In Washington on Wednesday, the House Resources Committee unanimously passed a bill sponsored by Delegate Donna Christian Christensen aimed at reducing the number of senators in the V.I. legislature.
The bill, HR 2296, would amend the Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands and give the V.I. Legislature the authority to determine the size of its makeup and the number of members needed to constitute a quorum.
Christensen said she anticipated that the bill will be brought to the House floor for a vote "after the Fourth of July recess, in mid-July." She expressed optimism that the measure will be approved.
In a November referendum, voters in the territory will be able to express their preference for reducing the Senate from 15 to either 11 or 9 members, of for keeping the status quo.
The original reduction bill was spurred by efforts of V.I. Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg in 1998. It called for reducing the number of V.I. senators from 15 to nine. In an effort to keep territorial politicians from coming back to Congress in the future seeking a change to the Organic Act for further reductions, House Resources Committee chair Don Young advised that the exact number of senators be left open and that the number be determined by local law.
"It’s good news and I’m sure Sen. Donastorg is very happy," Christensen said. "I just hope the people of the Virgin Islands have a full discussion on the issue."

Attorney General Iver Stridiron said Thursday afternoon the Bureau of Corrections is on top of a situation that has developed involving two part-time nurses at the Golden Grove prison on St. Croix who have abandoned their jobs.
Stridiron, responding to reports that inmates were not being provided adequate medical attention, said his agency is processing termination NOPA's for the two nurses who walked of the job a few days ago. "When those personnel actions are signed, we will be able to hire replacement nurses," Stridiron said, adding that a contingency plan is in place to make sure prisoners receive their medications and adequate medical care.
He explained that a retired supervisory nurse is putting in three hours a day at the prison, "so the process of providing medicine is slower than usual," Stridiron said.
Another nurse is on vacation, he added, which has aggravated the situation.
But Stridiron said attempts are being made to put the supervisory nurse on contract so she can work more than three hours a day. "She wants to do it, but at the same time, we don't want to mess up her retirement benefits. We are working the fine points out," Stridiron said.
He also explained that as a result of the consent decree with the federal court, a medical consultant is presently evaluating the level of medical care being provided to inmates at both the St. Thomas and St. Croix prisons.

The head of the Police Department's Zone D Command says crowds congregating in this year's St. John Festival Village will find adequate police protection.
Police on island will have plenty of backup for crowd control and peacekeeping efforts between now and the end of the St. John celebration on the Fourth of July, Lt. Rene Garcia said. Officers from all three St. Thomas zone commands as well as the Crime Prevention, Special Operations, Juvenile and School Safety Bureaus will be on duty at various times, he said, as well as canine patrol personnel.
Garcia is serving his first watch over the village, having assumed leadership of the St. John command early this year. But he is doing it well aware of the violence that marred last year's traditionally friendly, small-village fete. In the final 24 hours of the 1999 festival, a 14-year-old boy was fatally shot and six individuals were injured in shooting and stabbing incidents – three at the start of J'Ouvert and three at the closing of the festival around midnight on July 4, which fell on a Saturday.
The violence that broke out at the start of last year's J'Ouvert jam was linked to the fact that a barge bearing all-night revelers docked in the early morning right beside the village as Jam Band was saying goodnight from the stage to its fans.
As one step toward avoiding that type of confrontation, festival organizers this year have repositioned the stage. Instead of being in the center of the village, with visitors able to move freely around it on all four sides, the raised platform has been pushed back against the U.S. Customs dock, cutting off foot traffic on that side.
St. John Festival Committee chair Leona Smith has vowed that there will be no repeat of last year's violence for Festival 2000.
Garcia said parents have to assume some responsibility for their minor children's involvement in the festivities. "We're advising parents not to send any juveniles up here in the village without any guidance," he said, noting that there will be Juvenile Bureau officers on duty at the site. Regular curfew laws will remain effect, meaning minors cannot legally be on the streets unaccompanied after 10 p.m.
To help police keep an eye on things, security cameras have been installed in and around the main activity areas near the Cruz Bay waterfront. Garcia said he personally inspected the surveillance system Thursday, before the official opening of the village.
Also, he said, agents from the Planning and Natural Resources Department's Marine Safety Division will be keeping a watch on the ports and harbors.
As crowds began to gather Thursday evening for the opening of Daniel's Court, this year's village that is dedicated to retired St. John police officer and community activist Harry Daniel, Smith said she was confident there will be no trouble. "We have the surveillance cameras, and we have the manpower" to keep things from getting out of control, she said.

