Dear Source:
Since my visits to St. Thomas this past year, I have made it a daily routine to read the Source for my enjoyment. Today I was shocked to read the article about the electronic voting system installed in the Legislative chamber. [Editor's note: See Feb. 2 story on the main page titled "$55K Senate voting system unused."]
I am a vice president of MTI, the company that manufactured and installed the electronic voting system. MTI was contacted early in 2000 by the executive director of the 23rd Legislature and was asked to send literature explaining the electronic voting systems offered by our company. That literature, fully explaining the system, was sent, and later in 2000 the 23rd Legislature contracted with MTI to build and install the system.
The system was built exactly to the specifications as listed in a contract prepared by the legal services of the Legislature and was installed later in the year. The installation date was delayed, and the contract date limitations were amended in written contractual form, as requested by the president of the 23rd Legislature. At the time of initial installation, a component had been damaged in shipping, and MTI returned in a few days to complete the installation. The installation was completed well before the deadline, and all system functions were operating at 100 percent of the contractual requirements.
The day following the completion of installation, MTI provided for a training session that a few individuals attended. One day of training is normal for an MTI system and is what was contracted. At MTI's expense, an MTI representative made another trip St. Thomas and two extra days of training were provided.
As mentioned, the system was designed to meet the exact specifications as stated in the contract supplied by the legislature. MTI went well beyond the contract and supplied several thousand dollars worth of components at its own expense that further enhanced the performance of the system. Therefore, for the statement to be made that the system is flawed is totally incorrect.
The system was designed with a "Request To Speak" system that follows the format of other "Request To Speak" systems that have been used by legislatures in the United States for many years. The main difference in the MTI system is that it is electronically advanced over other systems and provides for a very simple method of operation. In the Source article, a statement was made about the Senate president needing control of speaking requests. That is the normal process and is exactly how the system was designed. But, during the system installation, MTI was asked by legislature officials overseeing the installation to move the control of the "Request To Speak" to the person controlling the remainder of the system.
The voting function of the system is controlled by software that provides for an accurate and secure method of keeping records in both an electronic data format and a hard copy printout. That software is simple for the average person to use and is extremely versatile so that it can be configured to meet various styles of governing needs. If used properly, the new electronic voting system will provide for an enhanced meeting process and a secure method of keeping records for future reference by the legislature and, if allowed by the legislature, the general public.
Since the system has not been used, it is impossible for members of the 24th Legislature to know if it can meet their needs. Unless those needs are vastly different from other governing bodies, the system should perform well and enhance the legislative meeting processes. During the session where the system was presented to the senators, one senator stated that it was an "M.T.B." system. When asked what this meant, the response was, "made to behave."
The system does not have the ability to make anyone behave, and that is not what it was designed for. It can only provide for a meeting direction and that direction is judged and controlled by the Senate and the setup of the software by Senate representatives, not by the voting system.
MTI sincerely hopes that the Legislature of the Virgin Islands will use the new voting system and that the functions it offers, as requested at the time of purchase, will provide for the body's needs. We build each system to the requested specifications, and that is exactly what was done in this case. The decision to purchase the system was wise and a statement of progress by the 23rd Legislature. Legislatures throughout the United States have been using electronic voting systems for many years and will continue to upgrade their systems as new and better technologies become available. MTI builds each system using the latest technologies so that the system will provide for years of non-antiquated service. We are committed to provide the best possible system for those functions requested.
We want the people of the U.S. Virgin Islands to understand that their money was spent on a system that was designed to help provide for a more efficient governing process. Thank you.
John Byrd
Vice President, MTI

A broken-down Wave Runner left two St. Thomas teen-agers swimming off Hull Bay for almost three hours Sunday afternoon before they were rescued.
The jet-ski-type water vehicle stopped running and began to take on water about a mile from Hull Bay beach, according to driver Ahmad Abu-soud, 14, and passenger Danny Estrada, 16. They thought the craft was about to sink and, wearing life jackets, started swimming toward the Tropaco Point section of Hull Bay at about 3 p.m., according to Estrada.
