Dear Source,
There have been various voter registration days and locations set up by the Boards of Elections. (See "Voter registration on St. John" for locations and dates territorywide.) Voters need to vote responsibly. It is time to change our government.
The purpose of the government in a capitalistic democracy it to provide the services to the citizens that they cannot provide for themselves as individuals — such as police protection, fire protection, protection against foreign enemies (probably not needed in the V.I.), general health systems such as environmentally sound disposal of solid and sanitary waste, an economic environment that provides incentive for business to survive and prosper, construction and maintenance of public works facilities required to accomplish these services such as buildings, highways, treatment plants, etc., and an education at least to the level required to participate in capitalism to the degree necessary to support oneself and possibly a family.
The bottom line is a feeling of security and the possibility to better oneself.
The form of government that we enjoy (and direct by voting if we care to) is made up of three branches: Executive, Legislative and Judicial. All three must be focused on the ideals and philosophies that we the voters want, or we vote them out, right? That is, if we are educated and informed well enough to make decisions that are in our own best interest. We do not vote for the individuals in the Judicial System, but we do control by vote the individuals who appoint them.
What are the issues that we should be concerned with?
Police: Recently there have been monumental improvements in this area; let's keep them going.
Fire: Seems to function okay, as do several other offices and departments.
Environmental health: Paradise is drowning in its own sewer. According to news reports, the Puerto Rico government is concerned that overuse by divers and snorkelers is damaging the reefs of Culebra. Do you know that snorkelers have to take a 45-minute boat ride to snorkel because pollution has long since killed off all of the reefs and reef fish around Puerto Rico itself? The more of us there are in Paradise, and the more trash we throw into the landfills and ocean waters, the quicker this will happen to us.
Economic health: The government is meant to create an economic environment that we can survive, thrive and prosper in. We need to begin a transition to the philosophy that the private sector not only is the generator of money for the government to function but also creates the financial well being of the citizens. The government's role and responsibility is to provide services, not to provide employment or financial well being to its citizens.
Public works facilities: Every four years, like a natural phenomenon, the bush on the sides of the roads is cut, and the litter is picked up, while the decay of our public facilities continues at an embarrassing rate due to lack of maintenance. This ends up costing millions and millions of dollars and reduces the quality of our daily lives. Why do we tolerate it?
Education: Does our educational system have a mission statement? If so, what is it? Is it being accomplished? if not, why not? A good education is available to every child in the Virgin Islands whose parents can afford private school. Why do the rest have to start life at such a great disadvantage?
Know how the people that you vote for stand on the issues — and specifically what they intend to work hard to accomplish, and how they intend to do it.
Do not vote for any incumbent who did not put a full effort into getting a "Numbered Seats" system in place before the elections. If the system is not in place before the election, do not vote for any candidates who will not pledge to put the system in place as soon as they are elected.
It takes only 4,000 to 6,000 votes to elect a senator in the present system. Use your vote wisely. If you only recognize one senatorial candidate that you believe has our best interest at heart, vote only for that one. Every other vote that you cast will be a vote against that one you truly want to support.
Because of the current system of the Majority vs. the Minority, it would take only a couple of intelligent, non-aligned senators who will act at all times in the best interest of the citizens to control the direction of the government. Who are they?
We have all seen in a very recent and short time how rape, spouse abuse and child abuse have become crimes that are being acknowledged and prosecuted. I congratulate everyone who worked so very hard to accomplish this. I encourage everyone to put as much energy into helping to fix our government.
If you would like to help, begin by sending this to the people in your address book, especially any who are running for elective office.
Greg Miller
St. Thomas

Editor's note: 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.

