Oct. 24, 2001 – St. John's Epiphany Theater Company is looking for actors and others to get involved in its second season — beginning with the opening production, William Inge's award-winning drama "Picnic."
Open auditions will be held Thurday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. on the second floor of the Marketplace complex. Performances will be on six weekends, running from Feb. 15 through March 24, 2002.
The casting call is for seven women and four men of "all ages and types."
"Picnic" opened on Broadway in 1953. The play, set in a small Kansas town on Labor Day, is about a lonely single schoolteacher who fears she will continue to live her life in emptiness without someone to take care of her. The plan won Inge the Drama Critics Circle Award, the Outer Circle Award, the Theatre Club Award and the Pulitzer Prize for drama.
The inexperienced need not be afraid to try out, company member Ginny Peck says, encouraging "anyone who ever thought they might like to be involved in a great community theater" group to come out.
The second production of the season for the community theater group will be "The Impossible Marriage" by Beth Henley. "In addition, there are plans for some shorter runs of light comedy for the summer season," Peck says.
Those interested in getting involved in Epiphany Theater Company in areas other than acting also are encouraged to attend either of the auditions or to call Michael Beason
at 776-6744. "If you have an interest or a talent in costume design, set construction, advertising, makeup or lighting and sound," Peck said, you'll be welcome.

Oct. 24, 2001 – The federal Small Business Administration's Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, announced Friday [see "V.I. firms may be able to get SBA disaster loans"], has the potential to bail out businesses hurt by the post-Sept. 11 downturn in the island's tourism-based economy.
But few people contacted on Wednesday by the Source knew anything about it.
"We have not been authorized to do any publicity," explained Calford Martin, who manages the SBA office on St. Thomas.
Apparently, no publicity from the Niagara Falls-based SBA regional office is heading this way either. A press release from Delegate Donna Christian Christensen on Friday appears to have been the only outreach to make residents aware of the program's existence.
Many local business owners already are familiar with the nature of SBA disaster loans, having been through the application process in the aftermath of Hurricanes Hugo, Marilyn and Bertha, all of which prompted the declaring of federal disasters in the territory.
Mark Sperber, owner of Mile Mark Watersports on St. Croix, was thrilled to hear about the program available now from a reporter."Where can I sign up?" he asked.
He said that business is very slow, and a loan would help ensure that he'll still be in business next year and the year after. "It's necessary for small businesses," he said.
The program lends up to $1.5 million at 4 percent interest. The maximum time to repay it is 30 years. Loans over $5,000 must be secured. Of course, the SBA will decide how much an applicant can get and for how long. "We make a determination as to your credit worthiness and your ability to repay," said Carl Caspari, SBA spokesman at the Niagara Falls office.
Applications must be received there by Jan. 21, 2002.
Eustace Grant, president of the V.I. Taxi Association on St. Thomas, had a vague recollection that he had heard something about it. After learning more, he said he would put up posters so his drivers would have the information. "Many are suffering," he said.
He said the taxi drivers who work out of Cyril E. King Airport were the hardest hit when the number of arriving tourists dropped dramatically after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
Mary Davis, who with her husband, Frank, owns the 15-room Danish Chalet Inn on St. Thomas, also was in the dark. "We still have some to pay from Hurricanes Hugo and Marilyn," she said, referring to earlier SBA disaster loans used to repair the inn.
Davis said it won't be necessary to borrow money to stay afloat immediately because they make ends meet during the slow fall months each year with the deposits that come in to reserve bookings for the upcoming winter. However, with the territory's entire winter season in a holding pattern, she admitted to being concerned about any further terrorist attacks.
Kate Campbell, owner of the Pink Papaya gift shop in Cruz Bay, also worries that another attack would keep people away. However, she said she would rethink her business plan rather than borrow money to stay in business. "The only way I would borrow was if I saw a light at the end of the tunnel," she said.
At the moment, Campbell does not see any light at the end of the terrorism situation. "This could be a long, drawn-out thing," she said. Businesses try to build up a rainy-day fund to tide them over during economic hard times, she said, but locally, by the time the slower summer and fall season is over, the fund from the previous season is about used up.
For details about the federal disaster loan program, visit the SBA web site. To request a loan application, call the SBA at 1-800-659-2955.

