usvi-on-line
Tourist killed after being caught in gang crossfire
I didn't intend to write this much, but once I started, more came. It's really more than I expect people are going to want to read, which is fine. It's pretty much for myself anyway. Oh, by the way, someone sometimes asks what my point is. There is no point, just pointless thoughts I had while reading the thread.
From where I see it, the problem isn't that a tourist was murdered. There's problem on STT that has been there for years and a tourist passed through it. It's the same problem that's found in U.S. cities and around the globe. Even North Korea has substance abuse problems. Problems like these eventually spill over. Murder is a hideous act. The death of a child is a horrible tragedy. The murder of a child is an abomination. Witnessing the murder of your own child would be devastating beyond all comprehension.
There's bad stuff happening on STT and STX. It's been going on for a while. The murder statistics are shockingly high. A pretty dangerous culture/climate has developed. But aside from local residents, no one was paying much attention to what was going on until a tourist was killed. If the problem had been solved at its roots, a tourist wouldn't have died. But in what way is the death of a tourist more significant than the lives of all the others? There have been a whole lot of posts about this one murder, but there were none about the previous 20+ murders on STT and the 20 murders on STX. Who were they? Were any of them innocent bystanders? Were they victims? Were they criminals? Don't know. Didn't hear much about them. On one scoreboard, they really didn't count. And on the day that the young tourist was killed, a young local man was also killed. But there hasn't been much reaction to his murder. Taking action to protect tourists will not touch the problem.
So there's been a problem for a while. Most local residents, like most local residents of most places don't want it to be like it is. And they don't know what to do about it. They've tried. And just like the residents of any U.S. city, they get frustrated and discouraged because things stay the same. Somehow posters think that very simplistic solutions can be successfully applied in the VI and all it would take is for the local residents to demand action. It seems to presume that "authorities" are capable of stopping all of it, but just don't. For one reason or another. We don't find these sort of solutions being proposed to the residents of Detroit or St. Louis or New Orleans. There is sometimes an insulting paternalism shown to VI residents that would never be shown to residents of U.S. cities. There aren't any posts on the Chicago or Memphis forums wondering why the residents just don't put pressure on the authorities to stop gang and drug activity . Occasionally there's a post warning that if residents don't stop the crime, tourists probably won't come anymore. I'm sure that residents of the VI would like crime to stop, just like residents of Boston would and they'd like it for their own quality of life. II'm sure the residents of the VI are as concerned and as frustrated as the residents of Boston. And I expect they've tried as hard and as long as the Bostonians to change things.
Periodically there is a high profile crime in the Caribbean involving a tourist. There are dire predictions that tourism will die. It seems to take a particularly gruesome or sensational incident to really affect tourism. There have been a few incidents in the VI in the last few years where there were dire predictions, but they've pretty much been forgotten. Most tourists don't pay much attention. Millions come to the VIs every year. Most don't get involved enough to find an online forum. Most learn about a place from a travel agent.
Gangs, drugs, guns. Crime. Murder. Every U.S. city struggles with gangs, guns, drugs, crime, murder. These are very complex problems. Some posts suggest that if local people "put pressure" on the authorities, these problems could be managed. Other posters put the blame pretty squarely on corrupt police. The assumption seems to be that in the VI it could all be brought to an end if people would just do their jobs. But U.S. cities have been fighting these problems for decades with really no success. There have been all sorts of approaches and strategies and none have worked. Nobody knows what to do.
We live in Boston. Over the last three decades there have been any number of new approaches tried, none with any significant success. This is extremely complex and all strategies have fallen short. It's clearly not a simple problem of better policing. Unlike the VI, we have a serious police force that tries seriously to do their job. There is an occasional rogue, but mostly it's serious cops who are very serious about their jobs. Here the police are assisted by state police, DEA, parole and probation departments and an active U.S attorney. They haven't been able to bring it to a halt, or even have much impact on it. Guns, gangs, drugs, murder, prisons. And like this recent tragedy on STT, there's not a whole lot of reaction until it spills out of the neighborhoods. And one way or another, it eventually does spill out of the neighborhoods. Maybe a tourist is murdered or an upper middle class honor student from the suburbs overdoses on heroin. And still no one knows what to do. It's all been tried before. It's a virus that no vaccine has been able to touch. Nobody knows how to stop this. And in many cities this has become generational. It's deeply frightening and depressing to consider that for decades, the best resources and strategies available haven't made a dent in the situation over the long term. People try, everything has failed and no one knows what to do. That poor girl was a victim of these failures, just as were the 20+ other murder victims on STT, the 20 on STX, the 27 in Boston and on and on.....
