Dear Source,
The political and economic mess the current government has created over Crown Bay development in Charlotte Amalie must be addressed.
Ten years ago the cruise-ship companies told us we needed a new docking facility at Crown Bay to accommodate the new class of vessel. But our government ignored their notice, just as it ignored the school-accreditation notice. The cruise lines thus came to the table and said, "Get out of the way. We will build it ourselves." They came to our town and divided our government into three: Port Authority over there, West Indies Company (WICO) over there and the governor over there.
Due to a lack of leadership, the simple infrastructure improvement of a cruise-ship dock has become a political and economic disaster.
But there remains a solution to the impasse:
1. The Port Authority should utilize its limited resources to develop St Croix's port facilities and to provide economic stimulus to the big island.
2. WICO should build and operate the Crown Bay cruise-ship docking facility.
3. A passenger terminal should be built with basic tourist amenities –such as a banking facility, food services, a taxi stand, a tourist information facility and a limited number of shops vending cultural items only.
But most important, the surrounding area must be landscaped and developed in a attractive manner to lure tourists and locals alike. Crown Bay could become a Virgin Islands destination that we all use, not just a facility for tourists or a place to locate a few more shops.
The dock and terminal should be financed by WICO.
The end result would be additional docking facilities for St. Thomas to maintain its position with the cruise-ship industry. It would be an attractive port for arriving tourists — not just more shops but a unique arrival facility. This would bring economic growth for small shopkeepers and vendors and reduce traffic congestion, with more ships arriving on the West End.
A unified government approach to the cruise-ship situation, with one agency dealing with the cruise lines, is the way to go. The Government Employees Retirement System mall investment must be protected and Main Street interests must be protected. At the same time, St. Croix cannot be ignored yet once again.
Michael Bornn
St. Thomas
Candidate for Governor
We welcome and encourage readers to keep the dialogue going by responding to Source commentary. Letters should be e-mailed with name and place of residence to source@viaccess.net.
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Dear Source,
The political and economic mess the current government has created over Crown Bay development in Charlotte Amalie must be addressed.
Ten years ago the cruise-ship companies told us we needed a new docking facility at Crown Bay to accommodate the new class of vessel. But our government ignored their notice, just as it ignored the school-accreditation notice. The cruise lines thus came to the table and said, "Get out of the way. We will build it ourselves." They came to our town and divided our government into three: Port Authority over there, West Indies Company (WICO) over there and the governor over there.
Due to a lack of leadership, the simple infrastructure improvement of a cruise-ship dock has become a political and economic disaster.
But there remains a solution to the impasse:
1. The Port Authority should utilize its limited resources to develop St Croix's port facilities and to provide economic stimulus to the big island.
2. WICO should build and operate the Crown Bay cruise-ship docking facility.
3. A passenger terminal should be built with basic tourist amenities –such as a banking facility, food services, a taxi stand, a tourist information facility and a limited number of shops vending cultural items only.
But most important, the surrounding area must be landscaped and developed in a attractive manner to lure tourists and locals alike. Crown Bay could become a Virgin Islands destination that we all use, not just a facility for tourists or a place to locate a few more shops.
The dock and terminal should be financed by WICO.
The end result would be additional docking facilities for St. Thomas to maintain its position with the cruise-ship industry. It would be an attractive port for arriving tourists — not just more shops but a unique arrival facility. This would bring economic growth for small shopkeepers and vendors and reduce traffic congestion, with more ships arriving on the West End.
A unified government approach to the cruise-ship situation, with one agency dealing with the cruise lines, is the way to go. The Government Employees Retirement System mall investment must be protected and Main Street interests must be protected. At the same time, St. Croix cannot be ignored yet once again.
Michael Bornn
St. Thomas
Candidate for Governor
We welcome and encourage readers to keep the dialogue going by responding to Source commentary. Letters should be e-mailed with name and place of residence to source@viaccess.net.
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Aug. 25, 2002 — When 200 first graders at six St. Thomas elementary schools return to classes on Tuesday, they'll get a gift from Rotary Club of St. Thomas East: a pack of school supplies, a book and a letter to their families encouraging the grown-ups to read to their children.
"The kids were very pleased" by last year's Rotary East distribution of back-to-school bags, Peace Corps Elementary School paraprofessional Providencia Morales said.
Rotary East member Michael Uhlig, who heads the program, said some children go back to school without the pencils, pens and notebooks that give them a good start on the year. The back-to-school bag also includes items such as paint boxes to encourage creativity, as well as such necessities as a pencil sharpener, glue stick, scissors, bookmark and a scratch pad.
The Rotary bags go to all students in a class. "No kid is left out," Uhlig said.
Since St. Thomas has hundreds of first graders, Rotary East members picked schools that had the number of students that added up to the number of back-to-school bags they could afford to fund.
In addition to Peace Corps, Jane E. Tuitt, Evelyn Marcelli, Leonard Dober, Edith Williams and Ulla Muller Elementary Schools were chosen. Uhlig said the Rotary group hopes to add two schools a year to the program, which started in 1999.
A total of 20 Rotary East members will be on the teams that will be heading off to classes on the first day of school, he said.

