The Ulla Muller Elementary School will host its Sixth Annual Math Expose from 8;30 to 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 23. The objective of the Expose is to improve students' math skills and promote a greater appreciation for math in all aspects of their lives.
The Expose is open to the general public.

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April 19, 2002 – Police arrested a Fortuna man Friday and charged him with first-degree murder after investigators exhumed the body of his common-law wife from a shallow grave.
Raphael "Nolo" Rivera, a 36-year-old security guard, is being held without bail after his arrest Friday morning, according to police records.
He is accused of shooting 51-year-old Ianthe Thomas, a former newspaper columnist and author of several children's books, in the head and burying her in a grave at their residence at Estate Fortuna No. 77-24, police said.
Rivera gave detectives in the Major Crimes Unit a statement outlining his involvement in her death, and the body was exhumed early Friday, police spokeswoman Sgt. Annette Raimer said. The body was wrapped in sheets when investigators found it, she said.
Police officials speaking on Radio One's evening news told Sam Topp it was through reports from neighbors and other residents that police first began to investigate the crime.
Police records indicate the crime occurred Jan. 18 at Rivera's and Thomas' residence. Raimer noted that Thomas was reported missing that month.
Thomas, who also went by the name Ianthe Mac Thomas, was a popular op-ed columnist at the Daily News in the mid-1980s. Rivera has held various jobs on the island, among them at Dockside Bookshop.
Rivera is expected to be advised of his rights Monday in Territorial Court. At that time further details about the investigation and arrest should come to light.
Thomas' death is the seventh homicide on St. Thomas this year – about one homicide every two weeks on the island — and the 11th territory-wide.

The Post Offices/Stations on St. Thomas will be closed on Saturday, April 27, in observance of Carnival Adult Parade Day.
There will be no retail services. Express mail delivery to residential, business and Post Office boxes will be in effect.

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April 19, 2002 – With the dust of controversy and construction settled – for the moment – and the finishing touches still damp, The Ritz-Carlton Club held a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday morning, with four dozen people, including government officials, Ritz executives, attorneys and Gov. Charles W. Turnbull on hand to do the honors.
The ceremony celebrated the completion of Building A, a six-story, 23-unit building and the first in the $75 million project that will eventually include two more condominium buildings, two hotel buildings and a health club and spa.
"This is a good day for the Virgin Islands," Turnbull said. "Not too long ago there was a lot of controversy," he added, surrounding the project, which he said "reflects the confidence of the Ritz-Carlton in the future of the Virgin Islands."
Turnbull was an active proponent of the membership condominium development that will eventually house 80 residential timeshare-type units and 48 hotel rooms and suites.
Jamie Holmes, general manager of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, which adjoins the club, thanked Turnbull for "smoothing out the bumps on the road" to make it happen.
And the road was indeed bumpy and might have caused the project to die, when at least one senator and others objected to Turnbull cutting a deal to turn part of what some claimed was a public road, over to the Ritz-Carlton Club. (See "Ritz-Carlton Project Has a Few Glitches".)
At one point, the League of Women Voters brought a lawsuit to stop work at the site until it could review the resort's Coastal Zone Management permit, which the League said was made in secrecy without the required input either from the public or from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. (See "LWV Files Suit Against CZM, Ritz, Governor".)
But Friday's celebration, complete with champagne, sushi and shrimp on a stick, offered physical evidence that the controversy had quieted and many of the public's concerns had been addressed, including a prominent sign that hangs on a chain-link fence along the controversial roadway pointing to "Public Access to the Beach."
Mikhail Shamkin, Ritz-Carlton Club managing director, said the access had always been there and now includes parking for 10 cars a few feet from the beach, with two handicapped spots.
And that's not all. Shamkin said an agreement between the Ritz and the Department of Planning and Natural Resources keeps personal watercraft such as Jet Skis out of Great Bay for the protection of sea turtles, swimmers and the tiny sea horses that have been released by Coral World into the grasses that grow in the waters.
Shamkin said the project will eventually employ about 100 people, in everything from housekeeping to concierge services. "There is a heavy emphasis on service," he said.
The fact sheet passed out at the event says, "Members enjoy the convenience of a dedicated concierge staff providing such services as airport pick-up, pre-arrival provisioning of the residence, unpacking and pressing pre-sent garments, arranging a complete itinerary and having personal items placed in their residences according to each member's specifications."
All this for upward of $98,000 for a 21-day "fractional ownership," as the Ritz refers to the plan, which also includes the right to another week – at additional cost – at the Virgin Islands Club or any other Ritz-Carlton club. Members can book more days or weeks, subject to availability.
At present the only other club is in Aspen, Colo., but there are plans to open more clubs in Bachelor Gulch, Colo., and Jupiter, Fla. within the next year.
Two hotel buildings are already under construction, slated to be completed by the end of this year. The second condominium building is also under construction. Groundbreaking for two more condo buildings is scheduled for early 2003.
Guests at Friday's event were treated to a tour of one of the luxury three-bedroom, three-bath condos, which sells for about $158,000, according to Calvin Christopher, membership executive. "Whatever you need, I can get it for you," said Christopher.
Most of the condos in building A have been sold, said Ritz public relations manager Bethany Vairo. Occupancy will begin on June 1.

