Dear Sir, I am presently sick and tired of people saying give the PLP more time. (How much more?) First and foremost on the PLP's agenda should have been housing (low cost) for the average Bermudian. There are so many people that are having to resort to guest accommodations in the off season and pitching a tent in the high season.

Many people are doubling up in family homes.

It is ridiculous that in our own country we must be subjected to these living conditions.

This government needs to put aside unnecessary things, such as licence plates and larger cars for themselves, which they are all getting caught speeding in.

Stop the party and get on with putting affordable housing available.

P.S. Why don't you consider high rise apartments.

WANDA SMITH Warwick Esso plan is plane crazy December 14, 2000 Dear Sir, I had always wondered what would happen if an airliner had brake problems and went off the end of the runway, across Kindley Field road, and into Ferry Reach.

Now I don't have to wonder anymore. Some profound thinker at Esso proposes to put a buffer between the end of the runway and Ferry Reach. An out of control airplane will make a mess out of a gas station, but it won't get into Ferry Reach (except in small flaming pieces).

Maybe a better place would be across the road from the ASB kitchen, you know, across ferry reach from where that other plane crashed.

SPANISH POINT VOTE Ideas on political reform December 18, 2000 Dear Sir, Your coverage of last Thursday's forum on political reform seemed to suggest that I am opposed to political parties. I am not. However, I do believe a few modifications to our system of government would be good for Bermuda, no matter what political party is in power. Here are a few suggestions.

Give MPs something to do other than attack each other. In many countries, Government backbenchers and Opposition MPs are given meaningful committee roles in scrutinising and developing legislation. The quality of legislation and the expertise of our MPs would improve if we did that in Bermuda.

Ban party whips. Forcing MPs to vote one way or another ought to be illegal.

It is unnatural and dishonest to expect each individual Government MP to support every comma and every clause of every bill that emerges from the Cabinet room. It is foolish, furthermore, to turn a deaf ear to any MP who has suggestions on how a bill could be improved.

Fix election dates every four or five years. That would free Government from the obsessive fear of losing a vote, modifying legislation, or compromising with anybody. If a Government lost its majority before those four or five years were up, MPs could simply do what they do under most democratic systems, which is work out mutually satisfactory compromises and accommodation like adults are supposed to be able to do.

Rearrange the seating in the House of Assembly. Political parties now face each other like warring factions, and behave accordingly. They should sit in an arc, facing the impartial speaker, like they do in most democratic legislatures.

Use referendums fairly often. Much of the anger and division over major and controversial changes would be easily eliminated if citizens were convinced that the decision, whatever it turns out to be, was their own.

In short, we need a system that does not compel a governing party to pretend that it is God -- all-knowing, all-seeing, and never questioned.

And we need a system that gives an opposition party a role that is more than simply attacking the government.

Now that Bermudians have had the benefit of seeing two different political parties form the government, we should realise that many of our most vexing and divisive political problems are caused by the system, not by particular parties or particular politicians. They, like us, are victims of a Westminster model of government designed for a different country and a different era.

I hope that a new year can bring us the courage and imagination to climb out of the narrow political rut we have travelled for far too long.

Tom Vesey Paget Making a difference December 19, 2000 Dear Sir, I need some space. It is too bad this column does not allow pictures, because if it did I would send in a big hug for a few people that I feel have changed some of my generation's lives.

Let me name a few Mrs. Millett -- Our Brownie Leader, "A Brownie Guide thinks of others before herself and does a good deed everyday'', Patricia Simons -- Our Girls Brigade Leader'' Girls Brigade Girls Brigader''. Smile a while, Smile a while. Morning time is ringing, Morning time is ringing. Ding Dong Bell. Ding Dong Bell.

The Leader of ASDA: Lorrita Tucker-Simmons, Jerome Oogie Cook (deceased), and Gina Spence. "No Not Me''. Michelle Doars -- Choir Director "Watch ye therefore, you not the day, when the Lord shall call your souls away''.

Corrine Adams-Parris -- YPD President "Grow, Glow and Go For Christ. Mrs.

Marguerite Place (deceased) -- Youth Choir Director. Mrs. Place (deceased) Junior Usher Board President. Mr. and Mrs. Furbert -- We Are People Too Founders -- "Here we are your children, holding hands in front of you, we need to be certain of all the things that we do, we are your children, living in a world of changing time, and don't forget all you do. We need your help because we are people too. We're People We're People We're People Too.

I want to say thank you to all you folks and I think some of our youth that have missed out on your leadership have missed a good thing. So if you're reading this and you've always wondered if you'd made a difference during your time of leadership. ...well wonder no more and the wayside. Well-Done Leaders! Enjoy My Youth.

CARLA HAYWARD-SMITH Pembroke Respecting the Church December 18, 2000 Dear Sir, I wish to write about a type of individual, that I am sure at some point or another, everyone has seen and at least heard about. That person being, the one who sits in church congregations, singing hymns, foot stomping, raising their hands, and praising the good Lord. Only on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays, mind you. This same person through the course of the week, is probably the most loathsome person one knows, i.e. the gossip spreading, drinking like a fish, deception, adultery, and telling the all-time infamous, believable lie. The sickening part of it is they find absolutely nothing wrong with what they are doing. There is no regard placed on self-respect, or that of others.

For some reason, they find it to their insane liking and somehow convenient, for them to act in this iniquitous manner. As a person who has spent a tremendous portion of their minor and adolescent years, involved in the Church. I find this type of behaviour to be both very atrocious, and offensive.

