I appeal through your newspaper to the Minister, Belco and Corporation of Hamilton.

I am a regular walker in the early hours of the morning.

My route is Crow Lane parking lot to Smatt's on Pitts Bay Road. More and more lights are now out, and being a female, this makes me feel uncomfortable, as there are some strange people lurking about at this hour.

Today from Crow Lane parking lot to the Longtail, I counted a total of nineteen lights out. Come on now, surely someone must check on these? Hopefully this letter will cause action.

EARLY WALKER Southampton Concerned about school February 19, 1999 Dear Sir, I read that Gary Madeiros is thinking of retiring from the CedarBridge board.

I would like to ask him since he says he has been there since day one what is happening about the school air conditioning plant? I try some mornings to open a window in my home, say about 6 a.m., I try again about 8 a.m. and again about 11 a.m. and the noise is so great each time I have to use them. Why was the plant put in the present position? No thought for others? We have complained now for a long time and spring and summer of 1999 is around the corner. This plant should have been put away from houses and facing the National field where people spend a short time.

Why did they ever buy a Clock when the old clock and tower was a few feet away? The clock has stopped for up to one year. Please take it down and pack it up and send it back to wherever it came from and get full credit for it and transport. Put four good pictures or whatever in the empty spaces. Look at the grounds where the empty containers are left for months. Why doesn't anyone inspect the whole area ever? Why are cars (10 last Tuesday morning at 9 a.m.) parked at the back of the school, outside on the west of the road and eighteen car spaces empty at the same time in the car park? Why not give an example to the students? This school was a dreadful waste of money.

TAX PAYER Devonshire Staff solutions for BTC February 25, 1999 Dear Sir, I believe it's time that an employee of BTC voiced an opinion on the operation of our Company.

For many years BTC has been poorly managed, yet very profitable, with the focus on shareholder return and not on customer service.

As everyone is aware the Company won their appeal for a much smaller rate cut than originally imposed by the Government. Granted, any rate cut would reduce BTC's income but they will still make a large profit. The only way to stop our customers from leaving BTC is to improve customer service and delivery, and to be competitively priced. It is obvious that the Company needs to cut expenses.

It does not take a rocket scientist to come up with the following initiatives: Cut the shareholder dividend by $0.03 per share per annum; Offer retirement to employees 55 years of age and older, moving their salaries from the operating budget to the retirement fund; No more expensive overseas' consultants (they don't implement their findings anyway, after spending millions of dollars); Reduce the advertising budget -- everyone knows who BTC is and what they do (advertise new products and important service initiatives only); Streamline management reporting and reduce the number of expatriate senior managers (their housing allowances alone are more than some people's salaries).

BTC, like most big companies, does not listen to its staff. They have many ideas that would improve service: The staff knows what the customer complaints are and how to accommodate them; Overtime is essential due to a great abundance of technical troubles which directly affect the quality of our service to our paying customers; and The need for ongoing training of the Bermudian technical staff.

All of these recent events have driven staff morale into the basement and the Company's lack of communication with its workers has led to employees to rely on local newscasts to find out if they need to go to work the next day. The senior management of the Company never addressed the staff directly and instead relies on facsimile communication.

I hope BTC will finally give our customers the service they have paid for all these years.

To my brothers and sisters at BTC - remember "United We Stand; Divided We Fall.'' A BERMUDIAN BTC EMPLOYEE AND CUSTOMER City of Hamilton Threat to dry cleaners February 22, 1999 Dear Sir, It is very interesting to hear such passion for environmental issues being displayed by the members of CARE, especially the group's spokesman, Steve Thomson. In the Gazette article entitled "Review to be mounted into towers'' Mr. Thomson makes some suggestions and statements regarding electromagnetic radiation. The article quotes him as saying: "The more information Government can get on electromagnetic radiation the better it is for all Bermudians, where there is a potential threat to children and families.'' I fully agree that any threat to children and families must be looked into. However cellular antennae are not threats to children and families, as exhibited by studying and analysis supported by the international scientific and medical community and relevant government agencies.

He goes on further to state: "We have to be very careful there is no risk before we subject the people to that.'' There will always be some risk with every endeavour we as people embark upon. Driving in the car to go to church is wrought with peril as is crossing the street or taking a shower (falls kill scores every year).

He is also summarised as having the view that it is more important to ask Bermuda Digital Communications (BDC) to prove that the antenna is safe, than for the residents to show it wasn't. It seems he would suggest the burden of proof be with the accused.

I wonder if Mr. Thomson is willing to use the same set of standards and criteria to measure and approve an industry that he is already involved with? Maybe he should concentrate on a subject matter that has little question as to the possible health effects resulting from its use, such as the chemical perchloroethylene, also known as tetrachloroehtylene, or perc for short? You may have never heard of this chemical before but maybe you should have, as its used in large quantities every day here in Bermuda. Perchloroethylene is the dry cleaning industry's chemical solvent of choice, and is used by companies such as Just Shirts as well as the rest of the dry cleaning companies on the island, to clean their clothes.

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) fact sheet titled National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants from perchloroethylene Dry Cleaning Facilities Final Rule, dated October, 1993, perchloroethylene is a "toxic air pollutant Congress has required the EPA to regulate under the Clean Air Act of 1990. Perchloroethylene is known to cause cancer in animals and is suspected to cause cancer in humans''.

In a document titled simply Tetrachloroethylene (Perchloroethylene) document number 127-18-4, the EPA says that the chronic effects of perchloroethylene on humans "are cardiac arrhythmia, liver damage and kidney effects''. Those working with perchloroethylene would seem to be even more at risk. The document states in the fifth paragraph that: "Some adverse reproductive effects, such as menstrual disorders and spontaneous abortions, have been reported from occupational exposure to tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene).'' It goes on further to state: "The EPA has classified tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene) as a group B2 probable human carcinogen.'' It also states "exposure to very high levels of tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene) in humans has caused death''.

Not only does perchloroethylene stand guilty of all of the above according to the EPA, but it breaks down into vinyl chloride, phosgene (a poison used to gas soldiers in the First World War) and carbon tetrachloride, which destroys the ozone layer. And this stuff can be released into the air via gassing of fumes from dry cleaned clothes as well as from the dry cleaning process itself.

So, the questions I ask are simple; can the dry cleaning industry prove to us that there is "no risk'' from this chemical, even though the United States Environmental Agency says otherwise? Can they show that there is "no risk'' to children or families'' despite the possible health effects resulting from exposure to the main ingredient used by them? Can the dry cleaning companies state unequivocally that there is "no risk'' of environmental damage to Bermuda and the planet Earth from their industry? I would suspect that the answer to these questions is a resounding "NO.'' Those who live in glass houses, blah blah blah blah, we all know the rest ofit.

MIKE BEARDEN Warwick Dangerous emissions February 25, 1999 Dear Sir, Studies have shown that EMF radiation at 60 Hertz can cause health effects.

The cellular transmission towers being built in Bermuda are running at 800 MH.

Dr. David Carpenter the former Dean of the school of Public Health, State University of New York States, February 9, 1999: "There is a substantial body of scientific evidence showing that Electomagnetic fields -- at a frequency of 60 Hertz pose an elevated risk of cancer to children and adults.'' There has not been very much attention to the higher frequencies of electromagnetic fields that are used in cellular phones, but in general these frequencies are of higher energy levels, and on that basis one might expect that they would be more hazardous''.

He concludes that: "In my opinion it is totally irresponsible to position a cellular antenna near a site where young children spend significant periods of time.'' EDUCATED ON THE SUBJECT Warwick