Congratulations are going out to second-time
Congressional Arts Competition winner Delney Carlson, a senior at the St. Croix Educational Complex.
The competition, entitled An Artistic Discovery, is sponsored annually by the Delegate Donna Christian Christensen.
Carlson's entry, "Crucian Geckos of the 21st Century" received top honors over 52 entries from high school students throughout the territory. He also submitted a winning piece last year entitled "Cruzan Creatures."
"I would once again like to congratulate Delney and his teacher John Jones, and our second and third place winners, Abdul Henry and Jeffrey Renzende, both of St. Croix Central High School, for their outstanding entries and commend all of the students who participated in this contest," Christensen said. "It is always refreshing to emphasize the positives in our community and the
Congressional Arts competition is one way to do so. I am pleased to provide our youth with an outlet and an opportunity to showcase their artistic ability because we have an abundance of talent right here in our schools."
The annual congressional competition showcases work from students across the
United States. National winners are honored in a ceremony on Capitol Hill along with placement of the winning selection in a display in the Cannon House Office Building.

Three inmates from the Bureau of Corrections jail annex in Sub Base were reported back in custody Friday morning after having escaped from the facility on Thursday.
The inmates, said to all have been from St. Croix, were reported to have made their break after removing panels on the second floor ceiling, gaining access to the roof area and then jumping off.
Law enforcement sources said the three prisoners were believed to have "literally walked out" of the annex grounds around 4:30 p.m. Thursday but were not discovered missing until 9 p.m. Sources said it took another hour for other prison guards, police and Territorial Court marshals to be notified of the escapes.
There has been no comment about the jail break from officials of the V.I. Justice Department, which oversees the Bureau of Corrections. The warden and assistant warden of the jail so far have not been available for comment.

Three nail biters were played in the Government and Industrial Coed Slowpitch Softball League Thursday night.
Tutu Park Mall edged out the Fire Department 5-4, National Guard defeated the University of the Virgin Islands 8-5, and in the nightcap the Police Department celebrated Police week by beating Postal Services, 8-7.
The first game was full of hits, 26 total, but short on runs, just nine. Fire was down 5-2 but rallied in the bottom of the seventh. With two outs and the bases loaded, Shirley Herbert hit a double into the right-center field gap, driving in two runs. However, Nadine Leonard, trying to score from first, was thrown out at the plate for the final out of the game.
Tutu Park’s Corey Romney was perfect at the plate in three at bats. Teammate Anthony Charles went three-for-four. Pitcher Vancito Sewer picked up the victory.
St. Thomas-St. John Fire Marshall Glen "Milo" Francis led his team offensively with a two-for-three performance. Pitcher Franklyn Sewer got the loss.
Game two featured the National Guard’s Gail Joseph, who was sporting a 4-0 pitching record. She continued her pitching dominance in a battle of the Watlington division’s leaders. Joseph kept UVI’s lead-off hitter Jahmal Kelly off stride and off base for the game. The National Guard totaled 16 hits.
UVI tried to mount a comeback when Emil Aska and Kennard "Kirby" Callender hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth. But it was not enough. Edwin Watley, Llewellyn Roberts and Callender batted two-for-three for UVI. Watley suffered the loss.
In the final game, the Police Department’s defense was sometimes shaky as they committed five errors. The Police were forced to substitute Barbara Heyliger with Joycelyn Lee-Babb because Heyliger sprained her ankle in the third inning. Lee-Babb proved to be the defensive difference in turning two double plays, one in the fourth and another in the seventh.
Kerry Harrigan went two-for-two, Terrence Manning went two-for-three and Victor McCullum hit solo a home run in the fifth inning to lead the Police’s offensive attack.
Even though Postal Service’s Liston George helped his own cause with a three-for-three performance, he absorbed the loss. Teammates Jennifer Jeffers and Juan Rivera each went two- for-three to help the offense. Jeffers also had a two-run home run in the sixth.

The All Saints Lady Vikings ran down the Ivanna Eudora Kean Lady Devil Rays 17-8 in the final game of the 2000 girls varsity softball season.
The Lady Devil Rays jumped out on top with three runs on Kamilah Stevens’s first inning home runs. However, they could not hold the lead.
Although Devil Rays pitcher Ann Marie Huggins was overpowering, she was sometimes wild. Huggins walked nine Lady Vikings. The frustration showed on her face and in her demeanor.
The Lady Vikings rallied back, scoring eight runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Lady Devil Rays scored a single run in the top of the fifth. However, the Lady Vikings answered with five runs, all scoring with two outs to seal the victory.
Lauren Huttel picked up the win for the Lady Vikings. She was consistently around the plate. This forced the Lady Devil Rays to swing their bats and put the ball in play.
The Lady Vikings win secured their second place finish with a 3-3 record. The 2000 league champions are the Charlotte Amalie Lady Chicken Hawks with a record of 5-1. The Lady Devil Rays dropped into a third place tie with the Lady Hurricanes with a 2-4 record.

Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg’s request that the inspector general scrutinize Vitran’s books will have to wait until an auditor is available, V.I. Inspector General Steven Van Bevenhoudt said Friday.
Last week, Donastorg wrote Van Beverhoudt requesting that he conduct an audit of the transportation system. Because of Vitran's $12 million operating deficit, the Turnbull administration announced that 62 Vitran workers would be laid off effective May 10. Union leaders have alleged that mismanagement is the root of the problem.
Van Beverhoudt said that while the audit request is legitimate, it will have to wait until he has a free inspector. When that would occur was unclear Friday.
"His request has merit. We know of all the concerns that are being raised," Van Beverhoudt said. "Right now, all our auditors are on assignment. I just can’t jump on it and do it."
In recent Senate hearings, Public Works Commissioner Harold Thompson Jr., whose department oversees Vitran, said that approximately $330,000 in transportation funds were used earlier this year to pay trash haulers on St. John.
Thompson was also criticized for not spending part of the $12 million in federal funds the department received last year on the bus service.
In his letter to the inspector general, Donastorg also raised the question of possible mismanagement.
Van Beverhoudt said his office has a staff of 10. Counting himself and his deputy, both of whom handle administrative matters and do audit work, five or six auditors are available at any one time to conduct investigations. Still, he said, the office attempts to accommodate audit requests from legislators as quickly as possible if fraud is suspected and if the requested audits are specific in their scope.
He said he told Donastorg that once he has a free auditor, the request will be addressed.
Nicole Bollentini, Donastorg’s press officer, said the senator believes the audit is "extremely important."
"This is an instance when an audit could be a real service rather than just an informational tool," she said.

Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg’s request that the inspector general scrutinize Vitran’s books will have to wait until an auditor is available, V.I. Inspector General Steven Van Bevenhoudt said Friday.
Last week, Donastorg wrote Van Beverhoudt requesting that he conduct an audit of the transportation system. Because of Vitran's $12 million operating deficit, the Turnbull administration announced that 62 Vitran workers would be laid off effective May 10. Union leaders have alleged that mismanagement is the root of the problem.
Van Beverhoudt said that while the audit request is legitimate, it will have to wait until he has a free inspector. When that would occur was unclear Friday.
"His request has merit. We know of all the concerns that are being raised," Van Beverhoudt said. "Right now, all our auditors are on assignment. I just can’t jump on it and do it."
In recent Senate hearings, Public Works Commissioner Harold Thompson Jr., whose department oversees Vitran, said that approximately $330,000 in transportation funds were used earlier this year to pay trash haulers on St. John.
Thompson was also criticized for not spending part of the $12 million in federal funds the department received last year on the bus service.
In his letter to the inspector general, Donastorg also raised the question of possible mismanagement.
Van Beverhoudt said his office has a staff of 10. Counting himself and his deputy, both of whom handle administrative matters and do audit work, five or six auditors are available at any one time to conduct investigations. Still, he said, the office attempts to accommodate audit requests from legislators as quickly as possible if fraud is suspected and if the requested audits are specific in their scope.
He said he told Donastorg that once he has a free auditor, the request will be addressed.
Nicole Bollentini, Donastorg’s press officer, said the senator believes the audit is "extremely important."
"This is an instance when an audit could be a real service rather than just an informational tool," she said.

In action Thursday relating to two 1999 murder cases on St. Thomas, police arrested two suspects in connection with a fatal shooting in last year's Carnival Village and obtained an arrest warrant for a fourth suspect in the stabbing death of a gypsy cab driver in the Bolongo Bay area.
Major Crime Unit detectives arrested Alvin Charles, 20, of Estate Tutu on Thursday morning and charged him with first-degree murder, first-degree assault, principal to first-degree assault, unauthorized possession of a firearm and reckless endangerment. And they arrested Khali Ubiles, also 20, and charged him with murder, weapons possession, assault, reckless endangerment and principal to first degree assault.
Bail was set at $500,000 for both men.
In the Carnival incident Ferlin Harris was killed and two other men, Eustace John and Lianares Warrell, were injured. Harris was shot in the village and while John and Warrell ran from the village toward the head of Norre Gade, shots were fired at them.
Police officials said Thursday that an arrest warrant has been issued for a third suspect in the case.
In an unrelated development, Major Crime Unit investigators obtained an arrest warrant Thursday for a fourth suspect in the stabbing death of Duvalier Basquin in the Bolongo Bay area last Nov. 4. Basquin, a gypsy cab driver, was fatally stabbed after picking up a fare from the Rothschild Francis "Market" Square area.
Police Chief Jose Garcia said investigations continue in both cases.

