Many people will wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment (and perhaps even add that I’m EXTREMELY disturbed – but that’s a different can of nuts).

A local political situation has me disturbed.

We have been very supportive of Senator Adlah “Foncie” Donastorg in the past, but in my humble opinion, his extreme criticism of Governor deJongh has gone too far. Foncie’s been acting like a total ass and blowing a relatively small issue way out of proportion.

He’s beginning to remind me of the wacko former senator who pulls microphone plugs out on people expressing differing opinions. (You know, the one who killed his own son by shooting him in the back and then got elected as delegate to the constitutional convention.)

I hope Foncie is not so desperate that he continues pulling his political weight in this way. There are some things that deJongh has done that we completely disagree with, but he’s responded to many many of our territory’s issues much more eloquently than any governor we have seen before.

I hope Foncie takes a long deep breath and decides to take the high road instead of stooping to the extent that he seems to be.

He will have his time, if it is meant to be. And we will all feel better about it.

If I get to meet him.

I’ll just slobber like a little child. I’ve said it to a couple of people.
I just have so much respect and admiration for this man.

I don’t want to embarrass Michael, but I know I’ll cry.

And we will be in the same restaurant at the same time on New Year’s Eve, even though we’ve been missing him by inches in Christiansted since his arrival.

The secret service are on every corner when he’s somewhere near there.

I cry just thinking about the magnitude of his work and the criticisms heaped upon him by some.

Saturday was cruise ship day, and we had an appointment to do a 90 minute couples massage on the beach at Carambola. A  honeymoon couple contacted us months ago and we agreed to meet them out there. We have had a few of these nice little jobs since the cruise ships started coming back. Hope they continue.

They were a nice young couple (everybody’s nice and YOUNG these days – I feel so old sometimes), enjoyed their massage and probably spent the rest of the afternoon lounging out there talking about coming back to visit, or what it would be like to live here. They had been to a few other islands and especially liked St. Lucia. They hiked up a volcano there and are into outdoor pursuits (like us).  But they liked our island, too, so hopefully, they’ll return.

When we were done massaging them, it was time for lunch, so we went to Cane Bay and ate at Eat @ Cane Bay, Frank and Katherine Pugliese’s new place. Aahhh! Beverages served in glasses and food served on real plates with silverware. If you must have a traveler for the beach or the road, they’ll give you a regular plastic cup instead of styrofoam. Add $1 for a take-out  meal since they use eco-friendly containers. Love that!

And, of course, with Frank in the kitchen, the food is superb.

Classy beach bar food. How perfect is that!

Menu items include create your own burgers and salads. Starting price for a burger with lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion, and choice of cheese is $8.50. You can add bacon, egg, avocado, mushroom and onion, blue cheese or jalapeno cream cheese for $2.50. Or duck chili, chorizo or pulled pork for $4, truffle aioli for $2 or foie gras for $12.

Your salad is $10 with a butter lettuce and romaine hearts base. You can add any 6 of the following: carrots, cukes, tomato, red onion, mushrooms, kalamata olives, red pepper avocado, croutons, roasted beets, chick peas or edamame; 2 of the following: roasted turkey, hard cooked egg, feta or blue cheese, bacon or strip steak; and dress it with herbed yogurt, passion fruit french, caesar, blue cheese or evoo (?) and balsamic.

When we were there, they had a special of fresh local wahoo sandwich and also a tuna sashimi appetizer on fried wantons. We had both of those. They had also just gotten in a 90 lb tuna. We wanted more, but we saw mussels on the menu and had to try them. We had onion rings (yum) and hand cut fries  (kind of limp and oily), but everything else was great.

The rest of the menu includes an open-faced BBQ brisket sandwich, a pulled pork sand, fried chicken, an oven roasted turkey club, mixed fried seafood. Fun sides include the ones we had along with sweet potato fries, roasted beets, smoked duck chili, peel and eat shrimp, orzo salad w/red pepper and edamame.

They have a kids menu, a couple of desserts,  and  a nice wine selection. Two whites and two reds by the glass, and bottles ranging in price from $18 for the Chilean Montes Cherub Rose, to $40 for the Italian Masua di Jago Ripassa.

We are happy to have the Frank and Katherine team feeding us again! Eat @ Cane Bay! Bon appetit!

We actually took a day off from around the house duties this past week-end to enjoy our surrounding waters.

Saturday, we borrowed one of the Yacht Club’s Rhodes-19 sailboats and practiced tacking and jibing in the perfect gentle winds and calm seas of that day. Michael did a great job at the helm and first mate, Michelle skillfully handled the jib sheet.

I, of course had to hold and console the little dog, who had a traumatic experience last time he was on a small monohull, and was NOT a happy camper at all being on one again. A few years ago, when we owned a small sailboat, we went out on a rough day and got into trouble, and had to be towed back to the club.

He survived a couple of hours on the water, though. Nothing bad happened, and he was rewarded with a nap on the cool, not- rolling floor of the yacht club while we enjoyed a yummy lunch of mahi sandwiches.

After that, we took Michelle to our favorite snorkeling spot, where we saw three hawksbill turtles and dozens of other very cool sea creatures, coral formations and sea fans.

Yes, another awesome day in paradise!

In restaurant news….. Well, it may not be news to a lot of people, but Frank and Katherine Pugliese have taken over at Cane Bay Beach Bar. We KNOW it will be good, now! Apparently it has opened and everybody knew about it but us. We’ll get there ASAP. Maybe this coming week-end if it’s not PACKED.

Since Frank is no longer at the Galleon, Craig Butler is back cooking there, along with Yummy.

Mitchell and Bob from Zebo’s will be taking over at the Cultured Pelican in the next few weeks. Can’t wait to eat there again!

“Good Spirits” Deli and BBQ will hopefully open soon where Lori’s used to be.

And Ziggy is the new owner of the gas station formerly known as Smokey’s. New menu, new energy…looking good. We saw him last night at Luncheria with his very sweet right-hand man, Dale.

The restaurant on the corner formerly known as the South Shore Cafe and most recently, Kaleidoscope, has been re-painted (from their nice bright blue to a dull beige – soooo strange), so I guess it will be re-opening as something. Will find out and report ASAP.

New energy! Exciting and wonderful!

Well, the jury’s still out. There are a few cautious proponents, but there are more vociferous opponents to the supposedly carved- in-granite deal in which garbage from our landfills in addition to pet coke, a by-product from the oil refinery will be burned to produce electricity.

