Louise Lotlita Powell Williams, age 72, of 15-BB Est. Calquohoun, passed away on Tuesday, Sept. 18, at Gov. Juan F. Luis Hospital. Funeral services are pending.
Professional arrangements are entrusted to James Memorial Funeral Home, Inc.
WAPA HOLDS OFF ON WASTE-TO-ENERGY DECISION
Sept. 21, 2001 — It will be at least 10 days before the V.I. Water and Power Authority board of directors makes a decision on whether the utility will purchase electricity and water from a proposed waste-to-energy plant aimed at ending the territory’s landfill crisis.
The WAPA board met Thursday on St. Croix to approve a contract between the utility and Caribe Waste Technologies, the company that won the V.I. government’s bidding process last year to construct a facility to handle the islands’ solid waste. CWT’s proposal calls for building a $180 million gasification plant on St. Croix to dispose of the big island’s solid waste and that from St. Thomas and St. John. WAPA is involved because in order for the project to go forward, the utility must purchase $11 million to $12 million worth of power and electricity a year from the waste-to-energy plant.
The purchases would reduce the approximately $37 million-a-year cost the government is expected to pay to about $25 million annually.
But frustration reigned at the WAPA board meeting on Thursday as CWT representatives and the utility’s management disagreed on who was responsible for the delay in having a decision made. In mid-August, the WAPA board hired a Washington, D.C.-based consultant to critique a proposed contract that set out terms for the utility to purchase water and power from the gasification plant. But Joseph Thomas, WAPA’s executive director, said that the requests by WAPA to CWT to arrange a meeting between operators of a gasification plant in Germany and the consultants were never made. That delay, Thomas said, has kept WAPA’s consultants from completing a report about the pros and cons of the contract and the gasification technology as it relates to electricity generation to the board.
"We wanted to confirm in our own minds we had reliable technology from the WAPA point of view, not the trash burning," Thomas said.
Thomas also said that the two gasification plants now in operation in Germany and Japan don’t convert waste into energy on a commercial level. That, he said, puts WAPA in a bind because if it does agree to purchase electricity from CWT, which WAPA management says it actually doesn’t need, it will have to modify operations at its current oil-burning plant.
"When you are taking on a technology that hasn’t been commercialized, you are taking on some risk," Thomas said. "We have to get to the facts as soon as possible."
That sentiment was shared by Mark Augenblick, CWT’s chairman and CEO. He said his company had first met with WAPA management in March 2000 and then was chosen last year by the V.I. government through a competitive bidding process to solve the territory’s solid waste problems. He noted a June 27 letter Gov. Charles Turnbull sent to the WAPA board exhorting it to sign a contract with CWT to help deal with the out-of-compliance landfills in the territory.
Also, because of the proximity of the St. Croix landfill to the island’s airport, the Federal Aviation Administration wants the dump closed by the end of 2002. If the landfill isn’t closed by then or a plan to deal with its closure not in place soon, the FAA has threatened to decertify the airport.
From the time Turnbull sent his letter to the WAPA board, Augenblick said it is "three months later and we still have the same solid waste crisis."
"We are frustrated as well," he said. "There is no genuine question about reliability."
Augenblick called Thomas’ assessment of the gasification process as a "back-handed slap" at the technology.
"That is not correct and the government knows that it is not correct," he said. "We have been validated by governments and validated by independent companies."
Pending the report by WAPA’s consultant and time for the utility’s management to digest the information, the WAPA board agreed to hold a special meeting on the CWT issue sometime during the first week of October. At the meeting, the consultant and CWT’s experts will both have an opportunity to debate the issue.
The WAPA board met Thursday on St. Croix to approve a contract between the utility and Caribe Waste Technologies, the company that won the V.I. government’s bidding process last year to construct a facility to handle the islands’ solid waste. CWT’s proposal calls for building a $180 million gasification plant on St. Croix to dispose of the big island’s solid waste and that from St. Thomas and St. John. WAPA is involved because in order for the project to go forward, the utility must purchase $11 million to $12 million worth of power and electricity a year from the waste-to-energy plant.
