May 30, 2001 – Puzzling unemployment statistics surfaced Tuesday at a meeting of the Senate Labor and Veterans Affairs Committee.
According to figures carried in The Virgin Islands Daily News, the territory's unemployment rate dropped from 7 percent in 1999 to 6.9 percent in 2000, a relatively minuscule drop.
The Avis, meanwhile, reported that the territory's unemployment rate had steadily risen to about 7 percent. The paper placed the national jobless rate at about 4.6 percent, citing a U.S. Census Bureau web site.
According to figures in the Daily News, the unemployment rate on St. Croix has remained steadily higher than that in the St. Thomas-St. John district, reaching a high of 8.3 percent in 1999 and dropping to 8 percent in 2000.
Both newspapers said comparisons between local and national jobless rates do not give an accurate picture, because the V.I. Labor Department draws its statistics from people who have registered with the department, while the national figures come from the census.
The committee's day-long meeting on St. Thomas was one of clashes of other sorts as well. Sen. Norma Pickard-Samuel, the panel's chair, tossed Attorney General Iver Stridiron out of the hearing when he refused to provide details of a criminal investigation under way in the Labor Department's Insurance Division. [See separate Source story, "Warring words lead to action — and reaction."]
Pickard-Samuel also had strong words for Cecil Benjamin, acting Labor commissioner, whose nomination has been sent by the Rules Committee to the full Senate with an unfavorable recommendation. She accused some of Benjamin's employees of "intimidation," saying they had tried to block other Labor employees from providing her committee with information. Benjamin denied knowing of any such action.
Pickard-Samuel suggested Benjamin form a task force to come up with a new building to house his department in on St. Thomas. She said the current structure, located behind the Emile Griffith Ballpark, is physically unsafe, and she spent several minutes determining how often carpeting in a certain area is cleaned.
Wanda L.C. Morris, assistant director of the Division of Workers Compensation, gave an update on the unit's status. The division came under fire in the 23rd Legislature when Sen. Roosevelt David as chair of the Labor and Veterans Affairs Committee was unable to obtain information from then-commissioner Sonia Jacobs-Dow. The division was seriously behind in paying claims at the time.
Morris said although the division has been "plagued with a severe staff shortage … claims have continued to be processed within 30 to 45 days." She said the division is upgrading personnel and interviewing for a number of positions.

May 30, 2001 – Under pressure from two federal agencies to rectify conditions at St. Croix's Anguilla Landfill, the Virgin Islands government is working hard to comply.
The Environmental Protection Agency has ordered that access to the landfill be regulated, and that certain materials be handled more responsibly, while the Federal Aviation Administration has warned that the nearby Henry Rohlsen Airport will be deemed unsafe unless the dump is closed by the end of next year.
The territory, meanwhile, has yet to choose an alternative site, or finalize a plan to manage solid waste in accordance with federal regulations. The technical assistant to the Public Works commissioner, Sonia Nelthropp, said recently that despite the difficulties, the government will comply with all requirements on time. "The deadline that we stop accepting solid waste at the site is December 2002. We are in the process of establishing guidelines for security of the site and monitoring what is coming into the dump."
At the same time, Nelthropp said, there is a move to address the concerns with birds that feed on the garbage. "There are mitigation funds available for that."
Nelthropp has teamed with Kent Bernier, the governor's economic policy advisor, to develop the territory's waste management strategy and put together a plan for financing it. With the deadline for relocating the Anguilla dump less than two years away, there also is the need to identify a new site. According to Bernier, the ideal solution would be to site the landfill where it will achieve two purposes: satisfy the FAA's concern about scavenging birds flying in the path of aircraft, and at the same time positioning a garbage transfer site to accommodate eventual disposal by methods acceptable to the EPA.
Bernier believes such a site can be identified by the end of summer. "Within 90 days we'll have an answer on the permanent solution, we are still in negotiations." Bernier said the government wants to make certain that the proposal is in full federal compliance before it is presented to the public.
Once the immediate waste management crisis is resolved, the next challenge will face not only the government, but the entire population. According to Nelthropp, residents will have to adjust to a set of new rules about disposal of household waste, and probably some new costs associated with them. "We are going to be responsible to personally address the disposal of garbage. In a modern society, residents are responsible for disposing of waste."
Given the history of how people often avoid unwelcome rules by breaking them,
Nelthropp said the government is preparing to deal with non-compliance. She believes residents will refrain from illegally dumping garbage and junk if they are properly encouraged to comply with regulations. "We must offer incentives to force compliance of all rules and regulations regarding solid waste management."
Government planners are said to be studying several approaches to financing a new system, including charging fees for household pickups where possible, and for dumping at the landfill.

