It’s like talking about a war zone.

Cease Fire. Retaliation.

Radio host Mario Moorhead described this past weekend, which ended with five fatalities, as the “Mother’s Day Massacre.”

And with 32 homicides recorded to date since the beginning of the year, the Territory is on track for a record 78 homicides in 2010.

In an interview Tuesday with Crucians In Focus, Commissioner of Police Novelle E. Francis, Jr., repeated his commitment and the commitment of his officers to continue the war against the escalating violence and called on the Justice system and community to do their part.

“My message to the people is cease fire,” he told CIF. “Put down the guns – there are other ways to solve the problems.”

Ironically, this is Police Recognition Week in the Virgin Islands, but in a news conference on Monday, after recognizing those law enforcement individuals who serve the community, Francis shifted his comments to address the crime wave and pointed to the Judicial System as a large factor in the problem. Read more »

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Saturday night the rage boiled over and Sen. Sammuel Sanes found himself on the fist end of the frustration being felt by Virgin Islanders after the Legislature’s 8-7 approval of $500 million in borrowing last week.

During an event at the Chicken Shack, Sanes was punched in the eye by someone in attendance while explaining his vote for the borrowing measure. At this writing, a police report has been filed but no arrest has been made.

For the record, Crucians In Focus does not in any way condone violent responses to political (or any other types of) differences.

But this incident should be a strong indicator to those in the public arena that tensions have reached a dangerous level and they should take heed.

For weeks – no, for months – voices on the radio, this website, and others, have been warning that public tolerance had ended for the type of blatant corruption and financial recklessness that is becoming commonplace in this Administration. Their warnings have been dismissed as agitation, anti-Government politicizing and recently, characterized by the Delegate as similar to the “tea party” agitators in the States.

Meanwhile, the Government continues to borrow money we see no ability to repay while refusing to make even the most cosmetic concessions to show that they truly believe that the crisis is real. Read more »

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It is hard to imagine a more appropriate time for a march and rally aimed at at peacefully addressing the serious concerns facing the Virgin islands community.

All Virgin Islanders are urged to join in a march and rally on Saturday, May 15, entitled “Unity, Accountability and Social Justice.” The event is open to all Virgin Islanders who have concerns on any topic and begins at 10 a.m. at Market Square on St. Thomas. The march will end at Emancipation Garden where speakers will address pressing concerns facing the VI Community.

Organizers have asked participants to wear green to symbolize a fresh beginning. Participants are also invited to bring placards and signs highlighting their areas of concern. All community groups from the Territory are encouraged to attend and participate and organizers estimate that the event will end around 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

For more information, contact Dalys Walwin at 340-998-8853 or to see the event flyer
click here.

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In many cases, perception is reality and recently, the perception has been that the Delegate to Congress, Donna Christensen, is consistently taking positions that seem to be in opposition with the wishes of a large portion of her constituency.

When the Territory backed President Barack Obama, she steadfastly supported now Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; throughout the public discourse on the original Alpine Energy Group proposal, she was silent – only making a visible statement after the Senate declined to approve the first leases;  she has attempted to straddle the fence on the matter of the Draft Constitution; and most recently, has blasted those who do not support the Diageo Captain Morgan Rum deal, likening them to the “tea party” participants in the United States. Read more »

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Guest Editorial by Jeffrey B. C. Moorhead, Esq. 

I read Delegate Christensen’s recent contribution to a local publication and, on first reading, thought it to simply be another lame effort to present herself as the national guardian of our territorial interests. But as I read, again, her defense of the “Diageo debacle” I found it self-serving and demeaning to those in our community that live, work and die in our community without ever having the opportunity to see “the big picture” that Delegate Christensen believes we must all appreciate.

I found Delegate Christensen’s comments offensive and demeaning to the people of our islands and felt compelled to publicly respond on their behalf. As Delegate Christensen well knows – and yet seems to forget- it is these same people she so easily degrades who are the ones she has been elected to serve, hi that regard, she is not alone but she symbolizes much of what is wrong with our political system in the Virgin Islands.

In recent years it has become too easy for the people’s elected servants to sacrifice the “interest of the many” for the “interest of the few”., and then try to make them believe it was a righteous decision. We need not go very far to find the truth in that statement. Just look at what our delegate has to say about the “Diageo debacle”. The biggest beneficiaries of that deal certainly are not the hardworking, struggling members of our community..instead the pirates and foreign executives, the beltway lobbyist and the local politicians and attorneys that supported this deal are toasting their success. But the hardworking people of this territory aren’t left out of the deal..we are “on the hook” for the 60 years of concessions that have been made to Diageo if things don’t go just as Delegate Christensen and her fellow travelers have envisioned. Read more »

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To the eight of you who voted yes:

Why didn’t you just bring the checkbook and hand it over?

That’s what you did last night. You let a stacked deck of whining government agency talking heads and high priced lackeys come to you with nothing more than obstinacy and arrogance.

You allowed Governor John P. deJongh, Jr., to bully you with dire predictions of employee layoffs and an 11th hour combative media blitz.

 And you gave them another $250 million to do with what they will.

