The Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs announce that the Contractor's Exam will be administered at 9 a.m. on Monday, July 31, in the Testing Room at the Property and Procurement Building.
For further information contact the Office of Boards and Commissions at 773-2226.

The Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs annoouces that the Contractor's Examination will be administered at 9 a.m. on Monday, July 31, in the Testing Room located at the Property and Procurement Building.
For further informaatiion contact the Office of boards and Commissions at 773-2226.

The head of the Senate Planning and Environmental Protection Committee is calling for an agreeable solution to the restroom controversy on St. John’s Bordeaux Mountain.
Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg, who has called a committee meeting for 10 a.m. Monday in the St. John legislative conference room, said he hopes the National Park Service can work with local merchants and the Public Works Department to remedy the situation.
"The Bordeaux Mountain restroom closure has caused a degree of inconvenience to tourists, taxi drivers and business people," Donastorg said. "I'd like to see a cooperative effort to construct environmentally friendly restrooms in the Bordeaux area."
As one of his last acts before he retired, Park Superintendent Russell Berry Jr. ordered the removal of two free-standing portable toilets at the junction of Route 108, Bordeaux Mountain Road, and Route 10, Centerline Road. Freely running sewage from those units was cited as the reason for the action.
St. John merchant Wilma Marsh-Monsanto, who owns Chateaux Bordeaux Restaurant and a group of adjacent shops catering to tourists, protested the action.
Monday's meeting is intended to sort out the issues. But Chief Park Ranger Schuyler Brown says he will not have a lot to say, although he plans to attend.
"That might end up in court," Brown said Friday. "We’ll go to the haring but we won’t be able to say anything."
Use of the restrooms becomes especially heavy on Wednesday mornings when cruise ships drop off dozens of passengers for island tours by taxi, most of which make a stop at Bordeaux Mountain.
The public is invited to testify at Monday's hearing. For more information call Donastorg's office at 693-3665.

The main hurdle facing the V.I. Port Authority's proposed dredging of St. Thomas harbor is out of the way: Land at Crown Bay has been substituted for Lindbergh Bay as the location for the dredged material, called the spoils.
Dumping the harbor spoils into a hole in Lindbergh Bay has been the project's main point of contention. Everyone agreed the harbor should be dredged to accommodate the large mega-cruise ships, but almost no one has agreed on where the spoils should go.
Some environmentalists and federal officials strongly endorsed the Lindbergh Bay site. Others, including the Environmental Association of St. Thomas, wanted proof it wouldn't harm the beach.
The St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce and the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel and Tourism Association put their opposition in writing at a Senate hearing.
Darlan Brin, VIPA senior planner, is happy to have all the controversy behind him. He wants to get the dredging under way soon, before hurricane season and while dredging equipment is already on the island, negating the cost of bringing it from the mainland.
Brin said harbor soil samples have been returned from a mainland lab and are being reviewed by technicians from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He said he anticipates no problem, and he should have the results Friday.
The next step is getting a permit waiver from Coastal Zone Management. Brin said that could be as early as next week – if the CZM board meets, and if it grants the waiver.
Then an archeological assessment of the harbor, which should only take about a week, must be completed before the dredging starts. At about the same time harbor sea grass will be mitigated and moved by Water Island and the outer harbor.
Crown Bay will be a good spot for the spoils, Brin said, because VIPA will use the material for an extension of the existing dock and won't have to haul it to the Bovoni landfill. About 50,000 cubic yards of the spoils will go to Crown Bay. The balance will sit on West Indian Co. Ltd. property at Long Bay until it can be hauled to Bovoni.
The Public Works Department has said it will accept the material at Crown Bay and use it as cover, pending the dock extension work. Then, Brin said, the project will need a water quality certificate from Planning and Natural Resources.
One anti-Lindbergh Bay advocate was "delighted they made the correct decision." William Dowling, Carib Beach Hotel owner and Lindbergh Bay resident for almost 50 years, said, "Thank God – no one knows how long the water would have been murky if they had dumped in the bay."
Chamber executive director Joe Aubain liked the decision too. The chamber had voiced concern about the economic impact on the three hotels and restaurant dotting the beach of dumping dredged material there.

Leaders of the Public Safety Coalition aren’t impressed with the Turnbull administration’s announcement that more than $2 million had been found to fix deteriorating police and fire stations.
At their weekly protest in front of St. Croix Government House on Thursday, members of the Public Safety Coalition, which consists of police, fire and other public safety workers, continued their calls for better pay and working conditions despite the administration’s pledge to tap an obscure fund to make repairs.
Following weeks of protests, the administration on Wednesday said it was going to use the Asset Recovery Fund to pay for $1.5 million worth of repairs to fire stations and another $567,000 to renovate the Patrick Sweeney Headquarters and the K-9 building on St. Croix.
The same fund will be used to purchase equipment for the Motor Vehicle Bureau on St. Croix, for repairs to the Forensic Unit and communication system on St. Thomas and St. John and for relocation costs to reduce annual rent expenses, according to the administration.
"The money they claim they have . . . are monies we’ve been hearing about for a year and a half," said Naomi Joseph, president of the St. Croix Police Benevolent Association. "Our situation still continues."
Attorney General Iver Stridiron said Thursday that the Asset Recovery Fund contains money paid by insurance companies for damage done to government structures. For example, he said that following Hurricane Lenny last November, Golden Grove Correctional Facility was damaged but the government had already secured bond funding for overall repairs and expansion of the prison, freeing up the insurance proceeds.
Stridiron said the money in the Asset Recovery Fund has no restrictions. Neither Stridiron nor James O’Bryan, an assistant to Gov. Charles Turnbull, knew the fund's current balance.
Arthur Hector, president of the Law Enforcement Supervisors Union, questioned why the money in the Asset Recovery Fund hadn’t been tapped earlier.
"That is money that has been there all the time," he said.
Wingrove Creighton, president of the St. Croix EMT Association, said a recent meeting between the coalition and Lt. Gov. Gerard Luz James II to discuss issues regarding pay and working conditions was uneventful. He said recent action on the administration’s part is only because of the coalition’s protests.
"It was a heap of words and promises. When the pressure is applied, they say they have the money," Creighton said. "There ain’t no money."
Joseph, meanwhile, said police officers are still waiting on raises and a negotiated contract.
"Until this government finds money to pay us, we’ll be out in the street," she said.

