Oct. 26, 2001 — A blaring alarm Friday morning at the Hovensa refinery on St. Croix frayed some nerves of island residents, but what triggered the alert was only a minor mishap.
At about 10 a.m. a valve on a process unit that extracts sulfur from petroleum products at the giant refinery on the island’s south shore began to leak, according to Alex Moorhead, Hovensa vice president for human resources. The leak resulted in the spraying of heavy hydrocarbon, known as vacuum gas oil, in the area around the valve, Moorhead said in a statement.
"This was incorrectly believed to be a release of flammable gas and therefore the refinery’s vapor cloud response procedures were implemented, including the activation of the refinery’s vapor cloud alarm," Moorhead said.
As refinery workers searched for the problem, adjacent roads were closed and traffic was re-routed.
After the error was discovered, Moorhead said, the alarm was deactivated. The process unit with the leaking valve was temporarily shut down so the valve could be repaired. The unit was being put back into service Friday, he said.
"There was no fire as the result of the leaking valve. No one was injured and no equipment was damaged as the result of the incident," Moorhead said. "Hovensa regrets any anxiety that may have been caused to the public by the sounding of the vapor alarm."
Five months ago, a similar alert at Hovensa, the largest refinery in the Western Hemisphere, was not a false alarm. On May 15, a fire started when leaking "light hydrocarbon" was ignited by heat from nearby processing equipment. Light hydrocarbon is similar in composition to gasoline.
Hovensa’s fire brigade controlled the towering blaze in about an hour, but not before one refinery worker suffered third-degree burns over 35 percent of his body. Four other workers were given first aid and released from the refinery’s medical unit. The fire resulted in a cutback in the refinery's capacity to produce gasoline.
The St. Croix refinery employs approximately 950 people, while its contractors employ more than 1,000. The facility currently produces about 400,000 barrels of oil a day, with the capacity to produce 500,000.
Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the mainland, the refinery has been a focus of security concerns as government officials worried that it could be a target in future attacks. Hovensa has its own security force, which has been supplemented recently by off-duty police officers.

Oct. 26, 2001 – Privately sponsored children's Halloween parties are not affected by an announcement from Gov. Charles W. Turnbull Thursday night that he had directed the Education commissioner to cancel all activities relating to the holiday throughout the public school system.
The Source reported earlier Thursday that the Joseph Sibilly School had been ordered to call off Friday's Halloween party, an annual fundraiser presented by Parent Teacher Association volunteers to raise money for school projects. [See "Education cancels Sibilly Halloween party".]
Allegra Kean, marketing manager at Coral World Marine Park, said on Friday morning that her office had received several calls from parents — "enough to make us concerned" — wanting to know if the Halloween party scheduled there for Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. was still on. The answer is "yes, definitely." The same applies to any other children's events that are not public school functions.
In a Government House release distributed to the news media after 9 p.m. Thursday, Turnbull said he directed Education Commissioner Ruby Simmonds "to cancel Halloween activities throughout the public school system to prevent the heightening of anxieties around the territory at a time when many persons are experiencing increasing fears and security concerns due to the acts of terrorism and biochemical attacks and threats, including anthrax, that have been perpetrated against America since Sept. 11."
Turnbull stated in the release that "common sense and sound judgment should prevail." Noting that in years past there have been "serious incidents and inappropriate and dangerous pranks" at Halloween, he said, "I think it is better to err on the side of precaution than to run the risk of incidents or criminal acts that might escalate the anxieties and potential dangers Virgin Islanders are presently experiencing."
Tutu Park Mall marketing Pamela Morales' response Friday morning was that her organization — and probably any organization — "that has decided to go ahead with their plans is taking a proactive approach — seeing that the property remains secure and keeping in contact with local and federal authorities" about any local concerns.
Morales sees the mall party, set for Saturday from 1 to 6 p.m., as an instance of normalcy at a time when lives have been disrupted by abnormal events and threats. "We have been doing this [hosting a party] for eight years," she said, "and the children are looking forward to it. We've been told by President Bush, Mrs. Bush and others to talk to our children, to assure them that we love them, and that life does go on — and, essentially, that is what this is about."
For a run-down of these and other children's Halloween events being sponsored by organizations and business groups on St. Thomas, see "Parties for kids take trick-or-treating inside".

