May 6, 2002 — Police on Monday identified the latest victim in the rapidly growing number of murders on St. Thomas this year.
Jermaine "Fat Cat" Browne, 18, died after being shot several times late Sunday night. He was dead when police and emergency medical workers arrived at the scene on the slopes of Blackbeard's Hill about 11:30 p.m. Sunday, police spokeswoman Sgt. Annette Raimer said.
The body was found near the top of the stairs leading up from the Seventh-day Street area of Hospital Ground, she said, adding that police have responded to reports of drug dealing near those steps in the past.
Police found eight spent casings from a 9 mm automatic handgun in the area, she said.
Browne, a native of St. Kitts, had been living on Prindsens Gade, Raimer said.
Detectives with the Major Crimes Unit are investigating the murder. It is the ninth homicide on St. Thomas this year; that is more than one murder every two weeks on an island of about 50,000 people. It is the 14th homicide this year territory-wide.
Anyone with information about the shooting death of Jermaine Browne — or any unsolved murder on the island — can call the Major Crimes Unit at 715-5522.

May 6, 2002 – A National Park Service economist will put a price tag on the damage caused by the Tortola-based ferry boat Voyager Eagle when it went aground April 7 on Johnson's Reef.
V.I. National Park Superintendent John King said Monday that the economist inputs damage data into a computer program to come up with how much the ferry company, Native Son Inc., will be assessed for damages. He said the economist and a National Park Service case damage officer will arrive for a two-day stay on Tuesday.
The U.S. Coast Guard is continuing its investigation of the incident, Lt. John Reinert said Monday, but can provide no details until its report is released.
The Voyager Eagle captain, Renel Lee Chalwell, received tickets from the park for negligent operation and striking an underwater feature in park waters but has not yet been to U.S. District Court on the matter, King said.
King said Chalwell, told park rangers that he was going through a heavy squall and had low visibility when the boat hit the reef. "He was in the wrong place. He was in a marked-off area," King said.
According to King, the captain initially told the rangers that he could see the buoy that marked the reef out his port — or left — side window, but later changed his story to indicate the buoy was on the starboard — or right — side of the boat. If the buoy was off his port side, the boat would have been directly over the reef. Buoys mark the outer limits of the reef.
Since Chalwell has been navigating area waters for a long time, King said, he should have known where he was.
He said that his staff has just about finished evaluating the substantial damage to the reef. "They have started restoration work," he said. He said that fragments of elkhorn coral broken off in the accident have been reattached in a transplant procedure.
The 85-foot Voyager Eagle went aground around on its way from St. Thomas to Tortola. The 33 passengers on board were transferred to another Native Son boat, the Oriole, and taken on to Tortola. After extensive efforts to remove the Voyager Eagle from the reef proved fruitless, heavy seas pushed the vessel seaward and off the reef the next day. The Oriole, which had unsuccessfully tried to pull the Voyager Eagle off the reef, towed the boat home to Tortola.
King said the accident helps to make a case for the park's proposal in its new Vessel Management Plan to make commercial traffic go outside of Johnson's Reef and Whistling Cay. The plan is now under discussion.
Johnson's Reef is located off St. John's North Shore near Trunk Bay.

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May 6, 2002 – A group of nine Cuban immigrants appeared in federal court Monday on charges that they entered the Virgin Islands carrying false Spanish passports.
The four women and five men were brought to court in shackles to be advised of their rights. If convicted of carrying false passports, they could face up to 10 years in prison, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hugh P. Mabe said.
Even if they are convicted, they would be eligible to gain legal residency in the United States after they serve their sentences, said Ivan Ortiz, a spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Undocumented Cuban immigrants are sent back to Cuba if they are intercepted at sea, but they may remain in the United States if they make it to land, he said.
The nine Cubans arrived Sunday on St. Thomas aboard a ferry from Tortola, according to court papers. INS inspectors found that their Spanish passports did not have security markings when tested under an ultraviolet light, INS Inspector Francisco Teran said.
The photos in the passports also appeared to have been changed, he stated in a court affidavit.
When questioned, all of the immigrants said they were from Cuba and requested political asylum, Teran said. It was unclear how they arrived in the British Virgin Islands.
The nine people make up the second group of undocumented Cuban immigrants to arrive in the U.S. Virgin Islands in the past month. Until recently it was unusual to see Cuban immigrants in the territory, although undocumented immigrants from many other nations have made the Virgin Islands a common destination, Ortiz said.
