The St. Croix and St. Thomas-St. John Hotel & Tourism Associations have announced the destination-wide "Picture Yourself in Paradise" promotion which features value-added incentives for visitors staying a minimum of five nights at participating hotels, effective June 1 through December 15, 2000.
All visitors participating in the "Picture Yourself in Paradise" promotion will receive a free single-use camera upon hotel check-in to capture their unforgettable vacation experiences on film. Visitors can submit their best photos from each island in a photo contest to win a free return vacation to America's Caribbean. One lucky winner will be selected for each island.
Visitors on St. Croix will enjoy discounted transportation and numerous savings allowing them to explore the many offerings of the territory's largest island. Value-added incentives include a free car rental for two days (a $120 value) or an island tour for two and a free discount coupon book, featuring up to $300 in savings at local retail stores, restaurants, dive shops, watersports activities and more.
Vacationers staying on St. John and St. Thomas at participating hotels and resorts will receive a free island tour for two and a complimentary American Paradise Card(tm) with a pocket-sized Value Guide to use when visiting popular tourist attractions. Guests will also receive a free shopping shuttle certificate to take advantage of the territory's duty-free shopping. The shopping shuttle certificate is redeemable for $10 off any purchase of $50 or more at select retailers.
The American Paradise Card(tm) entitles users to exclusive gifts, savings and incentives worth over $1,000 at numerous participating businesses, including: A.H. Riise, Cardow Jewelers, Coral World, The Inn at Blackbeard's Castle, Mimm's Seaside Bistro, Old Stone Farm House, Paradise Point Tramway, Smith's Ferry and many more. Each American Paradise Card(tm) receipt placed in the sweepstakes entry box is a new chance to win a seven-day/six-night vacation to St. Thomas or St. John.
USVI hotels participating in the "Picture Yourself in Paradise" promotion include: on St. Croix – The Buccaneer, The Breakfast Club, Club Comanche, Colony Cove – An Antilles Resort, Divi Carina Bay, Hibiscus Beach Hotel, Hilty House Inn, Hotel Caravelle, innparadise, King's Alley Hotel, King Christian Hotel and Mill Harbour – An Antilles Resort; on St. John – The Westin Resort, St. John; and on St. Thomas – Bolongo Bay Beach Club & Villas, Best Western Carib Beach Resort, Best Western Emerald Beach Resort, Holiday Inn Windward Passage Hotel, Island Beach Comber Hotel, Marriott Frenchman's Reef Beach Resort, Pavilions & Pools, Point Pleasant Resort, Renaissance Grand Beach Resort, Sapphire Beach Resort & Marina and Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort.
For more information about the "Picture Yourself in Paradise" promotion, call the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel & Tourism Association at (340) 774-6835, the St. Croix Hotel & Tourism Association at (800) 524-2026 or (340) 773-7117, or the St. Croix Accommodations Council at (340) 713-9119. For additional information about the United States Virgin Islands, call 800-372-USVI (8784) or contact the nearest USVI Department of Tourism regional office in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Juan, Washington, D.C. or Canada
V.I. LAUNCHES 'PICTURE YOURSELF IN PARADISE' PROMO
The St. Croix and St. Thomas-St. John Hotel & Tourism Associations have announced the destination-wide "Picture Yourself in Paradise" promotion which features value-added incentives for visitors staying a minimum of five nights at participating hotels, effective June 1 through December 15, 2000.
All visitors participating in the "Picture Yourself in Paradise" promotion will receive a free single-use camera upon hotel check-in to capture their unforgettable vacation experiences on film. Visitors can submit their best photos from each island in a photo contest to win a free return vacation to America's Caribbean. One lucky winner will be selected for each island.
Visitors on St. Croix will enjoy discounted transportation and numerous savings allowing them to explore the many offerings of the territory's largest island. Value-added incentives include a free car rental for two days (a $120 value) or an island tour for two and a free discount coupon book, featuring up to $300 in savings at local retail stores, restaurants, dive shops, watersports activities and more.
Vacationers staying on St. John and St. Thomas at participating hotels and resorts will receive a free island tour for two and a complimentary American Paradise Card(tm) with a pocket-sized Value Guide to use when visiting popular tourist attractions. Guests will also receive a free shopping shuttle certificate to take advantage of the territory's duty-free shopping. The shopping shuttle certificate is redeemable for $10 off any purchase of $50 or more at select retailers.
The American Paradise Card(tm) entitles users to exclusive gifts, savings and incentives worth over $1,000 at numerous participating businesses, including: A.H. Riise, Cardow Jewelers, Coral World, The Inn at Blackbeard's Castle, Mimm's Seaside Bistro, Old Stone Farm House, Paradise Point Tramway, Smith's Ferry and many more. Each American Paradise Card(tm) receipt placed in the sweepstakes entry box is a new chance to win a seven-day/six-night vacation to St. Thomas or St. John.
USVI hotels participating in the "Picture Yourself in Paradise" promotion include: on St. Croix – The Buccaneer, The Breakfast Club, Club Comanche, Colony Cove – An Antilles Resort, Divi Carina Bay, Hibiscus Beach Hotel, Hilty House Inn, Hotel Caravelle, innparadise, King's Alley Hotel, King Christian Hotel and Mill Harbour – An Antilles Resort; on St. John – The Westin Resort, St. John; and on St. Thomas – Bolongo Bay Beach Club & Villas, Best Western Carib Beach Resort, Best Western Emerald Beach Resort, Holiday Inn Windward Passage Hotel, Island Beach Comber Hotel, Marriott Frenchman's Reef Beach Resort, Pavilions & Pools, Point Pleasant Resort, Renaissance Grand Beach Resort, Sapphire Beach Resort & Marina and Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort.
For more information about the "Picture Yourself in Paradise" promotion, call the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel & Tourism Association at (340) 774-6835, the St. Croix Hotel & Tourism Association at (800) 524-2026 or (340) 773-7117, or the St. Croix Accommodations Council at (340) 713-9119. For additional information about the United States Virgin Islands, call 800-372-USVI (8784) or contact the nearest USVI Department of Tourism regional office in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Juan, Washington, D.C. or Canada
All visitors participating in the "Picture Yourself in Paradise" promotion will receive a free single-use camera upon hotel check-in to capture their unforgettable vacation experiences on film. Visitors can submit their best photos from each island in a photo contest to win a free return vacation to America's Caribbean. One lucky winner will be selected for each island.
