Dec. 29, 2001 – The Rotary Club of St. Thomas II will meet at 12:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 2, at Frenchman's Reef Beach Resort with Senator Roosevelt David as guest speaker. The topic will be "The Role of the Legislature and Economic Development."

Dec. 29, 2001 – If three senators have their way, the troubled Education Department may be replaced by a Board of Education run by a nine-member territorial board.
Senate President Almando "Rocky" Liburd; Sen. Norman Jn Baptiste, who chairs the Legislature's Education Committee; and David Jones introduced the Public Education Reform Act of 2001 this week to restructure education in the territory.
The legislation would repeal the chapter of the V.I. Code that created the Education Department and establish in its place an independent board — comprising four members each from St. Thomas and St. Croix and one from St. John — and an Office of Public Education as the "administrative instrumentality of the board."
The board would have a status similar to those of the Port Authority and the Water and Power Authority. Its members would have to include one familiar with the vocational education needs of labor in the territory, another familiar with the vocational needs of management, and one representing the University of the Virgin Islands.
Board members would be elected by voters and serve four-year terms, as is the case with members of the current Board of Education.
Nine months after enactment of the bill, or as soon as is practicable giving consideration to the public school calendar, the board would have jurisdiction over the implementation of laws, orders, rules and regulations relating to public education.
The public school system would be headed by a superintendent hired by the board, assistant superintendents for each district, and, if authorized by the board, deputy superintendents. The Education Department has long been criticized in the Legislature and elsewhere for being top-heavy at the management level.
Jones and Liburd have been battling for this change in public education through three legislatures. In 1997, a bill reached a committee but then was lost in the shuffle. The last time such a measure was brought to the Senate, there was not enough time to schedule hearings.
This week Jones said, "The time has come." The current Board of Education agrees wholeheartedly. Last January, at the first meeting of the board elected in November 2000, Evadney Hodge, executive director, termed the entity a "toothless tiger" without governance of public education.
At the time, Hodge was blunt in her assessment of its prospects. "The board has tried, believe me, to offer input up to this point, but we are not going to beg to be included," she said. Hodge could not be reached for comment Saturday.
In its formal mission statement presented in January, the board said it will "promote the transformation of the structure of existing public education" through:
– Governance over the public education system.
– Improved student, parent, teacher relationships.
– Comprehensive community engagement.
– Standards that promote high academic achievement.
– An environment conducive to effective communication.
– Enhanced quality of professional development for all staff.
– Provision of adequate resources "to achieve our vision, goals and objectives."
Most of those goals, in one form or another, are covered in the current legislation, which establishes clearly that public education is not to be in the hands of the executive branch of government.
The bill removes teachers and other employees from the government's personnel merit system and gives the board final review of recommendations by the Superintendent of Public Education regarding the qualifications of teachers, librarians, supervisors, and other professional personnel. The bill specifies 14 areas which the board would control – basically "all aspects of education in the Virgin Islands."
At the Board of Education meeting in January, new member Malik Sekou said, "We anticipate a complex struggle to convince the American Federation of Teachers, the PTA, everyone, that this is the way to go, but it's not a one-shot deal." The transformation process "is going to take several years," he said.
The sponsors of the current bill don't see it that way. Jn Baptise has indicated he will schedule an Education Committee hearing on the proposal in January.
The bill also would establish an Education Fund to receive all legislative appropriations, grants and other money relating to education. The board would prepare its annual budget and submit it to the Legislature, as the Department of Education does now. It would control all federal education funds.
Another nine-member board, to be appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Legislature, would be created to advise the Board of Education on vocational education.
The bill has an entire chapter devoted to education opportunities for veterans, including programs, tuition, agreements with the Veterans Administration and transportation.

