The Tropical Masqueraders wowed the crowd in front of Post Office Square with a precision routine that had the troupe up and down and all around in perfect unison.

It was 21st Century technology that saved the day for V.I. Carnival J'Ouvert Y2K.
Thousands of revelers — some having spent the night "pre-j'ouvert" partying — are ready to fill Veterans Drive along the Waterfront at the appointed step-off hour of 4 a.m.
They will wait more than three hours for the start of the romping musical tramp from the Fort Christian parking lot to Sub Base. Positive Image is cranking up the bass by 6 a.m. but by the time the bands line up on the road, it's after 7. And then the immensely popular Jam Band finds itself with a crippled generator.
No power, no sound. No energy for electric guitar and keyboard. No electricity to drive the massive speakers mounted on the truck.
No J'Ouvert, says band leader Nick Friday. "We fixed up our truck from yesterday. . . When we came up, some of our amps were missing, and they took the idle switch from the generator, so we weren't able to play this morning. It's best we stop," he says.
The truck pulls out of the route and onto a bus stop while rival Imaginations Brass rolls by, fans dancing and waving behind them.
Imagi starts the tramp with this year's hit "Not a Man Move."
A few feet away, Jam Band devotees stand sullenly by.
Just when it appears the tramp, having started late, will end early, a Jam Band member whips out a cellular phone and makes an impassioned plea. About 15 minutes later, a pickup truck rolls up the service road past the Hard Rock Cafe with a new generator.
The crowd goes wild. The technicians go to work. A group of revelers sits patiently plopped on the road. Friday and his band members pass out cold drinks to a crowd waiting by the truck.
A few minutes later the band is on the road.
The band leader thanks his boisterous, if sometimes violent, fans for their patience and peacefulness while repairs were being made.
Then they all dance away under the risen sun.
While most of the revelers called it a morning around 10:30, some were still wining and waving towels around their favorite music makers by Addelita Cancryn Junior High School at a quarter to noon. Police later reported two "incidents" — the arrest around 6 a.m. in Emancipation Garden of a 17-year-old found to be carrying a gun and some marijuana, and a stabbing around 9 a.m. on Veterans Drive near the V.I. Lottery offices.
In a way, J'Ouvert has come to be the first of three big parades that constitute the "Last Lap" of the V.I. Carnival season. But while the Children's and Adults Parades are primarily spectator events, the planned-for-predawn tramp led by popular dance bands on flatbed trucks has been the people's parade where everyone can let it all hang out. 'Twas so in the 20th Century, and seems so still in the 21st.

On Friday afternoon before a crowd of thousands at the Clinton E. Phipps Racetrack, the Carnival 2000 races rode into the sunset, not without controversy. It was a seven-card race day with horses from St. Thomas, St. Croix and Tortola taking part.
Race number one was a six furlong, five-horse affair with a $2,500 purse. Prom Queen passed the finish line first. However a foul was called. Sandhill, owned and trained by Mack Mercer, was ruled the winner with Jockey Carmelo Hernandez on board to start the race day.
Race number two was a seven furlong, six-horse competition with a purse of $2,800. This race featured Ivelisse Jimenez, a 23- year-old female jockey, making her debut at the racetrack.
Jimenez, aboard Diplomatic Jeb, trailed after the second turn coming into the backstretch. However, Diplomatic Jeb eventually made his move and over took the field in the final turn. Jimenez rode Diplomatic Jeb to a five length victory in a time of 1:29 2/5.
The controversy started with race three. It was originally a six-horse field with a $3,500 purse. However, two of the three St. Croix entries were scratched. One of them, Kiko G, owned by Louis Hughes and trained by Calvert "Waco" Charleswell slated to be ridden by Puerto Rican jockey Joel Hiraldo. However, the Puerto Rican Jockey Club suspended Hiraldo in November for two years for using an illegal electronic device. Race officials initially ruled that he was an ineligible rider. An irate Charleswell argued with the officials, but to no avail. Kiko G was scratched from the race.
