December 29, 2006

Dear Sir,

Today's front page (December 29) details both a proposed hotel development that would breach the "Section 34 land protection agreement" and the permission granted motorcyclists who will violate "Bermuda's strict regulations on motorbikes."

What common denominator explains Bermuda's willingness to sabotage its law? Could it be money? Never mind the rotting hulks of other luxury resorts, all defunct, or two days of noise sufficient to raise the Island's dead. Let short term profit justify choices that will further degrade an island out of touch with its past and blind to its clamorous future.

I am a regular visitor who cringes each time she returns. Why do I bother, you ask? How many visitors ask the same question and turn away, forever? But I'm puzzled: do Bermuda's people notice these abuses? Do they care?

MIRIELLE ST. ETIENNE

Paget and Morbihan, France