V.I. taxpayers' investment of $100,000 a year for the territory's Film Promotion Office brings a return of about $20 million, the head of the office told the Ad Club on Tuesday.
The revenues come from hiring local talent and production crews, hotels for off-island crew and talent, and equipment rentals, according to the Daily News.
Centeno, the film office's only staff member, said he hopes to make the Virgin Islands a major production center by offering one-stop shopping.
He said most of the commercials shot here use local production companies that provide location scouting, customs, clearance, catering arrangements, video assistance, camera equipment and lighting equipment.
The local companies providing these services include Grip Flicks, Mountain Video, Todd Hecht Productions, Flicks and Sunbow Location Services.
Centeno said this local talent is what has made it easy for films, videos and commercials to be shot here.
Centeno told the Independent he believes the Turnbull administration "knows this is an industry that has to be grown and (is) taking steps to make that happen.
The Film Promotion Office is part of the Tourism Department.

On Saturdays March 13 and June 12, the University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas campus, will administer the Praxis exam.
Registration forms must be submitted to the Educational Testing Service by Feb.9 for the March testing and by May 11 for the June testing.
New teachers hired for the school system in 1996-97 and those returning after being out of the system for more than two years need to take this exam.
Contact the ETS at 1-800-772-9475 or 1-609-771-7395 for registration information.
Carolyn Cook, UVI admissions officer, may be contacted at 693-1224 or Henrita Barber at 774-0100, ex.3051.

Jospeh Gomez Elementary School will hold its first PTA meeting of the new year Thursday, Jan.21 at 5:45 p.m. in the cafetorium.
All parents and guardians are urged to attend.

Sailing in light 8 to 11 knot breezes, Peter Holmberg and VIM III won a short first race and finished second in a longer, hard fought, second race. The Italian crew on BRAVA retains the class lead after three races, VIM second, and Ken Read aboard HEATWAVE is presently in third.
This is very close racing with 10 boats finishing within a 6 minutes of each other after racing for 90 minutes The pre-race favorites have already surged to the top of the IMS Class 2, but none of the class is out of the running. There will many opportunities to gain or lose in this week of racing.
The combined Tortola-St.Thomas team sailing on BUZZARD in the Melges 24's again had an excellent finish of fourth in their only race of the day. Continued results in the top five will certainly raise BUZZARD's present standing of tenth in class. Although early reports had 60 boats registered in the Melges class, there are a still respectable 50 boats on the start line.

The public discourse is filled with talk on the state of children, youth and families in the territory. The tenor of this discourse is not positive, as we long for the days when families were stronger, children respectful of their elders and youth hopeful and thoughtful about the future.
This longing always seems to give way to accusations and recriminations as to the causes and who’s at fault. If it takes a village to raise a child, it is safe to say the village is under pressure.
Rather than have dialogue on these issues, we have spirited dialectics on the moral climate of today’s society, or argue the relative importance of changes in the educational, legal and economic systems.
Recognizing that individual and government responsibility is a continuous public discussion, we get stuck in what Professor Cornell West of Harvard University calls the opposing views of the structuralists and the behavioralist. And no matter what side you’re on, men and fatherhood are in the center of the discussion.
As a community we need a new way of looking at fatherhood that gets beyond the impasse of trying to decide whether the crisis in families is a result of moral, cultural, economic or legal machinations.
The pressure on our children, youth and families precludes us from waiting for changes in either the moral climate or government programs.
The Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands, or CFVI, through its Our Children Now! initiative, decided to focus on what can be done now. As a result the Fatherhood Initiative was launched.
The initiative seeks to change the public discourse to focus on three elements:
— The importance of connecting men to their children, regardless of their marital status.
— The shared responsibility of individual fathers and mothers and those who work with families.
— The opportunities that community agencies have in fostering those connections.
With the support of the national Coalition of Community Foundations for Youth, CFVI put a plan in place to gather information on the status of fatherhood in the territory. The plan’s key strategies are to get the man’s point of view on fatherhood, develop a support network for fathers and identify institutional barriers to responsible fatherhood.
Over the past six months focus groups have been held on all three islands to begin collecting data from fathers. Many men expressed excitement that for once, someone was finally asking for “their side of the story.”
For many of the men the sessions were a catharsis. Brutally frank and honest, the men talked about their successes and their failures as fathers. Make no mistake about it, men are well aware of what it takes to be a “good” father.
Soon after the convening of the focus groups, CFVI sponsored fatherhood events with many of the men who participated in the focus groups.
All the men in the St. John focus spent a day with their children at Coral World, St. Thomas’ aquarium. On St. Croix, the men and their children went on a day sail. In both cases men got an opportunity to be fathers in settings outside their normal routines. The men proved that tying a shoe lace or changing a pamper was not exclusively woman’s work.
In the coming year CFVI plans to establish formal support groups with the men from the focus groups, using them to reach out to more men in the community.
A concomitant goal is to identify support services, when needed, for the men who participate. A process to map institutional barriers to responsible fatherhood is also being developed.
Much of the guidance for this work is coming from national practitioners on the mainland, where the issue of fatherhood came to the forefront of social service discussions in the early '90s.
We know there is a lot of work to be done, and we don’t proclaim to have all the answers. We are not yet certain of how to create community expectations for fathers. And we are only now grappling with how to influence support systems, and the government agencies that have a direct effect on fathers and families.
We are, however, committed to identifying issues and implementing solutions. You see it’s not just our children who are at risk, it’s the village.

