March 6, 2002 – Billed as a party with a purpose, the Coral Bay Yacht Club's 5th annual flotilla to Norman Island, set for Saturday, will again benefit Emmaus Moravian Church.
"We wanted to do something good for Coral Bay," yacht club commodore Dave Dostal said. The event is basically a beach party with a sail to Norman Island at the start and the return trip at the end of the day. Some 10 to 20 sailboats from St. John are expected to participate.
Tickets are $35. They're being sold at Connections in both Cruz Bay and Coral Bay and also will be available at the Coral Bay dinghy dock Saturday morning.
The price includes the sail to Norman Island's Benure Bay and back, music, customs fees and a choice of West Indian or Italian food, salads, hot dogs and hamburgers for lunch. Drinks will be sold on the beach. Also being sold are T-shirts and raffle tickets for prizes that include hotel accommodations and dinners for two.
Participants are asked to gather at the Coral Bay dinghy dock at 8 a.m., bringing passports, beach and snorkel gear and drinking water. A return to Coral Bay by 5:30 p.m. is anticipated.
The money raised will benefit the Emmaus Moravian Church capital improvement fund. "It's important for the church to have a well-built and well-maintained structure," said Trudy Toliver, a yacht club member who is handling publicity for the event.
The church serves as the heart of the small Coral Bay community as well as its hurricane shelter when storms hit. While boaters do take shelter in the church, Toliver said the flotilla is about doing something for the whole community. "The yacht club is just happy that we've got the sailors and the vessels to go out and have a good time," she said.
Numerous St. John restaurants and other businesses have donated food and supplies for the flotilla outing, Toliver said, and the skippers volunteer their time and their vessels and dozens of volunteers help to get the event organized.
More captains are still needed, she said. Anyone wishing to volunteer is asked to sign up at Connections.

March 8, 2002 – St. Patrick's Day – Sunday, March 17 – is, appropriately, the day of UVI's Afternoon on the Green. The main theme, however, is "UVI at 40 … celebrating the red, white and blue," which honors men and women in uniform.
Head for the "Green," the Herman E. Moore Golf Course on the St. Thomas campus of the University of the Virgin Islands, from noon to 5 p.m. and enjoy taste, smell, sound and sight of Virgin Islands culture. There'll be music by the Sea Breeze Band, the regular culinary competitions, and activities and St. Thomas Dairies ice cream to keep the children occupied.
Admission is free. Top territory cooks will provide favorite recipes (if they're not secret) and cooked dishes and, after the judging is done, food and drink will be available for $2 a sample. Cooks should bring their dishes for judging by 11 a.m.
For more details see the St. Thomas Source article in the Community/Other stuff section.

March 8, 2002 – UVI's annual Afternoon on the Green happens to fall on St. Patrick's Day – but that doesn't affect the color scheme of the theme: "UVI at 40 … Celebrating the Red, White and Blue," which honors men and women defending the country.
Head for the "Green," the Herman E. Moore Golf Course on the St. Thomas campus of the University of the Virgin Islands, Sunday, March 17, from noon to 5 p.m. and enjoy taste, smell, sound and sight of Virgin Islands culture. There'll be music and dance, the regular culinary competitions, and special children's activities.
Admission is free. Top territory cooks will provide favorite recipes (if they're not secret) and cooked dishes and, after the judging is done, food and drink will be available for sampling.
For more details see the Source article in the Community/Other stuff section.

