Tomorrow, Tuesday July 20, all mothers (really anyone) of St. Thomas/St. John are invited to join an organized walk in order to take action for peace and against crime in our beautiful islands. (I would assume St. Croix mothers are welcome as well, if they are able to make the trip over and back)

The meeting place is the parking lot of the Renaissance Hotel just behind Pineapple Beach, the walk will begin at 6pm.

We will then walk to Coki Beach quietly and peacefully to demonstrate our stance for peace and against crime. We ask you to wear white and walk with a flashlight. It will be the one week anniversary of the most recent acts of violence.

The Department of Public safety has been notified. We wish to heal the hurt in our community. We are the Walking Mothers for Peace and against crime.

We’ve got a storm system hanging around at the moment – clarified by other sites as a “Low-Potential Disturbance”.

All it means to me is some water for the cistern and little chance of enjoying the beach during my day off on Monday. Today started off as a pretty sunny beach day, but the skies changed in the afternoon and the view that normally looks like this…

…quickly faded into nothing but clouds and rain as the storm blew in from the right. I shut the sliding doors and as I watched the rain rush in I noticed two jet-skiers racing just in front of it:

I ran out to snap the picture and then scooted back in before the rain hit and the wind kicked up. These guys were moving – they were either thrilled to be racing the storm, or panicked because of the impending thunder/lightning (of which there was a tiny bit). Either way I hope they made it home safely!

Last Friday I played in the Roland Williams Charity Golf Tournament, Youth Lifeline America at Mahogany Run St. Thomas. I played on team Southland Gaming so big thanks to Shaine Gaspard for sponsoring the St. Thomas Blog. We represented well with a solid 4 under par

Here I am (from left to right) with Youth Lifeline America creator Roland Williams, sponsor Shaine Gaspard, Southland Gaming, and celebrity Bill Bellamy.

Thanks to Roland for making me,  a 5′9 220lb man look tiny oh and look at those Super Bowl Rings on my right shoulder!

Roland Williams is a Super Bowl Champion XXXIV and retired National Football League Tight End, he founded Youth Lifeline America to give athletes, business professionals and entertainers a chance to make a difference in the lives of young people.

Thanks to all for a great day!

This is a fact, we get a boat load of comments on articles that are negative. Just look at the comments on my article St. Thomas – No Longer America’s Paradise! We  have 116 comments, and anyone writing a blog knows just getting ANY comments can be hard. And when I wrote this one: BREAKING NEWS – ROSEMARY SAUTER OF REMAX MAKES OFF WITH MILLIONS? Strangely we also had 116 comments.

Then Nicci posts this article: Shining a Spotlight on the Good and there is 1 comment. One, and in this story Southland Gaming is giving away $1,000 every two weeks to socially responsible residents of the USVI. People that actually do good deeds. One comment.

Just an interesting little tidbit of wisdom I thought I’d share.

Today we are stepping away from the negative and hoping to shine a light on the positive people that making a difference in our community.

Scott and I are excited to promote a new awards program being brought to the US Virgin Islands by Southland Gaming. The program is called Southland Gaming of the VI Community Award Program.  

Shaine Gaspard of Southland Gaming explained to us why they created this awards program:

“Virgin Islanders from every community make positive impacts every day without expecting a ‘thank you’. However, respectfully, we believe these good people should be recognized. So we are reaching out to the heart of the community and asking them to nominate those people. This is truly an award program for recent successes and accomplishments by individuals and ongoing community programs.”

These successes and accomplishments can be found in many areas - sports, recreation, music, education, environment, social change, early childhood, youth mentoring…the list is endless.

We’re looking for the people that have been working quietly in the background…perhaps paying out of pocket to make sure schools have enough supplies. Sacrificing their own time in order to spend time with youths to try and drive them away from gang involvement. Teachers who stay after hours to help students who might be falling behind. Coaches who buy equipment and drive the players to/from games to keep them involved. People who volunteer to help feed and clothe the homeless. Good, honest people.

Have someone in mind who fits the bill? It’s time to recognize them and the positive person they are. And here’s how we plan to do that.

Southland Gaming has dedicated $25,000 to honor those who are making our community better. This amount will be broken down into 25 $1000 prizes for any individual or organization. All Virgin Island residents can nominate any person or association for a chance at a prize.

