June 20, 2001 – Pianist/vocalist Sally Smith and saxophonist Rusty Vellek will be entertaining at The Color of Joy's Friday evening wine and cheese party, from 5:30 to 8 p.m.
The music-making takes place on the deck overlooking the American Yacht Harbor marina side of the gallery. "It's a great way to
start the weekend in mellow fashion," Color of Joy owner Corinne Van Rensselaer says, with "music, art, wine and cheese and good company!"
Call 775-4020 for more information.
ANALYSIS: V.I. JOBLESS FUND NOT A D.C. CONCERN
June 20, 2001 – Sen. Norma Pickard-Samuel proposes to tap the V.I. Unemployment Trust Fund, probably the sturdiest (if among the most obscure) element in the territory's financial structure.
The senator, who met with U.S. Department of Labor officials in Washington earlier this month, wants V.I. employer payments into the fund reduced and said that she will introduce legislation to that effect.
Federal officials in the Labor and Interior Departments have been aware for years that the Virgin Islands had a substantial amount of money in its unemployment insurance trust fund. Some said they were surprised that the territory had not sought to tap the fund before now.
All but the smallest employers throughout the nation pay unemployment insurance taxes into state and territorial trust funds to support unemployment insurance payments to laid-off workers. In the Virgin Islands, this is done under a complex structure of federal and local laws.
The V.I. trust fund, one of the smallest in dollars under the federal system, is by far the most secure. There is about $61 million in it at the moment, enough money to pay 3.71 years of benefit checks. The federal Labor Department regards a 2-year cushion (termed a "high-year multiple") as adequate.
The territory has several options available to address this situation. It can keep the fund high against a future economic disaster, such as a job-destroying hurricane. It could raise unemployment benefits and/or ease qualification standards for laid-off workers. It could lower the taxes paid by employers into the fund. Some combination of these options also is possible.
Pickard-Samuel, who chairs the Labor and Veterans Affairs Committee, has focused on the third option.
Weekly unemployment insurance benefits vary, based on a formula, with higher-paid workers getting higher benefits when laid off than lower-paid workers. The maximum paid out in the Virgin Islands currently is $233 a week, one of the lower rates in the nation.
Locally, individuals can draw weekly benefits only if:
– They were terminated from jobs covered by unemployment insurance.
– They can show that they were not fired for serious reasons.
– They can convince local officials that they are looking for work.
Routinely, in the Virgin Islands, nine out of ten workers applying for benefits will qualify.
The rates that U.S. employers pay in unemployment insurance taxes generally depend on the extent to which their former workers claim benefits. This is called an "experience rating," and it leads under some circumstances to rates changing considerably from year to year.
Experience makes a big difference
This pattern is followed with a vengeance in the Virgin Islands. Contribution rates are set annually. All employers with a negative rating from the previous year — that is, their ex-workers drew more benefits than the employer paid in taxes — are assessed unemployment taxes at 5.4 percent on the first $15,000 of each employee's salary. The formula is the same whether their account was in the red by $1 or by $100,000. If, at the end of that year, they have paid more in taxes than claims levied against their account, the rate falls sharply.
In other jurisdictions, the experience ratings are handled in more nuanced ways, and the unemployment insurance trust funds do not swell excessively. One Washington observer suggested that the current V.I. system is "inept."
Pickard-Samuel says the territory's employers have "grossly overpaid" the unemployment insurance tax and that she wants corrective legislation to cope with what she termed a "roller-coaster effect." There is speculation in Washington that some V.I. employers might find themselves with zero unemployment insurance tax rates for a while, until the inflow and outflow of money gets into closer balance.
The senator said she discussed two other issues when in Washington:
One was a technical matter regarding the time frame for making the unemployment insurance tax payments. Federal officials felt that a recent act of the V.I. Legislature in this regard was in conflict with federal law. The senator said that, even though she voted to override the governor's veto of the measure, she would press for new legislation that would resolve the problem.
The other concerned some $200,000 in penalties and interest in a fund kept separate from the much larger unemployment trust fund. The penalties and interest were collected from V.I. employers who did not pay their unemployment insurance taxes on time. The senator said that these funds had been improperly commingled with other funds and that she has instructed her legal counsel to file a lawsuit against the Finance Department on her behalf if the Labor Department has not received the funds by June 30.
She said that she had written the governor demanding that Finance turn the funds over to Labor. She further said that federal labor officials in Washington are "alarmed that these monies are not being turned over to the V.I. DOL upon request."