We need to get rid of our landfills, we need to get rid of our garbage, and something needs to be done with the pet coke. We also “need” a utility which uses cheap alternative energy to produce power. Well, people need jobs and the government of the VI needs to feel like their in control of the power situation. But this is going to be adding to the green house gases that some of us are trying to reduce.

I’d prefer everyone have solar panels on their homes and generate their own electricity.

As Van jones says in his book, The Green Collar Economy, “Solar energy is as reliable as the sunrise; through solar-thermal and photovoltaics, we can harness the sun’s majestyto make abundant clean energy. Enough solar energy falls on the Earth’s surface in one hour to power all of human civilization for a year.”

Many of us have been calling solar energy a “no brainer” for those of us in the sunny tropics, but the governor and his administration keep trying to demonstrate that they have less than no brains.

We’ll see what happens……

…it rained the day after the triathlon.

We massaged a few athletes out by Salt River in the morning and it sprinkled on us toward the end of the third session. As we were getting toward home, there was a nice downpour, and then a break, and then some nice steady showers.

“Cool!” I said. “If it rtains like this all night, the roads won’t wash out and the plants will be so happy and we won’t have to worry about …..” Last week as we sat at the Pickled Greek having dinner, firetrucks went by, and we could actually see the flames on the hillsides across the street from the restaurant. Too scary!

Anyway, the rain stopped for the evening. But during the night we woke to torrents and wind gusts that blew rain into our bedroom, causing me to jump out of bed to close the south facing window. The frogs started to squawk and I didn’t know if one was sandwiched between the panes.

I wonder what race director Tom Guthrie has to do to make things work out like that?

Lots of bikes on the roads, runners at all hours, and work for us!! Yippee!!

Read all about it here.

Meanwhile, we’re washing lots of sheets and making up more massage oil…..Later!

Sunday, after we finished working, we came back east to check out the new place they’ve been building  just past Southgate.

Well, the best thing about it, is that it’s pretty much finished and it looks a little better from the outside now that it has two tiny porches outside of each of the upstairs bedrooms, and a large wrap-around deck outside of the living room. I’m hoping the landscaping grows quickly.

A few observations:

There are large sliding glass doors on the western side of the house. The afternoon sun in the west will make it hot on that side. Strange that someone building a supposedly “green” home, would do something which would cause the cooling system to have to work harder. Common sense would dictate putting larger openings on the east side, where the cooling breezes come from and smaller ones on the hottest side of the house.

The living room/dining/ kitchen area are about the same size as ours, but the ceiling is lower, and there are 6 (yes, six!) ceiling fans, 4 in the living room area and 2 in the kitchen. Can you say overkill ?! You can hardly see the ceilings because the fans are all crowded together.

The master bedroom is east of the dining area, and there are 3 or 4 windows in the bedroom which opens into a laundry room/closet/ bathroom. It seems to be a nice room, but we’re confused by the placement of the washer/dryer – in a hall leading to the closet/bathroom. The bathroom faces the main road and there are two large windows which look right into the bathroom/shower! Bizarre!

The two upstairs bedrooms are small, but each has a big walk-in closet and a sea view. There’s also another large bathroom in a hallway between the rooms toward the front of the house, and a large attic/storage area to the rear.

This house has excessive amounts of storage space and the rooms feel cramped even without a lot of furniture. One of the people we took the tour with looked at each room and said that they could have moved a wall here and there to provide more living space without taking  much away from storage. She’s absolutely correct, and she is currently renovating an older house elsewhere on island. It will have solar hot water and the windows facing the breezes are becoming French doors with a nice open veranda.

Anyway, the entire southern-facing roof  on this “solar house” is largely photovoltaic material which will create much of the house’s electricity. The builders are guaranteeing 80%. There is an inverter to change DC to AC, but no storage batteries. They are participating in the “net metering” program with WAPA. But that means, if WAPA goes out during the night, the people who buy the house have to rely on their propane generator rather than stored energy from batteries.

Also since they have a propane generator, one would expect a gas stove, clothes dryer, and maybe even refrigerator to reduce the amount of electricity needed. The whole house could be probably be powered by the photovoltaic system if the dryer, fridge and stove weren’t electric. The house is for sale for $495,000. (One of the guys we took the tour with kept saying, “$150,000, tops!”)

Despite the  many problems I personally see with this house, it is a good idea. We hope that more projects (especially big ones, like the hotel/casino projects) actually begin with alternative energy production in mind.  I just wish that people with enough money to build something like this would have more common sense.

Jimmy Cliff has always been one of my favorite reggae artists. He has a positive message, and has for years  given it to us in many different ways.

I was reminded of his song, “Fantastic Plastic People” at last night’s reception for the “Robin Bay” project.

(Sigh) Yes, another casino/hotel/golf course/resort/timeshare blah blah blah thing that will, (sigh) once again save all of the people of the Virgin Islands from their continuing abject poverty. (Sigh).

Oh, everybody who is anybody was there. We, of course did not receive an “official” invitation, but one of our friends did, and she included us in her RSVP.

And, of course (sigh), we got the same old same old “jobs for the people” spiel, but with lovely artist’s renditions of this monstrosity which is supposed to go on the south shore between Great Pond Bay and Grassy Point. Ugh!!

Curtis Robinson, one of the major players in this development was there to dazzle us with his “style and class” (oh, and promises of jobs for the people). His female partner sat there with her perfect blond braids and sparkling earrings, looking very Paris Hilton. Cheese an’ bread, me son! They soooo don’t belong here. Even our most spiffed up islanders with their $$$suits are more real than these dolled up robotic creatures. I really had to wonder if there was flesh and blood under all that glitz. Hollywood comes to St. Croix!! Awww lawd!!

“All pomaded and so perfectly braided”, is my official description.

“Fantastic Plastic People” is a song about the superficiality of today’s society. And there it was, hitting us smack in the face at this cocktail reception. Unfortunately, people here continue to buy this rhetoric.

When are we going to get real around here?

I heard it on the radio yesterday, but the person didn’t know anything about the restaurant except where it was located. I was so excited I wanted to get right on the computer with the news flash, but I was too busy working!

