Silence is sickening

January 4, 2003

Dear Sir,

So some of the do-gooders in our society are appalled at the suggestion of a curfew as a means of addressing the anti-social behaviour of our youth. The reason that they are so against it ? It doesn't address the real sources of the problem, which according to them are rampant drug use and economic disparity between rich and poor.

Yet at the same time the do-gooders fail to come up with one single suggestion that addresses either of these issues, much less getting involved in any action to improve the situation. That is like a doctor saying that he isn't sure how to treat the disease, so he refuses to address the symptoms. Well guess what ! The symptoms kill the patient whilst the doctor is thinking about the cause.

Furthermore, the do-gooders' comments fail to take into account the fact that this situation not only affects our youth, but also law-abiding citizens and tourists. How are the rest of us supposed to deal with youths running around with the horrendous weapons that they carry? How will our tourists react to being confronted by machete-wielding brats?

If this anti-social behaviour is allowed to negatively impact tourism, which it undoubtedly will without a curfew, then the poor in our society will get infinitely poorer. If, as the do-gooders claim, poverty is one of the principal reasons for this behaviour, the situation will get infinitely worse.

Yet some of the same do-gooders sit in their ivory towers and make their comments, which do not help in any way, whilst their (lavish) lifestyles are paid for by international business, which by its impact on the cost of housing, is the single biggest cause of poverty in Bermuda. It is time for them to put up or shut up !

WORRIED

Hamilton Parish

January 2, 2003

Dear Sir,

Let me say that while Mr. Llewellyn Peniston is not one of my favourite people I must give him his props and lots of credit for how he has spoken out in regards to the 51-year-old delinquent father in yesterday's paper. I mean the nerve of the man to even have the audacity to say how much he spends on a drug/alcohol habit whole he would not support his seven-year-old. And to think that the courts could possibly except such a vile excuse. What is this Island coming to? While children are left emotionally and financially bankrupt, these dead beats are given escape routes for their lack of concern for their own offsprings.

I too have an eight-year-old whose father is in the court system and while he has been to jail for non-payment of maintenance, he to this very day has not paid a dime. I have given him break after break it is all recorded in my case file. He also received a $3,090 credit by fraud. I have spent the last four years trying to bring the matter to the attention of several different judges but to no avail. But if I owed Magistrates' Court any money I would be arrested and jailed. They do not believe in writing off debts or overlooking them.

My son's father has stolen from my son and continues to do so every week. I have worked hard all of my life and supported my four children. Even when times were hard I never gave up, or even looked for an excuse to feed them. I and my husband who by the way supports two children of his own as well as mine do our very best with the little that we have to take care of our family. Mr. Peniston, well done and in my book you do not have to apologise for speaking out for children who have no voice. You've done more publicly for them then a lot of the higher ups.

NO APOLOGIES

Devonshire

P.s. To the dead beats you are man enough to make children be a real man and care for them.

January 2, 2003

Dear Sir,

This letter is probably one of the saddest I have written to you and at the same time one that I feel compelled to write.

On Christmas day 2002, Bermuda, lost a great man. A wonderful father, loving husband, honest businessman and God-fearing human being.

Morris White to me was a man that I considered one of my mentors. Morris White saw in me what many did not and decided to give me a chance. I feel so lucky to have known Morris White.

Mr. Morris White did not care if I was black, brown, blue or green. All that mattered to Mr. White is that once given that chance, that you too conduct yourself honestly and fairly.

Over the years Mr. White and his family became my friends and last year I introduced my young family to this man that was so instrumental in shaping me into the person that I am today.

Morris White also made me laugh. He was such a funny old man. I can remember one time being in his office when I presented him with one of my painting bills and, rather than check my calculations with his desk top calculator Mr. White accidentally started to use the numbers on his touch-tone phone as one. Needless to say we both laughed when we realised what he was doing. We laughed so hysterical that I had stomach pains.

Before leaving his office Mr. White said to me, “now Rammy, if you tell anyone about that, I don't think I will give you anymore painting jobs around here.” I said, “I can't promise that Mr. White, that was too funny”.

In life and in death I love and respect Mr. White and I can only hope that I can be half the man that he was in this life. Bermuda has lost a wonderful person.

