Dear Sir, For those of us who are prepared to blatantly defy the legal speed limit, we are again saying to our young people: "Who needs law and order? Do as you please. When we can't handle you, we will pass you onto the state.'' Let us also consider this very carefully: how fast will we travel as we take our final ride? JOSHUA RICHARDSON City of Hamilton Raise the speed limit July 12, 1999 Dear Sir, I have recently read in your newspaper where the Road Safety Council is going to have another Go Slow Day on July 14 and use Police muscle to enforce it. I guess the Council did not get the message from the motoring public the last time they called for such a day, so here it is in black and white. the current speed limit of 35 kph is not what the majority of drivers want or need to drive. It was fine for 1947. It was fine for 30 years ago. It is archaic in 1999.

Government has created roadways that are wider, straighter and smoother. I doubt that any member of the Road Safety Council adheres strictly to our current speed limit. If they do indeed, then they are part of a very small minority. My feeling is that some accidents are actually caused by driving behind someone who has a funeral-type procession held captive behind him or her.

And I'll never forget reading the letter to the Editor from a resident of Sandys who was caught "speeding'' down an empty East Broadway on a Sunday morning on his way to church. Such a sin! And there's the rub. The nonsensical speed limit is creating sinners of us all! And the number of sinners who are required to appear in Traffic court only points out that more and more must disagree with the present speed limit.

What I propose is that the speed limit be changed to 45 kph (30 mph) which is a reasonable and prudent rate for most of Bermuda's roads. Most people drive with common sense and know to slow down as the situation ahead warrants, i.e.

City of Hamilton, Harbour road, blind bends, rainshowers, etc. allow a leeway of five kph and throw the book at anyone who travels faster than that. I agree "speed kills'' but please allow the Police to deal with "Joe Crazy'' rather than "Joe Common Sense''. In case you're wondering if I have an axe to grind, I've never had a speeding ticket.

JO Southampton Shocked by new ARV July 7, 1999 Dear Sir, It is not just the wealthy who will be paying higher taxes due to massive hikes on their land valuations. We are senior citizens, both having had modest pay cheques for all our working lives. We live in a two bedroom, 11 bathroom house with garage that is almost 45 years old and has had no extensions during that time and only a few interior improvements. We have no pool, no water views, on a lot which is approximately 1/4 acre in size.

Yet our assessment has ballooned horrifically -- from $18,900 to $40,800! (The monthly rental value, of $3,400, is higher than any monthly pay cheque either of us ever received during our working lives and is greater than our combined pensions!) So, unless our objection is favourably received, we shall go from no tax (as we were exempt from Land Tax, being Bermudians over 65) to a figure which we don't even want to think about, and for which we cannot understand the rationale! The "New'' Bermuda is certainly not fulfilling our expectations! DISILLUSIONED Paget Tax hike affects many July 6, 1999 Dear Sir, I have listened to various Ministers, including Mr. Cox and Mr. Bascome, extol the fairness of the new land valuation and taxes which are on view at all post offices. They eulogise the tax incentive to land lords of the lower income properties, and suggest that "big business'' will bear the brunt of the tax hikes.

Welcome to wonderland! Here is my case, and I fear it will be no different for many others: We own a small two bedroom cottage which previously carried the ARV of $9,000.

We are still paying back the mortgage. Currently the cottage is rented out at $1,500 per month to a happy tenant who moved in one year ago, when we moved out.. .New ARV: $19,000.00! Even using the "looking glass'' 5 tier taxation system, we are still facing a tax increase...What would the average landlord do? Let's see now, government assesses the monthly rental value at $1,530...should we up the rent? Why would we be renting below the assumed monthly income? Are we nuts? Apparently so, because we feel it would be unfair to raise the rent on our valuable tenants.

One year ago we moved to a larger house more suitable for our domestic needs.

It was very neglected, so we obtained it at a reasonable price (for Bermuda at any rate!) We live in the upstairs apartment and rent out the downstairs one bedroom apartment to a single Bermudian male, at $750 per month. The previous ARV for our apartment was $8,400.00 and for the lower apartment $6,900.00. Now what has this fabulous New Government done -- without even so much as a look at the state of our house which still requires a substantial amount of work? Yes! You guessed correctly: more than doubled both ARVs: upper apartment (ours) $18,000.00 and lower apartment $12,500. Should we up the rent? Why would we be renting BELOW the assumed monthly income of $1,040? Are we nuts? Apparently so, because we feel it would be unfair to raise the rent on our valuable tenant.