Oct. 24, 2001 – The Sundance Kid meets Tony Soprano in "The Last Castle," a prison drama which The New York Times says couldn't have come at a better time as a "flag-waving paean to patriotism."
Three-star general Irwin (Robert Redford) is sent to the Castle, a maximum-security military prison, on court martial charges that are not immediately made clear. There, he encounters Col. Winter (James Gandolfini), a classical music lover and, up to the moment they meet, a fan of the famous Gen. Irwin. Their initial encounter etablishes the contest of wills that will be the center of the drama.
The Times calls the movie "exuberant, strapping and obvious — a problem drama suffering from a steroid overdose."
Redford, no stranger to prison movies, starred in "Brubaker," a prison-reform social drama that allowed him a shot at shaking up the penal system. As Irwin, his interest lays elsewhere. Determined to bring down Winter, the general makes it his duty to win the devotion of his prison troops, instilling in them renewed pride and good posture.
Winter has set the men the task of building a castle within the Castle, a project which Irwin thwarts in time, two hours to be exact. "Sopranos" fans will see a new side of Gandolfini, a man fighting an uphill battle to maintain his control.
And Redford? Well, Redford is Redford, becoming somewhat more than mortal as the show goes on. Maybe if he did a little horseback romp to the tune of "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head," things might lighten up a little. But this movie was directed by Rod Lurie, ("The Contender," about Washington politics, and "Deterrence," about nuclear war), not Mel Brooks.
It starts Thursday at Market Square East.

Oct. 24, 2001 – The Sundance Kid meets Tony Soprano in "The Last Castle," a prison drama which The New York Times says couldn't have come at a better time as a "flag-waving paean to patriotism."
Three-star general Irwin (Robert Redford) is sent to the Castle, a maximum-security military prison, on court martial charges that are not immediately made clear. There, he encounters Col. Winter (James Gandolfini), a classical music lover and, up to the moment they meet, a fan of the famous Gen. Irwin. Their initial encounter etablishes the contest of wills that will be the center of the drama.
The Times calls the movie "exuberant, strapping and obvious — a problem drama suffering from a steroid overdose."
Redford, no stranger to prison movies, starred in "Brubaker," a prison-reform social drama that allowed him a shot at shaking up the penal system. As Irwin, his interest lays elsewhere. Determined to bring down Winter, the general makes it his duty to win the devotion of his prison troops, instilling in them renewed pride and good posture.
Winter has set the men the task of building a castle within the Castle, a project which Irwin thwarts in time, two hours to be exact. "Sopranos" fans will see a new side of Gandolfini, a man fighting an uphill battle to maintain his control.
And Redford? Well, Redford is Redford, becoming somewhat more than mortal as the show goes on. Maybe if he did a little horseback romp to the tune of "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head," things might lighten up a little. But this movie was directed by Rod Lurie, ("The Contender," about Washington politics, and "Deterrence," about nuclear war), not Mel Brooks.
It starts Thursday on St. Thomas at Market Square East.

Oct. 24, 2001 – The Sundance Kid meets Tony Soprano in "The Last Castle," a prison drama which The New York Times says couldn't have come at a better time as a "flag-waving paean to patriotism."
Three-star general Irwin (Robert Redford) is sent to the Castle, a maximum-security military prison, on court martial charges that are not immediately made clear. There, he encounters Col. Winter (James Gandolfini), a classical music lover and, up to the moment they meet, a fan of the famous Gen. Irwin. Their initial encounter etablishes the contest of wills that will be the center of the drama.
The Times calls the movie "exuberant, strapping and obvious — a problem drama suffering from a steroid overdose."
Redford, no stranger to prison movies, starred in "Brubaker," a prison-reform social drama that allowed him a shot at shaking up the penal system. As Irwin, his interest lays elsewhere. Determined to bring down Winter, the general makes it his duty to win the devotion of his prison troops, instilling in them renewed pride and good posture.
Winter has set the men the task of building a castle within the Castle, a project which Irwin thwarts in time, two hours to be exact. "Sopranos" fans will see a new side of Gandolfini, a man fighting an uphill battle to maintain his control.
And Redford? Well, Redford is Redford, becoming somewhat more than mortal as the show goes on. Maybe if he did a little horseback romp to the tune of "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head," things might lighten up a little. But this movie was directed by Rod Lurie, ("The Contender," about Washington politics, and "Deterrence," about nuclear war), not Mel Brooks.
It's rated R and starts Thursday at Diamond Cinemas.