The abundance of time-travel movies can be overwhelming – it's a genre milked for everything it's got time and time again, often with ho-hum results. However, from all reports, there's no ho-hum in "Frequency," the genre's newest entry.
John Sullivan (James Caviezel) is a New York cop living in Queens in 1999. One night, during an aurora borealis light storm, he begins fooling with his late father's ham radio. His heroic firefighter father died fighting a 1969 fire, a fact that left his son angry and lonely — and always wishing he could have changed that fateful day in 1969.
As he tinkers with the radio, he strikes up a conversation with a man who claims to be a firefighter and who is awaiting the 1969 World Series. (And who wouldn't be? Remember the "Amazing Mets"?) So, guess who the man is.
Anyhow, John and his newfound father, Frank (Dennis Quaid), talk all night in a conversation spanning 30 years. This is, after all, a fantasy. (The Mets, in fact, did win the Series that year, which, although it seemed so, wasn't a fantasy.) So John achieves his life's dream and prevents his father from dying in that fire. But not without a price. John and Frank discover a serial killer in their midst and must race against the clock to get him separated by three decades and connected only by a radio.
The film has moments of comic relief, including kids and a Dalmatian pup for good measure. Andre Braugher and Elizabeth Mitchell get honorable mention in supporting roles. Quaid is said to be "strong and charming in his portrayal of the father," and, according to one reviewer, "Caviezel is even better as the complicated, moody son."
The movie was directed by Gregory Hoblit and produced by Hoblit and Howard "Hawk" Koch. It is rated PG-13 for intense violence and disturbing images. It's playing at Market Square East on St. Thomas and at Sunny Isle Theaters on St. Croix.

The Water and Power Authority’s multimillion-dollar project to place key electricity feeders and lines underground should be completed by September, historically the height of the hurricane season, according to the utility’s executive director.
At the WAPA board meeting Thursday on St. Croix, Raymond George updated board members on the $12.5-million project, which is 90 percent funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Placing the lines and feeders below ground will make it easier to restore service to the territory’s hospitals and airports following a hurricane or other disaster, he said.
The project, funded under FEMA's "hazard mitigation" program, is to minimize the potential for loss of electrical service to critical sites in the community.
On St. Croix, two contracts have been awarded to place Feeder 4, which serves the Juan F. Luis Hospital, underground, George said. However, while WAPA has plans to bury lines all the way to the Henry E. Rohlsen Airport and Frederiksted, he said, an underestimate will force the utility to tap another FEMA funding source to go west of the airport.
On St. Thomas, WAPA is already supplying the Cyril E. King Airport and the area around Lindbergh Bay, Feeder 5, through recently buried lines, he said. There are plans to install underground transmission equipment on Feeders 11 and 12 to the Roy L. Schneider Hospital and the Hatchette Substation, providing service from Krum Bay to the Vitelco Building and One Stop gas station by the Western Cemetery. "That will pick up most of the commercial district" in Charlotte Amalie, George said.

Water and Power Authority board member Claude "Tappy" Molloy ripped colleague Andrew Rutnik for his role in the proposed partnership between the V.I. government and Southern Energy at the utility’s board of governors meeting Thursday.
Molloy, a staunch critic of the deal, questioned his fellow board members about what role the body should play at this point in the process. He then set his sights on Rutnik, who was on Gov. Charles Turnbull’s negotiating team for the deal. Rutnik also serves in Turnbull’s Cabinet as Licensing and Consumer Affairs commissioner.
Molloy asked Rutnik to explain how his travel and accommodations were paid for when Rutnik and fellow WAPA board members Arthur Downing, Ira Hobson and Dean Plaskett, all also on the Government House negotiating team, went to Southern’s headquarters in Atlanta last summer. Molloy alleges, as does a lawsuit brought by St. Croix community activist Gail Watson Chiang, that Southern picked up the tab for first-class airfare and rooms at the Ritz-Carlton, among other things.
"The board is being constantly criticized for not saying or doing nothing," Malloy said. "I hope we're not going to wait until the last minute to do or say anything."
As for how expenses were paid, Molloy said that once the question was raised, Southern billed WAPA. He then said the administration’s consultant, PriceWaterhouse Coopers, is now footing travel bills.
"I find it immoral, unethical and possibly illegal what has transpired so far," Molloy said.
He then asked Rutnik to respond to his allegations. Rutnik deferred, saying that all Molloy’s questions could be answered through WAPA and Southern’s records. He also said he couldn’t answer because he is listed as a defendant in Chiang’s lawsuit. Still, he blasted Molloy’s allegations as "half-truths, inaccuracies and misinformation."
"The negotiations were merely that –- negotiations," Rutnik said. "The document that was produced . . . is a matter of public record. Any other comment regarding the negotiations are in a court case."
He said if the board wanted to address Molloy’s concerns, he would speak to the issue. Otherwise, he said, he would let the "record stand for itself."
Molloy indicated that he hadn’t exhausted his inquiry into the issue. "Mr. Rutnik, all I can say is you can run but you can’t hide," he said.
Meanwhile, Molloy failed in his efforts at the meeting to get the other board members present to take a position as a group on the proposed deal between the Turnbull administration and Southern Energy by which the government would sell 80 percent of the utility to the Atlanta-based company. Present in addition to Molloy were board chair Carol Burke, Downing, G. Luz James Sr., William Lomax and Hobson.
While the power to sell WAPA rests with the Senate, Molloy said, the board should not remain silent on the matter. "By law we are the trustees of the Water and Power Authority, and I think rightfully we should play a role," he said.
At least one other board member, James, came out against the sale at the meeting, calling it "stupidness."