Nearly all of the lionfish caught in this dive were no longer than 2 inches, leading Coles to believe that they had stopped a breeding session.

ST. THOMAS, USVI (VI DAILY NEWS- 10/13/10)- It has been 3 months since a daylight gun battle at a Coki Point cemetery funeral left 2 people dead. The shooting highlighted issues that have plagued Coki Point beach for years and prompted a massive cleanup to make the popular beach a safer place for locals and tourists. Before the cleanup, drug dealers plied their trade openly, police presence was minimal, and the entrance to the beach had become a graveyard for abandoned boats and vehicles- all while thousands of tourists were coming daily to enjoy the beach's unique Caribbean atmosphere.

Complaints from locals and fears from cruise lines and tour operators fell on deaf ears until the broad daylight shooting on July 12th left a local man and a teen-aged tourist dead, forcing the government to address the long-standing problems at Coki Point. When the shootout began, people scattered in all directions, but a stray bullet hit a 14-year-old tourist as she was sitting in a nearby safari taxi with her family. The Carnival Cruise passenger died at the hospital shortly thereafter.

An 18-year-old member of the funeral party was also killed. Within 24 hours, a 22-year-old local man was arrested and charged with the 2 murders. The incident made national news as well as travel blogs within hours, and most of the cruise lines stopped selling shore excursions to Coki Point.

After launching a 10-day cleanup in August, the government hauled off more than 2 dozen boats and vehicles, cleared bush and created a paved parking area. Police increased their patrols and presence.

Now 3 months later, the cruise lines have returned, vendors are selling food and drinks again and the beach is packed again. But, as a vendor stated, it took a death to spark action.

"They should build a monument for the little girl", said Nefertiti Cardoze. "If not for her, nothing would have happened."

ST. THOMAS, USVI (VI DAILY NEWS- 10/1/10)- The TuTu Park Mall windmills are broken. After sitting motioless since they were erected in Nov. 2008, the windmills finally started spinning in May, but only ran for about a month before going down with mechanical problems.

Island Wind Power, which built the 2 turbines, has a team of Canadian engineers here to diagnose the problem and fix it. They took samples of the oil that encases the turbines moving parts and sent them off-island for analysis. There is a possibility that because the windmills sat idle for so long, tiny shards of metal may have mixed with the oil and chipped away at the equipment.

The windmills sat motionless for a year and a half while WAPA and Island Wind Power wrangled over the agreement on how the turbines would be connected to WAPA's power grid, when talks stalled. After a VI Public Services ruling, the 2 parties entered into an interconnection agreement in Dec., 2009.

The TuTu Park widmills are the first turbines Island Wind Power has built, but the people involved in the project have built turbines previously. The 2 turbines can provide a maximum of 100 kilowatts of power to the mall, which needs 1300-1400 kilowatts to operate.

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS:

MONTSERRAT (BBC/CARIBBEAN- 9/17/10)- Soca musician Arrow- the man who won global fame with his 1983 hit "Hot Hot Hot"- died at his home here from complications of brain cancer on Sept. 15th. He was 60 years old.

Outside the Caribbean, many know Soca music- a fast paced cousin of Calypso- through Arrow's biggest 'how you feeling' hit. "Hot Hot Hot" was described as 'fusion music with roots in calypso'.

Born Alphonsus Cassell and raised in Montserrat, Arrow grew up in a musical family where both his older brothers- Hero and Young Challenger- had been Calypso Kings of Montserrat. He started singing Calypso in 1967 taking the junior monarch title that year. He has been Montserrat king 4 times. Arrow became very popular at the Caribbean King of Kings Calypso Competition's in Antigua. He was the first Soca artist to perform at Jamaica's Reggae Sunsplash.

Arrow recorded his first single- 'Dance With Me Woman'- in 1972. He set up his own record label in 1973 and released his first album the following year. His song 'Hot Hot Hot' became the biggest selling soca record of all time.

Arrow had always stated how much he loved Calypso and had named himself Arrow in honour of veteran musician Sparrow.

For Mighty Sparrow- the Calypso King of the World- Arrow was truly special, claiming he was a 'sort of Bob Marley of the soca world.' He said, "One day he came up with 'Hot Hot Hot' and superseded everybody."

In his later years, he ran a shop on the remaining habitable part of Montserrat after the Souffriere Hills volcano destroyed large portions of the island in 1995.