There are so many light-hearted things to think about at this time of year – school's out, summer's here and the Emancipation Day / Independence Day holidays are approaching, with the St. John Festival in full swing.
But it's also hurricane season in the Virgin Islands, and the V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency and other entities want the public to give some serious thought to getting ready to face whatever comes this way.
On Wednesday night at the Cruz Bay Legislature Building, officials of VITEMA, the Lieutenant Governor's Office and the University of the Virgin Islands Small Business Development Center held the second in a series of disaster preparedness forums. According to Alvis Christian, VITEMA's deputy director for St. John, about 75 residents attended the first two forums, on St. Thomas and St. John, with a third scheduled for Thursday night on St. Croix.
"It's pretty good, given how close it is to festival," he said of the St. John/St. Thomas turn-out.
Representatives of the Division of Banking and Insurance, SBDC and the Planning and Natural Resources and Human Services Departments made presentations for the benefit of business owners. They went down a series of mental checklists of steps to take in getting ready for approaching storms and others to use in assessing their status in the event of a hurricane or earthquake.
Christian noted that the expertise available at the forum would not as readily be available in the aftermath of disaster because the same people would be occupied in relief efforts. "We give people a chance to meet them before, because what they do is give you broad information so you would know what to look for," he said.
Among the topics covered during the two-hour seminars were these recommendations of action to be taken long before the first tropical storm of the season approaches:
– Communications and other computer-based businesses should back up their hard drives and keep copies in a location other than their place of business. In the case of computers using modems, not only the computer equipment but also telephone systems should be equipped with surge protectors. That's because a power surge through a phone line can damage a computer through its modem.
– Business owners should take a photographic inventory of all their equipment, furnishings and other office or shop contents, and homeowners should do the same of their household effects. The photos should be wrapped in plastic or put in a waterproof container and stored in a secure location in case they are needed to back up insurance claims.
– Property owners should check with their insurance agent to see about discounts for buildings with properly set overhangs on the roof and shutters installed at the windows.
– Property owners should be aware that if a building was not noticeably damaged in the major storms of the last 11 years (since Hugo in 1989), the chances are good that the structure has been weakened. It would be wise to have a contractor inspect the building, and then to make any needed reinforcements.
– Business owners who do not already have business interruption insurance should consider acquiring it. The policies provide financial relief during periods of business loss or slowdown that result from natural disasters.
– Everyone should consider buying a generator. Virgin Islanders used to think of generators as optional investments, but after the passage of Hurricanes Hugo, Marilyn, Bertha, Georges and Lenny, presenters said, a generator may be thought of as a necessity, like a refrigerator or a stove.

It is sad and shocking that our senators continue to ignore the repeated request of their colleague, Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg, for a rate investigation of our phone company.
It is particularly reprehensible in light of the recent discovery that the V.I. Telephone Corp., a regulated public utility receiving enormous tax breaks, was paying employees of other non-Vitelco companies from Vitelco's payroll.
When the Source and the Independent reported the payroll irregularities, the response was that Vitelco was keeping records and was being reimbursed by VitelCom, St. Thomas-St. John Cable TV, the Daily News and other companies owned by Jeffrey Prosser, owner of Innovative Communication Corp.
How do we know that, without an investigation or audit conducted by highly skilled, experienced people who could sleuth out even the most well-hidden irregularities?
And isn't it interesting that on Friday last, only a few days before the issue was brought up in the Legislature, Vitelco finally filed financial reports with the Public Services Commission going back as far as August 1999?
These reports are supposed to be filed monthly.
And our legislators do not see any reason for an investigation?
This raises serious questions about the senators themselves.
There has not been a thorough investigation of Vitelco since 1992. Why? Other jurisdictions require regular investigations of their telephone companies. Why do we only require investigations when the company seeks a rate increase? How can consumers be sure the company is earning its mandated 11.5 percent profit — not more and not less?
Donastorg has made this a one-man mission and he has been relentless, undoubtedly to the annoyance of his colleagues. But Donastorg has raised many legitimate issues. Among them:
– The last two rate investigations, in 1990 and 1988, each resulted in a rate decrease.
–– Current Vitelco profits are estimated at more than 25 percent, when by law the utility's maximum allowed rate of return is 11.5 percent.
–– Earnings more than tripled, from $6.2 million in 1996 to $20.5 in 1997, after the company was granted 100 percent tax breaks, and estimated earnings continue to skyrocket.
–– Vitelco billed customers more than $2 million a year for hurricane insurance it never purchased, then used a claim of financial hardship due to its lack of insurance as the basis for seeking more tax breaks. But the company has not provided the PSC with documentation of its hurricane losses.
–– Georgetown Consulting Group's preliminary report a year ago stated that Vitelco had overcharged consumers by more than $20 million.
–– The inspector general has recommended that the PSC conduct a telephone rate investigation and that the territory join the many states that mandate periodic rate reviews.
The people of the Virgin Islands, who seem to be paying high phone rates to make up for the multiple taxes that Vitelco is not paying, should be hopping mad. We hope their ire will be fully evident when they go to the polls in November.
After all, whose interests are these senators protecting? Certainly not the public's.

