Sept. 10, 2001 – Plans to convert the onetime Virgin Isles Hotel into a veterans' multipurpose center will be presented when the Senate Labor and Veterans Affairs Committee meets at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Legislature Building on St. Thomas.
Noting the impact the proposed legislation could have on the lives of veterans and others in the community, Sen. Norma Pickard-Samuel, the committee chair, encouraged veterans, others with military connections, and the general public to attend the hearing.
"The development of this property has been talked about for many years, and many ideas have been tossed around," Pickard-Samuel said in a release Monday. "We must come together as a community to move forward this project."
Three years ago, the consortium that owned the former showplace hotel overlooking the St. Thomas harbor donated the hurricane-ravaged and rundown property to the V.I. government, which has done nothing with it since then.
Before the committee now is a bill to transfer the property to Veterans Resource and Development Inc. for 99 years at the cost of $1 per year. Among those invited to testify at Wednesday's hearing are Chuck Smith, Matrix Realty & Development; James Tabron, executive director, Durham Housing Authority; Robbi Jones, the investment banking firm SBK Brooks; Samuel Ebbesen, president, Innovative Telephone; Cleave McBean, V.I. National Guard; Dr. Alfred O. Heath; Edward Phillips, American Legion Post No. 90; Jodeen Dawson, Vet Center counselor; Alton Adams Jr., Alton Adams & Associates; Fernando Webster, director, Office of Veterans Affairs; and Lawrence Bastian, district commander, Office of Veterans Affairs.
To offer comments or learn more, call the senator at 693-3535.

Sept. 10, 2001 – Through its Intermediate Relending Program and the recently launched Women's Business Center-Citibank Micro Loan Program, the St. Croix Foundation has provided $1 million in loans to small businesses in the territory.
Roger Dewey, foundation executive director, noted, "Access to capital can be a major obstacle in business expansion success, and the availability of these funds has paved the way for remarkable business development and growth in our community."
He added, "When one compares our loan portfolio with that of conventional banks in the territory, we are actually supporting the needs of small businesses on a greater scale."
The relending program was launched in 1996, capitalized initially by a $1 million low-interest loan from the Rural Development Agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and then additionally by a joint donation from Chase Manhattan Bank and Virgin Islands Community Bank. The program's primary goals are to provide economic growth, to create and/or preserve employment opportunities for the St. Croix community, and to provide funds not otherwise available to businesses.
The program issues loans exclusively on St. Croix and to date has disbursed $975,000 to such small businesses as a laundromat, barber salon, woodworking shop, shoe repair shop, religious music center and retail clothing store. This year, eight loans were approved, averaging about $33,250. The maximum for a loan under the program is $100,000.
Since the program's inception, 42 loans have been issued and 63 jobs have been created.
"Small businesses are the backbone of all economies," Dewey said. "Creating 63 jobs simply by affording aspiring entrepreneurs the opportunity to make a contribution to our economy illustrates just how important it is to support private-sector development."
The Women's Business Center-Citibank Micro Loan Program was launched in July funded by a $150,000 loan from Citibank. Already it has closed on six loans — three on St. Croix and three on St. Thomas — totaling $25,000. Beneficiaries include an art gallery, a tea-processing company, a food mobile and a consulting/marketing firm.
To be eligible for a micro loan, an applicant must be a current client of the Women's Business Center. The center, a partnership of the U.S. Small Business Administration and the St. Croix Foundation, provides services and programs that support and accelerate women's business ownership and strengthen women's impact on the economy.
According to literature of the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, providing micro credit improves the earning capacity of small entrepreneurs, particularly women, and helps them to increase family income.
Yvette deLaubanque, WBC director, applauded Citibank for its support. "People in the Caribbean historically are entrepreneurial because of dire and forced social conditions," she said. "At the WBC, we dispel the notion that people here do not yearn for economic independence, and our micro program proves this."
Ongoing technical assistance — including seminars, counseling and WBC E-Mart, an online marketplace — provides borrowers the tools to facilitate business success, according to a release. The small entrepreneurs also will have the opportunity to participate in an E-Commerce Summit on Oct. 25 and a Business Expo set for Oct 26-27. For more information on these activities, call the WBC at 773-4995 or visit the Women's Business Center web site.
Lending programs constitute just one of the many economic and social activities the St. Croix Foundation directs. To obtain more information about services, or to find out how you can contribute, call 773-9898.