The race ran with the three remaining horses. El Cocodrillo, owned and trained by Elridge Creque, took an early lead at the first turn of this one-mile encounter. El Cocodrillo, ridden by Christian Soto, was never challenged again, winning with a time of 1:41 2/5.
By race four, a six furlong, $3,000 mare and filly handicap, race officials changed their minds about Hiraldo. Gilbert Comissiong, chairman of the St. Thomas Racing Commission, explained "there are not enough jockeys to keep a six horse race field." Thus, the race officials decided to allow Hiraldo to ride.
This race was no contest as Belden's Bluff, owned by Jose "Crash" Kean Jr., trained by Creque and ridden by Hernandez, ran first wire to wire to win with a time of 1:12 3/5. Sen. Lorraine Berry sponsored this race.
Race number five, the six-furlong, $4,400 sprint classic ran with a five-horse field. Hiraldo mounted Roaring River, owned by Steven "Champie" Lewis and trained by Charleswell. Make Me jumped out in front initially. However, Dr. Ira K and Roaring River picked him down on the backstretch. Roaring River then out lasted the field to win the race with a time of 1:12 1/5.
Lewis noted that Roaring River had "more class, a better jockey and better training". Lewis also stated that he told Hiraldo to "stay with the field and let him go down the homestretch". The next race for Roaring River is Memorial Day on St. Croix.
Lewis, Charleswell and Hiraldo teamed up again for the Governor's Cup, a one-mile, $5,500 sixth and featured race. Race officials took no chances, inspecting all the horses and jockeys in the middle of the track instead of in the paddock area. "We wanted to leave no stones unturned," noted Comissiong.
This race lived up to its billing. All six horses stayed within contention thoughout this race. However, Tar Buggy, the trio's entry, was not to be denied as he held off all challenges to win the prize presented by Gov. Charles Turnbull and Lt. Gov. Gerald "Luz" James fot a time of 1:40 2/5.
In the final race, another one-mile, six-horse encounter, Tortola salvaged a victory and claimed the $4,500 purse. Game Buster, ridden by Ricaldo Jadoo, held off all challenges by the field. He ran in front from wire to wire, winning in a time of 1:41 1/5.

Amid the hoopla and hustle of V.I. Carnival this week, news of the arrest of a children's activities supervisor at a St. Thomas resort on charges of raping a 9-year-old girl got secondary coverage in the local news media.
The accused, also a suspect in another case said to involve a 10-year-old girl, was charged with aggravated rape of the 9-year-old, and according to a Justice Department release, local authorities are also contacting families of other children placed under the defendant's care at the resort.
Keeping in mind that the person accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, the charges are deeply disturbing.
But even more disturbing are the responses of the criminal justice system, government tourism and public relations officials and local and corporate resort authorities.
The Justice Department release describing the arrest and efforts to contact other families who had stayed at the resort stated: "Families residing in the Virgin Islands need not be concerned."
Amy Atkinson, V.I. account supervisor for the territory's mainland public relations agency, Martin Public Relations, was quoted as saying, "Back in the states, unfortunately, you hear about these things in daycare frequently. The whole destination isn't going to be taking the fall for one person." Further, she was quoted, the day after news of the arrest came out, "I have not heard any negative reports from the stateside media. . . St. Thomas is known as being a family-friendly island."
Tourism Commissioner-designate Rafael Jackson was quoted as saying the quick investigation and arrest "speaks well of the concern we have for this kind of occurrence."
Management at the resort in question, the Wyndham Sugar Bay Beach Club, has referred all media questions to management at the Dallas, Tex., corporate headquarters of the Wyndham chain, which manages the resort for private owners. A Wyndham spokesman has said only that it will not comment, "other than to say that we are cooperating with the investigation."
It should be noted that none of these comments consisted of shooting from the hip. They all came from professionals accustomed to communicating with the public and the news media who had time to gather their thoughts before they opened their mouths or typed or approved their releases.
We have a problem here that is bigger than the rape of a child by a person entrusted with the care of children.
Families in the Virgin Islands need, indeed, be concerned. If not for their own children, who by implication would not have come in contact with the accused, then for the children of our paying guests, for two reasons: First, they are human beings, too. Second, they are the last hope this territory has of finding its way out of the mire of fiscal irresponsibility and non-accountability that is at long last about to throw government workers out of work.