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Aug. 24, 2002 – Breakfast and lunch will be served to all public school students beginning the first day of school Aug. 27. Students are encouraged to participate in the program as they provide nutritious and well-balanced meals.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and it has been proven that eating in the morning stimulates the mind and propares the body for growth and exercise.

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The Division of Banking and Insurance will be administering the Insurance Examination at Licensing and Consumer Affairs, Sub Base Property and Procurement Building. the last day to register is by 5 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 23.
Registration fee is $25. For further information contact the Office of the Lieutenant Governor – Division of Banking and Insurance at 774-7166.

Aug. 24, 2002 – The Division of Banking and Insurance will be administering the Insurance Examination on St. Thomas at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 24, at Licensing and Consumer Affairs, Sub Base Property and Procurement Building. the last day to register is by 5 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 23.
Registration fee is $25. For further information contact the Office of the Lieutenant Governor – Division of Banking and Insurance at 774-7166.

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Aug. 24, 2002 – The deadline for submitting suggestions for the theme contest announced earlier this summer has been extended to Friday, Aug. 30, to boost student participation. the contest is open to public school students grades 4 – 12. Submissions to the contest should be no longer than one line and capture the student's creative view of his/her educational experience. All entries should include the student's name, date of birth, address, contact number, grade school and principal's name.
Students are asked to drop off their entries to the following locations on St. Thomas: The Public Inormation office at 44-46 Kongens Gade and Curriculum Center in Tutu. Entries may also be faxed to the Public Relations Offices at 775-4598.
As an incentive, the Department of Education solicited prized from local businesses for the contest so students will be as creative as possible and be rewarded for their efforts. The author of the theme selected will receive a grand prize worth $500 in school supplies, books and other merchandise.

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Aug. 24, 2002 — With three previous USVI Open/Atlantic Blue Marlin Tournament titles to its credit, Lady Lou was the boat to beat this year. And no one could do it.
A total of 12 blue marlin releases this week at the 30th annual event, popularly known as the Boy Scouts Tournament, gave the San Juan entry a four-peat win for Best Boat, successfully defending Lady Lou's 2001 title.
Four marlin releases earned Lady Lou sportfisherman Jose Valdes Jr. the Best Angler award, $10,000 in cash.
His father, Jose Valdes Sr., owner/angler aboard the 61-foot Viking yacht, commented afterward, "It's great. All the marlin — that's what keeps us coming here each year."
A total of 81 anglers fishing off 29 yachts headed out to the North Drop for marlin hunting on Monday, Day 1, when Rum Bum took the lead with three blue marlin released by Jennifer Bacardi.
That day, Lady Lou angler and mate Luis Infanzoa said afterward, "We saw four fish, but only released one," by Valdes Jr. "So, we made some adjustments, some changes in the lures we were using."
Come Day 2, Lady Lou put its new strategy into play. "We headed right for what they call the Cuban Hole and — bang! — we started catching fish," Infanzoa said. "Every half hour, bing, bing, bing!" Angler Raphael Suares scored three of the Lady Lou releases, the same number as Luis Santana aboard Sandy, and Carl Hitch aboard Black and Gold. Suares took the lead by being the first to release three. Infanzoa released two and Valdes Jr. and Sr., one apiece, to give Lady Lou a three-fish lead at day's end.
Three more releases, two by Valdes Jr. and one by Suares, gave Lady Lou an unbeatable 11-fish total on Day 3. Infanzoa commented at the end of that day, "We've broke our own tournament record, and there's still one more day of fishing. We're pumped. There seems to be a lot more fish out there this year."
At the American Yacht Harbor docks that evening, while anglers celebrated and crews hosed down the vessels, the white and blue marlin flags flying signaled a great catching day for the fleet.
On Day 4, Infanzoa had one more release, not that the Lady Lou team needed it for Best Boat honors.
St Croix's Rock-N-Robin placed second, with eight releases. "It was pretty suspenseful," Jason Pruns, captain of the 60-foot Hatteras, said at the end of the final day of fishing. "We were neck and neck with another boat but had them on time. Then we got another one this morning, but they got one after that. Then they hooked up and missed, then we missed one, too."
Ultimately, the other vessel, Black Shadow, with Capt. Chris Turner at the helm, placed third for Best Boat, also with eight released blue marlin.
Behind Valdes Jr., Santana aboard Sandy placed second for Best Angler, and Suares on Lady Lou was third.
Lady Lou also won the Best Crew award, for Capt. Johnny Fulgueira and mates Israel Ruiz and Tito Martinez.
Bacardi triumphed as Best Female Angler.
The fishing proved fantastic over the August full moon, with the 29 boats releasing
a total of 117 blue marlin — an average of four per boat — all on relatively lightweight 50-pound test line that requires adept angling skills.
For the 15th year, no fish were boated, with release points and times determining the winners. Once again, no one could claim the $1 million prize offered annually — and yet to be won — for reeling in the first blue marlin weighing more than 1,000 pounds.
Over its three decades, the USVI Open/Atlantic Blue Marlin Tournament has evolved into one of the world's most competitive saltwater sportfishing events. It's a part of the Bisbee's World Billfish Series and is a qualifier for the Rolex-IGFA Invitational Tournament of Champions.
In the local community, the tournament is best known as a fund-raiser for the Virgin Islands Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Last year, it raised more than $140,000 for the V.I. scouting program. Tournament director Jimmy Loveland said he anticipates a comparable donation this year.

