Dear Source:
"Delegate Seeks Millions (More) in Funding (Welfare)." That's how the headline on your May 3, 2001, story should read.
Delegate to Congress Donna Christian Christensen is certainly doing what the people of the Virgin Island elected her to do: turning to the North with her hand out to the United States.
During these tough times of high energy costs, massive corporate layoffs, an unstable stock market and the need for everyone to tighten their belts, the Virgin Islands is up to the same old thing. Exactly how many "loans" has the government of the Virgin Islands defaulted on in the last 20 or 30 years? How much pride can people have in their community if the community refuses to try once and for all to stand fiscally on its own two feet?
You can actually predict what will happen every time the Virgin Island gets hit by a hurricane: "Please give us more money; we promise to pay you back." I guess the watchword there is "give," because there is obviously never any intention of paying any money back.
When will the people of the Virgin Islands smarten up? Pretty soon there just won't be any more money for your islands. The well will dry up, or the taxpaying public in the United States will simply become sick and tired of bailing you out.
There is an obvious source of income in the beauty of the Virgin Islands that is again in jeopardy because some officials can't learn when to shut up. Are we going to pay for that, also?
This has been going on for way to long. It's like the little kid who takes a dollar from his mom's purse because "she has plenty more where that came from." He repeats the procedure one dollar at a time until one day Mom notices her pocketbook getting a little light, catches on and cuts him off for good. This is where the relationship between the United States and the Virgin Islands is heading. This obvious, conniving behavior can no longer be tolerated.
Get your act together, Virgin Islands!
E.K. Roeske
Watertown, Wis.
