April 26, 2001 — "Enemy at the Gates" is Hollywood's latest effort in exploring the endless of store of grit, blood and pathos that is World War II.
The movie traces the career of real-life Russian hero, the celebrated sniper Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law) through the Battle of Stalingrad, which cost more than 1.8 million Russian and German lives.
When he becomes aware of the extraordinary skills of Vassili, a quiet shepherd boy from the Urals, Soviet political officer Danilov ( Joseph Fiennes) decides to build him into a national hero, somebody to give the weary defenders the will to continue fighting. The Russians have suffered a steady series of defeats by the Nazis.
His newfound fame has its dark side. Vassili finds himself confronting the Nazi's famous sharpshooter, Major Konig (Ed Harris). The famous Stalingrad Battle is upstaged, some say, by the intense and cunning battle between the two war heros stalking one another. And, wouldn't you know it, they both fall in love with the same female, a Russian soldier, Tania (Rachel Weisz).
Called "Private Ryan for Dummies," by one critic, the film has also been hailed as an "epic war story" by others. It's almost two and half hours long, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, and written by Alain Godard and Annaud. It is rated R for strong, graphic war violence and some sexuality.
It starts at Market Square East Thursday.

April 25, 2001 — The chair of the Casino Control Commission labeled video lotteries the "crack cocaine" of gambling Wednesday in yet another impassioned plea against recent legislation sanctioning such gaming in the territory.
Commission chair Eileen Petersen has vehemently opposed the legislation allowing video lottery terminals in the Virgin Islands, saying the games will take business away from St. Croix’s fledgling casino industry. Despite Petersen’s objections, Sen. Emmett Hansen II was able to win passage of an amendment in the Senate two weeks ago allowing video lottery and similar games. He said that while off-island lotteries, such as those of Puerto Rico and Florida, are played by many people in the territory, the V.I. government is losing out on the potential tax revenues from them.
But at a regularly scheduled meeting of the Casino Control Commission on Wednesday, Petersen again lashed out at Hansen’s efforts.
"Despite the warnings given by experts in the gaming world, despite the position taken by the National Gambling Impact Commission, despite the stance taken by other credible jurisdictions against having video lottery terminals in their communities, the Legislature surreptitiously passed a law allowing these machines known as the 'crack cocaine of gambling' into the territory," Petersen said.
Unlike casinos, which by law must be accompanied by a specific number of hotel rooms, Petersen said, video gaming doesn’t provide much employment or boost tourism. She said that with two more hotel-casinos on the horizon that will hire more locals, attract airlines and bring the territory "more respectability," the senators opted for the "pie in the sky" in the belief that tourists would leave a ship’s casino to gamble on the video lottery terminals.
"No economic or social cost benefits were considered by the Legislature," Petersen said. "This is truly the death knell for St. Croix and its future."
She added that there are no regulatory requirements in the bill, nor are there safeguards to keep minors from playing the machines.
In other action at Wednesday's meeting, Commissioner Imelda Dizon said that from March 14, 2000, when the Divi Carina Bay Casino — St. Croix’s first and, so far, only casino — opened, to Dec. 31, 2000, the casino paid the V.I. government $867,524 in gross revenue taxes. For the first quarter of 2001, the casino paid $343,502 in gross revenue taxes, she said.
The tax money collected from casino gaming is supposed to be deposited in the Casino Revolving Fund. The money in the fund is to be used exclusively for:
– Hospitals and health, 15 percent.
– Education, 18 percent.
– Youth programs, 20 percent.
– Agriculture, 10 percent.
– Tourism and casino promotion for St. Croix, 5 percent.
– Union Arbitration Fund, 8 percent.
– Internal Revenue Bureau, 1 percent.
– University of the Virgin Islands, 5 percent.
– Casino Control Commission, 10 percent
– Public safety, 5 percent.
– Gambling addiction programs, approximately 2 percent.
Oliver David, head of the Division of Gaming Enforcement, urged Petersen to seek a change in the casino law that would funnel some of the casino revenue into his agency, which, among other things, investigates casino applicants and all key employees.
"For some reason, the division has been left out," David said. "Nothing has been allocated to the Department of Justice’s Division of Gaming Enforcement."

