Dec. 20, 2001 – Crucian businessman Chuck Ulrich put out a call for help in his ongoing efforts to bring New York City firefighters to the Virgin Islands for a relaxing vacation, and St. Thomas senator Carlton Dowe has answered it.
A career fireman and graduate of the National Fire Academy who became the youngest person ever to serve as fire chief of the St. Thomas-St. John district, Dowe brightened at the prospect of lending a hand. "I'll be happy to do anything I can," he said. "Just let me know what."
And Ulrich is more than happy to comply with that request.
Ulrich, who owns Blue Water Travel on St. Croix, is the driving force behind a project in progress to bring New York firefighters who worked at the World Trade Center to the territory for some rest and relaxation. Thanksgiving week, he and a host of other St. Croix business people, including Carl Gotts of Gotts Insurance and his wife, Marti, entertained five firefighters and their families — 22 people altogether.
So far, Ulrich has another 85 people, firefighters and their families, booked for visits into November of next year. While the November visitors stayed on St. Croix, others will be taking a look at St. Thomas and St. John, too.
Dowe has signed on to get some St. Thomas firefighters to join him as a welcoming committee for Kimberly and Keith Murphy on Jan. 19 when they reach St. Thomas via the V.I. Fast Ferry from St. Croix. The Murphys will spend the night on St. Thomas, where they already have hotel and dining accommodations, then leave the next day for a two-day stay on St. John, after which they'll return to St. Croix.
Dowe told Ulrich he will see to the couple's ground transport on St. Thomas and St. John and ferry transportation to and from St. John. And he will pick up from then on with the ensuing visits of the firefighters throughout the year.
He may get to welcome the first St. Thomas firefighter to take part in the program in April or May. Vivian Lomacang, a native St. Thomian, is an EMT — emergency medical technician– with the New York Fire Department. Lomacang, who was on the scene at the WTC from day one, responded to Ulrich's invitation, which he sent to the NYFD's Family Crisis Center. She told Ulrich that she is "really in need of a rest."
The invitation to New York's firefighters also is being extended on the Internet at a web site that includes acknowledgment of the sponsorships, contributions and volunteer efforts that are making the project possible. The site, www.st-croix.net/firemen.html, also includes a gallery of photographs taken while the first wave of firefighters was visiting St. Croix in November. The photo at the top of this story is from that collection.

Dec. 22, 2001 – Two-and-a-half-year-old Rasheem Todman of Tutu died late Wednesday from injuries sustained in a beating.
Deputy Police Chief Theodore Carty said Friday that staff from the Human Services Department had taken the child to Roy L. Schneider Hospital after observing he had been abused.
"He died from internal injuries," Schneider Hospital spokesman Amos Carty said Friday.
He had entered the hospital earlier Wednesday and after surgery was placed in intensive care.
Carty said the boy had been previously abused but police were called into the case only after he died.
However, a report Saturday in the Daily News said police had been called in four months ago when the child turned up at the hospital with a broken wrist and burns. According to the report, the police investigation concluded Rasheem's injuries were accidental.
Carty said the case is still under investigation, but the police won't take action until the autopsy is completed.
Dilsa Capdeville, director of Kidscope Inc., a child advocacy organization, said that at least 35 children have died as a result of child abuse or neglect across the territory since the late 1970s. One of the best known cases was that of Shaquanna Arnette, a 2-year-old who died in 1992 after she was badly beaten, molested and burned on a stove.
Capdeville said her murderer was let out of jail after serving only nine months because at that time, child abuse was not a felony. Shaquanna's death spurred the Legislature to change the law.
"But calluses have grown over the heart of the community," Capdeville said.
She called on the community to again take up the cause of abused children. However, she cautioned that parents also need help so they can avoid situations that lead to child abuse. Often abusers have themselves been abused, she said.
People in the helping professions such as teachers need to watch for signs of abuse and alert the authorities, she added.
She called on parents to show understanding when their children misbehave.
Human Services Commissioner Sedonie Halbert could not be reached for comment.

Dec. 21, 2001 – Most people look at newspaper photographs of Afghanistan — in print or online — to keep up with the events taking place there.
Jayne Winter of St. Thomas looks at them to keep up with her son.
