Moving to STX in 3 weeks, help/advice/etc. appreciated!

I believe the court house worker was shot and killed at his off duty job at the bar, late night.
Still not an excuse for violence however.

I believe the court house worker was shot and killed at his off duty job at the bar, late night.
Still not an excuse for violence however.

Whoa! Hold on cowboy. "at the bar, late night"??? And how does that change anything?
by "at the bar", do you mean his "place of employment"?
by "late night", do you feel that 11:00 pm on a Saturday night in a resort town, is "late"?
1)As far as I know, Mr James:
a) provided security at the court house under a private contract,
b) provided security at the several private sector establishments under a private contract.
3) It is very common for restaurants and clubs to hire private security. (the smart ones do, especially on crowded weekend nights)
4) An unknown man walked into bar and released several rounds into Mr. James' back.
5) The murderer fled.
6) The Establishment as well as other neighboring restaurants were filled with patrons.
7) Mr James leaves behind a widow and little daughter. Although I never met his widow, I feel for her loss and hope that she will find a path through this sadness to provide a future for their little girl.
8) As far as I know, the police investigation never uncovered a motive or identified any suspects. Am I wrong?
9) That same night another busy restaurant across the island was robbed at gun point.
10) That same night two police officers were shot. One, ST Croix's police chief, is still recovering from his wounds.
11) Worth noting that Ecliff was one of the "good guys". Brave and willing to do the right thing when called upon.
Does anyone know who shot him? Why? Are you brave enough to go the police and testify? Ecliff was.
Go ahead and pretend that crap like this goes down in the states. And yes, discussing restaurants robbed at gun point is bad for business.
To orginal poster, Ask you co-workers about Ecliff. They probably know alot more. The VI is great place to live--I mean that. You can find ways around the high prices and limited good/services. Keep your eyes pealed and if a situation feels schetchy get out. Don't try to be hero. Statisitcally men of working age 17 -50 are the most at risk.
http://virginislandsdailynews.com/news/club-54-guard-shot-in-the-back-slain-1.1360949

Jeeze, can we stick to the questions in the original post?:-o

Here it is if you do not remember:

"Hello all! I just accepted a job with the VI Superior Court on STX. My start date is Monday, February 4. The turnaround is pretty quick, but I was wondering if anyone had any advice on temporary housing for when I get there so I can look for a more permanent apartment.

To give you some background, i'm in my late 20s and single, moving alone. I plan on selling my car here and buying one on the island, so advice about that would be helpful, too. Permanently, i'd be looking for a 2BR or a 1BR large enough to accommodate the occasional visitor from the mainland. I've gotten the impression that WAPA can run pretty high, but my general ballpark right now would (ideally) be $800-$1000 a month inclusive of everything. Is that reasonable? Any assistance is greatly appreciated."

Sounds like they need to relax gun laws & allow citizens to arm themselves for protection.

We have something like 8.5 guns per person in Alaska and do not suffer from these types of crimes.

I myself am armed 80% of the time & would absolutely defend myself or any of you should a situation involving an armed assailant arise.

but most people are not allowed to have a concealed carry permit here

Sounds like they need to relax gun laws & allow citizens to arm themselves for protection.

We have something like 8.5 guns per person in Alaska and do not suffer from these types of crimes.

I myself am armed 80% of the time & would absolutely defend myself or any of you should a situation involving an armed assailant arise.

I hope you keep your guns and yourself in Alaska. I don't know you and I don't want to be caught in a crossfire because you think you can outgun any bad guys. If I wanted to live in the Wild West, I'd move to Alaska. Guns are dangerous, else we would just send soldiers to battle with their hands. Don't offer to protect me; your gunslinger mentality endangers me.

I did not bring my gun when we came here but wish I did and trust me I would carry it with me everywhere and would use it if I needed to!

