The Sholine 50-Plus Hurricanes will be sponsoring the Forty-and-over Baseball League again this year. The league will be named the Joseph "Joemeat" Sprauve Men’s Senior Baseball League. The tentative starting date will be July 15, 2000. The league will conclude in September.
Because of the many individuals who did not get the opportunity to play last year the league is expected to add one or two new teams this year. Thus it has been recommended that anyone who will be making forty before the end of the year, and are sincere in wanting to play baseball, to sign up for the 2000 draft.
Anyone interested in playing for, or managing one of these teams is urged to attend the final meeting to be held on Tuesday evening at 5:30 p.m. at Emile Griffith Ballpark.
For more information contact Antonio Acevedo, league coordinator at 776-4327 daytime and 775-6435 in the evenings.

Following through on its threat to take over the primary role of enforcing federal solid waste laws in the territory, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is holding hearings next week to decide the issue.
Tuesday on St. Thomas and Wednesday on St. Croix, the EPA will hold public hearings to discuss its preliminary decision to disapprove the territory’s landfill program and assume a greater role in enforcing federal solid waste laws in the islands.
According to an EPA statement, the agency is making the move because the V.I. government has not adopted the necessary solid-waste regulations or allocated enough funding and staff to deal with solid waste issues. After EPA officials considered the comments of those testifying at the two hearings, they will decide whether formally to disapprove the territory’s program and assume a greater role in enforcing landfill regulations.
The action reflects statements made by its V.I. coordinator, Jim Casey, at a Senate committee meeting in February. Casey told members of the Planning and Environmental Protection Committee that after years of the local government failing to manage solid-waste facilities according to agreements with the federal government, the EPA was set to declare the V.I. landfill program unsatisfactory. The preliminary decision was made May 8.
The problems are not new. In 1993, the V.I. government applied to the EPA for approval of a solid-waste program. According to the EPA, the territory was advised that to receive full approval, the Virgin Islands would have to have regulations comparable to or stricter than federal guidelines in place by May 1996. Additionally, EPA called for the local government to commit staff and financial resources to operate the territory’s two main landfills in accordance with federal standards.
Seven years later, the Planning and Natural Resources Department has yet to submit an acceptable proposal.
Meanwhile, because of threats to human health and the environment, the EPA in April ordered the cleanup of the Bovoni landfill on St. Thomas. The order, issued with the consent of the local government, was one step short of the agency taking unilateral action to force compliance.
The St. Thomas hearing will begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Curriculum Center in Anna's Retreat. The St. Croix session Wednesday will begin at 7 p.m. at the St. Croix Curriculum Center.

Following through on its threat to take over the primary role of enforcing federal solid waste laws in the territory, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is holding hearings next week to decide the issue.
On June 27 on St. Thomas and June 28 on St. Croix, the EPA will hold public hearings to discuss its preliminary decision to disapprove the territory’s landfill program and assume a greater role in enforcing federal solid waste laws in the islands.
According to an EPA statement, the agency is taking the approach because the V.I. government has not adopted necessary solid waste regulations or allocated enough funding and staff to deal with solid waste issues. Once the hearings have been held and EPA officials have considered comments from the public, a decision will be made on whether to formally disapprove the territory’s program and assume a greater role in enforcing landfill regulations.
EPA’s move echoes statements made by its V.I. coordinator, Jim Casey, at a Senate committee meeting in February. Casey told members of the Planning and Environmental Protection Committee that after years of failing to manage solid-waste facilities according to agreements with the federal government, the EPA was set to declare the V.I. government’s landfill program unsatisfactory. The preliminary decision was made May 8.
The problems, however, are not new. In 1993, the V.I. government applied to the EPA for approval of a solid waste program. According to the EPA, the territory was advised that to receive full approval, regulations comparable to or stricter than federal guidelines would have to be in place by May 1996. Additionally, EPA called for the local government to commit staff and financial resources to operate the territory’s two main landfills in accordance with federal standards.