Then when I got home, I barely had time to feed the kids and water a few plants before it was time to get ready for wine club at the Galleon. We hadn’t been to a wine tasting there in a few months, so it was imperative that we get there to sample some nectar of the gods. And Frank’s food pairings, too. Doubly exciting is that Frank Pugliese (original owner with his wife, Katherine, of Restaurant Bacchus) is now head chef at the Galleon! It was great. Our first wine was Duck Pond Pinot Grigio and it was paired with information from Roger Dewey of the St. Croix Foundation about the St. Croix Food and Wine Experience coming up next month. The wine was nice and light and I enjoyed it. The info was  interesting as well, and we are in the process of figuring out what events we can afford to attend during the April extravaganza.

Next Pinot Grigio was Willamette Valley Vineyards. I liked it better, especially since it was paired with food, a sort of chicken salad. Third wine was Duck Pond Pinot Noir. Not very Pinot Noir-like, in my opinion. I wasn’t thrilled with the bouquet, which reminded me of dirty socks. It was paired with a tenderloin on toast with horseradishes, and that made it taste better. Fourth wine was Willamette Valley Vineyards Pinot Noir. Much more like a Pinot Noir and lovely, especially with the tasty Mexican-type morsel it was paired with.

We had fun talking with some of our favorite fellow islanders, but it got crowded and noisy, so we  headed to town to check out the new place.

There is no sign yet to let you know it’s there, but we drove by, saw lights on inside and a few occupied tables, and found a decent parking space on the next block.

Galangal is beautiful! Very nicely done in white, black and gold, with Buddhist statues and artwork. The menu is nice, as is the wine list. We stuck with a Pinot Noir (I’ll think of which one soon), and loved it. We had a green papaya salad and the calamari appetizer with an incredibly flavorful dipping sauce. The salad was small, but refreshingly tangy, and available with or without shrimp. We had it without. We shared an entree of tilapia in coconut milk. It was fabulous and came wrapped in a banana leaf! Mmmmm.

Gregory and Arthur both came to talk to us at various points, and Arthur brought us out a wonderful house -made hot sauce to enhance the tilapia. Michael abstained, but I LOVED it.

We shared a dessert of rich chocolate cake and mango ice cream. Incredible!

Galangal is definitely a wonderful addition to St. Croix’s already amazing restaurant scene. We are thrilled to have Gregory and Arthur back, and we know they will be very successful in their new venture.

We went to the CZM hearing at the airport. I’m still appalled by the fact that they chose to have the meeting there, when they KNEW the room would be jammed with people and violate fire codes. But they did and people squeezed in like sardines and overflowed onto a balcony and into the hall, struggling to hear the questions and answers. Oh, and there was no microphone either.

I always wonder about how people with perhaps one damaged brain cell can keep their jobs. Who made those idiotic decisions? I’m guessing that they assumed the lack of seating room would deter people from staying. Well, that tactic did not work. I counted at least 150 bodies actually in the room and another 50-100 vying for positions within earshot of the speakers. Those on the balcony had to fight against the sounds of incoming planes, conversations below, and the clanging of the flagpole hardware.

Anyway, we left at the break. The stenographer asked for time out after around two hours of contiuous back and forth. We were pretty disgusted with the questions the CZM Committee members were asking, as were a great number of the project’s supporters. The committee arrogantly displayed their ignorance of the issues, things that had been clearly explained at the last meeting, and that most certainly had been included in the application documents, by harping on details that even a six- year- old could figure out (according to another disgruntled citizen).

Just before we left, local attorney and project partner Kevin Rames gave an emotionally-charged answer to a question about an easement. He sounded like a preacher, and the sign-waving supporters clapped and loudly agreed with him. It felt like we were at a church revival meeting, with “amens’ and “hallelujahs”.

At another point, as we stood and watched and listened, I was thinking that this type of meeting could replace cock-fighting as a much more humane spectator sport, and provide another opportunity for the gambling public to get their jollies. Until the life-saving casino is built, of course, as this will provide all the solutions to all of the problems on St. Croix for generations to come…….

Click here for more comments.

We’ve been waiting for this project to be completed for a looong time, and now it is!

Dr. Stacia Boswell arrived on island a few years back and worked with our vet, Paul Hess for a while before becoming the Director of the St. Croix Animal Welfare Center (aka the shelter). We are thrilled that she has chosen St. Croix as here permanent home as we strive to make our island a paradise for critters, too.

Under her direction, the shelter did thousands of spays and neuters and adoptions, and we wonder now what will happen there without her. We hope for the best. But we hear there are problems.

In any case, Dr. Stacia has purchased and remodeled a beautiful historical property in La Grande Princesse and turned it into a shiny new veterinary hospital. She calls it “Sugar Mill Veterinary Center“. She is using green technologies such as solar hot water heating and LED lights, and a wind generator will be going up soon.

She held an “open house” at the facility on Saturday (yes, we had a VERY busy Saturday), serving sandwiches and cookies and wine other goodies (catnip and doggy treats, too), and we saw many of our fellow animal lovers touring the property as well. We love the spacious feeling, the comfortable furnishings, and the views of Christiansted from many of the windows.

Many of our favorite vet techs, like Sue Brown and Sylvia Ward Hanley  will be working here, so we know the level of care will be way up there. Quite a few people mentioned that it is much nicer than our people hospital and it might be a good idea to come here with their own health issues    .

We wish Dr. Stacia well in her new venture!

We interrupt this vacation….to write about the boat parade.

This was the first time we’d been invited to be ON a boat in the boat parade. What a blast!

Peter of the Pickled Greek decided, that since the theme of this year’s parade concerned the “mix of cultures” on St. Croix, he’d like to have a Pickled Greek boat. So he got some boat people to agree, and invited a bunch of friends.

The festivities started at the Galleon Restaurant, with cocktails at 4 pm. I wasn’t feeling like drinking, but it was nice to hang out there with Lesley and the gang, while the boat was being decorated.

The boat is called Nirvana, and it’s a big sailboat. Most of the boats in the boat parade are motor boats. They’re so much easier to maneuver at night in the harbor. This 60 foot ketch, is long and heavy and not overly responsive.

Rich Rowe, her owner was at the helm and did a fantastic job getting her through the harbor in the dark made darker by the lights all over the vessel. Another large sailboat ahead of us, Parrot Head got stuck in shallow water a few times. But Rich had help from the bow with mates Catherine and Joe shouting back directions. Too many people, as far as I was concerned, about 30 or so, were all over the place, in the way, smoking cigarettes and spilling drinks. I tried to stay in one spot, right behind the main mast, so as not to interfere with vision and movement by necessary crew. I would NEVER have allowed that many people for something like that if it had been my boat. (Call me Mrs. Scrooge, if you wish).

