AT&T will host the next St. Thomas/St. John Chamber Business After Hours at The Point at Villa Olga in Frenchtown.
Members, guests and potential members are welcome. There will be complimentary horsd'o evers and the Chamber $2 bar.

Dec. 10, 2001 – The Joseph Sibilly School steelband, the Sunrays, will have two special seasonal performances. The first one will be from 6 to 7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 14, at the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce Miracle on Main Street, on the Waterfront.
The second will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 22, when they will have a fund-raising activity at the Alvaro de Lugo Post Office across from Emancipation Garden. Parents and students will be selling cakes, cupcakes, tarts, cookies and drinks. Proceeds will go toward the purchase of new steelpans.

Dec. 12, 2001 – The pupils' applause was so loud when Mickey Mouse and then Goofy came bounding out of the Guy Benjamin School office on Wednesday that residents at home on the hillsides above Coral Bay probably heard it.
The school's 88 students were thrilled by the visit, especially when Mickey in his captain's costume and Goofy in a sailor suit made their way through the throng doing high fives.
"I think it's fun because I never saw Mickey and Goofy before," Africa Anthony, 9, said. Kareem Grant, 8, said he was ready to go on a Disney cruise.
After assistant cruise director Schalk Botha led the Disney characters and the students in a rousing rendition of "Jingle Bells," the students and teachers serenaded the visitors with the local favorite "Mama, Bake a Johnny Cake" as the rain poured down outside.
The rain forced everyone to gather with chairs in the breezeway normally used as a cafeteria, rather than outside. While it was a tight fit, no one minded.
The two Disney characters made their visit to this remote school as part of Disney Cruise Lines' outreach program in communities where its ships call. "It's part of our Disney philosophy," said Jay Shannon, Disney's Orlando, Fla.-based cast commitment manager. He said crew members made similar visits to St. Thomas last year, and to St. Croix on the Fourth of July.
Shannon and 16 crew members from the Disney Magic, which was in port on St. Thomas for the day, made the trek out to Coral Bay in Bernard Hendricks' taxi, bringing Disney videos for each of the children.
Janet Turnbull-Krigger, an assistant administrator for the Children, Youth and Familes program at the Human Services Department, organized the event. She said that too often Guy Benjamin School is overlooked because it is so far removed from Cruz Bay. This year, she decided to make the trip. "We're thoroughly pleased," Principal Blanche Bello said.
The Disney team also made a stop at the Human Services Head Start Center in Cruz Bay, and Shannon said Disney sent a check for about $2,000 to the Queen Louise Home for Children on St. Croix as part of its Adopt-An-Agency program. The money distributed to agencies serving children comes from spare change put into a jar by cruise ship staff and matching funds from Disney.

Dec. 12, 2001 – Along with all those mail-order gifts that arrive during the holiday season comes a flurry of styrofoam peanuts.
"I was driving past Paul M. Pearson Gardens last night, and the road was lined with them," Scott Martin said Wednesday. "It looked like snowflakes."
Pretty, perhaps; but the problem is they don't melt.
Martin said people throw cardboard boxes filled with the plastic peanuts into trash bins, the box tops come open, and at the slightest breeze, the peanuts take flight.
For Martin, who owns Caribbean Packaging, the styrofoam pieces are more than a passing concern. He sees them as a litter problem but also as easily recycled material — and offers a solution. He takes in unwanted peanuts and gives them away to anyone who stops by his company at 9B Contant on St. Thomas.
"We leave them right by the door" for people who can use them, he said, adding that styrofoam is one of the easiest materials to re-use .
Caribbean Packaging is located behind the Texaco station near Cyril E. King Airport. It's open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Geraldine Smith, executive director for St. Thomas-St. John of the Anti-Litter and Beautification Commission, said that reusing the peanuts keeps them out of the landfills. That's good, she added, because the styrofoam does not degrade and remains intact indefinitely. "This extends the landfill's life," she said.
Smith also said if people re-use styrofoam peanuts, manufacturers will make less of them, which will save natural resources.
Martin got involved in this aspect of recycling when he joined the Plastic Loose Fill Council. Consumers can call the council's Peanut Hotline at (800) 828-2214 for locations where styrofoam peanuts can be taken. The hotline gets about 5,000 calls a month.
While Caribbean Packaging is the only Virgin Islands company listed on the Peanut Hotline, other local businesses such as mail services and small manufacturers re-use packaging materials. If you've got unwanted peanuts, bubble wrap and boxes you'd like to see recycled, ask around to see if a company will take them.
The Plastic Loose Fill Council was founded in 1991 by major U.S. manufacturers of styrofoam peanuts to promote their re-use. According the council, manufacturers make about 45 million pounds of loose fill a year.
While companies such as Caribbean Packaging provide a way to re-use the peanuts, major mail-order retailers such as Williams-Sonoma include information in their shipments that urges customers to take the material somewhere that it can be re-used. The company's information includes the Peanut Hotline number.

