V.I. Congressional Delegate Donna M. Christian-Christensen and other House Democrats joined Vice President Al Gore Hill Tuesday to urge Republicans to include the Medicare Trust Fund in proposals for spending the federal surplus.
Gore also introduced new data that emphasized the need for Medicare Prescription Drug Benefits in Rural America.
"The Vice President pointed out that Medicare prescription drug coverage in rural areas has either been substandard or is virtually nonexistent. Because the Territory is often categorized as a rural area, it is important that the Administration recognizes the disparities in Medicare benefits throughout this country," Christensen said.
"We will continue to push for increased Medicare funding in this Congress so that our senior citizens can receive quality care whether they live in urban, suburban or rural areas," she said.

Although former Gov. Roy Schneider’s administration officially signed off on the Beal Aerospace/V.I. government land exchange, his successor hasn’t.
And that has Sen. Adelbert Bryan questioning whether the Turnbull administration was within V.I. law when it sent the proposal to the Legislature for ratification.
In a letter to Senate President Vargrave Richards on Thursday, Bryan asked that the Legislature’s chief legal counsel further review the exchange agreement that was approved by the Schneider administration, but not legally executed.
Bryan pointed out that in the governor’s June 28 transmittal letter of the exchange agreement to the Senate, Turnbull said, "The documents which were executed by the previous administration on Dec. 30, 1998, as drafted, have raised considerable legal issues."
That statement alone, Bryan said, is enough to warrant further review by legal counsel. He said the Turnbull administration had six months to "correct the assertions made" in the transmittal letter and that the exchange agreement should have been approved by Turnbull before being sent to the Senate.
"Simply stated," said Bryan, "does the law of the Virgin Islands permit the sitting governor to submit to the Legislature for their review, approval or disapproval, a contract that was not signed by the present governor or approved by the present attorney general?"
At issue is Texas-based Beal’s proposal to exchange 14.5 acres at a site owned by the government, and formerly occupied by Camp Arawak, for approximately 15 acres of land Beal owns in Estates Whim and Grange Hill. Beal needs the Camp Arawak land for a portion of a parking lot that would accompany its proposed $57-million world headquarters and rocket assembly plant near Great Pond Bay on St. Croix’s rural southeast shore.
The land, however, was deeded to the government by Frank Wiesner in 1974. The deed states that the acreage was to be developed as park land for the people of the Virgin Islands. The "legal issues" mentioned by the governor concern the deed and whether that can be broken.
At a July 23 Committee of the Whole meeting on the exchange agreement, V.I. Attorney General Iver Stridiron said the land swap was signed off on Dec. 20, 1998 by Schneider, former AG Julio Brady, Samuel Baptiste, former commissioner of Property and Procurement, and Beal’s legal counsel Brad Oates.
"The principle reason for sending it down," Stridiron said at the meeting, "was that we’d be damned if we did and damned if we didn’t."
One way for the Legislature to get around the language of the Wiesner deed is for the Legislature to waive the law in order to override the public trust doctrine, Stridiron said. For a court to accept such a move, the Legislature would have to say its decision was made in light of the territory’s economic condition.
Bryan, meanwhile, said Turnbull set a precedent on a similar issue late in January. The senator said the governor reviewed, approved and signed a $32 million contract with Banco Popular and IBM for Y2K compliance.
"Coincidentally," Bryan said, "this agreement was previously negotiated by the 'past administration' and Gov. Turnbull’s administration saw it necessary to bear the semblance of responsibility when submitting the proposal to the Legislature."
Bryan said he wants Turnbull to practice the same "vigor and responsibility in the execution of the Beal agreement."