Local surfer Walter Bostwick had spotted the Wave Runner bobbing off the north coast waters from his Hull Bay residence at about 5 p.m. Contacted by phone, a Coast Guard Auxiliary member told Bostwick a Hull Bay-based fishing boat could reach the vessel long before assistance from authorities.
Some Hull Bay fishermen were about to gas up and go out when Randy LaPlace and Chris Berry, friends of the jet ski pair, arrived at the beach in a small Boston Whaler. When informed about the jet ski, the two teen-agers quickly headed out to sea themselves.
LaPlace said, "We were going to look for the jet ski when we heard Ahmad and Danny yelling out by the point." The boys were plucked from the waters near the point at about 5:30 p.m. by LaPlace and Berry.
Abu-soud told LaPlace that the Wave Runner, owned by his family, had sunk, but LaPlace said, "No, they spotted it from the beach."
The four teens retrieved the jet ski and towed it slowly back to the beach. When the craft was placed on its trailer and pulled up the boat ramp, water poured from the back. A quick inspection of the craft revealed that an exhaust hose had become disconnected and had allowed water into the interior.

Acting Public Works Commissioner Wayne Callwood said Sunday he does not know who is responsible for placing almost two dozen large boulders in front of public dumpsters on Valdemar Hill "Skyline" Drive.
But he said his agency would move the boulders sometime Sunday, and by 5:30 p.m. the huge rocks that had been blocking access to the dumpster area since Saturday were moved.
On Saturday afternoon, police were called to the area after residents reported that a heavy equipment operator was placing the large boulders there, blocking access to the roll-on, roll-off bins.
When contacted Sunday, Callwood said he was working with the Planning and Natural Resources Department "to determine who placed the boulders there and to take whatever action is necessary to hold the parties responsible."
He declined to speculate on who placed the boulders there or what the motive was.

About 37 years ago Friday, the first Antilles Air Boats Grumman goose winged it way across the waters between St. Thomas and St. Croix, initiating what over the next 17 years was to become a Virgin Islands tradition, the "goose." For $8 a ride, the islands were suddenly connected by an air bridge.
Friday night at the Comanche Hotel on St. Croix that tradition was celebrated by about 50 of the former "goose" employees, passengers, and former airline president, film star Maureen O'Hara Blair.
Blair, who celebrated her 80th birthday at a surprise party in her native Ireland last year, was clearly the star of the evening, chatting with old friends, and recalling some highlights of her career at the helm of the "world's largest seaplane airline."
She expressed her pleasure at finally finding a permanent home for the four-engine Sikorsky VS-44A, fondly known as "mother goose." The 47-passenger aircraft had sat on the St. Thomas ramp languishing for many moons after a mishap in Haulover Cut had irreparably damaged its belly.
It is now fully renovated and resides in the New England Air Museum. The aircraft is the sister ship to the one Blair's late husband, Antilles Air Boats founder, Pan Am Capt. Charles Blair, used to make the first nonstop trans-Atlantic flight, with passengers and mail, during World War II. Next to be restored, Blair said, is her late husband's single engine P-F1, in which he made the first solo flight across the Arctic Ocean and the North Pole in 1951.
Blair, whose film career has been reactivated in the last ten years, is now ready for a new film, but has to wait production because of the impending strike of the Screen Actors Guild. "It's a wonderful film, and I want to do it, but it's out of my hands now, until we see what happens." She allowed her co-star is a little known black actor whom she likes, but she would reveal no more than that.
The evening was filled with a lot of laughter, music and stories — some possibly true, and all a lot of fun – as the Air Boats veterans got together. The crowd included Mary Simpson, Fran Smith, "Helen of Croix," Beryl McCoubrey, Bob De Lugo, Mary De Costa, Sandy Isle, Ginny Angus, Julie Rasmussen, Norma Mason, John Payne, Veronica Challenger, Charlie Freehling, Matt Rodina, former captains Lou Harris and Holland "Dyke" Redfield, Sheralda Guadalupe and Elroy Harrison. Former passenger, Sen. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen, joined the festivities, exchanging laughs instead of politics with old "goose" pals.
The 37th anniversary T-shirt sported a classic pose of Capt. and Mrs. Blair smiling from the cockpit on Capt. Blair's last Pan Am flight.

