Oct. 13, 2002 – What do you do when the ripe papaya your mouth is watering for turns out to be a tasteless, non-sweet dud? Make Papaya Bread.
The papaya, native to North America but cultivated in semitropical zones around the world abounds in our own backyards. Green, unripe, papaya are cooked like summer squash and eaten as a vegetable. But ripe papaya, when the skin takes on a vivid yellow-gold color, makes sweet eating for fruit salads and dessert recipes.
My papaya, although blushed golden on the outside with a soft orange flesh, tasted like it still needed several days in the ripening process. Once cut though, I knew it would deteriorate fast. This fact, combined with my enjoyment of experimenting with new recipes on the weekends, enticed me to try Papaya Bread.
Basically, the batter for the recipe below is similar to other sweet breads like banana. The key, I discovered, was to puree the papaya until smooth. Mashing it left chunks that created holes when the bread baked. To satisfy my daughter's sweet tooth and my desired to sneak in a bit more nutrition, I added raisins. The result proved a deliciously sweet orange-brown bread which makes a great snack or breakfast fare.
Ripe Papaya Bread
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup pureed ripe papaya
1/2 cup raisins
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon each of ground cinnamon, allspice and ginger
Cream sugar with butter until light. Add eggs and beat until fluffy. Add papaya and raisins and mix well. Sift flour with baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice and ginger. Add to butter mixture. Pour batter into greased and floured 9-x-5-inch loaf pan. Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for about 1 hour 5 minutes.
Makes 1 loaf of 16 slices. Per slice: 165 calories, 6 gms fat (34 percent fat calories), 42 mg cholesterol, 128 mg sodium.
Nutrition note: Papaya is a very good source of vitamins A and C.

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Oct. 13, 2002 – More than 1,000 eager walkers and runners hit the tarp and wore down the soles of their sneakers at the St. Croix Educational Complex for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life, raising approximately $35,000 by the 2 p.m. closing ceremony. This year's theme was "Walking for a Cure."
Relay for Life is a nationwide activity for the American Cancer Society and is used to support a variety of programs, including cancer awareness programs and paraphernalia, research and off-island travel for treatment.
The race was not a competition but an opportunity to raise community awareness for the plight of cancer patients and their families. Cancer patients and survivors were encouraged to continue to walk, stroll and roll for a cure.
Aubrey Brown, who does public relations for the event, said 30 survivors in lime-green T-shirts and pink baseball caps led the opening procession that began the 24-hour event.
Five-year breast cancer survivor Paula Broadnax, owner of Inn Paradise, said she returned from her travels on the mainland for the event in support of a friend she met in a group meeting.
Her friend, Estelle Torres, has survived colon cancer for 18 months. Torres urged both men and women to get screened for breast, colon and cervical cancer. "I'm just too happy to be alive," she said.
Marthious Clavier, a 2002 UVI graduate, said he walked with his mother, who is a cancer survivor." I lost my grandmother 10 years ago," he said
Different organizations and community groups formed teams, solicited pledges and walked in the relay. Funds were also raised through the sale of T-shirts.
Event coordinator Vivian Furet said the heavy rains on Friday led to some cancellations.
But St. Croix chapter President Daphne Lewis said, "Rain or shine we were going to be here."
Some of the teams participating were Alpha Kappa Alpha and Delta Sigma Theta sororities, University of the Virgin Islands, Gentlemen of Jones, Rotary Clubs, Legal Services of the Virgin Islands and the United States Postal Service.
Employees from the Puerto Rico Veterans Administration Hospital joined The St. Croix Veteran's Center for the event.
"The money raised stays on St. Croix," said Eleanor Johannes, team registrant. "The largest single donation of about $7,500 was donated by WAPA." WAPA also mounted a curtain draped poster memorial to former employee Claire Nesbitt, who died July 31.
"Each team was required to raise $1500 and pay a $150 entrant fee," Johannes said.
Scheduled activities included a luminary ceremony, a pajama jam, an aerobics class and gospel music. Health screenings were also offered by the American Red Cross.
"We all know someone who either has cancer or died from cancer," said Sgt. Major Eugenie Santos, coordinator for the V.I. National Guard's team, who tied with WAPA for first place with the largest team participation. "It was outstanding to see the support of the persons who came out and looked for nothing in return," Santos said
WAPA Liqui-lites also won the clear blue acrylic "star" award for the best decorated tent which came complete with a generator, television and VCR and also offered a full menu for each meal. Early Sunday morning, walkers took a break to watch Eddie Murphy's Nutty Professor.
Other awards included the longest walker, which went to the Honda Club. Dr. Marlon Williams ran 25 miles.
Wallace Williams of V.I. Pace Runners completed 20 miles, running two miles each hour, and Jo Shim of the Frederiksted Health Center and Friends did a run-walk combination for 30 miles.
"I participated because I think it is so important to raise funds for cancer care in the Virgin Islands because funds are limited," said Shim who also operates the HIV/AIDS clinic.

Publisher's note : Like the St. Croix Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.

