Cancryn Wastewater Pump Fails
Community Stewardship Project Completed at Historic Estate Grove Baobab Tree
No-Parking at Crown Bay Cargo Port Access Road Beginning June 1
Coral Rising: Land and Sea Pathways Youth Summer Program
Memorial Day Ceremony Honors Fallen Service Members on St. Croix
Veterans, elected officials, active-duty service members, and community members gathered Monday at Verne I. Richards Veterans Memorial Park on St. Croix to honor fallen military heroes during a solemn Memorial Day ceremony hosted by the American Legion Bromley Berkley Post 133.
The ceremony paid tribute to the men and women who gave their lives in service to the United States, while also recognizing the deep military legacy of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“Today, we gather not merely to celebrate freedom, but to remember those who gave their lives defending it,” guest speaker Major Arthur R. Burton of the Virgin Islands Air National Guard told attendees. “Memorial Day is not just another holiday. It is more than cookouts, parades, or a long weekend. Memorial Day is our most sincere act of remembrance.”
The event opened with remarks from post leadership, who welcomed veterans, Gold Star families, government officials and members of the community.
“Today we gather not in celebration, but in solemn remembrance,” organizers said during the opening remarks. “Memorial Day is a sacred pause in the life of our nation, the moment when we turn our hearts toward the men and women who laid down their lives in service to the United States of America.”
A proclamation from Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. was read by Command Chief Master Sgt. Neville Lee, officially proclaiming Monday, May 25, 2026, as Memorial Day in the Virgin Islands.
The proclamation reflected on the sacrifices of deceased service members and recognized the territory’s long-standing tradition of military service.
“By paying homage to the proud soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen members who have given their full measure of devotion for our great nation, we renew our commitment to upholding the ideals they fought and died to preserve,” the proclamation stated.
American Legion District 10 Commander Secundino Roman Cruz reminded attendees that Memorial Day represents far more than the unofficial start of summer.
“Today is not just a three-day weekend,” Cruz said. “We are here to remember the men and women who stood in the gap between freedom and tyranny, who served, who answered the call of duty, and who gave what President Abraham Lincoln called the last full measure of devotion.”
Cruz also addressed Gold Star families directly, acknowledging the lifelong grief carried by families of fallen service members.
“While the nation grieves our fallen on this specific day, we know that you carry the weight of their absence every single day,” he said.
Burton’s keynote address highlighted the military creeds of each branch of service, connecting them to the sacrifices made by fallen troops.
“These creeds are not simply traditions,” Burton said. “They are declarations of service, declarations of loyalty, declarations of sacrifice, and declarations of love.”
He also reflected on the Virgin Islands’ contributions to the armed forces.
“We remember the Virgin Islander who left these shores in service to this nation and never returned,” Burton said. “Because of them, we are free to gather here today. Because of them, our flag still flies.”
Delegate to Congress Stacey E. Plaskett spoke about the territory’s military service record and ongoing efforts to advocate for veterans and military families in Washington.
“Our islands may be small in size, but they are immense in their contributions to the United States military,” Plaskett said. “There are few places in the United States with higher per capita rates of military service than the United States Virgin Islands.”
She noted that Virgin Islanders have served in every major conflict involving the United States, even before residents were granted full citizenship.
Plaskett also highlighted legislation and federal initiatives aimed at improving health care access, housing assistance and employment opportunities for veterans, including support for TRICARE Prime access and tax incentives for businesses hiring veterans and reservists.
“Too often the sacrifices of territorial veterans go unseen,” she said. “Too often our islands are an afterthought in the national conversation. We must honor those who have fallen by how we honor this day and how we treat those in service now.”
Representing the Bryan administration, St. Croix Administrator Sammuel Sanes encouraged residents to continue honoring fallen service members.
“This should be filled to capacity,” Sanes said, referring to the crowd gathered at the park. “This is the day we remember those individuals who gave us this opportunity to stand, to talk, to express our views.”
Following the remarks, organizers proceeded with a roll call honoring deceased veterans from May 2025 to May 2026, followed by the placing of wreaths, rifle salute and the placing of roses in the ocean. Those names were John A. Fought, Lionel A. Andreas, Marjorie Ann Drummond, Robert P. Yearwood, Courtney W. Woods, Bernard Christian, Selassie A. Newton, Raul A. Garcia, Christian Olaf Christensen, James A. Maynard, Gordon M. Haynes, John C. DeGrasse, Alric M. Battiste, Richard A. Schrader, John A. Bell, and Andres Avila-Esperanza.
