ones who insist on exceeding the speed limit to the point where they become a menace. Fifty kph is a nice, comfortable speed so long as Wet roads, high traffic volume and the like all serve to slow traffic ? and rightly so.

Traffic speed that is less than what the road will comfortably sustain, is wasteful given our degree of (road) congestion. The ambition should be to get any particular driver/rider to his/her destination and quickly as possible to, (and are you ready for this?) Couple that with defensive driving, the three C's and a higher awareness of road conditions, and Bermuda will have an accident rate far lower than we've been used to; not to mention fatalities. There was a letter recently, the gist of which was that speed was not the culprit in road fatalities. Oh yeah? Who told him that? Aside from sheer bad luck, the only other factor in such circumstances was excessive speed; some of these bikers really do some

In my hobby (model aviation), novices are always taught to fly with the knowledge that the engine could quit at any moment. The same (to a degree) applies to driving. Expect the unexpected. Some idiot parked around a blind corner will give you a bad day ? no question. But at a reasonable speed, that idiot notwithstanding, your day will be not as bad if excessive speed was involved. 'T' junctions should always be approached with caution. Not to say slow to a crawl in such areas, but being vigilant will pay off. Also, the best place for someone doing 35k, is behind you!

Lots of us have dabbled in a (nice) run of 120 'kph' on Kindley Field road, myself included. But only those who kept that speed around Stone Crusher Corner had a problem. I wish we had more space, an 'arterial expressway' with exits n' all would be nice. If I recall, Mr. Woolcock lampooned that some time ago, but that would turn us into The Bronx. Heaven forbid!

So if most of us were left to get on with our lives, the job of the Police becomes real easy. They themselves would do well to slow down a little. What sense is it to (potentially) kill some one attending an emergency for nothing? One good thing about 35k. We won't have to decide where to re-build KEMH. With the resulting gridlock, we'll need a hospital in every parish. Carry you there in a wheel barrow.