July 25, 2001 – The first in a series of town meetings to address "the concerns of the territory's work force" will be held by the Labor Department Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Midland Restaurant.
According to a release, the meeting is for workers in the construction and industrial/refinery sectors "who are experiencing job-related problems" or who are interested in finding out more about employer/employee rights and the Department of Labor's "role and responsibility in insuring that these rights are not violated."
SERVICES ARE FRIDAY FOR LEONA WILLIAMS
Funeral services will be held Friday for Leona Alexandrina Williams, also known as "Miss Ona," of 14-C Estate St. John, who died Saturday at Juan F. Luis Hospital. She was 89.
She is survived by daughters Winifred Lawrence, Merle Serrano and Annette Jackson; sons Oneal, Francis, Lucien, Elroy and Bennette Williams; 48 grandchildren; 68 great-grandchildren; many nieces and nephews; daughters-in-law Irene Williams, Vestline Williams, Ruth Penn and Anita Davis; sons-in-law Gustave Lawrence and Wayne Jackson; sister-in-law Ann Copemann; cousins Francis W. Joseph and family; special friend Rita Bannister; and other relatives and friends.
Viewing will be from 9 a.m. Friday at Friedensthal Moravian Church, followed by services at 10 a.m. Interment will be at Kingshill Cemetery. Arrangements are by James Memorial Funeral Home.
She is survived by daughters Winifred Lawrence, Merle Serrano and Annette Jackson; sons Oneal, Francis, Lucien, Elroy and Bennette Williams; 48 grandchildren; 68 great-grandchildren; many nieces and nephews; daughters-in-law Irene Williams, Vestline Williams, Ruth Penn and Anita Davis; sons-in-law Gustave Lawrence and Wayne Jackson; sister-in-law Ann Copemann; cousins Francis W. Joseph and family; special friend Rita Bannister; and other relatives and friends.
Viewing will be from 9 a.m. Friday at Friedensthal Moravian Church, followed by services at 10 a.m. Interment will be at Kingshill Cemetery. Arrangements are by James Memorial Funeral Home.
OPEN-MIKE MUSIC CATCHING ON AT COLOR OF JOY
July 24, 2001 – The music goes on at the Color of Joy art gallery and boutique in Red Hook this Friday evening, with jazz guitarist Tony Oliver and a pair of Marty's on tap.
Keyboardist/vocalist Sally Smith, a regular at the weekly sunset get-togethers on the Marlin Deck at American Yacht Harbor, is off island. Filling in this week will be pianist/singer Marty Beechler "and musically inclined friends," including Marty Iorio on acoustic guitar, Color of Joy owner Corinne Van Rensselaer said.
There'll be complimentary wine, cheese and crackers along with the music from 6 to 8 p.m., with the gallery and gift shop remaining open for the occasion.
Fridays are evolving into "open-mike" nights with a tendency toward '70s rock and blues along with jazz on the broad deck overlooking the Red Hook marina docks. Last week's gathering was "another wonderful, well-attended evening," Van Rensselaer said, with Beechler, Iorio and fellow acoustic guitarist/singer Jerry Clifford serving up the rock and blues, and pannist Morgan Rael sitting in with Smith and Oliver on the jazz side.
Other musicians and singers are invited to stop by and join in. For more information, call Van Rensselaer or Mercedes Berruz at the gallery, 775-4020.
Keyboardist/vocalist Sally Smith, a regular at the weekly sunset get-togethers on the Marlin Deck at American Yacht Harbor, is off island. Filling in this week will be pianist/singer Marty Beechler "and musically inclined friends," including Marty Iorio on acoustic guitar, Color of Joy owner Corinne Van Rensselaer said.
There'll be complimentary wine, cheese and crackers along with the music from 6 to 8 p.m., with the gallery and gift shop remaining open for the occasion.
Fridays are evolving into "open-mike" nights with a tendency toward '70s rock and blues along with jazz on the broad deck overlooking the Red Hook marina docks. Last week's gathering was "another wonderful, well-attended evening," Van Rensselaer said, with Beechler, Iorio and fellow acoustic guitarist/singer Jerry Clifford serving up the rock and blues, and pannist Morgan Rael sitting in with Smith and Oliver on the jazz side.
Other musicians and singers are invited to stop by and join in. For more information, call Van Rensselaer or Mercedes Berruz at the gallery, 775-4020.
WEAPONS, AMMO FOUND IN SAVAN HOME
July 25, 2001 – St. Thomas police officers have recovered a stash of unlicensed firearms and ammunition from an unoccupied Savan home. The discovery came Monday afternoon when officers responded to a possible burglary, according to Deputy Police Chief Theodore Carty.
"There was an assortment of weapons and countless rounds of ammunition, a pile of possibly stolen jewelry and a bulletproof vest," Carty said Tuesday afternoon.
The weapons included a disassembled MAC 11 with extended ammunition magazines, a .357 magnum revolver and several speed loaders, assorted ammunition, a Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol, and several rounds of ammunition for an M-1S infantry rifle. The Glock pistol is similar to that used by police and law enforcement in the Virgin Islands.
Carty said an investigation is under way to determine where the weapons may have come from. As part of the probe, he said police must determine whether some of the recovered weapons and ammunition came from police storage.
Police were responding to a call advising that guns had been seen in an unoccupied house in Savan, according to Wednesday's Avis.
"It's a home where no one is living but people were checking from time to time," Carty told the Avis. Someone checking the house suspected a break-in, discovered a weapon in the utility room and called the police.
Police are trying to link the jewelry found in the house to recent burglaries, Carty said. Among the items found were a diamond ring and a gold brooch.
