The constant flooding from Addelita Cancryn Junior High School to Gottlieb's Gas Station during heavy rains may soon be a thing of the past.
Starting Monday, work will begin on the Veterans Drive drainage project, according to a release Friday from Government House. The project is expected to be completed by Dec. 1.
Public Works Commissioner Harold Thompson Jr. said the "long-awaited flood control project" is 100 percent funded by the Federal Highway Administration and will cost $750,000.
While the drainage project is under construction, one lane of traffic both east and west will continue to flow, with the assistance of flag men.
Drivers are asked to seek alternate routes when possible and to reduce speed in the construction zone. Pedestrians are asked not to cross Veterans Drive in the area of the construction.
When the project is completed, there will be a major drainage culvert from the Harwood Highway by the Medical Arts Complex to the Port Authority bulkhead.

September 17th is the Feast of St. Brendan. It is also 183 days until St. Paddy’s Day. If ever the Irish needed an excuse to celebrate anything, this is as good as anything.
Rising to the occasion, Molly Molone’s has imported, direct from America, the motley crew of C McBridge and Company (or whatever). This charming duo is playing back to back with the local folk singers Harmony Dem to provide the island’s Irish and those who simply enjoy good food, good fellowship, and drinks (after a while, who can distinguish) with a weekend experience.
Friday Noon the celebration kicked off with half price Irish things including such standbys as Shepherd’s Pie, Corned Beef and Cabbage, Bangers and Mash, and an exotic Irish Mixed Grill. Guinness Stout, Irish Mist, and other concoctions were similarly blessed.
While the crowd was relatively small, one cannot call any crowd in an Irish pub elitist, the music flowed and a good time was had by all.
Clevus McBridge and Company will be playing from 8 p.m. to midnight Saturday through Tuesday, Sept. 18 – 21.
If you have ever enjoyed a good Irish ditty, you owe to yourself to join in the fun. Molly Molone’s is operated by the owners of Finn McCools and is found at the old Tickles location on the water at American Yacht Harbor. Plenty of free parking makes the experience even more enjoyable

The Government of the Virgin Islands has filed unfair labor practices charges against several labor unions as a result of job actions earlier this week.
Teachers, firefighters and police all staged walkouts and slow-downs this week to protest pay increases and promotions given to some government employees while others have waited years for their negotiated increases and retroactive pay.
A release from Government House late Friday afternoon named these unions and their leaders as respondents:
– St. Thomas-St. John Federation of Teachers, and President Glen Smith.
– The United Industrial Workers, Seafarers International Union and Amos Peters, vice-president.
– The St. Thomas-St John Police Benevolent association and Elroy Raymo, president
– International Association of Firefighters, Local 2125, and its president, Daryl George.
According to chief negotiator Karen Andrews of the Office of Collective Bargaining, the government contends that on either Sept. 14 or 15 the unions and their members "absented themselves from their respective places of employment in violation of both the parties' collective bargaining agreements."
Smith told St. Thomas Source, "I would prefer the governor would use his legal counsel, his energy and our limited resources to secure a meeting with the leaders of our union as well as the other unions to find answers to the problems of workers in the territory."
Teachers rallied at Emancipation Gardens Thursday morning and marched to the Legislature as the Government was preparing to present its Reorganization Plan.
The demonstration caused chief-of-staff Juel Molloy to delay her arrival at the Legislature until afternoon at the suggestion of Attorney General Iver Stridiron, who said he'd been "jostled" on the way in.
Teachers walked out of three schools on St. Croix this week and firefighters and police staged a sick-out.
Union leaders from the police and firefighters appeared before the Finance Committee Thursday to plead their cases against budget cuts being faced by these critical departments.
The government charges request the Public Employees Relations Board to enter an order that the respondents committed an unfair labor practice and seek fines in the amount $10,000, according to the Government House release.
"I would have expected this from the Schneider-Mapp administration, not from Turnbull. The Democrats put him into office –- the workers. His political base is comprised of government workers who voted for him overwhelmingly." Smith said. "How quickly we forget."
Labor leaders are scheduled to meet behind closed doors on Saturday.
Smith said he hoped it was to discuss the charges.
The preliminary hearing is scheduled for Tuesday in Territorial Court.

