A Sneak Preview of the the 18th Annual Antiques Auction will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, March 10 at the Whim Museum.
This is a chance to see all the items that will be auctioned off on Sunday. Hor d'oeuvres and a cash bar will be available.
A gallery of photos is also available on the St.Croix Landmarks Society Website at www.stcroixlandmarks.com/auction/

A Sneak Preview of the the 18th Annual Antiques Auction will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, March 10 at the Whim Museum.
This is a chance to see all the items that will be auctioned off on Sunday. Hor d'oeuvres and a cash bar will be available.

Already a giant in the commercial property business on St. Thomas and St. Croix, Topa Equities (VI) Ltd. has just entered the St. John market, purchasing Mongoose Junction II near Cruz Bay from T.A. Carter
Topa senior vice president Fraser Drummond said the purchase closed Thursday. He declined to reveal the price.
Glen Speer retains ownership of the original Mongoose Junction, adjacent to Mongoose II. Drummond praised Speer's craftsmanship and Carter's design of the shopping complex.
"We're looking forward to having Glen as a neighbor," Drummond said.
Mongoose II has 19 direct tenants, both stores and offices.
"There will be no changes," to the property, Drummond said. "It's not broken and we don't plan to fix it."
Topa owns numerous commercial sites in downtown Charlotte Amalie and in Christiansted.

To learn about improving indoor air quality in your home or workplace, the UVI Cooperative Extension Service Natural Resources Program is inviting health professionals and other interested agencies and individuals to participate in an Indoor Air Quality Training Workshop to be held March 13 on St. Thomas and March 14 on St. Croix. National trainers from Rutgers and Cornell Universities will be conducting the Indoor Air Quality Training Workshop to provide information about:
1. Moisture & Biologicals – Molds, mildew, dust mites and bugs, sources include high humidity, poorly-maintained air conditioners, inadequate ventilation
2. Formaldehyde – sources include textiles, particle board products, carpeting and other furnishings
3. Asthma – the Virgin Islands has a particularly high incidence of asthma and other respiratory ailments
4. Household products – many chemicals found in common household products can potentially cause health effects and pollution problems
5. Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) – from paints, solvents, air fresheners, hobby supplies, dry-cleaned clothing, aerosol sprays, adhesives and fabric additives
6. Combustion products – sources include unvented gas stoves and ovens, and other fuel-burning appliances.
The Indoor Air Quality Training Workshop will be held:
March 13 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Room 210 (Exercise Room), UVI Sports & Fitness Complex, St. Thomas;
March 14 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Room 133, UVI Research & Extension Building, St. Croix.
This workshop is part of the national Healthy Indoor Air for America's Homes program co-sponsored by the USDA Cooperative State Research Education and Extension Service, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the American Lung Association. The goal of the program is to protect public health by reducing risks associated with indoor air contamination.
Space is limited, so please contact UVI-CES at 693-1080 to register. The workshops are free and open to the public. If you have any questions about the workshop, please contact Julie Wright at 693-1082, or jwright@uvi.edu. Information on the program can also be accessed at the Healthy Indoor Air for America's Homes Web site.
For more on the University of the Virgin Islands, visit the Web site at www.uvi.edu.

Already a giant in the commercial property business on St. Thomas and St. Croix, Topa Equities (VI) Ltd. has just entered the St. John market, purchasing Mongoose Junction II near Cruz Bay from T.A. Carter
Topa senior vice president Fraser Drummond said the purchase closed Thursday. He declined to reveal the price.
Glen Speer retains ownership of the original Mongoose Junction, adjacent to Mongoose II. Drummond praised Speer's craftsmanship and Carter's design of the shopping complex.
"We're looking forward to having Glen as a neighbor," Drummond said.
Mongoose II has 19 direct tenants, both stores and offices.
"There will be no changes," to the property, Drummond said. "It's not broken and we don't plan to fix it."
Topa owns numerous commercial sites in downtown Charlotte Amalie and in Christiansted.

