Spyro Gyra Travel Package
The Riechhold Center for the Arts is offering a travel package to attend the Spyro Gyra jazz concert. From St. Croix the package cost is $260 and from San Juan the cost is $280. The package includes, roundtrip airfare on Seabourne Airlines, one concert ticket, hotel accommodations, continental breakfast and ground transportation. To reserve your package, call 693-1563.
World Food Day food fair
"World Food Day" will take place Sunday, Oct. 14 on the St. Croix campus. To get applications for food vendor booths, call Evannie Jeremiah at 692 – 4094 or Sarah Smith at 692 – 4084. The deadline is Oct. 5.
UVI Annual Fund Kickoff
The UVI Annual Fund Drive 2001 – 2002 will hold a "Kick- Off" reception on St. Croix at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 2, in the Villa Morales Restaurant and on St. Thomas, at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 3,in the Petite Pump Room. All are welcome. Please rsvp by Friday, Sept. 28, at 693 – 1042 or 692 – 4023.
Agriculture Food Fair
The 20th annual Agriculture and Food Fair will be held on Saturday and Sunday Nov. 17 and 18 on the grounds of the Reichhold Center for the Arts. Applications are available and due by Friday, Oct. 12. If you need more information call 774 – 5182 or 693 1080.
UVI Fall Semester Concert
The UVI Music Department will hold a fall semester concert entitled "Let Freedom Ring" featuring UVI’s concert band under the direction of Professor Austin A. Venzen on Saturday, Oct. 20, at 8 p.m. at the Methodist Church in Market Square. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased from the UVI Bookstore, the UVI Humanities office and from UVI Band Members.

Sept. 29, 2001 – A "Who's Who" of Virgin Islands commercial boat owners and operators gathered Friday morning at the St. Thomas Ritz-Carlton Resort to meet with local and regional Coast Guard inspectors at an event billed as Small Passenger Vessel Industry Day 2001.
Hosted by the Coast Guard's Marine Safety Detachment on St. Thomas, it attracted nearly 90 individuals representing most of the 130 Coast Guard-inspected small commercial vessels in the territory. Cmdr. Joseph A Servidio, who commands the Marine Safety Office in San Juan, and his chief inspector, Lt. Cmdr. Elmer Emeric, flew to St. Thomas to take part.
Lt. John Reinert, supervisor of the St. Thomas detachment, told the gathering, "By bringing the small passenger vessel community together at venues like this one, we hope the regulations can be explained, questions can be answered and ideas can be heard." The day's presentation, he added, "was targeted at small commercial inspected-vessel operators, both domestic and international."
The fast-paced agenda included slide-show augmented presentations on the Coast Guard's long-standing requirements relating to safe, clean and responsible commercial boat operation. Also addressed in detail were the vessel-inspection cycles required of commercial boat owners and the maintaining of vessels in a continuous state of compliance. Participants were encouraged to ask questions throughout the morning in a constructive, informal give-and-take environment.
According to Servidio, "These types of dialogues, training sessions and industry meetings are among the best ways we can move away from a high-casualty boating environment."
Of special interest to many local commercial captains were amendments to the international Standard of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) commercial boating regulations that will come into full effect next February. These amendments require many local captains holding master's licenses and carrying passengers to and from the British Virgin Islands to obtain additional safety endorsements on those licenses.
Most notably affected will be the many public and private ferry boat owners and operators engaged in routine business between the U.S. and British Virgin Islands. Emeric said, "We will begin looking for these STCW license endorsements in February."
"Even if you anticipate wanting an STCW endorsement later on in the future," Servidio told his audience, "it would behoove you to go through the licensing process now, because after the February 2002 date, it will be more difficult and expensive to obtain." He explained that at present, for captains holding master's licenses and serving international routes, "there is a gap where there are only a limited number of things you have to do. Starting in February 2002, those will expand."
Reinert expressed satisfaction with the day's turnout, saying, "I think we are going to make this an annual event." He noted that there is no separate orientation planned for St. Croix, as "the inspected vessel community is not nearly as large as it is here in the St. Thomas/St. John area."

