Virtue of the Week – Flexibility
Virtue of the Week focuses on building peaceful and caring communities through understanding and fostering the practice of virtues. The Source supports the Virtues Project and will publish one virtue developed by the project each week.
Flexibility
Flexibility is the ability to adapt and change amid the fluctuating circumstances of life. We go with the flow, vseeing the choices, challenges, and opportunities in all that happens. We do not insist on our own way. We are open to the opinions and feelings of others. When the unexpected comes, we rise to the challenge with resilience and confidence. We are willing to change unproductive habits. We seek imaginative new ways to do things. We are willing to grow. We enjoy spontaneity. We welcome surprises.
Quote: “Better bend, than break.” -Proverb
The Practice of Flexibility
I adapt when change is needed.
I trust the course of my life.
I find creative ways to solve problems.
I accept things I cannot change.
I am in a constant state of growth.
I am open to life’s unexpected wonders.
Questions for Discussion
In our community, where is flexibility easiest to call on? More difficult?
How can we rise to the challenge of our social justice work?
In what ways has our community grown? How can it continue to grow through social justice?
In terms of social justice, what acceptance can we lift up in our community?
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Virtue of the Week is provided by the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands (CFVI) in partnership with the VI Source and Virtues Matter.
Since 1990, CFVI has been a catalyst for positive change in the territory through initiatives committed to youth, learning, family support and the environment. With a professional staff and a volunteer Board of Directors composed of community leaders, CFVI is a trusted advocate and supporter of programs that ensure opportunity and sustainability for current and future generations. CFVI is a registered non-profit organization entirely supported by individual donors, grants, trusts, corporate donations and estate planning. For more information, visit cfvi.net.
About Virtues Matter Virtues Matter was started by a passionate wife-husband team of social entrepreneurs seeking to positively uplift as many lives as possible. We aim to inspire and empower, to build capacity, strengthen relationships, and help everyone lead lives of passion and purpose.
Virtues Matter believes in a world where people are committed to kindness and respect, strive to be their best, and live with hope, courage and in unity. We built the Virtues Cards mobile app, an interactive personal and team development tool, to help people identify and develop key virtue skills. We also offer dynamic workshops, online training, and customized programs to help people cultivate these positive qualities of character. To learn more, visit virtuesmatter.com.
To learn more about the Virtues Project, visit www.virtuesproject.com.
Check out our weekly weather forecast with Jesse Daley, covering Sunday, Jan. 26, through Saturday, Feb. 1. Our YouTube playlist is updated every week, AND check out Jesse’s daily weather updates here.
Volunteers, behavioral health workers, homelessness service professionals, and others fanned out across St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas before dawn Friday and started asking questions. They began with: where did you sleep last night?
“Street or sidewalk.”
“Park.”
“Abandoned building.”
Belinda Alexander, a case manager at Frederiksted Health Care, surveys an unsheltered man Friday morning near the Frederiksted waterfront. (Source photo by Kit MacAvoy)
The responses came during this year’s Point-in-Time count, a tally and survey of unhoused people, their circumstances, and the resources available to them. The count is done in communities across the United States and its territories over a 24-hour period. To receive federal homelessness assistance aid, the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department requires each community to have a local Continuum of Care, or CoC, to administer the count and to promote “a community-wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness,” according to HUD’s website.
Dan Derima, executive director of the nonprofit Meeting the Needs of Our Community and chair of the V.I. Continuum of Care Council on Homelessness, walks through the abandoned Addelita Cancryn School Friday evening on St. Thomas. (Source photo by Kit MacAvoy)
Dan Derima, chair of the V.I. Continuum of Care Council on Homelessness and executive director of the nonprofit Meeting the Needs of Our Community, explained during a September Senate Housing, Transportation and Telecommunications Committee meeting that a CoC should be a coalition of experts including: homeless care, social and victim service providers; faith-based organizations; health, housing and education agencies; law enforcement; and people who have lived experience with homelessness.
Grant funds are allocated to Continuums of Care every year, and organizations can then apply for funding to support permanent housing, rapid rehousing, transitional housing, supportive services, a Homeless Management Information System, and homelessness prevention projects, according to Derima’s September testimony. But before any of that can happen, communities need an accurate head count.“The HUD definition of homelessness is anyone staying in a place not fit for human habitation,” Derima told the Source Friday. That includes people living in structures but who lack electricity, running water, windows, or doors.
