Dear Source,
Albert Lincoln, Secretary-General of the Baha'i International Community will represent the Baha'is of the world at the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders. The organizers of this World Peace have asked religious communities throughout the world to join in a Day of Prayer for World Peace on Monday, Aug. 28, the opening day of the summit.
Some of the basic principles of the Baha'i Faith are the oneness of God, the oneness of mankind and oneness of religion. World peace and the elimination of all prejudice are essential to the progress and development of communities through out the world.
In the spirit of mutual respect, religious cooperation and understanding the Baha'is of the Virgin Islands encourage all faith communities to say prayers for world peace on Monday, Aug. 28, (the opening day of the summit).
Faith communities are also encouraged to say prayers for world peace during their religious activities held over the weekend of Aug. 26 and 27.
The public is also invited to prayers for world peace at the monthly devotional meeting of the Baha'is of St. Thomas on Sunday, Aug. 27 at the National Baha'i Center at 129 Contant at 10 a.m.
For more information on the Baha'i Faith call 774-3648 or email: nsavi@islands.vi or visit the website at www.baha'i.org.
Tanya Ward Benjamin
National Office of Public Information
Baha'is of the Virgin Islands.

There will be a Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Aug. 28-31. The organizers of the summit have asked faith communities to pray for world peace on Monday, Aug. 28, the opening day of the summit. The Baha'i community of the Virgin Islands encourages individuals and faith communities to pray for world peace on Aug. 28 and at religious activities over this weekend (Aug. 26 and 27).
The public is also invited to prayers for world peace at the monthly devotional meeting of the Baha'is of St. Thomas on Sunday, Aug. 27 at the National Baha'i Center at 129 Contant at 10 a.m.
For more information on the Baha'i Faith call 774-3648 or email: nsavi@islands.vi or visit the website at www.baha'i.org.

Police on St. Croix are searching for a tourist who last spoke to his family on Aug. 12.
According to friends and family, Dr. David D. Voss, a chiropractor from Clarksville, Ark., arrived alone on St. Croix on Aug. 11 for a week-long scuba diving trip. After going diving at Cane Bay on Aug. 12, he spoke to his wife by phone, saying he would probably not call again unless it was an emergency and would see the family upon his return home Aug. 19.
Voss apparently rented scuba gear on Aug. 13 for the week and was scheduled to check out of the Carambola Beach Resort on Aug. 18. However, he never showed up in Arkansas.
When authorities searched his room at Carambola, they found his personal belongings; his car was parked on the premises. Police, the U.S. Coast Guard and divers searched the Cane Bay area for Voss over the weekend but found no trace of the father of two children.
Anyone with information should call the V.I. Police Department at 778-2211 or the following numbers in Arkansas: 501-754-7678, 501-754-2500, 501-754-1098, 501-754-3036 or 501-754-2200.

The VI Housing Authority Board of Commissioners has rescheduled the annual meeting from Aug. 23, to 9:30 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 25, in the Central Offices of the Authority in Aureo Diaz Heights, St. Croix.

The annual meeting of the VI Housing Authority Board of Commissioners has been rescheduled from Wednesday, August 23, to 9:30 a.m. on Friday, August 25, in the Central Offices of the Authority in Aureo Diaz Hieghts, St. Croix.

The St. Thomas/St. John Chapter of the American Red Cross opened shelters between 6 and 10 p.m. Monday, Aug. 21, and closed them at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 23. Three shelters on St. Thomas and two on St. John were available.
Here's a breakdown of people served and services provided:
Mass Care
Total number of people sheltered: 64
Total meals served: 253
Shelters on St. John: Emmaus and Bethany Moravian Churches. Number of people sheltered: 13
Shelters on St. Thomas: Blue Water Bible College, Nisky Moravian Church and Seventh-day Adventist School. Number of people sheltered: 51.
Human Resources
Total volunteers and paid staff who responded: 47 (including 2 mainland staff)
The chapter thanks the following:
Red Cross paid and volunteer staff
Plaza Extra
VITEMA
McCoy Webster and Palms Court Harbourview for headquarters space
Commissioner Marc Biggs and the Property and Procurement Department for the use of a vehicle and volunteers
Commissioner Ruby Simmonds and the Education Department team

