I would like to thank the taxi driver who returned my dry cleaning the day after my letter to him appeared in The Royal Gazette . I understand that he had been sick and that was why he did not drop off the clothes sooner.

I have learned much from this entire experience. 1. Never leave anything in a taxi cab (especially your husband's suit jacket). 2. Always get the name and taxi number of your driver.

If you do not know your taxi driver's name or taxi number, it is a hit and miss exercise to find items left in a taxi. After calling the taxi dispatchers, and many private taxi drivers, with no luck, I had no choice but to try a letter in the paper. There must be a simpler way to deal with lost items, and I am sure many people, including may tourists, have had similar experiences.

It is time to establish a central lost and found for all taxis (private or otherwise). I'll see what I can do.

NITA GREWAL Devonshire Go on the US stop list January 7, 2000 Dear Sir, I have had enough. First, I have to hear a Government Minister make very disparaging remarks about America, of which I am a citizen. Then I have to see a letter to the editor from Manie Ible in support of Mr. Lister's comments.

This letter was entitled "A place of pure evil'', in which Mr. Ible calls the USA exactly that. This letter is ridiculous. Yes, we have had leaders of our Country shot (I seem to recall the same has happened here) but the acts of a madman cannot be used as a barometer for the rest. You say "nobody blinks an eye'' when a President is shot? What planet are you on? The nation has grieved greatly when this has happened.

You write "a place that born the Bakers, the Swaggerts, the Jim Jones, etc, etc...'' Yes, the same place that "born'' Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, F.D.R., Dwight Eisenhower, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Bill Gates, etc, etc.

If you don't like the USA Mr. Ible, don't go there. We won't miss you.

Now to Mr. Lister who started all of this nonsense. Imagine the uproar if an American politician negotiating with the island were to have called Bermuda "a place that is a crime ridden, economically parasitic, roach infested, small-town-that-thinks-it's-a-country, full of lazy, jaded, whiners that's as consequential as a wart on a rat's butt.'' How do you think that would go over here Mr. Lister? Probably as well as your remarks would go over in the States.

Thankfully you have no presence or influence there so your comments have not been widely publicised, though I'm sure a few Congressmen and senior Pentagon staffers would find your statements interesting. It would be a shame if the rest of this country were tainted by your remarks.

I especially found ironic how you find it difficult to bring yourself to negotiate with people in the military who "kill''. Let's be very clear on this, Mr. Lister; you personally enjoy a great many benefits from the sacrifices that those people have made. And I'm talking about the military members that you are negotiating with, not just the fallen. They have given themselves to service in the name of ideas that are greater than any one country or person. They have spent time away from family and friends, in dangerous places and miserable conditions so that people like you have the comfort of a secure home. As part of that secure home, they have helped protect your very right to trash them without going to the gulag or worse.

Keep that in mind. These people who you seem to look down upon or loathe have helped ensure Bermuda's security as well as a vast portion of the world. They and those like them have helped stop barbarism the planet over.

The military members of the eastern world have patrolled the seas, skies and battlefield of the world to help stop the spread of oppression, so that you didn't have to break a nail while you enjoyed the sunshine, ocean and affluence of Bermuda.

As anyone who knows me will agree, I certainly do not support the inappropriate actions of Bill Clinton in the Oval Office and his untruthful statements under oath. I supported his impeachment. But to condemn the entire leadership of the USA as immoral is grossly inaccurate and inappropriate.

There are and have been many great and moral leaders in the US, and there will be many more. Ones that have the decency not to trash their neighbours, especially when they depend on them for their existence. You would only be so lucky if you could emulate them.

Since Mr. Lister and Mr. Ible feel that the US is so devoid of morals and full of immoral people who kill, may I make a suggestion? I call on both men to voluntarily place themselves on the US Stop List and publicly pledge never to travel to that swirling cauldon of despicable devilry known as the United States of America. If not, then they should retract their statements. Put your money where your mouth is, as they say.