Tax experts in Washington told the Source that states and territories can do what they want with these funds. Washington should have no say, for example, in whether the money should be in the hands of the local Labor or Finance Department, they said.
How the V.I. compares
Unemployment in the U.S. as a whole, as the government calculates it, stands at 4.4 percent of the workforce. It is presumably higher in the Virgin Islands, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn't have a figure for the territory. The most recent statistics available in Washington show an average of 325 V.I. workers seeking weekly benefits, and an average of 296 workers actually securing them.
A closer analysis shows that American workers in general are much more likely to apply and qualify for unemployment insurance benefits than those in the Virgin Islands. Last year, 7,033,133 stateside Americans — or about 2.5 percent of the population — drew at least one unemployment insurance check. Meanwhile, the Virgin Islands reported that 1,048 people — or about 1 percent of the territory's population — did so.
Washington experts had no immediate explanation for the much lower percentage of persons in the territory drawing unemployment benefits. Is there hidden prosperity in the Virgin Islands? Are the unemployed in the islands in a long-term jobless situation, with their benefits exhausted? Are some — or many — of the unemployed outside the regulated labor market, and thus ineligible for benefits? (Anyone who works "off the books" cannot qualify for unemployment benefits if terminated; more important, their earnings won't count toward Social Security benefits when they retire.)
The V.I. maximum weekly unemployment insurance benefit of $233 isn't the lowest in the country (Alabama's is $190), but it is below that of most states. The maximum is, for instance, $365 in New York and $275 in Florida.
The average V.I. unemployment benefit check in April came to $213.04, compared to $234.27 in the U.S. as a whole. Fourteen states had a lower average, and the lowest in the nation was for Puerto Rico, $104.01. The size of benefit checks on the mainland sometimes reflects family size as well as prior earnings.
The senator, who met with U.S. Department of Labor officials in Washington earlier this month, wants V.I. employer payments into the fund reduced and said that she will introduce legislation to that effect.
Federal officials in the Labor and Interior Departments have been aware for years that the Virgin Islands had a substantial amount of money in its unemployment insurance trust fund. Some said they were surprised that the territory had not sought to tap the fund before now.
All but the smallest employers throughout the nation pay unemployment insurance taxes into state and territorial trust funds to support unemployment insurance payments to laid-off workers. In the Virgin Islands, this is done under a complex structure of federal and local laws.
The V.I. trust fund, one of the smallest in dollars under the federal system, is by far the most secure. There is about $61 million in it at the moment, enough money to pay 3.71 years of benefit checks. The federal Labor Department regards a 2-year cushion (termed a "high-year multiple") as adequate.
The territory has several options available to address this situation. It can keep the fund high against a future economic disaster, such as a job-destroying hurricane. It could raise unemployment benefits and/or ease qualification standards for laid-off workers. It could lower the taxes paid by employers into the fund. Some combination of these options also is possible.
Pickard-Samuel, who chairs the Labor and Veterans Affairs Committee, has focused on the third option.
Weekly unemployment insurance benefits vary, based on a formula, with higher-paid workers getting higher benefits when laid off than lower-paid workers. The maximum paid out in the Virgin Islands currently is $233 a week, one of the lower rates in the nation.
Locally, individuals can draw weekly benefits only if:
– They were terminated from jobs covered by unemployment insurance.
– They can show that they were not fired for serious reasons.
– They can convince local officials that they are looking for work.
Routinely, in the Virgin Islands, nine out of ten workers applying for benefits will qualify.
The rates that U.S. employers pay in unemployment insurance taxes generally depend on the extent to which their former workers claim benefits. This is called an "experience rating," and it leads under some circumstances to rates changing considerably from year to year.
Experience makes a big difference
This pattern is followed with a vengeance in the Virgin Islands. Contribution rates are set annually. All employers with a negative rating from the previous year — that is, their ex-workers drew more benefits than the employer paid in taxes — are assessed unemployment taxes at 5.4 percent on the first $15,000 of each employee's salary. The formula is the same whether their account was in the red by $1 or by $100,000. If, at the end of that year, they have paid more in taxes than claims levied against their account, the rate falls sharply.
In other jurisdictions, the experience ratings are handled in more nuanced ways, and the unemployment insurance trust funds do not swell excessively. One Washington observer suggested that the current V.I. system is "inept."
