THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 26, 1994 TAG: 9411260076
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENNIS JOYCE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
Officials in the U.S. Virgin Islands will be adding police, loaning cellular phones to the Navy and even ``adopting'' sailors to show that their premier port city is a safe place for the fleet to take shore leave.
The campaign is winning over the Atlantic Fleet's new commander in chief in Norfolk, who next week is temporarily lifting a year-old ban on Navy visits to the city of Charlotte Amalie, on the island of St. Thomas.
The ban started in October 1993 after U.S. sailors were assaulted there six times in two days.
``I want the good people of St. Thomas to know that I appreciate their efforts over the past year,'' Adm. William J. Flanagan Jr. said Friday. ``We gave them conditions . . . and through their dedication and hard work it appears these conditions have been met.''
Flanagan will inspect the safety measures next week when he joins the crew of the first ship allowed back into Charlotte Amalie, the guided-missile frigate Gallery.
What will Flanagan find?
``Five cops on every street corner,'' quipped Marty Olson, manager of the Green House Bar and Restaurant, which bills itself as the Navy bar in Charlotte Amalie. ``We're going to be there for the Navy, to make sure no one gets hurt.''
The Virgin Islands has a lot riding on its security initiative. Before the ban, the Navy pumped an estimated $16 million a year into the local economy - $11 million from sailors and $5 million from docking and fueling fees.
About 40 miles west, in Puerto Rico, the city of Ponce reaped some $3 million - money that in the past would have gone to St. Thomas - when the Norfolk-based carrier George Washington stopped there last February.
And the crew of the Norfolk-based carrier Theodore Roosevelt is spending its Thanksgiving holiday on the French island of St. Martin, about 100 miles east of St. Thomas. The Roosevelt has been conducting exercises in the Caribbean with the Gallery.
The attacks on sailors from the Florida-based Saratoga came four months after an outbreak of violence in St. Thomas in which an officer was shot dead and two sailors were beaten with baseball bats. The three were assigned to the Norfolk-based cruiser Yorktown.
Sailors aren't alone as targets of criminals in Charlotte Amalie, home to about 13,000 of the 100,000 people living in the three U.S. Virgin Islands - St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John. The economy also has been hurt by crime against tourists, including the slaying in April of a 69-year-old San Diego man.
In response, the Virgin Islands legislature boosted the police force by 15 percent to more than 500 officers and stiffened punishments for illegal gun possession. And riding an anti-crime platform, a new governor, Roy L. Schneider, was elected this fall.
Adm. Flanagan, who assumed command Oct. 5, will meet with Schneider and the lieutenant governor during his visit.
Officials in the Virgin Islands have promised the Navy they'll pursue criminals more vigorously. They also have improved outdoor lighting and transportation to and from the port, added more pay phones along the way and agreed to provide cellular phones to ships for easier communications with establishments ashore.
They've even launched an adopt-a-sailor program and provided new recreational alternatives.
The return of Flanagan's sailors is welcome news to merchants in Charlotte Amalie.
``I'm just elated about that,'' said Sam Rey, assistant general manager of the Sugar Bay resort in St. Thomas. ``It's a pleasure having them here.''
``It means the money that they used to spend here will be coming back into the economy, and it's going to help erase the black eye we got when the Navy pulled out,'' said Hal Hatfield, a reporter for The Virgin Islands Daily News in St. Thomas.
At the Green House, one of about two dozen night spots popular with sailors, manager Olson expects an immediate increase in the sale of T-shirts and 2-for-1 drink specials. A ship used to pull in every month or so, he said, some carrying a few hundred sailors, some 6,000.
``When the Navy comes in here, they're probably as big a part of our business as the tourists and locals,'' he said. ``We're all praying for it, hoping we can patch things up.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff map
Navy ships will call once again at St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin
Islands.
For copy of map, see microfilm
by CNB