The defendants were identified in court papers as Miriam Lavado, Jorge Busot, Teresa Cuni, Yoandra Velazquez, Magalis Rios, Joel Perez, Fernando Lavado, Rodobaldo Rodriguez and Bernardo Bermudez.
Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Resnick, who presided over the hearing by telephone, ordered them to be detained pending a court hearing Wednesday.

May 6, 2002 – Australia's Jarrod Brauer, a 27-year-old triathlete in his third year of professional competition, was the men's winner, and Baltimore's Joanna Zeiger nailed down her third win in a row Sunday at the 14th annual St. Croix triathlon, now in its second year as the St. Croix Half Ironman.
Although the event drew the biggest turnout ever, it wasn't one for the books as far as times. Under sunny skies, Brauer completed the 1.24-mile swim, 56-mile bike race and 13.1-mile run in a total of 4:11:35, well shy of last year's 4:07 set by Ryan Bolten. Zeiger finished in 4:43:02, after crossing the finish line in 4:38:53 a year ago.
Among the men, Oscar Galindez of Argentina finished just 11 seconds off Brauer's pace, in 4:11:46, and Denmark's Peter Sandvang was third in 4:13:47. It was a good day for the Aussies, who took three of the top 10 positions, with Richie Cunningham in 4th and Craig Alexander in 8th.
For the women, Sue Bartholomew Williams of the United States was second at 4:46:50, followed by the defending Ironman World Champion, Switzerland's Natascha Badmann, in third at 4:49:38.
A total of 18 men and 13 women competed in the professional division.
Among 11 Virgin Islanders taking part in the Half Ironman event, Kent Bradbury of St. Croix, the winner of last month's West Is Best triathlon on the island, had the fastest finish, 5:44:22. In second spot among the locals was Sue Brown of St. Croix, in 6:06:27. Placing third and fourth, respectively, were the St. John husband and wife duo of Jeff Miller, at 6:12:09 and Jude Woodcock, at 6:16:27. In order after them were Todd Newman, John Riggs, Leopold Fredericks, Jamie Bate, Robert Bartle, Mario Graham and Lorraine Durand, all of St. Croix.
The top 30 finishers overall won berths in the 2002 Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, in October. Ten others qualified for the Ironman USA Lake Placid and 10 more, for the Subaru Ironman Canada.
Virgin Islanders did themselves proud in the shorter St. Croix Sprint competition that was held simultaneously with the Half Ironman Sunday. The components were a 750-meter swim, 12.5-mile bike race and 3.1-mile run.
Among the men, Kevin Hensley of St. Croix was the winner, followed by David Velez and Giaomatai Rivera, both from Puerto Rico. Seven other locals also finished in the top 20 — Bob Halk (St. Croix) in 8th place, Morgan Locke (St. Croix) 10th, Bob Guilford (St. Croix) 12th, Andrew Villamagna (St. Croix) 13th, Aaron Hutchins (St. Croix) 14th, Mike Klein (St. Croix) 16th, and Peter Alter (St. John) 17th.
Among the women, St. Croix's Elizabeth Armstrong placed fourth, following Juli Watkins of Overland Park, Kansas; Erika Binger of Polson, Montana; and Megan Madion of Traverse City, Michigan. In 10th place was Victoria Robinson of Tortola and in 11th was Jane Rollins of St. John. Patty Patton of St. Croix was 15th and Janelle Zachman of St. Thomas was 16th.
For an in-depth article on Sunday's top triathlon finishers, visit the Inside Triathlon.com web site.

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May 6, 2002 – A National Park Service economist will put a price tag on the damage caused by the Tortola-based ferry boat Voyager Eagle when it went aground April 7 on Johnson's Reef.
V.I. National Park Superintendent John King said Monday that the economist inputs damage data into a computer program to come up with how much the ferry company, Native Son Inc., will be assessed for damages. He said the economist and a National Park Service case damage officer will arrive for a two-day stay on Tuesday.
The U.S. Coast Guard is continuing its investigation of the incident, Lt. John Reinert said Monday, but can provide no details until its report is released.
The Voyager Eagle captain, Renel Lee Chalwell, received tickets from the park for negligent operation and striking an underwater feature in park waters but has not yet been to U.S. District Court on the matter, King said.
King said Chalwell, told park rangers that he was going through a heavy squall and had low visibility when the boat hit the reef. "He was in the wrong place. He was in a marked-off area," King said.
