The Government and Industrial Coed Slowpitch Softball League is winding down as teams fight to secure playoff spots.
There were three games on Wednesday. Police beat Apex15-1, Postal edged National Guard 10-9 and Justice/Territorial Court surpassed Internal Revenue Bureau/Human Services 18-13 in the nightcap.
Police's Antonio Matthews led his team from the mound. He allowed Apex just five hits and added a two-for-three performance at the plate. Simon Venzen, Henry Thomas Jr. and Kerry Harrigan had two hits each. Thomas hit a 3-run home run in the first inning. Police scored four runs in that inning.
Harrigan and Terrence Manning added back-to- back home runs in the nine-run second inning. Nine of the eleven Police starters reached base safely.
For Apex, Anthon Cannonier and Jeffrey Hodge went perfect at the plate with two hits in two at bats. But Apex committed eight errors.
Police improved to 5-4. They have secured fifth place in the Watlington division and a playoff spot.
The six top teams in each division make it to the playoffs. The others will play in a single elimination tournament called "the best of the rest."
In game two, National Guard jumped out on top with a three-run home run off the bat of Hank Warner. The Guardsman got another two runs in the third thanks to Warner again as he led the inning off with a single. He was driven home by a triple by Nigel Richardson. Richardson then scored on a single by pitcher Gail Joseph.
Postal's Elvin Durant and Juan Rivera went perfect at the plate in two and three at bats respectively. Postal rallied back from a 6-3 deficit in the fifth inning by scoring two. They then added five more runs in the top of the sixth inning to take the lead 10-5.
National Guard tried to come back in the seventh inning. Terrence Holland started the inning off with a single. Kareem Henley then followed with a two-run inside-the-park home run. However, National Guard could not score any more runs. Joseph absorbed her first lost of the season.
Postal improved to 2-6, as Liston George picked up the victory. The defeat knocks National Guard out of first place in the Watlington division.
In the final game, Justice/Territorial Court scored nine runs in the bottom of the sixth to come back against IRB/HS. Akil Brathwaite was perfect in four at bats for Justice/Territorial Court. Shawn Roebuck hit a two-run home run in the third. Dale Brathwaite picked up the win.
IRB's William Lawrence had two home runs, a two-run in the first and a solo in the sixth. IRB/HS ends the regular season winless, 0-10.

Republican Sen. Violet Anne Golden, chairperson of the Rules Committee, lashed out Wednesday at the unreasonable and unacceptable conditions the Banking Board placed on its approval of the Virgin Islands Community Bank’s purchase of certain assets of Chase Manhattan Bank’s Virgin Islands Operations.
In a release from her office Golden said, "I am outraged by the anti-business and underhanded tactics of the board. This is obviously a document marked ‘approval’ with such unprecedented and onerous conditions that no legitimate business could accept,"she added.
Golden said the board knew that VICB could not accept these conditions.
"The Turnbull/James administration looks at business and speaks with a forked tongue," Golden said. She pointed out that Gov. Turnbull has in fact declared war on the nay-sayers who are against economic growth. But strong and loud anti-economic growth and job creation continues to come from the Lt. Governor’s mouth and his actions. He consistently takes positions that are diametrically opposite the governor’s. "Is he the fox in the henhouse?" Golden asked, in the release.
This administration continues to send mixed signals to potential investors and the business community, she said. The governor endorses an investment proposal creating jobs and immediately members of his administration oppose the proposal. This is just another signboard with the message, ‘jobs and money not welcome in the Virgin Islands," according to Golden.
The decision of the Banking Board to load the ‘approval’ with unprecedented intrusions into the corporate affairs of a private business and even another government agency is the sheer lunacy of self aggrandizement, the release noted.
Nowhere in Virgin Islands law is the Banking Board given the authority to declare who can and cannot apply for Industrial Development Commission benefits. No ethical business can accept the proposition that a government agency shall have approval of who can sit on its board of directors, Golden said.
Both of these unacceptable intrusions where a part of the Banking Board’s conditions for approval.
After saying that VICB could not seek nor accept IDC benefits, it said that 30 percent of VICB's Board of Directors will have to be approved by the Banking Board. "It didn’t stop there," Golden said, "the Board proceeded to impose a $300,000. Annual fee (tax) on VICB which does not apply to any other bank in the Virgin Islands. This is Outrageous."
"We have a Banking Board out of control when it sets policies so completely investor unfriendly,"Golden continued. If you refuse to create an environment in which a business can prosper, then you are also denying the consumers and public interests the opportunity to make sound economic choices in the market place.
Golden said that she is concerned by the shrinking size of the financial sector in the territory. "Am I to conclude that the Banking Board and the Lieutenant Governor have a plan to deal with unemployment that will result from their misguided decision?"Golden asked. With the Virgin Islands facing a disastrous economic condition, it will be another serious loss of jobs and a reduced access to money markets she pointed out. "It baffles the mind to contemplate the degree of denial that exists in the higher echelons of our government," she said.
The Board’s actions were explained as protecting the people. "How does reducing the scope of our financial sector and creating unemployment protect the people?" she asked. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation protects the people’s money in the bank but protecting the people from their own government appears to be a bigger problem.
"The irony of this tragic decision is that our Banking Board takes a punitive view of VICB when the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation recognized the outstanding achievement of VICB for its investment in the community under the Community Reinvestment Act and the National Small Business Bank of the Year Award. Something is not right when this can happen Golden pointed out.
We talk about becoming investor friendly, but conduct public policy contrary to our words. "I call on Governor Turnbull," Golden concluded, "to take this proverbial bull by the horns before it completely destroys every vestige of our economy and creates a jobless rate that fosters crime and chaos."