The fact that children are raped in daycare situations on the mainland "frequently" in no way justifies or minimizes the alleged rape of a single child by a single caregiver in the Virgin Islands. And, as a matter of fact, yes, "the whole destination" may well "take the fall" for this one alleged incident — regardless of how the criminal justice system may ultimately resolve the matter. It only takes one case, no matter how aberrational, to change the "family-friendly" image of a small island.
Jackson's mistake was one of omission. What he was quoted as saying was appropriate, but he could have — and should have — said a lot more, addressing not the facts but the feelings of the hospitality industry and the community he represents to our visitors and potential visitors.
The corporate silence of the resort and the hotel chain are doubtless the result of the advice of high-priced legal counsel — lawyers who don't want their clients saying anything to the media that could conceivably be used against them in court. Better they should listen to their public relations experts about the public perceptions that are promoted when legitimate and deeply felt concerns are met with a wall of silence that sounds a lot like indifference.
In all of these cases, those commenting could take some cues from the classic textbook case of responsible "crisis public relations." It's all about how Johnson & Johnson responded publicly after containers of its product Tylenol, which accounted for 37 percent of the over-the- counter pain-killer market nationwide, were found to be the source of poison that killed seven people in the Chicago area in 1982.
Essentially, the company, under the guidance of its public relations agency, Burson- Marsteller, did three things, in order:
– It said, in essence, "This is terrible."
– It said, in essence, "We're sorry it happened."
– It said, in ongoing detail, "Here's what we are doing to make sure it doesn't happen again."
Note that the company did not say that it was in any way at fault. But it acknowledged that a problem existed and that it was committed to doing something about it. First, however, it let the public know in no uncertain terms that it cared. What next was needed was "immediate action to protect the consumer," Johnson & Johnson's vice president for public relations at the time said later, "and there wasn't the slightest hesitation about being completely open with the news media."
The company quickly recalled two batches of the pain-killer and later withdrew it completely across the nation. Public opinion polling kept the corporate executives up to date on how people felt about its efforts. Pulling the product off the shelves cost $100 million, but the company was seen as acting responsibly. Well-planned sales and media outreach efforts preceded the eventual redistribution of Tylenol — which immediately reclaimed a 24 percent share of the market and eventually became again the nation's best-selling brand.
The territory has been losing overnight visitor volume since 1988. These years have seen the arrival of Hurricanes Hugo and Marilyn and the departure of Pan American, Eastern and Midway airlines, which tend to get the blame. But they have also seen intermittent and isolated crimes against tourists — including murders, permanent injuries and rapes — that have been met by authorities and public relations people with the moral dismissal that "crime occurs everywhere" and the naive assumption that "it won't make any difference."
Of course other places have the same problems. But the Virgin Islands has largely made its living for four decades by encouraging people to leave those places to get away from those problems. Our crime concerns should be not for damage control but for the pain of the victims and for what can and must be done to protect others. Tourists vote with their feet — by vacationing where they choose. But by the time those ballots are cast, it's too late for the losers to do anything but weep.

Editor's note: Jean Etsinger is a Source editor.
For news coverage of the charges filed against the resort employee, click here to go to the main page of St. Thomas Source.

Amid the hoopla and hustle of V.I. Carnival this week, news of the arrest of a children's activities supervisor at a local resort on charges of raping a 9-year-old girl got secondary coverage in the local news media.
The accused, also a suspect in another case said to involve a 10-year-old girl, was charged with aggravated rape of the 9-year-old, and according to a Justice Department release, local authorities are also contacting families of other children placed under the defendant's care at the resort.
Keeping in mind that the person accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, the charges are deeply disturbing.
But even more disturbing are the responses of the criminal justice system, government tourism and public relations officials and local and corporate resort authorities.
The Justice Department release describing the arrest and efforts to contact other families who had stayed at the resort stated: "Families residing in the Virgin Islands need not be concerned."
