The work week at the 23rd Legislature gets off to what could be a marathon start Monday evening when the Economic Development, Agriculture and Consumer Protection Committee holds a public hearing on St. Thomas on a topic not in its title but in its portfolio: tourism.
Until the last administration, Tourism was a division within the Economic Development and Agriculture Department. Then, Agriculture was spun off on its own and what was left was rechristened the Tourism Department. Meantime, the Senate has retained the old name for its committee addressing those areas.
The purpose of the 6 p.m. hearing, according to a release from the office Sen. David Jones, who chairs the committee, is for the public "to hear first hand what is in store for the tourism industry in the Virgin Islands as we head into the new millennium."
Eight tourism topics are on the agenda: the offshore Tourism offices; the marketing of carnival events; advertising (print, broadcast, Internet and other); geographic target areas; and marketing of the territory in 2000. The hearing is scheduled to include a "review of advertising samples."
Invited to testify from the Tourism Department are Commissioner-designate Rafael Jackson, assistant commissioner Pamela Richards and marketing director Beverly Petrus.
Also on the list of those expected to provide input are St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce president John deJongh Jr., St. Thomas-St. John Hotel and Tourism Association president Richard Doumeng and executive director Beverly Nicholson, V.I. Tourism Awareness and Advancement Link executive director Mabel Maduro-Pemberton, and V.I. Carnival Committee chair Kenneth Blake and executive director Caswill Callender.
The hearing was originally scheduled for late last December, shortly after another covering the same topics was held on St. Croix. In the weekend between the St. Croix and the St. Thomas sessions, Gov. Charles W. Turnbull announced his choice of Rafael Jackson as his third nominee for Tourism commissioner. Jones then chose to put the St. Thomas hearing off until such time as Jackson had been confirmed and/or had had an opportunity to put together at least a vision if not a full-scale plan for sustainable tourism development.
The Senate Rules Committee approved Jackson's nomination week; it remains to be approved by the full Senate.

Delegate Donna Christian-Christensen convened the Institute of Caribbean Studies' second annual U.S.-Caribbean Legislative Forum in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, May 18. Various panels discussed such topics as the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean, the applicability of current legislation to the health crisis, regional political participation and trade within the Caribbean.
The institute is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization dedicated to policy research and analysis and public education regarding issues affecting the Caribbean and people of Caribbean heritage living in the United States.
Later that day, the delegate attended the White House signing by President Clinton of the Caribbean Basin Initiative/Africa Trade Bill into law.

The work week at the 23rd Legislature gets off to what could be a marathon start Monday evening when the Economic Development, Agriculture and Consumer Protection Committee holds a public hearing on St. Thomas on a topic not in its title but in its portfolio: tourism.
Until the last administration, Tourism was a division within the Economic Development and Agriculture Department. Then, Agriculture was spun off on its own and what was left was rechristened the Tourism Department. Meantime, the Senate has retained the old name for its committee addressing those areas.
The purpose of the 6 p.m. hearing, according to a release from the office Sen. David Jones, who chairs the committee, is for the public "to hear first hand what is in store for the tourism industry in the Virgin Islands as we head into the new millennium."
Eight tourism topics are on the agenda: the offshore Tourism offices; the marketing of carnival events; advertising (print, broadcast, Internet and other); geographic target areas; and marketing of the territory in 2000. The hearing is scheduled to include a "review of advertising samples."
Invited to testify from the Tourism Department are Commissioner-designate Rafael Jackson, assistant commissioner Pamela Richards and marketing director Beverly Petrus.
Also on the list of those expected to provide input are St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce president John deJongh Jr., St. Thomas-St. John Hotel and Tourism Association president Richard Doumeng and executive director Beverly Nicholson, V.I. Tourism Awareness and Advancement Link executive director Mabel Maduro-Pemberton, and V.I. Carnival Committee chair Kenneth Blake and executive director Caswill Callender.
The hearing was originally scheduled for late last December, shortly after another covering the same topics was held on St. Croix. In the weekend between the St. Croix and the St. Thomas sessions, Gov. Charles W. Turnbull announced his choice of Rafael Jackson as his third nominee for Tourism commissioner. Jones then chose to put the St. Thomas hearing off until such time as Jackson had been confirmed and/or had had an opportunity to put together at least a vision if not a full-scale plan for sustainable tourism development.