April 19, 2002 – Sharyn Niles, a junior biology major at the University of the Virgin Islands, is preparing to spend a second summer and her senior year studying in Boston.
Chosen for the Boston University Early Medical School Selection Program, Sharyn will spend this summer and her upcoming senior year at Boston University. She is looking forward to this summer's session when she will become reacquainted with other participants and prepare for medical school.
Sharyn, who decided to become a pediatrician after witnessing an eighth-grade classmate having an asthma attack, said it was the Boston University program that attracted her to UVI. But admission to the competitive program required hard work, according to a release.
"I was ecstatic," she said of her acceptance in 2001. She said that the program has lived up to her expectations.
UVI is one of only 10 undergraduate colleges selected by the Boston University Medical School to participate in the program, which admits academically talented undergraduate science majors to the medical school early.
At UVI, Sharyn is active in several extracurricular activities. A member of the Debate Society, she has been named best speaker for several debates. She is a recipient of the National Institutes of Health MBRS-RISE [Minority Biomedical Research Support, Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement] scholarship, and is a junior senator with UVI's Student Government Association.
She lives by the motto: "In order to achieve anything worthwhile you must possess a positive attitude. In order to succeed, you must prioritize and sacrifice."
Sharyn, a 1999 graduate of Charlotte Amalie High School, is the daughter of
Rev. Dr. Clifton and Ruth Niles.
For more information about the Boston University program, call Dr. Gwen-Marie Moolenaar at 693-1041 or 693-1048.
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April 19, 2002 – The extensive development planned for Botany Bay on the far western tip of St. Thomas will have an impact on the Nature Conservancy's preserve at Little St. Thomas just across the bay, the organization's program director told members of the Rotary Club of St. John on Friday.
Because the area is a preserve, activities there are restricted, Christine Joseph said. "Our approach is to put up a preserve sign," she told the dozen Rotarians gathered at the Westin Resort Beach Café for the club's weekly luncheon meeting.
Little St. Thomas is connected by a spit of land to mainland St. Thomas. It and the Botany Bay property sit at the very western end of St. Thomas.
Botany Bay Partners plans to build a large resort and housing development that includes a hotel, time-share and condominium units, private villas, a spa, a restaurant, a convenience store and a concrete dock. The 24th Legislature, by an 8-7 vote, rezoned the 70 acres from R-1 (low density) to R-3 (high density) to allow for the development.
The Nature Conservancy has offices on St. Thomas and St. Croix, and owns land on those islands as well as St. John and Water Island.
Utilizing private funds, the Nature Conservancy buys up undeveloped land that is considered to have natural significance, as a means of preventing its development. While the conservancy is a global organization, Joseph said, any purchases in the Virgin Islands must come through funds raised by the local office or received as donations.
In describing the overall work of the organization, which has had a presence in the territory since 1992, Joseph said the Sprat Bay Homeowners Association on Water Island recently donated about 44 acres of land on that island to the conservancy.
She declined to discuss any negotiations under way to expand the conservancy's holdings within the Magens Bay watershed on St. Thomas. The organization now owns 75 acres there. "We're interested in Magens Bay preservation," was all she would say.
The conservancy recently partnered with V.I. Ecotours, a private enterprise, in developing a hiking path in the Magens Bay watershed. The cruise lines are selling the trail hike as a guided tour, Joseph said, but more customers are needed to make the project profitable.
"We'll do local tours at discounted rates," she said, and the conservancy is asking civic groups such at Rotary clubs to fund trips for schoolchildren.
Among other project in the works, Joseph said, the organization is working with the V.I. government to create a territorial marine park on St. Croix's East End. "We're trying to put together experts" for that project, she said. Also, she said, the conservancy is working with the federal government on a forest needs assessment to determine what lands could be preserved.