Sept. 10, 2001 – If all goes as planned, the St. Thomas public library will soon have something it's sorely needed for the last couple of years: a head librarian.
Diane Moody, a librarian for the last four years at Antilles School, has been offered the position, and she has accepted. "My goal is to improve library services to the community," she said.
The NOPA [notice of personnel action] for Moody is "in the pipeline," Claudette Lewis, assistant commissioner of the Planning and Natural Resources Department, said, adding that she hoped to have an answer back this week.
Moody has the advantage of bringing to the job something that the last couple of head librarians at Baa did not have: a thorough knowledge of the system, its strengths and weaknesses, and its support resources — both within the Division of Libraries, Archives and Museums and in the community.
In addition to working as a school librarian, Moody has been active as a volunteer in what used to be called The Friends of Enid M. Baa Library. The not-for-profit group recast its name this year as The Friends of the St. Thomas Libraries — signaling its support for a second library that would particularly serve the large population on the eastern portion of the island.
Moody, the group's vice president and program chair, noted in June that there are two reasons such a library may become a reality on the not-too-distant future. First, Tutu Park Ltd., the mall developer, has pledged in its bid to the Economic Development Commission for renewal of tax exemptions to build such a facility across from Plaza Extra. And second, the library already has architectural plans drafted in the mid-1990s for a structure that had been targeted for the ruins of the historic Tutu greathouse behind Tillett Gardens.
Another priority for the Friends was to see a head librarian in place at Baa. There has been no head librarian, or anyone with a library science degree, on the library staff in the last two years. The last librarian within the system on St. Thomas worked in the Division of Libraries, Archives and Museums office, not at the library, and she retired last December.
As program chair, Moody was instrumental in getting the volunteer Saturday reading program for children up and running in the Baa Library children's room last spring. The Friends got a mini-grant from the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands to purchase additional books and art supplies for the program and elisted community members to read to the youngsters and interact with them in games and crafts projects intended to encourage a love of reading.
As the program was about to take a break for July and August, Moody noted that the Friends had decided that "We will continue the program when they get a librarian. We want to be there to support a librarian in the work that she or he wants to accomplish."
That should be a "no problem" situation now.
The position of the librarian's supervisor also is vacant at the moment. Simon Caines, who served as director of libraries for about two years, left at the end of July to become executive director of the V.I. Humanities Council. He had previously worked with the not-for-profit council as assistant to longtime executive director Magda G-Smith, who left the position in March.
"It was something I was familiar with and had an affinity for," Caines said of his new post. "I was excited at the prospect of coming back."
But the Humanities Council's gain is the library system's loss, for Caines — and his boss, Lewis — also had been lobbying for a new state-of-the-art library at the mall. And they had taken the initiative to begin upgrading the Baa offerings for adults as well as children, closing the library for a week in May to install new shelving in the Von Scholten Collection area and to remove outdated and damaged books and replace them with new materials.
According to Lewis, the NOPA for the new director of libraries — who oversees all of the territory's public libraries — also is making its way through the government pipeline. She declined to name the person she has designated for the position. Jeanette Allis Bastian held the post for many years before relocating to the mainland a couple of years ago to pursue a doctorate degree.
At Baa, the last head librarian was Tommy Waters, who came from the mainland to take the job in the late 1990s and left after a couple of years. Before that, John Hodges, a St. Thomas resident since 1986, held the position from 1992 to 1995. At that time, the late June Lindqvist was still the librarian in charge of the Baa Library's Von Scholten Collection of Virgin Islands archival books and other materials.
At present, all of the territory's other public libraries — Florence A. Williams in Christiansted, Athalie McFarlane Petersen in Frederiksted, and Elaine Ione Sprauve on St. John, have librarians.
"We did have several candidates" for the Baa position, Planning and Natural Resources public information staff member Annette Morales said.
Moody holds a master of arts in library science from Northern Illinois University. Her work experience includes 11 years in school libraries — seven of them in administration for the suburban Chicago school district of Maywood, Ill. In the culturally diverse district, she said, "I managed five elementary school libraries and teaching library schools, promoting reading and consulting with teachers about literature, library use and other available resources."
She was involved in developing computerized catalogs and circulation for the district's 10 libraries and was instrumental in the formation of a technology committee that succeeded in obtaining a grant of $1.3 million in state and federal funds for library computer rooms.
For the last four years, Moody has been the Upper School librarian at Antilles, where she also has taught 6th grade library skills, 9th grade research methods and Modern Language Association style for term papers. She was in charge of automating the library and managed 16 computer work stations for students. "I taught Internet searching skills; consulted with teachers about library usage, literature and integrating technology into the curriculum; and started the school's technology committee," she said.
In February of this year, the school dedicated its new Henry L. Kimelman Library, which includes a computer center.
"I'm looking forward to working at Enid M. Baa for many reasons," Moody said. "The public library will allow me to serve the larger community, from babies to senior citizens, while continuing to work with school-age childen and young adults. My experience at Kimelman Library will serve me in assisting patrons using printed reference books and searching the Internet to fulfill their information needs."
Beyond the nuts and bolts aspects of the job, she added, "I love talking about books and authors and look forward to sharing that love with others."

