April 25, 2001 – The national environmental watchdog group Center for Marine Conservation has opened an office in the Virgin Islands, located 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.
CMC has regional and field offices in several locations, including California, Florida and the Dominican Republic, according to its website, 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 written statement from CMC 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 touched off a controversy in the Virgin Islands, with critics complaining that the territory was left out of the decision.
The CMC release says the V.I. office will work to build local and public support for marine conservation, collaborating with all appropriate federal and local institutions.
Besides working with the Nature Conservancy, Drayton 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 from the University of the West Indies in biology/ecology with sociology and a masters degree in coastal biology from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

April 24, 2001 — The sluggish tourism economy has claimed another retail business on St. Croix, Colombian Emeralds International.
The company decided to close its single St. Croix jewelry store, on Queen Cross Street in Christiansted, due to "the continuing downward trend in tourism over the last four years," Colombian Emeralds CEO Stephen Crane said this week.
The company, which has had a presence on St. Croix since 1989, operates 33 other stores throughout the Caribbean, including four on St. Thomas and one on St. John. When the St. Croix store reopened after Hurricanes Marilyn, Crane said the company remained hopeful that more hotels and cruise ships would be attracted to the island.
One hotel-casino has opened since then, and cruise ship calls have increased slightly, but this apparently wasn’t enough to keep the store profitable. The St. Croix closing, Crane said, is part of Colombian Emeralds' strategic plan to consolidate its resources into markets reaching the most residents and international visitors, where a greater return on investment can be earned.
"We believe we can better service our customers by remaining focused on our 33 Colombian Emeralds International island-based stores," Crane said. "We see exciting opportunities for expansion in the region and beyond, but it is also essential for Colombian Emeralds International to respond to prevailing market trends."
St. Croix Chamber of Commerce President Carmelo Rivera and former president Noel Loftus agreed that the trend on St. Croix is negative. Loftus pointed to the closing three weeks ago of another downtown Christiansted jewelry store, House of Vizia, as a sign that things are getting worse, despite recent statements by the Turnbull administration that tourism is on the upswing.
"We’ve been told that tourism is up. The CEO of Colombian Emeralds said tourism is down, not up," Loftus said. "St. Croix is getting more cruise ship passengers, but they are spending less."
Rivera said many stores on the island are not turning profits and are falling into debt. "That’s the reality," he said. "I’m very concerned."
Don Siener, a jewelry store owner with space in both Christiansted and Frederiksted, said the island’s economy isn’t necessarily down; it just hasn’t improved from the doldrums that set in five or six years ago.
"St. Croix’s economy has changed very little since the mid-1990s," he said. "Things aren’t getting worse. They’re just not getting better, and businesses can’t hang on if it continues."

The St. Thomas-St. John branch of the Virgin Islands Republican Party will host a monthly general meeting at 5:45 p.m. on Thursday, May 3 in St. Thomas at Nisky Center, first floor, next to Scotia Bank. The public is invited to attend.
For more information call George Blackhall at 776-1448 or Beef Clendenin at 775-9258.

April 25, 2001 – Virgin Islanders and visitors of every description thronged to Rothschild Francis "Market" Square, Wednesday to take in all that the annual Carnival Food and Arts & Crafts Fair has become.
Some came to indulge their passion for home-cooked Caribbean cuisine. Others were looking to sample exotic dishes with unusual names. All were delighted by the variety of foods, arts, crafts and entertainment they found.
Participants erected booths in and around Market Square and onto portions of both Main and Back Streets. By mid-morning an enthusiastic crowd was already whisking away takeout containers full of native Caribbean delicacies. Many folks ate in place or nibbled as they made their way around the scores of booths offering arts, crafts and potted plants in addition to traditional Caribbean foods and drinks.
The Carnival 2001 Food Fair was dubbed "Beulah's Mixing Bowl" in honor of the longtime participation of Beulah Wheatley. During the mid-day ceremonies hosted by Irvin "Brownie" Brown, the V.I. Carnival Committee presented "Miss Beulah" with a plaque recognizing her perennial contributions to the success of the Food Fair. Also offering remarks from the podium were Gov. Charles W. Turnbull, Lt. Gov. Gerald Luz James II, and Carnival Queen Cherrisse Woods, Prince Omari Williams and Princess Brittany Rodriquez.
Following are the winners in the Carnival Food Fair Committee judging of participants:
Best Plants — Omar Ledee
Best Arts & Crafts — Gwendolyn Farrelly
Best Native Candies — Stanley Leonard
Best Cakes and Pastries — Lucia Henley
Best Dressed — Macy Payne
Best Special Food — Ann Henry, for her pick-up saltfish.