But it was a great time for us, enjoying the water at night and looking at Christiansted’s crowds from “out there”. We did not bring Goliath for a couple of reasons: He hates boats and the water, and there would be fireworks, which he also hates. I could just picture him catapulting himself into the abyss at the first explosion.

The parade began around 6 pm, and after the boats went around a few times to raucous cheering from those along the waterfront, around 7 pm, the fireworks began. The boats all (sort of) stopped to watch the display, and as far as we could tell, there were no accidents. It was a wonderful fireworks display, and about half-way through, the huge full moon appeared behind the clouds to the east. Awesome!

Motoring back to Green Cay marina, with the bright moon reflected over the dark sea, alongside other beautifully decorated boats was amazing! Lady Jasmyne looked stunning, Intuition, adorable and I just felt like the luckiest person on earth to be livin’ on St. Croix, among so many truly special people.

Rich was able to move the behemoth into the tiny marina in the black night, and onto the dock with very little trouble, and the masses spilled out like ants from a disturbed nest. The party was to continue at the Deep End Bar, but Meredith mentioned that she felt like pizza, and I had been thinking that very same thing, just minutes before. So we decided to reconvene with Cindy and Meredith at the Divi’s new pizza restaurant, across the street from the miniature golf course.

We got a white pizza (they were out of spinach, so we had it with broccoli), a pepperoni, and a Jamaican jerk chicken pizza. The white pie was yummy, and the others enjoyed the rest of them. This pizza bar had no Amstel light beer, so I tried a Heineken light, which was just as good.

What a marvelous night for a moon dance!

Friday night we went to an opening reception of an art show where all of the proceeds would be donated to a local organization helping to bring food, fresh water and medical treatment to people in Haiti.

We know many of the artists and their works are always amazing. Trudi Gilliam and Bonnie Luria, Emy Thomas and Don Dahlke are among the talented and generous souls who gave their beautiful works to this important cause.

We weren’t able to buy any art. We are out of wall space. But there were also gift certificates that people could purchase which would appropriate monies toward meals, water or medical care. So we did our Christmas shopping right there.

It is the beginning of the busy social season now. Last week, besides the CZM hearing in Frederiksted, we went to UVI to see a presentation of a NOVA special called, “Dimming the Sun”. It was extremely interesting. This Thursday was art walk in Christiansted, Friday was the art show/benefit, Tonight we went to see CCT’s production of a play called “Bee Luther Hatchee“. It was fabulous. Incredible talent and the subject matter, extremely emotional and pertinent at this time. They’re doing a matinee performance tomorrow (Sunday, November 16) and two more evening shows next week-end. It is a must-see!

And the art show/benefit at Walsh Metal Works continues for a while longer as well. Enjoy!

We’re finally back on-line after hurricane Omar. It was actually kind of a nice break not to feel the addictive pull of the internet for a few days. We got a lot more done than we possibly could have had the computers been calling us every minute.

We are really lucky. Our house and property (fences, the pool, decks, etc.) sustained no damage, but we lost a couple of neem trees, and the mango trees lost a bunch of branches. We have lots of green mangoes if anyone needs some. It’ll be interesting to see how long those amazing trees take to start producing again.

Since the storm, we have been cutting up broken branches and moving them into piles, Michael has taken a couple of loads to the dumpsters. A few hurricanes ago, they had curbside pick-up of yard waste, but our waste (mis)management authority has wasted a bunch of money on ridiculous studies, so this time we have to move the stuff ourselves.

I think a lot of people will be getting fire permits (or not) and just burning the stuff.. We’ll burn some of ours from the back yards, but a lot of it has to go, especially the mango debris in the front yard where we just did the paver project.

Fortunately, none of my nice palm trees or potted plants were damaged. We have also been lucky that we’ve had telephone service throughout. Electric power has been restored to most of the island. There are pockets still without, and the East End is a mess. A LOT of poles fell and lines are twisted all over the place. Some sections of the roads are still impassable because of this. But it could have been much worse.

That’s it for now. Gotta get back to work cleaning up.

Preparing for and enduring Omar

“During the operation…..a portion of Melvin Evans Highway along with the East and West Airport Roads were completely shut down to vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

“Officers armed with assault weapons manned security checkpoints east and west of Henry E. Rohlson Airport, and no one was allowed to enter or leave the airport area….” says the article in The Avis‘ Sunday-Monday edition.

Glad I wasn’t out and about trying to get to Frederiksted during that time – surreal!

The Bureau of Corrections is moving approximately 100 prisoners from Golden Grove Prison to a maximum security prison in the states.

Corruption in the Department of corrections was brought to the forefront last week when a police dispatcher, a 27-year veteran of the VIPD, was arrested on charges such including “accessory after the fact”,  not reporting an escaped prisoner (her husband) to authorities, and promoting dangerous prison contraband by giving her prisoner husband a cell phone last year.

Three prisoners escaped last week. One was shot in the leg and died later in the hospital, one was brought back into custody (the one with the wife in the PD) and is one of the prisoners headed stateside, and one who is still at large. The one with the wife in the VIPD was allegedly found at his ex-girlfriend’s house after his wife found out he’d escaped.

Writers of novels or soap operas like “As the Stomach Turns” will have a great time with this one!

Stay tuned…….

After eight years of seeing NOTHING come to St. Croix from the turnbull administration, we are happy to see our current governor out in public, talking to the people, all the while, working to secure a better future for the USVI.

However, since deJongh took office, we have seen the Christiansted by-pass begin. We have also seen more activity on the south shore from the “Golden Gaming” aka “Wyndham St. Croix” project.

We KNOW that this project cannot even begin, since the “permits” Golden and his proposed project has procured are ILLEGAL!!! [Point #1...the CZM board which originally voted to grant Golden a permit did not have a quorum (this means there were not enough voting members present to conduct business that day)].

They should have just gone home…or put off the question to a later date. But the local CZM board proceeded. Ignoring the law. There are many more complicated legal issues that this proposed project has, but we continue to see illegal activity in this area of particular concern (APC).

It seems to be an ongoing problem with this project. Currently, there is a gigantic sign, of billboard proportions, being erected at the entrance to the property Golden/Wyndham purports to be theirs. After repeated calls to government agencies, it appears that there has been no permit issued for this sign.

Everyone I have spoken to this morning has “passed the buck” . My latest written and spoken contacts with agencies involved (including the governor), speak about my concerns regarding federal funding for the territory. I would hate to see federal funding (which lends these agencies credibility) be suspended due to impropriety.

