People
People
Floyd K. Takeuchi, publisher of Pacific Magazine and president of the publication's parent company, PacificBasin Communications, has been appointed a commissioner of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The group oversees accreditation for all two-year colleges in California, Hawaii, American Samoa, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Takeuchi's appointment takes effect on Jan. 1, 2004. -GJ - ADVERTISEMENT -
Apulu Lance Polu, publisher of the bilingual Le Samoa in Apia, was elected new president of the Pacific Islands News Association at the association's July convention in Apia. Polu and his new board of directors face many challenges over the next two years of their term, including trying to manage a complicated merger with the Pacific Islands Broadcasters' Association, hire new secretariat staff and decide if the PINA office should remain at its present location in Suva, Fiji. -SW In July, the Samoan Cabinet appointed Papalii Lorenese Neru as the new Commissioner of Samoa Police, Prisons and Fire Service. There were 11 other candidates for the post, including the other assistant commissioners serving with Papalii. A government statement said the Papalii "received his professional training and qualifications from Naval and Military institutions in Australia and the United States." He is a former captain of the police patrol boat Nafanua and has been with the department since 1982. -FS Nick Kuman, Member of Parliament for Gumine in Papua New Guinea, has called on the government to ban poker (gambling) machines in the country. During a parliamentary grievance debate, Kuman says that the overall level of poverty in the country had risen since the machines were introduced. Many families had experienced social problems, he says, as both fathers and mothers put the contents of their wage packets into the machines. The results were arguments, domestic violence and the failure of marriages. Mothers and daughters alike were becoming prostitutes to support their addiction to the "monsters." Kuman says he will introduce a private member's bill to repeal or amend the Gaming Act to ban the machines. -ND Jeffrey Beattie has been appointed Palau's new Attorney General and assumed the post on Aug. 1. Beattie, until recently, was an attorney on Guam but had served as an associate justice of the Palau Supreme Court from 1993 to 2000. He graduated from the University of Denver in 1969 and is a 1973 magna cum laude Juris Doctor graduate from the same university. His wife, Elizabeth Greenburg, will also join the Attorney General's office as an assistant AG. Palau has had two AG's in the past three years with acting AG's in interims between full appointments. Beattie replaces Mina Rhee whose contract expired on May 31. -NC In an unprecedented development, Marshall Islands Nitijela (parliament) Vice Speaker Jurelang Zedkaia suddenly resigned his leadership post the week before the start of the final session of the year in early August. Although he indicated to Speaker Litokwa Tomeing that his resignation as Vice Speaker was for personal reasons, the move by the Majuro senator is seen as support for the mounting opposition against the Compact of Free Association that is led by traditional leaders of Kwajalein Atoll. Zedkaia is the son of Atma Zedkaia, the ranking paramount chief for Majuro Atoll. -GJ Senior Japan International Cooperation Agency volunteer Kaname Nakahata, has developed an elementary science book entitled "Experiments with Local Materials." The book is the first of its kind in Kosrae, and the Federated States of Micronesia, and follows the Department of Education credo to develop locally produced textbooks in all subjects. His book, to be published in Pohnpei later this year, covers 59 science experiments that can be made by teachers and students from readily available materials on the island. -OW The Bank of Hawaii announced appointments for its Guam branches. Nacia Atalig was promoted to assistant vice president and manager of private client services. She had been assistant vice president, corporate banking officer for West Pacific Corporate Banking Group. Rodney Webb joined the bank as assistant vice president, branch sales manager at the Bank of Hawaii Tamuning branch. Elizabeth Apelo is vice president, branch sales manager for the bank's Hagatna branch. She had been with First Savings and Loan. -FW Business executive Teri Hunkin was elected in July as the new president for the American Samoa chapter of Lions International. She is the second female to hold the post for the Lions Club of Pago Pago. Hunkin is married to Tau Hunkin, the younger brother of Congressman Faleomavaega Eni and she is co-owner of Avalon Travel. -FS Guam Senator Joanne M.S. Brown introduced a resolution at the 22nd General Assembly of the Association of Pacific Island Legislators in Kosrae to authorize the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to reduce or waive amounts owed by the Government of Guam to the United States to offset "unreimbursed Compact Impact expenses" for