At the very least, one should have respect for the Church as an institution of learning and worship. And stop using it as a facade for insecurities. This type of person can and has deterred others from joining and or rejoining the Church. Hence regarding it as a hole in society, rather than it bringing the whole society together.

To be a "Christian'' one should be fully committed to living a truly healthy life, and exemplify the teachings of our Lord, and not make a mockery of it.

Remember, one is not judged only on the day of reckoning but for every day one lives and how one has lived it.

SHANE SIMMONS Devonshire The fight for abstinence December 14, 2000 Dear Senator Parris, I am responding to your comments in The Royal Gazette dated Tuesday, December 12th 2000, regarding the absence of an "abstain from sex'' campaign for the teens of Bermuda.

Teen Services has been in existence for approximately 33 years, providing helping services for male and female teens and their families. We also provide prevention outreach services on at-risk sexual behaviours. Highlighting the importance of abstinence is our main platform. The goal of this service is to reduce and change at-risk behaviours to healthier ones.

In 1999, Teen Services launched a Teen Pregnancy Prevention Campaign, which was proclaimed by the Honourable Nelson Bascome. The campaign is an all year process, but is highlighted and recognised during the month of May.

The purpose of the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Campaign in Bermuda is to increase public awareness to teen pregnancy, so that the community will commit to prevention. The campaign's objective is also to encourage the community to advocate and support programmes and strategies that prevent teenage pregnancy, and decrease the problems associated with it.

The Teen Pregnancy Prevention Campaign is guided by a committee of professional and teen volunteers, who are committed to this cause. Each year the committee chooses a theme that will address issues on teen pregnancy prevention. The 2000-2001 theme is Do I Have What it Takes to Raise A Child -- "It Takes More Than Money to Raise A Child, It Takes...'' MICHELLE WADE-JOHNSON Director, MSW, ACSW The beauty of simplicity December 15, 2000 Dear Sir, Using foreign language phrases when communicating with the man in the street is not recommended for chances are he will not understand what is being said.

An example of this appears in the page two article of today's Royal Gazette about CARE's concern for possible radiation exposure from the proposed Mobility Tower at Lusher Road East.

The reporter writes: Residents have complained of "inter alia sleep disorders', headaches, memory loss and stress. The phrase `inter alia' meanings `among other things'. But the writer of the article has interpreted it as a kind of sleeplessness.

So you see it would have been much clearer to all and sundry had the person interviewed stayed with ordinary simple English and said: "Residents have complained of, among other things, sleep disorders, headaches, memory loss and stress''.

It's so easy when you keep it simple.

PETER J. WILLCOCKS Smith's Parish Where was the Minister? December 8, 2000 Dear Sir, In yesterday's Royal Gazette there is an article in the Business Section about Axiom Services -- which is an electronic solutions provider, assisted by Centre Solutions.

They hosted a presentation and reception on Wednesday evening to introduce their product to the marketplace, and all those involved should be commended for their efforts. In particular they should be commended for their creative solution to assist the Department of Tourism, whose current website is a national disgrace and waste of money.

The only fly in the ointment is the fact that the Minister of Tourism (who was the guest of honour) failed to show, leaving fifty or sixty people standing around twiddling their thumbs before things eventually got underway.

It is the efforts of the private sector -- and taxpayers' money -- that will rejuvenate tourism, and it is therefore embarrassing that the Minister, by his absence, showed such lack of interest.

A LOCAL Tell Bermuda the facts Dear Sir, Just like roosters crowing just before the break of dawn, I was awakened to the sound of Parliamentarians blabbing over the airwaves after five on Saturday morning. It was the Hon. Tim Smith whom I heard making his presentation in Parliament at that time. He appeared to be running from one Caribbean Island to the next, trying to explain away all the different Constitutions of these Islands and why they have to have a two-thirds vote in their Parliaments and a Referendum to change their Constitutions.

But he failed most miserably to explain the facts to the People of Bermuda and Parliament the difference between a Colonial Constitution and a Constitution of an Independent nation. We all know, for the UBP to be looking to the Caribbean as an example for their cause, is an exercise of pure laughter, because they never cared about the politics or Constitutions of those Islands to the south, so why would he go there? The UBP was in power for more then 30 years, and it was OK for them to have a simple majority, but now that they are no longer in power, it's now all wrong. Why did they not fix it then? What the People of Bermuda simply need to know is that Bermuda is Governed by a Colonial Constitutional Order, and that means that our "so called People's Constitution'' is under the full control of Great Britain, and for any change to the Bermuda Constitution to take place, it would have to be dealt with in Britain under an Order in Council. Well then, what's the next step, INDEPENDENCE! EUGENE M. STOVELL Warwick Our common culture December 13, 2000 Dear Sir, Last night I watched the televised Race Debate -- it was a good start to a long journey. Obviously the organisers were doing CURE's job but well done Chris Valde-Dapena and Rolf Commissiong.

I emailed in a question to the black panellists, but I presume they ran out of time. According to Arlene Brock power plus prejudice equals racism. In other words, prejudice, without power, is ineffectual. So now that the PLP has power, I assume they can be racists.

Interestingly, all the male panellists except one, and the moderator, were wearing the white man's badge of office -- the necktie! This badge is of European, not African origin and says a great deal about our common culture.

SANDERS FRITH-BROWN Warwick