The submerged land areas off St. John and St. Croix recently designated as national monuments by the U.S. Interior Department represent only one percent of all V.I. territorial waters and four percent of shelf areas, according to John King, superintendent of the V.I. National Park.
"It's a small area, but big enough to be significant" in reviving the fish population, he said.
King said such a rebound won't take long. It has taken only two to three years to see a measurable difference in fish populations in areas where protective measures have been implemented, he said.
He said the governors of Guam and American Samoa, where 20 percent of the submerged lands have been set aside, were singing the praises of the protected areas at a recent meeting in Washington, D.C.
King, who moved to the territory and into his position three months ago — one month before former President Bill Clinton designated 47 square miles of V.I. submerged land as national monuments — made the remarks at the monthly luncheon meeting of the League of Women Voters on Monday.
King also made it clear it would take Congressional legislation to change the parameters of the designation. He said the designation means no fishing in the waters of the Buck Island National Monument, nor in St. John's Coral Reef National Monument save for bait fishing in Hurricane Hole and hard-nose fishing on the south shore of St. John, both by permit.
There will also be no anchoring allowed, but King said moorings will be installed in both Hurricane Hole for the purpose of hurricane mitigation and also in areas within the monument on St. John's south side for recreational use.
In addressing the damage done over the years to the sensitive ecosystems of the reefs, King shocked the group by saying that according to the U.S. Customs Service, 300 to 400 pounds of coral, taken illegally, is confiscated every week.
"And that's only what they (Customs) find," he said.
Other factors such as hurricanes, reef diseases, sediment runoff from improperly managed construction, carelessly dropped fish traps and anchors, and sloppy snorkelers have all contributed to reef destruction.
In his presentation, King showed a telling photo of a Virgin Islands spear fisherman with his large catch that had appeared on the cover of a 1956 National Geographic, compared to a 1994 photo of a much smaller, meager-looking catch.
The National Park is mandated to develop and implement the management plan for the National Monuments, but has no control over the stipulations of the designation.
There are 4,458 square miles of submerged land within V.I. territorial waters.

The Virgin Islands Housing Authority has postponed the special election for resident leaders that was scheduled for Tuesday, March 6.
In a press release executive director, Conrad Francois, thanked the candidates and said they would be informed of further changes or decisions about the elections.

The annual Silk Greenery 15K, a challenging run around the East End, attracted 17 runners on Sunday. Grace Tuma was the first female finisher for the second year in a row, while Andy Mohr finished first among the men.
The rather grueling course began at Silk Greenery in Fort Mylner and continued over Cassi Hill, through Smith Bay, into the National Park and back through Nadir to the start.
Undaunted by the hills and heat, bicyclist-turned-runner Mohr breezed through the nine miles in 1:02. Adam Thill of St. John was a minute behind him at 1:03. Vincent Nunes at 1:05 was the third finisher.
Tuma was the first woman across the finish line in 1:12. Kathie McMurtrie of St John was next at 1:13 ; followed by Jennifer Wentworth who came in at 1:14.
The rest of the finishers are as follows:
Peter Alter 1:09;
Gerald Wentworth 1:13;
Lance Maanum 1:15;
Kevin Lenahan 1:19;
Frank Jackson 1:20;
Mac Davis 1:25;
Mike Greaves 1:31;
Bernadette Kreisal 1:32;
Karen Rice 1:48;
Jane DiCola 1:49.
For years this course has been known as the "country loop" to runners, but as the East End becomes more congested this loop is on busy roads. St Thomas runners and drivers should take extra caution and consideration of each other in these narrow areas.

St. Thomas police have not yet established motive for a shooting that left a 32-year-old Estate Tutu man dead. Dale Jeffers, who police said was the owner of Extreme Watersports Center at Coki Point, was pronounced dead at the scene in Lower Hospital Ground near building 1B of the Berg's Home housing community.
Police, responding to reports at 7 a.m. of a shooting, found Jeffers' body with a gunshot wound to the lower abdomen. Within minutes, homicide investigators were summoned to the scene.
Police spokeswoman Sgt. Annette Raimer said that investigators are also investigating a vehicle which was parked nearby. One of the windows of the vehicle, she said, had been shattered by bullets.
Residents of Berg's Home reported hearing gunshots around 10 p.m. Sunday. Eyewitnesses said the body could have been there since that time.
Raimer urged anyone with information to contact the Major Crime Unit at 774-2196, the confidential crime line at 777-8711 or police emergency 911.
Jeffers' death is the fifth murder in the territory this year; three on St. Thomas and two in St. Croix.