About 37 years ago Friday, the first Antilles Air Boats Grumman goose winged it way across the waters between St. Thomas and St. Croix, initiating what over the next 17 years was to become a Virgin Islands tradition, the "goose." For $8 a ride, the islands were suddenly connected by an air bridge.
Friday night at the Comanche Hotel on St. Croix that tradition was celebrated by about 50 of the former "goose" employees, passengers, and former airline president, film star Maureen O'Hara Blair.
Blair, who celebrated her 80th birthday at a surprise party in her native Ireland last year, was clearly the star of the evening, chatting with old friends, and recalling some highlights of her career at the helm of the "world's largest seaplane airline."
She expressed her pleasure at finally finding a permanent home for the four-engine Sikorsky VS-44A, fondly known as "mother goose." The 47-passenger aircraft had sat on the St. Thomas ramp languishing for many moons after a mishap in Haulover Cut had irreparably damaged its belly.
It is now fully renovated and resides in the New England Air Museum. The aircraft is the sister ship to the one Blair's late husband, Antilles Air Boats founder, Pan Am Capt. Charles Blair, used to make the first nonstop trans-Atlantic flight, with passengers and mail, during World War II. Next to be restored, Blair said, is her late husband's single engine P-F1, in which he made the first solo flight across the Arctic Ocean and the North Pole in 1951.
Blair, whose film career has been reactivated in the last ten years, is now ready for a new film, but has to wait production because of the impending strike of the Screen Actors Guild. "It's a wonderful film, and I want to do it, but it's out of my hands now, until we see what happens." She allowed her co-star is a little known black actor whom she likes, but she would reveal no more than that.
The evening was filled with a lot of laughter, music and stories — some possibly true, and all a lot of fun – as the Air Boats veterans got together. The crowd included Mary Simpson, Fran Smith, "Helen of Croix," Beryl McCoubrey, Bob De Lugo, Mary De Costa, Sandy Isle, Ginny Angus, Julie Rasmussen, Norma Mason, John Payne, Veronica Challenger, Charlie Freehling, Matt Rodina, former captains Lou Harris and Holland "Dyke" Redfield, Sheralda Guadalupe and Elroy Harrison. Former passenger, Sen. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen, joined the festivities, exchanging laughs instead of politics with old "goose" pals.
The 37th anniversary T-shirt sported a classic pose of Capt. and Mrs. Blair smiling from the cockpit on Capt. Blair's last Pan Am flight.

You can take the fireman out of the station, but you can't put out the spark that former fire chief and freshman Sen. Carlton Dowe has brought to his office.
Dowe's many years in the fire service are reflected in his jumping on what needs to be done. In khakis that are belted with a beeper, and wearing a short-sleeve white shirt, the youthful-looking senator—he's almost 43—seems to be conducting three things at once as he confers with his secretary, then his chief of staff Luis Sylvester, all the while escorting an interviewer into his office.
"What bothers me," he starts out, and corrects himself, "one thing, that is, that bothers me, is the federal funds that go unused." As he gets adjusted in his comfortable-looking leather chair, he looks suddenly very serious. "Let me assure you," he said, "you're going to see movement there."
Dowe said he had written to Gov. Charles W. Turnbull urging him to immediately sign a provision of the Omnibus Bill that creates a separate fund for federal monies, so that $361,000 can be released to the Police Department to purchase equipment and supplies.
The majority bloc senators met with Conrad R. Hoover, U.S. Marshal for the District of the Virgin Islands, early this week to discuss the imminent return of approximately $1.3 million to the federal government, Dowe said.
Hoover told the group he had trouble justifying financial assistance for the V.I. when it doesn't fully utilize funds already sent for the Corrections Bureau, Dowe said. Hoover pointed out the government hasn't completed the renovation for the Sub Base Correctional Department Annex for which the government received $1.3 million in 1997.
"There's dollars sitting there, and yet we are taking prisoners to Puerto Rico to be housed," Dowe said. He said Hoover told him the federal government is contemplating a breach of agreement guaranteeing that it pays the V.I. government $46 a day to house up to 65 inmates.
