On this episode of Comes With the Territory.

We'll unpack.

Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett proposed legislation to curb further expansion of the Virgin Islands National Park.

And a federal judge is nearing a decision in the complex ownership battle that has left St John's iconic Camille Bay Resort in ruins since the devastating hurricanes of 2017.

Plus, a new school in St. John The governor has signed into law a contentious land exchange agreement between the U.S. Virgin Islands and the National Park Service to build a pre-K through 12th grade school on St. John What's next?

We'll have more.

And joining me later to analyze these and other political issues are Historic Preservation commission Chair Kurt Marsh Jr. Former Senator Roosevelt David.

Political talk show host Jamila Russell and local hotelier Ryan Flegal Comes with the Territory.

Starts now.

A happy Sunday to you.

Thank you for joining me on Comes with the Territory I'm Lesley Comissiong, your host.

Today we are honored to have our guest joining us on the panel.

I don't know how she found time out of her busy schedule, but none other than our Congresswoman Delegate Stacey Plaskett is here with us today to talk about new legislation, national events that are taking place, and recent news.

Thank you for joining us.

Thanks for having me.

I really appreciate being here.

It's an honor for us.

Now we want to get down to business.

You have some new legislation that is really interesting considering local news, what's been taking place with the land swap on Change.org.

H.R.

3025, It's a bill that you have proposed to stop the expansion of the national park on the island of Saint John.

Tell us a little bit about that bill.

I've read it.

It seems to be some groundbreaking legislation.

Is there a legal precedence for this anywhere?

Well, there really hasn't been legislation like this in Congress as yet.

And one of the things that really came to mind was in the discussions that we've been having with people on Saint John in the Virgin Islands regarding the land swap issues that have been plaguing the people of Saint John regarding the national park, property taxes, etc.. One of the focal points has been the ever expanding of the national park there.

And so we decided to propose legislation that would stop the growth of the national park on Saint John.

So the bill has mechanisms by which if the park is even has land donated land has to be swapped out.

We were really grateful that in June the committee of jurisdiction actually had a hearing on the legislation.

You know, the Republicans control the House right now and Republicans decide which bills go to hearings.

I was grateful that they chose I had discussions with the Chairman, Tom Tiffany, about it, and he thought it was a great legit piece of legislation.

And so he put the bill for hearing.

The national park is not in favor of it, but it has growing support from members of the House.

And I've had conversations with the Senate as well, because in the House you have to have a bill that passes in the House.

It has to pass also in the Senate.

And then it goes to the president for signing bicameral body.

And so we have conversation with Senator Angus King to actually bring a companion bill in the Senate.

Well, the legislation is bold.

And in reading the different mechanisms for the part to be able to get property, even if properties donated to them.

I like the fact that equal acreage has to be sold or exchanged.

Right.

Let's talk about that, including the mechanism that requires that if the property is not sold every month, it goes down by 10%, which actually, you know, satisfies the cries of St. Johnian in terms of affordability of land.

So let's talk about the thought that went into putting a mechanism like that in the bill.

Sure.

The idea was if a land is being donated or willed to the national park, that the park has to actually get rid of a piece as well.

That would be usually through a sale.

And this was a means to make them move quickly, because as many of us know, the national park is an enormous bureaucracy and kind of gets away with stuff because it can move slowly and has more time than the rest of us do.

So making a mechanism that says that, listen, if you don't sell it by a certain period of time, then the value of that you have to sell it at a cheaper rate, lower at a lower rate, and you're going to get less value was an impetus to try and get the park to sell it.

But also knowing that the park moves slowly, a means by which the government of the Virgin Islands or people on Saint John could actually do that themselves.

Speaking about Saint John again, Caneel Bay, October 1st, the transfer of the Caneel Bay property was was supposed to be made back to the national park, and that is now being stymied by a lawsuit.

To share with our viewers the details of that and what your thoughts are on next steps for Caneel Bay.

