Approximately 50 Vitran employees may soon receive pink slips as the Public Works Department attempts to dig the transportation system out of its $8 million-plus hole.
At a Senate Government Operations Committee hearing Wednesday night, Public Works Commissioner Harold Thompson described the department’s plans to reduce Vitran’s overall operating cost by 50 percent.
St. John would see its four-bus fleet reduced to two, with two drivers eliminated. The Cruz Bay and Salt Pond routes would continue but with less-frequent service. And, Thompson said, instead of meeting every hourly ferry arrival, buses would meet every other one.
On St. Croix, that means 25 people will be laid off, Thompson said. In the St. Thomas-St. John district, reduced bus service means there will be need for fewer than the 36 drivers there. Thompson said a "minimum of 13" bus drivers will be kept, while 14 mechanics and utility and administrative workers will be let go.
"Personally, this isn’t a happy moment for me," Thompson said. "Unfortunately it’s a necessary moment." He said the layoffs and cuts are needed because fare revenues cannot cover salaries, benefits, parts, fuel and other operating costs. The V.I. government funding of $1.8 million per district is inadequate, he said.
In 1997, the Schneider administration increased Vitran’s operating costs by equalizing the salaries of St. Croix Vitran personnel with those of the St. Thomas staff with no new funding source identified. Other unfunded mandates included additional routes on St. John and compliance with a federal law requiring transportation services for the handicapped under the Americans with Disability Act.
"The combination. . . increased the operating costs of Vitran to more than $5 million per year territory-wide," Thompson said. "The available funding, $3.6 million subsidy, and fare-box revenue was and remains inadequate to provide the current level of service and requires that the Vitran system be reduced in its scope of service and cost."
Representing St. Croix Vitran workers at the hearing was Ralph Mandrew, president of the V.I. Workers Union. Luis "Tito" Morales, president of the V.I. Steelworkers, spoke for the St. Thomas-St. John personnel. Both men urged senators to push for legislation that would create a V.I. Transit Authority.
Morales also called for the privatization of bus service, a move that has been attempted with some success several times over the last 30-plus years. He said non-unionized management staff should be cut, not the rank and file.
"Those that oversee the public transportation system are the ones that need to go home," Morales said, "not the drivers or mechanics."
On St. Croix, the cutbacks in personnel mean the number of buses in service would be reduced from seven to five, the daily hours of operation would drop from 16 to 14, and the wait between buses would increase, Thompson said.
On St. Thomas, the number of buses on the road would drop from eight to five, and hours of operation would be cut back two hours, becoming 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. The routes served would remain the same, but the level of service would be reduced — and become intermittent on some runs, Thompson said.
On all the islands, Sunday and some holiday service would be eliminated.

Are you one of the many V.I. residents with polybutylene plumbing in your home? If so, you are a candidate for participation in a multimillion-dollar class action suit against its developers and manufacturers.
The suit seeks to piggyback on a $750 million settlement already made to polybutylene customers in the 50 states.
That settlement came in a suit against Shell Oil Company and others, alleging they knew the polybutylene system was exceedingly prone to leaks but continued to market and sell it.
St. Thomas attorney Jeffrey Weiss filed an Action for Damages in Territorial Court on behalf of the owners of two apartment complexes and one owner of an individual unit in the Virgin Islands after they learned that they were not eligible to tap into the statewide settlement.
Weiss had hoped to bring the suit as a class action on behalf of polybutylene users in all the U.S. territories, but the court denied that motion, partly because of jurisdictional considerations.
But last month Territorial Court Judge Edgar Ross granted an amended action allowing a class action suit on behalf of "owners of property in the U.S. Virgin Islands in which a polybutylene plumbing system was or is installed."
Weiss believes polybutylene is widespread in the territory. While the V.I. was in a construction boom in the late '70s and '80s, it was being marketed as an inexpensive, easy-to-install, state-of-the art system.
The lawyer said he has already identified enough units to amount to $5 million worth of damages on St. Thomas and $3 million to $4 million on St. Croix. He believes there are a lot more.
