with the opening of a new Family Court on the ground floor of the Government Administration Building.

The court which deals with family matters including adoptions, child maintenance, fostering and juvenile criminal cases will move to the new permanent location next week.

In the past, the court has met in the Wesley Methodist Church Hall and the boardroom of the Department of Youth and Sport, also used for criminal, traffic and other cases involving adults.

"Cases dealing primarily with family matters needed a less intimidating environment and more privacy for persons coming before the panel,'' said the Chief Justice the Hon. Mr. Austin Ward.

"What we are providing with the new Family Court will go a long way towards achieving that goal.'' The Chief Justice will be in attendance when the court is officially opened by the Premier, the Hon. Sir John Swan at an informal ceremony today.

Senior Magistrate and chairman of the Special Courts Panel, the Wor. William Francis and Hon. Quinton Edness Minister of Health Social Services which provides support services to the courts will also be present.

Also invited is the Hon. Leonard Gibbons Minister of Works and Engineering which acquired and converted the space for the new court, members of the Special Court Panel and representatives of Government and non-Government agencies including Probation Services and the Bermuda Bar Association. The facilities for the new Family Court were designed and renovated under the supervision of the Ministry of Works and Engineering.

Architects of the project were Mitchell Associates and Precision Engineering carried out construction work.

The location was previously occupied by switchboard and reception services for Government offices.

TRY A NEW DIET FOR A BETTER LIFE! CHU Try a new diet for a better life! On behalf of Black History Month and in an effort to make Bermudians more healthy, the Hebrew Israelite community is putting on a vegetarian cuisine banquet.

The Hebrew Israelites of Bermuda are concerned with the diet of Bermudians which they believe has aided the upsurge of violent acts in the community.

Chief executive officer of GKE Enterprises Elijahtsoor Ben Aharon said the banquet will teach people how to prepare vegetarian dishes that taste good.

"There is an upsurge of violent acts in our community. Children are being diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, and men are being diagnosed with prostate cancer,'' Mr. Aharon said.

He added: "Alcohol and drug abuse are related to a lack of understanding of a proper diet. What we are trying to do is give people an alternative to the diet that is forced upon us by the dogmatic, dietary guidelines that insist that white sugar, and flour products, meats, dairy products and eggs are life giving and nutritious things to eat.

Mr. Aharon also said that a large group of our young people have short attention spans and are ill-prepared socially or skillfully for the workplace or in developing family relationships.

Head sister of the Bermuda extension of the Hebrew Israelites and manager of the Boutique Africa Tikvah Baht Israel said that the banquet was also being put on by Soul Vegetarian.

"The banquet, which will be held at the Kiskadees restaurant at the Belmont Hotel on February 25 at 7.30 p.m. will have an array of vegetarian dishes which will offer a viable alternative to meats,'' Ms Israel said.

Tickets for the affair can be purchased at GKE, True Reflections, The Attic and from members of the Hebrew Israelite community for $40 per person or $75 per couple.