The Virgin Islands will join nations around the world in officially observing World Food Day on Saturday, via administrative proclamation and a "Youth Against Hunger" program the following day on the St. Croix campus of the University of the Virgin Islands.
Gov. Charles Turnbull, in his proclamation, noted that each day millions of people around the world face hunger and malnutrition, threats to the survival of family farming and concerns about food safety. "These problems are devastating to developing countries, where they cause immeasurable human suffering, especially among children," he said.
World Food Day emphasizes the need to develop innovative approaches to easing global hunger and to promoting greater understanding between nations in need and those with food to share, he said.
The food resources fair on Sunday on the St. Croix UVI campus is a joint project of the Agriculture Department and UVI's Cooperative Extension Service and Agricultural Experiment Station. After music by Stanley and the Ten Sleepless Knights from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., there will be an opening ceremony, followed by workshops at 2 p.m. on nutrition and health, healthful vegetarian meal preparation, and pumpkin cultivation. All events are free and open to the public.
Other attractions will include a daylong farmers' market of fresh produce, food and drink booths, activities for children, and the collection of non-perishable foods for distribution to the needy. Finishing off the day's events will be performances by the Guardians of Culture Mocko Jumbies, Uprising Cultural Theater/Dance and DJ Dog Heart.

The Virgin Islands will join nations around the world in officially observing World Food Day on Saturday, via administrative proclamation and a "Youth Against Hunger" program the following day on the St. Croix campus of the University of the Virgin Islands.
Gov. Charles Turnbull, in his proclamation, noted that each day millions of people around the world face hunger and malnutrition, threats to the survival of family farming and concerns about food safety. "These problems are devastating to developing countries, where they cause immeasurable human suffering, especially among children," he said.
World Food Day emphasizes the need to develop innovative approaches to easing global hunger and to promoting greater understanding between nations in need and those with food to share, he said.
The food resources fair on Sunday on the St. Croix UVI campus is a joint project of the Agriculture Department and UVI's Cooperative Extension Service and Agricultural Experiment Station. After music by Stanley and the Ten Sleepless Knights from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., there will be an opening ceremony, followed by workshops at 2 p.m. on nutrition and health, healthful vegetarian meal preparation, and pumpkin cultivation. All events are free and open to the public.
The fair will run until 6 p.m. Other attractions will include a daylong farmers' market of fresh produce, food and drink booths, activities for children, and the collection of non-perishable foods for distribution to the needy. Finishing off the day's events will be performances by the Guardians of Culture Mocko Jumbies, Uprising Cultural Theater/Dance and DJ Dog Heart.

In the world of live theater, work is often under way on more than one production at a time. What's happening at the moment with Pistarckle Theater is a good example.
Rehearsals are well under way for the coming production of "Dracula," which opens the 1999-2000 season on Oct. 28 for a run that spans the Halloween weekend plus Nov. 5 and 6.
Meantime, there's a casting call this weekend for the not-for-profit company's next undertaking, "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever."
This holiday season play will require the onstage talents of boys, girls, men and women, as well as support from a stage manager, properties assistant, costumers, technical crew members and ushers. Tryouts for youngsters ages 5 to 13 are Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon on the second floor of the main building at American Yacht Harbor; those for adults are Sunday, same time and place.
To be directed by Pamela New, the holiday season family show will be presented in the Coral World amphitheater on Thursday through Saturday, Dec. 9-11, and Friday through Sunday, Dec. 17-19.
Meantime, "Dracula" returns to life in island style with a "pay as you can" opening night on Thursday, Oct. 28, again in the Coral World amphitheater. The remainder of the performances are on Friday through Sunday, Oct. 29-31, and Friday and Saturday, Nov. 5 and 6. All shows begin at 8 p.m. Tickets are $22, with "corporate rate" discounts available.
Pistarckle stalwart Trudy Tucker is directing this Crane Johnson adaptation of the Bram Stoke classic horror story. Gino Skoff has the role of the legendary neck romancer. Also in the cast are Christina Harper as Prof. Van Helsing; Michael Burton as Dr. Seward; Amy Huentelman at Lucy, the professor's fiancee; Gregory Fowler as the insect-loving Renfield; Dee Warren as Lucy's aunt, Mrs. Harker; and Dena Benson Elliott as the wary maid, Abigail. Harper and Huentelman are Pistarckle veterans; the others are making their debuts with the company.
For "Dracula" reservations and further information about "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" auditions, call 775-7877.

