Sir, I find it very difficult to understand what point you are trying to get across. It would be appreciated if you would just say what's on your mind and please chill out.

The taxi man is also a bore. All he does is make excuses for the poor service.

The elderly gentleman who we all know as (Allow Me if You Will) sir if you would be a little kinder to the talk show hosts.

We are sick to death of hearing how to buy a house with no money down. I do not think a talk show is the place for poetry or religious quotes.

I hope David Lopes might consider doing more interviews with a variety of public figures -- he does a fantastic job.

F.M.

Southampton Debate conscription October 10, 1999 Dear Sir, As we approach the year 2000, we still hold onto some archaic attitudes. One of these is the conscription of young Bermudian men into the Bermuda Regiment.

Every year we make some 200 of our young men join the Regiment, often against their will, and take them away from their careers.

It is perhaps long overdue for the call of the abolition of conscription. Let us not take this archaic principle into the next millennium.

I write in the hope that this will start debate into abolition of conscription into the Bermuda Regiment and level the playing field for our young men as they enter the working arena.

PATRICK S. TROTT Paget Teach the kids right Dear Sir, I am writing this letter because this is a subject that's been on my mind for a long time.

It is time for parents to wake up and see the light and start taking control of our kids.

When you look around you see children cursing at their elders, hitting their parents, and showing no sort of respect to any one. The laws of the world has made things so difficult, but they are the ones who sit around here and wonder what to do with kids when they are uncontrollable.

All these people going around saying this isn't good for a child or this is how you should bring up a child. The biggest mistake most parents make is that you must let your child know when he or she is doing wrong from the time it is born.

Some people find a child's actions funny at times, although that child may be doing wrong. They would stand around and laugh at that child's actions without correcting that child for the first five years and then when the child starts to really get out of hand -- and you try to turn that child around -- it's too late because that child is set in his ways and will become very rebellious.

So parents, don't think that by you letting your child do what she or he wants to do, will win their love and affection, because it won't.

A child learns what they are taught. That's why our world is mixed up. Teach the kid's right -- light discipline and understanding don't hurt. CONCERNED PARENT KEMH needs a little TLC September 30, 1999 Dear Sir, I hope when this letter reaches you it will find you in good health. I could not claim that on Sunday, September 21.

I had to check myself into the emergency room around 4.30 a.m. On arriving I found that I was the only one there so I received immediate attention.

After being checked out by the doctor I was sent to the X-ray Department. On my return to the ER I was told that because a seriously injured accident victim had been brought in I would need to wait awhile before receiving further attention.

So there I was for the next two and a half hours -- sitting in a chair with my splitting headache and temperature and blood pressure going through the ceiling.

We later learned that the long wait was attributed to the fact that at that time of day there is one doctor on duty. I wonder how that one doctor would function if there were two or three cases or if -- God forbid -- he should fall suddenly ill.

Finally, a different doctor appeared on the scene to inform me that I was to be admitted. I was then assigned to a cubicle in which I was able to lie down and be more comfortable. Eventually, I was placed on the third floor.

My roommate was an older gentleman whom I knew but I was not aware of his physical condition. I soon came to realise that his difficulty was probably caused by a buildup of cold which caused constant coughing.

Many times you could hear him struggling to breathe as the cold rattled from his stomach up through his chest. On numerous occasions during my five- day stay I found myself being responsible for summoning the nurses to give assistance to this gentleman.

Most times the nurses were appreciative of my help. Each night that I was there I had to call for the nurse to give assistance to the patient. On one occasion I asked the nurse why more diligent attention was not being given to this patient whose condition they were aware of.

I asked why they did not come around at regular intervals to check on this patient as I recall this to have been a practice in years gone by. She responded that today the nurses have much more reporting to do and needed to put information into the computer. Then I was told that they had to depend on visitors and people like myself for assistance.

Another nurse stated that they do come around but I didn't see them because I was asleep. This I found hard to believe because many times in the wee hours of the morning I was awakened by the uncontrollable coughing or maybe it was by the Almighty to find my friend in a state near suffocation.

In fact, I was told by one nurse that without my intervention that was a real possibility; it makes one wonder how many did pass peacefully during the night or did they struggle for their last breath.

One night when the coughing was so bad I tried to summon the nurse. When there was no response to the bell I got out of my bed and went to the nurses' station. The area was in darkness and there was no one to be found.

Suddenly a nurse appeared from a darkened room and asked if she could help me.

I told her of the patient's plight. She did not respond in a very pleasant manner but at least my friend was able to get the assistance he needed.

It seemed to me that every night I was on "nursing'' duty, therefore when my doctor came on the Thursday morning and said I was being discharged it was an answered prayer.

My five-day stay has left me wondering if our hospital is sufficiently staffed and if staff are made fully aware of the needs of those in their care.

May God bless the nurses and doctors.

DONALD L. JONES Southampton `New Bermuda's' taxing October 6, 1999 Dear Sir, My husband and I have worked a total of over 100 years with most of the proceeds going to buy a modest house in a nice, but not spectacular neighbourhood. When retirement came around we reviewed our assets, which are mostly in the house, (we both worked most of our time prior to pensions), and decided that by not taking trips abroad, running a small car and restricting our eating out, we could just manage.

Lo and behold! In this great `new Bermuda' with no tax increases promised, and in the year of the Older Persons, our caring Government in one blow, has removed our sense of security with a massive increase in our Land Tax, from $67 per annum to over $1,600 p.a.

Two months' pension to just pay the Land Tax. Our house is 40-years-old and has had no upgrades -- same bathroom and kitchen.

We are now faced with having to sell our family home and try and find a low cost house in an already overburdened area of the real estate market. Why, if the Government must raise all this money, couldn't they tax something that gave people a choice to buy or not, such as alcohol, tobacco, etc. even these large cars that need bumpers! It makes one very depressed about this `new Bermuda' and long for the old and puts emphasis on the saying `Better the Devil you know...!'' DS Paget Tests didn't measure up October 11, 1999 Dear Sir, I am writing with regard to the article a recent Royal Gazette , "Results prove it: Bermuda youth have serious literacy problems''.

When I read the article it was not a surprise. As a recent student of CedarBridge, I can say that the results are not true and may never be known.

This is how I know. When I was in school recently, I, and many of my schoolmates, had to take the Terra Nova Test and the Stanford Test. Many students did not want to do it.

So, they would just shade any of the choices making them unsuccessful on the tests. Many of them felt that the exam was too long, too much reading, too boring.

The exam was unsuccessful every time I took it. My fellow class mates just got so sick and tired of sitting in the class for hours to complete something to them was not worth anything and every time we took it was the same thing over and over. This is boring; this is too much reading and etc.

The main excuse that I used to hear more often was "this is not worth it because it does not go in my transcript and it does not give you a credit so this is a waste of time''.

I hope that the Ministry of Education can look at these things. This is very serious situation and if this keeps going on, then the Bermuda standard will remain just like it is today.

Ex-Student of CBA Devonshire