Pickard-Samuel says the territory's employers have "grossly overpaid" the unemployment insurance tax and that she wants corrective legislation to cope with what she termed a "roller-coaster effect." There is speculation in Washington that some V.I. employers might find themselves with zero unemployment insurance tax rates for a while, until the inflow and outflow of money gets into closer balance.
The senator said she discussed two other issues when in Washington:
One was a technical matter regarding the time frame for making the unemployment insurance tax payments. Federal officials felt that a recent act of the V.I. Legislature in this regard was in conflict with federal law. The senator said that, even though she voted to override the governor's veto of the measure, she would press for new legislation that would resolve the problem.
The other concerned some $200,000 in penalties and interest in a fund kept separate from the much larger unemployment trust fund. The penalties and interest were collected from V.I. employers who did not pay their unemployment insurance taxes on time. The senator said that these funds had been improperly commingled with other funds and that she has instructed her legal counsel to file a lawsuit against the Finance Department on her behalf if the Labor Department has not received the funds by June 30.
She said that she had written the governor demanding that Finance turn the funds over to Labor. She further said that federal labor officials in Washington are "alarmed that these monies are not being turned over to the V.I. DOL upon request."
Tax experts in Washington told the Source that states and territories can do what they want with these funds. Washington should have no say, for example, in whether the money should be in the hands of the local Labor or Finance Department, they said.
How the V.I. compares
Unemployment in the U.S. as a whole, as the government calculates it, stands at 4.4 percent of the workforce. It is presumably higher in the Virgin Islands, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn't have a figure for the territory. The most recent statistics available in Washington show an average of 325 V.I. workers seeking weekly benefits, and an average of 296 workers actually securing them.
A closer analysis shows that American workers in general are much more likely to apply and qualify for unemployment insurance benefits than those in the Virgin Islands. Last year, 7,033,133 stateside Americans — or about 2.5 percent of the population — drew at least one unemployment insurance check. Meanwhile, the Virgin Islands reported that 1,048 people — or about 1 percent of the territory's population — did so.
Washington experts had no immediate explanation for the much lower percentage of persons in the territory drawing unemployment benefits. Is there hidden prosperity in the Virgin Islands? Are the unemployed in the islands in a long-term jobless situation, with their benefits exhausted? Are some — or many — of the unemployed outside the regulated labor market, and thus ineligible for benefits? (Anyone who works "off the books" cannot qualify for unemployment benefits if terminated; more important, their earnings won't count toward Social Security benefits when they retire.)
The V.I. maximum weekly unemployment insurance benefit of $233 isn't the lowest in the country (Alabama's is $190), but it is below that of most states. The maximum is, for instance, $365 in New York and $275 in Florida.
The average V.I. unemployment benefit check in April came to $213.04, compared to $234.27 in the U.S. as a whole. Fourteen states had a lower average, and the lowest in the nation was for Puerto Rico, $104.01. The size of benefit checks on the mainland sometimes reflects family size as well as prior earnings.
UVI UNVEILS PLANS FOR TECHNOLOGY PARK
June 20, 2001 — University of the Virgin Islands officials have submitted legislation to the Senate that would set in motion plans for a state-of-the-art technology park on St. Croix.
At a Senate Finance Committee hearing in Frederiksted on Tuesday, Dr. Orville Kean, UVI’s president, unveiled a plan aimed at attracting "information-age job opportunities" to the territory. The research and technology park proposes to create a Silicon Valley-type community where off-island tech businesses would hire locals and improve the overall economy of the territory, Kean said.
The development would be financed by companies seeking to do business in the Virgin Islands and federal funds for operating expenses. It would be managed by a public corporation with a board of directors, according to the proposed bill.
The cost of the project would be about $50 million over about three years, with no funding coming from the government’s general fund. Kean said the proposed technology park, which would work in tandem with UVI on job training and placement, will create about 200 jobs in the first three years and some 2,000 jobs in the next 10 to 15 years. He said there are companies ready to begin construction by the end of the year.
Finance Committee chairwoman Sen. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen, who will sponsor the technology park bill, said the return on the initial $50 million investment over ten to 15 years will be about $500 million.
"This rate of return on any investment is fantastic," she said. "But even more significant is the jobs to be provided by the ancillary businesses, such as banking, that will result from activities at the research and technology park."
There are two reasons for developing the park on St. Croix, Kean said. The island’s economy is weaker than St. Thomas, and there are two fiber-optic systems – Global Crossing and AT&T – that run through the island.
