June is International Month at Alexander's Café in Frenchtown, featuring a cuisine from each of four different regions along with a complimentary glass of wine. Week two's cuisine will be Asian Pacific Rim, week three Tex-Mex, and week four New England Clam Bake.
The regular, artistically prepared, international menu is also available, of course!
Featuring Clam Bake June 25 to July 7
APPETIZERS
Peel and eat shrimp…$10.75
Clam and corn chowder…$5.50
Oysters Rockefeller…$12.00
New England fishcakes…$7.50
ENTREES
Fried Seafood Platter…$22.75
with fresh fish of the day, shrimp and oysters served with corn on the cob and boiled potatoes
Crabmeat stuffed Sole with lobster cream sauce…$22.75
Prime Rib…$24.75
Maine Lobster…$29.75
Clam Bake Bucket for two…$58.75
includes 1 lobster, 6 oysters, 6 clams, 6 shrimp
Clam Bake Bucket for one…$36.75
includes 1 lobster, 3 oysters, 3 clams, 3 shrimp
Served with corn on the cob and boiled potatoes.

DESSERT
Mixed berry shortcake…$ 6.75
Also featuring every Wednesday:
"Wente Wednesday's": Tableside wine tasting and preview by knowledgeable wine hosts from West Indies Corporation. Also: Buy 1 bottle of Wente wine, get complimentary 2nd bottle.
Lunch, 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dinner 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Reservations are suggested for dinner, 340-774-4349.
Fill out the questionnaire at the end of your meal saying you saw this ad on the Source and enter Alexander's drawing to win various gifts, including bottles of wine, dining certificates, and at the end of the summer promotion — a trip to St. Croix.

Neil Newhard capped off two days of sailing his own wooden sloop in almost every condition the Virgin Islands has to offer with a win in a Laser sail-off to take the 2001 St. John Commodore's Cup. The three combined St. John yacht clubs decided on the sail-off method as the best way to select an overall winner from three different class winners. Newhard, winner of the non-spinnaker class, raced the Olympic Laser against Jeff Crokin, captain of Slideways and winner of the pursuit class; and Dave Dostall, captain of Rob Roy and winner of the spinnaker class.
Saturday's race from Pilsbury Sound, west of Cruz Bay, around the north of St. John to Coral Bay was held on a perfect Virgin Islands sailing day, 12 to 14 knots of wind and bright sun. The Sunday race around the waters east of Coral Bay proved more challenging with passing squalls dropping 25 knot gusts along the course, then taking all the wind away after leaving.
The Cup raised approximately $6,000 for the KATS (Kids and the Sea) Program on St. John between entry fees, T-shirt sales, and raffle tickets. The combined clubs called the Mount Gay Commodore's Cup regatta a tremendous success this year. Twenty-five boats from St. John, St. Thomas, St. Croix, and Tortola participated. Combined results from the two days of racing follow:
2001 Mt. Gay Commodore Cup Results
Pursuit Class
Place, Boat Name….Captain
1. Slideways….Jeff Crokin
2. En Passant….Dave Kraft
3. Water Filly….Jonathan Rusam
4. Rainbow Maker….Vince Barnett
5. Lilly….Bear
6. Paradise Found….Mark Williams
7. Will Full….Dave Geiger
8. Wind Song….Bob Sells
9. Evasion….Rob Waara
10. Luffin & Limin….Glen and Mai Tai
11. Wayward….Christopher Robinson
12. Hotel California….Steve Schmidt
Non-Spinnaker Class
1. Hirondelle….Neal Newhard
2. Windshift….Ralf Fette
3. Indigo….Lewis Alexander
4. Silmarillian….Shawn Lemm
Spinnaker Class
1. Rob Roy….Dave Dostall
2. Runaway….Rebecca Rusham
3. Online Vacation….Gary Wright
4. Wild Thing….David Baird
5. Fast Idiots….Ed Brockbank
6. J Walking….Brian Walden
7. Serenity….Seabastian Coppens

June 25, 2001 – The U.S. effort to save some of the benefits of the Foreign Sales Corporation program has been torpedoed, again, by the World Trade Organization.