The Senate Rules Committee approved Jackson's nomination week; it remains to be approved by the full Senate.

Senate Majority Leader Allie-Allison Petrus has called a press conference for 10 a.m. Monday at the Legislature Building on St. Thomas to discuss the Government Employees Retirement System bill that has raised a firestorm of controversy over a provision for lawmakers to retire at full pay after six two-year terms in office.
There was speculation that Senate President Vargrave Richards would also be present.
Nine of the 11 majority senators, including Petrus and Richards, are listed on the bill as sponsors. The other two, Sens. Lorraine Berry and George Goodwin, reportedly asked to have their names taken off.
In recent days, Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg has publicly disassociated himself from the bill, saying he never saw or signed off on the submitted form before it was brought to the Senate floor, nor was his request for certain changes in the draft version addressed. His media liaison, Nicole Bollentini, said he got back from a trip off island Sunday and had not been invited to Petrus's press conference.
The 107-page bill was unexpectedly added to the agenda as the Senate was meeting on May 1 at the start of V.I. Carnival week. The session was adjourned at 8 p.m. without taking up the bill after the retirement provision for lawmakers stirred heated debate. Richards said in a press release issued on May 10 that the bill would be reassigned to the Government Operations Committee for the normal public hearing process but gave no indication of when this would occur.
In that same release, Richards said he was aware that "this situation has caused much concern" and said as Senate president he hoped "once all aspects of the bill [are] presented and scrutinized, that we can arrive at a point of consensus."
Petrus said on the May 14 "Behind the Headlines" program on WTJX-TV that the majority bloc was prepared to delete the section relative to senators' retirement from the bill in order to allow it to move forward.
The bill was drafted by GERS staff over a period of months with input from several senators, reportedly Petrus and two others.
The bill's stated purposes are to shrink the retirement system's $300 million unfunded liability via numerous changes to the overall government retirement law and to give GERS administrators more flexibility in securing higher investment returns.
Aside from the early retirement provisions for senators, it would allow GERS members to sue the government if it doesn't make its contributions to an employee's pension; authorize GERS to invest in securities with as low as a Triple-B bond rating (vs. an A rating now), raise the ceilings on home mortgage and land loans, allow GERS to establish cost-of-living increases and allow the GERS board to invest in real estate and borrow money without Senate approval.

Senate Majority Leader Allie-Allison Petrus has called a press conference for 10 a.m. Monday at the Legislature Building on St. Thomas to discuss the Government Employees Retirement System bill that has raised a firestorm of controversy over a provision for lawmakers to retire at full pay after six two-year terms in office.
There was speculation that Senate President Vargrave Richards would also be present.
Nine of the 11 majority senators, including Petrus and Richards, are listed on the bill as sponsors. The other two, Sens. Lorraine Berry and George Goodwin, reportedly asked to have their names taken off.
In recent days, Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg has publicly disassociated himself from the bill, saying he never saw or signed off on the submitted form before it was brought to the Senate floor, nor was his request for certain changes in the draft version addressed. His media liaison, Nicole Bollentini, said he got back from a trip off island Sunday and had not been invited to Petrus's press conference.
The 107-page bill was unexpectedly added to the agenda as the Senate was meeting on May 1 at the start of V.I. Carnival week. The session was adjourned at 8 p.m. without taking up the bill after the retirement provision for lawmakers stirred heated debate. Richards said in a press release issued on May 10 that the bill would be reassigned to the Government Operations Committee for the normal public hearing process but gave no indication of when this would occur.
In that same release, Richards said he was aware that "this situation has caused much concern" and said as Senate president he hoped "once all aspects of the bill [are] presented and scrutinized, that we can arrive at a point of consensus."
Petrus said on the May 14 "Behind the Headlines" program on WTJX-TV that the majority bloc was prepared to delete the section relative to senators' retirement from the bill in order to allow it to move forward.
The bill was drafted by GERS staff over a period of months with input from several senators, reportedly Petrus and two others. Some Senate sources said the other two were Richards and Berry, but other sources said they were Donastorg and Almando "Rocky" Liburd.