The purchases would reduce the approximately $37 million-a-year cost the government is expected to pay to about $25 million annually.
But frustration reigned at the WAPA board meeting on Thursday as CWT representatives and the utility’s management disagreed on who was responsible for the delay in having a decision made. In mid-August, the WAPA board hired a Washington, D.C.-based consultant to critique a proposed contract that set out terms for the utility to purchase water and power from the gasification plant. But Joseph Thomas, WAPA’s executive director, said that the requests by WAPA to CWT to arrange a meeting between operators of a gasification plant in Germany and the consultants were never made. That delay, Thomas said, has kept WAPA’s consultants from completing a report about the pros and cons of the contract and the gasification technology as it relates to electricity generation to the board.
"We wanted to confirm in our own minds we had reliable technology from the WAPA point of view, not the trash burning," Thomas said.
Thomas also said that the two gasification plants now in operation in Germany and Japan don’t convert waste into energy on a commercial level. That, he said, puts WAPA in a bind because if it does agree to purchase electricity from CWT, which WAPA management says it actually doesn’t need, it will have to modify operations at its current oil-burning plant.
"When you are taking on a technology that hasn’t been commercialized, you are taking on some risk," Thomas said. "We have to get to the facts as soon as possible."
That sentiment was shared by Mark Augenblick, CWT’s chairman and CEO. He said his company had first met with WAPA management in March 2000 and then was chosen last year by the V.I. government through a competitive bidding process to solve the territory’s solid waste problems. He noted a June 27 letter Gov. Charles Turnbull sent to the WAPA board exhorting it to sign a contract with CWT to help deal with the out-of-compliance landfills in the territory.
Also, because of the proximity of the St. Croix landfill to the island’s airport, the Federal Aviation Administration wants the dump closed by the end of 2002. If the landfill isn’t closed by then or a plan to deal with its closure not in place soon, the FAA has threatened to decertify the airport.
From the time Turnbull sent his letter to the WAPA board, Augenblick said it is "three months later and we still have the same solid waste crisis."
"We are frustrated as well," he said. "There is no genuine question about reliability."
Augenblick called Thomas’ assessment of the gasification process as a "back-handed slap" at the technology.
"That is not correct and the government knows that it is not correct," he said. "We have been validated by governments and validated by independent companies."
Pending the report by WAPA’s consultant and time for the utility’s management to digest the information, the WAPA board agreed to hold a special meeting on the CWT issue sometime during the first week of October. At the meeting, the consultant and CWT’s experts will both have an opportunity to debate the issue.
FINANCE YET TO ACT ON EXECUTIVE BUDGET BILLS
Sept. 20, 2001 – The Senate Finance Committee took portions of the Fiscal Year 2002 budget through the first hurdle Thursday, passing more than 20 bills and amendments which will now proceed to the Rules Committee on Saturday and, if approved there, to the full Senate for a final vote on Monday and Tuesday.
By 9 p.m., however, the budgets for the executive branch departments had not been acted upon, and the committee was in recess.
Throughout the day, Sen. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen, the committee chair, was not interested in hearing concerns about the need to rework the budget, given the threat to the V.I. economy of events unfolding in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the mainland. "You can't use the disaster to sabotage the budget," she said at one point, adding that there "are means in place to secure the avenues of our economy."
Fellow majority bloc senator Norma Pickard-Samuel jumped on Hansen's bandwagon, declaring, "Osama bin Laden couldn't stop this budget."
Scheduled to start at 10 a.m., Thursday's session got under way at 11:30. The committee passed 13 bills in one hour, then recessed until 2:30 p.m. Committee chair Alicia "Chucky" Hansen noted on several occasions that the committee and Post Audit staff had been up until 4:30 a.m. Thursday completing the budget markup.
Hansen made good her publicly announced intention to safeguard the Tourism Advertising Revolving Fund exclusively for tourism advertising. She did so by amending a bill to allow the Housing, Parks and Recreation Department to dip into the tourism fund to finance the territory's three annual carnival celebrations.