Dec. 28, 2001 – The last three Thursdays of January will bring an exceptional cinematic experience to St. Thomas – a series of internationally themed, produced and acclaimed films.
For the Birch Forum, which is presenting the series, it's a venture into new artistic territory.
Founded in 1995 and funded by Patti Cadby Birch in honor of her late husband, St. Thomas attorney Everett Birch, the forum has brought classical singers, lecturers and – for the last three years – the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra to St. Thomas to perform at the Reichhold Center for the Arts.
The mission of the forum is "to bring enriching and enlightening – but not necessarily commercially viable – productions and speakers to St. Thomas," a release states. "The mini-film festival marks a branching out for the Birch Forum from artistic performances and lectures to the world of films."
Opening the series at the Market Square East Cinema on Jan. 17 will be "The Day I Became a Woman," an Iranian film consisting of three contemporary vignettes about a 9-year-old girl, a wife and an old woman.
Second in the series, to be shown on Jan. 24, is "Lumumba," a biography of Patrice Lumumba, elected in 1960 as the first prime minister of the Congo after it gained independence from Belgium — a charismatic leader who would be assassinated just a few months after taking office.
Concluding the mini-festival will be "Life & Debt," an unconventional documentary examining the impact on Jamaican working-class people and government officials of policies instituted a quarter-century ago in the name of making the country economically self-sufficient in the global marketplace.
According to Thomas Brunt III, a member of the Birch Forum board, the impetus for the film series came from board colleague Tynnetta McIntosh. "We are always looking for opportunities to present different points of view in different mediums," Brunt said, "and we are always looking to do something in the community that won't otherwise be done."
A couple of months ago, McIntosh – who is off island and could not be reached for comment for this article – brought up the idea of presenting the three films. "It so happens that all of the films are of topical interest," Brunt said. "This will be a great opportunity to provide a forum for examining ideas the community may not have been exposed to in the general media."
In February 2000, the Reichhold Center presented the first Virgin Islands International Film and Video Festival, eight nights of feature films, documentaries and shorts. Among the offerings were full-length works by recognized filmmakers from the Virgin Islands, who were on hand to discuss their work. Among them was St. Thomian producer Lilibet Foster, whose film "Singing in Strings" was announced shortly afterward as an Academy Award nominee for best Feature Documentary.
Although it was intended that the Reichhold festival should become an annual event, that did not happen. The Reichhold, which had inaugurated weekly "Cinema Sundays" film showings in the fall of 1999, also discontinued that project after a year. Meantime, two weekend children's film and video festivals have been held on St. Thomas and St. John, presented by the V.I. Film Society, but there has been only commercial cinema fare aimed at an adult audience, other than the occasional one-shot fund-raiser such as the made in-Vietnam "Three Seasons."
All three showings will begin at 8 p.m. at Market Square East Cinema.
Tickets are $10 for individual films and $24 for all three. Packages and separate tickets can be ordered by telephone using a charge card, for pickup in advance at the Reichhold Center box office or the night of the showings at Market Square East. To make such purchases, call the Reichhold box office at 693-1559. The individual $10 tickets also can be purchased in advance at the University of the Virgin Islands St. Thomas campus bookstore, Parrot Fish Music, Modern Music stores, Wireless World, Interiors, Krystal & Gifts Galore and Red Hook Ace, all on St. Thomas; and at Connections on St. John. On a space-available basis, tickets will be sold at the cinema complex the nights of the showings.
All three of the films to be shown in January have won international awards and collected kudos from critics. Here is a look at each:
The Day I Became a Woman
Directed by Marziyeh Meshkini, this 78-minute Iranian film was made last year as the director's senior project in film school – and therein lies a story. The school from which Meshkini has since graduated was founded by her husband, award-winning Iranian film director Mohsen Makhmalbaf ("A Moment of Innocence," "Gabbeh"), mainly because their daughter wanted to drop out of the school to study filmmaking. The duly licensed film school operated for four years with a total of nine students – four family members and five friends – then basically went out of business.
The first segment focuses on a girl who is told on the morning of her ninth birthday that she now must wear the chador (veil) in public and can no longer have boys as friends. Knowing that the actual hour of her birth is yet to arrive, she negotiates with her grandmother to go out and play with her pals until the last minute, taking a stick with her to serve as a sundial to mark the time she must return.