Weiss brought his original action on behalf of St. Croix Ltd., St. Thomas I Ltd. and St. Thomas II Ltd., owners of Carib Villa Apartments on St. Croix and Sunrise Cove Apartments and Clearview Apartments on St. Thomas, as well as Llewellyn Phillips, a St. Thomas homeowner.
The defendants are Shell Oil Company, D/B/A Shell Chemical Co.; Hoechst Celanese Corporation and E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Company.
While the statewide settlement covered only repair/replacement costs, Weiss is seeking additional damages for Virgin Islands residents in the form of compensation for lost water and, possibly, loss of use of rental property and other damages.
How do you know if you have polybutylene pipe in your home?
A notice sent out in the statewide class action suit (Cox v. Shell, et al.) describes it as follows:
Polybutlyene pipe ("PB Pipe") is non-rigid, sometimes curved, usually gray (or possibly silver or black) plastic pipe used in water supply plumbing systems.
When used in the underground service from the water company, PB pipe is blue, gray, or black.
PB pipe is not used for drains, waste, or vent piping.
PB pipe is not PVC or CPVC, which is a rigid white or off-white plastic pipe.

With an eye toward riding the ever-surging wave of Internet growth, Atlantic Tele-Network has acquired Antilles Wireless Cable TV.
While the deal shows that St. Thomas-based ATN sees big things in the territory’s future as far as cyberspace goes, the acquisition will also eventually improve service in the aftermath of hurricanes. Cornelius Prior, ATN chairman and CEO, said that adding the wireless cable system to ATN will help the company expand its telecommunications holdings in the region -– particularly Internet service.
"Antilles Wireless TV operations and its MMDS and LMDS licenses for the U.S. Virgin Islands are a natural fit with the Internet access business of VIAccess, which we recently acquired and are operating through our subsidiary, Wireless World LLC," Prior said.
Before wireless Internet access is unveiled on a large scale in the territory, Gordon Ackley, Wireless World CEO, said the outdated 15-channel analog TV system at Antilles Wireless will be replaced with new digital technology.
"We didn’t buy it to leave it 15 analog channels," Ackley said. "The new system also has the capacity to deliver 90 mpeg TV channels and high-speed Internet and telephone service. The Internet broadband service will be 200 times faster than telephone lines."
Transmitters on radio towers on St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John will send signals to a small antenna and receiver box in each customer's home. Computers, TV sets and telephones will plug into the unit, about the size of a traditional cable box.
On St. Thomas, the service will be moved along ATN’s fiber-optic cable atop Crown Mountain to AT&T’s America I cable. Until recently, that was the only route for calls heading out of the territory, even from St. Croix. The America I cable terminates in Vero Beach, Fla.
On St. Croix, which will be "pure digital" before St. Thomas-St. John, signals will be sent off island on AT&T’s America II cable that ATN recently purchased bandwidth on. That cable terminates in Hollywood, Fla.
The significance of the cables, Ackley said, is twofold. First, it allows ATN to circumvent V.I. Telephone Corp. for service; and second, St. Croix won’t have to depend on its sister island to get calls and information out if St. Thomas is shut down, as was the case after Hurricane Marilyn in 1995. And if St. Thomas is out of commission due to a storm, information can still be sent across to St. Croix to move it off island.
"For the first time in the Virgin Islands, the customer will have a choice. We’ll have complete control over our destiny," Ackley said. "We won’t be at Vitelco’s mercy. And St. Croix has always had to go through St. Thomas to get out of the territory. Now there will be two ways."
Along with the redundancy will also come more capacity, Ackley said. With his projections for Internet growth in the territory in the next three to four years, that will be important. He said the territory has "a lot of catching up to do" to reach the nationwide level of Internet access — about 50 percent. Currently, he said, about 15 percent of the territory is wired.
With the acquisition of Antilles Wireless Cable and other modifications, Ackley said, the new system will give VIAccess alone a build-out capacity of 35,000 subscribers.
