A Caribbean trade mission will be at Marriott's Frenchman's Reef Beach Resort June 7-10 to provide information to the Virgin Islands community on business investment initiatives and regional trade harmonization and networking opportunities, according to Sen. George Goodwin, who is co-sponsoring the visit along with the National Black Caucus of State Legislators.
In an effort "to open the doors of trade among the island nations," Goodwin said, the trade mission will be an opportunity for vendors to display and market goods and services to the public and pursue joint ventures within the region.
"This will be three days filled with insightful and revealing business potential," Goodwin said. "I encourage business persons in the Virgin Islands to take full advantage of this opportunity to network and establish integral roles that the United States Virgin Islands can play in facilitating trade in the Caribbean region."
For more information about the trade fair, contact Goodwin's office at 693-3565.

The work week at the 23rd Legislature gets off to what could be a marathon start Monday evening when the Economic Development, Agriculture and Consumer Protection Committee holds a public hearing on St. Thomas on a topic not in its title but in its portfolio: tourism.
Until the last administration, Tourism was a division within the Economic Development and Agriculture Department. Then, Agriculture was spun off on its own and what was left was rechristened the Tourism Department. Meantime, the Senate has retained the old name for its committee addressing those areas.
The purpose of the 6 p.m. hearing, according to a release from the office Sen. David Jones, who chairs the committee, is for the public "to hear first hand what is in store for the tourism industry in the Virgin Islands as we head into the new millennium."
Eight tourism topics are on the agenda: the offshore Tourism offices; the marketing of carnival events; advertising (print, broadcast, Internet and other); geographic target areas; and marketing of the territory in 2000. The hearing is scheduled to include a "review of advertising samples."
Invited to testify from the Tourism Department are Commissioner-designate Rafael Jackson, assistant commissioner Pamela Richards and marketing director Beverly Petrus.
Also on the list of those expected to provide input are St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce president John deJongh Jr., St. Thomas-St. John Hotel and Tourism Association president Richard Doumeng and executive director Beverly Nicholson, V.I. Tourism Awareness and Advancement Link executive director Mabel Maduro-Pemberton, and V.I. Carnival Committee chair Kenneth Blake and executive director Caswill Callender.
The hearing was originally scheduled for late last December, shortly after another covering the same topics was held on St. Croix. In the weekend between the St. Croix and the St. Thomas sessions, Gov. Charles W. Turnbull announced his choice of Rafael Jackson as his third nominee for Tourism commissioner. Jones then chose to put the St. Thomas hearing off until such time as Jackson had been confirmed and/or had had an opportunity to put together at least a vision if not a full-scale plan for sustainable tourism development.
The Senate Rules Committee approved Jackson's nomination week; it remains to be approved by the full Senate.

A Caribbean trade mission will be at Marriott's Frenchman's Reef Beach Resort on St. Thomas June 7-10 to provide information to the Virgin Islands community on business investment initiatives and regional trade harmonization and networking opportunities, according to Sen. George Goodwin, who is co-sponsoring the visit along with the National Black Caucus of State Legislators.
In an effort "to open the doors of trade among the island nations," Goodwin said, the trade mission will be an opportunity for vendors to display and market goods and services to the public and pursue joint ventures within the region.
"This will be three days filled with insightful and revealing business potential," Goodwin said. "I encourage business persons in the Virgin Islands to take full advantage of this opportunity to network and establish integral roles that the United States Virgin Islands can play in facilitating trade in the Caribbean region."
For more information about the trade fair, contact Goodwin's office at 693-3565.

Delegate Donna Christian-Christensen convened the Institute of Caribbean Studies' second annual U.S.-Caribbean Legislative Forum in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, May 18. Various panels discussed such topics as the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean, the applicability of current legislation to the health crisis, regional political participation and trade within the Caribbean.
The institute is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization dedicated to policy research and analysis and public education regarding issues affecting the Caribbean and people of Caribbean heritage living in the United States.
Later that day, the delegate attended the White House signing by President Clinton of the Caribbean Basin Initiative/Africa Trade Bill into law.

