invested it in their own children, the Country as a whole would be better off, a Court Street businessman said on Tuesday.

Mr. Annon Adams, in an impassioned ten minute speech at the St. Paul's Centennial Hall, said it was time for Bermudians "to deal in prevention'' when it came to confronting the problems brought about by pervasive violence in the community.

And a necessary first step required giving up alcohol and tobacco.

Mr. Adams' address came after a panel that included Assistant Police Commissioner Mr. Wayne Perinchief, Chief Probation Officer Mr. Melvin Simmons, Progressive Labour Party Sen. Milton Scott and newspaper columnist Mr. Rolfe Commissiong, spoke on some of the causes of the current crime wave.

Mr. Adams, who was the first audience member to speak at the forum sponsored by the 100 Black Men of Bermuda, said the message that education would provide jobs was flawed because many British Policemen had moved into high-paying jobs.

Consequently, Bermudians needed to look at their own recreational habits for solutions.

"We need to stop smoking and stop drinking,'' he said. "It's killing our children. We are a country of big spenders. At Cup Match we spend millions but they (the liquor and tobacco merchants) take every penny.'' Instead, Mr. Adams said the Island's privately owned workmen's clubs and Cup Match vendors needed to send a strong message to the liquor merchants and tobacco sellers by boycotting their products.

Meanwhile, Mr. Simmons said violent crimes in Bermuda were approaching the levels he saw in New York City when he worked there among the gangs and inner city youth.

He returned home in 1976 because the city's problems were getting worse.

"This is 1995,'' he said."And New York has followed me to Bermuda. I see no difference in the problems that I confronted in New York and the problems that I now see in Bermuda.'' Among the list of crimes, Mr. Simmons pointed to the "cold and callous'' violence perpetrated by young people and abuse against the elderly which forced many senior citizens to live in fear of their own children.

Mr. Simmons said an overburdened Addiction Services Department and the Montrose Substance Abuse Centre left many addicts with no place to turn, even after they have been ordered to seek counselling by the courts.

That was further compounded by an already stressed criminal justice system.

Mr. Simmons said a system of community corrections, which involved Police officers, lawyers, judges and laypeople in punishing offenders, was preferable to "stricter laws and aggressive prosecutions''.

Other possibilities could include home confinements so that offenders could still work and provide for their families.

Such suggestions he added, were preferrable to incarceration for first time offenders.

Earlier, Mr. Perinchief rebuked suggestions that young black males were a problem.

"That's a dastardly thing to say,'' he urged. "You may want to term it that young black men have a problem.. .they have a problem with coping in a society that says get an education and society will open the doors for you.'' This is not true, he said, because society's leaders are not providing what they have offered.

Sen. Scott, meantime, said that while Bermudian males were being failed by the current school system, the proposed mega-school at Prospect would not solve the problem of violence in schools.

The Island needed a mutidisciplinary centre where young people can continue their education if they are unsuccessful in high school, get medical attention if they need it and have recreational facilities.

Mr. Commissiong said Bermuda needed a "cultural and spiritual revitilisation and self healing'' in addition to efforts to equalise an uneven economic and political system.