Oct. 9, 2002 – In honor of Virgin Islands/Puerto Rico Friendship Week, John de Jongh and Paul Arnold are hosting a Cultural Get-Together at Villa Morales Restaurant in Frederiksted from 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 13.
Admission is $5. MO TEMPO and another popular band will provide the music. There will be complimentary hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar.
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Oct. 9, 2002 – The de Jongh Arnold Campaign Team will host a Frenchtown Rally at the Frenchtown Ballpark Saturday, Oct. 12, starting at 1 p.m. Special entertainment includes Stanley & the Ten Sleepless Knights, who will provide music from 1 to 5 p.m.; St. Croix Heritage Dancers, who will perform the quadrille from 4 to 5 p.m.; and Sea Breeze Band from 6 to 7 p.m. and again from 8 to 11 p.m.
The candidates, John de Jongh and Paul Arnold, will take center stage at 7 p.m. Food and drinks will be on sale throughout the Rally.
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In honor of Virgin Islands/Puerto Rico Friendship Week, John de Jongh and Paul Arnold are hosting a Cultural Get-Together at Villa Morales Restaurant in Frederiksted from 6 p.m. Sunday.
Admission is $5. MO TEMPO and another popular band will provide the music. There will be complimentary hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar.

The de Jongh Arnold Campaign Team will host a Frenchtown Rally at the Frenchtown Ballpark Saturday, starting at 1 p.m. Special entertainment includes Stanley & the Ten Sleepless Knights, who will provide music from 1 to 5 p.m.; St. Croix Heritage Dancers, who will perform the quadrille from 4 to 5 p.m.; and Sea Breeze Band from 6 to 7 p.m. and again from 8 to 11 p.m.
The candidates, John de Jongh and Paul Arnold, will take center stage at 7 p.m. Food and drinks will be on sale throughout the Rally.

The de Jongh Arnold Headquarters in Four Winds Plaza will host a Happy Hour. All Virgin Islanders are invited to attend and meet the candidates, discuss the issues and visit with friends.
On Oct. 11, the regularly scheduled Happy Hour will feature Imaginations Band, beginning at 6 p.m. As usual, there will be a cash bar and food for sale.

Oct. 9, 2002 – Although cruise ship passenger arrivals fell in 2001, Edward Thomas, The West Indian Co. president, said Tuesday he anticipates a strong rebound in the 2003 season.
"The cruise industry is our mainstay right now," he said, yet cautioned, "It certainly needs to be handled with care."
Thomas addressed a crowd of about 75 at the Ad Club of the Virgin Islands preseason luncheon aboard the Carnival Pride, which was tied up at the WICO dock. Thomas explained many initiatives that fall under "handling with care," and gave an overall picture of where the territory stands today in the industry in his presentation, "Post September 11 Cruise Tourism Recovery."
Thomas said the nation's leading economists suggest the economy may not fully rebound until the third quarter of 2003. But Thomas hopes to see the Virgin Islands coming in ahead of that mark.
Citing a Caribbean Tourism Organization report, Thomas said the 2001 terrorism attacks and the recession combined to injure what had been a "vibrant" 2001 cruise season.
"Let us fast forward to today," Thomas said. He cited a report by the World Travel & Tourism Council, which predicts "high growth (in the cruise industry) after a year of stabilization and recovery in 2002." The WTTC anticipates a "massive worldwide rebound will take place in 2003, with Caribbean tourism forecast to increase by 7.1 percent higher than the global forecast of 6.0 percent."
Thomas said, "Specifically in the St. Thomas-St. John district, we ended Sept. 2002 with 1.7 million cruise passenger arrivals, as compared to 1.9 million the previous fiscal year."
Thomas cautioned that raw numbers don't tell the whole story. It depends on what the average passenger spends. He said the last study showed spending on St. Thomas at $173 per person, so the 1.7 million passengers this past year generated some $735 million, and an additional $133.7 million was generated by some 500,000 crew members spending, for a total $867.7 million in this sector of the tourism market.
In comparison, Thomas said, 600,000 overnight hotel guests spent an average of $337 per person, generating $555 million in total economic activity for the overnight sector. "It can clearly be seen, "Thomas said, "that St. Thomas' bread and butter is cruise tourism."
