We’re going to tell you about these massive Education contracts, but you’ve got to promise not to tell.

That’s one of the provisions of the agreements between the Virgin Islands Department of Education and Learn It Systems, LLC, the Baltimore, MD, firm that is executing a contract worth $25 million for  summer school, tutorial and after school programs for the children of the Virgin Islands beginning in July 2007 and ending in August, 2011.

In a section called “Publicity” Learn It stipulates “No publicity, including press releases, bulletins, or articles in any public medium concerning this Contract, its terms, execution or implementation or results can be released without written approval of the Government.” (Learn It Contract Feb. 2008, page 14, attached) 

Really?  So this company, which according to the link below, was only established in 2007 (the same year they began services in the VI), and lists annual revenue of $1 million, scores a $25 million contract to spend public educational funds in the VI and doesn’t want terms, conditions or results made public? And the Department of Education agreed to it.

So just keep this to yourselves, ok? Read more »

Share on Facebook

Now why would anyone want to burn down the Lottery building on St. Thomas?

And why did it take so long for anybody from the Lottery to talk about it?

After a weekend of conflicting and no official reports, it has now been confirmed that not only was there a fire at the Lottery building at 6:36 a.m. Saturday on St. Thomas, it was “arson related,” according to fire officials. That confirmation came Monday evening after a weekend of deafening silence from Lottery officials and the mainstream press on the episode.

And considering the contents of the recently released Audit report that exposed the massive mismanagement and financial carelessness of the Lottery’s operation, one can’t help but wonder – who’s got a motive to burn down the Lottery building? Read more »

Share on Facebook

During last week’s Monday Senate session, Sen. Neville James made it clear that the Mafoliegate issue is still a priority.

Speaking as the Chairman of the Committee on Financial Services, Infrastructure and Consumer Affairs, James gave a recap of the events related to the public funds scandal since the first hearing on the matter was held on October 20, 2009. A second hearing on the matter was held January 19, 2010.

The scandal revolves around the use of some $490,000 in public funds to install security enhancements at Virgin Islands Governor John P. deJongh, Jr.’s, private residence at 23-8 Estate Mafolie on St. Thomas. The funds were diverted from road repair projects authorized in Act 6917. The United States Inspector General issued a report in January concluding that the use of the funds by the Governor was unauthorized, and recommended that he repay them in full. The Governor responded by questioning the competency and integrity of the report, and has said he will repay funds only by order of the Court.

James described his approach to the matter and the circumstances surrounding the situation.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Read more »

Share on Facebook

Guest Editorial

I am an owed retiree of the Department of Education for the Government of the Virgin Islands. 

I try to keep aware of issues affecting us here in the Virgin Islands, but I am not one who reads and does research on everything. What I do is attend the town hall and open forums to hear those who are presenting the “Facts” and those pro and con researchers. At these sessions I can hear for myself. After leaving the Retroactive Wage Commission Public Forum, I felt that this was another situation of the authorities just going through the motions.

This $45 million bond proposal seems that in order for the Government to fulfill their legal debt obligations to the 10,000 union workers they are giving us a 6 for a 9, because in the long run it is All of We tax payers who will have to payback this Interest Bearing Loan, especially should the Government default on the loan.  Read more »

Share on Facebook

(Update: Apparently the weekend fire was in a satellite office of the Lottery on St. Thomas. An large number of documents were reportedly destroyed. Anyone with verified information on this event is encouraged to contact us at admin@cruciansinfocus.com.)

Unreconciled accounts, unaccounted for tickets, duplicate winning tickets being paid, over $1.5 million in funds not transferred into the Educational Initiative Fund, overpayments into the General Fund, tickets with non-winning numbers being paid and $9 million in unreconciled bank accounts headline this external audit report on the Virgin Islands Lottery. We are reviewing but are posting for your immediate review. Our analysis will follow. The findings start on page 20. Read more »

Share on Facebook

There’s finally an ambulance in Frederiksted – some of the time.

From 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. over the weekend, an ambulance will be available for residents of the West End.

Its arrival came on the heels of a very visible death – a death many believe could have been avoided had medical service been more readily available. But the need has been there for months; and as many have told us in the past few days, any death that occurs from lack of readily available care is a death too many. And lest we forget, at last report, the urgently needed Frederiksted clinic isn’t scheduled to be reopened until early 2011.

The ambulance arrived amid many announcements and fanfare, and it leaves us wondering.

Are we supposed to be grateful? Read more »

Share on Facebook

We don’t know whose behavior is more disgraceful – those in the system who executed this debacle against Sen. Adlah “Foncie” Donastorg or the way The Virgin Islands Daily News and The Source (STT and STX) have reported it.

As events have unfolded since Donastorg turned himself in to police last Thursday on domestic violence charges, we have watched in disgust as mounting evidence has thrown the light of suspicion on those who pushed this into the courts, and have shaken our heads at the astoundingly biased (even for them) way the two major “mainstream” print media outlets have handled the information.

The charges stemmed from a police report filed by a 19-year-old St. Thomas woman recounting an incident that allegedly occurred between her and the Senator in January. In that initial report, she reportedly said that Donastorg had threatened her with a gun when she went to his home and that he assaulted her while trying to get her out of his car when he gave her a ride back to her mother’s home that same evening. Donastorg is scheduled to be formally charged and enter a plea on March 11.

