Dear Source:
In addition to being a native Cruzan I am also the public relations manager for Certified Vacations Group, Inc., one of the world's leading wholesalers and operators of Delta Vacations, Continental Airlines Vacations, Future Vacations and ClikVacations.com.
Between our four brands, we offer vacation packages to all three of the US Virgins, so I try to keep up with the St. Croix Source as much as possible for personal as well as business reasons. I just wanted to commend you on producing an excellent publication.
The recent expose on the mainland tourism offices and the lack of a tourism web presence have been particularly eye-opening. I'm just glad to see that someone is doing the dirty work of researching where the money is going (always a great mystery in the USVI) and providing a forum for exploring different ways that the territory can be marketed more effectively.
Keep up the great work.
Best regards,
Steve Bennett

Sewage "terrorists" bent on embarrassing the Turnbull administration have been intentionally clogging the wastewater system in Christiansted for the last year, according to a Department of Public Works official.
Randy Germain, Public Works deputy commissioner for operations, said Thursday that crews caught a man "red-handed" dumping tires into an uncovered manhole Thursday. The incident followed sewage backups Wednesday that caused one downtown restaurant to close and other businesses to contend with foul odors.
Public Works crews responding to the problem ended up pulling out swimming pool filters, hubcaps, books, lumber and boat propellers from the sewer. Once the sewage line was cleared, flows returned to normal, Germain said.
After apprehending the man dumping the tires, Public Works employees called police. Germain said the department will file charges against the unidentified individual.
While Germain conceded that problems with the island’s sewage system date back 16 years, he said the recent incidents that have fouled downtown Christiansted are due to sewer-line blockages. He said that, on more than one occasion, Public Works has cleared debris from sewage lines, only to find new blockages a few days later.
"It’s direct sabotage, and it’s been going on for one year," Germain said, adding that a "bunch of terrorists" are trying to "embarrass" the Turnbull-James administration.
"I don’t know any person who flushes such things from his bathroom," Germain said. "There is no way one could dream of flushing a hubcap down the sewer line."
Meanwhile, a federal judge has ordered Public Works to repair almost the entire sewage system on St. Croix by June 30. If it fails to do so, V.I. government officials could face contempt of court charges.
The order in part calls for the LBJ Pump Station, which is responsible for moving sewage generated in Christiansted on the North Shore to the treatment plant on the South Shore, to be fully operational by the end of June.
When the LBJ station fails, sewage backs up in Christiansted and causes more than a million gallons of raw sewage a day to be discharged into the sea beyond Long Reef in the La Grande Princesse area.

At the start of this week, the island of St. John became home to six non-bank automated teller machines that could, for a nominal fee, save time for residents and visitors alike.
Frank Nassetta, the president of Caribbean Exchange Enterprises, and his assistant, Kim Holdridge, raced around the island Monday and Tuesday activating the ATMs – two at the Westin resort, one at Caneel Bay, one at the fire station in Coral bay, one up on Bordeaux Mountain at Paradise Innovations and one in Cruz Bay at the Azzuz Pizzeria in Wharfside Village.
According to Nassetta, a man in Coral Bay told him putting in a cash machine there was the greatest news since St. Thomas opened its first Kmart at Tutu Park Mall.
Five years ago, St. John had one bank.When a second opened in the mid-1990s, customers wanting cash had a choice of establishments but still just one location – downtown Cruz Bay. That was it, until the cash machines went into service Monday and Tuesday.
Nassetta, whose company is based in Frederiksted, said tourist demand for quick, easy access to cash was the main impetus for setting up the St. John ATMs – and the reason three of them are located at resorts.
Caribbean Exchange is the only company licensed in the Virgin Islands to operate non-bank ATMs so far, although Licensing and Consumer Affairs Commissioner Andrew Rutnik said Thursday that his office has received an application from a second firm. Until a recent change in the law, only banks could install and operate such machines in the territory.
Westin Resort general manager Greg Lundberg said having the machines on property "enhances our customer service. We have a lot of guests who ask at the front desk where they can get cash," and until now they've had to send them into town to a bank. "Now," he said, "we have the service right here on our premises."
What's more, Lundberg said, he plans to install another machine at the security gate for use by resort workers.
Nassetta said tourist transactions will probably be the primary source of revenues brought in by the machines. A fee is assessed for each "swipe" of the customer's credit or debit card. The machines installed for use by residents in Cruz Bay and Coral Bay are not expected to generate as much business, he said, but were set up as a service to the community.
In addition to the six ATM's on St. John, Caribbean Exchange has installed 15 on St. Croix and 18 on St. Thomas in recent weeks, for a total of 39 in the territory. He projected that it will take six months to a year for the company to recover the costs of shipping and installing the devices.