Dear Source,
There have been various voter registration days and locations set up by the Boards of Elections. (See "Voter registration on St. Thomas, Water Island" for locations and dates territorywide.) Voters need to vote responsibly. It is time to change our government.
The purpose of the government in a capitalistic democracy it to provide the services to the citizens that they cannot provide for themselves as individuals — such as police protection, fire protection, protection against foreign enemies (probably not needed in the V.I.), general health systems such as environmentally sound disposal of solid and sanitary waste, an economic environment that provides incentive for business to survive and prosper, construction and maintenance of public works facilities required to accomplish these services such as buildings, highways, treatment plants, etc., and an education at least to the level required to participate in capitalism to the degree necessary to support oneself and possibly a family.
The bottom line is a feeling of security and the possibility to better oneself.
The form of government that we enjoy (and direct by voting if we care to) is made up of three branches: Executive, Legislative and Judicial. All three must be focused on the ideals and philosophies that we the voters want, or we vote them out, right? That is, if we are educated and informed well enough to make decisions that are in our own best interest. We do not vote for the individuals in the Judicial System, but we do control by vote the individuals who appoint them.
What are the issues that we should be concerned with?
Police: Recently there have been monumental improvements in this area; let's keep them going.
Fire: Seems to function okay, as do several other offices and departments.
Environmental health: Paradise is drowning in its own sewer. According to news reports, the Puerto Rico government is concerned that overuse by divers and snorkelers is damaging the reefs of Culebra. Do you know that snorkelers have to take a 45-minute boat ride to snorkel because pollution has long since killed off all of the reefs and reef fish around Puerto Rico itself? The more of us there are in Paradise, and the more trash we throw into the landfills and ocean waters, the quicker this will happen to us.
Economic health: The government is meant to create an economic environment that we can survive, thrive and prosper in. We need to begin a transition to the philosophy that the private sector not only is the generator of money for the government to function but also creates the financial well being of the citizens. The government's role and responsibility is to provide services, not to provide employment or financial well being to its citizens.
Public works facilities: Every four years, like a natural phenomenon, the bush on the sides of the roads is cut, and the litter is picked up, while the decay of our public facilities continues at an embarrassing rate due to lack of maintenance. This ends up costing millions and millions of dollars and reduces the quality of our daily lives. Why do we tolerate it?
Education: Does our educational system have a mission statement? If so, what is it? Is it being accomplished? if not, why not? A good education is available to every child in the Virgin Islands whose parents can afford private school. Why do the rest have to start life at such a great disadvantage?
Know how the people that you vote for stand on the issues — and specifically what they intend to work hard to accomplish, and how they intend to do it.
Do not vote for any incumbent who did not put a full effort into getting a "Numbered Seats" system in place before the elections. If the system is not in place before the election, do not vote for any candidates who will not pledge to put the system in place as soon as they are elected.
It takes only 4,000 to 6,000 votes to elect a senator in the present system. Use your vote wisely. If you only recognize one senatorial candidate that you believe has our best interest at heart, vote only for that one. Every other vote that you cast will be a vote against that one you truly want to support.
Because of the current system of the Majority vs. the Minority, it would take only a couple of intelligent, non-aligned senators who will act at all times in the best interest of the citizens to control the direction of the government. Who are they?
We have all seen in a very recent and short time how rape, spouse abuse and child abuse have become crimes that are being acknowledged and prosecuted. I congratulate everyone who worked so very hard to accomplish this. I encourage everyone to put as much energy into helping to fix our government.
If you would like to help, begin by sending this to the people in your address book, especially any who are running for elective office.
Greg Miller
St. Thomas

Editor's note: 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. 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.

July 4, 2002 – In a salute to the holiday it honors, St. John's Fourth of July parade started off with St. Croix's Noel band playing "America the Beautiful." And unlike most recent St. John Festival parades, this one saw a smattering of flags and lots of troupes sporting the stars and stripes.
One of the most unusual came from a St. John group called Middle Aged Majorettes. Made up of a couple dozen women on the other side of 40, and in many cases, 50, the troupe sported T-shirts imprinted front and back with stars-and-stripes thong bikinis. Nancy Hedlund, at 58, said she'd have no problem making her way along a parade route that stretched from the V.I. National Park Ballfield through the streets of Cruz Bay to Winston Wells Ballfield. "I'm getting younger," she said.
St. John also saw a float "first" — from Myrah Keating Smith Community Health Center. Some of the staff, including administrator Erica McDonald, were dressed in glittering finery, while others wore hospital scrubs splashed with color. McDonald said the health center first-ever floupe entry came about because "we were sitting around and just started talking about it."
Maintenance man Ogan Julien built the float, McDonald said, and they scared up some unused costumes from a St. Thomas troupe. The troupe members, many of them from the health center's medical staff, passed out condoms in a push for safe St. John Festival sex. Some people thought they were giving out candy, nurse Shelley Dixon said. "One lady said, 'I don't need that,'" Dixon related, noting that the woman was pregnant.
The Westin Resort troupe paid tribute to Army Sgt. Maudlyn White, who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon. She was raised on St. Thomas. The float's stars and stripes segued into costumes of red, white and blue plus silver and gold for the troupe members.
Caneel Bay Resort picked up the patriotic theme with a float featuring an eagle resting on the Bill of Rights. With music by St. John's Cool Session Brass, the troupes were decked in traditional carnival style with colorful satin costumes.
Of course, it wouldn't be a St. John parade without many St. Thomas troupes making the trip across Pillsbury Sound. And there were a dozen or so queens and kings, including St. John's own royal court of Miss St. John, Hailey Kalahni Cagan; St. John Junior Miss Elyse Williams; and Princess Danella Bridgewater.
St. John and St. Thomas residents along with hundreds on vacation and visiting from other nearby islands packed Cruz Bay's streets, braving the broiling sun and occasional rain shower for the two and a half-hour parade.
"We're here for the parade and the food," said St. Thomas resident Thuryon Stevens, 17, from his vantage post across from the Creek. He made the trip with his father, Fellow, who said the two loved coming to St. John. "Although the parade doesn't have as many people in it as St. Thomas, it's just as nice," he said.
Clifton and Sharon Boyd from St. Thomas had found themselves a shady spot under a tree. "We were here early enough to get a good spot," he said. She said that while they hadn't been to a St. John parade in a few years, they decided this was the year to make the trip.
They were sitting next to an Oklahoma couple, Ann and Monty Buechline, who were on their way back to Tulsa after a vacation at Maho Bay Camps. The Buechlines watched the parade while perched on their luggage. "It looks like it's cool," she said of the parade.
Gary Grapser and Janice Keeley of Portland, Oregon, were on St. John to visit Keeley's daughter, Michelle. "She said we had to come out and see Carnival because it's so colorful and exciting," Keeley said.
While the St. John Festival may be exciting, for the most part the entire spectrum of events that began with Pan-O-Rama on June 1 went off without a hitch. The one exception came with a stabbing injury aboard a party barge Wednesday night. Deput Police Chief Angelo Hill, making the rounds of Cruz Bay during the parade with his top brass, confirmed that the stabbing happened but could provide no further details other than to say the victim was not cooperating with police investigating the matter. He could not be reached at his office later.

