Three graduating V.I. high school students have won prestigious appointments to the nation's military academies for the coming year.
Jesus Soler, from Ivanna Eudora Kean High School, has been accepted by the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.; Morgan Callender, from Charlotte Amalie High School, by the U.S. Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs, Colo.; and Miguel Camacho, from Country Day School, by the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md.
Soler, the son of Janet Rivera and Kenny Ryan, is a member of the Eudora Kean ROTC, which, as an "Honor Unit with Distinction," is entitled to send an appointee to West Point. Callender and Camacho were appointed to the other two academies by Delegate Donna Christian- Christensen.
Soler said he is grateful to Col. David Waller and Sgt. Maj. Eugene Ward, who coached him "through the lengthy and tedious process of physicals, tests, forms and recommendations."
Before moving to the territory three years ago from New York, Soler attended Brooklyn Tech honors high school. He said has been very impressed by the dedication of the teachers here. "They work very hard to do the best for the students," he said. He expects to play football for West Point and has already attended football camp there. He plans to become an aeronautical engineer or an attorney — and was voted most outstanding litigator of this year's Moot Court competition.
Callender, who had not initially considered the military as a career, scored so high on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) tests that a representative from the military academies came seeking him. "As I looked at all the options they had to offer, I began to think seriously about the Air Force Academy," he said.
The son of Janice and Malcolm Callender (his dad is a Vietnam veteran), Callender aspires to become an astronaut with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Camacho is the son of Miguel and Marian Camacho. He said he saw a Navy promotion at the impressionable age of 6 years, and since then the "Navy has been my lifelong dream."
He was accepted on early admission and guaranteed a place at the Naval Academy based on his impressive SAT scores. The military also offered him a four-year scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology if he didn't want to go to Annapolis. He was one of the 500 finalists across the nation for this year's Presidential Scholars program.
All three young men indicated they are working out in anticipation of a summer of "plebe camp," which begins at the end of June.

Members of the V.I. Banking Board, including its chairman, Lt. Gov. Gerard Luz James II, expressed their dismay Wednesday over the criticism of their approval of the V.I. Community Bank’s acquisition of Chase Manhattan Bank’s local holdings.
In a press conference called by James, board members said it was VICB and not they who introduced key conditions that the Banking Board incorporated into its approval of the deal last week.
VICB President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Dow had blasted the board’s decision, saying the conditions were anti-business and would derail the deal. Dow couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.
James said the VICB-submitted conditions included a $300,000 annual banking fee and a pledge that the bank wouldn’t seek to renew its Industrial Development Commission tax breaks at the end of 2004. VICB is the only bank in the territory that receives IDC benefits, which include 100 percent breaks on real property taxes, gross receipts and excise taxes and a 90 percent break on corporate income taxes.
"We’re people who resent government intervention very much," said Ernesto Gutierrez, a Banking Board member who, like most of his colleagues, is a business owner. "We feel very comfortable with the approval.
"The deal wasn’t turned down," he emphasized.
Another Banking Board condition calls for governmental approval of 30 percent of VICB’s board of directors, which Dow also criticized last week. But such a condition isn’t unheard of in the banking industry, said Banking Board member Winston Bennett.
"If you don’t have anyone from the outside, you don’t have that perspective," Bennett, a St. John businessman, said. "Outside directors are very normal in the banking industry. They usually head up a bank’s audit committee."
Bennett said the Banking Board was trying to maintain a "level playing field" because the acquisition of Chase would make VICB a local banking giant. He also said the Banking Board’s conditions were never intended to be punitive.
"The IDC certainly never foresaw . . . VICB becoming the largest bank," he said.
Although James said the board is willing to sit down with VICB officials to discuss the board’s approval, he was steadfast in defending what had already been decided over 10 months, with the help of an outside consultant, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Depository Insurance Corp.
"If (I) made an error, I would be the first to come forward and say unequivocally that I was wrong…," he said.
According to VICB’s application to the FDIC, Chase’s deposits were at $357.9 million as of June 30, 1998, making it the second largest bank in the territory behind Banco Popular. Of Chase’s $285.5 million worth of private-sector deposits, $14.4 million are attributable to Chase Trade's FSC accounts, meaning the money is not coming from V.I. residents.
Chase's Eastern Caribbean Regional Banking Group had a total of loans outstanding of $314.8 million as of June 30, 1999, according to the report. Of that sum, $254.7 million were booked to the U.S.V.I. branches.
VICB proposed to buy Chase’s four St. Thomas branches, one branch on St. John and two on St. Croix. Also included is Chase Trade Inc., a management company for foreign sales corporations, which are subsidiaries of U.S. export companies.
Chase’s total staff as of Feb. 23, 1999, is listed in the report as 284 – a breakdown of 210 on St. Thomas, 26 on St. Croix and 10 on St. John.