Thomas said the 1.7 million visitors in Fiscal Year 2002, ending Sept. 30, was "a remarkable achievement post Sept. 11." "It shows the resilience of the American traveler, in particular."
Thomas also described an initiative to turn some of those cruise travelers and others into overnight guests. He said WICO has endorsed a new program sponsored by Tropical Shipping along with select hotels and the Tourism Department to encourage the overnight visitors by giving them a coin imprinted with a FreestayCaribbean.com Web address that is redeemable for free hotel nights at participating properties when additional nights are booked.
He also said, "A major cruise line is in the embryonic stages of discussion with the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel and Tourism Association executive director Beverly Nicholson with a view toward establishing a pre and post cruise hotel program here." He did not name the specific cruise line.
Though Thomas did not state the number of passengers anticipated in the 2003 season, he did provide the cruise ship schedules, noting that all the major cruise lines would revert to their complete itineraries. He cautioned that if the U.S. invades Iraq, cruise arrivals in the Caribbean and elsewhere would no doubt drop.
Thomas said that infrastructure remains a big problem with luring back the cruise lines to St. Croix, and that safety for passengers and transportation from Frederiksted to Christiansted are concerns.
He said Tourism Commissioner Pam Richards is scheduled to meet with Michael Ronan, director of destination development for Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises, on Friday to discuss what the government and the private sector are doing to fight crime and several other issues which led the cruise lines to cancel calls on St. Croix.
Tropical Storm Lili's approach to the V.I. prohibited Richards attending the 9th annual conference of the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association in Cancun in September, where she was scheduled to participate in a panel discussing cruise ship "conversion" programs, which refers to turning cruise visitors into returning overnight hotel guests.
One of the Ad Club members who had attended the conference said Tuesday that Richards' absence was noted by the F-CCA members, who concluded that "the V.I. had little interest in promoting its own tourism since it had neglected to send a representative to the conference."
Richards was in a meeting Wednesday morning, and not available for comment.

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Sept. 24, 2002 – All parents and interested public are invited to attend two "2002 Meet the Candidates" forums at Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School auditorium.
The first forum, for candidates for governor and delegate to Congress, is set for 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 16.
The second forum, for candidates campaigning for seats in the 25th Legislature, will be held at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23.
The school's social studies department, in collaboration with students and parents, has formulated a series of questions to be posed. Candidates will be allotted three minutes to respond, along with two additional minutes to address an issue of their choosing.
Mock elections at Boschulte School, which have traditionally been good pre-election indicators of potential front-runners, said a release from the V.I. Education Department, will be conducted on Thursday, Oct. 24. Both students and teachers will participate in this activity.
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Oct. 9, 2002 – Funeral services for former St. Thomas resident Edwin Harris Leonard, 74, who died last Friday on Tortola, will be held Saturday in Road Town.
He had lived for many years on St. Thomas, where he raised his two children and was a member of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Anna's Retreat, where he maintained a home.
He is survived by his wife, Adeline; daughter, Diane; son, Robert; son-in-law, Nicolas; three grandchildren, Terrance, Tishan and Chelsea; two sisters, Ethlyn Dewindt and Doris Brathwaite; four brothers, Calvin Henley, H. Austin, S. Ivan, and C. Vernon Leonard; sisters-in-law Audrey Todman, Hyacinth Amaro, Ivy Vessup, Lillian Romney, Annetta Amaro, Audrey Leonard and Rosa Leonard; brothers-in law Egbert, Milton and Gene Creque and Mario DeWindt; nieces, nephews, and many other relatives and friends.
Viewing will be Saturday at 10 a.m. at Road Town Methodist Church, with services to follow there at 11 a.m. Interment will be at the Methodist Cemetery in Road Town. Arrangements are by Davis Funeral Home.

Oct. 9, 2002 – Dusty plasma?
Many people in the Virgin Islands might say, "What's that, something like Sahara dust?" A small number of knowledgeable engineers and tech businessmen might say, "Oh yes, that's research a few physicists are working on. We can get some great new products out of it." A very small number of scientists might say, "Oh yes, that's a little branch in physics having to do with gases and microgravity and small particles of solid matter, those guys study it in labs."
One of an even smaller number of physicists who study dusty plasma has said, "I don't care what they do with the technology, I just love to do experiments with dusty plasma and see what develops." Virgin Islander Edward Thomas Jr. went on to say, "In the lab I see things that nobody else has ever seen or done before. What a rush!"
