Oct. 4, 2001 – In celebration of the fact that they seem to have become a fixture, the weekly get-togethers on the American Yacht Harbor deck outside The Color of Joy now have a name: "Friday Night Alternative."
Last week's installment attracted an assortment of talented islanders, including Lightnin' Phil's Band (Phil Robinson on fiddle with Paul Dirk on bass, Morgan Rael on steelpan and Paul Deaton on drums) and vocalist Ron Nimmo ("with his bevy of singing ladies, who all took turns at the mike"), art gallery/shop owner Corinne Van Rensselaer reports.
Adding to the ambience, it was house keyboardist/vocalist Sally's Smith's birthday.
This week, some or maybe even all of them will be back, Friday from 6 to 8 p.m. on the Marlin Deck outside the gallery. With Smith as host, the lineup also includes Andrew Douglas on steelpan and St. John's Marty Beechler on vocals.
As always, the gallery will be open, and complimentary wine, cheese and crackers will be served. Those who head home from St. Thomas to St. John at the end of the day are reminded that The Color of Joy is minutes from the Red Hook ferry dock, making it a convenient stop to unwind, end the week and start the weekend. For more information, call 775-4020.

Students at St. Croix’s St. Joseph High School undertook a "Children for Children, 9.11.01" march for peace last week.
Dr. Susan Diverio, the principal of St. Joseph High School, said that the objectives of the march were to raise money for the children of the victims of the terrorist attack on September 11 and to raise a sense of social awareness and consciousness about the importance of coming together and uniting for America.
Besides St. Joseph High School, six other schools participated in the march, including St. Croix Country Day School, Good Hope School, Manor School, St. Mary's Catholic School, St. Patrick's School, School of the Good Shepherd, Community Methodist School and the IQRA Academy.
About 500 students, teachers, and parents started the march with prayer service on the grounds of St. Joseph High School. Students and leaders from the participating schools shared their thoughts in the prayer service, which was led by Fr. Cecil Corneille, the pastor of St. Joseph Church and a member of the St. Joseph High school board.
Many of the participants wore T-shirts with specially designed American Flag artwork by St. Joseph High School student Alfredo Cuencas. The proceeds from the sale of the T-shirts went to the children of the disaster.
The march, led by the St. Joseph High School contingent, followed a police escort down Centerline Road. With the strong sun being shaded at times by the passing clouds, the participants marched along the road to Sunshine Mall, one-and-a-half miles away.
Traffic passing by honked their horns to show their support for world peace. After about an hour of marching, K-Mart at Sunshine Mall was reached and the long line of participants swerved around the parking lots in front of the businesses. The march paused for a few minutes to take part in some more prayers for world peace and to sing the National Anthem.
Then the march proceeded up the opposite side of Centerline Road to make the hour long journey back to St. Joseph High School. Arriving back at the school, many of the participants had a lunch at the school with the proceeds going to the children's fund. A momentarily heavy downpour did not dampen the spirits of the participants.

Oct. 3, 2001 – The V.I. government announced plans Wednesday to launch a $6.5 million advertising and marketing campaign to promote tourism in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks last month.
The new campaign will be in addition to a $17 million expenditure on advertising and marketing this year, making for the largest advertising push in the territory's history, according to Tourism Commissioner Pamela Richards.
A new "Sea to Shining Sea" campaign will have a patriotic theme designed to appeal to travelers who may feel more comfortable taking their vacations within the United States, she said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon at the Tourism Department offices on St. Thomas.
"It's a message of patriotism and solidarity with the United States," she said. "If the American people are willing to fly, we have a good chance of getting them to fly here."
Advertisements will begin this month, she said, with spots on television networks such as CNN, The Weather Channel and ESPN; newspaper ads; billboards in the largest cities on the East Coast; advertisements on 570 New York trains; and radio spots in the 12 largest markets of the East Coast and Midwest.
Some of the spots will feature a recorded message from Gov. Charles W. Turnbull, while music will be provided by the Territorial Court Rising Stars Steel Orchestra, Richards said.
The campaign has been developed in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which have wreaked havoc on the world-wide tourism industry. Locally, Labor Department officials have documented about 200 people laid off from hotels. Resort managers have reported severe slumps in occupancy and flood of cancellations for months to come.
Other Caribbean tourist destinations have also launched new marketing and incentive plans in the last two weeks in an attempt to lure guests to their islands.
"This is going to be a very, very competitive period we're entering," said Joe Slay of Martin Public Relations, the territory's mainland p.r. firm. Martin is coordinating the Virgin Islands campaign along with the territory's stateside advertising firm, Ogilvy & Mather in Atlanta.
Funding for the advertising campaign will come from the Tourism Advertising Revolving Fund, which was set up to support tourism promotion, Richards said. She added that the governor's financial officers have assured her the money will be available as it is needed.
The revolving fund has one source of revenue: the 8 percent room tax paid by hotel guests. The amount of revenue that goes into the fund depends on hotel occupancy levels. Local hoteliers have said that August and September were already unusually slow, even for what is typically the slowest time of the year in the territory, prior to Sept 11. Since then, there have been reports of occupancy dropping to as little as 10 percent to 15 percent.
Richards acknowledged that the terrorist attacks put the tourism industry in a crisis, but she said the airlines have reported that their flights have been getting fuller as time passes. "I'd say the glass is half full," she said of the prospects for the coming season. "Of course we're hurting, but we have an opportunity to recover. We've put together a plan, and if you don't have a plan, you're sure to fail."
At the press conference, Richards also said:
– A marketing campaign featuring Looney Tunes cartoon characters was successful and will be expanded to markets in Western Europe.
– The number of visitors to the Tourism Department website is up, with the site getting about 500,000 hits per month.
– Tourism officials have been trying to get in touch with NCAA officials to continue discussions about a proposed basketball tournament in the territory. Assistant Tourism Commissioner Monique Sibilly-Hodge said she expected to speak with NCAA officials Wednesday afternoon.