Oct. 13, 2002 – Hundreds of women raised their hands and voices in prayer Saturday morning as they swayed to gospel hymns greeting Sen. Lorraine Berry's seventh annual Women's Conference at Marriott's Frenchman's Reef Hotel.
However, the women were told that it takes more than prayer to effect change. They received stern words of advice: more than advice, actually, mandates for change. Along with prayer, the women were told to take action, to get involved in helping others, to love themselves, to forgive themselves and others, to quit thinking and acting like victims, and to use the power vested in them.
"You have choices; make the right choice," they were told repeatedly by a panel of 12 experts in social work, health and law.
Though the women – more than 500 strong – were the focus of the conference, "Families under Siege – Tackling the Challenges" was the official theme. The ultimate victims of the family's dissolution are the children, they were told, the babies.
Cynthia Clendinen, a professional health care worker, shared an experience of witnessing the birth of a baby girl who "could not breathe."
"She couldn't cry, and alcohol was on her breath. That broke my heart," Clendinen said. The baby had fetal alcohol syndrome.
Clendinen said, "We are under attack when we are stripped emotionally, psychologically and financially…We must recognize the enemy. One-fourth of rape is by partners."
Carmen George told the women to say something, to stand up to their husbands or boyfriends. "You know when he climbs in bed at night, it's not just him – it can be 62 of you."
She explained that if the man carries the HIV virus he can not only give it to his wife, but to his girlfriend(s), who in turn give it to someone else, and the infection spreads and spreads.
George, a 26-year law establishment veteran who was chief probation officer of the territory, is now retired from government service. But not from work, she said. She is now an outreach specialist for V.I. Community AIDS Resource and Educational Inc., VICARE.
"There is a booth outside with about 300 condoms in it. Take some," she said.
Dr. Robin Ellett, a public health physician, quoted familiar statistics: "The V.I. has the second highest HIV/AIDS cases per capita in the nation," she said, "second only to Washington, D.C."
Ellett talks about the virus in schools. "I know some the students are sexually active," she said. "And I know some of them are infected." She also spoke of the high rate of teen pregnancy in the territory.
Luz Maldonado, an outreach worker for the Village on St. Croix, brought the voice of recovery into the crowded ballroom. Her story was graphic, and she spoke from grim experience.
"Eight years ago I was a crack addict," she said. She described her situation, and the road to recovery she has traveled the last eight years, sometimes bringing gasps or absolute silence from the audience.
"What does HIV look like?" she asked. "What is the face of HIV?"
She paused and then said: "You are looking at it."
A vibrant and attractive woman, Maldonado said her life changed when she was diagnosed with the virus. "At first, I was in denial," she said. "I thought, 'f— it, why me?'"
But, then she said she thought: "Why not me?" And she began to fight.
"I got it, but it ain't got me," she said, fighting back tears as she looked to Carmen George for support.
Maldonado is on a crusade. She takes her experience to schools and to high-risk groups, displaying her spirit. "I'm here now to educate," she said.
And when it looked as though she couldn't speak any longer, Maldonado broke into song, a song about hope, which brought the audience to its feet in an ovation.
St. Croix psychiatrist Dr. Olaf Hendricks didn't mince words either. "The only reason you are under siege is because of you," he said.
He told the women that it's their fault they have so little self-esteem that they allow men to abuse them. "You don't like to hear about that," he said.
"One reason you are under siege is because you unwittingly play the game." He glared at his audience. "Stop it, I'm begging you," he said.
"We men in the V.I. are crude, disrespectful," he said, "because you allow it … You have the key to stop this. Use it."
In what began to sound like a political announcement, he urged the women to elect a female leader. "Take someone from your ranks to lead," he said, reminding the women, as several other speakers had, that they carry 57 percent of the territory's vote.
Attorney Douglas Dick, who heads the Justice Department family and special victims unit, lamented the astronomical number of rapes in the territory, especially against children. "It's almost like the 'rape of the week,' to read the papers," he said.
Dick said the difficulty in trying these cases is getting witnesses to testify. And there is difficulty in identifying the perpetrators. "Just because someone is nice in the way you know him doesn't have anything to do with what he does behind closed doors."
The problem with witnesses is the overwhelming attitude of "I know, but I don't want to get involved," he said, noting that the response is toxic to his ear. Dick urged the women to be responsible, to report what they see.
Terrence Joseph, Justice Department liaison officer in the Division of Paternity and Child Support, said, "It's all about the children." Joseph said there may be that dad out there that the child has never met, and about whom the mother has bad memories, but he is still a dad to the child.
"Dial-a-Dad" is a free program that addresses that problem. "It's a dream I had," said Joseph. "People move away, they have custody of the kids, they're in the U.S., and communication is lost. Let the kids visit," he said. "Sometimes the parent doesn't even know the dad's name. This program can help."
A vehement advocate for child support and getting the money where it belongs, Cynthia Farmer took up where Joseph left off, but spoke from a different perspective. She wants money from the dads so the kids can live a decent life.
Farmer is the local voice of the Association for Children for Enforcement of Support. "Lack of child support is the basis for welfare," she said. "Receiving child support is welfare reform." Farmer said $84 billion is owed in child support payments today.
Holding up a postcard, which she said was available in the lobby, Farmer urged the women to send a postcard to their senators. The card asks what the senator is doing about unpaid child support. She told the women: "Know your rights, and pursue the child support offices in writing, don't be put off. Don't recount your melee. Write and tell the man's social security number, where they can find him. Demand your rights."
Michal Rhymer, executive director of the Family Resource Center, spoke of something she knows only too well: child abuse. Rhymer has managed the center for almost 10 years.
"It's a chilling situation," she said. "We've got to break the silence."
One out of three girls and one out of five boys will be the victims of sexual assault before they reach 18, she said, noting that 85 percent of abuse is done by someone the child knows.
"In 2002 more than 80 percent of rape victims here were less than 18; the adult female is the exception," she said.
Noting this is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Rhymer said, "Since last year when I spoke here, two children and three adults have been murdered." Leaning forward on the podium, Rhymer said, &quo t;You must report it. I don't know how some people sleep at night."
Rhymer interrupted herself, breaking into song, "What about the children? Remember when we were children. Who is there to love them?"she sang.
"That is my question," she said, "Who is there to love them? I get chills when I feel their pain."
Rhymer recalled an experience she had in the V. I. Legislature when the agency was almost closed down for lack of funds. "They said 'don't be so passionate just because you want money,'" she said, adding, "I know what I will do at the polls in November.
Attorney Delia Smith, Justice Department director of domestic violence, spoke bluntly. She told of her first experience seeing the corpse of a domestic violence case. "That's not something you forget," she said. She said the hardest part of her job is convincing the victims that they are victims, that they are not at fault.
"With the victims, it's never the first time when they wind up in court," she said, "and they don't want to prosecute – 'I need him in the house' they'll say, when I've seen them in the ER covered with blood."
Family Court Judge Audrey L. Thomas told of the heartbreaking cases she sees in court, where she has heard a child say he has no mommy because, "Daddy killed mommy." She told about the two children who were killed this year by "friends" of the families.
"I had spoken to the older sister of one of the victims who was left in the household where the sister was removed. In less than a month, the younger sister was dead."
She said the mother of that child was dead herself less than a week after appearing in the courtroom.
Sen. Berry spent the conference seated in a wheelchair placed before the speakers' table because of a recent fall at her home that caused severe damage to her knee. However, her infirmity didn't dispel her enthusiasm for the conference.
"There were a lot of younger women here today, heads of households," Berry said. "They realize they have to empower themselves. They have to get involved."
Adelle C. Belle moderated the meeting. Other panelists included Dilsa Capdeville, KidsCope executive director, and Gustavus "Cass" Connell, a registered nurse.
Booths were set up outside the ballroom by the American Cancer Society, with mammogram information; by VICARE, with the condoms and sexual disease information; the Business and Professional Women Association; and the ACES organization.
The Faith Christian Fellowship Church Alive in Christ provided the music.

