People Briefs
People Briefs
| Monty McDowell was elected chairman of the Guam Chamber of Commerce
for 2005. McDowell is the chief executive officer of Advance Management
Inc., a cleaning and maintenance contractor. Other new Chamber officers
are Monte Mesa, vice chairman and Jerold Filush, secretary-treasurer.
Mesa is president of Guam Premier Outlets shopping center and Filush is
partner-in-charge of the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu accounting firm.
-FW - ADVERTISEMENT -
Papua New Guinea government minister Sir Peter Barter has urged local parliamentarians to help the country avoid a major HIV/AIDS epidemic by being "sexually responsible." Sending a circular to all parliamentarians and provincial governors recently, the minister says PNG should not follow the path some African countries took where 45 percent of their population aged 15-35 suffered a slow death when they contracted the deadly disease. "Your people will follow your example, your example will safeguard or kill your people," he says. -AR A Tongan businessman has been convicted under federal statues of smuggling Tongan workers to Hawaii and forcing them into involuntary servitude. Lueleni Maka was found guilty of human trafficking, involuntary servitude, forced labor, alien harboring, alien smuggling and unlawful use of documents. Jurors during his trial heard Maka lured seven Tongans to Hawaii with the promise of work and a better life, before forcing them to work for his landscaping business. -SM Former Samoan Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition Tuiatua Tupua Tamasese Efi stood down from Parliament in December to join the Council of Deputies, a state office traditionally reserved for Samoa's paramount chiefs. Tuiatua's retirement ends 30 years in political life during which he served as prime minister for six years, and later as leader of the Opposition, and more recently as a Member of Parliament. -AT
In Canberra, thousands of people turned out to farewell Australian police officer, Adam Dunning, who was killed in Solomon Islands on Dec. 22. Dunning was serving with the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) when shot in Honiara. He had previously served in East Timor. Former Malaita Eagle Force member John Hen Ome has been charged with Dunning's murder. Meanwhile, Phillip Suiga Kwaimani has been charged with attempted murder in an earlier shooting at Nauruan and Tongan RAMSI officers in Honiara. -SM The Commonwealth Ports Authority (CPA) announced the appointment of Lee Cabrera as the new Saipan seaport manager, replacing Tony B. Cabrera who retired at the end of December 2004. Cabrera has been for the past three years the assistant ports manager. He started his government career as the business advisor at the Department of Commerce before being named director of the economic development division, a position he held before transferring to CPA. -FR Congressman Faleomavaega Hunkin Eni was sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives on Jan. 4 in Washington, D.C. for his 9th consecutive two-year term, with Samoan football players, Joe Salave'a and Pita Elisara of the Washington Redskins looking on. -FS The head of the Catholic Church in Samoa Cardinal Pio Taofinuu celebrated 50 years of service in the church in December. He is 84 years old. Cardinal Taofinuu is probably best known for localizing much of the liturgy, introducing Samoan imagery and traditions into church worship. He was also the first Pacific Islander to be made a Cardinal. -AT American Samoa Representative Matagi Ray McMoore regained the House Speaker post after a January 3 membership vote. Also re-elected was Fialupe Taesaliali'i Fa'asuka Lutu as House chief clerk and Asiolefolaga Seti Muasau as House sergeant at arms. Senator Lolo Moliga, a former cabinet member, was elected by the Senate members as its new president. Re-elected by the membership for another term is Leo'o Ma'o as secretary and Nifo Ala as sergeant at arms. -FS
Chester Tupou Manaea of the American Samoa Port Administration Department graduated Dec. 9 from the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies executive course in Honolulu. Manaea received his diploma from retired U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant General Hank C. Stackpole, president of the center. Manaea joined 92 other senior military and civilian government leaders from 36 countries throughout the Asia-Pacific region that attended the 12-week course to study regional security. -FS U.S. Army Sgt. Tina Safaira Time, of American Samoa, who was based with the Army Reserve in Arizona, died December 13th in Iraq. Sgt. Time, 22, died as a result of a vehicle accident. She was assigned to the Army Reserve's 208th Transportation Company, Tucson, Arizona. She is the first female soldier from American Samoa to be killed in Iraq. She was an ace student and popular student leader at Leone High School, where she graduated in 2000, said school vice principal Dorian Salave'a. Time was the daughter of Viliamu and Mele Time. -FS Despite a massive search, former Chuuk State Governor Erhart Aten and three other men remain lost at sea after failing to show up from a boat trip across Chuuk lagoon at the end of November. The group was returning from a remote island in Chuuk's large lagoon on Sunday November 28 when a storm blew into the area. They failed to arrive at the main island Weno, prompting a major search and rescue effort. They were in a small motorboat that did not have a radio or other emergency equipment. Aten was the first governor of Chuuk, one of four states in Micronesia, from 1976-1980.He is the second prominent person to be lost at sea in Chuuk in the past several months. Elihna Mori, wife of Chuuk Senator Manny Mori, and their daughter were lost at sea and also have not been found. "Last week, we learned that a Chuukese man who was lost at sea nearly a year ago was found in the Philippines (about 1,000 miles to the west)," Lynn Narruhn, the public information officer in the Federated States of Micronesia president's office, said in December. "So people are saying that there's still hope." -GJ Lydia Coffin, an American Samoan and graduate of the territory's Samoana High School, has been voted president of the Chaminade University student government association. Chaminade University is a private Roman Catholic university in Honolulu, Hawaii. -FS Samoa's deputy leader of the Opposition, Asiata Saleimoa Vaai says he won't talk to state-owned television any more because coverage of politics continues to be biased despite appeals for more balance. While his Samoa Democratic United Party (SDUP) continues to hold media conferences to which SBC is welcome, Vaai told reporters "I don't want to talk on TV (anymore)." He was angered that allegations against his party by Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi were aired by SBC but not SDUP's response. Early in 2004, SBC television banned coverage of SDUP, saying one of the party's MPs had insulted SBC. -FS Papua New Guinea authorities have charged Australian pilots Andrew Reid and Peter McGee with two counts each for breaching civil aviation laws after they landed their Cessna Citation jet on Bougainville's decommissioned Aropa airport in September. Their airline company Tasman Australian Airlines has also been charged. An attempt by the duo to get the PNG Civil Aviation Authority to release their detained jet was unsuccessful with court proceedings presently underway. -AR Fiji's Government statistician, Timoci Bainimarama, has been elected as Chairman of the governing board of the Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP). He is the first Pacific Islander to hold this influential position. SIAP is an offshoot off the UN's regional body, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and aims to improve statistics gathering and reporting in its member countries. -SM Reigning Miss South Pacific Sinahemana Hekau of Niue was in Apia for a week in November to attend an International Criminal Law Seminar. Hekau is a solicitor and works for the Niue government. While in Samoa, she gave support to the local contestant Saifaleupolu Nofoasaefa Tamasese who felt she had to apologize publicly for missing out of the major prizes in the pageant. Hekau said that education was an added advantage in winning. -AT In Memoriam Papua New Guinea has lost top business executive Dr. Moseley Moramoro. The chairman of the Independent Public Business Corporation, the government arm tasked to sell state corporate entities including Telikom (PNG) Ltd., he died in Port Moresby late last year after suffering a heart attack. His distinguished career included serving as managing director of mining giant Rio Tinto's PNG office, managing director of Chevron Niugini, and he served as a director on numerous local and international organizations.-AR Contributors: Frank Whitman, Giff Johnson, Alex Rheeney, Samantha Magick, Frank Rosario, Afamasaga Toleafoa, Fili Sagapolutele and Nancy Chism.
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