While at Mr. White's funeral I started to feel sad for a moment but that did not last long because right there and then I felt a sense of joy that I was able to be touched by such a fine man.

Thank you Mr. White, I will never forget you.

RAMADHIN (RAMMY) SMITH

Pembroke

January 2, 2002

Dear Sir,

Now that the holiday season is over I can no longer exercise restraint in commenting on how appalled I have been at the ludicrous reaction that has been made over a diligent audit report. I audit (amongst other things) and it is a thankless task - no one is pleased to see you coming and all clients squeeze you on the fees and now, in today's post Anderson/Enron (et al) climate, auditors need to comply with more regulations and accept more liability for essentially the same task and fee.

However, there is a huge level of comfort an audit affords a company's stakeholders and likewise, do not we, the people of Bermuda, deserve that same peace of mind? When an entity is audited, the auditor must be given access to any and all records that he or she needs to support an opinion. If UAH has provided a financial guarantee to the audited entity, it would be remiss for any auditor to fail to confirm the existence, valuation etc of that security. Indeed, as a company acting as an insurer, UAH should also be subject to the Bermuda Insurance Act and submit an annual statutory financial return that the Government Auditor could have used as audit evidence.

Why is this entity not subject to the same standards as other insurers, guarantors, captives and reinsurers? What right does the BIU have to fail to account publicly to its members? Why is the BIU so defensive to the point of abuse?

No one seems to have noted that the report was a good one with two exceptions noted - the credit risk of the guarantee and the $700,000 payment. The level of uproar and the tasteless accusations and name-calling that followed only served to draw everyone's attention to this matter. The UBP faced several negative audit reports and I can't recall one of them because they did not behave in such an unseemly manner when certain projects faced criticism. The PLP reaction has been infantile and can be easily rectified by an apology to the Auditor General and a clear mandate to open the matter to the light of public scrutiny.

My understanding is that when companies fail to submit their information on time to the Registrar they can be fined and even closed down. What division of the Registrar is responsible for its oversight failure of the BIU and UAH? As a Government Office that is subject to worldwide attention due to its regulation of over $10 billion of the world's re/insurance assets, the Registrar can not afford to be seen to be negligent and less than diligent (not to mention independent)

How does it look to the Island's critics that we are unable to make our local entities accountable? We have enough negative attention right now with serious lobbying against us in Congress and do not need to gratuitously provide our critics with fuel to fan the fire in the form of a breakdown in the regulatory framework.

NICOLETTE J REISS

USA

January 3, 2003

Dear Sir,

As a Bermudian who has been either directly or indirectly involved for over 20 years in the issue of substance abuse, I've watched recent developments related to this issue with dismay and a disturbing sense of d?j? vu.

The closing of Fair Havens and Camp Spirit, the allegations of misconduct and mismanagement levelled at Focus and ongoing concerns about the effectiveness of the National Drug Commission (NDC) are clear indications of our collective failure to come to grips with this problem.

Unfortunately, these types of crises in Bermuda's war against drugs are not new. They prove the adage that those who don't learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat them.

Remember NADA, born in 1985 of recommendations from Dr. David Archibald's Royal Commission on Drugs? This body was so universally condemned as ineffective that Dr. Archibald had to be brought back to Bermuda to provide additional strategic guidance. His second report, produced in 1992 and supported by both the PLP and the UBP, ultimately resulted in the passage of legislation mandating the formation of the NDC.

The NDC was (and is) designed to be the national governing body with ultimate responsibility for crafting a coordinated substance abuse plan that includes strategies for education, prevention, rehabilitation and treatment. This organisation was supposed to build the alliances and partnerships that are necessary for government and private sector agencies to work together to solve the substance abuse problem. If there is one thing those involved in this issue agree on, it's that a solution won't be found without a coordinated and collaborative strategy.

But look at the NDC's 10-year track record. Aside from research studies that proved we do indeed have a drugs problem, there has been virtually no effective leadership at the national level. The efforts of three Chairmen to establish an effective national strategy (Alistair McDonald , Mansfield Brock and Malcolm Butterfield) and five CEOs (Eugenie Simmons, Dr. Derek Binns , Calvin Ming, as acting CEO, Chris Weininger and Dr. Phillip), have been for nought.

