A Traitor to Memory
by Elizabeth George
Bantam, 722 pp, $26.99
Sept. 5, 2001 – I count myself among the cult of whodunnit fans who find the genre both intriguing and relaxing. British author Elizabeth George's style doesn't exactly fit into this category, even though she has won a number of prestigious international prizes and awards for "suspense fiction." She writes novels that involve a murder (or murders) that serves as a backdrop for the characters to reveal their strengths, failings and other qualities that allow us to judge them.
At 722 pages in the case of "A Traitor to Memory," you can see she is no slouch. Yet there is not one page, not even a word, that is unnecessary, and once you're caught up in her story, you'll find the end coming far too soon.
Gideon Davies, the protagonist, was a child prodigy. He picked up the violin at age 8 and played like an archangel. Now, at 28, he has hit a brick wall. Stymied by a mental or emotional block, he cannot play a note. With concerts, tapings and personal appearances scheduled, this state of affairs throws all close to him into a blue funk.
We enter Gideon's world in the midst of this disaster and sit in on his sessions with this psychiatrist. A "normal" person would have no inkling of how different the life of a child prodigy is, nor of what a jarringly out-of-focus effect it has on those who share this warped world.
Crimes are about to occur, and Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and his assistants, Detective Constable Barbara Havers and Police Constable Winston Nkata, enter the picture. Lynley and Havers are well known to Elizabeth George groupies. Lynley has a title (he's an earl) but disdains to use it in this, his chosen field. Several books back, George introduced Nkata, a former London street gang member put back on the straight and narrow.
Gideon's mother, whom he hasn't seen or spoken to for 20 years, is the first victim — killed by a car which backs up and runs over her several times. The story unwinds from there on two tracks. One is in the psychiatrist's office, as Gideon tries to return to the moment in his young life that now has brought his music to a silent halt. The other is at Scotland Yard, where the detectives pursue a winding path seeking to disentangle facts and human behavior and identify the murderer.
The one constant of this thrilling saga is the depth of the characters and the feeling the reader comes to have of knowing — and understanding –each one.
Yasmin, the mother of a 10-year-old son, figures largely as Nkata's investigations progress. Six feet tall, she is physically beautiful except for the scar on her mouth where her husband once hit her with a vase. She killed him in self-defense then served long years in prison for the act. Now, she earns her way by providing wigs for sale or rent to cancer patients who have lost their hair because of chemotherapy.
Danny, her son, has the job of washing the wigs in the bathtub every afternoon, and he's very proud of the good job he does. Nkata likes Yasmin and we get the impression he would like to get to know her. However, her dislike and mistrust of all police limits that desire to Nkata's dreams.
Numerous story lines progress on many levels, taking their turn leaping from the page to meet the reader, and you'll be delighted to return to them, anxious to know what has happened since last you met. This is a book that will absorb your leisure time for a good while. It's adventure filled and beautifully textured throughout. George spins a web of familial intrigue that leaves you wondering and following that magic lantern the storyteller lights to lure the reader.
Gideon and his family are fascinating. One marvels at how a person's values can become so warped, how such weird reasoning can lead an individual to act in such foreign ways. George is astounding, a master of her genre. If you're going there, you may as well go first class.

Editor's note: Source book reviewer Bette Davis, a longtime St. Thomas resident, notes that all of her reviews are favorable for good reason: "Years ago, I adopted the premise that if I was not hooked by page 51, I would close the book and never look at it again. Life's too short, and too many good ones await."

The 100 Black Men of the U.S. Virgin Islands invite all members and prospective members to a meeting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 12, at James Memorial Funeral Home, 6AA LaGrande Princesse.
For more information contact Gerard Luz James II at 778-9491.

100 Black Men of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Inc.invite all members and prospective members to a meeting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 12, at the James Memorial Funeral Home, 6AA LaGrand Princesse.
For more information contact Gerard Luz James at 778-8491.

Sept. 8, 2001 – A step toward shrinking the territory's bloated $58 million Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund was taken Friday by the Senate Labor and Veterans Affairs Committee.
The committee approved a bill which would reduce the minimum required payment to the fund from the current 0.1 percent to zero. The measure also would do away with language which requires businesses with a negative balance to pay 5.4 percent of their taxable payroll into the fund.