Edwin Nieves, assistant director of the Division of Social and Community Programs at Frederiksted Health Care, drives through town during the 2024 Point-in-Time count Friday morning in Frederiksted. (Source photo by Kit MacAvoy)
Participants covering St. Croix’s west end had little trouble finding them. Edwin Nieves, assistant director of the Frederiksted Health Care Social and Community Programs Division, explained that most of the area’s homeless people are DSCP clients — people whose names, demographics, and personal histories they know well. Throughout the morning, they often breezed through several pages of survey questions to which they already knew the answer before handing out care packages filled with essentials and snack bags.
Nieves said the DSCP offers the island’s unhoused people a place to have their basic health care needs met, use a portable shower and toilets, and receive regular meals and donated clothing. DSCP case managers also connect their clients with services provided by other organizations under the Continuum of Care umbrella and have even helped some of the people they work with find housing. In some cases, that meant reconnecting them with family members living on the mainland.
Aisha-Jamila Mussington, the division’s director, said the most important part of the homeless health program is Samaritan Saturdays, a monthly “round robin of services where we provide medical screenings.”
“Ideally, we would want to provide housing,” she said. “But we don’t have a key . . . we don’t have real estate, and what we can do is that we can provide medical care as well as case management services and essential support services.”
A team from Frederiksted Health Care makes a sweep of the town cemetery. (Source photo by Kit MacAvoy)
Mussington said she hoped people would be able to see that there are entities in the Virgin Islands “who do the work.”
“It’s not just lip service,” she said, calling on people to partner with or sponsor the program’s efforts. One service she hopes to implement, she said, is vending machines for people to use when the clinic is closed — one for medications and tests and another for food.
Melanie Milligan, Itzamar Ramos and Curtis Walters survey unhoused people Friday morning on Strand Street in Frederiksted. (Source photo by Kit MacAvoy)
The Frederiksted Health Care staff take seriously the trust they’ve earned with their unhoused neighbors. After team members spoke with two women living in a derelict building next door to the medical center, Nieves said the structure had recently sold. Later, Mussington said about 10 people shelter inside.
“It’s a community — it doesn’t have any water, doesn’t have electricity,” she said. When the building was sold, Mussington said officials came and asked for their help getting their clients to move out. “And I’m like, ‘no.’ That’s the wrong approach. I get that you sold it, and the business owners want to do something with the building — great.”
But, Mussington said, it’s on the government to figure out what to do.
“We’ve already built a relationship with them, provided them essential support services. To now tell these people you’re going to move [them] without a plan of where to put them — I don’t mind being in the conversation if it’s easier for you, but you gotta come with a plan where they feel safe and secured, because this is their livelihood.”
Point-in-Time count participants also handed out care packages filled with essentials and snack bags (Source photo by Kit MacAvoy)
The U.S. Virgin Islands doesn’t have a shortage of abandoned buildings, but it does have a shortage of shelter beds. Where some of the territory’s unhoused people have turned to derelict homes, hotels, and schools for shelter, others have made space for themselves on beaches. The latter group has also drawn the ire of officials in recent months.
Planning and Natural Resources Coastal Zone Management Director Marlon Hibbert said during a November meeting of the Senate Homeland Security, Justice and Public Safety Committee that the V.I. Open Shorelines Act is frequently misinterpreted.
“Contrary to public belief, [the Act] does not convey all beach areas to the government of the Virgin Islands, nor does it state that all beaches are public,” he said at the time. “In the St. Croix district, the misinterpretation of the law has caused people to trespass on private land, erect structures in the name of camping and, when approached, tell our enforcement teams that all beaches are public, and they are free to camp on them.”
DPNR posted notices on encampments, private property owners filed trespassing reports and government agencies removed some of the structures, only to see them rebuilt weeks later, Hibbert said. Frustrated, the department turned to the V.I. Justice Department to determine whether the structures could be removed through court order and whether people who violate such an order can be arrested.
“It’s unfortunate that we must resort to these measures,” Hibbert said in November. “However, we no longer have any choice but to exercise our powers to the full extent of the law. A DPNR spokesperson told the Source Friday that the department had not yet received a response from Justice and noted that enforcement would fall under the purview of the V.I. Police Department.
