U.S. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt said Monday at Government House that about $50 million in assistance, most of it in the form of debt forgiveness, has been earmarked for the Virgin Islands.
At a press conference with Gov. Charles W. Turnbull in which a coral reef management program was announced, Interior officials identified more than $11 million in reprogrammed federal grant monies for the territory in addition to the debt forgiveness.
Babbitt had nothing but encouraging words for Turnbull and the territory. He said he was "enormously proud" of Turnbull's efforts in the past 18 months to pull the territory out of its fiscal crises. Congress, Babbitt said, can see the Virgin Islands has made real steps toward change.
"The V.I. isn't too far in airline miles from Washington," Babbitt said, "but it is many, many miles in the political perception of the U.S. Congress."
Indeed, the territory must be doing something right in the secretary's eyes: Babbitt said after his stint at Interior is over, he plans to move to the U.S.V.I.
Babbitt was clearly satisfied with progress made in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding signed last October by him and the governor for the fiscal recovery of the territory. He said the memorandum had been closely monitored.
Ferdinand Aranza, director of the Office of Insular Affairs for the Interior Department, said $42 million would go toward reduction of the V.I.'s debt incurred after Hurricane Hugo in 1989. With interest, he said, the loan balance could drop to as little as $4 million.
Aranza listed the accomplishments the V.I. government has made in fulfilling terms of the memorarndum. He said Turnbull has:
– kept the FY2000 budget at $432 million (though the Legislature subsequently raised that figure somewhat);
– created a five-year fiscal recovery plan;
– reduced government employee overtime by 50 percent;
– reduced payroll by 5 percent;
– cut five holidays (though the Legislature reinstated some of them).
Aranza said as of July, there was an overall decrease in government spending of $77 million, $32 million of that in personnel costs. Also, he said, $11.5 million in federal grants not drawn down by the local government can be reprogrammed to help out the territory.
"Just show us the paperwork," he said.
Babbitt said a joint local and federal coral reef management program should be a reality by the end of this year. There has been a U.S. Coral Reef Task Force in effect since 1998, and Babbitt stressed the "compelling need to protect the reef resources and fisheries."
Noting that 2 percent of local waters are federally owned, he said that the ocean cannot be fenced off and cooperation is essential, since "fishes have no fixed address."
Interior is holding public meetings on options for coral reef protection on Sept. 18 on St. Croix, Sept. 19 on St. Thomas and Sept. 20 on St. John.
Babbitt and Turnbull were joined by V.I. Delegate to Congress Donna Christian Christensen, Lt. Gov. Gerard Luz James II and Senate President Vargrave Richards.

Plans for a second casino-hotel on St. Croix are gelling, but the project faces several hurdles before the first chips are cashed.
Mario de Chabert, a St. Croix businessman and attorney, said Monday that within two weeks he expects to close the financing for an eight-story, 193-room casino-hotel on his family's property near Sunny Isle Shopping Center, which the family also owns. Construction on the long-planned project could begin as soon as mid- to late October, he said.
"Over the many years that we've been trying, it's finally becoming a reality," de Chabert said.
He declined to disclose the project's cost and has yet to choose a contractor for the casino-hotel. Two of the "three or four" contractors bidding for the project are local, de Chabert said. However, even if ground is broken next month, de Chabert must complete several steps to secure a casino license for the Crowne Plaza Queen Anne Hotel, according to Eileen Petersen, chairwoman of the V.I. Casino Control Commission.
Petersen confirmed that de Chabert has paid 50 percent of his licensing fee and filed preliminary paperwork for the application that he first filed in 1999. Remaining steps include:
— Intensive background check on the casino's management;
— Verification of the project's financial viability;
— A feasibility study to determine if the island can support a second casino;
— Public hearings;
— Payment of remainder of the license application fee.
"It takes such a long time because every aspect has to be investigated and has to be weighed," Petersen said, adding that it is common for projects to commence through the financing stage without a secured license because most of the information required is contingent on the financing.