Sept. 10, 2001 – Inspired by Mark Marin's donation of his eyes, heart, lungs and kidneys, Sen. Lorraine Berry is seeking to establish an organ donor identification card in honor of the former Antilles School headmaster, who died on July 25.
Berry's initiative is to amend the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act in the V.I. Code to establish the Mark C. Marin Organ Donor Identification Card and authorize its issuance to individuals who have made a determination to donate all or parts of their body upon death.
Marin's gift helped to save and enhance the lives of several people — and, by extension, the families and loved ones of the patients who received his organs. Had he not discussed his desire to be an organ donor with family members, his wish might not have been carried out. There is a small window of opportunity, time wise, to "harvest" organs from donors and make them available to be transplanted into recipients.
Although an organ donor card indicates the donor's wishes, family members are always asked to provide consent before donation can occur, according to Kim Tirrell, clinical care coordinator at the Roy L. Schneider Hospital. "That's why it is very important to make your wishes known to family and friends," she said.
A patient must be declared brain dead — a state of irreversible cessation of all functions of the brain — in order to be considered a candidate for donation.
Tirrell, who helps coordinate the hospital's organ donation program, reports all deaths and suspected brain deaths to Life Link, the organ procurement agency in Puerto Rico assigned to the Virgin Islands. When a suspected brain death occurs, Life Link representatives will travel to the territory to confirm it and to discuss the possibility of organ donation with the patient's family.
"We don't have a lot of patients who meet these criteria," Tirrell said. Since the beginning of this year, there have been just two opportunities for organ donation in the Virgin Islands, she said. In both cases, family members did not consent to donation. (Marin died after being transported to Florida for medical care.)
While "families are totally within their right to decline," Tirrell said, she feels there needs to be more public awareness about the benefits of organ donation. "Sometimes organ donation can help grieving families feel that their loved one hasn't died in vain," she noted.
She explained that organs are removed surgically so as not to disfigure the body, something which is often of concern to family members.
According to information posted on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services web site, about 5,500 people die each year in the United States while waiting for an organ to be donated. The web site states, "Each day, about 60 people receive an organ transplant, but another 15 on the waiting list die because not enough organs are available."
The site also notes there is a great need for minorities to be organ donors. Some diseases are found more frequently in racial and ethnic minority populations than in the general population. Tirrell said the majority of people in the Virgin Islands awaiting organ transplants suffer from kidney diseases.
According to the Health and Human Services web site, "Successful transplantation often is enhanced by the matching of organs between members of the same ethnic and racial group. For example, any patient is less likely to reject a kidney if it is donated by an individual who is genetically similar. Generally, people are genetically more similar to people of their own ethnicity or race than to people of other races. Therefore, a shortage of organs donated by minorities can contribute to death and longer waiting periods for transplants for minorities."
Tirrell hopes that greater awareness in the community will encourage more opportunities for organ donation. Schneider Hospital is looking for a spokesperson to help educate the public about organ donation, she said.
The language of Berry's amendment bill as drafted specifies that prospective organ donors must make their wishes clear in a "will." However, a member of her staff indicated that this need not necessarily mean a formal, written will — something few young people have, for example; it could be any written statement that a person makes.
The current law clearly states that "a gift of all or part of the body may also be made by a document other than a will. The document, which may be a card designed to be carried on the person, must be signed by the donor in the presence of two witnesses who must sign the document in his presence."
Nowadays, many states allow individuals to indicate their willingness to be organ donors on their drivers' licenses.