According to King, the captain initially told the rangers that he could see the buoy that marked the reef out his port — or left — side window, but later changed his story to indicate the buoy was on the starboard — or right — side of the boat. If the buoy was off his port side, the boat would have been directly over the reef. Buoys mark the outer limits of the reef.
Since Chalwell has been navigating area waters for a long time, King said, he should have known where he was.
He said that his staff has just about finished evaluating the substantial damage to the reef. "They have started restoration work," he said. He said that fragments of elkhorn coral broken off in the accident have been reattached in a transplant procedure.
The 85-foot Voyager Eagle went aground around on its way from St. Thomas to Tortola. The 33 passengers on board were transferred to another Native Son boat, the Oriole, and taken on to Tortola. After extensive efforts to remove the Voyager Eagle from the reef proved fruitless, heavy seas pushed the vessel seaward and off the reef the next day. The Oriole, which had unsuccessfully tried to pull the Voyager Eagle off the reef, towed the boat home to Tortola.
King said the accident helps to make a case for the park's proposal in its new Vessel Management Plan to make commercial traffic go outside of Johnson's Reef and Whistling Cay. The plan is now under discussion.
Johnson's Reef is located off St. John's North Shore near Trunk Bay.

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May 6, 2002 – Improvements are in the wind for the intersection of Centerline Road and Route 104 — the "V" at the Texaco gas station in Cruz Bay.
A government official who requested anonymity said that the government is considering several options to improve traffic flow at the area. The plan with the most support involves constructing a road circle, also called a roundabout, at the intersection. This would allow the big trucks that have the most difficulty making the turn from Centerline onto Route 104 to flow into the intersection rather than having to back and fill to make the turn.
Traffic congestion, already a chronic problem, is expected to increase when the long-awaited Enighed Pond commercial port opens. Construction work on that project is expected to start this year.
To make way for the circle, the Texaco station, the bandstand at the eastern end of the Winston Wells Ballfield, and some of the Clarice Thomas Annex's front yard will have to be removed. The annex houses the lower grades of Julius E. Sprauve School.
Another option is to connect the road that passes between the fire station and the Motor Vehicle Bureau facility to the Boulon Center Road by going directly through the Texaco station. This would cut off the "V" part of the gas station's property, which would make it impossible for the station to stay in business.
The government official said a third option is to do nothing, which would not solve any traffic problems.
The official said the plan is the result of a traffic study done about eight months ago. The official expects public hearings on the subject to be held in late July.
The improvement will be funded by the Federal Highway Administration because all of the roads in question, including the one that runs from Enighed Pond to the intersection, are federal arteries. Improvements to the Enighed Pond road, which is officially Route 105, will be necessary to facilitate traffic to the commercial port and are to be undertaken this year.
No one could be reached at the FHA office for comment.
Robert O'Connor Jr., who owns the Texaco station but not the property on which it stands, said he would be willing to move his gas station to another location. "I know something has to happen for the good of the community," he said. However, he said Texaco would have to be compensated for the property.
Raymond Samuels, general manager of Texaco Caribbean, said that while he had heard rumors about the traffic-flow improvement project, he had not received word from any officials. Therefore, he said he would not comment on the matter.
The government official said that if a property owner should be unwilling to cooperate, the government can condemn the property. In such a case, the owner would receive the current market value for the property.

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May 6, 2002 – In the last two weeks, three of the highest-profile public officials in the territory have made headlines by the announcement of their immediate or imminent departure. For only one, Port Authority executive director Gordon Finch, was it a self-made decision.
On April 30, the executive director of the Water and Power Authority, Joseph R. Thomas Jr., tendered his resignation one year into his two-year contract, in what was announced as an "amicable separation" from the WAPA board.
Later that same day, Education Commissioner Ruby Simmonds was summarily fired by Gov. Charles W. Turnbull after he got word that the territory's appeal of the loss of accreditation for three of its four high schools had been denied.
On April 23, VIPA's Finch surprised his board with the announcement that he would be stepping down at the end of this year.
"We tried to talk him out of it," board member Iver Stridiron, the attorney general, said afterward.
Thomas's departure was widely anticipated and Simmonds's took few by surprise. Finch's wasn't expected, and yet there was some handwriting on the wall.
