Some 150 swimmers took part in the Sixth Annual St. Croix Coral Reef Swim from Buck Island Reef National Monument to The Buccaneer Resort on Sunday.
There were 113 Solo swimmers, 25 Fin Swimmers, and 12 Relay Swimmers . Top overall solo finisher for the third consecutive year was Alex Kostich, 31, from Burbank, California with a time of 1 hour, 44 minutes, and 13 seconds.
The second and third finishers overall were brothers Kieran and Morgan Locke of St. Croix. Kieran, 17, finished with a time of 1 hour, 48 minutes and 4 seconds, shaving 22 seconds off his performance from last year. Morgan, 15, came in at 1 hour, 48 minutes, and 9 seconds.
The top woman finishing the race was Lisa Hazen of Saratoga, California, who placed fourth overall with a time of 1 hour, 49 minutes, and 47 seconds. Hazen is former USA National Champion Open Water Swimmer.
Swimmers from 27 of the United States, Japan, and Canada competed again this year on the five mile open water course. There were 22 swimmers from St. Croix, including Canadian Olympic swimmer Ray Brown, 32, who placed 8th overall with a time of 1 hour, 54 minutes and 52 seconds, and Keri Whitehurst, 15, who placed 15th overall with a time of 2 hour and 47 seconds.
The youngest swimmer in the race at 11, Branden Whitehurst, also from St. Croix, placed first out of 15 contenders in the Male Fin Division with a time of 2 hours, 7 minutes, and 51 seconds.
The top relay team, with a time of 2 hours, 23 minutes consisted of Colleen Birnstiel, age 27, New York, New York; Nicholas Cotter, age 39, Riverside, Connecticut; and Jennifer Wheelan, 33, St. Croix.
The unique event began once again this year at 7 a.m. with the blowing of a conch shell, signaling the participants to begin swimming the 5 mile course. Swimmers participating in the race included 12 swimmers from San Francisco, California who are members of the Olympic Club, America's oldest athletic club.
Other groups came from Atlanta, Georgia, St. Petersburg, Florida, and New York, NY. In addition to the swimmers, 81 kayakers, 6 boat captains, 4 emergency medical technicians, and dozens of other volunteers donated their time and services for a safe operation again this year. St. Croix race organizers are Elizabeth A. Armstrong, general manager of the host hotel, The Buccaneer; Kim Rice of V.I. Family Sports and Fitness Center, Mark Sperber of Mile Mark Watersports, timer Wallace Williams, kayak organizers Andy Wartenberg of Caribbean Adventure Tours and Peter Brown; and boat captain organizer Ed Staats.

Oct. 30, 2001 – A town meeting to address concerns about the Government Employees Retirement System will be held Wednesday, Nov. 7, at 6 p.m. at Palm Court Harbor View in St. Thomas.
The informational meeting is sponsored by the Association of Concerned Native Virgin Islanders. Government employees, retirees and the general public are invited, according to a release from the association.
A moderated panel of officials and retirees will address the pension fund, present financial instability, and existing or potential legislation with possible adverse effects. Questions and suggestions will be accepted.
Invited panelists include GERS administrator Laurence Bryan, assistant administrator Cecilia Harrigan, chief financial officer Willis Todman, GERS board chairman Carver Farrow and concerned V.I. government retirees.
ACNVI president Zysca L. Williams will extend a welcome. Free hors d'oeuvres will be served.

Oct. 30, 2001 – A call to a radio talk show Tuesday morning about something causing a big stink created a lot of inquiries but very few answers as the morning wore on.
A caller who identified himself as a Charlotte Amalie High School teacher told WVWI "Morning Mix" host June Archibald there was a "carcass" outside the school which was emitting a foul odor and disturbing the students and teachers.
Calls to government agencies revealed little.
The CAHS principal didn't return calls. Neither did the Ethlyn Joseph, director of the Health Department's Environmental Health Division. A worker at Joseph's office said the office had been notified of the situation Monday.
Angel Robles, Department of Agriculture strategic planner, said his department picks up only live animals; he suggested calling the Public Works Department, on the theory that the carcass was apparently in the street. A PWD spokesperson suggested calling Environmental Health, explaining it's "not PWD's responsibility."
Hubert Brumant, shelter manager at the Humane Society of St. Thomas, said the Environmental Health Division is in charge of picking up dead animals. The Humane Society, formerly under contract to provide some government services, has yet to receive $75,000 from the Agriculture Department which was alloted in the supplemental 2001 budget, money that could help to fund live animal pickup by the society, he said.
Meantime, Juel Anderson, Education Department public information officer, returned a call saying the matter had been taken care of. She said Archibald — who was Anderson's immediate predecessor at Education — had called her earlier, after which Anderson had called Joel Buchanan, a CAHS vice principal, who told her he was unaware of the situation.
Anderson said school maintenance personnel can't remove things from a public street but Environmental Health would take care of it. She said the first steps would be to locate the carcass and sprinkle lye on it.
Although repeated calls to Joseph went unreturned, an employee at her office said they "don't have anybody to remove it."
The type of carcass and its location remained a mystery.