March 8, 2002 – Kmart shoppers in the Virgin Islands can breathe a sigh of relief: None of the territory's four stores are on the list of 284 that will close their doors under the retail giant's bankruptcy restructuring plan.
"I'm happy. I go there every pay day," St. John resident Margaret Wells said.
Kmart Corp. announced Friday that the blue light will stop blinking at 271 discount stores and 12 supercenters in 40 states and one store in Humacao, Puerto Rico. The stores will remain open until the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois approves the plan and the stores hold going-out-of-business sales.
"The decision to close these underperforming stores, which do not meet our financial requirements going forward, is an integral part of the company's reorganization effort," Kmart's chief executive officer, Charles C. Conaway, said in a release issued Friday.
In the Virgin Islands, Kmart has stores at Tutu Park Mall and Lockhart Gardens on St. Thomas and Sunny Isle Shopping Center and Sunshine Mall on St. Croix.
On Jan. 22, when Kmart corporate officials announced they would be assessing their more than 21,000 stores to see which ones were underperforming, local store executives had said that they expected the V.I. outlets to remain open. Nonetheless, there was some trepidation among residents. In the absence of any other large chain department stores, Kmart is the favorite of many V.I. shoppers. "I go there for everything," Wells said.
Local Kmart managers said Friday they are pleased that their stores are among those that will remain open. "It's business as usual," Kevin Bryan, manager of the Sunny Isle store, said. George Newton, manager at the Tutu Park Mall store, said while he is glad his store and the others across the territory are not on the closing list, he still feels bad that "associates" and customers in other locations will be impacted. "We're looking forward to brighter days," he said.
About 22,000 Kmart employees nationwide will lose their jobs, the company announced. Conaway said managers were notifying employees at affected stores on Friday.
In the release, Kmart officials said that by closing the 284 stores, they expect to enhance the company's cash flow by $550 million this year and by $45 million a year thereafter. The move should improve the company's earnings by about $31 million a year excluding interest, taxes and depreciation, they said.
The release said Kmart expects the Bankruptcy Court to give final approval to its store-closing plans on March 20.
A complete list of closing Kmart stores is available on line at www.bluelight.com. Click on "latest corporate news," then "Kmart media information center" and finally, "general press releases."

Dear Source,
After spending almost a week reading and hearing news reports, editorials and letters to the editor concerning the recent audit of the Police Department, Law Enforcement Planning Commission, and Narcotics Strike Force, I find myself compelled to respond.
An audit can only be as good as the information provided to the auditor. Accurate conclusions can only be drawn from complete and accurate information. Failure to provide complete and accurate information does a disservice to both the agency being audited and the auditor providing the service. Some statements in this audit are untrue and could easily have been disproved, had the available information been provided to the auditors.
With regard to some statements concerning the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Supervisory/Advisory Board, such is the case. Correspondence files including letters to board members, their supervisors and both successful and unsuccessful applicants, as well as fiscal files including miscellaneous disbursement vouchers and internal travel documents and receipts could and should have been provided to the auditors. These documents would clearly show that the board continued to meet through 1999, and although I do not have first-hand knowledge, I assume that it continued to meet beyond that date as well.
The JJDP board, contrary to some published accounts, does not have the responsibility or authority to act on any matters other than juvenile justice. Despite their terms having expired, members of the board continued to serve in a thoroughly professional and conscientious manner. Their service was greatly appreciated. Board members were selected according to a formula that balanced representatives from the private and public sectors and stressed particular areas of expertise with regard to juvenile justice issues.
Their task, reviewing competitive grant applications and deciding among many very well-qualified and committed applicants, was a difficult one, made even more difficult by the large number of applications received and the limited amount of funds involved. The process was an extremely competitive one that frequently involved 15 to 20 applicants requesting approximately three-quarters of a million dollars at a time when available funding was slightly less than $200,000. These juvenile justice funds were provided to non-profit organizations.
With regard to other LEPC programs, certain funds were specifically reserved for government agencies and could not be subgranted to non-profit organizations. Some funds were mandated for specific government agencies. While these grants were not competitive, they were not arbitrary, either. Funding priorities were based on a territorywide strategy that had been developed with input and information from a variety of sources.
Other funds were made available to, or mandated for use by, non-profit organizations providing specific functions relating to crime victims. Again, funding requests were in excess of available funding and a competitive process was used to rate applications. Applicants were not denied grants in an arbitrary manner, and those who were denied grants were advised of the reasons for such denial. Satisfactory performance was a requirement for continuation activities.
Failure to receive a continuation grant occurred in cases where gross irregularities noted in the administration of a prior grant had not been corrected, despite opportunities to make the corrections. As a criminal justice planning agency, LEPC has as one of its functions the subgranting of funds for use by criminal justice agencies and agencies involved in drug education, prevention and treatment; for programs designed to reduce juvenile delinquency; and for programs providing services for crime victims.
As such, funds received by LEPC were, for the most part, subgranted to government agencies and non-profit groups for implementation of programs, rather than being expended directly by LEPC.
Helene Smollett
Deputy Drug Policy Adviser September 1989 – Dec. 31, 1999
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.

