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."

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 on 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 on 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 Adjutant General Cleave McBean. On behalf of the people of the Virgin Islands, the governor extended condolences to her family members, friends and comrades.
He further called upon 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."

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 Adjutant General Cleave McBean. On behalf of the people of the Virgin Islands, the governor extended condolences to her family members, friends and comrades.
He further called upon 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."

Sept. 13, 2001 – An American Airlines flight that was to have taken off from St. Thomas at 5 p.m. Thursday for New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport didn't do so.
The plane had been grounded at the Cyril E. King Airport since Tuesday, when the federal government halted all civilian air travel in the United States following terrorist attacks on the mainland. The 172-passenger jet had departed from JFK about 45 minutes before the first commercial airliner smashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan.
The federal government had authorized airports around the country to reopen at 11 a.m. Thursday. After federally mandated security measures were approved at the St. Thomas airport, authorities confirmed what hospitality industry personnel had said earlier: that the American plane would depart at 5 p.m. to return to Kennedy.
However, before the plane could take off, a "ground stop" was issued to the control tower at the airport because all three Metropolitan New York area airports — JFK, La Guardia and Newark — had been closed again.
On Thursday night, it was reported by network media that federal law-enforcement authorities had apprehended five individuals at Kennedy Airport in the late afternoon and five others at La Guardia in the evening who were described as suspected terrorists attempting to board planes. All three New York-area airports remained closed Thursday night.
A source at the Cyril E. King control tower said Thursday evening that he couldn't say whether all three airports were still closed. But he said the American plane would remain on the tarmac at the airport overnight.
There was no answer to telephone calls to the St. Thomas American Airlines office Thursday night.

Sept. 13, 2001 – Expressions of anger and outright threats against members of the local Arab community have led several of the territory’s leaders speak out against any idea of making scapegoats of Arab people living in the Virgin Islands.
But in some cases, their pleas appear to have fallen on deaf ears.
On Thursday afternoon, someone put up a sign near the Friendly Grocery on the North Side of St. Thomas that read: "Arabs go home: murderers all." The hand-written sign leaned against a post on one side of a residential driveway; an American flag flew beside the post on the opposite side.
Andy Garcia, a Puerto Rican-born worker at the grocery who is the grandson of Palestinian immigrants, said he contacted police about the sign. He said an officer told him there was nothing she could do about it. About 6 p.m. Thursday, the sign remained in place for anyone driving past to see.
Several people of Palestinian descent have expressed their frustration that some people are blaming them for attacks that they themselves find reprehensible. Many of them have said they stand with other Americans who feel the terrorist strikes were an attack against their home.
"They say Arab go home. We are home. This is our home," said Nisren Abusoud, who with her husband, Ali Abusoud, owns the Friendly Grocery.
She said her children were born on St. Thomas, where she has lived for 13 years after emigrating from her native Jerusalem. "This," she said, gesturing to the sign, "creates more problems, you know. It’s calling for hateness, for war. We need to live in peace in the Virgin Islands."
Gov. Charles W. Turnbull issued a statement Thursday that he said was in response to reports of threats against members of the Arab community. Urging people to stand together and not vent their anger against any ethnic group, he said he had heard from reliable sources that there had been threats against people of Arab descent. He did not give any details.
He did say, "This must cease. We cannot condone acts or threats of hate or intolerance. The Arab or Muslim residents of the United States Virgin Islands are law-abiding and contributing members of Virgin Islands society."
Sen. Lorraine Berry had issued a release on Wednesday urging that others in the community not blame the local Arab community for the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
In the aftermath of the attacks on Tuesday, there have been reports from the mainland of damage to mosques and other violence directed toward Arab Americans.
Garcia noted that non-ethnic Americans were responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing in 1993. But that does not mean that all such Americans are murderers, he said.
By the same token, he continued, even if an Arab group is shown to have been responsible for this week’s attacks, it does not make Arabs in the Virgin Islands responsible.
"America is many, many people, from every part of the world," he said, and Arab-Americans make up a part of that patchwork.

Sept. 13, 2002 — It's World War II and the Italians have just captured Greece. Capt. Antonio Corelli (Nicholas Cage) is probably the handsomest fascist ever, if not the most musical, as he strums along in "Captain Corelli's Mandolin."
Music notwithstanding, Corelli is in charge of Pagliacci Company. which occupies a small and charming Greek island where there lives a comely lass, Pelagia (Penelope Cruz). But, alas, the lass is engaged to another.
Pelagia, the educated and strong-willed daughter of the village doctor, is at first offended by the good captain but soon weakens under his abundant charms. (Any lass who would do less in the face of Cage's charms must have misplaced hormones.)
Critics seem very amused by Cage's Italian accent, which apparently runs to adding an "A" to assorted nouns and the occasional verb.
But what about Palagia's young fiancé (Christian Bale)? Well, he gets sent off to fight the Germans for openers. But that's hardly all. The ensuing yarn takes about two and a half hours to unfold under a warm and exotic Greek sun.
The movie is directed by John Madden of "Shakespeare in Love." It is rated R for some violence, sexuality and language.
It is playing at Market Square East.