Damon Winter, who grew up on the island from age 6 until he graduated from All Saints Cathedral School in 1993, is a photojournalist with the Dallas Morning News. For the last month he has been on assignment in Afghanistan.
"His photos have been running almost daily on the cover of the newspaper," Jayne Winter, advertising director for A.H. Riise Stores, said Friday. "And for many days they also were featured in slide shows" posted on the newspaper's web site.
A "slide show" is a set of photos that examine a theme; clicking on an arrow in the corner of a frame allows the viewer to see the pictures in succession with explanatory captions. Damon's Afghanistan slide shows have covered such topics as lack of health care in Kabul, the villages and expanses of the Shimali Plains, Taliban prisoners and the Al-Qaeda caves in the Tora Bora region of the Black Mountains.
"I am very proud of him and of his sensitive and poignant portrayals of a part of Afghanistan to which few of us are privy by way of the popular media," his mother said.
"Although the war is effectively over, he will remain in Afghanistan covering the transitional government's inauguration and the peacekeeping forces' arrival and activities on and after Dec. 22," she added.
For a young man who didn't have a clue that he would embark on a career in photojournalism until his mother gave him a camera for Christmas his junior year in college, Damon Winter has come far and fast in the field.
He was majoring in environmental science at Columbia University in New York City. After he got the camera, "he just went with it," his mother recalls, taking photography classes at Columbia even though he didn't change his major.
After graduating in 1997, he took seven months off to travel — first to such staple stops as London and Greece, but then on to Turkey, the Middle East, Nepal and India, where he spent several months.
He joined the staff of the Dallas Morning News two and a half years ago — his first and only full-time job as a photojournalist — after having interned there and earlier at newspapers in Oxnard, Calif., and Indianapolis.
This year, at the age of 26, he was one of the top prize-winners in the annual Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar photography competition, taking first place in the pictorial category for a shot of great egrets, second place in portrait/personality for a female study he titled "Sarah Islam," honorable mention in sports-picture story for his black-and-white scenes from the Angola Prison Rodeo at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, and third place for best portfolio. "Sarah Islam" also was published in the August issue of Communication Arts magazine.
Soon after the Sept. 11 attacks, Damon told his mother his newspaper was considering sending him to Pakistan. "That was when the war was just starting, and I was really worried, really scared," she recalled. But then someone else went instead. "By the time his real assignment came up, I had accepted the idea," she said. "It's a great opportunity for him career wise and life-experience wise. I didn't want him to go, but I didn't want him to miss out on it."
Technology being what it is these days, they have been able to stay in touch on a fairly regular basis. "He shoots all of his work with a digital camera and uploads the images using a satellite phone," she said. "He also carries a laptop computer and sends e-mail using a group link. He works 18-hour days, so his messages are short, but they're all I need to know he's OK."
She spoke to him Friday, "and he said it's not going well for many of the journalists in getting access to the inauguration events, because the security is so high."
Following are links to Damon's recent photography in Afghanistan of Al-Qaeda prisoners, Kabul after the fall, and in the caves of Al-Qaeda.
These links are to his Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar photo contest winning works: "Great Egrets", "Sarah Islam" and "Angola Prison Rodeo".
This one is to pictures in a multimedia presentation on a firehouse ladder company in New York's Chinatown section that he photographed for the Dallas Morning News following the attack on the World Trade Center. It's titled "Attack on America: We're a Different Breed".
"I must drive all my friends and co-workers crazy with all my talk about Damon, but I am so proud of him," Jayne Winter said of her son, whose 27th birthday is Christmas Eve. "As afraid as I have often felt at the thought of him being so far away, and in a place that could be very dangerous, I have come to trust that he has been given a mission — to bring images to the world that it won't see in the headline news, a glimpse of what life is like for the 'other' Afghanis.
"He says Afghanistan is beautiful and the people are gracious and hospitable — they insist that he sit and take tea and cookies before he gets down to work."
When he calls, she says, "although he is often tired from the long day's work, he recounts his experiences with sensitivity to the conditions of life around him, and his appreciation for the kindness and generosity of those he has come into contact with along his journey. I'm really thankful for his having this experience, and for the stories and insights he has shared with me along the way."

