About $400 million left the territory Sunday, but it wasn't a government fiscal error. It was in the form of mega-yachts returning to the shores of France for the summer season.
Two superservers, the seagoing monoliths that transport the yachts, were docked Sunday in Crown Bay, a first, according to ship's agent Ken Huskey, owner of Deliver It Inc.
There was hardly anything left to see of the St. Thomas side of Crown Bay with the two servers docked on either side of the marina. The larger of the two, Super Server #Three, took aboard 17 yachts, each averaging about 130 feet in length.
The cargo included the Indigo Star, which almost sank in St. Thomas harbor two weeks ago, and Blowsy, which has been docked on the waterfront alongside Ultima III, the Revlon Co. yacht.
The monster-sized servers make about 10 or 11 transoceanic trips a year, according to Huskey.
"We have five departures and arrivals in the spring, and again in the fall," Huskey said. He expects all that money to come back into the Virgin Islands around late October for the 2000-01 winter season.
Super Server #Four will be loading Monday at the cruise ship dock in Crown Bay with slightly smaller vessels.

A failed break-in attempt at Magens Point Hotel led to a carjacking Saturday night. Cecil Freeman, 34, of Estate Wintberg was later picked up in Estate Mafolie and charged with assault, according to media reports.
Freeman allegedly attempted to enter a hotel room at Magens Point. The occupants notified hotel security. When the guard showed up, Freeman pulled out a gun and threatened to kill the guard.
Freeman fled to the main parking lot, pointed the gun at a taxi driver who was dropping guests off, and left with the taxi.
Freeman was arrested at 11:30 p.m. in Mafolie where he was discharging gunshots into the air.

Gov. Charles W. Turnbull will report on his most recent trip to Washington in a news conference scheduled for Tuesday.
Turnbull will reportedly use the conference to dicuss developments affecting the fiscal health of the territory. 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. The final draft of legislation that would effect the sale has been received from members of Turnbull's negotiating team.
The governor's press conference is expected to be broadcast live across the territory's radio stations.

Gov. Charles W. Turnbull will report on his most recent trip to Washington in a press conference scheduled for Tuesday.
Turnbull will reportedly use the meeting with media representatives, to be broadcast live by local radio stations, to expand on developments that have occurred regarding the fiscal health of the territory.
While in Washington, the governor met with several congressional leaders and White House officials.
The Source has learned that the governor will also discuss the proposed sale of the Water And Power Authority. The final draft of legislation that would effect the sale has been received from members of Turnbull's negotiating team.

A total of 3,536 lengths, or 85 miles, was swum by 142 swimmers Saturday at Magens Bay in the St. Thomas Swimming Association Inc.'s 13th annual Snapple Swim-O-Thon. At 50 meters a length, that's a lot of water crossed.
Kathy Huttel, the association's executive director, said she was pleased with the turnout, which lasted past 4 p.m. The crowd was treated to pizzas, prizes, music and raffles.
Dr. Kevin Lenahan won the top place in the men's division and overall, completing 62 lengths in the one hour allotted time. Second place was taken by 14-year old Ishaka Jacobs, and third place was a tie between Pete Farmer and Dave Waller, both adult walk-in swimmers. Walk-ins join on the day of the meet.
Huttle's two daughters took first and second place in the women's competition. Lauren was first with 58 lengths, and Margo took second with 56 lengths. Jasmin Black took third place with 50 lengths. All are in their teens.
The Huttel girls are members of the swimming association's Sting Rays, and Black is a former member of the team. Huttle said Lauren was "disappointed in this year's score –last year she did 68 lengths." Asked what happened, Huttel explained, "volleyball."
Visitors from five cruise ships were also at the beach Saturday, and Huttel noted that some of the more adventuresome ones joined in.
"We had several tourists," said Huttel, "including one from London who was very impressed." She said he remarked, "There's no way you can do this in London." It would seem the Thames wouldn't lend itself to this sort of activity.
Huttle said they raised at least $20,000 toward the association's goal for completing its community pool, a project that has been in the works for 12 years.
"But, that's not an accurate dollar figure," Huttle said. The pledges that sponsors made for individuals and teams still are not counted.
Top children's teams were:
– Devil Rays – average 27 lengths
– Reef Rangers – average 22 lengths
– MSI Mullets – average 19 lengths.
Business teams:
– Knight Quality Stations – average 37 lengths
– First VI Federal Savings Bank – average 25 lengths
– U.S. Attorneys – average 24 lengths.
These figures don't include the association's Sting Rays, which Huttel leaves out of the running.
Huttle said a length would be when you stand on Magens shore and look out to the buoy, which may not look very long but "believe, me, it's longer than it looks."