Two former V.I. Justice Department employees charged last week in connection with the embezzlement of money from the Division of Paternity and Child Support and welfare fraud entered not guilty pleas in their initial appearances in Territorial Court Thursday.
The pleas were entered by attorney Benjamin Currence on behalf of Cheryl Serrant and by attorney Stephen Brusch representing Dina Hermon. Both lawyers requested jury trials.
The women were implicated jointly but charged separately last week. Hermon is accused of 27 counts of embezzlement, and Serrant faces charges of filing fraudulent claims against the government to secure food stamps and public housing, and perjury. Both worked in the St. Thomas offices of the division as collector/cashiers until they were dismissed last year.
Hermon is alleged to have defrauded the division of cash which she received but never deposited in the Banco Popular account which she was charged with maintaining. Serrant, in charges unrelated to her former employment at Justice, faces 12 counts of filing fraudulent government claims, obtaining money under false pretense and perjury.
Court documents show an almost year-long investigation of both women. The documents state that in each case where a deposit shortage was noted, one of the women had hand-written the receipt, entered the transaction into a computer or prepared the deposit slip.
It is alleged that Hermon embezzled funds in August, October and November of 1998 and in April, May, June and August of last year.
In the Serrant case, Justice alleges that in applications for re-certification for participation for in the territorial food stamp program, she stated that she does not receive child support for her five children. The children's father in a separate statement said he provides for them all.
Fraudulent statements were allegedly submitted over the years 1997-1999.
Judge Ive Arlington Swan scheduled final motions in the case for Aug. 4 and set Aug. 31 as the final date that either defendant may enter into a plea bargain agreement with the government. He indicated that the case will likely be tried by Judge Ishmael Meyers.

Public Works Commissioner Harold Thompson said Wednesday he has been directed to "begin the process of privatizing the Vitran public transit system." Describing the system as being in critical condition, he said the word he has received from the "highest level of government" is that Public Works should no longer manage the mass transit system.
Private sector operation of the territory's mass transit is nothing new. Mannassah Bus Lines ran it for years. More recently, a stateside company, Laidlaw, was contracted to run the buses on St. Thomas while another off-island company, PeterPan, did the same on St. Croix.
Thompson, speaking on WTJX television's "Face to Face" program Wednesday night, told guest host Katrina White-Comissiong he is optimistic that private management will work this time. He said that privatization "worked for several years prior to its demise on St. Thomas in the mid-1990s." Problems in securing its annual subsidy from the government led to the contractor pulling out, forcing Public Works to assume responsibility for operating Vitran. Three years ago, bus service was instituted on St. John as well.
Thompson, Government House chief labor negotiator Karen Andrews and union bosses Luis "Tito" Morales and Ralph Mandrew all took part in the program. Labor and management clashed over issues including the laying off of 62 employees May 11 because of "economic conditions" and the government's refusal to pay a differential to employees who live on St. Thomas but are assigned to operate buses on St. John, since all St. John drivers, being relatively recent hires, were laid off.
The layoffs – of maintenance and office personnel as well as drivers – effectively cut Vitran service in half. The number of buses running was reduced on St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John.
Andrews had said previously that the initial $600,000 the Senate appropriated to bail Vitran out was going to pay outstanding debts, not rehire laid-off workers. Thompson indicated on the Channel 12 program that $1 million more approved by the Legislature this week specifically for Vitran rehirings will also be used to maintain the system at the current level through the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30.
"With the appropriation," he said, "we have the funding to get through the year." Asked directly whether any of the employees would be rehired, he was noncommittal. "We are looking at operating the system at the current levels in this fiscal year and in the upcoming year, for which budgets are now being prepared," was all he said.
Andrews challenged union leaders'assertions that the funds allocated by the Senate were to rehire workers. "The law simply said $600,000 for public transportation," she stated. "It did not specifically say the monies were to return employees." She said the funds have been factored into Vitran operations at the reduced level of service. "We have done the best we can to sustain the operation at the reduced level," she said.
The bill passed by the Senate this week allocating the $1 million specifies in no uncertain terms that its purpose is to rehire laid-off drivers and hire new drivers, including drivers for the separate bus service Vitran provides for the disabled in accordance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

