Oct. 11, 2001 – Help is on the way for residents who've long been dodging ruts and rocks driving on Route 108. Rod Platzke, construction program manager for the Federal Highway Administration, said Thursday that rebuilding of the road should start in about five months.
The 700 feet nearest Route 107 will be rebuilt, Platzke said, and Route 107 from Coral Bay to the V.I. National Park road to Lameshur will be paved. He said preliminary work that included solving major drainage problems and installing some swales on Route 107 was finished about a year ago.
"The next job will make it nice and smooth," he said.
Both jobs are to go out to bid in three months, with work to start two months after that. Platzke estimated it will take the contractor about six months to finish paving Route 107 and rebuilding Route 108. He said the projects will cost about $3 million to $5 million, paid for with federal funds.
Easily described as "the road from Hell," Route 108 runs from Route 107 near Just Pepe's Restaurant outside Coral Bay through Bordeaux to Centerline Road. One chunk that starts 700 feet from the road's end near Route 107 is paved. It runs uphill for a length that would span several city blocks before it turns again to dirt. Another chunk is paved where Route 108 meets Centerline Road.
Residents have complained repeatedly about the section of Route 108 closest to Route 107, which is filled with deep ruts and large boulders. At one point last year, some of them trucked dirt to the roadbed from a construction project site in Coral Bay in an attempt to make it more passable.
Emily Cena, a resident who uses the worst part of Route 108, was a bit skeptical that work would really begin. "There's always some kind of story about the road repair," she said.
Residents navigate the road by driving very slowly and carefully, she said. "And it keeps the tourists out," she added, referring to the lack of privacy that can result when visitors find easy access to go sightseeing in a neighborhood.

All interested persons are hereby notified that in accordance with Section 717 Chapter 12 of Title 29, Virgin Islands Code, as amended, dealing with the Economic Development Commission, a Public Hearing on the following applications for tax exemption will be held on Thursday, October 18, 2001 at 9:30 a.m. at the Palm Court Conference Room, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
NAME: ……………………………………..TYPE: …………………LOCATION:
1.Richie Capital Managment, *DSB-Economic, – St Thomas, V.I
……………………..Scientific, Management Service (New)
2. Resort Botany, Inc., Resort/Timeshare (New) – St Thomas, V.I
3. GRX Wholesale, Inc. *DSB-Commercial Distri – St. Thomas, V.I
………………………………….& Trading Service (New)
4. MIFR Frehcnman Reef ….. Hotel (Name transfer) — St. Thomas, V.I.
5. Gold Coast Yachts, Inc., Manufacturer –St. Croix, V.I.
…………………………………..Multihull Boats (Extension)
6. Superior Block, Inc., Manufacturer Cement Products – St. Croix, V.I.
Any person, firm or corporation interested in the approval or disapproval of the applications may appear and be heard, provided that a written statement is submitted to the Chief Executive Officer of the Economic Development Commission at least one day prior to the hearing at P.O. Box 3499 Christiansted, St. Croix USVI 00822, (Phone) 773-6499 (Fax) 773-7701 .

Nadine T. Marchena
Acting Chief Executive Officer
* Designated Service Business

The Friends of the St. Thomas Libraries board will meet on the second floor of the Enid M. Baa Library. Members of the group and guests are welcome to attend. For further information, call 777-3579.

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the Virgin Islands will meet on Saturday and Sunday at its national center at 129 Contant.
For more information call 774-3648, email to nsa@bahai.org, or visit the group's web site at www.vi.bahai.org.

Oct. 11, 2001 – The board of the Friends of the St. Thomas Public Libraries will meet on Saturday from 9 to 11:30 a.m. at the Enid M. Baa Library, and Friends members and guests are invited to be present.
The organization, which initiated a volunteer-staffed Saturday Children's reading program at the Baa Library last spring and hosted an open house there in June to show off new display space for historic Virgin Islands materials in the Von Scholten Collection, has a new president, Kip Knowlton.
The former chief executive of the Educational Research Institute in Memphis, Tenn., and president of the business consulting firm Knowlton Associates, Knowlton now works with the New Image Foundation in training and program development.
He has "considerable experience in grant writing, and we look forward to what can be accomplished with his leadership and expertise," a release from the Friends organization said. He succeeds Tom Bolt as president of the group.
Two new initiatives the Friends group is undertaking are to design a creative reading program to take place both in and outside of the Baa Library and to plan a "community empowerment conference" for next spring.
The Friends group is looking for "supported after-school programs that would service the children who come to the library," the release stated. And the group is seeking volunteers both to institute a "books for infants" program at the Roy L. Schneider Hospital and to help with the children's reading program at Baa from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays. Finally, the release said, "We also desperately need donations for books, tapes and computer software."
The release noted that Diane Moody is the new librarian at Baa. On the job since early September, she came to the position after four years as the upper school librarian at Antilles School. She also has been serving as vice president and program chair of the Friends.
For more information about becoming a member of the Friends organization or supporting its efforts, contact secretary Carol Lotz at 777-3579.

