Sentence was lenient

April 26, 2006

Dear Sir,

The article in today?s paper with the six horses and a rabbit being subjected to the most inhumane treatment by their owner Mr. Calix Darrell sickened me.

Not only did he deprive those poor animals of basic food and water, he also denied them daylight and fresh air. Obviously he knew what he was doing was wrong because he kept a lock on those stables. But many thanks to the person who called the SPCA on him. Typically his excuse for starving his animals was money problems, well he could have given them up when the SPCA tried to work with him.

Mr. Darrell, I don?t see the logic in your question about you being a black man, what does that have to do with it? Plain and simple you decided to starve your animals. Hopefully, the surviving horses will go to proper owners that will love and nourish them, they deserve it after the poor treatment during their life with you.

Also your lawyer asking the Magistrate for leniency because you are so broken up over losing your animals is hilarious. Your heart wasn?t breaking every time you ate a meal or drank a glass of drink, knowing your animals hadn?t seen you for their food or water.

Your ban should have been life plus a sentence of three years in jail for gross neglect with the fine. This punishment would be a deterrent for the other animal abusers out there. You know who you are!

Horrified by cruelty

April 26, 2006

Dear Sir,

The front page of today was horrifying. Those poor animals were left to fend for themselves, without food and water in dirty stable conditions exposed to all kinds of insects, I?m sure.

It goes to show that some people should not have animals in their care, ever. It baffles me as to why the SPCA took so long to take these animals away from this jerk. Why were they left in his care after being taken away from him before? Why didn?t the SPCA check on those animals every day or even every other day? Why did these animals suffer for so long before anything was done? It completely and utterly disgusts me.

Do we honestly think that in five years, when he again owns animals, which he cannot afford to feed, he will treat them any better? Is this system continually going to give these people a slap on the hand each and every time they mistreat animals? It?s about time we stood up for these animals and talked to our MPs about these laws we have and possibly have them increased or even have the responsible party forced into some sort of service for animals where they can learn to treat them with dignity. Maybe they should be forced to provide volunteer services with SPCA.

Mr. Darrell should be made to pay for every penny that was spent on vet?s bills and the SPCA?s time. If he can?t afford it, there is such a thing as a payment plan. Mr. Darrell should never be allowed to own animals again, and that should be the end of it.

Open-minded Govt.

April 17, 2006

Dear Sir,

A few years ago too many Bermudians called the Talk Shows to complain about the Filipino community winning a prize in the Bermuda Day parade when their entry did not depict the theme.

?What a crying shame,? I thought at the time, because they had been encouraged to enter and they did not give themselves a prize. Well, before you know it they dropped out, crushed and confused because all they wanted was to show Bermudians a small part of their culture. What a shame because they are accused of just being here to make money; which is their right and to send it home, which again is their right if they so choose. What a shame that they are accused of having a savings plan. Actually a plan, period, just like so many of the West Indians and Portuguese who came here. No different.

Recently the Minister of Community Affairs, Mr. Butler gave over $120,000 to Bermudian organisations ranging in amounts from $23,000 down to $3,000. I expected to hear applause for the Government?s actions but lo and behold a few disenchanted and totally selfish Bermudians started to complain that the Filipinos should not have been given a cent. How selfish. I am absolutely certain that last year at the end of the parade I heard the Talk Show callers ask: ?Where are the Filipinos?? Make up your mind.

Recently our cricket team received $100,000 from a Texas billionaire to support cricket. Should he have kept the money? Of course not. Our students get educated in Canada and England at a reduced rate. Should we tell those countries not to give us reductions? $3,000 is a little bit of money to broaden the perspective of our heritage parade. Other countries invite our regiment band and our Gombeys and they go out of their way to make it a nice visit.

Surely it is worth it to us to have the Filipinos in the parade, unless it is the goal of the callers to treat them the exact same way their West Indian forefathers were treated when they came here. As second class citizens. Surely that is not the goal. The Filipino community are rarely in court, impose discipline on themselves, and have supported charities like Hope Homes, Physical Abuse, The Red Cross and many others. The same can be said for the Portuguese community and the West Indian Community and many others, so why PICK on them for $3,000.

The Talk Show callers have it wrong. They heard Mrs. Shirley Dill VSB Talk Show host mentioned three of the 12 groups receiving money. While she could have mentioned three Bermuda Groups she repeatedly mentioned the Filipinos in the line up until it yielded a negative response. I feel it would have been ignored but by constantly mentioning them and not all of the others, she gave it a life and of course played right into the hands of a minority. Thank God that since those days last week most people are happy to know their Government is not so narrow minded but has a heart.