"There was an assortment of weapons and countless rounds of ammunition, a pile of possibly stolen jewelry and a bulletproof vest," Carty said Tuesday afternoon.
The weapons included a disassembled MAC 11 with extended ammunition magazines, a .357 magnum revolver and several speed loaders, assorted ammunition, a Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol, and several rounds of ammunition for an M-1S infantry rifle. The Glock pistol is similar to that used by police and law enforcement in the Virgin Islands.
Carty said an investigation is under way to determine where the weapons may have come from. As part of the probe, he said police must determine whether some of the recovered weapons and ammunition came from police storage.
Police were responding to a call advising that guns had been seen in an unoccupied house in Savan, according to Wednesday's Avis.
"It's a home where no one is living but people were checking from time to time," Carty told the Avis. Someone checking the house suspected a break-in, discovered a weapon in the utility room and called the police.
Police are trying to link the jewelry found in the house to recent burglaries, Carty said. Among the items found were a diamond ring and a gold brooch.
ECONOMIC SUMMIT FOCUSES ON IMPLEMENTATION
July 24, 2001 – The theme emerging on day one of the two-day Virgin Islands Economic Development Summit could be characterized as much the same as the sentiment after the last V.I. economic development summit, held in March 1999: Swift implementation of a plan -– some plan –- is the key to economic well-being for the territory.
In remarks toward the beginning of the morning session, Delegate Donna Christian Christensen said, "It may be that the crux of our discussion this time around should focus on how we get to the implementation stage where our plans become reality."
Julius Jessup, a member of Sen. Adelbert Bryan's staff, said an action plan was expected to come out of the sessions.
As chair of the Senate Economic Development, Agriculture and Consumer Protection Committee, which sponsored the summit, Bryan was the prime mover in its planning and the architect of the Draft Sustainable Economic Development Plan, the document used as the focal point of the summit.
Another recurring theme of the day was the need to step up to the technology plate.
Auguste Rimpel, who chairs University of the Virgin Islands board of trustees, said that with access to fiber optics and broad band communications, the territory is in a position to attract new high-tech investment.
Rimpel, a retired senior partner of the investment firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, put in a pitch for UVI's plan to develop a Research Technology Park, saying, "These companies want to deal with a local school."
Christensen said, "All government functions should have already been, but certainly now need to be, fully computerized. Most applications should be accessible by Internet. Not only must our government offices that are required for economic development be Internet accessible to those who need to send or receive information, but we also need to be in a position to access the federal government and private opportunities that are increasingly going online."
The Singapore approach
One presenter, Linda Low, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore, was brought from that island state of 4.5 million people to make an hour-long presentation because it, like Japan, Mexico and China, according to the draft plan, has "created highly motivated, educated and experienced workforces."
And how they did it, Low said, was with through process she called slotting. Children were "streamed" at specific stages of development — 9, 15 and again at university level. Streaming is a way of pushing potential workers into a particular slot that needs to be filled for economic growth of the country.
Low said if a young person wanted to go into a profession such as a doctor or lawyer, "We said, 'No. You are going to be an engineer.'"
Was it democracy, she asked rhetorically, then answered, no, but "democracy was a luxury" at the time. "Why did the people go with it? Because people wanted jobs" — and money.
The cost? Low said Singapore now is trying to get people to think for themselves and to be more creative. Loss of creativity appears to be one price it paid for "slotting." The other price paid, she said, was the "loss of culture," with the development of a "flow-through" community — one with a large population of foreign workers brought in to meet staffing needs in the expanding economy.
Amadeo I.D. Francis, director of the Public Finance Authority, spoke about the need to make funding available for small and medium-size businesses. Saying commercial lending institutions don't loan money to businesses that don't have a proven track record or aren't heavily collateralized, he said it is the role of the Government Development Bank to provide such loans to local entrepreneurs. But he said the Government Development Bank has been plagued by a lack of leadership for years and also is bogged down by "long-delinquent loans held by prominent citizens of this territory."
The bank should be an incubator for helping local entrepreneurs, Francis said, as small and medium-sized businesses are the cornerstones of a developing economy.
He also said the local commercial banks did not participate in development of the GDB as they were mandated to do by the Community Reinvestment Act.
As far as the bad debts to the bank, Francis voiced the view that "we should publish the names of the people who owe money."
What the Dominican Republic did
Luncheon speaker Rossy Sanchez, director of planning for the government of the Dominican Republic, who spoke only Spanish and made a Power Point presentation also in Spanish, discussed through a translator the development of her nation since the 1980s.
First, the country had to go from an industrial and agricultural base to a service base, she said.
"The public suffers the most under economic reforms," Sanchez said, adding, "To not do reforms costs more than to do them."
In the Dominican Republic, Sanchez said, dramatic measures taken to improve the economy included devaluing the currency, increasing taxes, decreasing government spending and controlling salaries and prices.
She, like Low, admitted that not all of the programs worked.
The summit was listed on the official legislative calendar as meetings of the Economic Development Committee both days. All committee members were in attendance Tuesday: Bryan and Sens. Donald "Ducks" Cole, Celestino A. White Sr., Emmett Hansen II, Norman Jn Baptiste, Vargrave Richards and Roosevelt David. Other government officials in attendance included Orville Kean, president of UVI; Edward Thomas, president of the West Indian Co.; Ira Mills, Management and Budget director; Joanne Barry, Personnel director; Nadine Marchena, acting Economic Development Commission acting chief executive officer; Monique Sibilly-Hodge, assistant Tourism commissioner, and Sen. Lorraine Berry.
There were few private sector members in attendance, although several showed up in the afternoon, including Joe Aubain, executive director of the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce.