The amendment authorizes giving the department $1.3 million from the Anti-Litter and Beautification Fund as a grant to fund V.I. Carnival, the St. John Festival and the Crucian Christmas Festival.
Hansen also touted her idea, announced Wednesday and supported by other majority bloc senators, to snag some of the federal government's proposed $24 billion airline bailout for the Virgin Islands. "We have to act now," she announced at Thursday's committee session. She suggested hiring an airline expert to "deal at a national level to make some of these funds available to the V.I." Her idea is to entice travelers to the territory by subsidizing the cost of airfare with the federal funds.
She also mentioned her proposal, announced Tuesday, to take $5 million each from the Transportation Trust Fund and the Land Bank Fund, pass it through the General Fund and donate it to New York City for victims of last week's terrorist disaster. "It would show symbolic support as a sacrifice," Hansen said, "and it will send a message: We're here to support you, though we have so very little."
She also suggested wooing the Puerto Rico tourist market by using subsidies for ferry and airline services to bring back the market St. Thomas once had with day-trippers from San Juan.
The Finance Committee meeting was calm and orderly until Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg brought up the chilling effect the recent terrorist attacks on the U.S. mainland and their aftermath will likely have on the V.I. economy. "A round-table discussion on this budget to ward off a possible crisis in the next few months should be considered," Donastorg said.
That was enough for Hansen, who replied that she and her committee and the Post Audit staff had worked for two months to get the budget into its current form. It "will go through," she said. "We are not going to accept defeat. You can't use the disaster to sabotage the budget."
She added, "There are means in place to secure the avenues of our economy."
In a reference to the Fiscal Year 2001 budget, which didn't get to Government House until the end of the 2001 calendar year, Hansen said of the 2002 version, "If we don't deliver it by Sept. 30, the governor will open his bankbook and spend as he wishes. Some senators want to dismiss this budget."
Sens. Lorraine Berry and Emmett Hansen II have written to Turnbull asking him to rework his FY 2002 revenue projections in light of the economic effects the territory is feeling from the terrorist attacks.
Like Hansen and Pickard-Samuel, Sens. Carlton Dowe and Donald "Ducks" Cole agreed the budget must go through, taking jabs at the minority in the thousand-times-told tale of which Senate bloc was responsible for the teachers getting their step increases. The minority walked out of a special session on June 15, when the governor's bill to spend a $100 million tax "windfall" was on the floor. The step increases for unionized government employees were included in the appropriations. The minority left in protest of not being able to question top administration officials about the projected revenues before the bill was put to a vote.
At Thursday's Finance meeting, Dowe and Cole stressed the need to get capital projects up and going. "There's $200 million in federal funds we're not using," Dowe said. He and Cole said the project plans need to be implemented to offset the territory's dependence on tourism revenues. "Instead of focusing exclusively on reducing government spending, we should redouble our efforts to stimulate the economy," Dowe said.
The committee recessed for an hour at 5 p.m., awaiting several amendments being drawn up by the legal counsel for budget bills remaining to be considered. At 7:40 p.m. the meeting resumed, and an hour later another half-hour recess was called; in the interim, the committee wrote a new appropriation for the territorial Public Defender's Office and approved a budget for Territorial Court that includes $400,000 to start a new Rising Stars steel orchestra program on St. Croix similar to the one on St. Thomas.
None of the budgets for the executive branch departments had been acted upon at that point.
The texts of all bills, amendments and dollar amounts as approved were not available Thursday night.
Attending the meeting were all committee members — Sens. Douglas Canton Jr., Cole, Donastorg, Dowe, Hansen, Norman Jn. Baptiste and Pickard-Samuel. Non-committee member Celestino A. White Sr. made a couple of brief appearances.
By 9 p.m., however, the budgets for the executive branch departments had not been acted upon, and the committee was in recess.
