The 14th Annual Caribbean Colors Exhibition is going to be at the Grand Hotel in Charlotte Amalie, starting April 20, and run through May 4.
Entry forms need to be submitted by April 1. Call 774-8900 for information.
WOMAN OVERBOARD RESCUED AFTER 12 HOURS
March 7, 2002 – A crew member aboard the cruise ship Norway was sitting on a railing smoking a cigarette Monday night when she lost her balance and fell 40 feet into the sea. Against all odds, her story has a happy ending.
The 24-year-old Romanian woman treaded water in seas with up to 8-foot swells in the Bahamas for more than 12 hours until lookouts on the cruise ship spotted her Tuesday morning, according to Svein Sleipnes, vice president for nautical affairs for Norwegian Cruise Line, which owns the Norway.
She later told rescuers that she had seen a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter and the cruise ship pass by several times in the night but was unable to attract their attention on the dark seas, Sleipnes said Wednesday.
"I would say she was very, very lucky, especially because the water was rough," Sleipnes, who helped coordinate the search-and-rescue effort, said. "It probably helped her that she could see the ship."
According to Norwegian Cruise Line spokeswoman Susan Robison, the woman declined to speak with reporters and asked the company not to release her name. She was badly shaken up by the ordeal and will return to Romania to spend time with her family, Robison said.
The woman told rescuers she had been sitting on the railing when she lost her balance and went overboard into the water. The ship was cruising about 135 miles northeast of Great Inagua Island in the Bahamas, Robison said. The woman was dehydrated and exhausted when she was rescued but appeared to be recovering well, Robison added.
The Norway had been bound for St. Martin on its regular weekly cruise that departs Miami and makes stops at a private Bahamian island, St. Martin and St. Thomas. After staying in the overboard area for more than 12 hours, the vessel changed course, dropping St. Martin from the itinerary, and sailed directly to the Virgin Islands. It anchored off St. John around 1 p.m. Wednesday, a West Indian Co. operations official said, then called at the port of St. Thomas as usual Thursday morning.
Passengers aboard the Norway said Thursday that the woman had appeared tired but strong when she was brought back aboard the cruise ship about 11 a.m. Tuesday. She was able to hold onto a flotation device thrown to her by rescuers and then pulled herself into a small rescue boat, they said.
"She looked amazingly strong. She was still kicking," said Don Weeks, a passenger who witnessed the rescue. "We're all just happy to have the woman safe."
It was at about 10:15 p.m. Monday that fellow crew members reported the woman missing, Sleipnes said. A search of the ship turned up her keys and a pack of cigarettes on a deck about 40 feet above the water, he said.
The ship immediately launched a search in a swath of about 25 nautical miles that the ship had covered between about 9 p.m. Monday, when the woman was last seen, and the time she was reported missing, Sleipnes said. And the Coast Guard developed a search pattern based on wind conditions and the westerly current in that area of the Bahamas.
When the Norway came upon her, the woman had drifted about 4½ miles west of the ship's course, Robison said. The seas had about 3-foot swells when she was found, and passengers said there were still whitecaps on the waves.
A person could stay alive for about 30 to 35 hours in the approximately 75-degree water in the area before succumbing to hypothermia, Sleipnes said, but it would be difficult to keep afloat for more than about 12 hours in rough seas.
"It's amazing that they found her, one in a million," said Andy Steeno, a passenger on the Norway. "After 12 hours out there, hey, I give her credit."
The 24-year-old Romanian woman treaded water in seas with up to 8-foot swells in the Bahamas for more than 12 hours until lookouts on the cruise ship spotted her Tuesday morning, according to Svein Sleipnes, vice president for nautical affairs for Norwegian Cruise Line, which owns the Norway.
She later told rescuers that she had seen a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter and the cruise ship pass by several times in the night but was unable to attract their attention on the dark seas, Sleipnes said Wednesday.
"I would say she was very, very lucky, especially because the water was rough," Sleipnes, who helped coordinate the search-and-rescue effort, said. "It probably helped her that she could see the ship."