"What can we do to help?" was the general response of hoteliers who attended a presentation on the Waterfront highway project Wednesday by the St.Thomas-St.John Chamber of Commerce, according to Jose Ortega, architectural consultant on the chamber's project.
About 30 members of the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel and Tourism Association showed up to see a vision of what could be on the waterfront – cafes and artists' stalls, bike and running paths, a gathering place for tourists and residents with shade trees and landscaping from Havensight to Frenchtown.
The chamber made a similar presentation in May at Haagensen House for chamber members and has made other presentations to Rotary Clubs around the island.
The chamber hopes to put a stop to Plan 8, the current plan to fill the harbor and put a four-lane highway around the Legislature building.
Mary Gleason, who has seen the presentation several times, said, "It would be wonderful if they could do what they (the chamber) envision."
Gleason said, "Plan 8 would be a disaster, just another thing like we went through a few years ago where the waterfront highway was widened. It was disastrous for business."
Torgen Johnson, a graduate of Harvard and a member of the team that designed the new Coral World, walked attendees through a slide show of what is and what could be.
What is, Johnson maintains, is a 20-foot-wide strip of valuable land that is now being used for overflow parking.
What could be was conjured up with slides of successful waterfront projects elsewhere.
Johnson told the group that at a waterfront conference in Boston last week, he learned of a project in Bilbao, Spain, where the waterfront was revitalized, a major museum built and a community turned into a tourist Mecca from a primarily industrial setting.
The return on the community's $90 million investment was, in only one year, $210 million in tourist dollars.
Johnson showed a series of telling slides of the current state of the waterfront on both sides of the road. The slides showed vehicles parked on the apron, bases for lamp posts that are being used for dumping garbage, and a concrete bunker-like structure that is supposedly a planter.
He pointed out a number of times that as residents, we drive by never noticing these things, but said the visitor’s eye view is different.
He also pointed to the lack of sidewalks and general confusion for pedestrians trying to navigate the waterfront.
Edward Thomas, president of West Indian Co. Ltd., who has also seen the presentation before, said the meeting Wednesday was very informative.
"I understand and support the chamber's efforts," Thomas said. "It is the wish of most people not to build a four-lane highway."
But, he added, "There are still key issues that need to be addressed," and they mostly involve traffic flow.
Congestion is the single largest detractor in the cruise ship business here, he said. But Thomas is aware of studies that say building bigger highways doesn't solve the problem.
The solution, he said, lies in a combination of water buses; traffic flow changes, including changing the flow to two lanes going west in the morning, two lanes going east at the end of the day, and changes in Mandela Circle's traffic flow; and the cruise ships staying in port later.
The chamber, with the blessing of Gov. Charles W. Turnbull, is sponsoring a workshop in November to come up with an alternative plan for reducing traffic on the waterfront.

The V.I. Energy Office wants to get the word out to individuals, institutions and the building trades about the incentives for instituting operations, acquiring appliances and installing technology that is energy efficient.
– In the area of operations, the office has awarded grants of $25,000 to Sts. Peter and Paul School and of $50,000 to St. Croix Country Day School and the University of the Virgin Islands for retrofits that increase energy efficiency.
All schools and hospitals in the territory are eligible to apply for grant funds to implement energy-efficient measures in their plant operations. The grants are awarded on a competitive basis.
– To let the public know what's available in the way of energy-saving appliances and technology, the Energy Office will host "rebate fairs" this Saturday, Oct. 16, at Tutu Park Mall on St. Thomas and a week later, on Oct. 23, at the Sunny Isle Shopping Center on St. Croix. Both events run from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
At each fair, local suppliers will exhibit and in some cases demonstrate their wares that entitle purchasers to federally funded energy-efficienty rebates. The winner of a raffle at each fair will receive an energy-efficient product.
– The Energy Office will conduct two-day thermal energy workshops on the utilization of solar water heaters in the coming week. On St. Croix, sessions will be held at Gertrude's Restaurant on Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 18-19, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. On St.Thomas, the presentation will take place at the Holiday Inn Windward Passage Hotel on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 21-22, also from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. There's a $30 workshop registration fee.
For further information about any of the Energy Office programs, call 772-2616.