Throughout the day, Sen. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen, the committee chair, was not interested in hearing concerns about the need to rework the budget, given the threat to the V.I. economy of events unfolding in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the mainland. "You can't use the disaster to sabotage the budget," she said at one point, adding that there "are means in place to secure the avenues of our economy."
Fellow majority bloc senator Norma Pickard-Samuel jumped on Hansen's bandwagon, declaring, "Osama bin Laden couldn't stop this budget."
Scheduled to start at 10 a.m., Thursday's session got under way at 11:30. The committee passed 13 bills in one hour, then recessed until 2:30 p.m. Committee chair Alicia "Chucky" Hansen noted on several occasions that the committee and Post Audit staff had been up until 4:30 a.m. Thursday completing the budget markup.
Hansen made good her publicly announced intention to safeguard the Tourism Advertising Revolving Fund exclusively for tourism advertising. She did so by amending a bill to allow the Housing, Parks and Recreation Department to dip into the tourism fund to finance the territory's three annual carnival celebrations.
The amendment authorizes giving the department $1.3 million from the Anti-Litter and Beautification Fund as a grant to fund V.I. Carnival, the St. John Festival and the Crucian Christmas Festival.
Hansen also touted her idea, announced Wednesday and supported by other majority bloc senators, to snag some of the federal government's proposed $24 billion airline bailout for the Virgin Islands. "We have to act now," she announced at Thursday's committee session. She suggested hiring an airline expert to "deal at a national level to make some of these funds available to the V.I." Her idea is to entice travelers to the territory by subsidizing the cost of airfare with the federal funds.
She also mentioned her proposal, announced Tuesday, to take $5 million each from the Transportation Trust Fund and the Land Bank Fund, pass it through the General Fund and donate it to New York City for victims of last week's terrorist disaster. "It would show symbolic support as a sacrifice," Hansen said, "and it will send a message: We're here to support you, though we have so very little."
She also suggested wooing the Puerto Rico tourist market by using subsidies for ferry and airline services to bring back the market St. Thomas once had with day-trippers from San Juan.
The Finance Committee meeting was calm and orderly until Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg brought up the chilling effect the recent terrorist attacks on the U.S. mainland and their aftermath will likely have on the V.I. economy. "A round-table discussion on this budget to ward off a possible crisis in the next few months should be considered," Donastorg said.
That was enough for Hansen, who replied that she and her committee and the Post Audit staff had worked for two months to get the budget into its current form. It "will go through," she said. "We are not going to accept defeat. You can't use the disaster to sabotage the budget."
She added, "There are means in place to secure the avenues of our economy."
In a reference to the Fiscal Year 2001 budget, which didn't get to Government House until the end of the 2001 calendar year, Hansen said of the 2002 version, "If we don't deliver it by Sept. 30, the governor will open his bankbook and spend as he wishes. Some senators want to dismiss this budget."
Sens. Lorraine Berry and Emmett Hansen II have written to Turnbull asking him to rework his FY 2002 revenue projections in light of the economic effects the territory is feeling from the terrorist attacks.
Like Hansen and Pickard-Samuel, Sens. Carlton Dowe and Donald "Ducks" Cole agreed the budget must go through, taking jabs at the minority in the thousand-times-told tale of which Senate bloc was responsible for the teachers getting their step increases. The minority walked out of a special session on June 15, when the governor's bill to spend a $100 million tax "windfall" was on the floor. The step increases for unionized government employees were included in the appropriations. The minority left in protest of not being able to question top administration officials about the projected revenues before the bill was put to a vote.
At Thursday's Finance meeting, Dowe and Cole stressed the need to get capital projects up and going. "There's $200 million in federal funds we're not using," Dowe said. He and Cole said the project plans need to be implemented to offset the territory's dependence on tourism revenues. "Instead of focusing exclusively on reducing government spending, we should redouble our efforts to stimulate the economy," Dowe said.
