Sept. 14, 2001 – Virgin Islands airport operations began to approach normalcy by the end of the day Friday, for the first time since Tuesday, when when the federal government halted all civilian air travel in the United States after terrorist attacks on the mainland.
American Airlines flights bound for Miami and San Juan left Cyril E. King Airport on St. Thomas between 4 and 4:30 p.m. Friday, each about an hour late. Delays are to be expected with new security measures put in place since Tuesday, airline industry officials have warned.
The 172-seat American jet that was grounded at the St. Thomas airport after its affival on Tuesday is now scheduled to depart at 1:25 p.m. Saturday, as the airline has no scheduled Friday service from St. Thomas to New York. The flight had been scheduled to leave at 5 p.m. Thursday but was canceled after all three New York airports were again closed.
At the Henry E. Rohlsen Airport on St. Croix, American's Miami flight departed on time and all other traffic was moving normally, according to an airport source.
Delta Air Lines station manager Bob DeLugo said Delta was back on a regular schedule, with its 3:30 p.m. Atlanta flight departing on time Friday.
The federal government authorized airports around the country to reopen at 11 a.m. Thursday, provided that new federally mandated security measures were approved. The two V.I. facilities were cleared to reopen at 2 p.m. Thursday.
United Airlines and US Airways canceled connecting San Juan service into the Virgin Islands Friday, telling customers to call their 800 numbers for re-booking.
According to airport sources, American Eagle, Cape Air and Air St. Thomas are flying regular schedules. LIAT wasn't flying Friday, and their office wasn't open Friday afternoon. Air Sunshine is expected to resume flights on Sunday or Monday.
Nationwide, industry officials are urging passengers to call the airlines on which they are ticketed or check on the Internet to confirm that their flights are in operation before going to the airport — and to plan on getting there at least two hours before their scheduled departure time. Passengers must have standard tickets issued by the airlines in order to board flights.

Sept. 14, 2001 — Can an ugly duckling Manhattan teenager suddenly become the princess of a small European country? For those who genuinely want to know, "The Princess Diaries" will tell all.
Called everything from a "charming Cinderella tale," to a "failed Pygmalion," the film is about
fifteen-year-old Mia (Anne Hathaway), who is having an absolutely terrible time groping her way through adolescence, until one day when she learns she is actually the princess of Genovia, a little-known European country, without a ruler since her father has died. Mia must decide by her sixteenth birthday whether to leave New York, where she lives with her artist mother, or move to Genovia and rule supreme over the tiny kingdom.
It's not the sort of decision most of us are faced with. What to do? Revert to an old score.. Enter grandmother Clarisse (Julie Andrews) who will make Mia into a princess, ala Henry Higgins, or else. Andrews purportedly lends a little class to the film, if not to Mia. She is her own luminous self, according to critics. However, she can't break into song, as we might want her to do, because of a botched vocal operation three years ago.
The almost two-hour long movie is directed by Garry Marshall. It is rated G.
It is playing at Market Square East.

Sept. 14, 2001 – Some Virgin Islanders are planning to respond in groups to the candlelight vigil initiative promoted across the nation and around the world via via e-mail in the last 24 hours.
The call is for people everywhere to light candles at 7 p.m. Friday to honor those who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks on the mainland Tuesday and to show the solidarity of the American people and their supporters who "stand united" and "will not tolerate terrorism."
A candlelight ceremony will be held at Cruz Bay Park on St. John. Realtor B.J. Harris asked that those planning to attend bring their own candles.
The youth fellowship of the St. Thomas Reformed Church will hold a vigil at Smith Bay, Pastor Jeff Gargano said.
At the regular 7:30 p.m. Friday service at the St. Thomas Synagogue, there will be a candlelight observance, Trudie Prior, president of the Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas, said.
E-mail messages calling for participation in the vigil ask everyone, everywhere under the American flag to "step out your door, stop your car, or step out of your establishment, and light a candle" at 7 p.m. Friday. The message continues: "Please pass this to everyone on your e-mail list. We need to reach everyone across the United States quickly."
The Source has been contacted by Virgin Islanders who have received e-mails from California, Alabama, Georgia, New York and Alaska. Prior said she had gotten more than 14 messages from the mainland since Friday morning.