"In 1996 and 1997, the total Internet population in the territory was 1,000," he said. Now, VIAccess alone is "pushing close to 10,000 subscribers, Cobex has about 2,500 and AT&T has about 3,500."
"If I have 35,000 and PowerNet moves up to 20,000, that’s where we should be," he said. "But trying to predict the growth of the Internet, well, good luck."
Antilles Wireless was principally owned by Prior. For the acquisition, ATN issued 242,424 shares of ATN common stock and paid $1.5 million. ATN also owns the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Co.; 80 percent interest in Digicom S.A., which provides dispatch radio, wireless data network and paging services in Haiti; and 30 percent of Bermuda Digital Communication Ltd., which operates under the name CellularOne.

With an eye toward riding the ever-surging wave of Internet growth, Atlantic Tele-Network has acquired Antilles Wireless Cable TV.
While the deal shows that St. Thomas-based ATN sees big things in the territory’s future as far as cyberspace goes, the acquisition will also eventually improve service in the aftermath of hurricanes. Cornelius Prior, ATN chairman and CEO, said that adding the wireless cable system to ATN will help the company expand its telecommunications holdings in the region -– particularly Internet service.
"Antilles Wireless TV operations and its MMDS and LMDS licenses for the U.S. Virgin Islands are a natural fit with the Internet access business of VIAccess, which we recently acquired and are operating through our subsidiary, Wireless World LLC," Prior said.
Before wireless Internet access is unveiled on a large scale in the territory, Gordon Ackley, Wireless World CEO, said the outdated 15-channel analog TV system at Antilles Wireless will be replaced with new digital technology.
"We didn’t buy it to leave it 15 analog channels," Ackley said. "The new system also has the capacity to deliver 90 mpeg TV channels and high-speed internet and telephone service. The Internet broadband service will be 200 times faster than telephone lines."
Transmitters on radio towers on St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John will send signals to a small antenna and receiver box in each customer's home. Computers, TV sets and telephones will plug into the unit, about the size of a traditional cable box.
On St. Thomas, the service will be moved along ATN’s fiber-optic cable atop Crown Mountain to AT&T’s America I cable. Until recently, that was the only route for calls heading out of the territory, even from St. Croix. The America I cable terminates in Vero Beach, Fla.
On St. Croix, which will be "pure digital" before St. Thomas-St. John, signals will be sent off-island on AT&T’s America II cable that ATN recently purchased bandwidth on. That cable terminates in Hollywood, Fla.
The significance of the cables, Ackley said, is twofold. First, it allows ATN to circumvent V.I. Telephone Corp. for service; and second, St. Croix won’t have to depend on its sister island to get calls and information out if St. Thomas is shut down, as was the case after Hurricane Marilyn in 1995. And if St. Thomas is out of commission due to a storm, information can still be sent across to St. Croix to move it off island.
"For the first time in the Virgin Islands, the customer will have a choice. We’ll have complete control over our destiny," Ackley said. "We won’t be at Vitelco’s mercy. And St. Croix has always had to go through St. Thomas to get out of the territory. Now there will be two ways."
Along with the redundancy will also come more capacity, Ackley said. With his projections for Internet growth in the territory in the next three to four years, that will be important. He said the territory has "a lot of catching up to do" to reach the nationwide level of Internet access — about 50 percent. Currently, he said, about 15 percent of the territory is wired.
With the acquisition of Antilles Wireless Cable and other modifications, Ackley said, the new system will give VIAccess alone a build-out capacity of 35,000 subscribers.
"In 1996 and 1997, the total Internet population in the territory was 1,000," he said. Now, VIAccess alone is "pushing close to 10,000 subscribers, Cobex has about 2,500 and AT&T has about 3,500," he said.
"If I have 35,000 and PowerNet moves up to 20,000, that’s where we should be," he said. "But trying to predict the growth of the Internet, well, good luck."