The committee recessed for an hour at 5 p.m., awaiting several amendments being drawn up by the legal counsel for budget bills remaining to be considered. At 7:40 p.m. the meeting resumed, and an hour later another half-hour recess was called; in the interim, the committee wrote a new appropriation for the territorial Public Defender's Office and approved a budget for Territorial Court that includes $400,000 to start a new Rising Stars steel orchestra program on St. Croix similar to the one on St. Thomas.
None of the budgets for the executive branch departments had been acted upon at that point.
The texts of all bills, amendments and dollar amounts as approved were not available Thursday night.
Attending the meeting were all committee members — Sens. Douglas Canton Jr., Cole, Donastorg, Dowe, Hansen, Norman Jn. Baptiste and Pickard-Samuel. Non-committee member Celestino A. White Sr. made a couple of brief appearances.
ANOTHER CANDLELIGHT VIGIL
Dear Source,
I read about Jane Clemo attempting to attend the candlelight vigil in Emancipation Park, only to have it cancelled due to "information getting out too late". The vigil should still have been on. Quantity should not have been a concern, only quality. One or two people would have been fine.
My three-year-old daughter asked me if we could light candles for the people who had been hurt by the "bad men in the airplanes". She saw people doing this on the television. I agreed and proceeded to put together a sign and located 11 candles. We found the perfect spot. At the entrance to our road a small concrete slab had been put down recently. A friend and her husband joined us and we put the sign and candles up. A neighbor of ours who happens to be a pastor stooped and offered prayers for the victims and their families. He also prayed for punishment tempered with justice and tolerance for others. The memorial is still there. We relight the candles every night.
Unfortunately someone stole several of the candles. I'm replacing them. What a lesson for my child. Along with "bad men who hurt people", we also have "bad people who steal candles".
C'Aron Hamilton
Fortuna, St. Thomas
I read about Jane Clemo attempting to attend the candlelight vigil in Emancipation Park, only to have it cancelled due to "information getting out too late". The vigil should still have been on. Quantity should not have been a concern, only quality. One or two people would have been fine.
My three-year-old daughter asked me if we could light candles for the people who had been hurt by the "bad men in the airplanes". She saw people doing this on the television. I agreed and proceeded to put together a sign and located 11 candles. We found the perfect spot. At the entrance to our road a small concrete slab had been put down recently. A friend and her husband joined us and we put the sign and candles up. A neighbor of ours who happens to be a pastor stooped and offered prayers for the victims and their families. He also prayed for punishment tempered with justice and tolerance for others. The memorial is still there. We relight the candles every night.
Unfortunately someone stole several of the candles. I'm replacing them. What a lesson for my child. Along with "bad men who hurt people", we also have "bad people who steal candles".
C'Aron Hamilton
Fortuna, 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.
WEARING A FLAG IN COURT LEAST OF THE PROBLEM
Dear Source,
Having worked in law enforcement, both in the mainland and in the United States Virgin Islands, I have had the opportunity to spend many hours in court.
In the mainland everyone who enters the courtroom better be wearing proper attire for court, or they will be disciplined by the judge, the marshall's deputies or the sheriff's deputies.
In the United States Virgin Islands defendants stand in court with whatever they feel like and wear dark shades and headgear in front of the judges – in court.
As a proud American, Virgin Islander, and Crucian I am embarrassed and appalled to hear that someone has been admonished for expressing his patriotism, while others continue to disrespect the American judicial system.
Edwin Torres
St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands
Having worked in law enforcement, both in the mainland and in the United States Virgin Islands, I have had the opportunity to spend many hours in court.
In the mainland everyone who enters the courtroom better be wearing proper attire for court, or they will be disciplined by the judge, the marshall's deputies or the sheriff's deputies.
In the United States Virgin Islands defendants stand in court with whatever they feel like and wear dark shades and headgear in front of the judges – in court.
As a proud American, Virgin Islander, and Crucian I am embarrassed and appalled to hear that someone has been admonished for expressing his patriotism, while others continue to disrespect the American judicial system.
Edwin Torres
St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands
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.
