North Side residents can expect the reopening of the Dorothea Fire Station after 10 Fire Services recruits complete training in early May, according to St. Thomas-St. John Fire Chief Melvin Potter.
In a Government House statement, Potter said the Fire Fighter Class of 2001-2 began an eight-week training course Monday. The first class, 2001-1 began training on St. Croix on Jan. 22.
The Dorothea station has been closed since summer 1999.

Brad Pitt has forsaken the lowlife British boxing rings he livened up in "Snatch," for a dusty Mexican desert dotted with pueblos and bad guys in "The Mexican."
Now, the Mexican in question isn't Pitt who plays Jerry Welbach, a reluctant bagman; it's a priceless, antique Mexican pistol which he must retrieve, or get snuffed, as we say south of the border, by an angry mob boss. However, that's not all –- the plot thickens faster than a bowl of overcooked cornmeal when his girlfriend Samantha (Julia Roberts) forbids his going after the prized gun.
Even Welbach sees the wisdom of disregarding Samantha's ultimatum for the time being in order to retrieve the gun and stay alive long enough to make the appropriate amends. But it isn't that easy. The gun supposedly carries a curse, which Welbach begins to believe after Samantha gets kidnaped by a hit man to ensure the safe return of the pistol.
The hit man (James Gandolfini of HBO's "The Sopranos"), from some reports almost steals the show as he and his captive, Samantha, get to know each other. This is the first encounter for Roberts and Pitt, but reviewers say they aren't on screen together long enough to stir up any caliente frijoles, just some refried beans.
You might want to bring a taco or some beans with you — the movie is two hours long. It is directed by Gore Verbinski ("Mouse Hunt"), and is rated R for violence and language.
It starts Thursday at Diamond Cinemas.

Once upon a time in a small town in France descended chocolate – chocolate swirled, chocolate cake, milk chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, hot chocolate, chocolate dreams – in a movie called "Choclat."
And the town was never the same. The provincial, little village had proceeded in its ways for centuries, as small villages anywhere are apt to do, until chocolatiere Vianne ( Juliette Binoche) and her six-year-old daughter Anouk (Victoire Thivisol) come to town and open a shop right across from the church. And in the middle of Lent!
Vianne rents the shop from crusty old Amande Voizin (Judi Dench) and proceeds to seduce the village with the aromatic chocolate, thought by some to be an aphrodisiac. She engages the wrath of the town's overbearing, self-righteous mayor Comte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina), and the gradual friendship of the town, much to the mayor's chagrin.
Then throw into the mix a charming, guitar playing river rat Roux ( Johnny Depp). Now, all at once and humbly, who could ask for anything more? Judi Dench just sitting in a straight-back chair doing nothing, would add immeasurable class to any film. Surrounded by this film's talent, she, and the rest of the cast, are unbeatable by all reports.
Not a film for chocoholics unless they're muzzled. From Swedish director Lasse Hallstrom (The Cider House Rules, My Life as a Dog), it is rated PG-13 for a scene of sensuality and some violence.
It is playing at Sunny Isle Theaters.

Dear Source:
With regard to the article by Bernetia Akin titled "V.I. could lose $28.6M in Bush tax plan," if $28.6 million will be "lost," where will it go?
The story reports that "when Gov. Charles Turnbull submitted his 2001 budget proposal, he estimated individual income tax collections for this year at $205.2 million. The Bush plan would lower that amount by $28.6 million, according to calculations made by the V.I. Bureau of Internal Revenue."
The IRB derives the $28.6 million figure by applying the old rates and then the new, proposed rates to the projected payroll figures and subtracts one projection from the other. That "static" method assumes that the change in tax policy will have no effect on economic activites related to investment and employment. That assumption is surely false.
Even granting that the assumption is true, and that tax revenues fall by $28.6 million, the money is not "lost." It remains in the pockets of the working people of the Virgin Islands, instead of being tranferred to the government's general fund or other accounts.
Is there any particular reason why that $28.6 million would not be a "bonanza" or a "windfall" for the "people" of the Virgin Islands – a "gain" rather than a "loss"?
Steven Santora
St. Thomas

The weekly wine and cheese social held at The Color of Joy art gallery at American Yacht Harbor in Red Hook will have an added dimension on Friday. Sally Smith, pianist and vocalist, will play from 6 to 8 p.m.
All are welcome to join the fun and there is even a rumor that there may actually be a full moon that night – so "we could even call this Full Moon Jazz," Color of Joy owner Corinne Van Rensselaer said.
The "thank God its Friday" wine and cheese reception has been going on all season and will continue through the end of season
Van Rensselaer's work and that of other artists represented in the gallery may also be seen online at www.thecolorof joy.com
Regular store hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 2 to 6 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, call 340-775-4020 or e-mail to corinne@thecolorofjoy.com

