June 27, 2001 – The summer school program for the elementary grades territorywide starts Monday for pupils whose parents and guardians submitted application forms distributed in the spring.
On St. Thomas, assignments for the summer sessions are as follows:
Joseph Gomez School: students regulary enrolled at Gomez, Edith Williams, Peace Corps and E. Benjamin Oliver Schools.
Ulla Muller School: students at Muller and Lockhart School.
Sibilly School: students from Sibilly, and students at Jane E. Tuitt and J. Antonio Jarvis whose last names begin with the letters A-M.
Leonard Dober School: students from Dober, and those at Tuitt and Jarvis whose surnames start with the letters N-Z.
Evelyn Marcelli Annex: students at Marcelli School.
New Horizon School: students at Michael J. Kirwan School.
However, there are exceptions to the above schedule: All sixth grade students at Jarvis, Tuitt and Sibilly and all kindergarten pupils at Tuitt are to attend summer classes at Dober School.
On St. John, the summer session will be at the Julius Sprauve School. Orientation for St. John summer students and their parents or guardians will take place Friday at 8:30 a.m. at the school.
On St. Croix, summer sessions are scheduled at the Pearl B. Larsen, Evelyn Williams and Alexander Henderson Schools. In the St. Croix district, according to a release from the Education Department, space permitting, limited registration will be accepted for students whose parents and guardians did not submit applications in the spring.
The release said further details of the St. Croix program would be made available by Friday.
On all three islands, the Education Department is providing lunch daily but no bus transportation. Children are to bring their own drinking water with them, and parents and guardians are to pick them up each day at 1 p.m.
Secondary school summer sessions began on Monday.
For further information, call Leroy Trotman, deputy commissioner for curriculum and instruction, at 774-0100, ext. 3042.

June 27, 2001 – The summer school program for the elementary grades territorywide starts Monday for pupils whose parents and guardians submitted application forms distributed in the spring.
On St. Thomas, assignments for the summer sessions are as follows:
Joseph Gomez School: students regulary enrolled at Gomez, Edith Williams, Peace Corps and E. Benjamin Oliver Schools.
Ulla Muller School: students at Muller and Lockhart School.
Sibilly School: students from Sibilly, and students at Jane E. Tuitt and J. Antonio Jarvis whose last names begin with the letters A-M.
Leonard Dober School: students from Dober, and those at Tuitt and Jarvis whose surnames start with the letters N-Z.
Evelyn Marcelli Annex: students at Marcelli School.
New Horizon School: students at Michael J. Kirwan School.
However, there are exceptions to the above schedule: All sixth grade students at Jarvis, Tuitt and Sibilly and all kindergarten pupils at Tuitt are to attend summer classes at Dober School.
On St. John, the summer session will be at the Julius Sprauve School. Orientation for St. John summer students and their parents or guardians will take place Friday at 8:30 a.m. at the school.
On St. Croix, summer sessions are scheduled at the Pearl B. Larsen, Evelyn Williams and Alexander Henderson Schools. In the St. Croix district, according to a release from the Education Department, space permitting, limited registration will be accepted for students whose parents and guardians did not submit applications in the spring.
The release said further details of the St. Croix program would be made available by Friday.
On all three islands, the Education Department is providing lunch daily but no bus transportation. Children are to bring their own drinking water with them, and parents and guardians are to pick them up each day at 1 p.m.
Secondary school summer sessions began on Monday.
For further information, call Leroy Trotman, deputy commissioner for curriculum and instruction, at 774-0100, ext. 3042.