Sept. 29, 2001 – At a meeting Friday to finalize plans for the coming charter season, local and regional marine stalwarts agreed that the V.I. chartering industry is alive and showing signs of good health, despite turndowns in other tourism areas in light of recent world events.
Sen. Lorraine L. Berry said in a Thursday press release "that the Virgin Islands should give a prayer of thanks to our marine industry." In talks with "leading members of the yachting industry," including the Virgin Islands Charteryacht League executive director, Susan Chandler, Berry said, she learned "that not only have charter yacht bookings not been canceled, but that they have increased." The senator she said she felt especially thankful "in view of the fact that the territory has not always been overly friendly to the boating community."
Chandler confirmed that the season has not felt any backlash from the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks on the U.S. mainland. The VICL, representing 82 term-charter and 90 day-charter vessels, has referred "10 term-charter bookings to local brokers during the last two weeks," she said, and has "not received any cancellations."
Also, Chandler said, the VICL Fall Charterboat Show, an annual event to show off crewed charter vessels between 45 and 105 feet in length to charter brokers, "filled up early this year." She's now placing boats on a standby list for the Crown Bay Marina event.
Berry met informally Friday morning with Chandler; the commanding officer of the Coast Guard Marine Safety Office in San Juan, Cmdr. Joseph A. Servidio; and the Virgin Islands Marine Industries Association acting president, Rik Van Rensselaer. Her objective, Berry said, was to encourage their ongoing plans to systematically return the local marine industry to its former importance in the V.I. economy.
The news of increased marine activity, including the imminent return of the cruise ship Norway, "amounting to millions of dollars in revenues, is particularly gratifying in view of the hotel industry's dire predictions of economic disaster," Berry said in her release. She renewed her commitment to support legislation "friendly to the boating community."
Servidio, who was on St. Thomas Friday hosting a small passenger vessel seminar at the Ritz-Carlton St. Thomas Resort, reported "district level Coast Guard approval" of a proposal advanced by the Marine Advisory Taskforce Group, which Van Rensselaer chairs.
As a result, Servidio said, inspectors from the St. Thomas Marine Safety Detachment will be looking at the first two uninspected 65-foot Irwin "overnight charter yachts" with a eye to establishing a specialized local-equivalency certification moving them in the future into the ranks of annually inspected vessels that typically carry eight to 12 guests.
The goal, Van Rensselaer said, is to "create a level playing field" between yachts homeported in the U.S. Virgin Islands and those in the British Virgin Islands, so as to encourage "large charter vessels to homeport here in the USVI." In the neighboring B.V.I. the international standard allows at least 12 guests on all charter yachts.
According to Van Rensselaer, "in 1988, the USVI was the charter yacht capital of the world, putting a hundred million dollars into the local economy — with a goal of two hundred million by the year 2000." Of course, he added, "It did not happen, and by 1992 the industry had been reduced to $20 million."

Sept. 29, 2001 – The enduring Hull Bay Hideaway, in case you didn't know, is under relatively new ownership, and the owners — Dan Perry and David Stuedell — are keeping up the traditions of the North Side beach bar and restaurant while starting some new ones of their own.
Perry and Stuedell, who've both lived on St. Thomas for nearly 20 years ("with much of that time spent in Hull Bay," Perry notes) took over June 1. They're featuring live music on Sundays and recently hosted an inter-island horseshoe tournament. And they'll soon be renting surfboards, along with other watersports gear.
This Sunday, the music makers are Umanatee — the duo of longtime locals Kate Rake and Kevin McFarland. They'll be performing folk, blues, reggae and more from 4 to 9 p.m., and yeah, the dance floor will be open.
Also on Sunday, the Hideaway is introducing Dan's pizza, which from now on will be available daily from 5 p.m.. ("We plan on offering very low prices for our introductory period," Perry says, declining to be more specific.)
Perry is the managing partner, with Stuedell on site when he's not fishing or at his day job with Innovative. "We've been having live music for nearly 10 weeks now," Perry says, featuring not only Umanatee but such other acts as Nicky Russell, the Frenchman's Hill Band and the Bareback Riders — and the band Obsession for the Bastille Day Kingfish Tournament.
"Our goal is to get the old Hideaway atmosphere back, and these guys have helped move us in that direction — lots of audience participation and a very casual family atmosphere," Perry says.
Meantime, the menu: They've been serving several different styles of barbecue with picnic-style seating. The main restaurant is to reopen by Nov. 1, Perry said. The Surf Bar should be up and running in two to three weeks, with kayak, surfboard and snorkeling gear available for rental.
A flea market is scheduled for next Saturday, and a big Coast Weeks beach cleanup is coming soon, Perry says. And meanwhile, there's "lots of renovating going on."
If you'd like to know more, check out the restaurant's web site at www.hullbay.com.