"The Marshal Service is under court order not to use the Sub Base facility because of the conditions," Dowe said. Hoover told Dowe that the V.I. could make over $1 million a year if all beds were used, and $2 million when immigration criminals are housed. "We could have been making all that money recently with the Adriatik trial instead of housing the detainees in Puerto Rico," he said.
He holds up a white booklet, one of many items crowding his desk, "This is the Federal Forfeiture Law." The federal funds must be kept in a separate account, Dowe explains. "They should never get commingled with local funds," he said. "We need to have one clearing house for all federal grant programs, from writing to tracking and disbursement."
How about all his committee obligations? Dowe is chairman of the Rules Committee, Vice-Chair of the Government Operations, Planning and Environmental Protection, and a member of three others.
"It's no secret I wanted to chair the Government Ops Committee," he said. "I have experience in all three branches of government. But (Committee Chairman Donald "Ducks") Cole is here to work, and we'll get it done." Dowe said he saw no problem with the 24th Legislature's combining the two important committees. "Cole is already working to bring the land and water use bill back," he said.
"My personality," Dowe said, "is this. I come from an emergency services background, the fire department, and then I was a Deputy U.S. Marshal. I don't have the patience for the way we do things around here. I'm by nature an aggressive person."
He said the land and water use bill has been "sitting around for years—they have spent a lot of man-hours, a lot of money. They hired all kind of consultants, and where is it at now?" Dowe leaned forward, pushing aside the almost two-inch-thick Legislative Procedures book he had been using as a podium of sorts, and gestured emphatically.
"One of the reasons I decided to work with this group (the majority bloc) is that they are an aggressive group of people," he said. "They're not afraid to chart new waters."
One of the first things Dowe plans to do is get the per diem bill back on the floor. The bill was one of the majority's first pieces of legislation. It was combined with another unrelated bill, which the governor also vetoed.
This time it will stand alone, Dowe said. The bill applies to all government workers who are not under contract, so it wouldn't affect people on lower salary scales, Dowe said. "It may not be all that much, but like giving up our vehicles, it shows the people that we are trying, that we care," he said. Senate President Almando "Rocky" Liburd has ordered all Senate vehicles turned in except his own. The senators can request a ride from the motor pool when necessary.
Dowe said, "There's a piece of legislation that is law today that I brought to the territory for the very first time." Dowe said when he was with the City of Miami Fire Department in the '80s they charged for inspections, "and here we were doing them for free." As fire chief, he brought the Miami practice to the attention of the Senate, and a minimum inspection fee of $150 per structure is now law in legislation passed in 1998.
Dowe said since April last year when the system was implemented, the inspectors have collected about $200,000 on St. Thomas, and $30,000 on St. Croix. The disparity in amounts, he said, was because St. Croix has fewer businesses and there were internal problems in the department.
"I have a bill request in right now to offer incentive for fire inspectors," he said. Dowe said the inspectors don't get the pay differential for the 24-hour shift "which everybody wants, and they don't get holiday pay." The incentive system would give the group 12 percent of their salary after they collect $350,000 annually in St. Thomas, and $250,000 annually for St. Croix. Dowe said the incentive proposal also applies to individual Internal Revenue Bureau agents after they collect $800,000 in delinquent taxes.
As to leading the Rules Committee, Dowe smiles. "It's ironic that the governor asked me to act quickly on the nominations he just sent in when the positions have been vacant for months, but we will act quickly," he said. However, Dowe is quick to add that he will work with the governor and any minority senator on anything he thinks is a good idea. The Rules Committee acts on all nominations and all legislation before it goes to the full Senate.
Dowe, like all majority senators, is enthusiastic about his recent trip to Washington, D.C. "We made the contacts," he said, proudly showing a photo with Mel Martinez, the new secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He said the majority is preparing a position paper right now in anticipation of testifying before the U.S. Congress House Ways and Means Committee later this year. Some subjects covered in the paper are the gas tax, earned income credit, the rum revenue issue and Medicaid. There is no time yet set for the testimony, nor a decision on who will testify.
"I don't like cold and snow, and I don't smoke or drink, so I wasn't there to party," Dowe said. He also doesn't eat meat, as testified to by his high school nickname "Ital."