The bill's stated purposes are to shrink the retirement system's $300 million unfunded liability via numerous changes to the overall government retirement law and to give GERS administrators more flexibility in securing higher investment returns.
Aside from the early retirement provisions for senators, it would allow GERS members to sue the government if it doesn't make its contributions to an employee's pension; authorize GERS to invest in securities with as low as a Triple-B bond rating (vs. an A rating now), raise the ceilings on home mortgage and land loans, allow GERS to establish cost-of-living increases and allow the GERS board to invest in real estate and borrow money without Senate approval.

Gov. Charles W. Turnbull on Friday approved Bill 23-0165 appropriating $600,000 for Vitran operations and $350,000 for the purchase of land for a V.I. veterans' cemetery and reprograming $182,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funds to the Family Resource Center but also vetoing various sections of the wide-ranging measure.
Information concerning the actions was circulated by Government House via a series of press releases distributed after 5 p.m. Saturday.
The Legislature appropriated the $600,000 for Vitran from the Indirect Cost Fund prior to the layoff of half the Vitran work force as of May 11. The administration said the cuts were made "for lack of funds to continue operations after amassing a $12 million deficit."
The $350,000, also from the Indirect Cost Fund, will go to the Office of Veterans Affairs to provide survey and infrastructure development for land.
Family Resource Center will use $150,000 of the CDBG funds to purchase a property on lower Garden Street and the other $32,000 to renovate it for use as a permanent administrative and counseling center.
The provisions of the bill that the governor vetoed and the reasons given for his action:
– A section requiring that the Public Finance Authority lend $100,000 to the Police Department for use as reward money for information leading to the arrest and conviction of persons involved in drive-by shootings and providing for the police commissioner to repay the loan with federal funds. The governor said the department already has a reward fund established by statute and that the proposal was "an infringement on the authority's autonomy" and "a violation of the doctrine of separation of powers."
– A section granting certain organizations the right to conduct bingo games for six years without being subject to review or regulation. Saying the measure "erodes the purpose of legalized gambling," Turnbull added: "Because bingo is a gaming operation, it should be regulated and controlled as much as any other form of gambling. Accordingly, I urge the Legislature to enact a comprehensive regulatory scheme for bingo."
– A section providing for the chief judge of the District Court judge to administer and promulgate the rules for a Judicial Council Imprest Account. Turnbull said the account "will consist largely of local funds" and that giving a federal judge that authority would go against federal principles. He asked the Legislature to reconsider a proposal in the Territorial Court fiscal year 2000 budget or to create "a fund which will be administered by the presiding judge of the Territorial Court and/or the Judicial Council."
– A section establishing a Public Transportation Enabling Fund with the same funding sources as the existing Public Transportation Fund — making it, Turnbull said, "duplicitous."
– A section proposing to rezone a low-density residential area of about 0.6 acre on St. John to a medium-density residential area. The rezoning for Parcel No. 10-11 in Estate Carolina, No. 1 Coral Bay Quarter, "is for the purpose of establishing a commercial activity in a residential area, which may have ecological and environment issues," Turnbull said, noting that the Planning and Natural Resources Department "is in the process of reviewing this application and has indicated that public hearing will be held in the near future."
– Part of a section providing for a three-member quorum for a seven-member board and requiring that at least four members have camped at Cramers Park for five years. The governor said "a quorum should require at least a majority of the board members" and the camping provision "is too restrictive."
– A section regarding the appropriation of funds for the Public Services Commission for an assistant executive director. The governor cited errors in the bill for which the administration "will be submitting corrective legislation."
The governor also approved four bills passed by the Legislature on May 1. They are:
– Bill 0186 to amend the V.I. Code to depoliticize hiring practices by eliminating the option of government employees in exempt and unclassified positions as designated by the governor and legislature to become classified after two years on the job. Turnbull stated that the measure's aim is consistent with his administration's efforts to contain the growth of the government payroll.
– Bill 23-0198 making it unlawful to cause any pollution of Virgin Islands waters, bringing the territory into compliance with federal guidelines.