Sam Dubuisson shares one of his paintings — depicting a woman picking up seaglass — Friday morning at his camp on St. Croix. Dubuisson lamented that Frederiksted’s Athalie Petersen Public Library remains closed despite the amount of federal money the territory has received. (Source photo by Kit MacAvoy)
In one out-of-the-way corner of a St. Croix beach Friday, Sam Dubuisson warmly invited Point-in-Time participants into his camp, where he displayed some of his artwork. One painting depicted a woman picking up sea glass on the beach.
“All my habits are things that you can do alone in a place like this,” he said, like painting. “You need peacefulness, music.”
If the territory does amp up efforts to remove people from beaches, it’s not clear where they’re supposed to go.
Derima told lawmakers in September that the last Point-in-Time count, in 2023, identified 252 unsheltered people and only 92 beds. That figure included 16 emergency shelter beds, 53 transitional housing beds, and 23 permanent supportive housing beds. By Friday night, participants using the CoC’s Cloud-based digital survey had recorded 244 unsheltered people, but that figure did not include people who filled out paper questionnaires.
Dan Derima fills out an “observation” survey to record a man living at the Addelita Cancryn School who did not wish to be surveyed. Surveyors used a Cloud-based application for the first time this year, allowing them to see results in real time. (Source photo by Kit MacAvoy)
Derima said the territory’s numbers had more or less held steady, and he noted the correlation between homelessness and mental illness.
“A couple of ways that we can assist in lowering that number is to build,” he said. “We need more facilities, more rooms . . . that can accommodate those persons with those challenges. Without building more and providing services attached to those units, then we’ll continue to be in dire straits in terms of persons with mental illness and homelessness.”
The V.I. Department of Agriculture reminds the community that the St. Croix Abattoir is closed and will be closed during the month of February for scheduled maintenance and to assist with preparations for Agrifest 2025.
The Abattoir will resume operations on Monday, March 3.
VIDA would also like to thank all livestock farmers for their understanding while we work to maintain our Abattoir facilities and provide support for an excellent Agrifest 2025 experience.
For questions or concerns, please contact Director of the Abattoir Curleen Rogers at curleen.rogers@doa.vi.gov. You can also join our Facebook community by following our Facebook page at USVI Department of Agriculture.
We look forward to serving our community again in March.
Trump loves the USVI Republicans say. (White House photo)Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to add comments and clarifications from several people mentioned. Those changes are mentioned in the text.
President Donald Trump’s reelection and dramatic first week back in the White House have Virgin Islands Republicans cheering — a rare state of unity for the territorial party better known for their infighting.
While Trump’s undoing of many Biden-era social and environmental policies had Democrats in the territory queasy, prominent local Republicans said Trump’s national and USVI-specific policy would be better for the Virgin Islands than the previous administration’s.
John Yob, chairman of the Republican Party in the Virgin Islands, said V.I. Republicans had appealed to Trump’s transactional nature. Other Republicans advised the territorial government and USVI representation in Washington do the same.
“President Trump appreciates his friends and loves the U.S. Virgin Islands as a result of moving up our caucus and delivering a knockout blow to Nikki Haley prior to the South Carolina Primary. He thanked the Virgin Islands over and over again on the national stage, including on victory night in South Carolina,” Yob said by email Friday.
Dr. David Weisher, a neurologist at Schneider Regional Medical Center who held an election-night party at his home with members of the House of Representatives, the Florida attorney general, and other Trump advocates, said Congressional Delegate Stacey Plaskett should stop criticizing Trump and start making friends in the administration.
“I think Plaskett, in my opinion, she’s acting like she’s part of the problem. You don’t win favors by insulting them. This is not a time to be insulting people. This is a time to be befriending people,” Weisher said. “We should be treated not as some second cousin but more as a child of the government.”
Weisher and other Republicans said their contacts within the Trump White House would draw a new emphasis on the territory’s needs. He had particular disdain for the Biden administration, which he said did little to meet the Virgin Islands’ desperate medical needs.
“Our hospitals are in dire straights right now,” Weisher said he told his election night guests. “I wanted to explain to them that we really have needs down here that are unique. We need help from a medical standpoint. Our hospital needs help. I think Medicare and Medicaid need to look at us a little bit with a more favorable light.”
Yob had no misgivings about Trump unwinding many Biden-era policies and said the next four years would bring many of the things the territory had long sought.