Publisher's note : Like the St. Croix Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.

Oct. 13, 2002 – Hundreds of women raised their hands and voices in prayer Saturday morning as they swayed to gospel hymns greeting Sen. Lorraine Berry's seventh annual Women's Conference at Marriott's Frenchman's Reef Hotel on St. Thomas.
However, the women were told that it takes more than prayer to affect change. They received stern words of advice: more than advice, actually, mandates for change. Along with prayer, the women were told to take action, to get involved in helping others, to love themselves, to forgive themselves and others, to quit thinking and acting like victims, and to use the power vested in them.
"You have choices; make the right choice," they were told repeatedly by a panel of 12 experts in social work, health and law.
Though the women – more than 500 strong – were the focus of the conference, "Families under Siege – Tackling the Challenges" was the official theme. The ultimate victims of the family's dissolution are the children, they were told, the babies.
Cynthia Clendinen, a professional health care worker, shared an experience of witnessing the birth of a baby girl who "could not breathe."
"She couldn't cry, and alcohol was on her breath. That broke my heart," Clendinen said. The baby had fetal alcohol syndrome.
Clendinen said, "We are under attack when we are stripped emotionally, psychologically and financially…We must recognize the enemy. One-fourth of rape is by partners."
Carmen George told the women to say something, to stand up to their husbands or boyfriends. "You know when he climbs in bed at night, it's not just him – it can be 62 of you."
She explained that if the man carries the HIV virus he can not only give it to his wife, but to his girlfriend(s), who in turn give it to someone else, and the infection spreads and spreads.
George, a 26-year law establishment veteran who was chief probation officer of the territory, is now retired from government service. But not from work, she said. She is now an outreach specialist for V.I. Community AIDS Resource and Educational Inc., VICARE.
"There is a booth outside with about 300 condoms in it. Take some," she said.
Dr. Robin Ellett, a public health physician, quoted familiar statistics: "The V.I. has the second highest HIV/AIDS cases per capita in the nation," she said, "second only to Washington, D.C."
Ellett talks about the virus in schools. "I know some the students are sexually active," she said. "And I know some of them are infected." She also spoke of the high rate of teen pregnancy in the territory.
Luz Maldonado, an outreach worker for the Village on St. Croix, brought the voice of recovery into the crowded ballroom. Her story was graphic, and she spoke from grim experience.
"Eight years ago I was a crack addict," she said. She described her situation, and the road to recovery she has traveled the last eight years, sometimes bringing gasps or absolute silence from the audience.
"What does HIV look like?" she asked. "What is the face of HIV?"
She paused and then said: "You are looking at it."
A vibrant and attractive woman, Maldonado said her life changed when she was diagnosed with the virus. "At first, I was in denial," she said. "I thought, 'f— it, why me?'"
But, then she said she thought: "Why not me?" And she began to fight.
"I got it, but it ain't got me," she said, fighting back tears as she looked to Carmen George for support.
Maldonado is on a crusade. She takes her experience to schools and to high-risk groups, displaying her spirit. "I'm here now to educate," she said.
And when it looked as though she couldn't speak any longer, Maldonado broke into song, a song about hope, which brought the audience to its feet in an ovation.
St. Croix psychiatrist Dr. Olaf Hendricks didn't mince words either. "The only reason you are under siege is because of you," he said.
He told the women that it's their fault they have so little self-esteem that they allow men to abuse them. "You don't like to hear about that," he said.
"One reason you are under siege is because you unwittingly play the game." He glared at his audience. "Stop it, I'm begging you," he said.
"We men in the V.I. are crude, disrespectful," he said, "because you allow it … You have the key to stop this. Use it."
In what began to sound like a political announcement, he urged the women to elect a female leader. "Take someone from your ranks to lead," he said, reminding the women, as several other speakers had, that they carry 57 percent of the territory's vote.
Attorney Douglas Dick, who heads the Justice Department family and special victims unit, lamented the astronomical number of rapes in the territory, especially against children. "It's almost like the 'rape of the week,' to read the papers," he said.
Dick said the difficulty in trying these cases is getting witnesses to testify. And there is difficulty in identifying the perpetrators. "Just because someone is nice in the way you know him doesn't have anything to do with what he does behind closed doors."
