Oct. 8, 2002 – A donation by the Maguire Group Inc., should make the associate in applied science degree in process technology at the University of the Virgin Islands even more appealing to students and potential students.
The Maguire Group, a local firm of architects, engineers and planners, has donated a $2,000 scholarship, which will be awarded during the 2003-2004 academic year to a qualified UVI student enrolled in the program.
Barry W. Kimball, senior vice president of the firm, presented UVI President Dr. LaVerne Ragster with the $2,000 check at a dinner in September.
The Maguire Group, located on St. Croix, has been providing engineering services to the Virgin Islands community for more than 20 years.
Deborah Hamilton, UVI’s director of annual giving, says philanthropic investments such as this scholarship donation are an investment in the future.
"Each year, hundreds of students are able to realize their dreams of a high quality education and a brighter future because someone cared enough to help by investing in UVI through support of scholarships. Currently, well over half of UVI students need financial assistance in order to attend the University."
According to Hamilton, more than $170,000 is to be awarded in UVI scholarship disbursements during the 2002-2003 academic year.
The following criteria must be met to qualify for the Maguire Group scholarship:
1.The recipient should be a U.S. Virgin Islands resident.
2.The recipient should be a full-time UVI student.
3.The recipient should be either an enrolled UVI student in the process technology program or a UVI student who has declared his or her intention to enroll in that program.
4.The recipient should have a grade point average of 3.0 or better.
The Maguire Group plans to review this scholarship on a yearly basis and hopes to continue to support the program in subsequent years.
The Process Technology degree is a collaboration between UVI and HOVENSA L.L.C. Classes toward the degree began this semester on the St. Croix campus.
For more information about the Maguire Group Scholarship call UVI’s scholarship committee chairperson, Ardrina Scott-Elliott, at 693-1096.
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Oct. 8, 2002 – A donation by the Maguire Group Inc., should make the associate in applied science degree in process technology at the University of the Virgin Islands even more appealing to students and potential students.
The Maguire Group, a local firm of architects, engineers and planners, has donated a $2,000 scholarship, which will be awarded during the 2003-2004 academic year to a qualified UVI student enrolled in the program.
Barry W. Kimball, senior vice president of the firm, presented UVI President Dr. LaVerne Ragster with the $2,000 check at a dinner in September.
The Maguire Group, located on St. Croix, has been providing engineering services to the Virgin Islands community for more than 20 years.
Deborah Hamilton, UVI’s director of annual giving, says philanthropic investments such as this scholarship donation are an investment in the future.
"Each year, hundreds of students are able to realize their dreams of a high quality education and a brighter future because someone cared enough to help by investing in UVI through support of scholarships. Currently, well over half of UVI students need financial assistance in order to attend the University."
According to Hamilton, more than $170,000 is to be awarded in UVI scholarship disbursements during the 2002-2003 academic year.
The following criteria must be met to qualify for the Maguire Group scholarship:
1.The recipient should be a U.S. Virgin Islands resident.
2.The recipient should be a full-time UVI student.
3.The recipient should be either an enrolled UVI student in the process technology program or a UVI student who has declared his or her intention to enroll in that program.
4.The recipient should have a grade point average of 3.0 or better.
The Maguire Group plans to review this scholarship on a yearly basis and hopes to continue to support the program in subsequent years.
The Process Technology degree is a collaboration between UVI and HOVENSA L.L.C. Classes toward the degree began this semester on the St. Croix campus.
For more information about the Maguire Group Scholarship call UVI’s scholarship committee chairperson, Ardrina Scott-Elliott, at 693-1096.
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The French Happy Hour at La Petite Fenetre at 6 p.m. Thursday will be an opportunity to chat with the General Consul of France from Miami.
The French Navy ship Ventôse will arrive in Crown Bay at 9 a.m. Friday morning, and there will be more information about that visit at the Happy Hour.