Mr. Lister, your careless statements have the potential to harm your representation of the people of this country in an important process with the very folks you have insulted. Part of your elected role is that of a diplomat.

Try acting like one. The people of this country deserve no less.

MIKE BEARDEN US Veteran and Citizen Warwick They paid a heavy price January 7, 2000 Dear Sir, Your editorial on the topic of the Queen's Honours prompted an acquaintance to ask me, where were Kingsley Tweed and Comrade Lynch? Their soapbox oratory during the Theatre Boycott was undoubtedly responsible for the ultimate success of the boycott. They kept the crowds united and peaceful with high morale in the face of criticisms, sometimes from other blacks. They did not have the protection of anonymity as did those who have been recognised in the Queen's Honours.

The harsh vindictive climate of the period ensured that both of them paid a very heavy price while the anonymous group have, because of their anonymity, been able to benefit from the changes.

Someone else called me to ask, in light of the presence of members of the Woodshop, where was the name of Rolfe Commissiong in the luncheon on combating crime? The Woodshop is doing an excellent job in attempting to rehabilitate those who have gone astray. They have very graciously been given support by the Renaissance Reinsurance. Mr. Commissiong did not have the support of a significant member of the business establishment. In spite of his differences with them he has been a loyal supporter of the PLP. In view of the very poignant letter in today's Royal Gazette by an Outraged Citizen, I am certain that Mr. Commissiong has not found it easy to gain employment.

It seems to me, in view of both these incidents, as well as the letter by Kimberly Mensah and despite the letter by Libra, this Government has the challenge of not only addressing the problems noted by Hamilton Parish Voter but in making it evident that they are prepared to go beyond what was "acceptable'' to the previous Government or the current economic power structure, and not merely attempt to improve their failed policies.

The Progressive Group has become acceptable, and the Renaissance Reinsurance has given some acceptability to the Woodshop. The PLP must meet a greater challenge of the continuing subtle psychological indignities of continued control -- economic or otherwise.

EVA HODGSON Hamilton Parish Defending LOM Building January 5, 2000 Dear Sir, While on the Island, I have been reading and hearing about the controversy swirling around the LOM Building at Burnaby and Reid Streets.

I am a Bermudaphile and architectural historian with specific expertise in Bermuda architecture. As the author of a recently completed biography of W.R.

Onions, I have strong interest in the preservation of the architectural heritage and beauty of Bermuda.

I must admit that my first reaction to the letters, from Mr. Trott in The Royal Gazette , and Ban Black Marble in the Mid-Ocean News, was "How delighted the architect must be that people are noticing his creation''. All too often, a new building causes no comment whatsoever and one must assume that the public are indifferent to it. Remember that Hamilton City Hall was harshly criticised in the beginning also.

With direct reference to the LOM building; having spent the last three weeks walking past it and looking at it from various angles, I must confess to some bewilderment over the criticism. I like it. It has clean crisp lines, it complements its corner site, blending in with The Royal Gazette Stationery Store and the Bank of Butterfield extension. The overhanging cornice and cylindrical corner of the LOM Building refer to the 19th Century look of the intersection and even recall the old Tower building that once stood diagonally across from it. The dark green granite at street level and the granite window surrounds provide both texture and the impression of sculptural moulding to the facade while still remaining true to the "Less is more'' dictum of Mies Van der Roe. From a distance, indeed from across the harbour, the windows have the illusion of being deeply carved into the facade of the building.

It would seem that the major complaint against the building is the unnaturalness of the "Non-Bermuda'' black granite (Its really dark green-black granite is much darker, comes from South Africa and is hideously expensive, but I digress.) Yes, granite is not native to Bermuda, but neither is concrete or steel. Are the writers suggesting these materials should be banned as un-Bermudian? Or is the objection to the visible use of un-Bermudian materials? A second criticism was that black is not a traditional Bermuda pastel colour.

Remember that the "pastel colours'' of paint have not been a Bermudian tradition for more than 75 years, not long in the history of the island's architecture.

H. SMITH Georgeville, Quebec