The problem with witnesses is the overwhelming attitude of "I know, but I don't want to get involved," he said, noting that the response is toxic to his ear. Dick urged the women to be responsible, to report what they see.
Terrence Joseph, Justice Department liaison officer in the Division of Paternity and Child Support, said, "It's all about the children." Joseph said there may be that dad out there that the child has never met, and about whom the mother has bad memories, but he is still a dad to the child.
"Dial-a-Dad" is a free program that addresses that problem. "It's a dream I had," said Joseph. "People move away, they have custody of the kids, they're in the U.S., and communication is lost. Let the kids visit," he said. "Sometimes the parent doesn't even know the dad's name. This program can help."
A vehement advocate for child support and getting the money where it belongs, Cynthia Farmer took up where Joseph left off, but spoke from a different perspective. She wants money from the dads so the kids can live a decent life.
Farmer is the local voice of the Association for Children for Enforcement of Support. "Lack of child support is the basis for welfare," she said. "Receiving child support is welfare reform." Farmer said $84 billion is owed in child support payments today.
Holding up a postcard, which she said was available in the lobby, Farmer urged the women to send a postcard to their senators. The card asks what the senator is doing about unpaid child support. She told the women: "Know your rights, and pursue the child support offices in writing, don't be put off. Don't recount your melee. Write and tell the man's social security number, where they can find him. Demand your rights."
Michal Rhymer, executive director of the Family Resource Center, spoke of something she knows only too well: child abuse. Rhymer has managed the center for almost 10 years.
"It's a chilling situation," she said. "We've got to break the silence."
One out of three girls and one out of five boys will be the victims of sexual assault before they reach 18, she said, noting that 85 percent of abuse is done by someone the child knows.
"In 2002 more than 80 percent of rape victims here were less than 18; the adult female is the exception," she said.
Noting this is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Rhymer said, "Since last year when I spoke here, two children and three adults have been murdered." Leaning forward on the podium, Rhy mer said, "You must report it. I don't know how some people sleep at night."
Rhymer interrupted herself, breaking into song, "What about the children? Remember when we were children. Who is there to love them?"she sang.
"That is my question," she said, "Who is there to love them? I get chills when I feel their pain."
Rhymer recalled an experience she had in the V. I. Legislature when the agency was almost closed down for lack of funds. "They said 'don't be so passionate just because you want money,'" she said, adding, "I know what I will do at the polls in November.
Attorney Delia Smith, Justice Department director of domestic violence, spoke bluntly. She told of her first experience seeing the corpse of a domestic violence case. "That's not something you forget," she said. She said the hardest part of her job is convincing the victims that they are victims, that they are not at fault.
"With the victims, it's never the first time when they wind up in court," she said, "and they don't want to prosecute – 'I need him in the house' they'll say, when I've seen them in the ER covered with blood."
Family Court Judge Audrey L. Thomas told of the heartbreaking cases she sees in court, where she has heard a child say he has no mommy because, "Daddy killed mommy." She told about the two children who were killed this year by "friends" of the families.
"I had spoken to the older sister of one of the victims who was left in the household where the sister was removed. In less than a month, the younger sister was dead."
She said the mother of that child was dead herself less than a week after appearing in the courtroom.
Sen. Berry spent the conference seated in a wheelchair placed before the speakers' table because of a recent fall at her home that caused severe damage to her knee. However, her infirmity didn't dispel her enthusiasm for the conference.
"There were a lot of younger women here today, heads of households," Berry said. "They realize they have to empower themselves. They have to get involved."
Adelle C. Belle moderated the meeting. Other panelists included Dilsa Capdeville, KidsCope executive director, and Gustavus "Cass" Connell, a registered nurse.
Booths were set up outside the ballroom by the American Cancer Society, with mammogram information; by VICARE, with the condoms and sexual disease information; the Business and Professional Women Association; and the ACES organization.
The Faith Christian Fellowship Church Alive in Christ provided the music.

Publisher's note : Like the St. John Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.