At a Senate Finance Committee hearing in Frederiksted on Tuesday, Dr. Orville Kean, UVI’s president, unveiled a plan aimed at attracting "information-age job opportunities" to the territory. The research and technology park proposes to create a Silicon Valley-type community where off-island tech businesses would hire locals and improve the overall economy of the territory, Kean said.
The development would be financed by companies seeking to do business in the Virgin Islands and federal funds for operating expenses. It would be managed by a public corporation with a board of directors, according to the proposed bill.
The cost of the project would be about $50 million over about three years, with no funding coming from the government’s general fund. Kean said the proposed technology park, which would work in tandem with UVI on job training and placement, will create about 200 jobs in the first three years and some 2,000 jobs in the next 10 to 15 years. He said there are companies ready to begin construction by the end of the year.
Finance Committee chairwoman Sen. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen, who will sponsor the technology park bill, said the return on the initial $50 million investment over ten to 15 years will be about $500 million.
"This rate of return on any investment is fantastic," she said. "But even more significant is the jobs to be provided by the ancillary businesses, such as banking, that will result from activities at the research and technology park."
There are two reasons for developing the park on St. Croix, Kean said. The island’s economy is weaker than St. Thomas, and there are two fiber-optic systems – Global Crossing and AT&T – that run through the island.
COUPON BOOKS LET YOU DINE WELL AND DO GOOD
June 20, 2001 – If certain restaurants are seeing an upsurge in business in the middle of the off-season, it may have to do with the fact that the 2001 Rotary East dine-around coupon books are in distribution.
This year's book offers 27 two-for-one deals at St. Thomas dining establishments and four on St. John.
Priced at $15, the books are all but guaranteed to pay for themselves in two seatings — maybe even one, depending on where you dine and what you and your companion order.
Rotary East produces and markets the coupon books to raise fund for its scholarship program. Each year, the club awards a University of the Virgin Islands full-tuition scholarship to a graduate of Ivanna Eudora Kean High School.
It's a win-win-win-win-win situation. Coupon-book buyers get a lot of free food. Participating restaurants get a lot of customers who might not otherwise darken their doors. The Rotary club gets the proceeds for its scholarship fund. Deserving high school students get the means to attend college, which will benefit them as well as the community. And the college payments stay in the local community.
Here's who's offering what, all on the basis of "buy one, get a second one of the same or lesser value free." The deal in each case is for an entree, unless otherwise specified.
St. Thomas:
Frenchtown and West End — Chickie's Place, dinner; Epernay, dinner; The Grill, dinner; Hook, Line and Sinker, lunch; Island Beachcomber Hotel, dinner; The Pointe at Villa Olga, dinner.
In and above town — Marisol, lunch and dinner; Room With a View, late-night sandwich or dessert.
North Side — Tropicalia, dinner.
Mid-island — Bolongo Bay Beach House, dinner; Iggies, lunch; Polli's Mexican Restaurant, dinner; Sandra's Terrace, lunch and dinner; The Toad and Tart, dinner.
East End — Blue Moon Café, lunch; Bonnie's By the Sea, lunch and dinner; Dottie's Front Porch, dinner; East End Café, dinner; Frigate East, dinner; Grateful Deli, sandwich; Latitude 18, dinner; Molly Molones, lunch; Sopchoppy's Pub, dinner; XO, dinner.
St. John:
Cruz Bay– La Tapa, dinner; Mongoose Restaurant, dinner; Stone Terrace, dinner; Woody's Seafood Saloon, lunch.
You can buy as many coupon books as you like. They've available from any Rotary East member and at The Color of Joy in American Yacht Harbor. You also can order them by mail — for $16.50 including handling — by sending a check or money order to Rotary East, 6501 Red Hook Plaza, Ste. 201, STT 00802.
The rules for using the coupons are simple: A restaurant's coupon must be presented when placing an order. Coupons must be used by Dec. 15 and are not valid with any other offer. Courses other than the entree or other designated item are not covered, nor are beverages. And users are asked to tip based on the full menu price.
In addition to their appeal for person use, coupon books are popular for gift giving. They make a nice welcome to island newcomers and are an always-appreciated way of saying thanks for a job well done or congratulations on a special occasion.
This year's book offers 27 two-for-one deals at St. Thomas dining establishments and four on St. John.
Priced at $15, the books are all but guaranteed to pay for themselves in two seatings — maybe even one, depending on where you dine and what you and your companion order.