My father, who served in the Air Force for 20 years, was periodically stationed at Ramey Air Force Base in Puerto Rico. Both my parents are of Puerto Rican descent and had relatives scattered throughout the island.
Oftentimes, my mother would send me to Juncos, on the northeast end of the island, to stay with my Grandmother. I knew her as Abuela. My Abuela was a strong, religious woman with a magnetic aura. I was drawn to her like a bit of malleable metal. I adored her and she adored me. Together we formed our own fan club.
The days living in el campo were long and simple. Mornings would be filled with boasting roosters competing with the pleas of Spanish sermons coming from a beige transistor radio sitting at the end of the kitchen counter. I would sit on an orange Naugahyde stool, feet looped through its metal legs, sipping sweet café con leche and eating stacks of Sultana crackers spread with bright margarine.
Abuela's world revolved around food: the cultivating, the marketing, the preparing and the consuming of it. Abuela worried that I was too flaca, and was determined to send me back home fattened with the love from her kitchen.
Abuela would spend hours tending her plants. She started seeds and cuttings in all the tin cans that came out of her kitchen. They lined the outside walls of the house; shiny containers sprouting newly born specimens, and older cans, with rusty, rooted bottoms and bushy, green foliage blooming forth life.
Ripe guavas would be carried in the hem of Abuela's house dress and into the kitchen where we would stir them into a hot, sticky paste filled with sugar and magic. Abuela also taught me how to make polvorones: round, golden cookies with my thumb print for a center.
Abuela's loving lectures on the virtues of being a good girl rolled in my head and formed as gently as the dough in my greasy little palms.
Everyday we would feed a confetti of chickens and then Abuela, armed with a sharp, black machete, would lead me through an old wooden gate and down a hillside of packed dirt stairs held in place with wood planks and rusty rebar. Our descent into the wild finca was dark with the threat of nasty creatures and the fermenting smells of mango, banana, avocado, and breadfruit.
We would pick sticky produce from the ground and low yielding branches and Abuela would wield her machete to reach high fruit and cut stalks of heavy banana pyramids. The ascent back into daylight would be filled with relief if I had survived another jungle expedition without being scratched, poked or bitten.
My Abuela was very community minded and in her small town she was known as Dona Panchita. A week wouldn't go by that we didn't do our civic duty. We would attend 4-H or Ninas Escuchas meetings where, oftentimes, Abuela was the instructor. Alongside other young ladies, I was taught proper hygiene, cooking techniques and crafts.
The first dress I ever sewed was made during a succession of these meetings. It was an A-line style smock with a fine print of red and white flowers, and a white, half moon collar and hem border. Abuela guided my hand on laying the pattern, cutting, and sewing straight and true.
I wore the dress like a hug until it became a shirt and would no longer go over my growing head. Our social gatherings always culminated around a refreshment-laden table, with the older women exchanging plant clippings, herb bunches and paper sacks filled with humid fruits and vegetables.
In my childishness, the days I spent with my Abuela often seemed boring and punctuated only occasionally with activity and excitement. Now I look back and see that the time I spent with Abuela was full of lessons in good, deep words like love, peace, gratitude, charity, and faith.
The days would always end the same. I'd take my bath and get ready for bed. Then I would slip into Abuela's bedroom to bid her good night and would find her sitting in a halo of light, head bent murmuring and fingering her crystal rosary.
I would kiss her one last time and turn to my room as she called out and assured me "Dios te quere mucho, Sandrita."

A glitch which arose during the installation of a "state-of-the-art" voice mail and paging system caused some VitelCellular customers to lose service this week.
The interruptions began July 23 and according to VitelCellular, were completely corrected by July 28. Customers will be credited for the interruptions, said Victoria Squires, a spokesperson for VitelCellular.
"We sincerely regret any inconvenience to our customers. We know how frustrating service interruptions can be," Squires said.
According to VitelCellular, the new "Enhanced Voice Mail and Paging" system offers many advantages over the old service. Customers will now be able to leave longer voice or numeric messages on digital pagers and will be notified of messages through a cell phone, pager or telephone number, she said.

Why should we eat seaweed ? What are the benefits of seaweed?
Seaweed is also called Nori (japanese term) meaning vegetable of the sea. It is extremely nutritious :it contains some proteins, trace elements and mineral salts, calcium, iron , fiber and many vitamins.
Did you know that 3 pieces of nori contain the same amount of protein as 1 egg?
Seaweed is naturally healthy and balanced, therefore it should be added to your daily meals.
You can use nori to make delicious sushi, soup, salad…or just eat it as a snack. Certainly it is one of the healthiest snacks that you can find.
In China the study researchers found that seaweed does not only enhance health in general but also lowers cholesterol levels and helps with arteriosclerosis.
In Japan, researchers found that seaweed eases digestion.

component	unit	toasted nori	seasoned nori
per piece	g	3.2	3.6
water	g	0.2	0.2
protein	g	1.3	1.3
fat	g	0.1	0.1
carbohydrate	g	1.3	1.5
fiber	g	0.1	0.1
calcium	mg	13	7
phosphorus	mg	20	20
iron	mg	0.4	0.4
sodium	mg	4	77
potassium	mg	77	80
carotene	mg	0.77	0.77
vitaminB1	mg	0.04	0.04
vitaminB2	mg	0.1	0.1
vitaminC	mg	3	3