Well, the prior lessor of the property and the individual who and his company who was running Caneel Bay at the time of the storm are utilizing a mechanism, the retained use of the property, exchange of the property and they're saying that because they purchased the lease for a period of time, that retained use goes to them and not to the national park and their using it as a means to stop the national park from being able to put out to bid potential developers to redevelop the park right now.

You know, I'm frustrated by this process.

I'm frustrated that a prime piece of real estate that can be used for the economic development, not just of Saint John, but for the Virgin Islands as a whole, cannot move forward because of the intransigence of a prior owner to get what he wants out of the park.

And also frustrated with the National Park Service because this is something that's been going on for a very long time and they have not resolve the issues or negotiated.

I feel, as aggressively as they should with the prior owner to try and have the lease broken, broken so that we can move on to put it out to bid again.

You know, we have people who have said they are interested in developing it.

One of the concerns with all of the individuals who have come to say that they're developing is that the amount of money that they have to put in to completely rebuild that based upon the structure of the time that is allowed will not allow them to get there, you know, the profit back from what they're going to be putting in.

And we know that the prior owner also has insurance from this, of course.

So it's just really a mess right now.

And I'm really trying to put pressure on the national park, but not just the national park, the secretary of the interior and others to move this along, along with the myriad of other issues that go on with the national park.

I mean, we were able to get legislation passed this year for just even a plaque at RAM head to memorialize the enslaved individuals who fought for their freedom on Saint John.

And they wanted a two year study before a plaque could be put up.

Thankfully, that now has to be done within six months.

And so we'll see what moves on there.

But the national park is a huge myth that uses time as a means.

I believe, to stop growth and stop development in areas where they are.

Ultimately, what do you think would be the ideal situation from your perspective?

What should we do with Caneel Bay?

It's my belief that Caneel Bay does need to be a very high end resort, a high end resort that can attract the type of economic development that the Virgin Islands as a whole needs.

I know that we think of ourselves as separate islands, but when we look at our tourism product, we have to look at ourselves as a complete whole.

What's offered on Saint Croix needs to be different.

That is offered in Saint Thomas.

What's offered on Saint John?

Saint John, of course, has absolutely pristine, beautiful beaches.

And of course, we need to have a partner that's going to really respect that.

It's also up to the local government in the economic development agreement that they make with them to ensure that they're following local labor laws, that there is mechanisms in there so that they're hiring locally, so that they are also paying those individuals.

Not just fair wages, but also for fringe benefits such as health care, etc., as well as not just making it seasonal workers.

So I think all of those things put in place and really being thoughtful about this can be a help to the people who live on Saint John as well as to the people as a whole of the Virgin Islands.

The recent land swap with Whistling Cay to Bill and property in state Catherineberg, Saint John to build a K through 12 school brought a lot of opinions of the community.

First of all, how would the legislation that you've proposed, H.R.

3025, how would that have affected or how would the land swap have been different?

Would it have affected it really wouldn't have affected it as much as except that the acreage had to be equal equivalent to one and one another, as well as the value of the property, what it needed to be the same.

But otherwise it was a swap, you know, the whole discussion about the land swap was a really difficult one, I think, for a local legislature to make.

I know that people came out on different sides and I think many people both all had, you know, the best intentions for the most part and what their positions were.

I really took the position that I wanted to share with the people of the Virgin Islands, what the federal mechanisms were in place to be able to do that.

And they were limited.

You know, people brought up what had happened in Maine, and when we peeled back the layers, we realized that Maine had never even been given land from the national park.

It was actually the end of a land swap that had begun in the 1980s.

That was the last piece of a land swap that occurred there.

And so, again, working with the national park is very difficult.

They do not as a policy nor has and the president himself has said multiple administrations that they are not in favor of the national park giving land or even long term leases of land because it sets a precedent in other places.

We tried to make the argument that this is a very finite area because it is in fact an island, and neither the national park, the Senate, who would also need to make any agreement on a long term lease or the president were in favor of it.

Well, that's an interesting piece of information for the community to understand.

Turning our attention to national issues, however, we find ourselves with no speaker of the House.

