The St. Thomas All Stars Steel Band will meet at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, oct. 30, in the Panyard. All members are urged to attend.

If you are 18 or older, interested in learning how to play a steel pan, join the St. Thomas All Stars Steel Band. No experience is necessary. Practice is at 7 p.m. every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturdays in the Panyard next to WAPA in Subbase.
For more information call 77-9546.

Oct. 26, 2001 — The Casino Control Commission on Thursday reserved one of the two allowed "Casino II" casino licenses for two years for Golden Gaming Inc.
The commission granted Golden Gaming, owned by New Jersey-based Paul Golden, a statement of compliance for a Casino II resort and casino in June. That status gave Golden a year to prove the integrity of the financial backing for his proposed 400-room hotel casino, the suitability of the resort for the island, and the experience of his team to operate such a facility.
The Casino Control Act allows for six casinos to be built on St. Croix. The two Casino II facilities must have 300 to 1,400 rooms and a 10,000-square-foot casino.
Another applicant, Robin Bay Associates, which is currently undergoing a background check, is proposing to build the other Casino II facility on St. Croix's southeast shore.
The commission’s approval of Golden’s reservation request for a Casino II license gives him two years to move ahead with his project. Every six months during the period, he must submit reports to the commission updating his financial backing, any changes in his business plans and the status of permitting for the construction work.
Golden has purchased some 265 acres at Great Pond Bay for the project, which includes an 18-hole golf course.
The rationale behind granting a license reservation for Golden was that he, unlike many other potential investors, had made a commitment to build, commission member Lloyd McAlpin said.
"Since 1995 we’ve met with a number of potential investors," McAlpin said. "We cannot continue to sit back and continue to meet with investors. We need firm commitments. I think that has been demonstrated by Paul Golden."
The Casino Control Act sets these specifications for the six resort-casino properties allowed on St. Croix:
– Casino I, of which one can be built, must have a hotel of 1,500-plus rooms with a casino of at least 20,000 square feet.
– Casino II, of which two can be built, must have a hotel with 300 to 1,400 rooms and a casino of at least 10,000 square feet. Golden Gaming now has one of these reserved while Robin Bay Associates is applying for the other.
– Casino III, of which two can be built, must have a hotel of 200 to 299 rooms and a casino of at least 7,000 square feet. At least 51 percent of a level III resort/casino must be owned by a native Virgin Islander.
– Casino IV, of which one can be built, must have a hotel of 150 to 199 rooms and a casino of at least 5,000 square feet. The territory's first — and to date only — casino operation, Divi Carina Bay Resort and Casino, has this facility.
Eileen Petersen, Casino Control Commission chair, said she is confident the Senate will consider amending the 1,500-room requirement for Casino I because it is unlikely an investor will turn up to build such a large property.
"That Casino I should be amended so it doesn’t preclude" another investor, she said.
In other commission action, member Imelda Dizon expressed concern that the V.I. Hospitality Training School still is not in operation.
The Casino Control Act calls for the University of the Virgin Islands, the Education Department and the Tourism Department to organize such a school to train casino employees. The act also mandates that 80 percent of all casino workers must be residents of the Virgin Islands.
In 1996, Tourism was given the task of coordinating the gaming school. Classes never materialized, with lack of funding given as the reason.
The casino act also mandates that casinos must have at least 65 percent local residents as employees by the first year of operation, 75 percent by the second year, and 95 percent by the third year.
The Divi Carina Bay casino operation, which opened in March 2000, currently employs 324 people, 73 percent of them Virgin Islanders. But Bernie Burkholder, president and CEO of Treasure Bay V.I. Corp., the company that operates the casino, said recently that it is difficult to comply with the law. And meeting the hiring requirements will become more difficult as additional resort-casinos come on line, he has said.
"It’s very hard to enforce the law because we don’t have the training school," Dizon said. "We hope the government will help with funding and restarting … the school."
Divi, meanwhile, has tried to solve the problem by holding its own training courses at the casino, Dizon said. On Nov. 11, the casino will hold a table game training class that is open to the public.

A meeting called by Sen. Almando "Rocky" Liburd Thursday evening to discuss the V.I. National Park's new Commercial Services Plan with taxi drivers erupted at times into a shouting fest directed at park Supt. John King.
The 50-plus taxi drivers and friends who overflowed Nazareth Lutheran Church used the meeting to heap on King's head their ire about many real and imagined transgressions by the park over its 45 years, the Friends of the V.I. National Park, and conditions in St. John.
"There's no difference between bin Laden and the Friends of the Park," taxi driver Elvis Sprauve said.
It was not clear what the Friends, a not-for-profit organization that raises funds privately for park projects, had done to so anger the drivers. King pointed out that the group was not a guiding force behind the Commercial Services Plan. He said federal law mandates that all 385 national parks have such plans.
"St. John is different from all the parks across the county. We need to be treated differently," Carmen Wesselhoft insisted, to applause from the drivers.
King said after the meeting that the Commercial Services Plan, which went through an extensive, multi-stage public comment process, has been approved by the park's regional office. There is no chance it will not be implemented Jan. 1 as planned, he said.
Under the plan, commercial operations of such activities as daysails, kayak tours and hiking trips will continue to pay fees to use the park, as they have done for decades. Come Jan. 1, the taxi tour operators will join their ranks.
Taxi associations and companies running tours will have to pay $750 a year.
Taxi drivers who conduct independent tours and association members moonlighting on their own tours will pay $300 a year.
No fee is required for drivers who transport people from point A to point B and drop them off.
What constitutes a tour was one sticking point Thursday night. The taxi drivers asked over and over again if stopping at Caneel Bay overlook made them a tour. King initially said utilizing the park overlooks indicated a tour, but at the end of the meeting he said he was willing to negotiate on finer points such as this. Several taxi drivers argued that passengers on a trip from point A to point B who ask them to stop for a minute so they can take photographs are not on a tour.
Many taxi drivers claimed the meeting was the first they knew of the new permit requirements. Park officials held a dozen public meetings starting in December 1999 on the subject. Additionally, King's predecessor, Russ Berry, met several times with St. John Taxi Services and V.I. Taxi Association representatives in an attempt to hammer out a workable agreement.
Ownership of the road through the park was another major issue Thursday. King said the park contends it owns the road, but Liburd said it is local government property. Both said numerous times that it is an issue for the courts, but the drivers continued to insist that the permit issue hinges on road ownership.
"Let's act reasonable," Liburd said at one point as the taxi drivers yelled at King. The park superintendent, who calmly responded to all allegations, also put to rest rumors that the park planned to put up entrance and exit gates. He said that the law establishing the park would not allow that.
King also said the temporary admission fees in place at Trunk Bay beach and the Annaberg Plantation ruins will become permanent in the not-too-distant future. This news also angered some taxi drivers, who claimed it was their birthright to use Trunk Bay for free.
Only one driver mentioned the benefits of having a park on St.John. "The park does great things for this island. It brings in a lot of revenue," Randy Thomas said.
The meeting ended when Lorelei Monsanto said that if the taxi drivers wanted to fight the tour permit program, they needed to file a class-action lawsuit. She urged them all to sign a petition opposing the new fees.

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 St. Thomas 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."

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.