Dear Editor:
I am writing both as a visual artist and as a gallery/gift shop owner specializing in retail sales of the work of local artists and artisans.
As a small business owner, I pay my payroll taxes, pay my gross receipts taxes, pay my corporate taxes and struggle constantly against the difficulties of doing business in the Virgin Islands with an anti-business and anti-development government whose sole purpose, it seems, is to squeeze every penny it can out of the private sector to support its inflated work force without giving anything in return.
This attitude coming down from the top implies that because you are in business, you can afford to pay whatever is thrown your way. This misperception permeates our society. Small business owners seem to be fair game for everyone wanting donations for this and that. I am bombarded on a daily basis with nickel requests from school kids scraping together funds to go on a trip, all the way to high-profile community non-profit organizations scraping together funds to survive.
In both cases, I would like to offer suggestions for people to think about before they ask for money from a small business. Small businesses are very different from large corporations. Yes, they may be more accessible or less intimidating to approach, and they do not usually have tightly monitored philanthropic budgets that are planned two years or more ahead of time. However, small businesses are generally run by individuals who are in business to earn a living, who work extremely hard seven days a week, with families of their own to nurture, feed, clothe, school etc. They are not usually run by some millionaire lying out by the pool handing out spare cash. In spite of our depressed economy in the Virgin Islands, most small business owners in this community are generous to a fault. They do their best to support all the auctions, raffles and other fundraisers that they can.
Patronizing businesses on a regular basis is a good way to maintain a relationship which is going to involve requesting donations from them from time to time. If a business is thriving, the owner is much more able to donate to worthy causes.
As an artist, I find that we are a group constantly targeted by larger organizations for donations. Why? Because we create beautiful works of art which enhance the look of an auction, or we create wonderful music or entertain an audience that enhances an evening of fundraising. Do the individuals who administer the non-profit organizations and who go out and solicit the donations ever think about purchasing art from the artists occasionally, to make sure they can afford to keep creating these beautiful things that they are asked to donate for free? Artist are small business owners, too; they need to earn a living, they have families to support and they need to have their businesses patronized to be able to stay in business.
The kids who come into my gallery often have little inherent courtesy, limited communication skills, scrappy pieces of paper and, worst of all, determination to interrupt business transactions with paying customers. If someone — teacher, parent, whoever — is responsible for sending these kids out to beg from people they have never met before and may never see again, then I suggest that they re-think their modus operandi.
For starters, make a list of the businesses they plan to target, and make an effort to get to know them. Teach the children good manners and clear diction, take the time to walk with them, present an informative letter to the business owner outlining the group's purposes and the reason it needs funds. By leaving a telephone number and an address, you give the business owners time to think it over, and if they choose to support the project, they can do so in a businesslike way by mailing in a check. The group is likely to receive a larger donation than a quarter from the till.
We are all in this community together. The artists, visual and performing, are a catalyst that keeps the community spirit alive from generation to generation, not a resource to be drained or neglected. By the same token, small businesses are the fuel that keeps the community's economy functioning. The fuel is getting low for all of us, so please do not forget that, if you are going to ask a small business for a donation, make sure you offer some return on the investment, through free publicity and use of its services whenever possible.
Corinne Van Rensselaer
The Color of Joy
St. Thomas