Visitors on St. Croix will enjoy discounted transportation and numerous savings allowing them to explore the many offerings of the territory's largest island. Value-added incentives include a free car rental for two days (a $120 value) or an island tour for two and a free discount coupon book, featuring up to $300 in savings at local retail stores, restaurants, dive shops, watersports activities and more.
Vacationers staying on St. John and St. Thomas at participating hotels and resorts will receive a free island tour for two and a complimentary American Paradise Card(tm) with a pocket-sized Value Guide to use when visiting popular tourist attractions. Guests will also receive a free shopping shuttle certificate to take advantage of the territory's duty-free shopping. The shopping shuttle certificate is redeemable for $10 off any purchase of $50 or more at select retailers.
The American Paradise Card(tm) entitles users to exclusive gifts, savings and incentives worth over $1,000 at numerous participating businesses, including: A.H. Riise, Cardow Jewelers, Coral World, The Inn at Blackbeard's Castle, Mimm's Seaside Bistro, Old Stone Farm House, Paradise Point Tramway, Smith's Ferry and many more. Each American Paradise Card(tm) receipt placed in the sweepstakes entry box is a new chance to win a seven-day/six-night vacation to St. Thomas or St. John.
USVI hotels participating in the "Picture Yourself in Paradise" promotion include: on St. Croix – The Buccaneer, The Breakfast Club, Club Comanche, Colony Cove – An Antilles Resort, Divi Carina Bay, Hibiscus Beach Hotel, Hilty House Inn, Hotel Caravelle, innparadise, King's Alley Hotel, King Christian Hotel and Mill Harbour – An Antilles Resort; on St. John – The Westin Resort, St. John; and on St. Thomas – Bolongo Bay Beach Club & Villas, Best Western Carib Beach Resort, Best Western Emerald Beach Resort, Holiday Inn Windward Passage Hotel, Island Beach Comber Hotel, Marriott Frenchman's Reef Beach Resort, Pavilions & Pools, Point Pleasant Resort, Renaissance Grand Beach Resort, Sapphire Beach Resort & Marina and Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort.
For more information about the "Picture Yourself in Paradise" promotion, call the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel & Tourism Association at (340) 774-6835, the St. Croix Hotel & Tourism Association at (800) 524-2026 or (340) 773-7117, or the St. Croix Accommodations Council at (340) 713-9119. For additional information about the United States Virgin Islands, call 800-372-USVI (8784) or contact the nearest USVI Department of Tourism regional office in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Juan, Washington, D.C. or Canada
MEMORIES OF AN EARLIER TRIATHLON
The St. Croix International Triathlon, set for Sunday, May 7, is a marvelous event that draws dedicated contestants from around the world.
The best way for me to pay tribute to the Virgin Islands' premier sporting event is to relate my own participation in one of the earliest versions of the race and to tell you what it did for me, my niece and my nephew.
My triathlon odyssey started with the first one, in the the spring of 1988. My niece, Sally Berriman, was visiting me on St. Thomas. We flew down to St. Croix for a few days. Runners filled the streets of Christiansted. Swimmers plied the harbor waters.
"It's a triathlon, they're practicing for a triathlon," Sally cried.
"What's a triathlon?" I asked. I didn't know my life was about to change.
A few days later we were lying on the sand at St. Thomas' Coki beach. I fell asleep. When I woke up, Sally was missing. But there was this terrible thrashing in the water. It was Sally. She staggered out, dropped to the sand beside me.
"I'll get better, I promise, I've got a year to train," she gasped.
"What are you talking about?" I asked, the first intimations of future trouble hitting my stomach like a greasy johnnycake.
"We're going to enter the St. Croix triathlon next year," she announced when she got her breath back. "They take teams. I checked. We'll be Team Jordan, in your honor."
By the time Sally left for her Philadelphia home a few days later, I had given in to her plans. It was that or be branded a coward inside my extended family. And, to tell the truth, I liked the sound of Team Jordan, as she had cleverly surmised.
She would do the swim. We recruited her cousin Steve Zimmerman, another couch potato, for the bike portion. And I would anchor this relay team by running across the finish line for all three of us.
You must understand we're not talking about next Sunday's St. Croix Triathlon, the one that the Source's own Jamie Bate is undertaking by himself. To veterans of the first two triathlons, 1988 and 1989, later St. Croix triathlons were, well, sissy events.
Back then, when swimmers were swimmers, they swam three instead of two kilometers around the Hotel on the Cay. The bike course was a brutal 59 miles instead of today's 34 miles. And I was to run more than 12 miles in the hot sun, compared to 7.4 miles these days.
During the ensuing fall and winter, we kept track of each other by telephone. Sally was swimming laps in an indoor pool near Philadelphia. Steve was off the couch and pedaling the streets of Concord, Calif., prior to practicing hill climbing to get himself ready for The Beast, which then, as now, tests the endurance of any biker.
"Next April on St. Croix!" we would shout to each other on the phone.
I already was a gentleman jogger. Not fast, but I was good for as many as 10 miles — in the cool of early morning along the waterfront on St. Thomas. So I started running under the sun in the hills around Mountain Top, where I lived.
I was teaching two evenings a week at UVI on St. Croix. The week before the 1989 triathlon I stayed over two nights on the Big Island and tried the exact course three days in a row. Dehydration was a problem, but on the third day I made it to the end. I was ready, I knew I could do it, but I didn't tell anyone.
Team Jordan assembled in Christiansted a few days before the April 23 race. We wore our Team Jordan T-shirts. Our team headquarters was in the Schooner Bay Condominiums, across Gallows Bay from the fort, the finish line and the transition area.
Sally's problem was that in the choppy waters of the harbor she couldn't swim in a straight line. We decided to depend on the course's boundary monitors, people in kayaks and surfboards, to keep her circling the Hotel on the Cay instead of heading out toward Buck Island.
On the eve of the race, Steve presented his somewhat rickety bike for a safety inspection at the fort. When the inspectors looked doubtful, Steve told them, "I'm just here for the beer." So they approved his bike.
Before dawn on race day, the three of us walked to the fort to have Team Jordan's number painted on our legs and arms.
"Just like Mike Pigg," Sally grinned. Pigg, who had won the race in 1988 and was to finish second this day, was her hero. Eleven years later, Pigg is a sentimental favorite in Sunday's event.
Another triathlon contestant that April day was 18-year-old Lance Armstrong, who would go on to become America's international champion bicyclist.