“There will be more tourism, better economy, lower interest rates, faster federal assistance, and more respect on the national stage with President Trump back in the White House,” he said. “President Trump has accomplished more in one week than President Biden accomplished in four years.”
Democrat leaders in the territory were far less optimistic.
Carol Burke, state chair of the Virgin Islands Democratic Party, said the reelection of Trump and the ferocity of his first week in office — in which he suspended refugee programs, curtailed medical research and muzzled scientists, pardoned Jan. 6, 2021 insurrectionists and police officers found guilty of violent crimes, changed environmental policy to allow for expanded oil drilling, withdrew from international climate accords, attempted to end birthright citizenship, took aim at immigration policy and questioned whether Native Americans were in fact U.S. citizens — had her questioning the very nature of what it means to be an American.
“I’m lost for words and I’m one that’s never lost for words,” Burke said. “What is Team America, really? Is this what you’ve been identifying as all your life only to wake up one day and feel like you’ve been living a nightmare? I have a dual duty. Number one to lead the Democratic Party locally, and number two to still be an American. And I tell you, putting my feet on the ground, I’m not feeling the solidness of the ground right now. It’s rather shaky.”
Burke thought it was deeply unlikely the Trump administration would expand Medicaid and other federally-funded health and social services in the territory. She said Biden, who frequently vacationed in St. Croix and had family that had owned property in the territory, had paid attention to the Virgin Islands’ needs.
“There was a lot of wiggle room given to the Virgin Islands under President Biden. Today, that wiggle room, for me, in my opinion, is closed. As a matter of fact, it has tightened,” Burke said.
“It is my humble, humble request to President Trump that, in order for us to at least be self-sufficient, we need a solid rock economy in the territory. We have potential. I just hope that, with a growing tourism industry and the potential to the reopening of the refinery, that none of his initiatives stand in the way of any of these things happening,” she said.
Government House had not yet commented on Trump’s actions other than to say officials were attempting to parse the onslaught of changes. Burke said it was an unenviable task to walk the thin line of appeasing the Trump administration in Washington while standing firm to their own principles at home.
Some of those principles were efforts to combat historical institutional unfairness and social stigma based on race, gender, sexual orientation, mobility, and more. Republicans in the Virgin Islands applauded Trump’s rescinding of 78 Biden-era executive orders addressing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.
“Yes. Thank God,” Weisher said. “I’m definitely thrilled with it. It’s long overdue.”
Trump also revoked a 1965 executive order by President Lyndon Johnson ensuring equal opportunity for people of color, women, and immigrants in federal contractors’ recruitment, hiring, training and other employment practices. Johnson’s actions have been called the bedrock of efforts to counteract centuries of policy that disenfranchised minority groups, limiting work, housing opportunities, and the accumulation of generational wealth.
To Yob, who lives on St. John, modern expansions of civil rights protections didn’t actually help.
“It makes little sense for the U.S. Virgin Islands and its people to be lost in the fight for transgender bathrooms and other DEIA practices that have nothing to do with helping minorities in the workforce,” Yob said.
Reed Compton, a St. John businessman, has used his social media presence to celebrate the Trump presidency and disparage DEIA initiatives he calls “lunacy.” When Walmart began dismantling its diversity program in November, Compton said it was a positive move toward “meritocracy and earning your advancements.”
“My only question is why does it take so long? The only DEI we need to be promoting is discipline, excellence, and intelligence,” he wrote.
Compton, who did not respond to several requests to comment for this article, referred online to Democrats as “totalitarian Marxist dems” and appropriated the sexual-discrimination #MeToo hashtag to revel in Democrats’ powerless objections to Trump’s cabinet appointments.
In 2022, when basketball star Brittney Griner was in a Russian prison, Compton wrote “Enjoy the Gulag” and posted a photo of Griner marking herself “safe from hearing America’s national anthem.” In 2023, he posted that if a child says they consider themselves another gender, parents should say, “Well, you’re not.” In August, Compton falsely claimed in a social media post that Democrats were using the 1940s Nazi slogan “Strength through joy.”
He wrote: “They’re not even trying to hide it anymore, WAKE UP FOLKS!”
Shortly after this article’s publication Compton wrote to clarify he is not a Republican.
A counterpoint to Compton’s bombastic online presence was former Virgin Islands Republican Party Treasurer Todd Hecht, who said he was close with Washington insiders in Trump’s orbit.