Oct. 13, 2002 – Hundreds of women raised their hands and voices in prayer Saturday morning as they swayed to gospel hymns greeting Sen. Lorraine Berry's seventh annual Women's Conference at Marriott's Frenchman's Reef Hotel.
However, the women were told that it takes more than prayer to effect change. They received stern words of advice: more than advice, actually, mandates for change. Along with prayer, the women were told to take action, to get involved in helping others, to love themselves, to forgive themselves and others, to quit thinking and acting like victims, and to use the power vested in them.
"You have choices; make the right choice," they were told repeatedly by a panel of 12 experts in social work, health and law.
Though the women – more than 500 strong – were the focus of the conference, "Families under Siege – Tackling the Challenges" was the official theme. The ultimate victims of the family's dissolution are the children, they were told, the babies.
Cynthia Clendinen, a professional health care worker, shared an experience of witnessing the birth of a baby girl who "could not breathe."
"She couldn't cry, and alcohol was on her breath. That broke my heart," Clendinen said. The baby had fetal alcohol syndrome.
Clendinen said, "We are under attack when we are stripped emotionally, psychologically and financially. We must recognize the enemy. One-fourth of rape is by partners."
Carmen George told the women to say something, to stand up to their husbands or boyfriends. "You know when he climbs in bed at night, it's not just him – it can be 62 of you."
She explained that if the man carries the HIV virus, he can give it not only to his wife but to his girlfriend(s), who in turn give it to someone else, and the infection spreads and spreads.
George, a 26-year law establishment veteran who was chief probation officer of the territory, is now retired from government service. But not from work, she said. She is now an outreach specialist for V.I. Community AIDS Resource and Educational Inc., VICARE.
"There is a booth outside with about 300 condoms in it. Take some," she said.
Dr. Robin Ellett, a public health physician, quoted familiar statistics: "The V.I. has the second highest HIV/AIDS cases per capita in the nation," she said, "second only to Washington, D.C."
Ellett talks about the virus in schools. "I know some the students are sexually active," she said. "And I know some of them are infected." She also spoke of the high rate of teen pregnancy in the territory.
Luz Maldonado, an outreach worker for the Village on St. Croix, brought the voice of recovery into the crowded ballroom. Her story was graphic, and she spoke from grim experience.
"Eight years ago I was a crack addict," she said. She described her situation, and the road to recovery she has traveled the last eight years, sometimes bringing gasps or absolute silence from the audience.
"What does HIV look like?" she asked. "What is the face of HIV?"
She paused and then said: "You are looking at it."
A vibrant and attractive woman, Maldonado said her life changed when she was diagnosed with the virus. "At first, I was in denial," she said. "I thought, 'f— it, why me?'"
But, then she said she thought: "Why not me?" And she began to fight.
"I got it, but it ain't got me," she said, fighting back tears as she looked to Carmen George for support.
Maldonado is on a crusade. She takes her experience to schools and to high-risk groups, displaying her spirit. "I'm here now to educate," she said.
And when it looked as though she couldn't speak any longer, Maldonado broke into song, a song about hope, which brought the audience to its feet in an ovation.
St. Croix psychiatrist Dr. Olaf Hendricks didn't mince words either. "The only reason you are under siege is because of you," he said.
He told the women that it's their fault they have so little self-esteem that they allow men to abuse them. "You don't like to hear about that," he said.
"One reason you are under siege is because you unwittingly play the game." He glared at his audience. "Stop it, I'm begging you," he said.
"We men in the V.I. are crude, disrespectful," he said, "because you allow it. You have the key to stop this. Use it."
In what began to sound like a political announcement, he urged the women to elect a female leader. "Take someone from your ranks to lead," he said, reminding the women, as several other speakers had, that they carry 57 percent of the territory's vote.
Attorney Douglas Dick, who heads the Justice Department family and special victims unit, lamented the astronomical number of rapes in the territory, especially against children. "It's almost like the 'rape of the week,' to read the papers," he said.
Dick said the difficulty in trying these cases is getting witnesses to testify. And there is difficulty in identifying the perpetrators. "Just because someone is nice in the way you know him doesn't have anything to do with what he does behind closed doors."
The problem with witnesses is the overwhelming attitude of "I know, but I don't want to get involved," he said, noting that the response is toxic to his ear. Dick urged the women to be responsible, to report what they see.
Terrence Joseph, Justice Department liaison officer in the Division of Paternity and Child Support, said, "It's all about the children." Joseph said there may be that dad out there that the child has never met, and about whom the mother has bad memories, but he is still a dad to the child.
"Dial-a-Dad" is a free program that addresses that problem. "It's a dream I had," said Joseph. "People move away, they have custody of the kids, they're in the U.S., and communication is lost. Let the kids visit," he said. "Sometimes the parent doesn't even know the dad's name. This program can help."
A vehement advocate for child support and getting the money where it belongs, Cynthia Farmer took up where Joseph left off, but spoke from a different perspective. She wants money from the dads so the kids can live a decent life.
Farmer is the local voice of the Association for Children for Enforcement of Support. "Lack of child support is the basis for welfare," she said. "Receiving child support is welfare reform." Farmer said $84 billion is owed in child support payments today.
Holding up a postcard, which she said was available in the lobby, Farmer urged the women to send a postcard to their senators. The card asks what the senator is doing about unpaid child support. She told the women: "Know your rights, and pursue the child support offices in writing, don't be put off. Don't recount your melee. Write and tell the man's social security number, where they can find him. Demand your rights."
Michal Rhymer, executive director of the Family Resource Center, spoke of something she knows only too well: child abuse. Rhymer has managed the center for almost 10 years.
"It's a chilling situation," she said. "We've got to break the silence."
One out of three girls and one out of five boys will be the victims of sexual assault before they reach 18, she said, noting that 85 percent of abuse is done by someone the child knows.
"In 2002 more than 80 percent of rape victims here were less than 18; the adult female is the exception," she said.
Noting this is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Rhymer said, "Since last year when I spoke here, two children and three adults have been murdered." Leaning forward on the podium, Rhymer said, "You must report it. I don't know how some people sleep at night."
Rhymer interrupted herself, breaking into song, "What about the children? Remember when we were children. Who is there to love them?" she sang.
"That is my question," she said, "Who is there to love them? I get chills when I feel their pain."
Rhymer recalled an experience she had in the V. I. Legislature when the agency was almost closed down for lack of funds. "They said 'don't be so passionate just because you want money,'" she said, adding, "I know what I will do at the polls in November."
Attorney Delia Smith, Justice Department director of domestic violence, spoke bluntly. She told of her first experience seeing the corpse of a domestic violence case. "That's not something you forget," she said. She said the hardest part of her job is convincing the victims that they are victims, that they are not at fault.
"With the victims, it's never the first time when they wind up in court," she said, "and they don't want to prosecute. 'I need him in the house' they'll say, when I've seen them in the ER covered with blood."
Family Court Judge Audrey L. Thomas told of the heartbreaking cases she sees in court, where she has heard a child say he has no mommy because, "Daddy killed mommy." She told about the two children who were killed this year by "friends" of the families.
"I had spoken to the older sister of one of the victims who was left in the household where the sister was removed. In less than a month, the younger sister was dead."
She said the mother of that child was dead herself less than a week after appearing in the courtroom.
Sen. Berry spent the conference seated in a wheelchair placed before the speakers' table because of a recent fall at her home that caused severe damage to her knee. However, her infirmity didn't dispel her enthusiasm for the conference.
"There were a lot of younger women here today, heads of households," Berry said. "They realize they have to empower themselves. They have to get involved."
Adelle C. Belle moderated the meeting. Other panelists included Dilsa Capdeville, KidsCope executive director, and Gustavus "Cass" Connell, a registered nurse.
Booths were set up outside the ballroom by the American Cancer Society, with mammogram information; by VICARE, with the condoms and sexual disease information; the Business and Professional Women Association; and the ACES organization.
The Faith Christian Fellowship Church Alive in Christ provided the music.

