News of St. John

Update:  Absentee ballots are being counted this weekend.  It is possible DeJongh will pick up enough votes to reach the +50% threshold and avoid a runoff.

John DeJongh will contest with Kenneth E. Mapp in a runoff election for Governor Nov. 21.  The match up is required because DeJongh did not get a mrjority of the votes cast.  His tally was 49.33%.  Mapp’s was 27%.  Absentee ballots are, however, waiting to be tallied.  There are 1,689 of them, according to the St. John Source.

Carmen Wesselhoft pulled an upset in Tuesday’s voting to win the At Large seat in the VI Senate.  The Board of Elections reported Wesslehoft garnered 55% of the vote to incumbent Craig Barshinger’s 45%.  "I plan to treat each island equally, honestly and fairly,"Wesselhoft told the St. John Source.  She said she wants to help the Myrah Keating Smith Community Health Center on St. John get a dialysis unit and would like to see a police academy on St. Croix.  Wesselhoft was born on St. John.

The government of the Virgin Islands has agreed to consider strategies to better protect its surrounding coral
reefs. “It puts us on the hook for
taking a serious look, and it puts them on the hook for helping us achieve it,”
said Bill Rohring, associate director of Coastal Zone Management, the Virgin
Islands Daily News reported. During a conference
on St. Thomas scientists described the reefs as “in crisis" due to high water temperatures,
pollution, erosion and disease. Runoff
and sedimentation around the islands is part of the problem, the experts said,
according to the Daily News. A reef
researcher for the U.S. Geological Survey lamented that on St. John, “Every couple of days there’s
a new driveway cut, a new unpaved road."

Caroline Rogers said, "There’s a lot we don’t know, but
we know what happens when we pout a bunch of dirt on top of a reef,” the News reported.

The week-long poll on this site about whether Patrick’s food truck should be thrown off the downtown Cruz Bay parking lot has come down squarely in favor of the small businessman.  There were almost 200 votes cast, 85% of which said he should not be moved.

This week’s poll question centers on concern about the coral reefs around St. John.  A researcher points to development on the island for creating threats to the reefs due to the runoff of land into the water from new roads and driveways. 

Do you think there should be a moratorium on new building permits while the VI government studies steps it can take to protect the coral.  The poll is at left.

Polls close at 6pm, eastern, Tuesday as Virgin Islanders select a new Governor and VI Senate.  The territory’s news and talk station, WVWI, will provide live coverage over the air, which will also be available on the Net. Political analysts James O’Bryan Jr. and Simon Caines, along with Jean Greaux, WVWI’s news director, will begin their coverage at 5pm, eastern, according to the St. John Source.  It will be Webcast at WIUJ.com, the Web Site of a non-commercial radio station operated by a general manager and four student and professional volunteers. 

WVWI’s audio streaming facilities have been unreliable for quite some time, so the partnership with the educational FM broadcaster is welcome.

Speaking of the Source, the online newspaper has endorsed John DeJongh for Governor.  The Source’s publisher, Shaun Pennington, wrote a commentary in which she said, DeJongh and his running mate have records suggesting they can "bring dignity, intelligence and trust to Government House

Mary Bomar, the newly appointed director of the National Park Service, is expected on island Dec. 1st to attend the ribbon cutting for a new permanent exhibit and garden in front of the Visitors Center in Cruz Bay.  Local architects Glen Speer and Michael Milne, the Park Service, the Friends group and local businesses have worked together to create the exhibit to acknowledge the role of philanthropy in establishing the Park system. 

Features of the garden include a stone wall (what else from a Speer project?), with a planter on top which blocks out a view of the parking area, There’s a shelter structure providing a shady place to sit and admire the garden populated with native plants.  Landscaping advice was contributed by Eleanor Gibney and Gary Ray.

A "diploma mill" is doing business on St. John.  The Virgin Islands Daily News found Concordia College and University using a box at Connections as a mail drop.  The News’ story.

The institution is not accredited by any US nationally or regionally recognized bodies, according to the U.S. Education Department.  Condordia is licensed to do business in Dominica, and is accredited by education departments in Indonesia and Liberia.

Concordia invites applicants to send resumes, which are then considered for degrees based on "life experience."  John Bear, an expert in diploma mills, told the News, "The only requirement that have (to your getting a degree) is that your credit card (clears).

When correspondence piles up, the newspaper reported, Connections forwards it to an address in Belgium.  A person in Concordia admission department e-mailed the News saying, "In a number of countries where we have no offices … we rent forwarding addresses.  Concordia also has a Web site, reportedly located in Pakistan.

Government officials did not let the lack of permits hold up their plan to break ground for a new police substation in Coral Bay.  The facility will be located between the fire station and Skinny Legs, the St. John Source reported. 

About 30 people attended the ceremony, including Governor Turnbull, who said the facility "will serve as a headquarters to assert the rule of law."  Novelle Francis, the police chief, said he hoped the $512,000 project would be complete by next June.

With the return of Eastern Standard Time, it is one hour later on St. John than it is in New York.  While the island rarely appears to move at a faster pace than the mainland, the end of Daylight Savings Time makes it appear to be so.

So, if you’ve got calls to make to the island weekdays … it’s a good idea to do it before 4pm eastern, ’cause it’s 5pm there and … well, you know the song, "It’s five o’clock somewhere."

What time is it in St. John?  Here’s the answer.