Dr. May Trieu will offer a free class in the traditional Chinese exercise-and-meditation practice of qi gong on Sunday, March 11, at 10 a.m. in the Frenchtown building behind the Veterans Drive post office. Anyone interested in learning more about this health practice, followed today by some 90 million persons in China, is invited to attend.
Qi gong combines exercise in slow, graceful movements with mental concentration and breathing to increase the participant's vital energy. It is part of traditional Chinese medicine, which holds that sickness arises when the flow of one's vital energy is blocked. "The practice of qi gong frees the energy, regulates the person, and strengthens his or her health, preventing diseases," Trieu says, describing it as "a very complete system of exercise that benefits all the organs and systems of the body."
According to Trieu, who is a medical doctor and acupuncturist as well as a master of qi gong, the practice of the discipline "will help you find the physical and mental balance that you are seeking through the combination of breathing, relaxation and inward gaze."
For further information, attend the free class, or call Trieu at 774-1420.

Dates for March insurance examinations on St. Thomas and St. Croix were announced Thursday by the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, Division of Banking and Insurance.
Exams on St. Thomas are at 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 13 at the Division of Personnel Testing room in the GERS Building. Registration for the exams is at the Division of Banking and Insurance Office at Nisky Center any time up until 5 p.m. Monday, March 12. The office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
St. Croix exams are from 10 a.m. to noon Wednesday, March 28 at the Division of Personnel testing room at 3009 Orange Grove, Suites 6,7 and 8, Christiansted. Registration for the exams is at the Division of Banking and Insurance Office, 1131 King Street, Christiansted any time up until 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, March 27.
Registration fee for the insurance exams, which are held every two months, is $25. Applicants should report by 9:45 a.m.
For additional information, call Linda Scabriel on St. Thomas at 774-7166. On St. Croix, call Mayra Mendez or Gwendolyn Collins at 773-6449.

Dates for March insurance examinations on St. Thomas and St. Croix were announced Thursday by the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, Division of Banking and Insurance.
St. Croix exams are from 10 a.m. to noon Wednesday, March 28 at the Division of Personnel testing room at 3009 Orange Grove, Suites 6,7 and 8, Christiansted. Registration for the exams is at the Division of Banking and Insurance Office, 1131 King Street, Christiansted any time up until 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, March 27.
Exams on St. Thomas are at 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 13 at the Division of Personnel Testing room in the GERS Building. Registration for the exams is at the Division of Banking and Insurance Office at Nisky Center any time up until 5 p.m. Monday, March 12. The office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Registration fee for the insurance exams, which are held every two months, is $25. Applicants should report by 9:45 a.m.
For additional information, call Linda Scabriel on St. Thomas at 774-7166. On St. Croix, call Mayra Mendez or Gwendolyn Collins at 773-6449.

Dates for March insurance examinations on St. Thomas and St. Croix were announced Thursday by the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, Division of Banking and Insurance.
Exams on St. Thomas are at 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 13 at the Division of Personnel Testing room in the GERS Building. Registration for the exams is at the Division of Banking and Insurance Office at Nisky Center any time up until 5 p.m. Monday, March 12. The office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
St. Croix exams are from 10 a.m. to noon Wednesday, March 28 at the Division of Personnel testing room at 3009 Orange Grove, Suites 6,7 and 8, Christiansted. Registration for the exams is at the Division of Banking and Insurance Office, 1131 King Street, Christiansted any time up until 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, March 27.
Registration fee for the insurance exams, which are held every two months, is $25. Applicants should report by 9:45 a.m.
For additional information, call Linda Scabriel on St. Thomas at 774-7166. On St. Croix, call Mayra Mendez or Gwendolyn Collins at 773-6449.

Dr. May Trieu will conduct a qi gong class on Sunday, March 11, at 10 a.m. in the building in Frenchtown behind the Veterans Drive post office. The class is free and everyone is welcome. Qi gong is an ancient Chinese health practice that combines exercise in slow, graceful movements with mental concentration and breathing to increase the participant's vital energy. For further information, call Dr. Trieu at 774-1420.