De Chabert said the casino-hotel's financing package includes $5 million from the V.I. Public Finance Authority. Six years ago, the PFA earmarked the funds for de Chabert's project. Amadeo Francis, the PFA's executive director, was unavailable for comment on Monday, but at recent Senate hearings he has said he would recommend to the PFA board that funding be extended.
The Crowne Plaza Queen Anne Hotel, designed to cater more to business travelers and small conventions than resort tourists, would be part of the Atlanta-based Crowne Plaza Hotel chain. The project has been more than 10 years in the making.
The initial plan, in 1987, was to build an 86-room Comfort Inn on the Sunny Isle site to complement a cancer center planned nearby. The cancer center project fell through, but since then de Chabert has searched for a feasible replacement project.

While wholesale gas prices dropped on St. Croix six days ago, Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs officials are still waiting for retailers to pass on the savings to consumers.
According to officials of the department, Hovensa has reduced its price of unleaded regular and premium gasoline by 2 cents and 3 cents respectively. The cost of diesel fuel has jumped by 5 cents, however.
In a release Monday, Consumer Affairs said it "expects that gasoline stations will move as swiftly to lower their prices as they do when there is an increase."
Alli Paul, director of consumer protection services, noted that the decrease came from the Hovensa refinery, and that not all stations on St. Thomas and St. John will have lower costs, because many get their supplies from Puerto Rico. But he said he would expect stations that receive their gas from Hovensa to drop their prices accordingly, as on St. Croix.
Alex Moorhead, a Hovensa vice president, said the company notified officials on Sept. 6 that it would reduce gas prices to retailers, mostly because of changes in U.S. market conditions.
"It remains to be seen if this continues in the weeks ahead or if it goes up again," Moorhead said. Last weekend, he added, crude prices jumped to a 10-year high. "That will no doubt have an impact," he said.
The increase in the cost of diesel is caused by a recent market shortage, which has been reflected in the territory, Moorhead said.
Paul, meanwhile, warned that the increased cost of diesel could translate into higher prices in goods imported into the territory on container ships, which use vast amounts of the fuel.
Paul said that DLCA inspectors will be "closely monitoring gasoline prices." He can be reached at 773-2226.

While wholesale gas prices dropped on St. Croix six days ago, Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs officials are still waiting for retailers to pass on the savings to consumers.
According to officials of the department, Hovensa has reduced its price of unleaded regular and premium gasoline by 2 cents and 3 cents respectively. The cost of diesel fuel has jumped by 5 cents, however.
In a release Monday, Consumer Affairs said it "expects that gasoline stations will move as swiftly to lower their prices as they do when there is an increase."
Alli Paul, director of consumer protection services, noted that the decrease came from the Hovensa refinery, and that not all stations on St. Thomas and St. John will have lower costs, because many get their supplies from Puerto Rico. But he said he would expect stations that receive their gas from Hovensa to drop their prices accordingly, as on St. Croix.
Alex Moorhead, a Hovensa vice president, said the company notified officials on Sept. 6 that it would reduce gas prices to retailers, mostly because of changes in U.S. market conditions.
"It remains to be seen if this continues in the weeks ahead or if it goes up again," Moorhead said. Last weekend, he added, crude prices jumped to a 10-year high. "That will no doubt have an impact," he said.
The increase in the cost of diesel is caused by a recent market shortage, which has been reflected in the territory, Moorhead said.
Paul, meanwhile, warned that the increased cost of diesel could translate into higher prices in goods imported into the territory on container ships, which use vast amounts of the fuel.
Paul said that DLCA inspectors will be "closely monitoring gasoline prices." He can be reached at 773-2226.

HOVENSA has notified the V.I. Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs that it has cut the price of gas it supplies to gas stations by 2 cents for regular and 3 cents for premium.
According to a statement from Licensing, the department expects stations to pass along the savings to consumers. The department's weights and measures inspectors, the statement said, will be closely monitoring those prices.
