Unidentified fumes sent three people to the hospital Wednesday and caused offices at the Elaineco building in Contant to be evacuated.
Workers and patients at the Maternal and Child Health office at the building known as the new AQ building suddenly began coughing, sneezing and even choking around 9 a.m.
Reportedly no strange odors were identified.
Two workers and one patient were sent to the hospital and all of the staff went for toxic screenings, according to the Independent and Daily News.
Laura Hassell, director of environmental health, said people also experienced irritation of the throat and chest pains.
The incident was investigated by officials from Planning and Natural Resources, environmental health, V.I. Fire Services,
Emergency Medical Services and the Police Department, but the source of the fumes has not been determined.
Hassell said while she is able to do a plate count to determine the density of bacteria in the air, there is no equipment available in the territory to test for chemicals.

Delegate to Congress Donna M. Christian-Christensen has sent a strong message to Virgin Islanders to stop the violence — and to set a proper example for the community's children.
Christensen's statement came in response to the eruption of youth violence in the territory, including the most recent shootout in St. Thomas in which two 14-year-old students were wounded.
In a release she said the community has failed to teach its children how to handle their problems.
Christensen, a member of the House Juvenile Justice/Crime Agenda Task Force, said, "Our youth are following our examples of domestic violence and other acts of abuse to resolve disputes among themselves."
She challenged the community to rally around its children and teach them "how to cope and how to love."
She said community leaders must make ending youth violence a priority.
Christensen said she will continue her work in the Congress to try to find solutions to this national epidemic.

East End resident Edie Murphy waited more than an hour for police Monday night while
intruders boldly tried to enter her home.
After seeing a young man trying to force his way in, Murphy called 911, the Daily News reported. That was at 11:30 p.m., and the operator said someone else had already called.
Murphy yelled at the intruder but he was undeterred. She finally took refuge in a "cubbyhole" and called 911 again, the paper reported.
The burglar, or burglars, then broke the glass in her patio door. Murphy ran from her
home and met neighbor Jean Charlton, who had heard the noise and was coming outside to investigate.
When they broke the glass, Murphy, a psychiatric nurse, said she began to fear for her life "because I knew they were out of control."
Charlton yelled to the intruders that she had a gun. They slashed Charlton's bedroom screens with a knife.
Finally, as other neighbors began to show up, the two intruders left.
The police arrived at 12:30 a.m., the two women said.
It is not clear if Murphy called the Red Hook substation, which is closed after 6 p.m., according to acting Police Chief Jose Garcia.
Garcia told the Daily News that police were dispatched at 11:40 p.m. from the Four Winds police station and reached the scene at midnight.
"They were looking for the house," he said.
The Chamber of Commerce Crime Committee and other local groups have asked for better systems to be put in place so police officers can quickly find specific addresses.
Among the suggestions: link telephone numbers with specific directions to the locations, and put up street and road signs.
To date few of those plans have been implemented.

Recently, a V.I. newspaper carried two pages of articles calling for more jobs. The primary subjects were V.I. economy, government deficit, casinos and industry. Simplistic growth economics — more is better as tomorrow's inflation will pay for today's excess.
The next day, an editorial bewailed the degradation of our environment and a headline begged the question "Who will stop the killing?" The second headline was "State of the Territory."
Careful study of these articles reveal a labyrinth of hypocrisy and paradox created by well-intentioned individuals too used to glossing over the hard issues.
The editorial dealt with prostitutes, drug addicts, homeless people and the sensitivities of our "citizens." The crime article indicated at least 30 people under age 25 killed in the past three years. The State of the Territory called for more tourists.
This is a clash of opposing dynamics! We are a finite land mass. We are rural by distance between our islands, and from our mother country. We are urban by number of people per square mile. We are ill-educated in relation to our national standard. We are extremely wealthy in relation to our Caribbean neighbors. We are very poor in relation to our nation as a whole and the tourists who flood our streets. Finally, overcrowding + insecurity = stress = violence = pain, suffering and death.
Gov. Ralph Piewonsky attempted to address this problem by sending Tom Blake and Ed Phillips to Harvard for graduate degrees in city planning. They developed the "General Physical Plan for 1980" — tabled to death by the Maduro Legislature.
He then hired one of the world's foremost community planners. Several Legislatures took this effort down the primrose path of obfuscation into political expedience.
In fact, our senators religiously choose political payoff in lieu of logic, reason, and socioeconomic principles. Community planning has become an old wife's lament.
Under the Farrelly administration the V.I. Development Act was proposed, massaged, proposed, massaged – to death. Again, government opted for political expediency — living for the instant with no regard for the future.
An example is the filling of the flood plain along Turpentine Run. The flood plain manager for Planning and Natural Resources apparently stuck his head in the dirt of politics, accepting his biweekly paycheck while allowing rampant environmental degradation. The landfill, higher than the public road, will cause flood waters to destroy the highway, costing millions of dollars to replace and isolating the East End.
How many people can our islands sustain — in an environment both physically and mentally healthy so crime and violence is not a given? In an environment that will encourage wealthy tourists, who will spend money on first-class facilities and high-caliber service, to visit us? In a community dedicated to educating our people to a superior standard in order for them to command above-normal pay so they can earn a high standard of living? With a government which can meet and surpass our needs within our ability to pay? So we can have an environment WE want to live in and enjoy!