The Trinidad Guardian described him as "the man whose soca anthem rang out across borders and bridged musical gaps, allowing many soca and calypso entertainers to be eventually heard."

LONDON, ENGLAND (ARAWAKROOTS NEWS- 10/30/10)- So many Caribbean music legends have passed on this year, that it's been hard to keep the lump from my throat. But the passing of Gregory Isaacs in London at age 60 on Oct. 25 has been especially hard to take.

Reggae music was in transition when Isaacs signed with Island Records in 1982. Bob Marley had died recently and there was no clear successor to his superstar mantle. "Night Nurse"- his first Island album- introduced Gregory to a new frontier. Driven by the riddims of the ROOTS RADICS BAND, Night Nurse propelled Isaacs to stardom. It was one of two albums recorded for Island- 1983's "Out Deh" was the other.

Isaacs had released 2 great albums with Virgin affiliate Frontline Records in the late '70's- "Cool Ruler" and "Soon Forward". It was these recordings and Isaacs' popularity in Britain's ethnic market that caught the ear of Island's Chris Blackwell.

After parting with Island, Gregory never recorded for another major label. Most of his later albums were produced in Jamaica and distributed by various independent labels such as RAS, VP, Heartbeat and Pow Wow.

A complex character, Gregory proved time and again to be a contradiction in terms. For starters, the conflict between his Rasta beliefs and hard drug use. He long ago said, "them people a fool fi touch dem tings." But, once the hits started paying off and he could afford to move with the leisure crowd, Isaacs found himself on the other side of the fence. In July 1988, The JAMAICA GLEANER carried an interview titled 'Gregory fighting hard to kick cocaine habit', in which the entertainer admitted his addiction to crack cocaine. The article documented the first and most frank admission of drug abuse by a Jamaican superstar. As he explained in the article, he was but a single star in the galaxy of local entertainers hooked on one of the most addictive substances known to man.

Despite his best efforts, it was one demon Gregory never conquered. Given his immense talent, it's sad that it will forever taint his legend.

One of the biggest regrets is that younger fans who can only recall the lovers-rock songs of later years, might never know his 'social activism' songs- the revolutionary Isaacs who wrote great songs like "Slave Master", "Black Liberation Struggle", "Storm" ("Hang on come wind, rain or storm/'Cause Jah will guide us thru the calm.") and "The Border" ("Please take me to the border, no matter what the cost/'Cause we wan', we wan' go home/I'm a-leaving out ah Babylon/I'm a-leaving out ah Rome/This place could never be my home.").

My favorite collection of his earlier recordings is Heartbeat Records, "Best Of- Volumes 1 & 2".

"He could crush Frank Sinatra with a tip of his hat. Gregory looked like his songs."
Lister Hewan-Lowe, former senior publicist with Island Records.

Special thanks to Howard Campbell and Christopher Serju from the JAMAICA GLEANER for their contributions to this article.

SPORTS:

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ, US (VI DAILY NEWS- 10/1/10)- Inside a crowded and frustrated NY Giants locker room, a throng of reporters rotated around dressing stalls and probed outspoken players after the host Giants lost to the Tennessee Titans. On the other side of the room, away from the attention, 1st-round draft pick Jason-Pierre Paul and fellow rookie Linval Joseph, dressed in silence.

For Joseph, a St. Croix native and the Giants 2nd-round draft pick, it was the third straight game he had to put on a suit after not playing. NFL teams are allowed to dress only 45 players for games and a host of factors (game scheme, injuries, depth at certain positions, etc.), come into play and determine who puts on a uniform. Joseph plays on a loaded defensive line and the numbers have not added up in his favor.

"Right now, I'm a sponge," he said. "I'm soaking up everything and learning new things every day. We have good depth- everyone is healthy and that's good."

Joseph, who skipped his final year at East Carolina U to enter the NFL, signed a 4-year, $4.1 million contract on July 31, which includes $2.5 million gauranteed. The 6-foot-four, 328 lb. defensive tackle said he has prepared for each week like he is going to start. He has to be on top of his game because coaches are watching and decisions being made. The active roster isn't final until an hour, and sometimes 30 minutes before kick-off.

Joseph admitted that it can be mentally straining to work hard all week and not get rewarded with a uniform, but says, "I love playing football. I take it very seriously."