Dear Editor:
I am writing both as a visual artist and as a gallery/gift shop owner specializing in retail sales of the work of local artists and artisans.
As a small business owner, I pay my payroll taxes, pay my gross receipts taxes, pay my corporate taxes and struggle constantly against the difficulties of doing business in the Virgin Islands with an anti-business and anti-development government whose sole purpose, it seems, is to squeeze every penny it can out of the private sector to support its inflated work force without giving anything in return.
This attitude coming down from the top implies that because you are in business, you can afford to pay whatever is thrown your way. This misperception permeates our society. Small business owners seem to be fair game for everyone wanting donations for this and that. I am bombarded on a daily basis with nickel requests from school kids scraping together funds to go on a trip, all the way to high-profile community non-profit organizations scraping together funds to survive.
In both cases, I would like to offer suggestions for people to think about before they ask for money from a small business. Small businesses are very different from large corporations. Yes, they may be more accessible or less intimidating to approach, and they do not usually have tightly monitored philanthropic budgets that are planned two years or more ahead of time. However, small businesses are generally run by individuals who are in business to earn a living, who work extremely hard seven days a week, with families of their own to nurture, feed, clothe, school etc. They are not usually run by some millionaire lying out by the pool handing out spare cash. In spite of our depressed economy in the Virgin Islands, most small business owners in this community are generous to a fault. They do their best to support all the auctions, raffles and other fundraisers that they can.
Patronizing businesses on a regular basis is a good way to maintain a relationship which is going to involve requesting donations from them from time to time. If a business is thriving, the owner is much more able to donate to worthy causes.
As an artist, I find that we are a group constantly targeted by larger organizations for donations. Why? Because we create beautiful works of art which enhance the look of an auction, or we create wonderful music or entertain an audience that enhances an evening of fundraising. Do the individuals who administer the non-profit organizations and who go out and solicit the donations ever think about purchasing art from the artists occasionally, to make sure they can afford to keep creating these beautiful things that they are asked to donate for free? Artist are small business owners, too; they need to earn a living, they have families to support and they need to have their businesses patronized to be able to stay in business.
The kids who come into my gallery often have little inherent courtesy, limited communication skills, scrappy pieces of paper and, worst of all, determination to interrupt business transactions with paying customers. If someone — teacher, parent, whoever — is responsible for sending these kids out to beg from people they have never met before and may never see again, then I suggest that they re-think their modus operandi.
For starters, make a list of the businesses they plan to target, and make an effort to get to know them. Teach the children good manners and clear diction, take the time to walk with them, present an informative letter to the business owner outlining the group's purposes and the reason it needs funds. By leaving a telephone number and an address, you give the business owners time to think it over, and if they choose to support the project, they can do so in a businesslike way by mailing in a check. The group is likely to receive a larger donation than a quarter from the till.
We are all in this community together. The artists, visual and performing, are a catalyst that keeps the community spirit alive from generation to generation, not a resource to be drained or neglected. By the same token, small businesses are the fuel that keeps the community's economy functioning. The fuel is getting low for all of us, so please do not forget that, if you are going to ask a small business for a donation, make sure you offer some return on the investment, through free publicity and use of its services whenever possible.
Corinne Van Rensselaer
The Color of Joy
St. Thomas

Students will have to pay to ride school buses in the coming school year, Education Commissioner Ruby Simmonds said Wednesday.
"Because of the government's dire financial situation, it has become necessary that students riding the school buses be charged a nominal fee," Simmonds said in a release from her office.
She said the charge will be $5 a week for elementary students and $10 per week for secondary school students. However, Simmonds said no household would be charged more than $30 per week. Special education students and students residing on St. John will not be charged, according to the release.
There was no mention of how the fees would be collected.
The release, which was titled, "Education surveys student bus ridership," had a form with it that parents are asked to complete. It requested the name, address, school attended and whether the student will be riding the bus in the 2000-2001 school year.
The release said the forms would be sent home with students on the last day of school. It did not indicate the procedure for returning the forms.

