Burgled
After a trip abroad last week, a Beaconite returned to find an unexpected surprise: her car had been burgled. The vehicle had been parked for about a week in the main area of the lot next to the Road Town Ferry Terminal, and at some point the makeshift plastic covering on one window had been slashed and the glove compartment ransacked. Luckily there was nothing valuable to steal, but one of the doors was left ajar, which meant the car lights stayed on and the battery eventually died. In the grand scheme of theft in the VI, this incident is pretty much as minor as it gets. But a Beaconite has to wonder: Are you asking for it by merely parking a car in a well-lit, public area for more than a day? A friendly driver in the area eventually helped jump the car, but wasn’t surprised that it had been broken in to given the location. Call it naïve, but this reporter would like to believe that it’s possible to own a car without being constantly paranoid that its doors will be jimmied open or that parts will be stripped from its exterior at a moment’s notice.
Pot? Or not?
A Beaconite wrote last week with praise for the open-mindedness she had observed from many people, including a police officer, about the topic of marijuana, in the face of Foxy’s Hemp Fest, which was a day full of refreshingly mature perspectives on an issue that could potentially have huge effects on the territory. This week, she had a conversation on the ferry on her way back from that same fest, where she had her eyes opened to a different point of view. A woman the Beaconite spoke to said she had never tried pot and was horrified that anyone — such as those from St. Thomas, where laws have been relaxed — would try to bring the drug into this territory, where it remains illegal. She added that, when she found out a family member had once used it, she was outraged. “I come from a single-parent family,” she explained. “We all sink or swim together. If someone were to get arrested for marijuana, that affects all of us.” Personally, the Beaconite feels that it’s unfair to begin with for families like hers to worry about such dire consequences for the use of a substance that many believe is no more harmful than alcohol or tobacco. But she has also gained a greater perspective as to where these more conservative attitudes come from, and will keep them in mind as the debate continues, which she hopes it does.
Independence
A Beaconite recently travelled to upstate New York to celebrate his home country’s Independence Day. It was an exciting time for the reporter, who hadn’t been stateside for July 4 since 2014. While there, he completed a variety of thoroughly American activities, including road tripping; snacking on rest stop gas station junk food; watching fireworks; playing football; and driving a jet ski. It was great. He also played quite a bit of outdoor volleyball and remembered how fun — and competitive — that sport can be. It reminded him about how he’s always thought the Virgin Islands could use more volleyball nets across its beaches. He was pleased to see some were put up in Brandywine Bay earlier this year, and he would love to see the Department of Youth Affairs and Sports or the Ministry of Natural Resources and Labour erect a few more on some of the territory’s more popular spots.