March 10, 2002 – Dr. LaVerne E. Ragster has been tapped to be the next president of the University of the Virgin Islands. Ragster was selected Saturday by the UVI Board of Trustees from a field of 27 applicants found in a nationwide search begun last August.
The field was narrowed in February to three candidates: Ragster, Robert Jennings of Wake Forest University's Babcock Graduate School of Management and Laurence I. Peterson, dean of the College of Science and Mathematics and tenured professor of chemistry at Kennesaw State University.
UVI's board of trustees interviewed the three at a meeting Saturday and later announced that Ragster was the choice to fill the position.
Ragster, who holds a Ph.D. in biology from the University of California at San Diego, has been affiliated with UVI for more than 20 years. She has held several faculty and administrative positions at the university and now is senior vice president and provost.
Ragster will succeed Dr. Orville Kean, who in 1990 became the university's third president, capping an academic career spanning 35 years at UVI.
Ragster will officially take over from Kean on Sept. 1, according to a release from UVI.
Ragster said Sunday that the negotiations with the board had not been completed and though she was "excited about the possibilities," the process was ongoing.
She said her position as provost is still "all-consuming," but she felt becoming UVI president held the "largest potential for making a difference" in the community.
The direction in which the president takes the university, she said, will play a "crucial part of the destiny" of the larger community.
Ragster's appointment was announced the same day that Marthious Clavier, president of the St. Croix UVI Student Government Association, was quoted in broadcast and published reports as saying the SGA was endorsing Jennings to be UVI president. Jennings had sufficiently impressed students at a meeting Thursday that the SGA was motivated to come out publicly in favor of his appointment, Clavier said.
Ragster will be UVI's fourth president. The others were Dr. Lawrence Wanlass, Dr. Arthur A. Richards and Kean.

March 10, 2002 – Dr. LaVerne E. Ragster has been tapped to be the next president of the University of the Virgin Islands. Ragster was selected Saturday by the UVI Board of Trustees from a field of 27 applicants found in a nationwide search begun last August.
The field was narrowed in February to three candidates: Ragster, Robert Jennings of Wake Forest University's Babcock Graduate School of Management and Laurence I. Peterson, dean of the College of Science and Mathematics and tenured professor of chemistry at Kennesaw State University.
UVI's board of trustees interviewed the three at a meeting Saturday and later announced that Ragster was the choice to fill the position.
Ragster, who holds a Ph.D. in biology from the University of California at San Diego, has been affiliated with UVI for more than 20 years. She has held several faculty and administrative positions at the university and now is senior vice president and provost.
Ragster will succeed Dr. Orville Kean, who in 1990 became the university's third president, capping an academic career spanning 35 years at UVI.
Ragster will officially take over from Kean on Sept. 1, according to a release from UVI.
Ragster said Sunday that the negotiations with the board had not been completed and though she was "excited about the possibilities," the process was ongoing.
She said her position as provost is still "all-consuming," but she felt becoming UVI president held the "largest potential for making a difference" in the community.
The direction in which the president takes the university, she said, will play a "crucial part of the destiny" of the larger community.
Ragster's appointment was announced the same day that Marthious Clavier, president of the St. Croix UVI Student Government Association, was quoted in broadcast and published reports as saying the SGA was endorsing Jennings to be UVI president. Jennings had sufficiently impressed students at a meeting Thursday that the SGA was motivated to come out publicly in favor of his appointment, Clavier said.
Ragster will be UVI's fourth president. The others were Dr. Lawrence Wanlass, Dr. Arthur A. Richards and Kean.