HOVENSA said that diesel fuel, on the other hand, has risen 5 cents per gallon.

Another deadline has come and gone, and still the vendors at Drake's Seat are out hawking their T-shirts and tourist fare. But a major portion of the parcel of land that has been the source of controversy since March, when its owners first gave vendors their notice, may soon be changing hands.
Bill Jowers, the general manager of Magens Bay Authority, said the Nature Conservancy is trying to find the money to buy a big chunk of the land between Drake's Seat and Magens Bay. The nearly 300-acre parcel is owned by the estate of the late Homer Wheaton, who inherited the land from his uncle, Arthur S. Fairchild.
Fairchild also left 58 acres to what is now the Magens Bay Authority.
Jowers said he is primarily concerned about the 700 feet of beach and the land behind it at the northwestern end of Magens.
"The last time I saw (V.I. Nature Conservancy director) Carol Mayes, we were just tromping around on the land," Jowers said, referring to the bowl of land that overlooks Magens.
"It's the hillside we're concerned about, where sewage and silt could run down into the bay" if the land were to be developed, he said.
Mayes was unavailable for comment. How such a sale would affect the controversy over the vendors at Drake's Seat was unclear, but Attorney General Iver Stridiron said Monday that he and Andrew Rutnik, commissioner of Licensing and Consumer Affairs, were trying to set up a meeting with all the parties involved: the Wheaton estate, Government House and vendors' representatives.
The easement the Wheaton estate granted to the government years ago explicitly forbids commercial activity at the lookout. Last week, attorneys for the estate, fed up with government delays, terminated the easement and declared the lookout off-limits to everyone effective Saturday, Sept. 9.
The vendors set up shop anyway. On Monday, with two cruise ships in St. Thomas Harbor, they were there again.
Gov. Charles W. Turnbull had granted a series of extensions to the vendors as Rutnik and others scrambled to find another suitable location. Last month, Rutnik suggested that the Mobile Food Vendors Association as well as Drake's Seat and Skyline Drive vendors might be able to move to the Long Bay landfill along the waterfront near Yacht Haven or to the area under the new Skyline Drive lookout. But none of those plans has materialized.
"We're trying to help in any way we can," Rutnik said Monday. "The heirs have notified my department and the governor that they've revoked the easement. At this point, we're in a situation where the owners have reclaimed the property, and the next move is up to them.
"The governor wants vendors to take advantage of some of our offers. We have to meet and put the options on the table, and we will be doing that very soon."

Under the milk mustaches, a lot of scowls are turning up – make that down – at the moment in the Virgin Islands.
A long-ignored law has been invoked by the territory's two dairies – which are under overlapping ownership – that will have the effect of reducing, if not ending, the importation of milk pasteurized on the U.S. mainland. And Licensing and Consumer Affairs Commissioner Andrew Rutnik says he has no choice but to force food stores to comply.
Rutnik gave notice on Aug. 18 that, as of Oct. 1, imported milk products will no longer be allowed on the shelves past the 10-day "shelf life" specified under V.I. law. Violators will be subject to a $5,000 fine.
It takes six days for milk to get shipped from Florida to the Virgin Islands and onto local shelves, retailers say. Under the territory's 10-day shelf life law, that leaves four days in which to sell it. And that means that markets wishing to continue to offer their customers mainland milk will have no choice but to reduce their order volume, which will likely sell out between shipments, meaning there will be "milkless" days between deliveries.
In the last few days, the operators of the Marina Markets on St. John and St. Thomas and of the Plaza Extra on St. Thomas have told customers this means they won't be selling mainland milk at all – and have called on them to protest.
The first public sign of rebellion came at the Marina Market on St. John. Mimi Alioto, who with her husband, Frank, owns the store and another of the same name in Red Hook on St. Thomas, put signs up at the cash registers several days ago telling customers that "Due to the law, we will no longer be able to sell stateside milk." Then she faxed them to Willy Hamed, general manager of the Plaza Extra on St. Thomas, and he put them up there, too.