With 11 years on the job, Finch is retiring, not resigning. In an interview, he declined to comment on the specific reasons that led him to decide to leave now. "There are some that are personal and some not personal," he said. But he intimated that politics had a fair amount to do with it.
When Finch became executive director of the Port Authority in September of 1991, he brought both government and business experience to the position. He had served as Public Works commissioner under Gov. Cyril E. King in 1974-79 and was an engineering consultant in private practice on St. Thomas for the 12 years after that.
He has headed the Port Authority's day-to-day management through three administrations. That of Gov. Alexander A. Farrelly, who brought him aboard, was "without a doubt the most supportive," he said.
The most significant change from one administration to the next has been "change in the makeup of the board and the support you get from the board," he said. "I have seen the level of support for the executive director change significantly from one administration to the next, significantly affecting the Port Authority and the operations of it."
The board is, for better or worse, a political animal. Its chair by law is the Tourism commissioner, a political appointee of whom no further qualifications are required. In the first two years of the Turnbull administration, a series of individuals held the position in an acting capacity; the governor last year named Pamela Richards permanently to the post.
There also are three other ex-officio members of the VIPA board — the attorney general, the Public Works commissioner and the Small Business Development Agency director.
In Finch's view, "the Tourism commissioner is the one position in the government that should be an ex-officio member of the Port Authority board. I do not, however, believe the head of the Tourism Department should be named by law as chair of the board. I believe the chair and the vice chair should be elected by the board."
That's how it works on most of the government's independent authorities and other bodies. The two district boards of the Hospitals and Health Facilities Corp. elect their own chairs; so do the boards of WAPA and the Economic Development Authority. The West Indian Co. board itself is appointed by the Public Finance Authority, which recommends a chair, but the WICO board has final say. The PFA's own five-member board has the governor as ex-officio chair and two other ex-officio members — the Finance commissioner and the director of the Office of Management and Budget. The Housing Authority has the Housing, Parks and Recreation commissioner as its ex-officio chair.
Finch's views in this regard are not prejudiced by painful conflict with or within his board. On the contrary, all indications have been that the board and the executive director have had a mutually supportive — and productive — relationship.
Paying police for cruise ship security
Finch announced his retirement plans on the morning of April 23. Later that day, Carnival Cruise Lines officials confirmed that they were taking St. Croix off the map for their cruise itineraries.
"I think the government of the Virgin Islands was given signs and substantial notices that Carnival was concerned about the crime problem," Finch said in the interview. "I'd been aware of their concerns since 1999, and other government officials had been as well."
But the Port Authority took the unique step of doing something to address the concerns: "When we were told the police couldn't pay overtime, I went to bat and got the board to approve those expenses," Finch said. "The commissioner of Police said he had no funds. I'm not blaming the police or the police commissioner."
The upshot: "From January, the board agreed to pay the overtime for the police in their function on St. Croix of providing extra protection on cruise ship days, including Harbour Nights. That began on Jan. 2, to continue through the end of season in May."
As for what else could or should have been done, Finch said, "The government could have been a little more proactive in making the problem publicly known and engendering support from the community in terms of being the watchdogs of crime. What they did was too little too late."
Clashes over Crown Bay
The biggest bone of contention for Finch and the VIPA board in the current administration has been the development of Crown Bay. Beginning in 1999, over the course of more than two years, a public-private task force worked with cruise industry representatives to produce a Long-Term Agreement with the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association and its 13 member lines aimed at increasing the volume of passengers visiting the territory. One provision of the agreement, signed by the governor last fall, called for VIPA to select a cruise line or lines "to undertake seaside and land-based projects that would commit to the incremental passenger flow" that would enable VIPA to finance the expansion of the Crown Bay dock.
Last August, VIPA signed a letter of intent with Carnival Corp. and Royal Caribbean Cruises for the two corporate entities to invest $31 million in expanding the dock and developing an adjacent shopping area. The plan prompted loud opposition from the business community, which feared the loss of customers downtown and at Havensight Mall, and from WICO, which saw it as giving the two cruise lines control of the harbor.
In March, Turnbull, Finch and WICO chief executive Edward Thomas all were in Miami Beach attending the annual Seatrade convention. From there, the governor issued a press release to the V.I. media stating that he would "instruct" the Port Authority to call off the deal with Carnival and Royal Caribbean. The release also said he had "instructed" WICO and VIPA "to work together on the rapid expansion and development of the Crown Bay port facilities in order to accommodate the growing needs of the cruise lines."