March 9, 2002 – Soup's on again at Frederick Evangelical Lutheran Church, but a recent burglary has left providers at the Saturday soup kitchen with a bitter aftertaste.
Several days after thieves worked their way through a metal bar securing a door off the courtyard of the historic downtown Charlotte Amalie church, Pastor Stephan Kienberger said he's thinking about adding an alarm system. "They broke in the door, they demolished the door and took away whatever they could carry," he said.
Break-ins were a way of life a few years ago at the soup kitchen, Kienberger said. A restoration grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development funded some repairs that seemed to have solved the problem. But now, he said, there are concerns that the lastest break-in will enourage more. "The pressure's on from the community to put in an alarm system," he said.
Thieves made away with a microwave oven, knives, a coffee pot and cooking utensils. The supply of canned goods that is used to feed the regular crowd of homeless, seniors and poor families was left behind.
The Saturday soup kitchen is run by volunteers from a Frederick Church women's group. After the break-in, Kienberger said, the women resumed their routine of preparing dishes at home and bringing the food in to serve it. He speculated that some of the people who have benefitted from the free food program are the ones most likely to have committed the crime.
"It's quite evident that people we serve are the people who broke in, too, because they knew what they were going for," he said.
But church officials say while recent events have left them discouraged, they will continue serving the poor. It wouldn't be fair to punish the needy because of the actions of a few, the pastor said.

March 9, 2002 – Wednesday's Harbour Night festivities will showcase the dancers and drummers of Frederiksted's Karamu Afi Cultural Arts program.
Founded in 1998 to promote the study of African culture through the arts, Karamu Afi offers dance and drumming classes on Saturday afternoons at St. Gerard's Hall in Frederiksted. Adults and young people, beginners to advanced, participate in the classes and join in performances. The group has appeared at the St. Croix Millennium Celebration, the University of the Virgin Islands and the 2002 Agricultural and Food Fair, in addition to Harbour Night.
Linda Lacy is the artistic director of Karamu Afi, and Dion Rivers is the musical director. For information about the group, call 772-2079.
Also performing for this week's Harbour Night will be scratch band musician Jamesie Brewster, Dem Boyz, Junie and the Jungle, and Willard John's Guardians of Culture Moko Jumbies.
Harbour Night celebrations are held in downtown Frederiksted on alternate Wednesday nights, when the cruise ship Victory is in port. Hours are 7:30 to 11:30 p.m. In addition to guests off the ship, which has a capacity of 3,400 passengers plus crew, the events typically attract a large local turnout.
As usual, more than 50 vendors will be offering local food and drink, arts and crafts and more. Fund-raising activities to benefit not-for-profits groups — Caribbean Fusion Band, St. Croix Animal Shelter and St. Croix Deaf Coalition — are sponsored by Divi Carina Bay Casino, International Asset Management, Kapok Management, The Lost Dog, McDonald's of St. Croix and Motown Bar and Restaurant.
Harbour Night is presented by the Frederiksted Economic Development Association, Centennial Wireless, Budget Rent-A-Car, Dalton Associates and the Tourism Department. Parking on Strand Street is prohibited from 5 p.m. to midnight Wednesday; vehicles found there will be towed at the owners' expense..