The new legislation will bring the Virgin Islands into compliance with federal guidelines requiring only that the fund be maintained at a level higher than the amount of money the territory pays to laid-off workers. If the fund isn't reduced by the end of 2001, the territory risks having the federal government take control of it.
Sen. Norma Pickard-Samuel, who chairs the committee, met with U.S. Labor Department officials in Washington, D.C., in June to discuss the matter. She learned that federal Labor and Interior Department officials have known for years that the Virgin Islands has a substantial amount of money in the trust fund. Some expressed surprise that the territory had not sought to tap into the fund before now.
Employers with a negative rating from the preceding year — that is, whose ex-workers drew more benefits than the employer paid in taxes — are assessed unemployment taxes at 5.4 percent on the first $15,000 of each employee's salary. The formula is the same whether a company's account was in the red by $1 or $100,000. At the end of the year, if the taxes they have paid exceed the year's claims levied against them, the rate drops sharply.
The Virgin Islands has the highest unemployment tax in the United States. In other jurisdictions, the experience ratings are handled in more nuanced ways, and their trust funds do not swell excessively. One Washington observer called the V.I. system "inept."
Pickard-Samuel said V.I. employers have "grossly overpaid" the unemployment insurance tax and that the corrective legislation is to halt what she termed a "roller-coaster effect." She said the legislation "will bring relief to this overburdened fund and trickle down to our hard-working government." She also said about 90 percent of all V.I. businesses wouldn't have to pay the tax, and that only employers who aren't current on their tax payments would have to do so.
Much of Friday's long committee meeting was taken up with discussion on an amendment by Pickard-Samuel and Sen. Celestino A. White that would require businesses to pay a surcharge of 0.1 percent into a "Labor Administrative and Training Fund."
The amendment met with strong objections from Attorney General Iver Stridiron; Labor Commissioner Cecil Benjamin; attorney Charles Engeman of the St. Thomas law firm Ogletree Deakins; other labor officials; and all senators except the sponsors and Sen. Norman Jn. Baptiste.
Benjamin said, "We don't want to rush into this surcharge issue." He said employers in the territory shouldn't have additional anxiety and that "We need to look carefully … at such a measure."
Stridiron said the fund might conflict with federal and V.I. law governing use of money deposited in the Unemployment Insurance Fund. Engeman said the surcharge looked like a new tax. "We need relief for the employers, not additional taxes," he said.
"This is not a new tax," Pickard-Samuel retorted. "This is the reduction of a very old tax." She added, "The Department of Labor always wants more time; I am not gong to give you more time. Things are not being taken seriously around here. I am not playing your games any longer."
The amendment died when Sens. Lorraine Berry, Douglas Canton and Vargrave Richards voted against it. The bill itself was approved and sent to the Rules Committee without objection.
Committee members present were Berry, Canton, Jn.-Baptiste, Pickard-Samuel, Richards and White. Sen. Donald "Ducks" Cole was absent.

Sept. 8, 2001 – The Virgin Islands' tropical Caribbean locale, which bewitched Christopher Columbus centuries ago and continues to nurture its tourist industry today, can attract another industry which could be the key to the territory's economic survival tomorrow.
Dr. Orville Kean, University of the Virgin Islands president, told a St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce luncheon gathering Friday that UVI has a vision which could make the V.I. the nexus of international telecommunications.
Addressing the group at the UVI Sports and Fitness Center, which was the scene of the 2001 Chamber Business Expo Friday and Saturday, Kean spoke of UVI's plans for a research and technology park — plans which he said have been in the works for more than two years.
In partnership with the global telecommunications companies already enticed to the Virgin Islands' shores, Kean said, UVI envisions the development of a world-class, mixed-use park and "incubator facility" that will spur economic development. He said there would actually be two parks, one on St. Thomas and one on St. Croix, with the "initial thrust on St. Croix."
Most mainland states as well as the nations of Europe and Asia recognize that higher education is the key to economic success, Kean said, and to this end they have begun to pump significant resources into public institutions in the areas of technology, entrepreneurial training and research and development parks.
He said the word "park" could be misleading, as a part of it exists in cyberspace — it's virtual. The key components of the research and technology park, he said, are:
– A web-hosting segment enabling e-commerce businesses to have a virtual presence in the park.
– A business component, creating a home base for software development and knowledge-based companies.
– An incubator facility to enable individuals with business ideas to convert them into viable operations.
– A network of job training activities, including degree programs, student internships, work force training and school-to-work programs.