No imports, no milk for the lactose-intolerant
Hamed and Alioto both pointed out that local dairies do not produce Lactaid milk for those who are lactose, or milk sugar, intolerant. "For people who are lactose-intolerant, you are telling them they can't have milk," Alioto said. "In the Caribbean, a large proportion of the population is lactose-intolerant."
She also said her clientele is a mix of locals and continentals, "and stateside milk is not something that just statesiders want. If I don't have it, a lot of my customers don't buy any milk at all."
Alioto said she contacted the Federal Trade Commission and officials there told her, "You need to go to court with this. This is a bad law." However, she said she wasn't about to "spend $50,000 taking this to court."
Instead, as a St. John resident, she advised her customers to voice their complaint to "my St. John senators." The notices posted provide shoppers the telephone numbers of Sens. Almando "Rocky" Liburd and Roosevelt David and advise those concerned to "encourage them to revoke this bad law."
On Monday, Alioto said with a chuckle, "I got a phone call from Roosevelt David's office saying, ‘I can't get any work done. The phone is ringing off the hook.' "
Hamed said he placed a call to Liburd, and he got a call back from the senator late Monday afternoon. Hamed said Plaza Extra was "working with Marina Market," and a meeting of interested parties was planned for Wednesday.
The notices also advise customers to call a toll-free Federal Trade Commission number, 1-877-FTC-HELP, "to file a complaint." And the notices warn that not only milk, including Lactaid milk, but a number of other products made with pasteurized milk will be taken off the shelves – including cottage cheese, cream cheese, eggnog, half-and-half, ricotta cheese, sour cream, whipping cream and yogurt. It was not clear Monday whether those items actually will disappear.
Officials of the territory's largest supermarket chain, Pueblo International, had earlier voiced their opposition to Rutnik's directive. Pueblo officials "came to us and said they felt this law was not fair and that it was antiquated," he said. They pointed out that "pasteurization methods have improved with technology. Milk kept at a 41-degree [Fahrenheit] temperature can last 14 to 20 days."
Milk, unlike wine, won't improve with age
Island Dairies president David Schuster says the intent of the law, which he recalled as being enacted "about 16 years ago," is to "guarantee consumers fresh, wholesome healthy products." He added, "I think everybody knows milk is not wine. It does not improve with age."
While the dairies are citing consumer protection as the purpose of the law, their interest in seeing it enforced is in response to what they view as unfair competition from large mainland milk producers willing to sell to V.I. retailers cheaper than the local dairies can.
Rutnik said Monday night that his job is to deal with the situation as a consumer issue, not an unfair business practices issue. "We have to protect the consumers," he said. "But then again, this is a law that is on the books. We are at this point enforcing it."
The law, sponsored by then-Sen. Holland Redfield II, was enacted more than a decade ago. In essence, it specified that pasteurized milk items sold in the territory shall have a 10-day legal shelf life counting from the date of pasteurization. In other words, anything not sold by the end of the 10-day period – including locally produced items – must be taken off the shelves.
In recent years, supermarkets have been carrying a growing volume of mainland milk, primarily from South Florida's McArthur Dairies. Many consumers never knew that it was St. Thomas Dairies that was importing the McArthur milk and distributing it locally along with its own milk made by recombining imported milk solids with water.
Supermarket authorities say they began stocking more imported milk in response to customer demand – that many shoppers found it literally more to their taste, and to have a longer "shelf life" once opened at home. Local dairy officials don't buy that and say they are the victims of unfair competition.
Rutnik said that Schuster, "representing the corporation" – Trans-Caribbean Dairy Corp., which owns both that St. Croix dairy and St. Thomas Dairies – approached him this summer "and said this is the law."
Over the next month, Rutnik said, "I researched it and tried to find some sort of leeway. We investigated the FDA [federal Food and Drug Administration], and it turned out it's totally a state issue" as to what the legal shelf life of perishable products should be.