Rotary East produces and markets the coupon books to raise fund for its scholarship program. Each year, the club awards a University of the Virgin Islands full-tuition scholarship to a graduate of Ivanna Eudora Kean High School.
It's a win-win-win-win-win situation. Coupon-book buyers get a lot of free food. Participating restaurants get a lot of customers who might not otherwise darken their doors. The Rotary club gets the proceeds for its scholarship fund. Deserving high school students get the means to attend college, which will benefit them as well as the community. And the college payments stay in the local community.
Here's who's offering what, all on the basis of "buy one, get a second one of the same or lesser value free." The deal in each case is for an entree, unless otherwise specified.
St. Thomas:
Frenchtown and West End — Chickie's Place, dinner; Epernay, dinner; The Grill, dinner; Hook, Line and Sinker, lunch; Island Beachcomber Hotel, dinner; The Pointe at Villa Olga, dinner.
In and above town — Marisol, lunch and dinner; Room With a View, late-night sandwich or dessert.
North Side — Tropicalia, dinner.
Mid-island — Bolongo Bay Beach House, dinner; Iggies, lunch; Polli's Mexican Restaurant, dinner; Sandra's Terrace, lunch and dinner; The Toad and Tart, dinner.
East End — Blue Moon Café, lunch; Bonnie's By the Sea, lunch and dinner; Dottie's Front Porch, dinner; East End Café, dinner; Frigate East, dinner; Grateful Deli, sandwich; Latitude 18, dinner; Molly Molones, lunch; Sopchoppy's Pub, dinner; XO, dinner.
St. John:
Cruz Bay– La Tapa, dinner; Mongoose Restaurant, dinner; Stone Terrace, dinner; Woody's Seafood Saloon, lunch.
You can buy as many coupon books as you like. They've available from any Rotary East member and at The Color of Joy in American Yacht Harbor. You also can order them by mail — for $16.50 including handling — by sending a check or money order to Rotary East, 6501 Red Hook Plaza, Ste. 201, STT 00802.
The rules for using the coupons are simple: A restaurant's coupon must be presented when placing an order. Coupons must be used by Dec. 15 and are not valid with any other offer. Courses other than the entree or other designated item are not covered, nor are beverages. And users are asked to tip based on the full menu price.
In addition to their appeal for person use, coupon books are popular for gift giving. They make a nice welcome to island newcomers and are an always-appreciated way of saying thanks for a job well done or congratulations on a special occasion.
PRESERVING OCEAN WILDERNESS IS GROUP'S AIM
June 19, 2001 – Just weeks after opening an office on St. John, one of the nation's largest marine conservation groups has changed its name and announced a sweeping proposal to increase undersea protection efforts.
The Ocean Conservancy — formerly the Center for Marine Conservation — is pushing the creation of six "ocean wilderness" sites.
"We have an area beneath the waves that is 20 percent larger than the entire land area of the United States," Roger Rufe, conservancy president, said in a release. "Our ocean territory is the 'other America' — one that we don't protect or value enough. As a nation, we must value our oceans with the same conservation ethic that has saved so much of our land from destruction."
The National Wilderness Preservation System now encompasses 643 acres, or nearly 5 percent of all the land in the United States. The Ocean Conservancy wants to protect at least 5 percent of U.S. waters and key international sites as ocean wilderness.
It is proposing five U.S. sites and one in the Caribbean: areas within Glacier Bay and Prince William Sound in Alaska; the northwestern Hawaiian Islands; the Channel Islands off the sourthern California coast; Florida's Dry Tortugas; and the San Andres Archipelago east of Nicaragua.
"The underwater world is full of mountains taller than Mt. Everest, canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon, volcanoes, geysers, and wide-open plains," Rufe said. But the health of the oceans is rapidly deteriorating, the release stated: "From water pollution to oil drilling, from commercial fishing to seaborne shipping, from vessel grounding to invasive species, human activities have fundamentally altered the natural state of our oceans."
Based in Washington, D.C., and in existence as the Center for Marine Conservation for three decades, the Ocean Conservancy has regional offices in Alaska, California and Maine and field offices on St. John and in southern California, Virginia and the Florida Keys.
For more information about the organization and its goals, visit the www.oceanconservancy.org web site. The St. John office is staffed by Nick Drayton. He may be reached by calling 693-7012.
The Ocean Conservancy — formerly the Center for Marine Conservation — is pushing the creation of six "ocean wilderness" sites.