– Bill 23-0201 to prevent water, soil and sub-soil contamination from the failure of underground storage tank systems, again bringing the territory into compliance with federal guidelines.
– Bill 23-0042 to create staggered terms for the members of the Health Consumer Complaint Review Committee.
Turnbull also acknowledged Senate resolutions asking the federal government to turn a parcel of land in Estate Wintberg over to the V.I. government and to authorize the governor to negotiate a land exchange with the National Park Service to acquire property "suitable for the construction of an educational complex on St. John," and honoring the V.I. National Guard 666thArmy Band.

Usually, when there's classical music at the St. John School of the Arts in Cruz Bay and in Tillett Gardens on St. Thomas, it's the same artists performing a day apart. This time, different musicians will be performing at the same hour on the same day — Sunday at 4 p.m.
On St. John
While the sounds of a full symphony orchestra will be heard, piano is the instrument in the spotlight and the Piano Fund is the beneficiary-to-be at the St. John School of the Arts recital. Two St. John pianists will perform works by Rachmaninoff: Richard Sabonis and his 12-year-old student Jelani Nelson.
Sabonis, who teaches piano at the school as well as privately, will celebrate his 50th year of teaching piano with a performance of Rachmaninoff's three-movement Second Piano Concerto in C minor, Op. 18, to recorded orchestral accompaniment. Sunday's performance itself will be recorded live, so at the end a new CD will be produced featuring Sabonis performing as guest soloist with the orchestra. The CD will be available for purchase after the concert.
The technical precision necessary to pull this off is demanding, to say the least. With a live orchestra and conductor, the pianist has a certain leeway in timing and the conductor has the option of modifying the pace of the orchestra's performance to accommodate the pianist if need be. Playing to a pre-recorded orchestra, Sabonis will either keep time with the instrumentalists or be out of synch. He's confident, obviously, that he will pull it off to perfection.
Sabonis was born into a family of professional musicians and began studying piano at the age of 5. He enrolled in Chicago's American Conservatory of Music at 11 and continued his studies at the Chicago Music College and Roosevelt University. After a career of 35 years as a church organist and choir director and opera rehearsal pianist and orchestra member, he moved to St. John in 1991, where his daughter had resided since 1978.
The Second Piano Concerto, which made its debut as a completed work in 1901 with Rachmaninoff himself as soloist with the Moscow Philharmonic, "is ablaze with flowing romantic melodies (immortalized in pop songs as well), drama and technical brilliance, stirring orchestration and bold, dark harmonies and tonal hues," a biography of Rachmaninoff states.
As the "opening act" of the afternoon, Nelson will perform Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C- sharp Minor, Op. 3, No. 2, a standard of the classical repertoire that the composer wrote at the age of 20.
Admission is $15 for adults and free to children.
The funds raised will go toward the purchase of a grand piano for the school, which has been presenting world-class pianists in recital for years on a small upright. "We hope to have it for next season," school director Ruth "Sis" Frank says.
On St. Thomas
Tillett Gardens is the setting for a recital by St. Thomas daughter Rebecca Faulkner on piano and her Huntsville, Ala., friend, Rodena LaJuan Tharpe, on viola. In addition to being a showcase for the college students' talents, it's a fund raiser for the Scholarship Fund at the St. Thomas Seventh Day Adventist School, Faulkner's alma mater.
Faulkner, a junior at Oakwood College in Huntsville, is not majoring in music, but you would never know it by her list of artistic credits. She has been second violinist with the Oakwood Symphony Orchestra and for two years played the double second pans with the Oakwood Percussion Ensemble. She plays piano with the college String Chamber Orchestra and String Quartet and also accompanies the Oakwood Academy Concert Choir. She is currently studying under Frank Contreres, pianist of the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra. (Her major, by the way, is dietetics.)
A 1996 Seventh Day Adventist graduate, Faulkner studied piano, organ, voice and steelpan on St. Thomas. In the Arts Alive/Vitelco Classical Music Competitions, she won third place in intermediate piano in 1990, first place in advanced piano in 1991, and both first place in instrumental music and second place in voice in 1992.