Think "acclaimed African-American classical pianist," and almost certainly Awadagin Pratt, with his dramatic dreadlocks, petite piano seat and tremendous talent, is the one artist who comes to mind.
Certainly it's so in the Virgin Islands, where he has performed on four different occasions, most recently last year in Tillett Gardens and at the St. John School of the Arts.
In the coming week, however, that may change – after Terrence Wilson makes his debut at the same two venues.
Wilson will appear on Wednesday, March 14, at the St. Thomas arts complex and on Thursday, March 15, at the St. John school.
"This is a young man with a very big future," Classics in the Garden concert series producer Rhoda Tillett says. "We feel fortunate that he is available to share his artistry with us at this stage of his career."
At 25, Wilson has not yet attained the status of an Awadagin Pratt – but give him a few more years. He has impressed critics and orchestra conductors across the nation and is a fast-rising star in the rarefied realm of classical piano, in spite of roots that seemed unlikely to push him in that direction.
The Baltimore Sun hailed him for "a sound that is beautiful at all dynamic levels, near-infallible fingers and … a sense of rhythm stable enough to shape music with authority and flexible enough to let it breathe." The Philadelphia Inquirer commended him for discarding "many of the usual gestures in favor of some brash ones, and sometimes poetic ones." And the Cincinnati Enquirer described him as a pianist "endowed with a facile technique, tremendous power and the natural ability to make a melody sing."
He tuned in and was turned on
Wilson's parents have musical backgrounds – his mother had been the lead singer in a rock 'n' roll band and his father, a vocalist with an r&b and rock group. So it wasn't surprising that by the age of 8 he was picking out Stevie Wonder tunes on an electronic keyboard.
But that was the year young Terrence's music appreciation took an unexpected turn.
He was cruising the stations on the radio dial one day when he came to one playing classical music – Chopin, to be exact. Fascinated, he became an ardent fan of the station, New York's WNCN, and of the musical genre. More important, he soon demonstrated his own uncanny ability to play classical works that he had only heard on the air or on recordings.
At the time, the Wilsons didn't have a piano in their home in the Bronx, but Terrence soon found his way to teachers, friends and patrons who did. At 9, he had his first formal piano lesson, at a neighborhood community school. Two years later, he won a Brooklyn Arts and Culture Appreciation competition, enrolled in New York's Professional Children's School and began taking Saturday classes in music theory at the Manhattan School of Music. Today, while pursuing his performance career, he continues his studies as a scholarship student at New York's Juilliard School, where he is a recipient of the prestigious Sony ES Award for Musical Excellence.
Wilson was all of 16 when he made his professional debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra – after previously having performed with that orchestra as the winner of its student competition. Later that year, he told The New York Times that he had no trouble coping with pre-performance jitters: "Once I sit at the piano and start to play, I just let the music happen," he said.
He was 19 when he gave a pre-concert recital at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York's Avery Fisher Hall. In recent years, he has performed with the American Composers Orchestra in New York public schools as part of the Carnegie Hall LinkUp outreach program.
As he points out to youngsters who admire him as a role model now, practice has a lot to do with approaching perfection as a performing artist.
In an interview at the age of 21 with WXXI Online's "Assignment: the World," he acknowledged that hardly any kid is likely to love practicing the piano three to five hours a day, something he did in his teens. But, he added, "I think one needs to understand that the goal of practicing is not just for it to be enjoyable, but for improvement to be made." How much improvement? Enough "so that by the time the college years roll around, you have a good enough grasp of the instrument to get into a good music conservatory."
This season, Wilson's tour schedule also includes appearances with the Baltimore, Cincinnati, Colorado, Charlotte, Syracuse and Winnipeg Symphonies. Last season, he performed on such prestigious stages as those of the Cleveland Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony and the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Local concert information
The coming recitals represent Wilson's second appearance in the Virgin Islands, although his first in the territory. He performed a year ago in a Classics in the Atrium program at H. Lavity Stoutt Community College on Tortola. Concert series coordinator Emma Baker recalls that the recital "went over exceptionally well here. We had a full house. He was energetic; he related to the audience very well."
For his coming performances, he will play a program of sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, Padre Antonio Soler, Franz Schubert and Johannes Brahms.
The Tillett Gardens recital on Wednesday begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 in advance and at the door. Polli's Restaurant in the garden offers a three-course, pre-performance dinner from 6 p.m. that costs an additional $30 plus bar service and gratuity. Dinner patrons remain seated at their tables for the concert. Reservations are required for dinner and are recommended for theater-only patrons, as seating is numbered. They may be made, and further information may be obtained, by calling 775-1929, faxing to 775-9482 or e-mailing to tillett@islands.vi.
The St. John School of the Arts recital on Thursday begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 for general admission and $15 for students with I.D. They are being sold in advance at Connections and, if not sold out, will be available at the door. Seating is not reserved. For additional information, call 779-4322 or 776-6777.