Right.

Explain to the viewers, what does that mean for Congress?

What you see on the horizon.

We saw that Steve Scalise got the nomination from the Republican Party was between him and Jim Jordan.

You serve on a committee with Jim Jordan.

Explain your relationships with Republicans.

And if the choice of Steve Scalise is made, what do you think that means for the Virgin Islands?

You know, it's interesting because I don't think that we're at a place where they there's it's a final decision as to Steve Scalise.

You know, and having conversations and signal chats with other members, you see that he's actually losing support as the day goes on and then the next day he'll gain more support if he makes concessions.

And I think the Republicans are really in a place of their party is broken and they have not really determined what the direction of their party is right now.

And that's what's really keeps them paralyzed to be able to make someone be the leader of that of their conference.

We call it a Democratic caucus.

They call it a Republican conference.

And so I think, is Scalise going to be the final individual.

It's it's not clear at this point.

Many people discuss other individuals who are kind of middle of the road.

Tom Emmer, one of my classmates.

A Tom Cole representative from Oklahoma, Native American who has been in Congress for many, many years as a kind of concessionary person.

And many of us on the Democrat side are saying, look, we're the only ones who have an individual with the most votes, right?

Steve Scalise got 113.

Jim Jordan got 99 in conference, Hakeem Jeffries got 212 each and every time, and we'll continue to do so.

So they have a very small margin of error.

They can only lose four members.

And so there's been a lot of reach out to Republicans who are in Biden districts that President Biden won to tell them, listen, four or five, six of you guys come over and you can have Hakeem Jeffries be the next speaker of the House.

Well, that was certainly I don't think that that would really happen.

But that's something, you know, people have talked about that the Democrats were the ones who didn't support McCarthy in that last vote.

It's not our job to elect a Republican speaker.

It's our job to elect a Democratic speaker.

And so our votes are going to go for the person that we believe.

Additionally, we could not trust McCarthy.

Every agreement that he's made for us the day after we deliver on what we said we were going to do, he's changed his mind.

So there was no way to come to some kind of concession or agreement to create some kind of coalition government to be able to move forward.

You know, meanwhile, nothing can happen.

I was just going to say no business gets no business gets done.

They gavel in and then gavel out within 5 minutes.

Every other day or so.

We're not allowed to do debate one minute.

No bills can come to the floor.

Members can have hearings.

But right now, the Republicans are having a lot of arguing behind closed doors.

Democrats are.

We're all in our offices, you know, dealing with constituent issues, as I told you before the show started.

You know, some of us are planning potlucks where we have competitions with each other about food.

And we're waiting to for a speaker to be chosen.

Well, when you look at what has taken place internationally with this impromptu war in the Middle East, who know impromptu?

Well, that's what we're finding out today, that Hamas there's evidence that Hamas has been planning this for several years now.

However, who knows what else could take place on the international scale.

And Congress is now paralyzed.

Do you think there are any direct issues in the Virgin Islands that could be long term affected by this?

Well, you know, we have remember, a government deadline, a government shutdown deadline looming coming up in November.

And that really has a lot to do with, you know, funding that we meet here in the Virgin Islands, whether it's veterans support for our veterans school lunch programs, support for our Head Start programs, you name it, that has federal funding.

It's going to be affected by November.

You know, when you did talk about individuals like Steve Scalise, he talked about what that could mean for the Virgin Islands.

One of the things that I think would be helpful for us with a Steve Scalise.

He and I talk regularly about issues of disaster.

Him being from Louisiana, he understands those issues and is very supportive of individuals and jurisdictions that are dealing with climate change and dealing with natural disasters, Louisiana having so many hurricanes.

And also, he and I have also talked quite a bit about issues related to, you know, oil and gas.

He has oil rigs off the coast of his districts.

I've been there at his as a guest of him.

And so issues that we have in terms of moving to alternative energy, moving from fossil fuels, are things that he's very attuned to as well.

Believe it or not, our time is almost up.

So in about 2 minutes or so.

What's next for Stacey Plaskett?