Oct. 26, 2001 – Watch out for road workers when driving on St. John, Public Works Commissioner Wayne D. Callwood advised in a press release.
Ira Wade, deputy Public Works commissioner for St. John, elaborated Friday on the projects.
Work began two months ago on installing culverts and patching East End Road adjacent to Hurricane Hole's Princess Bay, he said. After an interlude to solve communication problems with the contractor, Island Roads, work started up last week.
Wade said Island Roads crews also will install a swale in Coral Bay, clean out a gut in that area and patch the rest of East End Road and then Centerline Road all the way to Cruz Bay.
Additionally, crews will install a "culvert head" where Gifft Hill and Fish Bay Roads intersect. And a metal grate will be installed on Centerline Road west of the intersection with Bethany Road.
Wade said the cost of the entire project runs about $500,000 and work should wrap up by the end of next week.
Other crews from a contractor he declined to name are currently grading the dirt Old King Hill Road from Centerline Road to a concrete swale near Coral Bay Gardens. This road is barely passable in the best of times. "In two areas there are some pretty deep craters," Wade said.
He said he hopes eventually to find the money to pave some of the road so it can be used as an alternative route to Coral Bay. He estimated the project would take $600,000 to $700,000.
When the crew finishes work on Old King Hill Road, it will start grading the dirt portions of Bordeaux Road. The grading projects will run $10,000 to $12,000.
Meanwhile, Wade said, planning has begun on the department's next St. John project, which includes paving and patching Cactus Hill, a neighborhood uphill from Julius E. Sprauve School in Cruz Bay, and Cyril Anthony Road, which runs uphill from the entrance side of Pine Peace Market.

Oct. 26, 2001 — The push to get legislation for a University of the Virgin Islands Research and Technology Park through the Senate began Thursday in the Economic Development, Agriculture and Consumer Protection Committee.
The UVI plan envisions a 100-acre Silicon Valley-type community on St. Croix where off-island high-tech businesses would hire up to 200 locals and improve the overall economy of the territory. A main feature of the park would be the proximity of two high-speed fiber-optic communication links –– Global Crossing and AT&T –– that run through the island.
In early October, Orville Kean, UVI president, said speedy approval of the proposal would ensure that top representatives from 40 to 50 of the nation’s leading tech universities and companies, such as Microsoft, Stanford, KPMG, AT&T, IBM, Deutsche Bank and Sun Microsystems, could attend a forum on the project in December.
But Sen. Adelbert Bryan, the committee chair, was adamant that language in the proposed bill identify St. Croix as the island where most of the activity will take place. Even though UVI is asking the government to reserve land for the technology park on St. Croix, he was skeptical.
"We say certain things on the record," Bryan said, "but the legislation looks different."
Dean Plaskett, commissioner of Planning and Natural Resources and chair of the Economic Development Authority, which would grant tax breaks to businesses setting up shop in the technology park, concurred with Bryan.
"I am glad to hear the focus of this project is St. Croix," Plaskett said, adding that he would like to see it formalized in writing.
Auguste Rimpel, chair of the UVI Board of Trustees, agreed that St. Croix should be the main focus but said St. Thomas shouldn’t be shut out. He said he wanted to collaborate on the effort.
"For God’s sake, let get this thing moving," Rimpel said in response to Bryan’s threat not to support the legislation if it didn’t specifically recognize St. Croix. "I hope it doesn’t become a turf thing."
The committee also took testimony on a bill that would require businesses receiving tax exemptions from the Economic Development Commission or exempted from excise taxes to establish retirement and welfare benefit plans for employees.
Plaskett was leery of the proposal, saying it could hinder the EDA in negotiations with prospective investors. He also said small EDA beneficiaries may be adversely affected by the cost.
"I think the appropriate way to handle this thing is on a case-by-case basis," Plaskett said. "We have no problem with major corporations. Small companies with 10 or less employees will be damaged."
Sen. Vargrave Richards agreed, saying certain demands can be imposed on larger businesses, but companies with two to 12 workers -– particularly start-up companies -– would be hurt.
"I think it means the death knell to the small businesses," Richards said.
Sen. Norma Pickard-Samuels, who sponsored the bill, disagreed. She said the proposal doesn’t limit the EDA in what it can negotiate with investors. "This is a minimum we want for our people," she said.
The bill was voted favorably and forwarded to the Rules Committee.
A bill to enact the Virgin Islands Economic and Employment Recovery Act will be heard Friday when the committee meets on St. Thomas.

