To all of us, this question and its answer encapsulates the reasons why I, and other friends of the environment, are so insistent on pursuing a balanced and environmentally sustainable approach to coastline development.
By way of introduction and background, I was a prosecutor for 36 years retiring in 2011 with 32 of those years as a federal prosecutor. From 2005 through 2009, I served as the first assistant, and the acting and interim U.S. Attorney in the United States Virgin Islands. I teach Criminal Procedure at the University...
Dear Editor, In response to the article written January 2, 2015 titled, Mapp: Police Department Ill-Equipped for 21st Century, I would like to first begin by stating that the article identified issues that many of us living in the Virgin Islands are already familiar with — from the outdated equipment...
Fair housing is a bedrock civil rights principle that is needed to ensure the promise of equal opportunity for all. This was true 52 years ago when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous “I Have A Dream” speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. It was true when...
Dear Editor, The best gift I ever received was a pair of binoculars. Don’t get me wrong, these were very nice binoculars, but nothing extraordinary. I simply say they were the best gift I have ever received because of the enjoyment they have given me over the years. And the reason they have been...
This opinion piece was submitted to the VI Consortium several days before former acting Attorney General Soraya Diase-Coffelt announced she would hold a press conference on the morning of Friday, Jan. 23 to discuss, in part, the need for Virgin Islanders to have an elected Attorney General and an independent...
Recent first-time St. Croix visitor, Robb Hamic, shares a first-person account of the adventures, sights, sounds, and people he and his wife, Aubrey, encountered while on island. In many respects, his journal entry serves as a reminder of the often-overlooked beauty — both natural and interpersonal...
When you are denied the right to vote for president because of where you live, the State of the Union address can get awkward. Last year, President Obama declared, “Citizenship means standing up for everyone’s right to vote.” In 2013, he said, “We must all do our part to protect...
New beginnings often times produce excitement and great anticipation, as well as nerve-wracking uncertainty. The USVI’s new Governor, Kenneth Mapp, is entering office at a unique time in our territory. We seem to be at a tipping point in our recovery as a community, both economically and socially....
The VI Consortium recently reported on former two-term Virgin Islands Governor John P. de Jongh, Jr.’s decision to pardon 16 persons on his final day in office on Jan. 4. One reader has responded to the story, stating that de Jongh’s and all V.I. governors’ pardon power is unconstitutional.