There are so many light-hearted things to think about at this time of year – school's out, summer's here and the Emancipation Day / Independence Day holidays are approaching, with the St. John Festival in full swing.
But it's also hurricane season in the Virgin Islands, and the V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency wants the public to give some serious thought to getting ready to face whatever comes this way.
On Wednesday night at the Cruz Bay Legislature Building, officials of VITEMA, the Lieutenant Governor's Office and the University of the Virgin Islands Small Business Development Center held the second in a series of disaster preparedness forums. According to Alvis Christian, VITEMA's deputy director for St. John, about 75 residents attended the first two forums, on St. Thomas and St. John, with a third scheduled for Thursday night on St. Croix.
"It's pretty good, given how close it is to festival," he said of the St. John/St. Thomas turn-out.
Representatives of the Division of Banking and Insurance, SBDC and the Planning and Natural Resources and Human Services Departments made presentations for the benefit of business owners. They went down a series of mental checklists of steps to take in getting ready for approaching storms and others to use in assessing their status in the event of a hurricane or earthquake.
Christian noted that the expertise available at the forum would not as readily be available in the aftermath of disaster because the same people would be occupied in relief efforts. "We give people a chance to meet them before, because what they do is give you broad information so you would know what to look for," he said.
Among the topics covered during the two-hour seminars were these recommendations of action to be taken long before the first tropical storm of the season approaches:
– Communications and other computer-based businesses should back up their hard drives and keep copies in a location other than their place of business. In the case of computers using modems, not only the computer equipment but also telephone systems should be equipped with surge protectors. That's because a power surge through a phone line can damage a computer through its modem.
– Business owners should take a photographic inventory of all their equipment, furnishings and other office or shop contents, and homeowners should do the same of their household effects. The photos should be wrapped in plastic or put in a waterproof container and stored in a secure location in case they are needed to back up insurance claims.
– Property owners should check with their insurance agent to see about discounts for buildings with properly set overhangs on the roof and shutters installed at the windows.
– Property owners should be aware that if a building was not noticeably damaged in the major storms of the last 11 years (since Hugo in 1989), the chances are good that the structure has been weakened. It would be wise to have a contractor inspect the building, and then to make any needed reinforcements.
– Business owners who do not already have business interruption insurance should consider acquiring it. The policies provide financial relief during periods of business loss or slowdown that result from natural disasters.
– Everyone should consider buying a generator. Virgin Islanders used to think of generators as optional investments, but after the passage of Hurricanes Hugo, Marilyn, Bertha, Georges and Lenny, presenters said, a generator may be thought of as a necessity, like a refrigerator or a stove.