Crime, drugs, gangs, guns appear to have become pretty entrenched on STT and STX. Some gang conflicts are rooted in drug trade but some are just territorial. STJ remains relatively untouched. There certainly has been a steady increase in crime, particularly in major crimes. We started going to STJ in the 1980s and it's so very, very different. It used to be that most crime on STJ was crime of opportunity. Then crime began to increase, but for a while it was episodic. Some bad guys would come to the island, do some crimes, then slip off. Now it appears to have become chronic. Crime there now seems more intentional than opportunistic. There has also been a notable rise in major crimes.
I still find STJ very, very safe. We haven't been there recently but that has nothing to do with crime/safety issues. Whenever I read crime threads here, I often feel like I'm from another planet. We're urban dwellers. We've lived in a large U.S. city for over 20 years. Most forum members seem to be upper middle class folks from the suburbs or from smaller towns. For a long time I puzzled over how people could feel that STJ was unsafe. I guessed that I had become so numbed to city reality that any place else was really nothing to worry about. More stuff happens here in a morning than happens on STJ in a year. Some things happen here that have never happened on STJ.
But as I thought about it, it dawned on me that for many visitors, STJ really is a more dangerous place than their home is. For many people, there probably actually is a greater likelihood of being the victim of a crime on STJ than in their secure home environment. They're much less insulated. They're perhaps in much closer proximity to people who make them uncomfortable or suspicious than they're used to. We're always on alert, usually low alert, but it never gets totally shut off. And I go onto high alert real fast. So when people post about "taking normal precautions", I probably have a very different set of precautions than many other people. And if my precautions have served me adequately in Boston, they'll be more than adequate on STJ. To live here, I've needed to resolve that I may be the victim of a crime. Unlikely, but possible. For many folks that isn't something they consider, or need to. We belong to the neighborhood crime watch. Most members of the forum probably don't have a crime watch group, nor is there any reason to have one. How many murders have there been within a three mile radius of your home this year? Most forum members would answer none. We have a different answer. How many murders have their been within three blocks of your home this year? Again, most forum members would answer none. Again, we give a different answer.
STJ seems so safe to us. Our last Caribbean trip was to Virgin Gorda, which we loved. We'll go back to VG. Not sure if we'll be back to STJ anymore, but it has nothing to do with crime/safety concerns.I can't imagine why I'd go someplace on vacation where I felt less safe than at home. Vacations are supposed to be times when I can leave my worries behind. There are a few places that I visited earlier in my life that I'd love to return to, but the political situations have changed. STJ has always felt so safe to me that it puzzled me that other people didn't feel as safe there. As so it came almost as a shock to realize that for some people STJ actually is more dangerous than their home. Not just that it feels more dangerous, but that it probably really is more dangerous. It's still hard to get my head around STJ being dangerous.
But even on vacation we always stay on low alert. Sometimes people can be lulled into believing that they really are in paradise and nothing bad could happen. We keep in mind that even in paradise there are snakes.
Oh, and to add---one way that tourists get themselves in trouble is going looking for illegal substances or illegal activities. In trouble with police, if caught. But also if some local guy can actually get some tourist to follow him down a dark street, why not just keep the product (if he actually has any) and just try to take the tourist's money?
From where I see it, the problem isn't that a tourist was murdered. There's problem on STT that has been there for years and a tourist passed through it. It's the same problem that's found in U.S. cities and around the globe. Even North Korea has substance abuse problems. Problems like these eventually spill over. Murder is a hideous act. The death of a child is a horrible tragedy. The murder of a child is an abomination. Witnessing the murder of your own child would be devastating beyond all comprehension.
