Dear Students,
I am a member of the Charlotte Amalie Class of 1984 and a member of the U.S. Air Force stationed in Germany. I always make it a point to keep up with what is going on in the community and especially at CAHS.
I'm writing this letter to address the incident at the school on the 17th of February.
Frankly, I was angered and disgusted that such a thing could happen at MY school. I say my school because I and thousands of others before you have invested a lot of time, effort and hard work to make our school what it is today.
My contribution to this legacy was as a member of the Future Business Leaders of America, a member of the CAHS Marching Band, and a member of the varsity soccer and volleyball teams. And there are countless people who can make these or similar claims.
This school has produced educators, doctors, lawyers, governors, senators, members of Congress and professional sports players to name just a few.
These people are not only in the local community but all over this planet. And many of them can tell you that their success was due to the solid foundation that our school provided.
This school is rich in history and tradition and it pains me when something is done to tarnish its reputation.
You must realize when you put on that uniform, you are instantly recognized and anything you do will reflect on the school. No matter if you from Savan or "Ras Valley", once you put on that uniform, you now represent the Blue and Gold and you carry the weight of all those who have come before you on your back. This should be first and utmost in your mind.
To those who feel that they can't live up the challenge, should not be granted the privilege of wearing the uniform.
To those students of Charlotte Amalie High School who work hard every day to continue the tradition of our school, I salute you; and know that you are part of a special fraternity and you have years of tradition behind you.
I can tell from living abroad, the instant you meet a fellow Chicken Hawk an instant bond is formed like no other.
It's really something you will have to experience for yourself. I can say with confidence and a little bit of arrogance that CAHS is the best. And whenever anyone challenges that notion, I can say just look at our tradition and history.
Jason R. Bowry
Sgt. U.S. Air Force
Kaiserslautern, Germany

Despite some loose ends in testing gambling machines, the three-member Casino Control Commission Monday gave the Divi Carina Bay Resort and Casino the green light to start gambling.
Like much of St. Croix’s more-than-five-year odyssey for a casino, clearing the final hurdle – granting a certificate of operation – wasn’t pretty. With the casino’s ribbon-cutting set for Tuesday and the public grand opening Friday, it was hard to tell Monday afternoon what was the driving force behind the casino’s opening: the V.I. Casino Control Act or the already delayed opening.
Commission members and personnel were at the East End casino checking to see if proper procedures were being followed right up to their scheduled meeting Monday. That’s on top of almost nonstop work by the commission, slot machine testers, construction crews and casino managers.
But even with all the last-minute activity, commissioners learned during their meeting that critical tests of gaming machines had not been completed – a prerequisite for a certificate of operation.
According to Oliver David, the director of gaming enforcement, a problem in testing electronic gaming devices caused contractors to be delayed. David told commissioners that the problem would be resolved and testing finished by late Monday or early Tuesday. The official ribbon-cutting is set for 4 p.m.
"They (the contractors) don’t foresee the problem being solved later than (Monday) or tomorrow morning," David said.
Along with another issue – the installation of a lock for a roulette wheel before testing – commissioners Imelda Dizon, Lloyd McAlpin and Eileen Petersen voted to grant the certificate of operation pending the completion of testing and subsequent inspection by gaming enforcement officers.
"We have no doubt the licensee has no intentions of shortcutting the requirements," Dizon said.
Meanwhile, hiring at the casino resort has increased. According to McAlpin, between Oct. 27, 1999, and last Thursday, the resort-casino has hired 271 people, 212 of whom are bonafide residents, meaning people either born in the territory or who have lived in the islands for five years.
McAlpin said another 33 work-permit applications were submitted to the commission Monday afternoon.
The Casino Control Act mandates that at the end of its first year of operation, a casino-hotel must be staffed 65 percent by locals. The Divi Carina Bay is at 78 percent.
Grapetree Shores Inc. owns the Divi Carina Bay Resort and Casino. The company has leased the gambling operation to Treasure Bay V.I. Corp., a local affiliate of Treasure Bay Corp., which operates a large casino in Biloxi, Miss.
A good portion of the work done on the casino over the last several weeks is being done for the second time. Hurricane Lenny virtually destroyed the second floor of the casino in November and subsequently blew away a Dec. 15 opening.
The remodeled resort reopened on Nov. 3, a few weeks before Lenny struck the island. The resort, on Grapetree Bay on St. Croix’s southeast shore, had stood derelict since 1989's Hurricane Hugo.
The totally refurbished resort will be managed by a Divi Resorts affiliate. It features 126 oceanfront rooms in the main hotel and 20 one-bedroom suites in four hillside villas.
The two-story casino will have about 300 slot machines, 10 blackjack tables, two roulette tables and one craps table, a buffet, snack bar and gift shop. It will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 a.m seven days a week.