French Consul in St. Thomas Mme. Odile de Lyrot announces that the French ocean-capable patrol vessel Ventôse, based in Martinique, will visit St. Thomas, arriving at 9 a.m. Friday, Oct. 11, and departing early on Oct. 14.
The ship's missions, within and beyond the Caribbean, include sea search and rescue, help at time of natural disasters, and policing against illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
The ship will berth at Crown Bay.
Visits to the ship can be organized through de Lyrot at 771-5452.

Sept. 22, 2002 — UVI's Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and First Bank Virgin Islands, in conjunction with the New Image Foundation Corporation Policy Board, are offering the second in a series of quarterly financial seminars entitled "Dollars and Sense." The goal is to reach all sectors of the community to educate individuals on the importance of managing personal finances and planning for the future.
The second seminar, "Managing Your Credit." will be held Wednesday, Oct. 9, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the SBDC Training Facility at the Nisky Center (Suite 720). First Bank community development officer Karen Sprauve will present the seminar. The fee is $5. For more information and to register, contact the New Image Foundation Corporation at 777-8883.
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Oct. 8, 2002 – As repairs to the Gallows Bay wharf proceed, one of the territory's two fast ferry services may soon be compelled to set a new itinerary away from St. Croix temporarily, while the V.I. government has assured another that the Christiansted site will be available when it returns to the territory next month.
Mermaid Fast Ferries owner Chris Elliott said that in six to eight weeks his Calypso I will be displaced from its dock for about two months because of construction. Although the Port Authority has been "working very hard to accommodate" the company, there has been little progress in finding an alternative to Gallows Bay, he said.
Meanwhile, V.I. Fast Ferries, a subsidiary of Boston Harbor Cruises, will return in November for its second winter season, according to Kevin Matthews, director of operations.
Matthews said his company has been working closely with VIPA's executive director, Gordon Finch, and Tourism Commissioner Pamela Richards to facilitate the ferry's return.
However, Matthews said Gallows Bay is the only viable docking site for the Salacia, a 600-passenger, high-speed ferry, and the company's engineering division is hammering out a plan with VIPA to set up a temporary venue — at Fast Ferries expense.
"The only option for that boat on St. Croix is Gallows Bay, period," Matthews said. "If we don't go there, we don't go anywhere."
Elliott said the Calypso I could relocate during the construction period to another island but would not specify any under consideration. "We would definitely try everything before we did leave and do everything we could to stay here," he said.
Both operators said the dock in Frederiksted is no solution.
Matthews said his company has already sold group tours from the states and Denmark seats aboard the Salacia this winter: "We mentioned Frederiksted or any other place, and they said 'absolutely not,'" he said.
"We have been assured time and time again" that Gallows Bay "would be available, at our expense, to put in some kind of temporary docking," Matthews said.
Elliott said docking in Frederiksted would not boost business for his 135-foot, 370-passenger catamaran. "It would be logistically tough for us right now," he said. "Our ridership is telling us that we need to stay in Christiansted."
Mermaid Fast Ferries, which began service on Sept. 2, has yet to break even but has been moving toward that goal in recent weeks, Elliott said. "Our ridership is picking up all the time," he said, and the majority of passengers are local travelers. "The support of the community has been outstanding," he said — so much so that a third daily trip between St. Croix and St. Thomas will be added by the end of October.
Mermaid has the ferry traffic between the two islands to itself until the Salacia resumes local service. Matthews said his boat will operate from around the middle of November until the beginning of May, and prices will be about the same as last year.
In the summer season, the Salacia ferries passengers between downtown Boston and Provincetown, Massachusetts.

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Oct. 8, 2002 – As repairs to the Gallows Bay wharf proceed, one of the territory's two fast ferry services may soon be compelled to set a new itinerary away from St. Croix temporarily, while the V.I. government has assured another that its Christiansted site will be available when it returns to the territory next month.