March 9, 2002 – Anyone who's driven by the Enid M. Baa Library on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday evening or a Saturday lately has probably noticed that the gates are open and the lights are on upstairs. Anyone who's been inside the library has probably seen flyers promoting a multiplicity of community outreach programs. So many things are happening at the Baa these days that it's hard to keep up with them all.
So, if you like to read, need to research, could use occasional Internet access and/or have kids who fall into any of these categories, add this link to your "favorites" file or print out this article and keep it handy for future reference.
Baa Library hours
According to Baa librarian Diane Moody, who came aboard last fall after the facility had been without a librarian for several years, here's the current schedule:
Adult section:
Monday and Friday – 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday – 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Saturday – 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Children's reading room:
Monday through Friday – 9-11:30 a.m. and 2:45-5 p.m.
Saturday – 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Von Scholten Collection:
Monday through Friday- 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
No Saturday hours
Baa librarians
Moody holds a master of library science degree, the standard of the profession. She's one of eight MLS holders working in public and private positions on St. Thomas. Since she came aboard, the Baa Library has hired two additional MLS professionals, to work evenings and Saturdays while keeping their "day" jobs.
David Simon, who also holds a degree in environmental engineering, works at the library from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and all day Saturday. He meanwhile also works for the Planning and Natural Resources Department wearing his engineering hat.
Norma Bryan, librarian at Addelita Cancryn School, works at Baa from 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and all day Saturday.
Moody makes a point of crediting her two superiors, Sharleen Harris, director of libraries, and Claudette Lewis, assistant commissioner of the Planning and Natural Resources Department as "the leaders of the effort" to revitalize the Baa Library and the people who "make things happen behind the scenes."
The territory's public libraries fall under the Division of Libraries, Archives and Museums, which falls within Planning and Natural Resources. All of the changes in recent months started with Lewis "and her decision to act on needs at Baa," Moody says. Lewis followed through with St. Thomas Rotary II to get the children's room repainted, refurnished and repopulated with new books, "a project that re-opened that room," Moody says. And it was Lewis whi hired Harris as director of libraries last fall, "putting an MLS person at the top spot, and then putting me at Baa," she adds.
"The division is advertising nationally for public services librarians and cataloguing and archivist personnel" needed to fill positions at the various libraries in the territory, Moody says, and a number of applications have been received from the mainland.
Community outreach
In the coming weeks, the following programs are scheduled at the Baa Library. All take place on the second floor of the library except those for children, which are in the ground-level children's reading room.
Local history:
Wednesday, March 13, 6:30 p.m. — "Bringing History Alive: The Black Contribution to the Building of the Town of Charlotte Amalie." Myron Jackson, director of the Planning and Natural Resource Department's Office of Historic Preservation, will share information about the history of various structures in downtown Charlotte Amalie "and the talented craftsmen who built and furnished them." His presentation will include a slide show.
Help for parents of teens:
Under the umbrella title "How Parents Can Survive Their Teens' Growing Pains," the library is presenting a series of evening programs for parents with youngsters ages 13 to 18. "Various issues will be explored using local experts in formal sessions" that will allow plenty of time for questions and answers, Moody says. For each program, attendees will be provided a bibliography of reading materials available at the Baa Library and from within the V.I. Library System, as well as selected web sites.
– Thursday, March 14, 6:30 p.m. — Julie Dempsey, certified herbalist from the Wholistic Health Center, will lead a program on "My Teen Wants to Be a Vegetarian; Now What Do I Feed Her/Him?" Her presentation will focus on "the nutritional needs of growing teen-agers, and helping with planning and preparing their meals."
– Tuesday, March 19, 6:30 p.m. — Susan Kelly, who holds a master's degree in clinical counseling and is the school counselor at Antilles School, will be the facilitator for "Teens: Yes, They Do Have Emotional Needs." Kelly has worked with youths ages 13-21 in high school and college settings. "As parents we are faced by many challenges when dealing with teens," Moody says. "Teens are adult-size people who are still works in progress learning how to become adults in a world that can be a very scary place."
– Wednesday, March 20, 6:30 p.m. — Ermin Olive, director of the Bureau of Nutrition and Physical Activity within the Health Department, will present "The Care and Feeding of Growing Teens." According to Moody, discussion will center on "the special nutritional and physical fitness needs of teens and educating your teens about healthy food choices."
– Thursday, March 21, 6:30 p.m. — Attention Deficit Disorder, of ADD, is the evening's topic. Beth Marshall will lead the presentation on "What ADD Is and What ADD Is Not." Moody notes, "ADD has been described at one of the most widely misunderstood afflictions facing the family unit today. Children, teens and adults can all have ADD." Typical behavior of those with ADD, she says, are difficulty in staying focused on tasks, impulsive behavior and excessive activity and physical restlessness.