Gov. Charles W. Turnbull will report on his most recent trip to Washington in a news conference be held at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday in the second floor ballroom at Government House.
Turnbull will reportedly use the broadcast conference to discuss developments affecting the territory's fiscal health. While in Washington, Turnbull met with several congressional leaders and White House officials.
The Source has learned that the governor will also discuss the proposed sale of the V.I. Water and Power Authority. Turnbull has received the final draft of legislation that would affect the sale from his negotiating team
The governor's press conference is expected to be broadcast live by the territory's radio stations.

Tillett Gardens is about to become the home of another creative arts dimension with the signing of Pistarckle Theater as its newest tenant.
The not-for-profit community theater company, which most recently held performances in Coral World, will open its first production in the former Pennysaver Printing facility in the Tillett complex on March 30.
Pistarckle's premiere presentation in its new home will be "Power Plays," a comedy by Elaine May and Alan Arkin. Following the opening "pay-as-you-can" night, a "house warming" fund raiser will take place on March 31.
"After four decades of visual arts, two decades of concerts and 11 years of music competitions, it will be satisfying to see Tillett Gardens also become a center of community theater," gardens general manager Rhoda Tillett said. "I'm especially pleased that Pistarckle and Arts Alive will both be able to utilize this fine indoor performance center, and that we will also be making it available to other community groups."
Pistarckle is constructing a modular stage and installing lighting and will eventually put in a sound control room for the 3,500-square-foot facility. Depending on how the stage is configured, the air-conditioned theater should seat "around 125 persons," Tillett said, about the same as the Little Theater on the University of the Virgin Islands St. Thomas campus.
According to Pistarckle artistic/producing director Nicola Emerich, the company "has been looking for a permanent home for years, and this space is ideal in every aspect. It has high ceilings with wonderful acoustics and great views from all angles to the stage. It has a loading dock to a natural backstage area, so we will be able to crate and store any number of props and sets."
The space, adjacent to and extending out behind the Tillett Gallery, was where Jim Tillett and his assistants worked for many years silkscreening his artwork and original-design fabrics. In recent years, Pennysaver had operated its presses there, with offices above. Entry will be through the area most recently occupied by Languages Unlimited, which has relocated to another facility in the garden complex.
Rhoda Tillett explained that Arts Alive, the production company of the not-for-profit Tillett Foundation, will have access to the theatrical facility "when it is not scheduled for Pistarckle's productions and summer youth activities." Arts Alive produces annual arts and crafts festivals, classical and non-classical concert series, youth classical music competitions and other events in Tillett Gardens.
"And what's even more exciting," Tillett said, "the facility will be available for rental by other community groups as scheduling permits. I'm looking forward to such events as dance and music recitals, lectures, perhaps even film showings."
Emerich added, "It's a win-win situation for everybody — Pistarckle, theatergoers and Arts Alive."
The upcoming production, "Power Plays," is being directed by veteran Pistarckle member Trudy Tucker. The cast features Amy Huentelman, Greg Fowler, Dena Elliott Benson, Randall Doty and Tucker. Performances in addition to the pay-as-you-can night March 30 and the fund raiser March 31 are on April 1, 7, 8 and 9. Curtain time is 8 p.m., with the "house warming" party starting at 6:30.
The musical revue that had earlier been announced by Pistarckle for March, "Swinging on a Star," has been rescheduled for November of this year.
Tickets for "Power Plays" are $22 except for the fund raiser party, for which pricing will be announced. Outlets are Polli's Mexican Restaurant in Tillett Gardens, East End Secretarial Services and Marina Market in Red Hook, and West Indies Coffee Co. and Bumpa's in downtown Charlotte Amalie. For charge-card purchases, call 775-7877. For information on renting the facility, call that number or the Arts Alive office, 775-1929.