April 25, 2001 – As income-tax money flowed in through the front door of the Bureau of Internal Revenue building on St. Thomas earlier this month, furniture was being toted out the back.
It was over the five-day Easter weekend that IRB director Louis Willis completed spring cleaning of the agency's formerly worn and bedraggled offices at Mandela Circle.
Actually, it was much more than a spring cleaning. The offices hadn't seen so much as a coat of paint since the IRB move into the building in 1995. What they've just experienced is a state-of-the-art renovation.
"People said it couldn't be done with the April filing deadline and the Easter holidays," Willis says, "but we got it done."
The cleaning and renovating of the offices are part of his overall IRB modernization and reorganization plan, which he has explained at length in several Senate hearings since being appointed acting director last July. It is a plan professionally laid out in a 400-page manual describing the agency's operations and the jobs of its personnel.
"We've never had anything like this," Willis says of the manual. "Someone new could come in here, pick this up, and have a grasp on what IRB does. The job descriptions start with the director's."
Bids for the physical work and new furniture went out in January, and jobs were awarded the first week of February, Willis says. To get the job done, he says, "We worked sometimes until 3 a.m. and on weekends."
Revenue officer Shirley Jones suggested giving some of the old furniture items to the recently renovated Police Zone A Command, which had a widely publicized need for such things. "It's the first time in my 12 years under six different directors that anyone has actually listened to me," Jones says. She adds that a co-worker who just retired commented, with mixed emotions, that she had "been here 30 years, and never even got a new desk."
The long Easter weekend brought the final push to get everything into place. "We got the Justice Department to help," Willis relates. Orange-suited prisoners toted the worn desks, chairs, tables and lamps out of the building, across the neighboring Pueblo parking lot and into trucks. "They were great," Willis says. Some of the furniture is going to Zone A, and other pieces will be used in port excise-tax booths.
Willis has told legislators that his is a "time-driven" job, and that includes making time to lead a purposeful stroll around the renovated quarters. He says that providing a cheerful work environment is key to his plan for increasing worker productivity in the agency, which accounts for 90 percent of the territory's revenues. All of the territory's tax returns are processed in the St. Thomas headquarters, he notes.
There's bright, new lighting in the upstairs hallway leading to the modern, well-appointed offices of the revenue agents. Willis opens the door to a spotless room lined with computer terminals. "This is our ongoing training room," he says, noting that the agency is now completely computerized, with IBM supervising the training.
Another room contains 11 comfortably arranged cubicles. Granville Smith, computer operations chief, steps out of his adjacent office to display the electronic brain center where all the network wiring terminates. The densely occupied "closet" — where one can't see the walls for the wires — emits a steady hum as remote terminals process taxpayer's paperwork.
Downstairs is the agency's first mail room, a bright, white space occupied by neat cubicles stuffed with tax returns. The whole main floor work area has been reconfigured so that what used to be space for 26 employees now can gracefully accommodate 48. Some of those positions have yet to be filled, but "we'll do that in the fourth quarter this year," Willis says — after the 2000 returns and refunds are processed.
One room is overflowing with returns on tables and counters and in neatly arranged plastic boxes on the floor — 24,000 to 25,000 of them just from April 17. Not all of them represent revenue for the agency; Willis says about $40 million in refunds will be mailed out by July 30.
He points out offices for the IRB representatives who deal with taxpayers owing less than $10,000 and others where representatives deal with those owing $20,000 to $100,000. There's no class distinction between the spaces; all are painted a soothing gray with muted blue trim.
Also in this part of the building are room for the staff "phoners." "They follow up after we send out a first notice," Willis explains "There are three notices, and then the agency takes legal action." The phoners are part of his strategy to accommodate taxpayers and assist them in meeting their obligations.
It's Willis's projection that the IRB will collect $400 million this year, about $15 million more than last year. The agency now has 209 employees, with 25 vacancies to be filled. The 2001 budget includes $2 million to go toward the hiring of new tax-collection agents.
Willis opposes a bill before the Senate to give bonuses to revenue agents based on their individual collections. "It would just create problems," he says. He favors a collective bonus coming directly to the agency for its management.
The IRB director figures he is living on borrowed time, since the current administration could be voted out of office in a year and a half. "I didn't know if I wanted this job," he says. "There's so much to get done in two years, but I wanted to do it for the employees. That's why I took it."
His next big project is to get make maximum use of a scanner that sits in the office overflowing with returns. "If we can get people trained on the scanner, it will be so much easier next year," he explains. The device "reads about 100 returns a minute," with the data then transmitted to a form processing area "where the scanned documents are corrected," he says.
High on Willis's list of things to accomplish during his tenure is interfacing with the Licensing and Consumer Affairs Department to streamline the issuance of tax-clearance letters for business license renewals. Also near the top is implementing a system to allow on-line tax payments by credit card.
Testifying in Senate hearings, Willis has repeatedly described himself as a team player. He brought 14 members of the IRB team to his March confirmation hearing. He declined to have his photograph taken for this article. "Take a picture of some of the other people who do the work," he said.