The park will engender a strong partnering of UVI, industry and government to create information-age opportunities, Kean said, creating a "special synergy" to accommodate pollution-free development that won't overtax the local infrastructure.
A major attraction of the park, in Kean's eyes, is the opportunity it offers students, and other Virgin Islanders, for high-paying, challenging careers within the territory.
The first steps essential to development of the park, he said, are the passage of legislation and the establishing of a legal framework of tax incentives. Others are the securing of reliable, cost-effective broad-band connectivity and power, and the assurance of a business-friendly environment with government backing.
UVI believes, Kean said, that the tax incentives now offered to businesses can effectively be employed by the park to generate tangible benefits for the territory. He said investment in buildings and infrastructure is projected to exceed $7.5 million in the next four years, generating at least 240 high-technology jobs. The number of jobs would reach 1,750 over 10 to 15 years, he said, and the park would grow to occupy some 320,000 square feet over a 20-year period.
In dollar terms, Kean said, by its fourth year, the park would generate almost $18 million a year in payrolls, which would generate $3.5 million in personal income taxes. He said the government would derive additional revenue from franchise taxes, license fees and other corporate taxes.
"Cybersuites" for conducting e-commerce will offer the territory a lucrative way to replace the lost revenue from foreign sales corporations, Kean said. FSC's were outlawed nationally this year, costing the Virgin Islands millions of dollars annually.
Kean emphasized his belief that any economic plan for the territory should include the park as its main vehicle for building a high-tech economy. And he said it could become a reality within two years.
His message was well received by the audience, which included the chamber president, John de Jongh Jr.; UVI faculty and board members; and a cross-section of the business community including Tom Brunt of MSI Building Supplies, Adriane Dudley of Dudley Clark and Chan Attorneys, Mary Gleason of Marriott's Frenchman's Reef Resort; and Claudia LaBorde of AT&T.
Dudley asked Kean what sorts of businesses had expressed interest in the park. He declined to name names but said, "There are partners waiting, software and product-development companies."
Kean announced earlier this year that he will retire next fall after more than 30 years in higher education, all of them at the College / University of the Virgin Islands and 12 of them as its president.
Hesitant on Friday to say what he feels proudest about as president, he gazed around the new Sports and Fitness Center. "This certainly is an accomplishment," he said, "but it illustrates what we have done — turning adversity into opportunity."
The center sits on the site — in fact, on the foundation — of the old UVI field house, a relic from the mid-1900s Navy presence on the island and a casualty of Hurricane Marilyn. Also in the aftermath of the hurricane, Kean said, "We've rebuilt the greathouse on the St. Croix campus, restored its physical and architectural beauty, put in a new cafeteria. On St. Thomas, we have put in a new dorm and a water-production plant. And we've done this in spite of underfunding in our government allotments."
So, his pride, he says, is in "when something goes wrong, turning it into an opportunity, and adding a new measure of respect and recognition to the school."
And after retirement, Kean said, "No, I'm not going to write my memoirs. I'm going to spend time with my wife and parents and grandchildren, do some landscaping, reading. What I'm going to do is enjoy being free from the embrace of the clock."
Pondering the future a little further, he added with a satisfied expression, "And I'll be able to retire while I'm at the top of my game."

Sept. 8, 2001 – The Virgin Islands' tropical, Caribbean location, which bewitched Christopher Colombus lo those many years ago, and now continues to nurture our tourist industry, has today attracted another industry which may be the key to the territory's economic survival.
Orville Kean, University of the Virgin Islands president, told a St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce luncheon Friday that UVI has a vision which could make the V. I. the nexus of international telecommunications.
Kean told the group attending the Chamber Expo at the new UVI Sports and Fitness Center of UVI's plans for Research and Technology Park, a proposal which has been in the works for more than two years.
Utilizing the global telecommunication companies which the Virgin Islands has enticed to its shores, Kean said, UVI envisions development of a world-class, mixed use park and incubator facility that will spur the territory's economic development. He said there would actually be two parks, one on St. Thomas and one on St. Croix, with the "initial thrust on St. Croix."
Kean noted that a majority of states on the mainland as well as Europe and Asia recognize that higher education is the key to economic success, and to this end they have begun to pump significant resources into public institutions in the areas of technology, entrepreneurial training and research and development parks. Kean stressed that this could be the future in the V.I.