The American Red Cross has developed a brochure that lists the potential problems that could arise as a result of the Y2K "bug" and tells you what can be done to prepare for it.
The brochure is available locally by calling 774-0375.
The President's Council on Y2K Conversion, established by the White House and a Special Senate Committee, have attempted to identify specific problem areas. They include utilities, banking and finance, health care, transportation, telecommunications, pension and mutual funds, emergency planning, and business in general.
The computer problems could result in loss of power for extended periods, break down in telecommunications and transportation gridlock.
The American Red Cross brochure offers information about the Y2K technology and a preparedness checklist.

FUNGI
Fungi is a cornmeal dish akin to polenta that's a staple comfort food throughout most of the Caribbean. Like polenta, it can be served soft, roughly the consistency of stiff mashed potatoes, or, after cooking a longer time, spread out, cooled and cut into small pieces. Fungi is a delicious side dish usually served with fish, or it's shaped into little balls as a garnish for soup such as kallaloo. Fungi can be made plain or enhanced, like this recipe, with onions, okra and tomatoes.
3 tablespoons butter, plus extra for greasing pan
1/2 cup minced onion
2 1/2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups yellow stone ground cornmeal
1/3 cup diced tomato, seeded and drained
1/2 cup frozen sliced okra, thawed,
coarsely chopped and well drained
Melt the butter in a small frying pan and cook the onion over medium heat for five minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat.
Bring the water to a boil in a medium-sized heavy saucepan, preferably a nonstick one. Add the salt and slowly pour in the cornmeal, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Reduce the heat to medium-low and stir constantly for 10 minutes. (At this point, you have soft fungi. Just season it with 2 tablespoons of butter, salt and pepper and serve in a bowl.)
Stir in the onions and butter, tomatoes and okra. Continue stirring for five minutes until the mixture rolls off the side of the pan and no longer sticks to the bottom.
Turn the mixture onto a lightly greased baking sheet and smooth the top evenly with a spatula into about a 10-inch square, about three-quarters of an inch thick. Cool for 30 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for one hour.
Cut the fungi into small squares and serve at room temperature.
Makes 6 servings
Editor's note: Michele Evans, a resident of St Thomas, is the author of 13 cookbooks. She also co-authored "La Cucina Siciliana di Gangivecchio," which won the James Beard Foundation award for the best Italian cookbook for 1997. Her travel guide, "Caribbean Connoisseur…An Insider's Guide to the Islands' Best Hotels Resorts and Inns," published by St. Martin's Press, is in its third edition.

Classes for the Day Adult Education Program begin Tues., Jan. 19, 1999. Registration is open from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. weekdays at the Day Adult Center on Commandant Gade.
Courses are offered to assist in preparation for obtaining a GED Diploma.
Courses are also offered in computer skills, typing and office practice.
For more information call 774-6899.

The Office of Management and Budget is refusing to release the first phase of a five-year economic plan completed by a Washington consultant under a $600,000 Interior Department grant.
Wednesday's Independent quotes Judith Michael of OMB as saying of the report by Consultants for Resources Evaluation, or CORE, "That's a confidential document." The newspaper said Michael did not respond to its faxed list of questions about the plan.
A spokesman for the Interior Department also refused to release the plan, telling the Independent, "I don't think the Department of Interior should be commenting on a contract that the Virgin Islands government has selected."
Though Gov. Charles W. Turnbull made no reference to the CORE contract or report in his State of the Territory message when he said he plans to draft a five-year economic plan, Juel Molloy, his chief of staff, said Turnbull does intend to "look at all ideas on the table. I'm very confident that he will consider the recommendations of the group."
The Interior Department grant was intended to help the Virgin Islands develop a long-range plan to cut government spending and increase revenues. CORE has been working on the plan for about a year and a half, according to the Independent.

Latin legend, Tito Puente will be the headliner for a host of other well-known national, international and local entertainers performing at spectacular Magens Bay on Martin Luther King Day.
The gates will open at 7 a.m. with music and entertainment beginning at 9 a.m.
For full details of the event go to the St. Thomas Source Music page under Arts/Entertaiment on the menu.

Visiting from Massachusetts, Reed Hendricks is no stranger to the Virgin Islands. The island of St. John has been a second home for Reed Hendricks over the past 4 years, where she has shared her talent in numerous workshops for adults and children, and exhibited her paintings in several galleries.
For full details of her show and her work go to Arts/Entertainment on St. Thomas Source Menu – Showcase section.