Tharpe, a senior music performance major at the University of Alabama/Huntsville, began studying the viola at 5 years of age in a Suzuki children's program at Memphis State University. After her family moved to Huntsville, she joined the Metro Youth Orchestra and then the Huntsville Youth Symphony. She currently plays with the Shoals Symphony Orchestra and the Huntsville Opera Theater Orchestra and was a member of the 1999 Gateways Music Festival Orchestra in Rochester, N.Y.
Like Faulkner, Tharpe has academic back-up for another career — she's minoring in biology with an environmental emphasis.
Sunday's recital is the culmination of an idea Faulkner had when she was home for the yearend holidays and did a solo program. "I offered it to the school, and they liked it and have really pushed it," she said.
The two young women frequently perform together in the Huntsville area, Tharpe said. "We do a lot of weddings and play at churches, and we've played at a music camp," she said. Committed to a music career, Tharpe said classical is her favorite music style, and she "would like to form a string quartet someday."
Classical works comprise the first half of Sunday's program: movements from concertos by F. Seitz and Telemann, a "Vocalise" by Rachmaninoff, a "Hungarian Dance" by Brahms, an adaptation of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata," and Gounod's "O Divine Redeemer."
Show tunes and pop standards will be showcased in the second half — music from "The Sound of Music" and "Fiddler of the Roof," Errol Garner's "Misty" and Carl Bohm's "Moto Perpetuo." For two of the pieces, "My Favorite Things" and "Sunrise, Sunset," the young women will be joined by three guest artists on steelpan — Seventh Day Adventist students Karen Bellot, Leisha Donastorg and Keredon Williams.
Admission is $15 for most and $5 for students of any age with I.D. Tickets will be sold at the gate.

Usually, when there's classical music in Tillett Gardens on St. Thomas and at the St. John School of the Arts in Cruz Bay, it's the same artists performing a day apart. This time, different musicians will be performing at the same hour on the same day — Sunday at 4 p.m.
On St. Thomas
Tillett Gardens is the setting for a recital by St. Thomas daughter Rebecca Faulkner on piano and her Huntsville, Ala., friend, Rodena LaJuan Tharpe, on viola. In addition to being a showcase for the college students' talents, it's a fund raiser for the Scholarship Fund at the St. Thomas Seventh Day Adventist School, Faulkner's alma mater.
Faulkner, a junior at Oakwood College in Huntsville, is not majoring in music, but you would never know it by her list of artistic credits. She has been second violinist with the Oakwood Symphony Orchestra and for two years played the double second pans with the Oakwood Percussion Ensemble. She plays piano with the college String Chamber Orchestra and String Quartet and also accompanies the Oakwood Academy Concert Choir. She is currently studying under Frank Contreres, pianist of the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra. (Her major, by the way, is dietetics.)
A 1996 Seventh Day Adventist graduate, Faulkner studied piano, organ, voice and steelpan on St. Thomas. In the Arts Alive/Vitelco Classical Music Competitions, she won third place in intermediate piano in 1990, first place in advanced piano in 1991, and both first place in instrumental music and second place in voice in 1992.
Tharpe, a senior music performance major at the University of Alabama/Huntsville, began studying the viola at 5 years of age in a Suzuki children's program at Memphis State University. After her family moved to Huntsville, she joined the Metro Youth Orchestra and then the Huntsville Youth Symphony. She currently plays with the Shoals Symphony Orchestra and the Huntsville Opera Theater Orchestra and was a member of the 1999 Gateways Music Festival Orchestra in Rochester, N.Y.
Like Faulkner, Tharpe has academic back-up for another career — she's minoring in biology with an environmental emphasis.
Sunday's recital is the culmination of an idea Faulkner had when she was home for the yearend holidays and did a solo program. "I offered it to the school, and they liked it and have really pushed it," she said.
The two young women frequently perform together in the Huntsville area, Tharpe said. "We do a lot of weddings and play at churches, and we've played at a music camp," she said. Committed to a music career, Tharpe said classical is her favorite music style, and she "would like to form a string quartet someday."
Classical works comprise the first half of Sunday's program: movements from concertos by F. Seitz and Telemann, a "Vocalise" by Rachmaninoff, a "Hungarian Dance" by Brahms, an adaptation of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata," and Gounod's "O Divine Redeemer."
