I have been a strong supporter of Gov. Turnbull since he was elected.
I thought he was a forward looking leader. But, his withdrawal of Mr. Bornn's nomination has completely changed my mind about him.
We finally get a local in tourism who will tell us the way things really are and should be and the government won't listen.
Not only won't they listen but they fire him. Mr. Bornn will be hard to replace and I can't see anyone wanting the job unless they want to be a yes man who will line his pocket with everything he can, steal the computers, hire his friends and family and the hell with the people of the Virgin Islands.
After that the Feds will come in and bail us out!
T. Luscz
P.S. Oh, I forgot, the Feds are getting a little sick of hearing from us too!

Gov. Charles Turnbull is scheduled to move out of his rental house in Estate Elizabeth and back into his official residence on Denmark Hill this weekend.
The governor's home, known as Catherineberg, was closed last spring when health-threatening bacteria were found to be flourishing in it.
The Virgin Islands acquired the historic property as part of its purchase of the West Indian Co. from Denmark. It previously was the Danish consulate.
"It's not completely ready," WICO spokesman Calvin Wheatley said Saturday. But the governor "wants to get out of the place" that WICO has been renting for him before Nov. 1.
Turnbull has taken some heat for spending $7,000 a month to rent the lavish northside estate owned by Tana Mullendore. Although the rental is temporary and WICO picks up the bill, critics say it's all government money in the end.
Wheatley, reached at his home, could not say how much the renovations are expected to cost, how much has been spent so far or just what still has to be done.
In early April Edward Thomas, WICO's chief executive, said the WICO board had approved spending up to $350,000 for the renovations to Catherineberg. He said then that WICO had leased the Estate Elizabeth property for six months, which would account for Turnbull's desire to vacate the rental home by Nov. 1.
Perina Jacobs-McBrowne, Government House spokeswoman, said renovations probably will be completed while Turnbull is living at Catherineberg. Given his busy schedule, including a weekend trip to St. Croix for an ecological conference, she said it will be a squeeze for him to make the move by Monday, but that's his intention.

The best known band currently performing scratch band or Quelbe music is Stanley and the Ten Sleepless Knights. TSK has been a tradition at Christmas time for about twenty years now.
Their distinct sound comes from the flute of Stanley Jacobs and the voice of Eldred "Edgie" Christian.
TSK has recorded three Christmas albums . The first, Jimmy John, contains rousing versions of Jingle Bells and Mamacita and traditional local Christmas songs. Guava Berry and Moma Bake a Johnny Cake. The two masterworks on this album are Pack Me Guts and Jimmy John.
Pack Me Guts uses the melody of Deck the Halls but the words are about overeating at Christmas time. Jimmy John is the 12 Days of Christmas Crucian style, "9 pound of okro, 8 ball a fungi, 7 pan a sardines…"etc.
The second Christmas album is Don't Stop the Serenade. This CD features a hot version of Feliz Navidad, several traditional songs and two songs written by the Great John L – Christmas in St. Croix and Green Christmas. The title song is about an incident several years ago when TSK was riding around in a truck drinking and serenading at Christmas time. They were arrested for disturbing the peace.
The Christmas 3 album contains TSK versions of traditional Christmas songs both instrumental and vocal. The hit on this CD is Piece of Pork – "I wanna piece of pok for me Christmas…"
TSK also has four non Christmas albums. Pumping includes traditional and original vocal tracks, plus instrumentals of what is known as Quadrille figures. Quadrille dancing is roughly similar to square dancing and instructions are called over the music in the dance.
6 Pak uses 6 of the Ten Sleepless Knights and features 6 instrumental Quadrille songs and six vocals. This album is totally acoustic and is meant to represent the songs in a truly traditional way.
TSK Commemorative was released for the 150th Anniversary of Emancipation of the slaves in the Danish West Indies. This album contains mostly original songs, "Reflections of Emancipation, Past, Present and Future."
TSK X Rated (only available on cassette) is more the type of music you would hear when the guys are entertaining themselves. The songs include, Wash you Drawz, Dog and All, Two Decent Young Ladies.
Stanley and the Ten Sleepless Knights produce some of the most fun music you will ever hear – but warning, you won't be able to sit down.
For a full range of Caribbean music, check out www.parrotfishmusic.com.
Mr. Fish