Sept. 10, 2001 – June A. Adams and Ray K. Joseph have been renominated by Gov. Charles W. Turnbull to second terms on the Roy L. Schneider Hospital and Health Facilities Corporation Board.
Adams, a St. Thomas resident, is a licensed practical nurse who spent 35 years with the Health Department in various capacities until her retirement in 1992. She is a member of the National Licensed Practical Nurses Association and has served as national president and secretary of that association.
Joseph, a St. John resident, retired several years ago as pastor of Emmaus and Bethany Moravian Churches on St. John. He also serves on the Council on Alcoholism St. Thomas-St. John Board.
Other current members of the Schneider Hospital board are Dr. Ira Buchalter, Samuel W. Topp, Horace Brooks and Beverly Chongasing, all of St. Thomas; and Natalie Thomas of St. John. Chongasing serve as president of the board.
Adams and Joseph also serve on the territorial Hospital and Health Facilities Corporation Board. Adams fulfulls the legal requirement that a nurse serve on that board. Joseph meets the requirement that a St. John resident hold a seat.

Sept. 10, 2001 – The governor's Fiscal Year 2002 budget "is built on shifting sand," the League of Women Voters has concluded after analyzing the proposal, particularly its anticipated $28 million increase in revenues with no change in the tax structure.
That increase "is based only on [a projected] increase in individual income taxes," the league said in a statement, and there are compelling reasons to believe that such a projection is not realistic.
Gov. Charles W. Turnbull announced in June that the government would receive a previously unanticipated windfall of about $100 million in tax revenues for the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. On July 16, six weeks late, he submitted his proposed FY 2002 budget — increased to $551 million from last year's $429.6 million.
In June, the governor sought from the Legislature and got — from the majority bloc — approval to spend another $100 million this fiscal year for unionized government employees' step increases, school repairs and increased health-insurance premiums. In July, Turnbull sought the supplemental appropriation of another $47.2 million, which the Legislature upped to $64.5 million and the governor with vetoes trimmed back to about $55.6 million.
In his proposed 2002 budget, Turnbull indicated he is counting on an upswing in the local economy to fund the increased expenditures projected for FY 2002, although the national economy has taken a downturn this year.
The proposed budget "appears on the surface to be able to meet most of its needs," the league said in a statement released Friday. "But that rosy picture" of Fiscal Year 2002 revenues "is like the pink evening clouds of the Virgin Islands that quickly fade away as the sun sets."
At a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Aug. 22, Ira Mills, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said administration initiatives had created an "improved environment poised for private-sector investment." As "proof of the economic revitalization of the territory" he cited the planned Botany Bay Resort development, "estimated at $200 million." Although civic and environmental groups are on record as opposing that not-yet-approved project, Mills said he felt the potential development should be included in private-sector projections.
At that same meeting, the Internal Revenue Bureau director, Louis Willis, estimated total revenues for the current fiscal year at $488, up from $447.4 million in FY 2000. He said a record high $404.2 million had been received as of July. Government officials have attributed the increase in revenue to a small number of wealthy individuals' income taxes.
Mills also told the Senate committee that government initiatives are expected to attract new investment in addition to about $200 million in public-sector project financing and more than $900 million in private-sector spending projects "either ongoing or slated to begin in Fiscal Years 2001 and 2002." He did not give specifics.
However, at an Aug. 11 LWV meeting, Mills provided statistics that put the government's current accumulated deficit and other obligations at $592.2 million. He gave the breakdown as $286.8 million in back pay owed government workers, $227.7 million in accumulated deficit from FY 1999, $62.1 million owed vendors, and $15.6 million owed as income-tax refunds. The income-tax figure did not take into account the 2001 tax credits due under President George W. Bush's plan to stimulate the national economy; Mills has estimated the government's liability for those payments at $9 million and has said they will be given as a credit when Virgin Islanders file their 2001 income-tax returns next year. On the mainland, the U.S. Treasury began sending out checks for the credits in July.