Sept. 29, 2001 – What the government describes as "temporary repairs" are under way at the collapsed section of Crown Mountain Road (Route 33) by the trash bins west of Lulu's Cafe and will continue through Monday.
Majestic Construction crew members are working at the site between 7 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. daily, and the work is requiring the periodic closing of one lane of the road in the immediate area, known as Man-O-War Gut. However, two-way traffic is being maintained with the use of flag and sign personnel, a Government House press release stated.
"The motoring public is advised to drive cautiously through this area and reduce speed to 5 mph and be prepared to stop when necessary," the release said.
The section of the well-traveled roadway is subject to flooding in times of heavy rain and runoff. The shoulder of the road bed collapsed into the adjacent deep ravine nearly two years ago when Hurricane Lenny passed through the territory. Since then, sawhorses have been set up around the broken asphalt to alert motorists to danger.

Anyone who is interested in learning about the Baha'i Faith is welcome to attend an introductory meeting at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 3, at the Baha'i National Center in Contant.
For more information and directions call Cathy Von Gonten at 774-3712.

Anyone who is intrested in learning about the Bahai'i Faith is welcome to attend an introductory meeting at 7;30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 3, at the Baha'i National Center in Contant.
For moreimformation and directions call Cathy Von Gonten at 774-3712.

Dear Source,
For the past two weeks, I have been working 12- to 14-hour days at the Family Assistance Center at Pier 94 on New York City's West Side. Hundreds of people visit the center daily. I have been assisting in the coordination of volunteers who are helping the American Red Cross in giving immediate financial gifts to the families of victims with near-term financial needs for such things as mortgage or rent payments, utility bills and funeral and related expenses, as well as for transportation, food, clothing and other time-sensitive and uncovered expenses.
Red Cross caseworkers interview affected families each day; trained mental health workers sit at many of the tables, helping victims talk about their losses. With the tireless dedication of almost 20,000 disaster relief workers, the Red Cross has provided safe refuge for more than 4,000 people in 76 shelters, and served 1.6 million meals and snacks to survivors, emergency personnel and stranded travelers throughout the United States.
The Red Cross also is providing spiritual counselors and mental health workers for those families requesting death certificates. Despite the immense sadness within the walls of the assistance center at Pier 94, so many of those who sit in the waiting areas display strength and resilience. They share their stories of loss with each other and with strangers, and they say they are determined to recover. The people of New York have really come to together. The police officers and rescue workers are amazing! The private and public sectors are working together to rebuild the City of New York.
I am so proud to be a part of this recovery process. I am very grateful to my employers, St. Thomas Dairies and the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce, for allowing me to take these few weeks off to volunteer. At times I have been overwhelmed with grief for those who have lost so much, and I get a little homesick for my beautiful island by the sea. But I find strength in a Higher Power and the common bond that unites us all at this recovery center: the desire to help those in need!
As our organization's president, Dr. Bernadine Healey, shared with us yesterday, "The American Red Cross has a tremendous responsibility — to live up to the inspiration and memory of those lost. Although the recent tragedy has touched all of us, it has touched these families in a very personal way. It is with great humility and pride that we carry out this noble obligation to serve the American people at this time of great need."
Thank you to all who have been so supportive! From ground zero …
Priscilla Hintz
St. Thomas

Editor's note: We welcome and encourage readers to keep the dialogue going by responding to Source commentary. Letters should be e-mailed with name and place of residence to source@viaccess.net.

