Crucians In Focus

Guest Opinion by Gonzalo Rivera

Several weeks ago I wrote a letter regarding the neglect of the youths being housed at the Youth Rehabilitation Center on St. Croix . As of today the situation remains the same. Young men and women are simply detained in a substandard environment, without access to any meaningful programs to assist them with behavior modification. The daily hours of instructional time they are entitled to, is limited to anywhere from zero to just over an hour, and to make matters worst, there is no vocational training available whatsoever. The recycled leadership, bankrupt of new methods in approaching the escalating problem with our troubled youth population, reaps great rewards for continuing to systematically fail our children. The end result of this form of cruelty to humans is notably documented in the increasing crime statistics, and the sense of hopelessness radiated by our young people. Read the rest of this entry »

Guest Opinion by Dwane A. Callwood

The U.S. Virgin Islands is in a State of Emergency. Anyone who would profess otherwise either is not in touch with the plight of the working class, or probably is a recipient of a lucrative tax-exemption deal. After decades of self-help backdoor deals, one-sided agreements, unfavorable deals, economic rape and plundering, the Virgin Islands working class can no longer sustain the territory’s economy. These are difficult times, and to get us through requires difficult decisions. What steps do I think need to be taken? Read the rest of this entry »

Guest Opinion by Kendall “Seigo” Petersen

Anger, disdain, distrust are just a few words to describe the feelings of Virgin Islands community organization leaders as they struggle to not only understand the reasoning used to determine funding for each organization but also why monies that were appropriated by the 27th Legislature, in Bill No. 27-0077, Act No. 6969, Section 2, Miscellaneous Appropriations, the FY 07-08 Executive Budget Bill (Executive Budget), have not been released. In reviewing the Executive Budget at first glance you may surmise that the V.I. Government has been quite generous in its issuance of funding, perhaps even going as far as to say that the government has done its share in philanthropy. However, a closer look at the Executive Budget will quickly change that thought as the varying levels of appropriations to organizations depicts value system that reflects not what we as a people value, rather those we have chosen to lead us. $100,000 to put our Christmas lights up, but only $20,000 to an organization that cares for our elderly, many of whom have served our community. What do we value? Read the rest of this entry »

Guest Opinion by Shelley Moorhead

As we count down to yet another historic departure to Denmark scheduled for January 12th-18th, 2008, and as we embark upon a mission to repair and address Virgin Islands Humanity, I will speak for ACRRA and the many thousands impacted by the work of the USVI Reparations Movement and I will say that we are concerned and that we are troubled to see our leaders remain silent, withdrawn, and unaccounted for, and to see Governor John de Jongh’s administration fail to release funding that the Legislature has appropriated for a St. Croix-based NGO, the African-Caribbean Reparations Resettlement Alliance (ACRRA) to continue dialogue with Denmark. Read the rest of this entry »

As we approach another election year, we thought it would be fitting to put together a wish list of new year resolutions we hope our politicians are pondering. We just couldn’t think of a better way to end a year of depressingly lackluster performance from our elected officials. While we cook up this list, which is simmering as we speak, we hope someone will alert Senator Williams to the danger of this flip flop. (click the play button)

Considering the level of crime we are witnessing in the territory, we thought it would be prudent to remind Governor deJongh of the promises he made to the people of the Virgin Islands during the campaign. Click the play button below.

With crime continuing unabated, we decided to revisit Governor deJongh’s speech, dated the 21st of February 2007, when he named James McCall the new Commissioner of Police. The following excerpts from the Governor’s speech stand out as broken promises:

“We all know the problem, we know it is real, and we know it is intolerable…44 unsolved murders over the past two years are not acceptable; a riot on a high school campus is not acceptable; the 125 burglaries on St. John last year, without a single arrest or conviction, are not acceptable. I believe that we have all come to the point, no, we have gone past the point, that enough is enough!” Read the rest of this entry »

With crime continuing unabated, we decided to revisit the February 21, 2007 speech delivered by then Commissioner Nominee James McCall in accepting his nomination to the position. The following excerpts, from the nominee’s speech, stand in stark contrast to the results we have seen to date:

“There are many tools that we can use to stem the tide of criminal activity in our community, but none are more effective than a successful relationship between the prosecutors and the police.” Read the rest of this entry »

While children in the territory, especially young men, drop out of school in large numbers, our elected officials continue to tell us that the children of the Virgin Islanders are their priority. Apparently this was the case on December 7th when our Legislature passed Bill # 27-0142, an act authorizing the Governor to establish a partnership with Lincoln Technical Institute to build a post-secondary technical school in the Virgin Islands. In this legislation, our senators, in their infinite ‘love for the children’, decided to give away the farm to yet another ‘investor’ while, at the same time, shortchanging the children of the Virgin Islands. Read the rest of this entry »

Guest Opinion by J. J. Estemac

We believe that we should be creative in addressing the problems of our government. We are all conscious of the brain drain that the territory is experiencing which is affecting all levels and areas of our community. Our merchants and other business enterprises are also experiencing difficulties in identifying the right persons for the openings they may have in their operations. There are even problems in hiring unskilled labor, because of the attitude problem. This reality is symptomatic of the state of affairs in our community. Concerning skilled labor and other professionals there is an acknowledged scarcity of persons in the community to fill all the vacancies. We only have to read the newspapers and see the number of jobs being offered for weeks in the local market. Read the rest of this entry »