Amy Atkinson, V.I. account supervisor for the territory's mainland public relations agency, Martin Public Relations, was quoted as saying, "Back in the states, unfortunately, you hear about these things in daycare frequently. The whole destination isn't going to be taking the fall for one person." Further, she was quoted, the day after news of the arrest came out, "I have not heard any negative reports from the stateside media. . . St. Thomas is known as being a family-friendly island."
Tourism Commissioner-designate Rafael Jackson was quoted as saying the quick investigation and arrest "speaks well of the concern we have for this kind of occurrence."
Management at the resort in question, the Wyndham Sugar Bay Beach Club, has referred all media questions to management at the Dallas, Tex., corporate headquarters of the Wyndham chain, which manages the resort for private owners. A Wyndham spokesman has said only that it will not comment, "other than to say that we are cooperating with the investigation."
It should be noted that none of these comments consisted of shooting from the hip. They all came from professionals accustomed to communicating with the public and the news media who had time to gather their thoughts before they opened their mouths or typed or approved their releases.
We have a problem here that is bigger than the rape of a child by a person entrusted with the care of children.
Families in the Virgin Islands need, indeed, be concerned. If not for their own children, who by implication would not have come in contact with the accused, then for the children of our paying guests, for two reasons: First, they are human beings, too. Second, they are the last hope this territory has of finding its way out of the mire of fiscal irresponsibility and non-accountability that is at long last about to throw government workers out of work.
The fact that children are raped in daycare situations on the mainland "frequently" in no way justifies or minimizes the alleged rape of a single child by a single caregiver in the Virgin Islands. And, as a matter of fact, yes, "the whole destination" may well "take the fall" for this one alleged incident — regardless of how the criminal justice system may ultimately resolve the matter. It only takes one case, no matter how aberrational, to change the "family-friendly" image of a small island.
Jackson's error was one of omission. What he was quoted as saying was appropriate, but he could have — and should have — said a lot more, addressing not the facts but the feelings of the hospitality industry and the community he represents to our visitors and potential visitors.
The corporate silence of the resort and the hotel chain are doubtless the result of the advice of high-priced legal counsel — lawyers who don't want their clients saying anything to the media that could conceivably be used against them in court. Better they should listen to their public relations experts about the public perceptions that are promoted when legitimate and deeply felt concerns are met with a wall of silence that sounds a lot like indifference.
In all of these cases, those commenting could take some cues from the classic textbook case of responsible "crisis public relations." It's all about how Johnson & Johnson responded publicly after containers of its product Tylenol, which accounted for 37 percent of the over-the- counter pain-killer market nationwide, were found to be the source of poison that killed seven people in the Chicago area in 1982.
Essentially, the company, under the guidance of its public relations agency, Burson- Marsteller, did three things, in order:
– It said, in essence, "This is terrible."
– It said, in essence, "We're sorry it happened."
– It said, in ongoing detail, "Here's what we are doing to make sure it doesn't happen again."
Note that the company did not say that it was in any way at fault. But it acknowledged that a problem existed and that it was committed to doing something about it. First, however, it let the public know in no uncertain terms that it cared. What next was needed was "immediate action to protect the consumer," Johnson & Johnson's vice president for public relations at the time said later, "and there wasn't the slightest hesitation about being completely open with the news media."
The company quickly recalled two batches of the pain-killer and later withdrew it completely across the nation. Public opinion polling kept the corporate executives up to date on how people felt about its efforts. Pulling the product off the shelves cost $100 million, but the company was seen as acting responsibly. Well-planned sales and media outreach efforts preceded the eventual redistribution of Tylenol — which immediately reclaimed a 24 percent share of the market and eventually became again the nation's best-selling brand.
The territory has been losing overnight visitor volume since 1988. These years have seen the arrival of Hurricanes Hugo and Marilyn and the departure of Pan American, Eastern and Midway airlines, which tend to get the blame. But they have also seen intermittent and isolated crimes against tourists — including murders, permanent injuries and rapes — that have been met by authorities and public relations people with the moral dismissal that "crime occurs everywhere" and the naive assumption that "it won't make any difference."