Oct. 26, 2001 – Five more performances of the Caribbean Community Theater production of Lorraine Hansberry's "Raisin in the Sun" are on tap at the Sidney Lee Theater at Island Center — at 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday, Nov. 2 and Nov. 3, and at 4 p.m. Nov. 4.
The play, which opened on Broadway in 1959 and won the Drama Critics' Circle Award, centers on the Youngers, an African-American family living in a tenement apartment on Chicago's South Side in the 1950s. After the death of the family patriarch and the distribution of his insurance benefit, three generations of Youngers struggle with the effects of racism and the tensions brought on by plans to move to a single-family home in an all-white suburban neighborhood.
Much of the dialogue involves heated exchanges between the idealistic family matriarch, Mama, and her hostile son, Brother, who feels that moving to the suburbs will hurt, rather than help, his prospects.
A Washington Post drama critic has called the play "one of a handful of great American dramas" (the others being "Death of a Salesman," "Long Day's Journey into Night" and "The Glass Menagerie").
Marsha Munchez is directing the production in addition to appearing as Mama, who wants to open doors to opportunity for herself and her family. (In real life, Munchez is the goddaughter of Roxie Roker of "The Jeffersons.") And Lionel Downer, who lived in Chicago before moving to St. Croix three years ago, wears the mantle of producer in addition to portraying Brother, who wants to use his share of the inheritance to start his own business.
Aisha Harris is Sister, who aspires to become a doctor; Sylvia Brady is Brother's Wife, who wants what's best for her family and thinks the planned move is just that; and 14-year-old David Brady, a Central High School sophomore, is making his dramatic debut as Brother's Son. Two other teen-agers, Education Complex students Jason Jimeno and Elvis Revan, play the moving men. Ronald Lindsey is an African student who loves Sister; Jay Blair is George Murchison, a black who believes that success lies in emulating whites; and Karl Lindner is an emissary from the Youngers' future neighborhood.
The production marks the return of CCT artistic director David Richards after a year's sabbatical. Other behind-the-scenes credits go to Richard Mackay, technical director/light and sound; Kelley Roper, stage manager; and John Reuck and Glen Wells, set construction.
With the opening of "A Raisin in the Sun," Hansberry became the first black female playwright to have a work produced on Broadway. She was the youngest person and the first black to win the Drama Critics' Circle Award. The film version, for which she wrote the screenplay, was a Cannes Film Festival prize winner. She completed only two other plays before she died of cancer at the age of 34.
Hansberry took her inspiration from the poem by Langston Hughes that begins
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore
And then run?
The production has sponsorship from Bellows International, Bob-A-Ru, Chase Manhattan Bank, Cruzan Rum, Gotts & Associates, Gerald T. Groner Esq. and The Redemptorists and funding support from the V.I. Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts..
Tickets are $13 general admission and $6 for students. For general admission, there's a $1 discount for CCT members, who also can purchase books of six tickets for $65. Outlets are Geeks R Us, Cruzan Carib, Armrey Industries and the Sidney Lee Theater box office. For reservations and additional information, call 773-7171 between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m.