Sept. 29, 2001 — As the country reels in the aftermath of catastrophic terrorist attacks on the mainland, the territory’s top two leaders are sniping at each other over office location.
On Thursday, Gov. Charles W. Turnbull announced that for security reasons he was ordering Lt. Gov. Gerard Luz James II to move his administrative offices from the newly renovated Government House on St. Croix. Turnbull said the move was spurred by concerns of security experts in Washington, D.C., and in the territory. Turnbull has both a residence and an office in the historic Christiansted building, while James has an office.
In a statement Thursday, Turnbull said it is standard security practice for a chief executive and the next in the chain of command to avoid traveling together on the same airplane, boat or other carrier, or occupying the same working environment for long periods of time.
On Friday morning, however, James held a lengthy press conference to refute Turnbull’s claim that the move was ordered from "higher-ups." And he flatly refused to relocate his office, which he moved into about 10 months ago.
"I have no intention of moving out of Government House," James said.
James said that after learning of Turnbull's order to move, he called the offices of eight other lieutenant governors around the country, including Gov. Jeb Bush's second in command in Florida, to find out if they had been told what Turnbull had said. He said they had not.
In fact, James said, except for Virginia, all of the offices of those governors and lieutenant governors are housed in the same building, sometimes even on the same floor.
"I think it is ironic that Jeb Bush, the brother of President Bush, wouldn’t receive the same information Gov. Turnbull received," James said.
But Turnbull reiterated his position Friday afternoon, saying he was in personal contact with the U.S. Secret Service, in the presence of local security personnel, about security issues, including moving the lieutenant governor’s office.
"At this critical time when our entire nation, including the Virgin Islands, is under attack and all Americans are uniting to fight terror and fear, I will not engage in any unseemly dispute with Lt. Gov. Gerard Luz James II," Turnbull said in the opening lines of a release Friday. He said the Secret Service fully endorsed the security plan.
Since they formed a political team in 1998, Turnbull and James have had several public spats. They disagreed over the Beal Aerospace deal and Southern Energy’s bid to purchase the Water and Power Authority.
They also had a dispute over the rededication of the Christiansted Government House last year, something James alluded to on Friday.
That disagreement centered on tickets to the rededication ceremony and James’s refusal to attend because he wasn’t initially given the amount of passes he wanted. At the time, James said the move was orchestrated by Turnbull and was a sign of the disrespect that the governor’s St. Thomas staff has for St. Croix.
"It’s someone’s intent to make me angry … and get me out of Government House," James said Friday. "I think they want me completely out of the territory." He added, "I am not getting into a power struggle. If there is, I will regress."
James said the reason he moved his office into Government House in the first place was to save taxpayers' money. His former Christiansted office, about a block up King Street from Government House, still houses the Office of Banking and Insurance and the Tax Assessor’s Office, which fall under the auspices of the lieutenant governor. He said there is no more room there for his office.
In their back-and-forths over the relocation, both men said there are more pressing issues to focus on, such as the economic fallout caused by the terror attacks, crime in the territory and other issues.
Asked if he would share the ticket with Turnbull in a re-election bid next year, James said, "We have not reached that road yet."