A preview of the 2001-2002 winter cruise season shows a slight increase in port calls for St. Croix, but the big news is what'll be happening in summer of 2002.
With 150 scheduled port calls, the coming winter cruise season — which runs from October and through next April — looks bright for St. Croix, according to Port Authority officials. That is an increase of eight ships over last season and 34 more than the one before that.
What has cruise ship-dependent businesses excited, however, is the increase of ships during St. Croix’s notoriously slow summer season. From May to September of next year, St. Croix will see nine ships a month. Compared to St. Thomas’s 180-plus summer calls per month, that's not much. But St. Croix will have only two visits a month this summer, the same as it's had for the past several summers.
The off-season increase is significant for St. Croix – particularly Frederiksted, Michael McQueston, co-owner of St. Croix Bike and Tours, said.
"The summer is huge, two ships a week as opposed to two a month," he said. "You can pay rent for the summer. It’s enough to sustain business."
Don Siener, a partner in jewelry stores in Frederiksted and Christiansted, agreed. He said if the numbers hold true, "things will change." He said employers have always had to lay off workers in the summer. With the slated increase for summer 2002, business owners won’t have to make as many cuts, he said.
McQueston noted that from January through April of next year, there will be a ship in Frederiksted almost every day of the week. "It looks like a substantial change," McQueston said. "Whether it holds true, we’ll see."
Now, he said, all the territory needs to do is get through the coming hurricane season unscathed.

April 26, 2001 – St. Thomas homicide detectives are expected to work through the Carnival holidays to identify the killers of a man whose bullet-riddled body was found Wednesday afternoon.
Investigators were summoned to an access road off the top of Crown Mountain around 4:30 p.m. after the body was found inside a Mazda Protege sedan.
The man was found in the driver's seat of the car parked on the right side of the road leading to WGOD radio. He was shot in the head and several times in the body.
The car had been seen parked along the roadside since earlier in the day, police said Wednesday night.
Though police have identified the dead man, his name has been withheld pending notification of next of kin.
Wednesday's fatal shooting brings to seven the number of killings in the territory in 2001. Five of those have been committed on St. Thomas. Police appealed to anyone with information to contact detectives at 777-8711, 774-2196 or the police emergency number 911.

April 25, 2001 – Wayne Chinnery — onetime Law Enforcement Planning Commission director, head of the territory's Narcotics Strike Force, WTJX-TV talk-show host and candidate for governor and senator — has been charged with federal civil rights and firearm violations and a territorial crime of third-degree assault.
U.S. Attorney David Atkinson announced the unsealing of the indictment containing the charges against the St. Thomas lawyer on Wednesday. If convicted, Chinnery could face up to 10 years in prison and/or fines up to $280,000.
In the indictment, Chinnery is accused of:
– Violating the civil rights of a St. Thomas resident while he was the director of the Narcotics Strike Force, a federal offense carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
– Using a firearm during a violent crime in committing the civil rights violation, a federal offense that carries a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison.
– Third-degree assault, a territorial offense, which carries a maximum five-year sentence or a fine of $500 to $3,000, or both.
According to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Chinnery appeared Wednesday in District Court before Magistrate Judge Geoffrey Barnard. He was represented by Leonard Francis Jr., a onetime law partner. Barnard released Chinnery on his own recognizance, the release stated, and set arraignment on the charges for 10 a.m. May 9 in District Court.
Last July, Chinnery was charged in Territorial Court with assault against the mother of one of his children. He has entered a plea of not guilty in that case.
In October, a complaint was filed in Territorial Court accusing Chinnery in connection with a separate incident involving another woman. The complaint accused him of third-degree assault, aggravated assault and battery, and using a dangerous weapon in the commission of a crime of violence. The federal indictment announced Wednesday concerns this incident, Azekah Jennings, assistant U.S. attorney, told the Source on Thursday.
Although Chinnery appeared in Territorial Court in October for advice-of-rights proceedings, he "was never charged in Territorial Court" with the counts set forth in the complaint, Jennings said.
With regard to the federal indictment including one territorial charge, Jennings noted that under the Organic Act, which governs the territory, the U.S. Attorney's Office is "authorized to include local offenses that stem out of the same offense-conduct as any federal charges. We are the only federal jurisdiction where that's allowed."
In April 1999, Gov. Charles W. Turnbull named Chinnery to head the V.I. Law Enforcement Planning Commission, which administers federal grants for anti-crime programs in the territory. The position entailed serving as the governor's drug-policy adviser and having oversight of the strike force. The governor fired him last July shortly after the first assault charge was filed. Chinnery, who ran unsuccessfully for governor twice as an independent candidate, also was an unsuccessful candidate last fall for the 24th Legislature.
The Source sought clarification from Francis on Thursday regarding the status of the territorial counts naming his client. "I will have no comments on that at all," Francis said, hanging up the telephone before hearing the questions. There was no answer to calls placed to the Territorial Court.