Dec. 12, 2001 – Along with all those mail-order gifts that arrive during the holiday season comes a flurry of styrofoam peanuts.
"I was driving past Paul M. Pearson Gardens last night, and the road was lined with them," Scott Martin said Wednesday. "It looked like snowflakes."
Pretty, perhaps; but the problem is they don't melt.
Martin said people throw cardboard boxes filled with the plastic peanuts into trash bins, the box tops come open, and at the slightest breeze, the peanuts take flight.
For Martin, who owns Caribbean Packaging, the styrofoam pieces are more than a passing concern. He sees them as a litter problem but also as easily recycled material — and offers a solution. He takes in unwanted peanuts and gives them away to anyone who stops by his company at 9B Contant on St. Thomas.
"We leave them right by the door" for people who can use them, he said, adding that styrofoam is one of the easiest materials to re-use .
Caribbean Packaging is located behind the Texaco station near Cyril E. King Airport. It's open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Geraldine Smith, executive director for St. Thomas-St. John of the Anti-Litter and Beautification Commission, said that reusing the peanuts keeps them out of the landfills. That's good, she added, because the styrofoam does not degrade and remains intact indefinitely. "This extends the landfill's life," she said.
Smith also said if people re-use styrofoam peanuts, manufacturers will make less of them, which will save natural resources.
Martin got involved in this aspect of recycling when he joined the Plastic Loose Fill Council. Consumers can call the council's Peanut Hotline at (800) 828-2214 for locations where styrofoam peanuts can be taken. The hotline gets about 5,000 calls a month.
While Caribbean Packaging is the only Virgin Islands company listed on the Peanut Hotline, other local businesses such as mail services and small manufacturers re-use packaging materials. If you've got unwanted peanuts, bubble wrap and boxes you'd like to see recycled, ask around to see if a company will take them.
The Plastic Loose Fill Council was founded in 1991 by major U.S. manufacturers of styrofoam peanuts to promote their re-use. According the council, manufacturers make about 45 million pounds of loose fill a year.
While companies such as Caribbean Packaging provide a way to re-use the peanuts, major mail-order retailers such as Williams-Sonoma include information in their shipments that urges customers to take the material somewhere that it can be re-used. The company's information includes the Peanut Hotline number.