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Oct. 13, 2002 – Musikgarten is beginning on St. Thomas. No, that's not a misprint: Musikgarten is an international early childhood music and movement education company with programs for children from birth to age 9.
Local music teacher Katherine Hintz completed a full, intensive Musikgarten Workshop held in Nova Southeastern University this summer, certifying her to teach "Babies Make Music," "Toddlers Make Music," "Families Make Music" and "God's Children Sing."
Musikgarten classes meet weekly for 30-60 minutes, depending on the curriculum. Musikgarten is not performance-oriented and "does not produce concert pianists or opera singers", says Hintz, "but helps children enjoy music. It promotes freedom of expression while developing the whole child."
"Babies Make Music" is offered on Saturday mornings; "Toddlers Make Music" at 12:30 p.m. Fridays; "Cycle of Seasons" (ages 3-5) on Wednesdays at 1 p.m. and Saturdays at 9 a.m. at Tillett Gardens. "Toddlers Make Music" is also offered at St. John School of the Arts at 9 a.m. Mondays. Special educational orientations are offered to parents and families.
Hintz, founder of the Hintz Academy of Music, is a certified Suzuki violin and piano instructor who also teaches voice. Hintz has been teaching piano since 1994 and started a music program for underprivileged children with support from V.I. Housing Authority. She currently teaches at St. John School of the Arts, V.I. Montessori School and at her academy in Tillett Gardens. Hintz is a member of several professional organizations in the field of music education.

The Musikgarten philosophy
The Musikgarten discipline is highly respected for its passion for excellence in materials and recordings for both teachers and families. The philosophy of Musikgarten founder Lorna Lutz Heyge is based on the belief that every child has a musical talent and the birthright to learn to use it.
"While educational leaders turn to early childhood music because it promotes brain development, they will stay with music because of the joy and stimulation experienced in actual musicmaking. Music learning requires total involvement — that is why it appeals so much to young children," a release from Hintz quotes Heyge.
In a telephone interview, Hintz talks enthusiastically about what she hopes to accomplish with babies, children and parents in her teaching in the Virgin Islands. Music, she believes, creates "a kind heart, a humble heart," and such children will grow up to be good persons.
Musikgarten believes that all babies are musical; but the ability fades away if it's not nurtured in a well-rounded music environment. Age-specific classes do this nurturing, starting with peek-a-boo and bouncing song games with babies, that attend to tonality, rhythm, and styles of music by "developing the ear." Children will echo what they hear, so Musikgarten lets them hear a wide variety of music and sound: percussion with and without music, parents and teachers always singing, sounds of nature, sounds and sound sequences, body awareness exercises, creative movement and dancing, focus listening – the goal is to surround their ears with music.
Parents are trained as well, for the music continues at home. Music is not something that occurs only in the vacuum of a classroom. But parents learn more than first music: They learn how to treat a child, and how a child develops all around, not only musically. They will learn that a parent who starts to sing a child's favorite song may often defuse rambunctious behavior.
Often, children may hear only calypso and reggae at home or on the street. Other children may hear only salsa and merengue. Musikgarten's goal is to expose children to a wide variety of sounds, styles and rhythms.
Musikgarten is not performance-centered, Hintz said, and she admits "ups and downs" in her teaching because it's such a different philosophy. Result-oriented parents often demand a progressing result, a public performance, and aren't satisfied with the philosophy of each child proceeding at his own individual pace and taking part only in small-scale recitals for friends and family.
What about learning to play the piano, the violin, other instruments? The class for 5- to 7-year-olds begins to explore individual instruments and, as the children move to the 8- to 9-year-old group, they move into specific instrumental instruction. Musikgarten, however, with the inclusion of a parent, is a requirement before Hintz will teach individual instruction.
Hintz Academy of Music will begin registration in December for January classes. For registration and more information contact Hintz at (340) 774-1905 or hintzmusic@yahoo.com.
Publisher's note : Like the St. John Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.

Oct. 13, 2002 – Musikgarten is beginning on St. Thomas. No, that's not a misprint: Musikgarten is an international early childhood music and movement education company with programs for children from birth to age 9.
Local music teacher Katherine Hintz completed a full, intensive Musikgarten Workshop held in Nova Southeastern University this summer, certifying her to teach "Babies Make Music," "Toddlers Make Music," "Families Make Music" and "God's Children Sing."
Musikgarten classes meet weekly for 30-60 minutes, depending on the curriculum. Musikgarten is not performance-oriented and "does not produce concert pianists or opera singers", says Hintz, "but helps children enjoy music. It promotes freedom of expression while developing the whole child."
"Babies Make Music" is offered on Saturday mornings; "Toddlers Make Music" at 12:30 p.m. Fridays; "Cycle of Seasons" (ages 3-5) on Wednesdays at 1 p.m. and Saturdays at 9 a.m. at Tillett Gardens. "Toddlers Make Music" is also offered at St. John School of the Arts at 9 a.m. Mondays. Special educational orientations are offered to parents and families.
Hintz, founder of the Hintz Academy of Music, is a certified Suzuki violin and piano instructor who also teaches voice. Hintz has been teaching piano since 1994 and started a music program for underprivileged children with support from V.I. Housing Authority. She currently teaches at St. John School of the Arts, V.I. Montessori School and at her academy in Tillett Gardens. Hintz is a member of several professional organizations in the field of music education.