Nostalgia, undeniably, is what the next St. John School of the Arts performance, a cabaret show by vocalist Mary Cleere Haran and her accompanist, Richard Rodney Bennett, in the West Resort ballroom, is all about. But it's also about sitting back, settling in and savoring the personable stylings and polished delivery of song melodies and lyrics that have proven staying power.
So don't get the idea that "Isn't It Romantic?" is aimed at senior citizens just because it's a showcase of the music of the 1920s, '30s and '40s.
In fact, Haran and her pianist-collaborator, Bennett, have crafted a show with appeal that cuts across generational lines, interspersing songs with carefully researched background material about the composers' lives and times and witty chit-chat to tie it all together. The songs encompass not only the hits but also some of the lesser-known output of the icons of the Golden Era of Song — George and Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, Rogers and Hart, Johnny Mercer and more.
What Haran and Bennett provide, according to The New Yorker critic Whitney Balliett, is "a masterful evening in which the emotions of an earlier era are respectfully maintained while being informed and enriched by a wry, intelligent modernity."
Vanity Fair's Wilfred Sheed wrote that Haran "sings the songs of the era as if they'd just been written this afternoon. . . No one can get more good, unsentimental juice out of a love song than she can, or turn the mood around more sharply and charmingly with a wisecrack or a funny story."
The show the duo is bringing to the Virgin Islands draws on two supper club acts they presented last fall and the year before in the Oak Room at New York's venerable Algonquin Hotel — home in that very Golden Era to the famed Round Table gatherings of the creme of the literary and arts scene. Haran, in fact, made her mark at the Oak Room in 1993 with her one- woman show "You Might As Well Live," a highlight of the hotel's centennial celebration of Dorothy Parker.
In the fall of 1998, Haran and Bennett brought "The Memory of All That," a revue of George Gershwin music, to the Algonquin to mark another centennial, that of the composer's birth. Last fall, they were back with "Crazy Rhythm: Manhattan in the '20s," a showcase of songs from the ragtime and charleston age. Both shows drew raves from the New York critics. "Isn't It Romantic" promises to be a blend of songs from those two acts and more.
Haran started out doing theater with a boyfriend in San Francisco's Haight area in the early '70s. "I wasn't a real hippie," she recalls. "I was more into revival movies and Bette Midler and vintage clothing." She has since appeared in musicals on Broadway, Off-Broadway and on the West Coast, but is best known as a supper-club chanteuse in New York specializing in songs of earlier eras. She's also an accomplished music historian, having worked on PBS documentaries on the lives of Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Doris Day, Rodgers and Hammerstein and child film stars.
Her CD albums, all well received, pretty much tell it all: "There's A Small Hotel: Live at the Algonquin," "This Heart of Mine: Classic Movie Songs of the '40s," "This Funny World: Mary Cleere Haran Sings Lyrics by Hart," "Pennies From Heaven: Great Songs of the Depression," and "The Memory of All That: The Songs of George Gershwin." And can "Crazy Rhythm: Manhattan in the '20s" be far behind? And "Isn't It Romantic? [subtitle to come]" after that?
The British-born Bennett, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1998 for his service to music, is a prodigious composer of classical orchestral and choral works but is equally at home in the world of American popular song. His film soundtrack credits include "Murder on the Orient Express, "Far From the Madding Crowd," "Enchanted April" and "Four Weddings and a Funeral." He's the kind of singer-pianist that writers throw such adjectives as "sophisticated" and "stylish" at with abandon, whether he's performing solo or accompanying a chanteuse — which he has been doing since he backed Cleo Laine a quarter-century ago.
Bennett assisted another "sir," Paul McCartney, on the former Beatle's symphonic work "Standing Stone" that had its premiere at Carnegie Hall in 1997. This will be Bennett's second performance on the Tillett Gardens stage. He appeared in a Classics in the Garden concert five years ago as accompanist to featured oboist Gerard Reuter.
The St. John School of the Arts performance in the Westin ballroom begins at 8 p.m. on Thursday, March 16. Tickets are $25 general admission and $10 for students. The ballroom is being transformed into a cabaret for the occasion, with seating at small tables, decor by Today's Flowers, and special lighting and sound by Presentation Services and the Westin. Tickets are available in advance at Connections. For information (but not tickets), call 779-4322 or 776-6777.