At the age of 62 I didn't want to hang around the transition area in the hot sun for five hours before Steve finished his bike run and tapped me on the shoulder so I could start running, so I decided to spend the time resting in the air-conditioned comfort of the Schooner Bay Condominiums.
I put Sally in the launch that would take her to the Hotel on the Cay and the start of the swim. I promised I'd be at the fort when she came out of the water and that both of us would slap Steve on the back as he started down the street on his bike. She said she could do the swim in two hours.
I returned to the fort in two hours. Biker Steve was long gone. Sally was jumping up and down on the grass in unrestrained joy. She had come up the ramp from the water in under an hour and 30 minutes.
I returned to Schooner Bay, where I stretched out, fully dressed for running, on my bed and dozed off while contemplating my forthcoming 12 miles in the sun.
An hour or so later, the phone rang. A female voice asked if I was Team Jordan. I said I was.
"Your biker has crashed," she said. "We have him at the main aid station."
I jumped from the bed, raced out the door, and sprinted at full speed, arms pumping, the more than a mile to the fort, realizing as I ran that my afternoon in the sun wasn't going to happen that day.
I raced around the fort and through the transition area, jumped over the snow fence around the aid station and burst into the first tent, shouting "Steve Zimmerman, Steve Zimmerman!"
They took me to him. He was lying stomach-down on a cot. Teams of doctors and nurses were hovering over him, not because of his injuries — which were not that serious — but because he was their first casualty of the triathlon and they wanted to practice their skills upon him. Behind the nurses came the masseuses with their ointments and skillful hands.
My feelings of concern for Steve gave way to jealousy.
The Beast didn't defeat Steve; he went up and over it. But at about the 30-mile mark, he was pedaling down a narrow Christiansted street when an old Crucian woman ignored the outstretched arms of the course monitors and set off across the street in front of his bike. He hit the brakes. They locked, and Steve went over the top of his bike.
Ring Lardner, one of America's greatest sportswriters, wrote in the 1940's a funny short story about baseball. It was called "You Can Look It Up."
So it was with Team Jordan. You can look it up. In the records of the 1989 St. Croix Triathlon you'll find Team Jordan and the designation "DNF." It stands for Did Not Finish.
We talked about returning to St. Croix the next year. But there was no triathlon in 1990 because of Hurricane Hugo.
Steve never went back to eating potato chips on the couch. He continued to train and started doing triathlons on his own. In 1993, one year after beating cancer through chemotherapy, he completed the Diablo triathlon in California. It was his last triathlon. He now teaches high school math.
Sally decided to concentrate on biking after St. Croix. She became very good at it. A distance of 100 miles was her norm. Now living in Denver, she fell prey to leukemia and underwent a bone marrow transplant. She plans to get back on a bicycle as soon as her doctors give her the green light.
St. Croix in 1989 was my only triathlon. My knees rebelled after years of jogging on pavement in Washington and St. Thomas.
We're having a family reunion later this year. Sally's going to bring the videotape we made of our adventures in St. Croix. We'll play the tape and laugh, and agree once again that the 1989 triathlon was a seminal event in our lives.
The best way for me to pay tribute to the Virgin Islands' premier sporting event is to relate my own participation in one of the earliest versions of the race and to tell you what it did for me, my niece and my nephew.
My triathlon odyssey started with the first one, in the the spring of 1988. My niece, Sally Berriman, was visiting me on St. Thomas. We flew down to St. Croix for a few days. Runners filled the streets of Christiansted. Swimmers plied the harbor waters.
"It's a triathlon, they're practicing for a triathlon," Sally cried.
"What's a triathlon?" I asked. I didn't know my life was about to change.
A few days later we were lying on the sand at St. Thomas' Coki beach. I fell asleep. When I woke up, Sally was missing. But there was this terrible thrashing in the water. It was Sally. She staggered out, dropped to the sand beside me.
"I'll get better, I promise, I've got a year to train," she gasped.
"What are you talking about?" I asked, the first intimations of future trouble hitting my stomach like a greasy johnnycake.
"We're going to enter the St. Croix triathlon next year," she announced when she got her breath back. "They take teams. I checked. We'll be Team Jordan, in your honor."
By the time Sally left for her Philadelphia home a few days later, I had given in to her plans. It was that or be branded a coward inside my extended family. And, to tell the truth, I liked the sound of Team Jordan, as she had cleverly surmised.
She would do the swim. We recruited her cousin Steve Zimmerman, another couch potato, for the bike portion. And I would anchor this relay team by running across the finish line for all three of us.
You must understand we're not talking about next Sunday's St. Croix Triathlon, the one that the Source's own Jamie Bate is undertaking by himself. To veterans of the first two triathlons, 1988 and 1989, later St. Croix triathlons were, well, sissy events.
Back then, when swimmers were swimmers, they swam three instead of two kilometers around the Hotel on the Cay. The bike course was a brutal 59 miles instead of today's 34 miles. And I was to run more than 12 miles in the hot sun, compared to 7.4 miles these days.
During the ensuing fall and winter, we kept track of each other by telephone. Sally was swimming laps in an indoor pool near Philadelphia. Steve was off the couch and pedaling the streets of Concord, Calif., prior to practicing hill climbing to get himself ready for The Beast, which then, as now, tests the endurance of any biker.
"Next April on St. Croix!" we would shout to each other on the phone.
I already was a gentleman jogger. Not fast, but I was good for as many as 10 miles — in the cool of early morning along the waterfront on St. Thomas. So I started running under the sun in the hills around Mountain Top, where I lived.
I was teaching two evenings a week at UVI on St. Croix. The week before the 1989 triathlon I stayed over two nights on the Big Island and tried the exact course three days in a row. Dehydration was a problem, but on the third day I made it to the end. I was ready, I knew I could do it, but I didn't tell anyone.
Team Jordan assembled in Christiansted a few days before the April 23 race. We wore our Team Jordan T-shirts. Our team headquarters was in the Schooner Bay Condominiums, across Gallows Bay from the fort, the finish line and the transition area.
Sally's problem was that in the choppy waters of the harbor she couldn't swim in a straight line. We decided to depend on the course's boundary monitors, people in kayaks and surfboards, to keep her circling the Hotel on the Cay instead of heading out toward Buck Island.
On the eve of the race, Steve presented his somewhat rickety bike for a safety inspection at the fort. When the inspectors looked doubtful, Steve told them, "I'm just here for the beer." So they approved his bike.