The St. Thomas-St. John branch of the Virgin Islands Republican Party will host a monthly general meeting at 5:45 p.m. on Thursday, May 3 in St. Thomas at Nisky Center, first floor, next to Scotia Bank. The public is invited to attend.
For more information call George Blackhall at 776-1448 or Beef Clendenin at 775-9258.

The St. Thomas-St. John branch of the Virgin Islands Republican Party will host a monthly general meeting at 5:45 p.m. on Thursday, May 3 at Nisky Center, first floor, next to Scotia Bank. The public is invited to attend.
For more information call George Blackhall at 776-1448 or Beef Clendenin at 775-9258.

April 25, 2001 – Frenchtown residents will have a chance to talk with St. Thomas-Water Island Administrator Louis Hill in a town meeting May 2. The meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the Frenchtown Community Center.
Hill announced he is holding a series of town meetings "to address the needs and concerns of the residents of St. Thomas and Water Island."

April 25, 2001 – As income-tax money flowed in through the front door of the Bureau of Internal Revenue building on St. Thomas earlier this month, furniture was being toted out the back.
It was over the five-day Easter weekend that IRB director Louis Willis completed spring cleaning of the agency's formerly worn and bedraggled offices at Mandela Circle.
Actually, it was much more than a spring cleaning. The offices hadn't seen so much as a coat of paint since the IRB move into the building in 1995. What they've just experienced is a state-of-the-art renovation.
"People said it couldn't be done with the April filing deadline and the Easter holidays," Willis says, "but we got it done."
The cleaning and renovating of the offices are part of his overall IRB modernization and reorganization plan, which he has explained at length in several Senate hearings since being appointed acting director last July. It is a plan professionally laid out in a 400-page manual describing the agency's operations and the jobs of its personnel.
"We've never had anything like this," Willis says of the manual. "Someone new could come in here, pick this up, and have a grasp on what IRB does. The job descriptions start with the director's."
Bids for the physical work and new furniture went out in January, and jobs were awarded the first week of February, Willis says. To get the job done, he says, "We worked sometimes until 3 a.m. and on weekends."
Revenue officer Shirley Jones suggested giving some of the old furniture items to the recently renovated Police Zone A Command, which had a widely publicized need for such things. "It's the first time in my 12 years under six different directors that anyone has actually listened to me," Jones says. She adds that a co-worker who just retired commented, with mixed emotions, that she had "been here 30 years, and never even got a new desk."
The long Easter weekend brought the final push to get everything into place. "We got the Justice Department to help," Willis relates. Orange-suited prisoners toted the worn desks, chairs, tables and lamps out of the building, across the neighboring Pueblo parking lot and into trucks. "They were great," Willis says. Some of the furniture is going to Zone A, and other pieces will be used in port excise-tax booths.
Willis has told legislators that his is a "time-driven" job, and that includes making time to lead a purposeful stroll around the renovated quarters. He says that providing a cheerful work environment is key to his plan for increasing worker productivity in the agency, which accounts for 90 percent of the territory's revenues. All of the territory's tax returns are processed in the St. Thomas headquarters, he notes.
There's bright, new lighting in the upstairs hallway leading to the modern, well-appointed offices of the revenue agents. Willis opens the door to a spotless room lined with computer terminals. "This is our ongoing training room," he says, noting that the agency is now completely computerized, with IBM supervising the training.
Another room contains 11 comfortably arranged cubicles. Granville Smith, computer operations chief, steps out of his adjacent office to display the electronic brain center where all the network wiring terminates. The densely occupied "closet" — where one can't see the walls for the wires — emits a steady hum as remote terminals process taxpayer's paperwork.
Downstairs is the agency's first mail room, a bright, white space occupied by neat cubicles stuffed with tax returns. The whole main floor work area has been reconfigured so that what used to be space for 26 employees now can gracefully accommodate 48. Some of those positions have yet to be filled, but "we'll do that in the fourth quarter this year," Willis says — after the 2000 returns and refunds are processed.
One room is overflowing with returns on tables and counters and in neatly arranged plastic boxes on the floor — 24,000 to 25,000 of them just from April 17. Not all of them represent revenue for the agency; Willis says about $40 million in refunds will be mailed out by July 30.
He points out offices for the IRB representatives who deal with taxpayers owing less than $10,000 and others where representatives deal with those owing $20,000 to $100,000. There's no class distinction between the spaces; all are painted a soothing gray with muted blue trim.
Also in this part of the building are room for the staff "phoners." "They follow up after we send out a first notice," Willis explains "There are three notices, and then the agency takes legal action." The phoners are part of his strategy to accommodate taxpayers and assist them in meeting their obligations.
It's Willis's projection that the IRB will collect $400 million this year, about $15 million more than last year. The agency now has 209 employees, with 25 vacancies to be filled. The 2001 budget includes $2 million to go toward the hiring of new tax-collection agents.
Willis opposes a bill before the Senate to give bonuses to revenue agents based on their individual collections. "It would just create problems," he says. He favors a collective bonus coming directly to the agency for its management.
The IRB director figures he is living on borrowed time, since the current administration could be voted out of office in a year and a half. "I didn't know if I wanted this job," he says. "There's so much to get done in two years, but I wanted to do it for the employees. That's why I took it."
His next big project is to get make maximum use of a scanner that sits in the office overflowing with returns. "If we can get people trained on the scanner, it will be so much easier next year," he explains. The device "reads about 100 returns a minute," with the data then transmitted to a form processing area "where the scanned documents are corrected," he says.
High on Willis's list of things to accomplish during his tenure is interfacing with the Licensing and Consumer Affairs Department to streamline the issuance of tax-clearance letters for business license renewals. Also near the top is implementing a system to allow on-line tax payments by credit card.
Testifying in Senate hearings, Willis has repeatedly described himself as a team player. He brought 14 members of the IRB team to his March confirmation hearing. He declined to have his photograph taken for this article. "Take a picture of some of the other people who do the work," he said.