Sept. 14, 2001 – American flags have flown off the shelves at stores across the territory, as they have nationwide since Tuesday's terrorist attacks, several retailers said Friday.
"I have less than a handful left," Hal Ulrich, manager at Island Marine on St. Thomas, said. He and others said residents are heeding the national call to show patriotism and solidarity by displaying the flag.
"They started moving the afternoon of the problem," Larry Benson, a clerk at Budget Marine on St. Thomas, said.
At Gallows Bay Hardware on St. Croix, clerk David Thomas said he has had more than a hundred calls this week from people wanting to know if he had any flags in stock. He did, but they quickly sold out.
Kate Swan, an owner of St. John Hardware, said she and her partners had talked about stocking up for the Fourth of July but didn't do so. Now, they wish they had, because residents want to buy them. She said she expects a few flags she begged from a St. Thomas store to arrive shortly, but those ordered from her supplier will take weeks to get here — especially with the interruption in postal and other package deliveries from the mainland.
"And they’re backed up," Swan said of her supplier.
Flags are starting to pop up on poles, buildings and lawns around the territory. Thomas said he spotted about 20 during his four-block walk to work.
"I think they want people to realize we are part of American society," Thomas said of those who are showing the colors.
Vilmagda Edwards at Caribe Do-It Center on St. Croix said she wished she had a flag to display to show support for the people that died. "And I want peace," she added.

Sept. 14, 2001 – The territory's mail system is up and running, but residents need to mail early if they want it to depart the same day it’s mailed, Postmaster Louis A. Jackson said Friday.
"We are fully operational," he said.
However, the U.S. Postal Service cannot guarantee that express mail will arrive in the time it normally takes. Jackson said mail leaving here will be flown to the mainland and then trucked across the country to its destination.
He said mail arrived in St. Thomas and St. Croix via chartered plane from Puerto Rico early in the morning. From St. Thomas, it went via barge to St. John.
First-class mail from the mainland is now being transported here by chartered plane. Fourth-class, which includes magazines and catalogues, has always gone by ship.
Delivery of first-class mail between St. Thomas and St. Croix as well as to Puerto Rico and mainland destinations ground to a halt when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
All air traffic was halted until midday Sept. 13. However, the Federal Aviation Administration mandated that no mail or packages could travel on passenger-carrying airlines. There have been no reports of when that prohibition will be lifted.
At Federal Express, assistant manager Mauray George said the company expects flights to begin arriving and departing in St. Thomas and St. Croix on Friday, Sept. 14.
Winston E. Smith, supervisor at United Parcel Service, said he also expects two flights in St. Thomas and St. Croix to arrive and depart on Sept. 14.
"We have packages backed up here," he said.

Sept. 14, 2001 – The territory's mail system is up and running, but residents need to mail early if they want it to depart the same day it’s mailed, Postmaster Louis A. Jackson said Friday.
"We are fully operational," he said.
However, the U.S. Postal Service cannot guarantee that express mail will arrive in the time it normally takes. Jackson said mail leaving here will be flown to the mainland and then trucked across the country to its destination.
He said mail arrived in St. Thomas and St. Croix via chartered plane from Puerto Rico early in the morning. From St. Thomas, it went via barge to St. John.
First-class mail from the mainland is now being transported here by chartered plane. Fourth-class, which includes magazines and catalogues, has always gone by ship.
Delivery of first-class mail between St. Thomas and St. Croix as well as to Puerto Rico and mainland destinations ground to a halt when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
All air traffic was halted until midday Sept. 13. However, the Federal Aviation Administration mandated that no mail or packages could travel on passenger-carrying airlines. There have been no reports of when that prohibition will be lifted.
At Federal Express, assistant manager Mauray George said the company expects flights to begin arriving and departing in St. Thomas and St. Croix on Friday, Sept. 14.
Winston E. Smith, supervisor at United Parcel Service, said he also expects two flights in St. Thomas and St. Croix to arrive and depart on Sept. 14.
"We have packages backed up here," he said.

Sept. 14, 2001 – The mail system throughout the territory is up and running, but residents need to mail early if they want it to depart the same day it’s mailed Postmaster Louis A. Jackson said.
"We are fully operational," he said.
However, the U.S. Postal Service cannot guarantee that express mail will arrive in the time it normally takes. Jackson said mail leaving here will be trucked across the county once it reaches the mainland by plane.
He said mail arrived in St. Thomas and St. Croix via chartered plane from Puerto Rico early in the morning. From St. Thomas, it went via barge to St. John.
First class mail from the mainland to here is now being transported by chartered plane. Fourth class, which includes magazines and catalogues, has always gone by ship.
Delivery of first class mail between St. Thomas and St. Croix as well as to Puerto Rico and mainland destinations ground to a halt when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
All air traffic was halted until midday on Sept. 13. However, the Federal Aviation Administration mandated that no mail or packages could travel on passenger-carrying airlines. There have been no reports of when that prohibition will be lifted.
At Federal Express, assistant manager Mauray George said the company expects flights to begin arriving and departing in St. Thomas and St. Croix on Sept. 14.
Winston E. Smith, supervisor at United Parcel Service, said he expects two flights in both St. Thomas and St. Croix to arrive and depart on Sept. 14.
"We have packages backed up here," he said.

