Aug. 7, 2002 – A number of V.I. track and field athletes are off to San Antonio for the North America and Central America Under 25 Championships to be held on the weekend.
The V.I. Track and Field Federation, in cooperation with the Virgin Islands Olympic Committee (VIOC) has identified several athletes as pre-selections for national teams for the San Antonio games and for the Central America and Caribbean Championships to be held in El Salvador in December.
Competing in San Antonio will be: Sherma Aurelien, a middle distance runner and national junior college champion, Barton Community College in Kansas; Kadie Joseph, a-400 meter runner for Morgan State University; Kenneth Telemaque, a sprinter and captain of his South Carolina State University track and field team; and Julio Felix, a sprinter for Inter American University of Puerto Rico.
Activities of other pre-selected athletes include: Lawrence Lockhart, a middle distance runner at East Tennessee University; Billy Bohlke, a middle distance runner for NCAA champion Louisiana State University; Xiamara Gomez, a sprinter at Witchita State University; Laverne Jones, just graduated from Barton Community College and starting at the University of Oklahoma this fall, the Bronze Medal winner in the 400 meters in the national junior college championships; Ruth Ann David, a distance runner from St. Thomas; Misoui McBean, a middle distance runner at Florida A&M University; Kendall Jno-Finn of Samford University in Alabama; Andrian Durant, a recent graduate of Teaneck High School in New Jersey, the sole representative for the V.I. in the World Junior Track and Field Championships in Jamaica last week; Rodney Pitts, a sprinter at Abilene Christian College in Texas; and Vaughn Walwyn, a long jumper and sprinter at Rice University.
Lisa Hamilton, Theresa Harper, Earthla Arthur, Jackie Morgan, Albert Huggins, Kenneth McIntosh and Rodneysia Pitts are eligible and are considered as strong candidates for qualifying. To qualify for a V.I. national team, athletes must register with the federation and meet standards for eligibility and qualification.
The Virgin Islands fields national teams for youth, junior, open and senior categories. The VIOC provides financial grants to those athletes targeted for participation in the CAC Games, the Pan American Games and the Olympic Games. The federation, with the support of the International Association of Athletic Federation, provides assistance to developing athletes who aspire to compete on Virgin Islands national Track and Field Teams. It also provides training for certification of track and field coaches. Presently, approximately 30 coaches have received certification in the Virgin Islands.
For more information call 772-0412 or log on to: virginislandspace.org
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Aug. 7, 2002 – A number of V.I. track and field athletes are off to San Antonio for the North America and Central America Under 25 Championships to be held on the weekend.
The V.I. Track and Field Federation, in cooperation with the Virgin Islands Olympic Committee (VIOC) has identified several athletes as pre-selections for national teams for the San Antonio games and for the Central America and Caribbean Championships to be held in El Salvador in December.
Competing in San Antonio will be: Sherma Aurelien, a middle distance runner and national junior college champion, Barton Community College in Kansas; Kadie Joseph, a-400 meter runner for Morgan State University; Kenneth Telemaque, a sprinter and captain of his South Carolina State University track and field team; and Julio Felix, a sprinter for Inter American University of Puerto Rico.
Activities of other pre-selected athletes include: Lawrence Lockhart, a middle distance runner at East Tennessee University; Billy Bohlke, a middle distance runner for NCAA champion Louisiana State University; Xiamara Gomez, a sprinter at Witchita State University; Laverne Jones, just graduated from Barton Community College and starting at the University of Oklahoma this fall, the Bronze Medal winner in the 400 meters in the national junior college championships; Ruth Ann David, a distance runner from St. Thomas; Misoui McBean, a middle distance runner at Florida A&M University; Kendall Jno-Finn of Samford University in Alabama; Andrian Durant, a recent graduate of Teaneck High School in New Jersey, the sole representative for the V.I. in the World Junior Track and Field Championships in Jamaica last week; Rodney Pitts, a sprinter at Abilene Christian College in Texas; and Vaughn Walwyn, a long jumper and sprinter at Rice University.
Lisa Hamilton, Theresa Harper, Earthla Arthur, Jackie Morgan, Albert Huggins, Kenneth McIntosh and Rodneysia Pitts are eligible and are considered as strong candidates for qualifying. To qualify for a V.I. national team, athletes must register with the federation and meet standards for eligibility and qualification.
The Virgin Islands fields national teams for youth, junior, open and senior categories. The VIOC provides financial grants to those athletes targeted for participation in the CAC Games, the Pan American Games and the Olympic Games. The federation, with the support of the International Association of Athletic Federation, provides assistance to developing athletes who aspire to compete on Virgin Islands national Track and Field Teams. It also provides training for certification of track and field coaches. Presently, approximately 30 coaches have received certification in the Virgin Islands.
For more information call 772-0412 or log on to: virginislandspace.org
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.