Oct. 23, 2001 – Speaking for herself and the rest of the art faculty at Ivanna Eudora Kean High School, Art Department chair M. Lisa Etre has this to say about the student artwork that will be on exhibit Friday evening in downtown Charlotte Amalie: "Prepare to be visually impressed. We are."
The exhibition of works by eight students currently enrolled in EKHS art classes will be featured at this month's Da Da Wine Down, Friday from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at Cafe Amici in Riise's Alley. It's the first exhibit of the 2001-02 academic year for the her department, Etre said.
The young artists — Danitra Brathwaite, Annie Bridgewater, Tyrone Brooks, Davin Charles, Jeb Harrilal, Melissa Hutchins, Willie Payne and McKenley Stanislaus — will be at Friday's gathering to introduce themselves and talk about their artwork.
Etre noted that Willie is one of four hearing-impaired freshman students who are new to Eudora Kean this year. "His art has a lot of people talking, seeing and listening," she said. "We are fortunate to have him in our Art Department as an inspiration to us all."
As is traditional, the Wine Down will have complimentary finger food courtesy of Cafe Amici and a cash bar, as well as an optional wine tasting and seminar, for which there's a $10 fee. This month, the samplings are of Undurraga wines, distributed locally by West Indies Corp. The evening's door prize will be a student work of art.
"This is the first time we're featuring student art," event organizer Priscilla Lynn of Prisco Public Relations and Marketing said. "We're hoping that it integrates nicely with our Da Da events and that we can look to offer this opportunity to student artists again in the future."
In addition to displaying the students' artwork, the EKHS Art Department will be having a silent art auction to raise funds to purchase art supplies. The works to be auctioned consist of "special pieces left behind by former students," Etre said. Also, student-designed Christmas cards, greeting cards and mouse pads will be available for purchase.
Etre noted that the Color of Joy and Mango Tango frame shops donated matting materials to assist the students in presenting their artwork professionally.
"If you have an interest in art, education and our talented young people, please make every effort to attend the exhibition," Etre said. For additional information call her at 775-6380, ext. 2126.

Oct. 24, 2001 – It's a weekend of live music, food and fun coming up at Hull Bay Hideaway, and come Wednesday night, which really truly is the holiday, there'll be a Halloween party.
On Friday from 6 to 9 p.m., Janet Reiter, also known as "Mighty Whitey's girlfriend," will play guitar and sing on the patio where Dan's pizza can be ordered up from 5 to 9. The new pizza menu choices include white or whole wheat crust and such toppings as Canadian bacon, broccoli, spinach and Roma tomatoes (along with the standard stuff).
Sunday brings an inside, but definitely open to the public, event — the official opening of the Hideaway's Restaurant. Chef Lee is overseeing a menu "featuring affordable family favorites and smokehouse barbecue" that includes crab cakes, chicken-fried steak, liver and onions, catch of the day and "brontosaurus steak," along with barbecued brisket, chicken and pork. There's a children's menu, too. And from 6 to 9 p.m., there'll be music by the Bareback Riders.
On Wednesday from 7 to 11 p.m., it's Halloween party time, with games and candy for kids and announcement of the best-costume awards at p.m., in time to get the young 'uns home and to bed on a school night. Frenchman's Hill Band will provide the live music.
For more information — like about the horseshoe pitch, pool tables, darts, video games, and plants for sale — call 777-1898 or visit the Hideaway web site.

