Sept. 14, 2001 – Carrying votives, tapers and chunky candles borrowed from the dinner table, three dozen St. John residents gathered in Cruz Bay Park Friday at 7 p.m. to remember the thousands who died in Tuesday's terrorist attacks.
The gathering was similar to countless others held across the nation — prompted by an e-mail message that made its way back and forth across America and beyond on Thursday and Friday. Network television commentators noted that with no other publicity, this modern-day means of communication had reached thousands of people and moved them to light candles, individually or in groups, Friday evening.
"The candles are a symbol of light in a tunnel of darkness," Lisa Durgin said.
At the casual gathering, several participants spoke from their hearts about the week's events. "It is abominable that this evil reached our land," B.J. Harris said.
Andrew Yellon, who was 12 years old when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, said in his mind this attack was different from that one. He noted that other wars that involved the United States — he served in Korea — have been fought on foreign soil. While Hawaii was a U.S. territory when Japan attacked in 1941, it was still overseas. "This is a terrific shock," he said.
Bern Putnam said that two people from his Boston-area hometown died aboard one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center. "This is a solidarity thing," he said, later going around the circle of people gathered to give everyone a hug.
Putnam noted that many residents have turned out to be more nationalistic than they may have thought of themselves as being. Indeed, American flags were in evidence around Cruz Bay and public as well as private-sector locations. The fire station and police headquarters sported huge flags draped across their fronts, and Joe's Diner carried a fringe of small flags around its roof. A car parked in the Port Authority lot had a flag affixed to its side mirror.
Yellon played several musical selections and taps on his saxophone during the half-hour ceremony. At the close, the group gathered in singing "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Sept. 13, 2001 – If a bill now wending its way through the legislative process becomes law, water-tour operators accustomed to picking up tour takers at the cruise ship docks on St. Thomas and St. Croix will have to come up with other arrangements.
The Senate Planning and Environmental Protection Committee, chaired by Sen. Donald "Ducks" Cole, is scheduled to take up the measure at 10 a.m. Oct. 3 at the Legislature Building on St. Thomas.
The bill, sponsored by Sens. Celestino White and Norma Pickard-Samuel, would prohibit water-tour operators from meeting tourists at the West Indian Co. and Crown Bay docks on St. Thomas, the Ann Abramson Pier in Frederiksted and the Gallows Bay dock in Christiansted.
"It's to level the playing field," White said.
He said that taxi drivers aren't getting a fair share of the pie. They leave their houses at 2 a.m. to line up at the WICO dock in the hope of getting passengers, he said, but instead see many of those disembarking from the ships make a short walk to tour vessels tied up at the dock.
Eustace Grant, president of the V.I. Taxi Association, said taxi drivers fear that water tours will expand to include water taxis and this would further decrease the number of people who need vehicular taxi rides."We may be eased out of our livelihood," he said.
Grant suggested that taxi drivers transport water-tour participants to the Charlotte Amalie waterfront, where the tour operators would pick them up. White said water-tour operators would be allowed to tie up to the cruise ships in order to pick up passengers. He pointed out that the tour companies now pick up passengers off cruise ships anchored out in the Charlotte Amalie harbor in this way.
Tour operators see the bill as a threat to their industry and are angry about it.
Steve Garner, who owns ScubaWest in Frederiksted, pointed out that his tour boats are too small to carry out that kind of linkup with the huge cruise liners. Others similarly spoke of the logistical problems of picking up passengers directly from the ships.
"I hold the senators personally responsible for tourism in the Virgin Islands," St. Thomas tour operator Jimmy Loveland said.
Scott Short, manager of the Yacht Haven-based Underwater Safaris, picks up passengers at the WICO dock, by far the busiest of the territory's cruise ship docking facilities. "And we have all our equipment stored there," he said.
Short said that if his staff has to walk tour passengers around to the nearby Yacht Haven docks from the WICO dock, they will have to pass through construction debris, which is not desirable.
Garner said the effect of the bill would be to shut down his business. He said that in addition to cruise ship passengers, he often takes hotels guests on dive trips. There are no other docks in the area, so he must pick them up in his boat at the Ann Abramson Pier in Frederiksted, he said. It would be unsafe to ask people to swim out to the dive boat to board it for their excursion, he added.
Garner discounted taxi drivers' complaint that they don't get a fair share of cruise ship passenger revenues. He said the drivers already have a monopoly at the Frederiksted pier. "I've heard them tell people that there's no diving or snorkeling in Frederiksted — so they could get the fare to Christiansted," he said.
Short said that on a busy day, Underwater Safaris takes about 125 cruise ship passengers diving. He said that tour operators with larger vessels like the Kon Tiki barge, the Leyland Sneed motor vessel and the Island Girl and Wild Thing catamarans, as well as about 30 sailboats, now pick up passengers at the WICO dock.