Oct. 25, 2001 – Last August, five students took their seats for the first day of the academic year — and in so doing became the first sophomores to attend classes at a St. John school since the middle of the last century.
Who are these educational pioneers? They are the 10th grade students of the Coral Bay School, St. John's first independent secondary school.
The school, which opened for grades 7-9 last year, added grade 10 this year. It will continue to expand its curriculum over the next two years, until its first senior class graduates in 2004. If all goes well, the current sophomores will be in that graduating class.
"It's really exciting," says Jennifer Gibbud, CBS sophomore and president of the student body. "We get to be part of something that is new and still growing."
Of course, being the lead class brings responsibilities. "How we do in the next couple of years will be a reflection on the rest of the school," Jennifer says. "We are setting a precedent for the classes that follow."
One 10th grade class member, T.J. Courtney, is among four CBS students commuting from Red Hook to Cruz Bay each day in contrast to the standard practice of high school students riding the ferry in the opposite direction. "The boat ride is kind of a drag, but the school is only two blocks from the dock," T.J. notes. "I chose to commute because I really like the closer interaction I get with my teachers and friends. It's worth the trip in my opinion."
It is still too early to tell what long-term impact the existence of a high school will have on the social fabric of St. John, but co-administrator Scott Crawford is optimistic. "As the school grows, we're going to see a real positive ripple effect throughout the community," he says. "Having a viable school attracts families to the island, and those families become part of the St. John community."
The sophomore class alone has two new students from the states. One is Greg Miller, whose family recently moved to St. John from Long Island, N.Y.. Greg's parents, Bruce and Lydia, the owners of Cruz Bay's new Asian restaurant, the Bamboo Grill, say the existence of a quality high school on St. John was a major factor in their decision to relocate to the island.
The Coral Bay School currently has 32 students, more than double the number enrolled a year ago. Since the beginning of this school year, one new sophomore has enrolled, bringing the total for that class to six. Two more are scheduled to join the class in the second quarter.
To learn more, stop by the school, located in the Lumberyard Business Complex, or call 776-1730.

Oct. 25, 2001 – While the Chicago-based tour operator Apple Vacations has canceled plans to send chartered flights to the territory this winter, the company will continue "serving the Virgin Islands 365 days a year, just like we always have," utilizing regularly scheduled airlines, local Apple representative Joan de Lugo said Thursday.
De Lugo said she was concerned about recent reports that Apple was abandoning the territory for the winter season because of fewer people flying since the Sept. 11 events. "Nothing could be further from the truth," she said. "The Chicago charter is only a small portion of our overall year-round bookings to the V.I."
She said that Apple, which has been doing business with the Virgin Islands for more than a decade, typically brings 350 to 400 visitors a month to St. Thomas and St. John in season on American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and U.S. Airways. "The Chicago charter would have brought in about 100 a week," she said.
At least part of the confusion came from an e-mail sent by an Apple product analyst in the company's Chicago headquarters, de Lugo said. That message, sent on Friday to V.I. hoteliers and property managers "was misinterpreted to mean we were cutting out our winter service," she said.
In a Wednesday survey of local hotels, the Source had quoted Richard Doumeng, whose family owns Bolongo Bay Beach Club and Villas, as saying the property was losing 600 room nights to Apple's cancellation.
"I don't know what he is thinking," de Lugo said Thursday. "He will still get our bookings throughout the year."
As to how much Apple's V.I. traffic will be affected this coming season by the nationwide drop-off in air travel, "That's hard to say right now," she said. "But our Chicago office said yesterday that bookings are picking up, and the weather [up north] is turning bad — that's two good signs." In general, she added, "Apple feels optimistic about V.I. travel this season."
St. Croix's Apple representative, H. McLean Douglas, was upbeat, too. "We had a party of six the other day for the Buccaneer Hotel," he said, "and we've been having people since Sept. 11. We just had a couple for the Caravelle Hotel."
Douglas said Apple's St. Croix operation typically gets about 20 guests a month. "The charter cancellation will hurt us," he said, "but we're not really stopped — we have people."