Cosmetic products have been created from seaweed because of its naturally rich sources. Seaweed soap and lotion have became quite popular. The British have demonstrated that their use reduces fatty tissues. In the U.S, they are widely used to treat cellulite.
For more info about nori or if you want to request more articles of your choice in oriental medicine and nutrition, you can write to drmaytrieu@hotmail.com

The rule-breakers were flagrantly out in force last weekend — kids flying kites, families picnicking and, more than likely (though not seen by this observer), a dude or two cavorting with a dog on the spacious "green" of the University of the Virgin Islands St. Thomas campus — also known as the Herman E. Moore Golf Course.
"Eh?" you probably say.
Yeah, that's all against the rules now.
So are bicycling, skateboarding, roller skating and roller blading on the concrete expanse of the Crown Bay cruise ship dock in nearby Sub Base.
Commercial-quality signs in blue lettering replete with the UVI logo recently cropped up along the perimeter of the golf course. They read: "The use of this course is for golf only. Vehicle driving, pets, picnics, kite/plane flying ARE PROHIBITED. Please keep the course clean and litter free. — University of the Virgin Islands Athletic Department."
New signs also greet those approaching the athletic fields across the road: "Use of the playing fields for all organized activities including practice must be approved by the University of the Virgin Islands Athletic Department. Vehicle driving, pets, picnics, kite/plane flying ARE PROHIBITED."
Meanwhile, over at Crown Bay, the sole but sizable sign — in red letters atop a crazily listing pole that must have taken quite a shove — reads: "NO water recreational vehicles, bicycles, skateboards, roller skates, roller blades are allowed on these premises." No mention is made of the authority being invoked, but, again, it's commercial-quality sign, and one logically assumes it is the Port Authority.
A friend of mine pointed these signs out to me recently, in highly emotional terms. "Where," she railed, "are the signs that say DO this, DO that — DO HERE the good, clean fun things that we keep saying we want our kids to do instead of hanging out and getting into trouble?"
This mother of two energetic boy children went on: "These are public places. Who asked the public whether kids should be allowed to play there?"
Um, I interjected, it probably has something to do with liability.
"The guys fishing off the edge of the dock at Crown Bay are a lot more likely to fall in than kids riding their bikes or skating in the middle of that huge concrete pad," she said derisively. "And how often do you see anybody playing golf at the golf course?"
The powers that be undoubtedly are prepared to justify their prohibitions in the name of public safety, public interest and the public good. Indeed, in one instance this week they felt compelled to do so.
The Daily News in its issue of Tuesday, July 27, carried on page 3 a charming human interest photo of a 7-year-old girl getting her kite up in the air the day before. Unfortunately, she was doing it on the green at UVI. Little did the newspaper know that it was picturing in such a positive light a blatant rule-breaker.
It soon found out, however, and the next day's paper carried, also on page 3, a story quoting the UVI public relations director and an Athletic Department employee on the rules and regs and whys and wherefores.
My friend doesn't want to hear it, though. She just wants to know: Where are kids supposed to play on this island of treacherous terrain, narrow roads with no sidewalks, and hardly any open spaces that are flat and traffic-free?
The UVI green (which is actually brown most of the year but takes its name from its golfing function) has been the scene for years of "Afternoon on the Green," an annual picnic of humongous proportions produced by UVI itself. And it has long been the place of preference for flying kites on St. Thomas. It's soft underfoot, it's open to the sky, it's huge, it's buffeted by breezes, it's protected. A kite-flying demonstration/competition held there a couple of Father's Days ago attracted dozens of colorful, creative kites and hundreds of participants and/or enchanted onlookers. Just about the only way a kid can get into trouble flying a kite is by getting the string tangled in the power lines along the road — and it's the kites, not the lines, that suffer.
One of the main reason the golfers complain about other folks using the green is that public maintenance of the grounds is sporadic, and the golfers themselves must clean up after anyone who litters.
Now, where can young people ride bikes and boards and roller skate or blade on St. Thomas? We know all too well that they can play dodge-em on the hilly highways, usually after dark and without lights, reflectors or protective headgear. Somehow, the dock seems safer — and ever so much more functional than in sand, on gravel or through the bush.
As for romping with Rover, the road is not recommended, again for reasons relating to survival. Most dogs love to play at the beach, but most beaches have signs up about that, too.
So what IS a kid to do?
Decades ago, they say, there was a bowling alley on St. Thomas. A skating rink, too. The St. Thomas Swimming Association has been trying for more than a decade to raise (with no public support) funds for a swimming pool. There used to be a pool, too, in Long Bay near where the Rising Stars pan yard is now, along with public tennis courts.
Nowadays, adults complain that youngsters just hang out on the streets and in the arcades. What options is the community offering them?
The problem is clear. Solutions remain murky. Keep in mind here (as with most of the problems our community faces), "where there's a will, there's a way."
Some suggestions:
* Designate golfing hours at the golf course (the few faithful duffers are mainly retirees, so weekdays is just fine) and post new signs outlawing anything else on the green at those hours, but welcome the rest of the well-behaved community on weekends.
* Create a public bicycling path on flat terrain on the campus and around the perimeter of the adjacent Cyril E. King Airport.
(The sidewalk around the airport is another whole issue. Drop by around 6:30 a.m. or p.m. any weekday and marvel at the masses of humanity that emerge from their air-conditioned cars to take their constitutional on the longest expanse of flat space free of motor vehicles around — walking, jogging, running, rollerblading, skateboarding, bicycling and yes, even walking their dogs! And kudos to the Port Authority, or whomever, for creating an expanded parking lot beyond the new landscaped area to accommodate their cars!)
* Create a functional park on those 7.5 acres of controversial landfill at Long Bay in the manner of those that dot the Miami area: with separate pedestrian and bicycle paths, exercise stations, benches and lots of well-kept green grass and tall, shady trees. While you're at it, rehab the ol' swimming pool and tennis courts, too.
All this is gonna take a fair amount of will.
Meantime, the kite flyers, picnickers and dog lovers can use the Crown Bay concrete (it's mighty hot, but there's no sign saying they can't), and the bicyclers, skateboarders and roller skaters can cruise on the green. . . slowly.
Editors' note: Jean Etsinger is a freelance journalist on St. Thomas. She doesn't have a dog, never learned to skateboard or rollerblade, doesn't own a bike and never could get a kite to fly.