Temporary jobs for the people do not solve the entrenched problems that keep our island oppressed (downpressed) in the long run.

Let’s hope the deJongh administration sees the errors of the ways of the previous administrations and rises toward making St. Croix into the unique and precious gem of the Caribbean that it truly is…

Well, the rotary luncheon at which he spoke was boring. He spoke for around 10 minutes and said the same things he’s said over and over again, and the people asked the same questions we’ve heard before, but for only about 15 minutes, rather than the hours and hours we’ve experienced at public hearings and such.

I didn’t notice how bedraggled he looked, but someone else commented on it, and come to think of it he had more of a weary-weasel look than his usual wary-weasel look. It might be because he was served with papers from an attorney announcing that he was being sued by a farmer who has been using the property he wants to build on, for more than 20 years, and therefore owns it by “adverse possession”.

Another legal hurdle in addition to the umpteen he already needs to overcome in his uphill battle to rape and deface part of the south shore of St. Croix! And he still had the nerve to say he will begin construction within 60 days. Last time he said, “….in the spring…”. It will be summer next week.

I was only able to make the luncheon part, so Michael would attend the afternoon session without me. This was another “tour of the property” which was purportedly, open to “all Rotarians, guests and the media”, as we see in the press release in my previous post.

However, when the time arrived for the tour, Golden and his buddies prevented Michael from climbing into the nearly empty safari van! Again!!

We had spoken to our friend, who will soon become president of the Harborside Rotary, the previous evening and asked him if we needed to have sponsorship from a Rotarian to go on the tour. He said that it shouldn’t be necessary, but we could use his name and say that we were his guests if need be. Well, we needed to, and Michael said he was a guest of our friend, but it meant nothing to Golden, who told Michael that he (should I capitalize that, too?) could choose whom he would let onto the bus since he was paying for it.

It’s his party and he doesn’t want us coming to it! Shucks!!

Michael did, however, get to ask a few questions in the parking lot, which Paul and Co. danced around. Too bad the newspapers weren’t there again. They were at the luncheon, and probably bored by the same old same old.

Oh well, the letters to the editors will be written and sent today. Let’s see who prints what.

I’m calling it discrimination. If everyone’s invited except Michael, and that wasn’t previously explained, I believe that is clearly discrimination.

Actually, it was more like a hopeful snicker. But it wasn’t sad. It was a joyful, but tentative, rejoicing.

We stopped into the Pickled Greek on our way home from Luncheria last night. The restaurant was about half full and there were a few more folks outside. We sat at the bar to order a couple of drinks, and suddenly, the lights went out!

Fortunately, we’d gotten our drinks first. Phew! But it was still pretty scary. Nikki and Doug and others, got their lighters out and we could see each other for a few seconds until the generator kicked on. Yes! The generator kicked on! Wild cheering could be heard all over the island. It was coming from the Greek. Well….it was quiet……the TV’s island-wide had gone dead……so people could hear better. Okay, maybe a couple of houses in Tide Village could detect muffled sounds coming from the inside of the Pickled Greek, but we heard ourselves cheering. Loud and clear!

They turned off one of the AC units so as not to strain the great machine, a gift to Peter from a friend who’d left island. But every time a compressor on a fridge turned on, the lights dimmed. Finally they turned off the other AC unit and opened the door. We felt it was cool enough and it didn’t stifle anyone (except maybe the kitchen staff – Peter said that the other day, it was 120 degrees in there, but that was not because of the power outage – there’s just way too much equipment running in there and not enough ventilation – but they’re working on making more holes in the walls and roof ).

At one point, the kitchen staff thought they might start the dishwasher, but it got really iffy and seemed like the generator wouldn’t be able to do it’s job, so they decided to wait on that load of dishes. It stayed dark outside, except for the headlights of passing cars, for about 45 minutes. Finally, WAPA came back on and the generator turned itself off.

We went outside with Peter, Nikki, Nicole and Amanda, to sit and visit some more, and watch them smoke. An SUV went by and a woman inside it exclaimed, “Oh my god! They’re open!” So we said, “Yeah! We’re open, come on in!” But she drove on by, hopefully to return soon….

So, hooray for the Pickled Greek! Another hurdle overcome. They will undoubtedly be busy during the coming power-outage season, since so few restaurants have generators. Look at your calenders, folks. Sunday, June first is when you’ll start getting the tropical updates on the weather channel. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that Peter’s generator doesn’t get too worn out in the coming months.

I was hungry when I got home from work yesterday. I had eaten a small, early lunch because I had to get to work, but also in preparation for our dinner at The Pickled Greek.

We were on our way up Lowry Hill Road, when a neighbor stopped us to ask if I could massage his leg soon, since he’s been having trouble with it. I said, yes, give me a call, and we traveled on.

There were a few people there already and Heike sat us at the table she was working at with the reservation book, close to the bar area and kitchen. We saw the usual suspects: Lorine and Diane, Margi and Fran, Joe and Val, Diane Marie, and more friends and supporters trickled in throughout the evening: Peter and Carol, Leonore and Paul, Mike and Barbara, Avalon and Athena, Doug and Isabel, Jenny and Chris, Jeannie and Rick, etc. etc.

We looked at the menu and couldn’t get past the appetizer section! I wanted everything (except for the meat things, but there were only two apps with meat – cool!). We ordered the tzatziki (cucumber, garlic yogurt dip); the melitzanosalata (roasted eggplant, red pepper and garlic dip); the spanakopita (spinach and feta in phyllo); the dolmades (herbed, rice-stuffed grape leaves); the falafel (herbed, fried chickpea balls); the calamari and the tyropita (cheese-stuffed phyllo triangles).

It was all fabulous! Our only mistake was ordering tzatziki, since a couple of the other things came with it (the grape leaves and falafel), so we had an abundance of the delicious stuff. It was the only thing we couldn’t finish. But we didn’t leave much. We shared a bottle of Mitchell’s Pinot Nero and it was a perfect meal.

Nikki was our server and apologized at one point for not paying enough attention to us. It was not a problem, we had people popping over to our table throughout the evening, and we had each other and Biggie to occupy our attention. Besides, we got our wine and food in a very timely manner, and were pretty busy polishing it off most of the time. Oh, and Peter started dancing with Pam and Heike and Cindy twice while we were there, so there was plenty of entertainment.