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Aug. 23, 2002 – Statistics from the V.I. Bureau of Economic Research showing the number of tourists coming to the territory in the first six months of 2002 down by 7.8 percent from the year-earlier period are being seen in different lights by the government and the private sector.
Lauritz Mills, director of the Bureau of Economic Research, sent out a press release saying, in essence, wait a minute, things aren't as bad as they seem.
"Let's put it in perspective," she said in a Source interview.
Across the Caribbean, she said, tourism fell by double digits following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. mainland. Until Sept. 11, she said, Virgin Islands tourism was strong.
Thanks to a healthy winter, spring and summer in 2001 that offset plummeting figures after Sept. 11, tourism arrivals increased by 5 percent overall for 2001, she said.
While the number of cruise ship passengers increased by 7 percent for all of 2001, the number of air arrivals dropped by 3 percent.
Mills' press release was followed by one from gubernatorial candidate John de Jongh that said the figures don't lie.
"We're in trouble, and those at the top refuse to acknowledge it," de Jongh said, calling for the creation of a V.I. Tourism Authority.
The V.I. business sector in general and the hospitality industry in particular lobbied several years ago for the creation of a private/public tourism authority that would replace the government's Tourism Department. The semi-autonomous authority would have majority membership from the private sector. The 23rd Legislature passed a bill creating such an authority, but Gov. Charles W. Turnbull vetoed it.
In his release, de Jongh said the territory needs leadership that "understands the basics of a tourism economy and who knows how to partner with all components of the industry … the airlines, the cruise ship companies, the hotels, the travel agents, the charter boat companies and all others that impact this most important segment of our economy."
In addition to the effects of Sept. 11, observers say the drop in tourist arrivals reflects a downturn in the economy — the plummeting stock market and the fact that major corporations are laying off workers left and right.
Bob Siefert, president of the St. Croix Hotel and Tourism Association and general manager of the Divi Carina Bay Resort and Casino, said that economically "bulletproof" resorts such as Caneel Bay on St. John, Little Dix Bay on Virgin Gorda and the Four Seasons on Nevis aren't affected. But, he added, properties such as the Divi suffer because their middle-income guests are worried about whether they'll have jobs next month.
And, he said, the publicity about Carnival Cruise Lines dropping St. Croix as a stop for two of its larger ships because of concerns about crime hasn't helped.
A look at the January-June figures for 2002 and 2001 show that St. Croix took the biggest hit, with air arrivals down 11 percent this year over last. For St. Thomas and St. John, the drop was 4.4 percent.
Cruise passenger arrivals were off 28.7 percent for St. Croix, which had relatively few ships calling, and down 8.7 percent combined for St. Thomas, by far the territory's major port of call, and St. John.
As far as overnight visitors, since St. Thomas and St. John numbers are lumped together, they may not reflect St. John's reality. Kathy McLaughlin, who heads the St. John Accommodations Council, said that while this January looked a little soft compared to January 2001, bookings were strong throughout the spring.
"We had a lot more last-minute bookings," she said. And she said vacation villa managers were occasionally driven to discount their prices to fill their properties.
McLaughlin's remarks reflect what hoteliers said throughout the winter and spring season — that people were waiting until right before their departure to book, so as to see what sales might materialize and whether it was safe to fly.
However, Richard Doumeng, former president of the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel Association, said that given what the industry had anticipated after Sept. 11, the winter season turned out better than expected.
But number of visitors does not tell the whole story. Territorywide, hoteliers slashed their prices to entice tourists. "It's a double whammy," Siefert said.
Siefert said a government-sponsored promotion giving guests their fourth night free, a 35 percent discount on the room rate and a $100 gift certificate that cost hoteliers $50 helped to fill rooms. But, he added, it didn't generate as much revenue as rooms sold at the usual rate would have done.
Doumeng said rates published in The New York Times showed the upscale Renaissance Grand Beach Resort offering deals cheaper than the middle-of-the-road Bolongo Bay Beach Club and Villas, which his family owns and for which he is the general manager.
"That's not good for the Renaissance, and it's not good for Bolongo," Doumeng said.
Siefert said the prognosis for the coming winter season doesn't look promising. "We’re not seeing anything," he said.
But Doumeng said he's not worrying yet. Long before Sept. 11, the travel industry created a "society of procrastinators and bargain hunters," he said. "It's not unusual to pick up 30 to 35 percent of the occupancy rate for the month in the month."
David Yamada, president of the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel and Tourism Association, and the organization's executive director, Beverly Nicholson, were both off island on Friday.

