Beginning Oct. 1, people transporting non-commercial vehicles between St. Thomas and St. John by barge will be paying an extra $2.50 each way to the Port Authority for the privilege.
Last August, the Port Authority board passed several measures to increase revenues. The $2.50 "wharfage fee" will finally be implemented, according to Port Authority spokeswoman Shirley L. Smith.
The fees will be collected at the Red Hook side for barging in both directions.
A chain link fence will be erected along the Port Authority's Red Hook cargo dock in preparation for the fee collections. Work on the fence is slated to begin this week. The Port Authority office shed currently sitting on the ferry dock will be relocated between the two barge ramps at the eastern end of the Port Authority's property.
Smith said the fence would not interfere with the parking lot operated by East End Taxi Service adjacent to the Port Authority cargo facility.
There is no plan currently to sell books of tickets for frequent barge users, but this might be considered later, Smith said.
According to Port Authority executive director Gordon Finch, the fees are earmarked to help fund two long-planned marine developments: the Enighed Pond cargo facility on St. John and a Red Hook marine facility on St. Thomas.
The cost of the Enighed Pond project is estimated at $16 million. The Red Hook facility is expected to run around $5 million.
A Port Authority release noted that commercial vehicles already pay a wharfage fee. But starting Oct. 1, it will be collected at the Red Hook dock.

The fate of the proposed sale of the Water and Power Authority to Southern Energy Inc. is to be put to a vote in a full session of the Senate starting at 10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 11, immediately following three days of public hearings on the three main islands.
The proposed purchase by Southern of 80 percent of WAPA has been the subject of endless debate on countless talk shows, in public forums and at demonstrations throughout the territory for months.
Gov. Charles W. Turnbull has approved the sale and forwarded the legislation requesting the mandatory Senate approval.
Lt. Gov. Gerard Luz James 11 has veered sharply in the other direction, publicly condemning the sale, as have many unionized WAPA employees and some senators.
The Senate is awaiting an analysis of Southern's proposal by the consulting firm Arthur D. Little that is expected "shortly," according to Sandra Brunet, office manager for Senate president Vargrave Richards. She said it is hoped that the study will be available to the Senate and to the public before the hearings next week — set for Tuesday, Aug. 8, on St. Thomas; Wednesday, Aug. 9, on St. Croix; and Thursday, Aug. 10, on St. John.
For further information on the public hearings, all set to begin at 10 a.m., go to the Local Government section of the Source.

The fate of the proposed sale of the Water and Power Authority to Southern Energy Inc. is to be put to a vote in a full session of the Senate starting at 10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 11, immediately following three days of public hearings on the three main islands.
The proposed purchase by Southern of 80 percent of WAPA has been the subject of endless debate on countless talk shows, in public forums and at demonstrations throughout the territory for months.
Gov. Charles W. Turnbull has approved the sale and forwarded the legislation requesting the mandatory Senate approval.
Lt. Gov. Gerard Luz James II has veered sharply in the other direction, publicly condemning the sale, as have many unionized WAPA employees and some senators.
The Senate is awaiting an analysis of Southern's proposal by the consulting firm Arthur D. Little that is expected "shortly," according to Sandra Brunet, office manager for Senate president Vargrave Richards. She said it is hoped that the study will be available to the Senate and to the public before the hearings next week — set for Tuesday, Aug. 8, on St. Thomas; Wednesday, Aug. 9, on St. Croix; and Thursday, Aug. 10, on St. John.
For further information on the public hearings, all set to begin at 10 a.m., go to the Local Government section of the Source.

The management of the West Indian Co. and the Police Benevolent Association have reached agreement that the union members will no longer protest on or around Havensight Mall and the WICO dock.
The agreement reached Monday averted a court hearing on WICO's request for a permanent injunction against the PBA and its St. Croix chapter president, Naomi Joseph. The settlement, while barring the union and any of its members from protesting on the WICO property, represents "only a change in venue," according to Joseph.
"WICO had a stronger case than we did," she said. "It's now up to the union to move its march and rallies to Main Street." A march on July 19 by the PBA led WICO to close its front gates and escort arriving cruise ship passengers through an inner gate alongside the dock, away from the protesting police officers.
WICO president Edward E. Thomas sought the court's intervention when Joseph threatened to hold a protest at the dock with what she termed "a boatload of officers from St. Croix." Territorial Court Judge Ishmael Meyers, who accepted the terms of the out-of-court settlement, had issued a temporary restraining order stating that the WICO cruise ship facilities were not a "public forum" for such a protest.
For about a month, a coalition of workers in several public safety agencies, led by the PBA chapters of St. Thomas-St. John and St. Croix, has been protesting on St. Thomas and St. Croix over low wages, poor working conditions and the lack of information from the administration as to when it will implement already negotiated salary increases for its members.