To the Source:
Last night when I swam at Magens Bay, I was reminded of the Dr. Beach article in the Source ["Why V.I. isn't on 'America's Top Beaches' list"]. I hope he leaves his snorkel gear at home, as the beach is so trashed in and out of the water. It is a sad commentary of how we protect our resources and would flunk his scrutiny badly.
At the depth that I swim from end to end, about 8 to 10 feet, straight in my sight of vision I could have counted no fewer than 50 pieces of trash — cans, bottles, plastic cups, plastic plates, lots of napkins, on occasion the sanitary type as well, forks, knives, plastic bags, and yesterday even a condom. Sometimes there's money, although "Diving for Dollars," my favorite water sport, has been Spartan theses days (most likely given the rough economic times we Virgin Islanders are experiencing).
Things will get a lot rougher if we don't start to care, educate ourselves about pollution and protect our environment. On Sunday, I was on Anegada, and I noticed that sea life there was totally undisturbed. A huge turtle at hand's reach was not threatened by my presence, nor were fish of every kind. On the rare occasions when I spot turtles at Magens, they flee at once, having developed a respectable fear of man and pollution. Frankly, I would do the same.
Magens should no longer be allowed as a fishing ground. Tourists come to see marine life, and we do all we can to deplete the last living animal there. A lifeguard told me that last week one group of children who came there brought 20 starfish out of the bay and laid them out on a picnic table to dry. This was the second time this happened in a week, he said, and he had difficulty explaining to the youngsters why the creatures should be returned to the sea.
Our population has developed a complacency that we have "one of the 10 most beautiful beaches in the world." Well, that may have been so 30-plus years ago when the article in The National Geographic was written. Magens, like Coki and our other public beaches, has suffered badly over the years, and tourists will soon head to cleaner, undisturbed beaches instead of ours. What am I talking about? They are already doing so.
Jens-Peter Kemmler
St. Thomas