Nine illegal immigrants from Haiti and the Dominican Republic were picked up on St. John Saturday near Cruz Bay, according to police.
Residents reported illegal immigrants near Cinnamon Bay at mid-morning, but a search turned up nothing. The nine — four women, four men and a young boy — were spotted in Cruz Bay a while later.
The immigrants have since been turned over to the Immigration and Naturalization Service for processing; they were charged with illegal entry.
Thirty-one illegal immigrants were apprehended on St. John in early January. Last year, nearly 500 illegal immigrants were known to have entered the U.S. Virgin Islands, far surpassing the total in 1999.

As I read the various reports coming out of the Virgin Islands regarding tourism concerns, issues and activities, I can't help but reflect a little on the situation and put a few thoughts to paper. One issue that I feel needs to be more clearly understood and considered is the impact of frequent flyers on V.I. airline capacity, airfares and promotion. The information presented relates only to St. Thomas, but the St. Croix situation is similar — perhaps even more dramatic.
The latest four quarters for which I have evaluated federal Department of Transportation Origin and Destination (O&D) sample data are from July 1, 1999, through June 30, 2000. In this one-year period, the number of long-haul passengers deplaning or enplaning on St. Thomas on all regularly scheduled flights totaled 655,330 one-way passengers, or 327,665 round-trip passengers. This number represents 74.2 percent of total air carrier passengers, except for those aboard charter flights, in the St. Thomas market (long-haul and inter-island) for that period and 92.4 percent of all air carrier passenger service revenues generated.
Inter-island traffic — between St. Thomas and St. Croix, and between St. Thomas and San Juan — accounted for 227,280 deplaning or enplaning passengers, or 113,640 inter-island round trip passengers. They accounted for 25.8 percent of total passengers and 7.6 percent of total airline revenues.
My comments and observations will essentially relate to the long-haul passengers, who are primarily visitors.
Of the 655,330 long-haul passengers to or from St. Thomas, 112,380, or 17 percent, were frequent flyers traveling on "free" tickets.
Frequent flyers are mainly people who have accumulated mileage as business travelers. As paying passengers, they account for about 30 percent of all airline travelers, yet they contribute about 70 percent of total airline revenues. For the major airlines, the sun rises and sets on these business travelers who must travel according to an often-inelastic schedule and thus must often to pay exorbitant airfares. The trade-off for the business traveler's costly itinerary is mileage credits and "free tickets" — and, often, "free" hotel stays — that he/she can use for vacation travel to attractive leisure markets such as the Virgin Islands.
The impact of frequent flyers on V.I. airfares
For all regularly scheduled carriers combined during the 12-month period, long-haul passengers to and from St. Thomas paid an average one-way airfare of $241. However, when we extract the non-revenue frequent flyers from the number transported, the average one-way fare for the paying passengers jumps to $290, an increase of 20.3 percent over the "average" airfare often cited by the carriers. The scenario with regard to specific airlines can be more dramatic.
American Airlines, the dominant Caribbean carrier, technically offers service to St. Thomas from about 179 markets through its hub-and-spoke system. During the period evaluated, AA carried 397,150 O&D passengers (198,575 round-trip passengers) to or from St. Thomas at an average one-way airfare of $240. However, extract the 55,560 AA frequent flyers (14 percent), and the average one-way fare for paying passengers becomes $280 — an increase of 17 percent over the "average" fare. Ever wonder why we have a hard time selling the Virgin Islands to potential paying travelers?
In 41 of American's markets, frequent flyers to/from St. Thomas account for 11 percent to 21 percent of all passengers. In these markets the "average" one-way fare is $224, but extract the frequent flyer non-revenue passengers, and average one-way airfare for the paying passenger in these markets is $316, or 41.1 percent above the "average" fare.