Aug. 7, 2002 – A number of V.I. track and field athletes are off to San Antonio for the North America and Central America Under 25 Championships to be held on the weekend.
The V.I. Track and Field Federation, in cooperation with the Virgin Islands Olympic Committee (VIOC) has identified several athletes as pre-selections for national teams for the San Antonio games and for the Central America and Caribbean Championships to be held in El Salvador in December.
Competing in San Antonio will be: Sherma Aurelien, a middle distance runner and national junior college champion, Barton Community College in Kansas; Kadie Joseph, a-400 meter runner for Morgan State University; Kenneth Telemaque, a sprinter and captain of his South Carolina State University track and field team; and Julio Felix, a sprinter for Inter American University of Puerto Rico.
Activities of other pre-selected athletes include: Lawrence Lockhart, a middle distance runner at East Tennessee University; Billy Bohlke, a middle distance runner for NCAA champion Louisiana State University; Xiamara Gomez, a sprinter at Witchita State University; Laverne Jones, just graduated from Barton Community College and starting at the University of Oklahoma this fall, the Bronze Medal winner in the 400 meters in the national junior college championships; Ruth Ann David, a distance runner from St. Thomas; Misoui McBean, a middle distance runner at Florida A&M University; Kendall Jno-Finn of Samford University in Alabama; Andrian Durant, a recent graduate of Teaneck High School in New Jersey, the sole representative for the V.I. in the World Junior Track and Field Championships in Jamaica last week; Rodney Pitts, a sprinter at Abilene Christian College in Texas; and Vaughn Walwyn, a long jumper and sprinter at Rice University.
Lisa Hamilton, Theresa Harper, Earthla Arthur, Jackie Morgan, Albert Huggins, Kenneth McIntosh and Rodneysia Pitts are eligible and are considered as strong candidates for qualifying. To qualify for a V.I. national team, athletes must register with the federation and meet standards for eligibility and qualification.
The Virgin Islands fields national teams for youth, junior, open and senior categories. The VIOC provides financial grants to those athletes targeted for participation in the CAC Games, the Pan American Games and the Olympic Games. The federation, with the support of the International Association of Athletic Federation, provides assistance to developing athletes who aspire to compete on Virgin Islands national Track and Field Teams. It also provides training for certification of track and field coaches. Presently, approximately 30 coaches have received certification in the Virgin Islands.
For more information call 772-0412 or log on to: virginislandspace.org.
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.

Aug. 7, 2002 – Police were seeking on Wednesday to determine the whereabouts of a 26-year-old St. Croix woman who failed to return home early Monday morning after leaving the Divi Carina Bay Casino, where she is employed as a card dealer.
Police said the woman's mother, with whom she lives, reported her missing about 12:30 a.m. Monday.
Deputy Police Chief Angel Santos said Chamonie Miller was last seen by co-workers when she dropped them at their home at Coakley Bay before 1 a.m.
Miller's mother told police her daughter's work shift began at 4 p.m.
Wednesday's edition of The Daily News carried a Divi ad showing Miller, who dealt John Holdeman a winning hand of $5,859 in Caribbean Stud Poker on July 31, 2002.
Police described Miller, the mother of three, as African American with reddish-brown complexion and light brown eyes, 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighing about 170 pounds.
Police put out an all-points bulletin for her black four-door 2002 Ford Explorer, license plate CBP-563.
As of Wednesday afternoon, police had not released any further information. Investigators have urged anyone with information to call 911, 778-2211, or 778-4950.

