September 15, 2004

Dear Sir,

On behalf of the Cornerstone Bible Fellowship and the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, I would like to publicly acknowledge the many people whose support made 'Triumph Over Tragedy, Voices of Hope' event at National Sports Centre on September 4 such an outstanding success.

I would like to express my sincere thanks first to the Lord, for He was the reason for this concert. I would also like to thank the members of the Bermuda Government, our event administrative team, the members of Cornerstone and related staff from various churches and you, the Bermuda people, for making September 4, 2004 a truly wonderful and inspiring night.

It was the first event in Bermuda's history with an attendance of more than 8,000 people, yet there were no acts of violence or disrespect. It goes to show that although we are a people from various backgrounds, we can still come together in peace and respect one another.

It is my prayer that our Island home will return to the foundation of love for God and for one another, and that the atmosphere of peace that was evident on September 4, will become a consistent of our daily lives.

Again, thank you all.

GARY C. SIMONS

Senior Pastor

Cornerstone Bible Fellowship

September 12, 2004

Dear Sir,

A friend and I were discussing the mismanagement of the Berkeley site the other evening, and the outcome of that discussion is as follows:

The Government and the Opposition have proposed that an assessment of the Berkeley site to determine the work that has been done ? the work that needs to be done ? and if any, the work that needs to be corrected, so that the work can be started up again ? also, to produce a document that will be used in arbitration with Pro-Active Management Systems (PMS) to determine what is owing to PMS. It has now been agreed that, to be fair, PMS will do its own independent assessment and the Government will do theirs.

This should achieve the goals mentioned above i.e., the continuation of the work with another construction entity ? a settlement with PMS ? a settlement with Union Assets Holdings (UAH) (the BIU's subsidiary company that provided the completion bond) ? and the Government's main goal, which is the conclusion of the job with the children finally occupying the school. Everybody will walk away from this happy except the poor taxpayer! The poor taxpayer who may very well have to pay increased taxes next year because of some person, or persons, major mismanagement disaster.

With an assessment, accountability, responsibility, gross over-runs of millions of dollars will all be swept under the carpet. The public will still have no way of knowing what really went wrong and they will be footing the bill. One has to wonder, was there corruption?

Who was so slack in Government and in Pro-Active to cause cost over-runs of this magnitude, and, how can this be prevented from happening again? Overall, we know that the Government is responsible, but, now we have Government blaming PMS, and PMS blaming Government. Someone is responsible, and someone has got to take responsibility for this mess.

Pro-Active called for a Commission of Inquiry and this is exactly what's needed to find the answers to these many questions so that the public will know exactly what went on. This will also be for the general good of Bermuda in the future. The inquiry should be one that has the authority to subpoena individuals and to question them under oath.

Indeed, with the magnitude of the problems with the Berkeley site which is almost two years late and millions of dollars over budget, along with the information that has been deliberately kept from the public, and is still being kept from the public, are such, that the Governor, who still has a responsibility for the welfare of the people of these islands, should have set up an inquiry long ago. The Opposition, who also has a major responsibility in protecting the interest of the public, should too, have called for an inquiry.

A Commission of Inquiry, or a Royal Commission of Inquiry, is the only way that the public will get answers to the many questions; accusations and counter-accusations surrounding what obviously took place on this site. Some of the questions that need to be answered for example are: Did the Government not have a project manager and an architect on site representing their interest? Is it true there were major architectural faults that caused long delays? Did the civil service cause delays on this job deliberately or inadvertently, or, not at all? Were materials being trucked from the Berkeley site to individual private house building sites? It is still not too late to set up an inquiry to find the answers, as the answers will not be found through an assessment, this will only serve as a cover up.

Mr. Editor, we the people demand answers to the many unanswered questions for this gross mismanagement ... after all, it is our money (millions of it) and we have a right to know. This Government cannot provide us with any answers because they are a part of the problem and they have lost all credibility!

PAT FERGUSON

Warwick

August 21, 2003

Dear Sir,

Please allow me just a few sentimental feelings about internal affairs.

Britain recently passed a law called 'gang masters'. Essentially the law is about business piracy and not so qualified managers being in positions of vital responsibility.

The motivators of this have been the influx of big business from Continental Europe and North America that are not conforming with the British landscape.

Rather they are trying to change it for their benefit.

Many years ago Bermuda experienced the same with the building of the Southampton Princess, a hotel far too big for Bermuda but the hotel gave us jobs.

But no one has questioned the impact on the people of Bermuda, so.

We, as people, went through ? working and staying out of trouble mostly.

Trying to please the boss and we don't say much about nothing and live a conservative life.

But then we realise, if everyone is conservative, who will we associate with?

So, we bored the Americans out of the hotels by trying to teach them the Bermuda way rather than serve them.

That is why we have so many outcast individuals and so many social problems.

I don't know if you took the time to notice it but Bermuda repeated the same mistake.

With the ACE and XL buildings (being) far too big for Bermuda.

In closing, I hope that Bermuda will in the future, question the impact on Bermudians in any decision.

Below is how Bermuda looks right now.

I stress, the above may sound like the guy that had the retirement plan up to 30 years and on the eve of the 29th year and 364th day, jumped out the window because he could not live in Bermuda without work.

Therefore, if we do not want our children to grow up as desperadoes, do force the business owners and managers to provide theoretical and practical references that they are actually fit to employ others.

The working society is in bad shape in Bermuda because owners and managers behave like 'gang masters'.

SANTO ANDREA PORPIGLIA

Southampton

August 21, 2003

Dear Sir,

If a picture is worth a thousand words then there are not enough words to describe the dreadful picture of the rusty Gibbs Hill Lighthouse that appeared in . This 157-year-old national monument is in disgraceful condition and should be given immediate attention.

Quite a few years ago, I served on a committee that saw the need to restore and revitalise this somewhat unusual structure, which was completely assembled in England and then taken apart and rebuilt once again in Bermuda. The lighthouse has undoubtedly served its purpose as a navigational aid over the years and, indeed, today even more sophisticated equipment has been installed for Bermuda's communication needs.

One member of our committee described Gibbs Hill as an "unpolished diamond", however, our ambitious project eventually saw the lighthouse incorporated into our National Park system.

Today that unpolished diamond has turned into a rusty embarrassment. The close-by condo development that is soon to commence construction is another Government decision that should never have been allowed.

Some 100 yards from the lighthouse a Government-owned house has been vacant for almost a year, at a time when promises were made to find accommodation for Bermudians.

Today, it is a hangout for pot-smoking youth.

A little further down the hill, is a Government-owned duplex showing, yet another, deplorable sign of neglect.

This house has broken blinds and is in need of paint while the grounds resemble Tom Moore's jungle.

There are wonderful hotels in Bermuda in the immediate vicinity of Gibbs Hill Lighthouse and I hope Works and Engineering do their part in enhancing Bermuda's tourism image.

W.A. (TOPPY) COWEN

Hamilton