VI Carnival Committee's Financial Records Subpoenaed By Lawmakers After No-Show Of Key Committee Members

ST. THOMAS -- The one member of the Virgin Islands Carnival Committee (V.I.C.C.) who attended a Wednesday hearing in the Committee on Workforce Development, Consumer Affairs and Culture, was grilled by senators -- more pointedly Senator Nereida Rivera-O'Reilly -- for the no-show of the carnival committee's leadership, and the apparent discrepancies in the V.I.C.C.'s financial records, a pattern committee members said have existed for years. The only member to attend the hearing was V.I.C.C. Executive Director Halvor Hart. Members who were supposed to be present but failed to attend -- even after the committee had rescheduled the meeting to accommodate them -- included the carnival committee's chairman, vice chairman, and treasurer -- three people with the committee's financial information that would have proved useful to the Wednesday Senate hearing. The matter is important because for years the V.I. Carnival Committee has refused to fully open its books to the...