May I say to Heidi A. Lines of Devonshire, you are quite right. My apologies!! AN OLD BERMUDIAN Pembroke All spruced-up January 17, 2000 Dear Sir, Cheers! The small red brick coloured building at East Broadway has been spruced up and it looks great! The owner deserves thanks for the attention.

NOTICED Warwick A question of mobility January 13, 2000 Dear Sir, Why do Government ministers need cars? Did they not have a private car before being elected and who has these vehicles on the road now? Why can't they ride bikes like many of us? I suggest that Alex Scott gives up the $43,000.000 oversized car and donates the money to the Victor Scott Library or the Paget Post Office fund, which would benefit the community a lot more.

Also, why do airline managers need special cars? JUST ASKING City of Hamilton `Watch your banks' Dear Sir, A recent routine check of my bank balance has led me to question the integrity of my bank account.

A legitimate deposit by standing order was applied to my account and within two days the depositing bank reversed the standing order and withdrew funds from my account.

I understand from my legal advisor that once money is deposited in my account, it becomes my property and it cannot be removed without my personal authorisation.

The only exception to this would be the bank itself, with whom I have entered into an agreement and authorised them to debit bank fees.

It is now evident that a third party can make a withdrawal from a personal bank account without any authorisation or notification of the account holder of the need to do so, or the reason for so doing.

If they took it from my purse I could go to court and charge them with robbery! Is this not the same? Whatever the reason for the reversal, am I not entitled to the courtesy of phone call explaining why they wish to remove funds from my account and to get authorisation from me to remove them? Our funds are supposed to be secure in the bank. If not, why do we use banks? Upon discovering the disappearance of the funds in question I phoned Bank "A'' for an explanation. I was told that Bank "B'' has an electronic capability to debit or credit accounts at Bank "A''.

When I asked who I could speak to at Bank "B'' to remedy the matter, I was told they would not discuss their clients affairs with me! Ahha! A bank with integrity! But why do they have no respect for my privacy or my bank account? Additionally, there have been at least two occasions in the past month, when the over limit penalty of $25.00 has been debited on two separate accounts -- quite erroneously -- and I had to put the complaint in writing in order to get the matter remedied. A simple phone call is not sufficient to get action from the banks, but they can touch a couple of buttons and siphon out large unauthorised sums of money! Watch your banks you guys! DISGUSTED IN PAGET Is this a Bank scam? January 11, 2000 Dear Sir, Now here's a scam if ever I saw one. My Mastercard and Visa statements from The Bank of Bermuda have a billing cycle closing date of the 21st day of each month.

Sixteen days later the statement goes out (as per postmark). Five days later it arrives by Bermuda Post and it has a payment due date of the 15th, allowing me four days to effect payment.

If I miss the deadline I get a `Late Payment Penalty' of $25. What happens if the mail gets delayed as it so often does? The bank collects of course! With all the sophisticated software that the Bank has, why does it take sixteen days to prepare my statement? Could this be by design to slow the payment process and collect the $25? Several attempts at getting an answer to this situation have been unsuccessful. May I take the liberty of offering the Bank of Bermuda the facility of a forum in this column for an explanation.

ANDREW G. PINK Warwick America's the new empire January 12, 2000 Dear Sir, I don't like having to do this, but these are a few things I would like to verify.

(In) October I did not say in my letter (to the Editor that) I don't like America. As a matter of fact I liked it so much Mister (Ronald) Reagan made me a citizen in the 1980s.

Did I mention they shot him, too.

This letter is by no means an apology, and yes, America, does have a lot of good people living there, and no, Mr. Bearden, I don't recall Bermudians shooting their leaders. I do recall Bermudian leaders hanging their citizens and burning them at the stake.

Mr. Bearden, I stand by what I said. Let me say this, England gave them those baselands and while protecting their interests, they have protested ours (Bermuda).

Every country or empire is built on the backs of others and America is no exception. Mr. Bearden, if the roaches and whiners are getting to you, leave please.

MARIE J. IBLE Pembroke West No ad-vantage to the Sun January 29, 2000 Dear Sir, In today's Bermuda Sun there is a long article by Don Burgess in which he says that because local retail prices are high, he and his family did most of their Christmas shopping on line (outside of Bermuda) and intend to continue to shop in this manner.

As a retailer, I would like to point out to Mr. Burgess that to compare Bermuda prices to those of our northern counterparts is most unfair as Bermuda wages, rents, telephone, electricity, taxes and other related costs are disproportionately high in contrast.

As an advertiser, I try to support institutions who promote local shopping, and my advertising dollar will therefore not be contributing to the pay cheque of Mr. Don Burgess in future.

MERCHANT Paget New brooms sweep clean January 17, 2000 Dear Sir, In the last few months I have witnessed a young person -- a lady twice and a man once -- sweeping along the roadside of the hill going down to Paget Post Office from Harmony Club entrance.

Recently I saw another young person sweeping along the marsh side of the Road -- west of the yellow cottage towards Paget Church.

I have no idea who employs these people but I thought it a great idea if some of the unemployed young folks could be given the job of sweeping out the bus shelters and nearby road side.

Some of the shelters are in a shocking state thanks to the night time escapades of a few.

If we want Bermuda to look tidy for our visitors -- this would be a good start.

TRYING TO BE PROUD OF BERMUDA Warwick Pictures say it all January 17, 2000 On December 15, 1999 I left my camera in the lobby of a hotel in Southampton.

Someone found it and took it home as it was not handed in at the front desk.

The camera was not a good one but the film in it had pictures of a very special holiday and of my grandson's Xmas play.

I would be most grateful if the person who found it would return it to the front desk of the hotel or if you feel that you really need the camera then just drop off the film so that I can have it developed. The pictures mean a lot to me.

DISAPPOINTED St. George's