After the morning session, Christensen said, "We don't have time for recommending the same things over and over. We need to get a vision and move it."
Another attendee, who asked not to be named, said, "I felt like this was designed for a developing nation that had no ties to the United States."
The summit continues Wednesday at the Divi Carina Bay Resort on St. Croix.
In remarks toward the beginning of the morning session, Delegate Donna Christian Christensen said, "It may be that the crux of our discussion this time around should focus on how we get to the implementation stage where our plans become reality."
Julius Jessup, a member of Sen. Adelbert Bryan's staff, said an action plan was expected to come out of the sessions.
As chair of the Senate Economic Development, Agriculture and Consumer Protection Committee, which sponsored the summit, Bryan was the prime mover in its planning and the architect of the Draft Sustainable Economic Development Plan, the document used as the focal point of the summit.
Another recurring theme of the day was the need to step up to the technology plate.
Auguste Rimpel, who chairs University of the Virgin Islands board of trustees, said that with access to fiber optics and broad band communications, the territory is in a position to attract new high-tech investment.
Rimpel, a retired senior partner of the investment firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, put in a pitch for UVI's plan to develop a Research Technology Park, saying, "These companies want to deal with a local school."
Christensen said, "All government functions should have already been, but certainly now need to be, fully computerized. Most applications should be accessible by Internet. Not only must our government offices that are required for economic development be Internet accessible to those who need to send or receive information, but we also need to be in a position to access the federal government and private opportunities that are increasingly going online."
The Singapore approach
One presenter, Linda Low, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore, was brought from that island state of 4.5 million people to make an hour-long presentation because it, like Japan, Mexico and China, according to the draft plan, has "created highly motivated, educated and experienced workforces."
And how they did it, Low said, was with through process she called slotting. Children were "streamed" at specific stages of development — 9, 15 and again at university level. Streaming is a way of pushing potential workers into a particular slot that needs to be filled for economic growth of the country.
Low said if a young person wanted to go into a profession such as a doctor or lawyer, "We said, 'No. You are going to be an engineer.'"
Was it democracy, she asked rhetorically, then answered, no, but "democracy was a luxury" at the time. "Why did the people go with it? Because people wanted jobs" — and money.
The cost? Low said Singapore now is trying to get people to think for themselves and to be more creative. Loss of creativity appears to be one price it paid for "slotting." The other price paid, she said, was the "loss of culture," with the development of a "flow-through" community — one with a large population of foreign workers brought in to meet staffing needs in the expanding economy.
Amadeo I.D. Francis, director of the Public Finance Authority, spoke about the need to make funding available for small and medium-size businesses. Saying commercial lending institutions don't loan money to businesses that don't have a proven track record or aren't heavily collateralized, he said it is the role of the Government Development Bank to provide such loans to local entrepreneurs. But he said the Government Development Bank has been plagued by a lack of leadership for years and also is bogged down by "long-delinquent loans held by prominent citizens of this territory."
The bank should be an incubator for helping local entrepreneurs, Francis said, as small and medium-sized businesses are the cornerstones of a developing economy.
He also said the local commercial banks did not participate in development of the GDB as they were mandated to do by the Community Reinvestment Act.
As far as the bad debts to the bank, Francis voiced the view that "we should publish the names of the people who owe money."
What the Dominican Republic did
Luncheon speaker Rossy Sanchez, director of planning for the government of the Dominican Republic, who spoke only Spanish and made a Power Point presentation also in Spanish, discussed through a translator the development of her nation since the 1980s.
First, the country had to go from an industrial and agricultural base to a service base, she said.
"The public suffers the most under economic reforms," Sanchez said, adding, "To not do reforms costs more than to do them."
In the Dominican Republic, Sanchez said, dramatic measures taken to improve the economy included devaluing the currency, increasing taxes, decreasing government spending and controlling salaries and prices.
She, like Low, admitted that not all of the programs worked.
The summit was listed on the official legislative calendar as meetings of the Economic Development Committee both days. All committee members were in attendance Tuesday: Bryan and Sens. Donald "Ducks" Cole, Celestino A. White Sr., Emmett Hansen II, Norman Jn Baptiste, Vargrave Richards and Roosevelt David. Other government officials in attendance included Orville Kean, president of UVI; Edward Thomas, president of the West Indian Co.; Ira Mills, Management and Budget director; Joanne Barry, Personnel director; Nadine Marchena, acting Economic Development Commission acting chief executive officer; Monique Sibilly-Hodge, assistant Tourism commissioner, and Sen. Lorraine Berry.
There were few private sector members in attendance, although several showed up in the afternoon, including Joe Aubain, executive director of the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce.
After the morning session, Christensen said, "We don't have time for recommending the same things over and over. We need to get a vision and move it."
Another attendee, who asked not to be named, said, "I felt like this was designed for a developing nation that had no ties to the United States."
The summit continues Wednesday at the Divi Carina Bay Resort on St. Croix.
GATHERING SET IN MEMORY OF SAM BOYNES
July 24, 2001 – Friends and associates of Samuel E. Boynes Jr. are invited to gather at Blackbeard's Castle from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in memory of the St. Thomas hotelier, who died Saturday at the age of 73 after a brief illness.
The informal gathering will include some poetry reading and the opportunity to share reminiscences with his wife of 51 years, Lorraine, and other members of the family.
There will be a memorial service Monday in Chicago, where Boynes will be buried.
Sam Boynes moved in a lot of circles, and by all accounts he made himself and others comfortable in each of them.