Seven years later, the V.I. Planning and Natural Resources Department has yet to submit an acceptable plan.
Meanwhile, because of the threat to human health and the environment, the EPA in April ordered the cleanup of the Bovoni landfill on St. Thomas. While the order was issued with the consent of the local government, the action was one step short of the agency taking unilateral action to force compliance.
The first hearing will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Curriculum Center in Tutu on St. Thomas. Wednesday's hearing will be held at 7 p.m. at the Curriculum Center on St. Croix.

The suspect wanted by police in connection with the April 10 drive-by shooting death of Ellis Blyden Jr. near the Hometown Convenience Store in Anna's Retreat has been arrested on Tortola by British Virgin Islands police on unrelated charges.
Apprehended on drug and weapons possession charges, Jermaine Hall, 23, must face court proceedings in Tortola before being returned to the U.S. Virgin Islands to face murder and weapons charges in connection with the April killing.
If Hall is convicted of the BVI charges, it is unclear whether he will be returned to St. Thomas to face the murder counts before serving the sentence for the BVI offenses. V.I. Justice Department officials have not said whether they will seek his immediate return to the territory to face charges that could bring life imprisonment.
BVI authorities were unavailable for comment on the circumstances that led to Hall's arrest several days ago.
Territorial Court Judge Ishmael Meyers recently signed a warrant for Hall's arrest in connection with the drive-by shooting that fatally wounded Blyden. Meantime, police major crime detectives are pursuing other suspects in the case.
Hall's arrest is the third by St. Thomas police in homicide cases this year. Since January there have been five murders on St. Thomas and two on St. Croix.

The westbound lanes of Veterans Drive/Moravian Highway between the rear of the Sub Base Pueblo supermarket and the Nisky intersection will be closed Saturday and Sunday between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. while work proceeds on installing the duct bank that will carry electrical lines underground between the Water and Power Authority plant in Krum Bay and the Roy L. Schneider Hospital.
Westbound traffic on the highway is being detoured during those hours from the One Stop through Sub Base and cross-traffic patterns are also being modified. WAPA asks that drivers proceed with caution in the area and follow signs and the directions of flag personnel.
Meantime, WAPA also announced a water interruption Saturday in the Hospital Ground and Bergs Home area between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Service is being taken down so that workers can connect two water lines as part of a Hospital Ground water rehabilitation project.

Construction on the stalled $18-million runway extension at St. Croix’s Henry E. Rohlsen Airport will resume on July 5, according to the V.I. Port Authority.
The project will start again after a delay of over three months. It was halted after drifting dust affected the health of nearby residents of Yellow Cedar.
Many of the same residents are scheduled to be relocated at the expense of the Port Authority.
"We had hoped to resume the runway extension project by the end of this month, but we wanted to give the residents in the Yellow Cedar community, who live adjacent to the runway, more time to temporarily locate," said Port Authority Director Gordon Finch in a release.
He said no further delays were anticipated and that the project contractor, V.I. Cement and Building Products Inc., will be ready on July 5.
Finch said the Port Authority will, for 90 days, pay to temporarily relocate 40 families that are close to where heavy earthwork will be done.
Relocating the residents permanently was always a part of the Port Authority’s overall plan for the runway project because the day-night sound level produced by increased air traffic would exceed federal standards. In total, there are 31 properties that must be purchased by the Port Authority, 25 of which have dwellings that house 65 families.
The Port Authority’s buyout plan has two phases, the first being two appraisals for each property. The appraisals have been completed and the Port Authority is in the process of negotiating with property owners and residents in an effort to permanently relocate them.
Ninety percent of the buyout – and a large portion of the expansion construction –will be paid for using federal discretionary funds. Port Authority officials had worried that the delay would affect funding for the project.
The $18-million project is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2002. The current phase, the first, is expected to be completed in November, Finch said.