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April 19, 2002 – The extensive development planned for Botany Bay on the far western tip of St. Thomas will have an impact on the Nature Conservancy's preserve at Little St. Thomas just across the bay, the organization's program director told members of the Rotary Club of St. John on Friday.
Because the area is a preserve, activities there are restricted, Christine Joseph said. "Our approach is to put up a preserve sign," she told the dozen Rotarians gathered at the Westin Resort Beach Café for the club's weekly luncheon meeting.
Little St. Thomas is connected by a spit of land to mainland St. Thomas. It and the Botany Bay property sit at the very western end of St. Thomas.
Botany Bay Partners plans to build a large resort and housing development that includes a hotel, time-share and condominium units, private villas, a spa, a restaurant, a convenience store and a concrete dock. The 24th Legislature, by an 8-7 vote, rezoned the 70 acres from R-1 (low density) to R-3 (high density) to allow for the development.
The Nature Conservancy has offices on St. Thomas and St. Croix, and owns land on those islands as well as St. John and Water Island.
Utilizing private funds, the Nature Conservancy buys up undeveloped land that is considered to have natural significance, as a means of preventing its development. While the conservancy is a global organization, Joseph said, any purchases in the Virgin Islands must come through funds raised by the local office or received as donations.
In describing the overall work of the organization, which has had a presence in the territory since 1992, Joseph said the Sprat Bay Homeowners Association on Water Island recently donated about 44 acres of land on that island to the conservancy.
She declined to discuss any negotiations under way to expand the conservancy's holdings within the Magens Bay watershed on St. Thomas. The organization now owns 75 acres there. "We're interested in Magens Bay preservation," was all she would say.
The conservancy recently partnered with V.I. Ecotours, a private enterprise, in developing a hiking path in the Magens Bay watershed. The cruise lines are selling the trail hike as a guided tour, Joseph said, but more customers are needed to make the project profitable.
"We'll do local tours at discounted rates," she said, and the conservancy is asking civic groups such at Rotary clubs to fund trips for schoolchildren.
Among other project in the works, Joseph said, the organization is working with the V.I. government to create a territorial marine park on St. Croix's East End. "We're trying to put together experts" for that project, she said. Also, she said, the conservancy is working with the federal government on a forest needs assessment to determine what lands could be preserved.

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April 19, 2002 – "Caps for Cash," a fundraising campaign, is on for the month of May as part of the Tom Joyner Foundation's effort to raise money for the University of the Virgin Islands. UVI is the foundation's featured Historically Black Colleges and Universities institution of the month on "The Tom Joyner Morning Show."
"Caps for Cash" is sponsored by UVI, Coca-Cola and the Joyner Foundation. Coca-Cola will donate $1,000 for each 6-foot-tall bin of bottle caps from its product beverages. Smaller bins will be placed throughout the territory where community members are urged to drop in their bottle caps from Coke, Sprite, Nestea, Fruitopia, Minute Maid, PowerAde, Barq's Root Beer, Dasani Water, Fanta and Seagram's beverages.
Caps may also be dropped off on the UVI campuses — at both cafeterias, the Evans Center on St. Croix, and the Public Relations Office on St. Thomas.
There will be more than 40 bin sites, including all public schools, Frank's Bakery on St. Thomas and K-Mart West on St. Croix.
Each month, radio talk show host Joyner raises funds for selected historically black institutions through his syndicated morning show, which is broadcast locally on Kiss-FM/101.3. Some schools have received as much as half a million dollars from the exposure on Joyner’s show, according to an article on the UVI web site.
In addition to the free publicity, the Joyner Foundation will donate $1,500 scholarships each week in May to UVI. Joyner has pledged his continued support of UVI and the people of the Virgin Islands.
"This is a wonderful opportunity for us," said Gwen-Marie Moolenaar, UVI vice president for institutional advancement. Moolenaar joined Joyner to announce the project, thanking him for a great 40th anniversary gift to the university.
Moolenaar said she and other members of her team lobbied hard for more than two years to add UVI to the list of Joyner's HBCU schools for 2002.
Donor may make contributions directly to the university, if they prefer. Checks should be payable to The Tom Joyner Foundation for the University of the Virgin Islands, and mailed to University of the Virgin Islands, #2 John Brewers Bay, St. Thomas VI 00802. Or they may be made payable to The Tom Joyner Foundation with "University of the Virgin Islands" in the memo section and mailed to The Tom Joyner Foundation, PO Box 630495, Irving TX 75063-0495.
For more information, call Deborah Hamilton at 693-1042 or visit the UVI web site.