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Aug. 23, 2002 – With gambling addiction an increasingly visible problem since the Divi Carina Bay Casino opened its doors in March 2000, the V.I. Alliance for Responsible Gaming wants to help.
However, Casino Control Commission Director Shawna K. Richards said the Finance Department hasn't released a penny of the more than $3 million deposited by Divi Carina Bay in the Casino Revenue Fund so the Alliance can set up a treatment program.
The V.I. Casino and Resort Control Act of 1995 mandates that 1 percent of the casino fund go to gambling and addiction programs and 1 percent to The Village–Virgin Islands Partners in Recovery, for preventing and treating gambling addictions.
While the law doesn't state who gets the first 1 percent, the Alliance for Responsible Gaming is an appropriate organization to set up such a program, said Richards. The alliance is made up of representatives from the casino, lottery and horse-racing industries, gaming regulators and mental health professionals.
"Although providing gambling education and treatment programs is not a mandated responsibility of the Casino Control Commission, we have taken a very aggressive role in spearheading the efforts of the Alliance because we believe it is our responsibility to the Virgin Islands community," Lloyd McAlpin, Casino Control commissioner, said in a news release.
Richards said the Alliance would like to provide training for people who deal with gambling addictions and set up a 24-hour hot line for people who need help. She did not know how much money would be needed for these programs.
McAlpin said access to those funds would allow the newly formed Gamblers Anonymous and The Village to help people who need it.
Despite the provision in the Casino and Resort Control Act of 1995 that it get 1 percent of the Casino Revenue Fund, The Village also has not received any money, director Chainie Lang said.
"People will seek help if they know help is there, but we cannot do it without dollars" Lang said.
Both she and Richards are quick to point out that gambling addictions existed across the territory before the arrival of the Divi, mentioning horse-racing, dog fights and cockfights as examples.
One member of Gamblers Anonymous who spoke on condition of anonymity said that across the United States, about 3 percent of the population are thought to be compulsive gamblers. Gamblers Anonymous started about six weeks ago, according to this source, who said attendance was low, in part because word isn't out about the group.
"Compulsive gambling is a new subject. There hasn't been any type of awareness program," the person said.
A money management program that starts with children and high school students could help prevent people from becoming compulsive gamblers, said the source. Instead, they would learn to budget a set amount for entertainment, including gambling, and stop when they spent it.
Gamblers Anonymous follows a 12-step assisted self-help program similar to Alcoholics Anonymous. The source said the group did not need funding.
In fact the GA Web site states "Every Gamblers Anonymous Group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions." Twelve-step groups traditionally support themselves by accepting small donations, usually about $1, at meetings.
The organization meets at 7 p.m. on Wednesdays at Speak the Word Ministries in Peter's Rest, St. Croix.
Finance Commissioner Bernice Turnbull did not return a phone call requesting comment about the money earmarked for treatment.
Lang said people who want information about Gamblers Anonymous can call the Village at 719-9800 or write to Gamblers Anonymous in care of The Village at Box 5105, Sunny Isle, St. Croix, 00823.

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