The U.S. Postal Service’s plan to sell the Christiansted Post Office building for $1.2 million is being opposed by Delegate to Congress Donna Christian Christensen.
Two years ago the Postal Service announced it was leaving the historic, 250-year-old Danish West Indies & Guinea Co. warehouse building in order to find a larger downtown location. The National Park Service, the owner of the Christiansted National Historic Site in which the building sits, wants to turn the structure into a museum dedicated to the African slave trade.
But the Postal Service’s decision to place the property on the open market for $1.2 million rather than make a straight title transfer to a sister federal agency has complicated matters.
Christensen met with Postal Service officials on Friday to discuss her opposition to the sale of the building for commercial purposes. She said she asked the Postal Service to consider turning the property over to the Virgin Islands government or the Park Service instead.
Tom Pino, an asset manager with the Postal Service, could not be reached for comment.
"We really oppose the building going into private hands. We want to make sure that building is retained as a historic landmark," Christensen said.
Joel Tutein, Park Service superintendent on St. Croix, 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, 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.
"This post office is the cornerstone and last segment of a quadrangle of buildings, used during the colonial period and the slave trade, located in the historic district area which is currently being restored on St. Croix," Christensen said. "It is very much a part of the legacy of these islands and should be retained for public use. As we look at ways to improve our tourism product we cannot afford to remove the remaining remnants of our heritage."
In a subsequent interview, Tutein said the Park Service stands ready to invest as much as $10 million to renovate the building, including an immediate $350,000 needed to stabilize the elderly structure.
Christensen said the Postal Service would not make a final decision overnight.
"It will take a while and it will take some negotiations," she said.

In the special session called by Gov. Charles W. Turnbull Friday, the 23rd Legislature unanimously approved a bill to appropriate $2.9 million in interest earned on bond proceeds for the Judges Pension Fund and the Governors and Lieutenant Governors Retirement Fund.
The interest from last year's $300 bond issue will replenish the funds which, the administration discovered, are depleted..
While the vote was quick and unanimous, the session was anything but, as, one after another, discrepancies between the Finance Department and the Government Employees Retirement System were brought to light. And then came the bombshell – revelation that the pensions owed by law to retired judges and former governors and lieutenant governors had not been paid since April, for lack of money.
Then, under questioning by Sen. Lorraine Berry, it was learned that the would-be recipients had not even been notified of the situation.
Testifying were Finance Commissioner Bernice Turnbull, GERS acting director Willis C. Todman and GERS legal counsel Alphonse Nibbs.
Those affected by the pension cut-offs are former governors Juan Luis, Alexander Farrelly and Roy Schneider; former lieutenant governors Derek Hodge and Kenneth Mapp; and former Territorial Court judges Eileen Petersen, Henry Feuerzeig and Verne Hodge.
Turnbull said the Governors and Lieutenant Governors Retirement Fund has a $1.3 million deficit and the Judges Pension Fund is a little over $800,000 in the red. Payments mandated through this fiscal year will total at least $2,417,178, she said, but the administration asked for $2,920,000. This excess half-million did not sit well with the senators, who expressed concern as to what would be done with it.
In fact, very little sat well with the lawmakers as the testifiers bandied back and forth who was responsible for which fund. Todman stated that GERS no longer functions as a constructive trustee to pay over contributions received from the Finance commissioner. He charged that contributions to GERS, "in contravention of statutory directives," have been commingled with general membership contributions. "Through error or omission, or by administrative fiat, the statutory directive was never complied with," he said.
Todman and Turnbull both said their offices were in the process of reconciling accounts. Under questioning from Sens. Berry, Vargrave Richards and Almando "Rocky" Liburd, the Finance commissioner admitted she personally cut off the retirement payments in April after the shortfalls were discovered..
Liburd asked, "How could you stop any pension payments? What authority do you have?" Turnbull cited Attorney General Iver Stridiron as having said that "no certifying officer can issue payments out of a negative balance."