Mermaid Fast Ferries owner Chris Elliott said that in six to eight weeks his Calypso I will be displaced from its dock for about two months because of construction. Although the Port Authority has been "working very hard to accommodate" the company, there has been little progress in finding an alternative to Gallows Bay, he said.
Meanwhile, V.I. Fast Ferries, a subsidiary of Boston Harbor Cruises, will return in November for its second winter season, according to Kevin Matthews, director of operations.
Matthews said his company has been working closely with VIPA's executive director, Gordon Finch, and Tourism Commissioner Pamela Richards to facilitate the ferry's return.
However, Matthews said Gallows Bay is the only viable docking site for the Salacia, a 600-passenger, high-speed ferry, and the company's engineering division is hammering out a plan with VIPA to set up a temporary venue — at Fast Ferries expense.
"The only option for that boat on St. Croix is Gallows Bay, period," Matthews said. "If we don't go there, we don't go anywhere."
Elliott said the Calypso I could relocate during the construction period to another island but would not specify any under consideration. "We would definitely try everything before we did leave and do everything we could to stay here," he said.
Both operators said the dock in Frederiksted is no solution.
Matthews said his company has already sold group tours from the states and Denmark seats aboard the Salacia this winter: "We mentioned Frederiksted or any other place, and they said 'absolutely not,'" he said.
"We have been assured time and time again" that Gallows Bay "would be available, at our expense, to put in some kind of temporary docking," Matthews said.
Elliott said docking in Frederiksted would not boost business for his 135-foot, 370-passenger catamaran. "It would be logistically tough for us right now," he said. "Our ridership is telling us that we need to stay in Christiansted."
Mermaid Fast Ferries, which began service on Sept. 2, has yet to break even but has been moving toward that goal in recent weeks, Elliott said. "Our ridership is picking up all the time," he said, and the majority of passengers are local travelers. "The support of the community has been outstanding," he said — so much so that a third daily trip between St. Croix and St. Thomas will be added by the end of October.
Mermaid has the ferry traffic between the two islands to itself until the Salacia resumes local service. Matthews said his boat will operate from around the middle of November until the beginning of May, and prices will be about the same as last year.
In the summer season, the Salacia ferries passengers between downtown Boston and Provincetown, Massachusetts.

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. 8, 2002 – As repairs to the Gallows Bay wharf proceed, one of the territory's two fast ferry services may soon be compelled to set a new itinerary away from St. Croix temporarily, while the V.I. government has assured another that its Christiansted site will be available when it returns to the territory next month.
Mermaid Fast Ferries owner Chris Elliott said that in six to eight weeks his Calypso I will be displaced from its dock for about two months because of construction. Although the Port Authority has been "working very hard to accommodate" the company, there has been little progress in finding an alternative to Gallows Bay, he said.
Meanwhile, V.I. Fast Ferries, a subsidiary of Boston Harbor Cruises, will return in November for its second winter season, according to Kevin Matthews, director of operations.
Matthews said his company has been working closely with VIPA's executive director, Gordon Finch, and Tourism Commissioner Pamela Richards to facilitate the ferry's return.
However, Matthews said Gallows Bay is the only viable docking site for the Salacia, a 600-passenger, high-speed ferry, and the company's engineering division is hammering out a plan with VIPA to set up a temporary venue — at Fast Ferries expense.
"The only option for that boat on St. Croix is Gallows Bay, period," Matthews said. "If we don't go there, we don't go anywhere."
Elliott said the Calypso I could relocate during the construction period to another island but would not specify any under consideration. "We would definitely try everything before we did leave and do everything we could to stay here," he said.
Both operators said the dock in Frederiksted is no solution.
Matthews said his company has already sold group tours from the states and Denmark seats aboard the Salacia this winter: "We mentioned Frederiksted or any other place, and they said 'absolutely not,'" he said.
"We have been assured time and time again" that Gallows Bay "would be available, at our expense, to put in some kind of temporary docking," Matthews said.