Officials, Families Gather for Memorial Day Ceremony on St. Thomas
The Virgin Islands Office of Veterans Affairs, in collaboration with the American Legion, held a Memorial Day ceremony Monday on St. Thomas honoring service members from the U.S. Virgin Islands who died in military service.
Gov. Albert Bryan Jr., Senate President Milton Potter, other officials, veterans, families and community members attended the event. The program included remarks, a roll call of deceased veterans from St. Thomas and St. John, wreath-laying and the release of 100 birds by relatives of the fallen and government officials.
Speakers throughout the ceremony focused on military sacrifice, civic participation and remembrance. Potter said Memorial Day served as a reminder that the freedoms Americans exercise today were secured through military service and sacrifice.
“There’s a silence that settles over a cemetery on Memorial Day that you really cannot find anywhere else. It’s not the silence of emptiness, it’s the silence of weight,” he said. “The accumulated weight of every life laid down, and every family that watched their loved one go and waited for a return that never came.”
He said those freedoms carry a cost that should shape how they are used.
“Every freedom we exercise — to speak, to worship, to vote, to assemble right here in this public space — was bought at a price that we did not pay,” Potter said. He added that the cost of that sacrifice is carried by families. “To those families here today, we do not only honor those whose names are carved in stone, we honor you,” he said.
He said gratitude for the fallen must translate into action. “The least we owe to those freedoms is to use them with intention: to build something, to lift someone, to refuse the easy cynicism that says none of this matters,” Potter said. “It matters. They matter.”
Bryan framed the Memorial Day ceremony as a reminder that the country’s current stability and systems were shaped through generations of service and sacrifice. He said many of the conditions Americans live with today, including peace at home and access to public services, should not be taken for granted.
“Every single thing that we enjoy in this country today — this peace, this calm — is not to be taken for granted,” Bryan said. “It’s not something that everybody has.”
He connected that idea to civic responsibility, particularly voting. “The most powerful right that we should be grateful for is the right to exercise our vote that decides who leads us, who represents us,” Bryan said. “They died for that.”
“The greatest way we recognize and honor them is not only today, but every single day we wake up in a country where we are free to determine our destiny because of them,” Bryan said.
“We are here today to pay tribute to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice,” said American Legion Cmdr. Hillis Benjamin. “They left behind families, friends, dreams and futures so that we could continue to enjoy the liberties we often take for granted.”
After the speeches, organizers read a roll call of veterans from St. Thomas and St. John who died between May 2025 and May 2026. Wreaths were placed in the cemetery, and family members and government officials were invited to participate in the ceremonial release of birds.
“May we always remember those who answered the call and never returned home,” Benjamin said. “Their watch has ended. Ours continues.”
Memorial Day in Cruz Bay Brings Lessons, Declarations and Doves
Members of American Legion Post 131 on St. John gathered with public officials and supporters to honor members of the armed forces who lost their lives in service to the nation. Memorial Day in Franklin Powell Sr. Park provided the setting for a brief but memorable ceremony.
The part most passersby, taxi drivers and customers in a parkside restaurant will likely remember was the rifle shots fired after the reading of the roll of veterans from St. Thomas-St. John, who died since the last observance. Legionnaire Frank Powell Jr. called off 38 names, followed by the rifle salute.
But Sen. Avery Lewis, a scheduled speaker, shared a comment made to him by a member of the public. ”Earlier this morning, someone approached two senators and made a great observation that the flag on Memorial Day should be flown at half-staff until Noon, and then they should be raised to full mast,” Lewis said, “I wanted to say that I loved and appreciated that because sometimes it’s the little simple things that we forget.”
There was also the release of doves at the ceremony’s end by lawmakers Lewis and Angel Bolques, St. John Administrator Shakima Jones-Sprauve, Nellie Varlack representing Delegate to Congress Stacey Plaskett, and members of the American Legion Auxiliary. Photographers snapped as the group flung newfound feathered friends into the air.
But perhaps the most memorable remarks came as the event wrapped up when members of Post 131 spoke to the Source about what Memorial Day meant to them.
