Virgin-Islands-On-Line's Coconut Telegraph

USVI mired in allegations of hate crimes

Well it isn't the NY Times or CNN or one of the networks, but there is a story out today on the web from Caribbean Net News about the "unrest" in St. John. I think the story has many problems frankly, and includes some very confusing paragraphs and inaccurate statements (so just imagined how it will end up once the main stream media does get a hold of it). It also names Esther Frett as the rape victim:

"The incidents escalated and came to a head on June 30 when Esther Frett was shoved by the storeowner who was subsequently arrested. On Aug. 30, news spread around the islands that Ester (sic) Frett had been kidnapped, raped and thrown into the sea."

From all I have read so far I don't think the police have ever identified Frett as the victim. The piece ends with this:

"Some residents are experiencing economic hardships and have, or are in danger of losing land that has been passed down from generation to generation as a result of wealthy people coming into the islands and purchasing land and building expensive homes thus raising the amount of taxes owed on the property."

Have the property taxes on vacant land on St. John really gone up that much that people are "losing" their property over it? I think this paragraph is a canard and totally wrong, if you think otherwise let me know.

Posted by afinta at September 27, 2005 10:20 AM

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