Bilingual evenings:
Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday, 5:30 p.m. — "Bilingual Evenings at Baa," a program that started in January, is continuing at least through the end of March. Pairing native speakers with those wanting to polish their skills, it's half an hour of conversing one-on-one in Spanish followed by similar conversations in English. Participants talk about anything of interest, from food to history and heritage to the day's news. The idea, Sharleen Harris, director of libraries, said in January, is for participants to "help each other improve their pronunciation, learn new vocabulary and idioms, and foster appreciation of their native languages and cultures."
Reading to young children
The Baa Library has just started a program called "Mother Goose Asks Why?" that's oriented to parents and grandparents of children 3 to 7 years old "who want to have fun reading with their children and teaching them some science concepts."
Nancy Christie, Carol Lotz, Cynthia Richards and Jane Sheen from the Friends of the St. Thomas Libraries organization are serving as Mother Goose trainers. The program was developed by a not-for-profit organization called The Vermont Center for the Book that offers a series of such reading outreach efforts that also includes "Mother Goose Meets Mother Nature" and "You Can Count on Mother Goose." Linda Creque of the V.I. Institute for Teaching and Learning provided training for the Friends volunteers.
The first "Mother Goose" session at the Baa was held on March 2 and repeated Saturday. Moody hopes to repeat the program in April.
Saturday children's reading program:
This program, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. each Saturday, was introduced by the not-for-profi t Friends of the St. Thomas Libraries last spring. Friends members continue to staff the program, but others have gotten involved, too, Moody says. She and Simon, a former librarian at Ulla Muller School, provide guidance, "and we have several high schoolers coming in for community service hours. Parents and grandparents also pitch in to help by reading, coloring and doing crowd control."
Turnout varies from week to week, she says and training is provided on a continual basis for anyone wanting to help out.
The purposes behind the programs
According to Moody, the motivation for these outreach initiatives is to "get folks to use Baa Library as it has been used in the past — as a center of the community and its activities, providing information services and a place for meeting and sharing ideas." Also, she said, "it's to get people in the habit of using a library, despite all the obstacles this site presents."
Such as lack of parking during the day, lack of handicapped access, until recently lack of evening and Saturday hours, and also until recently lack of professional library staff.
A secondary purpose is to gather data "to demonstrate that if a new library is built, it will be used." This applies, Moody adds, whether or not the decision is made to build a new facility at the Tutu Park Mall site that has been proposed by the developers as part of a package to secure renewal of Economic Development Commission tax benefits.
All of the presentations are free and open to the public. The resource people conducting them are "volunteers, doing it for free, not as part of their jobs," Moody says. "The library is hosting the sessions and doing the publicity" but has no budget for the effort, she adds. A grant from the Community Foundation of the V.I. is going to provide books, kits and bags that will be given to parents attending the sessions.
The cyber-library
While the outreach programs are aimed at getting people to set foot physically in the library, Moody says, that step in turn will serve as introduction to information about how patrons increasingly will be able to utilize library services via computer without leaving their offices, schools and homes. "The new library buzzword is 'remote access,'" she says.
The Baa Library, like the territory's other three public libraries — Elaine Ione Sprauve on St. John, Florence Williams in Christiansted and Athalie McFarlane Petersen in Frederiksted — have been providing public Internet access for several years via computers donated by the V.I. Telephone Corp., now Innovative Telephone.
Soon, each library also will receive six computers from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that also come with Internet access, as well as software, training for library staff and technical support. And the library system has just been awarded its third annual federal grant to proceed with linking library services territorywide via a dedicated, high-speed wide-area network. (See "Grants to link libraries within V.I., to the world".)
While "we need to replace a few keyboards and mice," the Vitelco computers are functioning fine at Baa, Moody says. Library patrons are permitted to use them 30 minutes per day, "but if no one is waiting, we'll extend the time upon request," she says. Users enter their library card identification number for free access; visitors have to pay a fee of $2 for 30 minutes.
The current Internet public-access computers do not include word processing software, so a student who's working on a school report, for example, has to print out the information found online and then go elsewhere to compose the assignment. "The Gates machines will have software, and one machine will have a Spanish keyboard," Moody says. She says the Division of Libraries and Museums will be reviewing current use policies before these additional computers go into service. Also to be decided is what professional databases the library system will subscribe to.
For more information, call the library at 774-0630 or e-mail Diane Moody at the library.