I Guess since this is my post I should chime in 😎 I am from the rural South where the guns definitely outnumber the people, so I guess that may be a marked change on the island. I have lived in a place (in)famous for its violent crime rate here on the mainland, though just about all of it was confined to personal vendettas. I am concerned about crime and safety, so any tips about how to avoid unsafe situations on the island are definitely appreciated. I realize I won't be in Kansas anymore, but it does sound like a lot of you have had positive experiences so far, so your recollections and advice will definitely be valuable.

a lot of people do not go downtown too much at night unless they can park close to where they are going. dont be flashy with phones, jewelry watches and money. try to stay out of bad areas. dont get too drunk when you go out. dont have a hot temper dont leave things in your car.
just the normal things you would do back home

if you already have a gun registered in your name you have to ship it to a shooting range first. if you do not and want one, call the shooting range and ask them what you would need to do in order to have one.

most of the time you can stay out of trouble but sometimes it comes to you

I hope you keep your guns and yourself in Alaska. I don't know you and I don't want to be caught in a crossfire because you think you can outgun any bad guys. If I wanted to live in the Wild West, I'd move to Alaska. Guns are dangerous, else we would just send soldiers to battle with their hands. Don't offer to protect me; your gunslinger mentality endangers me.

My 13 years of military service & deployments sure didn't seem to upset many people when I was "protecting" them.

I am by no means a gun slinger, I do not relish conflict nor seek it, I would NOT however (even if only armed with a butter knife) allow someone to walk into a bar and fire three shots into the back of a patron.

You see I see the apathy & misguided fear that you are displaying as a part of the problem, even in your neck of the woods. if the criminal element didn't see you as easy pickings (mass pools of unarmed / defensless victims) then things might be different eh? like they are here?

Don't worry, I won't offer to protect you, I will just do it.

I will be bringing my guns with me, I will be registering & permitting them & you will never know who I am because I do not cause issues, I've never had to fire my weapon in this country out side of a range & hope to never have to. you see the crap you see on TV (CNN / etc..) is not true, I carry so that you won't leave behind a widow with no idea of who shot you in the back three times while you sat at a bar in a restaurant

My 13 years of military service & deployments sure didn't seem to upset many people when I was "protecting" them.

Thank you for your service. There are many of us who truly appreciate it and understand your perspective.

Lawguy, I'm assuming you're coming in as a clerk? Talk to the clerk who is leaving and see if they want to sell you their car & load up on info from them. Clerking is what got us here in the first place and there's a great connection between the clerks down here too.
Also, we stayed at southgate courtyard for "temp" place when first coming down...I found it on VRBO.com. It was fine, But it is a bit of a distance from the superior cort (my husband was at the federal district court).

Need more info? You can PM me.

Don't worry, I won't offer to protect you, I will just do it.

I will be bringing my guns with me, I will be registering & permitting them & you will never know who I am because I do not cause issues, I've never had to fire my weapon in this country out side of a range & hope to never have to. you see the crap you see on TV (CNN / etc..) is not true, I carry so that you won't leave behind a widow with no idea of who shot you in the back three times while you sat at a bar in a restaurant

In a crowded bar or restaurant, plenty of people are carrying. When something goes down, they usually hold their fire to avoid hitting the innocent bystanders, or to avoid getting shot by the other 3 robbers. Due to the nature of their profession, the perps have a good chance of getting whacked sooner or later anyway. There's no need to rush into the fray. If you do manage to peg somebody, you'll probably get so many death threats that you'll have to leave island.

I doubt that you will get a permit to carry. Pull your gun and shoot, will make you a guest at Golden. Do yourself a favor leave the guns where they are or sell them. We have enough stolen guns on the islands now.

In a crowded bar or restaurant, plenty of people are carrying. When something goes down, they usually hold their fire to avoid hitting the innocent bystanders, or to avoid getting shot by the other 3 robbers. Due to the nature of their profession, the perps have a good chance of getting whacked sooner or later anyway. There's no need to rush into the fray. If you do manage to peg somebody, you'll probably get so many death threats that you'll have to leave island.

