Dec. 6, 2004 – Sen. Celestino White Sr. said Monday he is continuing the drive to petition for a lame-duck session to address several recent vetoes by Gov. Charles Turnbull.
White, who was in St. Croix, said he had gone to the big island to appeal to the Crucian senators to sign the petition.
"It's a shame that the senators on St. Croix, with the exception of Sen. Norman Jn Baptiste and Sen. Usie Richards, are unwilling to sign this petition," White said.
White's efforts were somewhat frustrated. He said a number of the senators were away "supposedly to a conference," but they were actually "having fun at the people's expense."
Because of their absence, he could not discuss with them their need to sign the petition, White said.
White said he thought the St. Croix senators would have been interested because the TRAXCO lease was placed on the session's agenda. However, Lt. Gov. Vargrave Richards, acting in Gov. Charles W. Turnbull's place, called for a special session of the Senate to address the TRAXCO lease. (See " Acting Governor calls special Senate session").
The Dec. 15 meeting would also have considered four of the five bills vetoed by Turnbull: the Omnibus Justice Act and the Financial Services Act, belonging to Berry; the Animal Cruelty Bill, belonging to Donastorg; the School Vandalism Bill, belonging to Malone; and an amendment to the V.I. Supreme Court Bill.
White said he also approached Sen. Almando "Rocky" Liburd to sign the petition for the lame-duck session, but he, too, denied.
"We're going to continue to try to get these senators to sign the petition even if we have to move the date from Dec. 15," White said.
The petition currently bears the name of Sens. White, Jn Baptiste, Richards, Lorraine L. Berry, Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg, Carlton Dowe and Shawn-Michael Malone. One more signature is needed for the session to be approved. Sen. Luther Renee had initially signed his name on the petition but later withdrew it. (See " News Brief: Renee Opts Out, Jones Won't Call Session ").
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