May 30, 2001 – What was expected to be a volatile public hearing between St. John taxi drivers and members of the St. John Accommodations Council Tuesday night actually ended with at least the scent of a solution in the air.
The three-hour meeting of the Senate Government Operations, Planning and Environmental Protection Committee was held in the Legislative Conference Room in Cruz Bay. Senate President Almando "Rocky" Liburd, a St. John resident, said he was drafting legislation to reserve several parking spaces by the Cruz Bay dock -– the scene of physical confrontations over parking in the past -– for residents.
The taxi drivers have had and want to keep control of all the parking spots. Other community groups, including the Accommodations Council, want some spaces reserved for residents' use.
Now, whenever ferries arrive from St. Thomas at busy times of day, traffic builds up at the dock as villa rental people meeting guests and taxi drivers awaiting fares vie for space to park.
"I know the situation at the dock; I've lived with it all my life," Liburd said, echoing what several witnesses had said. But, he added, "You should not stop a community from growing."
A 1979 law transferring the 4,104 square feet of land adjacent to the dock from the Port Authority to the residents of St. John was amended two weeks after it was passed, giving control of the space to the St. John Taxi Services Corp. The action taken then did not consider the growth the community would experience, according to Andrew Rutnik, commissioner of Licensing and Consumer Affairs and another St. John resident.
"Since the … law was passed, the island has changed," he said.
Legislative legal counsel Yvonne Tharpes had a different view entirely. Based on her review of the law, she said, "the Port Authority has no authority to lease the property to any entity."
Tharpes said the intent of the law was to allow the Public Safety Department, now the Police Department, to manage the area "for the general welfare" of the community.
An off-duty police officer was accused of physically attacking a villa courtesy car driver in a dispute over parking in March of 2000. That incident brought the long-simmering controversy to a head.
Meetings were held at the time, but no compromise was reached. In April 2000, Mary Hildebrand, president of the St. John Accommodations Council, said she was hopeful an agreement could be reached.
There was talk more than a year ago that a memorandum of understanding would be drafted in which the taxi association would agree to leave unchanged six parking spaces that had traditionally been available for public parking. However, according to Hildebrand, the six spaces had no official designation and police never knew how to enforce the parking. She also said people had been known to park in the spaces all day.
St. John Administrator Julien Harley concurred. He said it was fine for people to park in the spaces to do short-term business. But "if you're going to St. Thomas for the day," he added, parking is available "by the tennis courts."
Harley said Tuesday night that he is "not very happy with what is happening at the dock." He said he met with police and asked them to "use their discretion" in enforcing a five-minute parking limit directly in front of the dock, rather than change signs to make the limit 15 minutes. But, he added, "The next thing I know they are giving tickets."
Harley said even he has a hard time getting to work at the Battery because of taxis parked in front of the gates. "People that live here, were born here -– these guys still give them a hard time," he said.
However, Randolph Thomas, president of St. John Taxi Services, said, "I don't see why we're here tonight. Read the bill taking the land from the V.I. Port Authority."
Thomas said the bill supports the taxi association's right to the space. He also said even though the lease is currently with the attorney general awaiting approval, "we have a month-to-month lease."
The lease requires the taxi association to pay $5,040 a year for leasing the space.
Marc Biggs, commissioner of Property and Procurement, the department charged with the execution of all leases of government property, wrote to Thomas in February asking him to "develop an agreement between both parties whereby the use of the dock area can be utilized jointly, as both entities serve as ambassadors of the Virgin Islands."
Further, Biggs wrote, "your renewal is contingent upon the submittal of that agreement to my office."
Elston George, representing Biggs at Tuesday night's meeting, could not say why Biggs had signed the lease and forwarded it to the attorney general's office without having the requested signed agreement from the taxi association.
Asked by Sen. Carlton Dowe if he would be willing to sublet six spaces to the Accommodations Council, Thomas hedged, finally saying the association would have to vote on that.
A memorandum of understanding drawn up by the taxi association but so far unsigned makes no mention of the six spaces but states that Accommodations Council members "will park their vehicle(s) in front of the taxi line … and must stay with their vehicle and work among themselves to greet the guest of those in the wait line."
Hildebrand said she has not signed the memorandum because "it tells us that we can park in an area that is already a public parking area."
Harley said, "My posture is make six spots for residents, whether it is the Accommodations Council or my wife coming from St. Thomas with packages."
Liburd agreed, adding that the spaces for residents should be the ones closest to the dock, since it was most likely that residents would be carrying packages.
Committee members in attendance at the hearing in addition to Dowe were Sens. Roosevelt David, Celestino A. White Sr. and Donald "Ducks" Cole, who chairs the panel. Liburd is not a member of the committee.

May 30, 2001 – While the intention of a proposed "sin tax" bill now making its way through the Senate is commendable, a St. Croix business leader says it's ill-advised.
The so-called Teacher Recruitment and Training Act of 2001, sponsored by Education Committee Chairman Norman Jn Baptiste, would give scholarships to University of the Virgin Islands students who commit to teaching in local public schools for at least four years. The scholarships would be funded by a 3 percent tax on luxury cars that cost more than $25,000, a 35-cent charge per cigarette pack, and a 5 percent tax on guns and ammunition brought into the territory.
Jn Baptiste told a radio talk show over the weekend that he would also like to see an increase on liquor taxes. "It’s going to a worthy cause," he said.
Carmelo Rivera, president of the St. Croix Chamber of Commerce, agreed that Jn Baptiste’s cause is noble but said new taxes are not the way to go. That is consistent with the position the islands' business groups have taken in recent years whenever senators have proposed "sin taxes" on such items as cigarettes, alcoholic beverages or expensive cars.
The bill "feels good," Rivera said. "Most people will eat the rhetorical bait. I . . . don’t think this is the kind of legislation that should be contemplated with the current economy."
Instead, Rivera said the Legislature should focus on improving the economy. The St. Croix Chamber, along with its counterpart on St. Thomas and St. John, and the territory’s hotel and tourism associations want the government to focus on establishing a tourism authority, implement tax reform and address insurance issues.
"The last thing we need is another disincentive to do business in the Virgin Islands," Rivera said.
The bill was approved by the Education Committee last week and will next be heard by the Senate Rules Committee where Jn Baptiste said it could very likely be amended.