What is on the agenda, given all that's going on in Congress right now?

Well, just today, I had a conversation with Jennifer Gonzalez Colon, who's the congresswoman from Puerto Rico, and talking with her about the rum cover over.

Yes.

And sharing with her my concerns that I have.

I know that the where there's been discussion on Ways and Means with Jason Smith about bringing a bill at the end of the year.

Conversations I had this past weekend with Republicans who are from New York who have said that any bill that's coming from Ways and Means, they're going to end them because they are not containing salt, which is a state, you know, a tax that goes on for individuals that live in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut and the tri state area.

So that imperils our rum cover over on our part.

So talking with her about speaking with the conference, the Republican conference about putting rum cover over in some other piece of legislation.

So really just continually having conversations with my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans, about bills that we're really interested here in the Virgin Islands, while at the same time really trying to push on the administration to make us a part of the President Biden's seminal legislation that was passed last year, whether it's the Inflation Reduction Act, which really deals with tax credits to developers who are coming to build large scale in alternative energy, the the infrastructure, bipartisan infrastructure legislation for our roads as well as our transportation and transshipment area.

So really trying to work on multi, multi areas.

That's what keeps the job interesting is that there are so many different things to work on.

At the same time, I was having conversation today with the consulate to really get a clear understanding of what's happening in the West Bank and Gaza in Israel for any Virgin Islanders.

Know we have a large Palestinian community to make sure that the interests of those individuals are being met.

And I sit on the Intelligence Committee.

So getting classified information about what's happening there.

At the end of the month, I'm actually supposed to go to Israel and have meetings to talk about what's next, How do we resolve this?

How do we finally come to a resolution about making equality for Palestinians?

Well, thank you so much for joining us here on.

Comes with the Territory.

We're glad to have such a power hitter like you joining us.

Thank you.

Coming up, our power panel joins the conversation with insights and analysis.

But first, let's look at other political issues making the headlines.

Allowing government employees to run for political office ensures a more diverse pool of candidates leveling the playing field and allowing for competition.

I'm open to that.

However, I do have some reservations.

Reservations shared by Senate President Novelle Francis and other lawmakers held back a bill that would have allowed government employees to run for political office while actively being employed.

The measure was proposed by Senators Donna Frett-Gregory and Marise James to allow a greater pool of candidates in the territory's electoral process.

Candidates who would not have had to worry about using most or all of their leave or being placed on leave without pay.

Division of Personnel director Cindy Richardson supported the draft legislation, as did election supervisor Caroline Fawkes, who suggested an amendment requiring candidates to take a leave of absence 60 days prior to any election.

Virgin Islands Supreme Court Chief Justice Rhys Hodge requested that the bill be amended to exclude any of the judicial branch employees to avoid any conflicts of interest.

Bill number 35.0032 An act repealing and reenacting Title 18 Virgin Islands Code Chapter one Section two Related to Government Employees Eligibility for Elected Office to allow Government employees to run for political office while actively employed unless specifically prohibited by the federal or other laws, has been held in the Committee on Rules on Judiciary until the call of the Chair.

Nearly a year after his victory in the At-Large Senatorial race, Senator Angel Bolques continues to face questions regarding his Saint John.

In fact, a Change.org petition to remove the senator at large is now circulating online.

In the latest letter of complaint submitted to the legislature in August, the Saint John businesswoman urged lawmakers to properly investigate whether Bolques had met the bona fide three year residency requirement.

Senate President Novelle Francis told the Daily News that certification was up to the Board of Elections.

Contacted by phone, election supervisor Caroline Fawkes addressed the most recent complaint and others We were copied on that letter But it has nothing for us to do.

It went to the Senate president of the legislature, so we don't have to address it.

There were two complaints and then some of them were numerous.

Resent.

They will filed after the general election sometime in November.

The complaints allege about his residency, whether he lived in Saint John or he did not live in Saint John and the Board of Election assigned a committee to look into the matter, investigate the matter.

The committee investigated the matter because some data was in the office and then they reported back to the board.