"Thank goodness it's Friday" should have special meaning for the next few months to folks who enjoy and appreciate local and regional art.
Every Friday evening, this season the public is invited to drop by The Color of Joy in Red Hook at American Yacht Harbor for "wine, cheese, art, gifts, music, conversation, relaxation and shopping," in the words of owner Corinne Van Rensselaer.
The Friday open house hours for the art gallery/gift shop/boutique in the American Yacht Harbor complex are 5:30 to 8 p.m.
The gallery is currently featuring Van Rensselaer's own new series of bold geometric watercolor prints, along with photographic art by B. Greg Miller, teapots and other ceramic pieces by Cybill, Caribbean dinnerware by Siddhia Hutchinson, and "art to wear" by local designer Sloop Jones.
A St. Thomas resident since 1982, Van Rensselaer is known for her island images and floral vignettes. She is a self-taught watercolorist with a palette that ranges from strong, vibrant colors to soft pastel hues. In her work, both abstract and representational, she seeks to convey "a feeling of joy, lightness and tranquility."
She says she is equally comfortable as an artist "capturing the fragile beauty of the hibiscus flower" or "evoking the mysterious world of the coral reef."
Founded by Van Rensselaer 10 years ago in Tillett Gardens, The Color of Joy was relocated to American Yacht Harbor in 1996 and expanded to include a frame shop in 1997. The owner's work and that of other artists represented in the gallery may also be seen online at www.thecolorof joy.com
Born and reared in England, Van Rensselaer studied architecture in London, but in 1978 she exchanged her drawing board and draughting tools for sails and lines aboard a charter yacht – first in the Mediterranean, then in the Caribbean. She lived with her husband, Rik, and their children, Skye and William, aboard their sailboat, Flute, until 1996.
Van Rensselaer has had several solo shows and is the only artist to have participated in every Caribbean Colour exhibition since the first in 1988, taking second prize for watercolor in 1996. She won the Best in Fine Art award at the Arts Alive fair in 1995. Her watercolor map of the Virgin Islands is sold in shops throughout the U.S. and British Virgin Islands. As much a businesswoman as an artist, she is a past president of Rotary East on St. Thomas.
Regular store hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 2 to 6 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, call 340-775-4020 or e-mail to corinne@thecolorofjoy.com