Congress, wanting to keep something like FSC's in place as a tax break to major U.S. exporters, redesigned the program after the WTO threatened major penalties if the FSC program itself continued.
Now the substitute program also has been vetoed by the world body, in an interim ruling in favor of the European Union, and the United States is being threatened with $4 billion in penalties if it continues the program in its modified form.
Because this is a major concern to American business — not merely a problem for the Virgin Islands economy and the territorial treasury — it was front-page news Saturday in the Washington Post.
The New York Times also gave prominent space to the story, its Saturday account noting the significance of FCS's in the territory. "Some of the biggest corporations in the United States, including Microsoft, Ford Motor and Exxon Mobil, take advantage of the program, usually through entities incorporated in the Virgin Islands," it reported.
The United States will appeal the WTO decision, even though initial decisions are usually upheld in the organization's appeals process. Washington is meantime also working through diplomatic channels in an effort to save the FSC-substitute.
The FSC program, said to be worth $7 to $10 million annually to the V.I. government, worked like this: U.S. exporters (including 3,500 in the V.I. program) would get a U.S. tax break if they handled some part of their sales activities through FSC's. The corporations typically handled not actual export goods but the paperwork involved, but this qualified them for a substantial break in corporate income taxes. With these tax breaks, the exporters were better able to compete in overseas markets.
After Congress rewrote the law, the European Union — whose objection to the original FSC program had led to the WTO rejecting it, complained that the new version differed only superficially from the old one. Washington has maintained that the changes brought the law into compliance with WTO rules.
The World Trade Organization has ruled that the whole activity, in both its original form and its modification, amounts to an illegal subsidy of U.S. exporters by the U.S. government, a no-no under WTO rules and regulations.
The latest ruling was not made public, but news agencies reported that it went against the United States. Only U.S. and European Union officials were provided copies of the decision, and neither side would comment to the Times. "The unusually silent stance — in most cases, the winner, at least, is quick to discuss rulings with reporters — reflects the dispute's major implications for trans-Atlantic trade relations," the Times said.
In April, the V.I. Foreign Sales Corporation Commission met to begin dealing with the issues of the impending death, or at least the substantial reduction of the program. That effort was headed up by Lt. Gov. Gerard Luz James II.
The FSC program did not operate just in the U.S.Virgin Islands, or even just in American islands, generally. It also used other locations, including many ex-British Empire outposts.

June 25, 2001 – The U.S. effort to save some of the benefits of the Foreign Sales Corporation program has been torpedoed, again, by the World Trade Organization.
Congress, wanting to keep something like FSC's in place as a tax break to major U.S. exporters, redesigned the program after the WTO threatened major penalties if the FSC program itself continued.
Now the substitute program also has been vetoed by the world body, in an interim ruling in favor of the European Union, and the United States is being threatened with $4 billion in penalties if it continues the program in its modified form.
Because this is a major concern to American business — not merely a problem for the Virgin Islands economy and the territorial treasury — it was front-page news Saturday in the Washington Post.
The New York Times also gave prominent space to the story, its Saturday account noting the significance of FCS's in the territory. "Some of the biggest corporations in the United States, including Microsoft, Ford Motor and Exxon Mobil, take advantage of the program, usually through entities incorporated in the Virgin Islands," it reported.
The United States will appeal the WTO decision, even though initial decisions are usually upheld in the organization's appeals process. Washington is meantime also working through diplomatic channels in an effort to save the FSC-substitute.
The FSC program, said to be worth $7 to $10 million annually to the V.I. government, worked like this: U.S. exporters (including 3,500 in the V.I. program) would get a U.S. tax break if they handled some part of their sales activities through FSC's. The corporations typically handled not actual export goods but the paperwork involved, but this qualified them for a substantial break in corporate income taxes. With these tax breaks, the exporters were better able to compete in overseas markets.
After Congress rewrote the law, the European Union — whose objection to the original FSC program had led to the WTO rejecting it, complained that the new version differed only superficially from the old one. Washington has maintained that the changes brought the law into compliance with WTO rules.
The World Trade Organization has ruled that the whole activity, in both its original form and its modification, amounts to an illegal subsidy of U.S. exporters by the U.S. government, a no-no under WTO rules and regulations.