JULY SPECIALS
There is always something to do at Chris Sawyer Dive Center. Here's a list of Sunday dives in July.
The Sunday Special Dives for July are:
Sunday, July 8 – A great trip to the cays near Jost Van Dyke for two dives. Could be Mercurious Rock or Tobago Cay. We stop at Jost Van Dyke for a bit of refreshment after the dives. This dive meets at 7 a.m. and requires a passport or birth certificate as it is in British waters.
Sunday, July 22 – West End trip. With the calmer summer waters we will be doing two dives off the west end of St.Thomas. This is an area we usually don't get to visit. Bring a lunch or snack for this dive, as we will be back at the dock mid-afternoon.
Sunday, July 29 – Wreck of the Rhone Dive. We offer this dive site on an occasional Sunday for those divers who wish to go but are working on our usual Rhone day, Friday. This dive meets at 7 a.m. and requires proof of citizenship. Lunch is provided between dives.
Night dives in July – Night dives will be held every Wednesday in July.
July 4th is a full moon night dive.
Advanced Open Water Classes – We are offering an Advanced Open Water Course on July 14, July 15, and the night dive on July 18.
All dives meet at our shop on the beach at the Renaissance Grand Beach Resort.
For information or to book any of our dives or classes call 777-7804 or check the website at http://www.islands.vi/~sawyerdive/
Or you can email sawyerdive@islands.vi

JULY SPECIALS
There is always something to do at Chris Sawyer Dive Center. Here's a list of Sunday dives in July.
Sunday, July 8 – A great trip to the cays near Jost Van Dyke for two dives. Could be Mercurious Rock or Tobago Cay. We stop at Jost Van Dyke for a bit of refreshment after the dives. This dive meets at 7 a.m. and requires a passport or birth certificate as it is in British waters.
Sunday, July 22 – West End trip. With the calmer summer waters we will be doing two dives off the west end of St.Thomas. This is an area we usually don't get to visit. Bring a lunch or snack for this dive, as we will be back at the dock mid-afternoon.
Sunday, July 29 – Wreck of the Rhone Dive. We offer this dive site on an occasional Sunday for those divers who wish to go but are working on our usual Rhone day, Friday. This dive meets at 7 a.m. and requires proof of citizenship. Lunch is provided between dives.
Night dives in July – Night dives will be held every Wednesday in July.
July 4th is a full moon night dive.
Advanced Open Water Classes – We are offering an Advanced Open Water Course on July 14, July 15, and the night dive on July 18.
All dives meet at our shop on the beach at the Renaissance Grand Beach Resort.
For information or to book any of our dives or classes call 777-7804 or check the website at http://www.islands.vi/~sawyerdive/
Or you can email sawyerdive@islands.vi

June 27, 2001 – The Housing, Parks and Recreation Department has renovated 109 housing units on St. Croix in the first half of this year and has been installing water lines and lighting in both districts, according to Commissioner Ira Hobson.
In a Government House release issued Wednesday, Hobson said his department has completed the renovation of the 109 residential units at the Adventure Hill, Anna's Hope and LBJ Gardens housing communities.
Also on St. Croix, the release said, 42 homes in Castle Burke have been sold, and water lines have been installed. On St. Thomas, water lines are to be installed for 44 housing units in Charlotte Amalie and Hospital Ground.
Lighting installation has been completed at various locations, including Estate Glynn, LaVallee, the Educational Complex and the D.C. Canegata Ball Park on St. Croix, and the Joseph Aubain Ball Park in Frenchtown on St. Thomas.

