The May 13 issue of The Royal Gazette carried an article about the problems local businessmen are having obtaining work permits, compared to their international counterparts.

In the article, Immigration Minister Paula Cox denied there was favoured treatment for international companies' applications.

Either Ms. Cox is not telling the truth, or she is unaware of the policy that gives expedited treatment to BIBA members -- at the expense of slowing down the process for other applicants.

This entire thing is no secret and she should come clean and tell the public the real truth -- that a BIBA application takes one week, and a local business application takes four weeks.

TAXPAYER Paget Justice was denied May 23, 1999 Dear Sir, The letter is in reference to the Selwyn Berkeley case that appeared in Supreme Court on Tuesday, May 18, 1999.

This man chose to drive down North Shore Road at 95 kph which resulted in the death of his friend Ashanti Smith as well as severe injuries to Mrs. Smatt and her two children.

The fact that this man only got a year in prison is appalling! What I also find intriguing is the fact that this man can do so much damage to two families and neglect to show remorse to all the parties involved.

Word of mouth has it that his neglecting to apologise to the Smatts was a `momentary oversight'; to my mind if this man was genuinely sorry for what he had done, no momentary oversight would ever have occurred. And he's had over a year in which to apologise.

My question for the judiciary is what does one have to do to receive the maximum sentence of five years imprisonment? What exactly do they have to do, because if killing one person and nearly killing two others isn't enough, I'd like to know what is. Do three people have to die, or is it ten people at once? If the sentence in this case is being based on previous sentences to other people of similar situations, who is to say that those cases were handled properly to begin with? And if we want to halt the increasing number of deaths on our roads why are we using previous lenient sentencing as our benchmark? No, things have to change.

The judicial system in this country needs to get its act together. They made us an international laughing stock with the way they handled the Rebecca Middleton murder and they don't show any sign of improving.

The PLP is now in power and they have indicated they would enforce laws having to do with Police and the judicial system -- what are they waiting for? Now is a primetime to prove that they are listening and acting on the requests of the people of the Country. Now is the time to stop talking about what they're going to do and act! The first step should be to listen to the uproar of the Bermudian people over this minimal sentence, review the case and assign a sentence that fits the crime and sends out the message that deadly driving will not be tolerated in Bermuda! JUDGES WAKE UP Pembroke Dogs will kill again May 20, 1999 Dear Sir, In reply to the letter dated May 14, "In defence of our dogs'', I totally agree with letters by the ten Mount St. Agnes students who say there are irresponsible dog owners on the Island.

There has been an ongoing problem with these two dogs from as early as April, 1997.

At the time the first attack occurred, a letter was sent to the Hawleys to inform them what had happened, and to please secure their dogs. The second attack happened in April of 1998 at which time the Dog Warden and the Police were called.

In April of this year, again the dogs came onto our property and viciously attacked my little dog, killing it. The attack was witnessed, but unfortunately it was too late.

These dogs previously came onto my neighbour's property and attacked their cat -- again the Police were called.

In court, April 22, Adam Hawley pleaded guilty to the charges, he was fined $300.00 and ordered to pay $645.00 in compensation, also the court ordered that the dogs are to kept inside the house and when out on a leash had to be supervised by an adult.

Since then the court order has been broken twice, and on one occasion the dog owner was home. As a result of this, the dogs have been impounded.

I have one remaining dog. I don't want her to end up the same as my little dog did.

To this day we have not received an apology for the death of my little dog, nor have we received compensation. Dogs such as these two dogs that have attached so viciously and have killed, will kill again.

THE CORREIA FAMILY Jennings Road Smiths Parish Drawing the line May 16, 1999 Dear Sir, Maybe before introducing the $100 fine for not wearing your seat belt, or the $200 fine for not properly strapping in your child, maybe the Road Safety Council could encourage drivers to slow down and find out what that line in the middle of the road is all about.

Most of the drivers I see on the roads ignore the centre line as if it wasn't there. Back to basics before causing more court traffic.

CURTIS A. DAWSON Pembroke