What will it take for the people of the Virgin Islands to demand accountability and enforcement?
A man hired to prosecute white-collar crime had the courage this week to utter what we have all known and turned a blind eye to year after year: There is little will to stop public corruption.
"I've never seen a government where there is such a complete divorce between authority and responsibility. And because of that divorce, there is no accountability." That's what Boyd Sprehn said this week. He is not the only one to say such things. But Sprehn dared to go on the record.
In February 2000, after charging former Gov. Roy L. Schneider with fraud, Attorney General Iver Stridiron and former white-collar crime prosecutor Douglas Sprotte promised that it was just the beginning. Stridrion said there was a stack of cases sitting on his desk, that he was "astonished" by the number of cases.
It is now more than a year later. Why have these cases not seen the light of a courtroom?
In a recent press conference, Stridiron admitted his personal distress at knowing many people who have become involved in what he called "troubling" and "widespread" corruption in the territory, but said it would not stop him from prosecuting them.
Now there's another excuse: the shortage of prosecutors. In the time it will take to hire another prosecutor (Stridiron said at the same press conference he could use 10 more) and familiarize him or her with the cases, more money will be bled out of the public coffers, and the people of the Virgin Islands.
And why not? There have been no consequences for thievery and corruption in high places in the V.I. — or even in low places.
The solution: give the Inspector General the money he has been begging for to hire more investigators. He is waiting for approval from Gov. Charles W. Turnbull on a $300,000 budget increase. Stop wasting time: Give the man the money. That $300,000 could save the territory millions.
And do what the people asked for almost four years ago by a nearly 3 to 1 margin: make the position of attorney general an elected position.
We believe Attorney General Stridiron was sincere when he said the governor does not interfere with his decisions about prosecuting cases, and we also believed him when he implied past governors and high officials did meddle.
The inspector general, on the other hand, cannot be removed from office short of committing fraud himself and is immune to changes in administrations. We need to give the attorney general the same sanctuary.
Remember these numbers? In 1998, 13,998 Virgin Islanders voted in a non-binding referendum that the attorney general be elected by the people. Those voting against it numbered 4,988. Whenever the 24th Legislature settles down and begins to do the people's business, we hope they will consider what the people who elected them want most.
In the meantime, we challenge Attorney General Stridiron to dig into that stack of cases and take them into court.

The animals at the Humane Society of St. Thomas are a little more lonesome this week, after Delsa Thomas left the shelter where she has worked for more than five years.
"I love them all — though you aren't supposed to have favorites," says the 24-year-old Thomas, who leaves next week to join the U. S. Air Force.
"It seems like I've always been around the shelter," says Thomas, with a ready smile. "I first used to come out and volunteer when I was in school, and it just seemed natural to start working here when I graduated," she says. But now she is looking forward to a change.
She has enrolled in the Air Force for four years, but "I'm planning to make a career of it if I like it," she says. Her sister, Kahila, signed up in 2000 and inspired Thomas' decision. She will go through basic training and then work as a medical receptionist. She doesn't know how her experience working with animals is going to come in, but "I hope to use that somewhere," she says.
Thomas says she loves even those cases that are hard to crack. "I'll just go in there and say 'you're going to like me'," she says, and it works. "You have to be patient, though," she adds.
Shelter volunteer Lisa Walker says Thomas adds something a little special. "She'll always do something extra," says Walker, "like promoting adoptions by putting little signs on the animal's cages telling something about them."
In December, Walker says, a couple adopting a dog mentioned their anniversary would fall on the day of the Humane Society's Valentines Ball. Sure enough, the couple heard their anniversary announced at the event.
Thomas has a pet of her own, but not your typical garden variety. She has a ferret named Frankie, whom she occasionally brings to work and lets run around in the small enclosure in the reception area. But mostly Frankie is at home with Thomas' three girls, Valiqua, three years old, Valisha, four years old, and Valina, six. "I just like V names," Thomas notes. The three girls are staying with their grandmother on St. Thomas until Thomas gets settled in Virginia.
Hubert Brumant, Society manager, says of Delsa: "She was so good with kids. You have to treat kids in a special way to take care of animals, and Delsa had a passion for that," Brumant says. "She knew all the animals here by name, and she knew their personalities, so she could make sure they were adopted into the right home."
Though it's been only a few days, Brumant says, "I already miss her."