Finch said he learned indirectly of the governor's intent to take that action. "I first became aware the Friday before," he said, when Turnbull "met with my board on St. Thomas and basically indicated to them that he had made that decision." He added, "I was not at the board meeting … and I was not invited to the meeting."
Capital improvement projects
Since the governor's announcement, the VIPA board has voted not to work jointly with WICO on developing Crown Bay but to proceed in doing so on its own. Finch said the board's decision doesn't necessarily mean the matter has been laid to rest. "There will be melee all the way up to the construction and beyond," he said. "But the pr
oject has the full support of the Port Authority, and we are going to be in construction by fall of this year. The dock and the land site business will be in operation by the start of the next cruise ship year — by October 2003."
He anticipates "huge, simultaneous capital improvement projects under way" at three sites next year. "My hope is that just about the same time we are going forward with the Crown Bay projects, we have contracts to do the Enighed and Red Hook projects," he said.
For the Enighed commercial port on St. John and the Red Hook marine terminal on St. Thomas, "We fully expect approval to be secured from the Federal Highway Administration within a month," he said. "That would be the signal for the government of the Virgin Islands to go to the bond market to sell the GARVEE bonds," which rely on guaranteed federal highway funds earmarked for the territory in years to come. "Our agreement with the government is that once those bonds are sold, we can go to seek bids — and have assurance that the project will be funded independent of whether the government will be able to fund the project through GARVEE bonds."
As for St. Croix, he said the timeline for implementing recommendations of an economic viability study that VIPA commissioned is uncertain. "The huge investment in Crown Bay has clouded the picture in terms of how much of that initiative is going to be moving forward in the short term," he said. "The next executive director will make the determination of when to go to that initiative."
VIPA's biggest priority for St. Croix in terms of its potential economic effect, he said, "is the development of a commercial park." He said the project won't interface with the research and technology park to be developed by the University of the Virgin Islands on St. Croix. "Unfortunately, no," he said. "We had hoped that it might, but they are independent initiatives."
Although the big projects for the immediate future are on St. Thomas and St. John, Finch said, "we have spent an awful lot of money on St. Croix in my tenure — $16 million on expansion of the airport runway, and next, $3.5 million to construct a new air traffic-control tower."
Looking back, and ahead
Finch said the two things he's proudest of in his 11 years as Port Authority executive director are the establishment of financial viability and the development of VIPA's infrastructure.
As for things he would like to see done differently, with no hint of humor he said he would "change the law that allows for another public agency to own a public dock." That conflicting authority of VIPA and WICO is "good for no one, including the two agencies," he said.
He also would "ask that the Legislature change few things in the law that established the Port Authority, to include the composition of the board." In general, "there are a number of things in Port Authority operations that still need fine tuning," he added. "I would put a little more emphasis on those things I would have control over."
He offered no suggestion as to a successor. "I gave early notice so they can make that determination," he said, referring to the VIPA board. He added that "there is expertise within" the Port Authority.
A St. Croix resident, Finch has been commuting to St. Thomas all these years, usually four days a week, keeping St. Croix as his Friday office day. While he said that the idea of fast-ferry service between the two islands "is viable, even for commuting employees," he added that for him, "The only way to go is to fly."
Finch said he finalized his decision to leave the week before the April 23 board meeting at which he announced his intention. "I'm going to be doing a little bit of consulting, but I'm looking at a lot of changes, at a new course of my life," he said. "I'm going to do the things that I want to do. That's as far as my planning has gone."

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May 6, 2002 – Australia's Jarrod Brauer, a 27-year-old triathlete in his third year of professional competition, was the men's winner, and Baltimore's Joanna Zeiger nailed down her third win in a row Sunday at the 14th annual St. Croix triathlon, now in its second year as the St. Croix Half Ironman.
Although the event drew the biggest turnout ever, it wasn't one for the books as far as times. Under sunny skies, Brauer completed the 1.24-mile swim, 56-mile bike race and 13.1-mile run in a total of 4:11:35, well shy of last year's 4:07 set by Ryan Bolten. Zeiger finished in 4:43:02, after crossing the finish line in 4:38:53 a year ago.
Among the men, Oscar Galindez of Argentina finished just 11 seconds off Brauer's pace, in 4:11:46, and Denmark's Peter Sandvang was third in 4:13:47. It was a good day for the Aussies, who took three of the top 10 positions, with Richie Cunningham in 4th and Craig Alexander in 8th.