The St. John Rotary Club will meet at 12:30 p.m. on Friday. Oct. 12, at the Westin Beach Cafe. Yvonne Zinicola of the Red Cross will be the speaker.

The St. John Rotary Club will meet at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 12, at Westin Beach Cafe. Yvonne Zinicola of the Red Cross will be the speaker.

Cecily Smith Canton died Oct. 10. Her funeral services are pending. She is survived by her mother Helena Smith; sons Orlando Jr., and Wayne Peters; daughters Mona Lisa Peters, Carol Peters and Wendy Smith; brothers Autin and Kenetwon Smith; sisters Cynthia Brown, Celia Crabbe, and Chrineta John; 10 grandchildren; and many other relatives and friends too numerous to mention.
Arrangements by Creque Funeral Home.

Oct. 11, 2001 – Calling some of the 24th Legislature's budget recommendations incomprehensible, questionable, or virtually doomed to failure, Gov. Charles W. Turnbull signed the Fiscal Year 2002 executive budget and the 2002 Omnibus Bill into law shortly before the Wednesday midnight deadline.
These bills were conspicuously missing from the first batch of bills he had signed several hours earlier.
Taking exception to the Legislature's line-itemed executive budget, Turnbull made liberal use of his veto pen. He told Senate President Almando "Rocky" Liburd in his cover letter that "the unprecedented specificity contained in the line-items of this budget bill give me cause for great concern about the extent with which this legislature has inserted itself into the executive branch's administrative process."
Previous Legislatures have generally used the lump-sum process, giving departments and agencies more leverage in determining their own needs. Turnbull urged the senators "to please consider returning to the lump-sum budget format for Fiscal Year 2001-2002."
Turnbull said the senators made cuts that dangerously impair the functioning of some departments. He said cuts in the Division of Personnel mean necessary insurance consultants cannot be retained, and that the division's modernization program, "on which so much time and money has been spent, will come to a halt just short of completion."
A cut in the Finance Department's audit services, from $1.6 million to $600,000, "virtually dooms the crucial single-audit process to failure, and endangers federal funding territorywide," he said.
Cuts will affect revenue collections in the Licensing and Consumer Affair Department and may result in employee layoffs, Turnbull continued. And the omission of funding for utility payments for the Public Works and Housing, Parks and Recreation Departments is "incomprehensible," he said.
Also, he objected to a cut of $500,000 in V.I. Housing Authority funding for water and residential care services, "especially to the territory's elderly clients." He said, "The money is sorely needed."
In the Omnibus Bill, Turnbull vetoed two sections affecting the Government Employees Retirement System, one which would assist individuals to become homeowners and another which authorizes rehiring retirees into government jobs. He said the section was "overbroad" and lacked sufficient limits and safeguards to guard against its abuse. He said he would submit legislation "which allows me to … address areas of greatest concern."
Turnbull gave the Legislature itself two slaps on the wrist: First, he line-item vetoed $700,000 for capital improvements to the Earl B. Ottley Hall, the Legislature building on St. Thomas. Then he rejected a measure which would have tied senators' salaries to that of the territory's highest-paid commissioners.
The governor approved a new property tax amnesty — until Dec. 31 — but vetoed the retroactive provision of the measure. "The inclusion of retroactivity in the section would create both an administrative and financial hardship on the Department of Finance, as well as an inequitable circumstance for individuals who have paid their taxes in the interim," he said.
An official in the Finance Department's Property Tax Division said Thursday that it had not yet received news of the amnesty, which was sent out Thursday morning. However, Rina Jacobs McBrowne, Government House spokesperson, said it is in effect from Thursday, Oct. 11, through Dec. 31.