Oct. 3, 2001 – The V.I. government announced plans Wednesday to launch a $6.5 million advertising and marketing campaign to promote tourism in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks last month.
The new campaign will be in addition to a $17 million expenditure on advertising and marketing this year, making for the largest advertising push in the territory's history, according to Tourism Commissioner Pamela Richards.
A new "Sea to Shining Sea" campaign will have a patriotic theme designed to appeal to travelers who may feel more comfortable taking their vacations within the United States, she said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon at the Tourism Department offices on St. Thomas.
"It's a message of patriotism and solidarity with the United States," she said. "If the American people are willing to fly, we have a good chance of getting them to fly here."
Advertisements will begin this month, she said, with spots on television networks such as CNN, The Weather Channel and ESPN; newspaper ads; billboards in the largest cities on the East Coast; advertisements on 570 New York trains; and radio spots in the 12 largest markets of the East Coast and Midwest.
Some of the spots will feature a recorded message from Gov. Charles W. Turnbull, while music will be provided by the Territorial Court Rising Stars Steel Orchestra, Richards said.
The campaign has been developed in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which have wreaked havoc on tourism worldwide. Locally, Labor Department officials have documented about 200 people laid off from hotels. Resort managers have reported severe slumps in occupancy and a flood of cancellations for months to come.
Other Caribbean tourist destinations have also launched new marketing and incentive plans in the last two weeks in an attempt to lure guests to their islands.
"This is going to be a very, very competitive period we're entering," said Joe Slay of Martin Public Relations, the territory's mainland p.r. firm. Martin is coordinating the Virgin Islands campaign along with the territory's stateside advertising firm, Ogilvy & Mather in Atlanta.
Funding for the advertising campaign will come from the Tourism Revolving Fund, which was set up to support tourism promotion, Richards said. The governor's financial officers have assured her the money will be available as it is needed, she said.
The revolving fund has one source of revenue: the 8 percent room tax paid by hotel guests. The amount of money that goes into the fund depends on hotel occupancy levels. Local hoteliers have said that August and September were already unusually slow, even for what is typically the slowest time of the year in the territory, prior to Sept 11. Since then, there have been reports of occupancy dropping to as low as 10 percent to 15 percent.
Richards acknowledged that the terrorist attacks put the local tourism industry in a crisis but said the airlines have reported that flights have been getting fuller as time passes. "I'd say the glass is half full," she said of the prospects for the coming season. "Of course we're hurting, but we have an opportunity to recover. We've put together a plan, and if you don't have a plan, you're sure to fail."
At the press conference, Richards also said:
– A marketing campaign featuring Looney Tunes cartoon characters was successful and will be expanded to markets in Western Europe.
– The number of visitors to the Tourism Department website is up, with the site getting about 500,000 hits per month.
– Tourism officials have been trying to get in touch with NCAA officials to continue discussions about a proposed basketball tournament in the territory. Assistant Tourism Commissioner Monique Sibilly-Hodge said she expected to speak with NCAA officials Wednesday afternoon.