WEARING A FLAG IN COURT LEAST OF THE PROBLEM
Dear Source,
Having worked in law enforcement, both in the mainland and in the United States Virgin Islands, I have had the opportunity to spend many hours in court.
In the mainland everyone who enters the courtroom better be wearing proper attire for court, or they will be disciplined by the judge, the marshall's deputies or the sheriff's deputies.
In the United States Virgin Islands defendants stand in court with whatever they feel like and wear dark shades and headgear in front of the judges – in court.
As a proud American, Virgin Islander, and Crucian I am embarrassed and appalled to hear that someone has been admonished for expressing his patriotism, while others continue to disrespect the American judicial system.
Edwin Torres
St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands
Having worked in law enforcement, both in the mainland and in the United States Virgin Islands, I have had the opportunity to spend many hours in court.
In the mainland everyone who enters the courtroom better be wearing proper attire for court, or they will be disciplined by the judge, the marshall's deputies or the sheriff's deputies.
In the United States Virgin Islands defendants stand in court with whatever they feel like and wear dark shades and headgear in front of the judges – in court.
As a proud American, Virgin Islander, and Crucian I am embarrassed and appalled to hear that someone has been admonished for expressing his patriotism, while others continue to disrespect the American judicial system.
Edwin Torres
St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands
FEE WOULD HELP DEAL WITH ALL 'RETIRED' VEHICLES
Sept. 20, 2001 – While Sen. Celestino White is up in arms about a bill to impose an annual $10 fee on motor vehicle owners that would go toward the cost of disposing of abandoned and legally retired vehicles, others see the need.
The bill would help the territory remove the proliferation of abandoned cars and trucks that lurk in the bushes, sit abandoned in vacant lots or remain where they died along the roads. It also would deal with the problem of what to do with vehicles no longer driveable but disposed of in legal ways at the local dumps.
"Aside from being unsightly, they are a health and environmental hazard," said Geraldine Smith, director of the St. Thomas-St. John Anti-litter and Beautification Commission.
Smith said many mainland municipalities and also those on some other Caribbean islands impose such a fee on the motoring public. "It is time for us to catch up," she said.
The bill calls for the $10 fee to be collected at the same time as annual motor vehicle registration fees, and for the money to go into the Anti-litter and Beautification Fund. Gov. Charles W. Turnbull sent the bill to the Senate, where it now rests with the Finance Committee.
It could not be determined how much revenue the proposed fee is projected to generate.
The bill is "regressive," according to White. "You or I may never ever have a vehicle to be disposed of, yet we will be required to pay this fee," he said in a press release. He said many used vehicles are sold, traded in, shipped off island or lawfully disposed of by tow trucks and that the bill would force vehicle owners to pay for a service they might never use.
He did not address the issue of what it costs to dispose of a retired vehicle by hauling it to the landfill. While some used vehicles leave for another life on the mainland or another island, most remain in the Virgin Islands until they die.
The landfills on both St. Thomas and St. Croix are filled with old cars awaiting an undetermined fate. The pile at the Bovoni facility is about the size of the Cyril E. King Airport terminal.
"Something needs to be done," Public Works Commissioner Wayne Callwood said. He said his department tags abandoned vehicles, notifying owners to move them. When nothing happens, he said, Property and Procurement Department personnel then cart them away.
The bill would help the territory remove the proliferation of abandoned cars and trucks that lurk in the bushes, sit abandoned in vacant lots or remain where they died along the roads. It also would deal with the problem of what to do with vehicles no longer driveable but disposed of in legal ways at the local dumps.
"Aside from being unsightly, they are a health and environmental hazard," said Geraldine Smith, director of the St. Thomas-St. John Anti-litter and Beautification Commission.
Smith said many mainland municipalities and also those on some other Caribbean islands impose such a fee on the motoring public. "It is time for us to catch up," she said.
The bill calls for the $10 fee to be collected at the same time as annual motor vehicle registration fees, and for the money to go into the Anti-litter and Beautification Fund. Gov. Charles W. Turnbull sent the bill to the Senate, where it now rests with the Finance Committee.