He was foremost, if not first, a hotelier — embarking on that career after 20 years with the postal service in Chicago. After working for five years at an inner-city motel, he became an executive at the Playboy Towers on Chicago's Gold Coast. Recruited by Frenchman's Reef in 1981, he moved with his wife to St. Thomas to spend 14 years as assistant director of convention services at the 520-room hotel. And then, he acquired his own small hotel on Blackbeard's Hill and named it for another of the same name, no longer in existence, in Paris.
Purchasing the historic ballast brick and stone property then known as The Mark St. Thomas was "a dream come true for Sam," his wife said. Before he could finish renovations and reopen the eight-room L'Hotel Boynes, Hurricane Marilyn turned it — and the whole hospitality industry on the island — into a nightmare. But, with hope and hard work, the nightmare ended and the dream went on.
It capped his sideline career of tracking his family roots to find his Boynes ancestors in history and his fellow descendants in Haiti, France and, of course, the Virgin Islands. In Chicago, as the only Boynes in the telephone book, he was fascinated one day to find a hotel guest of that name — a man born on St. Croix. As they engaged in conversation, he was struck by the recognition that he knew nothing about his paternal grandfather. And so, he went looking for him.
He decorated the main salon — the Marquee Room — of his hotel with memorabilia from those travels — the Boynes family coat of arms, a portrait of a nobleman ancestor, photographs and newspaper accounts of his visits with Caucasian cousins multiple times removed in Paris and south of there in the town of Boynes. And he wrote and published a book about his quest for his roots, "The Name Is the Same."
Two Boynes sons, LeMont and Corbiere, came down from Chicago to help run the hotel. LeMont lived on the premises and Sam often spent the nights there, too, his wife recalled, "so they could attend to any guests' needs."
The hotel, with its ornate wrought ironwork on the veranda overlooking the St. Thomas harbor, was a stop on historic walking tours, and Boynes would give the visitors a cook's tour of the property, pointing out items of interest in each of the individually furnished rooms.
And once a month, from September through May, dozens of poets and their appreciators would crowd into the Marquee Room for "Poetry and Conversation" sessions sponsored by the Humanities Division of the University of the Virgin Islands. "Sam loved to have the young people from the university come up," his wife recalled, noting that she had gotten a call from a professor wanting to read a poem Wednesday evening.
"Certainly the beautiful setting of the L'Hotel Boynes was a key ingredient in the success of these monthly events," organizer Mary Alexander said, "but I think the gracious hospitality, friendliness and generosity that Sam and his family extended to everyone who attended made for relaxed, warm and truly memorable evenings of creativity."
A veteran of World War II who saw service in Okinawa, Boynes was fascinated by the culture of Japan. At Frenchman's Reef he got involved in language training in the '80s when the Japanese were seen as the next tourist wave to the West Indies. He advertised L'Hotel Boynes in a Japanese travel magazine and did attract some guests. "He would greet them in the morning, and it was fun to see someone speaking in Japanese who didn't look at all like he should be doing so," his wife said with a chuckle.
And just two months ago, when the first-ever Japanese cruise ship called at St. Thomas, he put his language skills to use helping out in one of the downtown jewelry stores.
At the end of last year, Boynes sold his hotel to Vernon Ball, the owner of Hotel 1829, who subsequently purchased the adjacent Inn at Blackbeard's Castle and is combining the two properties into a single cultural tourism attraction.
It wasn't exactly retirement for Boynes, his wife said: "He could never really retire. But he had such a lovely relationship with Michael Ball," who manages his father's holdings. Boynes was happy because he knew his hotel "was going to be in good hands and going to be done in good taste," she said. "He had been over to see what Michael was doing and said the progress was so beautiful."
This summer, Boynes had been working with the Kids 'N' Business program, teaching youngsters about the tourism industry. "He was feeling bad and said to call them and say 'I'll be back next week,'" Lorraine Boynes said. "But he didn't get to go back."
His death on Saturday, July 21, in Roy L. Schneider Hospital came as a shock to those who had seen him only weeks earlier in apparently good health.
Boynes is survived by his wife and their four sons, LeMont Andre, Anthony DeShon, Corbiere Toussaint and Jeffron DuCayet. And by two other family members of long standing in the Flag Hill apartment where the couple first took up residence in 1981 — his German shepherd, Capois, and his wife's Shih-Tzu, Gigi.
Anita Davis, who profiled Boynes in an article in The Island Trader several years ago, recalled Tuesday that he "possessed such an energy and joy that you didn't expect that this world would ever be without him." She noted that when he went looking for Boyneses in the Virgin Islands and found them on St. John, the late Capt. Loredon Boynes Sr. and his family "were instantly struck by his charm, and adopted him immediately!"
Davis, who now lives in Atlanta, said she had "always admired the way he and his wife were able to cultivate that little corner on the hill for locals and anybody else who wanted a taste of the Boynes hospitality."
Recognizing the marketing potential of the Internet early on, Boynes developed a web presence long before the Tourism Department was even talking about such a thing, with reprints from national magazines and a video tour narrated in English and Japanese. He and L'Hotel Boynes are still there in cyberspace, at www.hotelboynes.vi with Sam inviting the world to take a step back in time at his historic small hotel.
The informal gathering will include some poetry reading and the opportunity to share reminiscences with his wife of 51 years, Lorraine, and other members of the family.
There will be a memorial service Monday in Chicago, where Boynes will be buried.
Sam Boynes moved in a lot of circles, and by all accounts he made himself and others comfortable in each of them.