St. Thomas Women's Soccer Association will take a brief summer break from practice during the month of August.
Recruiting of new members, practices, preparations for the annual general meeting and the fall women's leagues will begin in September.
For more details contact public relations officer Tanya Ward Benjamin at 776-2105.

Two stunning 2001 calendars containing "frame-able" art by Caribbean artists are now available. This is the seventh year the Island Art & Soul calendar has been published by the Caribbean Museum Center (CMC) – a "museum on wheels."
CMC is a dream that St. Croix resident Candia Atwater-Shields is determined will some day be a bricks-and-mortar building full of Caribbean art and culture. Meanwhile, it is an extensive collection of island art hanging in her home; boxes of calendars, prints and note cards in her car; and dreams of "living history" in her head.
Atwater-Shields, an attorney, moved to the Virgin Islands from New York State in 1989. She immediately fell in love with the local art and traditions and saw the need to provide a museum where they could be preserved and displayed.
The Caribbean Museum Center is her vision of a place where art and history, artists, students and educators will interact.
Concerned that the fascinating heritage of island elders will die with them, she is especially interested in providing a living-history component, with elders "walking through" their past on videos made by school children.
While the museum center awaits an "angel" or two to finance the dream, the Island Art & Soul calendar, originally a fund-raiser for the museum, has taken on a life of its own. The calendars are unique in that the art works are printed on archival paper that is suitable for framing so that the purchaser acquires a collection of 12 to 14 pieces of art as well as a monthly reference.
CMC also prints individual prints and note cards, and this year, for the first time, 2 sizes of calendars – – 9" x 12" and/or 4’ x 6".
Atwater-Shields and Kate Garner, a partner who joined the project last year, along with Karen Rike, who just came on board, are seeking sponsors for the 2002 calendars. Each sponsor supports one or more months and is recognized in print. For more information click on www.islandartandsoul.com.

V.I. Saxophonist Ron Blake and his Quartet performed recently to a sold-out house in New York City at the world famous Blue Note Jazz Club.
Blake celebrated the New York release of his new CD on the TAHMUN label, Up Front & Personal. The event was webcast live on www.BlueNote.Net.
The Ron Blake Quartet with Special Guest Johnny Griffin CD, Up Front & Personal, is available in St. Thomas at: International Records & Tapes, Modern Music, Parrot Fish, and Sam Goody. In St. Croix, visit Parrot Fish and Sam Goody.

SAN GERMAN, Puerto Rico — The Virgin Islands men's basketball team, rebounding from an opening-game disappointment, came back on the second day of the Central America and Caribbean University Sports Games to beat Barbados 91-45 with an impressive performance.
Kevin Sheppard ignited a balanced scoring attack Monday with 10 points, including the first four of the game as the Virgin Islands started a run for its first University Games medal.
"We played every possession," said Sheppard, one of seven Virgin Islands players to score in double figures.
The Virgin Islands was coming off a disappointing 83-57 loss against host Puerto Rico on Sunday's opening day. In that loss, the Virgin Islands led by 12 points in the first half. The score was tied 27-27 at the half but Puerto Rico outscored the V.I. 56-30 in the second half.
"In our first game, we came out playing too," said Sheppard, an Educational Complex alumnus. "I guess we figured after getting a lead we could blow them out and everybody started playing one-on-one basketball and forgot about the team. This time, we came back with good teamwork."
Against Barbados, Sheppard, a Jacksonville State guard, set the pace with two straight layups to start the game and the Virgin Islands built at 12-4 advantage after five minutes of play and took a 43-22 advantage into halftime.
The Virgin Islands played a tenacious defense that forced numerous fast-break layup opportunities.
Alphonse Niles and Carlos Hawkins scored 12 points apiece to lead the Virgin Islands. Johnson Isidore and Steve Hodge each scored 11 points. Sheppard, Leroy Gore and Cuthbert Victor all added 10 for the Virgin Islands, which will face Mexico at 2 p.m. Tuesday.
The top two teams in the preliminary round will earn a spot in Saturday's final. The third and fourth-place teams in the preliminary will compete for the bronze on Saturday. Monday was a busy day for the Virgin Islands University Federation squad. The women's basketball team lost 114-48 to Mexico, which led 57-31 at the half. Natasha Lettsome paced the Virgin Islands with 24 points. The women's team will take on Colombia at noon Tuesday.
Stephen Jones, the Virgin Islands' lone track runner, finished seventh in the 100-meter final. Jones ran the sprint in 10.97 seconds, 5/10th of a second off his personal best. Jones will run the 200 meters on Wednesday.