Sir, there are no tax cuts for us, but plenty of incentive to raise the rents, especially when we wake up on the same morning to find that our non-residential property, from which we provide a professional service to the Island, has had the tax increased! We are not an exempted company, nor a bank, just responsible, caring citizens. Is this a democracy? Hardly! Is this another PLP exercise in social re-engineering mad hatter style? Absolutely, say I, nodding my head quietly in dismay as I try to decide who to lay off in order to pay for the exorbitant tax increase on the "commercial'' property.

New Government tax increases, which no doubt will go some way towards financing the next world tour planned for Madame Premier and Colonel Burch.

SINGING THE BLUES IN RED St. George's Discrimination continues July 6, 1999 Dear Sir, In the 1950s, during the days of rigid segregation, the then-Mr. E.T. Richards was very harshly condemned as creating trouble for raising a "nasty'' subject when he raised the issue of racism. He was said to be "obsessed'' with the "kink in his hair!'' Because white Parliamentarians refused to even address the issue, the first cracks in segregation did not occur until almost a decade later as a result of more direct action.

The Leader of the Opposition has repeatedly instructed this country to look to the future and forget our past of slavery, segregation and economic exploitation. However, with the arrival of the Portuguese Parliamentarians, she has suddenly discovered the importance of looking to the past of her European grandmother! She appears to be unabashed about placing a much greater value on her European blood then on her African slave ancestry. That is discrimination based on race.

Dr. Gibbons obviously has a concern about the cost of health care as reflected in lab tests, an expense associated with Dr. Brown's Health Centre. Dr. Brown is black. However he has expressed no concern about the cost of health care as reflected in prescriptions, even when they are more expensive at his company.

The Gibbons family are white. His concerns discriminate.

It is an irony that today that are black Parliamentarians who are not concerned about the actual discrimination but harshly condemn those who address the issue of racial discrimination. In view of this attitude, how many decades will it take to rid our society of this discriminatory preference for whites and the desire to economically exclude black folks? NAR was established in 1990 specifically to ensure that this country addressed the issue of racism. It disturbs us deeply that despite the establishment of CURE by the UBP Government there are still black UBP Parliamentarians who, like the white Parliamentarians of the 1950s, are not concerned about the actual discrimination but only wish to condemn those who talk about this continued preference for whites because they are still seen as superior. The evil is not in talking about it now, any more than it was in the 1980s. The evil was in segregation then and is in continued discrimination now.

THE EXECUTIVE OF NAR Do as I say, not as I do July 5, 1999 Dear Sir, Having perused the list of names of persons appointed to serve on the nine Parish Councils; I see 100 names. This is good.

For the most part, in and of themselves, the names reflect a good balance of integrity and a fair cross-section of the population. This is good.

I was disturbed to see that only eight, maybe 11 at max, are white.

This is not good.

This, according to Hon. Terry Lister, is wrong and confusing to our children.

These percentages a glaring contrast to the call he has recently made, regarding the racial demographics of Bermuda which is generally accepted to be 70-30 percent.

It would appear to even Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder, that the message is very clear. "Do as I say -- not as I do.'' This may be a small observation -- but it is clearly a big problem.

Let's fix it -- before it's too late.

I also am very disappointed at the immature and petty racial slant used in Parliament last Friday -- July 1 by Hon. Dr. Ewart Brown -- and seemingly accepted by the nodding approval of none other than our Hon. Premier! Is this the example that we should be showing to our young people? D. MARK SELLEY Warwick Lister is on the mark June 30, 1999 Dear Sir, Terry Lister's recent suggestion that businesses, when they turn to overseas workers, make more of an effort to find non-white workers, seems like good sense to me.

I don't think it means lowering the quality of those hired, increasing the cost of recruiting or in any way ignoring the training, development and promotion of Bermudians, as several of his critics have claimed. And I don't think it means quotas or work permit decisions based on race.

But I do think that local employers could change the way they recruit overseas to make sure that -- when the time comes to choose the best person for the job -- there are a larger percentage of blacks among the applicants.