There's bad stuff happening on STT and STX. It's been going on for a while. The murder statistics are shockingly high. A pretty dangerous culture/climate has developed. But aside from local residents, no one was paying much attention to what was going on until a tourist was killed. If the problem had been solved at its roots, a tourist wouldn't have died. But in what way is the death of a tourist more significant than the lives of all the others? There have been a whole lot of posts about this one murder, but there were none about the previous 20+ murders on STT and the 20 murders on STX. Who were they? Were any of them innocent bystanders? Were they victims? Were they criminals? Don't know. Didn't hear much about them. On one scoreboard, they really didn't count. And on the day that the young tourist was killed, a young local man was also killed. But there hasn't been much reaction to his murder. Taking action to protect tourists will not touch the problem.
So there's been a problem for a while. Most local residents, like most local residents of most places don't want it to be like it is. And they don't know what to do about it. They've tried. And just like the residents of any U.S. city, they get frustrated and discouraged because things stay the same. Somehow posters think that very simplistic solutions can be successfully applied in the VI and all it would take is for the local residents to demand action. It seems to presume that "authorities" are capable of stopping all of it, but just don't. For one reason or another. We don't find these sort of solutions being proposed to the residents of Detroit or St. Louis or New Orleans. There is sometimes an insulting paternalism shown to VI residents that would never be shown to residents of U.S. cities. There aren't any posts on the Chicago or Memphis forums wondering why the residents just don't put pressure on the authorities to stop gang and drug activity . Occasionally there's a post warning that if residents don't stop the crime, tourists probably won't come anymore. I'm sure that residents of the VI would like crime to stop, just like residents of Boston would and they'd like it for their own quality of life. II'm sure the residents of the VI are as concerned and as frustrated as the residents of Boston. And I expect they've tried as hard and as long as the Bostonians to change things.
Periodically there is a high profile crime in the Caribbean involving a tourist. There are dire predictions that tourism will die. It seems to take a particularly gruesome or sensational incident to really affect tourism. There have been a few incidents in the VI in the last few years where there were dire predictions, but they've pretty much been forgotten. Most tourists don't pay much attention. Millions come to the VIs every year. Most don't get involved enough to find an online forum. Most learn about a place from a travel agent.
Gangs, drugs, guns. Crime. Murder. Every U.S. city struggles with gangs, guns, drugs, crime, murder. These are very complex problems. Some posts suggest that if local people "put pressure" on the authorities, these problems could be managed. Other posters put the blame pretty squarely on corrupt police. The assumption seems to be that in the VI it could all be brought to an end if people would just do their jobs. But U.S. cities have been fighting these problems for decades with really no success. There have been all sorts of approaches and strategies and none have worked. Nobody knows what to do.
We live in Boston. Over the last three decades there have been any number of new approaches tried, none with any significant success. This is extremely complex and all strategies have fallen short. It's clearly not a simple problem of better policing. Unlike the VI, we have a serious police force that tries seriously to do their job. There is an occasional rogue, but mostly it's serious cops who are very serious about their jobs. Here the police are assisted by state police, DEA, parole and probation departments and an active U.S attorney. They haven't been able to bring it to a halt, or even have much impact on it. Guns, gangs, drugs, murder, prisons. And like this recent tragedy on STT, there's not a whole lot of reaction until it spills out of the neighborhoods. And one way or another, it eventually does spill out of the neighborhoods. Maybe a tourist is murdered or an upper middle class honor student from the suburbs overdoses on heroin. And still no one knows what to do. It's all been tried before. It's a virus that no vaccine has been able to touch. Nobody knows how to stop this. And in many cities this has become generational. It's deeply frightening and depressing to consider that for decades, the best resources and strategies available haven't made a dent in the situation over the long term. People try, everything has failed and no one knows what to do. That poor girl was a victim of these failures, just as were the 20+ other murder victims on STT, the 20 on STX, the 27 in Boston and on and on.....
Crime, drugs, gangs, guns appear to have become pretty entrenched on STT and STX. Some gang conflicts are rooted in drug trade but some are just territorial. STJ remains relatively untouched. There certainly has been a steady increase in crime, particularly in major crimes. We started going to STJ in the 1980s and it's so very, very different. It used to be that most crime on STJ was crime of opportunity. Then crime began to increase, but for a while it was episodic. Some bad guys would come to the island, do some crimes, then slip off. Now it appears to have become chronic. Crime there now seems more intentional than opportunistic. There has also been a notable rise in major crimes.