The best known band currently performing scratch band or Quelbe music is Stanley and the Ten Sleepless Knights. TSK has been a tradition at Christmas time for about twenty years now.
Their distinct sound comes from the flute of Stanley Jacobs and the voice of Eldred "Edgie" Christian.
TSK has recorded three Christmas albums . The first, Jimmy John, contains rousing versions of Jingle Bells and Mamacita and traditional local Christmas songs. Guava Berry and Moma Bake a Johnny Cake. The two masterworks on this album are Pack Me Guts and Jimmy John.
Pack Me Guts uses the melody of Deck the Halls but the words are about overeating at Christmas time. Jimmy John is the 12 Days of Christmas Crucian style, "9 pound of okro, 8 ball a fungi, 7 pan a sardines…"etc.
The second Christmas album is Don't Stop the Serenade. This CD features a hot version of Feliz Navidad, several traditional songs and two songs written by the Great John L – Christmas in St. Croix and Green Christmas. The title song is about an incident several years ago when TSK was riding around in a truck drinking and serenading at Christmas time. They were arrested for disturbing the peace.
The Christmas 3 album contains TSK versions of traditional Christmas songs both instrumental and vocal. The hit on this CD is Piece of Pork – "I wanna piece of pok for me Christmas…"
TSK also has four non Christmas albums. Pumping includes traditional and original vocal tracks, plus instrumentals of what is known as Quadrille figures. Quadrille dancing is roughly similar to square dancing and instructions are called over the music in the dance.
6 Pak uses 6 of the Ten Sleepless Knights and features 6 instrumental Quadrille songs and six vocals. This album is totally acoustic and is meant to represent the songs in a truly traditional way.
TSK Commemorative was released for the 150th Anniversary of Emancipation of the slaves in the Danish West Indies. This album contains mostly original songs, "Reflections of Emancipation, Past, Present and Future."
TSK X Rated (only available on cassette) is more the type of music you would hear when the guys are entertaining themselves. The songs include, Wash you Drawz, Dog and All, Two Decent Young Ladies.
Stanley and the Ten Sleepless Knights produce some of the most fun music you will ever hear – but warning, you won't be able to sit down.
For a full range of Caribbean music, check out www.parrotfishmusic.com.
Mr. Fish

Come Monday morning, the first item on the agenda at Family Resource Center will be laying plans to work with other community agencies and perhaps the government to create a safe, well-lighted walkway between Tutu Park Mall and Four Winds Plaza.
The rape of a 14-year-old girl last Thursday evening is the catalyst.
About the same time participants in the sixth annual "Take Back the Night and Shine the Light on Domestic Violence" demonstration were finishing their march in downtown St. Thomas that evening, the teen-ager was stalked, terrorized and raped on a narrow, unlighted path that is a popular shortcut between the two mid-island shopping centers.
"We didn't hear about it until the next morning," said Family Resource Center executive director Michal Rhymer, whose organization sponsors the annual "Take Back the Night" marches on St. Thomas. "As usual, we were very angry. Every time we hear a report like this, especially when it involves a child, it inflames us. We continue to see perpetrators target young teens, and our community must never be relaxed. We always have to be on the lookout for our children."
It's obvious that people, and especially young people, are going to take the shortcut between the two shopping areas, Rhymer said. The problem is that the path is overgrown with bush and unlighted.
"We strongly believe those two malls should be connected, and that there needs to be a lighted, safe and secure path put there," she said.
The area has been the scene of at least two other incidents of violence recently, Rhymer noted. A man was found dead behind Four Winds and a 19-year-old woman's body was found at the nearby Midas Muffler location. "There have been fights involving school kids there, too," she said.
According to the police, the victim reported the incident at about 7:25 p.m. Thursday. She told officers that she and her cousin, a 17-year-old girl, were taking the shortcut when a man about 5' 7" and wearing a black ski mask approached them from behind. The girl said her cousin ran away, and she dropped to the ground to try to hide.
She said the masked man pulled her behind a garbage bin located behind the Insomnia nightclub and raped her. According to a release from the Police Department, the girl "also told the police that at one point, when the man saw the police in the area, he said he had a gun and would kill her if she screamed."
Rhymer said Family Resource Center, which provides counseling, emergency shelter and court advocacy for victims of violent crimes including domestic abuse and sexual assault, will "try to find out who owns that property" where the path lies, and "try to elicit government and civic support" to create a safe walkway.
"We'll be trying to tap the Rotary groups and the Lions to get community involvement," she said.
Rhymer said her advice to young people and their parents is "Please remain alert. We must be vigilant. We do not want to cause a frenzy and panic, but we have a rapist out there, or maybe more than one."