The second focuses on a woman within a group engaged in a bicycle road race, all of them traditionally attired. As the protagonist pulls ahead of the field, her husband pursues her on horseback, other male family members in tow, demanding that she drop out of the race and, when she refuses, declaring that he is divorcing her. "No film chase has ever been more heart-wrenching," one reviewer wrote.
The third follows an elderly widow as she arrives in the city to spend her savings on a shopping spree – for kitchen appliances and other such luxuries that she has never before in her life possessed.
"The Day I Became a Woman" was hailed by The New York Times as "a stunner of a film" marking an "astonishing directorial debut" by Meshkini. It collected prizes last year for Best First Film at the Chicago International Film Festival and Best Director at the Thessaloniki Film Festival, and three awards at the Venice Film Festival.
Meshkini was Makhmalbaf's assistant in "The Silence" and "The Door" and their daughter Samira's assistant in "The Apple." For her own film, Makhmalbaf wrote the script and Samira served as assistant director. Her husband "gave me the outline of each tale; I wrote the dialogue, fleshed out the characters, and did the shooting script. Mohsen was shooting another project" at the same time.
Lumumba
Directed by Haitian-born filmmaker Raoul Peck, "Lumumba" stars Eriq Ebouaney as Lumumba and Alex Descas as his friend at first and later betrayer Joseph Mobutu. Made in 1999 in France, Belgium and Haiti, the 115-minute film won the Directors Fortnight Award at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival and the Best Feature prize at the Pan-African Film Festival in Los Angeles.
Writing in The New York Times, film critic Elvis Mitchell referred to "Lumumba" as "a great film and a great performance." He said Ebouaney's "contained fury" as Lumumba "ranks with the sinewy complication of Denzel Washington's workout as Malcolm X."
The film traces the brilliant and charismatic Patrice Emery Lumumba's rise to power in the Congo's process of gaining independence from Belgian colonialism – from postal clerk to prime minister in 1960, his brief months as government leader; and then his betrayal and brutal murder. The film brings home, one reviewer noted, that "As is so often used as a reason not to assassinate powerful and hated figures, his death made him a martyr
and led to further unrest."
"Lumumba" is a gripping political thriller, reviewers note. One web site offers this analysis: "Lumumba's vision of a united Africa gained him powerful enemies: the Belgian authorities, who wanted a much more paternal role in their former colony's affairs, and the CIA, who supported Lumumba's former friend Joseph Mobutu in order to protect U.S. business interests in Congo's vast resources and their upper hand in the Cold War power balance. The architects behind Lumumba's brutal death in 1961 … recently became known and are dramatized for the first time."
Life & Debt
A documentary filmed in Jamaica by producer-director Stephanie Black, "Life & Debt" is billed as an unapologetic look at the "new world order" from the point of view of Jamaican's working class people and government and policy officials "who see the reality of globalization from the ground up."
The film won the Critics Jury Prize at the 2001 Los Angeles Film Festival and has won critical acclaim, with Michael Thomas of the New York Observer calling it a "must-see film" and The New York Times describing it as "powerful."
Combining conventional documentary techniques with a stylized narrative framework, the film dissects the "mechanism of debt" that is destroying local agriculture and industry while substituting sweatshops and cheap imports as underpinnings of Jamaica's economy. With a voice-over narration written by Jamaica Kincaid, adapted from her book "A Small Place," the film looks at the complexity of international lending, structural adjustment policies and free trade in the context of the day-to-day realities of the people whose lives they impact – workers in Free Trade Zone factories, a chicken processing plant, a dairy business and the banana industry. The film weaves a tapestry of sequences focusing on the stories of individual Jamaicans whose strategies for survival and parameters of day-to-day existence are determined by U.S. and other external economic agendas.
There's a flashback via archival footage to Former Prime Minister Michael Manley in a post-independence speech condemning the International Monetary Fund and stating that "the Jamaican government will not accept anybody, anywhere in the world telling us what to do in our own country. Above all, we're not for sale." A year after being elected on a non-IMF platform in 1976, Manley signed Jamaica's first loan agreement with the IMF due to lack of viable alternatives – a pattern common throughout developing nations.
At present Jamaica owes over $4.5 billion to international lending agencies. Yet, the meaningful development that these loans were intended to produce has yet to manifest itself. The amount of foreign exchange that must be generated to meet interest payments and the structural adjustment policies which have been imposed with the loans have had a negative impact on the lives of the vast majority of the people. And now, with the North American Free Trade Act, dismal yet precious jobs are being lost to Mexico, Costa Rica and other nations.
"Life & Debt," according to one reviewer, "is a tribute to the ingenuity and strength of the people who defy the odds of survival, yet its primary aim is to inform young adult audiences in the U.S. of the impact these policies have on our neighbors abroad."