Nostalgia, undeniably, is what the next Tillett Garden Series performance, a cabaret show on Wednesday, March 15, by vocalist Mary Cleere Haran and her accompanist, Richard Rodney Bennett, is all about. But it's also about sitting back, settling in and savoring the personable stylings and polished delivery of song melodies and lyrics that have proven staying power.
So don't get the idea that "Isn't It Romantic?" is aimed at senior citizens just because it's a showcase of the music of the 1920s, '30s and '40s.
In fact, Haran and her pianist-collaborator, Bennett, have crafted a show with appeal that cuts across generational lines, interspersing songs with carefully researched background material about the composers' lives and times and witty chit-chat to tie it all together. The songs encompass not only the hits but also some of the lesser-known output of the icons of the Golden Era of Song — George and Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, Rogers and Hart, Johnny Mercer and more.
What Haran and Bennett provide, according to The New Yorker critic Whitney Balliett, is "a masterful evening in which the emotions of an earlier era are respectfully maintained while being informed and enriched by a wry, intelligent modernity."
Vanity Fair's Wilfred Sheed wrote that Haran "sings the songs of the era as if they'd just been written this afternoon. . . No one can get more good, unsentimental juice out of a love song than she can, or turn the mood around more sharply and charmingly with a wisecrack or a funny story."
The show the duo is bringing to the Virgin Islands draws on two supper club acts they presented last fall and the year before in the Oak Room at New York's venerable Algonquin Hotel — home in that very Golden Era to the famed Round Table gatherings of the creme of the literary and arts scene. Haran, in fact, made her mark at the Oak Room in 1993 with her one- woman show "You Might As Well Live," a highlight of the hotel's centennial celebration of Dorothy Parker.
In the fall of 1998, Haran and Bennett brought "The Memory of All That," a revue of George Gershwin music, to the Algonquin to mark another centennial, that of the composer's birth. Last fall, they were back with "Crazy Rhythm: Manhattan in the '20s," a showcase of songs from the ragtime and charleston age. Both shows drew raves from the New York critics. "Isn't It Romantic" promises to be a blend of songs from those two acts and more.
Haran started out doing theater with a boyfriend in San Francisco's Haight area in the early '70s. "I wasn't a real hippie," she recalls. "I was more into revival movies and Bette Midler and vintage clothing." She has since appeared in musicals on Broadway, Off-Broadway and on the West Coast, but is best known as a supper-club chanteuse in New York specializing in songs of earlier eras. She's also an accomplished music historian, having worked on PBS documentaries on the lives of Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Doris Day, Rodgers and Hammerstein and child film stars.
Her CD albums, all well received, pretty much tell it all: "There's A Small Hotel: Live at the Algonquin," "This Heart of Mine: Classic Movie Songs of the '40s," "This Funny World: Mary Cleere Haran Sings Lyrics by Hart," "Pennies From Heaven: Great Songs of the Depression," and "The Memory of All That: The Songs of George Gershwin." And can "Crazy Rhythm: Manhattan in the '20s" be far behind? And "Isn't It Romantic? [subtitle to come]" after that?
The British-born Bennett, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1998 for his service to music, is a prodigious composer of classical orchestral and choral works but is equally at home in the world of American popular song. His film soundtrack credits include "Murder on the Orient Express, "Far From the Madding Crowd," "Enchanted April" and "Four Weddings and a Funeral." He's the kind of singer-pianist that writers throw such adjectives as "sophisticated" and "stylish" at with abandon, whether he's performing solo or accompanying a chanteuse — which he has been doing since he backed Cleo Laine a quarter-century ago.
Bennett assisted another "sir," Paul McCartney, on the former Beatle's symphonic work "Standing Stone" that had its premiere at Carnegie Hall in 1997. This will be Bennett's second performance on the Tillett Gardens stage. He appeared in a Classics in the Garden concert five years ago as accompanist to featured oboist Gerard Reuter.
The Tillett Gardens program begins at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, March 15. Tickets are $25. A three-course pre-performance dinner with concert seating is $30 additional, excluding bar service and tip. Limited cabaret seating at small tables is available on a first-come basis to concert- only patrons. Reservations are required for dinner and recommended (seating is numbered) for the concert only. To reserve, call 775-1929, fax to 775-9482 or e-mail to tillett@islands.vi. For more information about events in the arts complex, click on www.tillettgardens.com.