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS
CORAL REEF NATIONAL MONUMENT
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
The Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument, in the submerged lands off the island of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, contains all the elements of a Caribbean tropical marine ecosystem. This designation furthers the protection of the scientific objects included in the Virgin Islands National Park, created in 1956 and expanded in 1962. The biological communities of the monument live in a fragile, interdependent relationship and include habitats essential for sustaining and enhancing the tropical marine ecosystem: mangroves, sea grass beds, coral reefs, octocoral hardbottom, sand communities, shallow mud and tine sediment habitat, and algal plains. The fishery habitats, deeper coral reefs, octocoral hardbottom, and algal plains of the monument are all objects of scientific interest and essential to the long—term sustenance of the tropical marine ecosystem.
The monument is within the Virgin Islands, which lie at the heart of the insular Caribbean biome, and is representative of the Lesser Antillean biogeographic province. The island of St. John rises from a platform that extends several miles from shore before plunging to the abyssal depths of the Anegada trough to the south and the Puerto Rican trench to the north, the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean. This platform contains a multitude or species that exist in a delicate balance, interlined through complex relationships that have developed over tens of thousands of years.
As part of this important ecosystem, the monument contains biological objects including several threatened and endangered species, which forage, breed, nest, rest, or calve in the waters. Humpback whales, pilot whales, four species of dolphins, brown pelicans, roseate terns, least terns, and the hawksbill, leatherback, and green sea turtles all use portions of themonument. Countless species Of reef fish, invertebrates, and plants utilize these Submerged lands during their lives, and Over 25 species of sea birds feed Sn the waters. Between the nearshore nursery habitats and the shelf edge spawning Sites in the monument are habitats that play essential roles during specific developmental stages of reef—associated Species, including spawning migrations of many reef fish species and crustaceans. The submerged monument lands within Hurricane Hole include the most extensive and well—developed mangrove habitat on St. John. The Hurricane Hole area is an important nursery area for reef associated fish and invertebrates, instrumental in maintaining water quality by filtering and trapping sediment and debris in fresh water runoff from the fast land, and essential to the overall functioning and productivity of regional fisheries. Numerous coral reef—associated species, including the spiny lobster, queen conch, and Nassau grouper, transform from planktonic larvae to bottom—dwelling juveniles in the Shallow nearshore habitats of Hurricane Hole. As they mature, they move Offshore and take up residence in the deeper coral patch reefs, octocoral hardbottom, and algal plains of the submerged monument lands to the south and north of St. John.
The monument lands south of St. John are predominantly deep algal plains with scattered areas Of raised hard bottom. The algal plains include Communities Of mostly red and cal—careous algae with canopies as much as half a meter high. The raised hard bottom is sparsely colonized with corals, sponges, gorgonians, and other invertebrates, thus providing Shelter for lobster, groupers, and snappers as Well as spawning sites for some reef fish species. These algal plains and raised hard bottom areas link the shallow water reef, sea grass, and mangrove communities with the deep water shelf and shelf edge communities of fish and invertebrates.
Section 2 of the Act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225, 16 U.S.C. 431), authorizes the President, in his discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects Of historic or scientific interest that are Situated upon the lands wned or controlled by the Government of the United States to be national monuments, and to reserve as a part thereof parcels Of land, the limits Of which in all cases sha11 be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected.
WHEREAS it appears that it would be in the public interest to reserve Such lands as a national monument to be known as the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument:
NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United States of Arnerica, by the authority vested in me by section 2 of the Act Of June 9, 1906 (4 Stat. 225, 16 U.S.C. 4fl), do proclaim that there are hereby set apart and reserved as the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument, for the purpose or protecting the objects identified above, all lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by the United States within the boundaries Of the area described on the map entitled “Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument," attached to and forming part Of the proclamation. The Federal land and interests in land reserved consist of approximately 12,708 marine acres, which is the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected.
All Federal lands and interests in lands within the boundaries of this monument are hereby appropriated and withdrawn from all forms of entry, location, selection, sale, or leasing or other disposition under the public land laws, including but not limited to withdrawal from location, entry, and patent under the mining laws, and from disposition under all laws relating to mineral and geothermal leasing, other than by exchange that furthers the protective purposes of the monument. For the purpose of protecting the objects identified above, the secretary shall prohibit all boat anchoring, except for emergency or authorized administrative purposes. For the purposes of protecting the objects identified above, the Secretary shall prohibit all extractive uses, except that the Secretary may issue permits for bait fishing at Hurricane Hole and for blue runner (hard nose) line fishing in the area south of St. John, to the extent that such fishing is consistent with the protection of the objects identified in this proclamation.
Lands and interests in lands within the monument not owned or controlled by the United States shall be reserved as a part of the monument upon acquisition of title or control thereto by the United States.
The Secretary of the Interior shall manage the monument through the National Park Service, pursuant to applicable legal authorities, to implement the purposes of this proclamation. The National Park Service will manage the monument in a manner consistent with international law. The Secretary of the Interior shall prepare a management plan, including the management of vessels in the monument, within 3 years, which addresses any further specific actions necessary to protect the objects identified in this proclamation.
The establishment of this monument is subject to valid existing rights.
Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to revoke any existing withdrawal, reservation, or appropriation; however, the national monument shall be the dominant reservation.
Warning is hereby given to all unauthorized persons not to appropriate, injure, destroy, or remove any feature of this monument and not to locate or settle upon any of the lands thereof.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this seventeenth day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand one, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty—fifth.
WILLIAM J. CLINTON