The results stayed the same.

They wanted a change in anything.

So to challenge them, you have to go to court and that’s what were told to the back in November or December.

And now we here in October of the following year.

there is absolutely no truth to the allegations that University of the Virgin Islands provided a cover for Jeffrey Epstein's victims in the territory.

So, said UVI President David Hall in an editorial to the Miami Herald, which published an article last month titled U.S. Virgin Islands Cozied Up to Jeffrey Epstein.

Now they're profiting from his sex crimes.

Citing court documents, the Herald alleged that former first lady Cecile de Jongh arranged for three of Epstein's victims to get student visas to enroll at UVI, which structured a class for the victims to provide cover for their presence in the territory.

Just because something is included in a pleading in regards to the court matter does not mean that it that we did not create a special course or program for any of the individuals involved with Mr. Epstein.

The other allegation that was made that we thought was blatantly false was that a $20,000 contribution was made to the university, to one of Mr. Epstein's companies?

It is so unfortunate that a entity in the Virgin Islands that specifically chose not to engage with him is now being labeled as having done so.

joining the set today.

These stories and other pressing issues of the day is our power panel.

Former Senator Roosevelt David, who served five terms undefeated in the Virgin Islands legislature.

And Kurt Marsh, junior chairman of the Territorial Preservation Commission and a prominent voice in the Saint John community.

Joining the panel from St Croix is political talk show host Jamila Russell and Ryan Flegal, owner of the Feather Leaf Inn at the historic estate Butler, Bay on St. Croix Welcome to everyone.

Kurt, earlier in the conversation with Delegate Plaskett, there were some issues that were germane to Saint John and I'm glad that we have a saint joining in to help us discuss this.

First of all, what's your take on the delegates new proposal to stop the expansion of the national park on Saint John?

It's interesting.

I'm curious to know as how many people are familiar with the fact that in about 1978 or so, Senator Cleone and Creque had proposed a similar resolution to curtail the expansion of the park that was then taken to Congress by the then delegate, Ron de Lugo.

So I'm curious about how her bill differs to the attempts that those two entities had made prior to and then what she envisions as that resolution moving forward in terms because it's beyond the park expanding its boundaries.

There are also all of this substantive and subsequent show effects of the park on the people of Saint John thereafter.

So it's more than a conversation about how much space the park occupies, but rather it's a conversation about the effects of that occupation on the people who inhabit that space.

Understood.

But the real and present facts are that individuals still donate to the park.

Will property to the park.

And as they do that, there's a contraction of property that's available for development for Saint John Ends and the people that live on the island.

So essentially what this does, and I've read the legislation is says to the park.

Hey, if you're going to acquire more property, an equal amount of acreage and value has to be conveyed to the people of the Virgin Islands.

But, you know, Leslie, even beyond that, it we the government of the Virgin Islands, should really take precedent that has been set prior.

I appreciate that the delegate is trying to do this right now.

But where has the government of the Virgin Islands ever challenged the National Park Service and the Department of Interior to prove their real boundaries?

I mean, a lot of the deeds that were established that were used to establish the national park are considered tentative boundaries.

When I file maps for subdivisions, I have to have real boundaries that have coordinates and lengths of lines from one point to the next.

And so the idea that tentative boundaries have been accepted by the federal and local government seems like a farce to the people.

See in John, especially when we're content with the reality that some of us have been fighting the park to reclaim lands that we know we own.

Well, we're well, you're no stranger to Saint John.

And in fact, you lived there for several years before moving to Saint Thomas.

What's your take on the proposed legislation?

And Caneel Bay my time in Saint John goes back to 1967 before court was born.

Well, I and it's interesting because I've had my issues with the park and never wanted the expansion of the park on Saint John.

So the legislation that's very interesting to me and I would really like to read it and see exactly what it's all about that you if you're going to donate land to the park, you'll have to have an equal acreage value.

And it's the property that the park makes available is not sole.

It is reduced in price, making it more affordable.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Which I thought was a unique feature.