Public Works Commissioner Harold Thompson said Wednesday he has been directed to "begin the process of privatizing the Vitran public transit system."
Describing the system as being in critical condition, he said the word he received from the "highest level of government" is that Public Works should no longer manage the mass transit system.
Private-sector operation of the territory's mass transit is nothing new. Mannassah Bus Lines ran it for years. More recently, a stateside company, Laidlaw, was contracted to run the buses on St. Thomas while another off-island company, PeterPan, did the same on St. Croix.
Thompson, speaking on WTJX television's "Face to Face" program Wednesday night, told guest host Katrina White-Comissiong he is optimistic that private management will work this time. He said privatization "worked for several years prior to its demise on St. Thomas in the mid-1990s." Problems in securing its annual subsidy from the government led to the contractor pulling out, forcing Public Works to assume responsibility for operating Vitran. Three years ago, bus service was instituted on St. John as well.
Thompson, Government House chief labor negotiator Karen Andrews and union bosses Luis "Tito" Morales and Ralph Mandrew all took part in the program. Labor and management clashed over issues including the layoff of 62 Vitran employees May 11 because of "economic conditions" and the government's refusal to pay a differential to employees who live on St. Thomas but are assigned to operate buses on St. John, since all St. John drivers, being relatively recent hires, were laid off.
The layoffs – of maintenance and office personnel as well as drivers – effectively cut Vitran service in half. The number of buses running was reduced on St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John.
Andrews had said previously that the initial $600,000 the Senate appropriated to bail Vitran out was going to pay outstanding debts, not rehire laid-off workers. Thompson indicated Wednesday night that $1 million more approved by the Legislature this week specifically for Vitran rehirings will also be used to maintain the system at the current level through the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30.
"With the appropriation," he said, "we have the funding to get through the year." Asked directly whether any of the employees would be rehired, he was noncommittal. "We are looking at operating the system at the current levels in this fiscal year and in the upcoming year, for which budgets are now being prepared," was all he said.
Andrews challenged union leaders'assertions that the funds allocated by the Senate were to rehire workers. "The law simply said $600,000 for public transportation," she stated. "It did not specifically say the monies were to return employees."
She said the funds have been factored into Vitran operations at the reduced level of service. "We have done the best we can to sustain the operation at the reduced level," she said.
The bill passed by the Senate this week allocating the $1 million specifies in no uncertain terms that its purpose is to rehire laid-off drivers and hire new drivers, including drivers for the separate bus service Vitran provides for the disabled in accordance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

If you cannot watch young theatrical hopefuls get off the bus in Manhattan without getting a lump in your throat, or if the moment the overture stills just before the curtain goes up gives you chills, "Center Stage" is for you.
One reviewer said "think Fame with classical ballet thrown in," or maybe "Chorus Line" in toe shoes, and that sounds about right. Think Lincoln Center where the American Ballet Academy holds forth.
Jody Sawyer ( Amanda Schull) has just arrived in New York to study at the famed academy. She has two roommates, Eva ( Zoe Saldana) streetwise and nonconforming, and Maureen (Susan May Pratt), the school's best dancer.
Jody somehow attracts company star Cooper (real life American Ballet theater superstar Ethan Stiefel), who decides to choreograph a rock ballet around Jody, much to the objection of his colleagues.
The film features the choreography of Susan Stroman, who picked up a couple Tonys this year, doing everything from Michael Jackson to Stevie Wonder to salsa and Tchaikovsky. Cooper's ballet, in which he enters the stage on a roaring Harley, is called "outrageously unfettered – over the top."
The film is said to be populated with some of the most talented Broadway actors around today, including Donna Murphy and Pricilla Lopez. It's called "immensely entertaining," dancing to "a sprightly beat," with stage and film director Nicholas Hynter at the controls.
The life of a ballerina closely resembles that of an Olympic athelete in training, discipline and dedication. And, like atheletes, they don't all make it. They don't call it "blood, sweat and tears" for nothing.
Stiefel is called "demonically talented," and it is said he may become a matinee idol, as did Baryshnikov after "The Turning Point."
It is rated PG-13 for language and some sensuality.
It starts Thursday at Sunny Isle.

If you cannot watch young theatrical hopefuls get off the bus in Manhattan without getting a lump in your throat, or if the moment the overture stills just before the curtain goes up gives you chills, "Center Stage" is for you.
One reviewer said "think Fame with classical ballet thrown in," or maybe "Chorus Line" in toe shoes, and that sounds about right. Think Lincoln Center where the American Ballet Academy holds forth.
Jody Sawyer ( Amanda Schull) has just arrived in New York to study at the famed academy. She has two roommates, Eva ( Zoe Saldana) streetwise and nonconforming, and Maureen (Susan May Pratt), the school's best dancer.
Jody somehow attracts company star Cooper (real life American Ballet theater superstar Ethan Stiefel), who decides to choreograph a rock ballet around Jody, much to the objection of his colleagues.
The film features the choreography of Susan Stroman, who picked up a couple Tonys this year, doing everything from Michael Jackson to Stevie Wonder to salsa and Tchaikovsky. Cooper's ballet, in which he enters the stage on a roaring Harley, is called "outrageously unfettered – over the top."
The film is said to be populated with some of the most talented Broadway actors around today, including Donna Murphy and Pricilla Lopez. It's called "immensely entertaining," dancing to "a sprightly beat," with stage and film director Nicholas Hynter at the controls.
The life of a ballerina closely resembles that of an Olympic athelete in training, discipline and dedication. And, like atheletes, they don't all make it. They don't call it "blood, sweat and tears" for nothing.
Stiefel is called "demonically talented," and it is said he may become a matinee idol, as did Baryshnikov after "The Turning Point."
It is rated PG-13 for language and some sensuality.
It starts Thursday at Market Square East.