Customers, workers and landlords were all caught by surprise Friday when Pennysaver Printing closed its operations in Buccaneer Mall and Tillett Gardens.
The business was started in 1975 and has gone through at least two ownerships.
Also left without warning was the U.S. Postal Service, which has an agreement with Pennysaver to cover the private mailbox-delivery service it provided to about 50 residents in its Buccaneer outlet.
Pennysaver is currently owned by Vickers Associates Ltd., with Ronald Vickers listed as president in papers in the Corporate Division of the Lieutenant Governor's Office.
A woman who identified herself as Rema Vickers answered a call to the Buccaneer location Friday and said, "We don't care to comment." She added that she would check with her husband and if they decided to talk later, she'd call back. By Friday evening, she hadn't.
Friday also was the day the Corporate Division involuntarily dissolved Pennysaver because of non-payment of franchise taxes.
According to records in that office, delinquencies went back as far as 1986, although there were more recent payments. The total amount owed was not immediately available.
Word of the closing began to circulate earlier in the week. Reportedly, workers were notified at the beginning of the week, and mail service customers began looking for alternative service at least by Thursday.
Rhoda Tillett, who rents space to Pennysaver at Tillett Gardens, said she heard through the "grapevine" Thursday. "It was a total surprise and a shock. I had to call them. Ron had a lease here until 2001."
Reed Miller, the landlord at Buccaneer Mall, did not return a telephone call Friday.
Tillett estimated the number of employees in the Pennysaver operation at Tillett Gardens at eight or 10. "One of the girls worked there 18 years," she said.
The Post Office was doing what it could to accommodate residents who needed to change their mailing addresses because of the closing.
Roy Benjamin, who heads customer service, said Friday "we didn't receive any kind of official notice" about Pennysaver closing. "We're conducting a little investigation" to determine the obligation of the owners to their mail service customers.
According to the files in the Corporate Division, a corporation called Jaritz Industries Ltd. took over the business in 1993 and filed for bankruptcy in July 1998. Vickers took it over in August 1996.
Lorna Webster, chief of the Corporate Division, declined to discuss whether the government had attempted to negotiate with the company before it was dissolved.

In bureaucrat-speak, the St. Croix Island-wide Pavement Preservation Project really means doing away with the island’s proliferating potholes.
On Monday, Gov. Charles Turnbull will cut the ceremonial ribbon that will start the repaving and rebuilding of most of the pothole-filled Southshore Road.
According to Department of Public Works Commissioner Harold Thompson, the $5.3 million project is federally funded and will cover more than 16 miles of road on the Big Island. The majority of work will be done to Southshore Road, the main route to the Divi Carina Bay Resort and Casino. The resort is set to open in October and the casino in December.
Road work will begin at the intersection of Queen Mary Highway and Route 62 near the Cool Out Bar, going north to south to where the road makes a hard left turn and Southshore Road begins. From there, sections of road all the way to the Southshore Cafe in Sally’s Fancy will be reconstructed.
Along with Southshore Road, Thompson said, Route 707 at Constitution Hill, running from Peter’s Rest to the Beeston Hill Medical Complex, and Route 73 from Mon Bijou to Scenic Road West will also be fixed. The millions of dollars to resurface, reconstruct, rehabilitate and renovate some of St. Croix’s worst roads is 100 percent federally funded, he said.
"The completion of this road improvement program," Turnbull said, "will provide a quality road system to the residents of that area and also to residents and guests going to the Treasure Bay Casino and the Divi Divi Hotel."
Turnbull has previously stated that the road project will be completed by the end of December.
Most of the road problems on St. Croix can be attributed to heavy vehicles traveling on paved-over Danish estate roads that were never designed for large loads,Thompson said.