The latest ruling was not made public, but news agencies reported that it went against the United States. Only U.S. and European Union officials were provided copies of the decision, and neither side would comment to the Times. "The unusually silent stance — in most cases, the winner, at least, is quick to discuss rulings with reporters — reflects the dispute's major implications for trans-Atlantic trade relations," the Times said.
In April, the V.I. Foreign Sales Corporation Commission met to begin dealing with the issues of the impending death, or at least the substantial reduction of the program. That effort was headed up by Lt. Gov. Gerard Luz James II.
The FSC program did not operate just in the U.S.Virgin Islands, or even just in American islands, generally. It also used other locations, including many ex-British Empire outposts.

June 25, 2001 – The U.S. effort to save some of the benefits of the Foreign Sales Corporation program has been torpedoed, again, by the World Trade Organization.
Congress, wanting to keep something like FSC's in place as a tax break to major U.S. exporters, redesigned the program after the WTO threatened major penalties if the FSC program itself continued.
Now the substitute program also has been vetoed by the world body, in an interim ruling in favor of the European Union, and the United States is being threatened with $4 billion in penalties if it continues the program in its modified form.
Because this is a major concern to American business — not merely a problem for the Virgin Islands economy and the territorial treasury — it was front-page news Saturday in the Washington Post.
The New York Times also gave prominent space to the story, its Saturday account noting the significance of FCS's in the territory. "Some of the biggest corporations in the United States, including Microsoft, Ford Motor and Exxon Mobil, take advantage of the program, usually through entities incorporated in the Virgin Islands," it reported.
The United States will appeal the WTO decision, even though initial decisions are usually upheld in the organization's appeals process. Washington is meantime also working through diplomatic channels in an effort to save the FSC-substitute.
The FSC program, said to be worth $7 to $10 million annually to the V.I. government, worked like this: U.S. exporters (including 3,500 in the V.I. program) would get a U.S. tax break if they handled some part of their sales activities through FSC's. The corporations typically handled not actual export goods but the paperwork involved, but this qualified them for a substantial break in corporate income taxes. With these tax breaks, the exporters were better able to compete in overseas markets.
After Congress rewrote the law, the European Union — whose objection to the original FSC program had led to the WTO rejecting it, complained that the new version differed only superficially from the old one. Washington has maintained that the changes brought the law into compliance with WTO rules.
The World Trade Organization has ruled that the whole activity, in both its original form and its modification, amounts to an illegal subsidy of U.S. exporters by the U.S. government, a no-no under WTO rules and regulations.
The latest ruling was not made public, but news agencies reported that it went against the United States. Only U.S. and European Union officials were provided copies of the decision, and neither side would comment to the Times. "The unusually silent stance — in most cases, the winner, at least, is quick to discuss rulings with reporters — reflects the dispute's major implications for trans-Atlantic trade relations," the Times said.
In April, the V.I. Foreign Sales Corporation Commission met to begin dealing with the issues of the impending death, or at least the substantial reduction of the program. That effort was headed up by Lt. Gov. Gerard Luz James II.
The FSC program did not operate just in the U.S.Virgin Islands, or even just in American islands, generally. It also used other locations, including many ex-British Empire outposts.

June 25, 2001 – Five and a half months after the arrival of the Bush administration, there is still no political appointee at the head of the Office of Insular Affairs within the Department of the Interior — the office that coordinates federal relations with the Virgin Islands and the U.S. Pacific island territories.
Interior sources indicate that a lawyer from California who has worked in political positions on island affairs in the past, Howard Hills, would get the job. Hills was an aide to Ambassador Fred Zeder when the original agreements were worked out between the United States and the mid-Pacific nations of the Marshalls and Micronesia. More recently, while in private practice, he has represented the atomic bomb-damaged atoll of Rongelap in the Marshall Islands.
Hills, however, told the Source that he's not interested. "While I would like to make a contribution and come back to government sometime," he said, "now is not the right time for me."
He noted that Interior has been one of the slowest of the government departments in getting get sub-cabinet executive appointments. And, he added, "They will appoint the assistant secretaries before they get to the office directors."