May 29, 2001 – Sen. Celestino White, chair of the Senate Housing, Parks and Recreation Committee, said Tuesday he will proceed with plans for a second hearing into allegations of corruption within the territory's three housing agencies. However, he said he will not tolerate attempts to malign the reputations of housing officials.
White has repeatedly accused Sen. Lorraine Berry, a member of his committee, and Alphonse Nibbs, a former committee staff member and also a former executive director of the V.I. Housing Authority, of seeking to "attempt to impugn the character and integrity" of the heads of the three agencies.
The three are Conrad "Ricky" Francois, executive director of the V.I. Housing Authority; Ira Hobson, commissioner of the Housing, Parks and Recreation Department; and Claude Richards, director of the Housing Finance Authority.
Berry has stated, also repeatedly, that her request for a hearing into reported problems within the housing agencies came as the result of Nibbs's public allegations.
White said he doubts the anticipated testimony will be pertinent to corruption. "I have worked with all three men," he said of Francois, Hobson and Richards. "We know of the shortcomings in public housing. Why should we equate deficiencies to criminal conduct?"
The next scheduled meeting of White's committee is on June 11. Nibbs was subpoenaed to appear at the committee's first hearing on the housing agencies, on May 21. He said in advance that he would not be able to attend, because he already had a date that day in New Orleans to testify in another court case.
Nibbs said he'll testify at the June 11 hearing — unless something more important comes up. "The good Lord willing and barring any unusual circumstances, I am looking forward to the hearing," he said. "If I am here, I will attend."
Nibbs has said publicly that he testified before the federal grand jury that returned fraud indictments against three people, including one who was under contract with a housing agency earlier this year.

May 29, 2001 – In an otherwise only normally contentious Senate committee meeting Tuesday afternoon, a freshman senator exercised a rarely used privilege and kicked the attorney general of the Virgin Islands out of the Legislature's chambers on St. Thomas.
"You're a bully, but you're not going to bully me," Sen. Norma Pickard-Samuel, chair of the Labor and Veterans Affairs Committee, told Iver Stridiron. She directed the sergeant-at-arms: "Get him out of my committee."
Pickard-Samuel had earlier demanded to have Stridiron's microphone turned off when he tried to respond to allegations she was making about selective prosecution and "striking deals" within the V.I. Justice Department. Stridiron called the charges "nonsense," a response not to the senator's satisfaction.
"Turn this man's mike off. This is my committee, and I'll run it," Pickard-Samuel said before demanding Stridiron's ouster.
The exchange came during a Labor Department fact-finding hearing. It wasn't the first time the two have crossed swords. Pickard-Samuel has been trying to get Stridiron to give her information on a criminal investigation within the Labor Department that his department has been conducting.
Stridiron said Pickard-Samuel had written him asking for an update on the Labor Department case and he had written back twice saying he couldn't come before the Legislature and disclose findings of a criminal investigation. He said she had rejected his suggestion that they meet privately to discuss the matter. He said he had told her, "I'm not going to make haste in prosecuting people just because it inconveniences someone."
Later, Pickard-Samuel said her office had been getting a lot of complaints about the lack of closure on the Labor investigation and on another matter: That matter, she claimed, is that the teen-age son of a federal Drug Enforcement Administration agent in the territory has been accused of a sexual offense and is getting special treatment from Stridiron's office.
The youth is getting "diplomatic" treatment, Pickard-Samuel told the Source during a break in Tuesday's proceedings. "We can't have federal agents coming in with families acting like diplomats, thinking nothing can be done to them." She said the young man is being tried as a juvenile although he recently turned 18. "What they're doing is wrong," she said, "when other young men here would get sentenced to 10 years in prison."
Pickard-Samuel wouldn't reveal her sources but said, "You know I check my facts before I open my mouth."
During the committee session, she announced that she is writing to Sen. Donald "Ducks" Cole, Government Operations, Planning and Environmental Protection Committee chair, asking him to call the Justice Department before his committee for an investigation. In addition, she said, she is writing to Gov. Charles W. Turnbull and to the DEA office in Washington, D.C., with her allegations of V.I. Justice Department wrongdoing.
At the start of the committee's afternoon session, she acknowledged the presence of her father in the gallery and remarked, "My mother called and told me to mind my manners."
Her mother would find Stridiron in agreement. He told the Source later, "I do apologize to the people of this territory for the activity going on in this Legislature, but I don't apologize to Senator Samuel. She is becoming a loose cannon, maligning people, telling the executive branch how to do their jobs." He accused her of "browbeating" acting Labor Commissioner Cecil Benjamin in allowing a Labor employee "to sit and read into the record a 15-page document containing spurious remarks about him."
Stridiron continued, "I don't mind when she talks about how long the Labor Department investigation is taking, but when she launches into making statements that my lawyers are selective in prosecuting a case, I will not stand by. She defames them for her own political advancement, and that ticks me off. To suggest we engage in selective prosecution is just simply flat-out wrong."
He added, "In the case that she mentioned on the floor of the Legislature — which she never should have done — we made a plea offer. We could have charged him as an adult, as he just turned 18, but we charged him as a minor. We agonize over these charges, and we do not look at the parentage of the people involved. We look at it from the point of view of the victim and the victim's family." The defendant, he said, "isn't going to walk away from this. He will be on probation until he is 21. The judge could even send him to the YRC [the Youth Rehabilitation Center] on St. Croix."
Stridiron said he would welcome an investigation of his department by the Government Operations Committee. "I would really appreciate the chairman [Cole] calling for a meeting and inviting me and my lawyers and anybody else," the attorney general said. "We need to let people know what we do in a public hearing."
He also announced he would hold a press conference at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
Stridiron further criticized Pickard-Samuel's behavior in another setting. "In an amicable St. John hearing to resolve a problem about a gate put up on national park land recently, she said there would 'be bloodshed before this is over,'" he stated. Pickard-Samuel, he said, "needs to take a step back from her position as a senator and re-evaluate what she is doing, what her role is supposed to be — or heaven help us all for the next year and a half. And you may quote me."
Stridiron, who served six years in the Senate, one of them as president (succeeding the late Ruby Rouss in mid-term), and another four years as legislative legal counsel, expressed concern for the body. "I know it is not most of the senators who conduct themselves that way," he said. "I saw some of them today shaking their heads."