I wish to say that I think that Michael Bornn is the only really logical
choice for the commissioner of Tourism. He knows his stuff and is a
great promoter.
Thank you
Sen. David A Puritz

Carnival Cruises Lines has now revealed 108 allegations of sexual misconduct against crew members in the five-year period ending Aug. 13, 1998. That is 46 more incidents than the 62 it admitted earlier this summer.
The cases were disclosed by Carnival under an order issued by a Miami judge presiding over a case in which a former crew member sued the cruise line claiming she was raped and sodomized by a ship's engineer in August 1998.
All the cases involve accusations made against crew members by other crew members or passengers.
"We had a very short time period to research the allegation and noted in our hastily prepared filing that we were continuing to research the matter and expected to amend it," Carnival attorney Curtis Mase said Wednesday in a statement released by the cruise line.
The allegations, which range from sexual harassment to rape, occurred over a five-year period, during which Carnival carried 6.5 million passengers. Mase claimed that FBI statistics indicate a person is over 100 times safer on a Carnival ship than in a similar-sized U.S. city.
"These figures alone should tell you that Carnival ships provide one of the safest vacation environments anywhere in the world," he said. "Nevertheless, the company continues to take measures to improve upon its already strong safety record."
Carnival said that for many years it has been training crew members on "proper and improper" relationships, sexual harassment, and how to treat passengers and other fellow ship workers courteously and professionally.
"We take all reasonable precautions and measures to provide the safest possible environment for our guests," stated the cruise line's president, Bob Dickinson.
The company also says it has recently instituted a "zero-tolerance" policy on crime, which has also been adopted by the International Council of Cruise Lines as a standard for investigating onboard crimes. The policy requires that crimes involving U.S. citizens are reported to the FBI and that any other incidents that occur on vessels calling on U.S. ports are reported to the proper law enforcement authorities.
Mase said the additional allegations were made by passengers via phone calls or letters after their cruises ended. The investigations of those allegations were difficult because many of the passengers who made them were not able to provide extensive details, Mase said.
"However, the breadth of the interrogatory required Carnival to reveal any allegations, including unfounded allegations. We are providing this additional information to be absolutely sure that we are fully compliant with the order," he said.
Acting Commissioner of Tourism Monique Sibilly-Hodge did not respond Thursday to a request for comment on how the allegations might impact tourism in the Virgin Islands.
A spokesman for the West Indian Co. Ltd. said WICO President and CEO Edward Thomas preferred not to comment on Carnival's revelations. According to WICO, however, Carnival brings more passengers to St. Thomas than any other cruise line; between October 1997 and September 1998, Carnival ships made 193 calls, bringing over 440,000 passengers.
Carnival has not publicly provided details of the incidents, such as the severity, the findings of investigations or whether any allegations resulted in arrests.
To prevent unwarranted panic, however, Mase promised that Carnival would provide more information about the incidents to the court than the order requires.
"There has been a great deal of misinformation floating around on this subject. We believe that by providing detailed information concerning these allegations, all of Carnival's guests, travel agents and the traveling public at large will be assured that they are safer vacationing aboard a Carnival ship than they are in their own community," he said.

