Reaching out

A Beaconite was very pleased to meet with a group of students from Cedar International School this week to discuss journalism. The group impressed her: Everyone was polite, asked insightful questions, and appeared to really listen to her answers. She hopes the students enjoyed learning about the daily life of a crime reporter in the Virgin Islands, and encourages them to contact her if they ever have any more questions. As all of the teens expressed an interest in writing, she hopes she’ll see their names on a byline one day! Thanks to the Beacon’s From the Schools page, which regularly features student work, that day may come very soon.

Lord of the roads

A Beaconite believes Virgin Islands police officers work very hard, and most of them are respectful to residents in the course of executing their duties. However, a few don’t meet that standard all the time. On Thursday while walking down De Castro Street, a Beaconite saw two officers riding motorcycles very slowly while causing traffic to back up behind them. When they got close to this reporter, she respectfully pointed out that they were holding up traffic, but they ignored her at first. Eventually, however, they both turned around in the road and swung back to the reporter. “What did you say?” one of the officers asked. After she repeated her comment, the officer hissed and waved his hands at her. Perhaps there was a plausible reason for riding so slowly and holding up traffic, but the officer could have explained why instead of rudely dismissing the Beaconite. That could have been a good community policing moment, she thought.

Representing

On Sunday a Beaconite attended a ceremony where contestants of this year’s Miss BVI Pageant were introduced. She enjoyed seeing participants dressed in lovely and fashionable outfits. The ceremony was hosted by current beauty queens who were as beautifully dressed as other attendees. However, this reporter was disappointed to see that two of the hosts had no regard for the territorial song and the national anthem. While the anthem was being sung, they walked off the stage, and when they returned they appeared to be a bit chatty during the territorial song. Though there were a few other residents who didn’t stand at attention while the anthems were being performed, this reporter expected better from the beauty queens, who are tasked with representing the territory not only locally but internationally.

Farfetched

At a House of Assembly sitting earlier this month, Health and Social Development Minister Ronnie Skelton made a comment that a Beaconite found rather ridiculous. Mr. Skelton was debating a bill — which was later passed — that would require registered agents to keep beneficial ownership details in the Virgin Island. The bill, which was pushed by the United Kingdom, requires the territory to provide information to UK law enforcers within 24 hours of a standard request and within one hour of an “urgent” request. Though Mr. Skelton rose in reluctant support of the bill, he also said the legislation was not being passed of lawmakers’ free will, and he suggested that Virgin Islanders were “becoming slaves again” because of it. While the Beaconite understands that there are plenty of appropriate times to touch upon the centuries of horrible oppression suffered by the people of the VI, he does not believe that a debate on a regulatory bill designed to reduce nefarious money laundering is one of them. The Beaconite found it short-sighted that the minister did not take into account the full implications of the bill in relation to his statement. Such regulations are being implemented to prevent a host of international crimes, like drug smuggling, terrorism — and human trafficking. In other words, they are designed to prevent VI companies from being used to fund the horrible people who propagate actual slavery in its modern-day form. Thus, it was disheartening to hear the minister describe the pressure to pass those regulations as a type of slavery. 

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