“I just don’t want to be divisive,” Hecht said by telephone Thursday. “There’s some work going forward that is good for all of us.”
Hecht said he distrusts mass media. He claimed dishonest people at national news networks, particularly MSNBC, were secretly fundraising for political action groups, known as PACs. This serves to misinform the public against Trump, he said.
“A lot of the information they are getting is inaccurate. I would say get rid of cable TV,” Hecht said. “The people that sometimes give the news that makes you hate Donald Trump so much are also involved in Republican PACs that benefit by gaslighting people.”
Hecht said some of this misinformation came from how Trump’s policies were framed. While news that the White House was looking at scaling back the Federal Emergency Management Agency braced many in the territory, Hecht said the plan was taken out of context.
“Virgin Islanders are more than capable of using the funds themselves and not bringing in a bunch of people that take up our hotel rooms,” he said. “FEMA is a perfect example of an absolute waste of funds that make people feel good but they get no results.”
Hecht said he had firsthand knowledge of Trump being “set up” after the 2017 storms when he was filmed jovially tossing kitchen supplies at a crowded room in Puerto Rico.
“This is the exact kind of gaslighting that we get when Trump is throwing paper towels at people in Puerto Rico,” he said.
Hecht also said he saw Trump, a convicted felon, as a force for law and order.
“I think the Trump administration is going to concentrate on helping legal immigrants, not illegal aliens. And we should concentrate on helping those in need in the Virgin Islands, not condoning illegal immigration and illegal activities. They are illegal aliens. They are not undocumented workers. We need to concentrate on Virgin Islanders not illegal aliens and if someone is here illegally they should be deported,” he said.
Like other Republicans in the territory, Hecht thought Trump would soon be solving many of the Virgin Islands’ problems.
“I think the Trump administration is eager to help the people of the Virgin Islands get food prices down, get gas prices down, to stop the crime that we are experiencing with our young Black men, to help improve the economy so that we can have jobs for Virgin Islanders — which right now a lot of our young people don’t have the opportunities that they had because of our dollar, which is inflated because of all the wars and spending. The Trump administration is very concerned about the Virgin Islands. I can guarantee you that. I’ve talked with people in the Trump administration who care deeply about the Virgin Islands, who care about the Virgin Islands people, and they are looking forward to having a good relationship with us,” he said.
Hecht also wrote the Source shortly after this article’s publication to say, as the father of Black children, he saw DEIA efforts as adding layers of bureaucracy while not addressing the problems faced by young Black men. Hecht said he got into politics as a way to address and hopefully end youth crimes against each other.
Dennis Lennox, the former Virgin Islands Republican Party’s executive director, did not respond to several requests for comment for this article. He did write back after its publication asking his comments on religion, published in a Washington D.C. newspaper, be removed.
Lennox penned an article in the Washington Examiner Thursday decrying the inclusion of “false religions” in a service at the National Cathedral Wednesday. The event drew national attention when the Episcopal bishop, Mariann Edgar Budde, asked Trump to show mercy on the disadvantaged.
While many Republicans chastised Budde’s audacity, Lennox said the real affront was the inclusion of non-Christian religions.
“The inappropriate end to the sermon wasn’t the real controversy. The real controversy was the inclusion of the Islamic call to prayer, the use of syncretist prayers, the denial of the Holy Trinity, and the overall universalism within the service, which until today had been an important, apolitical moment in the national life of our country,” he wrote. “Any kind of interfaith service should have been in an auditorium or other non-consecrated space with clear distinctions between Christian prayers and Christian elements of the service and prayers or worship from false religions. Instead of featuring Muslims and Buddhists or having a pagan Indian prayer, where were the Roman Catholics?”
Members of the V.I. Elections Board discuss new officers Friday. From left, Lilliana Belardo de O’Neal, Cornelius Jn Baptiste, Shikima Jones-Sprauve, Florine Audain-Hassell, Nathan Fletcher and Michael Joseph. (Source photo by Susan Ellis)
The Virgin Islands Board of Elections held a special meeting Friday at the St. Croix Elections Office to elect new officers.
Vice Chair Shikima Jones-Sprauve led the meeting and opened the floor for nominations for chair, vice chair, and secretary. After some debate, the board agreed that St. Croix members would fill the chair and secretary positions while the vice chair would be selected from St. Thomas.