Oct. 30, 2001 – A town meeting to address concerns about the Government Employees Retirement System will be held Wednesday, Nov. 7, at 6 p.m. at Palm Court Harbor View.
The informational meeting is sponsored by the Association of Concerned Native Virgin Islanders. Government employees, retirees and the general public are invited, according to a release from the association.
A moderated panel of officials and retirees will address the pension fund, present financial instability, and existing or potential legislation with possible adverse effects. Questions and suggestions will be accepted.
Invited panelists include GERS administrator Laurence Bryan, assistant administrator Cecilia Harrigan, chief financial officer Willis Todman, GERS board chairman Carver Farrow and concerned V.I. government retirees.
ACNVI president Zysca L. Williams will extend a welcome. Free hors d'oeuvres will be served.

Oct. 30, 2001 – Facilities of the Human Services Department's Disabilities and Rehabilitative Services Office will be closed on Friday in order for the staff to attend a day of training.
Regular office hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. will resume on Monday. For further information, call 774-1166.

Oct. 27, 2001 – Flush with raves from its opening weekend, Pistarckle Theater's first production of the 2001-02 season, "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)," continues with performances Thursday and Friday, and then the Fridays and Saturdays of Nov. 9-10 and 16-17.
As the title suggests, the show is a "Best of the Bard" compendium in a one-night stand that's strictly for laughs. "From the opening send-up of 'Romeo and Juliet,'" Pistarckle producer Nicola Emerich says, the actors "continue through all of the plays in rapid order, performing 'Othello' as a rap song, 'Titus Andronicus' as a cooking show, the comedies as a football game and 'Hamlet' as a show-ending, audience-participation extravaganza — all the while staying somewhat true to the Bard's original words."
That's a total of 38 plays, for anyone who's counting, and "it's a real screaming comedy," Emerich adds. "It's a great introduction to Shakespeare for young people — little kids may not catch all the words, but it's very physical, with lots of pratfalls."
A total of three actors — plus a life-size dummy they use when in need of a fourth — carry the night. Trudy Tucker is a veteran Pistarckle actor and director known for her comedic bent. The other two are not familiar faces to Pistarckle theatergoers — although that is about to change.
Peter Schiron, a lawyer with Dudley Topper and Feuerzeig, relocated to St. Thomas from Colorado less than a year ago with some solid acting experience in his baggage. He "walked into the theater last fall and said he had just moved here and wanted to be on the board," Emerich recalls. (His wish was granted.) "He actually suggested this play."
Scottie Brower is a former New York actor who arrived on island about eight months ago. He was "discovered" by Pistarckle actor Dena Benson "at a yard sale in Peterborg," Emerich says. "They got to talking, and she found out he's an actor, and she told him to come to the next audition." He did.
"The Complete Works," a hit in Britain, is touring the U.S. mainland now, "so we didn't think we would be able to get the rights," Emerich says. "But because we're remote — a good thing in this case — we were able to do it."
The work got major exosure on the Public Broadcasting System and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. last March under the title "Reduced Shakespeare." It's a fast, funny and physical condensation of things serious, a style the Reduced Shakespeare Company of Lowell, Mass., developed as a pass-the-hat act at Renaissance Faires in California in the 1980s.
These folks also have given the entertainment world "The Complete History of America (abridged)," "The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged)" and "The Complete Millennium Musical (abridged)." And lest you think these are flights of tangential theater fluff, consider this: "Shakespeare" and "America" hold the record for the longest-running theatrical comedies in London. And "Shakespeare" sold out the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
For a look at the company that created the play, check out the Reduced Shakespeare Company web site. For the Source review by student Lane Sell of the local production, see "Get thee to Pistarckle!"
All Pistarckle performances start at 8 p.m. in the theater in Tillett Gardens.
General admission tickets are $19 at the door and $15 in advance (outlets are Bumpa's, East End Secretarial Service, Tillett Gallery and the V.I. Charter Yacht League). Tickets for students with I.D. are $10, discounted to $5 for groups of 10 or more.
It's still possible to purchase a season subscription package — a ticket to each of the season's three performances — for $40. The other two plays to be produced are the Moss Hart/George S. Kaufman classic "You Can't Take It With You," opening Jan. 10, and Neil Simon's "Rumors," opening Feb. 28.
The final "Complete Works" performance, on Saturday, Nov. 17, will include a "dessert closing party" catered by Frank's Bakery. There's no additional charge for the sweet treats, which will probably be served at intermission, Emerich says.
For reservations and more information, call 775-7877.