“A lot of remembrance of my friends; I went to a military school and I saw one of them die. They didn’t send me to Vietnam — I went to Germany instead … I owe a lot to my friends and Post 131,” said Army Corps of Engineers veteran Jerry Runyon.
Marine veteran Aubrey Sewer said Memorial Day was a reminder, “that we are proud to live in America and proud to have served in the armed forces.”
Navy vet Alvis Christian said the day reminded him, “of a lot of brothers who died and went for our freedom.” In November 2023, Christian testified before the Legislature on behalf of Kendall Emanuel George, a childhood friend from Coral Bay who was killed in Vietnam.
“Memorial Day is when we honor those veterans who paid the ultimate sacrifice; who didn’t make it back home, and so we give God thanks for their souls and hope that one day no one will go back to fight wars again,” said Post 131 Commander Harry Daniel, a retired Army Master Sergeant.
Frank Powell Jr. — better known by his nickname, Jimmy — Memorial Day was a time to reconnect with fellow vets. “Visiting the passed service members and meeting with the others — the veterans and the Legionnaires,” he said, adding he looked forward to a trip with his wife to Kentucky to meet more vets stateside.
Powell served two years in the United States Army.
And Edmund Roberts, a six-year Army vet who helped train recruits for Vietnam, shed a tear for his fellow Virgin Islanders whose names made this year’s roll of the honored dead.
“They passed away,” he said. A tourist walking past the park stopped and thanked him for his service.
Financing, Procurement Progress Pushes Residences at 340 North Closer to Construction
Momentum continues building behind a planned 80-unit housing development overlooking Magens Bay, where developers say months of financing work, federal approvals, environmental reviews, and planning efforts are beginning to give way to the next major push: permits, procurement, and eventually breaking ground.
The Residences at 340 North in Estate St. Joseph and Rosendahl, is aimed at expanding homeownership opportunities on St. Thomas and is now entering a new phase as developers report progress through financing, environmental review, and procurement milestones, according to
When the Source first reported on the project in March 2025, plans called for 64 townhomes and 16 detached single-family homes across approximately 11 acres overlooking Magens Bay. Led by St. Thomas-based A.C. Development, the development team includes St. Thomas native and civil engineer Ajani Corneiro, Director of Communicaions and Brand Strategy Kadeem Huggins, Director of Operations Lindeon Davis, and Jorrell Fredericks, Director of Strategic Initiatives and Brand Management. Designed primarily around middle-income and first-time homebuyers, developers have previously described the effort as a project “by Virgin Islanders, for Virgin Islanders.”
Since then, Corneiro said on a recent call with the Source that the team has spent months navigating financing approvals, federal compliance requirements, environmental studies, and permitting reviews — a process they describe as extensive but necessary to move the project toward construction.
Through work with the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority and Community Development Block Grant funding requirements, the development has completed its environmental review period, cleared HUD public comment requirements, and secured approval allowing grant funding to continue advancing through the federal process, though developers said compliance requirements remain before funds are ultimately released. Confirmed is also approximately $7.5 million in grant funding will support the project’s first 22 affordable units. Those units will carry income qualifications and affordability requirements tied to federal housing guidelines, Corneiro said.
The financing and compliance side has also required substantial preparation behind the scenes. Corneiro credited Housing Finance Authority staff with helping guide developers through technical assistance, procurement requirements, compliance reviews, fraud prevention and waste training programs, homeownership program coordination, and federal policy requirements intended to ensure submissions meet standards before advancing further through review. He also said extensive front-end preparation has helped avoid significant revisions or delays during federal processing.
Environmental compliance — often one of the largest hurdles facing major development projects — represented another major milestone. Consultants conducted studies examining air quality, stormwater impacts, streams, construction noise, surrounding environmental conditions, and potential concerns involving native and endangered species. Corneiro and Huggins shared that said additional measures were also incorporated into planning efforts to minimize environmental impacts during construction and long-term neighborhood use. The work builds on commitments Corneiro first outlined publicly last year involving native landscaping components, tree preservation efforts, and strategies intended to address environmental considerations identified during planning.
Several previously announced building features also remain part of the plan, including Insulated Concrete Form construction technology, or ICF — which the development team previously said would make the community the first in the Caribbean to utilize the building approach at this scale. Corneiro has said the system creates stronger, more energy-efficient homes through insulated wall construction designed to improve durability while lowering long-term energy costs. High-efficiency appliances and low-consumption fixtures are also expected to be included throughout the community.