Sept. 14, 2001 — As an American, St. Croix resident Karim Taha is as angry as the next guy in the wake of the terrorist attacks that killed thousands of people on the mainland Tuesday.
As a Palestinian with family still living amid the violence in the Middle East, he knows too well the pain and sorrow of violent, untimely death.
"We are angry for what is happening," Taha said while sitting outside the island’s lone mosque with about 20 Arab and other Muslims after prayers Thursday night. "We know the pain and the horror. We feel with those families who lost a father, sister or whoever."
None of the men said they have experienced any backlash because of their ethnicity or religion following the tragedies. By and large, what they have experienced — like other Americans across the country — is anger.
"We’ve been in the community for so long; we participate in their things, they participate in ours," a man named Khalil, a 36-year resident of St. Croix, said, referring to other Virgin Islanders. "We feel like we’re liked in this community."
He added, "We’re not worried about" retribution. "We are all angry."
Khalil said the 7 million Muslims in the United States shouldn't be judged by the actions of a few. "All the Arab and Muslim countries reject this action — more so the Muslims and Arabs that live in America," he said.
It was noted that, unlike followers of other religions, Muslims don't have one spiritual leader — like the Pope for Roman Catholics, for example. Through an interpreter, Imam Amin, the St. Croix mosque's religious leader, said Islam should not be covered with a blanket of blame.
"If something happens from a Muslim that is wrong, it is not something we all have to be responsible for," the Imam said.
For all the sorrow felt by the men at the mosque, however, more than a few also were disturbed that Arab Muslims and their religion are beset by a double standard not felt by other faiths. Most of that, they said, stems from a Western ignorance of Islam, which has some 1.3 billion adherents in the Middle East, Africa, China, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia.
Islam, said Imam Amin, is the "unity of the races."
"We are against killing innocent people in Iraq, Palestine, Israel and the U.S.," one young man said.

Sept. 13, 2001 – The U.S. Postal Service plans to start moving first-class, priority and express mail in and out of the Virgin Islands on Friday using chartered airplanes, Postmaster Louis A. Jackson said Thursday night in a turn-around from a status report issued just hours earlier.
The plan covers mail between St. Thomas and St. Croix, mail between those islands and Puerto Rico, and mail to and from the mainland.
Jackson said he expected the first plane would leave St. Thomas at 4:30 a.m. Friday.
Mail service between St. Thomas and St. Croix, between the territory and Puerto Rico, and between the islands and mainland came to a standstill Tuesday when the Federal Aviation Administration closed the nation's airports following the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. The FAA then announced a ban on transporting first-class mail and packages on commercial flights once they resumed.
On Thursday afternoon, Jackson said the Postal Service would charter a barge to transport mail from St. Thomas to St. Croix and on to Fajardo, P.R., and then back. He commented then that he could not say when the ban on commercial flights carrying mail would be lifted. He announced the new plan around 8:30 p.m.
First-class mail from the mainland that had arrived in Puerto Rico before the airport shut down Tuesday should reach the territory Friday, Jackson said, and other shipments will follow.
Mail between St. Thomas and St. John was not affected by the federal actions because it regularly goes via barge. And fourth-class mail, which includes packages, was not affected by the FAA mandate because it is transported to and from the territory by ship.
Businesses and individuals in the territory had expressed concern in the last two days about problems that would arise if they were not able to receive or dispatch mail. The resumption of mail service into and out of the territory Friday is expected to put an end to those concerns.

Sept. 14, 2001 – On Thursday, the territory received the first official word of the loss of a Virgin Islands life as a result of the terrorist attacks Tuesday on the mainland.
Army Sgt. Maudlyn White of St. Thomas was killed in the assault on the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C., government officials said.
White, the daughter of St. Thomas resident Priscilla Irish and the mother of a 5-year-old daughter, was assigned to duty at the Pentagon.
Gov. Charles W. Turnbull made a public announcement Thursday afternoon to say he had received word of White's death from the Army through V.I. National Guard Adj. Gen. Cleave McBean. On behalf of the people of the Virgin Islands, the governor extended condolences to her family members, friends and comrades.
He called on the territory's residents to "continue to pray for God's blessings on America and on the souls of the lost, for the injured and for their family and loved ones."
Delegate Donna Christian Christensen also expressed her condolences. "Words cannot express my sadness and that of my family and staff upon learning that the tragedy that has so hurt our nation has now extended through the death of Sgt. White to the Virgin Islands," she said.
No details were immediately available concerning White's background, her current assignment or the circumstances of her death.
The governor in his release also asked all Virgin Islanders "to comply with President George W. Bush's declaration" of Friday as a day of prayer "by particpating in services at their houses of worship and faith at noon."
Also in the same release, he spoke out against reported threats made against Arab and Muslim residents of the territory in what was apparently intended as retaliation for Tuesday's attacks. "No religion," he said, "preaches in favor of terrorism against humanity." The Virgin Islands' Muslim and Arab residents, he said, "are as outraged as the rest of us at this vicious terrorist attack upon America."