I still find STJ very, very safe. We haven't been there recently but that has nothing to do with crime/safety issues. Whenever I read crime threads here, I often feel like I'm from another planet. We're urban dwellers. We've lived in a large U.S. city for over 20 years. Most forum members seem to be upper middle class folks from the suburbs or from smaller towns. For a long time I puzzled over how people could feel that STJ was unsafe. I guessed that I had become so numbed to city reality that any place else was really nothing to worry about. More stuff happens here in a morning than happens on STJ in a year. Some things happen here that have never happened on STJ.
But as I thought about it, it dawned on me that for many visitors, STJ really is a more dangerous place than their home is. For many people, there probably actually is a greater likelihood of being the victim of a crime on STJ than in their secure home environment. They're much less insulated. They're perhaps in much closer proximity to people who make them uncomfortable or suspicious than they're used to. We're always on alert, usually low alert, but it never gets totally shut off. And I go onto high alert real fast. So when people post about "taking normal precautions", I probably have a very different set of precautions than many other people. And if my precautions have served me adequately in Boston, they'll be more than adequate on STJ. To live here, I've needed to resolve that I may be the victim of a crime. Unlikely, but possible. For many folks that isn't something they consider, or need to. We belong to the neighborhood crime watch. Most members of the forum probably don't have a crime watch group, nor is there any reason to have one. How many murders have there been within a three mile radius of your home this year? Most forum members would answer none. We have a different answer. How many murders have their been within three blocks of your home this year? Again, most forum members would answer none. Again, we give a different answer.
STJ seems so safe to us. Our last Caribbean trip was to Virgin Gorda, which we loved. We'll go back to VG. Not sure if we'll be back to STJ anymore, but it has nothing to do with crime/safety concerns.I can't imagine why I'd go someplace on vacation where I felt less safe than at home. Vacations are supposed to be times when I can leave my worries behind. There are a few places that I visited earlier in my life that I'd love to return to, but the political situations have changed. STJ has always felt so safe to me that it puzzled me that other people didn't feel as safe there. As so it came almost as a shock to realize that for some people STJ actually is more dangerous than their home. Not just that it feels more dangerous, but that it probably really is more dangerous. It's still hard to get my head around STJ being dangerous.
But even on vacation we always stay on low alert. Sometimes people can be lulled into believing that they really are in paradise and nothing bad could happen. We keep in mind that even in paradise there are snakes.
Oh, and to add---one way that tourists get themselves in trouble is going looking for illegal substances or illegal activities. In trouble with police, if caught. But also if some local guy can actually get some tourist to follow him down a dark street, why not just keep the product (if he actually has any) and just try to take the tourist's money?
I remember reading someone post something to the effect that the break ins on STJ are usually at the same villas, etc..Wondering how we can find out which villas/which areas are more prone to break ins? Also...does there seem to be more break ins closer to Cruz Bay and less out around Coral Bay? Just wondering if some places are safer to rent than others, and how we know?? Thanks~
-
stjohnjulie
- Posts: 570
- Joined: Fri Sep 19, 2008 10:34 am
- Location: St. John VI
Lex, thanks for sharing your thoughts and perspective. In the past couple of years there has been an effort to make the USVI residents aware of the gang problems that are out there. Unfortunately, may of us are completely oblivious to it all. And yes, you can see the signs on St. John if you know what they are and what to look for. To quote one of the speakers from this years conference "We cannot arrest our way out of this problem." Those words ring so true to me.
We have problems here in the USVI, just like many many other big cities and small towns across the US. The way I see it here, we are failing our youth. In way too many ways. I think the only way to stop the cycle is to start with the young kids. Get involved, find some way to make a difference, even if it is only with a couple of kids. Some of my close friends and family have been racking our brains to try and figure out a way we can give the VI children something positive to do with their time. Of course, you start at home, make sure that you are involved with your own children. But after that, you need to try and reach out to the other kids. The ones that have parents that have to work all the time. The ones that are being failed by our schools. Like you said Lex, there are no easy solutions to this very complex problem.