Modular units recently removed from Peace Corps School are being stored at Lionel Richards Ball Park in Smith Bay. Education Commissioner Ruby Simmonds said the units will remain there until an efficient means of distribution is decided upon.
According to Simmonds several agencies, organizations and individuals have shown interest in purchasing the units.
Modular units from Bertha C. Boschulte Junior High and Lockheart Elementary School were also being been stored at the ballpark.. Earlier in July Sen. George Goodwin expressed concern about the park being used for storage of the units because of a duel flooding problem — an underground spring and poor drainage — that could damage the units.
Goodwin also questioned the reasoning behind storing the units in a ballpark in the summertime when children were out of school and wanting to use the park.
Simmonds said the removal of the modular units is an important milestone in the construction of Peace Corps School. Aside from pending construction on the library, administration building, and one classroom returning students will no longer be in the modular units, she said.
"This (removal) marks the final stages in the school's construction, " she said.
The public will be informed when a decision has been made about the distribution of the units. For more information call 774-0100 ext.3136.

V.I. National Park officials are warning swimmers to be on the look-out for jellyfish in the waters around St. John, especially on the North Shore.
Judy Shafer, acting superintendent of the park, said reports of people being stung have reached the park. Some of the calls came from Caneel Bay Resort, she said.
Jellyfish are normally found in larger numbers in V.I. waters during the months of August and September. However, Shafer said it is not unusual to see them earlier.
Moon jellyfish, the most common type found locally, produce a mild sting that lasts a short time.
Other less common types, the Sea Wasp and Portugese Man-O-War can cause a more severe reaction, and should be avoided.
Planning and Natural Resources issued a warning in early July about the Warty jellyfish. DPNR said the pinkish colored jellyfish is highly toxic.
For more information about the waters around St. John call Paul Thomas at 776-6201, ext. 252.

It's not Sydney but there was Olympic-style competition Thursday at Magen's Bay.
Gail Deller, who teaches swimming during the year at the Ivanna Eudora Kean High School, directed the watersports competitions for the Reformed Church Summer Camp, one of the oldest camps on St. Thomas.
"We had some really great swimmers this year so we had a real medley relay with the butterfly, back, breast and freestyle which you'll be seeing soon in Sydney," she said.
Events staged as part of the summer camp Olympics included land and water based games, some with a purpose. A nylon grid mimicking lanes that would be found in a regulation swimming pool were set up in the water a few feet from the beach.
"Eight- and the nine-year-olds have to learn how to retrieve objects in the water as one of their Red Cross lessons, so their job is to find all the clams and the fish and everything else we threw in the water for them to retrieve," she said.
Younger campers swam through a series of hoops held underwater by their counselors. Five- and six-year-olds balanced cups on a styrofoam kickboard while kicking their way through the water to shore.
Land-based games were directed by Theresa Hodge, who also split competitors up by age group, putting them through two events apiece.
Deller explained between bites of a slightly sandy cheeseburger, the last beach day of the annual summer camp is set aside for athletics and swimming, "so the kids remember to come back again next summer."

Executives of Black Enterprise Magazine were treated to a cultural extravaganza courtesy of the VI Industrial Development Commission.
A welcoming night banquet was held Wednesday at the Renaissance Grand Beach Resort at the start of the magazine's 2000 retreat entitled, "Going for the Gold." According to the IDC's Nadine Marchena-Thomas, the night was thoroughly enjoyed by stateside visitors and members of the VI business community.
"We sponsored an event that would show them what the Virgin Islands has to offer in entertainment. We utilized our students — Lockhart School Quadrille Dancers, Joseph Gomez Bamboula Dancers, Pan-Around-the-Neck, the Rising Stars, the CASH Jazz Ensemble — students like those who could represent us as far as culture is concerned," Marchena-Thomas said.
"Go For the Gold" is a four-day conference designed to encourage better coordination between the different departments of Black Enterprise Magazine. But the evening banquet was the one opportunity for IDC to introduce some local business stars to editors always on the lookout for profiles to capture their readers, Marchena-Thomas said.
"We had the business community meet and greet the Black Enterprise group so we could show them that we have people here who are doing business, that are successful in their businesses and possibly they will write about the Virgin Islands, about the business opportunities that are available here," she added.
Magazine Publisher, Earl G. Graves, Sr., thanked the IDC and the greeters for their hospitality and told the gathering his Virgin Islands experience began with former Tourism Commissioner-turned-talk show host Leona Bryan.
"He mentioned that he hopes that we will continue these ties. He mentioned the IDC, he looks forward to us attending the entrepreneur conference and perhaps doing some feature stories with us," Marchesa said.
Black Enterprise Magazine is celebrating its 30th year of highlighting the achievements of African-Americans in the world of business with its August 2000 edition, now appearing on newsstands.

The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority is investigating complaints of low water pressure in the upper Hospital Ground area.
WAPA engineers are working on water connections made to accommodate new water line in the area and expect to have the problem resolved by Friday night. For more information contact Patricia Blake Simmonds at 774-3552.