Antilles Wireless was principally owned by Prior. For the acquisition, ATN issued 242,424 shares of ATN common stock and paid $1.5 million. ATN also owns the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Co.; 80 percent interest in Digicom S.A., which provides dispatch radio, wireless data network and paging services in Haiti; and 30 percent of Bermuda Digital Communication Ltd., which operates under the name CellularOne.

With an eye toward riding the ever-surging wave of Internet growth, Atlantic Tele-Network has acquired Antilles Wireless Cable TV.
While the deal shows that St. Thomas-based ATN sees big things in the territory’s future as far as cyberspace goes, the acquisition will also eventually improve service in the aftermath of hurricanes. Cornelius Prior, ATN chairman and CEO, said that adding the wireless cable system to ATN will help the company expand its telecommunications holdings in the region -– particularly Internet service.
"Antilles Wireless TV operations and its MMDS and LMDS licenses for the U.S. Virgin Islands are a natural fit with the Internet access business of VIAccess, which we recently acquired and are operating through our subsidiary, Wireless World LLC," Prior said.
Before wireless Internet access is unveiled on a large scale in the territory, Gordon Ackley, Wireless World CEO, said the outdated 15-channel analog TV system at Antilles Wireless will be replaced with new digital technology.
"We didn’t buy it to leave it 15 analog channels," Ackley said. "The new system also has the capacity to deliver 90 mpeg TV channels and high-speed internet and telephone service. The Internet broadband service will be 200 times faster than telephone lines."
Transmitters on radio towers on St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John will send signals to a small antenna and receiver box in each customer's home. Computers, TV sets and telephones will plug into the unit, about the size of a traditional cable box.
On St. Thomas, the service will be moved along ATN’s fiber-optic cable atop Crown Mountain to AT&T’s America I cable. Until recently, that was the only route for calls heading out of the territory, even from St. Croix. The America I cable terminates in Vero Beach, Fla.
On St. Croix, which will be "pure digital" before St. Thomas-St. John, signals will be sent off island on AT&T’s America II cable that ATN recently purchase bandwidth on. That cable terminates in Hollywood, Fla.
The significance of the cables, Ackley said, is twofold. First, it allows ATN to circumvent V.I. Telephone Corp. for service; and second, St. Croix won’t have to depend on its sister island to get calls and information out if St. Thomas is shut down, as was the case after Hurricane Marilyn in 1995. And if St. Thomas is out of commission due to a storm, information can still be sent across to St. Croix to move it off island.
"For the first time in the Virgin Islands, the customer will have a choice. We’ll have complete control over our destiny," Ackley said. "We won’t be at Vitelco’s mercy. And St. Croix has always had to go through St. Thomas to get out of the territory. Now there will be two ways."
Along with the redundancy will also come more capacity, Ackley said. With his projections for Internet growth in the territory in the next three to four years, that will be important. He said the territory has "a lot of catching up to do" to reach the nationwide level of Internet access — about 50 percent. Currently, he said, about 15 percent of the territory is wired.
With the acquisition of Antilles Wireless Cable and other modifications, Ackley said, the new system will give VIAccess alone a build-out capacity of 35,000 subscribers.
"In 1996 and 1997, the total Internet population in the territory was 1,000," he said. Now, VIAccess alone is "pushing close to 10,000 subscribers, Cobex has about 2,500 and AT&T has about 3,500," he said.
"If I have 35,000 and PowerNet moves up to 20,000, that’s where we should be," he said. "But trying to predict the growth of the Internet, well, good luck."
Antilles Wireless was principally owned by Prior. For the acquisition, ATN issued 242,424 shares of ATN common stock and paid $1.5 million. ATN also owns the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Co.; 80 percent interest in Digicom S.A., which provides dispatch radio, wireless data network and paging services in Haiti; and 30 percent of Bermuda Digital Communication Ltd., which operates under the name CellularOne.

Long time St. Thomas resident Howard Crouse, 77, has died of complications from surgery in Pompano Beach, Fl.
Mr. Crouse and his wife, Eldith "Sis," moved to the Virgin Islands in 1962 to build Shibui Hotel. "Sis" agreed to stay one year in the Virgin Islands during the construction of the hotel… .they were residents of St. Thomas for 30 years.