The League of Women Voters of the Virgin Islands will hold a buffet luncheon at 12 noon on Mon., Jan. 25 , at L’Escargot, SubBase.
The special guests will be members of the 23rd Legislature. Senate President Vargrave Richard is expected to outline the senate agenda. The public is invited. Please call 775-9269 or 776-9357 for reservations by January 22, 1999.

These savory, crisp fritters, laced with the delicate flavor of conch, are favorite snacks throughout the islands. Since fresh or thawed frozen raw conch is very tough, it must be tenderized in a pressure cooker or, if a recipe requires it raw, like this one, it needs to be pounded to break it down. The conch can then be finely minced or ground in the food processor or a meat grinder.
1 pound conch, cleaned, tenderized and passed through a food processor or meat grinder
3/4 cup finely diced celery
1/2 cup minced scallions
1/4 cup finely minced carrot
1 finely minced garlic clove
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup cool water or as needed
Few dashes hot sauce
Salt and freshly ground pepper
vegetable or peanut oil
Combine the ingredients through the thyme in a large bowl. Add the flour, baking powder, and egg. Combine. Stir in the water, a little at a time. The mixture should have a very thick batterlike consistency. Season with the hot sauce and salt and pepper.
Heat 2 to 3 inches of oil in a deep fryer to 375 degrees. Drop the batter in rounded tablespoons into the oil. Cook in batches until golden brown all over. One word of caution: The center cooks last, so sample one of each batch to make sure it's done. That's the cook's reward. Drain each batch and serve with cocktail or tartar sauce or the following lime dipping sauce.
Lime Dipping Sauce
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
1 finely minced scallion
1/4 cup finely minced green pepper
1/4 cup well-drained crushed pineapple (patted dry between paper towels)
1 tablespoon mustard or to taste
2 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice Dash or 2 of hot pepper sauce Salt and freshly ground pepper

Combine the ingredients and refrigerate at least one hour before serving.
Serves 6 to 8.
Editor's note: Michele Evans, a resident of St Thomas, is the author of thirteen 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.

Researchers have finally estimated the lifetime risk for developing coronary heart disease (CHD). One out of every two men and one out of every three women aged 40 and under will develop CHD. Those who have survived to age 70 still face the risk that one out of every three men and one out of every four women will develop CHD in their remaining years of life.
According to Claude Lenfant, MD, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Director: This study shows why it is so important for adults of all ages to take steps to prevent heart disease. Even young adults should know their cholesterol and blood pressure numbers, eat in a heart-healthy way, be physically active and watch their weight to reduce their lifetime risk of CHD.
Heart disease is the #1 killer of Americans. It occurs when the coronary arteries become narrowed or clogged and cannot supply enough oxygen-rich blood to the heart. It leads to chest pain, called angina, and heart attacks. People are more likely to die from heart disease than cancer, stroke, lung diseases or accidents.
Leading indicators for CHD are high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, diabetes, sedentary habits, overweight, and smoking.
Many physicians caring for senior citizens may have believed persons who survive to an older age without CHD are no longer susceptible to developing it. Since even at age 70 the average person remains at high risk, greater emphasis should be placed on control of risk factors in older men and women according to CHD specialists.
The findings are based on a 50-year study involving 7,733 volunteers, aged 40-94. This study provided a well-described population with long-term follow-up and carefully documented CHD events and causes of death. The Study is far superior to other estimates limited by reliance on death certificate data or short-term follow up according to CHD specialists.

Block scheduling, which began at Ivanna Eudora Kean and Charlotte Amalie high schools in August, is getting high marks from the schools' principals.
The new scheduling system, which took students from seven 50-minute classes a
day to four 90-minute classes a day, is a winner for students and teachers alike, according to a Daily News report.
Sinclair Wilkinson, principal at Eudora Kean, said block scheduling has reduced absenteeism and campus violence.
And "twice as many students are on the honor roll," Wilkinson said, adding 90 percent of teachers like the new system.
Those who don't complain there's not enough material to support the block, he said, adding this reflects a lack of audio-visual equipment and materials to support lessons.
CAHS Principal Jeanette Smith echoed Wilkinson's comments and said "our challenge is getting teachers to effectively utilize the 90-minute time."
CAHS teacher Barbara Lawrence said teachers now have a smaller student load — 65 to 75 students — as opposed to about 130 before.
Lawrence said this gives her a better chance to know the students, and with fewer papers to grade, she can give more work.
Other problems facing the education system, including lack of equipment, supplies and substitute teachers and continuing theft of computers, still plague the system.

Peter Holmberg and his new compatriots on VIM III got off to a good warmup race Monday with a fourth in the very tough IMS Class.
Holmberg said decisions on which side of the course to favor on the second beat decided the outcome. VIM came out best of the group on the "wrong" side to finish fourth for the day.
Chris Rosenberg and B.V.I. Olympic racer Robbie Hirst are sailing in the Melges 24 One Design class. These V.I. sailors, with 60 boats on the starting line, finished a very strong third in the first race of the day. The second race was a disappointment, however, with a finish in the mid-20s.
Last year the V.I. Melges crew said getting into the top 10 pack was a big leap from the rest of the boats, so it remains to be seen if they can crack the barrier again.
Because of the large number of entries at the GMC Yukon Yachting Key West Race Week, not all the boats race in the same area.
This allows for different sizes of the race courses and, as you note from the above report, even different numbers of races to be held from one class to another.