Berry asked Turnbull if the recipients had been notified of the halt in payments, which are direct-deposited to payees' accounts. No, Turnbull said. Berry continued, "Don't you think that would have been the decent thing to do?" Turnbull replied, "Yes, that would have been decent."
Berry also asked Turnbull about the 9 percent interest the pension funds are supposed to accumulate. Turnbull said the funds were not interest bearing, referring, as she did throughout the session, to her relatively brief tenure of a year and a half as commissioner and commenting, "I have no control over what transpired before."
Turnbull said she would take the interest suggestion under advisement, to which Berry replied, "It's the law – it's not a suggestion."
Berry asked the commissioner if she was aware that "with the checks being stopped, health insurance is automatically stopped, as it is deducted from the checks?" Turnbull replied, "That's true."
Liburd addressed Turnbull: "God forbid any of them should have gotten sick with no insurance. You showed no compassion at all about not notifying them."
The commissioner replied, "I spoke to many of them." "But no letter," Liburd retorted.
Turnbull countered, "I invite you to run this department. It seems that's what you want to do, and you have your spies."
Liburd told her, "People come to the Legislature complaining about the treatment they get from you."
To a question from Liburd as to whether former Gov. Roy L. Schneider's checks had been stopped before April, Turnbull replied, "I won't discuss that."
Senators lamented throughout the session their need to be there dealing with the pension situation. Richards said that, regardless of party affiliations, "we have a moral, legal and ethical responsibility to those who have served this territory with a high level of responsibility." He said he hoped payment would be immediate after the bill passed.
Turnbull said if the bill was passed Friday, the checks would be sent out the following Thursday, June 29. She said the first ones to go out would make up the missed payments and bring the accounts current.
In the opinion he issued on the bill, post auditor Campbell Malone stated that it appeared there had been no recent Senate appropriations to either fund. "However, officials continue over the years to certify and make payments, obviously in flagrant violation of the law, to the tune of a deficit . . . in excess of $2.2 million," he said, adding, "Incredible, but . . . business as usual."
Voting on the measure were Sens. Berry, Richards, Liburd, Donald "Ducks" Cole, Roosevelt David, Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg, George Goodwin, Norman Jn Baptiste, Allie-Allison Petrus, Gregory Bennerson and David Jones. Sens. Judy Gomez, Adelbert Bryan and Alicia "Chucky" Hansen were absent from the session, and Golden was absent for the vote.

Molly Morris
In the special session called by Gov. Charles W. Turnbull Friday, the 23rd Legislature unanimously approved a bill to appropriate $2.9 million in interest earned on bond proceeds for the Judges Pension Fund and the Governors and Lieutenant Governors Retirement Fund.
The interest from last year's $300 bond issue will replenish the funds which, the administration discovered, are depleted..
While the vote was quick and unanimous, the session was anything but, as, one after another, discrepancies between the Finance Department and the Government Employees Retirement System were brought to light. And then came the bombshell – revelation that the pensions owed by law to retired judges and former governors and lieutenant governors had not been paid since April, for lack of money.
Then, under questioning by Sen. Lorraine Berry, it was learned that the would-be recipients had not even been notified of the situation.
Testifying were Finance Commissioner Bernice Turnbull, GERS acting director Willis C. Todman and GERS legal counsel Alphonse Nibbs.
Those affected by the pension cut-offs are former governors Juan Luis, Alexander Farrelly and Roy Schneider; former lieutenant governors Derek Hodge and Kenneth Mapp; and former Territorial Court judges Eileen Petersen, Henry Feuerzeig and Verne Hodge.
Turnbull said the Governors and Lieutenant Governors Retirement Fund has a $1.3 million deficit and the Judges Pension Fund is a little over $800,000 in the red. Payments mandated through this fiscal year will total at least $2,417,178, she said, but the administration asked for $2,920,000. This excess half-million did not sit well with the senators, who expressed concern as to what would be done with it.