In another 56 of American's markets, frequent flyers to/from St. Thomas account for more than 21 percent of all passengers. In these markets the "average" one-way airfare is $253, but without counting the frequent flyers, the average one-way airfare for fare-paying passengers jumps to $384, or 51.8 percent higher than the "average" airfare.
Consider the Los Angeles – St. Thomas market
The Los Angeles (LAX) St. Thomas market is one of AA's 56 markets with more than 21 percent frequent flyer passengers. In this market, for the period studied, American carried 8,020 passengers arriving or departing St. Thomas at an average one way-fare of $302. Deduct the 29.4 percent of AA passengers who are frequent flyers in this market, and the average one-way paid fare becomes $428, which is 42 percent above the overall "average."
In the same market during the same period, another major V.I. carrier, Delta, transported 1,440 passengers, 51 percent of whom were frequent flyers. The overall average Delta one-way fare in the LAX/STT market was $225. But the average for paying passengers one-way was $456, or 102 percent above the overall "average" one-way fare. That's more than double the overall "average."
Continental transported 360 L.A. market passengers to or from St. Thomas. Of these, 53 percent were frequent flyers. The overall "average" one-way fare was $168, but for paying passenger, it was $357, or 113 percent above that.
United transported 480 L.A. market passengers to or from St. Thomas. Of these, 52 percent were frequent flyers. The overall "average" one-way fare was $222, while for paying passenger it was $464, or 109 percent above that.
The LAX/STT market accounted for a total of 11,380 one-way passengers during the period. Of these, 3,670, or about 32.2 percent, were non-revenue frequent flyers, who also in many cases likely got free hotel room-nights at V.I. hotels. This is just one example; there are many such markets.
Of course, airlines really don't give "free" tickets to frequent flyers; they earn the revenue for these tickets indirectly on routes dominated by business travel that are critical to their core business strategy. The "free" ticket to the V.I. will have cost the frequent business traveler or his/her company double or triple what he/she should have reasonably paid for air transportation because of airline revenue structures targeted to extract the highest possible fares from business passengers (and leisure passengers in certain markets with little competition).
Since the idea of a "free" vacation in the Virgin Islands is appealing to the business passenger, the need to accumulate mileage keeps the passenger hooked on his/her favorite airline. This is just what the frequent flyer program is intended to do, and it works — for the airline.
So what if the Virgin Islands has to endure higher airfares and become generally less competitive to the consumer in the process? So what if V.I. hotels are forced to "give away" rooms at rock-bottom prices in order to realize even moderate occupancy rates and lackluster financial performance? So what if the territory funds and staffs Tourism offices in a region such as L.A. where a third of all passengers to the VI are traveling on "free" tickets?
'Not my problem, mon,' say the airlines, and they're right!
Here are the frequent flyer percentages for American Airlines in a few key markets where the territory is promoted heavily: Boston 14.5 percent, Charlotte 62.9 percent, Washington/Reagan 23.3 percent, Washington/Dulles 17.9 percent, New York/JFK 11.5 percent, L.A. 29.4 percent, Chicago 21.6 percent, Pittsburgh 23.5 percent, Providence 17.4 percent.
And for Delta: Atlanta 25.9 percent, Hartford 16.3 percent, Boston 40.4 percent, Cincinnati 29.2 percent, Washington/Reagan 32.6 percent, Denver 34.1 percent, Dallas 45.4 percent. And these are just a few examples.
Do our promotional campaigns simply reinforce the business passenger's use of his/her favorite airline, at premium prices, in order to accumulate the mileage for a free trip to the V.I. (and free hotel nights)? Have our off-sho
re Tourism offices become information centers primarily for these frequent flyers?
These are not the airlines' problems. The frequent flyer programs are working as they were designed to work, in the best interest of the airlines. The problems are the Virgin Islands' problems, and they will get worse. They should be recognized as fundamental economic issues that must be understood and addressed as a matter of high priority, unless we want to remain a marketing give-away program for the major airlines and their frequent flyers.