My name is Jamel Lake. I work as an assistant to Bob Green who writes the Anguilla news. I was born and raised on St. Thomas and graduated from I.E.K.H.S. in '97. Shortly after graduation I moved to Anguilla with my mom to help her with her Bar and Restaurant. I am now a purchasing agent and office assistant manager for BeachShack.
St. Thomas is my home at heart and will always be, but I don't see myself living there. Occasionally, I visit and I don't stay for long.
Each time I visit I look at St. Thomas as if I was a tourist, and each time I am impressed with my home. I see more and more development, I find the island to be clean, the people to be friendly, the beaches are beautiful, and the services and businesses the Island has to offer are very good.
My only concern is the crime. I often wonder, an island so small with so much to offer, why in the world the government isn't doing enough to stop the ship from sinking.
Although my house is smoking it is not up in flames.
I still believe that St. Thomas has hope for a bright future filled with prosperity. In order for us to enjoy what St. Thomas has to offer, the ongoing problem of crime has got to stop, and it must stop NOW!!.
I challenge our leaders to face these problems and take an approach that the parents of Geoff and Jason might take. Failure to do so is failure as leaders and most importantly the result in the next 5-10 years will be unbelievable, and probably to some parents unforgivable.
Jamel Lake
Anguilla

Ocean City remained closed Wednesday, after a reinspection by Ethlyn Joseph, director of environmental health. "They called me four times to come inspect," Joseph said, "and when I went, they weren't ready."
Joseph said the roach problem still exists. Though Simon Chang of Ocean City claimed he'd had the restaurant fumigated, he could not produce a receipt from the exterminating company, Joseph said, adding she suspects Chang did the spraying himself.
She also said the kitchen still needs degreasing. The "whole place still isn't clean – the floors are dirty, and so are the walls." She said the accumulated grease presents a fire hazard.
As to the food handlers' cards, Chang said he didn't have one and he was the only employee present. Since Chang, though manager, also works in the kitchen, he is required to have a food handlers' card. Chang could not be reached for comment.
Joseph said she will do another inspection when Chang calls her, "but the restaurant will have to be clean, and the food handlers' cards will have to be there."

Local marine scientists say they're glad the Navy announced the suspension of underwater sonar testing that was scheduled for this week off the New Jersey coast.
The second phase of testing what's called the Littoral Warfare Advanced Development (LWAD) system was called off last week after a meeting between officials of the Navy and of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, according to news reports.
The decision-makers were reportedly concerned that use of low-frequency active sonar could harm whales and other marine animals.
"It sounds like maybe now someone realizes there's a problem," said Rafe Boulon, chief of resource management for the Virgin Islands National Park.
Over the past year, concern for the impact of sonar testing on the ears of marine mammals has focused on the Virgin Islands and the Bahamas.
In March, during the first phase of testing in the Bahamas, some 16 whales and dolphins were beached. Since then, Navy officials and NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service have been looking for a possible connection between sonar testing that the Navy admits was going on in the region and the strandings.
Last October, four whales stranded in the U.S. Virgin Islands during a time when some local scientists believe unannounced sonar tests may have been taking place. A few weeks prior to that, about a dozen pilot whales stranded in the nearby British Virgin Islands.
By December, an expert at the Marine Mammal Stranding Network in Puerto Rico said research on the two animals that died — one on St. Thomas and one on St. John — were inconclusive, in part because tissue samples were not available.
Adam Quant, a researcher working with Dr. Rick Nemeth, a University of the Virgin Islands marine biologist, was one of a group of people diving near St. John's Lameshur Bay at the time of the stranding at Salt Pond Beach. He's convinced the Navy was conducting sonar testing. "We were hearing them that day," Quant said. "The noise was so intense, I was lifting my head every five minutes to see if they were passing over, but they were a couple of bays away."
Scientists studying the bodies of some of the whales that perished in the Bahamas found blood in their ears and sent tissue samples to the mainland for testing. The findings have not been conclusive, according to Paul Jobsis, an assistant professor of biology at UVI.
Jobsis is a key player in a year-long research project under contract with the Navy that's about to get under way at UVI on the possible effects of Trident submarine missile launchings on marine mammals and sea turtles. He said suspension of the New Jersey sonar testing is "a good sign" of cooperation between the military and environmentalists.
"They just decided to be cautious until the results of more tests are in," Jobsis said. He added that Navy officials are "going to continue with their schedule for LWAD tests, except for low-frequency active sonar."

