Dear Source,
Mario de Chabert was quite a man. An extraordinary person with an extraordinary character.
There is so much that can be said about Mario. But in one simple sentence: He embodied the soul of St. Croix first and the whole of the U.S. Virgin Islands second.
Known by close friends and associates by many loving nicknames — Uncle Mario, El Jefé, Big Buana, Capitán– Mario was Mr. Cool at all times, no matter the heat.
Personally, I'll never forget the day I met Mario. It was about the second day on my new job as publicist at the then Commerce Department.
WAPA was at its worst on St. Thomas and was in the middle of a major power outage. Power rotations were commonplace. To avoid a catastrophe, the power plant required a part that had to be ordered, which would take some time to ship. The part, however, was available on St. Croix.
The call went out for help to express courier this cumbersome machinery to St. Thomas from St. Croix.
To the rescue! Within hours, a high-performance speedboat came racing into Charlotte Amalie harbor. Lo and behold, like a knight in shining armor was this distinguished-looking man, Mario de Chabert, at the helm, and, of course, the precious cargo which would bring the lights back to St. Thomas!
That's Mario. A rare, true essence of the Virgin Islands. He knew no boundaries in friendship, politics and business. Rare because, although tall in stature, he was able to relate with great sensitivity and touch to everyone from all walks of life — from the most influential international statesmen to the impoverished, disadvantaged souls. He championed the causes of all Virgin Islanders, particularly Crucians, whom he so dearly loved.
A dreamer. A doer. He spearheaded the development of the hallmark Sunny Isle Shopping Center. With the help of his closest friends, he brought us the St. Croix Jazz Festival against all odds.
Speaking of odds, he quietly drove the locomotive to the establishment of casino gambling on St. Croix. And, I'm sure, yet to come from his inspiration is his dream of the Queen Anne Hotel Casino and Entertainment Center.
One of the jobs I always treasured was the one I had as associate producer of the St. Croix Jazz Festival, working alongside some of St. Croix's finest, including, but of course, Big Buana. (Thank you, Mario.)
The undying will, the quiet fire, yet the peaceful spirit of Mario continue to live in those of us he touched. The U.S. Virgin Islands.
Play de music, El Jefé!
Steve Bornn
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. 22, 2001 – The panel of political experts discussing election reform Saturday was in total agreement on only one thing: the need for it. The single most popular idea after that seemed to be instituting a system of numbered legislative seats.
About 40 residents gathered at the Holiday Inn/Windward Passage Hotel to attend the forum sponsored by Sen. Lorraine Berry's Virgin Islanders for Democratic Action Club, and not all of them were Democrats.
Several speakers indicated they favored either districting or numbered seats, but some felt numbered seats was the easier goal to achieve.
Under a district system, each island would be divided into seven districts (or less, if the total number of senators is reduced). A candidate would run from a specific district, opposed only by any other or candidates from the same district.
In the numbered seats system, a candidate would declare he or she was running for a specific seat, and thus go head-to-head only with any others running for that same seat.
John Abramson Jr., supervisor of elections, referred to the current system for electing senators as a "free-for-all" in which all of the candidates in a given district run against one another, with the top seven being the winners. Another panelist, former St. Thomas senator Arturo Watlington, state chair of the Democratic Party, called it "hodgepodge."
The system favors independent candidates, Watlington said, since members of the same party or other philosophically affiliated individuals must compete with one another to get into the top seven. Nothing illustrates this better than recent elections in which the last two or three seats have been determined after the election by the count of a few hundred absentee votes.
Paul Leary, longtime professor of political science at the University of the Virgin Islands, said under the current system "the most demagogic thrive" and "politics becomes a matter of personalities and maneuvering for narrow advantage, rather than a disciplined approach to solving complex issues."
St. Croix attorney and talk show host Maxwell McIntosh said numbered seats would put an end to bullet voting, the practice of voting for only one candidate, rather than seven, and thus multiplying the effect of that one vote.
Watlington circulated copies of his 1999 proposal for numbered seats, updated for possible use.
Former St. Croix senator Arnold Golden noted that the electorate has the right to initiate legislation and said he has petitions to begin the initiative process for numbered seats. He called the action a "short-term solution."