It is sad and shocking that our senators continue to ignore the repeated request of their colleague, Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg, for a rate investigation of our phone company.
It is particularly reprehensible in light of the recent discovery that the V.I. Telephone Corp., a regulated public utility receiving enormous tax breaks, was paying employees of other non-Vitelco companies from Vitelco's payroll.
When the Source and the Independent reported the payroll irregularities, the response was that Vitelco was keeping records and was being reimbursed by VitelCom, St. Thomas-St. John Cable TV, the Daily News and other companies owned by Jeffrey Prosser, owner of Innovative Communication Corp.
How do we know that, without an investigation or audit conducted by highly skilled, experienced people who could sleuth out even the most well-hidden irregularities?
And isn't it interesting that on Friday last, only a few days before the issue was brought up in the Legislature, Vitelco finally filed financial reports with the Public Services Commission going back as far as August 1999?
These reports are supposed to be filed monthly.
And our legislators do not see any reason for an investigation?
This raises serious questions about the senators themselves.
There has not been a thorough investigation of Vitelco since 1992. Why? Other jurisdictions require regular investigations of their telephone companies. Why do we only require investigations when the company seeks a rate increase? How can consumers be sure the company is earning its mandated 11.5 percent profit — not more and not less?
Donastorg has made this a one-man mission and he has been relentless, undoubtedly to the annoyance of his colleagues. But Donastorg has raised many legitimate issues. Among them:
– The last two rate investigations, in 1990 and 1988, each resulted in a rate decrease.
–– Current Vitelco profits are estimated at more than 25 percent, when by law the utility's maximum allowed rate of return is 11.5 percent.
–– Earnings more than tripled, from $6.2 million in 1996 to $20.5 in 1997, after the company was granted 100 percent tax breaks, and estimated earnings continue to skyrocket.
–– Vitelco billed customers more than $2 million a year for hurricane insurance it never purchased, then used a claim of financial hardship due to its lack of insurance as the basis for seeking more tax breaks. But the company has not provided the PSC with documentation of its hurricane losses.
–– Georgetown Consulting Group's preliminary report a year ago stated that Vitelco had overcharged consumers by more than $20 million.
–– The inspector general has recommended that the PSC conduct a telephone rate investigation and that the territory join the many states that mandate periodic rate reviews.
The people of the Virgin Islands, who seem to be paying high phone rates to make up for the multiple taxes that Vitelco is not paying, should be hopping mad. We hope their ire will be fully evident when they go to the polls in November.
After all, whose interests are these senators protecting? Certainly not the public's.

Efforts to preserve coral reefs in the U.S. and its territories and establish a marine science laboratory on St. Croix received a boost last week when the House Resources Committee passed the Coral Reef Conservation and Restoration Act of 2000.
A proposal to build the Joint Caribbean Marine Science Center on St. Croix was a major part of the third Coral Reef Task Force Conference held on the island last November. Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt and scientist from across the country were on St. Croix to plan a strategy in the fight to save endangered coral reef ecosystems.
A critical part of the plan is the establishment of a marine lab devoted to supporting field research on diseases striking coral reefs. While funding has been an obstacle the Resources Committee’s approval of $64 million over four years for reef conservation means movement is being made. The legislation also contains language that would appropriate $1 million in fiscal years 2001 through 2004, for a coral disease center.
Because of the success of the former West Indies Lab, across from the St. Croix Yacht Club, and its proximity to coral reefs, experts pegged the derelict facility as an ideal site to use as a headquarters. Although the Resource Committee’s legislation identifies funds for the science center, Mike DeLuca of Rutgers University, said the money will go toward developing an electronic clearing house for coral reef information.
"We’re hoping that can be considered in the context of the West Indies Lab" until on-island progress is made, DeLuca said.
Rutgers and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington are spearheading the effort the effort to revitalize the old West Indies Lab. Bob Wicklund, director of federal programs at UNCW, said lease negotiations between Contessa de Navarro Farber, who owns the land the former West Indies Lab sits on, have been completed. Still, renovations to existing laboratory facilities have been estimated at $2 million.
"We’re talking millions of dollars," DeLuca said. "So it takes a little time to put that kind of package together. Ideally, we’d like to get renovations started as quickly as possible."
The West Indies Lab was a pioneer in much of the world’s reef research but was destroyed by Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and has since sat derelict.
The new lab will focus on education and research and be operated by the Rutgers, UNCW, the University of the Virgin Islands and the University of South Carolina. Lowell Weicker, former governor of Connecticut, U.S. senator, Congressman and part-time St. Croix resident, will be chairman of the science center.
While the Coral Reef Conservation and Restoration Act of 2000 provides $64 million over four years for reef preservation, the legislation still must past muster on the House floor and the Senate. And even if the bill is approved, Wicklund said that the money has to go a long way considering the sheer amount of diseased reefs in the V.I., American Samoa and the Florida Keys.
"Because of the really poor condition the reefs are in, that’s not a lot of money. We need to move quickly to find out what’s going on. It’s appalling," he said.
One problem in solving the mystery surrounding dying reefs is that there is no central place for researchers to confer. The proposed Joint Caribbean Marine Science Center on St. Croix may become that place; a type of Center for Disease Control for coral reefs.
Particularly hard hit is elkhorn coral, the results of which is especially noticeable at Buck Island Reef National Monument off St. Croix. Elkhorn coral is a primary reef-building coral in the Caribbean and helps reduce coastal erosion. But over the last 15 to 20 years the species has been hit hard by white band disease and hurricanes.
At Buck Island following Hurricane David in 1979, the combination of disease and storm had reduced the live coverage of elkhorn coral from 85 percent to 5 percent, according to research done by W.B. Gladfelter. Hurricane Hugo in 1989 decimated the coral further.
While scientists have not correlated white band disease with pollution or other human activity, it usually kills the elkhorn coral colonies it infects, according to Caroline Rogers of the Biological Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey.
Despite the gloomy outlook and the plodding rate of legislation and funding, Wicklund said the Resource Committee’s approval of the reef legislation could be an end to years of rhetoric.
That sentiment was echoed by DeLuca.
"We’re very optimistic," he said. "There’s a lot of attention being paid to the decline in the health of coral reef."