Of course other places have the same problems. But the Virgin Islands has largely made its living for four decades by encouraging people to leave those places to get away from those problems. Our crime concerns should be not for damage control but for the pain of the victims and for what can and must be done to protect others. Tourists vote with their feet — by vacationing where they choose. But by the time those ballots are cast, it's too late for the losers to do anything but weep.

Editor's note: Jean Etsinger is a Source editor.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency saluted several Virgin Islanders and organizations Friday for their environmental work in the territory.
At the Nature Conservancy’s Little Princesse Estate on St. Croix, EPA Region 2 administrator Jeanne Fox presented awards to Coral World Marine Park for its environmental conservation and education efforts on St. Thomas, and to Olasee Davis, Errol Chichester and Sherry Teitelman for their environmental work on St. Croix.
Coral World, represented by part-owner Henry Wheatley, was recognized for, among other things, its extensive energy conservation program that has cut the facility’s energy use in half. An on-site water filtration system for the attraction’s tanks is also reducing silt runoff into Coki Bay.
"It was extremely important to us to protect the environment," Wheatley said. "When were taking care of it, we were taking care of our business."
Chichester and Teitelman, who has since moved from St. Croix, were recipients of the EPA’s 1999 Environmental Quality Award for their efforts to educate island residents about recycling and composting in order to reduce the amount of waste going into the Anguilla Landfill.
Davis, an ecologist and environmental activist, won the EPA’s 2000 prize on St. Croix for his research on environmental issues and educational outreach efforts.
The awards are presented each year to local individuals and entities that have made significant contributions to improve the quality of the environment. Winners are chosen by a panel of EPA employees who review nominations submitted from inside and outside the agency. The territorial EPA office nominated Coral World for an award.
Davis said he was accepting his plaque not for himself, but for all island residents. "This is for the people of the Virgin Islands and all the people who are not born yet," he said.
Meanwhile, the EPA awarded the Nature Conservancy a grant of nearly $300,000 for a model sustainable development project for small island and coral reef conservation. The prototype facility at the Little Princesse Estate will demonstrate pollution prevention technologies for sustainable island living, focusing on nonpoint and source pollution from septic fields, agricultural and industrial activities, and unsustainable natural resource use.

There is no doubt: The 12th annual St. Croix International Triathlon will feature the most competitive group of professional triathletes ever.
"This is the strongest and largest field" with about 300 overall competitors, race director Tom Guthrie said. "I’m happy with the numbers and raring to go."
Fueling Guthrie’s enthusiasm is the fact that he just recently received a commitment from one of the strongest male triathletes currently competing, Belgium’s Luc Van Lierde. What makes the Belgian star special? He won the Hawaii Ironman in November.
"He’s got veins in his legs that look like rope," Guthrie said incredulously. "This guy is great. It’s his first trip [to St. Croix] and his first race of the year."
That means Jimmy Riccitello, winner of the 1998 and 1999 St. Croix events, will have his work cut out for him defending his title. Last year Riccitello completed the 1.2-mile swim, 35-mile bike race, and 7.4-mile run in 2:34:16. The course record for men is 2:30:03, set in 1995 by Greg Welch of Australia.
On the women’s side, last year’s winner at 2:53:07, Karen Smyers, will face challenges from Joanna Zeiger and Carol Montgomery. The women’s record was also set five years ago, by another Australian, Michellie Jones, at 2:44:06.
"I’m going to do the best I can," Zeiger said. "This race always draws a competitive crowd."
One reason is the $50,000 purse, one of the largest in the sport. There will be an equal distribution of the prize money to men and women through 10 places.
Couch potatoes the world over will be able to view the grueling triathlon, including the notorious hill on the bike section called "The Beast," when it is televised later in the year on a variety of cable networks, including the Outdoor Life Network, which claims 30 million viewers.

The cold beer Karen Smyers is swigging three days before the St. Croix International Triathlon immediately blows away the image that she is a stand-offish, world-class triathlete machine.
While Smyers has won the St. Croix race five times, is an U.S. Olympic hopeful, won a gold medal at the Pan Am Games and is the only woman ever to win the world championship and the Hawaii Ironman in the same year, the 38-year-old Boston resident is anything but an emotionless training automaton.