In fact, very little sat well with the lawmakers as the testifiers bandied back and forth who was responsible for which fund. Todman stated that GERS no longer functions as a constructive trustee to pay over contributions received from the Finance commissioner. He charged that contributions to GERS, "in contravention of statutory directives," have been commingled with general membership contributions. "Through error or omission, or by administrative fiat, the statutory directive was never complied with," he said.
Todman and Turnbull both said their offices were in the process of reconciling accounts. Under questioning from Sens. Berry, Vargrave Richards and Almando "Rocky" Liburd, the Finance commissioner admitted she personally cut off the retirement payments in April after the shortfalls were discovered..
Liburd asked, "How could you stop any pension payments? What authority do you have?" Turnbull cited Attorney General Iver Stridiron as having said that "no certifying officer can issue payments out of a negative balance."
Berry asked Turnbull if the recipients had been notified of the halt in payments, which are direct-deposited to payees' accounts. No, Turnbull said. Berry continued, "Don't you think that would have been the decent thing to do?" Turnbull replied, "Yes, that would have been decent."
Berry also asked Turnbull about the 9 percent interest the pension funds are supposed to accumulate. Turnbull said the funds were not interest bearing, referring, as she did throughout the session, to her relatively brief tenure of a year and a half as commissioner and commenting, "I have no control over what transpired before."
Turnbull said she would take the interest suggestion under advisement, to which Berry replied, "It's the law – it's not a suggestion."
Berry asked the commissioner if she was aware that "with the checks being stopped, health insurance is automatically stopped, as it is deducted from the checks?" Turnbull replied, "That's true."
Liburd addressed Turnbull: "God forbid any of them should have gotten sick with no insurance. You showed no compassion at all about not notifying them."
The commissioner replied, "I spoke to many of them." "But no letter," Liburd retorted.
Turnbull countered, "I invite you to run this department. It seems that's what you want to do, and you have your spies."
Liburd told her, "People come to the Legislature complaining about the treatment they get from you."
To a question from Liburd as to whether former Gov. Roy L. Schneider's checks had been stopped before April, Turnbull replied, "I won't discuss that."
Senators lamented throughout the session their need to be there dealing with the pension situation. Richards said that, regardless of party affiliations, "we have a moral, legal and ethical responsibility to those who have served this territory with a high level of responsibility." He said he hoped payment would be immediate after the bill passed.
Turnbull said if the bill was passed Friday, the checks would be sent out the following Thursday, June 29. She said the first ones to go out would make up the missed payments and bring the accounts current.
In the opinion he issued on the bill, post auditor Campbell Malone stated that it appeared there had been no recent Senate appropriations to either fund. "However, officials continue over the years to certify and make payments, obviously in flagrant violation of the law, to the tune of a deficit . . . in excess of $2.2 million," he said, adding, "Incredible, but . . . business as usual."
Voting on the measure were Sens. Berry, Richards, Liburd, Donald "Ducks" Cole, Roosevelt David, Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg, George Goodwin, Norman Jn Baptiste, Allie-Allison Petrus, Gregory Bennerson and David Jones. Sens. Judy Gomez, Adelbert Bryan and Alicia "Chucky" Hansen were absent from the session, and Golden was absent for the vote.

Molly Morris
In the special session called by Gov. Charles W. Turnbull Friday, the 23rd Legislature unanimously approved a bill to appropriate $2.9 million in interest earned on bond proceeds for the Judges Pension Fund and the Governors and Lieutenant Governors Retirement Fund.
The interest from last year's $300 bond issue will replenish the funds which, the administration discovered, are depleted..
While the vote was quick and unanimous, the session was anything but, as, one after another, discrepancies between the Finance Department and the Government Employees Retirement System were brought to light. And then came the bombshell – revelation that the pensions owed by law to retired judges and former governors and lieutenant governors had not been paid since April, for lack of money.
Then, under questioning by Sen. Lorraine Berry, it was learned that the would-be recipients had not even been notified of the situation.