Bermudian businesses traditionally rely very heavily on London and Toronto for overseas workers; is it surprising therefore, that most of the applicants are white? But there are still millions of black people in and around these mostly-white cities; perhaps advertising in black-oriented publications, or through the offices of black-oriented professional organisations, would increase the pool of qualified black applicants.

Some local organisations, like the Police Service, have recruited extensively in the Caribbean. This presents difficulties (no direct flights, lots of different islands) but there is a source of millions of potential workers close at hand, who traditionally fit in very well in Bermuda.

Of course, every employer reading this will think of lots of reasons why changing current recruiting methods is impossible. Maybe that's true in some cases. But how much of it is simply the difficulty in changing old and comfortable habits? Finally, one of the quickest and best ways to increase the black hires is to put a black person in charge of hiring, or at least make sure blacks are directly involved in the recruiting decisions.

In all this, of course, I am assuming that people agree with me that we would all be better off, as employers, employees, clients, customers and citizens, if our workforce reflected the racial diversity of our own community. The gains from this, I believe, are big enough that we should be willing to go a little bit out of our way to make sure it happens.

TOM VESEY Paget Looking for disease info July 12, 1999 Dear Sir, This is my story. I woke up one morning while camping (Cup Match 1997) and could not get up off the ground. I had to crawl to something to hold onto to get up. I just thought my body was overtired from the packing and putting up the camping equipment the night before.

A few months later while at work a co-worker said to me, Lynn, your right eye is closing. That happened for a few weeks, then I started having blurred vision and my eyes were sensitive to the bright sun and because I do a lot of typing I was finding it difficult to type, my fingers just wouldn't move rapidly.

I went to see my doctor and he asked me if I was under any stress, I said yes a little. His conclusion was that it was stress, but the symptoms were getting worse. I couldn't lift anything heavier than my handbag. I went to see my doctor again and asked him to test me for diabetes, the test results were negative. I saw my doctor again and again and asked to see an eye specialist.

The eye specialist told me I had a slight problem with my right eye but would not recommend glasses.

I was feeling very alone because no-one understood why all of a sudden I was getting very tired and could not do much without feeling very fatigued.

February 1998, the problems persisted. One day I read a medical article in The Royal Gazette about a woman who had the same symptoms that I have. She had a name for it. It is called Myasthemia Gravis (MG), a very rare illness. I took the article to my doctor and asked to be tested for Myasthenia Gravis. The test took about two weeks before my results came back positive. I was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis.

If you have any information about this illness or have been diagnosed as well, I would like to hear from you. My email:lynn yibl.bm LYNN THOMPSON P.O. Box SB28 Somerset Bridge SBBX Mr. Trew will be missed July 5, 1999 Dear Sir, During the decade of the 1940s, the renowned Berkeley Institute had among its students many of us not so well known but many quite well known. Among the latter were the Hon. Dame Lois Brown Evans, the Honourables Jim Woolridge, Quinton Edness, Gloria McPhee and Clarence James, our famous sculptor Chesley Trott, Stanley (Lord Necktie) Seymour, Eloise Furbert, widow of F.S. Furbert, former Headmaster.

Mrs. Furbert was a director of the Bank of Bermuda and head of the Adult Education School, Dr. Eva Hodgson, David Augustus II (deceased) founder of Augustus Funeral Service, former Senate Vice President Dr. Norma Astwood Blackman, Ira Philip OBE, Sen. Calvin Smith, Walter Roberts ex-MP, and Supt.

Syke Smith deceased.

Nor forgetting of course the irrepressible Robert Allan Trew who was recently eulogised. Robert went into the hotel trade after dropping out of Berkeley. He quickly learned the ropes from people like Mr. Eugene Curtis and my late brother Allan (Hot) Tuzo. He attained the position of Maitre d' at Coral Beach Club within a relatively short time.

While working there he and Mr. Curtis acquired a tract of land in St. David's which they subdivided and successfully sold as building lots. They next opened The Sweater Shop in Paget which operated for years. Robert bought Eve's Cycle Livery in Paget, the Cardinal Nightclub Building in Hamilton, the St. George's Cycle Livery and the Old New York Hotel building in Hamilton. He played a major role in the Antigua Bank and other accomplishments while giving worthy individuals and organisations a helping hand.

He was well respected and listened to by all segments of our population. There are many of us his friends who will greatly miss him considering the wise council he always freely gave. My family express our heartfelt sympathy to his family.

ROSS TUZO Warwick