February 10, 2012
Jaluit local government already on a fast track
If number of meetings held, pages of minutes produced, correspondence generated, and fiscal year budget produced are an indication of action, the Jaluit Atoll Local Government is off to a racing start. While some local governments are continuing to be sworn in, Jaluit Atoll Local Government held its inauguration on January 10 and then commenced a seven-day session as required by the JALG constitution. Following these meetings, New Mayor Billa Jacklick (pictured) sent a report to the Ministry of Internal Affairs on its first quarter activities, with copies of the daily council meeting minutes, and JALG’s new FY2012 budget for the remaining eight months of the year. In her report to IA, the new Mayor, who is the wife of Jaluit Senator Alvin Jacklick (pictured), noted that the senator led a training session for the council on how to conduct meetings according to a daily agenda. Among the key items accomplished during the JALGov Council session was approval of a supplementary appropriation ordinance for $85,915.16. This was sent to Mabel Peter, Chief of Local Government Affairs at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, for review and approval. Senator Alvin told the Journal there was $7 in the Jaluit Local Government bank account but no accounting financial reports filed by the last administration. The Mayor notified Internal Affairs that it has established a new bank account requiring two signatures and a purchase requisition system to withdraw funding.

Mayor: It's time for good work
Mili Atoll Local Government completed its inauguration through the administration of the oath of office by Chief Justice Carl Ingram at the International Conference Center Tuesday afternoon. Ten council members including new Mayor Tommy K. Leban (pictured) swore to support the RMI national government as well as the local government of Mili by following the constitution and laws of Mili and the RMI. Leroij Takbar Ishiguro (pictured) led the opening with greetings to government officials present, including US Ambassador Martha Campbell. She expressed gratitude to former senators and mayors of Mili for the help they’ve contributed. Minister of Internal Affairs and Senator for Mili Atoll Wilbur Heine, said that the people picked these local government leaders during the election. “I promise to give the best of my abilities to serve,” said Heine. “If we can work together, anything is possible.” RMI President Christopher Jorebon Loeak followed by congratulating the new mayor and council. Loeak mentioned that at his inauguration he asked local councils for their help. “Every goal cannot be reached without help from local councils,” said Loeak. Mayor Leban said in his remarks, “today no more hands hanging down.” He firmly mentioned the need for correct and accurate money management. “I’m grateful for 20 years of learning in the National Police Department,” said Leban. “Thanks, everybody.”

Rinkey's 'always eager to do more'
One hour and thirty-six minutes: That’s all the time that Rinkey Hersey (pictured), 24, missed over the six-month Waan Aelon in Majel (WAM) vocational training program, which ends this Friday. “That’s pretty amazing!” said Associate Director Kathy Hutton. As part of teaching good work ethics, the WAM program’s directors are strict about trainees clocking in and out, which is done in clear view of management in the upstairs office. “I applied because I wanted to learn how to build a canoe. I have seen how the old men and women of the Marshall Islands have been losing their traditions and their culture and I wanted to find out more about it so I can continue the traditions." One of Hersey’s favorite parts of the program is spending time with people from other countries. “I love going out with the visitors on a canoe,” he said. “I’ve also really enjoyed learning how to carve,” he said. “This was the first time for me, but I picked it up okay.” Ijikar Abraham and Ken Taggart were his carpentry instructors and one of the items Hersey has made in the program is a large clock for the hardware store Do It Best. No doubt one fact that helped Hersey have such a good time score is that he doesn’t drink alcohol. “I used to drink in high school a bit, but I haven’t had a drink now in three or four years." During the two-week Christmas break, Hersey interned at Do It Best. “I really liked the work. I was in the warehouse.” The feeling was mutual. Do It Best manager Larry Hernandez said: “The kid is awesome. “He’s punctual, he’s responsible, he is a kid who doesn’t sit back and watch. He’s always eager to do more. He’s a proactive kind of guy!”