April 25, 2001 – A Minority Small Business Procurement Conference will be held May 22-25 at Marriott Frenchman's Reef Resort.
V.I. Delegate Donna Christian Christensen is sponsoring the conference which will afford owners and representatives of local small businesses an opportunity to network with large contractors and federal contracting officials.
Among the topics to be discussed are setasides, government to contractor spaces, and electronic bidding.
Speakers include officials from the Defense Department, Agriculture, the State Department and Treasury. Representatives from other federal agencies, including Commerce and Energy, also will attend.
According to a press release announcing the conference, The Defense Department wants to sign up companies that qualify for special preferences and it is especially interested in companies that deal in information technology, ground services, transportation, system integration, education, administrative services, telecommunications, research and development and environmental services.
Agriculture officials want to encourage V.I. companies to sign up for Rural Development and Community Commitment Programs that provide contracts and training and improve conditions in farm or agriculture communities.
The State Department is looking for companies offering information management services, construction, building and ground services, transportation, technical and security services.
Treasury wants accounting, information technology, computer and administrative services.
"The executives from the federal departments represent $60 billion in federal business opportunities."
For more information, visit the website at: http://www.sellingtoarmy.com/conf/fsbc.htm

April 25, 2001 – A Minority Small Business Procurement Conference will be held May 22-25 at Marriott Frenchman's Reef Resort.
V.I. Delegate Donna Christian Christensen is sponsoring the conference which will afford owners and representatives of local small businesses an opportunity to network with large contractors and federal contracting officials.
Among the topics to be discussed are setasides, government to contractor spaces, and electronic bidding.
Speakers include officials from the Defense Department, Agriculture, the State Department and Treasury. Representatives from other federal agencies, including Commerce and Energy, also will attend.
According to a press release announcing the conference, The Defense Department wants to sign up companies that qualify for special preferences and it is especially interested in companies that deal in information technology, ground services, transportation, system integration, education, administrative services, telecommunications, research and development and environmental services.
Agriculture officials want to encourage V.I. companies to sign up for Rural Development and Community Commitment Programs that provide contracts and training and improve conditions in farm or agriculture communities.
The State Department is looking for companies offering information management services, construction, building and ground services, transportation, technical and security services.
Treasury wants accounting, information technology, computer and administrative services.
"The executives from the federal departments represent $60 billion in federal business opportunities."
For more information, visit the website at: http://www.sellingtoarmy.com/conf/fsbc.htm

April 25, 2001 — The chair of the Casino Control Commission labeled video lotteries the "crack cocaine" of gambling Wednesday in yet another impassioned plea against recent legislation sanctioning such gaming in the territory.
Commission chair Eileen Petersen has vehemently opposed the legislation allowing video lottery terminals in the Virgin Islands, saying the games will take business away from St. Croix’s fledgling casino industry. Despite Petersen’s objections, Sen. Emmett Hansen II was able to win passage of an amendment in the Senate two weeks ago allowing video lottery and similar games. He said that while off-island lotteries, such as those of Puerto Rico and Florida, are played by many people in the territory, the V.I. government is losing out on the potential tax revenues from them.
But at a regularly scheduled meeting of the Casino Control Commission on Wednesday, Petersen again lashed out at Hansen’s efforts.
"Despite the warnings given by experts in the gaming world, despite the position taken by the National Gambling Impact Commission, despite the stance taken by other credible jurisdictions against having video lottery terminals in their communities, the Legislature surreptitiously passed a law allowing these machines known as the 'crack cocaine of gambling' into the territory," Petersen said.
Unlike casinos, which by law must be accompanied by a specific number of hotel rooms, Petersen said, video gaming doesn’t provide much employment or boost tourism. She said that with two more hotel-casinos on the horizon that will hire more locals, attract airlines and bring the territory "more respectability," the senators opted for the "pie in the sky" in the belief that tourists would leave a ship’s casino to gamble on the video lottery terminals.
"No economic or social cost benefits were considered by the Legislature," Petersen said. "This is truly the death knell for St. Croix and its future."
She added that there are no regulatory requirements in the bill, nor are there safeguards to keep minors from playing the machines.
In other action at Wednesday's meeting, Commissioner Imelda Dizon said that from March 14, 2000, when the Divi Carina Bay Casino — St. Croix’s first and, so far, only casino — opened, to Dec. 31, 2000, the casino paid the V.I. government $867,524 in gross revenue taxes. For the first quarter of 2001, the casino paid $343,502 in gross revenue taxes, she said.
The tax money collected from casino gaming is supposed to be deposited in the Casino Revolving Fund. The money in the fund is to be used exclusively for:
– Hospitals and health, 15 percent.
– Education, 18 percent.
– Youth programs, 20 percent.
– Agriculture, 10 percent.
– Tourism and casino promotion for St. Croix, 5 percent.
– Union Arbitration Fund, 8 percent.
– Internal Revenue Bureau, 1 percent.
– University of the Virgin Islands, 5 percent.
– Casino Control Commission, 10 percent
– Public safety, 5 percent.
– Gambling addiction programs, approximately 2 percent.
Oliver David, head of the Division of Gaming Enforcement, urged Petersen to seek a change in the casino law that would funnel some of the casino revenue into his agency, which, among other things, investigates casino applicants and all key employees.
"For some reason, the division has been left out," David said. "Nothing has been allocated to the Department of Justice’s Division of Gaming Enforcement."

