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Environmental concerns have stopped the V.I. Port Authority from shuttling material dredged from the Enighed Pond project to the Susannaberg Landfill, the St. John Source reported. “They’re trying to do something so the runoff doesn’t” flow downhill,” said Julien Harley, the island administrator. Within hours of the Public Works Department giving its approval to the transfer, heavy rains Thursday and Friday send a wash of gray water down the Guinea Gut. Charlie Deyalsignh, who lives near the guy, said the flow was not its usual clear color, the Source said. He worried that the water life and plants in the guy will be killed by the flow.

A study commissioned by the Friends of the Virgin Islands National Park calculated the Park generates $92 million dollars in direct sales annually. The project was conducted Jane Israel, an independent consultant, during the recent winter tourism season. Another survey done earlier this year found that 80 percent of the people who visit St. John come because of the Park, according to the St. John Source.

Israel calculated the average person spends $335 on island. Hotel guests spend $630, villa and condo people paid out $533, day visitors spend $139. Island restaurants received $18 million of that spending, hotels, condos, and other lodging providers were paid $35 million for lodging, and $12 million went to for local transportation (car rentals, taxis, etc.), the Daily News reported. She also estimated that the Park is responsible for 20 percent of the VI’s total employment.

Joe Kessler, president of the Friends, told the Virgin Islands Daily News , “It’s good to know and be able to quantify it,” Kessler said. “That’s a very significant economic and financial impact into the local community.”

Reaction from Julien Harley, the St. John Administrator, was surprise. “I knew it was a lot, but I didn’t think it would be so high,” he told the Source.

Kessler said the Friends intends to post Israel’s report on the Net at http://www.friendsvinp.org.

To no one’s surprise, the V.I. Port Authority said the $16 million Enighed Pond Freight Terminal Project “may” open next spring; not within 30 days as was confidently predicted several weeks ago. Delays caused by the stench produced from dredging and failure to find a place to dump that sediment are among the factors being blamed, according the Virgin Islands Daily News. The update on Enighed was announced at this week’s Authority governing board meeting.

Port Authority executive director Darlan Brin said the Public Works department has given permission for the dredged material, stacked up along the shores of the Pond, to be taken to the Susannaberg landfill. The transfers have begun. Meanwhile, back at the pond, dredging has resumed and could take two more months, the newspaper report said.

The owner of the Canvas Factory is adding his voice to those critical of the St. John Post Office. “It takes two to three weeks. I don’t know what black hole it falls into,” Tom Lee said of priority and first class mail,” according to the St. John Source. Lynda Lohr, a Source reporter, also has had problems with the office. A thick envelope mailed to her from St. Thomas was lost at the Post Office for almost two weeks.

One reason for the problems could be that there is no longer a Postmaster on island. Glenn Jackson left her job last month, transferring to a new slot with the Service on St Croix. Husband, Louis Jackson, who was Postmaster on St. Thomas went with her. Neither island has an official in charge, according to the Virgin Islands Daily News.

Candidates for the job should be knowledgeable about postal operations, mail processing and delivery, administration, management of the office, and budgets, according to Mildred Diaz, a spokeswoman for the Service in San Juan. She said new Postmasters should be named by the end of the year.

Disclaimer: The publisher of the News of St. John is a co-owner of the Mail Center, a retail packaging and postal business located at the Marketplace.

The Department of Planning and Natural Resources cautioned the elderly and those on the northeast end of St. John with allergies and respiratory problems to stay indoors several days while a fire on Tortola was brought under control. Smoke from the blaze, whose flames soared as high as 40 feet, could be seen and smelled, according to the Virgin Islands Daily News. The fire has lasted about two weeks, Dean Plaskett, the DPNR commissioner said. Firefighters said they believed the fire was burning was construction debris and yard waste and did not contain hazardous material.

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.