Before dawn on race day, the three of us walked to the fort to have Team Jordan's number painted on our legs and arms.
"Just like Mike Pigg," Sally grinned. Pigg, who had won the race in 1988 and was to finish second this day, was her hero. Eleven years later, Pigg is a sentimental favorite in Sunday's event.
Another triathlon contestant that April day was 18-year-old Lance Armstrong, who would go on to become America's international champion bicyclist.
At the age of 62 I didn't want to hang around the transition area in the hot sun for five hours before Steve finished his bike run and tapped me on the shoulder so I could start running, so I decided to spend the time resting in the air-conditioned comfort of the Schooner Bay Condominiums.
I put Sally in the launch that would take her to the Hotel on the Cay and the start of the swim. I promised I'd be at the fort when she came out of the water and that both of us would slap Steve on the back as he started down the street on his bike. She said she could do the swim in two hours.
I returned to the fort in two hours. Biker Steve was long gone. Sally was jumping up and down on the grass in unrestrained joy. She had come up the ramp from the water in under an hour and 30 minutes.
I returned to Schooner Bay, where I stretched out, fully dressed for running, on my bed and dozed off while contemplating my forthcoming 12 miles in the sun.
An hour or so later, the phone rang. A female voice asked if I was Team Jordan. I said I was.
"Your biker has crashed," she said. "We have him at the main aid station."
I jumped from the bed, raced out the door, and sprinted at full speed, arms pumping, the more than a mile to the fort, realizing as I ran that my afternoon in the sun wasn't going to happen that day.
I raced around the fort and through the transition area, jumped over the snow fence around the aid station and burst into the first tent, shouting "Steve Zimmerman, Steve Zimmerman!"
They took me to him. He was lying stomach-down on a cot. Teams of doctors and nurses were hovering over him, not because of his injuries — which were not that serious — but because he was their first casualty of the triathlon and they wanted to practice their skills upon him. Behind the nurses came the masseuses with their ointments and skillful hands.
My feelings of concern for Steve gave way to jealousy.
The Beast didn't defeat Steve; he went up and over it. But at about the 30-mile mark, he was pedaling down a narrow Christiansted street when an old Crucian woman ignored the outstretched arms of the course monitors and set off across the street in front of his bike. He hit the brakes. They locked, and Steve went over the top of his bike.
Ring Lardner, one of America's greatest sportswriters, wrote in the 1940's a funny short story about baseball. It was called "You Can Look It Up."
So it was with Team Jordan. You can look it up. In the records of the 1989 St. Croix Triathlon you'll find Team Jordan and the designation "DNF." It stands for Did Not Finish.
We talked about returning to St. Croix the next year. But there was no triathlon in 1990 because of Hurricane Hugo.
Steve never went back to eating potato chips on the couch. He continued to train and started doing triathlons on his own. In 1993, one year after beating cancer through chemotherapy, he completed the Diablo triathlon in California. It was his last triathlon. He now teaches high school math.
Sally decided to concentrate on biking after St. Croix. She became very good at it. A distance of 100 miles was her norm. Now living in Denver, she fell prey to leukemia and underwent a bone marrow transplant. She plans to get back on a bicycle as soon as her doctors give her the green light.
St. Croix in 1989 was my only triathlon. My knees rebelled after years of jogging on pavement in Washington and St. Thomas.
We're having a family reunion later this year. Sally's going to bring the videotape we made of our adventures in St. Croix. We'll play the tape and laugh, and agree once again that the 1989 triathlon was a seminal event in our lives.
COUPON BOOKS LET YOU DINE WELL AND DO GOOD
This year's Dining Out coupon booklet published by St. Thomas Rotary-East is off the presses. It contains 34 coupons for 29 eating establishments on St. Thomas and St. John and is good through Dec. 15, except for a black-out period over the long Thanksgiving weekend.
The books sell for $15 and are available from Rotary-East members. They can also be picked up at the Color of Joy in American Yacht Harbor. Most of the coupons allow for one free entrée when you purchase another of equal or greater value, and you can easily cover the purchase price at one sitting. Some deals are for dinner; others are for lunch.
Rotary-East and the participating restaurants collaborate in raising funds that go toward Rotary's scholarship program, among other things. The civic group has adopted Eudora Kean High School, and each year it awards a University of the Virgin Islands full-tuition scholarship to an EKHS graduate.
A couple of protocol points the restaurants would like you to know: Coupon holders should present their whole booklet (not the torn-out coupon for that particular establishment) to their wait person when placing their orders. Anything not specified on the coupon is not covered, and diners are expected to tip according to the total value of the bill before the discount.
For anyone who is not averse to eating, this is a win-win-win opportunity, which explains why the annual coupon book project has become so successful. Two enjoy main courses (or whatever) for the price of one, you have an incentive to try an array of different eating establishments, and you are helping a deserving Virgin Islander get started on a quality education.
Here's which restaurant is offering what:
St Thomas
Dinner — Big Kahuna, Bonnie's By the Sea, Caribbean Steakhouse & Saloon, Dottie's Front Porch, Epernay, Frigate East, Hemingway's, Island Beachcomber, Lord Rumbottom's, Raffles, Petra's Schnitzel Haus, Sandra's Terrace, Toad and Tart, XO Bistro and The Zone at Cabrita Point.
Lunch – Blue Moon Café (Secret Harbour), Bonnie's By the Sea (Elysian Beach Resort), Caribbean Steakhouse & Saloon, Grateful Deli, Hemingway's, Hook Line & Sinker, Iggie's (Bolongo Bay Beach Club), Island Beachcomber, Jerry's Beachfront, Molly Molone's, Polli's Mexican Restaurant, Sandra's Terrace and Sushi By Sato.
Late-night menu — Room With a View.
St. John
Dinner – Mongoose Restaurant, Papa Bull's, La Tapa and The Stone Terrace.
Lunch – Woody's Seafood Saloon.
The books sell for $15 and are available from Rotary-East members. They can also be picked up at the Color of Joy in American Yacht Harbor. Most of the coupons allow for one free entrée when you purchase another of equal or greater value, and you can easily cover the purchase price at one sitting. Some deals are for dinner; others are for lunch.
Rotary-East and the participating restaurants collaborate in raising funds that go toward Rotary's scholarship program, among other things. The civic group has adopted Eudora Kean High School, and each year it awards a University of the Virgin Islands full-tuition scholarship to an EKHS graduate.