Golden was unable to attend the forum but sent written remarks, which McIntosh read.
McIntosh and Golden also mentioned municipal governments, Steve Black of St. John focused on that concept in his remarks. He argued that "island councils is the missing ingredient" of the local government and that they would "bring people back into the process." St. John is not represented now, he said, for even the senator who is supposed to be a St. John resident is elected not by St. Johnians, but at large.
Leary offered hope to St. John.
While under the U.S. one-man, one-vote rule, the island's population is too small to command a representative in the Legislature, he said, there is precedent in the Northern Marianas for small islands to have representation in local government.
Panelist Malik Sekou, who doubled as moderator, called for a decision on status and the development of a V.I. Constitution as well as the creation of an Electoral Reform Commission.
The forum was markedly cordial. It began on a somber note, with a rendition of "America," followed by a moment of silence for the victims in the terrorist attacks and also for the late Mario de Chabert.

Sept. 22, 2001 — The row between the chair of the Senate Education Committee and the commissioner of Education continued in public Friday in the legislative chambers in Frederiksted.
In a letter earlier this week, Sen. Norman Jn. Baptiste castigated Education Commissioner Ruby Simmonds for refusing to attend his Education Committee hearing on Friday. Simmonds said that, according to a policy laid out by Gov. Charles W. Turnbull in an Aug. 1 letter to Senate President Almando "Rocky" Liburd, the senator needed to write to the governor to request her presence. She said Jn. Baptiste failed to do so.
Jn. Baptiste, however, intimated that Simmonds’ decision not to attend had more to do with her mismanagement of the department, particularly the way emergency school repairs were contracted out in the summer of 2000. Simmonds did attend the hearing, but only after Jn. Baptiste subpoenaed her. For background on the matter, see the Aug. 17 Source story "Billing for school repairs under investigation".
During Friday's hearing, Jn. Baptiste cited several examples of what he termed questionable costs relating to the school repairs. One was an instance of a single ceiling tile costing hundreds of dollars. And, he said, contractor invoices for fluorescent lights and fixtures listed huge discrepancies in costs. He said one work order had a cost for lights at $325 each, but that was later changed to $200 each.
"I’m just showing the kinds of craziness we’re dealing with," he said.
Simmonds responded that during the summer of 2000, the governor had declared a state of emergency in education in order to expedite repairs. Some 15 contractors were hired and led by the Public Works Department, she said.
Randolph Valdemar, Property and Procurement assistant commissioner, said that, at the time, everyone involved was pressured to get 15 to 20 schools ready to open.
"A contract is a meeting of the minds," he said. "It’s also a fluid document, which means changes are made as you go along."
As the proceeding started, Jn. Baptiste said he felt something "under cover" was happening.
Simmonds' response was: "Let me make it crystal clear to you, senator, and to everybody else, that I … have nothing to hide."

Last week, we were hit in the face with the realization that we cannot protect ourselves from random acts of terrorism. I suspect that even if we do manage to capture a leader of a particular terrorist group, there are many others willing to make a similar sacrifice for their "cause."
One thing that we can do is to work to improve the lives of all of the people in this world so that they feel that they have something to live for, that their lives have some meaning. When all of the peoples of the world feel that they have something to live for, none of us will tolerate, much less harbor, protect or join terrorist groups.
Every single human being on this Earth has a right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" (probably all of life, not just humans) and we who are fortunate enough to live in a country whose foundation rests on this principle must make every effort to assure that everyone else enjoys this basic right. Surely we risk losing it if we don't.
Last year, I was in Zambia doing volunteer engineering work to establish an agricultural training school in a small village of hunter-gatherers. The people of the village are slowly starving to death due to a lack of protein in their diet, caused by their extermination of all of the animal life in the area and their lack of farming skills.
I have worked on projects in Borneo, Bolivia, Haiti, India and the Philippines, and, in spite of their dilemmas, these people were the happiest people that I have worked with. I am sure that their happiness is largely due to a lack of oppression and a general lack of interest by the First World in them and the resources of their homeland.
