This weekend was the beginning of Crucian Christmas Festival with a mini-village in Christiansted and a parade Saturday night that got festivities going. Coming Up Friday is the Calypso monarch Competition, Sunday is the Miss St. Croix Pageant.  Next Sunday is the Opening of the Coney Island Rides.

And on St. Thomas the Reichhold Center was alive with the farm festival – a cacophony of sounds, tastes and sights with lots of plants, kids taking horseback rides and patting the bunnies, special food for sale and lots of information from Cooperative Extension Service, WAPA and other agencies. The Crop Farmer of the year is Charlie Leonard known as “Sweetman Bordeaux.”  And the Commissioner of Agriculture, Louis Petersen said he runs a model farm.  He grows Scotch Bonnet Hot peppers. Nathaniel Tuitt was the livestock farmer of the year.

 

Due to the arrival of Oasis of the Seas and Costa Altantica at Crown Bay Dock , the Crown Bay roads will be reorganized. All traffic from Austin Monsanto Marine Terminal in Crown Bay will on route 304 past Crown Bay Marina, Pueblo  and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles will be one way toward town.

Today there is a trial run of these traffic patterns.  There are improvements to the sidewalks and signs in Crown Bay area as they are expecting a lot of foot traffic in the area. Bureau of Motor Vehicles will be closed on Tuesday.

Police Department officers will all be out in force on Tuesday December 8 – no leave, no days off. Tuesday is a good day to stay away from the Austin Monsanto Marine Terminal in Crown Bay.

And the Coast Guard is establishing a safety zone around the Oasis of the Seas – they plan to close down boat traffic from West Gregerie Channel Buoy #4 to Careen Hill – the idea is to keep gawkers and sightseers from interfering with the arrival of the ship on Tuesday

Do we have to worry about Sahara Dust.  Yes.  Marine Biologist Ginger Garrison came to Rotary of St. John to explain the problem.  People in the agricultural areas of Africa rimming the Sahara are using more pesticides, burning tires and kicking up more dust than any time in history.  The dust gets into the atmosphere and comes here and a lot of the dust is toxic.  That means when we get a blanket of Sahara Dust, people cough and have lung trouble and the coral reefs get a layer of toxic dust on top of them.

Good News from Senator Wayne James – he is back from the village of Montescudaio Italy where he worked on a twin city plan to link our cities of Christiansted, Frederiksted and Charlotte Amalie to the  Italian Tuscan town.  He was promoting Cruzan Rum on the trip and also honored the American soldiers who liberated the area in WW2 He toured vineyards and passed out Cruzan Rum. Good publicity for the Virgin Islands to the Italian tourists.

Senate Committee on Education, Culture and Youth is meeting on St. Croix to take up a bill related to pornography and children, a law to require medical technician and emergency medical training in our schools and the educationa Police Improvement Act of 2009. And a petition to congress

WAPA reminds St. Croix that they will be blowing out steam from the Richmond plant today through Wednesday to clear the high pressure steam lines.  The visible white plumes are steam – not smoke and there is no health hazard. – it may be loud at times.

Job opening at the Office of the Public Defender – they are hiring staff attorneys in St. Thomas and St. Croix, also Administrator on St. Thomas and an Investigator and Asst Administrator on St. Croix – Send a resume to the Office of the Public Defender by December 17.

Department of Education has rescheduled the class in Interpersonal Communication Skills in the Workplace.  It is being held today on St. Thomas At the UVI-CELL from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM and on St. Croix on Tuesday at the UVI-CELL building from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM.

We are in the heart of the vaccination days in the public schools. On St. Thomas:  Today at Joseph Sibilly School, Tuesday at Evelyn Marcelli School, Wednesday at Gomez School,. Thursday at Jane E. Tuitt elementary school. Friday at Leonard Dober Elementary School. On St. John they are vaccinating Guy Benjamin School  TODAY and Julius Sprauve School, St. John on Tuesday.  On St. Croix they are vaccinating today at Ricardo Richards Elementary School, Tuesday at Pearl B. Larsen Elementary School, Wednesday at Lew Muckle School, Thursday at Alfredo Andrews School, Friday the 11^th at Charles Emanuel School.   Parents are reminded that schools need the consent forms signed and delivered to make sure your child gets the protection against the H1N1 Swine flu. 

Hometown sailor Peter Holmberg was the overall winner of the open division of the Carlos Agular Match Races in St. Thomas. Holmberg is officially retired from championship sailing, but decided to sail in the hometown races. Morgan Avery, Ben Beer and Maurice Krug were the crew and Holmberg said the crew was very helpful for a rusty old Captain. Claire Leroy of France dominated the women’s racing and a posse of kids from CAHS, Ivanna Eudora Kean School, Addelita Cancryn Junior High School and Bertha C. Boschulte School got into the action racing in the Ondeck Ocean Racing’s fleet of sailboats. Another victory for Peter Holmberg.

It's 82° Fahrenheit 27.7 Centigrade in Crown Bay St. Thomas, 83% humidity. Partly cloudy skies Wind out of the East North East at 16mph. Doppler radar shows: Scattered Showers Satellite Photo Shows: The national weather forecast calls for ? Partly cloudy. Isolated showers in the morning...then scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs 90. East winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40 percent.