The real issue, I think, is not the $3,000 but the resentment that is growing in the community that they are here and in spite of all the obstacles that Bermudians see, they see opportunities the same way the West Indians and the Portuguese saw when they first came here.

Surely the $3,000 they received from the community pales as compared to the $120,000 Bermudian groups received. I am thankful we have a Government that can give back and has a much broader perspective than the few narrow minded people who spend so much time complaining about the small stuff while the bigger issues are ignored.

Stop the lecturing

May 3, 2006

Dear Sir,

Having read Annie Sousa?s Letter to the Editor of Wednesday, April 26, 2006, I find it once again annoying to read any article from this woman about animals.

Firstly I am neither against DNA Entertainment or supporting them in their efforts to bring animals to Bermuda. However, I would like to point out that a lot of our children of this Island would never see types of exquisite animals if groups like DNA Entertainment did not bring them to Bermuda. Some parents just do not have the financial resources to take their children abroad to visit zoos.

Please, please Annie, give us a break with your comments about bringing animals to Bermuda on a boat journey, which would last three days.

You raced your own pony down the Vesey Street track at some point, we all saw you! You watched the pony races after that! Did you not do this for sport and entertainment?

You?re telling us now that it?s OK to reach a pony, whipping it round a track, or watching others race for entertainment, but it?s not OK for DNA Entertainment to bring animals to Bermuda for entertainment.

You also know your pony as well as most others did not just drop from the sky! These ponies come mainly from the US on a ship that takes three days. How could you in all conscience complain about anyone bringing in animals when you were physically involved in a sport where most of these ponies were brought to Bermuda by ship? You watched and participated in this sport for entertainment. But, yet you can criticise DNA Entertainment.

I?m ready to talk

May 1, 2006

Dear Sir,

I would like to thank Dr. Hodgson for being kind enough to respond to my article regarding her comments about racism and the Cricket Board, along with taking the time to inform me regarding those who fought for racial equality. I would respectfully note that simply reading about history is not the same as actually having lived in it. It does not give me the right to act as an authority on the topic, and, as such, I felt it was prudent to offer the disclaimer. I simply try not to base my views on hearsay.

As I have little knowledge of events that antedate my life, I make no attempt to debate Dr. Hodgson on those points here. I am, however, versed in the present, and it is about this, which I wish to comment.

What I witness today are blacks who still remain bound in chains. They are not the chains of slavery enforced by whites but the symbolic chains held primarily by other blacks. These chains bind each black to one another so that whenever one gets close to getting ahead, the rest yank on it to pull him down ? sometimes verbally, other, physically. This is the crux of the racism we suffer today.

Why else would any black member of a political party, who decides to choose party lines based upon the issues, rather than colour, be termed a ?house nigger?? Somehow choosing to follow one party or another in a democratic society is deemed wrong as you are to be enslaved by your colour and follow the lead of others ?who look and sound like? you. It is with this that I am most saddened. We live in a racially mixed world; indeed, I, like many Bermudians, am of mixed heritage and am proud of it.

In excerpts from a letter written by Marc Wetherhill to Limey in Bermuda, Mr. Wetherhill quotes Dr. Hodgson?s original article which stated that the Bermuda Cricket Board went to look for a white non-Bermudian to lead, yet he suggests this is incorrect as that individual served on the board for over seven years. It is also pointed out that Dr. Hodgson believed that the board is ?made up of black Bermudians? and ?all black men?. This is also incorrect, as Mr. Wetherhill points out, for not only is he white and a secretary of the board, but there are also three women on it as well. Nit-picking over such factual nuances won?t advance the ball however, that which Dr. Hodgson and I seek to advance: one of racial equality and the absence of racial tension.

Dr. Hodgson?s attack on black members of the cricket board (suggesting that they are ?symbolically returning to the plantation?) is inaccurate and only further supports the view that this was another case of black on black racism.

I wholeheartedly support Dr. Hodgson?s view that the issues of racial history should not be brushed aside. It is only fair to note that history is replete with racism being inflicted on all races by others and in myriad ways. It is important to learn from the lessons of history, but also to live in the present, because it is hardly fair to blame those deceased for the deeds of ancestors whom they never even knew. I reiterate my fundamental question, ?Who will be the bigger person and fight for racial equality (and the lessening of racial tensions) today?? ? to which Dr. Hodgson did not reply.

In the spirit of solving our problems and burying our differences, I would be more than happy to sit down with Dr. Hodgson over coffee and learn her perspective about all those who ?fought? for racial equality yesterday and who gave me the tremendous gift of not having to live through segregation. To those people I am truly grateful.