Reading today's paper (Friday, October 20, Page 5) "Opposition MP in call for debate on PR'', how arrogant are Renee Webb and the ruling PLP MPs going to get? Per your paper she basically said that if the Bermuda people had a referendum and voted against something in their mandate, it wouldn't make a difference to what the PLP does, i.e. the PLP doesn't care about the people of Bermuda. Then at the end of the story she said that the PLP is not interested in what the UBP MPs have to say.

She should remember that those few "elected by the people'' UBP MPs actually represent nearly half of the population. But I already think she knows that, that is why the PLP is scared to even think proportional representation.

NEEDING PR City of Hamilton Appalled by arrogance October 20, 2000 Dear Sir, As a born Bermudian I am absolutely outraged at the contemptuous manner in which the electorate is treated by the Premier and her coterie of camp followers. Blaming the messenger after being caught out in public is an old tactic, and one which, I am sure, Bermudians are too smart to be fooled by.

Those conscientious members of her Cabinet, backbench and party, must be appalled at her arrogant attitude.

You would have to be a rocket scientist to figure out what she was trying to say in her Press conference. The subsequent interview with a journalist showed her at her wiggle worst. The only good part was her suggestion that former Premier Gordon organise discussion groups and meetings to consider constitutional changes..which I am glad to see has been taken up with alacrity.

This prosperous, orderly Island -- which has taken nearly 400 years to evolve -- is on the brink of disaster because of the self-serving amateurs in Government.

BERMUDIAN VOTER Paget Out of a futile debate October 19, 2000 "If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, do we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that.'' Merchant of Venice, II.i.

Dear Sir, In a letter published on October 16, Dr, Eva Hodgson wrote a reply to my letter which was published on October 9.

My initial reaction to Dr. Hodgson was to think her letter was not responsive to mine. For example, Dr. Hodgson interprets my metaphor pertaining to human perception as though I was referring merely to the respective pigments which occur in the skin of the various human races. I was not. I fear that Dr.

Hodgson has entirely missed the main points I make in my letter.

My gentler aspects are more sympathetic. The views I criticise in my initial letter are held by descendants of people who suffered unspeakable oppression.

Many Bermudians who hold these views will know firsthand what it is like to live in a segregated society and nearly all of them will have experienced some kind of racial discrimination at the hands of Caucasians. I maintain the position I set out in my letter, every word of it, and I think it very unfortunate that rational debate is not always possible.

Nevertheless, on reflection I accept that it is to be expected that some people in Bermuda should now wish to see defined classes of residents, including many white people, squirming a little and experiencing the feeling of being excluded and marginalised. After all, the complaints of the long-term residents are utterly trivial in comparison with what black people in Bermuda have suffered in generations past.

Equally, who am I to expect that Bermudians should view these issues fairly and objectively? Is it not to be expected that the descendants of an oppressed people will be absolutely driven by the question of race, regardless of whether this has a distorting effect on their perception of the world at large? It was naive of me to think that anything I could say, however correct, would have the slightest effect and I undertake to withdraw entirely from this futile debate. Henceforth I will not permit myself to become exercised by the plight of the long-term residents, which ultimately is none of my business. I do regret having to use a pen name but I think that given the current political and social environment in this country, the use of a pen name by a person in my position is very well justified.

BORN NON-BERMUDIAN City of Hamilton Police's poor judgment October 21, 2000 Dear Sir, My son and his friends gather on Friday nights in the basement of our house to play games, watch TV, etc. One of the friends who lives a block down the road left something at his house and went to retrieve it. He sprinted the short distance back to our house and in so doing caught the attention of an unmarked Police car, either already on the road or just turning into it.

Presumably, the officers seeing a young person running at the top of the hill led them to believe he was their quarry, if indeed they were following a report. They tore up the hill at breakneck speed, screeched to a halt outside our driveway directly in front of the young man, frightening him half to death in the process, not to mention disturbing our, and no doubt our neighbours', peace and setting the dogs barking.

Five men, not in uniform, exited the car in an aggressive way, surrounding the young man, who was carrying a radio and had earphones on his head (and thus did not hear them!). The young man is not especially big or tall, and I think five men surrounding him a little overkill. They fired questions at him, one after the other without giving him a chance to answer any of them; he was in such shock at being so assaulted that he couldn't say anything much at all, besides being out of breath from running. Though he did recover himself well and finally managed to answer what they asked him, by which time, other friends, having heard the screech of tyres came to the front of the house.

They explained to the offices that the young man was with them, and the officers backed off, jumped in their car and exited -- feeling, I hope rather foolish.

A "watch and learn'' approach, in some cases, might be more appropriate rather than a "jump to the obvious conclusion''. Burglar(s) who frequent this area, I imagine, are quite "clever'' and don't do anything to attract attention to themselves. If he had been their quarry, and heard the car racing up the hill he may well have run through the driveways where the officers could not have followed him -- at least not in the car! The young man did well to stand his ground and not run: what would you do if five guys skidded to halt, poured out of the vehicle and began asking you questions in an aggressive/threatening manner? He later told me that he didn't even realise they were Police, and thought they might be drug dealers/thugs of some sort looking for their payoff! (Everybody's watching too much TV!). Still, it begs the question: who exactly are the bad guys? I know that training budgets for Police, as well as other fields of public service, are limited if not non-existent. I also understand that you have only moments to read a situation when answering a call, and that being a Policeman is not an easy job. And, yes, we can compare our Police force in Bermuda to that of other countries, including Britain, and say that we are much better.

But Britain could say that of themselves twenty years ago, and now look where they are. The least the Police could have done in this case to make amends, was to return later and explain the situation and/or apologise, or both.

If we have to be wary and frightened of the Police as well as wary and frightened of miscreants we haven't found a solution to crime but have added to the problem. If we can't or don't want to do the job properly we may as well not do it at all. We would all be better off learning martial arts and self-defence at school and understanding that we have to look after ourselves or take the consequences.

TRICIA THOMPSON-BROWNE Pembroke Now I'm embarrassed October 20, 2000 Dear Sir, In the last 50 years, I have travelled a lot outside Bermuda and have always been proud to be Bermudian.

Many people admired and praised our achievements including those governments in the Caribbean who were striving to emulate our successful international business arrangements and our stability in the tourist industry.

I now feel embarrassed by the innumerable gaffes and other indescribable mistakes by our PLP government. We are regarded now as somewhat of a `Banana Republic'.

I certainly have no pride in our existing government and hope they will be voted out soon.

JAMES A. PEARMAN Pembroke