March 9, 2002 – The territory's public library system has been approved recently to receive two major grants, one from the federal government and the other from one of the nation's most prominent private funding sources, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services has awarded the library system $96,583 under the federal Library Services and Technology Act. The money will be utilized in ongoing efforts to link the territory's libraries electronically into the V.I. Automated Library System.
The Gates Foundation has awarded the Division of Libraries, Archives and Museums a grant of $71,115 that will provide for each public library in the territory to receive six computers, along with training in their use, technological assistance and other support.
In both cases, the funding will benefit all of the public libraries in the territory — Enid M. Baa on St. Thomas, Florence A. Williams in Christiansted, Athalie McFarlane Petersen in Frederiksted and Elaine Ione Sprauve on St. John.
Sharlene Harris, director of library services, is currently spending two weeks at the Gates Foundation headquarters in Seattle, Wash., for training in the utilization of the computers and software that the territory will receive.
The federal grant was awarded according to a nationwide population-based formula, according to a release from Delegate Donna Christian Christensen. Such grants "are given to promote access to learning and information resources in all of the libraries across the country," the release states. The grants have two primary purposes:
– To provide technology and support for networking and resource sharing.
– To provide service to population groups that have difficulty utilizing a library, with a special emphasis on children in poverty.
According to Christensen, all Library Services and Technology Art funding received in the territory is used "for a single, comprehensive project linking essential library services … through a dedicated, high-speed, territorial, wide-area network." This is the third year of funding for development of the automated library system. "It will be providing bibliographic catalog, Internet, CD-ROM, e-mail and community resources through work stations at each public library site in the territory," the release states.
The purpose of Gates Foundation grants to libraries nationwide is "to establish and aid in the access and expansion of information technology resources through partnerships with state agencies and public libraries," according to a release from the Planning and Natural Resources Department, under which the Division of Libraries, Archives and Museums falls.
The Gates Foundation computers for the territory's libraries will come with software including Microsoft Word, World Atlas 2001, Encarta Africana and educational young people's programs such as Arthur's and Magic School Bus. Software will be available in Spanish as well as English, the release states.
Part of the credit for the Gates Foundation program being expanded to include the Virgin Islands and other U.S. territories goes to Senate President Almando "Rocky" Liburd. In March of 2001, Liburd wrote to the foundation asking that the territory be "considered for the program that assists [libraries] with the equipment and software necessary to connect to the Internet." He noted in the letter that for most V.I. young people, "schools and libraries are the only places where these students can be exposed to the Internet."
Last June, Richard Akeroyd, executive director of the Gates Foundation's Libraries and Public Access to Information program, wrote Liburd that the foundation was initiating a new public library grant program for the nation's territories. Akeroyd noted that he had been in contact with Simon Caines, Harris's predecessor as director of libraries.

The Insurance Examination will be given at the Division of Personnel, Estate Orange Grove, Christiansted, St. Croix.
The last date to register will be at 3 p.m. on Monday, March 11.
The registration fee is $25. For further information contact the Office of the Lt. Governor, Division of Banking and Insurance at 773-6459.

The Insurance Examination for the St. Croix District will be given at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, March 12, at the Division of Personnel, Estate Orange Grove, Christiansted.
The registration fee is $25. For further information contact the Office of the Lt. Governor, Division of Banking and Insurance at 773-6459.

The District Intermediate Communication Arts Showcase will be held at the Peace Corps Elementary School in Estate Mandahl.
The public is invited to attend. Participating schools are reminded that students need to be at the site by 8;45 a.m. the morning of the showcase.
For more information on the showcase, contact Mary Harley at 775-2250 ext. 227.

The District Primary Communication Arts Showcase will take place at Lockhart Elementary School in Sugar Estate.
The public is invited to attend. Participating schools are reminded that students need to be at the site by 8;45 a.m. the morning of the showcase.
For more information contact Mary Harley at 775-2250 ext. 227.