Raymond Williams was the first to be nominated for the chairmanship by Nathan Fletcher of St. Thomas. Lawrence Boschulte, also from St. Thomas, nominated Lilliana Belardo de O’Neal, while Barbara LaRonde put forward Cleopatra Peter as a candidate for chairperson.
For the position of vice chair, Boschulte and LaRonde were also put forward as candidates. For secretary, the nominees were Florine Audain-Hassell, Cornelius Jn Baptiste and Raymond Williams.
During the nomination and voting process, questions were raised about Williams’s eligibility to serve on the board. A few board members expressed concerns, noting that his role as director of the V.I. Lottery requires him to hold only one job and maintain a single career. However, the board was reminded of a 2022 ruling by V.I. Attorney General Denise George, who determined that while Williams is prohibited from holding another job, he is permitted to serve on the Elections Board.
“Raymond Williams is in good standing according to the Attorney General,” attorney and board member Michael Joseph affirmed.
Board member Harriet Mercer made a motion that the board should vote for the other two positions until a copy of George’s ruling was produced, which Richard Muhammad, executive assistant, eventually handed to each member.
Jones-Sprauve eventually called for a paper ballot vote. Once the votes were tallied, Williams was elected chair, and Audain-Hassell was chosen as secretary. A tie between Boschulte and Jn Baptiste for vice-chair was resolved in a second round of voting, with Boschulte ultimately being elected.
The meeting was handed over to the newly elected officers. Williams expressed gratitude for the group’s support and assured everyone that the board would operate professionally despite past conflicts. Audian-Hassell also thanked the members, and Boschulte emphasized the importance of maintaining a collaborative and conflict-free atmosphere in future meetings.
During a period at the end of the meeting called Personal Privileges, each member was given three minutes to speak about a subject of their choosing. Most offered suggestions and appreciation but several board members criticized the inability to broadcast the meetings to St. Thomas and St. John constituents.
There are 14 members on the V.I. Elections Board. The seven members from St. Croix are Audain-Hassel, Belardo de O’Neal, Francis, JnBaptiste, Peter, Williams and Joseph.
The members from the St. Thomas-St John district are Boschulte, Fletcher, Jones-Sprauve, LaRonde, Mercer, Atanya Springette, and Chaneel Callwood, who was absent.
On Friday, the American Legion of St. Croix welcomed National Commander James A. LaCoursiere Jr. During his visit, he was able to meet with veterans and enjoy lunch. (Source photo by Diana Dias)
On Friday, the American Legion of St. Croix welcomed National Commander James A. LaCoursiere Jr. with a tour of the St. Croix Veteran Affairs Office and a meeting with other veterans.
“We are vastly invested in finding out what we can do for the veterans and the military families here on the island,” said LaCoursiere.
“My big concern is what we can do to help because there is such a large disconnect between the continental U.S. and the U.S. Territories,” he said.
During his visit, LaCoursiere toured the Veterans Affairs Clinic and met with Chief Medical Officer Dr. Veronica L. Linares. One of the concerns discussed was that only one physician was responsible for seeing 800 veterans.
Another issue raised by Commander Ramon Padilla was the veterans’ pharmacy. “The national commander’s visit was important because we need to check with the service being provided to the veterans if it’s adequate and right now, we have some issues,” he added.
LaCoursiere also met with veterans, listening to their concerns and considering their needs.
“We are trying to put all the pieces together to take some of the barriers down and try to communicate with Congress on what we really need for the U.S. Territories. As far as making sure that they have all the medical resources available to them, proper care and the same benefits we have on the continental U.S.,” he said.
LaCoursiere, who oversees 1.6 million veterans nationally, said that he has been meeting with other territories that have been experiencing similar issues.
LaCoursiere said he tries to visit all the states and territories where there are American Legion posts and military troops. “My primary focus this year is the quality of life for our veterans and their families,” he said.
“Our number one mission, ‘Be the One,’ that he also wears as a pin and gives to others in remembrance of this message,” he continued. “We are trying to reduce the veteran suicide rate. We can do that with true compassion at heart, but also trying to take away the anguish and mental roadblocks,” he said.
Some of those issues include unhoused veterans, lack of education, food insecurity, restricted child care and more.
American Legion District Commander Secondino Roman-Cruz said that the national commander’s visit is very important for the Virgin Islands because they are speaking directly to the person who takes veterans’ needs to Washington.
“There is where we will get the aid that we need,” said Roman-Cruz.