And so on Aug. 18, Rutnik put out an advisory that, effective Oct. 1, any store found to have milk on the shelf more than 10 days after the pasteurization date would be subject to a $5,000 fine. "I gave them time to comply, to make sure orders in the pipeline would be taken care of," he said.
‘Expiration date' does not apply
The so-called "expiration date" stamped on milk containers is not the date that applies in the Virgin Islands. Rutnik said his research so far indicates that the territory is the only jurisdiction in the United States that has a 10-day shelf life. "In most states, it is 14 to 18 days," contingent on the milk being kept at no more than 41 degrees, he said.
Some states have shelf-life laws and some do not, Schuster said. In the case of those states that do, he added, "to the best of my knowledge, if a product is going to be exported, their only concern is to protect their resident consumers. It's up to the jurisdiction which is the final destination to regulate and guarantee consumers fresh, wholesome, healthy products."
Alioto disputed that. In the case of McArthur Dairies milk, which Marina Market has been carrying for years, she said, the c ompany produces "regular milk and export milk. We receive export milk – that is more pasteurized than normal milk, and it's for 18 days." The milk intended for local South Florida consumption, she added, has a shelf life of 14 days.
Alioto noted that food wholesalers in the territory bring in yet another type of milk in quantity for the local hotels and restaurants. It's called "ultra-pasteurized" milk, with Shenandoah the main brand, and it has a specified shelf life of six weeks.
Schuster said for years "only a small quantity, hardly any" milk from stateside dairies was sold on his island. But recently, "when one of the major supermarkets on St. Croix began importing on a large scale, it did have a significant impact."
He declined to name the market but said it was not Plaza Extra. "There's fair and unfair competition," he said. "It's the question of pricing, true pricing, of the product."
When Redfield, now vice president for corporate affairs of Innovative Communication Corp., introduced the law, the St. Thomas and St. Croix dairies were separate operations. Island Dairies was already marketing its own fresh milk to St. Thomas and St. John in competition with St. Thomas Dairies' recombined milk. At the same time, "the St. Thomas dairy was bringing in milk from the States," Alioto said. "Originally it was Borden's."
According to Schuster, Island Dairies and St. Thomas Dairies today "both are independent companies. The majority owners of Trans-Caribbean Dairies are the people who own interest in both companies."
Both companies are Industrial Development Commission beneficiaries. He said that since there is no excise tax levied on the imported mainland milk, the IDC benefits "don't give us an advantage; they just level the playing field."
Rutnik said Monday night that he sees both sides: "I can understand with St. Croix and the cows competing with outside dairies, there is an opportunity for the outside dairies to take advantage of that. At times they have a surplus of milk and are willing to sell it at half price and take advantage. But I represent the consumers, not the businesses, of the Virgin Islands."
In limiting shoppers' options, "I think the consumer is not benefitting," he said.

Under the milk mustaches, a lot of scowls are turning up – make that down – at the moment in the Virgin Islands.
A long-ignored law has been invoked by the territory's two dairies – which are under overlapping ownership – that will have the effect of reducing, if not ending, the importation of milk pasteurized on the U.S. mainland. And Licensing and Consumer Affairs Commissioner Andrew Rutnik says he has no choice but to force food stores to comply.
Rutnik gave notice on Aug. 18 that, as of Oct. 1, imported milk products will no longer be allowed on the shelves past the 10-day "shelf life" specified under V.I. law. Violators will be subject to a $5,000 fine.
It takes six days for milk to get shipped from Florida to the Virgin Islands and onto local shelves, retailers say. Under the territory's 10-day shelf life law, that leaves four days in which to sell it. And that means that markets wishing to continue to offer their customers mainland milk will have no choice but to reduce their order volume, which will likely sell out between shipments, meaning there will be "milkless" days between deliveries.