Here’s how it went. We can’t cut. We won’t cut. If you make us cut, we’ll lay everybody else off. We’re not going to explain what we did with the last money, but we want more money. You can’t tell us what to do with the new money. And we’re absolutely not going to consider cutting our salaries.

There were no concrete responses to questions about cost cutting measures or results; no solid contingency plans created in the event that the loan was denied; and no indication that they would lead any cost reduction initiatives by example.

And you still gave them the money? Read more »

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In the early morning hours on Wednesday, the Senate voted 8-7 to grant the Administration the authority to borrow another $250 million to operate the Virgin Islands government.

Voting in favor of the bill were Sens. Carlton “Ital” Dowe, Louis P. Hill, Wayne James, Sammuel Sanes, Patrick Simeon Sprauve, Michael Thurland, Celestino A. White Sr. and Alvin Williams.

Voting against the bill were Sens. Craig W. Barshinger, Adlah “Foncie” Donastorg, Neville James, Shawn-Michael Malone, Terrence “Positive” Nelson, Nereida Rivera-O’Reilly, and Usie R. Richards.

The marathon session, which ended after 2 a.m. Wednesday, included testimony from several government agencies and the Administration’s financial team. The action actually extends the Governments borrowing authority to $500 million with the funds to be used to offset an estimated $170 deficit in the FY 2010 budget, $100 million to begin to offset the estimated $276 million anticipated deficit in the FY 2011 budget, and the refinanancing of the $250 million borrowed last May. Read more »

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So is Sen. Craig Barshinger the “swing vote” in today’s determination of an additional half-billion in borrowing that has been requested by the Administration?

Apparently the St. Croix Chamber of Commerce thinks so.

As Sen. Neville James stated during this afternoon’s hearing, and as CIF is confirming with a copy of the email below, the Chamber is asking its members to call the Senator-at-Large and urge him to vote “yes” on the spending. What we want to know is who “advised” them?

We’ll see how effective the campaign is when the vote is taken. 

Date: Tue, 4 May 2010 11:17:06 -0400

Subject: Contact Senator Barshinger’s Office If Your Support Bond Bill

From: michael.dembeck@gmail.com

To: michael.dembeck@gmail.com

May 4, 2010

Good Morning, Chamber Members:

We have been advised that Senator Craig Barshinger will be the swing vote in the Senate today on the bond bill to maintain government services and stablity and to avoid layoffs of government employees and curtailment of government services. Read more »

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As of this writing, the Senate is listening to testimony from Government agencies on how at 25% cut in funding would affect their operations.

Sen. President Louis Hill stated early in the session that all government agencies had been notified that should the Governor’s latest request to borrow $500 million be rejected that budget cuts would be eminent.

Representatives from the University of the Virgin Islands, the Virgin Islands Superior Court, the Juan F. Luis Hospital and the Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority have testified so far. Read more »

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Anyone listening would swear he had nothing to do with it.

In a taped message that presented his myopic view of the circumstances that led to the current “fiscal crisis,” Gov. John P. deJongh, Jr., today blamed everything from the global economy to the Legislature. But in 13 minutes and 40 seconds, he never once took responsibility for his contribution to the deficit or offered one concrete declaration of cost cutting measures his government was willing to take to ease the pain.

Instead, on the eve of the Tuesday’s Legislative session where another half-billion dollars in borrowing will be debated, deJongh continued to batter the public with dire predictions of layoffs in July, public and private sector financial collapse, and repeat the mantra he and his financial team have chanted for as long as we can remember.

We borrow or we die.

No Governor – we’ll die if we keep borrowing.

In a combative tone that has become all too familiar, deJongh chastised members of “your” Legislature who have made public their doubts that the ever evasive “financial team” is presenting them with a true and accurate picture of the Territory’s monetary condition.

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.

Yes governor, the facts do bear repeating – and here they are. For months the Legislature and the public have waited in vain for straight answers from “your” “financial team,” a group that has no credibility whatsoever. There is no consistency in the numbers reported; critical reports are unavailable during hearings; and “oversights” have overtaken both the Office of Management and Budget and the Public Finance Authority. And you expect them to be regarded as anything other than a “joke” or a “fraud?” Read more »

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Editorial

Name calling is the refuge of those who have exhausted their illogical arguments and have nowhere else to turn.

Such is the tactic now taken by the Delegate to Congress, Donna Christensen, in her incredibly irrational characterization of opponents to the Diageo and Fortune deals as similar to the “tea party” advocates at play on the mainland.

These sentiments were expressed by the Delegate in an op-ed piece published in the mainstream press last week and, in our opinion, are simply the latest acts of desperation of a government headed for financial collapse.

Calling on all the triggers phrases, from “racism”  (against whom?) to “blind anger” to “irrationality”, she cautions Virgin Islanders who oppose the most absurd deal in recent memory to refrain from “biting off our nose to spite our face,” and encourages us to “set our personal conflicts and petty (or even significant) disagreements and politics aside, and unite for the Virgin Islands against all who would destroy not just our economy, but the dreams of our ancestors for us and ours for our children.”

Delegate, opposition to this deal hasn’t one thing to do with “personal conflicts and petty disagreements.” And you know it. Read more »

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