We were about half-way through our repast, when I spotted Aaron! Peter’s chef was back for opening night! I jumped up and ran over to give him a hug. He’s looking great and he says he’s feeling good, too. What a thrill for him to see the day we’ve all been waiting for! He’d worked so hard for so long before his diagnosis with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, that it would have been a real tragedy for him to have missed it. He’s here for a week and looking forward to coming back when his treatments are finished, and taking over in the kitchen. We’ll surely be stopping in during the week to visit with him and the rest of the gang.

In more good news….Vinnie comes back today from rehab in CA. It’ll be great to see him again as well.

By the time we had finished, all of the indoor tables were full and a couple of the outdoor tables were, too. We are extremely happy that there will be NO SMOKING inside the Pickled Greek. Peter, himself, goes outside when he wants to light up.

They’ve also decided that, for the time being they will not open for lunch. They should be busy enough with dinners, especially if they continue to provide the quality and service we experienced last night. I think they decided that, after two refrigerator malfunctions (and subsequent food losses) over the week-end, that they’d get new equipment before getting overly ambitious.

As for the rest of the menu, the two appetizers we didn’t have were the lahanadomathes (spiced lamb and rice cabbage rolls) and keftedes (lamb and beef meatballs in a tomato herb sauce). For soup or salad, you can have a traditional Greek salad, a warm spinach salad, a village Greek salad, which has the veggies without the lettuce, and Yia Yia stew, a hearty seasonal veggie soup. Mmmm!

For sandwiches, they have the classic gyro, a souvlaki pita (with marinated chicken, beef or lamb), a keftedes (meatball) sandwich, a falafel pita, a veggie pita or a Greek hamburger. All sandwiches come with your choice of fries or Greek coleslaw.

The entrée selections are souvlaki (slow roasted, marinated beef, lamb or chicken kabobs); moussaka (herbed eggplant lasagna with or without lamb); pastitsio (macaroni and ground lamb casserole); a leg of lamb; a NY steak or fresh fish of the day. All entrees are served with seasonal ratatouille and rice.

The prices are very reasonable. Our total for the evening came to $77, not including tip. Truly a bargain for all that food and the delicious wine. Salads are $9 or $10, sandwiches $9-$12, and entrees (except for the fresh catch, which would be market price) $16-$23.

After the feasting, and to celebrate his opening, Peter opened a couple of bottles of ouzo and shared a drink with each table. It was a great evening. The acoustics inside were very loud, but it’s a Greek place, there’s going to be a lot of activity and noise. But it will always be a good time. We had so much fun I forgot about my Greek lesson. So, bon appetit!

I wonder how the national media will handle this one. And if it will have an effect on our economy similar to the fallout from the Fountain Valley massacre in the early 70’s.

Very early this morning, 5 masked gunmen entered our Juan F. Luis Hospital, tied up a security guard, “threatened maintenance workers” and proceeded to a patient’s room, where they shot and killed him. The patient was recovering from gunshot wounds.

At first, this may seem like a terrorist attack similar to others we have heard about. But if we think about it, it appears more likely to be a gang killing. The perpetrators went into the hospital and finished a job they botched up the first time. They didn’t harm or kill anyone else. Period.

I’m no more afraid of living here than I was yesterday or last week or 5 years ago. Stuff like this happens everywhere, all the time. The lax security at the hospital however, is a concern, but it will be no longer. I’m sure they’ll beef up security so that it never happens again. But, as usual, it’s too late for St. Croix.

Friday we had another running around day. We brought Meredith to the airport bright and early. Michael came so we could check out a few commercial properties on the way back. When we got to Princesse, we passed by a yard where a puppy had squeezed out through an opening in the gate. I stopped and Michael got out to try to put him back into the yard. As soon as he got near the fence, a bunch of other little ones came wiggling over to play with him.Then they started coming out, too. He finally managed to get them all back in and shove something into the opening so they couldn’t get back out. They were just so adorable!

We finished our errands in that area and headed home. But when we got to the Pickled Greek, there were cars there and we stopped in for a visit. The Pickled Greek will finally open on Tuesday, May 27th!

Back on the road…..but on Lowry Hill at Tide Village, there were a couple of horses in the street. There were also a couple more at the pond on the east side of the road. We were worried about the ones in the road and drove slowly hoping they’d go off to the side, but they stayed in front of us for a while. We got closer to the hilly, curvy part of the road and finally got in front of them, but we worried that someone would drive down too fast and hit one or both of them. So we stopped at Bob and Joanne White’s house because we assumed the horses were theirs. We were right, but Bob was off island and Joanne was at work in F’sted.

I called our friend Mitchell who rides with Bob and Joanne sometimes and he said he’d come as soon as he could. Their tenant, Glenda called Joanne who decided to come home from work as well. Glenda got some sweet feed and a halter and we headed down to try to lure them back up the hill. Joanne said there was a gate at one point where we could get them in so we wouldn’t have to walk them on the road. She said that one time, Bob was walking a horse back and a car came by too fast and hit the horse. How awful!

As we were getting into the car, one of the horses, Pinto, came sauntering up. Glenda said that Pinto is 40 years old! I guess you don’t get to be that age by being stupid. Smart horse was back on its own. Relieved that at least one was safe, we drove down the road to the gate Joanne had mentioned. Then we drove farther down the hill to the pond, but they were nowhere to be found. We walked and drove up and down looking for them, but to no avail. Finally, Joanne arrived in her car saying that she’d get changed into bush clothes and start searching for them. She took Glenda back up the hill and we went home for breakfast. It was around noon and we were famished!

We had time to eat and do a couple of things around the house and then it was time to go to Sunset Jazz in F’sted.

We packed up some cheese and crackers and wine and fruit and chairs and blankets and drove out to Aqua West’s parking lot where we met Peter and Heike and Nikki. We saw owner, Brian Mika, driving in and Michael went in to make reservations for dinner after the concert. We walked the few blocks into town and found a spot to watch the sunset and listen to the music. We settled down while Peter and Heike wandered about schmoozing separately with all the friends they’d meet. We saw Margi and Fran in an upstairs window at the Caribbean Museum Center.

The sunset was muted, but lovely, and what little breeze there was, was heartily appreciated by Michael and Nikki. We finished two bottles of wine that we also shared with Marie as she wandered through the crowd as well. That made it time to go find more at Aqua West.

Hilarious! Uproariously funny! Lots of belly laughs and guffaws as well as giggles and snickers!