The word, park, could be misleading, as part of the park is in cyberspace, it's virtual. The key components of the park, Kean said, comprise:
– A web-hosting, e-commerce segment enabling e-commerce businesses to have a virtual presence in the park.
– A business component, creating a home base for software development and knowledge-based companies.
– An incubator facility to enable individuals with business ideas to convert them into viable operations.
– A network of job training activities, including degree programs, student internships, workforce training and school-to-work programs.
The park engenders a strong partnership between UVI, industry and government to create information age opportunities, Kean said. The concept creates a "special synergy" that accommodates a clean, pollution free enterprise that won't overtax the local infrastructure and government services.
A major attraction of the park, in Kean's eyes, is the opportunity it offers students, and other Virgin Islanders, for a high paying, challenging career in the territory.
Several factor are essential to realization of the park, Kean said. The first is the establishment of legislation and legal framework to create appropriate tax incentives within the park. Also on the list are reliable, cost-effective broad band connectivity and power, a business friendly environment, backed by government support for the requirement of high technology and e-commerce companies.
Kean believes the tax incentives now offered to businesses can effectively be employed by the park to generate tangible benefits for the V.I. He said the projected investment in buildings and infrastructure would exceed $7.5 million in the next four years.
The park would, at a conservative estimate, create 240 high-technology jobs over the next four years, and 1,750 over the next 10 to 15 years.
Kean said the park will produce almost $18 million in payrolls which would generate $3.5 million in personal income taxes yearly by the park's fourth year of operation. Additional revenues will come from franchise taxes, license fees and other corporate taxes. Cybersuites for conducting e-commerce will offer a lucrative alternative to the loss of revenues from the Foreign Sales Corporations, Kean said. The FSC program, which was outlawed this year, creating a loss of millions of dollars annually to the territory.
In conclusion, Kean emphasized that he believes any V. I. economic plan should include the park as its main vehicle for building a high tech economy.
The UVI president met a warm audience including Chamber president John de Jongh Jr., faculty and board members and a cross-section of the business community including Tom Brunt of MSI Building Supplies, attorney Adrienne Dudley, Mary Gleason, Marriott's Frenchman's Reef Resort marketing director, and Claudia La Borde of AT&T.
Dudley asked Kean what sort of businesses had expressed interest in the park. While Kean declined to name companies, he said, "there are partners waiting, software and product development companies."
In response to reporters questions, he said the park could be a reality within two years. Then, on to other matters.
Kean announced earlier this year that he would retire next year after almost three decades at UVI's helm. He took over the presidency in 1966 when the institution was the College of the Virgin Islands, and except for a couple breaks, one academic to complete his doctorate on the mainland, and another to head the V. I. Department of Commerce, he has remained at UVI.
What was his finest hour? The tall, thoughtful Kean didn't have a ready answer. He gazed around the new V. I. Fitness Center, called one of the finest and most sophisticated in the Caribbean, "This certainly is an accomplishment,"he said, "but it illustrates what we have done, turning adversity into opportunity." The center sits on land formerly occupied by the old UVI field house which, along with several facilities on both islands, was destroyed by Hurricane Marilyn.
"We've rebuilt the greathouse on the St. Croix campus, restored its physical and architectural beauty put in a new cafeteria. On St. Thomas we have put in a new dorm and a water production plant, and we've done this in spite of underfunding in our government allotments," Kean said.
"When something goes wrong, turning it into an opportunity, and adding a new measure of respect and recognition to the school," Kean continued, stopping to reflect with a smile, "That's quite a mouthful."
Kean said, "No, I'm not going to write my memoirs. I'm going to spend time with my wife and parents and grandchildren, do some landscaping, reading. What I'm going to do is enjoy being free from the embrace of the clock."
Pondering the future a little further, Kean added with a satisfied expression, "And I'll be able to retire while I'm at the top of my game."

Sept. 8, 2001 — The Public Services Commission voted Friday to deny a request by Wireless World that would have allowed it to enter the local phone business and end the monopoly held by Innovative Telephone, formerly Vitelco.
The 4-0 vote to accept the recommendation of the PSC's legal counsel and hearing examiner, St. Thomas attorney Fred Watts, was unanimous and came without debate. Wireless World will seek reconsideration of the decision, its attorney, Darryl Dodson, said afterward.