In the last few days, the operators of the Marina Markets on St. John and St. Thomas and of the Plaza Extra on St. Thomas have told customers this means they won't be selling mainland milk at all – and have called on them to protest.
The first public sign of rebellion came at the Marina Market on St. John. Mimi Alioto, who with her husband, Frank, owns the store and another of the same name in Red Hook on St. Thomas, put signs up at the cash registers several days ago telling customers that "Due to the law, we will no longer be able to sell stateside milk." Then she faxed them to Willy Hamed, general manager of the Plaza Extra on St. Thomas, and he put them up there, too.
No imports, no milk for the lactose-intolerant
Hamed and Alioto both pointed out that local dairies do not produce Lactaid milk for those who are lactose, or milk sugar, intolerant. "For people who are lactose-intolerant, you are telling them they can't have milk," Alioto said. "In the Caribbean, a large proportion of the population is lactose-intolerant."
She also said her clientele is a mix of locals and continentals, "and stateside milk is not something that just statesiders want. If I don't have it, a lot of my customers don't buy any milk at all."
Alioto said she contacted the Federal Trade Commission and officials there told her, "You need to go to court with this. This is a bad law." However, she said she wasn't about to "spend $50,000 taking this to court."
Instead, as a St. John resident, she advised her customers to voice their complaint to "my St. John senators." The notices posted provide shoppers the telephone numbers of Sens. Almando "Rocky" Liburd and Roosevelt David and advise those concerned to "encourage them to revoke this bad law."
On Monday, Alioto said with a chuckle, "I got a phone call from Roosevelt David's office saying, ‘I can't get any work done. The phone is ringing off the hook.' "
Hamed said he placed a call to Liburd, and he got a call back from the senator late Monday afternoon. Hamed said Plaza Extra was "working with Marina Market," and a meeting of interested parties was planned for Wednesday.
The notices also advise customers to call a toll-free Federal Trade Commission number, 1-877-FTC-HELP, "to file a complaint." And the notices warn that not only milk, including Lactaid milk, but a number of other products made with pasteurized milk will be taken off the shelves – including cottage cheese, cream cheese, eggnog, half-and-half, ricotta cheese, sour cream, whipping cream and yogurt. It was not clear Monday whether those items actually will disappear.
Officials of the territory's largest supermarket chain, Pueblo International, had earlier voiced their opposition to Rutnik's directive. Pueblo officials "came to us and said they felt this law was not fair and that it was antiquated," he said. They pointed out that "pasteurization methods have improved with technology. Milk kept at a 41-degree [Fahrenheit] temperature can last 14 to 20 days."
Milk, unlike wine, won't improve with age
Island Dairies president David Schuster says the intent of the law, which he recalled as being enacted "about 16 years ago," is to "guarantee consumers fresh, wholesome healthy products." He added, "I think everybody knows milk is not wine. It does not improve with age."
While the dairies are citing consumer protection as the purpose of the law, their interest in seeing it enforced is in response to what they view as unfair competition from large mainland milk producers willing to sell to V.I. retailers cheaper than the local dairies can.
Rutnik said Monday night that his job is to deal with the situation as a consumer issue, not an unfair business practices issue. "We have to protect the consumers," he said. "But then again, this is a law that is on the books. We are at this point enforcing it."
The law, sponsored by then-Sen. Holland Redfield II, was enacted more than a decade ago. In essence, it specified that pasteurized milk items sold in the territory shall have a 10-day legal shelf life counting from the date of pasteurization. In other words, anything not sold by the end of the 10-day period – including locally produced items – must be taken off the shelves.
In recent years, supermarkets have been carrying a growing volume of mainland milk, primarily from South Florida's McArthur Dairies. Many consumers never knew that it was St. Thomas Dairies that was importing the McArthur milk and distributing it locally along with its own milk made by recombining imported milk solids with water.
Supermarket authorities say they began stocking more imported milk in response to customer demand – that many shoppers found it literally more to their taste, and to have a longer "shelf life" once opened at home. Local dairy officials don't buy that and say they are the victims of unfair competition.