At a recent hearing of the Senate Committee on Economic Development chaired by Sen. Adelbert Bryan, an issue was hotly debated about enforcement of the milk pull date law. David Schuster representing Island Dairies and St. Thomas Dairies showed great concern over DLCA’s lack of enforcement of an approximately 15-year-old law requiring a 10-day shelf life for milk sold in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
As commissioner of DLCA, I became aware of this law by notification from Mr. Schuster. Our agency had no prior history or enforcement policy about this law that anyone could remember. However, we respect all laws and have developed a strategy for enforcement. The importers of pasteurized milk were informed in writing of this law and were required to pull their imported milk from the shelves 10 days from the date of pasteurization or face fines.
To understand the impact of this law, one must know a little of how imported milk is processed, shipped and marketed. There are currently four brands of milk being imported into the territory. They carry a shelf lives of 12, 14 and 18 days from the date of manufacture or pasteurization. With today’s technological advancements in pasteurization and refrigeration in shipping, these shelf life dates have become industry standards. Milk kept at 40 degrees Fahrenheit is optimum for preserving quality, and today’s refrigerated shipping methods can easily achieve this temperature.
When you do the math on the date of pasteurization plus shipping to the islands, you have used approximately five of the 10 days of shelf life already. By Virgin Islands law, that leaves a retailer only five days to sell an inventory of milk. Yet supermarkets still import milk — because of customer demand and lower price in some instances.
Mr. Schuster’s argument is persuasive that his milk is the freshest on the market. Please note that this only applies to Island Dairies of St. Croix. There is no lengthy shipping time, and milk is produced daily from cows on St. Croix. Where Mr. Schuster falls short is when, through special legislation, an artificial barrier is used to deny Virgin Islands consumers a choice in their milk selection.
There is no doubt that our enforcement of the milk law has impacted the pricing and availability of stateside milk. Sometimes to the detriment of local milk producers, stores have had to discount imported milk to beat the deadline for removing it from their shelves, thereby making it more attractive to thrifty consumers.
As DLCA is mandated to protect the consumers against unfair trade practices such as special-interest legislation enacted only to protect one milk producer against competition, we must alert the public. Given that no one can argue successfully that 12-, 14- or even 18-day-old milk is in any great degree less nutritious or fresh than 10-day-old milk, why not let consumers decide what milk they wish to purchase?
Island Dairies and their counterpart on St. Thomas are one entity, an islandwide corporation called Trans-Caribbean Dairy Corp. They have recently been given a 25-year tax-benefit package that exempts them from most taxes and fees. I support this subsidization for many reasons. First and foremost, St. Croix has a large investment in capital and jobs for producing milk. We need to support this industry to protect against dependency on imports for our survival.
What does not make sense is extending these same benefits to St. Thomas Dairies, which imports all of its milk and reconstitutes it for local consumption. It also competes with Island Dairies for the same market. I have a hard time accepting Mr. Schuster’s argument of "fresh is best" when his company also sells imported fresh powder milk to reconstitute with local water in the marketplace.
The bottom line is, give the consumer the right to choose. If Mr. Schuster’s milk is the best tasting, freshest and most nutritious, then market it as such and win the customer’s loyalty. If the government needs to subsidize a local industry because of its strategic importance, then lobby the Legislature and governor for more milk subsidies.
But it is ultimately consumers who will prevail in their choice of product, and so it should be. Any artificial manipulation of the marketplace is bad policy for consumers and usually results in higher prices for an already overburdened public.

June 19, 2001 – The Republican Party of the Virgin Islands will host a pre-Independence Day celebration and fundraiser at the Wyndham Sugar Bay Beach Resort on St. Thomas on Friday, June 29, with two prominent Washington, D.C., personalities as special guests.
Attendees will have an opportunity to meet and greet network television commentator and syndicated newspaper columnist Tony Blankley and his wife, Lynda Davis, president of a Washington lobbying firm, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the "casual-elegant" cocktail gathering at the Smith Bay resort.
Blankley, known for his sharp wit, is a regular participant in the public affairs talk show "The McLaughlin Group" and on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer" and CNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews." He was former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's press secretary for seven years and later wrote the "Between the Lines" column, an insiders' look at Washington, in George magazine, which was started by the late John F. Kennedy Jr. and recently discontinued publication.
Davis is president of Davis/O'Connell, a government relations firm specializing in educational work force and high-technology issues. She has worked with the U.S. Senate Budget and Appropriations Committees, the federal Office of Management and Budget and the U.S. Department of Education. She was formerly Florida's state-federal liaison under Gov. Jeb Bush and his predecessor, Bob Martinez.
The event is a "non-partisan Independence Day celebration," according to a release, and the public is invited. Donations are $50. Tickets may be reserved by calling Frank Davis at 774-5764.