The territory has an excellent tourism product that has fundamentally solid value and can very effectively be sold in the domestic and international marketplace. However, the distribution system (air service options) upon which our tourism product depends is severely limited, without meaningful alternatives, and focused upon what is best for the airlines' shareholders and frequent flyers, regardless of the economic fallout that may impact the Virgin Islands.
Change the transport system, or compete with it?
At some point, this scenario will have to change if the V.I. is to realize the full value of its tourism product. It is up to the territory to comprehend and implement the potential remedies that can offset the frequent flyer problem: Either the current air transport system has got to be better understood and made to work in our favor, or a competitive air service alternative must be devised and implemented. There are practical remedies that can be applied in both cases.
The major carriers offer only limited, and seasonally fluctuating, air capacity to and from the V.I. And yet, they make such a high percentage of this limited capacity available to frequent flyers, while requiring paying passengers to absorb airfares much higher than "average" for the market.
With more competition expected to come, the airlines will become more aggressive with their frequent flyer programs so as to secure the allegiance of business passengers.
How will V.I. tourism fare under an even more burdensome frequent flyer award program? The territory should not be expected, nor simply accept, to "give away" a substantial portion of its already limited airline and resort capacity to passengers from whom the airlines have already extracted their pound of flesh. It may be the airline's seat, but it is also the Virgin Islands' product — and some recognition of that relationship must be forthcoming.
The V.I. should not be a retreat for frequent flyers to recover from the wounds of airline price gouging on their business travel. Meanwhile, those who are considering the territory as a paid-ticket travel destination should not have to absorb non-competitive airfares designed effectively to subsidize the revenue shortfall supposedly experienced by the airline because of the large number of frequent flyers occupying the limited capacity on V.I. routes.
As the global tourism environment becomes even more competitive, it is important that V.I. public- and private-sector tourism authorities review, and understand, the factors that affect their product and its distribution — and that they be willing to consider, and aggressively pursue, the remedies available to address and resolve these critical economic issues. Effective remedies that are both economically and politically palatable can be pursued for short- and long-term relief.
To avail itself of these remedies, the Virgin Islands must first believe in the inherent value and consumer appeal of its tourism product and then begin to exhibit a much higher level of confidence in matters relating to its development, promotion and distribution. The V.I. is a highly desirable destination with limited resources; it must be aggressively and competitively sold to a well-targeted clientele that will appreciate its value and have reasonable access to its shores.
Giving lip service to the "importance of tourism" has run its course over the past years, and the results of such passive attitudes are not encouraging. It is high time that the V.I. recognize tourism as a valuable but limited asset from which it must extract optimum benefits in support of the territory's economy. We've promoted tourism with the slogan "They're Your Islands." You can be sure that the major airlines are taking that slogan seriously — for their own purposes! We must first recognize and appreciate at home that "They're our Islands."
If we want to give something to our youth, let us give them an economic future to which they can enthusiastically look forward. A clearly understood and defined policy and program optimizing the Virgin Islands tourism product that is aggressively implemented will go a long way toward achieving this end.