Corneiro also said the design itself has continued evolving around the site’s natural terrain rather than attempting to eliminate it. Located on steeply sloping property overlooking Magens Bay, the neighborhood concept includes building into portions of the hillside to maximize usable space while incorporating gathering areas and community amenities intended to encourage interaction among residents. Potential agricultural components and shared neighborhood spaces are also under discussion as features developers say are intended to support neighborhood activity and shared space.
As construction moves closer, the development team is also encouraging prospective buyers to begin preparing now. Corneiro said future homeowners should focus on filing taxes consistently, organizing employment documentation, understanding debt-to-income ratios, reducing unnecessary debt where possible, and learning what financing programs may help support homeownership. First-time homebuyer education and understanding lending requirements early, developers said, can help residents position themselves more successfully before entering the mortgage approval process.
Beyond housing supply itself, Corneiro estimates the project’s first phase could generate more than $16 million in construction-related economic activity during an estimated 18-to-24-month build period. He and Huggins said they hope local contractors, tradespeople, apprentices, and smaller businesses position themselves now to participate as opportunities expand. The first phase covers only 22 units, with dozens more homes remaining in the pipeline over the years ahead.
Attention now turns toward permitting approvals and procurement timelines. Contractor qualification requests were issued May 15. A mandatory pre-proposal conference is scheduled for Friday at 10 a.m., written questions are due by May 31 at 11:59 p.m., a question-and-answer addendum is expected June 7, and contractor qualifications submissions are due June 14 at 5 p.m. Developers said procurement for the project is being managed through the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority’s Ion Wave platform — a system they said is intended to create a more structured and transparent process for firms seeking opportunities tied to the development — as the project continues pushing toward construction.
At the same time, the team says work continues with the Department of Planning and Natural Resources as permitting moves forward. Corneiro said the goal remains breaking ground as soon as possible, with the team particularly mindful of timing as hurricane season approaches. “If we’re moving dirt in the high point of hurricane season … that’s not a good spot we want to be in,” he said, noting they want to stabilize the site early while continuing to move methodically through approvals. For now, Corneiro said the focus remains on lining up contractors, maintaining momentum, and positioning the project to move quickly once permits are secured.
La Vaughn Belle Named Finalist for Billie Holiday Monument in Queens
Mango Tango Art Gallery Presents: Fresh Paint and Seasoned Strokes
Mango Tango opens the Fresh Paint and Seasoned Strokes Show on Saturday, May 30 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., featuring work from three compelling voices in art: newcomer to the local scene Vickie Lawrence, regional icon Eric Winter — builder, educator, and painter — and master teacher David Millard, whose influence extended from St. Thomas to galleries and museums across the mainland.
The harmonious sounds of Sammy Watts and Ras Abu will fill the parking lot, where appetizers and spirits will be served.
Vickie Lawrence debuted at the gallery in March, and her talent immediately captivated gallery owner Jane Coombes. “When I opened the gallery in 1988, I was fortunate enough to find and represent a superb artist, Dana Wylder. Although Dana works in different media, she excels in watercolor. No one since that time has come even close to her level of excellence — until I met Vickie. The positive response to her work earned her a second show.” Lawrence’s acrylics and watercolors celebrate the rhythmic energy of Carnival and the shimmering color and movement of sea life.
David Millard is revered for his inventive exploration of color relationships. His honors include recognition from the National Academy of Design and gold medals from the American Watercolor Society, the New England Watercolor Society, and the Rockport Art Association. He divided his time between St. Thomas and Needham, Massachusetts, teaching and painting in both communities. His career spanned six decades and included more than 30 one-man shows before his passing in 2002. His widely respected instructional books feature numerous paintings of historic Virgin Islands buildings.
Eric Winter arrived in the Virgin Islands in 1954 following completion of his Fine Arts degree at the University of Maryland. A true Renaissance man, he worked as both a building contractor and an accomplished boat builder, while maintaining an active studio practice as a painter and teacher. Antilles School and the College of the Virgin Islands were fortunate to count him among their art faculty. Winter’s oil-on-canvas paintings capture the beauty, joy, and serenity of West Indian life. He left behind a treasure trove of work when he passed in 2001.
The show continues for one month. To learn more or view the exhibition, visit mangotangoart.com or call 340-777-3060.