"We have an area beneath the waves that is 20 percent larger than the entire land area of the United States," Roger Rufe, conservancy president, said in a release. "Our ocean territory is the 'other America' — one that we don't protect or value enough. As a nation, we must value our oceans with the same conservation ethic that has saved so much of our land from destruction."
The National Wilderness Preservation System now encompasses 643 acres, or nearly 5 percent of all the land in the United States. The Ocean Conservancy wants to protect at least 5 percent of U.S. waters and key international sites as ocean wilderness.
It is proposing five U.S. sites and one in the Caribbean: areas within Glacier Bay and Prince William Sound in Alaska; the northwestern Hawaiian Islands; the Channel Islands off the sourthern California coast; Florida's Dry Tortugas; and the San Andres Archipelago east of Nicaragua.
"The underwater world is full of mountains taller than Mt. Everest, canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon, volcanoes, geysers, and wide-open plains," Rufe said. But the health of the oceans is rapidly deteriorating, the release stated: "From water pollution to oil drilling, from commercial fishing to seaborne shipping, from vessel grounding to invasive species, human activities have fundamentally altered the natural state of our oceans."
Based in Washington, D.C., and in existence as the Center for Marine Conservation for three decades, the Ocean Conservancy has regional offices in Alaska, California and Maine and field offices on St. John and in southern California, Virginia and the Florida Keys.
For more information about the organization and its goals, visit the www.oceanconservancy.org web site. The St. John office is staffed by Nick Drayton. He may be reached by calling 693-7012.
PRESERVING OCEAN WILDERNESS IS GROUP'S AIM
June 19, 2001 – Just weeks after opening an office on St. John, one of the nation's largest marine conservation groups has changed its name and announced a sweeping proposal to increase undersea protection efforts.
The Ocean Conservancy — formerly the Center for Marine Conservation — is pushing the creation of six "ocean wilderness" sites.
"We have an area beneath the waves that is 20 percent larger than the entire land area of the United States," Roger Rufe, conservancy president, said in a release. "Our ocean territory is the 'other America' — one that we don't protect or value enough. As a nation, we must value our oceans with the same conservation ethic that has saved so much of our land from destruction."
The National Wilderness Preservation System now encompasses 643 acres, or nearly 5 percent of all the land in the United States. The Ocean Conservancy wants to protect at least 5 percent of U.S. waters and key international sites as ocean wilderness.
It is proposing five U.S. sites and one in the Caribbean: areas within Glacier Bay and Prince William Sound in Alaska; the northwestern Hawaiian Islands; the Channel Islands off the sourthern California coast; Florida's Dry Tortugas; and the San Andres Archipelago east of Nicaragua.
"The underwater world is full of mountains taller than Mt. Everest, canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon, volcanoes, geysers, and wide-open plains," Rufe said. But the health of the oceans is rapidly deteriorating, the release stated: "From water pollution to oil drilling, from commercial fishing to seaborne shipping, from vessel grounding to invasive species, human activities have fundamentally altered the natural state of our oceans."
Based in Washington, D.C., and in existence as the Center for Marine Conservation for three decades, the Ocean Conservancy has regional offices in Alaska, California and Maine and field offices on St. John and in southern California, Virginia and the Florida Keys.
For more information about the organization and its goals, visit the www.oceanconservancy.org web site. The St. John office is staffed by Nick Drayton. He may be reached by calling 776-4701.
The Ocean Conservancy — formerly the Center for Marine Conservation — is pushing the creation of six "ocean wilderness" sites.
"We have an area beneath the waves that is 20 percent larger than the entire land area of the United States," Roger Rufe, conservancy president, said in a release. "Our ocean territory is the 'other America' — one that we don't protect or value enough. As a nation, we must value our oceans with the same conservation ethic that has saved so much of our land from destruction."
The National Wilderness Preservation System now encompasses 643 acres, or nearly 5 percent of all the land in the United States. The Ocean Conservancy wants to protect at least 5 percent of U.S. waters and key international sites as ocean wilderness.
It is proposing five U.S. sites and one in the Caribbean: areas within Glacier Bay and Prince William Sound in Alaska; the northwestern Hawaiian Islands; the Channel Islands off the sourthern California coast; Florida's Dry Tortugas; and the San Andres Archipelago east of Nicaragua.
