On February 19th, students of the In Motion School of Dance held their third annual KBB-Assisted Trash-a-thon, collecting over 40 bags of trash and recyclables from the Bernard's Park and Palmetto Road area. This was In Motion's second year at the sight and although they collected an approximated 3,800 pieces of trash (comprising mainly of empty cans and bottles), it was a slight improvement from last year's total of 5,310. In addition to raising funds for the purchase of costumes for their upcoming dance recital, students also gained a better appreciation of the litter problem in Bermuda, and the importance of maintaining our Island's beauty.

Despite the efforts of small groups such as ours, the litter problem is a large one, and will continue to escalate unless we all show a bit more respect for our Island and its inherent beauty. The number of glass bottles and cans being thrown into the bushes is alarming and further brought to light when participating in a cleanup and picking them up. Our group alone collected over one thousand bottles from the Bernard's Park area, which apparently has its own Government funded clean-up crew! Nonetheless it is everyone's responsibility and we all need to work a little harder to help keep Bermuda clean.

In Motion would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those students who participated for a fabulous job, and especially thank those parents, teachers and friends who kindly provided transport and assistance for the event. Thanks also goes to KBB for their guidance and support, and to those persons who kindly donated towards keeping our Island beautiful and supporting our youth in the arts.

Congratulations on a job well done LIZ PIMENTAL Director `Expat CEO's' letter key March 1, 2000 Dear Sir, Wake up Bermuda! The writing is now clearly and finally on the wall for all of us to see. Expat CEO has written a very important letter, and we need to set aside our attitudes and our arrogance and listen very carefully to what he had to say.

Do we realise how easy it actually is for these companies to pick up and leave? Don't be comforted by long-term leases and huge office buildings in Hamilton keeping them here. The cost of these is just a drop in the bucket compared to their actual and potential earnings, and they don't need to put up with our constant moaning and outright expat bashing.

These companies began coming here because Bermuda offered an excellent location, political stability, and a favourable business climate in which they could thrive. Let's get this straight once and for all. They are here to make money for their shareholders, not to act as The Great Charity for Bermudian beneficiaries. It is time we all acknowledged what the success of these companies has meant for Bermuda. We have never been better off economically.

We have never been better off culturally. Look at our visual and performing arts. They are flourishing. Winslow Homer The Bolshoi, Alvin Ailey, Georgia O'Keeffe all in tiny little Bermuda! WOW! Let's not forget the XL school computer project and the huge number of exempt company scholarships offered to our students each year.

While we're expat bashing, we should acknowledge that every one of us holding a university degree earned it at a foreign university probably in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, or the West Indies. If you think tuition fees cover the cost of running these universities, think again. They are largely funded by taxpayers and philanthropists. And oh! Where would we be genetically without the generous infusion of fresh genes from our foreign grandparents and parents? Perhaps it would be beneficial if the Bermuda College were to offer a short course on basic economics on local television. We all need to understand what the $760 million of foreign currency contributed by the exempt companies really means to our economy. We all need to understand that every tax dollar collected from exempt companies and their employees means one less tax dollar we Bermudians have to pay to run this country.

Shouldn't we be taking advantage of the enormous opportunities our expats have to offer? Our exempt companies attract world class people to our shores. Let us soak up their knowledge. Let us appreciate their enormous generosity to our community. Let us appreciate their diversity and be gracious hosts. And above all, let us not kill the goose that laid the golden egg with our ignorance.

To Expat-CEO -- Thank you for speaking out. I urge you to continue, perhaps by implementing a public relations campaign in the local media to hammer home your startling statistics.

DEBBIE REISS Paget Supports `expat CEO' March 2, 2000 Dear Sir, This is an open letter to the Premier, PLP and Bermuda. Please Listen. I read the letter in the March 1, 2000 Royal Gazette signed by `An Expat CEO'. My reason for writing is to support his words and to implore the Premier, the PLP and Bermuda to listen.

To reiterate his assessment of the annual contribution of the expatriate community living in Bermuda.