I would like to share with you something that I wrote in my diary while on my flight home from Zambia, titled "Using Mass Communication-Info Technology to Educate the People of the World":
At the beginning of the 21st century, we can well afford to set up a radio-TV education system to be broadcast via satellite in local languages to all parts of the world.
These are some of the things that could be taught:
We could teach people that they have the right to live the way that they want to live, as long as they do not limit others' rights to live the way that they want.
We could teach people in Iraq, Afghanistan, The Republic of Congo and everywhere people are being oppressed that being human gives them the right to be free and to lead healthy and happy lives. If the leadership of the country that they live in does not provide that, they must change it, or move. We in the First World must find effective ways to help them move or change it, if we want to maintain our own freedom.
We could teach all people in the world that it is their unquestionable right to have any spiritual belief that they want, and that everyone else has the same right. No one and no group has the right to limit other people's spiritual beliefs.
We, the First World, have learned to live with each other — different races, cultures, religions, etc. through trading, which we call capitalism. Capitalism is where we willingly trade what we have or what we make for what someone else has or has made. We know that each of us has to be fairly compensated in the trade for capitalism to work. Don't we?
We could teach people how to participate in capitalism in a way that benefits them and improves their lives.
We could teach the idea that all humans must learn to live together in peace, and how to do it. Who has even seen a tree whose branches fought with each other? How long would one survive if it did? How much longer will we survive if we continue to fight with each other?
We live in a world where one fifth of the population — over a billion of us — goes to bed hungry every night, while more than enough food to remedy this problem is wasted each day. Can we use technology to stop the increasing gap between the haves and have nots and begin to reduce it?
In our rush to the 21st century, we have created an environment where a large number of the peoples of the world have become an endangered species. People deserve our efforts to protect them just as much as the whales, owls and Pacific salmon do.

Editor's note: Greg Miller is a civil engineer and surveyor who lives on St. Thomas and works on St. John. He is active in EMI, a Christian engineering volunteer program, and is also pursuing second career as a photographer.
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. 22, 2001 – Devin Hodge, 21, who pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in May to first-degree murder in the May 1998 death of Emerald Lady jewelry story owner Larry Davis, entered another guilty plea Friday in Territorial Court, to second-degree murder in the October 1998 shooting death of Paradise Bar owner Ainsley James.
Hodge was originally charged with first-degree murder in the James case, but the charge was reduced in a plea bargain that included his agreeing to testify against accomplices Delano Clark and Jakeem Elmes, according to The V.I. Daily News.
Hodge could serve life imprisonment for second-degree murder in the James case, according to published reports. He has not yet been sentenced in the high-profile Emerald Lady case, in which Davis was fatally shot during an armed robbery. Hodge and another defendant, his brother, could face the death sentence in that case.
According to authorities, James was fatally shot on Oct. 12, 1998, in his bar in Rothschild Francis "Market" Square after he opened fire on Hodge, Clark and Elmes, who were attempting to rob him.
Clark and Elmes, who both were minors at the time of the shooting, pleaded guilty in May to voluntary manslaughter and second-degree murder, respectively. Clark was sentenced to 10 years in prison and Elmes, to eight years for their parts in James's death.
A sentencing date for Hodge in the James case has been set for Nov. 28 or 29 in Territorial Court by Judge Ishmael Meyers.

Sept. 21, 2001 – More than 25 concerned Smith Bay residents met this week with legislative representatives and community action advocates to plan a campaign to stop the construction of a Merchant's Market warehouse in their residential neighborhood.
Special zoning for the project was approved a year ago, permits to begin work were issued last February, and a Merchant's Market executive says the company has more than a million dollars invested in the project at this point.
Most of the residents attending the neighborhood meeting Wednesday evening blamed government officials for failing to protect their area from the hustle and bustle, trucking noise and rats they fear the facility will bring.
Retired contractor and Smith Bay resident Horace M. Lewis, whose own property abuts the disputed parcel, called and led the meeting. He related his efforts to call attention to the zoning variance that allows the commercial development. He said the variance, approved by the Legislature and signed into law by the governor as Act No. 6360, was an amendment "hidden in a St. Croix bill."
Contacted Friday, Merchant's Market general manager Luis Elias said that he has never heard from Lewis directly but was aware of his efforts now to block construction of the warehouse.