March 8, 2002 – At a hearing Thursday, the Senate Health and Hospitals Committee heard both support for and opposition to a revamping of the territory's years-old physical therapy law as proposed by Sen. Douglas Canton Jr., the committee chair.
Physical therapists and health officials took a good look at the measure, which lays out who may and may not perform physical therapy, with differing views. Two things all parties agreed on was that the law needs to be made more specific, and it needs to protect the rights of the consumer.
Physical therapists spoke in favor of the bill. Angelica Schuster, president of the Board of Physical Therapy, said Canton's proposed revision is important, as it serves "to protect the rights of the consumer, who may not understand what physical therapy entails, and it defines the personnel qualified to perform physical therapy." Mary Wick, secretary of the board, called the bill "crucial in allowing the board to properly regulate the practice of physical therapy in the V.I."
Some hospital officials took issue with limiting physical therapy only to those licensed to practice it. Dr. Gary Jett, a St. Croix physician, told the committee, "If only physical therapists are able to provide physical therapy, this would further limit the ability for patients on St. Croix to receive proper health care."
Eunice Liburd-Roberts, a Health Department physical therapist, said the services provided by the physical therapist should be limited to those as directed in the new legislation.
Deputy Health Commissioner Lucien Moolenaar said his department shares the concerns of the therapists, but recommended "more condensed language" in the act.
Patrick J. Cook, director of Juan F. Luis Hospital rehabilitation services, cautioned the committee, "A direct-access practice act which restricts other specialties from functioning within their prescribed … profession could be seen as very biased toward physical therapists, in particular those who own private practices."
Canton said the committee hopes to address most of the concerns raised at the hearing, which he described as one step in the process of "drafting the best legislation possible to protect the health professionals and their consumers."
Committee members attending the meeting in addition to Canton were Sens. Lorraine Berry, Roosevelt David, Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg and Vargrave Richards. Committee members David Jones and Almando "Rocky" Liburd were absent.

An introductory boating class is being offered by the St. Croix Power Squadron. Four weekly 2 hour sessions will be held at the VITEMA facility on Tuesday evenings starting April 2 through April 13. Instruction is by qualified volunteer officers of the sqadron, thereby reducing the cost to $35 for instruction manuals and plotting instruments. A safe boating certificate is awarded for successful completion of the course.
Contact Bob Marcy at 773-7926, George Seaman at 778-0386 or Conrad Knowles at 773-2244.

An introductory boating class is being offered by the St. Croix Power Squadron. Four weekly 2 hour sessions will be held at the VITEMA facility on Tuesdays.
Instruction is by qualified volunteer officers of the squadron, thereby reducing the cost to $35 for instruction manuals and plotting instruments. A safe boating certificate is awarded for successful completion of the course.
Contact Bob Marcy at 773-7926, George Seaman at 778-0386 or Conrad Knowles at 773-2244.

Feb. 27, 2002 – USO, whose slogan is "We Deliver America," is sponsoring a "Big Band Jump" from 5:30 to 7:30 Friday, March 8, at the Grand Hotel Art Gallery.
The $10 admission will go to support USO in the many ways the organizatio supports Americans in uniform all over the world.
The University of the Virgin Islands Jazz Band will provide the big band sounds to tickle memories and motor muscles. There'll be wine and gourmet foods, and a raffle of items donated by businesses.
It all takes place in the Grand Hotel Art Gallery, which remains open Fridays until 10 p.m., so USO attendees can enjoy the artwork during and after the "Jump."
During the course of the evening, USO will honor four volunteers. Three of those honored will be surprised; the fourth is Lola Turbe, who has volunteered with the USO for 16 years.
Turbe, a lifelong resident of Frenchtown, has provided many hours of service to the USO during ship visits. During the ship visit of the USS Roosevelt, Turbe assisted the USO with a petting zoo, which consisted of four puppies from the Humane Society. She cared for the puppies during the entire visit, and then adopted one and took him home. She named the puppy Sailor after all the men and women in uniform who visit St. Thomas.
Turbe is now residing at Sea View Rehabilitation Center following surgery. The USO is hopeful that she will be able to attend the Big Band Jump.
"The USO appreciates the dedication of our volunteers," said Cynthia Farmer, a USO volunteer herself, in an e-mail communication. And, she added, "We thank local businesses that stand ready to serve our servicemen and servicewomen with us."
Big Band Jump tickets are being sold at Deliver-It, both Just Cuts salons, MAPes MONDe in Grand Galleria, Marisol Restaurant and Caribbean Candles in Tillett Garden. They also may be reserved by calling 776-1884.

The C.A.H.S. class of 1995 will hold a meeting at the Frederick Evangelical Lutheran Church's Bethania Hall.
For more information call any of the class officers.