Between sips of her Bud, the mother of a 3-year-old daughter openly recalls the calamities that prove she is very human and, despite being able to swim two miles, bike 100 and run a marathon — all in the same day, somewhat fragile.
Like most elite athletes, she has the stats: Karen Smyers, the U.S. Olympic Committee's Female Triathlete of the Year in 1999; winner of the 1995 Hawaii Ironman and second-place finisher in 1999; six-time national champion; and winner of countless races in her 16-year career.
Then there are the things Smyers would probably rather not be known for but that give a true assessment of her guts and determination to succeed: a diagnosis of thyroid cancer last December; a mishap with a broken window pane in 1997 that severed a hamstring muscle; a tangle with an 18-wheeler in August of 1998 that left her with six broken ribs and a separated shoulder; and a crash in the last race of 1999 that broke her collarbone.
And, while not as traumatic as those other events, she gave birth to Jenna in May of 1998, an event that forced her to miss the St. Croix race.
"The thyroid thing was more of an emotional thing," she says. "It makes you do a little soul searching."
Smyers was actually informed that it was possible she had thyroid cancer just days before competing in last year’s Ironman race in November. She finished second in what is arguably the most grueling athletic event in the world.
After the diagnosis was confirmed in December, Smyers underwent surgery to remove her thyroid gland. With the triathlon making its Olympic debut in Sydney this summer, she and her husband Michael decided to postpone her follow-up radioactive iodine treatments until after the last Olympic qualifying race in Dallas at the end of May.
"For the most part, I’ve put it on the back burner," she says of the looming cancer treatments. "But it’s kind of scary knowing you have this thing inside you."
The biggest set-back of them all, Smyers says, was her crash in Ixtapa, Mexico, late last year that broke her collarbone. Because of her earlier injuries and the birth of her daughter, she has been forced to take lot of time off in the last three years. She had intended to devote the 1999-2000 winter season to training for world cup races in April and Olympic qualifying in May. Instead, she greeted the new millennium unable to hold her arm above her head.
"I envisioned starting the year 'way up and then building to a crescendo," she recalls. "But at the end of December, I literally couldn’t do a stroke."
Five months later, though, Smyers is again the favorite to win Sunday’s St. Croix International Triathlon. She won the event five times in the 1990s and is looking at this year’s race as a tune-up for the last Olympic qualifier at the end of the month.
"It’s an event I love to come to because of the atmosphere," she says, "and the race isn’t so cutthroat. But it will be a strong field."
Is she shooting to repeat her victory of last year? Smyers takes a pull from her beer, smiles and gives an enthusiastic "Oh, yeah!"
For more on the St. Croix International Triathlon,click here.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency saluted several Virgin Islanders and organizations Friday for their environmental work in the territory.
At the Nature Conservancy’s Little Princesse Estate on St. Croix, EPA Region 2 administrator Jeanne Fox presented awards to Olasee Davis, Errol Chichester and Sherry Teitelman for their environmental work on St. Croix and to Coral World Marine Park on St. Thomas for its environmental protection and education efforts.
Chichester and Teitelman, who has since moved from St. Croix, were recipients of the EPA’s 1999 Environmental Quality Award for their efforts to educate island residents about recycling and composting in order to reduce the amount of waste going into the Anguilla Landfill.
Davis, an ecologist and environmental activist, won the EPA’s 2000 prize on St. Croix for his research on environmental issues and educational outreach efforts.
Coral World, represented by part-owner Henry Wheatley, was recognized for, among other things, its extensive energy conservation program that has cut the facility’s energy use in half. An on-site water filtration system for the attraction’s tanks is also reducing silt runoff into Coki Bay.
"It was extremely important to us to protect the environment," Wheatley said. "When were taking care of it, we were taking care of our business."
The awards are presented each year to local individuals and entities that have made significant contributions to improve the quality of the environment. Winners are chosen by a panel of EPA employees who review nominations submitted from inside and outside the agency. The territorial EPA office nominated Coral World for an award.