Yes, you are allowed to nominate yourself or your own group

The following link will take you to an application. This application needs to be completely filled out:

SGVI Community Award Application

Once filled out the application can  be emailed ( awards@sgvi.com ), faxed ( 340.776.4185) or mailed:

Awards

Southland Gaming

1003 Estate Ross

St. Thomas VI 00802

The Awards program will announce one $1000 winner every two weeks! Many eyes are focused on our island at the moment; this is as good a time as any to show them some examples of the great people that live here. That want the best for our kids. The selfless people who are happy to dedicate their time and energy and want nothing in return. It’s time to learn their names, see their faces and thank them for what they’re doing.

The St. Thomas Blog will be posting a story on each of the winners and detailing their positive contributions to the USVI. Personally I’m excited to meet these individuals and I’m anticipating a good response to this program! Hopefully, as you read this, you are feeling the same way!

Thank you Southland for creating this great program. I look forward to watching this $25,000 go to deserving individuals. C’mon people – it’s time to step up and give us some names!

We’ve been overrun with comments on our articles and a few people have challenged me to step up and do something. So I’ve reached out to the business community and coming tomorrow I will be supporting  Southland Gaming in a new exciting program.

I will release the details of the program and the tremendous effort Southland Gaming is going to undertake to support St. Thomas and it’s wonderful residents.

It starts with a little babystep, then it becomes a movement. Come join the movement and celebrate St. Thomas with us in the days and weeks to come.

Get ready St. Thomas, we’re taking back the community!

If you are a business owner and would like to get involved in future programs please email me at scott@stthomasblog.com, I have lots of ideas

Back to work. Back to running errands…picking up groceries…dinner with friends…bitching about the price of gas and electricity…slapping away mosquitos…making plans to see a movie or hit the beach. You know, life.

Although now it’s different. Yesterday I spent the day at work, hoping for what should have been busy day with two ships in Havensight – but experiencing what felt like a no-ship Thursday. Rumor has it one of the ships told/suggested/invited everyone to stay on board as they were upping the on-ship activities while in port. A friend with a tour company had a bunch of cancellations. We only saw a handful of people excited to try a bushwacker and wondering where the best place to buy a watch was.

So – we spent the day wondering. Wondering what will happen. Wondering if this news will fall to the wayside. Wondering if it won’t. Wondering if the feds will come down and clean house. Wondering if the ships will pull out.

We talked about the 22 yr old currently in custody. Wondering if there will be more arrests. Wondering if it will matter. We hear they’re working out the ballistics to find out who’s gun actually struck the tourist. Cross fingers our forensics team gets it right – although really, does it matter?

We talked about the 18 yr who was also killed that day. The funeral being held that day. We talked about the Kmart shooting. The subsequent funerals that will be held. The security that may/may not be needed. The cycle. The cycle. The cycle.

We talked about how unfair it is that Coral World, a GREAT place with GREAT people, will suffer. As will the good vendors who make a living at Coki Beach.

We talked about the pile of comments on how this island is already lost and debated how true that is.

We talked about how much we each personally love this island and have no plans to run away.

Scott and I talked about what we can do. Where do you start. What age are these kids getting caught up in this violence - 17? 12? When can you catch them and steer them down a different road – and how do you do it?

Don’t even get me started on the ‘parenting’.

And yes, of course we talked about the victim and the broken family back home in Puerto Rico. No one will forget. We will all follow this and look for justice.

So, that’s where we go from here. Back to work. Back to plans. Back to the daily grind. Only with more on our minds.

The other day I wrote a blog article critizing our government, police and overall attitude towards crime here in St. Thomas. I was heartbroken at the mindless death of the 14 year old tourist and fed-up with what’s been happening for the last 18 months.

I’ve been promoting St. Thomas as a destination and place to live proudly for 4 years. I’ve written over 900 stories most of them all about the wonders and beauty of the US Virgin Islands.

I knew when I posted that article on this latest murder that some residents and business owners would not understand why I felt so compelled to write negatively and honestly about the crime we have. I knew that there would be fear of loss of business or an overall bad brand image concerning St. Thomas.

Here’s what I have to say to those that feel that way.