Elias said Merchant's Market purchased the Smith Bay land from the Vernon Ball Trust in December 2000 — after the zoning variance was in effect. The bill specifies approval for the property to be used "for the purpose of constructing and operating a wholesale trade, storage and warehouse" facility. Without the zoning variance in place, Elias said, "we would have had no interest in purchasing the property."
Clearing of the land began last February, he said. He estimated "we are over a million dollars into this project" for the land acquisition, clearing and construction materials.
Lewis and other residents said Wednesday night that they were never notified of a hearing on the zoning variance. Lewis blamed Sen. Roosevelt David and the Departments of Planning and Natural Resources and Public Works for the situation. He said he not only wants the variance rescinded but also wants the construction site restored to its previous condition.
Lewis said he has retained former attorney general Rosalie Ballentine to represent him legally and has "paid attorney's fees totaling $3,000." He asked his neighbors to contribute their time and money to "fight this injustice."
Homeowner Leonard Wilkinson, who said his property is "in the immediate area" of the disputed tract, compared the planned warehouse to a Cost-U-Less or a PriceSmart, saying that, like them, it should be built "off by itself" instead of "right in my front yard." He claimed that he was "not notified" of the proposed zoning change as is required by law.
Elias said the comparison with the mega-retailers is flat-out wrong. "Merchant's Market is in the wholesale food-distribution business," he said. "We don't package or process the food we sell, and we are all done for the day by 6 p.m." The warehouse will be totally enclosed and will be kept rodent free and routinely inspected as required by law, he said.
Merchant's Market now operates facilities in Bournefield on St. Thomas, at the eastern edge of the University of the Virgin Islands campus, and in Estate Diamond on St. Croix. Elias said the firm has been a good corporate citizen since 1966, currently paying 88 employees territorywide more than $2 million annually, and that he felt they "would be good neighbors in Smith Bay."
The zoning variance was introduced into the 23rd Legislature as Bill No. 23-0259 and was approved by a vote of 11-1. Gov. Charles W. Turnbull signed it into law on Oct. 6, 2000. Planning and Natural Resources granted a land-clearing permit last February and a driveway and earth-change permit last March.
According to Elias, the earth changes were "99 percent done" when DPNR stopped construction this the summer "due to a technicality involving the turning radius onto the public road from our access onto the property."
Glenn "Kwabena" Davis, representing Sen. Norma Pickard-Samuel, said she would submit a bill in Monday's legislative session to repeal the zoning variance. Davis and Nicholas Friday, representing Senate President Almando "Rocky" Liburd, encouraged concerned residents to appear at Monday's Senate session. "Senators respect numbers," Friday said.
Cordell Jacobs, representing Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg, apologized to the group for Donastorg's support of the variance at the time it was approved. Jacobs said Donastorg had thought that the Smith Bay residents "wanted this variance" when he cast his vote for it.
Erva Denham, citing her teaching credentials and, she said, "speaking as a private citizen" and not representing the League of Women Voters, of which she is president, led those present step by step through the process of creating a sustainable, effective community advocacy group.

Sept. 22, 2001 – Services were set for Saturday, Sept. 22 for singer and actress Doris Galiber Roberts, 77, of St. Thomas who died Sept. 18 in New Jersey. A funeral mass was to be held at 10 a.m. at St. Joseph's of the Palisades Church, 6401 Palisades Avenue, West New York, N.J.
Doris Marie Galiber-Roberts was born on July 2, 1924 to Henry and Adele Galiber in St. Thomas, V.I. , one of eight children born to Henry and Adele.
She graduated in 1949 from Howard University with a Bachelors Degree in Music. She continued her music training in New York with Marinka Gurewich, Otto Herz and Lola Hayes.
In 1952 she joined the company of "Porgy and Bess,"which toured Europe under the sponsorship of the U.S. State Department.
Upon returning to the United States in 1954, she left "Porgy and Bess' to appear in a variety of Broadway and off-Broadway productions, including "Jamaica", "Thirteen Daughters", "Carmen Jones" and "Kiss Me Kate". Between 1955 and 1975 she appeared in eighteen annual productions at the Jones Beach Theater, including "Carousel", "South Pacific", "Around the World in 80 Days" and "Showboat."