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.

July 4, 2002 – In a salute to the holiday it honors, St. John's Fourth of July parade started off with St. Croix's Noel band playing "America the Beautiful." And unlike most recent St. John Festival parades, this one saw a smattering of flags and lots of troupes sporting the stars and stripes.
One of the most unusual came from a St. John group called the Middle Age Majorettes. Made up of a couple dozen women on the other side of 40, and in many cases, 50, the troupe sported T-shirts imprinted front and back with stars-and-stripes thong bikinis. Nancy Hedlund, at 58, said she'd have no problem making her way along the parade route that stretched from the V.I. National Park Ballfield through the streets of Cruz Bay to Winston Wells Ballfield. "I'm getting younger," she said.
St. John also saw its first-ever float from Myrah Keating Smith Community Health Center. Some of the staff, including administrator Erica McDonald, were dressed in glittering finery, while others wore hospital scrubs splashed with color. McDonald said the health center's first-ever floupe entry came about because "we were sitting around and just started talking about it."
Maintenance man Ogan Julien built the float, McDonald said, and they scared up some unused costumes from a St. Thomas troupe. The troupe members, many of them from the health center's medical staff, passed out condoms in a push for safe St. John Festival sex. Some people thought they were giving out candy, nurse Shelley Dixon said. "One lady said, 'I don't need that,'" Dixon related, noting that the woman was pregnant.
The Westin Resort troupe paid tribute to Army Sgt. Maudlyn White, who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon. She was raised on St. Thomas. The float's stars and stripes segued into costumes of red, white and blue plus and silver and gold for the troupe members.
Caneel Bay Resort picked up the patriotic theme with a float featuring an eagle resting on the Bill of Rights. With music by St. John's Cool Session Brass, the troupes were decked in traditional carnival style with colorful satin costumes.
Of course, it wouldn't be a St. John parade without many St. Thomas troupes making the trip across Pillsbury Sound. And there were a dozen or so queens and kings, including St. John's own royal court of Miss St. John, Hailey Kalahni Cagan; St. John Junior Miss Elyse Williams; and Princess Danella Bridgewater.
St. John and St. Thomas residents along with hundreds on vacation and visiting from other nearby islands packed Cruz Bay's streets, braving the broiling sun and occasional rain shower for the two and a half-hour parade.
"We're here for the parade and the food," said St. Thomas resident Thuryon Stevens, 17, from his vantage post across from the Creek. He made the trip with his father, Fellow, who said the two loved coming to St. John. "Although the parade doesn't have as many people in it as St. Thomas, it's just as nice," he said.
Clifton and Sharon Boyd from St. Thomas had found themselves a shady spot under a tree. "We were here early enough to get a good spot," he said. She said that while they hadn't been to a St. John parade in a few years, they decided this was the year to make the trip.
They were sitting next to an Oklahoma couple, Ann and Monty Buechline, who were on their way back to Tulsa after a vacation at Maho Bay Camps. The Buechlines watched the parade while perched on their luggage. "It looks like it's cool," she said of the parade.
Gary Grapser and Janice Keeley of Portland, Oregon, were on St. John to visit Keeley's daughter, Michelle. "She said we had to come out and see Carnival because it's so colorful and exciting," Keeley said.
While the St. John Festival may be exciting, for the most part the entire spectrum of events that began with Pan-O-Rama on June 1 went off without a hitch. The one exception came with two individuals stabbing each other aboard a party barge Wednesday night. Deput Police Chief Angelo Hill, making the rounds of Cruz Bay during the parade with his top brass, confirmed that the stabbing injuries occurred but could provide no further details other than to say the victims were not cooperating with police investigating the matter.

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.

This Colorful Explosion, is made up of students, parents and teachers from Guy Benjamin and Julius E. Sprauve Schools.

The Westin Resort troupe havin' some fun.

Members of the Myrah Keating Smith Community Health Center floupe take a water break.

Love City Pan Dragons doin'their thing giving beautiful noise to the celebration.

The lovely St. John Majorettes twirling and dancing in celebration of St. John Festival 2002.

Colorful Explosion, made up of students, parents and teachers from Guy Benjamin and
Julius E. Sprauve Schools.