He was foremost, if not first, a hotelier — embarking on that career after 20 years with the postal service in Chicago. After working for five years at an inner-city motel, he became an executive at the Playboy Towers on Chicago's Gold Coast. Recruited by Frenchman's Reef in 1981, he moved with his wife to St. Thomas to spend 14 years as assistant director of convention services at the 520-room hotel. And then, he acquired his own small hotel on Blackbeard's Hill and named it for another of the same name, no longer in existence, in Paris.
Purchasing the historic ballast brick and stone property then known as The Mark St. Thomas was "a dream come true for Sam," his wife said. Before he could finish renovations and reopen the eight-room L'Hotel Boynes, Hurricane Marilyn turned it — and the whole hospitality industry on the island — into a nightmare. But, with hope and hard work, the nightmare ended and the dream went on.
It capped his sideline career of tracking his family roots to find his Boynes ancestors in history and his fellow descendants in Haiti, France and, of course, the Virgin Islands. In Chicago, as the only Boynes in the telephone book, he was fascinated one day to find a hotel guest of that name — a man born on St. Croix. As they engaged in conversation, he was struck by the recognition that he knew nothing about his paternal grandfather. And so, he went looking for him.
He decorated the main salon — the Marquee Room — of his hotel with memorabilia from those travels — the Boynes family coat of arms, a portrait of a nobleman ancestor, photographs and newspaper accounts of his visits with Caucasian cousins multiple times removed in Paris and south of there in the town of Boynes. And he wrote and published a book about his quest for his roots, "The Name Is the Same."
Two Boynes sons, LeMont and Corbiere, came down from Chicago to help run the hotel. LeMont lived on the premises and Sam often spent the nights there, too, his wife recalled, "so they could attend to any guests' needs."
The hotel, with its ornate wrought ironwork on the veranda overlooking the St. Thomas harbor, was a stop on historic walking tours, and Boynes would give the visitors a cook's tour of the property, pointing out items of interest in each of the individually furnished rooms.
And once a month, from September through May, dozens of poets and their appreciators would crowd into the Marquee Room for "Poetry and Conversation" sessions sponsored by the Humanities Division of the University of the Virgin Islands. "Sam loved to have the young people from the university come up," his wife recalled, noting that she had gotten a call from a professor wanting to read a poem Wednesday evening.
"Certainly the beautiful setting of the L'Hotel Boynes was a key ingredient in the success of these monthly events," organizer Mary Alexander said, "but I think the gracious hospitality, friendliness and generosity that Sam and his family extended to everyone who attended made for relaxed, warm and truly memorable evenings of creativity."
A veteran of World War II who saw service in Okinawa, Boynes was fascinated by the culture of Japan. At Frenchman's Reef he got involved in language training in the '80s when the Japanese were seen as the next tourist wave to the West Indies. He advertised L'Hotel Boynes in a Japanese travel magazine and did attract some guests. "He would greet them in the morning, and it was fun to see someone speaking in Japanese who didn't look at all like he should be doing so," his wife said with a chuckle.
And just two months ago, when the first-ever Japanese cruise ship called at St. Thomas, he put his language skills to use helping out in one of the downtown jewelry stores.
At the end of last year, Boynes sold his hotel to Vernon Ball, the owner of Hotel 1829, who subsequently purchased the adjacent Inn at Blackbeard's Castle and is combining the two properties into a single cultural tourism attraction.
It wasn't exactly retirement for Boynes, his wife said: "He could never really retire. But he had such a lovely relationship with Michael Ball," who manages his father's holdings. Boynes was happy because he knew his hotel "was going to be in good hands and going to be done in good taste," she said. "He had been over to see what Michael was doing and said the progress was so beautiful."
This summer, Boynes had been working with the Kids 'N' Business program, teaching youngsters about the tourism industry. "He was feeling bad and said to call them and say 'I'll be back next week,'" Lorraine Boynes said. "But he didn't get to go back."
His death on Saturday, July 21, in Roy L. Schneider Hospital came as a shock to those who had seen him only weeks earlier in apparently good health.
Boynes is survived by his wife and their four sons, LeMont Andre, Anthony DeShon, Corbiere Toussaint and Jeffron DuCayet. And by two other family members of long standing in the Flag Hill apartment where the couple first took up residence in 1981 — his German shepherd, Capois, and his wife's Shih-Tzu, Gigi.
Anita Davis, who profiled Boynes in an article in The Island Trader several years ago, recalled Tuesday that he "possessed such an energy and joy that you didn't expect that this world would ever be without him." She noted that when he went looking for Boyneses in the Virgin Islands and found them on St. John, the late Capt. Loredon Boynes Sr. and his family "were instantly struck by his charm, and adopted him immediately!"
Davis, who now lives in Atlanta, said she had "always admired the way he and his wife were able to cultivate that little corner on the hill for locals and anybody else who wanted a taste of the Boynes hospitality."
Recognizing the marketing potential of the Internet early on, Boynes developed a web presence long before the Tourism Department was even talking about such a thing, with reprints from national magazines and a video tour narrated in English and Japanese. He and L'Hotel Boynes are still there in cyberspace, at www.hotelboynes.vi with Sam inviting the world to take a step back in time at his historic small hotel.
MALL'S THE PLACE FOR MANGO MELEE
It's Mango Melee time on St. Thomas. Fruit lovers who head to Tutu Park Mall Saturday afternoon can feast on fresh mangoes, mango cakes, mango preserves, mango chutney, mango ice cream, mango wine and mango-just-about-anything.
If eating mangoes isn't enough, try mango perfume, mango-scented candles, mango body washes and a host of other products made with the local delicacy.
And learn to grow your own at a workshop on grafting and propagation, conducted by Ashley "Ashanti" George from the V.I. Agriculture Department.