We went on opening night and only a couple of times did the performers seem to be reaching for their lines.

The casting was perfect. The players truly seemed to matched their characters.

There were about 50 people in the audience, which is quite a decent showing for opening night during the beginning of our “slow” season. The audience was pretty responsive and appreciated most of the jokes and funny lines.

We also went on night two. We volunteered at the raffle table. There were fewer people, perhaps because of the big day-long “cancer sucks” fund raising bash at Cane Bay. But they seemed to thoroughly enjoy the show. There are still 5 performances left. This week-end, Friday and Saturday at 8pm and a Sunday matinée. And then Friday and Saturday nights of the week-end of the 23rd and 24th. If you are on island, don’t miss it!

Well, it’s official. I heard it on the radio. The Sahara dust is here.

A caller to the morning talk show cautioned listeners not to breath too much because “agents have been released into the atmosphere which may cause mass paranoid schizophrenia”! I’m holding my breath. I don’t want to get THAT!

No, but seriously. It can be bad. There may be molecules of poisons used in the third world and bacteria from all sorts of dung which have been carried by the winds to our area. I’d better break out my burka, my hard hat and my gas mask.

Let me go do that now!

The first time I went to a CCT play, it was at the Sydney Lee Theater at Island Center for the Arts. I saw “South Pacific” and fell in love with that musical and our local theater company. I didn’t know, at that time, that calling for reservations was necessary because the theater was so small and the place was packed! I just barely got a place to sit. Many people had to stand.

I love the Sydney Lee theater (named after a former senator who was a great supporter of the arts and whose daughter is in the publishing industry), just as I love Island Center. When we first moved here and my daughter performed in “The Nutcracker Suite” ballet, I was in awe of being able to see a first-rate classical ballet shown in a large open-air theater. The tropical heat is tempered in December by the “Christmas winds” and the lack of humidity. It’s a beautiful place to watch a show. One of my favorite things about it is watching the bats swoop in and around the lights for treats of moths and other delicacies. Très islandy!

But alas, our community theater group has outgrown the Sydney Lee Theater and has moved to a more “industrial” type building. It fits more people (no need to call for reservations any more, but if it’s a popular show, you must get there early), and it is air-conditioned. I guess some people love that. I was not thrilled at first to have to leave the charming playhouse at Island Center, but I have almost gotten over my dismay since they continue to stage wonderfully entertaining shows. At least the bar area is still outside under the stars.

This season we have thoroughly enjoyed our CCT’s productions of “Chicago” (the play blows the movie out of the water), “Grace and Glorie”, a two-woman show which had us alternately in stitches and in tears. It was fabulous! A strange is that CCT decided last year to do this show and shortly before they had auditions, the author (or writer ?) moved to St. Croix. He found out about it and helped with all aspects of staging his play.

This week-end, Neil Simon’s “Last of the Red Hot Lovers” will open. It’s a four person show with the lovely and talented Nicole Gariepy (who was quoted in the St. Croix Avis this week regarding the triathlon’s effect on her business) in the role of “a flaunting sexpot with a fondness for cigarettes and whiskey”. Shouldn’t be too much of a stretch for her to play. Bruce Specter, who played “Mary Sunshine” in “Chicago” is Barney, the blundering adulterer. I crack up every time I think of Mary Sunshine kissing my daughter on stage.

I’m really excited about seeing this show. I’m sure the cast will do a great job. Stay tuned for the review…..

I was talking to someone the other day who mentioned that someone mentioned our blog to her. And it was in a “not very nice” sort of way. She said it was because I posted a “not very favorable” review of a certain restaurant. Funny! But the funniest thing is that the next time we went to this restaurant we were treated “like royalty”, and I wrote about that in my next review.

The person who told me about the “complainer” thought that maybe we were “treated like royalty” because of the blog. So I say to that, “Way cool, but why wouldn’t they treat everyone nice the first time and not need to be ’spurred on’ by the fact that I might write a ‘not very favorable’ review?” Why not strive for excellence in your chosen occupation, whatever it is and with whomever you’re dealing? I think I do. Well, okay, sometimes I’m not as patient as I should be with some people who call or e-mail with schtupid questions, but I would really like to have the patience of Michael. They still get a really good massage and I haven’t yet begun to charge a “stupidity fee”. So see, I’m striving.

I think it was Wreggie, a while back, who asked if our blog brought us any more business. Good question! But I think it hasn’t, and in fact, it may have had the opposite effect. People make assumptions about us after reading things we’ve written, and if they disagree with us, we probably won’t ever see their business. For example, read the comments on Michael’s post Rejected Again. There are people who despise us because our opinions differ from theirs. But we do try to make coherent sense and base our arguments on honest research. Maybe they’re just jealous because they can’t do that.

Someone told me recently that she feels like she knows me really well because she reads our blog all the time. Very interesting! Maybe it’s easier to get a massage from someone you don’t know very well if you’re not a regular client of theirs, because you don’t know about their personal faults. Especially if you don’t live here. When I massage a visitor, most of the time I will be asked lots of questions about what it’s like to live on an island. People who have read the blog already know much of my side of it.

We have met fun new people in the last few weeks who found us through our blog, and it’s okay that they didn’t get massages from us. It was fun just meeting them and hanging out and showing them some of the things we love about living here.

I guess when I first started blogging, I thought I’d write about only the good stuff to make St. Croix sound oh-so-perfect, but that’s what people read in tourism ads. No place is perfect, and people need to know that. I’m not perfect, I have some dumb ideas and opinions, but I’m a damned good massage therapist…. and I don’t do the “hard sell” thing, either.

Xenophobia is defined by dictionary dot com as: “an unreasonable fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange.”

The other night we went to a “brainstorming session” in Frederiksted. There was a small group of people assembled to gather ideas about an up-coming day-long workshop on “Racism and Xenophobia”. I went to listen, but the group was so small, I was asked to talk about why I was there.

In the recent past, my opinion about some of the people in this group was that they seemed to be looking for “handouts”. Talks on reparation for the descendants of slaves had been ongoing by this group and a group of Danish citizens. I skimmed articles in the local papers on the subject whenever I had a chance. I’m not sure if their talks had resulted in any solutions. And I dismissed their concerns as “their problem” and wished they’d just “get over it” and help solve the problems we have in our society here and now. It’s in the past and there’s nothing we can do to change the past. All we can do is hopefully learn from the mistakes and triumphs of the past.