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The Ms. Virgin Islands Senior America Pageant will take place at 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 25, at the Mark C. Marin Center at Antilles School. Contestants are lining up to replace Carol Tuohy, whose reign ends this month.
Without giving away the program, organizer Ida White said, the theme will be a fantasy centered around a cruise ship, and the theme song begins: "Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you, if you're young at heart …"
White would welcome volunteers; call her at 775-5436.
Admission is $12 adult, $6 for seniors with ID, and $6 for children under 12 years.

Aug. 6, 2002 – Two accomplished Virgin Islands athletes, veteran tennis player-coach Vic Ebbesen and former world boxing champion Livingstone "Ras-I Alujah" Bramble, are to be honored at a sports awards banquet on Thursday evening on St. Thomas in connection with the annual Beacon Schools Celebrity Golf Tournament.
Ebbesen and Bramble will become two of the four new inductees into the African-American Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame. Being inducted posthumously on Thursday will be V.I. major league baseball player Elmo Plaskett and Puerto Rico's baseball legend Roberto Clemente.
They will join some 30 sports figures nationwide, including seven other Virgin Islanders, who have received similar recognition since this particular hall of fame got started two years ago.
Ebbesen was the founder of the V.I. Tennis Association. As he worked on his acceptance speech on Tuesday at his home on St. Thomas, he recalled that during his tennis career in the territory he played an exhibition game with another ethnic hall of famer, the legendary Althea Gibson. "I think it is an honor," he said of his induction.
Bramble, a native of St. Kitts who made St. Croix his home, rose to the top of the fight game in the 1980s, holding the World Boxing Association Lightweight title from June of 1984, when he took it away from Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, to September of 1986.
The seven Virgin Islanders honored at the first Caribbean induction ceremony for the ethnic hall of fame, held last year on St. Thomas, were boxers Julian Jackson and Emile Griffith; baseball players Al McBean, Valmy Thomas, Horace Clarke and the recently deceased Alphonso "Piggy" Gerard; and pro basketball player Glen "Kimble" Williams.
The awards dinner Thursday at the Renaissance Grand Beach Resort also will recognize three other prominent local athletes — tennis pro George Lewis, teen-age tennis competitor Aisha Christian, and veteran V.I. women's tennis champion Fenella Cooper, who also has taught tennis at the University of the Virgin Islands. While these honorees are not being inducted into the hall of fame, Arif Khatib, promoter of the event, said he wants to acknowledge their achievements as well.
Lewis said on Wednesday that word of his honor caught him by surprise, but pleasantly. "I feel very good about it," he said. "When I heard about it, I said, 'Oh, really?'" But when he spoke with Khatib, Lewis said, he found out that others had recommended him for the award, based on his years as a tennis player and his community work with young people.
One of those young people Lewis has worked with is the 18-year-old Christian, who has been playing tennis since the age of 5 and has gone on to compete throughout the Caribbean as an accomplished athlete. "She's one of the first Virgin Islanders to be ranked in the ITF in the world, No. 230," Lewis said, referring to the International Tennis Federation.
Lewis and Christian recently played in a B.V.I. tennis championship tournament, each reaching the semi finals in singles play, but winning as a team in the mixed doubles against Grenada.
Khatib, a financial manager for a number of professional athletes including Ricky Henderson, Vida Blue, Claudell Washington and Clifford Brandt, said he viewed promotion of the hall of fame as a way to recognize athletes for their contributions to sports and to the communities in which they live. "These are people who have demonstrated excellence on the field of play but also have a sense of community," he said.
The awards banquet also is a way to encourage athletes to support the efforts of gifted young athletes, Khatib said. Brandt, an Oakland Raiders football player, was one of the sports celebrities scheduled to come to the territory to take part in the annual Beacon fund-raiser golf tournament but word was received on Wednesday that he could not be present. Other pro athletes who will be taking part, Khatib said, include George Atkinson, former Oakland Raiders player and CBS television analyst; Dari Jordan, who played with the San Francisco 49ers; Billy North, who was with the San Francisco Giants; and Michael Meriweather, who played with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
According to Khatib, proceeds from ticket sales at African-American Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame events such as Thursday's banquet go to fund scholarships. Since the program began, he said, nine such scholarships have been awarded to students attending historically black colleges and universities.
Thursday's event will begin with dinner at 6 p.m. with the induction ceremony to follow at 7:30 p.m. It's open to the public. Tickets are $40. Reservations must be made "right away," Khatib said Wednesday. This may be done by calling 775-3092.
For information on the Beacon Schools Celebrity Golf Tournament, which gets under way with social events on Thursday evening, see "Beacon Celebrity Golf fund-raiser begins Aug. 9".