Sept. 28, 2001 – Coming in just under the wire, the Senate approved a new health insurance package for government workers Friday in a special session called by Gov. Charles Turnbull to ratify the contract.
The government's current contract with Blue Cross-Blue Shield expires Sunday. Under the new plan, Connecticut General Life Insurance Co. (CIGNA) will supply medical insurance, and Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.( MetLife) will provide dental coverage. The contract takes effect at 12:01 a.m. Sunday, when the previous contract expires.
The plan covers about 30,000 government employees, retirees and dependents.
Paulette Rabsatt, chair of the Government Employees Service Commission/Health Insurance board, testified on the contract. So did other board members, representatives of the insurance carriers and the Division of Personnel, and Ira Mills, director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Rabsatt called the new plan "the best the market has to offer." The GESC is responsible for drawing up insurance contracts and for the operation of the government health insurance plan.
Most of the senators complained about having only two days to study the new contract. It was delivered to the Senate at mid-day Tuesday, four and a half days before the current coverage would expire. It arrived with Gov. Charles W. Turnbull's message that "It is imperative that we ratify the new contracts to avoid any disruption of service to our employees."
Rabsatt gave a lengthy, detailed explanation, which Senate President Almando "Rocky" Liburd later referred to as her "dissertation." She compared the old and new contracts and reviewed the history of the negotiations, characterizing this year as having been a "perpetual state of negotiations."
The new contract, estimated at $59.4 million, represents premiums for medical and prescription drugs under a fully insured arrangement of $55.4 million, plus dental coverage of $4 million. Turnbull ordered that there be no increases in employee premiums, a decision consistent with what he did last year.
The contract includes prescription drug coverage, something that the government had to administer separately before. CIGNA offers the same deductible for services on the mainland or in Puerto Rico as it does for services in the territory — $50 to $150 within network services. The current plan has a deductible of $250 to $500 both in and out of "network" — the group of doctors the carrier recognizes.
The territory has had a long and rocky ride with Blue Cross/Blue Shield, winding up in court at one juncture in August when a class-action lawsuit was filed against the company alleging that the it was wrongfully rejecting claims of retired public workers.
The suit was filed in the St. Thomas district by Maria Tankenson Hodge, a partner at the law firm of Hodge & Francois, on behalf of Gloria Davis, Gerald Hodge Sr. and Lawrence Hodge, who is Tankenson Hodge’s husband. She said the action was triggered by Blue Cross/Blue Shield's refusal to pay claims to retired workers receiving Social Security who are eligible for Medicare. The case, which could impact on some 4,000 people aged 65 and older, including spouses, is pending.
The Blue Cross/Blue Shield contract was to have expired Sunday, the last day of the 2001 fiscal year. But is has been extended several times because of the failure of the government and the company to negotiate a new contract.
The board learned a year ago that it would be facing a $9 million increase because of increasing claims in the territory, and this set off the series of negotiations.
Last January, the governor approved a revised plan design that the board had worked on with Blue Cross/Blue Shield. The target date was moved to April 2001, and then July 2001.
Finally, in the face of escalating Blue Cross/Blue Shield terms, the board obtained permission to shop for a new carrier. Although barely three months remained before the current contract expired, Rabsatt said, this step was the "lesser of two evils."
None of the board members wanted to be back before the Legislature to explain that a scaled-down Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan was the best they could do, Rabsatt said.
The board sent out 19 requests for bids on June 28. They got 11 responses, which they narrowed down to four before deciding on CIGNA, she said.
James White, CIGNA national account executive, told the senators his company will not only assure the appropriate level of care and intervention but also simplify administrative processes. Responding to questions from Sen. Emmett Hansen II, he said CIGNA, a Fortune 500 company, would be willing to initiate public health education programs, but they would be neither free nor part of the contract.
Asked which carrier would have responsibility for patients now in the midst of a treatment program, White and Rabsatt said Blue Cross/Blue Shield would cover current commitments and CIGNA would pick up where other policies left off.
White said the economic effects of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the mainland would not affect the Virgin Islands coverage. "I know the insurance companies are covering huge losses," Sen. David Jones said. White said policies are individually rated, not a "pool product," and the territory wouldn't be affected.
Jeff Trinkwon, regional manager for MetLife institutional sales, said his company's turnaround time for in-house claims is less than 10 business days — and 70 to 90 percent of those claims are adjudicated within two to four business days.
Rabsatt said the new plan is very close to the current plan, with some enhancements, including these:
– A flat co-pay of $15 for standard office visits and preventive care. Within the CIGNA network, this means the total responsibility of the insured for services is limited to $15, and the insurer pays 100 percent of the scheduled benefit payments for those services.
– Waiving of the $15 co-pay for pediatric immunizations up to age 2.
– No deductible for X-ray and laboratory services if billed by a separate provider within the network.
– Inclusion of an annual eye examination.
The contract was approved on a 12-0 vote with three absent. Sens. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg and Vargrave Richards were excused; Sen. Adelbert Bryan was absent.
Liburd is yet to act on filling the two Senate posts from which Bryan resigned on Tuesday — vice president of the 24th Legislature and chair of the Economic Development, Agriculture and Consumer Protection Committee. Bryan quit after his proposal to form a new economic commission headed by himself was voted down.