Show tunes and pop standards will be showcased in the second half — music from "The Sound of Music" and "Fiddler of the Roof," Errol Garner's "Misty" and Carl Bohm's "Moto Perpetuo." For two of the pieces, "My Favorite Things" and "Sunrise, Sunset," the young women will be joined by three guest artists on steelpan — Seventh Day Adventist students Karen Bellot, Leisha Donastorg and Keredon Williams.
Admission is $15 for most and $5 for students of any age with I.D. Tickets will be sold at the gate.
On St. John
While the sounds of a full symphony orchestra will be heard, piano is the instrument in the spotlight and the Piano Fund is the beneficiary-to-be at the St. John School of the Arts recital. Two St. John pianists will perform works by Rachmaninoff: Richard Sabonis and his 12-year-old student Jelani Nelson.
Sabonis, who teaches piano at the school as well as privately, will celebrate his 50th year of teaching piano with a performance of Rachmaninoff's three-movement Second Piano Concerto in C minor, Op. 18, to recorded orchestral accompaniment. Sunday's performance itself will be recorded live, so at the end a new CD will be produced featuring Sabonis performing as guest soloist with the orchestra. The CD will be available for purchase after the concert.
The technical precision necessary to pull this off is demanding, to say the least. With a live orchestra and conductor, the pianist has a certain leeway in timing and the conductor has the option of modifying the pace of the orchestra's performance to accommodate the pianist if need be. Playing to a pre-recorded orchestra, Sabonis will either keep time with the instrumentalists or be out of synch. He's confident, obviously, that he will pull it off to perfection.
Sabonis was born into a family of professional musicians and began studying piano at the age of 5. He enrolled in Chicago's American Conservatory of Music at 11 and continued his studies at the Chicago Music College and Roosevelt University. After a career of 35 years as a church organist and choir director and opera rehearsal pianist and orchestra member, he moved to St. John in 1991, where his daughter had resided since 1978.
The Second Piano Concerto, which made its debut as a completed work in 1901 with Rachmaninoff himself as soloist with the Moscow Philharmonic, "is ablaze with flowing romantic melodies (immortalized in pop songs as well), drama and technical brilliance, stirring orchestration and bold, dark harmonies and tonal hues," a biography of Rachmaninoff states.
As the "opening act" of the afternoon, Nelson will perform Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C- sharp Minor, Op. 3, No. 2, a standard of the classical repertoire that the composer wrote at the age of 20.
Admission is $15 for adults and free to children.
The funds raised will go toward the purchase of a grand piano for the school, which has been presenting world-class pianists in recital for years on a small upright. "We hope to have it for next season," school director Ruth "Sis" Frank says.

Water and Power Authority squeaked by McDonald’s 7-5, Innovative Communications Corp. schooled Education 13-9, and Airport adjourned Senate 8-5 in Friday evening coed softball games.
The night did not start good for WAPA. They were barely able to get enough players for a team. However, they took advantage of some costly errors by McDonald’s.
WAPA scored first on a two-run home run by Aaron Shelford in the bottom of the first inning. Education answered with one in the top of the second and took the lead with three runs in the third. WAPA then recovered with two runs in the bottom of the third to tie the game at four.
WAPA scored three runs in the fifth, highlighted by Kelvin Malone's two-run home run to take a 7-4 edge. McDonald’s tried to come back in the seventh inning. They scored a run on a lead off triple by Robert Boschulte that was followed by a RBI single by Rashawn Murraine.
WAPA's Allen Brown retired the next three batters without allowing another run to end the game. Brown was the winning pitcher and Steve Hart got the loss.
In game two of the night, ICC's Maxine Cabo started her team's offensive barrage with a three-run double just over first base. Aubrey Haynes, Brenda Vanterpool, Vincent Matthews, Richard Penn and Michael Thomas each had two hits for ICC. Thomas hit a solo home run in the sixth.
Stanley Smith led Education both from the mound and with the bat. Smith had three hits in three at bats. Pedrito George and Neville Amey also had three hits apiece. Right fielder Michael Bute had his troubles on the field, but hit a three-run home run in the fourth.
