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• Smoking ban enforcement begins today  

ST. CROIX - The V.I. Health Department will begin enforcing the territory's new smoking ban today.

Although the law - which bans smoking in and around almost all businesses and public buildings in the territory, as well as in some outside areas - technically went into effect in November, enforcement was delayed.

The Health Department, which is the lead agency enforcing the law, granted local businesses a three-month extension to come into compliance.

In preparation for enforcement, Health, along with the Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs, last month conducted public meetings on all three islands about the smoking ban.

The Virgin Islands Smoke-Free Act was signed into law in May and amended during the final session of the 28th Legislature in November.

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• Wide-ranging anti-smoking law raises questions  

The Virgin Islands Smoke-Free Act went into effect Wednesday, but many people are not sure exactly what the new law spells out for businesses and smokers in the territory.

The law was passed by the V.I. Legislature in April and signed by Gov. John deJongh Jr. on May 10. According to the legislation, the V.I. Health Department had three months to educate the public, the government and the territory's business owners on the requirements of the act before it was implemented.

That was not done.

The smoking ban went into full effect six months from the date it was signed. On Tuesday, Health Commissioner Julia Sheen said the government will not enforce the ban for an additional three months to give businesses time to come into compliance.

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Skelton defends smoking ban 

Health Minister Ronnie Skelton officially launched a smoking ban last Thursday on the World Health Organisation’s international “World No Tobacco Day.” At a press conference held at the Central Administration Building, Mr. Skelton said that the BVI is following a world-wide trend to protect people from secondhand smoke that began when Ireland imposed the first smoking ban in March 2004.

As reported by this newspaper last week, businesses will be warned rather than fined in a probation period that ends August 31, according to Mr. Skelton.

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Upcoming smoking ban raises questions 

Seventeen days before a May 31 smoking ban is scheduled to take effect in the BVI, several businesspeople expressed their support of the law but said they have many concerns and questions. Many want an extension they said would give them time to conform to new regulations that have been circulated in draft form to some businesspeople but as yet have not been completed or officially released to the public.

At an oftentimes-heated meeting hosted by the BVI Chamber of Commerce and Hotel Association at Fort Burt Hotel on Monday, businesspeople quizzed Health Education Officer Ivy George about the draft regulations, which BVICCHA Executive Director Christy Almeida said were received by the association on May 3.

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• BVI businesses prepare for tobacco ban 

Businesses, hoteliers and restaurants in the British Virgin Islands have six months to prepare for the ban on the use, advertising, and promotion of tobacco products in public places.

The Legislative Council, on November 14, unanimously passed the Tobacco Control Act banning smoking in public places in the BVI which provides a six-month grace period before the law goes into force.

Along with prohibiting smoking in offices, restaurants, bars and other such places, the Tobacco Control Act will regulate the promotion, distribution and use of tobacco products in the Territory.

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Smoking ban approved in British Virgin Islands 

Tourists will soon need to watch where they light up in the British Virgin Islands.

The British territory's Legislative Council unanimously approved a smoking ban November 15 despite concerns about the effect on tourism in the islands, where visitors are known to smoke more than residents.

"The concern for public health obviously outweighs any of the other concerns," said Ronnie Skelton, the British territory's minister of health and social development.

The new measure, which gives smokers a six-month grace period to adjust to the ban, is expected to soon be signed into law by Gov. David Pearey, spokesman Duncan Norman said.

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• British Virgin Islands ban smoking 

The British territory's Legislative Council unanimously approved a smoking ban late Wednesday despite concerns about the effect on tourism in the islands, where visitors are known to smoke more than residents.

``The concern for public health obviously outweighs any of the other concerns,'' said Ronnie Skelton, the British territory's minister of health and social development.

The new measure, which gives smokers a six-month grace period to adjust to the ban, will soon be signed into law by Gov. David Pearey, spokesman Duncan Norman said.

Smokers will not be allowed to light up in enclosed public places, including bars and restaurants, or within 50 feet (15 meters) of a door or window to such a space. The measure also bans selling tobacco to minors and gives the government authority to regulate tobacco advertising and sales.