Mr. Crouse was born in Muncie. Indiana, July 15, 1922 and moved to South Florida in 1935 with his family.
He graduated as valedictorian from Redland High School near Homestead, Fl. in 1940. Giving up a scholarship to Princeton University, Mr. Crouse joined the U.S. Navy, serving four years during World War II in both the Atlantic and Pacific Theaters.
He married Eldith "Sis" Hampton at Silver Palm Methodist Church, Princeton. Fl. on Feb. 19, 1949, a church he helped to design and build.
Prior to moving to the Virgin Islands, Mr. Crouse designed and constructed custom homes, churches, commercial buildings, and the Sports Winter Quarters for the St. Louis Cardinals, on the South Florida mainland and on the Florida Keys.
As an architect and building dontractor, he was president of Crouse-Hampton Inc. for 30 years.
On St. Thomas, Crouse built over 250 custom homes, hotels, commercial buildings, and restored several historic buildings. Some of his many accomplishments were featured in Homes Magazine, Architectural Digest, and featured at the National Home Builders Conventions. Mr. Crouse was a past member of the Board of Directors of Antilles School, St. Thomas Yacht Club, a founding member of the V.1. Game Fishing Club, and he was awarded "Citizen of the Year" by the St. Thomas Board of Realtors in 1990.
He was also a member of the Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, Fl.
The Crouses retired to Pompano Beach, Florida in 1991 and traveled extensively throughout the world. He is survived by his wife, "Sis," of 51 years of Pompano Beach, son, Larry Crouse of St. Thomas, Virgin Islands; daughter, Toni Babbitz, son-in-law, Robert Babbitz, and granddaughter, Jessica Babbitz of Chevy Chase, Maryland; sister-in-law, Pauline Crouse of Muncie, Indiana; and bother-and sister-in-law, Harry "Bud" and Mary Lou Hampton of Homestead, Fl.
Services will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday, April 6, at Forest Lawn Memorial Chapel, 200 W. Copans Road, Pompano Beach, Fl.

The Virgin Islands Casino Control Commission is serious about its insistence on responsible gaming. Less than a month after the opening of the Divi Carina Bay Resort and Casino, St. Croix's first, the commission chairwoman, Eileen Petersen has warned parents that they will not gamble if their children are not properly supervised.
"Parents carry their children to the casino and because person under 18 cannot enter the casino, they are left outside."
Petersen said it is a no-no for parents to leave their children unattended in their cars or in the hotel's parking lot for hours at a time.
"Anytime we have warned a parent about this situation and they continue the practice, we will bar them from returning to the casino to gamble."
Petersen said it's a simple situation, "If you don't have a babysitter for your minor children, stay at home."
Petersen has put together a responsible gaming task force, which she hoped will help the community avoid many of the traditional pitfalls of irresponsible gambling, she said.
The task force established to help curb an undesirable social consequences of legalized gambling is preparing for problems beyond parents leaving their children unattended outside the casino. Commission member Lloyd McAlpin said the commission is lining up a number of anticipated services including many agencies of the local government.
Overall, Petersen said the first few weeks of lawful gaming on St. Croix has gone relatively well. She said the smooth sailing is largely due to adequate preparation.
"We are satisfied that the rules and regulations we put in place have contributed to a smooth opening."
She added, "To those who say it was a long time in coming, I ask them to show me a reputable gaming jurisdiction that has put together a first-ever casino and hotel in four years."
The Divi Carina Bay Resort and Casino is located on St. Croix's East End.
It features 295 gaming machines, roulette, craps and blackjack tables.

Grants to the territory in widely diverse fields, crime and the arts, were announced Wednesday by Delegate Donna Christian-Christensen.
The U.S. Department of Justice awarded $627,000 to the Virgin Islands Law Enforcement Planning Commission. The grant is to provide funds from the Fiscal Year 99 Crime Victims Fund to assist with crime victim services in the V.I.