Yes.

And I listened to your heart, you know, with this.

But I don't want to make the park like a bad boy at all because going back in time, a tremendous amount of money has been invested in the and Saint John, the Virgin Islands as a whole because of millions of tourists that go there, particularly because of the existence of the park.

People want to go to the trail.

They want to go Johannesburg, they want to go to the campgrounds and things of this nature.

So the entire economy has benefited.

And not only that, it has prevented Saint John from becoming what we call a jungle, a concrete jungle.

And to a certain extent, the climate change would slow down this.

So what has happened, though, to the contrary, is that property value has gone up tremendously as a result of the finite amount of land that that's there.

But with property values going up, the availability and financial capacity of certain unions and those living on the island to be able to purchase those properties, some would argue is being inhibited.

Hence the proposal in the legislation.

The mechanism to reduce the price if the property is not purchased.

Now, Kurt, I'd like to move back to you real quickly.

This whistling cay land swap that just took place.

What was your take on it?

What would you say, though?

I know you can't speak for everybody on Saint John, but especially in your capacity as a historic preservation committee chair.

What was your take on it and then what sentiments you heard or were the most prevalent on the island of Saint John regarding this one?

So the most prevalent voices really reflected the sentiment that the people of Saint John were not willing at large to concede any more land to the park and to understand the relationship of the people of Saint John to the park is to understand the history of the establishment of the park on Saint John.

And I mentioned earlier that families are currently in litigation with the National Park Service to reclaim lands that they rightfully know.

There is the Marsh family, for example, has reclaimed lands.

We were able to produce these records of our ownership, and there are several of the families right now who are doing the same.

And so the the overwhelming sentiment is that we should not concede any more land to the park.

And the expectation thereafter was that the government, the Virgin Islands, would take up arms to defend the people of Saint John in that instance.

There is already a set restriction to how far, how much land of terrestrial land and submerged lands, and that the national park is able to control and maintain.

And so the expectation was that the government of the Virgin Islands would challenge them to produce documentation to prove that they are not for that.

And if they were, then they would have some sort of mechanism to try to reclaim and repatriate some of that land to the people of Saint John or to the government of the Virgin Islands.

We're going to move from the island of Saint John over to the island of Saint, where we have two guests joining us remotely.

And, Kurt, we're going to come back to you on this particular issue.

But the governor's proposal to take care of derelict buildings, we understand that just recently the governor had an interview with the Virgin Islands Consortium's Ernice Gilbert, where he said that his proposal is now legislation.

He will be submitting it to the Virgin Islands legislature.

And indeed, he is confident that he's going to get the legislative support necessary for it to pass.

Are you going to pursue the derelict building situation?

You know?

Absolutely.

The legislation is finished.

The first draft is finished.

We're going to have that out in circulation.

You think you're going to get that passed?

Yeah.

You know, the one thing I do, I know people know me, right, is three times I went for the GERS, you know, people protested against John.

We got that.

They ran cycled about $150 million in the legislature to the for the line of credit.

I got that.

It's like, you know, I win it all the time.

Mr. Flegal, you've been vocal in your opposition to this proposal, and one of the things that you wrote in the Virgin Islands source is that this plan is essentially a debt collectors dream.

Tell us why you believe that's the case.

That's why you hired people.

Yeah.

Interesting.

Jamila Russell is also joining us from the island of Saint Croix.

And Jamila, I understand that Senator Donna Frett Gregory has similar legislation.

So let's talk a little bit about that and your thoughts on the governor's plan as well.

Mm hmm.

Yeah.

Yes.

Mm hmm.

Mm hmm.

Yeah, I think.

Mm hmm.

Mm hmm.

And Cruise.

Cruz and Colby.

Yeah.

But there's some there.

There's definitely some there.

There's not as much as you have, but.

And Curt will come back to you as the in your capacity as the historic preservation chair.

But Rosario, from a political perspective, there was a great deal of distrust at these town halls, and they garnered a lot of media attention due to, you know, some some of the opinions that were voice.