A native St. Thomian, Dowe finished high school on St. Thomas in 1978 and went on to the states where he received a number of associate's degrees, a B.A. in criminal justice,
and graduated from the National Fire Academy, the largest in the country.
In 1983 he became the youngest Fire Chief ever in the district of St. Thomas-St. John. He has also worked as a deputy U.S. Marshal.
Dowe has been active in community youth groups. "What got me started was one time when as a Marshal, I had to escort a 19-year-old to pr
ison in the States to serve a 45-year term. That really got to me," he said.
Along with former Sen. Allie-Allison Petrus, a childhood friend, and several other community members, they started Positive Tree, which became a highly successful
mentoring program for at-risk youth.
Dowe now inhabits Petrus' office, where he had worked as a legislative aide before his election. It's a spacious and very active place. Dowe said his allotment to run his office, including the Rules Committee budget, is "about $300,000."
Along the way, Dowe, who is married to the former Jacequline Smith, has fathered six children. The two girls and four boys range from a 23-year-old daughter in college to a five-year-old son at Joseph Sibilly Elementary School.

You can take the fireman out of the station, but you can't put out the spark that former fire chief and freshman Sen. Carlton Dowe has brought to his office.
Dowe's many years in the fire service are reflected in his jumping on what needs to be done. In khakis that are belted with a beeper, and wearing a short-sleeve white shirt, the youthful-looking senator—he's almost 43—seems to be conducting three things at once as he confers with his secretary, then his chief of staff Luis Sylvester, all the while escorting an interviewer into his office.
"What bothers me," he starts out, and corrects himself, "one thing, that is, that bothers me, is the federal funds that go unused." As he gets adjusted in his comfortable-looking leather chair, he looks suddenly very serious. "Let me assure you," he said, "you're going to see movement there."
Dowe said he had written to Gov. Charles W. Turnbull urging him to immediately sign a provision of the Omnibus Bill that creates a separate fund for federal monies, so that $361,000 can be released to the Police Department to purchase equipment and supplies.
The majority bloc senators met with Conrad R. Hoover, U.S. Marshal for the District of the Virgin Islands, early this week to discuss the imminent return of approximately $1.3 million to the federal government, Dowe said.
Hoover told the group he had trouble justifying financial assistance for the V.I. when it doesn't fully utilize funds already sent for the Corrections Bureau, Dowe said. Hoover pointed out the government hasn't completed the renovation for the Sub Base Correctional Department Annex for which the government received $1.3 million in 1997.
"There's dollars sitting there, and yet we are taking prisoners to Puerto Rico to be housed," Dowe said. He said Hoover told him the federal government is contemplating a breach of agreement guaranteeing that it pays the V.I. government $46 a day to house up to 65 inmates.
"The Marshal Service is under court order not to use the Sub Base facility because of the conditions," Dowe said. Hoover told Dowe that the V.I. could make over $1 million a year if all beds were used, and $2 million when immigration criminals are housed. "We could have been making all that money recently with the Adriatik trial instead of housing the detainees in Puerto Rico," he said.
He holds up a white booklet, one of many items crowding his desk, "This is the Federal Forfeiture Law." The federal funds must be kept in a separate account, Dowe explains. "They should never get commingled with local funds," he said. "We need to have one clearing house for all federal grant programs, from writing to tracking and disbursement."
How about all his committee obligations? Dowe is chairman of the Rules Committee, Vice-Chair of the Government Operations, Planning and Environmental Protection, and a member of three others.
"It's no secret I wanted to chair the Government Ops Committee," he said. "I have experience in all three branches of government. But (Committee Chairman Donald "Ducks") Cole is here to work, and we'll get it done." Dowe said he saw no problem with the 24th Legislature's combining the two important committees. "Cole is already working to bring the land and water use bill back," he said.
"My personality," Dowe said, "is this. I come from an emergency services background, the fire department, and then I was a Deputy U.S. Marshal. I don't have the patience for the way we do things around here. I'm by nature an aggressive person."
He said the land and water use bill has been "sitting around for years—they have spent a lot of man-hours, a lot of money. They hired all kind of consultants, and where is it at now?" Dowe leaned forward, pushing aside the almost two-inch-thick Legislative Procedures book he had been using as a podium of sorts, and gestured emphatically.