Henry Richards picked up the victory for ICC as Smith lost the game.
Airport used timely hitting to take the night cap. Kenneth Smith sparked the hitting with a first inning two-run home run. He batted two for three. Camille Gibbs also hit a two-run home run in the fifth.
Airport withheld a late inning rally by Senate. Darin Richardson led Senate’s offense. He had three hits. Mercedes Latiff and Theopile Thomas also had two hits for Senate.

St. Thomas to host its 28th annual USVI Open/Atlantic Blue Marlin Tournament
The 28th annual staging of the USVI Open/Atlantic Blue Marlin Tournament, one of the most competitive saltwater fishing events in the world, will be held off the waters of St. Thomas on Aug. 11-16. The event consists of three competitions — an angler tournament, a crew tournament and a boat tournament, operated simultaneously. Each competition offers prize money, and the angler who catches the tournament's first 1,000-pound Atlantic Blue Marlin wins a million dollars. Proceeds benefit the Virgin Islands Council Boy Scouts of America. For more details, call (888) 2FISHVI (234-7484) or (340) 775-9500. Visit the tournament web site at www.usvi.net/bsa.
St. Croix Environmental Association purchases key habitat with anonymously donated funds
An anonymous benefactor with a love of birds has made it possible for the St. Croix Environmental Association to purchase 60 acres of land at Southgate on the island's east end. The newly named Southgate Pond Nature Preserve was acquired with a donation of $822,697. The move means a prime nesting habitat for birds and endangered sea turtles will be protected forever from commercial development. The property encompasses the eastern third of the salt pond east to Chenay Bay Beach Resort and the land between Green Cay Beach and East End Road. Along with the key sea turtle nesting beach, a dominant feature of the property is the salt pond, which is owned by the V.I. government. Southgate pond is one of the most important ponds in the USVI for local and migrating birds. Some 96 species have been recorded at the site, including 26 that are considered threatened or endangered in the Virgin Islands.
The Westin Resort St. John offers 'Sizzling Summer Sale' and 'Summer Jammers Camp'
Vacationers wanting to stay in one of the territory's most upscale and luxurious properties at unprecedented savings should take advantage of the "Sizzling Summer Sale" promotion being offered by the Westin Resort St. John. Available for travel now through Oct. 31, rates for the "Sizzling Summer Sale" start at $99 per room/per night (double occupancy). This rate represents 67 percent off the regular summer rate of $299 per night. To make the vacation experience even more fun for children, the resort is continuing its "Summer Jammers Camp." From mid-June through mid-August, children will enjoy arts and crafts activities, treasure hunts, seaside hiking adventures, exciting field trips and visits from local artisans and island "celebrities."
Families staying at the resort will also appreciate the "Kids Eat Free" special. Now through Dec. 22, kids 12 years of age and under eat free at the resort when accompanied by an adult. As always, children 18 years of age and younger stay free of charge when staying in their parents' room, and families have the option of getting a second room for children at a 50-percent-off savings. More information about these offers is available by calling the Westin Resort St. John at (340) 693-8000, (800) WESTIN-1, or visiting the Web site at www.westin.com.
St. Thomas's Grand Hotel will receive facelift and new name
The historic Grand Hotel building on St. Thomas will receive a $2 million facelift that will transform the property into a premier tourist destination, retail shopping and business area. The renovated mixed-use building complex will be re-named the Grand Galleria and is expected to open in November. Two new features of the planned Grand Galleria are a glass skylight atrium and an indoor walkway. The Grand Hotel renovation is the second phase of the entire $4 million Grand Hotel block project. Opened in 1840, the historic, three-story building housed the first overseas visitors to the island for almost 60 years. For more information, contact Lockhart Properties at (340) 776-1900.
USVI hotels announce personnel changes
Marriott International has appointed Jayne Hillner general manager of Marriott's Frenchman's Reef and Morning Star Beach Resorts on St. Thomas. Hillner is the first woman in the company to hold a general manager position in the Caribbean and Latin American region. Marriott International also recently appointed David Yamada general manager at the Renaissance Grand Beach Resort on St. Thomas. Yamada will oversee all aspects of operation at the resort. Both appointments are effective immediately.