No wonder our kids fight

January 10, 2008

Dear Sir,

We have people killing each other; we have the youth fighting each other, because they live in a different neighbourhood. Why? When a car hits a wall ¿ it's the driver's fault.

If a ship sinks, the Captain is the last one to leave the sinking ship ¿ he is the one in charge. If a business fails ¿ the management gets the blame. What ever happens it is the person or people in charge who are in the end responsible.

So who is in charge here in Bermuda? We need to hold them responsible ¿ they are in charge. We have leaders who do nothing but fight and trade insults, No wonder our children fight and trade insults. They see our leaders do it, so it must be OK.

The leaders need to stop the fighting they need to lead by example. We need to hold them responsible ¿ they are in charge.

More shootings and another Murder. Do we really have the right person as Police Commissioner? We keep hearing from the "Police Spokesman".

Why don't we hear from the Police Commissioner? Is he in charge? Is he involved in the investigations? How many Murders now on the books remain unsolved? He needs to lead, or if he is not capable of leading, get out of the way and let someone else lead. We need to hold him responsible ¿ he is in charge.

COEUR DE LION

Warwick

Please rethink

January 13, 2008

Dear Sir,

I wish to publicly thank Dame Jennifer and especially our Minister of Culture and Social Rehabilitation, Dale Butler for his verbal broadside against the Corporation of Hamilton's decision to evict the Bermuda Society of Arts (BSoA) from City Hall. There is something terribly wrong here when a small group of people in the Hamilton Corporation can be allowed to make such a poor decision. This BSoA Gallery is a beautifully designed and proportioned public exhibition space which is heavily used by all segments of our community. Bermuda has precious few public spaces. Once they are gone they are gone.

I find it very hard to believe that the Corporation of Hamilton does not have another location it could use for the office space it needs. In today's computer driven world an office can be just about anywhere but a physical meeting place and especially an art gallery which serves the cultural and social needs of this island must be in a central location and in a properly designed setting.

Hamilton Corporation: Please rethink your decision while the outraged rest of us thank God we do have a Butler in the House.

VAUGHAN EVANS

Hamilton Parish

Gallery an inspiration

This was sent to Mayor of Hamilton Sutherland Madeiros and copied to The Royal Gazette

January 16, 2008

Dear Mr. Madeiros,

I am writing on behalf of Tom Butterfield, myself and the staff of Masterworks. As you know, we have been in the process of building the Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art, which has been a tough but rewarding project. We have to give credit to the Society of Arts for being the venue for the exhibition "Inspired by Bermuda" in 1986, which was the springboard that launched Masterworks.

From there, we led a nomadic life, a part of which we were given space in the fledgling Bermuda National Gallery for a number of years until we finally achieved a permanent home in the Botanical Gardens.

We believe that when City Hall was first conceived and built by Will Onions and Donald Kirkpatrick, followed on by the support of Gibby Cooper when he was mayor, it was always the mandate that City Hall would be the home for the Bermuda Society of Arts. The success and attraction of City Hall go hand in glove with the presence of the two art organisations as well as the City Hall Theatre.These all make up an important component of the thread of Bermudian life and it seems to us a shame to sacrifice the spirit and essence of our culture to office cubicles ¿ especially such a grand high ceilinged space.

BsoA has nurtured generations of Bermudian artists and we strongly feel that its demise would be a body blow not only to organisations such as ourselves, but to the cultural life of the entire Island ¿ the signal it would send out would place the arts back and negate all that has been achieved since 1960. We understand the need for progress, but also the need to salute the creative.

Thank you for your consideration

Elise Outerbridge, Tom Butterfield, Judy Howells, Suzie Hooper, Carrie Zenti, Barbara Imboden, Kate Waters, Julie Butler, Gambrill Robinson

Mindless decision

January 11, 2008

Dear Sir,

I like many people am horrified and angered by the disgusting decision of the mindless individuals that are The Corporation of Hamilton. City Hall was set up as an arts centre, with offices off to one side, and these mean minded people should be shown the door. They are not worthy of the status they currently enjoy. $700,000 is a cheap option for The Corporation of Hamilton to get extra office space, and they do have the money.

The 2008 calendar has for some time been full and yet BSoA have been given six months notice. To throw out the oldest arts organisation in Bermuda from their space, which was promised in perpetuity, is about as vile as it gets, and is a reflection of the vacuous minds of all the individuals that are involved in this heinous decision.