The fruity festival is co-sponsored by the department and the Cooperative Extension Service at the University of the Virgin Islands. It has become an annual event in both districts. St. Croix held its own mango celebration a month ago.
Dale Morton of the Cooperative Extension Service acknowledged that the St. Thomas event is coming a bit late in the mango season. It was scheduled months ago, before anyone knew what the spring weather would be. But "this year the mangoes came in early and finished early because it was so dry," he said.
Last year, 25 varieties of mangoes were on display, Morton said. This year he anticipates there won't be quite that many, but says he is still expecting a good turnout.
Mango Melee runs from noon to 6 p.m. The workshops are scheduled for 2 and 4 p.m. Fourteen vendors have signed up, and there will be music, too.
If eating mangoes isn't enough, try mango perfume, mango-scented candles, mango body washes and a host of other products made with the local delicacy.
And learn to grow your own at a workshop on grafting and propagation, conducted by Ashley "Ashanti" George from the V.I. Agriculture Department.
The fruity festival is co-sponsored by the department and the Cooperative Extension Service at the University of the Virgin Islands. It has become an annual event in both districts. St. Croix held its own mango celebration a month ago.
Dale Morton of the Cooperative Extension Service acknowledged that the St. Thomas event is coming a bit late in the mango season. It was scheduled months ago, before anyone knew what the spring weather would be. But "this year the mangoes came in early and finished early because it was so dry," he said.
Last year, 25 varieties of mangoes were on display, Morton said. This year he anticipates there won't be quite that many, but says he is still expecting a good turnout.
Mango Melee runs from noon to 6 p.m. The workshops are scheduled for 2 and 4 p.m. Fourteen vendors have signed up, and there will be music, too.
MALL'S THE PLACE FOR MANGO MELEE
It's Mango Melee time on St. Thomas. Fruit lovers who head out to Tutu Park Mall Saturday afternoon can feast on fresh mangoes, mango cakes, mango preserves, mango chutney, mango ice cream, mango wine and mango-just-about-anything.
If eating mangoes isn't enough, try mango perfume, mango-scented candles, mango body washes and a host of other products made with the local delicacy.
And learn to grow your own at a workshop on grafting and propagation, conducted by Ashley "Ashanti" George from the V.I. Agriculture Department.
The fruity festival is co-sponsored by the department and the Cooperative Extension Service at the University of the Virgin Islands. It has become an annual event in both districts. St. Croix held its own mango celebration a month ago.
Dale Morton of the Cooperative Extension Service acknowledged that the St. Thomas event is coming a bit late in the mango season. It was scheduled months ago, before anyone knew what the spring weather would be. But "this year the mangoes came in early and finished early because it was so dry," he said.
Last year, 25 varieties of mangoes were on display, Morton said. This year he anticipates there won't be quite that many, but says he is still expecting a good turnout.
Mango Melee runs from noon to 6 p.m. The workshops are scheduled for 2 and 4 p.m. Fourteen vendors have signed up, and there will be music, too.
If eating mangoes isn't enough, try mango perfume, mango-scented candles, mango body washes and a host of other products made with the local delicacy.
And learn to grow your own at a workshop on grafting and propagation, conducted by Ashley "Ashanti" George from the V.I. Agriculture Department.
The fruity festival is co-sponsored by the department and the Cooperative Extension Service at the University of the Virgin Islands. It has become an annual event in both districts. St. Croix held its own mango celebration a month ago.
Dale Morton of the Cooperative Extension Service acknowledged that the St. Thomas event is coming a bit late in the mango season. It was scheduled months ago, before anyone knew what the spring weather would be. But "this year the mangoes came in early and finished early because it was so dry," he said.
Last year, 25 varieties of mangoes were on display, Morton said. This year he anticipates there won't be quite that many, but says he is still expecting a good turnout.
Mango Melee runs from noon to 6 p.m. The workshops are scheduled for 2 and 4 p.m. Fourteen vendors have signed up, and there will be music, too.
NEW 'CARIBBEAN WRITER' IS IN BOOKSTORES
July 24, 2001 – The latest volume of "The Caribbean Writer," the annual literary anthology published by the University of the Virgin Islands, is off the presses and into local bookstores.
Marking the publication's 15th anniversary, the new volume includes a brief history of the anthology itself by editor Erika J. Waters.
It also features an interview with Errol Hill, "Caribbean Theatre Pioneer," by Waters; a special section of new poems, collectively titled Muse," by Opal Palmer Adisa; and the poetry of Haitian writer Rodney Saint-Éloi as translated from French into English by poet Edwidge Danticat.
The cover artwork is by Danica David.
Other poets whose work appears in the issue include Willi Chen, Gabriel DiLorenzo, Howard A. Fergus, Delores Gauntlett, Patricia Gill, Cecil Gray, Patricia Harkins-Pierre, Laurence Lieberman, Mbala, Jennifer Rahim, Thomas Reiter and Virgil Suarez. There are short fiction selections by Cyril Dabydeen, Maria Lemus, Virgin Suarez and Marvin E. Williams.
Among those contributing book reviews are Brenda F. Berrian, Bruce Berlind, June D. Bobb, Valerie Knowles Combie, Vincent Cooper, J. Michael Dash, Kwame Dawes, Phillis and David Gershator, Arnold Highfield, Louis James, Bruce King, Roberta Q. Knowles, Eugene V. Mohr, Evelyn O'Callaghan, Sandra Pouchet Paquet, Maud Pierre-Charles and Geoffrey Philip, among others.
For the complete table of contents, go to thecaribbeanwriter.
The anthology includes an index of Volumes 11-15.