Oct. 25, 2001- A day after federal agents picked them up at a Charlotte Amalie hotel, eight men who identified themselves as Syrian nationals were charged Thursday with entering the United States illegally.
The men were led out of U.S. District Court on St. Thomas in handcuffs Thursday afternoon after Magistrate Judge Geoffrey Barnard placed them in the custody of U.S. marshals. They all have been charged with misdemeanor illegal entry. Barnard appointed the federal Public Defender's Office to represent them and scheduled their next court date for Tuesday.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Hugh Mabe would not say whether investigators were looking into possible connections between the eight and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. mainland.
A court affidavit signed by Immigration and Naturalization Service Special Agent Raysa Reynoso stated that the men had been picked up at the Bunker Hill Guest House by a team of agents from the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service, FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration and local police.
On Tuesday, such a team of investigators raided three Plaza Extra supermarkets on St. Thomas and St. Croix and conducted searches at various other markets and convenience stores owned by people of Arab descent. Witnesses on Thursday said the team was searching a business in the area of Rothschild Francis "Market" Square in Charlotte Amalie.
People interviewed during the earlier searches have said the agents asked them questions relating to the terrorist attacks.
The affidavit states that the men picked up Wednesday at the hotel told investigators that they were all Syrian nationals and that they entered St. Thomas illegally in August by a boat that came from St. Martin. Court papers identify the defendants as Kamil Achkar, 23; Souliman Bitar, 29; Adnan Halawi, 35; Hussam Halawi, 25; Salem Hatwik, 28; Ilyas Patsch, 22; Hatwak Talat, 29; and Jak Touman, 18.
Illegal immigration cases make up the majority of criminal cases in District Court in the Virgin Islands, and Mabe noted that his office has a policy of prosecuting all immigration matters.

Oct. 25, 2001- A day after federal agents picked them up at a Charlotte Amalie hotel, eight men who identified themselves as Syrian nationals were charged Thursday with entering the United States illegally.
The men were led out of U.S. District Court on St. Thomas in handcuffs Thursday afternoon after Magistrate Judge Geoffrey Barnard placed them in the custody of U.S. marshals. They all have been charged with misdemeanor illegal entry. Barnard appointed the federal Public Defender's Office to represent them and scheduled their next court date for Tuesday.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Hugh Mabe would not say whether investigators were looking into possible connections between the eight and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. mainland.
A court affidavit signed by Immigration and Naturalization Service Special Agent Raysa Reynoso stated that the men had been picked up at the Bunker Hill Guest House by a team of agents from the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service, FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration and local police.
On Tuesday, such a team of investigators raided three Plaza Extra supermarkets on St. Thomas and St. Croix and conducted searches at various other markets and convenience stores owned by people of Arab descent. Witnesses on Thursday said the team was searching a business in the area of Rothschild Francis "Market" Square in Charlotte Amalie.
People interviewed during the earlier searches have said the agents asked them questions relating to the terrorist attacks.
The affidavit states that the men picked up Wednesday at the hotel told investigators that they were all Syrian nationals and that they entered St. Thomas illegally in August by a boat that came from St. Martin. Court papers identify the defendants as Kamil Achkar, 23; Souliman Bitar, 29; Adnan Halawi, 35; Hussam Halawi, 25; Salem Hatwik, 28; Ilyas Patsch, 22; Hatwak Talat, 29; and Jak Touman, 18.
Illegal immigration cases make up the majority of criminal cases in District Court in the Virgin Islands, and Mabe noted that his office has a policy of prosecuting all immigration matters.

October 1st – November 3rd
Appetizers:
Kartoffel Puffer 6.25
Potato pancakes with applesauce and sour cream
Fennel Salad 7.50
Sausage sampler 9.75
Assorted sausages erved with sauerkraut
Soup du jour 5.50
Entrees:
Oktober Fest Platte 20.75 p.p.
Assorted sausages and smoked pork loin served with sauerkraut, potato pancakes, dumplings and potato salad
Pork Tenderloin Medallions 19.75
Bachforelle 21.75
Almond crusted pan fried trout in lemon butter sauce
Tafelspitz 20.75
Boiled beef with a fresh chives cream sauce

Ask about our daily homemade dessert collection
Open Monday – Saturday. Lunch: 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dinner 5:30 to 10 p.m.
Reservations are suggested for dinner, 340-774-4349.