Oct. 4, 2001 — The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Virgin Islands collected about $1.3 million over the last year in civil and criminal debts owed to the federal government and third parties.
About $450,000 of the money came from two sources: the V.I. government and Ann Abramson, former Public Works commissioner and prominent St. Croix businesswoman. All of the funds were collected in fiscal year 2001, which ended Sept. 30.
The local government paid a $400,000 penalty for violating a federal wastewater consent decree that occurred in 1997, according to U.S. Attorney David Atkinson. Another $50,000 was collected from Abramson, 77, who along with the fine was sentenced to a 2-1/2-year prison term in August 2000 for making false claims and statements in connection with Federal Emergency Management Agency funds.
"The fines and penalties paid by those who have committed criminal offenses go right back into the community to assist crime victims through the Crime Victims Fund, which was established … in 1984," Atkinson said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office also collected $205,650 in restitution owed to the federal government, including $60,400 from CNA Enterprises and $97,000 from Glenn Wilcox owed to FEMA. Another $237,000 in restitution owed to third parties was collected, which included $84,000 from the sale of a debtor’s home and $98,500 from Claire and Derrick Romney.
The U.S. attorney also collected about $250,000 in seized assets. The asset-forfeiture program, which seizes the profits of people involved in drugs, fraud or money laundering, was instituted by the federal government in the 1980s.
Seized money under this program can be used for law enforcement purposes and for community groups dedicated to crime prevention, such as the Grove Place Weed and Seed program on St. Croix and its counterpart at Bovoni on St. Thomas.
Atkinson said his office will continue to go after all debts under its jurisdiction, particularly debtors who owe large amounts of money to the federal government. And federal officials will continue to use the enforcement tools available through the federal Debt Collection Procedure Act, including writs of execution, which allow the United States to take cash and other assets from a debtor and apply the proceeds toward the debts owed, he said.

Oct. 3, 2001 – Five grants totaling almost $8 million are headed for the Planning and Natural Resources Department (DPNR). The funds, from the U.S. Commerce Department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, come right on the heels of three grants totaling $900,000 from the same two agencies that were awarded a month ago.
Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) awarded DPNR's Fish and Wildlife Division a continuation grant for $62,300, to develop a cooperative program to determine the monthly commercial harvest in weight and dollar value of all marine commercial fishing resources landed in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
NOAA has also awarded DPNR a new grant for the Coastal Zone Management program in the amount of $100,000, to provide for expanded coral reef monitoring. A NOAA grant last year was for establishing methods of collecting data and assessing reef systems; the new one will expand monitoring sites around St. Thomas and St. John. The local CZM program has just received one of four non-monetary Walter B. Jones awards for, among other things, being "effective in advancing the goals of the federal CZM act."
DPNR's Division of Environmental Protection has received three grants from the EPA:
– $1,221,605, a partial award for a grant earmarked to implement an integrated and comprehensive environmental program.
– $58,694, to assist in developing the Beach Monitoring and Notification Program.
– $6,374,076, a supplemental amendment to last year's $406,854 grant for capital improvements to drinking water systems. The expiration date for this grant was extended to Sept. 30, 2005.

Oct. 3, 2001 – Glen Smith, former president of the St. Thomas-St. John Federation of Teachers, is now earning $60,000 a year as director of labor relations for the Labor Department.
The salary was disclosed Wednesday by Kevin Rodriquez, assistant director of Personnel, in response to a written request from the Source.
The post is an exempt position, which means it falls outside the classified system of government jobs for which salaries are set by law. Instead, the governor decides the salary, generally on the recommendation of the agency or department head. An exempt employee serves at the pleasure of the governor and does not have the job protection of a classified worker.
Smith is working directly under his longtime teachers union colleague, recently approved Labor Commissioner Cecil Benjamin, who for many years was president of the St. Croix Federation of Teachers. Smith ended his long tenure as president of the St. Thomas-St. John union on Aug. 31 and joined the department last week.

