Thousands of people moved in and out of Magens Bay in a steady, quiet stream without any apparent hitches all day Monday, Martin Luther King Day.
Bill Jowers, general manager of Magens Bay, called the organizing of the event "superb."
"Almost every security department has been involved: police, housing police, several security companies and even DPNR's Blue Lightning force," he said.
The other thing organizers did was to make sure that cars parked along the road were parked facing out, Jowers said. That expedited their exit.
Event organizer Bill Grogan said at mid-fternoon, "We got 'em in really well. Now let's hope we can get everyone out as well."
They did, and with many cleaning up after themselves on the way out.
Local Boy Scouts were on hand for the clean-up operation, picking up trash on the beach before the event ended.
Young people from the Civil Air Patrol were also on hand to assist with parking and traffic control.
What helped was the fact that the event went on all day, which invited people to come and go at a leisurely pace. And the times of performances were not announced beforehand. That was so people would not be expecting
anything at a particular time, according to one of the production staff members.
Ten shuttles ran up and down the Magens Bay road, giving beach goers a lift in and out.

Our streets are untidy. We allow unclean, mentally disturbed people to beg, threaten and annoy anyone in sight. No one seems to be in control.
Police sometimes ignore crimes. Government officials throw up their hands in frustration at an inability to make government work. Newspaper headlines
bombard their readers with revelations of an empty treasury, illegal payments, fraud and mismanagement.
Is this the Virgin Islands? No, this was
New York City before a control board was appointed by the federal government to assist New Yorkers in solving their problems.
The comparison is not that much different than our current situation in the Virgin Islands.
However, New York City has 9 million people in an area the size of St. Thomas; we have 100,000 people spread out over three major
islands.
Do we need the drastic measures that saved New York City from collapse? Can we make the tough decisions necessary to improve our shaky financial, social and attitudinal problems? Can our new governor's "grander
vision" take root under these dire conditions? Are we trying to grow new
plants in old soil — will they sprout only to wither from lack of fresh nutrients?
Never before in the modern political history of the Virgin Islands has such intense pressure been placed on our institutions, social framework and people.
Our problems are not only financial, but spiritual as well; we need to be led up the mountain, not just down the road.
Being a Democrat myself, it is hard for me to tout a Republican politician, but my hat is off to Mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York City, who has continued his city's climb from bankruptcy to prosperity with the skill of a great leader.
The crime rate of both nuisance and violence has dropped to levels below the 1960s. You
can walk the streets of the once-infamous Times Square with your children and not be assaulted by street people, prostitutes, drug dealers and visual decay.
This resurgence of New York City only occurred after a humiliating but visionary decision to let the federal government restore integrity into a collapsing infrastructure.
Our leaders must recognize that the people of the Virgin Islands are prepared for the worst, and are willing to sacrifice now for a brighter future. We came out in great numbers to support a "grander vision" and are
hungry for the details.
Band-Aids cannot cover the deep wound in our
economy, and God cannot be called upon to save us if we don't first do for ourselves what needs to be done. There is no time for a grace period. Get the right people and get the job done.
The momentum of the great upset must
be continued, for the people are energized.
Let the sins of the past be forgotten so the future can be realized. Let the grander vision begin.

Greetings from New Orleans!
I have just recently discovered this site, as a friend in Georgia informed me of its existence. I must say that I have thoroughly enjoyed the content of this "electronic" newspaper, and look forward to reading it regularly.
The cost of having the Daily News or the St. Croix Avis mailed to New Orleans is pretty expensive. So, this is a welcome alternative to print media.
One question I do have is this: I realize that your site is new and is "evolving" to provide the most concise content, but are there any plans to add news happenings from St. Croix? I think that content from St. Croix would be very well-received. I have many friends that live in the territory,
especially St. Croix. And as a future resident of the territory, I am keenly
interested in the welfare of the citizenry of the territory.
In closing, I would like to thank you and the web developers that brought this site to fruition. And if there is anything that I can do to provide assistance of any kind, please do not hesitate to call on me.
Mike McGill
Metairie, La.

Too bad Russia, during her days of communism and attempts to rule the world, did not know the moral commitment the United States has placed on its leaders. Would it not have been threatening if a Lewinsky type was used as a spy to dismantle a government? Don’t worry, China, Cuba and other so-called “enemies of the state,” to include Saddam, are listening and taking notes.
Is it a litmus test? You betcha! You see, University of California Regents versus Bakke was the beginning of the United States Supreme Court sustaining the litmus test using the so-called “white male” as example of ex and inclusion in social problems of our America. Bakke and white skin color became constitutional reasons to deny minorities rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution. Then, down went “Affirmative Action.”
How does this become a litmus test and how is Clinton and Lewinsky involved? Mrs.. Dole waits in the wings for a possible candidacy as president. What happens when she’s asked if she ever dated a black man, or, if she had premarital sex, or, if she has messed around on her husband, any of them if more than one? What happens to a General Colin Powell who is asked if he ever had sex with a subordinate soldier in his entire career, or, if he has had foreign women while serving overseas, or, if he has messed around on his wife?
Impeachment is an indictment concept of law saved for elected officials because of high crimes against the state? Possibly, President Clinton has committed sodomy. A crime, yes, but not a high crime against the state. Okay, then let the local prosecutor prosecute him. Can’t do that because no one complained officially. Lewinsky and Jones sought civil action in hopes of earning some money like any prostitute on the streets. Ken Starr and others became the complainant in this case and turned a possible sodomy violation into high crimes against the state. As a matter of fact, sodomy, only, is a low level crime in any state one can go to. And, it is impossible for sodomy to be a sexual act as sexual acts are for procreation alone; any other sexual contact, disguised as sex, is for pleasure alone; that’s the reason it is labeled sodomy.
Most of congress, to include the special prosecutor process, ought to be forced by citizens to take a laxative as that is one of the few instances where liquid runs from both ends with little or no resistance. We must not allow morality to become a litmus test in actuality wherein the qualifications clearly dictated in the United States Constitution does not require it. Look at the qualifications in the United States Constitution and you’ll find that the very court judges and justices have no qualifications. My opinion, qualifications would limit their ability to accept a lifetime appointment and force them to adhere to law, public pressure, morality, spirituality and the Lewinsky’s of the world.