Volume 15 of "The Caribbean Writer" is available on St. Croix at The Bookie, Memories of St. Croix, Magazines and More, Undercover Books, the Whim Plantation Museum store and the UVI bookshop; on St. Thomas at Dockside Bookshop, Tropical Memories and the UVI bookstore; and on Tortola at Heritage Books and Arts. Copies can be ordered direct from the Caribbean Writer offices by calling 692-4152 or e-mailing to Quilin Mars.
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Marking the publication's 15th anniversary, the new volume includes a brief history of the anthology itself by editor Erika J. Waters.
It also features an interview with Errol Hill, "Caribbean Theatre Pioneer," by Waters; a special section of new poems, collectively titled Muse," by Opal Palmer Adisa; and the poetry of Haitian writer Rodney Saint-Éloi as translated from French into English by poet Edwidge Danticat.
The cover artwork is by Danica David.
Other poets whose work appears in the issue include Willi Chen, Gabriel DiLorenzo, Howard A. Fergus, Delores Gauntlett, Patricia Gill, Cecil Gray, Patricia Harkins-Pierre, Laurence Lieberman, Mbala, Jennifer Rahim, Thomas Reiter and Virgil Suarez. There are short fiction selections by Cyril Dabydeen, Maria Lemus, Virgin Suarez and Marvin E. Williams.
Among those contributing book reviews are Brenda F. Berrian, Bruce Berlind, June D. Bobb, Valerie Knowles Combie, Vincent Cooper, J. Michael Dash, Kwame Dawes, Phillis and David Gershator, Arnold Highfield, Louis James, Bruce King, Roberta Q. Knowles, Eugene V. Mohr, Evelyn O'Callaghan, Sandra Pouchet Paquet, Maud Pierre-Charles and Geoffrey Philip, among others.
For the complete table of contents, go to thecaribbeanwriter.
The anthology includes an index of Volumes 11-15.
Volume 15 of "The Caribbean Writer" is available on St. Croix at The Bookie, Memories of St. Croix, Magazines and More, Undercover Books, the Whim Plantation Museum store and the UVI bookshop; on St. Thomas at Dockside Bookshop, Tropical Memories and the UVI bookstore; and on Tortola at Heritage Books and Arts. Copies can be ordered direct from the Caribbean Writer offices by calling 692-4152 or e-mailing to Quilin Mars.
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WAPA CHIEF: RETIREMENT BILL WILL AFFECT RATES
July 24, 2001 – The Water and Power Authority's new executive director, Joseph Thomas, says a recently passed Senate proposal to extend early retirement to certain WAPA hazardous-duty employees is a "mistake we'll all pay for."
"The bill has good intentions, without a good sense of accounting," Thomas said at Tuesday's meeting of the WAPA governing board on St. Thomas. "No [other] utility in the civilized world has that kind of plan."
In a calm, determined voice, he added, "It will have a rate impact."
Thomas has said before that potential outside investors in a community look at its government and its utility companies for clues to its economic health. The players in economic development need to be fiscally sound, he said Tuesday, and, "At some point in time, we're all going to have to sober up."
While he would "like to give the employees anything they need," Thomas said, he cannot do so to the detriment of the authority. He suggested the board members lobby Gov. Charles W. Turnbull to veto the measure, which was a part of the massive supplemental appropriation bill the Senate approved last Thursday. He added, glancing at a reporter and smiling, "I've already started lobbying."
The governor has 10 days to act on the bill before it becomes law with or without his signature. None of the legislation passed by the full Senate last week has been sent to Government House. An official of the legislative legal counsel's office said Tuesday the bills and amendments were still being reviewed. When the governor vetoes legislation, it takes 10 votes in the Legislature to overturn that veto. As of last week, the majority bloc consisted of nine senators.
Thomas suggested other ways of increasing benefits for WAPA employees, such as providing more technical training and beefing up the utility's college scholarship program. When he met recently with employees, he told the board, their main issue was "training, not salary."
Glen Byron, WAPA human resources director, said 1986 language in WAPA's definition of hazardous-duty employees is "flawed." It covers all power plant and other employees, including secretarial, he said, and refers to some hazards that no longer exist.
Laurence Bryan, Government Employees Retirement System administrator, took issue with the measure at a Senate Finance Committee meeting earlier this month, saying it would lead to "bankrupting" the system. The bill was sponsored by the Finance chair, Sen. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen.
At Tuesday's board meeting, Thomas also voiced displeasure with the Public Services Commission, expressing wonder at its fees for rate investigations. "I've worked for a company many times the size of WAPA, and the rates were nowhere near what this PSC charges," he said. The board approved a final payment of $147,300 to the commission for fiscal year 2001 investigations.
"We ought to have better control over what we pay," Thomas said, noting that the commission's Fiscal Year 2001 charge of $400,000 is up $100,000 from FY 2000. He asked what happens to any unspent fee assessments. Board member Andrew Rutnik, commissioner of Licensing and Consumer Affairs and a former PSC member, said it goes into the General Fund. Rutnik said he has hopes for a more effective PSC, noting that Turnbull recently nominated five new commission members for seats that have been vacant or occupied by individuals whose terms have expired for some time. The nominees must be approved by the Legislature.
The board also discussed Senate President Almando "Rocky" Liburd's recent legislation appropriating $2.5 million to build a desalinization plant in Cruz Bay, St. John, and a substation in Coral Bay. Thomas said WAPA is "aggressively pursuing" a strategy for St. John's water problem which will be announced soon. The matter was not discussed before the board went into executive session.
Kent Bernier, the governor's economic adviser, sat in on the meeting. He said he was there to represent the governor and that Turnbull is forming a new alliance between the Port Authority and the Public Finance Authority — and wants WAPA to join in.