June 27, 2001 – Fifty-four V.I. government employees from 22 departments and agencies are getting specialized training via computer, taking just a few of literally thousands of courses that are available from the U.S. Department of Interior.
The Personnel Division launched the on-line training program earlier this month.
"The pilot will run for four months and is divided into three phases," Personnel director Joanne U. Barry said. "The first phase targets the government information technology professionals."
These individuals, she said, are taking courses in Cisco Internetworking Technologies and Interconnecting Cisco Network Devices. Upon completing the courses and passing an examination, they will become Cisco Certified Network Architects. The CCNA is a "globally recognized certificate," Barry said.
The second phase of the program will be for employees who are volunteer trainers for Personnel's Virgin Islands Training Initiative program. They will enroll in Microsoft Word 2000 and Excel 2000 courses with the aim of becoming certified as Microsoft Office-user specialists.
The third phase is for Personnel staff and the personnel officers of various departments. They will take an on-line course in sexual harassment awareness and human resource management essentials.
In partnership with the Interior Department's National Business Center, Barry said, her division can offer more than 3,500 different training courses in technical and soft skills to V.I. government employees at reduced cost. The courses are offered through Interior's on-line DOI University.
For more information, see Information Technology or Skillsoft Courses.

June 27, 2001 – Fifty-four V.I. government employees from 22 departments and agencies are getting specialized training via computer, taking just a few of literally thousands of courses that are available from the U.S. Department of Interior.
The Personnel Division launched the on-line training program earlier this month.
"The pilot will run for four months and is divided into three phases," Personnel director Joanne U. Barry said. "The first phase targets the government information technology professionals."
These individuals, she said, are taking courses in Cisco Internetworking Technologies and Interconnecting Cisco Network Devices. Upon completing the courses and passing an examination, they will become Cisco Certified Network Architects. The CCNA is a "globally recognized certificate," Barry said.
The second phase of the program will be for employees who are volunteer trainers for Personnel's Virgin Islands Training Initiative program. They will enroll in Microsoft Word 2000 and Excel 2000 courses with the aim of becoming certified as Microsoft Office-user specialists.
The third phase is for Personnel staff and the personnel officers of various departments. They will take an on-line course in sexual harassment awareness and human resource management essentials.
In partnership with the Interior Department's National Business Center, Barry said, her division can offer more than 3,500 different training courses in technical and soft skills to V.I. government employees at reduced cost. The courses are offered through Interior's on-line DOI University.
For more information, see Information Technology or Skillsoft Courses.

June 27, 2001 – Fifty-four V.I. government employees from 22 departments and agencies are getting specialized training via computer, taking just a few of literally thousands of courses that are available from the U.S. Department of Interior.
The Personnel Division launched the on-line training program earlier this month.
"The pilot will run for four months and is divided into three phases," Personnel director Joanne U. Barry said. "The first phase targets the government information technology professionals."
These individuals, she said, are taking courses in Cisco Internetworking Technologies and Interconnecting Cisco Network Devices. Upon completing the courses and passing an examination, they will become Cisco Certified Network Architects. The CCNA is a "globally recognized certificate," Barry said.
The second phase of the program will be for employees who are volunteer trainers for Personnel's Virgin Islands Training Initiative program. They will enroll in Microsoft Word 2000 and Excel 2000 courses with the aim of becoming certified as Microsoft Office-user specialists.
The third phase is for Personnel staff and the personnel officers of various departments. They will take an on-line course in sexual harassment awareness and human resource management essentials.
In partnership with the Interior Department's National Business Center, Barry said, her division can offer more than 3,500 different training courses in technical and soft skills to V.I. government employees at reduced cost. The courses are offered through Interior's on-line DOI University.
For more information, see Information Technology or Skillsoft Courses.