Briefs
People
| Mark A. Erwin assumed the reins of Continental Micronesia on September 10. Most recently, he was senior vice president of field services for Continental Airlines Inc. in Houston. Erwin replaces William A. “Bill” Meehan, who became president of the Continental Airlines subsidiary in May 1998. Meehan was promoted to vice president with Continental Airlines at the airline’s Cleveland, Ohio hub. —FW |
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Solomon Islands Prime Minister Sir Allen Kemakeza has called on the United Nations for assistance to rid his country of the constant threat of illegal arms. The PM says that any hope of economic recovery is constantly threatened by lawlessness. Speaking at the General Assembly in New York, he commented that the organization could take more “ambitious actions” to curb the culture of weapons in the Solomons. Most aid donors have restricted funding since the beginning of serious ethnic strife and will not resume aid until it is curbed, he says. - ADVERTISEMENT -
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Reiley Araceley, a 14-year U.S. Navy veteran from Pohnpei, recently received a promotion to chief in September. He is currently based with the Air Test and Evaluation squadron at NAS China Lake in California. The Kaselehlie Press reports that he says he’s getting his bachelor’s degree early next year, and plans to complete a master’s course before retiring from the Navy in six years.
—GJ
In early October, the U.S. Small Business Administration named Guam-based Citizens Security Bank officer Joy Yamamoto SBA’s banker of the year, and Citizens Security Bank as its lender of the year. SBA honors participating lending institutions and bank officers who approve the highest number of SBA-backed loans. Both are repeat winners from last year.
—GJ
Maruia Kamatie, deputy secretary at the Ministry of Natural Resources Development in Kiribati, accepted an award of A$1,250 for the King George V School and Elaine Bernacchi School in Kiribati, which were chosen as regional and national winners for a South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC)-sponsored Earth Day 2002 competition. Kamatie accepted the prize on behalf of the two schools during SOPAC’s annual meeting in Fiji recently.
—GJ
Major General Dennis R. Larsen assumed command of the 13th Air Force, headquartered at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, on September 20, from Major General Theodore Lay. Larsen previously was stationed at Andersen from August 1993 to August 1995 as commander of the 36th Air Base Wing. Most recently he was vice-commander of the 7th Air Force and U.S. Air Forces Korea, and chief of staff, Air Component Command, Osan Air Base, South Korea. Lay will now move to a position with NATO in Norway. —FW
After 10 years with Robert Reimers Enterprises in Majuro, Peter Fuchs returned to Hawai‘i in mid-October. Fuchs was chief operating officer and chief financial officer for the large Marshall Islands company, which operates retail, hotel, scuba dive and sports fishing charters, and pearl farms. He is taking up a financial management post with the Hilo, Hawai‘i-based firm Nani Mau Corporation.
—GJ
A Sea Grant specialist from the University of Hawai‘i has been assigned to American Samoa to promote aquaculture development. Dr. Darren Okimoto will be teaching one course per semester at the American Samoa Community College, and will be working with villages interested in establishing aquaculture farms.
—FS
Lou Davies, a graduate in fashion from the Auckland University of Technology, has taken first prize at the latest Pasifika Fashion Awards. Davies’ award is a trip to Italy next year, which will enable her to visit the world-famous Versace showroom near Milan. The awards, held over two nights at the Auckland town hall, displayed more than 200 garments—many of them influenced by the colors of the Pacific—and featured several dozen singers, dancers and musicians. The winner says that her entry was inspired by Pacific culture. “I wanted to make a piece that was really fun,” she says of the tropical print dress, which featured a cutaway skirt and a necklace comprised of scrabble-game letters. Among the fashion enthusiasts in attendance was New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark.
—ND
Ida Malosi is the first Samoan woman to be appointed a court judge in New Zealand. Malosi, 38, who was born in Christchurch, was sworn into office recently at the Manukau District Court. She is the second Samoan to be appointed to the New Zealand bench, following attorney Aeau Semi Epati.
—FS
Several high-profile American Samoa officials are on the list of defense witnesses to be called in the trial of former Daewoosa Samoa President Kil Soo Lee, whose trial on charges of forcing workers into involuntary servitude at the Pago Pago garment plant got underway in late October. On Lee’s witness list are Congressman Faleomavaega Eni Hunkin, Lt. Governor Togiola Tulafono, Representative Muavaefaatasi Ae Ae, Jr. and Attorney General Fiti Sunia. Former Chief Justice Grover Joseph Rees, recently appointed U.S. ambassador to East Timor, is also a witness.
—FS
A tough election battle for governor of Yap State in the FSM is coming to a head. Voters go to the polls this month to choose between current FSM Secretary of Economic Affairs Sebastian Anafel and Yap Legislature Speaker Robert Ruecho. It’s the first time in eight years that voters have had to vote for their chief executive: in the last two elections, the governor ran unopposed.
—GJ
The Taiwanese government extended for an additional year the contract of national basketball coach Jiunn-Ching (James) Liou, who is working in the Marshall Islands. His basketball development work has helped Marshall Islands men’s teams to win bronze medals at both the Micronesian Basketball Tournament in Majuro in 2000 and at the Micronesian Games in Pohnpei in 2002. Marshall Islands women’s basketball teams won bronze and silver, respectively, at these two tournaments. Republic of China ambassador to the Marshalls Gary Lin announced the one-year extension, saying that coach Liou was doing a tremendous job working with the Marshall Islands Basketball Federation, the national government and other agencies to promote improved basketball playing in the country. —GJ
Two Samoans—Joseph Tauati of the quarantine division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Ofeira Faasau of the Department of Public Works —have gained scholarships from the Japan International Cooperation Agency for extended training programs. Tauati is studying bioresources science at Kochi University, while Faasau is studying environmental engineering at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa. Both have two years to complete their master’s degrees.
—FS
In Memoriam
Eymard Bouanaoue, a founding member of a Melanesian political group and president of the permanent commission of New Caledonia’s congress, died in Sydney of a heart attack at age 50. Bouanaoue had been badly injured in Noumea, where his car caught fire in unspecified circumstances, and had been flown to a hospital in Sydney for treatment.
—ND
Former Samoan Cabinet Minister Vui Viliamu Wallwork died in September at age 67. He served in Parliament in the early 1990s and was noted for his key role in helping establish the expanded Fugalei Market.
—FS
New Zealand writer and former academic Bill Pearson has died at the age of 80 at his home in the Auckland suburb of Herne Bay. He was active in supporting New Zealand and Pacific literature generally, and a strong advocate of civil liberties and Maori land rights. Pearson began his teaching career in the University of Auckland’s English department in 1954 and retired in 1986 as an associate professor.
—ND
—Fili Sagapolutele, Norman Douglas, Frank Whitman, Giff Johnson