The work week at the 23rd Legislature gets off to what could be a marathon start Monday evening when the Economic Development, Agriculture and Consumer Protection Committee holds a public hearing on St. Thomas on a topic not in its title but in its portfolio: tourism.
Until the last administration, Tourism was a division within the Economic Development and Agriculture Department. Then, Agriculture was spun off on its own and what was left was rechristened the Tourism Department. Meantime, the Senate has retained the old name for its committee addressing those areas.
The purpose of the 6 p.m. hearing, according to a release from the office Sen. David Jones, who chairs the committee, is for the public "to hear first hand what is in store for the tourism industry in the Virgin Islands as we head into the new millennium."
Eight tourism topics are on the agenda: the offshore Tourism offices; the marketing of carnival events; advertising (print, broadcast, Internet and other); geographic target areas; and marketing of the territory in 2000. The hearing is scheduled to include a "review of advertising samples."
Invited to testify from the Tourism Department are Commissioner-designate Rafael Jackson, assistant commissioner Pamela Richards and marketing director Beverly Petrus.
Also on the list of those expected to provide input are St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce president John deJongh Jr., St. Thomas-St. John Hotel and Tourism Association president Richard Doumeng and executive director Beverly Nicholson, V.I. Tourism Awareness and Advancement Link executive director Mabel Maduro-Pemberton, and V.I. Carnival Committee chair Kenneth Blake and executive director Caswill Callender.
The hearing was originally scheduled for late last December, shortly after another covering the same topics was held on St. Croix. In the weekend between the St. Croix and the St. Thomas sessions, Gov. Charles W. Turnbull announced his choice of Rafael Jackson as his third nominee for Tourism commissioner. Jones then chose to put the St. Thomas hearing off until such time as Jackson had been confirmed and/or had had an opportunity to put together at least a vision if not a full-scale plan for sustainable tourism development.
The Senate Rules Committee approved Jackson's nomination week; it remains to be approved by the full Senate.

Delegate Donna Christian-Christensen convened the Institute of Caribbean Studies' second annual U.S.-Caribbean Legislative Forum in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, May 18. Various panels discussed such topics as the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean, the applicability of current legislation to the health crisis, regional political participation and trade within the Caribbean.
The institute is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization dedicated to policy research and analysis and public education regarding issues affecting the Caribbean and people of Caribbean heritage living in the United States.
Later that day, the delegate attended the White House signing by President Clinton of the Caribbean Basin Initiative/Africa Trade Bill into law.