She performed in numerous concerts in New York, the U.S. Virgin Islands and throughout the southern United States.
Her TV appearances included "Strolling Twenties" and "Lamp Unto My Feet".
In 1997, Virgin Islands Governor Roy L. Schneider presented her with an Excellence in the Arts Award in recognition of her exceptional contributions towards the advancement of the musical arts in the U.S. V. I.
She was a member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Actors Equity Association, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the American Guild of Musical Artists.
Her sisters Marian, Gerda and Norma and her brother Andre, preceded her in death. She is survived by her husband of forty-seven years, Howard A. Roberts, a daughter, Kim, son and daughter-in-law Brian and Karen Roberts, her brothers Flavius, Rudolph and Leayle Galiber. She is also survived by her sisters-in-law, Edith Galiber, Yetta Galiber and Martha Galiber; nephews, Steve Roberts, Robert Bingham, Flavius A., Jr., Armstead, Edward, Rudolph, Jr., Leslie, Andre, Jr., Angelo, Dante, Marcel, Leayle, Jr. and John Galiber; nieces, Diana Roberts, Nanette Roberts, Paula Roberts-Hood, Yetta McCollum, Rochelle Galiber, Dale Hill, Lisa Forgeron and Cecile de Jongh; aunts, Evelyn L. Berry, Lucille Kean, Rosie Galiber-Harrigan and Christianita Galiber, Cousins: Clarice, Mario and, Sister Louis Marie Bryan.
Arrangements are by Leber Funeral Home.

Sept. 22, 2001 — The National Park Service has officially expanded its holdings on St. Croix with the recent closing of two real estate deals.
The first deal closed on Sept. 14 and includes the $800,000 purchase of the historic Post Office building in downtown Christiansted. The second is the acquisition of 53 acres for $1.05 million in the Salt River National Park and Ecological Reserve.
Two and a half years ago the U.S. Postal Service announced it was leaving the 250-year-old Danish West Indies & Guinea Co. warehouse building that had housed the Christiansted Post Office for some 45 years. The move was spurred by the Postal Service’s need to modernize and expand its downtown location.
The Park Service, owner of the Christiansted National Historic Site on which the building sits, plans to turn the structure into a museum dedicated to the African slave trade.
Initially, the Postal Service was asking $1.2 million for the building, which needs millions of dollars worth of renovation. After a lengthy back-and-forth in which the Park Service wanted a no-cost transfer of the building, the parties settled on the $800,000 figure.
"It’s been a two-and-a-half-year struggle," said Joel Tutein, superintendent of the Park Service units on St. Croix.
The building, which badly needs a paint job and other exterior work, hasn’t had any significant upkeep in more than a decade, Tutein said. The big costs, however, will come when the Park Service begins renovation. Tutein estimates that will run between $9 million and $11 million.
"I should have enough money next year to do some cosmetic work, like painting the building and replacing missing shutters," he said. "We’re not going to leave it as the eyesore it is now."
The big-ticket renovation work like replacing the roof and shoring up walls will take a little more time to fund.
"Realistically, we’re looking at 2003 to at least have funding appropriated," Tutein said. Work could be completed and the museum opened by 2006.
The post office will remain, rent-free, in the old building until Nov. 1, when it will move to its new location, a block up Company Street.
The management plan for the Christiansted National Historic Site, which includes Fort Christiansvaern and the Scale House, Customs House and Steeple Building, calls for the Park Service to tell the story of St. Croix between 1735 and 1917, when the Virgin Islands were purchased from Denmark.
So far, Tutein said, military, religious and trade histories have been interpreted, but not that of the 50,000 enslaved Africans imported to St. Croix and sold on the stairs of the Danish West Indies & Guinea Co. warehouse building, which now houses the post office. The building is the largest former slave-trade facility now under the U.S. flag, according to Tutein, who said it has "great historical and cultural significance to the people of the Virgin Islands, the United States and especially citizens of African-American ancestry and heritage."
Tutein said he expects a bit of disagreement and debate when the Park Service takes public input on how to develop the museum, which will include a genealogical center.