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Fitch Rates Tobacco Settlement Financing Corp.'s (US Virgin Islands) 2006 Sub Bonds 

Fitch has assigned the following to Tobacco Settlement Financing Corporation's (the corporation) tobacco settlement asset-backed bonds listed below, issued on behalf of the US Virgin Islands:

* Subordinate series 2006A turbo capital appreciation bonds 'BBB';

* Subordinate series 2006B turbo capital appreciation bonds 'BBB-';

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Fitch Expects to Rate Tobacco Settlement Financing Corp. Subordinate Bonds 2006 (US Virgin Islands) 

Fitch expects to assign the following ratings to Tobacco Settlement Financing Corporation's (the Corporation) tobacco settlement asset-backed bonds, on behalf of the United States Virgin Islands:

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BVI business community to study draft Tobacco Act 

Members of the BVI business community will help decide the way forward as the government considers whether to enact legislation to ban smoking in public places.

The umbrella organization, the BVI Chamber of Commerce and Hotel Association, will host a forum called "Eggs and Issues" at 7 a.m. April 27 at the Village Cay restaurant.

Health Services Director Irad Potter and Health Education Officer Ivy George will address the business owners on the draft Tobacco Products Control Act.

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BVI to join global tobacco control convention 

The BVI is moving to introduce measures to reduce tobacco smoking among its residents.

The territory will join as many as 57 countries in embracing the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a treaty that essentially gives countries more tools to control tobacco use.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare is reviewing a Tobacco Products Control Act template developed by the Pan American Health Organization to institute regulations for the promotion, distribution and use of tobacco products.

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• Colin Powell addresses tobacco executives in U.S. Virgin Islands 

Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is in the U.S. Virgin Islands vacationing after delivering a speech on leadership to tobacco sales executives, officials said Tuesday.

On Monday, Powell addressed executives working for Richmond, Virginia-based tobacco giant Philip Morris USA, said Dana Bolden, a Philip Morris spokesman.

Powell declined to comment when a reporter from The Associated Press approached him on a beach near the Westin Resort in St. John and asked him if he had given a speech to Philip Morris. He replied that he was on vacation.

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Jones: Tobacco Tax Breaks Off The Table 

Senate President David Jones addressed two thorny issues Sunday. He said that he will withdraw his highly controversial tobacco amendment in Monday's full Senate session . . .

The amendment, which would give tobacco importers a 90-percent excise-tax break,has been objected to by some of his colleagues, by taxpayers on radio talk shows and by Samuel Morch, AARP Virgin Islands president. . . .

"I think misunderstanding and misinformation got out," Jones said. "It is not designed to promote smoking, but to stimulate sales for a visitor who comes here to shop. Tobacco traditionally has been the benchmark for determining whether a destination is pricey or you can get good bargains."

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Crew member sitting on rail, smoking cigarette, lost balance 

A cruise ship crew member who fell overboard was sitting on a railing and smoking a cigarette at night when she plunged 40 feet into the ocean, cruise officials said Wednesday. The 24-year-old Romanian woman spent the next 12 hours treading water rolling with 8-foot swells and watching helplessly as search helicopters and her ship, the Norway, passed her by, said Svein Sleipnes, a vice president of Norwegian Cruise Line.

CRUZ BAY, U.S. Virgin Islands — A cruise ship crew member who fell overboard was sitting on a railing and smoking a cigarette at night when she plunged 40 feet into the ocean, cruise officials said Wednesday.

The 24-year-old Romanian woman spent the next 12 hours treading water . . .

Crew members reported the woman missing at about 10:15 p.m. Monday, Sleipnes said.

Searchers figured out what happened after finding her keys and a pack of cigarettes on the deck, he said.

"She said she made the mistake of sitting on the railing, and she was sitting there smoking," Robison said.

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Man Arrested On Fake Cigarette Stamp Charge  

A raid Monday on a warehouse in Lindbergh Bay led to the seizure of 60,000 cartons of cigarettes and the arrest of a man wanted in California on charges of running a multi-million dollar counterfeit cigarette-stamp business.

Agents with the V.I. Justice Department, along with California law-enforcement officers and agents with the U.S. Customs Service, arrested Samir Anastas, 56, on Monday morning on a warrant issued in California.

Anastas is charged in Los Angeles County with using forged cigarette stamps, sale of unstamped cigarettes and making false reports, according to the warrant.

He is being held on St. Thomas in lieu of $2.8 million bail.

V.I. Justice Department Agent William Curtis Jr. said Anastas is accused of using a counterfeit cigarette-stamping machine in a scheme that earned about $2.5 million.

Curtis said the scheme involved purchasing foreign-made, name-brand cigarettes and stamping them with the counterfeit stamping machine, thereby avoiding the heavy taxes placed on cigarettes.

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