For the first time since 1994 Government House ended a fiscal year with a budget surplus.
According to Gov. Charles Turnbull’s Chief of Staff Juel Molloy, the Office of the Governor was $413,455 in the black at the end of FY99, which ended Sept. 30. For FY 99 the Office of the Governor received a $7.2 million appropriation by the Legislature but was actually allotted $6.4 million to operate the office. Final expenditures were just over $6 million.
Alvin Battiste, Government House director of Budget and Financial Management Operations, said the surplus is due to eliminating personal service contracts and a "substantial" reduction in the costs associated with the governor’s personal travel.
Molloy said that when the administration assumed office in January it discovered that former Gov. Roy Schneider overspent the first quarter allotment for Government House by paying lump sum payments to resigning employees. She said that process has been criticized by the Bureau of Audit and Control.
"The governor made clear from the first day in office that he wanted to set an example by having his office live within its means," Molloy said. "And he’s done just that."
She added that for the first time in five years an administration in Government House has completed a fiscal year without having to seek additional resources to cover expenditures that exceeded authorized levels.

For much too long there has been a deafening silence against the rising tide of
this insidious parasite of casino gambling.
Many have felt or been constrained either by expatriate domicile, passivity, or mercenary motivation. But now later has become sooner. We have the imminent arrival of the first casino on St. Croix. It is still not too late to change course and avoid calamities of all sorts. It is time for us to grasp the reigns of our own destiny and throw off any further and
future neo-colonial shackles.
As the late Kwame Toure (Stokley Carmichael) used to say on answering the telephone, "Ready for Revolution!" A revolution against the rising tide of economic exploitation the benefits of which will rest solely with those who stand to gain the most. A future not wrought from our hands is no future at all.
It is still not too late to avoid the catastrophe of casino gambling. In "The Wretched of the Earth (The Handbook For The Black Revolution That Is Changing
The Shape Of The World), Franz Fanon writes, "*The national bourgeoisie will be greatly helped on its way toward decadence by the Western bourgeoisie's, who come to it as tourists avid for the exotic, for big game hunting, and casino. Such activity is given the name tourism, and for that occasion will be built up national industry. The casinos of (prerevolutionary) Havana and of Mexico, the beaches of Rio, the little Brazilian and Mexican girls, the half-breed thirteen year-olds, the port of Acapulco and Copacabana – all these are the stigma of this depravation of the national middle-class. Because it is bereft of ideas,
because it lives to itself and cuts itself off from the people*the national middle class will have nothing better to do than take on the role of manager for Western enterprise, and it will in practice set up its country as the brothel of Europe [and America, (author's comment)]. (Pg. 154-155). We can all see the depravation prostitution has brought to our communities. And now we stand on precipice of another moral and economic calamity.
The National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling (NCALG) writes that, "Gambling cannibalizes local businesses. One hundred dollars spent in a slot machine is a hundred dollars that is not spent in a local restaurant, theater or retail store.
As Donald Trump told the Miami Herald, "People will spend a tremendous amount of money in Casinos, money that they would normally spend on buying a refrigerator or a new car. Local businesses will suffer because they'll lose customer dollars to the casinos."
How much more of the scarce tourist dollars can St. Croix merchants stand to lose