The St. Thomas/St. John Chapter of the American Red Cross opened shelters between 6 and 10 p.m. Monday, Aug. 21, and closed them at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 23. Three shelters on St. Thomas and two on St. John were available.
Here's a breakdown of people served and services provided:
Mass Care
Total number of people sheltered: 64
Total meals served: 253
Shelters on St. John: Emmaus and Bethany Moravian Churches. Number of people sheltered: 13
Shelters on St. Thomas: Blue Water Bible College, Nisky Moravian Church and Seventh-day Adventist School. Number of people sheltered: 51.
Human Resources
Total volunteers and paid staff who responded: 47 (including 2 mainland staff)
The chapter thanks the following:
Red Cross paid and volunteer staff
Plaza Extra
VITEMA
McCoy Webster and Palms Court Harbourview for headquarters space
Commissioner Marc Biggs and the Property and Procurement Department for the use of a vehicle and volunteers
Commissioner Ruby Simmonds and the Education Department team

Dear Source,
My wife Barbara and I, who live part of the year in Swarthmore,Pa. and part of the year in our house in Upper Calabash Boom, St.John, want you to know how much we value your internet publication. Not only have we tired of Tom Oat's rants in Tradewinds, St. John Source provides us with much more and much more current information about St. John and the USVI. Just now, we're appreciating your coverage of Debby.
Thanks, and keep up the good work!
David and Barbara Grove
Swarthmore, Pa.

The VI Source, along with offering advertising opportunities for political candidates, will make the open forum section available for candidates to make their positions known on specific issues.
All submissions will be published exactly as they are sent to us. Letters should be written in the first person as a letter to the editor.
We welcome a lively and position-based debate on the issues that are important to citizens of the territory.
Only submissions sent via email will be accepted. They should be e-mailed to source@viaccess.net.

In a self-described effort to make a "statement" to the federal government, Delegate to Congress Donna Christian Christensen has introduced a bill seeking local control of all the submerged lands between St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John.
Christensen introducted HR 5019 on July 27. If approved, it would turn over all of the United States’ interest in submerged lands to the Virgin Islands government.
The bill states that the submerged lands include those that are outside the territory's three-mile limit and that are north of St. Croix; south of St. Thomas and St. John; east of the line running from the westernmost point on the coastline of St. Croix to the westernmost point on the coastline of St. Thomas; and west of the line running from the easternmost point on the coastline of St. Croix to the easternmost point on the coastline of St. John.
Christensen said she introduced the bill as a way to let the federal government and, more precisely, the Interior Department know that the Virgin Islands doesn’t intend to be a pushover when it comes to mandates handed down from Washington. She pointed out the memorandum of understanding signed by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Gov. Charles Turnbull last October that sets out an array of tasks the administration must complete to achieve economic health. Interior oversees both the National Park Service and America’s territories.
The memorandum includes a section dedicated to enhancing the territory’s natural resources that calls for the exchange of interests of land, including submerged lands and coral reefs.
Christensen also noted the manner in which the Park Service’s St. John visitor center was proposed and developed and issues between the territory’s fishermen and the federal government.
In light of the way federal officials have handled those issues, Christensen said her bill "makes a statement in more than one way."
"I’m not anti-Interior," she said. "I feel sometimes we give in a little too early. It basically makes a statement that if we had our druthers, the water around the Virgin Islands would belong to us. I think of the bill as away of discussing what the Virgin Islands is willing to give up and what we’re not willing to exchange."
The idea of such a proposal came about when constituents approached her about their problems with the federal government concerning fishery issues, such as no-take zones. The initiative isn’t something she "pulled out of the blue," Christensen said, and it isn’t an effort to take back the Park Service’s Buck Island Reef National Monument or anything else the agency manages.
"I believe . . . we have to maintain a balance between preservation of our environment and the traditional uses of our water," she said. "I see this as giving people a voice."
But news of the delegate’s bill came as a surprise to several people in the Virgin Islands government. A seemingly exasperated Dean Plaskett, commissioner of the Department of Planning and Natural Resources and trustee of the territory’s submerged lands, said he had never heard of HR 5019 until asked by the Source. Likewise for Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg, chairman of the Senate Committee on Planning and Environmental Protection.
"I have no comment," Plaskett said. "I haven’t seen (the bill)."
Christensen "hasn’t consulted with us so there is nothing I can say," he added.
Christensen said Interior hadn't been advised of the bill before its introduction either. She said that over the years, many of the department's proposals have resembled decrees rather than cooperative efforts, such as the parking lot issue at the Christiansted National Historic Site.
"We aren't always consulted either," she said.
Christensen’s proposal has yet to be assigned to a House committee, making passage of it this year unlikely. But having the bill approved isn’t necessarily the point, she said. It is the principle she wants Washington policymakers to understand.
"The chance of getting a bill like that passed is very unlikely," she said. "It’s a statement of opposition."