A V.I. Narcotics Strike Force officer from St. Croix was arrested earlier this week by federal agents in Florida after turning himself in on drug charges.
Achille Malik Tyson surrendered to federal authorities in Orlando, Florida after learning of an arrest warrant against him for conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine, according to U.S. Attorney David Atkinson.
The complaint against Tyson, which was sealed until his arrest Monday, alleges that between October 1999 and January 2000, the St. Croix-based strike force agent supplied a "confidential informant" with crack and powder cocaine and marijuana to sell for the officer. The duo then shared the proceeds.
Tyson appeared before a U.S. magistrate judge in Orlando on Monday and will be returned to the territory to face the pending charges.
V.I. Police Commissioner Franz Christian has oversight of the NSF, which has the primary responsibility for the detection, capture and preparation of evidence to prosecute violators of the controlled substances laws in the territory. Christian didn’t immediately return calls on Wednesday.
NSF officers’ duties include the collection of evidence through surveillance, undercover operations, gathering and analyzing of intelligence information and coordinating with pertinent local and federal law enforcement agencies.
Former Police Commissioner Ramon Davila in the Schneider administration tried unsuccessfully to disband the strike force because of corruption concerns. His effort was stymied primarily because of union opposition. During his tenure, Davila said that federal law enforcement agencies refused to work with the strike force because of those concerns.
Last September, the FBI raided strike force offices on St. Thomas and St. Croix as part of a grand jury investigation. They seized accounting records and computer files, among other items.
Meanwhile, on the charge of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute, Tyson, faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison and a $2-million fine. Atkinson noted that the complaint against Tyson only sets forth criminal charges and that all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Think "acclaimed African-American classical pianist," and almost certainly Awadagin Pratt, with his dramatic dreadlocks, petite piano seat and tremendous talent, is the one artist who comes to mind.
Certainly it's so in the Virgin Islands, where he has performed on four different occasions, most recently last year in Tillett Gardens and at the St. John School of the Arts.
In the coming week, however, that may change – after Terrence Wilson makes his debut at the same two venues.
Wilson will appear on Wednesday, March 14, at the St. Thomas arts complex and on Thursday, March 15, at the St. John school.
"This is a young man with a very big future," Classics in the Garden concert series producer Rhoda Tillett says. "We feel fortunate that he is available to share his artistry with us at this stage of his career."
At 25, Wilson has not yet attained the status of an Awadagin Pratt – but give him a few more years. He has impressed critics and orchestra conductors across the nation and is a fast-rising star in the rarefied realm of classical piano, in spite of roots that seemed unlikely to push him in that direction.
The Baltimore Sun hailed him for "a sound that is beautiful at all dynamic levels, near-infallible fingers and … a sense of rhythm stable enough to shape music with authority and flexible enough to let it breathe." The Philadelphia Inquirer commended him for discarding "many of the usual gestures in favor of some brash ones, and sometimes poetic ones." And the Cincinnati Enquirer described him as a pianist "endowed with a facile technique, tremendous power and the natural ability to make a melody sing."
He tuned in and was turned on
Wilson's parents have musical backgrounds – his mother had been the lead singer in a rock 'n' roll band and his father, a vocalist with an r&b and rock group. So it wasn't surprising that by the age of 8 he was picking out Stevie Wonder tunes on an electronic keyboard.
But that was the year young Terrence's music appreciation took an unexpected turn.
He was cruising the stations on the radio dial one day when he came to one playing classical music – Chopin, to be exact. Fascinated, he became an ardent fan of the station, New York's WNCN, and of the musical genre. More important, he soon demonstrated his own uncanny ability to play classical works that he had only heard on the air or on recordings.
At the time, the Wilsons didn't have a piano in their home in the Bronx, but Terrence soon found his way to teachers, friends and patrons who did. At 9, he had his first formal piano lesson, at a neighborhood community school. Two years later, he won a Brooklyn Arts and Culture Appreciation competition, enrolled in New York's Professional Children's School and began taking Saturday classes in music theory at the Manhattan School of Music. Today, while pursuing his performance career, he continues his studies as a scholarship student at New York's Juilliard School, where he is a recipient of the prestigious Sony ES Award for Musical Excellence.
Wilson was all of 16 when he made his professional debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra – after previously having performed with that orchestra as the winner of its student competition. Later that year, he told The New York Times that he had no trouble coping with pre-performance jitters: "Once I sit at the piano and start to play, I just let the music happen," he said.
He was 19 when he gave a pre-concert recital at the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York's Avery Fisher Hall. In recent years, he has performed with the American Composers Orchestra in New York public schools as part of the Carnegie Hall LinkUp outreach program.
As he points out to youngsters who admire him as a role model now, practice has a lot to do with approaching perfection as a performing artist.
In an interview at the age of 21 with WXXI Online's "Assignment: the World," he acknowledged that hardly any kid is likely to love practicing the piano three to five hours a day, something he did in his teens. But, he added, "I think one needs to understand that the goal of practicing is not just for it to be enjoyable, but for improvement to be made." How much improvement? Enough "so that by the time the college years roll around, you have a good enough grasp of the instrument to get into a good music conservatory."
This season, Wilson's tour schedule also includes appearances with the Baltimore, Cincinnati, Colorado, Charlotte, Syracuse and Winnipeg Symphonies. Last season, he performed on such prestigious stages as those of the Cleveland Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony and the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Local concert information
The coming recitals represent Wilson's second appearance in the Virgin Islands, although his first in the territory. He performed a year ago in a Classics in the Atrium program at H. Lavity Stoutt Community College on Tortola. Concert series coordinator Emma Baker recalls that the recital "went over exceptionally well here. We had a full house. He was energetic; he related to the audience very well."
For his coming performances, he will play a program of sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, Padre Antonio Soler, Franz Schubert and Johannes Brahms.
The Tillett Gardens recital on Wednesday begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 in advance and at the door. Polli's Restaurant in the garden offers a three-course, pre-performance dinner from 6 p.m. that costs an additional $30 plus bar service and gratuity. Dinner patrons remain seated at their tables for the concert. Reservations are required for dinner and are recommended for theater-only patrons, as seating is numbered. They may be made, and further information may be obtained, by calling 775-1929, faxing to 775-9482 or e-mailing to tillett@islands.vi.
The St. John School of the Arts recital on Thursday begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 for general admission and $15 for students with I.D. They are being sold in advance at Connections and, if not sold out, will be available at the door. Seating is not reserved. For additional information, call 779-4322 or 776-6777.

Gov. Charles W. Turnbull has proclaimed March U.S. Virgin Islands-Denmark Friendship Month.
He signed the proclamation Tuesday during the second meeting of the Bilateral Archival Commission at Government House on St. Thomas.
Turnbull said he looked forward to "a new and exciting partnership between Denmark and the United States Virgin Islands" in light of their shared history.