Thomas has been home in the islands for a few days, finalizing arrangements for the 10th Workshop on the Physics of Dusty Plasma, to be held in June 2003 at the Marriott's Frenchman's Reef Beach Resort. It's expected that about 80 scientists and 20 engineers will attend the conference, Thomas said; his colleagues have been after him for a number of years to arrange the national conference here.
A fast-growing field, the initial workshop in San Diego in 1986 was attended by 10 scientists, each of whom felt that he alone was working on this topic. The field exploded as industrial implications moved from astrophysics into semiconductors. In 1990 there were between 30-40 papers published on the topic; in 2001, there were 400. This year's third international conference, held in Durban, South Africa, was attended by about125 scientists and engineers; more than 200 "talks" were presented.
The results of experiments are frequently taken by engineers who develop marketable products – in this field, there have been significant implications in astrophysics in, for example, studying the rings of Saturn and Uranus at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Research has also resulted in cheaper methods of producing computer chips and better solar panels, even entire rooftop coverings that function as giant photoactive solar panels. Core scientists aren't interested in the products, says Thomas: the engineers pick up the developed technology and run to their companies and to the Patent Office.
Thomas shows a tiny blue-light keychain flashlight – "It's blue light, not a white light with a blue bulb" – that intrigues his small son and friends. "It took 20 years of research to find a way to get green light and blue light," he observed. Sometimes, he said, 10 hours of data may take one to two years to analyze.
Inspiration at CAHS
Thomas, a product of St. Thomas elementary schools and four years at Charlotte Amalie High School, has long been interested in what sort children grow up to become scientists and in attracting more youngsters to science fields.
In his own case, when he was in eighth or ninth grade, a summer spent on Cape Cod with a marine biologist uncle who took him to hang out in his lab sparked the interest. Returning from that, he landed with two CAHS science teachers – Austin Walters and Howard Gumbs – who fanned the spark. Walters taught physics, and "he was my inspiration," said Thomas. Walters, who was at the time teaching physics at the University of the Virgin Islands as well, taught at CAHS using a college textbook, so Thomas reached college with a leg up in training and knowledge. When he visits home, he always looks up those two teachers, and teacher Irose Payne and now-principal Jeannette Smith Barry.
Although he was a lover of science fiction in books and on television – one of his favorite quotes is from "Babylon 5:" "Be terrified and relieved that we have not explained it all" – he credits his uncle and his CAHS teachers with steering him to science.
Thomas, at 34 a tenured associate professor of physics at Auburn University in Alabama where he had earlier earned his doctorate, is also coordinator of the on-campus Plasma Sciences Laboratory, which he says is a dream situation for him. He sets and supervises laboratory work of three graduate students and five undergraduates, and is about to hire a postdoctoral scientist because of the intense workload at the thinking level. In order to obtain funding, the lab performs other research not related to dusty plasma; in his lab, there's an important instability experiment going forward.
"You're trained as a scientist to be flexible scientifically," he said, "to be a businessman, salesperson, a manager, and that way you get grants which allow you to do the best possible science."
Creating Future Scientists
Thomas feels strongly that a community must support its science teachers if there is any expectation of producing future scientists. This includes salary, materials and equipment, and continuing education on the part of teachers. And, he says, it must begin at the elementary level.
In addition to his teaching and research position, he also coordinates a high school internship and teaching opportunities summer research program and is faculty advisor for a professional society of physics students.
When classes visit his laboratory, he says, it's the children from 6th grade on down that are really interested, with first and second graders being the best, most "hands on," most curious and excitable. By junior high age, Thomas said, "something happens to kids that suppresses that curiosity: puberty, peer pressure, something. By high school it's too late" to turn them toward the sciences. And community and school need to recognize that, and plan accordingly. It takes "political will."
The environment of the Virgin Islands, he observed, is a "natural laboratory." So many aspects are covered, from the obvious marine biological sciences to trash disposal, fisheries, and solar and wind power. "Science is living and breathing," he said; "Early teachers can generate great enthusiasm."
When a high school senior graduates No. 1 in his small class, he feels he's tops. But then he enrolls in a college course where all 30 students were No. 1 in their high school. They cannot all continue to be No. 1. As a college professor, Thomas feels some sadness that in his teaching he must cull out some who can't continue to be No. 1s, but it is necessary to teach to the ones who will become the future scientists.