Now look at the agencies involved in delivering services. 10 years ago, they were clamouring for funding for their programmes. With the blessing of the NDC, The Council Partners Charitable Trust was established in 1993 to act as a private-sector funding agency. (Health Minister Nelson Bascome doesn't seem to understand that The Council Partners raises and allocates funds. The organisation does not govern the agencies it funds.)

PRIDE, Focus, Fair Haven, the Bermuda Life Skills programme and CADA were able to receive funding they needed, as long as they produced business plans and could demonstrate the effectiveness of their programmes.

So the structure was in place. A national governing body, supported by a private funding agency, was going to work together to tackle Bermuda's problem of drugs once and for all.

It hasn't happened. Instead, what we have is a fractured system populated by “leaders” who spend more time finger pointing than finding out what isn't working, why and fixing it. We have agencies who want the money without the accountability.

Why has it been so hard to make any inroads?

I believe that most of the persons who've been involved in governing and leading the NDC and the agencies delivering programmes have demonstrated a woeful lack of courage. They refuse to ask, the tough questions. This, coupled with an absence of professional experience in building effective systems, has created Bermuda's own addiction - choosing form over substance.

As a result, crises flare at all too regular intervals. Public statements are full of euphemisms and platitudes; privately, the mantra is “don't rock the boat”.

Those professionals who enter the system, confident they can make a difference and committed to best practices and universal standards, are being worn down by the politicking and the face-saving that plagues Bermuda's drugs “strategy”. One by one, they're leaving the system. We are losing superior talent and mediocrity in winning.

I understand that The Council Partners Charitable Trust is considering disbanding, following one too many battles with agencies who don't want to be accountable for the funds they receive and with a Health Minister who is too busy saving his political hide to pay attention to what's going on.

We have been repeating our mistakes for far too long.

Here's a sample of outstanding issues that have yet to be clarified or addressed:

*Chris Weininger resigned after less than a year as CEO at the NDC - no one believes it was “to pursue other interests”

* The service providers who make up the Addiction Certification Board have been allowed to grandfather themselves the status of Addiction Counsellor, with no evidence they warrant it or that they maintain it

* Austin Warner Jr., a professional with 25 years' counseling experience, has been denied certification by this Board

* The Minister of Health shut down Ms. Weininger ‘s investigation of the Addiction Certification Board, which receives $75,000 a year in funding by the NDC

* The recommendations of the Butler report (which reviewed Focus' activities and Bermuda's treatment system), the Bercon Report (which also reviewed Focus) and the Ogbourne Report (a review of the research activities of the NDC), undertaken at the request of the NDC and funded by Bermuda tax payers, have not been made public

* There has been no public report following the recent financial audit of the NDC

* Executive Director of Fair Haven, Anne Vance, an internationally-recognised treatment facility manager, has resigned after just one year - and again, no one believes the reason given to the media

* A Drugs Court was established ahead of a national drugs plan and a system that could respond to the inflow of clients

* The Executive Director of Focus, who counsels clients of this agency, is a voting member of the Focus Board

* Clients who are receiving therapy from the Executive Director of Focus are also members of the Board

* Focus has an unexplained $90,000 deficit, in spite of agreeing to account for the funds they are allocated by The Council Partners Charitable Trust

* The Executive Director of CADA, another agency which committed to financial accountability, resigned amid allegations of mismanagement of funds

* The Bermuda Assessment and Referral Centre (BARC ), which is funded by the NDC, has been allowed to hire untrained, newly-graduated female counsellors to deal with hard core criminals and drug addicts, a contact point where experience makes a difference

* Most disturbing of all, there still is no national plan.

All of this would be pretty much “same old-same old” and could be dismissed as behaviour that's typical of a small, isolated community, where it not for the massive economic and social impact that drugs continue to have on Bermuda. No other self-respecting country would accept this behaviour or allow it to continue.

But ask for answers to these questions, or require that agencies account for the funding they receive or risk losing the funding, and you'll be branded ineffective, or “deficient”, or racist.

Let's ask the tough questions. Let's make the tough calls. Someone has to do the right thing. What's been going on, for far too long, is wrong. What's more, we all know it's wrong.

Do we care enough to make it right?

B.D.D.

Paget