The work week at the 23rd Legislature gets off to what could be a marathon start Monday evening when the Economic Development, Agriculture and Consumer Protection Committee holds a public hearing on St. Thomas on a topic not in its title but in its portfolio: tourism.
Until the last administration, Tourism was a division within the Economic Development and Agriculture Department. Then, Agriculture was spun off on its own and what was left was rechristened the Tourism Department. Meantime, the Senate has retained the old name for its committee addressing those areas.
The purpose of the 6 p.m. hearing, according to a release from the office Sen. David Jones, who chairs the committee, is for the public "to hear first hand what is in store for the tourism industry in the Virgin Islands as we head into the new millennium."
Eight tourism topics are on the agenda: the offshore Tourism offices; the marketing of carnival events; advertising (print, broadcast, Internet and other); geographic target areas; and marketing of the territory in 2000. The hearing is scheduled to include a "review of advertising samples."
Invited to testify from the Tourism Department are Commissioner-designate Rafael Jackson, assistant commissioner Pamela Richards and marketing director Beverly Petrus.
Also on the list of those expected to provide input are St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce president John deJongh Jr., St. Thomas-St. John Hotel and Tourism Association president Richard Doumeng and executive director Beverly Nicholson, V.I. Tourism Awareness and Advancement Link executive director Mabel Maduro-Pemberton, and V.I. Carnival Committee chair Kenneth Blake and executive director Caswill Callender.
The hearing was originally scheduled for late last December, shortly after another covering the same topics was held on St. Croix. In the weekend between the St. Croix and the St. Thomas sessions, Gov. Charles W. Turnbull announced his choice of Rafael Jackson as his third nominee for Tourism commissioner. Jones then chose to put the St. Thomas hearing off until such time as Jackson had been confirmed and/or had had an opportunity to put together at least a vision if not a full-scale plan for sustainable tourism development.
The Senate Rules Committee approved Jackson's nomination week; it remains to be approved by the full Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Allie-Allison Petrus has called a press conference for 10 a.m. Monday at the Legislature Building on St. Thomas to discuss the Government Employees Retirement System bill that has raised a firestorm of controversy over a provision for lawmakers to retire at full pay after six two-year terms in office.
There was speculation that Senate President Vargrave Richards would also be present.
Nine of the 11 majority senators, including Petrus and Richards, are listed on the bill as sponsors. The other two, Sens. Lorraine Berry and George Goodwin, reportedly asked to have their names taken off.
In recent days, Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg has publicly disassociated himself from the bill, saying he never saw or signed off on the submitted form before it was brought to the Senate floor, nor was his request for certain changes in the draft version addressed. His media liaison, Nicole Bollentini, said he got back from a trip off island Sunday and had not been invited to Petrus's press conference.
The 107-page bill was unexpectedly added to the agenda as the Senate was meeting on May 1 at the start of V.I. Carnival week. The session was adjourned at 8 p.m. without taking up the bill after the retirement provision for lawmakers stirred heated debate. Richards said in a press release issued on May 10 that the bill would be reassigned to the Government Operations Committee for the normal public hearing process but gave no indication of when this would occur.
In that same release, Richards said he was aware that "this situation has caused much concern" and said as Senate president he hoped "once all aspects of the bill [are] presented and scrutinized, that we can arrive at a point of consensus."
Petrus said on the May 14 "Behind the Headlines" program on WTJX-TV that the majority bloc was prepared to delete the section relative to senators' retirement from the bill in order to allow it to move forward.
The bill was drafted by GERS staff over a period of months with input from several senators, reportedly Petrus and two others.
The bill's stated purposes are to shrink the retirement system's $300 million unfunded liability via numerous changes to the overall government retirement law and to give GERS administrators more flexibility in securing higher investment returns.
Aside from the early retirement provisions for senators, it would allow GERS members to sue the government if it doesn't make its contributions to an employee's pension; authorize GERS to invest in securities with as low as a Triple-B bond rating (vs. an A rating now), raise the ceilings on home mortgage and land loans, allow GERS to establish cost-of-living increases and allow the GERS board to invest in real estate and borrow money without Senate approval.

Senate Majority Leader Allie-Allison Petrus has called a press conference for 10 a.m. Monday at the Legislature Building on St. Thomas to discuss the Government Employees Retirement System bill that has raised a firestorm of controversy over a provision for lawmakers to retire at full pay after six two-year terms in office.
There was speculation that Senate President Vargrave Richards would also be present.
Nine of the 11 majority senators, including Petrus and Richards, are listed on the bill as sponsors. The other two, Sens. Lorraine Berry and George Goodwin, reportedly asked to have their names taken off.
In recent days, Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg has publicly disassociated himself from the bill, saying he never saw or signed off on the submitted form before it was brought to the Senate floor, nor was his request for certain changes in the draft version addressed. His media liaison, Nicole Bollentini, said he got back from a trip off island Sunday and had not been invited to Petrus's press conference.
The 107-page bill was unexpectedly added to the agenda as the Senate was meeting on May 1 at the start of V.I. Carnival week. The session was adjourned at 8 p.m. without taking up the bill after the retirement provision for lawmakers stirred heated debate. Richards said in a press release issued on May 10 that the bill would be reassigned to the Government Operations Committee for the normal public hearing process but gave no indication of when this would occur.
In that same release, Richards said he was aware that "this situation has caused much concern" and said as Senate president he hoped "once all aspects of the bill [are] presented and scrutinized, that we can arrive at a point of consensus."
Petrus said on the May 14 "Behind the Headlines" program on WTJX-TV that the majority bloc was prepared to delete the section relative to senators' retirement from the bill in order to allow it to move forward.
The bill was drafted by GERS staff over a period of months with input from several senators, reportedly Petrus and two others. Some Senate sources said the other two were Richards and Berry, but other sources said they were Donastorg and Almando "Rocky" Liburd.
The bill's stated purposes are to shrink the retirement system's $300 million unfunded liability via numerous changes to the overall government retirement law and to give GERS administrators more flexibility in securing higher investment returns.
Aside from the early retirement provisions for senators, it would allow GERS members to sue the government if it doesn't make its contributions to an employee's pension; authorize GERS to invest in securities with as low as a Triple-B bond rating (vs. an A rating now), raise the ceilings on home mortgage and land loans, allow GERS to establish cost-of-living increases and allow the GERS board to invest in real estate and borrow money without Senate approval.