Davis said he was accepting his plaque not for himself, but for all island residents. "This is for the people of the Virgin Islands and all the people who are not born yet," he said.
Meanwhile, the EPA awarded the Nature Conservancy a grant of nearly $300,000 for a model sustainable development project for small island and coral reef conservation. The prototype facility at the Little Princesse Estate will demonstrate pollution prevention technologies for sustainable island living, focusing on nonpoint and source pollution from septic fields, agricultural and industrial activities, and unsustainable natural resource use.

One of the owners of the Wyndham Sugar Bay Beach Club says he learned only Thursday about the arrest Tuesday of a children's activities supervisor at the St. Thomas resort on charges of raping a 9-year-old girl placed in his care there in April. Meantime, a corporate spokesman for Wyndham would say only that the hotel chain "is cooperating with the investigation" of the case.
"The corporate office only notified me about it yesterday," Sugar Bay co-owner David Moinian said Friday from his office in New York.
Moinian said he is one of "a group of five or six owners" who purchased the hotel about four years ago but are not actively involved in its operations. "We have a management agreement with Wyndham," he said.
At Sugar Bay, queries Friday were directed to food and beverage manager Gary Cahill in the absence of general manager Rick Blyth, who is off-island, according to an executive office aide. Cahill in turn referred all questions concerning the incident to Fred Stern in the Wyndham corporate offices in Dallas.
Stern would say only, "We're not commenting, other than to say that we are cooperating with the investigation."
According to published reports, Sugar Bay Kids Club supervisor Brian Hornby was charged on Wednesday with aggravated rape of the child, whose family stayed at the resort the week of April 9. Police were meantime investigating a report that the 22-year-old Hornby tried to fondle another guest, a 10-year-old girl, at about the same time, and were also seeking to contact an unspecified number of other families of children who had been left in his care at the resort.
The 9-year-old lives in the Washington, D.C., area, according to the reports, and the 10- year-old lives in England.
Radio One news reported that local authorities moved to take Hornby into custody after receiving information from investigators in Fairfax County, Va., outside the nation's capital. Assistant Attorney General Douglas Sprotte was quoted in The V.I. Daily News as saying a medical exmination conducted there indicated that the child had been sexually molested.
According to published reports, Hornby has worked at Sugar Bay for about six months and has been an employee of the Wyndham chain for about three years.
Stern declined to discuss "our procedures or our policies" regarding the screening of applicants for sensitive positions within the hotel chain. Asked whether such an incident had ever occurred at another Wyndham property, he said, "Again, I'm not going to make any comment regarding this case."
A release from the V.I. Justice Department transmitted to other media but not to the Source on Wednesday stated that Hornby was arrested Tuesday by Justice agents in conjunction with the Safe Streets Task Force. It said Justice officials were in the process of "contacting the families of the other children Mr. Hornby supervised." It added, "Families residing in the Virgin Islands need not be concerned."
Conviction of the aggravated rape of a child under the age of 13 carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Territorial Court Judge Ishmael Meyers set bail for Hornby at $50,000 and remanded him to the Bureau of Corrections on Wednesday, the Daily News said.
Telephone calls to the Police Department's Investigations Bureau went unanswered Friday. An officer answering 911 said "they are out on the road." Calls to the Corrections Bureau also went unanswered.
St. Thomas-St. John Hotel and Tourism Association president Richard Doumeng was quoted in the Daily News as saying, "This is really the first of any incident like that I have ever heard of in any hotel program, not just in the Virgin Islands." He also noted that children's activity programs have become an important part of the product that resorts market today in efforts to attract the large family travel sector.
The newspaper also quoted Amy Atkinson of the government's mainland publicity agency, Martin Public Relations, as saying she anticipated little, if any, fallout from the incident. "Back in the states, unfortunately, you hear about these things in day care frequently," she was quoted as saying. "The whole destination isn't going to be taking the fall for one person."
Moinian noted that at the St. Thomas property, "There's 400 people that work there" and the charges are against only one of them. With regard to the local management, he said, "I'm sure they are good people, and I'm quite confident that the truth will come out."