"What we hope to do is stimulate conversation and debate on the slave trade of the Danish West Indies," he said. "We decided to tell a story that needs to be told."
The Salt River National Park and Ecological Reserve
The Park Service's other acquisition comprises 53 acres of land at the northeastern opening of Salt River Bay and a portion of Estate Judith’s Fancy.
The $1.05 million purchase completes a 74-acre tract that contains the remnants of an old hotel. Some 21 acres was purchased from Texas-based owners almost a year ago for $450,000.
The Salt River National Park and Ecological Reserve is co-managed by the Park Service and the V.I. government and consists of 600 acres of submerged land and 312 acres of land adjacent to Salt River Bay. The V.I. government owns about 5o acres in the area, including the five-acre Columbus Landing site. Including past purchases, the Park Service now owns approximately 205 acres.
The remaining acreage consists of small individual tracts, including the plot on which the Salt River Marina is located.
The purchases, Tutein said, were made under the Land Protection Plan that was developed by the St. Croix Park Service unit to assure the protection of natural, cultural and other significant resources in the park, Tutein said. The park was established by former President George Bush.

Sept. 21, 2001 – Seven men from Colombia and the Domnican Republic picked up at sea early Thursday were charged in U.S. District Court Friday with conspiring to smuggle more than half a ton of cocaine into the United States.
The men, who appeared before Magistrate Judge Geoffrey Barnard on St. Thomas wearing orange prison jumpsuits, will be held without bail pending a hearing scheduled for Wednesday.
Rufino Rodriguez Sanchez, Julio Rodriguez Valdez, Bautista Rodriguez-Rijo, Marco Aurelio Otalora, Huber Gomez Garcia, Julio Balbuena-Peru and Reginaldo Matos-Cueva were arrested early Friday after the two boats they were aboard were stopped near Norman Island in the British Virgin Islands, according to a court affidavit signed by Drug Enforcement Administration agent Mark McHugh.
In one of the boats, narcotics agents found 20 cocaine bales weighing more than 50 pounds each, McHugh stated in the affidavit. One estimate put the value of the cocaine at about $10 million.
Officials indicated that five of the men were from the Dominican Republic and two were from Colombia but did not identify the individuals by nationality.
About 11 p.m. Wednesday, U.S. Coast Guard officials contacted the DEA about a vessel sitting stationary in the water near the Saba Bank between Sint Maarten and the Virgin Islands. Smugglers use the area frequently for air drops of narcotics destined for waiting boats, McHugh stated in the affidavit. A Dutch naval vessel reported at the same time that a low-flying airplane was in the area, according to court documents.
The Coast Guard tracked the vessel by radar and positioned two cutters southeast of the Virgin Islands, and boats were dispatched by the British Virgin Islands police and U.S. National Park Service, McHugh wrote.
While the vessel was being tracked, a second suspect boat headed toward the first, and the two boats, running without lights, met up about 15 miles southeast of Norman Island, according to the court papers.
About 2:30 a.m. Thursday, Coast Guard personnel stopped the first boat and took the four men aboard into custody. They also found the 20 bales of cocaine on board the 30-foot vessel.
The other boat, a smaller, speedier vessel, attempted to flee. After a chase, officers from the B.V.I. police, Park Service and Coast Guard halted it and took the three men aboard into custody. Investigators found traces of cocaine on two of the men in that boat, McHugh wrote.

Sept. 21, 2001 – The owner of the Plaza Extra supermarkets on St. Croix and St. Thomas has been sentenced to one month of home confinement and one year of probation for having employed three illegal aliens.
Fathi Yusuf had pleaded guilty in June 2000 to three counts of hiring undocumented workers. The maximum penalty for each count was six months in prison and a $3,000 fine.
As part of his sentence, Yusuf, 60, will be allowed to go to work while he is on home confinement. He must provide investigators a list of all of his employees each month, according to court records.
Since entering his guilty plea, Yusuf, a father of 10, has received permission at times to travel to Jordan and the West Bank to attend to family matters, including the weddings of two of his children.
In entering the plea agreement last year, Yusuf admitted to hiring Ahmed Daas in September 1998, as well as Mohammed Alqadi and Suleiman Mohammed Jussef in 1999, according to court documents.