What do you think about the proposal?

Had you had a chance to attend any of the town hall meetings and what do you think about what Jamila said about the fact that Senator Fred Gregory may also have some legislation that is similar?

Well, first of all, any proposal that goes on to the legislature, a senator has to move it.

And if Senator Gregory does have legislation going through some way along the line, they probably could come together, merging and combine it.

However, to commendable, the governor's proposal at this point in time would be conjecture during the the day town hall meetings.

I view the one in Saint Thomas and the governor said clearly, I am not married to anything here.

I am coming to you with some ideas.

I need your input so we could develop a plan to move forward with the abandoned buildings.

And we all know that this needs to be addressed.

We need to enhance the community and there has to be some way, some means that this has to be addressed.

But I don't want to make any sort of comment about that proposal until I have read it.

Understood.

Curt, in your capacity as chairman of the Historic Preservation Committee, I know this has been probably a topic of discussion.

Have you had a chance to see the town hall meetings that you get a chance to attend any of them?

And what is your take on the proposal and the information you have thus far?

I actually was able to attend sort of a closed group meeting with the governor and other interested parties to discuss the proposal prior to the town hall meetings.

And, you know, the interesting thing is that to Jim Miller's last point, most persons were very keen on the fact that we need to address probate in the territory.

And so the idea that I mean, perception, your perception is your reality, right?

And so if you come to a group of people who have been languishing in probate for 20 years, 15 years, ten years, who know that they want to develop their properties, but the court system will not allow that.

And then you come to them and say, we're going to allow for an outside entity to develop your property, and then you may have the opportunity to reclaim that property over time.

It creates a context where persons have lots of apprehension.

And so I think if we get to like the meeting this week, so to speak, of what the problem is, we have to address probate.

Yeah, we have to appoint judges to do with proper end of life planning, which is the, the estate planning which avoids appropriate process altogether.

That's a very good point.

Mr.. FLEGAL, going to come back to you on the island of saying, quote, One of the things that you wrote and I listened to your interview with our very own Neville James on Analyze this.

One of the things that you said is that the presiding judge of the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands does not show up enough.

And so this probate issue is therefore exasperated.

Let's share your thoughts.

That statement that you made.

Understood.

ROOSEVELT We're going to jump to another topic that was brought up earlier.

The fact that there has been legislation that has been held in the Virgin Islands legislature that will allow Virgin Islands employees to run for office without having to take a leave of absence.

And J.M., I'm going to come to you on Saint Croix, because I know you've run for office as well, both of you being the two individuals have run for office.

You Roosevelt being elected.

What's your take on this legislation and how do you think it would actually affect the pool of candidates that are offered up to the people of the territory?

Well, first of the fact that the legislature's committee held it means that there are some concerns, and I have not yet resigned to the decision I have made on that piece of legislation.

I have concerns.

One is that once you are a government employee.

I know you're out there running for the Senate.

Is your office going to become a part of your campaign?

Is it going to be where your campaign from your every day, your employees?

Some would say that incumbents have that advantage.

Well, there's a difference there because a country has to be run.

It has to be managed.

And you need legislators to be there.

Now, in addition to that, are those people from government going to be able be as productive as they were before the start running?

And if they're not productive, it means that the government is losing money.

So these are concerns that I have.

And until those are cleared up.

And until that legislation could come with amendments and I'm sure that they're going to be amendments, that's one of the reasons held up.

Sure.

Then I would be in a better position to tell you whether I support it or not.

Jamila, as someone who has actually run for public office on the island of Saint Croix, what was your experience and what do you think about the legislation that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm hmm.

That's an interesting point of view.

Curt Love City is getting a lot of love and comes with the territory.

The next topic is about the residency of your At-Large Senator, which by law is required to be a resident of Saint John.

This is a continual issue that a year after him being elected is being brought up.

The latest petition that's being circulated on Change.org is it's been in the media now.

And also a letter was written to the Senate president from a Saint John business woman questioning his residency even after the board of elections has certified him as being a bona fide resident.