And before the letters fly, I have lived and breathed the 18 months of hard work my wife Victoria has put into making The Bermuda Society of Arts the 'People's Gallery', which it truly is. You only need to attend any opening (every three weeks) to see how diverse and inclusive the gallery is. Anyone, young, old, new to art, established artist, from all ethnic backgrounds can show, and sell, in the galleries. No other gallery offers what the BSoA does.

I heartily congratulate Minister Dale Butler for his stance on this issue, and offer my absolute support to him and others who would petition to have this travesty overturned.

PHIL CRACKNELL

City of Hamilton

Voting on character

January 8, 2008

Dear Sir,

I have been listening to the talk shows and all the praises that Bermudians have for Mr. Obama, and rightly so.

I was just wondering: If he was a Bermudian politician, what party would he be a member of, and would he get the support from the same people I hear on the radio?

From what the callers are saying, he doesn't like to bring up the topic of race and has made some blacks in the US angry because he doesn't talk about their concerns.

That seems to me to make him more likely to be a UBP member. He also seems to be a "nice" black man which is another perceived trait of a UBP politician.

For argument's sake, if Mr, Obama was leader of the UBP in the last election would the people who are praising him now, have instead called him all the "names" that black UBP candidates are called?

Does the Democratc Party have a better record on race relations than the UBP?

Seems to me that white Americans are voting on the man's character rather then his race and wasn't that Dr. King's dream?

G(OBAMA)

Amused by race story

January 14, 2008

Dear Sir,

I must confess I was more amused than anything else at the recent news item on the democratic presidential contest. Obama has had to pay attention to race!

Despite all of the "hurrah for Obama" by commentators in Bermuda, "race" and "racial issues" are too much in the DNA of the USA for one well intentioned (?) black presidential candidate to make it go away by ignoring it.

And race and racism is too much a part of Bermuda's DNA for anyone to think that it has gone away just because white people chose to ignore it and many blacks obliged by keeping silent about it. Dr. Brown knew that and was quite right to put it on our agenda and has infuriated some in the white community.

I appreciate his efforts because I have often been so frustrated that an issue which was so destructive for us in the black community could be so totally ignored by the white community and they could be so totally and completely indifferent to us in the black community — unless there was a strike or riot. At last some whites are paying attention to us and some of our concerns.

Thank you Dr. Brown.

EVA N. HODGSON

Hamilton Parish

A note of thanks

January 13, 2008

Dear Sir,

I would like to thank the 100- plus demonstrators, especially the schoolchildren, who came out on Friday to protest against the presence of the Mihama, a Fisheries Agency of Japan patrol boat tied alongside Hamilton waterfront. Bermuda is not a nation known for protest demonstrations but on Friday, Bermudians demonstrated their willingness to confront the Fisheries Agency of Japan, the government-owned agency responsible for the whaling campaign in the Antarctic where over a thousand whales are targeted annually for 'scientific research'.

Japan has been 'researching' whales with great effectiveness, killing more than 25,000 whales in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacific. The product of this 'research' is sold commercially. This year the Japanese added 50 humpbacks and 50 fin whales to the 935 minke whales included in the total number of whales to be targeted for their 'research'. The Mihama, a patrol boat belonging to the Fisheries Agency of Japan is supposed to monitor Japanese long line tuna fishing fleets around the world to ensure they are not over fishing. When the same Fisheries Agency of Japan kills a thousand whales annually for scientific research, and tells us that the research shows whales and dolphins are responsible for declining fish stocks, the Agency loses any semblance of credibility.

Thanks to long lining we have already lost 90 percent of the pelagic predator fish stocks including marlin, tuna, swordfish, and the great sharks that existed before 1950. 100 million sharks are killed each year just for their fins. Their bodies are thrown overboard, often alive. Half the world's reefs are dead or dying. If the current trends of over fishing continue, every fishery will collapse by 2048. We can no longer remain in denial. We need to raise our awareness of what is happening out in our oceans. The high seas are not governed by any single nation, which means the rules pertaining to marine life are often complicated and difficult if not impossible to police. The world's marine life is on the brink of collapse. Japanese whaling in the Antarctic Whale sanctuary is just the tip of the iceberg.

Continued plundering of our ocean environment based on greed, cultural traditions or national pride needs to become a thing of the past. Today's oceans are in great peril. If the oceans die, we die.