For the women, Sue Bartholomew Williams of the United States was second at 4:46:50, followed by the defending Ironman World Champion, Switzerland's Natascha Badmann, in third at 4:49:38.
A total of 18 men and 13 women competed in the professional division.
Among 11 Virgin Islanders taking part in the Half Ironman event, Kent Bradbury of St. Croix, the winner of last month's West Is Best triathlon on the island, had the fastest finish, 5:44:22. In second spot among the locals was Sue Brown of St. Croix, in 6:06:27. Placing third and fourth, respectively, were the St. John husband and wife duo of Jeff Miller, at 6:12:09 and Jude Woodcock, at 6:16:27. In order after them were Todd Newman, John Riggs, Leopold Fredericks, Jamie Bate, Robert Bartle, Mario Graham and Lorraine Durand, all of St. Croix.
The top 30 finishers overall won berths in the 2002 Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, in October. Ten others qualified for the Ironman USA Lake Placid and 10 more, for the Subaru Ironman Canada.
Virgin Islanders did themselves proud in the shorter St. Croix Sprint competition that was held simultaneously with the Half Ironman Sunday. The components were a 750-meter swim, 12.5-mile bike race and 3.1-mile run.
Among the men, Kevin Hensley of St. Croix was the winner, followed by David Velez and Giaomatai Rivera, both from Puerto Rico. Seven other locals also finished in the top 20 — Bob Halk (St. Croix) in 8th place, Morgan Locke (St. Croix) 10th, Bob Guilford (St. Croix) 12th, Andrew Villamagna (St. Croix) 13th, Aaron Hutchins (St. Croix) 14th, Mike Klein (St. Croix) 16th, and Peter Alter (St. John) 17th.
Among the women, St. Croix's Elizabeth Armstrong placed fourth, following Juli Watkins of Overland Park, Kansas; Erika Binger of Polson, Montana; and Megan Madion of Traverse City, Michigan. In 10th place was Victoria Robinson of Tortola and in 11th was Jane Rollins of St. John. Patty Patton of St. Croix was 15th and Janelle Zachman of St. Thomas was 16th.
For an in-depth article on Sunday's top triathlon finishers, visit the Inside Triathlon.com web site.

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May 6, 2002 – In the last two weeks, three of the highest-profile public officials in the territory have made headlines by the announcement of their immediate or imminent departure. For only one, Port Authority executive director Gordon Finch, was it a self-made decision.
On April 30, the executive director of the Water and Power Authority, Joseph R. Thomas Jr., tendered his resignation one year into his two-year contract, in what was announced as an "amicable separation" from the WAPA board.
Later that same day, Education Commissioner Ruby Simmonds was summarily fired by Gov. Charles W. Turnbull after he got word that the territory's appeal of the loss of accreditation for three of its four high schools had been denied.
On April 23, VIPA's Finch surprised his board with the announcement that he would be stepping down at the end of this year.
"We tried to talk him out of it," board member Iver Stridiron, the attorney general, said afterward.
Thomas's departure was widely anticipated and Simmonds's took few by surprise. Finch's wasn't expected, and yet there was some handwriting on the wall.
With 11 years on the job, Finch is retiring, not resigning. In an interview, he declined to comment on the specific reasons that led him to decide to leave now. "There are some that are personal and some not personal," he said. But he intimated that politics had a fair amount to do with it.
When Finch became executive director of the Port Authority in September of 1991, he brought both government and business experience to the position. He had served as Public Works commissioner under Gov. Cyril E. King in 1974-79 and was an engineering consultant in private practice on St. Thomas for the 12 years after that.
He has headed the Port Authority's day-to-day management through three administrations. That of Gov. Alexander A. Farrelly, who brought him aboard, was "without a doubt the most supportive," he said.
The most significant change from one administration to the next has been "change in the makeup of the board and the support you get from the board," he said. "I have seen the level of support for the executive director change significantly from one administration to the next, significantly affecting the Port Authority and the operations of it."
The board is, for better or worse, a political animal. Its chair by law is the Tourism commissioner, a political appointee of whom no further qualifications are required. In the first two years of the Turnbull administration, a series of individuals held the position in an acting capacity; the governor last year named Pamela Richards permanently to the post.
There also are three other ex-officio members of the VIPA board — the attorney general, the Public Works commissioner and the Small Business Development Agency director.