It could not be determined how much revenue the proposed fee is projected to generate.
The bill is "regressive," according to White. "You or I may never ever have a vehicle to be disposed of, yet we will be required to pay this fee," he said in a press release. He said many used vehicles are sold, traded in, shipped off island or lawfully disposed of by tow trucks and that the bill would force vehicle owners to pay for a service they might never use.
He did not address the issue of what it costs to dispose of a retired vehicle by hauling it to the landfill. While some used vehicles leave for another life on the mainland or another island, most remain in the Virgin Islands until they die.
The landfills on both St. Thomas and St. Croix are filled with old cars awaiting an undetermined fate. The pile at the Bovoni facility is about the size of the Cyril E. King Airport terminal.
"Something needs to be done," Public Works Commissioner Wayne Callwood said. He said his department tags abandoned vehicles, notifying owners to move them. When nothing happens, he said, Property and Procurement Department personnel then cart them away.
UVI SYMPOSIUM TO SHOWCASE STUDENT RESEARCH
Sept. 20, 2001 – The University of the Virgin Islands invites the public to the first UVI Fall Research Symposium, from 1-4 p.m. Saturday at the Sports and Fitness Center, St. Thomas campus.
Approximately 25 UVI students, ranging from freshmen to seniors, will present poster sessions. Young people and other community residents with an interest in science can observe and then talk with student researchers.
The research symposium, part of UVI's Emerging Caribbean Scientists Programs, will feature students who have done research in astronomy, biology, marine biology, physics, chemistry, computer science, engineering, psychology and mathematics over the past year. Students represent research done with faculty at the University of the Virgin Islands and other institutions, including Purdue University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brookhaven National Laboratory, University of Pittsburgh, Lehigh University, South Carolina State University, Tulane University and Auburn University.
Further information is available from University professors Dr. Teresa Turner at 693-1382 or Dr. Camille McKayle at 693-1329.
Approximately 25 UVI students, ranging from freshmen to seniors, will present poster sessions. Young people and other community residents with an interest in science can observe and then talk with student researchers.
The research symposium, part of UVI's Emerging Caribbean Scientists Programs, will feature students who have done research in astronomy, biology, marine biology, physics, chemistry, computer science, engineering, psychology and mathematics over the past year. Students represent research done with faculty at the University of the Virgin Islands and other institutions, including Purdue University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brookhaven National Laboratory, University of Pittsburgh, Lehigh University, South Carolina State University, Tulane University and Auburn University.
Further information is available from University professors Dr. Teresa Turner at 693-1382 or Dr. Camille McKayle at 693-1329.
INS LIFTS BAN ON CREWS LEAVING CRUISE SHIPS
Sept. 20, 2001 – Cruise ship crews were out and about before they went back to the ship Thursday, gladdening the hearts of Havensight-area merchants who had seen their sales drop sharply earlier in the week in the absence of those thousands of regular weekly customers.
"They're back in force," Jeff Salpis, owner of the Delly Deck in Havensight Mall said with a smile in his voice.
The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, starting Sunday, had prevented crew members who were not U.S. citizens from disembarking while their vessels were in port in the Virgin islands. The decision was apparently part of security measures instituted following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. No ships were scheduled to call in the territory in the days immediately following the attack, so it appeared that INS had implemented the ban at the first opportunity.
Calls to the INS office on St. Thomas were referred to the Puerto Rico office, where spokesman Ivan L. Ortiz said he would not comment on the subject. Ortiz also would neither confirm nor deny that the crew members had not been allowed off the cruise ships.
While the Delly Deck had a full patio for lunch Thursday, Salpis said crew members were slow to fill up the seats. Usually, the place is pretty busy by mid-morning, he said, but they didn't show up in any numbers until noon.
At the Modern Music store, manager Jim Burke said he had seen a few crew members by mid-day. "Usually we get busy later in the day," he said. Crew members often rent videos from the shop, to return them on their next visit to St. Thomas.
