Dripping with sarcasm, the Smoking Gun, co-founded by longtime Village Voice writer William Bastone, focuses on embarrassing documents such as celebrity arrest reports, strange lawsuits, search warrants in high-profile cases and generallunacy. Here you can find Mike Tyson's psychiatric report, the FBI file on John Steinbeck, customs agents' guidelines for performing cavity searches and a catalog of weapons and military vehicles from a Russian arms dealer.

The St. Croix Environmental Association will be re-broadcasting its Sewage Summit originally held on Monday, June 12 on Radio WRRA 1290 AM on Thursday, June 22 from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Listen in and hear officials from both local and federal government candidly discuss the sewage problems in St. Croix.
This program is sponsored in part by the Chase Manhattan Bank Foundation USVI Neighborhood Grants Program.
For further information, call 773-1989 Contact: Yvonne Petersen, SEA executive director.

The Jr. Lions roared back to defeat the Suns 10-6 Thursday afternoon in St. Thomas Pee Wee League action at the Emile Griffith Ballpark.
The Suns jumped out in front with two runs in the top of the first inning. They scored thanks to a two-run home run by Josiah Bute that tipped off the glove of Jr. Lions’ left fielder Raheam Soldiew. Jr.
Lions right fielder, N’Gozi Prentice made two outstanding defensive plays in the first inning. He robbed the Suns of a big inning by throwing out batters at first base.
However, offensively the Jr. Lions could not score in the first two innings. Although they had three hits in those innings five of their first six outs were strikeouts.
The Suns erupted for four runs in the top of the third inning. Taffia Weekes started the rally with the first of his two hits. He was driven home on a triple by Jah Quan Harley. Then with one out Deja Brown singled him home. The next batter, Akeel Morris, struck out. But the rally was not over as Bute hit his second two-run homerun of the game to put the Suns on top 6-0.
The Jr. Lions bats woke up with one out in the bottom of the third inning. Khalide Cherubin hit a three-run home run in the right-center field alley to start the comeback. The Jr. Lions scored three more times in the inning to tie the game at six.
Cherubin, the Jr. Lions shortstop, also did it with his glove. He took away an extra base hit off the bat of the Suns’ Jamie Maldonado.
The Jr. Lions continued their scoring attack in the bottom of the fourth inning. They added four runs off of six hits to take a 10-6 lead into the fifth and final inning.
The Jr. Lions used defense once again to seal their victory. First baseman Franklin Leonard Jr. snagged a ground ball for an unassisted put-out of the Suns leadoff hitter Shaquille Brown. Weekes then got his second hit of the game, a single up the middle as the Suns tried to come back. The next hitter Dean Adams Jr. hit what looked like another single up the middle. However, Cherubin, gloved it stepped on second and threw a bullet to first that doubled up Adams to end the game and made the crowd cheer with appreciation.
In the St. Thomas PeeWee League nine players field but 12 bat. The batters face a maximum of five pitches, which are thrown by their own coaches.