Significant portions of her story have changed. But the reporting style of our  “mainstreamers” has not. Read more »

Share on Facebook

The Virgin Islands Legislature voted Monday to deny a lease to Alpine Energy Group for land to construct a waste to energy plant in the Bovoni area on St. Thomas. In a vote of 11 against and 4 in favor, the action sends the Territory back to the drawing board for an acceptable solution to the issue of solid waste.

Those opposing the lease cited community resistance to the potential public health and environmental concerns raised by the use of petcoke. Those in favor cited the need to close the Territory’s landfills to avoid sanction by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that has mandated that landfills on St. Thomas and St. Croix be closed within a specified time to avoid  hefty fines.

And Sen. Sammuel Sanes, who voted in favor of the lease, chastised those activists on St. Croix who opposed the deal for not mounting the same level of opposition to the Hovensa refinery.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The lease under consideration was for the land Alpine was going to use to construct the plant that would convert solid waste into Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF). A second lease for the land to be used to construct the power generation plant, the process that would use RDF in conjunction with the hotly contested fuel petroleum coke to generate electricity, was not on the agenda today. Read more »

Share on Facebook

They haven’t collected property taxes in four years – and now they want you to pay.

And if you don’t, or you can’t in the time they determine is adequate, that property may belong to the bank. And there won’t be a thing you can do about it.

Or you can sign on to the Lt. Governor’s “installment” plan, and pay 106% of the value of the back taxes. That’s right – they’ll charge you interest on taxes they never bothered to collect.

And now we are told that without these tax revenues, and additional borrowing, we’re facing government shutdown by the end of June.

Last week, the Legislature received a bill proposal from Lt. Governor Gregory Francis. The bill, if approved, would allow the government to send out 2006 and 2007 tax bills using 1998 rates and values. This would provide an estimated $30 million from 2006 and about $50 million from 2007, and would be used to decrease the now estimated $170 million budget deficit for FY 2010. Read more »

Share on Facebook

Editor’s Note: Since the public hearing on St. Croix last month, there have been rumblings that some revision of the Alpine Energy deal is in play. According to statements on radio by Sen. Craig Barshinger, the revised plan would  all but eliminate the use of pet coke from the waste to energy process.  There are few other details on this “new” plan so there’s not much more we can tell you. What we do know is that Alpine has begun some construction activity on St. Thomas and whatever plan they’re following, that causes us some concern. In the meantime, until some official information is released, we must continue to stay focused on the issues of the plan as we know it. Mr. Payne’s editorial addresses a key point in his article here. The Alpine St. Thomas leases are on Monday’s Legislative agenda.

By Clarence Payne

There is startling information within the Information Packet submitted by Alpine to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that must be discussed. This particular concern has flown under the radar and probably for good cause. Or because the other components of the Alpine Project are so alarming that we didn’t tackle this issue; however, it is about time that this issue comes front and center. 

The major concern is what will be done with the ash substance from the PET COKE fired plants. Ash is as problematic as wastewater discharge, air quality concerns, and lack of transparency. Previously this writer discussed the wastewater discharge so that residents can be made aware of this latent quagmire which would help us make better decisions about the ecological feasibility of this plant being allowed to burn PET COKE in our fragile ecology. 

Ash management is going to be a huge problem. A few of the Senators along with Executive Director Hugo Hodge Jr. and Paul Chakroff visited a PET COKE fired plant in Jacksonville, Florida. Even though the PET COKE fired plant appeared to be operating in compliance, it was reported to this writer by several of the members of the group, that they saw a pile of ash the size a pyramid! They were “deeply concerned” by what they observed. Why would a pile of ash, the size of a pyramid, in Jacksonville, Florida, cause deep concerns? This writer does not believe there is a structure the size of a pyramid in the Virgin Islands, so if the size of the pile of ash “was cause for concern”, we are in for a rude awakening.  Read more »

Share on Facebook

New details in the domestic violence allegations against Sen. Adlah “Foncie” Donastorg emerged in a hearing Friday before St. Thomas Magistrate Judge Alan Smith, who advised the Senator of his rights and set an arraignment date of March 11 for the Senator to enter a plea on the formal charges.

Donastorg, who turned himself into authorities on St. Croix on Thursday, is charged with aggravated assault, third degree assault, brandishing a deadly weapon and using a dangerous weapon in the commission of a crime of violence. The charges stem from an alleged incident on January 28 between Donastorg and an unidentified 19-year-old woman.

Defense attorney Gordon Rhea said the accuser, who Rhea and the police agree has attempted to recant her story about the incident, was bribed with $150,000 to make the allegations and that the Senator’s defense rests on that claim. On Thursday, St. Croix Attorney Lee Rohn, who accompanied Donastorg when he turned himself in to authorities, stated that tapes and text messages exist in which the accuser admits the charges are false and reveals she was offered money to make them.

The incident has generated intense public debate on whether there is any merit to the allegations or whether this incident is politically motivated by those who were opposed to Donastorg’s burgeoning campaign for governor in the upcoming election.

Read more »

Share on Facebook