According to Norwegian Cruise Line spokeswoman Susan Robison, the woman declined to speak with reporters and asked the company not to release her name. She was badly shaken up by the ordeal and will return to Romania to spend time with her family, Robison said.
The woman told rescuers she had been sitting on the railing when she lost her balance and went overboard into the water. The ship was cruising about 135 miles northeast of Great Inagua Island in the Bahamas, Robison said. The woman was dehydrated and exhausted when she was rescued but appeared to be recovering well, Robison added.
The Norway had been bound for St. Martin on its regular weekly cruise that departs Miami and makes stops at a private Bahamian island, St. Martin and St. Thomas. After staying in the overboard area for more than 12 hours, the vessel changed course, dropping St. Martin from the itinerary, and sailed directly to the Virgin Islands. It anchored off St. John around 1 p.m. Wednesday, a West Indian Co. operations official said, then called at the port of St. Thomas as usual Thursday morning.
Passengers aboard the Norway said Thursday that the woman had appeared tired but strong when she was brought back aboard the cruise ship about 11 a.m. Tuesday. She was able to hold onto a flotation device thrown to her by rescuers and then pulled herself into a small rescue boat, they said.
"She looked amazingly strong. She was still kicking," said Don Weeks, a passenger who witnessed the rescue. "We're all just happy to have the woman safe."
It was at about 10:15 p.m. Monday that fellow crew members reported the woman missing, Sleipnes said. A search of the ship turned up her keys and a pack of cigarettes on a deck about 40 feet above the water, he said.
The ship immediately launched a search in a swath of about 25 nautical miles that the ship had covered between about 9 p.m. Monday, when the woman was last seen, and the time she was reported missing, Sleipnes said. And the Coast Guard developed a search pattern based on wind conditions and the westerly current in that area of the Bahamas.
When the Norway came upon her, the woman had drifted about 4½ miles west of the ship's course, Robison said. The seas had about 3-foot swells when she was found, and passengers said there were still whitecaps on the waves.
A person could stay alive for about 30 to 35 hours in the approximately 75-degree water in the area before succumbing to hypothermia, Sleipnes said, but it would be difficult to keep afloat for more than about 12 hours in rough seas.
"It's amazing that they found her, one in a million," said Andy Steeno, a passenger on the Norway. "After 12 hours out there, hey, I give her credit."
BROTHERS GET LIFE IN EMERALD LADY MURDER
March 7, 2002 – Nearly four years after the shooting death of a St. Thomas jeweler, two brothers have been sentenced to life in prison for the crime of first-degree murder.
Irvine Hodge Jr. and his younger brother, Devon Hodge, were sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court to the life terms for the killing of Emerald Lady shop owner Larry Davis in the 1998 armed robbery of the Back Street store.
Davis was shot in the head at point-blank range as he emptied the jewelry store safe for a trio of armed men who invaded the Emerald Lady on May 8, 1998. An armed security guard, Gwendolyn Rawlins, was disabled after she was shot four times by the assailants. The three assailants made off with nearly a quarter million dollars worth of merchandise from the store, according to authorities.
Jason Hull, who was convicted after pleading guilty to federal armed robbery charges in the case, was sentenced to 19½ years in prison. Hull's defense attorney, George Hodge Jr, appealed for a lighter sentence, saying his client had no prior criminal record.
That was not the case for Irvine Hodge, who had been convicted of another earlier armed robbery of $231,000 at the same store, in 1995. He was sentenced in 1999 to 13 years in prison in that case.
In March of 2000, armed with evidence that Irvine Hodge had shot Davis in revenge for the jeweler's testimony in the previous case, then-U.S. Attorney James Hurd added witness tampering to the charges against Irving Hodge in the 1998 case, triggering the possibility of a death sentence under federal sentencing guidelines, even though the Virgin Islands does not have capital punishment.
At one point, District Judge Thomas Moore sealed the 1998 case while the terms of a plea bargain were worked out. The deal resulted last May in the Hodge brothers pleading guilty to first-degree murder and Hull pleading guilty to armed robbery.