But I am interested in listening to peoples’ feelings about their ancestry and their place in the world today. As a woman who has deep emotions and feelings which I can’t always explain, I often need to try to. When Michael and I argue, I want him to understand what I’m upset about. So I try, sometimes successfully and sometimes not, to get in touch with my feelings and explain them to him. Also, I’ve not read a lot of history. So my understanding of the issues may not be as clear as it could.

I think many descendants of slaves have come to terms with the past and don’t allow themselves to dwell on it, so they can live their lives and succeed in today’s society. But I guess many haven’t, and they want to talk about it. They want their feelings to be listened to and heard. And I am willing to listen. Totally understandable, and I applaud their courage. But just like when Michael and I come to an understanding after a discussion (or not), after we have discussed these issues, I want us all to get to work to actually solving the problems of survival and well-being for every member of our community.

I will post this for now and take issues I personally have with the reparation movement individually in the coming days so I can try to more eloquently explain them.

Was this “Armageddon”? The south shore of St. Croix was ablaze!

I heard on the radio Thursday morning, that there was a fire on Lowry Hill Road. That’s a mile or so away and they said it was on the north side of the hill. Far enough away from here and with the wind blowing east to west, there was no chance of it coming toward our house.

A few hours later, I heard sirens and looked out to see a fire truck turning at the intersection of 62 and 624. They were coming our way. As soon as they turned the corner, they stopped with a screech of tires. I saw them back up and head due south, toward the boyscout camp. I didn’t see anything else, so I again a thought, “okay, we’re safe”.

I took a shower to prepare for the arrival of my 2:30 client. It was between 1:30 and 2:00pm. When I got out, I looked out the front door and saw flames to the southeast. Clouds of dark smoke were being blown toward us ahead of the blaze, and the fire was coming this way, too. I started to panic. I was sure someone had called the fire department, so I called Michael. I was waiting for my client and I didn’t want to not watch this fire in case it started coming too close and we needed to soak down the area in front of our house, or help our neighbors do the same.

My client arrived and poo-pooed my anxiety (yeah, it wasn’t HIS house in the way, so why should he care?) and Michael came home a few minutes after I started the session. He thought the fire was close to being out and started feeding dogs or something. Then he heard the crackling of the flames devouring the dry grass and trees right across the main road from our neighbor’s house. He went onto the roof to check it out.

I was massaging my client and could hear more sirens and John Ballard’s helicopter overhead. I was going crazy not being able to see what was going on. After his session ended, I went up on the roof with Michael to watch the firefighters to the west, waiting for the fires to reach the road on that side. One of the guys walked down a little way to the east and started another small fire so it would back-burn and not threaten Cafe Kaleidoscope on the corner.

There were areas across the entire Great Pond area in flames. Huge walls of flames in all directions. Our friend Lisa called to ask what areas were burning. She also told us there had been a fire down in her area by Ha’penny earlier, but it was out now. That’s where they were going when I first heard the sirens and saw the truck stop and turn around.

After a while, we walked down to the main road by our neighbor, Roy’s house. He was outside and came to talk with us. Our other neighbor, Shane came down too. The fire had come right to the edge of the road. If the wind had not shifted, we would have been in big trouble. As it was, the smoke and flames were blown to the southwest, rather than our way, which was the case when I first saw the fires.

It was getting dark when we went back home. The firefighters had it under control and Michael and I felt comfortable enough to go to Luncheria to meet up with the usual Thursday night suspects. We got to meet Cindy’s Dad, Gary, who was visiting St. Croix for the first time. They had just gotten off the Roseway after a sunset sail where a couple of dolphins swam with the boat part of the way. We had a nice dinner with them and Dave and Michelle and Roy and Sue and headed home shortly after 9 pm.

We were surprised and shocked as we rounded the top of Lowry Hill Road to see the fires still blazing down by the boyscout camp. We drove down until there were firetrucks in the way and took pictures of the continuing carnage. We felt for the fire fighters who had had such a long day and it wasn’t over for them yet.

Despite recognition in the OPEN Government Act and rulings by the FEC that “under US law blogs are formally recognized as media organizations“, Paul Golden rejected us as “media” and evicted us from his “Press Conference and Property Tour” this morning.

Yesterday, Golden sent out a “Media Alert” inviting select individuals and “all press” to meet at Ginnie’s store this morning at 10:00 am and ask “any and all questions that you might have”. The last line of the “alert” reads “This tour is for all media representatives and invited persons only.” But apparently its actually like one of those Bush PCs where he’ll answer all questions from a hand-picked audience.

We showed up and circulated a list of important questions that Golden has managed to avoid answering publicly thus far. The list included supporting documentation demonstrating the “factual” responses. But when we tried to hop on the safari bus for the tour, Paul Golden and his henchman, Roy Rogers, refused to let us join. They claimed it was for invited guests and media only. We responded that we write a blog and our readers have unanswered questions about this project. But they refused to let us go unless we were with the Avis, Daily News, or TV 2. Those media outlets did have representatives, and Roger Morgan was invited and included. Here’s to hoping someone asks some of those important questions.

Uh oh, things are not looking up for Paul Golden. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals rejected his bid to stop CZM from reviewing his permit. Roger Morgan got the scoop Wednesday afternoon and Andy Simpson confirmed it on Free Speech Thursday morning. Don’t take my word for it. Here’s an excerpt:

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You can get the full program here. The discussion about Golden starts around one hour ten minutes into it. Andy comes on at about 13 minutes after the hour.

Just a few weeks ago Paul Golden held a press conference announcing Wyndham Resorts as his “brand” partner for the proposed resort on St. Croix’s south shore, in the environmentally sensitive Great Pond wetlands. He spoke as if the project was a done deal – $150 million in equity – CZM permit fully in compliance – $32.5 million of the publics money back in his hands for the convention center – breaking ground next month – Blah Blah Blah. Reporters asked about the pending lawsuits and he shushed it away, “I’m not going to talk about those”. Like they were trifling inconveniences. How about the “default” CZM permit? “No, its not default. We have the permit and we’re fully in compliance.”

Except, he didn’t mention one of the pending legal issues was his own appeal of the Third Circuit Court’s order to send his permit back to CZM for “finding of fact”, to determine if it is actually “compliant”. If he’s so sure its compliant, why would he worry about CZM reviewing it?

Well it doesn’t matter now. He’s lost this battle and is back to square one. You can read more about it in the Daily News article 3rd Circuit denies Golden Resorts appeal; permit must go back to CZM for review.