Gov. Charles W. Turnbull joined fellow Democrats Monday in condemning remarks made by Sen. Adelbert Bryan, a member of the Independent Citizens Movement, who said on a radio talk show that only native-born Virgin Islanders should be allowed to hold major elective offices.
"No public official in this territory should be silent" on the issue, Turnbull said. "Naturalized citizens have the right to be elected governor . . . or to any other public office."
He called on Bryan to retract his remarks and on Senate President Almando "Rocky" Liburd to speak out against Bryan's position.
Noting that Bryan is vice president of the Legislature, the governor said "the person in that position has to be very responsible."
Bryan's remarks have become a hot point amid reports that the eight-member, bare majority in the Legislature is crumbling and various members are ready to defect to the predominantly Democratic coalition. On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Celestino White Sr. issued a statement saying that Bryan's remarks did not reflect that of the majority coalition, though he defended Bryan's right to express his views.
But that was not enough for Sen. David Jones. On Tuesday, the minority leader said in a statement that "the community would be better served if the Majority had united behind a statement denouncing Sen. Bryan's position. …" He called Bryan's views "unconstitutional and illegal."
Turnbull's comments came in response to a question during a brief, impromptu press conference following a Government House press briefing by the Bilateral Archival Commission.
On another subject, Turnbull refused to say whether the government is considering developing property near St. Thomas' Drake's Seat overlook, which has been the site of ongoing controversy over vendors' right to sell tourist goods there.
"I'm not going to discuss any details about purchase," he said, adding that whatever course the government takes it will be "the best thing for everybody."
Turnbull rejected the suggestion by outgoing prosecutor Boyd Sprehn that the government is not serious enough about prosecuting public corruption cases.
"This administration has done more than any other," he said. "The record speaks for itself."

Nadine Marchena has been appointed by Gov. Charles W. Turnbull as assistant chief executive officer of the V.I. Economic Development Authority for Industrial Development. The appointment took effect Thursday.
The authority was created last month when Turnbull signed a bill into law consolidating the Industrial Development Commission, the Government Development Bank, the Industrial Park Development Corp. and the Small Business Development Agency.
Marchena was assistant executive director of the IDC since 1997; she twice served as acting executive director, most recently after Frandelle Gerard was forced to resign from the top post.

