CARL BLISS, a 59-year-old management consultant, displayed a proper rendition of his surname recently as he could not contain his bliss after receiving the coveted Gleaner Silver Pen Award for the month of October 2012.

Bliss won his first Silver Pen award for the letter titled 'LNG frolic a bitter pill for taxpayers' that was published on Monday, October 8, 2012.

The letter addressed the fact that it took the Government spending a total of US$2.8 million (J$252 million at the rates in October 2012) to learn that, according to Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell, the liquefied natural gas project is not feasible.

"When I saw the newspaper report that the project had come to an end, I was a little angry because we can always explore as a young country, we need to explore possibilities, but we must also have accountability for how we spend the funds. To the date, it had cost hundreds of millions of dollars to just pursue this project, and then it was just decided that it cannot go any further," Bliss told The Gleaner.

"I thought that was a little harsh, especially in our economic climate. I think that there should have been more accountability, somebody should have said to the country that we have spent so much, and we are unable to reach a point where it is viable. Nobody did though, I was just a little incensed and that is why I wrote the letter," he added.

Bliss also noted that he has been an avid reader of The Gleaner because of the newspaper's balanced approach to journalism.

"I absolutely enjoy writing, in fact there are so many letters in me that sometimes I have to hold them back. I have a wide range of interests in different subjects, certainly in different public affairs, and so I respond via the letter writing to issues that I find interesting. I absolutely plan on writing letters as long as The Gleaner continues to publish them," Bliss chuckled.

"I look forward to many more hundred years of The Gleaner's publishing because it is a trustworthy medium. What is wonderful about it is that you can write letters that are critical to the institution, and they still publish it, and that is what I think is the mark of real serious journalism," he added.