“All the Premier [Ewart Brown] can say is ‘we will have a safe house' and all the Public Safety Minister [David Burch] can say is ‘no' when asked for some funding and help. And you wonder why these young boys want to pick up a gun? They have all seen a dead body, blood everywhere, and then they have seen what it has done to their family. Their mother's gone crazy, their little sister is scared and they're angry. The shootings and unsolved murders are turning normal people into ticking time bombs.” Youth on the Move president Carlton Simmons on the impact violence is having on the community“I think part of that lack of support is he's one of the most ardent supporters for what many people see as a gay rights agenda. Bermuda has been a very, very conservative and even religious society when it comes to certain types of issues. People have a very, very firm view on the issue of sexual orientation based on their religious beliefs. Every time he's floated the issue, he's had a brushback.” Premier Ewart Brown's consultant Rolfe Commissiong on why he thought Government backbencher Dale Butler's premiership ambitions would fail.“One thing about those days, if you went to school and you did something you shouldn't have done, and someone saw, they would tell your mother, and she would give licks. My mother kept me right straight. She was so strict with me I expect I might live to be 200. I was never as strict when I was raising my own children.” Esmee Burrows, 103.“We haven't heard anything. We haven't been able to contact anyone. It's kind of heart wrenching not knowing what's going on. It's one of those situations where you say no news is good news, but no news is not good news. We know that the devastation is going to be insurmountable. ...We're really in the Lord's hands at this point. It's just the worst catastrophe I have ever imagined.” Haitian-born Frigga Simmons following the earthquake that devastated the Caribbean nation.“The posts have not been advertised, but significant interest has been shown in working for the Government in this forum. Working in the Washington DC office may present an opportunity for a secondment or transfer within the public service and as such external advertising will be considered after full consideration of these and other options.” Cabinet Secretary Marc Telemaque tells The Royal Gazette that a Washington DC office opened by the Bermuda Government in September 2009 to “immeasurably strengthen the links” between the Island and the US is still without staff.“He kept saying he couldn't breathe. When we got to the hospital, not one doctor came and said ‘this isn't looking good'. My sisters are just telling me now that they heard the machines shut off and him shouting out. God was with me the whole time. We went from ‘he's OK' to ‘he's passed'. That middle part just wasn't there, which is just devastating. It would have been devastating to any parent or family. I thought it would be a long recuperation period.” Carla Basden whose son, Dereiko Simons, died in a road accident January 9. Ms Basden said she was assured that he would be fine only moments before his death.