In its Friday statement, the LWV also cited Willis as having said at the Aug. 11 meeting that the federally mandated Earned-Income Credit due lower-income taxpayers has been paid through calendar year 2000 "as unfunded, unbudgeted tax refunds averaging $13 million per year and has exceeded $90 million total over the last seven years." The statement said the league supports Willis's position "that unfunded federally imposed obligations such as the Earned-Income Credit must not continue to drain the treasury of the Virgin Islands." The statement noted that the mandated payment "was, once again, not included" in the governor's FY 2002 budget.
Also it said, the budget includes $6 million for prior-year obligations to vendors and others that actually amount to about $40 million. That is the amount remaining after partial payment this year of the $62.1 million in obligations cited by Mills at the Aug. 11 meeting, including money owed the Water and Power Authority and some vendors.
The LWV further stated that 2002 budget also omits any provision for:
– $197 million in loans and interest owed the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
– $286.8 million — the figure cited by Mills — owed government workers in retroactive salary increases.
– $37 million claimed in court action for administrative costs by the Government Employees Retirement System.
– $23 million liability resulting from early retirement laws and subsequent amendments.
– A Reserve or Contingency Fund.
The league noted that the administration is seeking to have the FEMA debts forgiven and that negotiations may reduce the retroactive liability, but — since neither is a done deal — questioned whether the budget "is truly in balance."
The LWV statement also questioned how realistic it is to project collecting "a minimum of 31 percent" of the $90 million in individual income tax that is receivable. And, it said, "what assurances does the government have" that this year's anticipated $100 million tax windfall "is not a one-time occurrence?"
Stating that the government's personnel attrition plan was "repealed in its entirety through the supplement budget" passed recently, "opening the potential for indiscriminate hiring," the league further noted that in addition to salaries, the government is responsible for fringe benefits that add another 33 percent to base pay.
It also noted that the government has continued to absorb increased health-insurance premium costs for both employees and retirees. The FY 2002 budget contains $12 million for such increased costs for workers and $8.1 million for retirees. With a new health-insurance contract in negotiation, the league said, FY 2002 could be "the time to begin a 50-50 cost-sharing of this responsibility."
The governor's budget includes one new revenue-generating measure: the imposition of a $10 "motor vehicle disposal" fee that would be a surcharge to the annual registration fee. The money is entirely earmarked for the Anti-Litter and Beautification Fund, to pay for disposing of abandoned vehicles. Assuming there are approximately 40,000 motor vehicles registered in the territory, that would generate about $400,000.

Sept. 10, 2001 — An unknown individual has been making long-distance calls at the expense of some AT&T business customers, but not without their help.
According to AT&T spokeswoman Claudia LaBorde, the phone company has been informed about the scam, which involves a man who says he is an AT&T Virgin Islands employee conducting a "underground wire test." He calls business customers with PABX switches and then requests that the operator provide him with a dial tone by dialing nine, then zero. By doing so, the business gives the caller long-distance access at the expense of the business.
Most of the reports have come from St. Croix, La Borde said, "but that doesn't mean he won't try on St. Thomas."
La Borde said AT&T Virgin Islands is not conducting any testing of this nature. She urged businesses to deny access of this nature to any caller representing himself as an employee of AT&T, or call AT&T Virgin Islands for confirmation of any testing.

The Arthur A. Richards Jr. High Parent Teachers Association will hold its first meeting of the 2001-2002 school year at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 23, in the school's auditorium.
Parents and guardians are urged to attend and to be on time for this important meeting.

The Juanita Gardine Elementary School will hold its Back to SChool Night from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 12, in the school's cafeteria.
Parents and guardians are urged to come and hear the expectations for the 2001-2001 school year, meet the faculty and share in the refreshments.

The Arthur A. Richards Jr. High School will hold its first Parent Teachers Association meeting at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 23, in the school's auditorium.
Parents and guardians are urged to attend and to be on time for this important meeting.