The dream of trading a Virgin Islands cay for land on St. John to build a new school is likely a distant one, but it's not impossible, according to a mainland spokesman for the National Park Service.
V.I. National Park Supt. Russell Berry Jr. has reportedly gotten signals from the Department of the Interior that such a deal is possible. But spokesman Paul Weineger in the NPS regional office in Atlanta says parkland trades don't happen often.
And long before one does, he said, the move much be approved at the regional office, Park Service headquarters in Washington, D.C., and sometimes Interior.
"It's an idea that has to be explored," Weineger said, "but it's do-able. There's precedence for such a land exchange." But, he said, it's not done often and not undertaken lightly.
A recent article in a local print newspaper said Berry described the proposal at a May 23 meeting in Cruz Bay of the Environmental Heritage Center. Weineger indicated surprise when queried by a Source reporter about the prospect of a St. John land swap.
St. John administrator Julien Harley, who attended the May 23 meeting, said the proposal is still in its preformative stage and may not have come to the attention of Atlanta yet. "I don't have anything concrete to tell you about it," he said.
The push to free some parkland to build a new public school has been raised before by Sen. Almando "Rocky" Liburd, who once taught at the Julius E. Sprauve School. He said he was among a small group of local officials who raised the subject to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Alaska Congressman Don Young during their recent visits to the territory.
Liburd said the current proposal calls for exchanging five acres of land near the entrance to the park at Catherineberg for an offshore Virgin Islands cay of similar acreage. "There are some cays the government doesn't deal with, and they would be better protected under the park's jurisdiction," he said.
Over the years, school officials and island administrators have discussed the possibility of moving Sprauve School outside of dusty, noisy Cruz Bay and turning the school buildings into a one-stop complex of government agencies. If the proposal is vigorously pushed, Liburd said, the first step — acquiring the land in Catherineberg — could be achieved within two years.
In fact, he said, "I don't think it would take long. It would be a matter of getting the people together." He said President Clinton and Babbitt "want to make it part of their legacy" as the president's second term comes to an end.
But first, Weineger said, NPS officials have to decide if trading land is "something they would want to do." The park superintendent would have to submit a formal recommendation, he said. Then, if the recommendation received all the required approvals, two suitable land parcels would have to be identified and assessed for natural resources and hidden artifacts. After that, a preliminary exchange agreement would have to be signed between the park service and the V.I. government.
So far, there has been only preliminary correspondence. In February, Liburd asked Education Commissioner Ruby Simmonds to write to Washington about any plans to build a new public school on St. John, and how the Catherineberg land would be used if it were to become available.
Harley said he is trying to confirm whether a letter was sent to Berry saying federal officials were willing at least to discuss the possibility.

The Cyril E. King Airport was evacuated for about half an hour at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday after a suspicious bag was found in the U.S. Customs area.
The suitcase had been pre-cleared and was destined for an American Eagle flight, sources told WVWI/Radio One News. The station quoted aviation sources as saying something inside the bag was vibrating or making a ticking sound.
Port Authority police removed the bag from the terminal to a secure area. As of midday, there was no word as to its contents.
The evacuation notice was given over the airport terminal's public address system, directing all employees and passengers to leave the building immediately. Within half an hour, the building was declared safe and airport operations resumed.
Federal Aviation Administration officials at the airport control tower said the evacuation did not cause any serious problems for in-bound or out-bound air traffic. One arrival was held off for a few minutes until the terminal was declared safe, they said.
Port Authority public information officer Shirley L. Smith referred inquiries to O'Neal Moolenaar, chief of airport security, who could not immediately be reached.