Dec. 29, 2001 – The deadline for those interested in competing in the 2002 V.I. Carnival Queen Pageant to submit applications has been extended to Jan. 11.
Application forms are available at the Carnival Committee office and at the Private Collection boutique in Port of $ale Mall.
Further information may be obtained by calling Carolyn at 776-0398 or the Carnival Committee office at 776-3112.

Dear Source,
The nature of this letter is to send a salute to my family in St. Thomas, USVI and to wish them a Happy New Year. This goes out to, my sisters, Carol James, Bridget Toddman, Doris George, and to all my nieces and nephews. Also, I 'd like to say hello to all Vanterpool's to whom I am related, Happy New Year's to all of you, too.
Thank you "Dear Source" for this opportunity and Happy New Year's to all of you, also.
Sincerely,
Karen L. Vanterpool
Bakersfield, Calif.

Dec. 29, 2001 – Saying his decision was based on the recent economic downturn, Gov. Charles W. Turnbull signed a bill into law late Friday night that rezones some 67 acres of property at Estate Botany Bay on St. Thomas's undeveloped western tip from R-1 (residential low density) to R-3 (residential medium density).
In requesting the zoning, the owners said they plan to develop a hotel, condominium and time-share units, and about 40 homesites on a total of about 366 acres there.
The Planning and Natural Resources Department had recommended at a Senate Committee of the Whole meeting on Dec. 6 that the government grant a variance – an exception – to the existing zoning, rather than rezone the property. However, on Dec. 11, the Senate voted, 8-7, in favor of rezoning and sent the bill to the governor.
A variance would have prevented the developers from drastically changing their plans or selling the property with the new zoning to other developers; rezoning carries no such restrictions.
Proponents of the development say local residents will finally have access to the pristine property, previously owned by the Corning family, which has been inaccessible to the public for years. Turnbull and other supporters of the development, such as Sen. Celestino A. White Sr., have said the development will be good for Virgin Islanders.
"I am … of the opinion," Turnbull wrote to Senate President Almando "Rocky" Liburd, "that all in all the development of Botany Bay is in the best interest of the people of the Virgin Islands."
White has said the rezoning will protect the environment and that taxi drivers and farmers in the area favor it.
Opponents have expressed grave concerns about the impact development may have on the delicate ecological balance and on archeological sites on the property.
However, the governor expressed faith that Botany Bay Partners LLP, which plans to build the $165 million resort, will protect the environment in the process. "The developers have committed to a project which will emphasize the ecological strengths of the areas as an intrical [sic] part of its appeal to residents," Turnbull wrote in his letter to Liburd.
The governor quoted officials of Botany Bay Partners as saying they would "commit that the density of the approximate 67 acres covered by the rezoning will be limited to 205 units and that the height of the units will not exceed two stories above cistern and maintenance levels" and that "the density on the approximate 366 acres known as Estate Botany Bay … will be limited to 301 units and that the heights of all units will not exceed two stories above cistern and maintenance levels."
Botany Bay Partners will need permits from the Coastal Zone Management Commission before it can move forward with its plans. That process will also involve public hearings.

Dec. 28, 2001 – Anyone who noticed four groupings of ungainly large brown cement objects huddled on the Charlotte Amalie waterfront apron on Christmas morning may have blamed it on too much eggnog the night before. Except that they were still there the next day, and the next.
Well, on Friday morning the odd-looking objects were transformed into things of beauty — a dozen planters that now embellish the waterfront eastward from across Veterans Drive from Palm Passage, filled with the tropical foliage of palm trees and silver buttonwood plants.
Port Authority workers brought in truckloads of the palms, which they transferred with an earth mover to the waiting planters. The buttonwood plants didn't pose any such logistical challenge.
Byron Todman, Port Authority senior engineer, said the planters are part of an overall waterfront beautification effort – but should not be confused with the waterfront apron beautification project awarded to the Yssis Design Group by the VIPA board last June. That project is still in the contract stage, he said.
Meanwhile, another St. Thomas waterfront enhancement initiative ran into trouble earlier this week. The newly refurbished Emil White monument, surrounded by planters and benches, was partially up-ended when a water line abutting the structure had to be replaced by the Water and Power Authority. Todman said he expects the monument, across from the USO building, to be repaired soon.