Elliott said docking in Frederiksted would not boost business for his 135-foot, 370-passenger catamaran. "It would be logistically tough for us right now," he said. "Our ridership is telling us that we need to stay in Christiansted."
Mermaid Fast Ferries, which began service on Sept. 2, has yet to break even but has been moving toward that goal in recent weeks, Elliott said. "Our ridership is picking up all the time," he said, and the majority of passengers are local travelers. "The support of the community has been outstanding," he said — so much so that a third daily trip between St. Croix and St. Thomas will be added by the end of October.
Mermaid has the ferry traffic between the two islands to itself until the Salacia resumes local service. Matthews said his boat will operate from around the middle of November until the beginning of May, and prices will be about the same as last year.
In the summer season, the Salacia ferries passengers between downtown Boston and Provincetown, Massachusetts.

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. 7, 2002 – Innovative Communication Corp. technical supervisors were working Monday to restore service to telephone and cable-television subscribers on St. Thomas after several incidents of apparent vandalism disrupted their distribution systems.
Throughout the territory, an Innovative release said, some 3,600 phone lines and more than 900 cable TV customers were affected over the weekend by "sabotage of the telephone and cable facilities."
The vandalism took place as a strike by Innovative unionized workers, members of the United Steelworkers Union, moved into its sixth day. On St. Thomas, Innovative Telephone spokesman Thomas J. Dunn said disruptions affected residential and commercial customers in several areas, notably Raphune Hill and Havensight.
"We have numerous complaints of interruption of service. The Innovative team has done an extraordinary job so far," he said Monday.
Meanwhile, a federal mediator was expected to arrive in the territory on Monday to seek to break an impasse between ICC management and the Steelworkers. At a meeting on Friday called by Labor Commissioner Cecil Benjamin, both sides agreed to bring in a mediator and also to abide by a news blackout while the talks are under way.
Efforts to reach Benjamin on Monday to determine whether the mediator had, in fact, arrived were unsuccessful. So also were attempts to reach the local union leadership.
On Friday, pickets on St. Croix described a Thursday conflict with police at the gate of Innovative's Mount Pleasant site. Trevor Wheeler, an installer/repairman, said what led striking employees to block the gate was the arrival of a local contractor, Rotating Equipment, bringing in workers to replace those on the picket lines.
Dunn has stated in releases and in person that emergency repair work is being carried out by Innovative management personnel.
There had been reports of vandalism Thursday on St. Croix, but Dunn said there have been no further incidents on the island.
On St. Thomas, he said, 90 percent of cable and telephone lines were in operation by mid-day Monday, with phone service having suffered the brunt of the problems.
Both V.I. police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have been called in to investigate the vandalism.
"Innovative called Friday afternoon, maybe Saturday," Territorial Police Chief Novelle Francis said on Monday. An investigation is under way, he said, and police are conducting surveillance on key portions of the distribution system.
FBI spokesman Eric Rivera said from the agency's Puerto Rico office that he was not aware of any complaints from the Virgin Islands as of Monday morning, but he noted that telephone problems were affecting the FBI office on Raphune Hill.
Private radio and Internet communications systems also were interrupted over the weekend. Choice Communications Systems, headquartered in Havensight, experienced disruptions on Sunday. And V.I. Taxi Association dispatchers found themselves out of touch with their drivers because of a problem believed to stem from the association's telephone-radio relay system on Flag Hill. George Sebastian, association executive director and chief of radio communications, said, "We're having a problem with our dispatch system. We're calling our technician now to see what the problem is."
Dunn said the taxi organization's problems were "alarming, because someone may have been sabotaging their communications tower, and we have a tower in that area."
According to Dunn, the greatest impact of the telephone disruptions may have been felt by shops and businesses unable to process charge card payments for goods and services. A sign posted in Cost-U-Less at Market Square East told Sunday shoppers the store could not process charge-card sales.