HURRICANE SEASON 2010:

(ARAWAKROOTS NEWS- 10/30/10)- With the hurricane season winding down, we thought it time to review the 2010 season to this point. Then we looked at the latest maps and saw Tropical storm, then Hurricane Tomas roaring into the Caribbean Sea. Not that a late October hurricane is all that rare, it's where this storm formed that's unusual. Normally at this time of year, storms tend to form in the western Caribbean Sea as Richard did a little over a week ago. Their tendency is to move north to northeast and out into the Atlantic (as Omar did in 2008). Then there are the "freaks of nature" like Hurricane Lenny, a November storm that moved directly west to east across the Caribbean Sea. However, Tomas' breeding ground was just north of the equator along Brazil's northern coast. The developing storm then moved along the coasts of the Guyana's and Suriname before reaching tropical storm status just outside of Barbados and St. Lucia. After entering the Caribbean, it roared up to Cat.2 status with sustained winds over 100 mph. But the northern shear is having an effect on Tomas and it has since been downgraded to Cat. 1. The northern shear is also affecting the storm's direction. Tomas had been moving almost exclusively to the northwest, but is now beginning to move due north. It's hard to predict where it will make landfall, but islanders from Jamaica to Hispaniola are keeping a watchful eye. To say the least, it would be devastating if the hurricane impacts Haiti. We will be updating this segment.

Tomas' impact on Barbados, St. Lucia and other surrounding islands was pretty much what you'd expect from a tropical storm- copious amounts of rain, lashing winds, downed trees and power lines and a smattering of blown roofs. So far, no reported injuries or deaths.

Hurricane Tomas

UPDATE (ARAWAKROOTS NEWS- 11/2/10)- We are sorry to report that Hurricane Tomas' caused far more destruction in the Lesser Antilles than originally reported and is responsible for at least 14 deaths on St. Lucia. It appears Tomas bacame a Cat.1 hurricane as it passed over the island and moved at only 8 mph stretching its destructive power on for 36 hours.

In St. Lucia, bridges collapsed, roads washed away, homes were destroyed and schools were damaged. The village of Souffriere has been cut off from the rest of the island due to a collapsed bridge.

Tomas also caused widespread damage on the island of St. Vincent, which also reported injuries. Approximately 1000 people rode out the storm in shelters.

The ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao)- normally very dry islands- have received upwards of 8 inches of rain from Tomas.

Jamaica's government issued a hurricane watch, however all eyes are on Haiti.
The present storm track has the hurricane making landfall as a Cat.2 in southwestern Haiti on Friday. Gusts could reach 120 mph. Stay tuned.

So, here we are late in the 2010 season and we've reached the T-named storm- only the third time in the last 15 years (1995 and the unforgettable 2005 seasons being the others). As we mentioned in our last edition, Igor and Julia were briefly both Cat. 4 storms at the same time- first time since the late 1920's that's happened. Igor passed some 450 miles north of the Virgin Islands, yet sent 20-foot waves crashing on the shores of St. Thomas.

The remainder of the season has been cluttered with weaker, short-lived storms: Karl, Matthew and Richard all pummeled the Yucatan and northeastern Mexico; Nicole and Paula battered Cuba and Lisa and Shary meandered around in the middle of the Atlantic. However, there was Otto. Another unusual storm, Otto originally formed in the mid-levels of the atmosphere to the southeast of the Bahamas. By the time it reached the lower levels, it was scooting off to the northeast and became a subtropical storm trailing a large plume of rainstorms behind it that settled over the Virgin Islands for 4 days. Torrents of mud and water ripped up roads, created landslides and toppled trees and retaining walls. When it was all said and done, King Airport on St. Thomas recorded almost 11.5 inches of rain, while Trunk Bay on St. John recorded a whopping 16.4 inches!

To this point in the season, there have been 12 hurricanes, with 5 considered major hurricanes. We had 4 Cat. 4 storms in a 20-day period, which has never happened before. We had 5 major hurricanes (cat.3 or higher) in a 3-week span, also unprecedented. Looking at these numbers, it could have been a disastrous season, if not for the fact that none of the major storms made landfall.
Except for storm-weary south Texas, which absorbed alot of minor storms including 2 un-named tropical depressions, the Yucatan and northeastern Mexico, and Earl's brush with the Virgin Islands,the Outer Banks of North Carolina and southeastern New England, we've basically dodged a bullet. Let's say our prayers that Tomas is the last and he'll go quietly.

Arawakroots News sends Happy Birthday Wishes to the venerable Mr. Guy H. Benjamin, retired St. John educator, who celebrated his 97th on Oct. 18th!