Were Hills to be named to head Insular Affairs, observers say, his appointment would continue the recent practice of naming someone to the post who knows something about the islands. The Clinton administration's second appointee to the office, Alan Stayman, had followed insular matters for years as a staff member on Capitol Hill. So had Stayman's deputy, and eventual successor, Danny Aranza, a Guamanian of Filipino descent who had practiced law in Hawaii.
In prior years, even when the Insular Affairs boss had the rank of assistant secretary, the White House had regarded the post as one that should be filled by mainland minority persons with strong political credentials, whether or not they had any prior contact with the islands. Richard Montoya and Stella Guerra, who held the job in the Reagan and first Bush administrations, were mainland Hispanics, as the Pacific Islands Monthly used to chronicle in detail. The first Clinton appointee upheld the tradition: Leslie Turner was an African-American who had worked in the law firm of Vernon Jordan, a prominent lobbyist and sometime golfing partner of Clinton's.
"These appointees came to the OIA job not only with no island experience, they were new to Interior, and did not seem to have well-developed networks elsewhere in town; they all struggled as a result," according to one, long-time Interior staffer.
Most of these Insular Affairs directors have stay on in Washington, D.C., after leaving their appointive office: Turner and Arranza have returned to the practice of law and Stayman has taken an apolitical position in the State Department, handling the renegotiation of the government's treaty-like arrangements with the Republic of the Marshalls and the Federated States of Micronesia.
Both the Marshalls and Micronesia are called associated states; they are near-sovereign entities but defer to the United States on military matters and are heavily dependent on U.S. financial aid. It is an unusual arrangement, nothing like the relationships of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico to the United States.
The acting director of Insular Affairs since Arranza's departure at the end of the Clinton administration is Nicolao Pula, a civil servant from American Samoa.
"OIA and the islands are not hurt by the delay in naming a director," Hills said. "The place is in strong hands with Nik Pula as the acting director."
The speculation is that it be many more months before a permanent Insular Affairs director is in place. The job does not require Senate confirmation.

June 25, 2001 – Five and a half months after the arrival of the Bush administration, there is still no political appointee at the head of the Office of Insular Affairs within the Department of the Interior — the agency that coordinates federal relations with the Virgin Islands and the U.S. Pacific island territories.
Interior sources indicate that a lawyer from California who has worked in political positions on island affairs in the past, Howard Hills, would get the job. Hills was an aide to Ambassador Fred Zeder when the original agreements were worked out between the United States and the mid-Pacific nations of the Marshalls and Micronesia. More recently, while in private practice, he has represented the atomic bomb-damaged atoll of Rongelap in the Marshall Islands.
Hills, however, told the Source that he's not interested. "While I would like to make a contribution and come back to government sometime," he said, "now is not the right time for me."
He noted that Interior has been one of the slowest of the government departments in getting get sub-cabinet executive appointments. And, he added, "They will appoint the assistant secretaries before they get to the office directors."
Were Hills to be named to head Insular Affairs, observers say, his appointment would continue the recent practice of naming someone to the post who knows something about the islands. The Clinton administration's second appointee to the office, Alan Stayman, had followed insular matters for years as a staff member on Capitol Hill. So had Stayman's deputy, and eventual successor, Danny Aranza, a Guamanian of Filipino descent who had practiced law in Hawaii.
In prior years, even when the Insular Affairs boss had the rank of assistant secretary, the White House had regarded the post as one that should be filled by mainland minority persons with strong political credentials, whether or not they had any prior contact with the islands. Richard Montoya and Stella Guerra, who held the job in the Reagan and first Bush administrations, were mainland Hispanics, as the Pacific Islands Monthly used to chronicle in detail. The first Clinton appointee upheld the tradition: Leslie Turner was an African-American who had worked in the law firm of Vernon Jordan, a prominent lobbyist and sometime golfing partner of Clinton's.
"These appointees came to the OIA job not only with no island experience, they were new to Interior, and did not seem to have well-developed networks elsewhere in town; they all struggled as a result," according to one, long-time Interior staffer.