For more on his concerns about science education in the Virgin Islands, see his detailed analysis in the 2001 Source Op-Ed article, "What's needed to raise those science scores"
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Oct. 9, 2002 – Although cruise ship passenger arrivals fell in 2001, Edward Thomas, The West Indian Co. president, said Tuesday he anticipates a strong rebound in the 2003 season.
"The cruise industry is our mainstay right now," he said, yet cautioned, "It certainly needs to be handled with care."
Thomas addressed a crowd of about 75 at the Ad Club of the Virgin Islands preseason luncheon aboard the Carnival Pride, which was tied up at the WICO dock. Thomas explained many initiatives that fall under "handling with care," and gave an overall picture of where the territory stands today in the industry in his presentation, "Post September 11 Cruise Tourism Recovery."
Thomas said the nation's leading economists suggest the economy may not fully rebound until the third quarter of 2003. But Thomas hopes to see the Virgin Islands coming in ahead of that mark.
Citing a Caribbean Tourism Organization report, Thomas said the 2001 terrorism attacks and the recession combined to injure what had been a "vibrant" 2001 cruise season.
"Let us fast forward to today," Thomas said. He cited a report by the World Travel & Tourism Council, which predicts "high growth (in the cruise industry) after a year of stabilization and recovery in 2002." The WTTC anticipates a "massive worldwide rebound will take place in 2003, with Caribbean tourism forecast to increase by 7.1 percent higher than the global forecast of 6.0 percent."
Thomas said, "Specifically in the St. Thomas-St. John district, we ended Sept. 2002 with 1.7 million cruise passenger arrivals, as compared to 1.9 million the previous fiscal year."
Thomas cautioned that raw numbers don't tell the whole story. It depends on what the average passenger spends. He said the last study showed spending on St. Thomas at $173 per person, so the 1.7 million passengers this past year generated some $735 million, and an additional $133.7 million was generated by some 500,000 crew members spending, for a total $867.7 million in this sector of the tourism market.
In comparison, Thomas said, 600,000 overnight hotel guests spent an average of $337 per person, generating $555 million in total economic activity for the overnight sector. "It can clearly be seen, "Thomas said, "that St. Thomas' bread and butter is cruise tourism."
Thomas said the 1.7 million visitors in Fiscal Year 2002, ending Sept. 30, was "a remarkable achievement post Sept. 11." "It shows the resilience of the American traveler, in particular."
Thomas also described an initiative to turn some of those cruise travelers and others into overnight guests. He said WICO has endorsed a new program sponsored by Tropical Shipping along with select hotels and the Tourism Department to encourage the overnight visitors by giving them a coin imprinted with a FreestayCaribbean.com Web address that is redeemable for free hotel nights at participating properties when additional nights are booked.
He also said, "A major cruise line is in the embryonic stages of discussion with the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel and Tourism Association executive director Beverly Nicholson with a view toward establishing a pre and post cruise hotel program here." He did not name the specific cruise line.
Though Thomas did not state the number of passengers anticipated in the 2003 season, he did provide the cruise ship schedules, noting that all the major cruise lines would revert to their complete itineraries. He cautioned that if the U.S. invades Iraq, cruise arrivals in the Caribbean and elsewhere would no doubt drop.
Thomas said that infrastructure remains a big problem with luring back the cruise lines to St. Croix, and that safety for passengers and transportation from Frederiksted to Christiansted are concerns.
He said Tourism Commissioner Pam Richards is scheduled to meet with Michael Ronan, director of destination development for Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises, on Friday to discuss what the government and the private sector are doing to fight crime and several other issues which led the cruise lines to cancel calls on St. Croix.
Tropical Storm Lili's approach to the V.I. prohibited Richards attending the 9th annual conference of the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association in Cancun in September, where she was scheduled to participate in a panel discussing cruise ship "conversion" programs, which refers to turning cruise visitors into returning overnight hotel guests.
One of the Ad Club members who had attended the conference said Tuesday that Richards' absence was noted by the F-CCA members, who concluded that "the V.I. had little interest in promoting its own tourism since it had neglected to send a representative to the conference."
Richards was in a meeting Wednesday morning, and not available for comment.

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