“By having him here and meeting with the medical staff that treats the veterans and the veterans themselves he has a better knowledge on how he can present the needs that we have. We are not treated like the veterans in the mainland. There is a difference. We are fighting and will continue to fight so that we can receive the same benefits that the veterans in the mainland receive because we all serve together,” he said.
In the process of getting the attention of Congress, there is strength in the number of veterans enrolled in Veterans Affairs Healthcare, and LaCoursiere encourages veterans to register online. “If your reportable numbers of veterans enrolled in the Veterans Affairs Healthcare are low, but you have a lot of veterans, they are only looking at who is enrolled,” said LaCoursiere.
Padilla said this is an effort that they will be working on. “Some of the veterans that are unaccounted for. There are so many Veterans that are entitled to apply, and we cannot find them.” To connect with these veterans, plans are in place to host a series of health fairs.
“We have the same mental issues that the veterans in the States have, and we do not get the same service. We keep fighting and by the national commander coming here he gets up front information,” said Roman-Cruz.
Every year a new national commander is voted in and with previous commanders there has been progression, said Roman-Cruz. For instance, a transport plane for veterans is available to take them to Puerto Rico and return the same day, if not veterans are housed overnight. They are also provided with a certain amount of money for travel expenses.
Roman-Cruz also acknowledged the efforts of the director of the V.I. Veterans Affairs Office, Patrick Farrell, who he said has been “a very good asset to the veterans.”
To register as a veteran with the Veterans Affairs Office on St. Croix, call 340-773-8387 or email info_va@va.vi.gov.
A view of Charlotte Amalie Harbor. (Photo from the Port Authority’s year-end report)
On Thursday, the V.I. Port Authority Governing Board approved millions of dollars for work at the territory airports and voted to keep Willard John as chair.
The work approved included $3.6 million for an aviation master plan. This project involves the Federal Aviation Administration and will utilize Airport Improvement Program Grant funds to conduct work at both airports and assess the potential future needs of both seaplane bases in the territory.
According to the staff report, VIPA has been working on Phase I of the plan since May 2023 and is preparing to move into the second phase.
Ricondo, the authority’s aviation planning consultant, will do the work. It will be funded 90 percent federally.
The governing board also accepted a $4.6 million proposal from Island Roads Corporation for selective slab replacement of the commercial apron at the Cyril E. King Airport. This project will be funded from the FAA Grant Funds with a 10 percent match by the Port Authority.
All the work being approved Thursday was not for the airport. Moffatt & Nichol received a contract for $131,350 related to the Red Hook Customs Building design update project.
Moffatt & Nichol was also granted a job not to exceed $441,550 to design and construct a warehouse for the Education Department. This fulfills an obligation the authority had as part of transferring the former Addelita Cancryn Junior High School Campus property from the Property and Procurement Department to the authority.
The engineering firm Stantec received approval for three projects from the board. One is for $719,900 for geotechnical investigation related to projects at the St. Croix airport, and another is for $609,850 for design and permitting services related to environmental mitigation for airfield drainage and conveyance upgrades at the St. Thomas airport. The staff reported that this project deals with the wetland on the north side of the runway. It would address the wildlife hazard by removing the wetland and creating a tidewater protection area.
In the third contract, Stantec is not to exceed $893,100 for design and permitting services related to a new aircraft rescue and firefighting station to be reconstructed in the existing structure’s location. The programming and schematic design were completed in December 2024, and the next steps are to finish the design so that funding can be arranged for the construction of the new station.
The board members attending the meeting were Joseph Boschulte, Derek Gabriel, Willard John, Gordon Rhea, Kevin Rodriquez, Leona Smith, and Celestino White Sr.
From left, Police Commissioner Mario M. Brooks, Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. and Director of the Management and Budget Office Julio A. Rhymer Sr. (Photo courtesy V.I. Government House)
Family members, colleagues, supporters, and friends gathered Thursday on St. Thomas for the swearing-in ceremony of Julio A. Rhymer Sr. as director of the Office of Management and Budget and Mario M. Brooks as police commissioner.
The ceremony, hosted in the Columban Hall of Holy Family Church, was attended by Gov. Albert Bryan Jr., Lt. Gov. Tregenza A. Roach, and other members of the Bryan-Roach administration. The event was streamed live on Facebook and the VI Government Access Network. Superior Court Presiding Judge Debra S. Watlington administered the oaths of office, according to the Government House press release.