The Senate Committee on Rules approved three leases and one bill Wednesday, but cut short its lengthy agenda because it could only maintain a quorum for about an hour.
The meeting was adjourned shortly after 11:30 a.m., when Sen. Almando "Rocky" Liburd's departure left the committee with only three senators, which is not enough to vote legally on legislation.
Committee Chair Sen. Anne Golden, Senate President Vargrave Richards, and Sen. Adelbert Bryan were the other three members present. Sens. Gregory Bennerson, Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg and Judy Gomez were absent.
Before stalling, however, the committee gave a favorable recommendation to Bryan's bill capping the salary of government retirees rehired by the government at $30,000.
"We now have retirees receiving retirement benefits, social security benefits and salaries up to $50,000 and $60,000 a year, and then we tell our children and the young people that 'you are our future,'" Bryan said. "But when they return from school and college they find individuals that have retired 10 years ago, who left service after lucrative salaries and good careers, are back in the system doing some of the same jobs… and we are telling our children we don't have jobs for them to return to."
Bryan's bill was motivated by the fact that the government often rehires employees who had been making large salaries.
"But [in] hardly any of those cases would you find the government hiring retirees whose salaries were $15,000 or $20,000. It's always the case, it's retirees who were making $50,000 $60,000, sometimes $80,000," Bryan said. "When a person decides to retire, they retire on their own volition. There's no forced retirement in the government of the Virgin Islands. You can remain working until you die at a desk or die behind the wheel or die anywhere on the job."
Richards, who voted against the bill, said the government should not be prevented from rehiring talented and experienced retirees.
"While the intent is fine, I have questions about whether we will be creating a brain void, a leadership void in the government of the Virgin Islands," Richards said.
"We've had several early retirements that led to a reduction of people from the particular jobs that they had spent many years in and what happened was it created a void, a void meaning that you didn't have the people trained, one; developed, two; to take on the task of running the commissionership or the supervisorship," Richards said.
Sen. Lorraine Berry, not a member of the committee, also spoke against the measure.
"I believe there are places in this government for all people. There are people who are young, people who are middle-aged, and people who are older people who have a lot to contribute to this government," Berry said. "I think we need to have a balance in government with wisdom and youth."
Petrus, however, said if retirees were discouraged from returning to government service, they would better train their replacements.
"What has happened to us historically is that people who are in leadership positions, who are in positions of power, who are in positions of influence, they have a problem training people. They usually herd the knowledge, they isolate themselves so that there could be a great reliance on them," Petrus said.
"If a retiree… cannot be there, he or she should have been training someone coming up the ranks prior to, or years, before their retirement," Petrus said.
Liburd, who also supported the bill, said the government should keep positions open for young people.
"It sends a message that yes, we thank you for your service, but we have some new minds and we need to create some of these new minds," Liburd said.
Golden, who did not speak, also voted in favor of the bill.
Bryan said he didn't think the cap would have a significant impact on rehired retirees' ability to support themselves.
"Any retirees who have made over $30,000 before they retire can come back and still live within their means with an additional $30,000," he said.
The Committee also approved three leases between the V.I. Port Authority and American Airlines, Robert Lynch Trucking (on St. Croix) and Air Center Helicopters.
One major bill the committee could not act on was the Enterprise Zone Act, which would create an economic revitalization program for blighted urban areas by offering tax incentives to small businesses and investors.
The committee was also prevented from acting on bills that would allow limited public service employment for prison inmates and slightly expand the justifiable use of force.

Using the power under their newly granted semi-autonomous status, officials at St. Croix's Gov. Juan F. Luis Hospital are instituting a bill amnesty program.
The amnesty period for hospital bills will run from Aug. 2 to Dec. 30. Hospital staff encourage all residents to take advantage of the program now. For information, call 778-6311 ext. 2510 or 2807 or visit the hospital's Business Office on the first floor of the hospital.