A celebration of life to honor the memory of William "Bill" Beer, who died June 9, will be held Monday, July 3, from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Beer residence on St. Thomas.
Beer was killed in Kayenta, Ariz., when the ultralight aircraft he was flying crashed. He was 71.
All friends of Bill's and the Beer family are invited to attend.

A bill approved as amended by the Senate Operations Committee Wednesday is intended to strengthen child protection laws by raising the age of sexual consent from 16 years of age to 18 and by identifying anyone up to age 18 as a "child" in rape cases.
Testifying on amendments to the proposed Child Protection Act of 2000 were Iris Kern, executive director of The Safety Zone on St. John; Dilsa Capdeville and Joyce Pruitt of Kidscope on St. Thomas; Clema Lewis, co-director of the Women's Coalition of St. Croix; and Michal Rhymer, executive director of the Family Resource Center on St. Thomas.
The women were of one mind on the definition of a child, which in the original bill made distinctions for different ages. "From zero to 18 is a child," Lewis said. Kern added that "despite the fact that their bodies may have matured . . . they should be treated like the children they are."
Kern also noted that, while people who assault children are "sick persons, monsters, they were not born that way." She said unless psychological treatment is part of their incarceration, they will resume their pathological behavior as soon as they get out of prison. She urged that a treatment program be built into the territory's penal system.
Rhymer said there should be no time limitation on criminal action for aggravated rape, a clause which the bill contains. "There have been several instances where children haven't reported rape for over three years," she said. And she cautioned that "predators who rape one child will most likely move on to another child victim."
Capdeville said the islands are "loaded with pedophiles," people who prey sexually on children. "If you want to take a look, just go to the Children's Village during Carnival," she said.
Sen. Lorraine Berry, a committee member, presented some current V.I. statistics. She said that of the 28 reported rapes in the first six months of this year, 21 were against children. She said the number of such offense reported has almost doubled from last year, at least in part because victims and their parents or guardians are less afraid of coming forward.
Also, Berry said, incest is accounting for a larger proportion of the rapes reported than in the past. She said she didn't know why, or whether it could be culturally related.
Under the amendment:
– First degree aggravated rape would be defined as sexual intercourse or sodomy with anyone under 18, except with a spouse, and/or by anyone using a deadly weapon while committing rape. The penalties would be 15 years to life in prison for the first offense, and 25 years to life for the second offense and any subsequent offenses. Attempted aggravated rape would be carry 7 to 25 years imprisonment.
– A new category would be created of second degree aggravated rape, which would apply to anyone using force, intimidation, or a position of authority to have sexual intercourse or sodomy with anyone under 18 living in the same household, except a spouse. Second-degree aggravated rape would carry penalties of 10 years to life for the first offense, and 20 years to life for second and subsequent offenses.
The amendment was passed unanimously by Sens. Berry, Donald "Ducks" Cole, Roosevelt David, David Jones and committee chair Gregory Bennerson. Committee members Adelbert Bryan and Allie-Allison Petrus were absent. The bill now goes to the Rules Committee, which will determine whether it will go before the full Senate.