Most of these Insular Affairs directors have stay on in Washington, D.C., after leaving their appointive office: Turner and Arranza have returned to the practice of law and Stayman has taken an apolitical position in the State Department, handling the renegotiation of the government's treaty-like arrangements with the Republic of the Marshalls and the Federated States of Micronesia.
Both the Marshalls and Micronesia are called associated states; they are near-sovereign entities but defer to the United States on military matters and are heavily dependent on U.S. financial aid. It is an unusual arrangement, nothing like the relationships of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico to the United States.
The acting director of Insular Affairs since Arranza's departure at the end of the Clinton administration is Nicolao Pula, a civil servant from American Samoa.
"OIA and the islands are not hurt by the delay in naming a director," Hills said. "The place is in strong hands with Nik Pula as the acting director."
The speculation is that it be many more months before a permanent Insular Affairs director is in place. The job does not require Senate confirmation.

June 25, 2001 – Recent works by St. Thomas artists Phebe Schwartz and Jane Ryan-Clemo and wines of the Rosemount Estate in Australia will be featured at the Da Da Wine Down Friday at Cafe Amici.
The monthly event is from 5 to 8 p.m. at the courtyard restaurant in Riise's Alley in downtown Charlotte Amalie. Admission is free. Cafe owner Rick Kingsland provides complimentary hors d'oeuvres and there's a cash bar. For those taking part in the wine tasting and seminar, which goes on continuously until supplies are exhausted, there is a $10 fee. Door prizes of art, wine and dining certificates will be awarded toward the end of the evening.
West Indies Corp. is hosting the seminar and tasting of wines from Australia's Rosemount Estate, which in a little more than 30 years has become that nation's leading family winery. More than half of the company's annual production today is exported, to 34 countries.
Single vineyard, premium regional and classic varietal wines are produced from vineyards established in seven distinct vitcultural areas of the Australian continent. Each vineyard is used to cultivate the varieties of grapes best suited to its climate, soil and topography.
Phebe Schwartz came to St. Thomas in 1987, sight unseen, and has been painting and teaching art at Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School ever since. Recently, she has moved in the direction of designing home fashions as a sideline to her painting and educational pursuits.
Five years ago, she created a fund-raising project for her advanced art class at BCB: producing African-Caribbean art quilts. In this undertaking, she drew on her Peace Corps experience in Liberia and her fabric-art work with Judy Chicago's Birth Project. Her advanced students have produced one-of-a-kind quilts each year for five years that have been sold to raise funds for the class.
Schwartz says her current series of acrylic paintings, collectively titled "Shells," evokes warm summer days spent on beaches with her father, a coastal geologist. "The paintings capture the feeling of staring into the sand and small sea shells for hours, contemplating the limitless and infinite amount of sand, the amazing architecture of the shells, a child's wonder at the thought of infinity and the meaning of the universe," she says.
Jane Ryan-Clemo, a 17-year resident of St. Thomas, describes herself as a self-taught folk artist whose "primitive art exemplifies creation in its purist form." She is especially known for her mocko jumbie soft sculptures and has won several awards for her designs.
Emphasizing innovation in a variety of media, she says she strives to keep her designs light-hearted and whimsical in theme, using vibrant colors to convey her feelings for life in the islands.
She collaborated with artist George Adelwerth of the CybiLL Pottery last year to transfer her mocko jumbie designs onto ceramic works.
Her fascination with shapes and color was honed when she studied sewing and tailoring as a high school student. Working with adding layers of fabric, she created her unique style of dimensional art.

June 25, 2001 — The new venue for the 15th Annual Olympic Day Run on St. Croix provided accommodating conditions for runners of all ages and levels Saturday morning.
The race was cross-country style as it was run on all grass and dirt at the scenic University of the Virgin Islands, St. Croix Campus. Billy Bohlke, on summer vacation following a hard cross-country, indoor track and outdoor track season at Louisiana State University, the Division I NCAA Indoor Champions for 2001, performed well.
In the early going, Antonio Guencas, known for his boxing prowess, sprinted to the lead and held it for several hundred meters. Jabari Goodwin and Bohlke responded as they shared the lead for the first mile and a half, with Bohlke using his experience and speed to outdistance a gallant Goodwin by eight seconds to win in 10 minutes and 20 seconds. Goodwin finished in 10:28; visiting coach from Indianapolis, Indiana, Bob Copeland took third and first for masters in 11:31; his son Rob Copeland was fourth in 11:40; Bob Halk was fifth in 12:10.
