Doggie boarding
A Beaconite visiting her favourite Virgin Islands beach this week saw something she hasn’t seen since her days in the surfer’s haven of southern California. A dog named Baxter stood on a small foam board, and seemed to enjoy being towed around the water at Smugglers Cove by his human friends. The sight reminded the reporter of one of her favourite annual events from a previous home. An animal shelter there holds a Dog Surf-A-Thon, and offers canine surfing lessons as a fundraiser.
Courtroom literature
Most civil court judgments aren’t exactly written like works of artful prose, but every once in a while they include a little Shakespeare. Or Charles Dickens. A Beaconite who regularly reads court judgments has noticed that one Virgin Islands-based High Court judge occasionally turns to classic works when she is trying to convey a larger point. In a July judgment regarding the alleged wrongful dismissal of a trust company employee, the judge dismissed the worker’s lawsuit but counseled the company to act in a “more reasonable manner” towards its employees.
“No breach of contract entitles an employer to treat his/her ‘weak and erring’ employee as a leper or a villain,” the judge wrote.
The judge attributed the phrase “weak and erring” to Mr. Dickens’ description of the main character’s mother in Oliver Twist, which was published in 1838.
In a judgment released in January, the judge reached back a few more centuries to quote William Shakespeare. The court case involved the VI government countersuing a civil servant for allegedly violating the terms of a $176,000 bond the employee signed when government paid for her college degree. The judge began her judgment with a quote from The Merchant of Venice, a play in which the drama is driven by the character’s debt to a moneylender.
Then she wrote, “This case concerns a bond but here unlike in the renowned play alluded the government and not a private citizen is seeking to enforce a bond and the [the civil servant] has sought the court’s protection. However, we were not confronted with such high moral dilemmas as threatened to overwhelm the Duke of Venice when Shylock adamantly demanded the forfeit due under his bond.”
Not all of the judgment’s citations were literary, however.
Citing another court’s written judgment, the justice wrote, “And their Lordships would reiterate that unless conduct can be interpreted as amounting to an implied representation, it cannot constitute an estoppel: for the essence of an estoppel is a representation.”
Given the frequent use of such legal language, a Beaconite thinks that the literary references give judgment readers a nice break.
Late again
One Beaconite attended the Professional Day for Educators on Monday at the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College. The event was aimed at equipping teachers with the tools they need during the new school year. The Beaconite thinks the annual session is a good idea, but she was disappointed to see that it started more than 45 minutes late. Moreover, though the event was scheduled to start at 8:30 a.m., not even half of the teachers had arrived by 9. The Beaconite hopes the late start is no indication of how things will go during the school year.
A/C woes
A Beaconite would like to apologise in advance for showing up, well, pretty much everywhere, covered in sweat. There was a time when the passenger window in his jeep went down with the push of a button; it was the only working window until recently, when it failed to respond. The air conditioner mostly blows hot air, so it tends to get pretty sweaty in there. The Beaconite hopes residents will forgive his sweatiness while he works on getting the problem fixed.
Not invited
Prince Harry has faced much scrutiny in recent days for nude photos reportedly taken in Las Vegas and later published widely. But a pre-Vegas trip to Necker Island has also been in the news. Photos of that trip, which were originally posted on his friend’s Facebook page, include a photo of a man lying in the sand that some news outlets have speculated could depict a passed-out prince. Another photo that also received much publicity was posted on Facebook by Prince Harry’s friend Arthur Landon. Apparently showing what he was packing for the vacation — which appeared to include a “Captain Britannia” costume, a gas mask and a bong — the photo was captioned, “2x flip flops, 3x board shorts, 8x fancy dress outfits, 1x toothbrush, 1x toothpaste, 10x awesomeness… .” Whatever happened on Necker, Beaconites are sure it was a great party, and they hope that they will be invited next time. They promise not to take a single photo.