Rolling with the tides in Ebeye island
“Education: Rolling with the Tides” is the definition of choice Ebeye’s Director of Queen of Peace Schools Gary Elaisha provided to the Journal Wednesday when, in a phone report to the paper, he described substantial tidal flooding on the Ebeye-Gugeegue causeway due to this week’s king tide over-wash. The disruption of education was compelling due to school scheduling being at the mercy of tide time, not clock time.
“We had to suspend school early today (Wednesday) to beat the tides,” said Elaisha. The buses for both Kwajalein High School and Fr. Hacker High have suffered breakdowns this week after traveling through salt water on the tide-damaged causeway.
“The tides are dictating the school schedule,” he said of conditions along the seven-mile-long causeway. Kwajalein Atoll Local Government workers were out early Wednesday morning attempting temporary causeway improvements with heavy equipment. The schools had planned morning sessions Thursday before the afternoon opening ceremony on Ebeye for the annual Kwajalein Day activities, but had to cancel school for Thursday because of the tide situation.
Education President
Mobile EPA coastal heads
RMI EPA Coastal and Land Management Division staff Juda Langrine and Calvin Lometo are now able to get around on these recently purchased fuel cost-saving scooters. The new mode of transportation available will ensure that “official activities are carried out and most importantly meet the organization’s overall objective,” said EPA Deputy General Manager Lowell Alik. “These are good alternatives to vehicles when it is not raining since cost of fuel has gone up.”
GIFF JOHNSON
New President Christopher Loeak believes focusing on education is the way to improve quality of life for people in the Marshall Islands. “I am most interested in improving education,” said the President in an interview last week. “It is the key. The more educated people are, the more conscious they are about the environment and their health.
“All of the undesirable things we see, like teen pregnancy and other social problems — I believe an educated person will know how to deal with these.” He sees four needs for public schools: strong leadership, Ministry administrators getting out to the schools to identify needs, activating parents in support of their children’s schools, and establishing attractive salaries for qualified teachers as incentive for producing better results. “When Evelyn Konou was principal at Delap Elementary School, it improved tremendously and began competing (academically) with the private schools (because of her leadership),” he said. Similarly, some public schools traditionally out-perform others. Loeak would like to see successful public schools replicated in other islands. “It is important for Ministry of Education staff to go out to find out what is happening in the schools,” he said. Loeak sees some change already taking place in adult attitudes toward education. “I see parents taking their children and grandchildren to school these days,” he said. “It was unheard of when I was growing up.” But there is still a big segment of the community that needs to be inspired about educating their children. Although national government leadership has countless problems, big and small, demanding its attention, Loeak said he is determined to keep education at the top of his agenda. “I’d like to be seen as the Education President,” he said.
King tides may make royal mess —————–
the possibility of flooding. “We are currently in a weak to moderate La Nina phase, so sea levels and high tides are three-to-four inches above average,” said Steve Why Monday. Why is the RMI government’s Senior Advisor on Climate Change. “Impacts will be magnified if we get a large swell during these times.” High tides in the five-foot range are also expected from February 21 to 23, and again March 8 through 11. Why urged public awareness through V7AB, with the advisory to “expect localized flooding during high tides on February 7 through 10 in areas where it has happened before.”
The annual “king tides” started this week. The highest tide of the year is expected on Thursday and RMI officials alerted residents around the nation to be prepared for possible local flooding. High tides of over five feet are predicted for late afternoons every day this week through Friday, with Thursday’s 5.4 feet tide at 5:17pm the highest expected for 2012. These high tides often cause flooding in low-lying areas of Majuro and other islands around the RMI, as seen in January and February 2011 with flooding in Majuro, Kili and Namdrik. If there are storm surges duringthe high tides it increases
Top rental complex, now a scavenging area
Twenty-five years ago, the Nauru housing area in Jable was one of the top rental complexes available in Majuro. Over the past several years, a combination of age and neglect resulted in the houses standing empty. In the past two weeks, the site has become a center for scavenging, with individuals and teams of people ripping apart the houses.
Photo: Isaac Marty.
