After three days of closely fought battles Bertrand Pacé won three straight races over a problem-plagued Peter Gilmour to become champion of the Frenchman's Reef International Match Race. Virgin Islands skipper Peter Holmberg finished fourth.
Several delays built tension, but the French team, assisted by Carlos Skov of St. Croix, sailed flawlessly from start to finish.
The second race of the finals may have demoralized Gilmour's Nippon Challenge. Nippon's poor spinnaker set gave Pacé the lead. Dropping the sail in the water gave the race away. The only positive note was that the team retrieved the delicate sail in one piece.
In a rematch of last year’s final, Chris Law took two of three races from Holmberg to finish third.
Penalties against the Virgin Islands team cost dearly in the “petit final.” In match racing a penalty requires a time-consuming 270-degree turn. Two penalties in race two gave the closely sailed race to the British.
In the last race, a penalty at the start haunted the Virgin Islands team. Holmberg, the skipper of the Virgin Islands America’s Cup Challenge, and his crew tried to build a big enough lead to overcome the mishap, lead but fell short without enough space to execute the penalty turn. Law passed across the finish a few feet ahead.

Fish and wildlife officials are asking local fishermen to help in a survey of recreational fishing activities.
The survey, which began Dec. 14 and continues through Sept. 31, 1999, is being conducted by the Planning and Natural Resources Department's fish and wildlife division through a grant from the U.S. Interior Department.
Surveyors will take information from fishermen by telephone between 6 and 9 p.m. and by personal interviews.
For information call Sheri Castau at 775-6762.

The gubernatorial transition team has been separated into clusters and is visiting government departments and agencies to talk with commissioners and employees.
The team has made progress in evaluating government departments, team leader Juel Molloy said in the Daily News.
Transition team members should wrap up their investigations by Dec, 14 and submit a preliminary report to Gov-elect Charles Turnbull on Dec. 16.
The final report should be completed by Dec. 20 and be available to the public by Dec. 28, the Daily News reported.
Molloy said the team is trying to get an accurate picture of finances so the new governor. and Lt. Governor Gerard Luz James II can take office with a clear idea of the government’s financial standing.
Some members of the transition team have indicated the financial situation is as bad or worse than expected.

Spanish guitarist Virginia Luque will be the featured artist in the Classics in the Gardens concert at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 30, at Tillett Gardens.
Luque is a native of Cadiz, Spain, and has been playing the classical guitar since age 7. She was a private student of the world-famous Andres Segovia.
This concert will mark the first time a classical guitarist has been featured at Classics in the Gardens.
Her romantic style combined with her beautiful sound and musicianship should make for an outstanding concert.

Underground storage tank owners who do not comply with updated federal laws governing underground storage tanks by Dec. 22 will be fined up to $11,000 a day by the Environmental Protection Administration.
Storage tank owners have had 10 years to comply with federal law, according to an EPA official, and those who do not comply will be fined.
That includes the government, according to Carl Axel Soderberg, the EPA's director of Caribbean environmental protection, according to the V.I. Independent.
There are 400 registered underground storage tanks in the Virgin Islands, said Jim Casey, the local EPA representative. Of the 400 tanks, fewer than 50 percent are in compliance with federal standards, Casey said.
Before the Dec. 22 deadline, tanks must be emptied and remain unused. Thereafter, owners of non-complying tanks have one year to move the tank, sample the area for leaks and complete any cleanup required.
Underground storage tanks are the leading cause of contaminated groundwater, Soderberg said. Contamination takes about 30 years to remedy and costs a lot of money.
"On such a small island with limited water resources, we cannot compromise the little we have," said Grethelyn Piper, executive director of the St. Thomas-St. John Environmental Association.
The contamination of the Tutu Wells aquifer should serve as an example of what can happen and encourage safety practices and compliance techniques, she said.