Before Moore delivered the sentences Tuesday, those in his courtroom heard from Davis's widow. Belinda Davis, who has moved from St. Thomas since her husband's death, sent a letter which was read aloud in court. In her eyes, she wrote, St. Thomas lost its standing as Paradise when her husband was killed, and the men who did it had placed themselves "above God and man's law."
Also heard for the first time in court, Rawlins said she had "no remorse, no pity, nothing," for any of her assailants.
Irvine Hodge apologized for killing Davis before receiving his sentence of life without parole.
Devon Hodge also was sentenced to life by Moore. He then received an additional sentence of 32 ½ years in prison as a result of pleading guilty last September to second-degree murder in the shooting death of a Savan bar owner, also in 1998. Reporters attending the second sentencing, in Territorial Court, said the Devon Hodge cried upon hearing his fate from Judge Ishmael Meyers.
Attorney Treston Moore, representing the younger Hodge, was successful in getting the court to agree to a concurrent sentence, meaning Devon Hodge would serve the two sentences at the same time for the murders of Davis and of Paradise Bar owner Ainsley "Blackie" James.
Still awaiting trial is a fourth figure in the 1998 Emerald Lady case. Lennie Blash, who was arrested last May in Miami, has been charged with acting as a lookout while the three convicted assailants robbed the jewelry store.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nelson Jones, the prosecutor in the Blash case, could not be reached for comment Thursday morning.
Irvine Hodge Jr. and his younger brother, Devon Hodge, were sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court to the life terms for the killing of Emerald Lady shop owner Larry Davis in the 1998 armed robbery of the Back Street store.
Davis was shot in the head at point-blank range as he emptied the jewelry store safe for a trio of armed men who invaded the Emerald Lady on May 8, 1998. An armed security guard, Gwendolyn Rawlins, was disabled after she was shot four times by the assailants. The three assailants made off with nearly a quarter million dollars worth of merchandise from the store, according to authorities.
Jason Hull, who was convicted after pleading guilty to federal armed robbery charges in the case, was sentenced to 19½ years in prison. Hull's defense attorney, George Hodge Jr, appealed for a lighter sentence, saying his client had no prior criminal record.
That was not the case for Irvine Hodge, who had been convicted of another earlier armed robbery of $231,000 at the same store, in 1995. He was sentenced in 1999 to 13 years in prison in that case.
In March of 2000, armed with evidence that Irvine Hodge had shot Davis in revenge for the jeweler's testimony in the previous case, then-U.S. Attorney James Hurd added witness tampering to the charges against Irving Hodge in the 1998 case, triggering the possibility of a death sentence under federal sentencing guidelines, even though the Virgin Islands does not have capital punishment.
At one point, District Judge Thomas Moore sealed the 1998 case while the terms of a plea bargain were worked out. The deal resulted last May in the Hodge brothers pleading guilty to first-degree murder and Hull pleading guilty to armed robbery.
Before Moore delivered the sentences Tuesday, those in his courtroom heard from Davis's widow. Belinda Davis, who has moved from St. Thomas since her husband's death, sent a letter which was read aloud in court. In her eyes, she wrote, St. Thomas lost its standing as Paradise when her husband was killed, and the men who did it had placed themselves "above God and man's law."
Also heard for the first time in court, Rawlins said she had "no remorse, no pity, nothing," for any of her assailants.
Irvine Hodge apologized for killing Davis before receiving his sentence of life without parole.
Devon Hodge also was sentenced to life by Moore. He then received an additional sentence of 32 ½ years in prison as a result of pleading guilty last September to second-degree murder in the shooting death of a Savan bar owner, also in 1998. Reporters attending the second sentencing, in Territorial Court, said the Devon Hodge cried upon hearing his fate from Judge Ishmael Meyers.
Attorney Treston Moore, representing the younger Hodge, was successful in getting the court to agree to a concurrent sentence, meaning Devon Hodge would serve the two sentences at the same time for the murders of Davis and of Paradise Bar owner Ainsley "Blackie" James.
Still awaiting trial is a fourth figure in the 1998 Emerald Lady case. Lennie Blash, who was arrested last May in Miami, has been charged with acting as a lookout while the three convicted assailants robbed the jewelry store.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nelson Jones, the prosecutor in the Blash case, could not be reached for comment Thursday morning.