The ripple effect of teacher protests and no classes throughout the territory spread to two more schools on St. Croix Friday.
Almost all of the 70 teachers, aides and counselors at Arthur A. Richards Junior High School in Frederiksted didn’t report for work, nor did about 90 percent of the 88 teachers and staff at Elena Christian Junior High near Christiansted, according to Department of Education officials.
School principals called off classes for the 1,455 students at both schools Friday morning once it was apparent teachers and support staff were not going to show up.
Friday’s sickout followed a similar action at St. Croix’s Pearl B. Larsen Elementary School on Thursday, a full-fledged protest where 90 percent of the St. Thomas-St. John chapter of the American Federation of Teachers didn’t go to work on Wednesday and sickouts at a number of schools on St. Thomas in the last seven days.
The protests are in response to Gov. Charles Turnbull’s plans to cut government by 15 percent in order to balance the fiscal year 2000 budget. Government workers, including teachers, are owed hundreds of millions of dollars in back pay. Many teachers also say school facilities are falling apart and that supplies and equipment are almost nonexistent.
While the two sickouts on St. Croix were not sanctioned by the island’s AFT chapter, the union has done little to halt the protests.
Teachers have an ally in Sen. Norman Jn Baptiste, chair of the Senate’s Education Committee and a former teacher himself.
"I empathize with the teachers and I support them," he said. "They are making a point and they are being heard."
Baptiste said Turnbull must be more "sensitive" to the plight of teachers, especially in light of the fact that over $250,000 worth of raises have been given to executive branch employees in the last nine months.
"It’s incumbent upon the governor to be more sensitive," said Baptiste. "He should not support a policy that will have an adverse effect on the government."
Meanwhile, the Department of Education filed injunctions against the St. Thomas-St. John AFT on Wednesday ordering its members back to work. According to court documents, AFT representatives must appear in St. Thomas Territorial Court on Sept. 24 for preliminary hearings on the injunctions. Collective bargaining agreements allow teachers to strike. However, the union did not give a required 72-hour notice to the Public Employees Relations Board and the Department of Education before Wednesday’s action.

The V.I. Water and Power Authority has announced that electric service will be interrupted in the Sunny Isle area Sunday morning.
The scheduled outage will be from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. to replace broken poles at Wendy’s and Fast Foto at Sunny Isle Shopping Center. WAPA officials said that during the outage, crews will also upgrade electrical service at the former Ponderosa and Burger King buildings.
Businesses in the Estate Diamond area will also be affected by the outage. Customers of U Travel, Travelers Car Wash, Global Tours, Sunny Isle Laundry, FNA Service Station, Thomas Bakery, Fast Foto, Fast Dry Cleaners and Number One Estate Diamond will have no power.

The V.I. government has filed unfair labor practices charges against several labor unions as a result of job actions that took place earlier this week.
Teachers, firefighters and police all staged walkouts and slowdowns this week to protest pay increases and promotions given to some government employees while others have waited years for their negotiated increases and retroactive pay.
A release from Government House late Friday afternoon said the following unions and their leaders were named in the complaint:
— St. Thomas-St. John Federation of Teachers, and president Glen Smith.
— The United Industrial Workers, Seafarers International Union and vice president Amos Peters.
— The St. Thomas-St John Police Benevolent association and president Elroy Raymo.
— International Association of Firefighters, Local 2125 and president Daryl George.
According to Chief Negotiator Karen Andrews of the Office of Collective Bargaining, the government contends that on Sept. 14 or 15 the unions and their members "absented themselves from their respective places of employment in violation of both the parties' collective bargaining agreements."
Smith told St. Thomas Source, "I would prefer the governor would use his legal counsel, his energy and our limited resources to secure a meeting with the leaders of our union as well as the other unions to find answers to the problems of workers in the territory."
Teachers rallied at Emancipation Garden on Thursday morning and marched to the Legislature as the government was preparing to present its reorganization plan.
The demonstration caused Government House chief of staff Juel Molloy to delay her arrival at the Legislature until afternoon at the suggestion of Attorney General Iver Stridiron who said he'd been "jostled" on the way in.
Teachers walked out of three schools on St. Croix this week and firefighters and police staged a sickout.
Union leaders from the police and firefighters appeared before the Finance Committee on Thursday to plead their cases against budget cuts being faced by these critical departments.
The government complaint asks the Public Employees Relations Board to enter an order that the respondents committed an unfair labor practice and seek fines of $10,000.
"I would have expected this from the Schneider-Mapp administration, not from (Gov. Charles W.) Turnbull," Smith said. "The Democrats put him into office — the workers. His political base is comprised of government workers who voted for him overwhelmingly. How quickly we forget."
Labor leaders were scheduled to meet behind closed doors Saturday. Smith said he hoped it was to discuss the charges.
A preliminary hearing on the government's complaint is scheduled Tuesday in Territorial Court.