Oct. 3, 2001 – Under legislation introduced in Congress Tuesday, a one-year program of economic relief for small businesses affected by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks would extend to companies outside the geographically designated areas if they can show economic injury as a result of the events. Thus, Delegate Donna Christian Christensen said Wednesday, V.I. businesses, whether tourist-related or not, could be eligible for its benefits.
The Small Business Emergency Relief Act will allow qualifying businesses access to enhanced disaster-loan program assistance available through the U.S. Small Business Administration. The program, comparable to those made available in the territory after federal disasters were declared because of Hurricanes Hugo, Marilyn and Bertha, would provide loans below the current 4 percent interest rate and, in some cases, interest-free loans to businesses.
Also, the act would provide relief for businesses with existing SBA loans that are unable to make payments on schedule as a result of physical or economic injury. The SBA would be authorized to provide a reprieve of up to one year for such payments, and, on a case-by-case basis, the SBA administrator would have the authority to forgive existing loans and to waive the cap for new ones.
Christensen joined her colleagues on the House Committee on Small Business in introducing the measure. "This is just one of the measures being considered by the Congress to bring relief to businesses outside the disaster zone," she said in a release. "Other avenues are being explored that may spell relief for our tourism industry in the Virgin Islands."

Oct. 3, 2001 – Although the Legislature has appropriated some $350,000 to set up a kidney dialysis unit at the Myrah Keating Smith Community Health Center, members of the facility's advisory committee questioned on Wednesday whether the project is feasible.
Erica McDonald, health center administrator, told the committee at its regular monthly meeting that $150,000 was appropriated in a supplemental budget bill in the final weeks of Fiscal Year 2001. Then, she said, she read in a newspaper that the Senate had appropriated an additional $200,000 in the Fiscal Year 2002 budget it passed last week.
She said no one from the Senate contacted her to ask if the health center needed the equipment.
McDonald said it would cost $500,000 to set up a dialysis unit. She could not estimate how much it would cost annually to keep it running. "There has to be money dedicated to making it happen every day for the rest of the life of the facility. We're not doing this halfway," she said.
According to McDonald, the center would have to hire a nephrologist (a physician who specializes in kidney disease) and look at issues such as water quality, staff training, the number of patients to be served and transportation needs. She said she was not willing to open a dialysis unit if it would take money away from other services at Myrah Keating Smith.
The advisory committee voted to ask the chief executive officer at Roy L. Schneider Hospital, which has oversight for the St. John center, to determine the feasibility of such an undertaking before any work begins.
"St. Johnians need dialysis, but the issue is where are they going to get it from — St. John or St. Thomas?" advisory committee member Jose Penn said.
Currently, they must go to Schneider Hospital for treatment, a trip that most patients find tiring. The advisory committee in the past has proposed that all of the dialysis patients be transported at one time to Schneider Hospital in a vehicle provided by the health center. But McDonald said the patients indicated they preferred to make the trip at their own convenience, rather than as a group.
After the meeting, McDonald allowed that such a sum of money as the Legislature has appropriated could be used to address the needs of more people than just the four to six St. John residents who are on dialysis. "Their struggle is real," she said, "but can we take this on?"

Oct. 3, 2001 – With a mooring and anchoring fee program in the wind, V.I. National Park officials are asking for public input at two meetings scheduled on St. John. The first will be an evening session, from 7 to 9 p.m. Oct. 15 at the Legislature building. The other will be a morning forum, from 7:30 to 9 a.m. Oct. 18 in the third-floor meeting area at the Marketplace.
While park officials wants to know boaters' and residents' opinions, they also want to hear from companies interested in bidding on contracts to collect the money.
Acting park planner Jim Owens said they want to know what companies propose before deciding on the scope of the contract. He said it might play out that one company gets the contract for the entire park, with subcontractors working the various bays, or the job might be divided up geographically among several firms.
"There's going to be some physical limitations on how many places you can get to," Owens said, referring to the need for the contractor to go from boat to boat, day to day, to collect the fees.
There are 182 overnight moorings in park waters. Owens said the park's vessel management plan, now in its final stages of development, calls for overnight fees of $12 for mooring use and $8 for anchoring in park waters. "Day use will continue to be free," he said.
Park officials plan to start collecting mooring fees in early 2002. The use of a contractor to carry out the work comes under the park's commercial services plan which took effect in July.
Officials also want to know if any companies holding commercial services permits — which allow them to operate within the park — are interested in hiring a park ranger for their visitor tours. Owens said some tour operators have indicated they would do so if rangers were available. He estimated it would cost about $35 an hour to hire a ranger. If there is a demand, "We will expand the interpretative ranger staff," he said.
In addition to expressing views at the upcoming meetings, anyone may fill out a questionnaire that addresses the mooring and anchoring fees as well as the availability of rangers for hire. Copies of the questionnaires are available at Connections in Cruz Bay and Coral Bay, as well as from Owens. They must be submitted by Oct. 31. Owens can be reached by telephone at 776-6201, ext. 247, or by e- mail to npplanning@islands.vi.