After being vindicated in court Tuesday, Water and Power Authority board member Dean Plaskett ripped those who accused him and other WAPA directors of, among other things, accepting illegal perks during negotiations on the partial sale of the utility to Southern Energy.
Plaskett, commissioner of Planning and Natural Resources and one of three members of Gov. Charles Turnbull’s Cabinet who sits on the WAPA board, slammed his main accuser, Gail Watson Chiang, two days after most of her charges were dismissed by Territorial Court Judge Alphonso Andrews Jr.
Andrews ruled that Turnbull didn’t break the law by entering into exclusive negotiations with Southern Energy. The judge also dismissed Chiang’s allegations that the governor’s negotiating team, which included WAPA board members Plaskett, Andrew Rutnik, Arthur Downing and Ira Hobson, violated conflict of interest laws by allowing Southern to pay for their first-class airfare and rooms at the Ritz Carlton, among other things.
Plaskett made two trips in conjunction with the proposal to sell 80 percent of WAPA to Southern for $380 million to $400 million. The first was a visit to Southern’s headquarters in Atlanta where board members and Lt. Gov. Gerard Luz James II met with company executives and the governor of Georgia. The second was a three-day trip to Washington, D.C. where details of the deal were hammered out in 16-hour sessions, Plaskett said.
Still, Chiang and other critics of the negotiating team, including current WAPA board member Claude "Tappy" Malloy, alleged that tickets and hotel rooms paid for by the company constituted conflict of interest.
"I find it to be insulting for them to say I could be bought by first-class tickets and a stay at the Ritz Carlton," Plaskett, an attorney, said.
He added that allegations that Southern paid his way to the Breeder’s Cup horse race were a "blatant lie."
Plaskett noted that the court ruling said the conflict of interest charge would have only applied had the members of the negotiating team been in the position to gain financially from the deal.
Plaskett dismissed further Chiang’s claims that Turnbull had violated the law by negotiating with Southern. He pointed out that the ruling said Chiang’s former boss and Turnbull’s predecessor, Gov. Roy Schneider, was the one who initiated the deal with the company.
"That was done by Schneider," Plaskett said. "If you listen to the naysayers they’d lead you to believe it was Gov. Turnbull who went into negotiations.
"It’s clear people have ulterior motives. They gave their tacit approval before," he said.
As for the allegation Andrews didn’t throw out – that the Public Finance Authority illegally funded the government’s consultants for the deal – Plaskett said that too was initiated by Schneider. The issue will be heard on Aug. 22.
Plaskett, meanwhile, said he and the negotiating team members may take action against some of their board colleagues and WAPA staff for providing private and confidential information to Chiang’s legal team without the consent of the majority of the utility’s directors.
"We’ll take that up at a later date," he said. "People at WAPA will be held to answer."

After being vindicated in court Tuesday, Water and Power Authority board member Dean Plaskett ripped those who accused him and other WAPA directors of, among other things, accepting illegal perks during negotiations on the partial sale of the utility to Southern Energy.
Plaskett, a member of Gov. Charles Turnbull’s Cabinet who sits on the board through his position as commissioner of the Planning and Natural Resources, slammed his main accuser, Gail Watson Chiang, two days after most of her charges were dismissed by Territorial Court Judge Alphonso Andrews Jr.
Andrews ruled that Turnbull didn’t break the law by entering into exclusive negotiations with Southern Energy. The judge also dismissed Chiang’s allegations that the governor’s negotiating team, which included WAPA board members Plaskett, Andrew Rutnik, Arthur Downing and Ira Hobson, violated conflict of interest laws by allowing Southern to pay for their first-class airfare and rooms at the Ritz Carlton, among other things.
Board members made two trips in conjunction with the proposal to sell 80 percent of WAPA to Southern for $380 million to $400 million. The first was a visit to Southern’s headquarters in Atlanta where board members and Lt. Gov. Gerard Luz James II met with company executives and the governor of Georgia. The second was a three-day trip to Washington, D.C. where details of the deal were hammered out in 16-hour sessions, Plaskett said.
Still, Chiang and other critics of the negotiating team, including current WAPA board member Claude "Tappy" Malloy, alleged that tickets and hotel rooms paid for by the company constituted conflict of interest.
"I find it to be insulting for them to say I could be bought by first-class tickets and a stay at the Ritz Carlton," Plaskett, an attorney, said.
He added that allegations that Southern paid his way to the Breeder’s Cup horse race were a "blatant lie."
Plaskett noted that the court ruling said the conflict of interest charge would have only applied had the members of the negotiating team been in the position to gain financially from the deal.
Plaskett dismissed further Chiang’s claims that Turnbull had violated the law by negotiating with Southern. He pointed out that the ruling said Chiang’s former boss and Turnbull’s predecessor, Gov. Roy Schneider, was the one who initiated the deal with the company.
"That was done by Schneider," Plaskett said. "If you listen to the naysayers they’d lead you to believe it was Gov. Turnbull who went into negotiations.
"It’s clear people have ulterior motives. They gave their tacit approval before," he said.
As for the allegation Andrews didn’t throw out – that the Public Finance Authority illegally funded the government’s consultants for the deal – Plaskett said that too was initiated by Schneider. The issue will be heard on Aug. 22.
Plaskett, meanwhile, said he and the negotiating team members may take action against some of their board colleagues and WAPA staff for providing private and confidential information to Chiang’s legal team without the consent of the majority of the utility’s directors.
"We’ll take that up at a later date," he said. "People at WAPA will be held to answer."