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.

Aug. 6, 2002 – Two accomplished Virgin Islands athletes, veteran tennis player-coach Vic Ebbesen and former world boxing champion Livingstone "Ras-I Alujah" Bramble, are to be honored at a sports awards banquet on Thursday evening on St. Thomas in connection with the annual Beacon Schools Celebrity Golf Tournament.
Ebbesen and Bramble will become two of the four new inductees into the African-American Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame. Being inducted posthumously on Thursday will be V.I. major league baseball player Elmo Plaskett and Puerto Rico's baseball legend Roberto Clemente.
They will join some 30 sports figures nationwide, including seven other Virgin Islanders, who have received similar recognition since this particular hall of fame got started two years ago.
Ebbesen was the founder of the V.I. Tennis Association. As he worked on his acceptance speech on Tuesday at his home on St. Thomas, he recalled that during his tennis career in the territory he played an exhibition game with another ethnic hall of famer, the legendary Althea Gibson. "I think it is an honor," he said of his induction.
Bramble, a native of St. Kitts who made St. Croix his home, rose to the top of the fight game in the 1980s, holding the World Boxing Association Lightweight title from June of 1984, when he took it away from Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, to September of 1986.
The seven Virgin Islanders honored at the first Caribbean induction ceremony for the ethnic hall of fame, held last year on St. Thomas, were boxers Julian Jackson and Emile Griffith; baseball players Al McBean, Valmy Thomas, Horace Clarke and the recently deceased Alphonso "Piggy" Gerard; and pro basketball player Glen "Kimble" Williams.
The awards dinner Thursday at the Renaissance Grand Beach Resort also will recognize three other prominent local athletes — tennis pro George Lewis, teen-age tennis competitor Aisha Christian, and veteran V.I. women's tennis champion Fenella Cooper, who also has taught tennis at the University of the Virgin Islands. While these honorees are not being inducted into the hall of fame, Arif Khatib, promoter of the event, said he wants to acknowledge their achievements as well.
Lewis said on Wednesday that word of his honor caught him by surprise, but pleasantly. "I feel very good about it," he said. "When I heard about it, I said, 'Oh, really?'" But when he spoke with Khatib, Lewis said, he found out that others had recommended him for the award, based on his years as a tennis player and his community work with young people.
One of those young people Lewis has work with is the 18-year-old Christian, who has been playing tennis since the age of 5 and has gone on to compete throughout the Caribbean as an accomplished athlete. "She's one of the first Virgin Islanders to be ranked in the ITF in the world, No. 230," Lewis said, referring to the International Tennis Federation.
Lewis and Christian recently played in a B.V.I. tennis championship tournament, each reaching the semi finals in singles play, but winning as a team in the mixed doubles against Grenada.
Khatib, a financial manager for a number of professional athletes including Ricky Henderson, Vida Blue, Claudell Washington and Clifford Brandt, said he viewed promotion of the hall of fame as a way to recognize athletes for their contributions to sports and to the communities in which they live. "These are people who have demonstrated excellence on the field of play but also have a sense of community," he said.
The awards banquet also is a way to encourage athletes to support the efforts of gifted young athletes, Khatib said. Brandt, an Oakland Raiders football player, was one of the sports celebrities scheduled to come to the territory to take part in the annual Beacon fund-raiser golf tournament but word was received on Wednesday that he could not be present. Other pro athletes who will be taking part, Khatib said, include George Atkinson, former Oakland Raiders player and CBS television analyst; Dari Jordan, who played with the San Francisco 49ers; Billy North, who was with the San Francisco Giants; and Michael Meriweather, who played with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
According to Khatib, proceeds from ticket sales at African-American Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame events such as Thursday's banquet go to fund scholarships. Since the program began, he said, nine such scholarships have been awarded to students attending historically black colleges and universities.
Thursday's event will begin with dinner at 6 p.m. with the induction ceremony to follow at 7:30 p.m. It's open to the public. Tickets are $40. Reservations must be made "right away," Khatib said Wednesday. This may be done by calling 775-3092.
For information on the Beacon Schools Celebrity Golf Tournament, which gets under way with social events on Thursday evening, see "Beacon Celebrity Golf fund-raiser begins Aug. 9".