The V.I. Energy Office wants to get the word out to individuals, institutions and the building trades about the incentives for instituting operations, acquiring appliances and installing technology that is energy efficient.
– In the area of operations, the office has awarded grants of $25,000 to Sts. Peter and Paul School and of $50,000 to St. Croix Country Day School and the University of the Virgin Islands for retrofits that increase energy efficiency.
All schools and hospitals in the territory are eligible to apply for grant funds to implement energy-efficient measures in their plant operations. The grants are awarded on a competitive basis.
– To let the public know what's available in the way of energy-saving appliances and technology, the Energy Office will host a "rebate fair" on Saturday, Oct. 23, at the Sunny Isle Shopping Center. The event will run from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
At the fair, local suppliers will exhibit and in some cases demonstrate their wares that entitle purchasers to federally funded energy-efficienty rebates. The winner of a raffle at the fair will receive an energy-efficient product.
– The Energy Office will conduct two-day thermal energy workshops on the utilization of solar water heaters in the coming week. On St. Croix, sessions will be held at Gertrude's Restaurant on Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 18-19, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. On St.Thomas, the presentation will take place at the Holiday Inn Windward Passage Hotel on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 21-22, also from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. There's a $30 workshop registration fee.
For further information about any of the Energy Office programs, call 772-2616.

The V.I. Energy Office wants to get the word out to individuals, institutions and the building trades about the incentives for instituting operations, acquiring appliances and installing technology that is energy efficient.
– In the area of operations, the office has awarded grants of $25,000 to Sts. Peter and Paul School and of $50,000 to St. Croix Country Day School and the University of the Virgin Islands for retrofits that increase energy efficiency.
All schools and hospitals in the territory are eligible to apply for grant funds to implement energy-efficient measures in their plant operations. The grants are awarded on a competitive basis.
– To let the public know what's available in the way of energy-saving appliances and technology, the Energy Office will host a "rebate fairs" on Saturday, Oct. 23, at the Sunny Isle Shopping Center on St. Croix. The event runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
At the fair, local suppliers will exhibit and in some cases demonstrate their wares that entitle purchasers to federally funded energy-efficiency rebates. The winner of a raffle at the fair will receive an energy-efficient product.
– The Energy Office will conduct two-day thermal energy workshops on the utilization of solar water heaters in the coming week. On St. Croix, sessions will be held at Gertrude's Restaurant on Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 18-19, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. On St.Thomas, the presentation will take place at the Holiday Inn Windward Passage Hotel on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 21-22, also from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. There's a $30 workshop registration fee.
For further information about any of the Energy Office programs, call 772-2616.

MOMS, a support group of mothers, will meet at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 20, at the Legislature Conference Room.
Mothers Raising Sons is a support group of mothers who are experiencing difficulty raising their sons and women who want to assist these mothers.
For more information, call Ms Fahie at 693-3536 or Sadler at 693-3667.

MOMS, a support group of mothers, will meet at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 20, at the Legislature Conference Room.
Mothers Raising Sons is a support group for mothers who are experiencing difficulty raising their sons, and those women who want to assist these mothers.
For more information, call Ms. Fahie at 693-3536 or Sadler at 693-3667.

The CAHS Class of 1991 will have a general monthly meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 26, at the Legislature Conference Room.
All members are asked to attend.