Voting in favor of the recommendation to deny Wireless World’s request to remove Innovative's status as a rural telephone company were board chairman Walter Challenger, Patrick Williams, Alecia Wells and Dora Hill. Absent from the meeting were members Desmond Maynard and Luther Renee.
The vote, which Dodson characterized as a "rubber stamp," came after the board denied a motion by Wireless World to postpone the meeting. Dodson argued that Wireless World and its expert legal counsel weren't given adequate notice of the Sept. 7 meeting and that, because of that, the company's Texas-based expert lawyers in telecommunications law were unable to attend the hearing.
Watts urged the PSC to proceed, stating that if a decision wasn't made by the commission by Sept. 25, it would be made by the Federal Communications Commission. He also said that Wireless World was notified of the meeting by at least Aug. 28, and that the company’s lawyers had known for months that a hearing would be held sometime in September and therefore should have been prepared.
Dodson said Wireless World's attorneys were notified of Friday’s hearing by Innovative’s legal counsel, Gregory Vogt, on Aug. 27. Also, he said, while the PSC circulated notice of a Sept. 7 "regular meeting" on Aug. 20, the commission didn't release the agenda for the meeting until Sept. 4.
The V.I. Code states that formal PSC hearings are to be held "on no less than 10 days' notice to the public utility or person involved."
"We are only asking for one thing: time to present our case," Dodson told the PSC members.
He said the fact that Watts left it to Innovative’s attorneys to notify Wireless World’s counsel of the hearing constituted "private notice" rather than public notice.
Dodson also refuted Watts’ claim that if the board postponed the decision, the FCC would take over to resolve the issue.
"The FCC doesn’t act as a nationwide nanny," Dodson said, adding that the issue would come to the attention of the federal agency only if someone were to file a petition. And that, he contended, was something neither Wireless World nor Innovative would do.
The PSC shot down Dodson’s request for a postponement. Challenger was critical of Wireless World’s motion, saying that the company was bearing hardly any of the cost of its petition, compared to Innovative and the PSC. In voting to deny the motion to postpone, he essentially said the process had gone on long enough.
"It’s like when you have been sandbagged, you say at the last minute you don’t understand," Challenger said.
"Whether you believe it or not," Challenger said later in the hearing, "it’s not the telephone company that pays; it’s the consumers."
Innovative’s Washington, D.C.-based expert legal counsel, Gregory Vogt, said that Wireless World’s motion was "duplicative" and that approving it would have been giving the company a second chance after a seven-month process.
"There is simply no reason why they should get two bites at the apple," Vogt said.
Competition
The federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 opened up telecommunications markets to competition. The act requires existing telecommunications carriers, upon reasonable request, to interconnect directly with the facilities and equipment of other carriers.
Wireless World sought to enter the V.I. market last summer; in order to do so, it needed an interconnection agreement with Innovative. Because the two firms couldn’t work out an agreement, the PSC appointed Watts to oversee arbitration.
See the earlier Source story "Ruling due on second local phone carrier" for details.
Wireless World’s request sought to have Innovative’s status as a rural telephone company removed, on grounds that Innovative is using the rural status to restrict competition. In testimony earlier this year, Wireless World claimed that in many cases across the country, rural telecommunications companies have made room for other local service providers in their areas without losing substantial business themselves.
The PSC has the power to determine whether Innovative is entitled to hold its rural exemption.
Before the vote to deny Wireless World’s request to remove Innovative’s exempt status, the PSC voted to certify that the Innovative was, in fact, using FCC funds to meet the universal service goal of ensuring low-cost telephone service to all residents. Had the PSC not certified Innovative by Oct. 1, the phone company could have been in danger of losing some $16 million in federal subsidies, according to Gregory Mann, a telecommunications lawyer working for AUS Consultants, the firm hired by the PSC as a technical adviser.
Watts, with the help of AUS, had to determine if lifting the exemption would be financially burdensome to Innovative, whether removing the exemption would affect universal service goals set by the FCC, and if interconnection was technically feasible.
Watts argued there was "no question" that lifting the exemption and allowing Wireless World into the market would provide more competition. He also said the economic burden was manageable. The key, however, he said, was that universal service would be threatened.
"We concluded that the rural exemption shouldn’t be lifted," Watts said. His recommendation was drafted after about nine months of negotiations and arbitration.
Dodson said Wireless World would file a motion to reconsider.