How do you think this affects his ability to lead and people's confidence in him as a candidate?

Well, you know, to be honest, Leslie, if the senator at large and he's as he is an ancestral Saint John is a relative of mine, if he was even present on Saint John, we may not have this conversation.

We're waiting for the town halls.

We're waiting for the community engagement.

I was aware of one instance where there was some sort of celebratory event that happened at the casino down in town.

And so we're waiting for him to show up to help us with legislation.

And we haven't seen that.

And so I think we could have circumvented knowing that he's living in Saint Thomas if he was showing up to to get our needs and concerns and legislate based on them.

Roosevelt We had a situation a few years ago where former Senator Janelle Sorrell actually was able to get into the legislature due to a residency challenge of candidate Kevin Rodriguez.

It seems like this mechanism becomes a way of a tool to be used to get your way into legislature or do you think there's actual legitimacy to it?

And the investigations that are done by the Board of Elections to certify that a candidate is indeed a bona fide resident?

What do you think about that process?

How do you think that process can be improved?

First of all, Senator Baucus got into the legislature because a former At-Large senator was expelled.

The Democratic Party did their due diligence and found that Baucus was a Knicks fit person to go there.

The legislature there voted out that they did that due to the due diligence and have had him seated.

Now, once that period had passed and he ran for reelection, the not only the board of the system guided by the code, I think it stated 18 chapters, 17 1 to 111.

That tells you that all you need is to verify that you have met the residency requirement that you of age and that you could get 50 signatures.

It has been proven that he has met all of this in addition to that.

But courtesy they waiting for him to.

In addition in addition to this why are they doing the board of elections certified in is the fact that there's a letter from his mother that was notarized and said this gentleman lives with me in talked at all.

In addition to that, he was able to produce a phone bill with the chocolate hole address on it.

That is a resident, a bona fide resident of Saint John.

So all of this compiled, put together, make it legitimate and in there so the court would have to determine.

Jamilah, you wanted to jump in.

What do you think about this particular issue?

That's an interesting point.

And like I said, it seems like this mechanism has become a tool simply to to challenge individuals when we don't win.

But let's change topics real quickly.

The University of the Virgin Islands president, David Hall, came out emphatically in denial of allegations made in a miami Herald story that the university created special courses for some of Jeffrey Epstein's victims and that everything that is printed in the media or even said in the media is true.

And I think there's a lesson here for for us as Virgin Islanders in how we evaluate stories that come out, especially ones that are filled with that kind of sensationalism.

I'll start with you, Ryan, on Saint Croix.

I don't know if you had a chance to read the Miami Herald story, but what's your take on the UVA's president's denial and emphatic denial that that simply just didn't happen?

That's right.

Jamila, your take on Dr. Hall's refusal of the facts that were presented in the Miami?

Well, not the facts, but the allegations, rather, that were presented in the Miami Herald story.

Thanks for that.

You know, I'm going to say this in regards to the story.

There has been so much media and because this is an international story with international ties, but really and truly, we have victims of abuse here in our territory that have not been addressed with the same energy and vigor.

And we can point to the recent indictment and conviction of coach Bruce Smith and the dozens victims over several years that have taken place that our government has yet to tell us what their internal investigations revealed about allegations of administrators at the school being told about this and doing nothing.

Our government has not spoken about restitution to those victims, and those victims live here see us.

We walk amongst them, some of them suffering in silence, many of whom had their innocence taken from them, never to be returned.

So we need to, as a government, look ourselves and as a people, look ourselves in the mirror, look at ourselves in the mirror and say, you know, this Epstein talk is all great, but we have our own children here that have been abused that we refuse to address equally.

We've got to wrap things up.

I would like to thank my panel.

Ryan Flegal on Saint Croix.

Jamilah Russell, former Senator Roosevelt, David and Curt Marsh for joining us.

And it comes with the territory.

Thank you to the viewers for tuning in.

Join us here every Sunday 1 p.m. on the Virgin Islands OWN.

We'll see you next Sunday.