The Musikgarten philosophy
The Musikgarten discipline is highly respected for its passion for excellence in materials and recordings for both teachers and families. The philosophy of Musikgarten founder Lorna Lutz Heyge is based on the belief that every child has a musical talent and the birthright to learn to use it.
"While educational leaders turn to early childhood music because it promotes brain development, they will stay with music because of the joy and stimulation experienced in actual musicmaking. Music learning requires total involvement — that is why it appeals so much to young children," a release from Hintz quotes Heyge.
In a telephone interview, Hintz talks enthusiastically about what she hopes to accomplish with babies, children and parents in her teaching in the Virgin Islands. Music, she believes, creates "a kind heart, a humble heart," and such children will grow up to be good persons.
Musikgarten believes that all babies are musical; but the ability fades away if it's not nurtured in a well-rounded music environment. Age-specific classes do this nurturing, starting with peek-a-boo and bouncing song games with babies, that attend to tonality, rhythm, and styles of music by "developing the ear." Children will echo what they hear, so Musikgarten lets them hear a wide variety of music and sound: percussion with and without music, parents and teachers always singing, sounds of nature, sounds and sound sequences, body awareness exercises, creative movement and dancing, focus listening – the goal is to surround their ears with music.
Parents are trained as well, for the music continues at home. Music is not something that occurs only in the vacuum of a classroom. But parents learn more than first music: They learn how to treat a child, and how a child develops all around, not only musically. They will learn that a parent who starts to sing a child's favorite song may often defuse rambunctious behavior.
Often, children may hear only calypso and reggae at home or on the street. Other children may hear only salsa and merengue. Musikgarten's goal is to expose children to a wide variety of sounds, styles and rhythms.
Musikgarten is not performance-centered, Hintz said, and she admits "ups and downs" in her teaching because it's such a different philosophy. Result-oriented parents often demand a progressing result, a public performance, and aren't satisfied with the philosophy of each child proceeding at his own individual pace and taking part only in small-scale recitals for friends and family.
What about learning to play the piano, the violin, other instruments? The class for 5- to 7-year-olds begins to explore individual instruments and, as the children move to the 8- to 9-year-old group, they move into specific instrumental instruction. Musikgarten, however, with the inclusion of a parent, is a requirement before Hintz will teach individual instruction.
Hintz Academy of Music will begin registration in December for January classes. For registration and more information contact Hintz at (340) 774-1905 or hintzmusic@yahoo.com.
Publisher's note : Like the St. Thomas Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.

Oct. 12, 2002 — The V.I. government squandered nearly $1 million on the St. Croix health clinic that was never completed and did so in such a reckless manner that auditors are calling the fiasco "a case study on the inefficiencies and waste of public funds" that occur when procurement regulations are sacrificed to expediency.
The project is a highlight – or low point – in an audit by the U.S. Interior Department's Office of Inspector General of federal grants for health care facilities in the Virgin Islands.
The rush for a St. Croix clinic came in the summer of 1998, just a few months before a gubernatorial election in which former Gov. Roy L. Schneider lost his bid for re-election.
Procedures were unusual from the start. Normally a contract starts with the "user department," in this case, the Health Department. Then it goes first to Property and Procurement and then to Justice for review and approval and finally lands on the governor's desk for authorization.
Instead, Schneider signed the contract in July and sent it down to his subordinates.
By August, there was a splashy ground-breaking ceremony.
Unfortunately, the land the clinic was being built on didn't belong to the government. The Health Department had indeed entered into a lease-purchase agreement with the contractor-landowner to acquire the land over a three-year period. But that arrangement was missing at least two things: the mandated three appraisals for land purchases and an appropriation by the Legislature.
The project forged ahead without stopping for building permits. According to the auditors, Planning and Natural Resources issued only a temporary and limited building permit covering the slab for the clinic, pending approval of a complete set of drawings. But "this requirement was not met prior to the contractor commencing work on the project."
Problems didn't get any better after the election, and by the following spring, the new (Turnbull) administration scrapped the project.
Property and Procurement terminated the contract in June 1999 because, according to the audit, "permit and inspection problems existed, funds were not available to purchase the land on which the clinic was being constructed, and the proposed floor space for the new clinic was inadequate for the needs of the Department of Health."
By then, however, the government had already spent $449,400 on it.
And it lost another $421,300 in reimbursement costs.
That's because the Schneider administration had gotten the federal government to approve reprogramming grant money that had been earmarked for renovations to the Charles Harwood Complex on St. Croix to the construction of a new clinic. The local government had already spent $421,300 of that grant on the Harwood Complex, so it had to reimburse the federal government that amount.
That brings the grand total for the clinic-that-never-was to $870,700.
The saga of the clinic is only one of the audit findings. The report is a companion to one issued in 1996. Both trace two federal grants totaling $30.5 million which were awarded to the V.I. Health Department in 1991 and 1992 and were still being expended as late as February 2002.
The auditors found that some problems cited in the '96 report were still in evidence.
Specifically, they said they found no supporting documents for $1.1 million worth of expenditures, that the local government had failed to apply for $777,832 in fund "draw-downs" to which it was entitled, that it took up to two years for the V.I. government to record some expenditures, and that record-keeping was often lacking.

