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HomeNewsArchivesVENDORS BACK AT STILL UP-IN-THE-AIR DRAKE'S SEAT

VENDORS BACK AT STILL UP-IN-THE-AIR DRAKE'S SEAT

April 11, 2001 – Vendors were back in business at Drake's Seat this week less than 24 hours after the Senate voted to override the governor's veto of legislation permitting their return to the scenic North Side St. Thomas overlook.
But on Wednesday, Gov. Charles W. Turnbull warned that the 24th Legislature may find itself in federal court in the ongoing legal dispute over who has control of the property – the V.I. government or the estate of Homer Wheaton, which owns the surrounding land.
One of those once again hawking T-shirts and trinkets to tourists was Therese Pollack. She was among those evicted from the site when the Turnbull administration agreed with the Wheaton heirs that commercial activity is prohibited under terms of an easement granted by Wheaton in the 1940s for public use of the overlook.
Who owns the overlook remains to be decided in District Court, with a ruling expected as early as next week, according to observers.
Pollack said it's her intention to leave the ongoing legal dispute "in the hands of the lawyers … because I don't know anything about that."
The 23rd Legislature, in its final session last December, voted to give vendors the right to do business at Drake's Seat. The move put the Senate in opposition to the administration's position. The attorney for the Wheaton estate, William McConnell, immediately promised a response in court.
McConnell said Monday's action by the 24th Legislature overturning Turnbull's January veto of the December legislation, contravenes constitutional law. Agreeing, Attorney General Iver Stridiron said with regard to the vendors eager to get back to business that it would be "an unwise move for them to go back there."
But back they went – two initially on Tuesday and an increasing number by Wednesday afternoon.
A District Court hearing on the matter is scheduled for April 20. Stridiron said the return of the vendors could put them in a bad light from the court's perspective. He accused the Senate of giving them false hope and said he was disappointed by their action, "which flies in the face of constitutional law."
Turnbull termed the override of his veto regrettable, saying the action places the Legislature in the awkward position of having to defend itself in court if the Wheaton family continues to oppose the commercial activity on what it claims is its property. "I have always stated that my sympathies are with the vendors," the governor said Wednesday, "but doing what is right for all the people must always come first."

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