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A good word about St. Thomas from St. John

SUNTIMES

Often, the island across Pillsbury Sound is referred to as "St. Trauma."  There are lots of reasons; not the least of which is that getting there and back takes at least half a day.  If you've been lucky enough to find what you wanted, or get done what you wanted done, it's still an anxiety-filled trek.

So, it was kind of a surprise to see Ella Anderson’s St. John Sun Times magazine's cover featuring "St. Thomas Issue."

"It's a little bit different for us," she conceded in her monthly Publisher's column. "But there are a lot of stories, not so different from our own, on our sister island." And it's only natural, then, for Anderson, who's made "Always Positive" her way of doing business, to write, "Our islands are so close it just makes sense to me to be more inclusive."

Read moreA good word about St. Thomas from St. John

St. John’s Hollywood connection

Larry Safady IS The Sandman.

If you saw this Heart sculpture the Vow Renewal ceremony at Trunk Bay on valentine's Day, you saw his work. (Photo courtesy of TropicalFocus.com)
Safady

That's his art, honed by instruction at California State University at Long Beach, years before he made the move to St. John.

In a profile of Safady, the St. John Source says he migrated to St. John after a career as an art director for Disney and 20th Century Fox and Mattel.  Now he hires himself out for $35/hour to do works of sand at parties, weddings, grand openings opr whatever, says the Source.

Building a sand castle or house or corporate logo is more than just piling grains of sand.  There are buckets of water to be carried, too, to help compact and shape the creation.

Read moreSt. John’s Hollywood connection

Good deed needs permission

Basketball

There just seems to be something wrong when a community group has to get permission from the government to repair a public facility.  

Yet, that's just what has happened with regard to the basketball court at Pine Peace, the asphalt slab where you see young men (and women!) playing roundball day and night, hot or warm.

Over the years, the court's deteriorated and now a new group, Partnerships in Hope – St. John is going to do something about it.  Bruce Munro is part of it; he's also president of St. John Rotary.  A man keeping very busy, doing good.

Logo At the last Rotary meeting, Munro said the Partnership "has gotten approval from the government to restore and upgrade the basketball court and play area." Permits, he said, should be in place within two weeks.

"Anyone who wants to donate funds or labor, please contact me," he added.

Talking dogs

The 11th annual island dog show, Wagapalooza, 'barks off' at 5 p.m. next Saturday evening, the 21st, at the ball field next to the Sprauve School in Cruz Bay.

Pets will be judged in many categories, including the newest … "Best Doggie Talk." Like Mishka, on YouTube.

With a Wild West theme this year, you can expect many contestants to be wearing hats, scarves, bolos, kerchiefs while perhaps dragging ropes and lassos and who knows what else.

Thanks to Jeff and Jen Donnelly of Jolly Dog and Moe Chabuz and the late Doug Sica of Skinny Legs, Wagapalooza has become the major fundraising event for the Animal Care Center.

NewsOfStJohn.com is proud to be a co-sponsor, for a third year, of the official Wagapalooza T-Shirt.

It’s the little things … like electricity

Karin Schlesinger's plaintive Facebook message caught the Inquiring Iguana's attention.

"Any recent news on the continued power outage on st john? it's been a long day without power here in Pastory."

And she wasn't the only one, or hers the only neighborhood, with no juice.  In fact, all or parts of of St. John, and St. Thomas and Water Island were "in the dark" Wednesday.

The problem was an oil leak in the Water and Power Authority's "workhorse generator," the St. John Source explained in its report.

The leak brought the machine to a stop early in the morning.  Backup generators couldn't handle the loads and so, one by one, the dominos fell and the other generators shut down.

By Noon, WAPA had begun to restore power in some areas, but it was 7 p.m. until Schlesinger – and St. John – were back in business.

Mary Metzger Jenkins posted on her Facebook page, "Watching a ceiling fan work is a beautiful thing."

Wednesday is ‘Hospitality Day’

The VI Tourism department says Love City will come alive from 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. with entertainment at the Creek and the Visitor’s Bureau in Cruz Bay.

Local artisans and storyteller Dr. Gilbert Sprauve will add a taste of culture to the event while Tourism staffers will provide visitor information and distribute welcome gifts.

Meanwhile, at the St. Thomas airport entertainer Oleik Ledee will welcome airline passengers from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Grande Bay developer off the hook

A Sarasota, Fla. jury took only a few hours to decide David Band did not defraud his partner in a Cruz Bay waterfront condominium project, the Sarasota Herald Tribune reported.  (Read the full story here.)

The attorney/developer was accused of defrauding Harold Libby, a long time friend and associate who argued Band, as his personal attorney, had a duty to warn him of the riskiness of the Grande Bay project.

The jury found that Libby received multiple documents relating to the riskiness of the project and had signed them, later arguing that he hadn't read them.

The still unfinished project continues to grapple with challenges of the economy.  Few condo units have been purchased and there are reports that some of the units will now be offered as timeshare units.

Lots of rain on the way to St. John

The government says today is going to be a washout – literally.

A flash flood watch has been issued by the National Weather Service, in effect until early Tuesday morning.

As usual, this is a bittersweet situation.  Tourists don't want rain on their parade, locals give thanks for water coming from the sky into their cisterns.  It's been a dry winter on the island, and rainfall is welcome. However, all things in moderation is still the preferred way.  

And with some of the roads still not repaired from floods and washouts of months ago, the prospect of more runoff from the hills is not welcome.

The NWS issued this 'Hazardous Weather Outlook" just before dawn Monday.  

"SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE ISLANDS. AS A RESULT… MUCH OF THE EAST…NORTH AND WEST INTERIOR SECTIONS OF PUERTO RICO WILL HAVE THE GREATEST RISK OF FLOODING OF URBAN AREAS AS WELL AS RIVERS AND SMALL STREAMS ALONG WITH MUDSLIDES. THEREFORE. A FLASH FLOOD WATCH WILL REMAIN IN EFFECT THROUGH TONIGHT."

Court hears Grande Bay a grand mess

The controversial Grande Bay condo/timeshare development at Cruz Bay is front and center in a Sarasota, Fla. courtroom.

Grand_bay
At the defendant's table is David S. Band, a real estate developer and law firm founder.  He is accused of defrauding his partner by not properly overseeing the project.

Wanda Libby, wife of the partner making the charge said when she visited, "It was just a total mess."

Budgeted originally at $15 million, the Sarasota Circuit Court was told the ultimate cost is more likely $45 or $50 million, according to a report published by the town's Herald Tribune newspaper.  The project is still unfinished, according to testimony.

Read moreCourt hears Grande Bay a grand mess

It was the Easter Turkey

Just because you're on an island doesn't mean you don't observe holidays.

At least that's what Maho Bay, the eco-friendly campground, says and does. The wonderful blog, MahoBayCamps has lots of stories and pictures about it.

You want an Easter egg hunt? They did it on the beach. After almost 50 kids colored almost 200 eggs!

You want a sand castle contest? On the beach? Done.

"Fluffy the Magic Dragon" was one of the finalists. (Photo via Maho's blog.)

Sand-fish 024
You want food, too?  How much? Crispin, assistant manager of the restaurant at Maho, oversaw the preparation of many, many turkeys.