Guaranteed -- if the Police were to cruise Ord Road from 9 p.m. onwards they would catch the idiots speeding up and down that road.

So where are they? ORD ROAD RESIDENT Warwick Casinoes are a good deal May 1, 2000 Dear Sir, I think the present Government's policy on gambling, which is based on the policy of the Government before it, is about as out of date in our modern world as the dinosaur.

For what it is worth, I think that Bermuda should follow the policy of the PLP government in the Bahamas which grants casino licences to the larger hotel resorts such as Atlantis on Paradise Island and restricts gambling to tourists.

The locals there have come to understand that this policy is in their own best interest, both to keep the native population out of trouble and to take advantage of the tourists' desire on vacation to have some `fun'.

It is a fact, I think, that gambling in casinoes around the world has been used to promote tourism in their countries. There are classy, up-scale casinoes now in most European cities, huge casinoes in different parts of the United States such as Atlantic City and Las Vegas, and a casino in each of the capital cities of New Zealand and Australia.

Sometimes a casino licence has been used as the catalyst for a new luxurious development as with the Atlantis on Paradise Island or in the coming resort to be built by the Four Seasons on the island of Exuma in the Bahamas.

I do not mean to suggest that we should simply follow the example of others without giving a lot of thought to what is likely to work well in Bermuda.

Generally we attract a wealthier and older type of visitor here than, for example, in the Bahamas.

We also have a lot of wealthy businessmen coming here for meetings or for a conference with time on their hands in the evening and money to spend. These visitors would prefer, I think, a European type of casino with fewer slot machines and more card or board games.

Also, the ambience of the casino would need to be less modern and glitzy and more `olde worlde', in keeping with our image as a British Colony.

We are all aware that our tourism business has been falling away for years and that it is very, very hard to turn around.

Thanks to the efforts of (the Monitor Group), we are all working to try and provide the visitor with a more interesting experience (and to some degree we are succeeding) but it is still not enough.

The profitability of our major hotels has been weak to non-existent and without profits our hotels cannot and will not reinvest. The result has been one closure after another with the Island's remaining beds standing at less than 7,000 today and still falling.

What are we to do? One direct and relatively simple solution would be to allow the remaining large hotels -- the Princess Group, Elbow Beach and Sonesta -- to each have a casino licence under very strict conditions.

These licences would provide a much needed boost to their profitability, might allow them to lower their hotel rates, would give the visitor what they want, would boost the occupancy of the hotels, would give the local workers more job security and would ensure that the hotels could provide much needed local entertainment.

What are the negatives to this? I can think of very few but perhaps others will enlighten me.

If you agree with this idea or have other ideas of your own, please write a letter to the editor. As Dale Butler said, a national debate on the subject is long overdue.

KIRK KITSON Kirkdale Farm Warwick East Father has his fans May 2, 2000 Dear Sir, On behalf of many members of St. Mark's Church congregation in Smith's Parish we take this opportunity to welcome Father William Hayward as the new Rector, and we give all praises to God for empowering his faithful few members for making the choice of this very qualified Bermudian.

Father Hayward has relieved the previous Rector in his absence on many occasions, holds numerous credits to his name and was officially inducted in this very spirit-filled event yesterday.

For the record, Father Hayward has always remained faithful and steadfast in doing God's work throughout the community which included visiting the sick in the hospital and the homebound even at times when others didn't.

During the months of trying to select our new Rector, normally approved without complication, there unfortunately has been an undercurrent of transgressors, namely certain members within the congregation who aggressively set out to undermine Father Hayward's character and override the decision-making process of the chosen selection committee by encouraging some members of the congregation to sign a petition.

These "transgressors'' were, however, defeated in their attempted conspiracy simply because any actions that are not of God will never gain the victory. It therefore only resulted in highlighting the division in the congregation between the believers and the non-believers. (Eph. 4:1-32).

We pray for those few lost souls and trust that they will open their hearts and redeem themselves and realise the true purpose of attending church, respecting God's messenger and applying His Word to their daily lives When they focus on seeking the Kingdom of God their lives will be more enriched and they will find more positive ways to occupy their time.

In the meantime we support Father Hayward in his mission of feeding us the bread of life.

May God bless and guide him in his mission to assist in directing our paths.

FAITHFUL MEMBERS OF ST. MARK'S Smith's Parish CURE-ing confusion May 1, 2000 Dear Sir, One curious aspect of the CURE law is that an industry that as a whole has made a conscious effort and made headway fulfilling CURE's general aims in the past, will be held to a higher standard than an industry group that has made no effort whatever.

Another odd aspect is the threshold of ten employees. Why should lawyers, dentists, or doctors or any number of small businesses and partnerships be excluded from racial tracking? Even if the perceived selective discrimination were to be based on race, as opposed to the far greater likelihood of being based on effectiveness, which makes the whole thing a nonsense anyway, it either way exists anywhere that employs over one person.

There is no sense to it. For example, in company A, the boss hires another person of his race to help him out, the two-person business is then 100 percent one race -- CURE deems that OK. Company B's boss hires eight people, again all the same race as he is; 100 percent the same race again, no diversity whatever and that's OK too, the CURE law gives him a pat on the back.

Company C's boss, supportive of diversity, employs five of the minority race and four of the other. Because this is a company of ten people, this is bad.

It does not reflect the racial makeup of the community. We will track him, meet with him and generally harass him and take up his time until he fires two of the minority race and hires two of the other; or alternatively, fires one of either race, which will then make him less than ten and OK, even though he may then still employ five of the minority race and now only three of the majority. CURE says this is now good, he gets top marks.

Besides being distasteful in the extreme, it will be embarrassing to all those of either race who suspect being picked for a racial reason over effectiveness, and there will always be doubt.

It displays a completely blinkered view of the mass of dysfunctional children from single parent homes, who having disrupted the school system then emerge as ineffective illiterates, which is where the real problem lies and where Mr.

Lister should first address himself.

STOP PASSING THE BUCK St. George's