"One of the reasons I decided to work with this group (the majority bloc) is that they are an aggressive group of people," he said. "They're not afraid to chart new waters."
One of the first things Dowe plans to do is get the per diem bill back on the floor. The bill was one of the majority's first pieces of legislation. It was combined with another unrelated bill, which the governor also vetoed.
This time it will stand alone, Dowe said. The bill applies to all government workers who are not under contract, so it wouldn't affect people on lower salary scales, Dowe said. "It may not be all that much, but like giving up our vehicles, it shows the people that we are trying, that we care," he said. Senate President Almando "Rocky" Liburd has ordered all Senate vehicles turned in except his own. The senators can request a ride from the motor pool when necessary.
Dowe said, "There's a piece of legislation that is law today that I brought to the territory for the very first time." Dowe said when he was with the City of Miami Fire Department in the '80s they charged for inspections, "and here we were doing them for free." As fire chief, he brought the Miami practice to the attention of the Senate, and a minimum inspection fee of $150 per structure is now law in legislation passed in 1998.
Dowe said since April last year when the system was implemented, the inspectors have collected about $200,000 on St. Thomas, and $30,000 on St. Croix. The disparity in amounts, he said, was because St. Croix has fewer businesses and there were internal problems in the department.
"I have a bill request in right now to offer incentive for fire inspectors," he said. Dowe said the inspectors don't get the pay differential for the 24-hour shift "which everybody wants, and they don't get holiday pay." The incentive system would give the group 12 percent of their salary after they collect $350,000 annually in St. Thomas, and $250,000 annually for St. Croix. Dowe said the incentive proposal also applies to individual Internal Revenue Bureau agents after they collect $800,000 in delinquent taxes.
As to leading the Rules Committee, Dowe smiles. "It's ironic that the governor asked me to act quickly on the nominations he just sent in when the positions have been vacant for months, but we will act quickly," he said. However, Dowe is quick to add that he will work with the governor and any minority senator on anything he thinks is a good idea. The Rules Committee acts on all nominations and all legislation before it goes to the full Senate.
Dowe, like all majority senators, is enthusiastic about his recent trip to Washington, D.C. "We made the contacts," he said, proudly showing a photo with Mel Martinez, the new secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He said the majority is preparing a position paper right now in anticipation of testifying before the U.S. Congress House Ways and Means Committee later this year. Some subjects covered in the paper are the gas tax, earned income credit, the rum revenue issue and Medicaid. There is no time yet set for the testimony, nor a decision on who will testify.
"I don't like cold and snow, and I don't smoke or drink, so I wasn't there to party," Dowe said. He also doesn't eat meat, as testified to by his high school nickname "Ital."
A native St. Thomian, Dowe finished high school on St. Thomas in 1978 and went on to the states where he received a number of associate's degrees, a B.A. in criminal justice,
and graduated from the National Fire Academy, the largest in the country.
In 1983 he became the youngest Fire Chief ever in the district of St. Thomas-St. John. He has also worked as a deputy U.S. Marshal.
Dowe has been active in community youth groups. "What got me started was one time when as a Marshal, I had to escort a 19-year-old to pr
ison in the states to serve a 45-year term. That really got to me," he said.
Along with former Sen. Allie-Allison Petrus, a childhood friend, and several other community members, they started Positive Tree, which became a highly successful
mentoring program for at-risk youth.
Dowe now inhabits Petrus' office, where he had worked as a legislative aide before his election. It's a spacious and very active place. Dowe said his allotment to run his office, including the Rules Committee budget, is "about $300,000."
Along the way, Dowe, who is married to the former Jacequline Smith, has fathered six children. The two girls and four boys range from a 23-year-old daughter in college to a five-year-old son at Joseph Sibilly Elementary School.

The next meeting of the Addelita Cancryn PTA will be at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 13, in the school's cafeteria.

The next meeting of the Addelita Cancryn PTA will be at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 13, in the school's cafeteria.

A reviving school reunion meeting will be held at 5 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 25, in the Lutheran Parish Hall in Cruz Bay.
Persons who attended the Horace Manh, Benjamin Franklin, Bethany, and Julius Sprauve Schools before the year 1950 are invited.