Something some of you may have seen mentioned here and there on the forums is "Using Sport For Social Change" Dean Doeling, a St. John visitor, has taken all of this to another level. He is making a difference. I get all choked up every time I think about what he is doing for our community. Here is the link to his website if you want to learn more about Dean and the initiative he started more than 2 years ago http://www.usingsportforsocialchange.com/
Some time ago, there was also an open editorial written on The St. John Source that just makes a hell of a lot of sense to me. Mr. Ruben Dowling is calling for laws requiring parental involvement. After spending 27 total years of his life in prison, I think he has a unique perspective on the challenges we face. Here is the link to his editorial, I hope that you will read it http://stjohnsource.com/content/comment ... nt-schools
We have problems here in the USVI, just like many many other big cities and small towns across the US. The way I see it here, we are failing our youth. In way too many ways. I think the only way to stop the cycle is to start with the young kids. Get involved, find some way to make a difference, even if it is only with a couple of kids. Some of my close friends and family have been racking our brains to try and figure out a way we can give the VI children something positive to do with their time. Of course, you start at home, make sure that you are involved with your own children. But after that, you need to try and reach out to the other kids. The ones that have parents that have to work all the time. The ones that are being failed by our schools. Like you said Lex, there are no easy solutions to this very complex problem.
Something some of you may have seen mentioned here and there on the forums is "Using Sport For Social Change" Dean Doeling, a St. John visitor, has taken all of this to another level. He is making a difference. I get all choked up every time I think about what he is doing for our community. Here is the link to his website if you want to learn more about Dean and the initiative he started more than 2 years ago http://www.usingsportforsocialchange.com/
Some time ago, there was also an open editorial written on The St. John Source that just makes a hell of a lot of sense to me. Mr. Ruben Dowling is calling for laws requiring parental involvement. After spending 27 total years of his life in prison, I think he has a unique perspective on the challenges we face. Here is the link to his editorial, I hope that you will read it http://stjohnsource.com/content/comment ... nt-schools
Nice post Lex and ya actually made many good points.
Not trying to trivialize this but life has a certain amount of randomness. This is one of those situations. Sucks big time and my heart goes out to the family that this happened to. Most likely this will not happen again for a long time to a tourist. Now for the local population most likely, sadly it is the world we live in.
We live in a small town where we have a murder about once every five years and when it happpens ya would think it happens alot the way it gets sensationalized.
The girl in Aruba was very random but ya would have thought it happened all the time by the news coverage.
Not trying to trivialize this but life has a certain amount of randomness. This is one of those situations. Sucks big time and my heart goes out to the family that this happened to. Most likely this will not happen again for a long time to a tourist. Now for the local population most likely, sadly it is the world we live in.
We live in a small town where we have a murder about once every five years and when it happpens ya would think it happens alot the way it gets sensationalized.
The girl in Aruba was very random but ya would have thought it happened all the time by the news coverage.
After all of the fracas this week and many good (and some exaggerated) points, and a lot of consideration for the safety of my family on island, this is one tourist who intends to make our planned 2011 visit.
All things considered, I see a positive government reaction on many fronts, some possible improvements, a new awareness all around (that hopefully won't fade too quickly) and all mixed with random acts of violence. I don't expect perfection; no place is perfect or void of crime. At least it is a start.
For those who weighed in that tourists can or should stay away, please let me know privately who you are and I'll avoid you; there are many very pleasant people in the islands, I don't want to create a confrontation with those who hate visitors. Maybe others can try to avoid you so as not to bother you. Sorry, but it is a beautiful, tourist-oriented destination and I love it and will visit.
I'll let others come to their own decision, but I'm not staying away.
I'm looking forward to it.
All things considered, I see a positive government reaction on many fronts, some possible improvements, a new awareness all around (that hopefully won't fade too quickly) and all mixed with random acts of violence. I don't expect perfection; no place is perfect or void of crime. At least it is a start.
For those who weighed in that tourists can or should stay away, please let me know privately who you are and I'll avoid you; there are many very pleasant people in the islands, I don't want to create a confrontation with those who hate visitors. Maybe others can try to avoid you so as not to bother you. Sorry, but it is a beautiful, tourist-oriented destination and I love it and will visit.