Bryan welcomed the new commissioners into the administration, emphasizing the collective responsibility they share while affixing cabinet pins onto their lapels. “What happens to one of us happens to all of us,” Bryan said. “When you take up this mantle of responsibility, 100,000 souls count on us to do our best. When we let down the Virgin Islands in any way, 100,000 people feel the impact.”
Roach commended Rhymer and Brooks for stepping into leadership roles during challenging times. “I am grateful to Julio Rhymer and Mario Brooks that they have decided that they will take the challenge no matter what,” Roach said.
Rhymer, a seasoned finance executive with more than 30 years of experience, has previously served as the director of the Office of Management and Budget, executive director and chief financial officer of the V.I. Water and Power Authority, and chief financial officer at the V.I. Housing Finance Authority. During his remarks, Rhymer reflected on his upbringing and paid tribute to his father, who was present for the occasion, the press release stated.
Brooks, a veteran law enforcement professional and military officer, brings over 30 years of experience to the role. He has risen through the ranks of the V.I. Police Department, serving in key positions, including commander of the Criminal Intelligence Unit, Marine Unit, and Special Response Team. Most recently, he served as assistant police commissioner and holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the V.I. National Guard, the release stated.
Acknowledging the responsibility of his new position, Brooks pledged to uphold integrity, transparency, and accountability, knowing that he carries the weight of the Virgin Islands community’s safety on his shoulders, it said.
Emilie Almestica of Wilkes, Antigua transitioned into eternal life on Jan. 16. She was 76 years old.
Emilie Almestica
She was preceded in death by her grandmother Millicent Mason; mother Sybil Daniels; father Johnny (John) Kirby; and brother Patrick Daniels.
She is survived by her husband Ramon Almestica Sr, sisters Daisylyn Hodge, Lynette (Florie) Otto; daughters Ginna Randolph, Tashira (Rashad) Almestica-Dostalie; sons Gary (Corona) Randolph, Teddy (Rolanda) Randolph, Keith (Chandra) Randolph, Treavor Randolph, Ramon Almestica Jr, Sergio Almestica. Grandchildren Termich (Travis) Cherry, Isaiah Randolph, Richard Bochamp, Teddy Ravae (Deanna) Randolph, Cherish Randolph, Azarah Almestica, Gabriel Dostalie, Jahsai Dostalie, Serenity Dostalie, Hezekiah Randolph, Jeka’meam Randolph, Allora Almestica, Isabella Almestica; great grandchildren Savior Randolph,Truth Harrison, Royalty Randolph, Logan Cherry, Levi Cherry, Isaiah Randolph Jr
Malachi Randolph, Kairo Randolph, Rhyan Randolph, Nico Randolph; god children Xiaxiang Washington, Sevon Washington, Kelia Bradshaw, Xiamara Gomez, and Ebbie Gomez.
Close family and friends, the Kirby family, the Almestica family, the Daniels family, Nicole Thomas Peters, Carmen Brown and family, Angela Burt-McIntosh and family, Diana Washington and family, Deborah Bailey, Hyacinth Bailey, Eunice Bailey, Denfield (Bampo) Jones, Dahila Green, Valarie Ponce, Natanya Ponce, Shamarra Ponce, Gerard and Nadine Glasgow, Gail (Gigi) Glasgow, Janet Jonas, Denise Jackson, Elba Proctor, Augusta Stevens, Esther Urgent, the Ricardo Richards school family, Alexander Henderson School family, Rueben Gomez and family, Vashti Harris, Yvonne Isles, Yvonne Auguste and family. As well as a host of other relatives and friends.
Friends and family viewing will be held on Thursday, Feb. 6 at Divine Funeral Services, 129 Peter’s Rest Christiansted between4 p.m. and 6 p.m.
Funeral Services will be held on Friday, Feb. 7 at St Joseph’s Catholic Church, 1 Mount Pleasant, Frederiksted, viewing at 10 a.m., service at 11 a.m.
Interment following service at the Kingshill Cemetery.
The family request that those in attendance wear shades of red.
Virtue of the Week – Flexibility
- In our community, where is flexibility easiest to call on? More difficult?
- How can we rise to the challenge of our social justice work?
- In what ways has our community grown? How can it continue to grow through social justice?
- In terms of social justice, what acceptance can we lift up in our community?
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