People Briefs
People Briefs
Mary Fonua, part owner of the Tongan publishing company Vava'u Press, has become a naturalized Tongan in order to comply with Tonga's new media ownership laws. Fonua owns 49 percent of Vava'u Press. Her husband, the editor of Matangi Tonga, Pesi Fonua, owns 51 percent. Under Tonga's new media ownership laws, foreigners are not allowed to own more than 20 per cent of a licensed publication. Vava'u Press had its license application denied in January this year. It was granted the day after Mary Fonua's naturalization ceremony in late March.
-SM
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Eighth-grader Angela Palomer of Santa Barbara School in Dededo, Guam won the 2004 Scripps Howard Regional Spelling Bee on March 13. The contest included 71 students from Guam, the Northern Marianas and Palau. Palomer correctly spelled "demagoguery" in the 31st round to advance to the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. in June.
-FW
Following the unprecedented reshuffling of leadership for Palau's House of Delegates in early March, which saw Speaker Mario Gulibert removed by a majority of the members in favor of Vice Speaker Antonio Bells, Delegate William Ngiraikelau was appointed new Vice Speaker.
-NC
Michael King, a New Zealand historian, journalist, teacher and author, and one of the founding lecturers at the University of Papua New Guinea's journalism school died with his wife in a car crash south of Auckland on March 30. In early 1976, King taught with founding lecturer Ross Stevens at the UPNG journalism school. He was widely published, especially on the topics of Maori history, and wrote the seminal book "Being Pakeha."
-SM
Two college students, one each from Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands, are the first recipients of the Governor Tauese P. F. Sunia Coral Reef Conservation Summer Internship Award, sponsored and hosted by the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The awardees are Leia LaPlace, who is attending the University of the Virgin Islands, and Aja N. M. Reyes, a student at the University of Guam. "This award not only recognizes the late Governor Tauese, a great leader in coral reef conservation, but also provides opportunity and inspiration for the next generation to continue his mission to protect these fragile ecosystems and ultimately the island cultures that depend on them," said Tim Keeney, deputy assistant secretary for oceans and atmosphere and co-chair of the Task Force. Recipients of the internship award receive a three-month, expenses-paid summer internship working on coral reef management initiatives with an agency member of the task force.
-FS
U.S. District Court of Guam Judge John Unpingco announced on March 16 that he will be leaving the federal court in the next few months. He told an audience at a judicial luncheon that he will become a partner in the local law firm Lujan, Aguigui and Perez. Unpingco was appointed to the position for a 10-year term in 1992 by then-President George H. W. Bush. A successor has not been named. The Lujan law firm is headed by high-profile attorney David Lujan who is currently representing former Governor Carl Gutierrez in the Superior Court of Guam.
-FW
Samoa's ruling Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) has retained one of the Fa'asaleleaga No.1 seats in a by-election held in March. The seat became vacant when Minister of Justice Seumanu Aita Ah Wa died in January and by-election winner, Ti'ata Pulufana, was one of four HRPP candidates who ran for the seat together with one opposition candidate who came last. The party holds 31 of the 49 seats in Parliament.
-FS
Tongan Member of Parliament 'Etuate Lavulavu was convicted of two counts of illegal use of a birth certificate in the State of Utah District Court in March, according to the Matangi Tonga magazine. In a March 26 story headlined "Tongan official pleads guilty in Utah Scheme," The Salt Lake Tribune reported that Utah prosecutors allowed Lavulavu to plead guilty to the two class B misdemeanor counts. Questions remain about the fate of up to 70 Tongans who obtained U.S. citizenship under false circumstances as part of a forgery scheme involving Lavulavu and his convicted brother Samuel Lavulavu, and Ana Malia Fuka, a state employee. At home in Tonga, however, Matangi Tonga reports that Lavulavu claimed he was let off by the U.S. Courts of all 11-felony counts. The Salt Lake Tribune reported that in 1997, Lavulavu was charged for allegedly obtaining Utah birth certificates for Tongans who were actually born in Tonga. A warrant was issued for Lavulavu's arrest, but he was not apprehended until October 2003 when he flew to Salt Lake City to visit relatives. District Judge William Barrett closed the case by assessing Lavulavu $5,000 in prosecution costs and granting credit for 21 days he spent in jail following his arrest.
-GJ
Former American Samoa attorney general Afoa Moega Lutu has announced his candidacy for the governor's race in 2004, with Taeaoafua Dr. Meki Solomona as his running mate. Lutu was the running mate during the 1996 and 2000 gubernatorial race for former Senator Lealaifuaneva Peter Reid, but their team was unsuccessful against that of the late governor Tauese P.F. Sunia and then lieutenant governor Togiola Tulafono. Governor Togiola has already announced that he is seeking the governorship in 2004 and his running mate will be current lieutenant governor, Aitofele Sunia, younger brother of Tauese.
-FS
Belt Collins Hawaii Ltd., a Honolulu-based planning, engineering, landscape architecture and environmental consulting firm that works in Hawaii, Guam, Asia and elsewhere, announced the promotions of Lawrence S. Agena, Cheryl M. Palesh, Susan A. Sakai, and Michael B. Terry to senior principals. "We are fortunate to have such talented and capable individuals in leadership roles," said Anne Mapes, Belt Collins Hawaii president. Agena is responsible for overseeing all the engineering projects for the firm; Palesh serves as Belt Collins Hawaii's chief engineer; Sakai heads Belt Collins Hawaii's planning department; and Terry manages the landscape architecture department.
-GJ
The Tau Village Council in American Samoa is challenging a High Court decision that reinstated its Senator, Fa'amausili Pola, in the territorial Senate. Pola was ousted two years ago during a Senate vote based on evidence and a request by the Tau Village Council that his selection as their senator was not in accordance with tradition and the law. The village council says Pola has long been banished from the council and is no longer a sitting chief on village matters. The High Court, however, ruled last year that the Senate was wrong in ousting Pola and reinstated him with the salary and all benefits accorded to a sitting Senator. In March the village council decided to appeal and approved hiring attorneys to lodge the challenge.
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Director of the American Samoa Environmental Protection Agency, Muaavatele Togipa Tausaga, died on March 25, at the LBJ Medical Center. The local media says Muaavatele, 50, was admitted two weeks prior after suffering from complications brought about by a stroke. He had served at his current post for close to eight years and had been with the government in prior administration.
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U.S. Army Sgt. Yihjyh "Eddie" Lang Chen, 31, was the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands' first casualty of the war in Iraq. He died April 4 when his unit was attacked by rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire. He is survived by his parents, Cheng Pin and Yu Mei Chen of Dededo, Guam, three brothers and a sister. He died less than a month after arriving in Iraq.
-EK
Lysha Kyoshi of Ngaramlengui Elementary School in Babeldaob and Christopher Willis of Maris Stella Elementary School in Koror are this year's recipients of the Morita Educational Foundation Scholarships set up by Hideo "Joe" Morita in 1999. Full scholarships to Guam's St. John's School are awarded each year to two of Palau's highest achieving eighth graders. The scholarships cover tuition, books, room and board, health insurance, tutoring and three round trip flights home each year. On March 25, Palau President Tommy Remengesau, Jr. and Guam's St. John's School headmaster Dr. Jorge Nelson handed the awards to Kyoshi and Willis, both Palauan citizens. This year, 34 Palauan students applied for the scholarship. -NC |
Contributors: Samantha Magick, Frank Whitman, Nancy Chism, Giff Johnson and Fili Sagapolutele and Emelihter Kihleng.