A former commissioner in the Schneider administration and a St. Croix contractor have been indicted on 10 charges that they conspired to misuse federal funds after Hurricane Marilyn in 1995.
Former Department of Public Works Commissioner Ann Abramson and St. Croix contractor Berthill Thomas were charged by a federal grand jury with crimes including conspiracy, bribery, and making false claims to the United States and federal agents, U.S. attorney James A. Hurd said Thursday in a press release.
The indictment charges that Thomas paid Abramson, then Public Works commissioner, September to October 1995 to give him a contract to repair the Department of Finance’s hurricane-damaged roof.
The defendants are charges in 2 separate counts with giving and receiving
of a bribe in the amount of $6,500., according to Hurd.
Thomas was charged previously with 3 counts of making false statements to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He was charged with submitted inflated invoices for work he performed on the Finance Department roof.
Abramson has been charged with submitting Thomas’ false invoices. They are both charged
with three counts of making false claims in connection with the submission of those invoices.
If convicted, Abramson and Thomas face up to 10 years in prison for each count of bribery, five years in prison for each count of conspiracy and false claims and false statements, and a $250,000 fine for each count.
The indictments follow a probe by FEMA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The Public Services Commission has billed pay phone providers for services the PSC has not provided, officials for two pay phone companies claim.
According to Martin Kuykendall, president of Professional Payphones, and Fermin Osborne, president of Island Pay Phone Systems Inc., the PSC ruled three years ago that pay phone providers should cover the cost of pay phone inspections in the territory, but never notified pay phone operators of the new plan.
Suddenly the providers received bills for three years worth of fees, according to a story in the Virgin Islands Independent.
Osborne and Kuykendall say they were billed between $12,000 and $13,000 in 1997 for fees dating to June 1994. They have not paid, saying the fees are discriminatory and illegal under federal law.
PSC Executive Director Alexander Petersen said the fee was supposed to pay for an inspector to make sure the pay phones meet requirements set by the PSC and the communications industry. Petersen admitted no one has been hired due to lack of money in the PSC budget, according to the Independent.
Despite a federal law mandating all pay phone operators be treated the same, the V.I. Telephone Corp. does not have to pay for its pay phones, according to the Independent story.
Osborn said pay phone operators went to the PSC in 1997 and tried to iron out the problems with access and fees for pay phone operators, but was told the Commission was not able to address any of the issues at that time.
“However, we were told that a request would be submitted for a hearing regarding Vitelco’s not being subject to the same fees and rules," Osborn said.
Osborn said the matter has not been discussed since then.

The winds were so strong they helped injure a sailor, but Chris Law used them to his advantage.
As the second annual Frenchman's Reef Match Races blasted around St. Thomas Harbor on Thursday, defending champion Law, of Britain, finished the first day on top, but Virgin Islander Peter Holmberg was right on his heels.
Law won all three of his sailboat races. Holmberg and two other teams finished the day 2-1.
The wind, which gusted higher than 25 miles per hour, lent dramatic action to the close races. Smoking spray blew off the 40-foot yachts as they beat upwind.
The windward mark was close to the St. Thomas waterfront. Spectators had a close-up view as the racers struggled to remain under control when they launched the colorful spinnaker sails, increasing both sail area and speed for the run back to Road Town, Tortola.
Strong wind contributed to an injury sustained by Terry Hutchinson, a member of racer Paul Cayard's crew. Hutchinson was thrown across Cayard’s boat during close-quarters sailing off Frenchtown. Hutchinson was carried from the scene on a stretcher. He was released from Roy L. Schneider Hospital Thursday evening.
Cayard had to forfeit the race, giving Law his third victory.
Racing continues today, Saturday, and Sunday. For more details see www.matchrace.vi.

Government vehicles are again getting fuel, but the amount is limited.
According to Capt. Al Donastorg, commander of the Norre Gade central police station, his vehicles are being limited to about 10 gallons a day, the Independent reported Thursday.
Donastorg also said his vehicles were gassed up Monday when the motor pool was empty, thanks to residents and businesses who paid for gas.
Donastorg said police vehicles that run around the clock require 30 to 40 gallons a day.
Both Donastorg and Samual Baptiste, acting Property and Procurement commissioner, said this is the fifth or sixth time this year the motor pool has been out of gas because of a lack of money to pay vendors.
The motor pool faces another problem — this one with the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Baptiste said the facility's underground tanks must be removed by Dec. 22 to comply with an EPA order.
"We have something in negotiation right now to ensure that when the 22nd comes around fuel can continue to flow," Baptiste said.
He added that whatever the system for disbursement of fuel, it will still require payment for fuel to flow.

Thanks to the Virgin Islands Alliance for the Mentally Ill, 31 men and women suffering from mental illness forgot their woes for an evening and simply celebrated Christmas.
It has been a difficult holiday season for the residents of Michele Motel, all of whom suffer from some type of mental illness. Just before Thanksgiving they ran out of medications because the government had failed to pay their pharmacy bills Thanks to an emergency donation of psychotropic medicines from local pharmacists, residents were stabilized, according to the Daily News.
But for a moment on Wednesday night life was brighter.
With discounts provided by Kmart and Tropicana, Alliance members bought clothing and perfume for the men and women of Michel Motel — and they partied.
The V.I. Alliance for the Mentally Ill is an offshoot of the national organization that supports the mentally ill and their families. Many members have relatives who suffer from mental illness.
The Alliance also tries to educate the public about the mentally ill and to dispel some of the ignorance and fear surrounding the mentally ill.
"What they really need, is a safe home, clean clothes and a bed to sleep in, "said Alliance member Tany Fuertes.