HISTORICAL SOCIETY TO MEET TUESDAY
The St. John Historical Society will hold a meeting at the Bethany Moravian Church Hall on Centerline Road.
The speaker will be Charles Pishko, a Society officer, whose topic will be "An Illustrated History of the Colonial Coinage of the Danish West Indies." Mr. Pishko is a collector of and a local authority on Danish colonial coinage.
The public is invited to attend.
The speaker will be Charles Pishko, a Society officer, whose topic will be "An Illustrated History of the Colonial Coinage of the Danish West Indies." Mr. Pishko is a collector of and a local authority on Danish colonial coinage.
The public is invited to attend.
HISTORICAL SOCIETY TO MEET TUESDAY
The St. John Historical Society will hold a meeting at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 12, at the Bethany Moravian Church hall on Centerline Road.
The speaker will be Charles Pishko, a Society officer, whose topic will be "An Illustrated History of the Colonial Coinage of the Danish West Indies." Mr. Pishko is a collector of and a local authority on Danish colonial coinage.
The public is invited to attend.
The speaker will be Charles Pishko, a Society officer, whose topic will be "An Illustrated History of the Colonial Coinage of the Danish West Indies." Mr. Pishko is a collector of and a local authority on Danish colonial coinage.
The public is invited to attend.
JARVIS SCHOOL CELEBRATE BLACK HISTORY
The J. Antonio Jarvis Elementary School will hold its Black History Celebration Assembly at the school's main campus.
The assembly will feature presentations and performances by all grade levels.
The assembly will feature presentations and performances by all grade levels.
BOSCHULTE BLACK HISTORY SCHEDULE
Starting on Thursday activities will be held at the Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School in commemoration of Black History Month.
March 7 – 9 a.m. Black History Variety Show in the school auditorium.
March 7 & 8 – 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Exhibit of Cultural Wares by Mrs Maria Lewis in the school library.
March 7 through April 18 – 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. – exhibit: 50 Years Gone By, a pictorial exhibit borrowed from the Virgin Islands Humanities Council will be on display in the school library.
March 7 – 9 a.m. Black History Variety Show in the school auditorium.
March 7 & 8 – 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Exhibit of Cultural Wares by Mrs Maria Lewis in the school library.
March 7 through April 18 – 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. – exhibit: 50 Years Gone By, a pictorial exhibit borrowed from the Virgin Islands Humanities Council will be on display in the school library.
CANCRYN JH CLOSED FOR PROFESSIONAL DAY
Parents, guardians and students of the Addelita Cancryn Junior High School are advised that there will be no classes held on Monday. Teachers at the school will be attending a Professional and Curriculum Development Workshop.
Classes will resume at the regularly scheduled time on Tuesday, March 12.
Classes will resume at the regularly scheduled time on Tuesday, March 12.
CANCRYN JH CLOSED FOR PROFESSIONAL DAY
Parents, guardians and students of Addelita Cancryn Junior High School are advised that classes will not be held on Monday, March 11. Teachers at the school will be attending a Professional and Curriculum Development Workshop.
Classes will resume at the regularly scheduled time on Tuesday, March 12.
Classes will resume at the regularly scheduled time on Tuesday, March 12.
EASTER STORY PRODUCTION COMING TO ST. THOMAS
The St. Thomas Assembly of God Church announced that the theatre production group from Trinidad and Tobago will bring "Wounded Hands" to be performed at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 30, at the Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School Auditorium.
Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for children under 12. Tickets are available at Orchid Boutique, Nisky Bible Books and Gift Shop, Havensight Bible Books and Gift Shop, Daniel's Variety Store, and VI Bridal and Tuxedo Center.
For more information contact the church office at 776-7243.
Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for children under 12. Tickets are available at Orchid Boutique, Nisky Bible Books and Gift Shop, Havensight Bible Books and Gift Shop, Daniel's Variety Store, and VI Bridal and Tuxedo Center.
For more information contact the church office at 776-7243.