Dec. 12, 2001 – Although it ground away until after 10 p.m. Tuesday, the Senate didn't complete its agenda in the single day that Senate President Almando "Rocky" Liburd had announced that morning as his goal. The lawmakers were back in session again Wednesday to finish several bills special ordered to an already heavy agenda.
The rezoning of 365 acres at Botany Bay and the passage of Sen. Emmett Hansen II's gun-control bill were Tuesday's most prominent accomplishments, but a variety of less-controversial measures also were passed, dealing with topics ranging from the licensing of naturopathic medicine practitioners to election reform to the building of an auto racing drag strip.
Sen. David Jones's bill providing for the licensure of naturopathic physicians came under some fire. Naturopaths use herbs and other natural remedies as alternative medical treatment.
Sen. Carlton Dowe said, "I can support this measure if we allow the medical people to come and testify. If I must err, let me err on the side of caution." Sen. Norma Pickard-Samuel said, "This is one of the hardest bills that will come before the body today. These doctors should come forward from the very beginning, if they had a problem."
Sen. Norman Jn Baptiste spoke for the measure. "This is a fight about money," he said. "I deal strictly with alternative medicines, and it has worked well for me."
Jones, in an effort to appease opponents within the mainstream medical fields, amended his bill to give a medical doctor and a pharmacist seats on the proposed five-member naturopath governing board. The measure passed, 7-6, with Sens. Lorraine Berry, Douglas Canton, Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg, Carlton Dowe, Almando "Rocky" Liburd and Vargrave Richards voting no. Sen. Roosevelt David abstained, and Sen. Adelbert Bryan was absent for the vote.
A bill to transfer property donated by the Harthman family to the Housing, Parks and Recreation Department for automobile racing was approved. Liburd, one of the bill's sponsors, had said earlier that the Harthman family "wants to give back to the community."
"They are willing to give a new road to the government at no cost because they understand the plight of the youngsters who want to race," Liburd had said. "The strip of Brookman Road on which the racing track would be built will be replaced with a new road, from the concrete company all the way down to the wreck shop."
On Nov. 8, the Senate approved the rezoning of 27 acres of land owned by the Harthman family behind Tutu Park Mall from agricultural to commercial, paving the way for its development.
In Tuesday's deliberations, the Senate also approved:
– Sen. Celestino A. White's bill to ban campaigning after 2 a.m. on a primary or general election day. The bill first was amended to allow political parties to select their party leaders by caucus or convention.
– Sen. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen's bill aimed at keeping foreign sales corporations from leaving the Virgin Islands, by lowering the territory's franchise taxes and fees.
Among the many bills up for consideration Wednesday were the Child Protection Act of 2001, which would increase penalties for aggravated rape; amendments to the Uniform Commercial Code to bring it into compliance with that of most of the states; and the transfer of street lighting responsibility from the Public Works Department to the Water and Power Authority.

Dec. 12, 2001 – While some senators were satisfied at the 8-7 vote giving approval to rezone 365 acres in Estate Botany Bay at Tuesday's session of the full Senate, one of St. Thomas's leading environmentalists was not.
"I'm speechless," Helen Gjessing of the League of Women Voters said. "It's shameful. I can hardly think of what to say. I do applaud those who voted against it, because I know they are under a lot of pressure."
The body approved the rezoning via a bill sponsored by Sen. Celestino A. White Sr. that was introduced Tuesday afternoon.
Gjessing, who for 20 years has chaired the LWV Committee on Planning and Environmental Quality, has followed the proposed Botany Bay project since its inception. "It's frightening," she said Wednesday morning. "I'm afraid the economic benefits are outweighing any attempt to handle environmental issues. They are using the same old incomplete studies; even the people who wrote them say they are incomplete."