Oct. 24, 2001 — A tidal wave of rumors has inundated the territory following federal law-enforcement agency raids on Arab-owned businesses Tuesday.
Rumors of terrorists plots to blow up the Hovensa oil refinery on St. Croix, the discovery of weapons and ammunition caches, and the seizure of millions of dollars were rife soon after a team of federal agents raided the three Plaza Extra supermarkets and other locations in the Virgin Islands on Tuesday morning as part of an investigation into illegal alien smuggling.
While Acting U.S. Attorney David Atkinson shot down most of the rumors on Wednesday, it was after news of the raid went national. CNN reported that search warrants were executed at the Plaza Extra stores on St. Croix and St. Thomas, but it also noted that federal officials refused to say whether the investigation into Plaza Extra was related to the FBI's ongoing search for terrorists following the Sept. 11 attacks on the mainland.
However, a few paragraphs in a Wednesday New York Post gossip column by Cindy Adams all but placed one of the Sept. 11 hijackers on St. Croix with Plaza Extra co-owner Fathi Yusuf in a plot to blow up the Hovensa refinery.
"It’s in the public’s interest to debunk the rumors flying around right now," Atkinson said. "Some of the rumors we’ve heard are plain untrue," he said, citing one about an explosive-laden vehicle having been found parked next to the refinery. "I don’t know where these rumors are coming from."
In regard to a rumor that $3 million to $4 million in cash had been discovered at the Plaza Extra stores, Atkinson said, "There was some money seized, but nowhere near that amount."
In a subsequent interview with Azekah Jennings, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Virgin Islands, the Source asked about rumors regarding the discovery of explosives, a trailer of weapons, and the arrest of an Arab man with a map of the Hovensa refinery in his possession.
Jennings would only say that if a "credible threat" existed, the public would be informed.
"If and when information regarding a threat comes to our attention, information will be disseminated as soon as possible," he said. "If there is a credible threat to the public, we’ll make it known."
Meanwhile, the search warrants and all attached documents related to Tuesday’s raids are under seal to protect the integrity of the investigation, Atkinson said. No arrests were made, and no charges have been filed in connection with the investigation. He declined to reveal the nature of the investigation.
Similar raids last year resulted in Yusuf, 60, pleading guilty to three counts of hiring three illegal immigrants from Palestine. That plea came in connection with an investigation in which several other St. Thomas businessmen with connections with the island's Arab community also pleaded guilty to charges that they tried to help the three men immigrate to the United States illegally.
The illegal immigrants were stopped at the airport in San Juan as they attempted to fly from St. Thomas to Florida in 1999, according to court records.
As part of Yusuf's plea bargain, he agreed to cooperate with future investigations and to make monthly reports of all of the employees at Plaza Extra, according to court papers. He was sentenced in September to a month of home confinement and a year of probation.