A class-action lawsuit claiming racial discrimination was filed against Southern Energy’s parent company and sister companies last Friday in Georgia.
Three African-American employees of Georgia Power claim that the company and its owner, Southern Company along with Southern Company Services discriminated against black employees by fostering a hostile workplace and "moving the goalposts" when considering promotions.
Southern Company is the parent company of Southern Energy, the firm seeking to purchase 80 percent of the V.I. Water and Power Authority for approximately $400 million. Southern Energy is not named in the suit, said the Atlanta-based attorney representing the employees, Michael Terry. He did say it is possible that Southern Energy could be added to the suit in the future, but couldn’t say if that would occur.
"I can’t add anything," Terry said. "Our clients are from and are focusing on Southern Company and Georgia Power."
Southern Energy is a subsidiary of Southern Company and holds the assets of the parent company that are outside the South Eastern section of the U.S., said Southern Energy spokesman Chuck Griffin. Whatever the relationship, Griffin said neither Southern Energy or Southern Company condone discrimination.
"Southern Company in general will not tolerate harassment or discrimination in any case," he said, adding that the company has "launched a full-scale investigation" into the allegations.
The lawsuit, however, paints a different picture of how Southern Company’s Georgia Power operates. The plaintiffs claim that they were harmed by the company’s "reckless indifference to a workplace environment that breeds racial animus and subjects African-American employees to insults, hostility and harassment."
Examples alleged by the plaintiffs include management permitting a hangman’s noose to be hung in Georgia Power’s operating headquarters and the use of derogatory terms aimed at African-Americans.
The suit also claims that despite African-Americans making up 19 percent of Georgia Power’s workforce, only 22 of the company’s top 408 employees were black and that 83 of the 1,602 African-American employees held managerial or supervisory jobs.
The dearth of blacks in upper management and supervisory positions is due to a "glass ceiling" that has been in place for the last seven years. Additionally, the plaintiffs allege that African-American employees are also kept from promotions when management moves the "goalposts" by changing job requirements.

Marriott Frenchman's Reef's administration has set the ball in motion to get rid of several top management personnel left over from the 20-plus years that Nick Pourzal managed the hotel.
Five top executives who collectively have more than 60 years at the Reef are having their "contracts returned to Prime," according to several sources who declined to speak for attribution due to the sensitivity of ongoing negotiations.
The contracts in question were drawn up when Prime Hospitality Corp. still owned the Reef. They have become a bone of contention between Prime and Marriott International Inc., which purchased the hotel earlier this year. Prime fired Pourzal last summer while the sale was being negotiated.
The five executives are:
— Carole Oriol, who has been head of human resources for nine years and before that was executive assistant to Pourzal; she has worked at the Reef for 20 years.
— Michael Akin, director of engineering, who has been with the hotel for 22 years.
— Andrew HeLal, who served as interim general manager when Pourzal left the Reef and has been with the hotel for five years.
— Mehdi Magvi, the comptroller since 1997.
— Doyle I. Bolton, head of maintenance, who has worked for Frenchman's Reef for 27 years.
According to one source, the Pourzal managers were told when Marriott took over that they had six months to "prove themselves." The six months is up Sept. 15.
However, last week the five managers got a short letter saying, "Lawyers of Prime and Marriott have determined that as of Aug. 1 your contract will be reassigned back to Prime Hospitality."
Some of them reportedly aren’t sure what the letter meant, but one said, "We're being let go – no matter what the verbiage is."
When also remains in question. Though the letter indicated the contracts were being returned to Prime as of Aug. 1, one person said it would likely be Sept. 15 before their work at the Reef would end.
Reef General Manager Jayne Hillner, who declined to comment on the move to get rid of the five executives, reportedly has told several people that the decision was not performance-based.
In a staff meeting Thursday, Hillner said the layoffs were a "business decision," according to several sources.
The five executives were also told they were free to reapply to the Reef, the Renaissance Grand Beach Resort or the Ritz-Carlton – all of which are owned or managed by Marriott.
"Prime has the responsibility to settle" the amounts remaining on the three-year contracts, according to one source.
The sale of the hotel has been acrimonious — at least one lawsuit is pending — and the existing management contracts have become part of the friction.
Some insiders at the Reef have speculated that the contracts have come up now because the hotel is about to be sold again, though Marriott would continue to manage the property.
Of 3,247 hotel rooms on St. Thomas, Marriott holds 30 percent of them with a combined 946 rooms.
Hillner could not be reached for comment Monday, but an assistant said, when asked about the dismissals, "Miss Hillner will not comment on that today."
Two public relations directors at Prime also did not return phone calls Monday.
Meanwhile, some of the managers reportedly intend to report to work Tuesday, thus testing the Aug. 1 deadline referred to in last week’s letter.