We’ve turned a blind eye for to long. I don’t want to feel unsafe. You don’t want to feel unsafe. I think we all agree that crime is out of control. I felt compelled to write because I felt that coming from a local it would hold more weight and promote some sort of change. Change we all want and need.

I’ve received over 100 emails and even more comments thanking me for my honesty. Understand this, I did it for a better St. Thomas.

Here’s your chance, leave a comment and let me know how you feel.

Get out to Jack’s this Thursday night July 15th to catch the Sun Kings wth Jason Jones!

Come out to Jack’s each and every Thursday for your chance to win prizes including trips to Puerto Rico, Jost Van Dyke, and St. John.

Other prizes include: Dive trips, sailing charters, snorkeling adventures, and couples’ massages.

LIVE Music starts at 7:30PM.

July 15th – Sun Kings featuring Jason Jones.

Prizes are drawn every half hour starting at 8PM.
Each guest receives one ticket upon arrival, which gives you the chance to win during each drawing.

After an all-night search through the East End of St. Thomas, police were told early Tuesday morning that 22-year-old Steven Tyson, suspected of being one of the major players in Monday’s deadly shootout at Coki Point Beach, was turning himself in.

Police said they put a hard press on Tyson’s contacts throughout the night, looking in all the places they thought he might be hiding.

Assistant Police Commissioner Raymond Hyndman said in a subsequent briefing that Tyson came to the station before noon accompanied by his lawyer, and has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
Monday’s shootout left two dead: 18-year-old Shahid Joseph, who police say was on the other side of the gun play with Tyson, and 14-year-old Lizmarie Perez Chapparro, a tourist shot while traveling aboard a safari bus that got caught in the crossfire.  

Read The Full Story Here.

But this does not end the violence does it?

Don’t come here. Don’t vacation here. Don’t get off your cruise ship for fear of death.

That’s the message Governor John deJongh Jr…

And Police Commissioner Novelle Franci Jr. might as well be sending. In my humble opinion they might as well have pulled the trigger themselves in today’s double homicide bloodbath.

Crime is so bad in the US Virgin islands that we just about lead the nation with 42 homicides, with a population of only 100,000 residents.

Today a young innocent girl, 14 years old from the Carnival Cruise Ship Victory, was gunned down in crossfire by brutal killers as she went to play on Coki Beach. The dirty little secret is out now, it’s just not bad guys killing bad guys; innocent people are now getting caught in the middle.

And why was she killed? Because last month there was a brutal shooting at Tutu Mall in front of Subway where a man was gunned down in the middle of the parking lot in broad daylight. Today’s shooting was retaliation against that killing. That day’s shooting was probably retaliation for a previous shooting…and so it goes…no end in sight.

The Governor and Police Chief have known of these issues for years and have done nothing to solve the gang related problems. More criminals have guns than the police force.

Today the Governor issued a statement, here’s a tidbit:

“Parents should be more vigilant at home and residents should turn their back on criminals.”

Really Governor deJongh Jr.? That’s your answer? You can read his entire response here. Please tell me where he outlines any solutions?

We need a serious attack on the wild west that you’ve been neglecting (in my opinion). Bring in the freakin’ militia. There should be raids, we should employ “stop and frisk” like New York. We need to do SOMETHING now!

Our police force is inept. They want no real outside help. Murders and criminals regularly walk free from crimes. All this is hidden from tourists. We don’t like to talk about it for fear of losing money. Well the cat’s out of the bag now!

Today is the saddest day of my residency in St. Thomas because today I can no longer tell tourists, readers, locals and anyone else that St. Thomas is safe. It’s not. Criminals aren’t just killing criminals, they’re killing innocents.

Until local government and police decide to crack down on this crime epidemic it’s just not safe to be here.

Today this letter was posted on our blog from Carnival Cruise Line (click to enlarge):

Carnival will no longer be taking passengers to Coki. That means Coral World as well. What will become of all the honest vendors and businesses there?

What happens when Carnival stops coming to St. Thomas altogether?

I’m holding Governor John deJongh Jr. and Police Commissioner Novelle Franci Jr. responsible for today and what happens going forward. This is it, it’s on you to take back control of our streets. Do what needs to be done.

Multiple Cruise Lines Pull Out Of Tours To Coki Area Click Here.

Read CNN’s Report here.

Read Yahoo’s Report Here.

