The regular meeting of the VI Housing Authority Board of Commissioners has been scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 29, in the Central Offices of the Authority in Estate Anna's Retreat.

The regular meeting of the VI Housing Board Authority Board of Commissioners has been scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 28, in the Central Officrs of the Authority in Estate Anna's Retreat.

A 12-gauge shotgun and a loaded 9 mm pistol were recovered Monday from the waters off the Vessup Bay dock on St. Thomas' East End, where a group of men fleeing police jumped into the water.
On Saturday when the five men were arrested, police recovered a .380-caliber handgun from the truck the men were riding in when they were stopped minutes after midnight. After a chase that ended at the Latitude 18 bar and restaurant with officers from the VIPD Special Operations Bureau pursuing them, several of the suspects jumped in the water, and one attempted a getaway by jumping into a docked dinghy.
Witnesses reported that four of the men wore dreadlocks, and the fifth had approached the establishment first, as if sizing it up, they said.
Law enforcement sources said Monday that the officers were conducting an anti-crime initiative on the East End after numerous complaints from residents of robberies and other crimes in their neighborhood.
A court hearing for the suspects, scheduled for Monday morning, was delayed until Tuesday. The five men remain in custody at the Bureau of Corrections on illegal firearms possession charges and in lieu of $25,000 bail each.

Gov. Charles Turnbull is in the nation’s capital lobbying the new chiefs of the Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency on issues affecting the territory.
Turnbull, in Washington, D.C., for the National Governors Conference, said Monday that he spoke to Christie Todd Whitman, the new EPA administrator, and Interior Secretary Gale Norton about solid-waste regulatory issues and the recent establishment of controversial national monuments in the waters off St. Croix and St. John.
"I’ve known Whitman as the governor of New Jersey," Turnbull said. "We’ve been discussing the needs of the Virgin Islands."
The V.I. government and the EPA have a long and turbulent relationship, especially in the areas of solid waste and sewage disposal. The Turnbull administration is now taking bids for comprehensive solid-waste management facilities for St. Croix and St. Thomas, an undertaking that will require significant EPA involvement.
Additionally, over the last 15-plus years, the EPA and the U.S. Department of Justice have been after the V.I. government to bring its wastewater treatment systems — particularly on St. Croix — up to basic compliance levels, but with little success.
Despite the past difficulties, Turnbull said the Whitman-led EPA appears to be receptive to working with the territory.
Turnbull met Monday with Norton and plans to have a longer meeting with her Tuesday to discuss the monument issue, which has caused an uproar from the local fishing industry that fears it will be hurt by the monuments’ no-take zones.
According to the proclamation signed by former President Bill Clinton just before leaving office in January that expands the Buck Island Monument by 18,000 acres, the secretary of the Interior, who oversees the Park Service, has two years to prepare a management plan to protect natural and historical resources. For the 12,700-acre St. John monument, the time line is three years.
That, however, is based on the assumption held by the past regime in Interior that the lands belong to the federal government.
"I pointed out to her that there is a contention that the land is ours in the first place," Turnbull said. "In any case, we were not consulted by the federal government."
While Norton will carry out the Bush administration’s edict of giving states and territories more flexibility when dealing with federal mandates, she said in an interview with the Washington Post last week that reversals of Clinton’s monument designations are unlikely and that she had "not yet heard any calls to repeal any of the monument designations."
She said it is likely that efforts to alter the rules governing commercial activities within the monuments will be undertaken when the management plans are drafted.
"We may need to manage those plans in a way that takes into account current uses and that better tailors the monuments for local needs and circumstances," Norton told the Washington Post.

The Los Angeles Times has published a major travel article on St. John by staff writer Christopher Reynolds that lauds the island's natural beauty even as it laments high prices for lodging and pulls no punches elsewhere.
Reynolds praises St. John as "a lazy place largely free of the jewelry-peddling, T-shirt-hawking hucksterism that pervades St. Thomas" and other cruise ship destinations. He finds much to admire in Stanley Selengut's Maho Bay Camps, though Reynolds eventually concludes that running water in each tent-cottage is "something that plenty of travelers might expect at rates of up to $115 per night."
He is fascinated by the pictographs attributed to Taino Indians along Reef Bay Trail, but suggests skipping the various sugar plantation ruins "unless you're a sugar scholar." In all, Reynolds's is a fair assessment that doesn't spare the Westin's "garish lobby" or stint on descriptions of good meals and even better scenery.
Click here to go to the L.A. Times Web site and "Seduced by St. John."

Women in Sports will hold their first sale "Spring Cleaning for a Cause" from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 10, at the Mahogany Run Clubhouse. WINS is asking islanders to clean their closets and cupboards now and donate unwanted "treasures" to the organization for the sale.
Proceeds will go to WINS to buy uniforms for the Give Girls a Chance program, supplies for the new girls sailing program, and other girls athletic programs that are without uniforms.
Donations of clothes, flatware, plates, tupperware, appliances, linens, or towels are welcome. Clean clothes, linens and towels should be placed in large plastic bags, all breakables should be in boxes. Drop off the boxes and bags to Mahoghany Run Golf Course, clubhouse level, WINS office. If the office is locked please leave the packages outside. A donation letter is attached to the bulletin board; please fill it out and leave with the donation.
Refreshments and treats will be served the day of the sale and sale volunteers are being sought.
For more information contact Lisa Schmid at 777-6250, ext. 233.