Sept. 7, 2001 – The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Friday granted the V.I. Community Bank another extension, to Dec. 7, to complete the purchase of the territory's Chase Bank assets.
It was the second such extension granted by the FDIC, which gave its conditional consent on Nov. 7, 2000, for VICB, owned by businessman Jeffrey Prosser, to acquire the seven V.I. branches of the New York-based Chase Bank.
The initial deadline was May 7 of this year. At VICB's request, that date was extended four months, to Sept. 7.
In a brief letter to V.I. Community Bank dated Sept. 7, Daryl P. Sturm, FDIC regional director, stated, "I have today approved the application filed on behalf of Virgin Islands Community Bank, Christiansted, St. Croix, to extend the expiration date" of the FDIC consent order. That order, Sturm noted, "grants approval to Virgin Islands Community Bank to purchase assets and assume liabilities from The Chase Manhattan Bank, New York, N.Y., and to acquire the capital stock of Chase Trade Inc. from JP Morgan Chase & Co., New York, N.Y."
Michael Dow, VICB president, said Friday that the reason the extension request was filed was "because, for one thing, the Sept. 7 date has now come and almost gone." He declined to be more specific, saying, "I don't have any further information."
According to a knowledgeable Chase source, the application for the extension was filed "very recently." Although the deal was not finalized as of the Sept. 7 deadline, with the new extension, "it still could be approved" by Chase, this individual said.
A telephone message left for Cassan Pancham, president of Chase V.I., was not returned Friday afternoon. A media relations official in the corporate communications offices of JP Morgan Chase & Co. in New York declined to comment.
Local Chase employees were told in July that the bank branches would close on Aug. 3 for a long weekend and then reopen Aug. 7 as VICB branches. That didn't happen, and Dow said a few days later, "We are a little behind there." As to when such a changeover would take place, he added, "I don't have any update. There is nothing new on it."
On Friday, referring back to his month-earlier comments, Dow said, "There wasn't anything to tell then, and there isn't anything further to tell now."
Dow, an executive with Chase Bank in the Virgin Islands before he was named president of VICB, added, "Now there is an extension in place — at least the door is still open for the transaction." Also, he said, "If and when it becomes appropriate, we will make a statement."
In May, Dow told the Virgin Islands Daily News — which also is owned by Jeffrey Prosser — that his bank could meet the Sept. 7 deadline.
The FDIC approval last November was for VICB to acquire, in addition to the assets of the V.I. bank branches, the capital stock of Chase Trade Inc., a Chase subsidiary headquartered on St. Thomas that provides tax advisory and other services to foreign sales corporations.
Since June, there has been speculation as to whether the proposed deal also involves Chase Agency Services, essentially a firm that insures home-loan mortgages issued by the bank. In June, it was reported locally that a $25 million class-action lawsuit had been filed against Chase Bank and Chase Agency Services.
Dow said Friday that Chase Agency Services was a part of earlier discussions and added, "I am not aware that there were any changes" in the latest negotiations.
Source efforts to get an explanation from FDIC officials in Washington, D.C., of the reason for the second extension were unsuccessful. One observer said the implication was that VICB "has not yet done what it needs to do to buy the branches from Chase, but does not want to abandon the notion."
Prosser also owns Innovative Communication Corp., parent company of Innovative Telephone (formerly Vitelco), Innovative St. Croix Cable TV, Innovative St. Thomas-St. John Cable TV, four other Caribbean cable companies, and Innovative Wireless. ICC is hundreds of millions of dollars in debt, and there has been speculation that while V.I. Community Bank is a separate company, it could be impacted by cash-flow problems Prosser might be experiencing.
If Chase Agency Services is included in the sale, Prosser and VICB might be liable for any judgment or settlement in the class-action lawsuit. Observers have said such a potential scenario might be a basis for Prosser to back out of the whole Chase deal without having to pay Chase a substantial penalty for negotiating in bad faith.
VICB announced its plans to acquire the Chase holdings in June 1999. The proposed purchase was approved, after review, by the FDIC and the V.I. Division of Banking and Insurance.
Prosser founded V.I. Community Bank on Dec. 30, 1994. The bank operates only on St. Croix, where it has three branches with some $78 million in assets. Chase in the Virgin Islands has four branches on St. Thomas, two on St. Croix and one on St. John. According to the FDIC, if the Chase acquisition goes through, VICB will have assets of about $500 million.