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April 19, 2002 – Federal prosecutors unveiled an indictment Thursday charging Jimmy Davis of St. Croix with being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The indictment was unsealed shortly after a jury in Territorial Court convicted Davis of six counts — including four of first-degree assault with intent to kill — in connection with shooting at a car full of people last December.
Davis, 24, is awaiting sentencing on that conviction from Territorial Court Chief Judge Maria Cabret. Each assault charge carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
Newly appointed U.S. Attorney David Nissman said the federal indictment has to do with an incident in March 2001. Davis can be charged as a felon in possession of a firearm because he was convicted of auto theft in 1997. The federal charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
Davis has been arrested more than 20 times, but his conviction this week marks the first time he will face significant time behind bars.
The federal indictment was kept under seal for about two weeks pending the outcome of the Territorial Court trial, Nissman said in a written statement. The indictment grew out of the same investigation that led to more than 20 arrests on St. Croix this week in connection with drug dealing in the Estate Profit area.

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April 19, 2002 – "Caps for Cash," a fundraising campaign, is on for the month of May as part of the Tom Joyner Foundation's effort to raise money for the University of the Virgin Islands. UVI is the foundation's featured Historically Black Colleges and Universities institution of the month on "The Tom Joyner Morning Show."
"Caps for Cash" is sponsored by UVI, Coca-Cola and the Joyner Foundation. Coca-Cola will donate $1,000 for each 6-foot-tall bin of bottle caps from its product beverages. Smaller bins will be placed throughout the territory where community members are urged to drop in their bottle caps from Coke, Sprite, Nestea, Fruitopia, Minute Maid, PowerAde, Barq's Root Beer, Dasani Water, Fanta and Seagram's beverages.
Caps may also be dropped off on the UVI campuses — at both cafeterias, the Evans Center on St. Croix, and the Public Relations Office on St. Thomas.
There will be more than 40 bin sites, including all public schools, Frank's Bakery on St. Thomas and K-Mart West on St. Croix.
Each month, radio talk show host Joyner raises funds for selected historically black institutions through his syndicated morning show, which is broadcast locally on Kiss-FM/101.3. Some schools have received as much as half a million dollars from the exposure on Joyner’s show, according to an article on the UVI web site.
In addition to the free publicity, the Joyner Foundation will donate $1,500 scholarships each week in May to UVI. Joyner has pledged his continued support of UVI and the people of the Virgin Islands.
"This is a wonderful opportunity for us," said Gwen-Marie Moolenaar, UVI vice president for institutional advancement. Moolenaar joined Joyner to announce the project, thanking him for a great 40th anniversary gift to the university.
Moolenaar said she and other members of her team lobbied hard for more than two years to add UVI to the list of Joyner's HBCU schools for 2002.
Donor may make contributions directly to the university, if they prefer. Checks should be payable to The Tom Joyner Foundation for the University of the Virgin Islands, and mailed to University of the Virgin Islands, #2 John Brewers Bay, St. Thomas VI 00802. Or they may be made payable to The Tom Joyner Foundation with "University of the Virgin Islands" in the memo section and mailed to The Tom Joyner Foundation, PO Box 630495, Irving TX 75063-0495.
For more information, call Deborah Hamilton at 693-1042 or visit the UVI web site.

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