The students of Joseph Gomez Elementary School will display their musical and dramatic talents in the annual spring concert to be held at 7:30 p.m., Monday, May 29 in the Wesley Methodist Educational Complex in Tutu.
The concert will be dedicated to Frida Farrell, who has recently become principal at Joseph Gomez elementary school.
The Concert Band will perform under the direction of Kelly Charleswell. Jeannette Rhymer and Geraldine Classen will direct the Concert Choir and Allison Cornelius directs the Primary Choir. The Drama Club, led by Felicita Donastorg, will also perform.
Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children. Tickets can be obtained at the door. For more information call the school at 775-4490 or 775-2354.

The students of Joseph Gomez Elementary School will display their musical and dramatic talents in the annual spring concert to be held at 7:30, Monday, May 29 in the Wesley Methodist Educational Complex in Tutu.
The concert will be dedicated to Frida Farrell, who has recently become principal at Joseph Gomez elementary school.
The Concert Band will perform under the direction of Kelly Charleswell. Jeannette Rhymer and Geraldine Classen will direct the Concert Choir and Allison Cornelius directs the Primary Choir. The Drama Club, led by Felicita Donastorg, will also perform.
Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children. Tickets can be obtained at the door. For more information call the school at 775-4490 or 775-2354.

Trudy's Exquisite Hair Design will host Thursday's Business After Hours beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Trudy's is located downtown next to the V.I. Lottery Office.
All members, guests and potential members are invited to attend. Complimentary Hors d'oeuvres will be served along with the Chamber's famous $2 bar.
Business After Hours is sponsored regularly by the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce.

When Brian DePalma's first feature film of the long-running TV series, "Mission Impossible" first came out in 1996 critics complained about an "impenetrable"plot.But it was big box office hit, anyhow.
In "Mission Impossible 2,"or "M:I-2," Director John Woo has the plot right there for all to see. The only problems seem to be too much plot, derived plot that is. Whether it's supposed to be obvious is the problem, according to critics.
Woo has woven scenes from past movies into the film, ironic or not. He directs citations to John Ford and The Third man, according to one reviewer, along with a motorcycle chase that morphs into a Western horseback ride, reminiscent of Mel Brooks.
No matter, with Tom Cruise at the helm as MI agent Ethan Hunt, things get moving. An Australian pharmaceutical company has developed a virulent virus called Chimera which can kill millions almost instantly. The virus has been seized by rogue agent Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott), who is demanding big bucks for its return, (in fact, in a novel touch, he has demanded stock options).
Hunt's job: get him. Hunt is given a gorgeous jewel thief Nyah Nordhoff-Hall (Thandie Newton)
to assist him, using Ambrose's affection for Nyah as fuel. Cruise reportedly performed many of his own stunts in the movie, including the acting, which according to some, should have been left to someone else. Nonetheless, with Woo's direction and Cruise's charisma, what can you lose?
It is rated PG-13 for excessive violence and some sensuality.
It starts Thursday at Diamond Cinema in St. Croix.

When Brian DePalma's first feature film of the long-running TV series, "Mission Impossible" first came out in 1996 critics complained about an "impenetrable"plot.But it was big box office hit, anyhow.
In "Mission Impossible 2,"or "M:I-2," Director John Woo has the plot right there for all to see. The only problems seem to be too much plot, derived plot that is. Whether it's supposed to be obvious is the problem, according to critics.
Woo has woven scenes from past movies into the film, ironic or not. He directs citations to John Ford and The Third man, according to one reviewer, along with a motorcycle chase that morphs into a Western horseback ride, reminiscent of Mel Brooks.
No matter, with Tom Cruise at the helm as MI agent Ethan Hunt, things get moving. An Australian pharmaceutical company has developed a virulent virus called Chimera which can kill millions almost instantly. The virus has been seized by rogue agent Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott), who is demanding big bucks for its return, (in fact, in a novel touch, he has demanded stock options).
Hunt's job: get him. Hunt is given a gorgeous jewel thief Nyah Nordhoff-Hall (Thandie Newton)
to assist him, using Ambrose's affection for Nyah as fuel. Cruise reportedly performed many of his own stunts in the movie, including the acting, which according to some, should have been left to someone else. Nonetheless, with Woo's direction and Cruise's charisma, what can you lose?
It is rated PG-13 for excessive violence and some sensuality. It starts Thursday at Market Square East and Cinema One.