Dear St. Thomas Source,
I'm responding to the Friday, September 3, 1999, St. Thomas Source op-ed piece entitled, "Tourism Needs to Court Travel Writers," by Willi Miller.
Ms. Miller brought up an important point about utilizing travel writers to publicize our destination. Travel writers have long been a very important part of the marketing efforts of the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Tourism.
The department has been hosting individual as well as group press trips for several years. During the last four years, the territory's public relations agency, Martin Public Relations, has hosted more than 400 representatives of television, print radio and internet outlets.
Martin Public Relations arranges for 100 journalists to visit our islands every year.
Individual journalists come to the U.S. Virgin Islands about three to five times per month. Group press trips, consisting of an average of 10 media reps, visit the islands four to five times per year.
On average, 45 journalists come as part of a press trip and 55 come individually. A large number of travel writers prefer to travel as a group where they receive, in seven nights, a general overview of all three major U.S. Virgin Islands. Others prefer to travel and research specific aspects or characteristics of our islands. We believe it is wise to other both types of options so we can appeal to the different needs of the travel media.
We go through a fairly thorough process of selecting writers for individual and group press trips.
We pre-screen travel journalists and require letters of assignment from each of their media outlets. Martin Public Relations arranges and purchases discounted airfare for the travel writers. When they arrive, the writers also receive complementary accommodations, entrance to attractions, and sometimes they receive complementary meals and transportation. Visits usually entail visiting major attractions, historic sites and touring the islands in order to get a feel of the history, amenities and personality of each island. These visits have resulted in approximately one billion media impressions on average each year for the last four years. These media impressions represent a combination of print, radio and television and now Internet exposure.
A sampling of the print articles are bound into clip reports. A total of 23 have been produced thus far, with each report book representing around 49 million print impressions. The reports are distributed to the Department of Tourism, the chambers of commerce and hotel associations. The associations get the books so Virgin Islanders may see what our marketing efforts have produced.
Studies have shown that travel writers' articles or shows produce a greater impact than advertising. The media coverage is more influential to its readers or viewers than advertising. Certainly advertising does its share of reaching the potential visitor, but there are significant advantages to editorial coverage.
According to a 1997 survey, most travelers use at least one information source to plan their pleasure trip. Nearly 10 percent of travelers look to magazines for recommendations of places to travel, 13.6 percent refer to newspapers as a source, and 19.8 percent refer to travel guide books. Of those that use the magazine as a source, 70 percent planned based upon a travel article, while nearly 40 percent used advertising for their planning.
For the months of July and August, Martin Public Relations assisting in getting 52 articles published, reaching nearly 8 million readers. If editorial coverage were to be convened to advertising space, the cost of purchasing such space would be in the tens of millions dollars.
I am pleased with this current public relations initiative, but there is even more than can be done. This fiscal year we will be conducting six additional smaller press trips, consisting of five writers each. These groups will be staying three nights to research for niche markets such as golfing, diving, small hotels, etc., instead of covering the whole destination in just one visit.
Martin Public Relations is contracted to work with U.S. mainland and Canadian media. The department's international marketing contractors arranged the individual and press trip visits from Canada, Denmark, England, Germany and Italy.
1 thank Ms. Miller for her comments and I am happy to be able to clarify our technique of "courting travel writers."
Michael A. Bornn
Acting Tourism Commissioner

Congresswoman Donna Christian Christensen, Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust, will join Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Donald Payne (D-NJ) in
convening a panel discussion on the current U.S. response to the global AIDS crisis and address the disproportionate impact on people of African descent.
The forum, USAFRICA: Confronting the Global AIDS Crisis in the New
Millennium, will be held in conjunction with the Health Braintrust activities during the 29th Annual Legislative Conference of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, on Thursday, September 16, 1999 from 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel in Washington, DC.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala, former
U.S. Congressman Ronald V. Dellums, and White House Director of National AIDS Policy Sandy Thurman, are among the distinguished panelists in two-part discussion on the current domestic and global challenges of finding sustainable solutions to effectively address HIV/AIDS.
The panel will also include personal testimonies from African Americans living with AIDS, and perspectives from the international community on its role in developing a strategic response to the AIDS pandemic.
"AIDS will continue to threaten populations worldwide where prevention and
treatment options are strictly limited and where additional health disparities exist," Christensen said. "Here in the United States, disparities in HIV/AIDS infections and other
facets of the health care infrastructure have come to make up the new civil rights battlefield. The Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust will continue to work to ensure that people of color are not left behind as society seeks to find cures for this disease that is devastating our communities here and around the world."
The Health Braintrust will feature a domestic panel discussion moderated by Bev Smith, American Urban Radio Network, from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., followed by an international panel discussion moderated by Dr. Ian Smith, NBC News correspondent, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.