Government Senate Leader David Burch clarified the issue of the St. George's Police station in the Upper Chamber yesterday, saying the Police Service's divisional headquarters for the Eastern parishes would be located in St. Davids, and a Police Station would remain in St. George's.

But not before he accused this newspaper of misrepresenting previous comments he had made on the issue. The clarification came after Opposition Senator Kim Swan brought the issue up in the motion to adjourn quoting a report in The Royal Gazette in which Sen. Burch said, during the Budget debate, there will be no funding for the station in St. George's.

"I am amazed he would take a quote from the daily newspaper," Senator Burch said in protest. He added that he sometimes wished The Royal Gazette would resurrect an editorial "policy" of ignoring anything he said.

"There is a police station in St. George's and the Eastern Division is moving to St. David's... At no time did I say St. George's would not be getting a Police Station."

But Sen. Swan said that, notwithstanding much confusion over the matter, Government waited for two months to make a statement clarifying the situation and hundreds of people had signed a petition voicing concerns - shared by Hamilton Mayor Henry Hayward - Government had decided St. George's would permanently lose its police station.

"Sen. Burch and his Cabinet colleagues allowed for the public to make their concerns in a petition," he said. And he characterised Premier Jennifer Smith's recent clarification after the Peppercorn ceremony as an "about turn". But he added: "We need some specifics as to how it will come about".

Speaking after last month's Peppercorn Ceremony in St. George's, Ms Smith said there had been misinformation on talk shows and amongst the public but the Government had not chosen to respond.

She said Government always planned that the St. George's police station would remain in the Old Town. Sen. Swan criticised the Government for blaming the media for all the confusion.

"It's not the fault of the media. This one falls clearly on the Government," Sen. Swan said.

In August 1997, during a well publicised row over sex and drugs allegations involving a UBP Cabinet Minister, Premier Jennifer Smith, then Opposition Leader said: "I would not like to base my opinion on what is printed in newspapers.

"In Bermuda we have a situation where people do not ask for corrections or refute statements and when you try to hold them to it, they say `I didn't say that'.

"There is no way of knowing whether that statement, or for that matter any other in this story, is accurate, or a figment of the reporter's imagination."