"The underwater world is full of mountains taller than Mt. Everest, canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon, volcanoes, geysers, and wide-open plains," Rufe said. But the health of the oceans is rapidly deteriorating, the release stated: "From water pollution to oil drilling, from commercial fishing to seaborne shipping, from vessel grounding to invasive species, human activities have fundamentally altered the natural state of our oceans."
Based in Washington, D.C., and in existence as the Center for Marine Conservation for three decades, the Ocean Conservancy has regional offices in Alaska, California and Maine and field offices on St. John and in southern California, Virginia and the Florida Keys.
For more information about the organization and its goals, visit the www.oceanconservancy.org web site. The St. John office is staffed by Nick Drayton. He may be reached by calling 776-4701.
PRESERVING OCEAN WILDERNESS IS GROUP'S AIM
June 19, 2001 – Just weeks after opening an office in the Virgin Islands, one of the nation's largest marine conservation groups has changed its name and announced a sweeping proposal to increase undersea protection efforts.
The Ocean Conservancy — formerly the Center for Marine Conservation — is pushing the creation of six "ocean wilderness" sites.
"We have an area beneath the waves that is 20 percent larger than the entire land area of the United States," Roger Rufe, conservancy president, said in a release. "Our ocean territory is the 'other America' — one that we don't protect or value enough. As a nation, we must value our oceans with the same conservation ethic that has saved so much of our land from destruction."
The National Wilderness Preservation System now encompasses 643 acres, or nearly 5 percent of all the land in the United States. The Ocean Conservancy wants to protect at least 5 percent of U.S. waters and key international sites as ocean wilderness.
It is proposing five U.S. sites and one in the Caribbean: areas within Glacier Bay and Prince William Sound in Alaska; the northwestern Hawaiian Islands; the Channel Islands off the sourthern California coast; Florida's Dry Tortugas; and the San Andres Archipelago east of Nicaragua.
"The underwater world is full of mountains taller than Mt. Everest, canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon, volcanoes, geysers, and wide-open plains," Rufe said. But the health of the oceans is rapidly deteriorating, the release stated: "From water pollution to oil drilling, from commercial fishing to seaborne shipping, from vessel grounding to invasive species, human activities have fundamentally altered the natural state of our oceans."
Based in Washington, D.C., and in existence as the Center for Marine Conservation for three decades, the Ocean Conservancy has regional offices in Alaska, California and Maine and field offices on St. John and in southern California, Virginia and the Florida Keys.
For more information about the organization and its goals, visit the www.oceanconservancy.org web site. The St. John office is staffed by Nick Drayton. He may be reached by calling 693-7012.
The Ocean Conservancy — formerly the Center for Marine Conservation — is pushing the creation of six "ocean wilderness" sites.
"We have an area beneath the waves that is 20 percent larger than the entire land area of the United States," Roger Rufe, conservancy president, said in a release. "Our ocean territory is the 'other America' — one that we don't protect or value enough. As a nation, we must value our oceans with the same conservation ethic that has saved so much of our land from destruction."
The National Wilderness Preservation System now encompasses 643 acres, or nearly 5 percent of all the land in the United States. The Ocean Conservancy wants to protect at least 5 percent of U.S. waters and key international sites as ocean wilderness.
It is proposing five U.S. sites and one in the Caribbean: areas within Glacier Bay and Prince William Sound in Alaska; the northwestern Hawaiian Islands; the Channel Islands off the sourthern California coast; Florida's Dry Tortugas; and the San Andres Archipelago east of Nicaragua.
"The underwater world is full of mountains taller than Mt. Everest, canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon, volcanoes, geysers, and wide-open plains," Rufe said. But the health of the oceans is rapidly deteriorating, the release stated: "From water pollution to oil drilling, from commercial fishing to seaborne shipping, from vessel grounding to invasive species, human activities have fundamentally altered the natural state of our oceans."
Based in Washington, D.C., and in existence as the Center for Marine Conservation for three decades, the Ocean Conservancy has regional offices in Alaska, California and Maine and field offices on St. John and in southern California, Virginia and the Florida Keys.
For more information about the organization and its goals, visit the www.oceanconservancy.org web site. The St. John office is staffed by Nick Drayton. He may be reached by calling 693-7012.
CHRISTIAN E. BEGRAFF JR. SERVICES MONDAY
Christian E. BeGraff Jr., known to his friends as "Uncle," "Chris," and "Brother B," of Prince Street, Christiansted, died Sunday, June 17, at Juan F. Luis Hospital. He was 78.