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.

Aug. 6, 2002 – Two accomplished Virgin Islands athletes, veteran tennis player-coach Vic Ebbesen and former world boxing champion Livingstone "Ras-I Alujah" Bramble, are to be honored at a sports awards banquet on Thursday evening in connection with the annual Beacon Schools Celebrity Golf Tournament.
Ebbesen and Bramble will become two of the four new inductees into the African-American Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame. Being inducted posthumously on Thursday will be V.I. major league baseball player Elmo Plaskett and Puerto Rico's baseball legend Roberto Clemente.
They will join some 30 sports figures nationwide, including seven other Virgin Islanders, who have received similar recognition since this particular hall of fame got started two years ago.
Ebbesen was the founder of the V.I. Tennis Association. As he worked on his acceptance speech on Tuesday at his home on St. Thomas, he recalled that during his tennis career in the territory he played an exhibition game with another ethnic hall of famer, the legendary Althea Gibson. "I think it is an honor," he said of his induction.
Bramble, a native of St. Kitts who made St. Croix his home, rose to the top of the fight game in the 1980s, holding the World Boxing Association Lightweight title from June of 1984, when he took it away from Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, to September of 1986.
The seven Virgin Islanders honored at the first Caribbean induction ceremony for the ethnic hall of fame, held last year on St. Thomas, were boxers Julian Jackson and Emile Griffith; baseball players Al McBean, Valmy Thomas, Horace Clarke and the recently deceased Alphonso "Piggy" Gerard; and pro basketball player Glen "Kimble" Williams.
The awards dinner Thursday at the Renaissance Grand Beach Resort also will recognize three other prominent local athletes — tennis pro George Lewis, teen-age tennis competitor Aisha Christian, and veteran V.I. women's tennis champion Fenella Cooper, who also has taught tennis at the University of the Virgin Islands. While these honorees are not being inducted into the hall of fame, Arif Khatib, promoter of the event, said he wants to acknowledge their achievements as well.
Lewis said on Wednesday that word of his honor caught him by surprise, but pleasantly. "I feel very good about it," he said. "When I heard about it, I said, 'Oh, really?'" But when he spoke with Khatib, Lewis said, he found out that others had recommended him for the award, based on his years as a tennis player and his community work with young people.
One of those young people Lewis has worked with is the 18-year-old Christian, who has been playing tennis since the age of 5 and has gone on to compete throughout the Caribbean as an accomplished athlete. "She's one of the first Virgin Islanders to be ranked in the ITF in the world, No. 230," Lewis said, referring to the International Tennis Federation.
Lewis and Christian recently played in a B.V.I. tennis championship tournament, each reaching the semi finals in singles play, but winning as a team in the mixed doubles against Grenada.
Khatib, a financial manager for a number of professional athletes including Ricky Henderson, Vida Blue, Claudell Washington and Clifford Brandt, said he viewed promotion of the hall of fame as a way to recognize athletes for their contributions to sports and to the communities in which they live. "These are people who have demonstrated excellence on the field of play but also have a sense of community," he said.
The awards banquet also is a way to encourage athletes to support the efforts of gifted young athletes, Khatib said. Brandt, an Oakland Raiders football player, was one of the sports celebrities scheduled to come to the territory to take part in the annual Beacon fund-raiser golf tournament but word was received on Wednesday that he could not be present. Other pro athletes who will be taking part, Khatib said, include George Atkinson, former Oakland Raiders player and CBS television analyst; Dari Jordan, who played with the San Francisco 49ers; Billy North, who was with the San Francisco Giants; and Michael Meriweather, who played with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
According to Khatib, proceeds from ticket sales at African-American Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame events such as Thursday's banquet go to fund scholarships. Since the program began, he said, nine such scholarships have been awarded to students attending historically black colleges and universities.
Thursday's event will begin with dinner at 6 p.m. with the induction ceremony to follow at 7:30 p.m. It's open to the public. Tickets are $40. Reservations must be made "right away," Khatib said Wednesday. This may be done by calling 775-3092.
For information on the Beacon Schools Celebrity Golf Tournament, which gets under way with social events on Thursday evening, see "Beacon Celebrity Golf fund-raiser begins Aug. 9".

