I am now ashamed to admit that in the last Election, I voted for the United Bermuda Party.

With regret, I have concluded that this is a party not just hypocritical to the core, but hypocritical from the core. The final straw is the rather big issue of finally reforming our archaic, gerrymandered, less than truly democratic constitution, created in the largest part by the founders of the UBP.

The UBP had more than 30 years to usher in a more democratic constitution and hence a more just Bermuda. It would appear that in their glory days, this was the farthest thing on the mind of the UBP powers that were. Now, we are told by the present UBP leadership that one vote per person in constituencies of equal size is undemocratic, and could indeed even lead to a quasi-dictatorship. Is this reasonable? Is this truthful? Is this responsible? Is this in the bet interests of Bermuda? NO! NO! NO! and NO! If Sir John Swan's last government had bothered to pursue reasonable and needed Constitutional reform instead of gambling all on an independence platform cynically devised to keep his immediate cabal in power, it might now not be up to the PLP to bring about real and honourable constitutional change.

S. WILLIAMS Devonshire Public wants to be heard The following was sent to Baroness Scotland of Ansthal, the Foreign Office minister responsible for Bermuda, and copied to The Royal Gazette .

October 30, 2000 Dear Baroness Scotland, I am very concerned about the proposed changes to the Constitution, being suggested by the Progressive Labour Party, which is the current Government of Bermuda.

Unfortunately, a lot is being stated about equal constituencies and the number of representatives in the House of Assembly. If this were the case, then maybe we would not have too much to worry about. If true proportional representation existed, then the PLP would have 21.6 seats and the UBP 18.4 seats. However, there are a lot of other issues, which are not being addressed, and unless there is participation by the electorate, we will end up with a Constitution, against which, we will not have any right to appeal.

As the Constitution stands, the people who are living on Southside, that part of the Island that used to be the Base area, are not entitled to vote and unless this is changed it could be contested in the courts. Nothing is mentioned about the rights of Senior citizens.

A Member of your Parliament, Oona King, is quoted as saying at the annual PLP banquet "I believe the people of Bermuda are completely behind the changes.

Well, not necessarily 100 percent because we will always have the Opposition.'' The PLP won 54 percent of the votes and the UBP won 46 percent, that is why it is imperative that 26 members of the PLP must not make decisions of such importance for 36,000 of the voting public? Yes, let us be democratic and let us have meetings so that we, the electorate are better informed and may make the correct decisions, and let us see what the outcome would be if a referendum was to be held. This must not be a fait accompli.

The electorate is clamouring to be heard but no-one is prepared to listen.

Please listen to some of the voices in the wilderness! ANTONY SIESE City of Hamilton Commission fell short November 7, 2000 Dear Sir, At the time of Kirk Mundy's plea and sentencing, I was baffled as to how the Crown could ever have taken the view that it was inappropriate to pursue the charge of murder. The only basis for agreeing to accept a guilty plea to a lesser charge was that the Crown believed the inherently implausible tale that Mundy had told them. Given that Mundy had every reason to lie, such a course of action on the part of the Crown was quite extraordinary. This was before the criminal investigation had been completed, and, particularly, before the results of DNA testing were known.

I expected to learn from the report of the Commission of Inquiry into Serious Crimes who within the Attorney General's Chambers had authorised this extraordinary plea bargain. The Commission reports that Attorney General Elliott Mottley and present Director of Public Prosecutions Khamisi Tokumbo "denied the making of any such deal''. The Commissioners do not seem to have persevered, with a view to determining just who did authorise the plea bargain. Instead, they say that had they been required to make a finding on the issue, they would have held that the evidence in support of a "deal'' being struck was insufficient.

If this whole business were not so tragic, such a statement would be laughable. A plea bargain is a deal. The Crown drops a more serious charge in return for a guilty plea to a lesser charge. Mr. Tokunbo was the counsel who appeared in court and accepted Mundy's plea. Somebody within the Attorney General's Chambers authorised that "deal''. If it was not Mr. Mottley, who had ultimate responsibility as Attorney General, or Mr. Tokunbo himself, who was it? For the Commission to conclude its work without determining who had responsibility for accepting the plea bargain in the Mundy case is as astonishing as the plea bargain itself. The people of Bermuda and the Middleton family are entitled to know who did make the deal.

GEOFFREY R. BELL City of Hamilton Former Chairman of Bermuda Bar Council Inform the public The following was sent to The Commissioner of Police and copied to The Royal Gazette .

October 2, 2000 Dear Sir, First, my greatest respect and appreciation for the fine service you and the Bermuda Police Service are providing to this community. There are always disgruntled and un-appreciative people that have a grievance with policies that have to be tough but fair with the community it serves. I am not one of them, however, I am writing to you as a responsible parent and law-abiding citizen with a complaint that should be of interest to a number of Bermudians's citizens.