A couple of protocol points the restaurants would like you to know: Coupon holders should present their whole booklet (not the torn-out coupon for that particular establishment) to their wait person when placing their orders. Anything not specified on the coupon is not covered, and diners are expected to tip according to the total value of the bill before the discount.
For anyone who is not averse to eating, this is a win-win-win opportunity, which explains why the annual coupon book project has become so successful. Two enjoy main courses (or whatever) for the price of one, you have an incentive to try an array of different eating establishments, and you are helping a deserving Virgin Islander get started on a quality education.
Here's which restaurant is offering what:
St Thomas
Dinner — Big Kahuna, Bonnie's By the Sea, Caribbean Steakhouse & Saloon, Dottie's Front Porch, Epernay, Frigate East, Hemingway's, Island Beachcomber, Lord Rumbottom's, Raffles, Petra's Schnitzel Haus, Sandra's Terrace, Toad and Tart, XO Bistro and The Zone at Cabrita Point.
Lunch – Blue Moon Café (Secret Harbour), Bonnie's By the Sea (Elysian Beach Resort), Caribbean Steakhouse & Saloon, Grateful Deli, Hemingway's, Hook Line & Sinker, Iggie's (Bolongo Bay Beach Club), Island Beachcomber, Jerry's Beachfront, Molly Molone's, Polli's Mexican Restaurant, Sandra's Terrace and Sushi By Sato.
Late-night menu — Room With a View.
St. John
Dinner – Mongoose Restaurant, Papa Bull's, La Tapa and The Stone Terrace.
Lunch – Woody's Seafood Saloon.
COUPON BOOKS LET YOU EAT WELL AND DO GOOD
This year's Dining Out coupon booklet published by St. Thomas Rotary-East is off the presses. It contains 34 coupons for 29 eating establishments on St. Thomas and St. John and is good through Dec. 15, except for a black-out period over the long Thanksgiving weekend.
The books sell for $15 and are available from Rotary-East members. They can also be picked up at the Color of Joy in American Yacht Harbor. Most of the coupons allow for one free entrée when you purchase another of equal or greater value, and you can easily cover the purchase price at one sitting. Some deals are for dinner; others are for lunch.
Rotary-East and the participating restaurants collaborate in raising funds that go toward Rotary's scholarship program, among other things. The civic group has adopted Eudora Kean High School, and each year it awards a University of the Virgin Islands full-tuition scholarship to an EKHS graduate.
A couple of protocol points the restaurants would like you to know: Coupon holders should present their whole booklet (not the torn-out coupon for that particular establishment) to their wait person when placing their orders. Anything not specified on the coupon is not covered, and diners are expected to tip according to the total value of the bill before the discount.
For anyone who is not averse to eating, this is a win-win-win opportunity, which explains why the annual coupon book project has become so successful. Two enjoy main courses (or whatever) for the price of one, you have an incentive to try an array of different eating establishments, and you are helping a deserving Virgin Islander get started on a quality education.
Here's which restaurant is offering what:
St Thomas
Dinner — Big Kahuna, Bonnie's By the Sea, Caribbean Steakhouse & Saloon, Dottie's Front Porch, Epernay, Frigate East, Hemingway's, Island Beachcomber, Lord Rumbottom's, Raffles, Petra's Schnitzel Haus, Sandra's Terrace, Toad and Tart, XO Bistro and The Zone at Cabrita Point.
Lunch – Blue Moon Café (Secret Harbour), Bonnie's By the Sea (Elysian Beach Resort), Caribbean Steakhouse & Saloon, Grateful Deli, Hemingway's, Hook Line & Sinker, Iggie's (Bolongo Bay Beach Club), Island Beachcomber, Jerry's Beachfront, Molly Molone's, Polli's Mexican Restaurant, Sandra's Terrace and Sushi By Sato.
Late-night menu — Room With a View.
St. John
Dinner – Mongoose Restaurant, Papa Bull's, La Tapa and The Stone Terrace.
Lunch – Woody's Seafood Saloon.
The books sell for $15 and are available from Rotary-East members. They can also be picked up at the Color of Joy in American Yacht Harbor. Most of the coupons allow for one free entrée when you purchase another of equal or greater value, and you can easily cover the purchase price at one sitting. Some deals are for dinner; others are for lunch.
Rotary-East and the participating restaurants collaborate in raising funds that go toward Rotary's scholarship program, among other things. The civic group has adopted Eudora Kean High School, and each year it awards a University of the Virgin Islands full-tuition scholarship to an EKHS graduate.
A couple of protocol points the restaurants would like you to know: Coupon holders should present their whole booklet (not the torn-out coupon for that particular establishment) to their wait person when placing their orders. Anything not specified on the coupon is not covered, and diners are expected to tip according to the total value of the bill before the discount.
For anyone who is not averse to eating, this is a win-win-win opportunity, which explains why the annual coupon book project has become so successful. Two enjoy main courses (or whatever) for the price of one, you have an incentive to try an array of different eating establishments, and you are helping a deserving Virgin Islander get started on a quality education.
Here's which restaurant is offering what:
St Thomas
Dinner — Big Kahuna, Bonnie's By the Sea, Caribbean Steakhouse & Saloon, Dottie's Front Porch, Epernay, Frigate East, Hemingway's, Island Beachcomber, Lord Rumbottom's, Raffles, Petra's Schnitzel Haus, Sandra's Terrace, Toad and Tart, XO Bistro and The Zone at Cabrita Point.
Lunch – Blue Moon Café (Secret Harbour), Bonnie's By the Sea (Elysian Beach Resort), Caribbean Steakhouse & Saloon, Grateful Deli, Hemingway's, Hook Line & Sinker, Iggie's (Bolongo Bay Beach Club), Island Beachcomber, Jerry's Beachfront, Molly Molone's, Polli's Mexican Restaurant, Sandra's Terrace and Sushi By Sato.
Late-night menu — Room With a View.
St. John
Dinner – Mongoose Restaurant, Papa Bull's, La Tapa and The Stone Terrace.
Lunch – Woody's Seafood Saloon.
COUPON BOOKS LET YOU EAT WELL WHILE DOING GOOD
This year's Dining Out coupon booklet published by St. Thomas Rotary-East is off the presses. It contains 34 coupons for 29 eating establishments on St. Thomas and St. John and is good through Dec. 15, except for a black-out period over the long Thanksgiving weekend.