After a brief review of a March incident involving an off-duty policeman, another police officer and a private citizen on St. John, FBI officials have decided not to conduct a full-scale civil rights investigation.
FBI San Juan bureau spokeswoman Sarah Lema said agents looking into the case could not find evidence of any federal civil rights violation against St. John villa rentals courtesy car driver Kelly Giggenbach.
The FBI looked into the case "from our own initiative, our own determination," Lema said. "We found they [the police] did not identify themselves as police officers."
The federal agency has the authority to investigate possible civil rights violations when there is evidence that police have abused their status as law-enforcement officials, Lema said. But since the officers did not identify themselves as police in this case, she said, they were not abusing their police powers at the time.
According to news media accounts, off-duty police officer Eugene Somersall confronted Giggenbach while she was involved in a dispute with taxi drivers over a parking space near the Cruz Bay dock. A Police Benevolent Association official who represented Somersall and Officer Lorraine Sprauve at a May 11 hearing before Police Chief Jose Garcia said when Somersall asked Giggenbach for her driver's license and motor vehicle registration, she walked away without responding.
A witness for Giggenbach told the police chief Somersall grabbed the woman by her breast and repeatedly bounced her against a car, then grabbed her by the throat to keep her from screaming. Six witnesses appearing at the hearing in defense of Somersall said no such altercation took place.
Sprauve was charged with failing to take police action.
"We're not saying it didn't happen," Lema said Tuesday of the alleged assault. "We're saying it's not a federal matter."
PBA officials said that, following the May 11 disciplinary hearing in his office, Garcia sent his recommendation to Police Commissioner Franz Christian that all charges be dropped against both Somersall and Sprauve.
On May 12, the day after the hearing, Garcia said it would be up to the commissioner to make the final determination on disciplinary charges. But PBA president Elroy Raymo said Wednesday that only rarely does the commissioner reverse a recommendation made by the police chief. As far as the union is concerned, Raymo said, the matter has been settled.
Christian released a statement in April promising full disclosure of the case after the hearing was over. Since the hearing nearly two weeks ago, he has made no comment.

Faulty wiring caused the December 1999 fire at Wharfside Village, acting St. John fire marshal Glen Francis has ruled.
Francis said Tuesday that he made that determination based on the results of independent laboratory tests conducted by private investigators working with the insurance company covering the Cruz Bay shopping center.
Shortly after the Dec. 28 fire, sources close to the investigation said they believed the fire had been started by an electric fan. "The fan had an extension cord inside a conduit that was not supposed to be used," Francis said. "It's possible that heat built up in the area and led to the fire."
The night-time fire destroyed the second floor office of the Pusser's Restaurant. The Pusser's Company Store, a hallway and a living loft above the hallway sustained smoke and water damage. Two people living in the loft area escaped from a third-story window as firefighters arrived in the middle of the night to battle the blaze.
Meantime, Francis said, it may be impossible to determine the cause of a more recent fire – – one that destroyed a Jeep parked outside the offices of the St. John Tradewinds newspaper a week ago.
According to publisher Tom Oat, an emergency crew arrived shortly after he had closed the office around midnight on May 18. He said firefighters found two stacks of partially burned newspapers at the scene. The vehicle was completely destroyed.
Francis said officials at the Zulu Company fire station in Cruz Bay notified him of the incident but when he arrived on the scene he found the Jeep had been left in an unsecured area, making it impossible to conduct an investigation free from suspicion of evidence tampering.
Oat said officials pried open the hood an hour after putting out the fire and told him the blaze had not originated in the engine.

Outstanding volunteers in the public schools of the St. Thomas-St. John District were recognized by the Education Department at an awards ceremony on May 10, according to a press release issued May 23. Those honored for their 1999-2000 academic year contributions were:
– Ritza DeGout, Sydney Flax and Ulla F. Muller as Lifetime Volunteers;
– Dennis McEvoy as Non-parent Male Volunteer (at the Leonard Dober School);
– Nancy A. "Miss Nancy" Gotwalt as Non-parent Female Volunteer (at the Julius E. Sprauve School);
– Vinod "Vinnie" Mohanani as Male Parent Volunteer (at the Joseph Sibilly School);
– Myrtle Severin as Female Parent Volunteer (at Dober School); and
Connor Ledee (1st grade, Sibilly School), Dillon Ledee (1st grade, Sibilly School), Alani Gregory (6th grade, Sibilly School) and Jamal Martin (6th grade, Lockhart School) as Student Volunteers.