Second of two parts
Dec. 21, 2001 – Radical changes in the state of the cruise industry in the Caribbean were evident in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, but many of those changes had been in the making well before that.
At the 8th annual conference and trade show of the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association, held in Aruba in October, Carnival CEO Micky Arison delivered the State of the Industry address. Reflecting on the events of Sept. 11, he told the gathering, "Better times are ahead for all of us, and we look forward to being with you this week and answering any questions you may have to improve the situation for our industry and your tourism sector as well."
R-CCA president Michele Paige said in an interview afterward that the conference did not focus on the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. "The whole purpose was to talk to our partners about their business," she said, "to help them to be pro-active, to be able to work together … to ensure that the cruise lines stay in business and our partners stay in business toward that goal."
Toward that end, cruise lines had already announced plans prior to Sept. 11 to begin repositioning a number of ships cruising the Caribbean so they would depart from mainland ports that are accessible by driving and away from the East Coast. New Orleans, Tampa, Galveston and Houston were cited, all allowing for easy access to established Western Caribbean ports of call — Cancun, the Caymans, Jamaica. The cruise industry's concern was not with people's fear of flying, but with their pinched pocketbooks in an economic downturn. After Sept. 11, the fear factor became an added incentive.
"I don't have a crystal ball," Paige told the Source on Oct. 24, "but I can tell you the U.S. Virgin Islands is deemed a safe destination. What better place to feel like you're safe? Still, this is the only time in my life that I don't know what to do to fill the ships. The [discounted] prices that the cruise industry is charging are unprecedented."
She said that in the month after Sept. 11, R-CCL ships "were sailing at about 90 percent occupied, versus 105 percent a year ago." She explained that occupancy is calculated from the number of lower berths in cabins; when upper berths also are occupied, the figure can be more than 100 percent.
In congressional testimony Oct. 17 before the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, J. Michael Frye, president of the International Council of Cruise Lines, pointed out that "the cruise industry is a significant contributor to the U.S. economy, and any negative economic downturn experience has a ripple effect on jobs and other related industries."
Further, he testified, "The cruise industry is the second-largest purchaser of airline tickets, spending over $2.1 billion in airline tickets last year. With the impact that recent events have had on the airline industry, the cruise industry in particular has been disproportionately impacted, since we are so dependent on the airlines for our passengers."
On Sept. 12, he said, "Cruise line reservation offices were overwhelmed by requests for cancellations, and new bookings were nearly nonexistent." But in the five weeks that followed, he continued, "We have experienced a positive trend in passenger bookings, with many lines reporting reservation volume ranging at 70 percent to 80 percent of the pre-attack levels."
One of the most visible steps the industry took to foster consumer confidence, Frye told the committee, was, along with the airline industry, beefing up safety and security procedures. At the same time, he said, "Many cruise lines have also implemented travel agency incentives, such as raising travel agent commissions, to motivate cruise sales and to show support for a distribution system that is suffering terribly in the wake of this national tragedy."
On Nov. 13, Edward Thomas, chief executive of The West Indian Co., told members of the Advertising Club of the Virgin Islands that cruise passenger arrivals dropped 18 percent in September from the same month in 2000, but were down just 3.5 percent in October compared to October 2000. He said total arrivals to date for this year were 12 percent ahead of last year. Through July, they had been up 14 percent.
At the F-CCA conference in Aruba in October, Thomas said, it was evident that the cruise lines' previous process of deliberating for a year before making itinerary changes was out the window. "Now they are making them up in 15 minutes," he said. Personally, he added, "Things are so fluid now that I officially refuse to predict anything anymore."

Implications for the planned Crown Bay development
Controversy has been raging for the last two months on St. Thomas over the letter of intent agreed to by the Port Authority board in August that calls for Royal Caribbean International and Carnival Corp. to undertake a $31 million project — extending the Crown Bay dock, and developing and then operating a shopping center on adjacent property. VIPA would lease the land to the cruise lines for 50 years and let them "retain" 75 percent of port tariffs for the first 20 years. It also would give the two companies preferential berthing at the expanded dock.