I'll let others come to their own decision, but I'm not staying away.
I'm looking forward to it.
Jake
Lex - not to trivialize your point, but I've often thought the same thing about the concerns expressed about the parking in Cruz Bay. I would think: what are they talking about? Then it dawned on me that perhaps they don't live in or near a city (or a busy college town for that matter) - places where parking is a challenge and you dont think twice about cruising a little for a spot or parking further away and walking.Whenever I read crime threads here, I often feel like I'm from another planet. We're urban dwellers. We've lived in a large U.S. city for over 20 years. Most forum members seem to be upper middle class folks from the suburbs or from smaller towns. For a long time I puzzled over how people could feel that STJ was unsafe...But as I thought about it, it dawned on me that for many visitors, STJ really is a more dangerous place than their home is. For many people, there probably actually is a greater likelihood of being the victim of a crime on STJ than in their secure home environment.
When we come to place where the sea and the sky collide
Throw me over the edge and let my spirit glide
Throw me over the edge and let my spirit glide
I wish I would have known the dates for the "Just Play" event. We will miss it by 4 days. 
Everyone will have to determine for themselves what they can do to help the situation, but for us, we will go out of our way to interact with the kids on St John while we are there. I challenge you to do the same. Set aside one day or part of a day to seek out a way to show some love to the kids. It won't hurt us to take a little time to think about others rather than ourselves while we are guests on the Island.
Everyone will have to determine for themselves what they can do to help the situation, but for us, we will go out of our way to interact with the kids on St John while we are there. I challenge you to do the same. Set aside one day or part of a day to seek out a way to show some love to the kids. It won't hurt us to take a little time to think about others rather than ourselves while we are guests on the Island.
Tim
Just Another Day in Paradise!!!
Just Another Day in Paradise!!!
-
stjohnjulie
- Posts: 570
- Joined: Fri Sep 19, 2008 10:34 am
- Location: St. John VI
mit43, thank you, a deep sincere thank you. As beautiful as St. John is, it does have it's problems. One of the biggest things I can see as a mom of a young son is that there just isn't much for them to do on a social level outside of school. We've had more failed attempts at organized sports than I can count. It just seems like don't have enough volunteers to make it happen.
If anyone is interested, awhile back Paul Divine set up another website with a forum that some of you might be interested in looking at and contributing to in some way. It doesn't have much activity at the moment, and I would love to see some fresh ideas. The state sites "Community planning by residents, for residents" but I don't see any reason why we couldn't get some outside help! Here is the link: http://stjohnsummit.webs.com/
If anyone is interested, awhile back Paul Divine set up another website with a forum that some of you might be interested in looking at and contributing to in some way. It doesn't have much activity at the moment, and I would love to see some fresh ideas. The state sites "Community planning by residents, for residents" but I don't see any reason why we couldn't get some outside help! Here is the link: http://stjohnsummit.webs.com/
-
sailorgirl
- Posts: 1644
- Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2006 3:03 pm
Julie, that editorial piece was so right on the mark. My husband is a High School math teacher in a NYC school and the lack of parental involvement is unfortunately very evident, but its always the teachers who get blamed. The way I see it educating a child is the responsibility of the school, the family and the student themselves. What I see as an over emphasis on "teacher performance" or basing teacher ratings on student test scores unfairly places all of the responsibility on only one part of the issue.
My husband has about 150 students assigned to him each year. He rarely gets a call from a parent and routinely all calls to the parent go unanswered. If he gets 20 parents to show up for he bi annual P/T conferences that's alot, and they are held over multiple days at multiple times both afternoons and nights to attempt to accomodate schedules. He does not work in a poor school, but one which is working class. Teaching is the hardest job. He easily works 10-12 hours a day and usually a good part of one day on the weekend.
Education is key, but there is only so much a teacher can do with no assistance from the other2/3's of the equation.
.
My husband has about 150 students assigned to him each year. He rarely gets a call from a parent and routinely all calls to the parent go unanswered. If he gets 20 parents to show up for he bi annual P/T conferences that's alot, and they are held over multiple days at multiple times both afternoons and nights to attempt to accomodate schedules. He does not work in a poor school, but one which is working class. Teaching is the hardest job. He easily works 10-12 hours a day and usually a good part of one day on the weekend.