The Haitian-born architect, sculptor and painter Sacha Tebo exhibits his unique encaustic paintings, recognizable to his many collectors for their archetypal Caribbean imagery, vibrant pigments, and graphic use of line incised through the wax based paint medium.
Meet the artist at the opening reception, Friday, March 9, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Maria Henle Studio, 55 Company Street, phone 773 7376. The exhibit continues through March 21.

Curiouser and curiouser is how Virgin Islands politics probably looked to even the most seasoned observer after the latest round of rhetoric and radio wrangling Monday.
Following the uproar over the weekend when radio pundits predicted the imminent disintegration of the 24th Legislature’s eight-member majority bloc, Sen. Norman Jn Baptiste, one of the two majority members said to be bolting, used his Senate Education Committee hearing Monday to refute claims of his departure.
The St. Lucia-born senator did, however, make it quite clear that he does have issues with a fellow majority member, Senate Vice President Adelbert Bryan, over Bryan’s comments about naturalized citizens holding political office in the territory.
"There is a majority," Baptiste said. "It is the majority of the 24th Legislature. It’s the same as on the eighth of January, 2001, and I expect it to be the same tomorrow…
"Those who wish to fill in the blanks can," he said.
Baptiste said the majority does have "differences," but that those issues were "on the table" being "thrashed out." If they can’t be resolved, he said, there are "several options left to exercise."
"At the appropriate point in time, I will decide what I’ll do with those matters," Baptiste said.
He was apparently responding to Bryan’s comments over the weekend that naturalized U.S. citizens, particularly those from neighboring islands in the Eastern Caribbean, shouldn’t be allowed to hold public office. Bryan suggested that Baptiste, now an American citizen, could return to St. Lucia and hold office there.
"Clearly we have people around us who are ignorant," Baptiste said without naming Bryan in particular. He said he has forfeited any right to hold public office in St. Lucia.
Baptiste did say, though, that he took Bryan’s comments seriously and that he had confronted his colleague on the issue in the past. Additionally, he has asked majority bloc leaders to discuss Bryan’s remarks.
Later in the day, Majority Leader Celestino White Sr. issued a statement abjuring Bryan's remarks, saying they did not represent the viewpoint of the majority though Bryan was free to express his opinion.
RADIO DAZE
Meanwhile, Baptiste’s Education Committee hearing Monday didn’t make it out of the Senate chambers in Frederiksted over the radio waves because the nonprofit radio station, WIUJ-102.9 FM, that has for years broadcast Senate sessions had technical difficulties, said station owner Leo Moron.
The station’s troubles were ironic in that Monday was the first day that Mario Moorhead’s new radio program, funded with $60,000 in taxpayers’ money over two years, aired. Moorhead referred to the broadcast as "Radio Free St. Croix."
In late January, Moorhead was hired by Bryan and Sen. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen to broadcast their committee hearings live and provide commentary on those and other legislative proceedings.
Moorhead’s $60,000 contract will be paid with public funds from the Senate. The contract calls for $30,000 to be paid up front.
The up-front payment was apparently enough to "leverage" Moorhead’s efforts to return to the airwaves after being dismissed by a number of local stations. Along with the Senate coverage, Moorhead will operate and manage the commercial FM radio station, WAXJ on St. Croix.
On Monday, Moorhead encouraged potential advertisers to contact the station, saying that rates could be worked out on a business-to-business basis.
Moorhead also assailed V.I. Democratic Party stalwart Gerard Luz James, the owner of WSTX radio, for broadcasting "propaganda" over the weekend about the possible breakup of the Senate’s majority bloc.
On Monday afternoon, WSTX reported that WIUJ’s broadcast of Senate proceedings had been halted until station-owner Moron and Liburd finalize contract negotiations for future coverage. In their contract with Moorhead, which was approved by Liburd, Bryan and Hansen said that "existing radio coverage of Senate meetings and sessions is inadequate and warrants improvement."
Moron said the lack of coverage Monday was due to technical problems, which he discovered after returning from off-island Monday afternoon.
"I don’t know what happened at the Legislature," he said. "My station was off the air."