St. John Talk Blog

Sad news from St. Croix.

Six Estate Whim [St. Croix] men were arraigned in V.I. Superior Court on Friday for killing a hawksbill turtle on the south shore of the island late Thursday.

At about 11:20 p.m. Thursday, police arrested Joseph Cornelius, 37, Paul Aldrick, 24, William Dominic, 37, Ustus Harry, 35, Vibert George, 34, and Vibert George, 20. The men were each charged with harming, taking and possessing a federally protected marine sea turtle. Bail for each was set at $1,000.

Nielsen said that when the officers approached the truck they saw the spiny lobster and 100-pound hawksbill turtle. The turtle had been speared through the head and neck and strangled with a rope. Police also spotted five lobsters – four of them juvenile lobsters – that also had been speared.

Claudia Lombard [that's my sister!], U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist, said the men could each face up to $250,000 in fines and up to a year in prison.

Like St. John, one thing Zurich has is nice sunsets, which I believe we’ve already posted about back on our old Zurich blog.  The big difference is that unlike St. John, where the sun is currently setting before 7 PM, this photo taken tonight in Zurich is just before 9 PM, and a month from now, it will look like that at about 9:30 PM.  Although it’s nice to have so much daylight, especially when the weather is nice, it does make it hard to go to bed at dusk at 10 PM because one has to be at work at 6 AM.

Happy Mother’s Day to moms everywhere!

Happy May Day, or International Workers’ Day, to those of you that celebrate this holiday. It seems to be much more widely celebrated in Europe (May 1) than in the US. The parade, protestors and march participants were predominatly socialist and political leftist groups, hence the predominance of the color red in the banners. There is still red paint splattered all over the Rathaus, or town hall, here in Zurich.

We forgot to mention.  Casey has a new boyfriend.  His name is Reilly and he is only 17 months old, a black lab.  Reilly’s mom is our real estate agent and neighbor, Joan Sparling.  They live on the other side of the road from us, just up the hill.  I hope that while we’re away, Joan will bring Reilly around so he and Casey can play.