Education is key, but there is only so much a teacher can do with no assistance from the other2/3's of the equation.
.
I think that is a very interesting question. Any chance these villas have something in common, for example, a management company? Or the same villa getting hit over and over?bnsilly wrote:I remember reading someone post something to the effect that the break ins on STJ are usually at the same villas, etc..Wondering how we can find out which villas/which areas are more prone to break ins? Also...does there seem to be more break ins closer to Cruz Bay and less out around Coral Bay? Just wondering if some places are safer to rent than others, and how we know?? Thanks~
"Sponges grow in the ocean...I wonder how much deeper it would be if that didn't happen."
-
stjohnjulie
- Posts: 570
- Joined: Fri Sep 19, 2008 10:34 am
- Location: St. John VI
Parental involvement....yes, it is key. Teachers everywhere have a tough job and they can only do so much if they don't have the support of the parents/guardians.
I think that the most recent Kids Count Report gives one a clear picture as to what kind of problem we have. The most recent figures are based off of 2007 figures, before the economy tanked, so I would suspect that things are much worse than even this report states. One of the most frightening stats is:
55.8% of the kids in the USVI are in a single parent household
It's hard enough raising a family here with two incomes. I have no idea how someone can remain involved in their child's life when they have to work all the time just to feed them.
As of 2007, the number of 17-19 year olds that weren't in school and not working was 17%, more than twice the national average. As of 2010, my eyes tell me that number is significantly higher. These are just terrifying figures.
Here is a link to an article about the most recent Kids Count report: http://stjohnsource.com/content/news/lo ... port-shows
I think that the most recent Kids Count Report gives one a clear picture as to what kind of problem we have. The most recent figures are based off of 2007 figures, before the economy tanked, so I would suspect that things are much worse than even this report states. One of the most frightening stats is:
55.8% of the kids in the USVI are in a single parent household
It's hard enough raising a family here with two incomes. I have no idea how someone can remain involved in their child's life when they have to work all the time just to feed them.
As of 2007, the number of 17-19 year olds that weren't in school and not working was 17%, more than twice the national average. As of 2010, my eyes tell me that number is significantly higher. These are just terrifying figures.
Here is a link to an article about the most recent Kids Count report: http://stjohnsource.com/content/news/lo ... port-shows
I don't think I am a sensationalist by any means, I would say more of a realist...
The news on STT is not positive...
http://virginislandsdailynews.com/news/ ... d-1.905992
The news on STT is not positive...
http://virginislandsdailynews.com/news/ ... d-1.905992
STJ Villa Map:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie ... 2&t=h&z=14
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie ... 2&t=h&z=14
Anthony posted this link earlier but I wanted to put it into this thread in case it was missed. It's an interview with the VI Commissioner for Tourism discussing the response to ongoing violence
http://www.travelweekly.com/article_ektid218004.aspx
http://www.travelweekly.com/article_ektid218004.aspx
-
sapphirecat
- Posts: 246
- Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2007 2:43 pm
- Location: Turtle Bay, NYC
There was a peace march in STT earlier this week expressing outrage at the violence. Article link below.
Seems to me that not suppressing the news, and not appeasing those who would like it suppressed, is the only answer. The government and the police need to be tweaked into action. They have long been passive on crime. It's only now that a vacationing person has been killed and tour operators are rethinking STT visits that the police, government and even merchants are fearing for their pocketbooks. Look how quickly Coki is being redone in response to the **news stories** that came out about the murder. I've never seen bureaucracy move that fast. A true phenomenon. Dirty laundry does need to be aired, it seems.
http://virgin-islands-on-line.com/forum ... ly&t=17270
Seems to me that not suppressing the news, and not appeasing those who would like it suppressed, is the only answer. The government and the police need to be tweaked into action. They have long been passive on crime. It's only now that a vacationing person has been killed and tour operators are rethinking STT visits that the police, government and even merchants are fearing for their pocketbooks. Look how quickly Coki is being redone in response to the **news stories** that came out about the murder. I've never seen bureaucracy move that fast. A true phenomenon. Dirty laundry does need to be aired, it seems.
http://virgin-islands-on-line.com/forum ... ly&t=17270