Editor's note: Ralph Blanchard, an air service development consultant, was born and raised on St. Thomas and has some 25 years of experience in civil aviation management. He has sought since 1984 to establish a long-haul territorial airline, pursuing the project fulltime for five years and part-time since then. He and his wife, Geraldine, own a travel agency in Melbourne, Fla., and a tour operator business scheduled to begin dual-destination charter service between St. Thomas and Orlando in July.

Police are investigating a fatal shooting Monday morning at the Bergs Home housing community in Hospital Ground.
When officers responded to the scene at Building 1-B sometime around 7:30 a.m., they found an unidentified man dead of a gunshot wound. Police said they did not know if the man was a Bergs Home resident.
Homicide detectives, forensics officers and others were at the scene Monday morning trying to piece together what happened. It was not known if a weapon had been found or who potential suspects might be.
Anyone with information on the shooting is urged to call 774-2196, the confidential crime line at 777-8711, or 911.

The National Park Service on St. Croix is poised to receive funding that will allow it to purchase two coveted properties: The historic Post Office building in Christiansted and approximately 50 acres in the Salt River National Park and Ecological Reserve.
The Park Service’s fiscal year 2002 budget, which goes into effect in October, contains approximately $2 million for the purchases, said Joel Tutein, superintendent of the Park Service units on the Big Island. What is even more heartening, Tutein said, is that the funding for the Salt River and Post Office building purchases are ranked 16th and 19th respectively out of 50 projects on the agency’s priority list.
"We’re pretty high up there," Tutein said. "I don’t want to say it’s a sure thing, but I feel really good about it."
The Post Office building acquisition has long been a priority for Tutein. Two years ago the U.S. Postal Service announced it was leaving the 250-year-old building in order to find a larger downtown location. Tutein and the Park Service, owner of the Christiansted National Historic Site in which the building sits, want to turn the structure into a museum dedicated to the African slave trade.
The hangup, however, was that the Postal Service was asking $1.2 million for the building, which needs millions of dollars worth of renovation work.
Because the Park and Postal Services are both federal agencies, Park Service officials wanted a no-cost transfer of the building. But the Postal Service rejected the idea. It did, however, reduce the sale price to $875,000, Tutein said.
The management plan for the Christiansted National Historic Site, which includes Fort Christiansvaern, the Scale House, Customs House and Steeple Building, calls for the Park Service to tell the story of St. Croix between 1735 and 1917, when the Virgin Islands were purchased from Denmark.
So far, Tutein said, military, religious and trade histories have been interpreted, but not that of the 50,000 enslaved Africans imported to St. Croix and sold on the stairs of the Danish West Indies & Guinea Co. warehouse building, which now houses the post office.
Before any money is set aside for renovation, it has to be purchased. Once that is completed, Tutein will lobby for funding in the FY 2003 budget.
"You can’t put one dollar into fixing something that isn’t yours," he said, noting that the 2002 budget has already been marked up, so money for renovation will have to wait.
Meanwhile, approximately $1.1 million will be used to acquire about 53 acres of land at Salt River. The acreage is part of a 74-acre tract in the park’s northeastern section that contains the remnants of a hotel. Some 21 acres was purchased from Texas-based owners on Sept. 29 for $450,000, with the Park Service having a two-year option to buy the remaining acreage.
"We need to go back in there and finish off the acquisition," Tutein said. "We had until 2003 to come up with the $1.1 million."
The park, co-managed by the Park Service and the V.I. government, consists of 600 acres of submerged land and 312 acres of land adjacent to Salt River Bay. The V.I. government owns about 52 acres in the area, including the five-acre Columbus Landing site. With past purchases, the Park Service now owns approximately 150 acres, not counting the 53 acres that will be purchased soon.
The remaining acreage consists of small individual tracts, including the plot on which the Salt River Marina is located.

A 26-year-old St. Croix man was killed Sunday afternoon after the motorcycle he was driving on Centerline Road slammed into a concrete retaining wall.
The accident occurred around 3 p.m. and claimed the life of Al Alibocas. He was pronounced dead of massive internal injuries at the Juan F. Luis Hospital less than a half-hour after he arrived there by ambulance.
Police believe Alibocas was headed west on his Yamaha cycle and lost control when he elevated the bike on its rear wheel. The cycle ended up in a ditch just in front of Bates Trucking.
A similar accident on St. Thomas about a week ago claimed the life of Winston "Malik" Leonard. He died of massive injuries when his bike slammed into the concrete base of a Veterans Drive streetlight after he lost control of the cycle.