Testifying were Finance Commissioner Bernice Turnbull, GERS acting director Willis C. Todman and GERS legal counsel Alphonse Nibbs.
Those affected by the pension cut-offs are former governors Juan Luis, Alexander Farrelly and Roy Schneider; former lieutenant governors Derek Hodge and Kenneth Mapp; and former Territorial Court judges Eileen Petersen, Henry Feuerzeig and Verne Hodge.
Turnbull said the Governors and Lieutenant Governors Retirement Fund has a $1.3 million deficit and the Judges Pension Fund is a little over $800,000 in the red. Payments mandated through this fiscal year will total at least $2,417,178, she said, but the administration asked for $2,920,000. This excess half-million did not sit well with the senators, who expressed concern as to what would be done with it.
In fact, very little sat well with the lawmakers as the testifiers bandied back and forth who was responsible for which fund. Todman stated that GERS no longer functions as a constructive trustee to pay over contributions received from the Finance commissioner. He charged that contributions to GERS, "in contravention of statutory directives," have been commingled with general membership contributions. "Through error or omission, or by administrative fiat, the statutory directive was never complied with," he said.
Todman and Turnbull both said their offices were in the process of reconciling accounts. Under questioning from Sens. Berry, Vargrave Richards and Almando "Rocky" Liburd, the Finance commissioner admitted she personally cut off the retirement payments in April after the shortfalls were discovered..
Liburd asked, "How could you stop any pension payments? What authority do you have?" Turnbull cited Attorney General Iver Stridiron as having said that "no certifying officer can issue payments out of a negative balance."
Berry asked Turnbull if the recipients had been notified of the halt in payments, which are direct-deposited to payees' accounts. No, Turnbull said. Berry continued, "Don't you think that would have been the decent thing to do?" Turnbull replied, "Yes, that would have been decent."
Berry also asked Turnbull about the 9 percent interest the pension funds are supposed to accumulate. Turnbull said the funds were not interest bearing, referring, as she did throughout the session, to her relatively brief tenure of a year and a half as commissioner and commenting, "I have no control over what transpired before."
Turnbull said she would take the interest suggestion under advisement, to which Berry replied, "It's the law – it's not a suggestion."
Berry asked the commissioner if she was aware that "with the checks being stopped, health insurance is automatically stopped, as it is deducted from the checks?" Turnbull replied, "That's true."
Liburd addressed Turnbull: "God forbid any of them should have gotten sick with no insurance. You showed no compassion at all about not notifying them."
The commissioner replied, "I spoke to many of them." "But no letter," Liburd retorted.
Turnbull countered, "I invite you to run this department. It seems that's what you want to do, and you have your spies."
Liburd told her, "People come to the Legislature complaining about the treatment they get from you."
To a question from Liburd as to whether former Gov. Roy L. Schneider's checks had been stopped before April, Turnbull replied, "I won't discuss that."
Senators lamented throughout the session their need to be there dealing with the pension situation. Richards said that, regardless of party affiliations, "we have a moral, legal and ethical responsibility to those who have served this territory with a high level of responsibility." He said he hoped payment would be immediate after the bill passed.
Turnbull said if the bill was passed Friday, the checks would be sent out the following Thursday, June 29. She said the first ones to go out would make up the missed payments and bring the accounts current.
In the opinion he issued on the bill, post auditor Campbell Malone stated that it appeared there had been no recent Senate appropriations to either fund. "However, officials continue over the years to certify and make payments, obviously in flagrant violation of the law, to the tune of a deficit . . . in excess of $2.2 million," he said, adding, "Incredible, but . . . business as usual."
Voting on the measure were Sens. Berry, Richards, Liburd, Donald "Ducks" Cole, Roosevelt David, Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg, George Goodwin, Norman Jn Baptiste, Allie-Allison Petrus, Gregory Bennerson and David Jones. Sens. Judy Gomez, Adelbert Bryan and Alicia "Chucky" Hansen were absent from the session, and Golden was absent for the vote.