Economic benefits versus environmental concerns was, indeed, the focus of the intense and sometimes rancorous Senate debate Tuesday.
At a Committee of the Whole meeting last Thursday, where more than 25 people testified, Planning and Natural Resources Department officials had recommended a zoning variance instead of a zoning change. The variance would have allowed Botany Bay Partners to move ahead with plans for a $165 million resort development on the property at the western tip of St. Thomas while binding them to plans conforming to the conditions of the variance — in this case, meaning that they would be sensitive to environmental and cultural issues.
The development plans include a hotel, condominium and time-share units, and homesites. Additional plans for a dock have reportedly been put on hold.
Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg, an outspoken foe of the Botany Bay project, has actively opposed it from the start. Conceding Tuesday evening that the rezoning would probably pass, he chided his colleagues for "blatant, total disregard for all the comments we have heard here." Referring to earlier public hearings attended by many opponents of the project, he said he would not consider rezoning "in any form, including a variance."
Sen. Lorraine Berry said she would go along with the proposed variance. "We need to look at both sides of the aisle," she said. "We need to look at all the opinions voiced by the League of Women Voters and the Nature Conservancy."
Berry said she supports economic development. "We do have to create revenues," she said, "but not at any cost. The variance would be a good middle ground."
Supporting the rezoning, Sen. David Jones said, "I don't believe a variance would actually help. It would be challenged every step of the way and will delay the project. The cost of money fluctuates, so if you encounter several delays and are stuck in litigation, your money isn't the same." He added, "A balance can be struck preserving the cultural artifacts."
Preservationists have said the property, a former residential estate that was sold last year, is a nesting ground for turtles and includes the remains of at least two Taino settlements that could date from 700 A.D. and a sugar factory, as well as the graves of at least a hundred slaves.
Sen. Carlton Dowe, who voted for the project, said that 94 percent of the people on St. Thomas "have never been to Botany Bay," a point made repeatedly by rezoning supporters. "That land doesn't belong to the government of the V.I.," he said. "The previous owners could have signed it over to the government. We are always against development — we were against Carambola, against Frenchman's Reef, against the Virgin Grand and the Ritz-Carlton; yet we want to pay step increases."
Dowe continued, "How can we grow or develop a better quality of life? Backing the zoning would allow more than 200 people to put up homes."
Sen. Adelbert Bryan was vehemently against the rezoning. "Botany Bay is the most pristine part of St. Thomas," he said. "What agreement is there that people have access to the place? What are they promising this community? The pilgrims were thieves, and it can happen right here. If they can take half a continent from the Indians, they can do it here … You have to be very careful when developers make promises."
Sen. Norma Pickard-Samuel, who opposed the rezoning at last Thursday's meeting, maintained her stance. "I may have reluctantly voted for the variance, but not the rezoning," she said. "The development is detrimental as it is proposed right now."
White's bill addresses rezoning the land only. There is no provision for a zoning variance. "It is about economic development and it is about eco-tourism," he said. "I am not going for a variance; Botany Bay needs to be rezoned."
Sen. Norman Jn Baptiste, who as Senate vice president was sitting in the president's chair while Sen. Almando "Rocky" Liburd was away from the chambers, asked his colleagues, "Can't we do some conservation, some preservation?"
Shortly after that, Jn Baptiste called a five-minute recess which lasted about half an hour. He left the floor followed by several other senators, both majority and minority members. When he returned, he immediately ordered a roll call vote on the Botany Bay rezoning bill. It will now go to Gov. Charles W. Turnbull; the governor can sign it into law, veto it or allow it to become law without his signature.