The books sell for $15 and are available from Rotary-East members. They can also be picked up at the Color of Joy in American Yacht Harbor. Most of the coupons allow for one free entrée when you purchase another of equal or greater value, and you can easily cover the purchase price at one sitting. Some deals are for dinner; others are for lunch.
Rotary-East and the participating restaurants collaborate in raising funds that go toward Rotary's scholarship program, among other things. The civic group has adopted Eudora Kean High School, and each year it awards a University of the Virgin Islands full-tuition scholarship to an EKHS graduate.
A couple of protocol points the restaurants would like you to know: Coupon holders should present their whole booklet (not the torn-out coupon for that particular establishment) to their wait person when placing their orders. Anything not specified on the coupon is not covered, and diners are expected to tip according to the total value of the bill before the discount.
For anyone who is not averse to eating, this is a win-win-win opportunity, which explains why the annual coupon book project has become so successful. Two enjoy main courses (or whatever) for the price of one, you have an incentive to try an array of different eating establishments, and you are helping a deserving Virgin Islander get started on a quality education.
Here's which restaurant is offering what:
St Thomas
Dinner — Big Kahuna, Bonnie's By the Sea, Caribbean Steakhouse & Saloon, Dottie's Front Porch, Epernay, Frigate East, Hemingway's, Island Beachcomber, Lord Rumbottom's, Raffles, Petra's Schnitzel Haus, Sandra's Terrace, Toad and Tart, XO Bistro and The Zone at Cabrita Point.
Lunch – Blue Moon Café (Secret Harbour), Bonnie's By the Sea (Elysian Beach Resort), Caribbean Steakhouse & Saloon, Grateful Deli, Hemingway's, Hook Line & Sinker, Iggie's (Bolongo Bay Beach Club), Island Beachcomber, Jerry's Beachfront, Molly Molone's, Polli's Mexican Restaurant, Sandra's Terrace and Sushi By Sato.
Late-night menu — Room With a View.
St. John
Dinner – Mongoose Restaurant, Papa Bull's, La Tapa and The Stone Terrace.
Lunch – Woody's Seafood Saloon.
The books sell for $15 and are available from Rotary-East members. They can also be picked up at the Color of Joy in American Yacht Harbor. Most of the coupons allow for one free entrée when you purchase another of equal or greater value, and you can easily cover the purchase price at one sitting. Some deals are for dinner; others are for lunch.
Rotary-East and the participating restaurants collaborate in raising funds that go toward Rotary's scholarship program, among other things. The civic group has adopted Eudora Kean High School, and each year it awards a University of the Virgin Islands full-tuition scholarship to an EKHS graduate.
A couple of protocol points the restaurants would like you to know: Coupon holders should present their whole booklet (not the torn-out coupon for that particular establishment) to their wait person when placing their orders. Anything not specified on the coupon is not covered, and diners are expected to tip according to the total value of the bill before the discount.
For anyone who is not averse to eating, this is a win-win-win opportunity, which explains why the annual coupon book project has become so successful. Two enjoy main courses (or whatever) for the price of one, you have an incentive to try an array of different eating establishments, and you are helping a deserving Virgin Islander get started on a quality education.
Here's which restaurant is offering what:
St Thomas
Dinner — Big Kahuna, Bonnie's By the Sea, Caribbean Steakhouse & Saloon, Dottie's Front Porch, Epernay, Frigate East, Hemingway's, Island Beachcomber, Lord Rumbottom's, Raffles, Petra's Schnitzel Haus, Sandra's Terrace, Toad and Tart, XO Bistro and The Zone at Cabrita Point.
Lunch – Blue Moon Café (Secret Harbour), Bonnie's By the Sea (Elysian Beach Resort), Caribbean Steakhouse & Saloon, Grateful Deli, Hemingway's, Hook Line & Sinker, Iggie's (Bolongo Bay Beach Club), Island Beachcomber, Jerry's Beachfront, Molly Molone's, Polli's Mexican Restaurant, Sandra's Terrace and Sushi By Sato.
Late-night menu — Room With a View.
St. John
Dinner – Mongoose Restaurant, Papa Bull's, La Tapa and The Stone Terrace.
Lunch – Woody's Seafood Saloon.
CLAY CLASSES OFFERED FOR ALL SKILL LEVELS
St. Thomas potter Peggy Seiwert is starting a series of beginning, intermediate and advanced clay classes at The Kilnworks that will extend through the summer. Three six-week sessions will be held for each level of study. Classes start the weeks of May 8 for the first session, June 19 for the second session and July 31 for the third session. All classes meet from 6 to 8 p.m..
The introductory class, covering various techniques used to make pottery from clay, requires no previous experience. Participants will get to make and decorate their own ceramic pieces. The class will meet on Tuesdays.
The intermediate class, requiring some previous instruction or experience, will offer more advanced hand-building projects and more instruction on the potter's wheel, with emphasis on perfecting technique. It will meet on Mondays.
The advanced class is for experienced clay students able to work independently. Built around demonstrations, the class will be project- and product-oriented. It will meet on Wednesdays.
There is a fee of $125 for each class each session. Firing, glazes and tools are additional. Each class will have at least one presentation on decorative or design technique, Seiwert said, and students continuing in a given level will get different experience each session. To learn more, call 775-3979.
The introductory class, covering various techniques used to make pottery from clay, requires no previous experience. Participants will get to make and decorate their own ceramic pieces. The class will meet on Tuesdays.
The intermediate class, requiring some previous instruction or experience, will offer more advanced hand-building projects and more instruction on the potter's wheel, with emphasis on perfecting technique. It will meet on Mondays.
The advanced class is for experienced clay students able to work independently. Built around demonstrations, the class will be project- and product-oriented. It will meet on Wednesdays.
There is a fee of $125 for each class each session. Firing, glazes and tools are additional. Each class will have at least one presentation on decorative or design technique, Seiwert said, and students continuing in a given level will get different experience each session. To learn more, call 775-3979.
NO TIMETABLE FOR OUTSIDE STUDY OF WAPA DEAL
Charges that the Senate decision to hire a consultant to review the Turnbull administration's proposal to sell 80 percent of the Water and Power Authority to Southern Energy is a ploy to stall a decision until after the November elections are false, a senator who supports the sale said Wednesday.
Sen. Violet Anne Golden said the Senate’s vote Tuesday to contract an independent study of the deal that would give majority control of the utility to the Atlanta-based company for almost $400 million was a "prudent" move.