Sept. 7, 2001 – Gov. Charles W. Turnbull said Friday he wants to put $1.9 million into hiring retired police personnel as a stop-gap measure to put more officers on the streets.
The plan to beef up the police force is in response to a spate of shootings, armed robberies and attacks on police and peace officers in recent months, Turnbull said at a press conference at Government House on St. Thomas. He said hiring the retired officers would be an interim measure until two new classes of officer candidates can be trained to join the police force.
The governor said the plan is to hire up to 60 retired police officers in the next few weeks and put them back to work over the next year.
He said he would work with legislators to change a law that now specifies that police officers can work no more than 70 days past their retirement without affecting their retirement annuities. The governor said he wants to extend the time, allowing officers to continue working on the police force for up to a year.
The increased number of officers under the plan will allow for more patrols and sweeps of high-crime areas, as well as contributing to ongoing investigations of violent crimes, he said.
"We will not rest until we win this war against the criminal element," Turnbull said. "A small band of criminals, hoodlum-type culprits, will not make this society live in terror."
In recent months, the territory has seen a rash of violent crimes, including the fatal shooting last month of Kaunda Bryan, the son of Sen. Adelbert Bryan.
Three officers have been wounded on St. Thomas in the last three months: Lennox Lettsome, an off-duty officer who was shot at the Contant Car Wash; Ira Christopher, a Finance Department officer who was struck when he was robbed as he walked to the Chase Manhattan bank in Sugar Estate to deposit a bag of property tax collections; and off-duty police officer Kent Hodge, who was hit in the hand when he reportedly was caught in a crossfire in Savan earlier this week.
On St. Croix, police Cpl. Wendell Williams has been missing since June, and his vehicle was found burned out.
The move to put more officers on the streets comes as government officials also are taking other actions to address rampant crime in the territory.
Legislators are pushing for re-passage of a bill to toughen sentences for firearms violations — and agreed to make changes in a property forfeiture provision after Turnbull vetoed it recently. The Golden Grove prison on St. Croix was expanded last year. And V.I. Justice Department officials are working with federal agents and prosecutors in the V.I. Exile Program, which requires that persons convicted of crimes involving illegal weapons serve their terms in off-island prisons.
Police Commissioner Franz Christian said Friday that he expects many of the retired officers to rejoin the Investigations Unit, forensics teams and patrol units within the next few weeks. Their return will help address a severe shortage of manpower, he said.

Dear Source,
I was amused and appalled at the closing of Brewers Bay by the Planning and Natural Resources Department because of the malfunctioning of the airport sewage treatment plant. It shows a complete lack of knowledge of the location of the sewage outfall and the mechanics of the system.
The outfall is located approximately 1,500 feet southwest of the treatment plant. It discharges treated or untreated sewage at a depth of 75 feet with a diffuser of 700 to 1. The equatorial current in the vicinity moves east to west at 6 to 7 miles per hour. That means that 120,000 gallons of sewage per hour is discharged into a body of water 75 feet deep by 40 miles (the distance to St. Croix) long, moving at the rate of 6 to 7 mph.
Studies conducted years ago by the Division of Natural Resources of what was then the Department of Conservation found no appreciable increase in fecal coliform in the plume of the discharge from the outfall. These studies led me, as the supervisor of the design and construction of the sewerage system, to apply to the Environmental Protection Agency for a waiver of secondary treatment for the system. This application was recently disapproved by the EPA for lack of followup by the V.I. government after 15 to 16 years.
It is impossible for the relatively small volume of sewage discharged by the airport plant to pollute either Brewers Bay or Lindbergh Bay, and the nearest land mass to the west is Culebra.
The Virgin Islands already is third nationally in the closure of beaches as a result of sewage discharges. It is senseless to add to the image by faulty opinions.
The health and well being of the people of the Virgin Islands depend on water, electricity, and sewerage, in that order. All three of those depend on motors, pumps and electrical switches which must be maintained, repaired and periodically replaced.
Pedrito Francois
St. Thomas and Marietta, Ga.
Editor's note: Pedrito A. Francois, a retired environmental engineer, served as the territory's assistant commissioner of Public Works in 1980-1984 and as director of natural resources in the Conservation Department in 1975-1980.
For news coverage of the sewage discharge, beach closing and water testing, see "DPNR: Tests find water not tainted by sewage".
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