It is widely believed in the cruise industry that passenger traffic will rebound from the falloff since the terrorist attacks. Firm in that faith, there is near-universal agreement that additional berthing space is needed for St. Thomas, as the WICO dock can accommodate only three mega-ships and Crown Bay at present cannot berth any of them, and thus any overflow on a busy day must anchor in the inner and outer St. Thomas harbor areas and tender the passengers ashore.
But WICO's Thomas and the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce have come out strongly against the development of the shopping center — which they view as direct competition with downtown and Havensight shopping — and also to implicit control by the cruise lines of access to the Crown Bay dock. WICO also is concerned about cruise traffic at slow times of the year being diverted from its own dock to the Crown Bay facility.
A chamber of commerce position paper opposing the Crown Bay deal also said "it makes no sense to use government tax revenues to subsidize a retail project at Crown Bay that will result in a loss of V.I. government tax revenues" from downtown and Havensight businesses, as well as from port taxes and fees. Further, Havensight Mall is owned by the Government Employees Retirement System, which already is facing an uncertain financial future.
Although VIPA as a semi-autonomous agency does not require legislative approval for its actions, Sen. Carlton Dowe has pointed out that the Crown Bay construction work will require permitting by the Coastal Zone Management Commission, and the Legislature must approve all CZM permits. Given all these areas of contention, it is impossible to say when or if the project will move forward, despite a timetable in the letter of intent calling for work on the dock to begin within a few months.
Now, as the controversy continues to simmer, the question arises as to what will become of the whole project if Royal Caribbean merges with P&O Princess — or, alternatively, if Carnival does so. Royal Caribbean and Carnival are locked in what promises to be a bitter battle for the hearts and votes of the P&O Princess shareholders, perhaps in January, perhaps not until later next year. No matter which one emerges triumphant, the prospects of the two companies partnering afterward on a $31 million, 50-year Crown Bay development project appear far from certain.
Carnival and Royal Caribbean now account for more than 80 percent of all cruise traffic to St. Thomas and St. Croix, according to the chamber of commerce position paper opposing the Crown Bay deal.
Implications for the Long-Term Operating
Agreement
In August, the V.I. government announced a long-term operating agreement with the F-CCA and its 13 member lines. The pact was the fruit of more than two years of labor by a Cruise Ship Task Force comprising local government, local business, F-CCA and member cruise line representatives. The agreement is, practically speaking, a tradeoff on the part of the cruise companies for the Virgin Islands agreeing not to increase per-passenger port taxes and fees to $10 from the current $7.50 in the next five years.
One thing it calls for is a 15 percent a year increase in passenger arrivals on St. Croix, contingent on the V.I. government creating and implementing a plan to market St. Croix within six months of signing the agreement. Cruise line senior sales and marketing officials were prepared last fall to make site visits coordinated by the Tourism Department and the St. Croix Chamber of Commerce as the first step in developing a list of onshore activities and events for passengers and getting infrastructure improvements made.
The agreement also calls for a 10 percent annual increase in summer traffic to St. Thomas and the targeting of three to four calls per week to St. Croix during the winter season. It specifies penalties to be assessed the F-CCA of $3.75 per passenger shortfall from the agreed-upon increase for St. Croix annually and for St. Thomas in the summer.
Additionally, the agreement provides that the "cruise line or lines" to be selected by the Port Authority "to undertake seaside and land-based projects would commit to the incremental passenger flow" to enable VIPA to finance its Crown Bay project. This was spelled out more than a year ago, before VIPA, Royal Caribbean and Carnival entered into agreement on what is a significantly different approach to developing Crown Bay.
In August, after the schedule of 2001-02 calls to V.I. ports was released, the F-CCA's Paige said the fact that calls to St. Croix not only didn't increase but in fact were cut by a third did not violate the spirit of the agreement. For one thing, she pointed out, the schedule was finalized well before the agreement was. But additionally, she said, "One of the key ingredients we had required was a very substantial marketing of St. Croix by the V.I. that has never taken place … Our executives were ready to do it."
Royal Caribbean and Carnival officials have implied that the Crown Bay dock expansion and retail development project is a condition of their continuing to send their ships to St. Thomas. This veiled threat to take their business elsewhere should the project not move forward prompted John de Jongh Jr., St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce president, to comment on Nov. 21, "This tells me that they have no intention of honoring the long-term operating agreement."