Publisher's note : Like the St. John Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice.. click here.

Oct. 12, 2002 — The V.I. government squandered nearly $1 million on the St. Croix health clinic that was never completed and did so in such a reckless manner that auditors are calling the fiasco "a case study on the inefficiencies and waste of public funds" that occur when procurement regulations are sacrificed to expediency.
The project is a highlight – or low point – in an audit by the U.S. Interior Department's Office of Inspector General of federal grants for health care facilities in the Virgin Islands.
The rush for a St. Croix clinic came in the summer of 1998, just a few months before a gubernatorial election in which former Gov. Roy L. Schneider lost his bid for re-election.
Procedures were unusual from the start. Normally a contract starts with the "user department," in this case, the Health Department. Then it goes first to Property and Procurement and then to Justice for review and approval and finally lands on the governor's desk for authorization.
Instead, Schneider signed the contract in July and sent it down to his subordinates.
By August, there was a splashy ground-breaking ceremony.
Unfortunately, the land the clinic was being built on didn't belong to the government. The Health Department had indeed entered into a lease-purchase agreement with the contractor-landowner to acquire the land over a three-year period. But that arrangement was missing at least two things: the mandated three appraisals for land purchases and an appropriation by the Legislature.
The project forged ahead without stopping for building permits. According to the auditors, Planning and Natural Resources issued only a temporary and limited building permit covering the slab for the clinic, pending approval of a complete set of drawings. But "this requirement was not met prior to the contractor commencing work on the project."
Problems didn't get any better after the election, and by the following spring, the new (Turnbull) administration scrapped the project.
Property and Procurement terminated the contract in June 1999 because, according to the audit, "permit and inspection problems existed, funds were not available to purchase the land on which the clinic was being constructed, and the proposed floor space for the new clinic was inadequate for the needs of the Department of Health."
By then, however, the government had already spent $449,400 on it.
And it lost another $421,300 in reimbursement costs.
That's because the Schneider administration had gotten the federal government to approve reprogramming grant money that had been earmarked for renovations to the Charles Harwood Complex on St. Croix to the construction of a new clinic. The local government had already spent $421,300 of that grant on the Harwood Complex, so it had to reimburse the federal government that amount.
That brings the grand total for the clinic-that-never-was to $870,700.
The saga of the clinic is only one of the audit findings. The report is a companion to one issued in 1996. Both trace two federal grants totaling $30.5 million which were awarded to the V.I. Health Department in 1991 and 1992 and were still being expended as late as February 2002.
The auditors found that some problems cited in the '96 report were still in evidence.
Specifically, they said they found no supporting documents for $1.1 million worth of expenditures, that the local government had failed to apply for $777,832 in fund "draw-downs" to which it was entitled, that it took up to two years for the V.I. government to record some expenditures, and that record-keeping was often lacking.

Publisher's note : Like the St. Thomas Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice… click here.

Oct. 12, 2002 – – The V.I. government squandered nearly $1 million on the St. Croix health clinic that was never completed and did so in such a reckless manner that auditors are calling the fiasco "a case study on the inefficiencies and waste of public funds" that occur when procurement regulations are sacrificed to expediency.
The project is a highlight – or low point – in an audit by the U.S. Interior Department's Office of Inspector General of federal grants for health care facilities in the Virgin Islands.
The rush for a St. Croix clinic came in the summer of 1998, just a few months before a gubernatorial election in which former Gov. Roy L. Schneider lost his bid for re-election.
Procedures were unusual from the start. Normally a contract starts with the "user department," in this case, the Health Department. Then it goes first to Property and Procurement and then to Justice for review and approval and finally lands on the governor's desk for authorization.
Instead, Schneider signed the contract in July and sent it down to his subordinates.
By August, there was a splashy ground-breaking ceremony.
Unfortunately, the land the clinic was being built on didn't belong to the government. The Health Department had indeed entered into a lease-purchase agreement with the contractor-landowner to acquire the land over a three-year period. But that arrangement was missing at least two things: the mandated three appraisals for land purchases and an appropriation by the Legislature.
The project forged ahead without stopping for building permits. According to the auditors, Planning and Natural Resources issued only a temporary and limited building permit covering the slab for the clinic, pending approval of a complete set of drawings. But "this requirement was not met prior to the contractor commencing work on the project."
Problems didn't get any better after the election, and by the following spring, the new (Turnbull) administration scrapped the project.
Property and Procurement terminated the contract in June 1999 because, according to the audit, "permit and inspection problems existed, funds were not available to purchase the land on which the clinic was being constructed, and the proposed floor space for the new clinic was inadequate for the needs of the Department of Health."
By then, however, the government had already spent $449,400 on it.
And it lost another $421,300 in reimbursement costs.
That's because the Schneider administration had gotten the federal government to approve reprogramming grant money that had been earmarked for renovations to the Charles Harwood Complex on St. Croix to the construction of a new clinic. The local government had already spent $421,300 of that grant on the Harwood Complex, so it had to reimburse the federal government that amount.
That brings the grand total for the clinic-that-never-was to $870,700.
The saga of the clinic is only one of the audit findings. The report is a companion to one issued in 1996. Both trace two federal grants totaling $30.5 million which were awarded to the V.I. Health Department in 1991 and 1992 and were still being expended as late as February 2002.
The auditors found that some problems cited in the '96 report were still in evidence.
Specifically, they said they found no supporting documents for $1.1 million worth of expenditures, that the local government had failed to apply for $777,832 in fund "draw-downs" to which it was entitled, that it took up to two years for the V.I. government to record some expenditures, and that record-keeping was often lacking.

Publisher's note : Like the St. Croix Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice… click here.