Dec. 12, 2001 — Rumors that Amadeo Francis, director of administration of the V.I. Public Finance Authority, had been terminated by Gov. Charles W. Turnbull were confirmed Tuesday by both parties, although neither would say why.
Reached at his office in Puerto Rico early Tuesday, Francis told the Source "there was some accuracy to the reports" that he had been fired by Turnbull.
"I'm not making any further comments on it," he said. "Any comments can come from the governor's office."
Government House, however, was tight-lipped until about 7 p.m., when a two-paragraph press release was circulated to the media. It stated that Francis's contract for professional services to the Public Finance Authority, dated Jan. 2, 1995, will be terminated on Dec. 31.
Turnbull, who as governor chairs the PFA board of directors, thanked Francis for his services and wished him "every success in all his future endeavors."
Sources familiar with the situation, however, said the termination was not cordial and was because of Francis's refusal to approve a large payment to a V.I. government vendor.
The PFA was created as part of the Government Capital Improvement Act of 1988 as an autonomous instrumentality. The authority is mandated to assist the government in raising capital for essential public projects through bond issuance, investments and loans.
Francis, an economist, is a former V.I. Commerce commissioner. He currently also is vice president of the International Association of Athletics Federations. He competed in track and field at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne.

Dec. 12, 2001 – Phil Robinson was fiddling around with keyboardist "Sunshine" Sally Smith at last weekend's Friday Night Alternative at American Yacht Harbor, and the audience loved it. Who'll sit in with house musician Smith or do their own mini-gig this weekend could be just about anybody among a host of popular performance artists who've taken to stopping by in recent weeks.
Or an FNA newcomer. You never know, but the venue has quite a track record for attracting talent — and that's part of the fun.
Amid all the music of late, in fact, the original intent of the get-togethers — to attract after-hours visitors to The Color of Joy art gallery and boutique — may have gotten short shrift. But owner Corinne Van Rensselaer is bringing it back to the forefront this weekend with a new exhibition on the gallery walls of black and white photography by Alan Klein.
According to Van Rensselaer, Klein — who'll be on hand Friday night — feels that three factors make for a successful photograph: subject matter, composition and technical execution. "Emotional feelings should guide the choice of a subject, and St. Thomas is a wonderful place for his favorites — rocks, sea, sky," she says. "He tries to interpret them in terms of compositional forms, rather than a realistic view."
Klein believes that black-and-white photography is best suited for this, as it forces the photographer to rely on composition as the most important part of impact, she adds. He develops and makes silver prints of all his work, tempering technical execution with "great care and compassion."
At least one other visual artist will be on hand, Friday — another black-and-white photographer, in fact: Greg Miller, whose work adorns the new FNA T-shirt, unveiled last weekend. The shirts feature a "mostly music art" drawing of jazz musicians by Madeleine Meehan on the front and a silhouette of two musicians from a photograph by Miller on the back. The shirts are available in white printed on black or black on white and they sell for $15, with proceeds to support continued Friday Night Alternative programming.
Meehan's swirly style is a much about mood and energy as a documentation of musicianship. Is the saxophonist in the foreground Rusty Vellek or Joe Ramsay? Best way to find out would be to ask her next time she's on the Marlin deck drawing away. (Don't ever call what she does sketching.)
Meantime, a new series of FNA/Color of Joy raffles of artwork has just begun — another innovation to generate funding to help cover FNA expenses. A matted and framed offset lithographic print of a Van Rensselaer painting, "Opera Pink" (the name of a hibiscus), is December's offering. Works by other artists will be offered in months to come. Tickets are $5, and the drawing will be held the last Friday of the month.
For this weekend's gathering, American Yacht Harbor is contributing champagne, and Red Hook Video is supplying a video — "Cats & Dogs" — to entertain the youngsters (and any adults who are so inclined).
As usual, there also will be complimentary wine, cheese and crackers. And, of course, the music. It's all from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, on the deck just outside The Color of Joy, overlooking the American Yacht Harbor docks. To learn more, call 775-4020.

Dec. 11, 2001 – The U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force still want you even if your high school loses its accreditation by the Middle States Association Commission on Secondary Schools.
Published reports have indicated that the U.S. Air Force might turn away would-be enlistees who graduated from unaccredited high schools. However, Air Force Staff Sgt. Cindy Cheek said that as long as students pass an entrance exam and a physical, the Air Force will take them. "A lot of them have already made provisions," she said of local high school seniors.
Steve Mathis, a local Navy counselor, said the Navy also accepts recruits without considering school accreditation, so long as they pass an aptitude test and physical exam.
Hector Rivera, Army education specialist for the San Juan recruiting office, said Army recruits must be high school graduates, but the schools do not have to be regionally accredited. "All public high schools are not accredited," he pointed out, adding that each branch of the military service has its own requirements.
The vast majority of Virgin Islands students who enlist after high school go into the Army, according to Ivanna Eudora Kean High School Principal Sinclair Wilkinson. "It's a tradition," he said, one that developed years ago when the Army was the only military branch with recruiting offices in the Virgin Islands.
While that has changed, Wilkinson said, students still seem inclined more toward the Army than to the other branches of service.
Sgt. Patrick Farrell said that in the St. Thomas-St. John district, about 75 youths enlist in the Army each year. Sgt. Renardo Bastian put the number at 40 to 50 for St. Croix. Cheek estimated that 30 to 50 from the territory join the Air Force. Mathis said the Navy signed up 70 people in the St. Thomas-St. John district last year; no figures could be obtained for St. Croix.
Wilkinson said the Army works hard at recruiting students by visiting the schools. And the V.I. Army National Guard assists by holding family events to introduce students to the Army.
The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools has announced it will remove its accreditation of the territory's three accredited public high schools — Central, Charlotte Amalie and Ivanna Eudora Kean — as of Dec. 31. The territory's fourth public high school, St. Croix's Educational Complex, which opened in the 1990s, has yet to seek accreditation.