West Indian Co. spokesman Calvin Wheatley said INS officials decided late Wednesday to let the crew members resume getting off their ships. He said WICO President Edward Thomas, cruise ship company officials and U.S. Coast Guard staff worked with the INS on getting the procedure reversed.
Wheatley said the crews cause no problems for St. Thomas. Most are foreign nationals hailing from Southeast Asia, Central and South America, and Europe. Two ships were in port at St. Thomas Thursday, he said.
Cruise ships typically carry 900 to 1,000 crew members, and their shopping, along with that of passengers, helps to fuel the territory's economy. WICO estimates that crew members on average spend about $73 per person each time they come ashore while in port at St. Thomas.
"They're back in force," Jeff Salpis, owner of the Delly Deck in Havensight Mall said with a smile in his voice.
The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, starting Sunday, had prevented crew members who were not U.S. citizens from disembarking while their vessels were in port in the Virgin islands. The decision was apparently part of security measures instituted following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. No ships were scheduled to call in the territory in the days immediately following the attack, so it appeared that INS had implemented the ban at the first opportunity.
Calls to the INS office on St. Thomas were referred to the Puerto Rico office, where spokesman Ivan L. Ortiz said he would not comment on the subject. Ortiz also would neither confirm nor deny that the crew members had not been allowed off the cruise ships.
While the Delly Deck had a full patio for lunch Thursday, Salpis said crew members were slow to fill up the seats. Usually, the place is pretty busy by mid-morning, he said, but they didn't show up in any numbers until noon.
At the Modern Music store, manager Jim Burke said he had seen a few crew members by mid-day. "Usually we get busy later in the day," he said. Crew members often rent videos from the shop, to return them on their next visit to St. Thomas.
West Indian Co. spokesman Calvin Wheatley said INS officials decided late Wednesday to let the crew members resume getting off their ships. He said WICO President Edward Thomas, cruise ship company officials and U.S. Coast Guard staff worked with the INS on getting the procedure reversed.
Wheatley said the crews cause no problems for St. Thomas. Most are foreign nationals hailing from Southeast Asia, Central and South America, and Europe. Two ships were in port at St. Thomas Thursday, he said.
Cruise ships typically carry 900 to 1,000 crew members, and their shopping, along with that of passengers, helps to fuel the territory's economy. WICO estimates that crew members on average spend about $73 per person each time they come ashore while in port at St. Thomas.
UVI SYMPOSIUM SHOWCASES STUDENT RESEARCH
Sept. 20, 2001 – The University of the Virgin Islands invites the public to the first UVI Fall Research Symposium, from 1-4 p.m. Saturday at the Sports and Fitness Center, St. Thomas campus.
Approximately 25 UVI students, ranging from freshmen to seniors, will present poster sessions. Young people and other community residents with an interest in science can observe and then talk with student researchers.
The research symposium, part of UVI's Emerging Caribbean Scientists Programs, will feature students who have done research in astronomy, biology, marine biology, physics, chemistry, computer science, engineering, psychology and mathematics over the past year. Students represent research done with faculty at the University of the Virgin Islands and other institutions, including Purdue University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brookhaven National Laboratory, University of Pittsburgh, Lehigh University, South Carolina State University, Tulane University and Auburn University.
Further information is available from University professors Dr. Teresa Turner at 693-1382 or Dr. Camille McKayle at 693-1329.
Approximately 25 UVI students, ranging from freshmen to seniors, will present poster sessions. Young people and other community residents with an interest in science can observe and then talk with student researchers.
The research symposium, part of UVI's Emerging Caribbean Scientists Programs, will feature students who have done research in astronomy, biology, marine biology, physics, chemistry, computer science, engineering, psychology and mathematics over the past year. Students represent research done with faculty at the University of the Virgin Islands and other institutions, including Purdue University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brookhaven National Laboratory, University of Pittsburgh, Lehigh University, South Carolina State University, Tulane University and Auburn University.
Further information is available from University professors Dr. Teresa Turner at 693-1382 or Dr. Camille McKayle at 693-1329.