Journal 2/13/1987
P14 ‘The bitterness won’t go away’
The Rongelap people’s bitterness toward the US Department of Energy is not a result of Journal articles but of the US actions during the massive Bravo test in 1954 and since then, said Rongelap Senator Jeton Anjain. He told the Journal that he wanted to respond to a letter from DOE
Journal 2/12/1973
P1 Tuna jumps $60/ton
Van Camp Sea Food Company and the Trust Territory Department of Resources and Development have announced an increase in the price of tuna from $170 to $230 per ton. “This news, coming on the heels of the announcement of the declining prices of copra, again points out the growing value of tuna from Micronesia and the need for the people of the Trust Territory to concentrate on development of their marine resources,” said Peter Wilson, TT Chief of Marine Resources Division. (Editor’s Note: in 2011, tuna prices were in the $1,500/ton range).
P7 1973 UN Visiting Mission is finally here by Joe Murphy
It was interesting talking to the individual members and observing them at various meetings here in the Marshalls. The most interesting, from a newsman’s point of view, was the Russian Viktor Issraelyan. He is a fifty-ish sort of person, very fluent in English, and sports a very sinister looking pencil moustache.“So you are the one who wrote those nice things about us,” he said when I had a chance to talk to him. He was referring to some rather heavy-handed comments about all the members
representative Harry Brown carried in last week’s paper. “The bitterness won’t go away,” said Anjain, “because the US knew the winds were blowing to Rongelap and Utrik before the Bravo test but still went ahead with it.”
of the UN Mission made in a previous column (see January 20, 2012 edition). He wanted to know where I got the feeling I could be critical of the Soviet Union when my own country had so recently been involved in over one million Vietnamese deaths. He said western newsmen are very slanted in their presentation of news. I asked him why was it that until now there had never been a Russian included in any of the Visiting Missions. His reply was illuminating: “First of all, you must understand the composition of the Trusteeship Council. This Council is perhaps the most conservative body within the UN. It is composed of the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, France, China (which until now meant the Republic of China, a US ally) and the Soviet Union. Until now, representatives for the Visiting Missions were chosen exclusively from the western nations. France would suggest Australia, Australia would suggest the United Kingdom, the UK would suggest the Taiwanese, and the Taiwanese would suggest the French and the mission would be complete. The Soviet Union realized it would be futile to suggest itself because no one would have seconded the motion.” But what made the difference this year? “This year, if you remember, Red China replaced the Taiwan government. Since the Red Chinese announced they were not prepared to participate as a full member in time for this Visiting Mission, we were included by default.”
So here he was standing by the lagoon in the middle of one of the parties thrown in the UN’s honor and I asked him what he thought about the Trust Territory from what he had seen so far. “Absolutely deplorable,” he commented. “I cannot believe that the United States could have done such a poor job here. Majuro is one of the worst places I have ever been. When I saw the dormitory at the high school I felt sick. I have seen prisons in the United States that are better than the quarters the government provides for students.”
Issraelyan is not the stereotype hard-line Russian you may have in mind. The morning following my informal talk with him, I had the opportunity to sit next to him at a brunch hosted by the Majuro Chamber of Commerce. Sitting across the table was a local boat owner, Tony Nagel, who was trying to draw out some feeling from the Russian ambassador. Nagel’s only way of being friendly happens to be to discuss drinks. “Have you ever tried vodka and coconut milk?” asked Tony. “No, but vodka without coconut is pretty good,” Issraelyan said.
Toward the end of the meeting, Issraelyan offered a little sidelight on himself just to show that Russians, after all, are human. “You know, it may interest you to know that in my time I have had a mistress or two.” Which just goes to prove that underneath all of us, East and West, a little bit of decadence still survives.
Journal 2/10/1995
P15 Rudy elected to board, Billy named president
Billy Roberts was chosen as Marshalls Billfish Club president for 1995, Baron Bigler Vice President, Rudy Aliven Tournament Director and Dennis Reeder Secretary. Wally Milne was also elected to the board, and co-founder Ramsey Reimers and 1994 President Alex Bing continue on the board. Bill Graham was appointed executive secretary and Chris Wolseley treasurer.