St. Thomas has lost one of its legal mainstays. U. S. Attorney James A. Hurd Jr., who has come to be a fixture in his 20-year career in the U.S. Department of Justice, announced his resignation effective Thursday.
Hurd has been intimately involved in the community, outside of the legal arena. He said one of his office's proudest accomplishments was in blazing the trail for the first Parents and Children Together Family Enrichment Retreat. This program took families with "at risk" children to an expense paid weekend where they learned family and parenting skills.
Hurd has been firm in his commitment to work helping keep youth out of the jails. He said initiatives like the retreat and the two officially recognized federal programs, Weed and Seed's Bovoni program, and the Peer Helpers Tutorial and Mentoring Program, demonstrate that "it costs substantially less for us to work together to help youth 'in crisis,' than it does to build prisons to incarcerate them."
Zelda Williams, director of the Weed and Seed program said, "We will miss him very much." Williams said Hurd was always there for her assistant, Petra Phipps, and herself, since the two started the Bovoni program last year. "He really helped us," Williams said. "He was always accessible – there was never a time when I went to his office that he couldn't see me. He was 100 percent committed to the (program's) strategy."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Hugh Mabe said Hurd would definitely be missed. "He's made a tremendous contribution to the community, all throughout his career," he said. Mabe has been friend and colleague to Hurd for more than 20 years. "He will be missed by all of us here," Mabe said.
Hurd came to St. Thomas sight unseen in 1980 at the behest of Territorial Court Judge Ishmael Meyers, who was then U.S. Attorney. "I was working as a deputy district attorney in Denver, Colorado, when I got a call out of the blue," Hurd said when Meyers recruited him. Since he was an "army brat," Hurd said he was used to moving around, so the change from Denver wasn't a problem.
Hurd said that during his tenure he has tried to build bridges between his office and local law enforcement agencies. His goal, he said, has been to help make the multi-cultural community a better place to live, work and play, which was the motive for his numerous outreach programs. Hurd said it is his hope that his office has been helpful in improving the quality of life on the island, especially for the children. Hurd worked as a U.S. assistant attorney until six years ago when he was promoted to the top job.
Hurd also has been proacitve in combating white collar crime, drug prosecutions and civil rights violations, and in aggressively addressing the illegal alien immigration problem.
Though he declined to discuss his immediate plans, Hurd said wherever he goes, he will consider the Virgin Islands "home."