The Committee for the Betterment of Carenage, along with Coors Light, Offshore Marine, and Hawaiian Tropic will host the annual Father's Day Fishing Tournament on Sunday, June 10, held the weekend before Father's Day.
Fishing begins at 5:30 a.m. and all anglers are due back in Frenchtown at noon for weigh-in of their catch.
Prizes will be awarded for the biggest qualifying fish along with the second and third qualifiers.
Qualifying fish include kingfish, tuna, mackerel, barracuda, bonito, and amberjack. There will be an award for the best captain for the boat with the most weight of qualifying fish and one for the youngest angler with the most weight of qualifying fish.
Prizes will be awarded on Father's Day, Sunday, June 17, at the Father's Day Weekend Celebration in Frenchtown.
Offshore Marine Services and the Committee for the Betterment of Carenage each provide $1000 toward the cash prize presented to the overall winner of the tournament.
Registration for the tournament is 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 9, at Joseph Aubain Ball Park concession in Frenchtown. The registration fee is $25 for each participating angler.

The Committee for the Betterment of Carenage, with co-sponsors Coors Light, Offshore Marine and Hawaiian Tropic, will host the annual Father's Day Fishing Tournament on June 10. The event is traditionally held the weekend before Father's Day.
Fishing begins at 5:30 a.m. and all anglers are due back in Frenchtown at noon for weigh-in of their catch.
Prizes for first, second and third place will be awarded for the biggest kingfish, tuna, mackerel, barracuda, bonito and amberjack. There also will be awards for the best captain, the boat with the most weight of qualifying fish, and the youth angler with the most weight of qualifying fish.
Awards will be presented on June 17 at the Father's Day weekend celebration in Frenchtown.
Offshore Marine Services and the Committee for the Betterment of Carenage are providing $1,000 each toward the cash prize to be presented to the overall tournament winner.
Registration is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 9 at the Joseph Aubain Ball Park concession in Frenchtown. There's a fee of $25 per angler.

The Committee for the Betterment of Carenage, with co-sponsors Coors Light, Offshore Marine and Hawaiian Tropic, will host the annual Father's Day Fishing Tournament on June 10. The event is traditionally held the weekend before Father's Day.
Fishing begins at 5:30 a.m. and all anglers are due back in Frenchtown at noon for weigh-in of their catch.
Prizes for first, second and third place will be awarded for the biggest kingfish, tuna, mackerel, barracuda, bonito and amberjack. There also will be awards for the best captain, the boat with the most weight of qualifying fish, and the youth angler with the most weight of qualifying fish.
Awards will be presented on June 17 at the Father's Day weekend celebration in Frenchtown.
Offshore Marine Services and the Committee for the Betterment of Carenage are providing $1,000 each toward the cash prize to be presented to the overall tournament winner.
Registration is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 9 at the Joseph Aubain Ball Park concession in Frenchtown. There's a fee of $25 per angler.