During the vote, Sen. Adelbert Bryan accused those supporting the study of being "cowards" for trying to delay the WAPA decision until after the fall elections. Golden, the only senator who has publicly announced her support of the deal, scoffed at Bryan’s statements.
"The allegation that it will take place after the elections is not true," she said. "We can’t wait until after the elections. We don’t have until November. For anyone to say we want to wait and we’re cowards is a sad commentary."
Golden said the majority bloc senators who voted for a consultant don’t claim to be experts in utility issues, and thus an expert, independent opinion is needed.
As "prudent public servants," she said, "we made a call I think was correct."
Golden wouldn’t speculate on how soon the study might be completed or when the Senate would vote on the matter. Southern Energy officials are hoping for a speedy turnaround.
"We don’t have a good sense of what the timetable is going to be," Southern spokesman Chuck Griffin said. "We hope the Legislature will deal with this situation in a prompt manner."
In the Senate Tuesday, Bryan made motions to require that the consulting contract be awarded by May 30 and that a vote on the sale be held on Aug. 15. Both motions were defeated.
Senate President Vargrave Richards didn’t return calls on Wednesday regarding the consulting contract and the timeline for the Senate to vote on the deal. Richards had said previously that he would call Committee of the Whole sessions on all three islands to gather public input, rather than have the proposal go through the normal subcommittee process.
While Golden said she didn’t know how much the consulting contract would cost, she did say it must go through the procurement process, including a request for proposals. She said the Senate would stipulate that the RFP be advertised for 10 days. The length of the contract could be 30 to 45 days, she said. "We only want to know if it is a good deal or not," she said.
Griffin, meanwhile, said Southern Energy understands the senators’ need to assess the proposed deal. But he added that the body should recognize that a multinational company like Southern "has to take into consideration the amount of people and resources that are tied up" the longer a decision is delayed.
"The proposal is what it is," Griffin said, "and we’re waiting for an up or down vote."
Sen. Violet Anne Golden said the Senate’s vote Tuesday to contract an independent study of the deal that would give majority control of the utility to the Atlanta-based company for almost $400 million was a "prudent" move.
During the vote, Sen. Adelbert Bryan accused those supporting the study of being "cowards" for trying to delay the WAPA decision until after the fall elections. Golden, the only senator who has publicly announced her support of the deal, scoffed at Bryan’s statements.
"The allegation that it will take place after the elections is not true," she said. "We can’t wait until after the elections. We don’t have until November. For anyone to say we want to wait and we’re cowards is a sad commentary."
Golden said the majority bloc senators who voted for a consultant don’t claim to be experts in utility issues, and thus an expert, independent opinion is needed.
As "prudent public servants," she said, "we made a call I think was correct."
Golden wouldn’t speculate on how soon the study might be completed or when the Senate would vote on the matter. Southern Energy officials are hoping for a speedy turnaround.
"We don’t have a good sense of what the timetable is going to be," Southern spokesman Chuck Griffin said. "We hope the Legislature will deal with this situation in a prompt manner."
In the Senate Tuesday, Bryan made motions to require that the consulting contract be awarded by May 30 and that a vote on the sale be held on Aug. 15. Both motions were defeated.
Senate President Vargrave Richards didn’t return calls on Wednesday regarding the consulting contract and the timeline for the Senate to vote on the deal. Richards had said previously that he would call Committee of the Whole sessions on all three islands to gather public input, rather than have the proposal go through the normal subcommittee process.
While Golden said she didn’t know how much the consulting contract would cost, she did say it must go through the procurement process, including a request for proposals. She said the Senate would stipulate that the RFP be advertised for 10 days. The length of the contract could be 30 to 45 days, she said. "We only want to know if it is a good deal or not," she said.
Griffin, meanwhile, said Southern Energy understands the senators’ need to assess the proposed deal. But he added that the body should recognize that a multinational company like Southern "has to take into consideration the amount of people and resources that are tied up" the longer a decision is delayed.
"The proposal is what it is," Griffin said, "and we’re waiting for an up or down vote."
NO TIMETABLE FOR OUTSIDE STUDY OF WAPA DEAL
Charges that the Senate decision to hire a consultant to review the Turnbull administration's proposal to sell 80 percent of the Water and Power Authority to Southern Energy is a ploy to stall a decision until after the November elections are false, a senator who supports the sale said Wednesday.
Sen. Violet Anne Golden said the Senate’s vote Tuesday to contract an independent study of the deal that would give majority control of the utility to the Atlanta-based company for almost $400 million was a "prudent" move.
During the vote, Sen. Adelbert Bryan accused those supporting the study of being "cowards" for trying to delay the WAPA decision until after the fall elections. Golden, the only senator who has publicly announced her support of the deal, scoffed at Bryan’s statements.
"The allegation that it will take place after the elections is not true," she said. "We can’t wait until after the elections. We don’t have until November. For anyone to say we want to wait and we’re cowards is a sad commentary."
Golden said the majority bloc senators who voted for a consultant don’t claim to be experts in utility issues, and thus an expert, independent opinion is needed.
As "prudent public servants," she said, "we made a call I think was correct."
Golden wouldn’t speculate on how soon the study might be completed or when the Senate would vote on the matter. Southern Energy officials are hoping for a speedy turnaround.
"We don’t have a good sense of what the timetable is going to be," Southern spokesman Chuck Griffin said. "We hope the Legislature will deal with this situation in a prompt manner."
On Tuesday, Bryan made motions to require that the consulting contract be awarded by May 30 and that a vote on the sale take place by Aug. 15. Both motions were defeated.
Senate President Vargrave Richards didn’t return calls Wednesday regarding the consulting contract and the timeline for the Senate to vote on the deal. Richards said previously that he would call Committee of the Whole sessions on all three islands to get public input rather than have the proposal go through the normal subcommittee process.
While Golden said she didn’t know how much the consulting contract would cost, she did say it must go through the procurement process, including a request for proposals. She said the Senate would stipulate that the RFP be advertised for 10 days. The length of the contract could be 30 to 45 days, she said. "We only want to know if it is a good deal or not," she said.
Griffin, meanwhile, said Southern Energy understands the senators’ need to assess the proposed deal. But he added that the Senate should recognize that a multinational company like Southern "has to take into consideration the amount of people and resources that are tied up" the longer a decision is delayed.
"The proposal is what it is," Griffin said, "and we’re waiting for an up or down vote."
Sen. Violet Anne Golden said the Senate’s vote Tuesday to contract an independent study of the deal that would give majority control of the utility to the Atlanta-based company for almost $400 million was a "prudent" move.