Rutnik said that Schuster, "representing the corporation" – Trans-Caribbean Dairy Corp., which owns both that St. Croix dairy and St. Thomas Dairies – approached him this summer "and said this is the law."
Over the next month, Rutnik said, "I researched it and tried to find some sort of leeway. We investigated the FDA [federal Food and Drug Administration], and it turned out it's totally a state issue" as to what the legal shelf life of perishable products should be.
And so on Aug. 18, Rutnik put out an advisory that, effective Oct. 1, any store found to have milk on the shelf more than 10 days after the pasteurization date would be subject to a $5,000 fine. "I gave them time to comply, to make sure orders in the pipeline would be taken care of," he said.
‘Expiration date' does not apply
The so-called "expiration date" stamped on milk containers is not the date that applies in the Virgin Islands. Rutnik said his research so far indicates that the territory is the only jurisdiction in the United States that has a 10-day shelf life. "In most states, it is 14 to 18 days," contingent on the milk being kept at no more than 41 degrees, he said.
Some states have shelf-life laws and some do not, Schuster said. In the case of those states that do, he added, "to the best of my knowledge, if a product is going to be exported, their only concern is to protect their resident consumers. It's up to the jurisdiction which is the final destination to regulate and guarantee consumers fresh, wholesome, healthy products."
Alioto disputed that. In the case of McArthur Dairies milk, which Marina Market has been carrying for years, she said, the c ompany produces "regular milk and export milk. We receive export milk – that is more pasteurized than normal milk, and it's for 18 days." The milk intended for local South Florida consumption, she added, has a shelf life of 14 days.
Alioto noted that food wholesalers in the territory bring in yet another type of milk in quantity for the local hotels and restaurants. It's called "ultra-pasteurized" milk, with Shenandoah the main brand, and it has a specified shelf life of six weeks.
Schuster said for years "only a small quantity, hardly any" milk from stateside dairies was sold on his island. But recently, "when one of the major supermarkets on St. Croix began importing on a large scale, it did have a significant impact."
He declined to name the market but said it was not Plaza Extra. "There's fair and unfair competition," he said. "It's the question of pricing, true pricing, of the product."
When Redfield, now vice president for corporate affairs of Innovative Communication Corp., introduced the law, the St. Thomas and St. Croix dairies were separate operations. Island Dairies was already marketing its own fresh milk to St. Thomas and St. John in competition with St. Thomas Dairies' recombined milk. At the same time, "the St. Thomas dairy was bringing in milk from the States," Alioto said. "Originally it was Borden's."
According to Schuster, Island Dairies and St. Thomas Dairies today "both are independent companies. The majority owners of Trans-Caribbean Dairies are the people who own interest in both companies."
Both companies are Industrial Development Commission beneficiaries. He said that since there is no excise tax levied on the imported mainland milk, the IDC benefits "don't give us an advantage; they just level the playing field."
Rutnik said Monday night that he sees both sides: "I can understand with St. Croix and the cows competing with outside dairies, there is an opportunity for the outside dairies to take advantage of that. At times they have a surplus of milk and are willing to sell it at half price and take advantage. But I represent the consumers, not the businesses, of the Virgin Islands."
In limiting shoppers' options, "I think the consumer is not benefitting," he said.

Bargain Days are here at the Whim Museum. This week only from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, September 12 through September 16 at the Whim Plantation Museum the cost for adult admission is $2 and children's admission is $1. Guides will be giving talks about Whim Plantation while the greathouse floors are refinished. The store and library are open. For more information call 772-0598.

Lawrence Olive, Director of the Virgin Islands Motor Vehicle Bureau, announced today that all persons holding receipts for drivers licences should report to the MVB to complete the licensing process, effective Monday, Sept. 18.
New photography equipment has arrived in the St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix districts. For more information call 774-5765.