while the big "cats" become even more wealthy off the backs of the common people. Tourist dollars normally spent in gift shops, or with tour operators and water sports establishments will be invariably consumed in the casino.
On top of that looms the phenomena of all inclusive resorts. The Jamaican experience has been that all inclusive resorts tend to hold "captive" the visitors. Casino's in Las Vegas and Atlantic City cater to big spenders by offering huge incentives for the guest spend money in the casino. These incentives include free rooms, free food, and sometimes even free travel arrangements.
So while the casino operator is cleaning up at the roulette, or craps table our native enterprises will not be making a cent. Casino's "rob peter to pay Paul". And in every case 'peter' is the local economy and 'Paul' is the casino operator.
Yes, the casino operator throws you in the guise of employment of generally low wage floor workers, but you can bet that movers, shakers, and decision makers will be in the literal and figurative pocket of the casino operator.
The NCALG reports that "BY 1991, ATLANTIC CITY CASINOS ARE DEDICATING $234 MILLION FOR PROMOTIONAL FOOD AND DRINKS."
The NCALG continues: Gambling triggers addiction. The more legalized gambling available, the more addictive behavior is triggered. In 1989, only 1.7 percent of Iowa's adults were gambling addicts, but after river boat casinos were legalized, the rate of addiction more than tripled to 5.4 percent.
The Florida Office of Planning and Budgeting conducted a study that concluded that the costs to government of gambling addiction far outweighed all revenues that might be generated by casino gambling.
Need more be said? Dr Valerie Lorenz, Director of the Center for Compulsive
Gambling in her address to the NCALG Conference of September 18-19, 1998 said: "The increase of pathological gambling, as Senator Simon said, from three quarters of 1 percent back in 1975 to over 5 percent among U.S. adults and as much as seven to 11 percent of teenagers in our country today."
This should immediately awaken the reader to the destruction and depravation of
another addictive substance; crack cocaine. We all have some personal experience of the devastation that "crack" has wrought on the citizenry of the Virgin Islands. My Grandmother used to say: "once bitten twice shy".
Furthermore, D. Jacobs, Ph.D. Clinical Psychology indicated during the NCALG Conference, "Problem gambling is not only a family disease but often an insidious and
progressive inter-generational affair, provoked and perpetuated by successive
dysfunctional family relationships." Dr. Jacobs continues, "My research has lead me to estimate that as many as one in every 25 Americans is the juvenile or the adult child of a problem gambler. This makes problem gambling an affair of national significance and concern."
Have we considered the further erosion of civility, respect for law, and respect for life that will potentially take place amongst the troubled youth of beloved Islands? The introduction of casino gambling into the Virgin Islands augurs nothing but troubled days ahead. Lets step back before it's too late.
Vernon George, an economic consultant for the casino industry, who also provides
feasibility studies for communities contemplating river boat gambling, says private developers usually exaggerate public benefits in order to make their proposals more attractive. How attractive has casino gambling been made to seem?
Let us remember that usually when something sounds to good to be true, it most
often is to good to be true.
EXCERPTS FROM: LEGALIZED GAMBLING AS A STRATEGY FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ROBERT GOODMAN: DIRECTOR UNITED STATES GAMBLING STUDY:
Economics –
MONEY FOR GAMBLING IS USUALLY DIVERTED FROM
PEOPLES DISCRETIONARY EXPENDITURES. NOT ONLY
ARE DOLLARS DIVERTED PROM OTHER PRODUCTS AND
SERVICES, BUT GOVERNMENTS OFTEN ALSO LOSE SALES
TAXES WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN SPENT ON THOSE
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES.

