Quirky Tales

From The Kaselehlie Press (Pohnpei), December 22, 2004

'Congress Passes Amendments On Import Tax Law'
Introduced by Chuuk Senator Sabino Asor, the FSM tax law on import duties has been amended and passed by Congress and is with the President.

The amendments include cigarettes: Up 25 percent of the value to 2.5 cents per stick. That's not all. Beginning January 1 of each year from year 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015, the rate would go up by half a cent for each of those years.

So smokers are expected to pay five cents per stick by the year 2015, if they are still alive by then, and we are talking wholesale here. Heaven knows what the retails will do when they get their cancer sticks.

From Tia Belau (Palau), December 10, 2004

Toribiong Makes News In U.S. On Hybrid Cars
Four years ago, Francis Toribiong, Palau's daredevil and environmentalist who earlier moved to the U.S., spotted his dream car in Oregon. (What) attracted his attention was a small battery box at the rear of the trunk and an electric motor next to the regular engine under the hood-the gadgets that make it a hybrid.

Toribiong decided to rent the Toyota Prius, which he had read about in National Geographic, and drove it to Portland, Oregon to visit a cousin. He was hooked. With 140,000 miles logged so far, it has needed only routine maintenance. And there's something to say about the 48 miles per gallon his wife Susan gets while putting some 3,000 miles on the car every month in order to make inspections on rental property for Umpqua Property Management Inc., which the couple owns.

Toribiong, an environmental activist, is a skydiver and a sea diver who is said to have jumped from the highest in Palau skies and dove to the deepest in Palau's waters.

They fit into the category of most hybrid owners, who are willing to spend an extra several thousand dollars for hybrid technology in order to pollute less, said Chris Haberbaumer, program director for the Oregon Environmental Council.

"It saves you in the long run," Toribiong said. "But that's not the point. It's not so much saving money, it's saving the environment." From

The Fiji Times, December 6, 2004

Suva Carnival Queens Threatened With Fines
Suva Carnival Queens will be fined $100 each or taken to court by the Land Transport Authority for not wearing helmets during the first official parade in Suva.

Authority spokesman Eroni Volavola said the bikers and organizers of the carnival will face the same fate.

The ten contestants took to the streets of Suva…breaching the compulsory helmet law which clearly states that no person shall ride on a motorcycle unless the person is wearing a safety helmet of a type approved by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) of the correct size and securely fastened.

"The organizers should have known better," he (Volavola) said.

Carnival committee chairman David Voss said they had left it to the bikers to arrange permission to ride without helmets with police.

"The Police gave them the clearance saying it was alright because they were riding at walking pace. And they (Police) were out there in large numbers to escort the parade," Voss said.

"So if the LTA want to make an issue about it let them go ahead and do it-this is a Christmas situation."