Today, Sunday October 2, I took my son, Karl Schmitz, to meet a friend out at the old base lands at Clearwater beach to enjoy their Go-Peds. Go-Peds are those motorised scooters with a small half H/P engine, about the size of a Lawnmower engine. The location was specifically selected as an area that I felt was safe for my son and other Bermudians as well as conducive and lawful for this kind of activity. An activity that a growing number of Bermudian youngsters enjoy and, as a parent I find a better alternative for their free time to just handing out or roaming the streets, especially as it teaches some responsibility for property and safety. After ensuring that the boys were wearing their helmets and arranging to meet them at the Runway Restaurant after one hour, I left them at the Clearwater Beach Stretch.

About 20 minutes later two very upset teenagers arrived with the non-motorised scooter and explained that Police confiscated the Go-Ped and I was to contact P.c. Clarke at the St. George's Police Station. What upset the boys was the fact that they were not aware of any wrongdoing and not allowed to call me to the scene, which would have taken all of two minutes. My son was told to put his Go-Ped into the Police car and asked to sign three separate tickets. Karl is 13 years of age and that can be a rather traumatising experience for a youth, especially as he was told by his father no longer to ride his scooter on the roads around Spanish Point, as quite a few of the boys do, because I had read in Wednesday's Royal Gazette that the authorities were looking into asking TCD to license those vehicles. It was never made public that any laws had been changed or finalised as of Sunday afternoon, however I do acknowledge the potential concern so I had taken him to the old base lands, off the busy streets.

After clearing the Go-Ped from the St. George's police station and finding that my son was charged with three separate offences for the same act, just as he would have been, had he taken an uninsured, unlicensed motor bike for a joy ride: No Number plate displayed on auxiliary cycle; Driving auxiliary cycle not having a drivers licence; and Using auxiliary cycle without a vehicle licence.

As if that wasn't enough, I was told that a fourth offence could have been ticked as well. Each one of these offences warrants a $100 fine, payable within seven days or appear in court to answer to a Magistrate.

Where is the courtesy of informing the public that our children may be committing an offence by riding those motorised scooters? What about a warning to the children? What about issuing one ticket, or possibly a warning while the new policies are being publicised and put into place? Where is a 13-year-old going to get a licence, even if he knew about it? I have decided to appear in Court with my son to plead not guilty and then to appear again for the trial, if for no other reason than to try to inform as many parents as possible of the illegal acts our children are committing, as the police community relations office is apparently not doing that for us.

FRANK SCHMITZ City of Hamilton Stop ferry misbehaviour October 26, 2000 Dear Sir, I am constantly aware of the attention that is drawn to the behaviour of our young people who frequent the bus terminal daily. I have confidence that the principal of CedarBridge Academy, along with her team of professionals, are trying to deter their students from congregating at the terminal after school.

I cannot speak for the principals of Whitney, Berkeley, Dellwood Middle School, but I'm sure they are trying just as hard to tackle this situation. As a parent, I will continually support whatever learning institution my children attend, that home is where you should be immediately following your school day.

I've always wondered why schools such as BHS or Saltus, just to name a few, are never mentioned when the situation of students hanging out at the bus depot become a cause for concern.

Here's why, Mr. Editor. They catch the ferries. They do not sit still, they eat their lunch in the morning, and are just pain in the necks. Just this morning, one of the ferry operators had to speak to them and tell them to sit down and be quiet. I've also seen passengers speak to them.

One day last week a bus driver stopped his bus and called the Police because of unruly students who were also eating on the bus. Unfortunately, unlike travelling on the bus, they cannot stop the ferry and put them off or call the Police. Maybe the parents of these children can remind them that there are other passengers on the ferry, and that their behaviour should not impede on an otherwise pleasant means of transportation.

CONSIDERING HIRING A MOPED Somerset Bring back our necklace November 1, 2000 Dear Sir, Appeal to yard-sale thief.

Once a year some of my girlfriends and I are getting together and having a yard and bake sale. That's a nice way to get rid of household goods and knick-knacks no longer in use. We try to make it a fun day under the motto "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle''. This time my goal was to make $250 in order to buy a "roofle'' ticket in aid of the Bermuda's Anglican Cathedral repairs. We had a good turn out; even the rainshowers didn't affect us that much...

But our day ended on a sour note! It is sad to say that every time there are opportunity thieves coming to our sales. This time in particular someone took off with a gold-plated rope necklace. I saw the individual show it off to her girlfriend, but then I had to attend to another customer. Sure enough when I inspected the jewellery box later on it was empty! To whoever took it: I hope you show some remorse of your act and I hope to hear from you (anonymous if you wish). Just mail me the cash or check or return the necklace. I would hate to involve the Police in this matter.

MIA P.

Southampton Company's sign is too big November 3, 2000 Dear Sir, In driving past, I have noticed of late that Staples has the most enormous sign I have seen in Bermuda displayed for all to see.

I think it is an absolute disgrace that this is permitted to happen. We are beginning to look more and more like the US which does have the space in which to display a sign of that magnitude.

Whichever way you look at it it is either the beginning or the end of Pitts Bay Road as a residential area. They should not make it any worse than it is.

Did we not have laws prohibiting signs of this size? If so, why has nothing been done? If not where has that law disappeared and it certainly should be reinstated.

PITTS BAY RESIDENT Pembroke