De Jongh, who co-chaired the task force that drafted the agreement, also said he had yet to receive a copy of the executed version, although "we understand it has been signed by all parties," the last of whom, by protocol, is Gov. Charles W. Turnbull.
Paige said Turnbull attended the conference in Aruba and signed the agreement there on Oct. 3 — something never announced in the Virgin Islands.
According to an August Government House release, the agreement was "finalized" in September 2000. It was approved by the 23rd Legislature in its closing hours in December 2000 as part of the 2001 Omnibus Act and sent to the governor. Some disagreements between WICO and VIPA emerged earlier this year but were then resolved. The agreement's final form, Paige said, is little changed from the version approved by the Legislature a year ago, except that references to cruise line commitments to contribute to V.I. scholarship and charitable programs were separated out into another document.
On Friday, members of the VIPA, WICO and St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce boards were to submit their respective position papers to the governor on the Crown Bay development proposal. How Turnbull will assess the information and arguments presented therein and what action he will take as a result remains to be seen.
Turnbull requested the position papers at a meeting with the boards' representatives Monday at Government House on St. Thomas. His attorney general, Iver Stridiron, a VIPA board member, noted afterward, "We are dealing with government property, and ultimately the governor would have to give his blessing."

The Enid M. Baa Public Library announced "Bilingual Evenings at Baa" will start Jan. 8, and continue through March on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in the main reading room.
Community members are invited for an hour of conversation in Spanish and English. Spanish speakers wishing to improve their English language skills and English speakers wanting to improve their Spanish language skills will join in conversation about language, food, culture, history and other topics. Working in pairs, participants will help each other improve their pronunciation, learn new vocabulary and idioms, and foster appreciation of their native languages and cultures. Spanish only will be spoken for 30 minutes; English only for 30 minutes, according to the release.
The Baa library is open those evenings until 8 p.m.

Dec. 21, 2002 – The Enid M. Baa Public Library has announced extended hours beginning Jan. 8, 2002. Call Diane Moody, Librarian, at 774-0630 for more information.
Adult section on the second floor:
–Monday and Friday – 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
–Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday – 9 a.m. to 8 p.m
Children's Room on the Main street level:
–Monday through Friday – 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
–Saturday – 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. (for the Children's Reading Program)
Activities:
Bilingual Evenings at Baa: hour of conversation in Spanish and English.
–Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the main reading room.
–Program ended in March; may be resumed if demand.

Dec. 20, 2001 – Crucian businessman Chuck Ulrich put out a call for help in his ongoing efforts to bring New York City firefighters to the Virgin Islands for a relaxing vacation, and St. Thomas senator Carlton Dowe has answered it.
A career fireman and graduate of the National Fire Academy who became the youngest person ever to serve as fire chief of the St. Thomas-St. John district, Dowe brightened at the prospect of lending a hand. "I'll be happy to do anything I can," he said. "Just let me know what."
And Ulrich is more than happy to comply with that request.
Ulrich, who owns Blue Water Travel on St. Croix, is the driving force behind a project in progress to bring New York firefighters who worked at the World Trade Center to the territory for some rest and relaxation. Thanksgiving week, he and a host of other St. Croix business people, including Carl Gotts of Gotts Insurance and his wife, Marti, entertained five firefighters and their families — 22 people altogether.
So far, Ulrich has another 85 people, firefighters and their families, booked for visits into November of next year. While the November visitors stayed on St. Croix, others will be taking a look at St. Thomas and St. John, too.
Dowe has signed on to get some St. Thomas firefighters to join him as a welcoming committee for Kimberly and Keith Murphy on Jan. 19 when they reach St. Thomas via the V.I. Fast Ferry from St. Croix. The Murphys will spend the night on St. Thomas, where they already have hotel and dining accommodations, then leave the next day for a two-day stay on St. John, after which they'll return to St. Croix.
Dowe told Ulrich he will see to the couple's ground transport on St. Thomas and St. John and ferry transportation to and from St. John. And he will pick up from then on with the ensuing visits of the firefighters throughout the year.