Oct. 24, 2001 – There have been hotel layoffs and shift cutbacks locally in the face of the abnormally slow fall season and people's fear of flying since Sept. 11, a major tour operator has decided to abandon the territory this winter, and one hotel has closed. Even so, some hoteliers and event planners say they're optimistic about a rebound, and even those who aren't say they're not about to throw in the towel.
"This is only the second time in 27 years that we have laid people off," said Richard Doumeng, general manager of Bolongo Bay Beach Club and Villas on St. Thomas.
Doumeng, who also is president of the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel and Tourism Association, said the other time was in 1995 after Hurricane Marilyn decimated the entire tourism industry in the territory. He said most of the 20 workers who have recently been laid off worked in the resort's two restaurants.
In contrast, Chris Goodier, spokeswoman for The Buccaneer Hotel on St. Croix, said that property has experienced only the normal slow-season cutbacks in personnel. "We haven't had any wholesale layoffs," she said.
Luigi Romaniello, resident manager at Caneel Bay Resort on St. John, said that while staffing is below season levels, many employees took their vacations after Sept. 11. "We're calling them back according to need," he said, saying that the upscale hotel is still in a "little recession."
Normally Caneel Bay would run at about 60 percent occupancy during October, Romaniello said, but this year it's down to 35 percent.
At the Sunterra Carambola Resort on St. Croix, seasonal layoffs in the spring meant that the hotel, which has about 125 employees during season, already was down to minimal staff on Sept. 11. Manager Ike Turner said 17 people were laid off last spring, and now the resort has cut the work week for most personnel to 32 hours instead of 40.
Turner was among several hoteliers who said they expect the situation to improve. His take on the matter is that the terrorist attacks have "put off the start of the winter season by about four months."
At the Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas Resort, manager Jamie Holmes said that rather than lay people off, the hotel has cut work hours by about 20 percent. He said the hotel is doing as well as it did last year at this time, but noted that the property was undergoing some construction then that cut into its occupancy level.
Greg Lundberg, general manager of the Westin Resort on St. John, also that property only has cut hours, with no layoffs. He said it was hard to quantify the picture because the number of hours employees work depends on need and seniority. He said the hotel closed its Beach Café except on weekends because the hotel was not full enough to support it.
Looking ahead, Goodier said the Buccaneer is almost fully booked for the Christmas holiday. Thanksgiving looks pretty good, too, she said, and so does the coming weekend, when 177 people will use the hotel as a base for the annual Coral Reef Swim competition. A total of 143 swimmers flew into St. Croix for the event, she said, the majority of them are staying at the hotel.
After experiencing a few cancellations following Sept. 11, Goodier said, she was heartened to see that two recent wedding parties of about 30 people each stuck to their plans made before the terrorist attacks. And a steady flow of business and government travelers who are still booking rooms at the Buccaneer "fills in the holes," she said. She said it is still too early to tell for winter and the normally busy Easter and spring break weeks.
C.C. Colo, operations manager at Island Meetings and Incentives on St. Thomas, said convention and incentive groups are looking to book here. "We sent out 20 proposals in the past two weeks" in response to queries, she said. There were some cancellations after Sept. 11, but it looks as if business will pick up after January, she said.
Brooks Brown, owner of Tropic Tours on St. Thomas, also said that convention and incentive group planners are again looking to book. She noted that such plans are typically made six months ahead of meeting dates.
Holmes said the Ritz-Carlton picked up "two or three groups" that had booked their events at foreign locations but decided after Sept. 11 that they would feel more comfortable in the Virgin Islands. One group has booked 500 room nights for January, he said, while the others were groups of about 100 people each. While the Ritz-Carlton saw one cancellation from an incentive group, he said, the corporate organization instead sent the people as individuals rather than as a group.
Doumeng, however, said things don't look so promising at Bolongo Bay — which, unlike most of the larger properties in the Virgin Islands, is not part of a chain as far as ownership, management and/or marketing. In normal years, he said, the hotel would already be 90 to 95 percent booked for Christmas, he said, and right now, only 60 percent of the rooms are reserved.
The recently announced decision by Apple Vacations not to send charter tours from the Chicago area this season compounds the problems already experienced by the territory, he said.
Last year, Apple booked 900 room nights at his hotel, which put $180,000 in the hotel's coffers, Doumeng said. This year, the tour operator already had booked 600 room nights worth $160,000 when it terminated operations. "To lose that many room nights in a market already underserved is a big loss," he said. Among the scheduled airlines, only United flies directly to the territory from Chicago — once a week.
But Doumeng said the territory's current low bookings aren't entirely due to terrorism concerns. "We were looking at serious challenges even before Sept. 11," he said. Back in July, he said, a Boston-based tour operator, GWV, announced that it would not be sending tours to the Virgin Islands this season.
Other reasons for slow advance bookings for August, September and October, Doumeng said, included high air fares, bad press about hurricane season and new cut-rate competition. Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic and an area known as "the Mexican Riviera" near Cancun on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula have boomed, he said, putting nearly 50,000 new hotel rooms on the tropical market. Cheap package deals lure visitors who want don't care where they find sun and sand for their vacation, he said.
The Best Western Carib Beach Resort on Lindbergh Bay across from the Cyril E. King Airport on St. Thomas closed at the beginning of September, according to an employee of its sister property, the Best Western Emerald Beach Resort. It was not clear if the closing was to be temporary or permanent.
Doumeng said that while the Tourism Department's recently launched advertising efforts will help some, it will not convince people to fly to the Virgin Islands who don't want to get on a plane. And, he said, some people are waiting to see how low prices will drop before they book.
"But I still believe there will be a hotel industry here," he said. "The strong will survive."

The Frederiksted Economic Development Association will hold its monthly meeting at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 25, at Pier 69. The meeting is open to the public.
FEDA will give updates on marketing team efforts and enhance membership and community involvement. It is hoped that this will promote economic growth for Frederiksted and St. Croix.