The official in charge of investigating the December fire at Wharfside Village still doesn't have the definitive answer to what caused the blaze, but he says upgrading the shopping center's alarm system could prevent possible future problems.
Fire marshal Glen Francis said he's still awaiting the results of forensic tests that were sent off-island for analysis, but both he and a private investigator believe the Dec. 28 fire was caused by a faulty electric fan. And, in theory at least, it could happen again.
Although Wharfside is not a high-hazard structure by V.I. Fire Services standards, Francis said, some areas within it contain potential fire hazards — compressed air tanks in a dive shop, propane tanks, grease and liquor stocks in restaurants. "The freon in the cold storage system helped escalate the fire" in December, he said. "The floors were wood, which is highly combustible."
The fire destroyed the second-floor office of Pusser's Restaurant and caused heavy smoke and water damage to the Pusser's Company Store and a common hallway used to access the restrooms and a loft. Two people who had been living in the loft escaped through a window. Two and a half months later, vestiges of the blaze — windows and doorways etched by smoke — are still visible to passers-by.
It was the second major fire at the Cruz Bay beachfront shopping complex, which opened in the late 1980s. In the first, in July 1992, flames and smoke destroyed part of the Wendy's fast food restaurant that was located there. It never reopened.
The Virgin Islands adopted a beefed-up Uniform Building Code in 1995, in the aftermath of Hurricane Marilyn. Under the code, Francis said, any business that sustains damage to more than 50 percent of its structure as a result of fire is required to install hard-wired alarm systems backed up by smoke detectors. He noted that while the code doesn't apply to buildings constructed before 1995, such precautions can be adopted voluntarily.
Places of business in which highly flammable materials are present "need to consider the automatic alarm system," Francis said. "They should have one that's monitored on a 24-hour basis and monitored by a fire alarm company." Even better, he said, would be "to have a sprinkler system in there."
Wharfside managing partner Paul Sabers could not be reached for comment on fire precautions in the complex. A man in the shopping center office said he was off-island.
Francis noted that it's not within the jurisdiction of Fire Services to say whether the shopping center management should be permitting people to live on the premises. But if they do, he said, fire safety measures should be taken.
"That has to be the owner's concern," he said. He termed the Dec. 28 fire "a perfect example of what would happen if you had a situation like that occur and there were no smoke detectors in the living area. Those two people almost lost their lives."

A meeting between teachers at Charlotte Amalie High School and Education Commissioner Ruby Simmonds Monday morning resulted in six students being asked to stay home and teachers going back to their classrooms.
Simmonds made the decision to ask the parents of the students involved in violence on the campus in February to keep the children home after hearing the details of the February fracas and past disciplinary problems with the six CAHS students. She said school work would be sent home to the students.
Simmonds' action is temporary pending an expected appeal by teachers to the Board of Education to expel the students.
Arthur Solomon, spokesperson for the teachers said, "The teachers, faculty and staff are rewording the appeal to the Board of Education and will have it to them before the day is out and hope the board is on the fast track."
Simmonds told the teachers and staff her previous decision to allow the students to return to school might have been different if problems with the students had been better documented, and if she had realized how serious the Feb. 17 outbreak of violence had been.
The February incident resulted in two students being treated for stab wounds. There have also been reports of a gun being brandished.
Teachers reportedly challenged the administration on Monday to enforce the code of "zero tolerance," which is part of the disciplinary code established by the Education Department.
Solomon said the meeting was productive and "everybody came out looking good."
Simmonds could not be reached late Monday morning for details on the appeal process.

Harbour Night will be from 7 p.m. to midnight on Wednesday, March 15, in downtown Frederiksted.
Entertainment, food, arts, and crafts will be showcased for the cruise ship Carnival Destiny and locals.
The cultural production "Crucian Fruits" will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Frederiksted Fort.
All interested vendors or persons contact the harbour Night office at 772-1624.

Harbour Night will be held from 7 p.m. to midnight on Wednesday, march 15, in downtown Frederiksted.
Entertainment, food, arts, and crafts will be showcased for the cruise ship Carnival Destiny and locals.
The Harbour Night Cultural production "Crucian Fruits" will also take place from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Frederiksted Fort.
All interested venders or persons please contact the Harbour Night office at 772-1624.

AARP and VI Advocacy Inc will sponsor an Elder Law Advocacy Training workshop from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday, March 20, and Tuesday, March 21, at the Cormorant Beach Hotel.
The training will cover Social Security Disability and Retirement matters Guardianship issues, and the mental and Physical Effects of Aging.
Registration fee is $15 and is limited to a first come first served basis.
Call 772-1200 for more information.

A seminar on Nutrition in Sickle Cell Disease and Living Well with Sickle Cell Disease will be held from 1:30 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 23, at Gertrude's Restaurant in Estate Casstle Coakley.
Ms. Lecia Ritter, a native Virgin islander will be the presenter.
There is no cost to attend. To register call 773-1311, ext. 3199.