Facilities of the Human Services Department's Disabilities and Rehabilitative Services Office will be closed on Friday in order for the staff to attend a day of training.
Regular office hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. will resume on Monday. For further information, call 774-1166.

Oct. 30, 2001 — Less than two weeks after her nomination was sent to the Senate, the body’s Rules Committee on Monday approved Mavis Matthew to head the V.I. Department of Health.
The time limit on Matthew serving as acting commissioner for some six months expired on Sept. 20. Then on Oct. 19, Gov. Charles Turnbull nominated her to serve as the permanent head of the Health Department.
On Monday, senators drilled Matthew for about four hours of questioning. Her nomination was approved on a 6-1 vote and forwarded to the full Senate with a favorable recommendation. Voting in favor were Sens. Adelbert Bryan, Donald Cole, Carlton Dowe, Almando "Rocky" Liburd, Norma Pickard Samuel and Celestino White. Sen. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen was absent.
Matthew, a pediatrician, became acting commissioner in January after Dr. Lucien Moolenaar, former acting commissioner and now the department’s deputy commissioner for public health services, was accused of embezzling about $100,000 from the V.I. government from 1995 to 2000.
Prior to becoming acting commissioner, Matthew had been director of the V.I. Maternal and Child Health and Children with Special Health Care Needs programs since 1991. She served as the Health Department’s assistant commissioner from 1999 to earlier this year.
In other committee action, the renomination of Territorial Court Judge Edgar Ross was approved on an unanimous vote. If Ross passes muster with the full Senate, which committee chairman Sen. Dowe said will likely meet over several days next week, will be sitting for his third, six-year term.
Also approved by the committee to sit as a Government Employee Retirement System board member was Yvonne Bowsky.

Oct. 30, 2001 — Less than two weeks after her nomination was sent to the Senate, the Rules Committee on Monday approved Mavis Matthew to head the Health Department.
The six-month time limit on Matthew serving as acting commissioner expired on Sept. 20. On Oct. 19, Gov. Charles W. Turnbull nominated her to serve as permanent head of the department.
On Monday, senators drilled Matthew for about four hours before approving her nomination on a 6-1 vote and forwarding it to the full Senate. Voting in favor were Sens. Adelbert Bryan, Donald Cole, Carlton Dowe, Almando "Rocky" Liburd, Norma Pickard-Samuel and Celestino A. White Sr. Sen. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen was absent.
Matthew, a pediatrician, became acting commissioner in January after Dr. Lucien Moolenaar, former acting commissioner and now the department’s deputy commissioner for public health services, was accused of embezzling about $100,000 from the V.I. government between 1995 and 2000.
Prior to becoming acting commissioner, Matthew had been director since 1991 of the Maternal and Child Health and the Children with Special Health Care Needs programs. She served as Health Department assistant commissioner from 1999 until earlier this year.
In other committee action, the governor's renomination of Territorial Court Judge Edgar Ross was approved by unanimous vote. If Ross passes muster with the full Senate, which Dowe, the committee chair, said will likely meet over several days next week, he will be sitting for his third six-year term on the territorial bench.
The committee also approved the nomination of Yvonne Bowsky to sit as a Government Employee Retirement System board member.

Oct. 30, 2001 – Facilities of the Human Services Department's Disabilities and Rehabilitative Services Office will be closed on Friday in order for the staff to attend a day of training.
Regular hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. will resume on Monday. For further information, call 774-1166.