In Finch's view, "the Tourism commissioner is the one position in the government that should be an ex-officio member of the Port Authority board. I do not, however, believe the head of the Tourism Department should be named by law as chair of the board. I believe the chair and the vice chair should be elected by the board."
That's how it works on most of the government's independent authorities and other bodies. The two district boards of the Hospitals and Health Facilities Corp. elect their own chairs; so do the boards of WAPA and the Economic Development Authority. The West Indian Co. board itself is appointed by the Public Finance Authority, which recommends a chair, but the WICO board has final say. The PFA's own five-member board has the governor as ex-officio chair and two other ex-officio members — the Finance commissioner and the director of the Office of Management and Budget. The Housing Authority has the Housing, Parks and Recreation commissioner as its ex-officio chair.
Finch's views in this regard are not prejudiced by painful conflict with or within his board. On the contrary, all indications have been that the board and the executive director have had a mutually supportive — and productive — relationship.
Paying police for cruise ship security
Finch announced his retirement plans on the morning of April 23. Later that day, Carnival Cruise Lines officials confirmed that they were taking St. Croix off the map for their cruise itineraries.
"I think the government of the Virgin Islands was given signs and substantial notices that Carnival was concerned about the crime problem," Finch said in the interview. "I'd been aware of their concerns since 1999, and other government officials had been as well."
But the Port Authority took the unique step of doing something to address the concerns: "When we were told the police couldn't pay overtime, I went to bat and got the board to approve those expenses," Finch said. "The commissioner of Police said he had no funds. I'm not blaming the police or the police commissioner."
The upshot: "From January, the board agreed to pay the overtime for the police in their function on St. Croix of providing extra protection on cruise ship days, including Harbour Nights. That began on Jan. 2, to continue through the end of season in May."
As for what else could or should have been done, Finch said, "The government could have been a little more proactive in making the problem publicly known and engendering support from the community in terms of being the watchdogs of crime. What they did was too little too late."
Clashes over Crown Bay
The biggest bone of contention for Finch and the VIPA board in the current administration has been the development of Crown Bay. Beginning in 1999, over the course of more than two years, a public-private task force worked with cruise industry representatives to produce a Long-Term Agreement with the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association and its 13 member lines aimed at increasing the volume of passengers visiting the territory. One provision of the agreement, signed by the governor last fall, called for VIPA to select a cruise line or lines "to undertake seaside and land-based projects that would commit to the incremental passenger flow" that would enable VIPA to finance the expansion of the Crown Bay dock.
Last August, VIPA signed a letter of intent with Carnival Corp. and Royal Caribbean Cruises for the two corporate entities to invest $31 million in expanding the dock and developing an adjacent shopping area. The plan prompted loud opposition from the business community, which feared the loss of customers downtown and at Havensight Mall, and from WICO, which saw it as giving the two cruise lines control of the harbor.
In March, Turnbull, Finch and WICO chief executive Edward Thomas all were in Miami Beach attending the annual Seatrade convention. From there, the governor issued a press release to the V.I. media stating that he would "instruct" the Port Authority to call off the deal with Carnival and Royal Caribbean. The release also said he had "instructed" WICO and VIPA "to work together on the rapid expansion and development of the Crown Bay port facilities in order to accommodate the growing needs of the cruise lines."
Finch said he learned indirectly of the governor's intent to take that action. "I first became aware the Friday before," he said, when Turnbull "met with my board on St. Thomas and basically indicated to them that he had made that decision." He added, "I was not at the board meeting … and I was not invited to the meeting."
Capital improvement projects
Since the governor's announcement, the VIPA board has voted not to work jointly with WICO on developing Crown Bay but to proceed in doing so on its own. Finch said the board's decision doesn't necessarily mean the matter has been laid to rest. "There will be melee all the way up to the construction and beyond," he said. "But the pr
oject has the full support of the Port Authority, and we are going to be in construction by fall of this year. The dock and the land site business will be in operation by the start of the next cruise ship year — by October 2003."
He anticipates "huge, simultaneous capital improvement projects under way" at three sites next year. "My hope is that just about the same time we are going forward with the Crown Bay projects, we have contracts to do the Enighed and Red Hook projects," he said.
For the Enighed commercial port on St. John and the Red Hook marine terminal on St. Thomas, "We fully expect approval to be secured from the Federal Highway Administration within a month," he said. "That would be the signal for the government of the Virgin Islands to go to the bond market to sell the GARVEE bonds," which rely on guaranteed federal highway funds earmarked for the territory in years to come. "Our agreement with the government is that once those bonds are sold, we can go to seek bids — and have assurance that the project will be funded independent of whether the government will be able to fund the project through GARVEE bonds."
