the number of children who have been suspended from the public school system.

Sen. Neletha Butterfield (PLP) made the call during the first motion for adjournment of the new session of the Upper House.

Sen. Butterfield said a survey should look into how many children, between the ages of 12 and 16, had been suspended and the length of those suspensions.

"I am concerned about the students who have been expelled,'' she said.

"What's going to happen to them.'' Her sentiments were echoed by her colleague, the Opposition Senate Leader.

Sen. Milton Scott (PLP) also commented on what he felt was the unsafe conditions of school gymnasiums and their lack of equipment.

Sen. Lawrence Scott (UBP) said it was time to stop the analysis and criticism of the new education system and pull together and start taking action.

Sen. Terry Lister (PLP) called for a ban on the sale of miniatures and cold beer in Island stores. He said it was time to recognise that alcohol was a drug despite the fact that it was legal.

He said young people felt it was hypocritical for marijuana to be considered a terrible drug when alcohol, which affected people and families as well, was not.

Sen. Lister added that the abuse of alcohol also led to drunk driving where cars became weapons.

The Island had been on a kick to stop drunk driving for some ten years and had reached the point where mandatory sentences of a year off the road were being imposed by the courts.

However rehabilitation and mandatory counselling for offenders had not yet been put in place. The community would be better off if just a small percentage of these offenders were reformed, he argued.

In closing, Sen. Lister turned his attention to bars and nightclubs which had been hit by hard times financially and seemed to be opening their doors to patrons under the age of 18 in an attempt to drum up business.

It was time to deal with this, he said, and put something in law that included penalties for these businesses to put the emphasis on stopping underage drinking on them.