Education Commissioner Ruby Simmonds is expected to explain in an early morning meeting Monday why she is allowing five students who were part of a fracas on the campus in February to return to school, even though teachers last week staged a walkout over their return.
A press release Friday said CAHS students are to report to school one hour late Monday to allow for a meeting between Simmonds and school personnel. It gave no information on Simmonds' decision or the reasons behind it.
CAHS teachers walked out of class Thursday to protest the return of six students involved in the February incident where weapons were brandished and two students were stabbed.
One teacher told the Source that when the alleged troublemakers returned to campus Thursday, they were "giving everybody the 'high five' like some sort of conquering heroes."
"They're cocky as hell and don't belong here," said the teacher, who asked not to be named.
Deputy Superintendent William Frett had made the original decision to allow six of nine students involved in the fracas to return.
When the teachers found out about the decision, they staged a job action and classes had to be canceled Thursday.
Frett asked the six students to stay home Friday and teachers lodged a formal request with the superintendent's office asking that the remaining students not be allowed to return.
Media reports Saturday said Simmonds sent a letter to the teachers saying she was going to allow five of the six students to return to school Monday.

The Senate Health Committee voted Friday, once again, to table legislation that would have brought all professional mental health professionals under the control of a single licensing board.
Speakers from both the National Association of Social Workers and the Association of V.I. Psychologists were opposed to being regulated along with family, school, rehabilitation and addiction counselors.
The representatives told the committee that their educational and training standards far exceed the requirements for other counselor groups, said noted that psychologists and social workers are already regulated by a licensing board.
Another concern was that merging the entities under one licensing board would not be cost-effective.
Patricia Rhymer Todman, a UVI professor of psychology, testified against the proposal, as did Dr. Rita Dudley-Grant of the Association of V.I. Psychologists, Kimberly Causey-Gomez, president of the National Association of Social Workers, and Jane Chrisitansen, who heads the Social Work Licensure Board.
The sponsor of the bill, Sen. Lorraine Berry, admitted that "the legislature has become the center of a turf war with both sides." She moved to hold the legislation in committee "until a compromise bill pleasing to both sides" can be drafted.

The Senate Health Committee voted Friday, once again, to table legislation that would have brought all mental health professionals under the control of a single licensing board.
Appearing before the committee, testifiers from both the National Association of Social Workers and the Association of V.I. Psychologists opposed being regulated along with family, school, rehabilitation and addiction counselors.
The representatives told the committee that their educational and training standards far exceed the requirements for other counselor groups. Additionally, psychologists and social workers are already regulated by a licensing board.
Another concern was that merging the entities under one licensing board would not be cost-effective.
Testifying against the proposal were UVI Professor of Psychology Patricia Rhymer Todman, Dr. Rita Dudley-Grant of the Association of V.I. Psychologists, Kimberly Causey-Gomez, president of the National Association of Social Workers, and Jane Christiansen, chairperson of the Social Work Licensure Board.
Sen. Lorraine Berry, the bill's sponsor, said the Legislature "has become at the center of a turf war with both sides."
She moved to hold the legislation in committee "until a compromise bill pleasing to both sides" can be drafted.