Enough is enough. Let's get beyond the trash talk and use the Senate "media contract" money (the people's money) to make a really profound and lasting effect on local journalism and mass communications.
The speakers and organizers of the now-infamous "press conference" that unfortunately turned out to be a media-thrashing event should have known better than to engage in a tirade of that nature. The ugly words hurled at the members of the media were pointless, and they could potentially have detrimental effects on the economic development and progress of this community.
Such name-calling creates bitterness and needless divisions among people. Who would want to live and do business in a racially and ethnically divided community? Furthermore, that kind of behavior coming from community leaders could motivate sick minds to commit horrendous acts like the ones perpetrated in the early '70 that severely hampered the progress and development of these islands.
If these leaders are sincere (which I tend to believe they are) about the real issues of quality reporting, access to media, cost of radio air time, freedom of speech and low participation of minorities in the media, the matter could have been handled much differently and more constructively.
Throughout the communications and journalism profession, many projects are under way to increase the presence of minorities and the coverage of minority communities. Perhaps it's time to try some of these approaches to improve the caliber and the diversity of the local media.
What could be done to change things
Now, if by chance the "media contract" money is returned or recaptured after the Attorney General's Office investigates the details of the unusual sole-source transaction, or if the ethical sensibilities of these conscientious leaders propel them to return the funds, here are several other options for using the people's money to make a lasting impact on local journalism:
– Conduct a series of workshops to encourage local students to pursue careers in the news media, communications, advertising and marketing. During Black History Month and Hispanic Heritage Month, invite national news professionals such as Bernard Shaw of CNN, Juan Williams of NPR, Charlayne Hunter-Gault of PBS, Lynda Baquero of NBC, John Quiñones of ABC or Tavis Smiley from BET to be the presenters. Exposure to these journalists and media personalities, who have added new substance and complexion to U.S. newsrooms, would certainly inspire many of our young people to pursue careers in these lucrative and prestigious fields.
– Pass legislation to allocate seed money to create a media institute or communications program at the University of the Virgin Islands. UVI could then pursue additional dollars to launch a significant program of journalism study. A well-planned journalism institute or program would allow students with an interest in these fields to take courses in news writing, editing, investigative reporting, telecommunications, electronic mass media, information technology, telecommunications policy, public relations, marketing, advertising and related subjects.
– Create journalism and communications programs at the high school level. Use the money to hire journalism and communications teachers.
– Sponsor or conduct an annual conference on politics, ethics, accountability and media responsibility. Invite representatives from the Federal Communications Commission and from Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), a national media watchdog group which has been offering well-documented criticism of media bias and censorship since 1986. FAIR works to invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity in the news media and by scrutinizing media practices that marginalize public interest, minority and dissenting viewpoints.
– In conjunction with the federal government and the university, sponsor or conduct ongoing compliance assistance workshops or seminars on FCC requirements for local broadcast stations and interested officials. Apparently there are rampant violations of technical and other requirements in the local broadcast media.
– Sponsor a major conference on minority media ownership and management. Black and Hispanic journalists may flock to such a useful event here in the V.I. The issues of ownership, management and control of the media are of major concern, not only here, but on the mainland. Just recently, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) under the U.S. Commerce Department conducted an unprecedented nationwide survey of more than 195 minority media owners as part of an effort to help reverse a decline in minority commercial radio and television ownership and preserve diversity in the nation's rapidly changing broadcast industry.
According to a news release from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the NTIA study found that the number of television stations owned by Hispanics and other people of color decreased between 1998 and 2000 while the number of radio stations with such ownership increased.
Overall, people of color own 3.8 percent of all U.S. broadcast stations. The study found that the number of full-power television stations owned by Latinos decreased from six in 1998 to one in 2000, while overall the number of full-power stations increased from 130 to 187. Overall, Hispanics own 0.1 percent of all television stations and 1.8 percent of all radio stations. People of color owned 23 fewer television stations in 2000 than in 1998, but 121 more radio stations. They owned 1.9 percent of all TV stations and 4 percent of all radio stations.
(While the picture on minority ownership is quite disappointing on the U.S. mainland, minority ownership and participation in management of radio and communications outlets is healthier here than in most places.)
– Provide journalism and communication scholarships for local students. This has always proven to be an effective way to increase the presence of people of color in every profession. And, by the way, include local Hispanic students also. Hispanics are underrepresented in virtually all of the local media.
It's not just a local problem
At the national level, the low participation of minorities in journalism and communications is scandalous. However, there are major efforts afoot to improve matters. According to a news release from the NAACP in January of 2000, NCAAP president Kweisi Mfume and ABC-TV network president Patricia D. Fili-Kruschell announced an agreement to adopt a series of initiatives to increase opportunities for people of color in all network operations.
Lately, the Citizen Education Fund's Media and Telecommunications Project has also been encouraging diversification and democratization of the instruments of communications in the United States and globally. Its purpose is to expand minority participation in employment and ownership opportunities in the media and telecommunications industries, and to expand the channels of information delivery to the public.
Last year, the Kaitz Foundation received a three-year grant from USA Networks chair Barry Diller to recruit minorities into both the cable and broadcasting industries, with an emphasis on news-media jobs. Reportedly, Diller expressed deep concern about the small number of minorities flowing out of the cable and broadcasting industries. He offered $6 million to push the issue of diversity in the telecommunications industry to the forefront.
The key point here is that the very real problem of low participation of minorities in the local print media is fixable, if we use our limited resources wisely and strategically. The vitriolic manner of talk laced with racial bias that was used at the "press conference" has no place in our small and delicately woven multiracial community.

Editor's note: Carmelo Rivera is the owner of HR Consulting Service, a human resources and management consulting firm on St. Croix. For more than
a decade, he produced and hosted "Hispanic Perspective," a talk show at ABC affiliate WTEN-TV in Albany, N.Y. This article represents his personal point of view. Readers are invited to send comments in response to source@viaccess.net.