RICHARD BYRON, PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE
BANK OF BOSTON, DESCRIBES GAMBLING
EXPENDITURES AS MONEY EXTRACTED FROM OTHER
CONSUMER SPENDING. WHEN A PERSON SPENDS AN
EXTRA $20 FOR KENO TICKETS, HE OR SHE MAY NOT
BUY A $20 SHIRT. "YOU'RE JUST TAKING MONEY FROM
ONE AREA AND PUTTING IT SOMEWHERE ELSE.' SAYS
BYRON. ·'I DON'T THINK THE REASON YOU DO THIS IS
JOBS…IN THE LONG RUN, YOU'RE NOT GOING TO GET A
LOT OF ADDITIONAL JOBS OUT OF IT."
Crime *
THE AMERICAN INSURANCE INSTITUTE ESTIMATED
THAT 40 PERCENT OF ALL WHITE-COLLAR CRIME HAD
ITS ROOTS IN GAMBLING.
IN JUST THREE YEARS FOLLOWING THE OPENING OF ITS
FIRST CASINO, ATLANTIC CITY WENT FROM 50TH IN
THE NATION IN PER CAPITA CRIME TO FIRST.
A STUDY OF THE IMPACTS OF CASINO GAMBLING ON
ATLANTIC CITY AND ITS SURROUNDING AREAS FOUND
THAT NOT ONLY DID CRIME SPILL OVER TO
SURROUNDING AREAS WHICH WERE EASILY ACCESSIBLE
FROM ATLANTIC CITY, BUT SOME OF THE AREAS HAD
NO MEASURABLE ECONOMIC BENEFIT FROM CASINO
DEVELOPMENT.

What do we do, where ought we to go from here? One sustainable avenue for long
term development of the tourism sector is Eco-tourism. In a nationally funded
study The Australian Office of National Tourism reported, "Eco-tourism is a fast growing sector of the tourism industry. It offers excellent potential to generate foreign exchange earnings, private sector investment, employment, and other economic and social benefits, particularly in rural areas. Eco-tourism provides an incentive for the conservation and sustainable management of public and private lands."
The report went on to say, "Eco-tourism is both an important niche market and a catalyst for the wider tourism industry to develop on an ecologically sustainable basis. The principles of Eco-tourism can help Australia to develop a long-term sustainable tourism industry generating jobs and wealth while at the same time protecting the country's natural assets¯its unspoiled environments.
The "1997 Profile of U.S. Resident Travelers Visiting Overseas Destinations
-Outbound Reported From: Survey of International Air Travelers (IFS) provided by
Office of The Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tourism Industries list the following statistics:
Traveler characteristics – All US Travelers
For Leisure For Business &VFR & Convention
Leisure/Recreational Activities
Dining in Restaurants 84% 89% 89%

Shopping 76% 81% 68%
Water sports/Sunbathing 23% 28% 12%
Casino/Gambling 8% 9% 5%
Casino/Gambling is listed in the tabulated data as 16th out of 23 leisure and
recreational activities that US resident travelers take part in while traveling. The clear implication is that casino gambling is not a major draw for tourism dollars once the traveler has arrived at the intended destination.
Why build the success of an established industry on such a weak draw?
Clearly, the casino operator is after the other major source of income, and that is the local market. Are the Virgin Islands ready to see 1/25 of the local population as problem gamblers? Are the Virgin Islands ready an increase in white-collar crime, graft and corruption?
Robert Goodman, Director of United States Gambling Study reported that " *Once gambling ventures are legalized and governments become dependent on their revenues, the future form and spread of gambling with a state becomes extremely difficult to control." Does the clearly overwhelmed and poorly motivated government of the Virgin Islands need any more systems that it cannot control? The citizens of the Virgin Islands must answer that for themselves.
One thing is certain, the answer must come soon. It's rather foolhardy to close the barn door after the horse is out.
The Qur'an, the Holy Book of Islam, says concerning gambling: They ask you concerning alcoholic drink and gambling. Say: "In them is a great sin, and (some) benefits for men, but the sin of them is greater than their benefit." [Qur'an chapter 2, verse 219]
And: O you who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, is an abomination of Satan's
handiwork. So avoid (strictly all) that abomination in order that you may be
successful. Satan wants only to excite enmity and hatred between you with intoxicants and
gambling, and hinder you from the remembrance of God and from prayer. So, will
you not then abstain? {Qur'an, chapter 5, verses 90-91]
The time for nation building and revolutionary action is at hand. Let us start by avoiding that which will surely lead to regret and an even further erosion of our rich cultural and moral heritage.

