News of St. John

Sunday was the last day for the St. John Animal Care Center. The group’s president Betty Gerhardt explained, “The more animals wee take in, the higher the vet bills go. We ran out of money.” Despite the fact last summer’s benefit for the Center, the island-wide dog show, Wagapalooza, was a success. “We need a ‘sugar daddy,’ Gerhardt said.

She said the Center now has 35 animals for adoption, and is taking no more. Word of the closing was reported by the St. John Source.

Funding the volunteer operation has always been touch and go, she said. “It’s the same people helping over and over,” she told the Source, and there’s a limit to how much they can do. She also faulted some of St. John’s off-island home owners saying many are not involved in the community and do not contribute to local organizations. “We only hear from them if they have a stray animal in their yard,” she told the Source.

Janet Cook-Rutnik and Cheryl Geller have launched new exhibitions of their work. Cook-Rutnik’s show is at her gallery, Solo Arte, in the Lumberyard.

Among the pieces are Eve by Sea (pictured) and a new original print series called Agnes. Rutnik is also showing two painting/installations that were shown at a Caribbean festival in Santo Domingo last year, whose theme was Perception. “The most important challenge to shaping the future is to perceive ourselves not as victims but as victors,” she said.

Geller’s jewelry is on display at Coral Bay’s Syzygy Gallery in the Skinny Legs restaurant and bar complex. It features vintage and hand-made beads.

It’s official. Goats are unwelcome in the Virgin Islands National Park, and the Agriculture Department is on track to capture them by using corrals or traps.

The wildest goats will be shot and slaughtered for meat which will be distributed to the local community, according to a report in the St. John Source. The goats are among a number of “introduced species” to the Park which, by nibbling and eating, are threatening rare plants such as the prickly ash, the report continued. The goats are also munching ground cover which has a role in preventing erosion and sediment washing onto the coral reefs.

The only mammals native to St. John are bats, the Park Service said.

Candidates for the V.I. Senate have been invited to a forum Wednesday night at the ballroom of the Westin Resort. The event is sponsored by the St. John Community Foundation, the same group which has been meeting for months to propose a charter for some sort of local government on the island. Candidates are invited to make an opening statement, answer 7 to 10 pre-selected questions, and offer a closing. Two St. Johnians are on the ballot, including the incumbent At Large senator Almando Liburd and his challenger Craig Barshinger.

The Department of Public Works said St. John will see some major road repair work in the next several months, due partially to damage from the heavy rains of Hurricane Jeanne which passed the island last month.

Money for the work will come from a government bond issue being sold now, with the funds to be made available by the end of November. Proceeds are also earmarked for repair of roads, landfills, and wastewater systems on St. Thomas and St. Croix, the Virgin Islands Daily News reported. “We have left out St. John before but that is not going to happen this time,” said Wayne Callwood, the Public Works commissioner.

Gov. Charles Turnbull expects a bill to be signed by President Bush this week will be a near disaster for the islands’ economy.

The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 contains provisions relative to the Economic Development Commission, clarifying the nearly 20-year-old plan. It requires EDC company principals to reside in the islands at least 183 days a year. And the government said that it appears income eligible for exemption from federal taxation will be limited to revenues generated on the islands, according to a report by the St. John Source. Peter Hiebert, Washington counsel for the V.I. government, told the Source, the EDC program was valuable because it “brought increased intellectual capital and increased creativity, as well as financial resources.” Government officials fear changes in the EDC will cause some VI-based companies to close up shop.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue estimated EDC companies contribute $115 million a year to the territory’s coffers.

St. John has three gas stations and Andrew Rutnik, the Licensing and Consumer Affairs Commissioner, suggests perhaps there should be more. He told a news conference more gas stations in the St. Thomas/St. John District might bring down the cost of fuel. He was reporting on his office’s $60,000 study that found Virgin Islanders pay the world’s highest price for a gallon of gas, excluding taxes. “With the presence of Hovensa on the island of St. Croix, and the close proximity of St. Thomas/St. John to this refinery, Virgin Islanders should be benefiting handsomely in lower fuel costs,” he said, according to a report by the St. John Source.

Read moreRutnik recommends drivers buy regular

Part of a U.S. Transportation Department grant to the Virgin Islands will go for construction of a new maintenance facility for the Virgin Islands Public Transit System on St. John. VITRAN operates a bus route between Cruz Bay and Coral Bay. The Governor’s office announced the federal government allocated a total of $2.4 million, “to assist the (VI) government in the administration, planning and operation of the bus service,” according to the St. John Source.