Bernier said the governor expects the infrastructure alliance to find ways of avoiding duplication of costs, including insurance. "We need WAPA to be a major player in this," he said.
In other action, the WAPA board:
– Extended the current budget until it adopts the Fiscal Year 2002 budget.
– Approved several already budgeted projects: the purchase of a new de-aerator for St. Croix's Unit 11; replacement of a boiler and roof tubes for the same unit; and emergency repairs to the St. Thomas Unit 15 generator.
– Approved the FY 2002 fuel oil agreement with Hovensa.
– Said a new Unit 22 on St. Thomas, which has been delayed, will be on line in early August.
– Approved Inter-Ocean Insurance Agency as its property insurance carrier.
– Approved an emergency maintenance contract with six potential bidders.
– Discussed line losses of kilowatt hours; Thomas said the local losses are three to four times what he is accustomed to seeing.
Board members attending the meeting in addition to Rutnik were the board chair, Carol M. Burke; and William E. Lomax, J.Arthur Downing, G. Luz James and Alphonso Franklin. Absent were Dean Plaskett, Planning and Natural Resources commissioner; Ira Hobson, Housing, Parks and Recreation commissioner; and Claude A. Molloy Sr.
"The bill has good intentions, without a good sense of accounting," Thomas said at Tuesday's meeting of the WAPA governing board on St. Thomas. "No [other] utility in the civilized world has that kind of plan."
In a calm, determined voice, he added, "It will have a rate impact."
Thomas has said before that potential outside investors in a community look at its government and its utility companies for clues to its economic health. The players in economic development need to be fiscally sound, he said Tuesday, and, "At some point in time, we're all going to have to sober up."
While he would "like to give the employees anything they need," Thomas said, he cannot do so to the detriment of the authority. He suggested the board members lobby Gov. Charles W. Turnbull to veto the measure, which was a part of the massive supplemental appropriation bill the Senate approved last Thursday. He added, glancing at a reporter and smiling, "I've already started lobbying."
The governor has 10 days to act on the bill before it becomes law with or without his signature. None of the legislation passed by the full Senate last week has been sent to Government House. An official of the legislative legal counsel's office said Tuesday the bills and amendments were still being reviewed. When the governor vetoes legislation, it takes 10 votes in the Legislature to overturn that veto. As of last week, the majority bloc consisted of nine senators.
Thomas suggested other ways of increasing benefits for WAPA employees, such as providing more technical training and beefing up the utility's college scholarship program. When he met recently with employees, he told the board, their main issue was "training, not salary."
Glen Byron, WAPA human resources director, said 1986 language in WAPA's definition of hazardous-duty employees is "flawed." It covers all power plant and other employees, including secretarial, he said, and refers to some hazards that no longer exist.
Laurence Bryan, Government Employees Retirement System administrator, took issue with the measure at a Senate Finance Committee meeting earlier this month, saying it would lead to "bankrupting" the system. The bill was sponsored by the Finance chair, Sen. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen.
At Tuesday's board meeting, Thomas also voiced displeasure with the Public Services Commission, expressing wonder at its fees for rate investigations. "I've worked for a company many times the size of WAPA, and the rates were nowhere near what this PSC charges," he said. The board approved a final payment of $147,300 to the commission for fiscal year 2001 investigations.
"We ought to have better control over what we pay," Thomas said, noting that the commission's Fiscal Year 2001 charge of $400,000 is up $100,000 from FY 2000. He asked what happens to any unspent fee assessments. Board member Andrew Rutnik, commissioner of Licensing and Consumer Affairs and a former PSC member, said it goes into the General Fund. Rutnik said he has hopes for a more effective PSC, noting that Turnbull recently nominated five new commission members for seats that have been vacant or occupied by individuals whose terms have expired for some time. The nominees must be approved by the Legislature.
The board also discussed Senate President Almando "Rocky" Liburd's recent legislation appropriating $2.5 million to build a desalinization plant in Cruz Bay, St. John, and a substation in Coral Bay. Thomas said WAPA is "aggressively pursuing" a strategy for St. John's water problem which will be announced soon. The matter was not discussed before the board went into executive session.
Kent Bernier, the governor's economic adviser, sat in on the meeting. He said he was there to represent the governor and that Turnbull is forming a new alliance between the Port Authority and the Public Finance Authority — and wants WAPA to join in.
Bernier said the governor expects the infrastructure alliance to find ways of avoiding duplication of costs, including insurance. "We need WAPA to be a major player in this," he said.
In other action, the WAPA board:
– Extended the current budget until it adopts the Fiscal Year 2002 budget.
– Approved several already budgeted projects: the purchase of a new de-aerator for St. Croix's Unit 11; replacement of a boiler and roof tubes for the same unit; and emergency repairs to the St. Thomas Unit 15 generator.
– Approved the FY 2002 fuel oil agreement with Hovensa.
– Said a new Unit 22 on St. Thomas, which has been delayed, will be on line in early August.
– Approved Inter-Ocean Insurance Agency as its property insurance carrier.
– Approved an emergency maintenance contract with six potential bidders.
– Discussed line losses of kilowatt hours; Thomas said the local losses are three to four times what he is accustomed to seeing.
Board members attending the meeting in addition to Rutnik were the board chair, Carol M. Burke; and William E. Lomax, J.Arthur Downing, G. Luz James and Alphonso Franklin. Absent were Dean Plaskett, Planning and Natural Resources commissioner; Ira Hobson, Housing, Parks and Recreation commissioner; and Claude A. Molloy Sr.