Three nights of Caribbean Jazz culminated Sunday night at the Reichhold Center for the Arts with a crowd pleasing evening of piano and percussion from Omar Sosa and John Santos. The madness started Friday night with the Mario Canonge' Trio, followed on Saturday night by the Danilo Perez Trio and finishing up with a "bang" on Sunday night with Sosa and Santos.
You will find reviews of all three performances and more in the Music and Things to do sections of St. Thomas Source.

You guys are great. Back one day after two weeks in my other home, it's always depressing. But here you are, just as if I was still there. And your paper is for real! My heart is lighter…thank you. Good luck for both you and me.
Bob Dunn
New York City/St. Thomas
P.S. You've pushed Charles Schwab down to second on my AOL list of favorite places.

The more we think about that $383,000 surreptitiously shelled out to those 37 Schneider administration officials for unused leave, the more galled we get.
There are several reasons.
The way it was done was appalling. To circumvent routine procedures and process rush-rush fat checks for a favored few as they were exiting government -– assuming all have actually left -– is really bad form.
But the fact that it was done at all is what's really disgraceful. Approving those lump-sum leave payments may have been legal –- that remains to be seen -– but it was morally indefensible.
How could Gov. Roy L. Schneider -– who got the biggest payment, $24,460 –- justify cutting this check for himself when the hospital can't buy lifesaving supplies because vendors who haven't been paid are refusing to extend any more credit? How could he and the other 36 take lump-sum payments when the police can't afford gas for their vehicles to go out on routine patrols?
Of course, those are rhetorical questions, considering that Schneider only weeks earlier processed a 1997 tax-refund check for himself for $19,000 when thousands of people are still waiting for tax refunds dating back two to three years.
The man simply has no shame.

The lump-sum payments made to 37 members of the Schneider administration for unused leave are subject to both income and Social Security tax.
A source at the V.I. Internal Revenue Bureau declined Sunday to comment on the legality of the payments made during the so-called "midnight raid on the treasury." But she did say the payments clearly were taxable income on which the recipients would have to pay income tax.
Because of the manner in which the payments were made — using miscellaneous disbursement vouchers — the recipients also would have to pay both ends of Social Security, the employer's contribution as well as the employee's, or 15.3 percent of the total sum they received, she said.
The lump-sum payments were made for unused annual and other leave as Gov. Roy L. Schneider was leaving office.
Gov. Charles W. Turnbull said last week, in his release identifying the officials who got the $383,000 worth of payments and the individual amounts — that he had turned the matter over to the Inspector General's Office for investigation. He did not specify whether that was the local or federal inspector general.
Editor's note: See earlier news story for the list of recipients, and a related editorial under Commentary/Editorials.

Omar Sosa and John Santos are obviously two soul brothers. They might not look alike, but musically they are identical twins. Soul mates totally absorbed with each other and able to follow each nuance with ultimate precision.
Sosa began the evening banging the piano with his elbow and fingers. There was little finesse, lots of noise. Santo began with a plastic baby rattle and graduated to a child's clock, which made plastic noises. When the number was over, Santo explained his table of children's noisemakers — the piece was a prayer to the God of Kid-hood. Now it began to fall into place. These were serious musicians after all.
Once you got over the funky cloths and play-acting; you began to hear and appreciate the music. Half way through the concert, Santos explained his theory of Caribbean/ Latin influence on American Jazz coming out of New Orleans — the Port of New Orleans was, in essence, a Caribbean Port. New Orleans was a way station for African, Cuban, and all the variations found through Latin America and the Antilles.
Toward the end of the concert they did a piece of pure introspection. Sosa proved once and for all he actually did play piano, not just bang on it; and Santos did a bongo number which left my arms tingling. In summary, this duo who played music while cruising their partner's soul; gave us a fourth perspective on jazz — doing it with verve and flair.
Tomorrow BeachJam ‘99! What a week!

The V.I. government has failed to forward $5,300 in fees for local real estate appraisers to a federal regulatory agency, which has put appraisers' certifications in jeopardy. This, in turn, could jeopardize property buyers from getting mortgages.
Elissa Runyan, head of the V.I. Real Estate Appraisers Board, said the territorial government owes the Appraisal Subcommittee of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council the V.I. appraisers' $25 annual fees since 1994, the Daily News reported Monday.
Louis Penn, acting commissioner of Licensing and Consumer Affairs, the local agency that collects the fees, said the check to the Washington, D.C., agency is in the mail.
The council wrote then-Licensing Commissioner Osbert Potter on Dec. 7, saying failure to pay the bill by Dec. 31 would result in certifications being rescinded.
The government didn't pay. The council cut off the certifications.
Without certification, appraisers can't do their jobs, Runyan said. Without appraisals, banks cannot approve mortgages.
In the Dec. 7 letter, Subcommittee Chairman Herbert S. Yolles outlined five earlier attempts to get the fees.
Penn told the Daily News he didn't know why the government hadn't paid the fees, but said a check was sent express mail to Washington, D.C. on Thursday.
As of Friday, the check had not arrived, the Daily News reported.