Read The Washington Post Here.

Read CBS’s Post Here.

Read USA Today’s Post Here.

****************************************

Scott and I have lived here for four years – we love it. We’ve had a lot of fun living down here. We’ve met excellent people. We tell a lot of people about the many positives of living down here while reminding them that this island is like a city, and should be treated as such. The recent afternoon shooting at Kmart gave us pause; today’s incident was no different. “Disgusting”, “Depressing”, “Heartbreaking” were the words that kept repeating over and over on facebook and from mouths as the news traveled this afternoon.

Do we want to write about this? No. Would I be able to sweep this under our virtual rug and ramble on about the sun and fun as if nothing happened? Absolutely not; not when there’s a family out there tonight that is going through unimaginable sadness. Not when there’s a ship of passengers who are now aware of the horror that happened today and are currently spidering it out over the internet to family/friends/fellow travelers. Today we are ANGRY.

What do you think STT – are we overreacting?

Our hearts go out to the family of Lizmarie Perez Chapparro and to all the other families that have been affected by this mindless violence.

We’ve had unconfirmed reports of a double homicide at Coki Beach this morning. Allegedly one 14 year old girl off a cruise ship and one local are dead by gunfire. Another is injured. Again this is still unconfirmed at this time. If you’ve heard anything please comment.

Happy July 12, smack dab in the middle of summer. 

We had a great boat trip to Jost on Saturday courtesy of friends and their fabulous boat, thank you Neighbor! It was a very busy day on White Bay; Soggy Dollar was packed. I munched on their grilled cheese with that so-good-what-the-hell-is-in-it pasta salad they serve. It was hot and sunny and the ocean water was clearer than a pool. We ended the day with pizza at Island Time in Red Hook – always delicious. Definitely hits the spot after a day on the water.

The only bad thing? That looong drive back to the Northside from the East End - I was tempted to grab a room at the Marriot for the night to break the trip into two days…

(yes, that’s a joke)

Actually the really bad thing was arriving back home, turning on the kitchen faucet and not seeing water come out. What??? Cue a few swear words, scratch your head to remember when we last ordered water, if we should be out of water, do we need to switch to the other cistern? I showered and washed dishes that morning with plenty of water. Confused.  Tired. Full from pizza. Don’t want to deal with this want to go to bed.

Instead, we roll the bird cage over, HEAVE up the heavy cistern lid and peer in with the flashlight. Yep, empty. Awesome. There’s few things as fun as grabbing a flashlight and stumbling down the rocky dirt path to go under the deck (CREEPY) in pitch black to find out what the crap is going on with the water. Ah, look – how fun, a pipe has dislodged/unscrewed itself and there’s a big puddle. How much water did we lose? AAAHHHHH!!!! Angry-face.

I won’t talk about the cobwebs and icky things I swore were crawling up and down my arms the whole time. HATE going under the deck. Hate.

Go upstairs, text buddy-who-can-fix-pipe-things, go to bed.

Yesterday pipe-fixing-buddy comes, mends us up. Easy fix, not sure what happened. We heave up the lid to the other cistern and all peer in. This is the cistern that we haven’t cleaned yet. There’s a few feet of water in this one. A lot of muck on the bottom. A roach scuttling up the side (GROSS. But you’ll recall when the other one was cleaned there was an substantially-sized lizard living in it…). We switch over to this cistern and called to set up water delivery. Water delivered yesterday. All better. There’s a lesson hidden somewhere in this water story…darned if I can find it…

We spent the rest of the day watching soccer and napping off previous big boating day.

And now – a new week. I’ll be working today through Thursday. There are 7 cruise ships coming in this week – a big change from the high season where we can have up to 7 ships on a Tuesday alone.  It’s impossible to know if these ships are at capacity or not, or how busy we’ll be, if at all. I assume there are some great deals when you cruise the Caribbean in the middle of the summer. I’m just happy I work in A/C.

So…happy July 12th. Smack dab in the middle of the summer. Kids still have a bunch of weeks ahead of them before school starts. Parents still have a bunch of weeks to entertain said kids.

And I continue to serve frozen drinks to the few tourists that stumble into my section.