The territory's chambers of commerce and hoteliers showed unprecedented courage when they refused to be part of a watered-down, no-teeth Tourism Advisory Committee. Such advisory groups have accomplished little in the past, and there is no reason to think this one will be different. That’s why the governor’s own five-year plan recommends a semi-autonomous Tourism Authority with the power to run the territory’s tourism operation.
The private businesses in the Virgin Islands are on the front lines every day dealing with the ebb and flow of our tourist traffic — which is not to say our public-sector tourism employees are not working hard, too. But the private-sector businesses are the first to feel the impact of the tourism flux.
Make no mistake, though; it does eventually trickle down to our government employees, since most of the money to support our government comes from the private sector, and particularly from tourism.
But even if you disagree with the private sector organizations' decision to boycott the Tourism Advisory Committee, there is no justification for the governor's public criticism of them in front of guests.
Which takes us to the behavior of, first, the governor, and then his employees during the tourism symposium a few days ago.
The governor’s decision to lash out at the chambers and the hoteliers in front of our invited guests from the international tourism community was embarrassing and, in our current economy, extremely dangerous. As they say on American Airlines, "We know you have a choice in your travel." Did Gov. Turnbull lose sight of that fact when he chose to air our dirty linen so publicly?
And what could our government's tourism professionals possibly have been thinking when they boycotted and walked out of events during the three-day symposium? Whose decision was it to do that? And what message did they think they were sending to our tourism partners from abroad, on whom we are so dependent?
These travel partners, who came here to find out what we have to offer, "have a choice" in where they send travelers. So, will they recommend a place where the hostility between the public and private sectors is palpable — and has been made to seem worse than it actually is? Or will they suggest that their clients go someplace where everyone is of one accord about how to create and maintain an outstanding tourism product?
Let's face it, we have enough problems in this territory with hostile tourism workers – year after year we hold seminars to teach people how to be nice to our visitors. The last thing we needed was this latest display of that hostile attitude from the people in charge of the government’s tourism efforts.
If it is true that human beings learn by example, then what did we learn this week?