Women in Sports will hold their first sale "Spring Cleaning for a Cause" from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 10 at the Mahoghany Run Clubhouse. WINS is asking islanders to clean their closets and cupboards now and donate unwanted "treasures" to the organization for the sale.
Proceeds from the sale will go to WINS to buy uniforms for the Give Girls a Chance program, supplies for the new girls sailing program, and other girls athletic programs that are without uniforms.
Donations of clothes, flatware, plates, tupperware, appliances, linens, or towels are welcome. Clean clothes, linens and towels should be placed in large plastic bags, all breakables should be in boxes. Drop off the boxes and bags to Mahoghany Run Golf Course, clubhouse level, WINS office. If the office is locked please leave the packages outside. A donation letter is attached to the bulletin board, please fill it out and leave with the donation.
Refreshments and treats will be served the day of the sale and sale volunteers are being sought.
For more information contact Lisa Schmid at 777-6250, ext. 233.

The Antilles team, coached by Alan Eberhart and Dawn Wheatley, defeated St. Croix's Country Day School in back-to-back matches Saturday to take first place in the Territorial Science Bowl.
The team will represent the Virgin Islands at the National Science Bowl in Washington, D.C., in May.
Eberhart said of his team, "They really showed a lot of perspective and fortitude. They had to play so many games to win because they lost the first day and were placed in the consolation round."
Not only that, but all the team members also performed in the school play "Stage Door," which was presented Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at the school.
"I'm sure none of them got to bed before midnight," Eberhardt said.
But the team came through, fighting its way back to the trophy by winning five straight games including the final two against Country Day, which had gone undefeated until then.
The team members are: team captain Andrew Luscz, sophomore Lane Sell and seniors Diane Marek, Anwar Lockhart and Justin Wheatley.
Good Hope School came in third followed by All Saints in fourth position. The sportsmanship award went to Charlotte Amalie. Eight high schools competed, including St. Croix Educational Complex, Ivanna Eudora Kean High School and St. Croix Central High School.
The National Science Bowl will be held May 4 to 8. Eberhardt said the college board advanced placements exams are scheduled to be given the same week, but "we'll work something out."
The final matches can be seen at 4:30 p.m. Sunday on STJX-Channel 12.
The competition was sponsored for the fourth consecutive year by the Water and Power Authority.

Theodora Alexandria Edwards-Petersen, known to her friends as "Dee Dee," "Mamma," "Mai," or "Mrs. P" of Estate New Castle Coakley died Monday, Feb. 19 at Juan F. Luis Hospital. She was 77.
Services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, March 2 at St. Ann's Catholic Church. A viewing will begin at 10 a.m.
Interment will follow at Kingshill Cemetery.
She is survived by her husband, David A. Petersen; daughters, Elisa "Lisa" Petersen Harrison, Agneta "Benny" Petersen, Sherrill Petersen, and Mercedes "Melsie" Petersen; sons, James "Boxie" Petersen, Randolph "Junie" Petersen Sr., and Michael "Mickey" Petersen; grandchildren, Kacy, Kevin, Cleon, Ameen, Germaine, and Shermaine Harrison, Andrea, Karen, Shauna, Theodora, Cherelyn, Michael, Lawrence, and Randolph Petersen Jr., April Brown, Zakkeem Harrigan, and Carlos Perez; six great-grandchildren; sister, Hulda "Hullie" Huggins; nieces, Hulda Durant, Doreen Robinson, Hulda, Sylvammy, and Isabelle; nephews, Henry, Irving, and Michael Edwards; eight nieces-in-law; and nine nephews-in-law.
She is also survived by her godchildren, Sharon Greenidge, Carol Christian, William Galloway, and Raymond Galloway; daughter-in-law, Sheena Petersen; sons-in-law, Elroy Harrison, Raymond Edwards, and Maurice Gaskin; sisters-in-law, Cynthia Petersen Rodgers, Cecilia and Mary Petersen, Sylvia McIntosh Edwards, and Theresa Petersen; brother-in-law, James "Kelly" Petersen; special cousins, Elsa Pedro and Anna Maynard; close friends, the Rodgers, Fleming, Barry, Boyce, Ortiz, Rodriquez, Williams, Oliver, Milligan, Hendrick, Christian, Henry, Benjamin, Martins, Johnson, McAlpin, Walcott, Byron, and Neilsen families; along with many other relatives and friends.
Funeral arrangements are in the care of James Memorial Funeral Home.

Harbour Night, a Caribbean street festival, will take place 7 p.m.to midnight Wednesday, Feb. 28 on the waterfront at Strand Street in Frederiksted.
This Harbour Night, St.Croix will welcome 3,500 cruise ship passengers and crew from the Carnival cruise ship "Victory."
Entertainment for the evening will include Dem Boys, Jazzy Blue, Jamsey, The Karamu Afi Dance and Drum Troupe, and Willard John's Mocko Jumbies.
Local foods, and arts and crafts are for sale. The St. Croix Animal Shelter, The American Red Cross, The Deaf Coalition, and the Boys and Girls Clubs will have activities planned to raise funds for their organizations. Other nonprofit organizations are welcome to participate for free and can register by calling Pamela at 772-1624.
There is a parking ban each Harbour Night on Strand Street in Frederiksted from 5 p.m. until midnight. Cars in violation will be towed.
Please call 772-4000 for more information.