I absolutely agree, there is a time and a place for everything and target backdrop is king; I wouldn't "rush into the fray", but if I can stop someone from being shot I absolutely will, I'm not too worried about death threats, I'm the guy that picks up hitch hikers, is late to work due to pulling people out of ditches or giving someones car a jump so they can get going.

I have a STRONG sense of community & how we all should help each other to make the world a better place, but this also comes with a strong sense that we should all defend each other as well, it's basically the golden rule I suppose.

I doubt that you will get a permit to carry. Pull your gun and shoot, will make you a guest at Golden. Do yourself a favor leave the guns where they are or sell them. We have enough stolen guns on the islands now.

I will get shot or go to jail to save your life, I see that as a more than even trade 🙂

I am moving down with my 3 dogs (south African boerboels) they are a large non-aggressive guardian breed. I will be highly shocked if anything is ever stolen from me while there, these dogs just don't let strangers on the property.

I plan on being a "stay at home" family at night as that seems best ( no need to go looking for trouble) & am (i'm told) a very nice guy. I know this is a sensitive topic for some people but I am also an enthusiastic researcher & have found the approach I detail above to be the best in communities, governments (as I'm sure you all know) do their best, but citizens protecting themselfs works the best in almost every situation & corruption between neighbors is very rare.

I think rhstoo comments are from the majority...........

Not the majority that I know.

I've been here for almost 7 years and nearly everyone I know - at least those I've spoken with about it - have been victims of crime. Property crime is extremely high.

Not the majority I know, either. I've been here 13 seasons and ditto on the rest.

On another thread water quality was brought up, I see most properties have Cisterns on them, isn't this just collected rain water?

I've seen a few with wells, why are there not more? is the water table too deep?

do most people just drink bottled water or get it in the large 5 gallon jugs?

On another thread water quality was brought up, I see most properties have Cisterns on them, isn't this just collected rain water?

Yup, rain water...with bugs, bird droppings, and a random drowned critter here or there - all nicely fermented in the big hole under the house...LOL

This works well for purifying cistern water.

http://www.aquarain.com/

We drank our cistern water for 8 years without ill effect. That being said, I do not necessarily recomment it. Wells are difficult to dig (lots of rock) and the water usually tastes bad.

we have city and cistern. right now we are on city. the house has filters that need to be changed a lot. we also have a britta pitcher that we drink from.

Our cistern water is filtered and it goes through a UV purifier. We have it tested annually, and we drink it without worries.

We have a well, but the water is brackish and full of pseudomonas bacteria, so we use it only for irrigation.

I am so glad someone brought up the cistern. We just took a peek in ours, WOW! There's a lot! I was doing our first load of laundry and was worried about running out lol. Newbies 😉 It was really clear could see all the way to the bottom.

To the question lol: We're not planning on drinking it, I've been using it for brushing my teeth thou. I remember when staying with a friend in STX on our PMV they added bleach or something to keep it from getting nasty. What's the most commonly used method or do most homes just let it go? Thanks!

I have been drinking my cistern water for over 30 years in this house - only ever had rainwater in it but have no filters.
In your situation I suggest you have your water tested - Ocean Systems in Frydenhoj 714 -1911
having screens on the intake and overflows is very important - having the ability to keep leaves out of the intakes and being able to clear the screens frequently is important - there is an accepted formula for bleach - I have rarely added any - also many people have some filtration system even if it is only on one line just for the drinking water.
This is from UVI circa 1984:
http://webpac.uvi.edu/imls/cri_uvi/caprpt4/waterquality.pdf

Using a pitcher filter system for drinking water is common - [Brita etc.] - available at Kmart, Costuless, and probably Home Depot?

Thanks so much Exit!

I think we better get a ladder to make sure our screens are clear. The good news was that the water when we looked into the hatch was crystal clear and no smell or anything. Going to have it tested tomorrow.

Our cistern water is filtered and it goes through a UV purifier. We have it tested annually, and we drink it without worries.

We have a well, but the water is brackish and full of pseudomonas bacteria, so we use it only for irrigation.

Ours too. I could actually use a few parasites as I've gained since living here. 🙂