Attorney General Iver Stridiron denied this week that he and Inspector General Steven Van Beverhoudt are less than committed to following corruption trails wherever they lead.
Stridirion, attending the annual Sea Trade convention in Florida as a member of the V.I. Port Authority governing board, said he was responding to statements made earlier in the week in an exclusive Source interview with former lead corruption prosecutor Boyd Sphren.
"We have an excellent working relationship, and there is a commitment on the part of both my office and the Inspector General that we will do what we have to do ferret out corruption in government," Stridiron said.
Stridiron has said on several occasions that members of the Public Corruption Task Force sometimes struggle with personal conflicts which arise when a friend, relative or highly placed person is implicated during an investigation. But he insists the task force is left to work out such situations on its own, with no interference from Gov. Charles W. Turnbull.
"The governor has made it quite clear that he does not wish to be advised of any matter we are working on. He has avoided from day one any appearance of a political spin on any case we are doing," Stridiron said. Turnbull has backed up Stridiron's assertion that he does not attempt to influence the outcome of fraud investigations. Earlier this week, the governor said that "this administration has done more than any to assist in that area and the record will speak for itself."
Sprehn provided some insight in his Monday interview into his experience as lead prosecutor on the Public Corruption Task Force. He described the Virgin Islands "as a tough nut to crack," given what he described as a complete divorce between authority and responsibility in government. Because of that disconnect, Sprehn said, there is no accountability.
In the interview, he cited as one example the lack of authority of department heads to discipline subordinates without consent from the top, and the fact that subordinates are not required to report to their immediate superiors, but to someone above them.
Sphren also said that sometimes interference is so rampant that he had a hard time finding out what the chain of command is, and he questioned whether the government as a whole is really committed to rooting out public corruption.
Sprehn resigned from the fraud and public corruption task force in a contract dispute.

Attorney General Iver Stridiron denied that he and Inspector General Steven Van Beverhoudt are less than committed to following corruption trails wherever they lead.
Stridirion, attending the annual Sea Trade convention in Florida as a member of the V.I. Port Authority governing board, said he was responding to statements made earlier in the week in an exclusive Source interview with former lead corruption prosecutor Boyd Sphren.
"We have an excellent working relationship, and there is a commitment on the part of both my office and the Inspector General that we will do what we have to do ferret out corruption in government," Stridiron said.
Stridiron has said on several occasions that members of the Public Corruption Task Force sometimes struggle with personal conflicts which arise when a friend, relative or highly placed person is implicated during an investigation. But he insists the task force is left to work out such situations on its own, with no interference from Gov. Charles W. Turnbull.
"The governor has made it quite clear that he does not wish to be advised of any matter we are working on. He has avoided from day one any appearance of a political spin on any case we are doing," Stridiron said. Turnbull has backed up Stridiron's assertion that he does not attempt to influence the outcome of fraud investigations. Earlier this week, the governor said that "this administration has done more than any to assist in that area and the record will speak for itself."
Sprehn provided some insight in his Monday interview into his experience as lead prosecutor on the Public Corruption Task Force. He described the Virgin Islands "as a tough nut to crack," given what he described as a complete divorce between authority and responsibility in government. Because of that disconnect, Sprehn said, there is no accountability.
In the interview, he cited as one example the lack of authority of department heads to discipline subordinates without consent from the top, and the fact that subordinates are not required to report to their immediate superiors, but to someone above them.
Sphren also said that sometimes interference is so rampant that he had a hard time finding out what the chain of command is, and he questioned whether the government as a whole is really committed to rooting out public corruption.
Sprehn resigned from the fraud and public corruption task force in a contract dispute.

The bi monthly St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours event will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 8 at Lapis Oriental Rugs in Port of $ale Mall in Havensight.
Complimentary hor d'oeuvres will be served along with the usual $2 chamber bar.
Members, guests and potential members are encouraged to attend.