Almost any article you find on St. Croix at one point or another brings up the Fountain Valley. Friends recently visited us on the island and brought with them a Lonely Planet tourist guide which said "As Caribbean islands go, St. Croix is safer than most." But in the same paragraph the writer just had to mention how "in the early 1970's Black Power warriors massacred nine (it was really eight) people on what is now the Carambola Golf course".

To put this in perspective you have to keep in mind that this was over 30 years ago. During that same time period there have been countless murders, serial murderers, and child molesters in other areas of the U.S. Recently in Washington D.C. (you know the place lots of tourists go to see the monuments and museums of our Nation's Capital) snipers killed 9 people just for fun. And then there was also Jeffery Dahmer, who in 1991 in Milwaukee killed, had sex with the corpses, chopped them up, put them in the frig., and had them for lunch. He actually ate them!!!

Would you see these crimes mentioned in a tourist guide for either of these two cities? Of course not. Crimes on the mainland don't lessen this terrible crime that was committed on St. Croix. But what bugs the people who live here is how it is brought up over and over again in articles describing our island. I doubt that you will see anywhere suggestions not to go to D.C. because of the sniper incident. They caught the snipers and things went back to normal. So why does something that happened over 30 years ago keep being repeated over and over again? I took a closer look at what happened at Fountain Valley.

In the late summer of 1972 five black men in there early 20's robbed what was at the time the Fountain Valley Golf Club. They walked into the dining room dressed in army fatigues, robbed the cash registers, and demanded money from the club members and staff. One person who said he had no money was shot, and a shooting spree began which killed eight people and wounded 3 others. The FBI was flown in to help the local police in the investigation and in several days the 5 suspects, most with past criminal records and outstanding warrants, were caught and made confessions.

William Kunstler volunteered to defend what became known as the "Fountain Valley Five". An international media circus began that turned what started as a robbery into the typical Black Power event of the time. There were complaints by the suspects of mistreatment and police brutality. Kunstler's association with the media helped spread the word about what happened at Fountain Valley, and his association with radical events and defense of black civil rights leaders turned it into a Black-White issue. It seemed to be forgotten that these criminals had shot and killed a black electrician helper that happened to be working there. They also shot two other black employees who were running away, and were going to shoot another black employee until one of the criminals said that he knew him. And they robbed everyone they contacted, Black or White.

It seems that the notion of out-numbered Whites being alone on an island, with native drums beating, and "Black Power warriors" about to slaughter the hysterical Whites at any minute makes an easy, sensational, fill-in for the lazy travel writer.

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