Legislature Post Auditor Campbell Malone will address the government's "Five-year Operating and Strategic Financial Plan" at a luncheon meeting Monday of the League of Women Voters.
The meeting is set for noon June 26 at L'Escargot Restaurant in the Sub Base.
Malone said he will talk about what is needed to implement the plan in conjunction with the 2001 budget scheduled to reach the Legislature this month.
"I haven't written it all out yet," Malone said. "That is, I don't have all the statistics yet, but we will get into what needs to be done."
Then, he added, with a smile, "I hear they are going to try to get me to talk about WAPA (the Southern Energy proposal to buy 80 percent of the Water and Power Authority). I will be issuing an opinion, but I can't talk about it until the official consultant makes a report, and that is probably at least a month away."
LWV President Erva Dunham said the public is invited to attend Monday's meeting. To make reservations, call Eleanor Cerge at (340) 776-9357.

Hotels locally are having a surprisingly good summer season even though the "summer sale" on air fares by the major carrier serving the territory has excluded the Virgin Islands.
However, an industry leader says the strong occupancy stems largely from discounted room rates that are only a holding pattern for the properties.
Across the mainland, American Airlines is advertising a summer sale on fares from there to the Caribbean and back with savings of up to 40 percent.
Virgin Islanders need not rush to encourage kith and kin to come visit, however – at least not on that basis. St. Thomas and St. Croix are not among the destinations for which the discounts apply.
The special fares – which must be purchased by June 30 with travel by Sept. 30 – are good from any point in the mainland United States to Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands (Beef Island), Dominica, the Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo), Guadeloupe (Pointe-a-Pitre), St. Kitts and St. Maarten.
Sample round-trip rates for Monday through Thursday travel (for weekends, add $20 round trip):
Miami to St. Maarten – $344
New York (JFK) to Dominica – $388
New York (JFK) to Anguilla – $404
Boston to Tortola – $437
Dallas/Fort Worth to Santiago – $453
Chicago to St. Kitts – $540
Los Angeles to St. Kitts – $635
San Francisco to Tortola – $623
Richard Doumeng, president of the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel and Tourism Association, speculated that the airline's discount "really just means that their load factors are probably lower for those destinations than they are here."
Minette Velez, in the American Airlines corporate communications office in San Juan, offered this explanation: "Basically the reason is competition. There are other airlines that have established special fares to these destinations that you see there."
And that, she added, is not the case in the Virgin Islands.
But she confirmed Doumeng's view as well: "Right now the U.S. Virgin Islands is doing very good in terms of passenger movement." She noted that American did include the territory in a fare sale last February "and had excluded other destinations, as well."
For U.S. mainland travelers, Velez added, "This is the high season," and the New York, Boston, Chicago and San Juan markets are strong.
More important to the potential traveler, however, "There are very good fares right now" to the Virgin Islands, if one knows where to look, she said. A good place to start is connecting through San Juan.
American has a rock-bottom fare of $250 from New York to San Juan and back "available right now," she said, and the round-trip American Eagle connection to St. Thomas or St. Croix can be as low as $99. In fact, not only American but also Trans World Airways and United Airlines have the New York-San Juan $250 fare. It requires a three-day advance purchase, a minimum three-night stay and first-leg travel by Sept. 4.
Doumeng confirmed that tourist traffic coming into the territory is strong this summer. His Bolongo Bay Beach Club is having the best occupancy rate for the month of June since before Hurricane Hugo, he said.
At the monthly meeting Wednesday night of the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel and Tourism Association, executives of many other local hotels also spoke of very good June/July occupancies.
However, Doumeng said, this is not so much because of affordable air fares as because the hotels offer deeply discounted rates in the summer and early fall. Most hotel guests come on air-land packages, he said, and "what makes the package appealing is how low we have come in our price – we are bearing the brunt of the perceived value."
He added of the hotel industry locally, "No one can live on the rates that we are getting this summer. All we are trying to do is cover our payroll, create cash flow and pay the WAPA bill."
A lot of airline prices in effect now are higher than they have ever been, with recent increases pegged to rising fuel costs. Doumeng is traveling to Cancun, Mexico, this weekend for the annual Caribbean Hotel Industry Conference (CHIC). He said the best fare he found with American was around $1,600 – but an Internet search eventually led to a $469 ticket from Panama-based Copa Airlines, which has service between San Juan and Cancun.
Doumeng said he tries to keep a positive attitude. "I've gone from being a guy who wonders how come things are so bad," he said, to one who wonders "how come they aren't worse."