Dec. 28, 2001 – Because of a problem with Government Employees Retirement System payroll deductions, retirees must make their own payments to various agencies and businesses for this pay period, Laurence E. Bryan, GERS administrator, said in a press release distributed Friday.
A technical problem is to blame and it involves only checks dated Dec. 28, Bryan said.
Retirees must make their own payments to GERS for auto, land and personal loans; to the Personnel Division, V.I. Housing Authority or Water and Power Authority for health and life insurance premiums; to Commoloco and Island Finance for respective loans; and to the appropriate entity for child support.
The press release stated that anyone with questions should call GERS at 776-7703, ext. 4202, 4919 or 4212.

Dec. 28, 2001 – Although the Public Works Department is in the midst of revamping its waste oil collection system, the public still can dispose of oil at igloos and collection drums on St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John and Water Island.
On St. Thomas, however, only the igloo at the Public Works heavy equipment yard in Sub Base is available for do-it-yourself oil changers. It is open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, excluding holidays. The igloos at the Bovoni landfill are closed because they were not properly maintained, according to Geraldine Smith, who recently began work as special waste program coordinator at Public Works.
On Water Island, a 55-gallon waste-oil collection drum at the transfer station is open. On St. Croix, waste oil can be dropped off at the Public Works facility in Concordia, outside Frederiksted, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. On St. John, waste oil can be dropped off at the igloo inside the gate at the Susannaberg transfer station, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 7 a.m. to noon on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.
Smith said Public Works is upgrading its waste-oil program so it will conform to federal guidelines,a project that should be finished in about three months. She said Public Works has secured some of the required permits from the Planning and Natural Resources Department but needs more site and vehicle permits, as well as certification for one driver to deal with hazardous materials. The department also needs to develop an oil spill prevention plan, she said.
Both Smith and Ira Wade, Public Works deputy commissioner for St. John, said the public needs educating on what can and cannot go into the igloos. What can go in is simple: only waste oil.
Antifreeze, gasoline, diesel fuel, cooking oil and rags should not be placed in the containers. The collected waste oil must pass a test for those contaminants before it can be burned as fuel. On St. John, "Our oil has never passed the test," Wade said.
Smith said the situation on St. Thomas is just as dire. She said the public needs educating about how to use the igloos. "A lot of people want to do what is right," she said.

Dec. 28, 2001 – Although the Public Works Department is in the midst of revamping its waste oil collection system, the public still can dispose of oil at igloos and collection drums on St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John and Water Island.
On St. Thomas, however, only the igloo at the Public Works heavy equipment yard in Sub Base is available for do-it-yourself oil changers. It is open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, excluding holidays. The igloos at the Bovoni landfill are closed because they were not properly maintained, according to Geraldine Smith, who recently began work as special waste program coordinator at Public Works.
On Water Island, a 55-gallon waste-oil collection drum at the transfer station is open. On St. Croix, waste oil can be dropped off at the Public Works facility in Concordia, outside Frederiksted, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. On St. John, waste oil can be dropped off at the igloo inside the gate at the Susannaberg transfer station, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 7 a.m. to noon on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.
Smith said Public Works is upgrading its waste-oil program so it will conform to federal guidelines,a project that should be finished in about three months. She said Public Works has secured some of the required permits from the Planning and Natural Resources Department but needs more site and vehicle permits, as well as certification for one driver to deal with hazardous materials. The department also needs to develop an oil spill prevention plan, she said.
Both Smith and Ira Wade, Public Works deputy commissioner for St. John, said the public needs educating on what can and cannot go into the igloos. What can go in is simple: only waste oil.
Antifreeze, gasoline, diesel fuel, cooking oil and rags should not be placed in the containers. The collected waste oil must pass a test for those contaminants before it can be burned as fuel. On St. John, "Our oil has never passed the test," Wade said.
Smith said the situation on St. Thomas is just as dire. She said the public needs educating about how to use the igloos. "A lot of people want to do what is right," she said.