I had already met the captain of the Mihama to question him about the purposes of his boat. Invited on board, I presented him with a ten-minute video of my underwater footage of humpback whales in Bermuda. On the day of the demonstration, I persuaded my four-year old daughter Elsa to offer the captain and crew of the Fisheries Agency of Japan patrol vessel Mihama, her humpback whale in a symbolic token of appreciation that the 50 humpback whales were taken off Japan's list of targeted whales. These humpbacks were removed from their self-imposed quota of whales to be targeted by public pressure, through demonstrations such as ours. Perhaps when a Fisheries Agency of Japan patrol vessel comes back to Bermuda, we will be able to offer the crew a minke and fin whale.

When the captain and crew of the Mihama did not accept the proffered whale, Elsa and I returned to our boat. We were the last of the demonstrators to leave and as we did so we waved at the captain. After a second's hesitation he waved back. I like to think that he understood the goodwill in Elsa's gesture, and the significance of the offered humpback. The next evening we were gazing out to sea on Grape Bay when we saw a humpback rise vertically out of the water. Elsa's eyes lit up. "It's thanking us for what we did!" I'm sure it was and we'd like to pass that message on to everyone else who was at the demonstration on Friday, especially the children. Well done.

ANDREW STEVENSON

Warwick

Editor's Note: Video of the underwater footage of whales presented to the Captain of the Mihama can be viewed on http://www.youtube.com/awstevenson

Time to get radical

January 11, 2008

Dear Sir,

So with the return of the PLP for another five years, what lies before? Without doubt ¿time will tell. Yet despite our abundance of naysayers I foresee an upside in having Dr. Brown at our helm! For in marked contrast to a number of past leaders, all-action-Ewart is a man who 'gets things done' ¿ be it with airlines, multi plex hotels or fast ferries to list but a few of his brief tenure initiatives.

And being as he seems set to be our 'helmsman' for the next five ¿ what follows would be my solutions to our vexing traffic problems. So to begin. From say January 1, 2010 a Credit Card imprint would be mandatory from all who apply for a road licence! Secondly, on the back of the issued licence, list the scale of fines that will apply to speed violaters. All "speedsters" who incur fines will have the dollar amount charged to their Credit Cards

Thirdly, to monitor all traffic flows install the latest electronic recording devices in Island covering densities! Thus, while the monitoring equipment envisaged will require a significant financing outlay, this will be offset by the savings our Police will accrue, when compounded with the fines levied against our cavalier roadsters.

In conclusion, by virtue of a single overnight charge from a fifteen amp home receptacle, General Motors is about to produce their battery-powered "Volt" saloon with a guaranteed distance range of 40 miles; whilst in a similar vein, almost all of the world's major nations-are likewise 'in line' to produce what could prove to be millions of battery powered vehicles. The imminence of which is about to set in train far reaching developments which can readily revolutionise traffic in our compact 21-mile long Bermuda. If followed and adopted, this could make us the first Island nation and perhaps the first nation on Earth to all but eradicate foul smelling and noisy exhaust pollutions!

Think what a boost this 'up market' designation would achieve for our tourism industry. Not only that ¿ but radical legislations of this nature could prove doubly rewarding, as hotel developments that would follow could readily fill the employment needs of our populace with but modest skills.

Now that silent non-polluting Scooters (all pre sold) have already arrived, is this but the beginning of radical "things to come"?

WILLIAM SCOTT

Southampton

An outdated arrangement

January 12, 2008

Dear Sir,

In response to 'Dame Jennifer joins outcry', my understanding is that the Corporation of Hamilton is offering, at low/no cost, exhibition space to the BSoA at City Hall and is therefore subsidising/sponsoring the BSoA. This arrangement immediately strikes me as outdated because the present Ministry of Culture and Social Rehabilitation is clearly better suited to prioritise then appropriately fund organisations like the BSoA.

Therefore, I am extremely surprised that our Minister of Culture and Social Rehabilitation, Dale Butler, threatened to overhaul the Corporation if it did not renew the lease with the BSoA. Expanding the Corporation's mandate such that it would be forced to subsidise organisations that should fall under the Ministry of Culture is simply not effective use of taxpayer money. After all, I was under the impression that the Corporation's funds were earmarked for City infrastructure development and services.

Finally, let's not get outraged but instead look for the solution that is the best use of taxpayers' money; at the end of the day it is the taxpayer who is paying the BSoA's rent. I think all taxpayers should contribute — not just the companies located in the city limits, which is effectively the current situation. My proposal is that if Bermudians would like to see the BSoA remain at its current location we must lobby Mr. Butler to reimburse — by way of rent — the Corporation's subsidy/sponsorship.

ANONYMOUS

City of Hamilton