As for St. Croix, he said the timeline for implementing recommendations of an economic viability study that VIPA commissioned is uncertain. "The huge investment in Crown Bay has clouded the picture in terms of how much of that initiative is going to be moving forward in the short term," he said. "The next executive director will make the determination of when to go to that initiative."
VIPA's biggest priority for St. Croix in terms of its potential economic effect, he said, "is the development of a commercial park." He said the project won't interface with the research and technology park to be developed by the University of the Virgin Islands on St. Croix. "Unfortunately, no," he said. "We had hoped that it might, but they are independent initiatives."
Although the big projects for the immediate future are on St. Thomas and St. John, Finch said, "we have spent an awful lot of money on St. Croix in my tenure — $16 million on expansion of the airport runway, and next, $3.5 million to construct a new air traffic-control tower."
Looking back, and ahead
Finch said the two things he's proudest of in his 11 years as Port Authority executive director are the establishment of financial viability and the development of VIPA's infrastructure.
As for things he would like to see done differently, with no hint of humor he said he would "change the law that allows for another public agency to own a public dock." That conflicting authority of VIPA and WICO is "good for no one, including the two agencies," he said.
He also would "ask that the Legislature change few things in the law that established the Port Authority, to include the composition of the board." In general, "there are a number of things in Port Authority operations that still need fine tuning," he added. "I would put a little more emphasis on those things I would have control over."
He offered no suggestion as to a successor. "I gave early notice so they can make that determination," he said, referring to the VIPA board. He added that "there is expertise within" the Port Authority.
A St. Croix resident, Finch has been commuting to St. Thomas all these years, usually four days a week, keeping St. Croix as his Friday office day. While he said that the idea of fast-ferry service between the two islands "is viable, even for commuting employees," he added that for him, "The only way to go is to fly."
Finch said he finalized his decision to leave the week before the April 23 board meeting at which he announced his intention. "I'm going to be doing a little bit of consulting, but I'm looking at a lot of changes, at a new course of my life," he said. "I'm going to do the things that I want to do. That's as far as my planning has gone."

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May 6, 2002 – Former drug czar Wayne Chinnery began his trial in federal court Monday on charges that he perjured himself by lying on the witness stand during his previous trial on assault charges.
Chinnery, the territory's former drug policy advisor and head of the Narcotics Strike Force, is accused of four counts of making false statements during that trial in October last year. He has admitted he lied on the witness stand about his education and professional credentials, but defense attorney George Hodge on Monday argued that those lies were not material to the outcome of the previous trial, in which Chinnery was acquitted of all charges.
"We concede it was false testimony, but it had nothing to do with the charges," Hodge told the jurors during his opening statement. "He was not on trial about his qualifications."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Jenkins told jurors that during the previous trial – in which Chinnery was charged with violating a woman's civil rights and third-degree assault in connection with the woman's statement that he beat her with his pistol during a narcotics sweep in May 2000 in Hospital Ground – Chinnery took the stand and testified falsely about several aspects of his past.
Chinnery told the jurors that he graduated from Hofstra University, but records show that he was dismissed from the university for poor academic standing, Jenkins said. Chinnery also testified at trial that he received a law degree from Hofstra, that he was an attorney and that he worked for law firms in the Virgin Islands; none of that was true, Jenkins said.
Jenkins argued that jurors at the previous trial used those false statements as part of their decision-making process of whether to believe Chinnery's testimony about the assault charges. Chinnery testified at the time that he was justified in using some force on the drug sweep, and that his actions did not constitute an assault or violation of anyone's civil rights.
Jenkins noted that Chinnery had no law-enforcement experience, and that he was only eligible to hold the position as drug policy advisor and director of the Narcotics Strike Force – a combination of positions commonly known as the territory's "drug czar" – because he claimed to have a college education.
Chinnery also made false claims about being an attorney during his run for senator in 2000, Jenkins said, adding that he would call witnesses to testify that Chinnery had failed his Virgin Islands Bar exam.
Gov. Charles Turnbull dismissed Chinnery from his position as drug czar in 2000, shortly after Chinnery was charged with domestic assault in a separate case. Those charges were later dismissed after the victim testified that Chinnery had not hit her.