Gov. Charles W. Turnbull on Friday approved Bill 23-0165 appropriating $600,000 for Vitran operations and $350,000 for the purchase of land for a V.I. veterans' cemetery and reprograming $182,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funds to the Family Resource Center but also vetoing various sections of the wide-ranging measure.
Information concerning the actions was circulated by Government House via a series of press releases distributed after 5 p.m. Saturday.
The Legislature appropriated the $600,000 for Vitran from the Indirect Cost Fund prior to the layoff of half the Vitran work force as of May 11. The administration said the cuts were made "for lack of funds to continue operations after amassing a $12 million deficit."
The $350,000, also from the Indirect Cost Fund, will go to the Office of Veterans Affairs to provide survey and infrastructure development for land.
Family Resource Center will use $150,000 of the CDBG funds to purchase a property on lower Garden Street and the other $32,000 to renovate it for use as a permanent administrative and counseling center.
The provisions of the bill that the governor vetoed and the reasons given for his action:
– A section requiring that the Public Finance Authority lend $100,000 to the Police Department for use as reward money for information leading to the arrest and conviction of persons involved in drive-by shootings and providing for the police commissioner to repay the loan with federal funds. The governor said the department already has a reward fund established by statute and that the proposal was "an infringement on the authority's autonomy" and "a violation of the doctrine of separation of powers."
– A section granting certain organizations the right to conduct bingo games for six years without being subject to review or regulation. Saying the measure "erodes the purpose of legalized gambling," Turnbull added: "Because bingo is a gaming operation, it should be regulated and controlled as much as any other form of gambling. Accordingly, I urge the Legislature to enact a comprehensive regulatory scheme for bingo."
– A section providing for the chief judge of the District Court judge to administer and promulgate the rules for a Judicial Council Imprest Account. Turnbull said the account "will consist largely of local funds" and that giving a federal judge that authority would go against federal principles. He asked the Legislature to reconsider a proposal in the Territorial Court fiscal year 2000 budget or to create "a fund which will be administered by the presiding judge of the Territorial Court and/or the Judicial Council."
– A section establishing a Public Transportation Enabling Fund with the same funding sources as the existing Public Transportation Fund — making it, Turnbull said, "duplicitous."
– A section proposing to rezone a low-density residential area of about 0.6 acre on St. John to a medium-density residential area. The rezoning for Parcel No. 10-11 in Estate Carolina, No. 1 Coral Bay Quarter, "is for the purpose of establishing a commercial activity in a residential area, which may have ecological and environment issues," Turnbull said, noting that the Planning and Natural Resources Department "is in the process of reviewing this application and has indicated that public hearing will be held in the near future."
– Part of a section providing for a three-member quorum for a seven-member board and requiring that at least four members have camped at Cramers Park for five years. The governor said "a quorum should require at least a majority of the board members" and the camping provision "is too restrictive."
– A section regarding the appropriation of funds for the Public Services Commission for an assistant executive director. The governor cited errors in the bill for which the administration "will be submitting corrective legislation."
The governor also approved four bills passed by the Legislature on May 1. They are:
– Bill 0186 to amend the V.I. Code to depoliticize hiring practices by eliminating the option of government employees in exempt and unclassified positions as designated by the governor and legislature to become classified after two years on the job. Turnbull stated that the measure's aim is consistent with his administration's efforts to contain the growth of the government payroll.
– Bill 23-0198 making it unlawful to cause any pollution of Virgin Islands waters, bringing the territory into compliance with federal guidelines.
– Bill 23-0201 to prevent water, soil and sub-soil contamination from the failure of underground storage tank systems, again bringing the territory into compliance with federal guidelines.
– Bill 23-0042 to create staggered terms for the members of the Health Consumer Complaint Review Committee.
Turnbull also acknowledged Senate resolutions asking the federal government to turn a parcel of land in Estate Wintberg over to the V.I. government and to authorize the governor to negotiate a land exchange with the National Park Service to acquire property "suitable for the construction of an educational complex on St. John," and honoring the V.I. National Guard 666thArmy Band.