He was a member of the American Legion and the Knights of Columbus.
A first viewing will begin at 8 a.m. Monday, June 25, at the American Legion Post 85. A memorial service will begin at 8:35 a.m.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Monday, June 25, at Holy Cross Catholic Church, with a viewing beginning at 10 a.m.
Interment will follow at Christiansted Cemetery.
He is survived by his daughters, Pauline and Florette BeGraff; grandchildren, Elizabeth Thurland, Inslee Carroll Jr., Kevin Petersen, and Irmalee Carroll; great-grandchildren, Marcus and Christina Thurland; sisters, Marie BeGraff, Viola Holley, and Desiree BeGraff; nieces, Sylvia Brady, Marie- Louise James, LaVerne Golden, and Colleen Hodge; nephews, Gerard Benjamin, Raymond "Bobby" Jones, Lowell Dyer, Rodell Phaire, and Ernest Phaire; great-nieces and nephews, Rodell Phaire Jr., Altina Phaire, Siobhan Phaire, Bernard Dyer, Gregory Dyer, Christine Dyer, Ronni Moorehead, Michael Brady Jr., Dwight Brady, Neil Brady, Raymond James, Desiree James, Shonda James, Kevin James, Neal Carrington, Erin Carrington, Jamal Carrington, Jared Carrington, Mario Golden Jr., LaMar Golden, Daren Golden, Desiree Golden, Johannes Benjamin Jr., Marjorie Benjamin, Yvonne Benjamin, Gloria Benjamin, Michael Benjamin, Linda Monroe; brothers-in-law, Victor and Ejnar Wilberkin; sisters-in-law, Daisy Jackson and Beryl Wilberkin; and many other relatives and friends.
Funeral arrangements are in the care of James Memorial Funeral Home.
He was a member of the American Legion and the Knights of Columbus.
A first viewing will begin at 8 a.m. Monday, June 25, at the American Legion Post 85. A memorial service will begin at 8:35 a.m.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Monday, June 25, at Holy Cross Catholic Church, with a viewing beginning at 10 a.m.
Interment will follow at Christiansted Cemetery.
He is survived by his daughters, Pauline and Florette BeGraff; grandchildren, Elizabeth Thurland, Inslee Carroll Jr., Kevin Petersen, and Irmalee Carroll; great-grandchildren, Marcus and Christina Thurland; sisters, Marie BeGraff, Viola Holley, and Desiree BeGraff; nieces, Sylvia Brady, Marie- Louise James, LaVerne Golden, and Colleen Hodge; nephews, Gerard Benjamin, Raymond "Bobby" Jones, Lowell Dyer, Rodell Phaire, and Ernest Phaire; great-nieces and nephews, Rodell Phaire Jr., Altina Phaire, Siobhan Phaire, Bernard Dyer, Gregory Dyer, Christine Dyer, Ronni Moorehead, Michael Brady Jr., Dwight Brady, Neil Brady, Raymond James, Desiree James, Shonda James, Kevin James, Neal Carrington, Erin Carrington, Jamal Carrington, Jared Carrington, Mario Golden Jr., LaMar Golden, Daren Golden, Desiree Golden, Johannes Benjamin Jr., Marjorie Benjamin, Yvonne Benjamin, Gloria Benjamin, Michael Benjamin, Linda Monroe; brothers-in-law, Victor and Ejnar Wilberkin; sisters-in-law, Daisy Jackson and Beryl Wilberkin; and many other relatives and friends.
Funeral arrangements are in the care of James Memorial Funeral Home.
SUMMER EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
The Department of Labor, Division of Training, will be accepting applications for summer employment, from St. John residents between the ages of 15 to 25, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday to Wednesday, June 26 to 28, at the St. John Department of Labor administrator's office.
For more information call the Division of Training, 776-3700, ext. 2087.
For more information call the Division of Training, 776-3700, ext. 2087.
SUMMER EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
June 19, 2001 — The Department of Labor, Division of Training, will be accepting applications for summer employment, from St. John residents between the ages of 15 to 25, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. beginning Monday at the St. John Department of Labor administrator's office.
The office will also accept applications during the same hours on Tuesday and Wednesday, June 26 and 27.
For more information call the Division of Training, 776-3700, ext. 2087.
The office will also accept applications during the same hours on Tuesday and Wednesday, June 26 and 27.
For more information call the Division of Training, 776-3700, ext. 2087.