Sept. 14, 2001 – Adj. Gen. Cleve McBean of the V.I. National Guard said Friday that none of the territory's military reservists would be mobilized immediately in response to the terrorist attacks this week in New York and Washington, D.C.
President George W. Bush has authorized Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to call as many as 50,000 National Guard and military reserve troops to active duty. U.S. military planners have assigned allotments for 35,500 of them — 13,000 from the Air Force, 10,000 from the Army, 7,500 from the Marines, 3,000 from the Navy and 2,000 from the Coast Guard.
The Virgin Islands has an Army National Guard program.
The Pentagon said the forces were being called up "to provide port operations, medical support, engineer support, general civil support and homeland defense."
The New York Times reported that about 9,000 members of the National Guard have been
called up from 31 jurisdictions, most of them from New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.
While talk of going to war has spread across the nation, McBean said, reservists will not be activated right away. He said military leaders are compiling lists of reserve forces as a preliminary step. "It will take quite some time to develop" operational plans, he said Friday at a press conference at Government House on St. Thomas.
Although local National Guard personnel don't know whether or when they'll be called to duty, Delores Edwards, who works in the St. Croix recruiting office, said she is ready and willing. "We need to assist with the families" who have lost loved ones, she said.
Nationally, the tragedy has spurred increased enlistment in the military. Questions about Army recruiting locally were referred to U.S. Army spokesman Harvey Spigler in Miami, who said he had no specific information about the situation in the territory. However, he said that nearly all recruiting offices have had visits from people wanting to help their country. But he said many of them are over the age limit of 35 years, and that recruiters referred such people to volunteer organizations such as the American Red Cross.
Spigler said the recruiting process takes about three weeks to a month before a recruit goes on active duty. Men in the United States must register for Selective Service at their local post office or on the Internet when they turn 18. Currently the United States does not have a draft. "It would take a congressional act to change that," Spigler said.
Friday's Government House press conference, called by Gov. Charles W. Turnbull to address the territory's response to Tuesday's terrorist attacks on the U.S. mainland, came on the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance declared by President Bush.
At the press conference, Turnbull called for a moment of silence for the thousands of people who died as a result of Tuesday's terrorist attacks. One of them was Sgt. Maudlyn White, 38, a 15-year veteran of the Army who lived on St. Thomas and St. Croix when she was not on active duty. White was in the Pentagon when terrorists flew a hijacked jetliner into the complex.
The governor said it is too early to know how much of an impact the attacks will have on the territory's tourism industry. He noted receipt on Wednesday of a letter from Gov. Frank Savage of the British Virgin Islands expressing solidarity with the U.S. Virgin Islands and the United States. "The attack on America was not only an attack on America, but an attack on civilization," Turnbull said. He concluded the press conference by leading the singing of "God Bless America."

There is a hole inside every American today. A hole that may never be completely filled. A hole that if you had to put image to it must look like the hole in the skyline of New York City.
As Virgin Islanders we have felt this before, not to the degree and not to the magnitude of the horror our country faced this week.
But we know what it is like to awaken to a completely changed landscape. We know what is it like to not be able to stop crying over the sheer helplessness of seeing the devastation. We know the feeling that life may never be the same again. We know the pride in watching the people around us rise to the challenge of selflessly assisting one another.
We live in a community much like that of Washington and New York; a truly multi-cultural community, all races, creeds, colors and economic strata.
Many of us are originally from Washington or New York. Many of us, born here, have relocated to those cities. Many of us are torn apart because—not unlike those stuck helplessly on the mainland during our major hurricanes, unable to help, unable to mourn with family and friends—we are stuck here, unable to even send blood, food or aid.
To paraphrase our friend Leonard Pitts from a Miami Herald column that has been circulating on the Internet: we can also be petty and disagreeable. We experience our own prejudice and hatred, but we are basically loving, faithful people who live in relative harmony despite our incredible diversity.
After Hurricanes Hugo and Marilyn many of us displayed the symptoms of the walking wounded. Looking at the man or woman next to you, you didn't know what their personal experience might have been.
As we walk among each other we must remember we don't know what the next person has been through, is going through.
Much of it is anger. And when there is no face, no country, no person to direct that anger toward, the results can be devastating. It is also fear and suspicion for many. We need to diffuse that anger, fear and suspicion.
We have heard our national leaders call upon God to help us. God is among us, speaks through us and listens through us.
Everyone has a story to tell today, a story about what they feel. Listening to them will begin to fill the hole. It is the one thing we all can do to give aid.

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.