1. Exempted companies contribute $760 million in foreign currency to Bermuda, a whopping 80% of the total currency.

2. Exempted companies pay $355 million in local salaries.

3. They pay $193 million in fees to local lawyers and accountants.

4. They pay millions to local landlords.

5. They pay $63 million in taxes to the PLP Government.

6. They give millions to charities to support Bermuda and Bermudians.

7. They spend millions to support cultural and sporting events.

8. They spend millions on airfares enabling airlines to afford the Bermuda route.

They are truly the hands that feed us.

Expatriates are daily bashed in the Press, in the public, on talk shows, in taxis and on the roads. Here are two recent quick examples.

A friend of mine told me that he brought in a large group of businessmen. He put them up at his expense at a local hotel. On the drive from the airport to the hotel, the local taxi driver turned to his passengers and out of the blue said. `We don't need you here, you know...' When asked why, the cab driver repeated... `We just don't need you foreigners here...we can do it ourselves.' Another friend told me that he heard a discussion at the airport between several local taxi drivers who were musing about the reason for the mergers that were taking place in Bermuda between giant exempted companies... the reason the agreed on was that... `The mergers were taking place to keep the black Bermudians down..' There are many more examples. Who is putting out this almost subversive anti-Expat thinking? Who is behind it? Is it being pushed under the guise of sustainable development? If it is not the policy of the Bermuda Government, who doesn't the Government jump in and put a stop to it? Whose fine hand is weaving these policies? Who is it? Our Expat CEO is also dead right about the need for first class people to work in our world class exempted companies. As he said, we do not proportionately produce the number of high IQ individuals to fill the demand. Don't get offended remember he said, proportionately. He is not saying Bermudians are dumber! Ergo, if we want the exempted companies to stay, we must provide them with the opportunity to hire the calibre of people they must hire. At the moment we have confused them with an affirmative action policy that can't possibly work because the qualified Bermudians are just not here. However they are doing their best to fund as many scholarships as they possibly can.

It shows a naivete that is mind boggling unless it is intentional. So face it we, Bermuda, will never be able to fill all the vacancies in the exempted company job market. Conversely they will not accept unqualified people to fill those positions.

What will they do? They will go somewhere else. After all what else can they do? They have to stay competitive so they will go where they can be competitive. They will leave Bermuda.

Remember the Bahamas and Lyndon Pindling's "Bend or break'' speech? For those who were not around at that time, Pindling spoke to the exempted companies immediately after the PLP came to power and warned them that they would have to conform or be broken.

What did the exempted companies in the Bahamas do? They left the Bahamas and came to Bermuda. Ask yourself if this is reminiscent of the Premier's "At your Peril'' speech? We don't know yet do we? But we do know that the Expat bashing is on the increase, we do know it is starting to hit home with the Expat, don't we? So what to do, Bermuda? I suggest you take heed of the contribution made by the expatriate community.

Put those numbers into your thinking cap. Get on the web and learn about the trickle down effect, simply put it's the fact that one buck contributed by the off shore community probably circulates three or four times as it works its way through the community paying rent, taxes, taxis, domestics, schools, telecom, power, supermarkets, shops, etc. etc.

When you are done there learn a little about what foreign currency contribution to Bermuda means. Ask your economist friends if the $760 million in foreign currency contributed by exempted companies has anything to do with the US dollars you get from the banks to travel abroad, pay tuition fees or medical fees? Ask them what would happen if that dwindled to fifty percent? When you have done all that why not start on a fresh page, turn the page over, forget the past and call up an expat that you know, work with, or who is your tenant. Apologise for any bashing they have experienced and pledge your support for the contribution they are making. Then, get on the telephone and call your MP and plead for proper treatment of offshore businesses and ask them to recognise the great contribution they have made to this community.

After that jump on the talk shows and shout your newfound story from the rooftops.

Finally to paraphrase William Williams: "Bermudians have jobs because exempted companies are here, not the other way around''.