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.

Dear Source,
Last week I attended a presentation of the Puerto Rico Tourism Hotel & Convention Bureau sponsored by the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel Tourism Association. Several V.I. elected officials and candidates were also in attendance.
Executive director Jorge Pesquera described the structure and success of his bureau and that of others around the world. The Puerto Rico Board was incorporated in 1962 and is funded with a portion of the Puerto Rico hotel-room taxes.
As many V.I. Tourism officials have been saying for years, private sector/ public sector tourism boards have been working very well nearly everywhere else for years. Yet the Virgin Islands refuses to enact the program because a select few political cronies do not want to lose their playpens. So the Virgin Islands tourism market goes down hill every day, while the rest of the world improves its tourism product as we watch in despair.
When are our elected officials are going to begin to think about the best interests of the Virgin Islands rather than the best interests of a select few?
Pesquera said it perfectly when he stated that leadership is required to move forward. The Virgin Islands does not have political leadership.
I urge the Virgin Islands to create a private sector/ public sector tourism authority now if we hope to improve the lives of all Virgin Islanders.
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.
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.

Dear Source,
Last week I attended a presentation of the Puerto Rico Tourism Hotel & Convention Bureau sponsored by the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel Tourism Association. Several V.I. elected officials and candidates were also in attendance.
Executive director Jorge Pesquera described the structure and success of his bureau and that of others around the world. The Puerto Rico Board was incorporated in 1962 and is funded with a portion of the Puerto Rico hotel-room taxes.
As many V.I. Tourism officials have been saying for years, private sector/ public sector tourism boards have been working very well nearly everywhere else for years. Yet the Virgin Islands refuses to enact the program because a select few political cronies do not want to lose their playpens. So the Virgin Islands tourism market goes down hill every day, while the rest of the world improves its tourism product as we watch in despair.
When are our elected officials are going to begin to think about the best interests of the Virgin Islands rather than the best interests of a select few?
Pesquera said it perfectly when he stated that leadership is required to move forward. The Virgin Islands does not have political leadership.
I urge the Virgin Islands to create a private sector/ public sector tourism authority now if we hope to improve the lives of all Virgin Islanders.
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.
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.