At the other end of the spectrum, two of the territory's arts organizations will receive grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Christian-Christensen said.
The Caribbean Dance Company of the V.I. will receive $20,000 for the second year of its Caribbean Dance Experience program for children five to 11 years old.
In a partnership program with the NEA, the V.I. Council on the Arts will receive $225,000 to address territory arts needs.

This year's graduating high school seniors have an immediate opportunity for a free college education, if their sights are set on technology.
Two Alva C. McFarlane scholarships of up to $60,000 are being offered by the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority, the authority announced Wednesday.
The scholarships, in their seventh year, are being offered to seniors who plan on getting a degree in engineering or a computer related field.
Also being offered are two scholarships of up to $20,000 for students who plan to get an associate, two year, degree in a technical field, including engineering, metal trades or computer science.
One bachelor's degree and one associate degree scholarship will be offered in both the St. Thomas and St. Croix districts. The scholarship will pay for expenses including, tuition, room and board, books, supplies, transportation and miscellaneous expenses.
Recipients will pledge to work for WAPA for each year of education financed, and summer employment at WAPA will be offered. If a recipient doesn't work for WAPA, the scholarship then becomes a low interest loan.
Applications can be obtained from the WAPA human resources office or from high school guidance counselors. Deadline for applications is April 30.

The Virgin Islands government is expected to post the proposed agreement with Southern Electric on its Web site by the end of this week. The lengthy document includes all details of the proposal, which the Turnbull administration has promised will not be kept back from the public.
Gov. Charles W. Turnbull's chief financial advisor, Rudolph E. Krigger, one of the key negotiators of the deal, said Wednesday the public will have ample opportunity to review the plan, adding that the public meetings already held would not be the only opportunities for discussion.
"The governor is very aware of the separation of powers doctrine and has said that the responsibility for the public hearings will lie with the Legislature."
Krigger and a representative from Southern Energy discussed the WAPA joint venture on WVWI Radio One's talk show "Opening Doors" Wednesday morning.
Responding to the lawsuit filed by St. Croix businesswoman Gail Watson Chiang,
Krigger maintained that WAPA was never offered to anyone. Chiang filed suit a few months ago charging that the deal with SEI was invalid because no other companies were invited to bid for WAPA.
"The government did not put WAPA on the block," Krigger said. "SEI made a proposal, and initially they were steered in the direction of the WAPA board."
After talks with and presentations from SEI, Krigger said, the WAPA directors formally wrote to the governor, "advising him that the initial talks seemed sincere and that he should be open to the financial and legal aspects of the proposal." Krigger also defended the negotiated partnership arrangement that would allow SEI to control 80 percent of the company for the 25-year life of the arrangement, while the government would control 20 percent. He said there would be unprecedented minority veto authority, which was not easily won.
"This was a hard fought issue," he said. "In the end, we get assurances of veto power even with 20 percent interest, an offer that the government is satisfied with."
As it urges acceptance of the arrangement with Southern, the administration is promoting the economic benefits to the territory of converting
the electric utility into a taxpaying corporation. Dave Dunbar, the project director for Southern, explained, "Currently WAPA makes payment in lieu of taxes, to the tune of $150,000. Southern is prepared to start by paying $350,000 in the first year and a 2 percent increase each year in property and fuel taxes."
In the sixth year of the agreement, Dunbar said, Virgin Islands Electric and Water, as it would be renamed, would begin to pay gross receipts taxes.
According to Krigger, the government has anticipated that, as a private company, WAPA, or VIEW, would be eligible to apply for benefits under the Industrial Development
Program. "Should any benefits be granted," he said, "they would have to be reflected in the rates charged to customers."
If IDC benefits are approved, VIEW's rates to customers would be taken into consideration and in essence a reduction in rates would occur, Krigger said Wednesday.
Government and Southern Energy representatives plan more media appearances in the weeks ahead. The Virgin Islands Legislature must ultimately decide whether the electric utility ownership-sharing proposal will become reality.