During the vote, Sen. Adelbert Bryan accused those supporting the study of being "cowards" for trying to delay the WAPA decision until after the fall elections. Golden, the only senator who has publicly announced her support of the deal, scoffed at Bryan’s statements.
"The allegation that it will take place after the elections is not true," she said. "We can’t wait until after the elections. We don’t have until November. For anyone to say we want to wait and we’re cowards is a sad commentary."
Golden said the majority bloc senators who voted for a consultant don’t claim to be experts in utility issues, and thus an expert, independent opinion is needed.
As "prudent public servants," she said, "we made a call I think was correct."
Golden wouldn’t speculate on how soon the study might be completed or when the Senate would vote on the matter. Southern Energy officials are hoping for a speedy turnaround.
"We don’t have a good sense of what the timetable is going to be," Southern spokesman Chuck Griffin said. "We hope the Legislature will deal with this situation in a prompt manner."
On Tuesday, Bryan made motions to require that the consulting contract be awarded by May 30 and that a vote on the sale take place by Aug. 15. Both motions were defeated.
Senate President Vargrave Richards didn’t return calls Wednesday regarding the consulting contract and the timeline for the Senate to vote on the deal. Richards said previously that he would call Committee of the Whole sessions on all three islands to get public input rather than have the proposal go through the normal subcommittee process.
While Golden said she didn’t know how much the consulting contract would cost, she did say it must go through the procurement process, including a request for proposals. She said the Senate would stipulate that the RFP be advertised for 10 days. The length of the contract could be 30 to 45 days, she said. "We only want to know if it is a good deal or not," she said.
Griffin, meanwhile, said Southern Energy understands the senators’ need to assess the proposed deal. But he added that the Senate should recognize that a multinational company like Southern "has to take into consideration the amount of people and resources that are tied up" the longer a decision is delayed.
"The proposal is what it is," Griffin said, "and we’re waiting for an up or down vote."
NO TIMETABLE FOR OUTSIDE STUDY OF WAPA DEAL
Charges that the Senate decision to hire a consultant to review the Turnbull administration's proposal to sell 80 percent of the Water and Power Authority to Southern Energy is a ploy to stall a decision until after the November elections are false, a senator who supports the sale said Wednesday.
Sen. Violet Anne Golden said the Senate’s vote Tuesday to contract an independent study of the deal that would give majority control of the utility to the Atlanta-based company for almost $400 million was a "prudent" move.
During the vote, Sen. Adelbert Bryan accused those supporting the study of being "cowards" for trying to delay the WAPA decision until after the fall elections. Golden, the only senator who has publicly announced her support of the deal, scoffed at Bryan’s statements.
"The allegation that it will take place after the elections is not true," she said. "We can’t wait until after the elections. We don’t have until November. For anyone to say we want to wait and we’re cowards is a sad commentary."
Golden said the majority bloc senators who voted for a consultant don’t claim to be experts in utility issues, and thus an expert, independent opinion is needed.
As "prudent public servants," she said, "we made a call I think was correct."
Golden wouldn’t speculate on how soon the study might be completed or when the Senate would vote on the matter. Southern Energy officials are hoping for a speedy turnaround.
"We don’t have a good sense of what the timetable is going to be," Southern spokesman Chuck Griffin said. "We hope the Legislature will deal with this situation in a prompt manner."
In the Senate Tuesday, Bryan made motions to require that the consulting contract be awarded by May 30 and that a vote on the sale be held on Aug. 15. Both motions were defeated.
Senate President Vargrave Richards didn’t return calls on Wednesday regarding the consulting contract and the timeline for the Senate to vote on the deal. Richards had said previously that he would call Committee of the Whole sessions on all three islands to gather public input, rather than have the proposal go through the normal subcommittee process.
While Golden said she didn’t know how much the consulting contract would cost, she did say it must go through the procurement process, including a request for proposals. She said the Senate would stipulate that the RFP be advertised for 10 days. The length of the contract could be 30 to 45 days, she said. "We only want to know if it is a good deal or not," she said.
Griffin, meanwhile, said Southern Energy understands the senators’ need to assess the proposed deal. But he added that the body should recognize that a multinational company like Southern "has to take into consideration the amount of people and resources that are tied up" the longer a decision is delayed.
"The proposal is what it is," Griffin said, "and we’re waiting for an up or down vote."
Sen. Violet Anne Golden said the Senate’s vote Tuesday to contract an independent study of the deal that would give majority control of the utility to the Atlanta-based company for almost $400 million was a "prudent" move.
During the vote, Sen. Adelbert Bryan accused those supporting the study of being "cowards" for trying to delay the WAPA decision until after the fall elections. Golden, the only senator who has publicly announced her support of the deal, scoffed at Bryan’s statements.
"The allegation that it will take place after the elections is not true," she said. "We can’t wait until after the elections. We don’t have until November. For anyone to say we want to wait and we’re cowards is a sad commentary."
Golden said the majority bloc senators who voted for a consultant don’t claim to be experts in utility issues, and thus an expert, independent opinion is needed.
As "prudent public servants," she said, "we made a call I think was correct."
Golden wouldn’t speculate on how soon the study might be completed or when the Senate would vote on the matter. Southern Energy officials are hoping for a speedy turnaround.
"We don’t have a good sense of what the timetable is going to be," Southern spokesman Chuck Griffin said. "We hope the Legislature will deal with this situation in a prompt manner."
In the Senate Tuesday, Bryan made motions to require that the consulting contract be awarded by May 30 and that a vote on the sale be held on Aug. 15. Both motions were defeated.
Senate President Vargrave Richards didn’t return calls on Wednesday regarding the consulting contract and the timeline for the Senate to vote on the deal. Richards had said previously that he would call Committee of the Whole sessions on all three islands to gather public input, rather than have the proposal go through the normal subcommittee process.
While Golden said she didn’t know how much the consulting contract would cost, she did say it must go through the procurement process, including a request for proposals. She said the Senate would stipulate that the RFP be advertised for 10 days. The length of the contract could be 30 to 45 days, she said. "We only want to know if it is a good deal or not," she said.
Griffin, meanwhile, said Southern Energy understands the senators’ need to assess the proposed deal. But he added that the body should recognize that a multinational company like Southern "has to take into consideration the amount of people and resources that are tied up" the longer a decision is delayed.
"The proposal is what it is," Griffin said, "and we’re waiting for an up or down vote."