L.A. Davis, Fort Washington, Maryland
St Mary's School, 1972
St Joseph High School, 1976
BA, Philosophy, Morgan State University, 1981
US Army 1981-1992
Telecommunications Systems Analyst and Technical Writer

Delegate to Congress Donna Christian Christensen joined fellow Democrats, including Minority Leader Dick Gephardt and the entire leadership of House Democratic Caucus, at a press briefing Thursday to support the inclusion of affordable prescription drugs in Medicare coverage for seniors.
The briefing was part of an on-going effort to modernize Medicare to provide older Americans with wider access to affordable medication.
"The seniors in my district are anxious to have this coverage in place. We should be ashamed as a Congress and a nation that we are unwilling to find the funds necessary to relieve our senior citizens from having to make the difficult and untenable choice between the medicine that they need or buying food," Christensen said.
Christensen visited senior centers in the territory in August to discuss President Clintion’s Medicare modernization initiative to provide affordable prescription drug coverage and get feedback from the seniors.
"It is time that we end this squeeze on our seniors meager incomes and provide the remedy that would allow them to live their golden years in peace of mind, security and health by seizing the opportunity when we are experiencing a record budget surplus to fix this problem," Christensen said.

The Turnbull administration finally has the authority it needs to close on the recently passed $300 million bond authority with President Clinton's signing of Delegate to Congress Donna Christian-Christensen’s bill.
The bill, which was signed Thursday evening, is intended to save the V.I. government on the cost associated with the planned borrowing, as well as allow the government to meet its current obligations and provide sufficient cash reserves to operate the government.
Had the V.I. Legislature not given Gov. Charles Turnbull authority to issue the bonds, the administration said it would have been $39 million short of being able to meet the government’s payroll by the middle of November. Without the funding the bonds will provide, Turnbull threatened as many as 2,500 government layoffs.
Turnbull originally asked the Legislature for the authority to borrow $130 million. But on Oct. 12, senators voted 12-3 to amend the governor’s bill to authorize the Public Finance Authority to issue up to $300 million in bonds to fund a working capital loan.
Some $136 million will go toward tax refunds; $46 million to pay vendors; $30 million for bonding services and escrow; $30 million to pay Banco Popular; and $15 million to pay the government retirement fund.The balance will go toward meeting payroll.
Christensen said that now that the bill has been signed, it will provide an infusion of cash into the territory and avoid layoffs of government employees.
"It is incumbent upon us to direct our attention to the difficult task of putting in place measures that will reduce our spending and allow us to reduce our growing deficit," Christensen said.
Christensen submitted the bill to Congress authorizing the territory to use bond proceeds for operating expenses at the behest of Turnbull. It was the delegate's first bill to be signed into law on its own.

Beginning next week, St. Croix will host the newest and biggest cruise ship sailing the seas — Carnival Cruise Lines’ Triumph.
The megaship will make its first call at the Ann A. Abramson Marine Facility in Frederiksted on Nov. 3., according to Gordon Finch, executive director of the V.I. Port Authority. The ship has a capacity of 2,594 passengers.
Finch also said two other ships, the Splendor of the Seas and the Norwegian Majesty, will make calls on Nov. 1.
"This is excellent news for St. Croix," he said, "and points out the cruise industry’s interest in the island."
Finch said the Triumph is the first ship so far to make a "long-term commitment" to St. Croix, with biweekly visits through 2001.
Meanwhile, Finch asked people in the service industry "to keep in mind that first appearance is everything."