Theresa Harper, fresh off her Women Race win, was the first place female in 12:52, good for sixth place overall. Shelly Anderson, back on the scene after her Athens Marathon run, was second 13:36; Elizabeth Armstrong was third in 13:37; Susan Armstrong was fourth in 14:02; Jawana Goodwin, the first high school finisher, was fifth in 14:05.
The run is held around the world to celebrate the Olympic movement. Olympic officials and representatives of the Olympic federations took part in the event. Hans Lawaetz, president of the V.I. Olympic Committee ran the race for the first time. Dr. Marlon Williams, St.Croix vice-president and four-time Olympian, was on hand to share the duties of presenting awards and certificates to the participants. It is his foundation, the Boys to Men, Girls to Women Foundation, which is holding the raffle of a trip to the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
For more information call 777-0258, or click here.

June 25, 2001 – Three V.I. Montessori School pupils — Kai Bartlette, Carissa Driscoll and Arianna Isolani — took the first, second and third prizes, respectively, in this month's Mangrove Action Project Art Contest at the Coral World Marine Park.
Three other Montessori students — John Carpenter, Tamara Rachid and Olin Davis — were named first, second and third runners-up.
The contest was part of a wider competition for students 5 to 13 years old, held to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Mangrove Action Project, an international effort to preserve and protect the world's mangrove systems . Young artists throughout tropical and subtropical areas of the world were asked to depict "why mangroves are important to me and my community."
Most of the youngsters who entered the local contest were 7 or 8 years of age, Coral World curator Donna Nemeth, who was one of the judges, said. Their entries included watercolor, pastel, pen-and-ink and collage works.
The winners received certificates, and all six of their works have been sent to the U.S. office of the Mangrove Action Project for the international judging. There, judges will decide which pieces to include in a 2002 calendar that will be distributed internationally to raise awareness of mangrove forest ecology.
Coral World and the Fish and Wildlife Division of the Planning and Natural Resources Department co-sponsored the event. Judging was on June 2, and all of the entries were exhibited the weekend of June 2-3 on the Blue Water Terrace at Coral World.
"The entries were very well done and exhibited the creative expression we value here at Montessori," Shournagh McWeeney, V.I. Montessori administrator, said. "We are very proud of all the children who worked so hard to prepare for the contest."
Two classes from Montessori and students from the J. Antonio Jarvis and Sts. Peter and Paul Schools entered the competition.
Nemeth first became aware of the competition when she came upon information about it on the Internet. She decided to help organize participation from the Virgin Islands and got Fish and Wildlife to join in the effort.
To meet the requirements for participation by local youngsters in the Mangrove Action Project, Donna Griffin, Fish and Wildlife education specialist, gave presentations on the mangrove ecosystem in classrooms and provided materials for teachers to create a mangrove lesson plan. Meantime, Nemeth arranged for school groups to visit Coral World for free and get an orientation to mangroves by a resident aquarist.
Nemeth says she was surprised by the small number of schools represented in the event. In addition to the outreach she and Griffin made, she said, "a letter was sent to every public and private school on St. Thomas and St. John, addressed to 'Art Teacher.'" But she later learned that many art teachers never received the letters.
The outreach for the event also promoted a separate poetry competition. "We got no entries for that," Nemeth said.
She said it's unlikely the Mangrove Action Project will hold a similar competition next year, as this one was in observance of the group's 10th anniversary. "If they have one, we would certainly take part," she said. However, she added, Coral World may well have something similar again, even without an international connection.
"The artwork was great, and it made a nice temporary exhibit," she said. "We got feedback from parents who wished it could have remained up longer so more people could have seen it."
A decision is expected soon on the artwork to be published in the Mangrove Action Project calendar. "I understand they will select just 12 pieces," Nemeth said, "so there's no guarantee that any one from here will be in it."
But if any of the Virgin Islands youngsters' work is included, she said, Coral World will try to get a good supply of the calendars to sell in its gift shop.