health care, education, public safety, and other services afforded to FAS citizens. -OW Hawaii state legislators Helene Hale and Glenn Wakai want the U.S. government to allow citizens of the Freely Associated States residing in the U.S. to be eligible for federal food stamps, welfare, public housing, and other federal benefits. A resolution they introduced at the APIL meeting in Kosrae seeks to increase financial impact assistance to Hawaii. -OW Business and Professional Women of American Samoa elected new officers in July with Merrilee May as president, Mona King as first vice president, Jackie Young as second vice president, Marilyn Marsh-Ah Ching as secretary and Suli Sopoaga as treasurer. May replaces outgoing president Lydia Faleafine-Nomura. -FS Governor Togiola Tulafono of American Samoa is the new chairman of the Congregational Christian Church of American Samoa, the largest religious faith in the territory. CCCAS has a membership of more than 25,000 parishioners, with parishes in Hawaii, the U.S. mainland west coast, Australia and New Zealand. The governor, who is the son of a church minister, was selected to the post during the July annual conference of the CCCAS. Rev. Elder Anetere was elected vice chairman. -FS Author Witi Ihimaera hopes that the success of the movie Whalerider, based on his book, will encourage others from the Pacific to take their works to a wider audience. Ihimaera, who was in the Cook Islands to attend the local premiere of the film and also Writers' Week, said that more Maori and Pacific Islanders should think about writing their own history. Whalerider has won universal acclaim and awards at a number of film festivals, but, said the author, the best award was "approval from one's own people." Ihimaera lectures on Maori and Pacific literature at the University of Auckland. Also in Rarotonga for Writers' Week was Alistair Campbell, widely published novelist, playwright and poet. -ND Clive Edwards, Tongan Minister for Police, has laid a complaint about a Times of Tonga newspaper article questioning his place of residence. The story, by a supporter of Tonga's democratic movement, claimed Edwards lived at the police trainers' quarters, where the government paid for services such as power, water and telephone. Chief Inspector Lau'aitu Tupouniua says the minister claims he was defamed. She said the minister paid for his own telephone calls and also provided a water tank in the training compound from his own money. -ND Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Senate Vice President Jose Dela Cruz of Tinian agreed to resign from the CNMI Senate effective July 31 following his guilty plea in U.S. federal court. He pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He and Senator Ricardo Atalig of Rota had been indicted for hiring relatives for "no-show" government jobs. Atalig was found guilty in a jury trial. -FW John Cholai, project engineer with PNG's Civil Aviation Authority, says the eight million kina upgrade to Jackson's International Airport in Port Moresby will bring new dimensions to air traffic control in PNG by using the latest in radar display technology. The system, he says, funded by the national government, will enable radar controllers to have full control and situational awareness of domestic and international aircraft operating within 250 nautical miles from the airport. The new system would be operational by November. -ND Jack A. Kachmarik, current manager of the American Samoa government's Territorial Office of Fiscal Reforms (TOFR), has been designated as the loan manager for the tobacco settlement loan by Governor Togiola Tulafono. Kachmarik's duties will now include oversight responsibility for implementation and completion of the government's interim final fiscal reform plan. -FS In Memoriam After just three weeks on the job, newly appointed Fiji Sun editor Marcus Gonsalves died of a heart attack at the end of July. The Australian joined the company on July 8. Fiji Sun publisher Michael Richards said that in just three weeks Gonsalves had already had a significant impact on the Fiji paper. Before coming to the Sun, Gonsalves was a senior member of the management team at Fairfax Regional and Community Newspapers in Melbourne. -GJ Ranking traditional leader and former territorial senator, businessman, entertainer and "father of the fire knife dance," 84-year old paramount chief Letuli Olo Misilagi died on July 22 at Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu. In 2001 he received the paramount chief title of Letuli-one of only five paramount chief titles in American Samoa. He was also an associate judge of the High Court during the 1980s. -FS The U.S. Army announced the death of Specialist Farao Kevin Letufuga on Aug. 5. in Iraq. Letufuga was from the village of Aoloau in American Samoa. He fell to his death while on guard duty at a building in Mosul, Iraq. SPC Letufuga is the son of Mr. Fetineiai and Siniva Letufuga. He was assigned to Headquarters Company, 3rd Battallion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Ky. -FS |