Neither Innovative officials nor investigating authorities have said the acts of vandalism are the work of striking union members. More than 300 workers, including technicians and installers, have stayed out of the workplace, walking picket lines in support of demands by the Steelworkers that the company address pension issues in its current round of contract negotiations.
One union official, asked Friday about company allegations that wire cuts and other acts of vandalism were related to the strike, said it was not unusual for striking workers to take the blame.

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. 7, 2002 – Innovative Communication Corp. technical supervisors worked Monday to restore service to telephone and cable-television subscribers on St. Thomas after several incidents of apparent vandalism disrupted their distribution systems.
Throughout the territory, an Innovative release said, some 3,600 phone lines and more than 900 cable TV customers were affected over the weekend by "sabotage of the telephone and cable facilities."
The vandalism took place as a strike by Innovative unionized workers, members of the United Steelworkers Union, moved into its sixth day. On St. Thomas, Innovative Telephone spokesman Thomas J. Dunn said disruptions affected residential and commercial customers in several areas, notably Raphune Hill and Havensight.
"We have numerous complaints of interruption of service. The Innovative team has done an extraordinary job so far," he said Monday.
Meanwhile, a federal mediator was expected to arrive in the territory on Monday to seek to break an impasse between ICC management and the Steelworkers. At a meeting on Friday called by Labor Commissioner Cecil Benjamin, both sides agreed to bring in a mediator and also to abide by a news blackout while the talks are under way.
Efforts to reach Benjamin on Monday to determine whether the mediator had, in fact, arrived were unsuccessful. So also were attempts to reach the local union leadership.
On Friday, pickets on St. Croix described a Thursday conflict with police at the gate of Innovative's Mount Pleasant site. Trevor Wheeler, an installer/repairman, said what led striking employees to block the gate was the arrival of a local contractor, Rotating Equipment, bringing in workers to replace those on the picket lines.
Dunn has stated in releases and in person that emergency repair work is being carried out by Innovative management personnel.
There had been reports of vandalism Thursday on St. Croix, but Dunn said there have been no further incidents on the island.
On St. Thomas, he said, 90 percent of cable and telephone lines were in operation by mid-day Monday, with phone service having suffered the brunt of the problems.
Both V.I. police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have been called in to investigate the vandalism.
"Innovative called Friday afternoon, maybe Saturday," Territorial Police Chief Novelle Francis said on Monday. An investigation is under way, he said, and police are conducting surveillance on key portions of the distribution system.
FBI spokesman Eric Rivera said from the agency's Puerto Rico office that he was not aware of any complaints from the Virgin Islands as of Monday morning, but he noted that telephone problems were affecting the FBI office on Raphune Hill.
Private radio and Internet communications systems also were interrupted over the weekend. Choice Communications Systems, headquartered in Havensight, experienced disruptions on Sunday. And V.I. Taxi Association dispatchers found themselves out of touch with their drivers because of a problem believed to stem from the association's telephone-radio relay system on Flag Hill. George Sebastian, association executive director and chief of radio communications, said, "We're having a problem with our dispatch system. We're calling our technician now to see what the problem is."
Dunn said the taxi organization's problems were "alarming, because someone may have been sabotaging their communications tower, and we have a tower in that area."
According to Dunn, the greatest impact of the telephone disruptions may have been felt by shops and businesses unable to process charge card payments for goods and services. A sign posted in Cost-U-Less at Market Square East told Sunday shoppers the store could not process charge-card sales.
Neither Innovative officials nor investigating authorities have said the acts of vandalism are the work of striking union members. More than 300 workers, including technicians and installers, have stayed out of the workplace, walking picket lines in support of demands by the Steelworkers that the company address pension issues in its current round of contract negotiations.
One union official, asked Friday about company allegations that wire cuts and other acts of vandalism were related to the strike, said it was not unusual for striking workers to take the blame.

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.