Employers and employees are invited to the Department of Labor's Biannual Safety and Health Conference to be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Jyly 6, at the Curriculum Center, St. Croix.

Employers and employees are invited to the Department of Labor's Biannual Safety and Health Conference from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 6, at the Curriculum Center, St. Croix.
Safety and Health professionals will discuss occupational safety and health topics.
Prospective attendants should register with Mrs. Doreen Pat or any OSHA employee at 772-1311.

MOMS, a support group of mothers who are experiencing difficulty raising their sons, will meet at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 28, at the Legislature Conference Room.
Ms. Carol Henneman will be the guesst speaker.
For more information call Ms. Fahie at 693-3536 or Ms. Sadler at 693-3618.

An early-retirement incentive bill that caused fireworks in the Senate in March even before it was introduced has now been submitted to the Legislature by Gov. Charles W. Turnbull.
Titled the Public Employees Voluntary Separation Incentive Act of 2000, the bill offers an alternative to a bill sponsored by Sens. Donald "Ducks" Cole, Almando "Rocky" Liburd and David Jones. Government Employees Retirement System board chair Corinne King rejected that measure at a March hearing of the Senate Government Operations Committee.
King said at the hearing that the government couldn't guarantee the $15 million proposed to finance the senators' early retirement program. Ira Mills, director of the Office of Management and Budget, then told the lawmakers that he had a retirement plan of his own which, he said, would cost about $9 million. His announcement was met with astonishment by the senators, who accused Mills of "sabotaging" their proposal.
The bill just now submitted by the governor calls for financing of $15 million from the proceeds of the government's $300 million bond issue last year.
Cole said Wednesday that he, along with Liburd and Jones, met to discuss the new proposal with GERS representatives including King, actuary Howard Rog and executive director Lawrence Bryan, as well as Mills and John deJongh, who chaired the Government House task force that produced a five-year economic recovery plan for the territory.
Liburd said he asked Rog to calculate the number of employees with 25 to 30 years of government service in the system so he could project the cost of the proposal and how best to maximize the $15 million. "We want no unfunded liability," Liburd said.
The senators' proposal, titled the Early Retirement Incentive Act, would allow employees with 25 years of service to "buy" their remaining time toward retirement eligibility by contributing 8 percent of their annuity over the remaining years they would otherwise have to work before retiring. "The purpose of the plan is to reduce the government payroll so employees can retire early without penalty," Cole said.
According to Cole, "The difference between our plan and the governor's is that his plan gives no money to GERS; it goes directly to the employee. Our plan goes to GERS, giving them an infusion in funds so they can invest it." He added, "The governor doesn't want to give any money to GERS."
Liburd said he was surprised that the governor sent down his plan before the figures had gotten back from Rog so that the senators could further evaluate their own plan.
The administration plan addresses only those employees with at least 30 years of service. It would give eligible classified employees a lump-sum payment of 30 percent of their salary to leave service early. Unclassified employees would get 15 percent. The proposal applies only to the executive branch, whereas the senators' plan would cover employees of all three branches of government.
In a letter to Senate president Vargrave Richards, Turnbull said the purpose of his bill is to address the "precarious financial condition" of the government and reduce the government's debt. The governor cited Act 6297 which, among other things, mandated the sum of $15 million from bond proceeds to be used as retirement incentive payments to government employees. "Because the program is cost neutral, it will have no effect on the GERS," he stated.
No legislative hearing has yet been scheduled on either plan. The senators' bill is sitting in the Government Operations Committee; the governor's plan is on Richards' desk.
The governor called a special legislative session for Friday to address a separate retirement proposal addressing the Judges Pension Fund and the Governors and Lieutenant Governors Retirement Fund.

MOMS, a support group of mothers who are experiencing difficulty raising their sons will meet at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 28, at the Legislature Conference Room.
Ms. Carol Henneman will be the guest speaker. For more information call Ms. Fahie at 693-3536 or Ms. Sadler at 693-3618.