April 25, 2001 – Innovative Telephone (formerly Vitelco) launched into the long-distance business Wednesday.
That puts Innovative in direct competition with four other carriers serving the Virgin Islands: AT&T, Sprint, TLD and Primus.
It's not the first time the local phone company has tried expanding into long distance. A previous foray in the early 1990s, when Atlantic Tele-Network owned the V.I. Telephone Corp., apparently was not financially successful. In 1993, the company sold its long-distance operation, then called Vitelcom, to St. Thomas-San Juan Telephone. That company went through a series of changes and is now Primus.
Industry observers speculate that AT&T of the Virgin Islands has at least half the long-distance market in the territory. Until a few months ago, it also had an agreement for Innovative to bill AT&T customers on their monthly local-service statements. Then AT&T sued Innovative, accusing the local carrier of failing to turn over some collections, and began billing its long-distance customers separately.
A return to one consolidated bill for local and long distance is one of the selling points of Innovative's marketing campaign.
Another is the offer of up to 360 free minutes of service, to be spread over 12 months at no more than 30 minutes per month.
The company is offering several customer options:
– Under the Smart Savings Plan, calls to the U.S. mainland and Puerto Rico are a flat 15 cents a minute.
– The Smart Savings Discount Plan features a sliding scale of per-minute rates (from 15 cents to 17 cents) and a sliding scale of percentage discounts based on the amount of the bill; at the ceiling of "over $100," the rate is 15 cents and the discount is 25 percent.
– A weekend plan lowers the per-minute price to 7 cents from 12:01 a.m. Saturday (Friday night) to 11:59 p.m. Sunday, but it also imposes a $5.95 monthly fee.
– The Smart Savings Premiere Plan extends the rate of 7 cents per minute to anytime, any day, while raising the monthly fee to $6.95.
– The Smart Savings Caribbean Plan carries a monthly fee of $2.50 a month, with the price per minute varying according to the locale called.
Janette Millin, Innovative Telephone spokeswoman, said the long-distance company is a separate entity from the local service provider. Samuel Ebbesen remains the chief executive officer of the local phone company, but Peter Hayden is in charge of Innovative Long Distance.
Innovative, which has an exclusive franchise for local service, is relying heavily on its ready-made contacts for its advertising. Flyers sent out in this month's local-service phone bills informed customers of the long-distance service.
Millin said Innovative is also promoting the service in-house. Employees who sign up a friend or family member are entered in a sweepstakes contest for a myriad of prizes. And the company blitzed Carnival revelers who attended Pan-O-Rama Sunday night, handing out T-shirts and other materials introducing the service.
Millin referred questions on the technical aspects of the service and the reasons for the business decision to Hayden, but he was not immediately available Wednesday.
One industry representative said that because there is more off-island access now than there was a few years ago, and at a lower cost, long distance is viewed today as a more attractive business proposition.

April 25, 2001 – The Center for Marine Conservation, a national environmental watchdog group, has opened a Virgin Islands office on St. John.
Nick Drayton, former director of conservation programs for the Nature Conservancy of the Virgin Islands and the Eastern Caribbean, has been tapped to manage the office.
With headquarters in Washington, D.C., CMC also has regional and field offices in such locations as California, Florida and the Dominican Republic, according to information posted on its web site, www.cmc-ocean.org.
"In an age where we are grappling with marine resource management issues and challenges almost as diverse as the habitats themselves, I am honored to become a part of the CMC team," Drayton said. "I'm looking forward particularly to forging both formal and informal partnerships with marine conservation agencies and individuals in the islands and beyond who share a common vision of clean, healthy marine waters with abundant and diverse wildlife."
According to a CMC release, the recent creation of the USVI Coral Reef National Monument and expansion of the existing Buck Islands National Monument "will be major focuses of the new office."
The national monument designation by then-President Bill Clinton shortly before he left office touched off a controversy in the Virgin Islands, with critics complaining that the territory was left out of the decision-making process.
The CMC release says its Virgin Islands office will focus on building local and public support for marine conservation, collaborating with appropriate federal and local institutions.
Drayton also has worked with the British Virgin Islands National Parks Trust and was program coordinator for the Caribbean Conservation Association's Marine Parks and Protected Areas Program. He has an undergraduate degree in biology/ecology with sociology from the University of the West Indies and a master's degree in coastal biology from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.