WARD YOUNG, MBE Chairman BDC Ltd.

Setting record straight March 1, 2000 Dear Sir, In response to your article in today's paper, I thought that your readers may be interested to hear the truth.

Firstly, I totally refute the comments attributed to me concerning Ms Cox. I recognise that Ms Cox has a political mandate to pursue given to her by the Bermudian people and I certainly do not wish her, or anyone else in Bermuda, any harm. As a six year work permit veteran I would certainly recognise the danger of making the alleged statement to a group of Bermudian staff and no one who knows me would think me capable of such stupidity. I made no such statement to staff, or to anyone else and the accusation that I did has been made purely to discredit me by people who choose to remain anonymous. I have no idea why, but as a manager it is impossible to be liked by all of your staff, all of the time.

To put the record straight, I was told on February 10th just twelve days before my work permit expired, that my position was being Bermudianised.

Having worked diligently for the bank for six years, receiving such short notice was, of course, disappointing. The bank however asked me to stay on for a further three months and applied for a temporary work permit for me. In the last two weeks I have been pursing the possibility of alternative employment in Bermuda, a prospect which is, of course, now significantly diminished by malicious unsubstantiated and incorrect allegations.

On Monday 27th February I was told by the bank that my continued employment was causing some "tension'' in the office, due, I suspect, to the discomfort (or perhaps even guilt) experienced by my Bermudian replacement, who I trained and who would have had to work with me over the coming three months.

Discomfort, perhaps exacerbated by the fact that my replacement was several grades below me in our hierarchy, necessitating an unprecedented double promotion for him to assume my position.

In breach of their agreement to retain me for a further three months, the Bank cancelled my application for a temporary work permit and requested that I leave immediately giving me no formal notice. Of course this has left me in a very difficult position. Quite a "thank you'' for my service and loyalty to the Bank and quite a comment on their claim to be a responsible and concerned employer.

It may also interest your readers to know that over the last six years I have constantly trained a succession of Bermudian employees, including my replacement, to do my job. I have taught many courses at the Bermuda College to enable Bermudians to learn more about the trust industry, and in short feel I have been a model employee and a model resident. If this can happen to me it can happen to any expatriate.

Whilst I was upset to lose my position I realised that it was always a possibility. All that I asked was to be given reasonable notice and to be allowed to look for an alternative positive here if one was available. I accepted my fate with good grace and certainly did not expect to be vilified in this way. It would seem that someone has taken my imminent departure from the bank as an opportunity to settle a grudge or to ensure that I had to leave the Island. However as a manager you cannot be universally popular. My skills, experience, loyalty and commitment are qualities that I thought would be appreciated. Apparently not, and what has happened to me means that no expatriates here can count on any security.

I intend to write to Ms. Cox refuting this outrageous allegation.

SHARON LAMB Hamilton Didn't appreciate trash March 1, 2000 Dear Sir, I'd like to start by thanking the Bermudian public who came to watch the go-kart race along Front Street on February 27. We really appreciate it.

However, what we did not appreciate is the tons of trash left behind by the public. Most of us had been there since 5 a.m. that day. Setting up started at 7 a.m. Six containers of hay, hundreds of barriers and tyres, rope and fencing had to be put in place to ensure your safety and ours. After a long and exciting day all of this had to be put away. It was most disheartening to have the added job of picking up an unreal amount of trash left behind, all because you were not considerate enough to find a trash bin or take your trash home with you. Please be more considerate next time.

Another disappointment at the end of the day came from a surprising source. As a group of us were on our knees picking up the trash on the corner of Front and Queen Streets, an unmarked police car came ripping down the street the wrong way towards us at an extremely fast speed. No lights. No siren. Just a `burp' of a siren as it got close to us and sent us scrambling to the sidewalks for safety. As it passed by us one of us yelled `slow down!' The un-uniformed officer yelled back to `shut-up!' Nice officer! No wonder there is a lack of respect for the police.

Other than these two slight problems it was a great day Sir! TIRED GO-KARTER Pembroke