Oct. 10, 2001 – After hearing from a standing-room-only crowd of utility experts, the Water and Power Authority governing board decided Wednesday to postpone its vote on a proposed $180 million gasification facility which according to its proponents would solve the territory's solid waste woes.
WAPA and Caribe Waste Technologies, the company leading a group of firms proposing to finance, build, own and operate the waste-to-energy plant, have been in negotiations since June trying to work out an acceptable contract for WAPA to purchase power and water from CWT. The Turnbull administration earlier this year selected CWT as the provider for the territory's solid waste plant, but the agreement is contingent on WAPA committing to buy power and water from CWT that would be produced by the plant.
WAPA is a major part of the picture because it could reduce the government’s costs by about $11 million to $12 million a year over the 30-year period of the contract by purchasing the water and power generated from the plant, Mark Augenblick, CWT chief executive officer, said at a St. Croix Chamber of Commerce meeting in September.
If WAPA were to sign a contract with CWT to purchase power and water – something the utility’s management has said that it doesn’t need — the government would still have to meet payments of approximately $25 million a year. Augenblick said that cost would likely be covered by grants and subsidies from the federal government and by a solid waste "user fee" for homes and businesses. That fee could range from about $1 to $18 a month for residents to $100 a month for businesses, Augenblick said at the September chamber meeting.
Joseph Thomas, WAPA executive director, and Augenblick, have been at odds from the very first over the issue of "avoided costs" — the amount of money WAPA would otherwise spend to produce the same amount of energy and water. In July they agreed to hire Stone & Webster Consultants of Boston, Mass., to determine what the avoided costs would be.
Joseph told the WAPA board Wednesday, "We would have paid more than $400 million more if we hadn't gotten the experts." He said the initial contract called for 9.5 cents per kwh of electricity and $17 per 1,000 gallons of water. The charges have now been set at 7.2 cents per kwh of power and $7.78 per 1,000 gallons of water, he said.
Skadden Arps, a Washington, D.C., firm hired by the WAPA board, found fault with Stone & Webster's analysis, but Joseph said most of those concerns had been worked out. He said there was no material disagreement between the two consultants' reports.
'Avoided costs' still an issue
However, Thomas wants Stone & Webster to readdress the avoided costs. He said the firm was given estimates, not "real data," to work from. "We don't want estimates," he said. He also said he wanted the board to permit him to proceed with Skadden Arps projections. Joseph said Skadden Arps had worked out another contract addressing all of its concerns and satisfying WAPA's concerns.
Two major concerns addressed Wednesday were the proposed gasification plant's reliability and its consequent "financeability." WAPA's bond counsel, Patricia A. Goins of Hawkins, Delafield & Wood in New York, cautioned the board to bear in mind its bond indebtedness, currently about $150 million. "There is serious concern about solid waste, but we have our contractual obligations to bondholders," she said.
The main point of contention among the almost 40 board members, attorneys, consultants and staff crowded into the conference room on St. Thomas was reliability of the Thermoselect System which will run the gasification process.
James Galambas, an executive engineer consultant of Skadden Arps, said repeatedly, "The process is not commercially proven." The catch word is "commercially." There is no plant in existence currently using this technology, according to Galambas. He said there are two Thermoselect facilities operating in the world, one in Germany and the other in Japan, but neither uses internal combustion engine-driven generators to produce electricity, such as is proposed for the St. Croix plant to use.
Galambas said the three-year-old German plant has been operating at 10 percent of its rated capacity, and the two-year-old Japanese plant has been operated at 50 percent of rated capacity.
Galambas said he was unable to set up a telephone conference call to the German facility, but when he spoke to a representative at the Japanese plant, he was told, "I wouldn't recommend [the system] to anybody."
Further, he said, there are no Jenbacher 20-cylinder engines, such as CWT proposes for the V.I. plant, using the synthesis gas which the facility would produce. "There is no historical data indicating the engines would run on the synthesis gas," he said.
Galambas said the lack of a commercially proven track record for the technology would make the financing of the proposed St. Croix facility "very difficult."
WAPA liability concerns raised
Augenblick countered that the process is commercially proven. Tom A.R. Morton, vice president of Montenay Power Corp., which CWT has designated to operate the facility, defended the technology. "We are a world leader in water and energy production," he said. "We wouldn't put our reputation or finances at risk with uncertain technology."
Morton stressed his confidence in the technology, "We were skeptical at first," he said, "but that has turned into enthusiasm." He said his company has been studying the gasification process for years.
That process basically takes waste and subjects it to extremely high temperatures, producing a gas burned in a generator. This creates electricity and water, which in turn, would be sold to WAPA.
WAPA board members asked about the utility's liability should the facility not produce, or should the engines fail. Augenblick said he would have no problem inserting language into the purchase agreement addressing those concerns and clarifying and strengthening WAPA's protection.
Board member G. Luz James Sr. said, "The more I read the reports, the more uncomfortable I become, because it's the first of a kind. As an attorney, I'm worried about WAPA's protection."
"There is no chance that WAPA would have to take over the operation of the CWT facility," Augenblick said. He said the structure puts the sponsors, "not the government," at risk. He explained that if the facility is finished in 2004, as planned, the government will have had three years to review the process.
"All documents on any contract go to the underwriters in the States," Augenblick said. "Winston Strawn, PaineWebber, the government's counsel, have to review all these documents," he said.
The strongest challenge for CWT may come before the Legislature, which must approve the project before the contract can move forward.
Attorney General Iver Stridiron, a WAPA board member, questioned the experts throughout the meeting on the technology's validity. I don't mind being on the cutting edge of technology," he said, "but I don't want to see us bloodied in the process."
Thomas received board approval to have the Stone & Webster representatives stay on St. Thomas for a few more days to recalculate the avoided costs and to work with WAPA and CWT's attorneys to revise the proposed purchase agreement. That revision is expected to take into account several protections and changes advised by Skadden Arps.
The board set a tentative date of Oct. 19 to review the revised proposal. Thomas said, "In our zeal to complete this, let's not make the same mistake we did before rushing Stone & Webster." He said the process should proceed in a timely manner "as long as we cover all issues," adding that "CWT seems to agree on all points."
Board members attending the meeting in addition to Stridiron and James were board chair Carol M. Burke, Alphonso Franklin, William E. Lomax, Claude A. Molloy Sr. and Andrew Rutnik.