They’re delicious, you should come down and try one (the drinks, not the tourists)…

Writing this blog for the past 4 years is not an easy task. We constantly go out, review places and try and write good content to help, inform and educate our readers. Sometimes it can be tough as people disagree with our opinions, after all it is a small island. But Nicci and I put ourselves out there with each and every post, not many people can say that

So it’s super rewarding when we get an email like this:

Scott,
First, thank you (and Nicci) for such a great site and service with your blog. I have been following it since December in anticipation of our visit.  We were on St. Thomas and St. John, June 10-17, and it was just as you said.  We had a great time. Thanks, in part, to your blog.

 
I am a professor of journalism in Tennessee and I teach “Electronic Journalism.” I used your site as examples extensively this past spring semester. And, will continue to do so (keep up the good work).  Now, after my return, I am seriously considering a similar effort. You have inspired me. 

 
I live near a large lake that attracts tourists year round. There is no “tourist” publication (similar to yours for St. Thomas). And, I may be up to the task (I will keep my teaching job). I know you design websites, so I am guessing that you created yours.

 However, I can’t afford to hire a web designer to create one for me. Especially since I am not sure about its potential or acceptance. Are you familiar with TypePad?  Can it do what you have on your site?  My site would be simple (blogs, photos, hopefully some ads).

I would appreciate your thoughts.  Thanks again for what you are doing for tourism in St. Thomas.
Clay

 
Thanks Clay!

Writing a blog full time takes dedication and thick skin. We are brutally honest in our reviews and overall opinions. There are a few people unhappy with some of my reviews and opinions, of course those are the same people that always comment under the name “anonymous” So there’s that to consider.

I would recommend Wordpress for a blog platform, it’s all I use in my blog designs, http://en.wordpress.com/signup/. This requires a little more know how than some of the others but it’s by far the best out there.

Secondly I would use Blogger by Google, https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount?service=blogger&continue=https://www.blogger.com/loginz?d%3D/create-blog.g%26a%3DADD_SERVICE_FLAG&hl=en&sendvemail=true&followup=https://www.blogger.com/loginz?d%3D/home%26a%3DSERVICE_ONLY&naui=8.

This is super easy to use and design. You can literally be up and running within an hour.

I’ve never used Typepad so I can’t comment.

The thing to remember is  honesty and transparency when writing a blog. I’ve turned down quite a few advertisers because I didn’t feel their product/service was good enough. Many won’t do that. And lastly posting as much as you can keeps your readers coming back for more. We try and post everyday while we are on island (which is 9-10 months out of the year). Then we post 3-5 times a week while we are travelling.

Add to it our new Social Networking Site: http://www.lovetolime.com and you got your hands full

Best of luck!

This place to be this Sunday is Hull Bay Hideaway, for the Northside Sportfishing Club’s Annual Kingfish tournament.

Some details on this popular tournament:

More than 300 anglers – men, women, boys and girls of all skill levels – are expected to enter. Thanks to the generosity of sponsors, entry fees are low at $45 for adults and $35 for juniors ages 8-16.

Long time Silver Sponsor, Offshore Marine, the Yamaha and Yanmar distributor in the Virgin Islands, will donate cash prizes: $1000 for Best Boat, $1000 for Best Captain, $500 for Third Largest Kingfish, $500 for Best Male Angler, $250 for Best Junior Male Angler and $250 for Best Female Junior Angler.

All registered anglers will receive an official Bastille Day T-shirt thanks to the combined sponsorship support of Coors Light and Bellows International Ltd, Offshore Marine and NEMWIL, as well as a goodie bag with goodies, thanks to Hawaiian Tropic.

New this year, everyone – either as an individual or as a group – is invited to enter the Scotiabank Sand Sculpture Contest. It’s free to enter. All you need to bring is your creativity. The theme will be nautical. Judging of the contest will take place at 2 p.m., and the winner will receive a trophy and bragging rights, and all participants will receive a ribbon.

Entry forms can be obtained from Bryan’s Electrical and Neptune Fishing Supplies. A captain’s meeting and registration will be held at 7:30 p.m. at Hull Bay Hideaway on Friday, July 9. Late Registration will also be held from noon until 7 p.m. on Saturday, July 10, at Hull Bay Hideaway. Fishing will start at 5:30 a.m. on Sunday July 11, and will end at noon, sharp.

You can read more about the tournament here in the Source.

Good luck to everyone competing!