He may get to welcome the first St. Thomas firefighter to take part in the program in April or May. Vivian Lomacang, a native St. Thomian, is an EMT — emergency medical technician– with the New York Fire Department. Lomacang, who was on the scene at the WTC from day one, responded to Ulrich's invitation, which he sent to the NYFD's Family Crisis Center. She told Ulrich that she is "really in need of a rest."
The invitation to New York's firefighters also is being extended on the Internet at a web site that includes acknowledgment of the sponsorships, contributions and volunteer efforts that are making the project possible. The site, www.st-croix.net/firemen.html, also includes a gallery of photographs taken while the first wave of firefighters was visiting St. Croix in November. The photo at the top of this story is from that collection.

Dec. 20, 2001 – Crucian businessman Chuck Ulrich put out a call for help in his ongoing efforts to bring New York City firefighters to the Virgin Islands for a relaxing vacation, and St. Thomas senator Carlton Dowe has answered it.
A career fireman and graduate of the National Fire Academy who became the youngest person ever to serve as fire chief of the St. Thomas-St. John district, Dowe brightened at the prospect of lending a hand. "I'll be happy to do anything I can," he said. "Just let me know what."
And Ulrich is more than happy to comply with that request.
Ulrich, who owns Blue Water Travel on St. Croix, is the driving force behind a project in progress to bring New York firefighters who worked at the World Trade Center to the territory for some rest and relaxation. Thanksgiving week, he and a host of other St. Croix business people, including Carl Gotts of Gotts Insurance and his wife, Marti, entertained five firefighters and their families — 22 people altogether.
So far, Ulrich has another 85 people, firefighters and their families, booked for visits into November of next year. While the November visitors stayed on St. Croix, others will be taking a look at St. Thomas and St. John, too.
Dowe has signed on to get some St. Thomas firefighters to join him as a welcoming committee for Kimberly and Keith Murphy on Jan. 19 when they reach St. Thomas via the V.I. Fast Ferry from St. Croix. The Murphys will spend the night on St. Thomas, where they already have hotel and dining accommodations, then leave the next day for a two-day stay on St. John, after which they'll return to St. Croix.
Dowe told Ulrich he will see to the couple's ground transport on St. Thomas and St. John and ferry transportation to and from St. John. And he will pick up from then on with the ensuing visits of the firefighters throughout the year.
He may get to welcome the first St. Thomas firefighter to take part in the program in April or May. Vivian Lomacang, a native St. Thomian, is an EMT — emergency medical technician– with the New York Fire Department. Lomacang, who was on the scene at the WTC from day one, responded to Ulrich's invitation, which he sent to the NYFD's Family Crisis Center. She told Ulrich that she is "really in need of a rest."
The invitation to New York's firefighters also is being extended on the Internet at a web site that includes acknowledgment of the sponsorships, contributions and volunteer efforts that are making the project possible. The site, www.st-croix.net/firemen.html, also includes a gallery of photographs taken while the first wave of firefighters was visiting St. Croix in November. The photo at the top of this story is from that collection.

Dec. 21, 2001`- Delegate to Congress Donna Christian-Christensen announced today that her offices will be closed from Friday, Dec. 21, through Tuesday, Jan. 1, for the celebration of the Christmas and New Year's Day holidays. The office will re-open on Wednesday, Jan. 2, In addition, the St. Croix office will close on Friday, Jan. 4, for the Children's Parade Day. The St. Thomas and Washington, D.C. offices will be opened on Jan. 4.
Christensen said that office voice mail will be monitored, so if there are important or emergency messages, they will be received and answered.

Dec. 21, 2001 – Delegate to Congress Donna Christian-Christensen announced today that her offices will be closed from Friday, Dec. 21, through Tuesday, Jan. 1, for the celebration of the Christmas and New Year's Day holidays. the office will re-open on Wednesday, Jan. 2. In addition, the St. Croix office will closed on Friday, Jan. 4, for the Children's Parade Day. The St. Thomas and Washington, D.C. offices will be opened on Jan. 4.
Christensen said that office voice mail will be monitored, so if there are important or emergency messages, they will be received and answered.