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Inside Stories
Friday, February 26, 2010
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New look OTEC from Palau fisheries summit
A high-level Pacific leaders summit in Palau Thursday is expected to green light plans for creating an “Organization of Tuna Exporting Countries” (OTEC) that aims to dramatically increase revenue earned by islands that control the bulk of fish in the region. Palau President Johnson Toribiong is hosting a presidential summit Thursday for the heads of state from the islands known as the “Parties to the Nauru Agreement” (PNA) that control ocean area where a majority of the $4 billion annual tuna haul is caught. Minister of R&D Matt Zackhras is representing President Zedkaia at the summit. “The leaders are expected to give the new PNA office the green light to find options how best to achieve the OTEC plan,” said Dr. Transform Aqorau, the new Director General of the PNA secretariat that is based in Majuro.
Nitijela bans betelnut
Nitijela voted to ban betelnut from the Marshall Islands on Tuesday. The vote approved a stronger version of the ban than originally introduced in March 2009 by Majuro Senator Wilfred I. Kendall.
TRC judge posts still unoccupied
For the fourth time in the last 15 months, candidates for judge positions on the Traditional Rights Court are being sought by the RMI Judicial Service Commission. Recommendations made by the JSC in January and May 2009 to Cabinet were rejected, but High Court Chief Justice Carl Ingram who chairs the JSC said the most recent recommendations made in October were not. He said the JSC was advised by Cabinet to see if there are any additional candidates who want to apply for the chief judge and two associate justice positions, accounting for these posts being publicly advertised again.
Just three days
of water left
Majuro’s airport reservoir is nearly empty and Majuro Water and Sewer Company instituted strict water rationing this week. Lack of rain this month has seen airport reservoir levels dwindle, with the water supply as of Tuesday at just 4.8 million gallons — or about a three-day supply at current daily demand.
ROC gives
RMI $2.7m
Taiwan Ambassador Bruce Linghu delivered his government’s first donation of 2010 Wednesday, presenting a check for $2,750,000 to RMI Ministers Jack Ading and John Silk. The funding will go to a variety of projects as well as government “budget support.” But Linghu noted his government’s intention to gradually shift the amount of funding for budget support — now at $4 million annually — to other project areas.
Taiwan is proposing a 10 percent — $400,000 — reduction in fiscal year 2011, with that money possibly shifted to projects such as medical or solar energy, Linghu said.
The XXXX team from left: Lailai Aiseia, Rudol Muller, Helmar Lejjena, Karness Kusto, Kim Maie, and Ben Reimers.
Photo: Karen Earnshaw
Team XXXX trounced the competition in Saturday’s Marshalls Billfish Club’s Jakie Jacob Memorial Tournament, by bringing home a 308-pound marlin. Skipper Ben Reimers (right) generously donated the big fish to the Rita funeral of Howard Kattil.
Jorran jen wonen mweik
ACTSON LOKKO RIKLON
Ej juon men emol im ejab itino jen mejen lol in bwe Ebeye etton “Slum of the Pacific” im eben mour ie. Im ejab bwe kinke enin Ebeje ear baj juon jikin eo etton wot jen etto, bwe ilo mol 1950’s im liklok ear juon ene eo ear kanuij emon im einwot Paradise mene ear ejelok power, sewer line, fancy hospitals, schools, pave roads im men ko eir lok wot. Men ko jet ij lo bwe elap konaer non boktok ben mour im etton non Ebeye ej population explosion kab out of control cost of living. Juon ej aikuij kelet, ta eo ej wiaiki, ta kein an komanman lok kabijuknen eo an ke? Ak wia mona non family eo an im ro nukun? Enin un eo ij lo bwe elap tata konan non boktok etton im ben mour non armij ro (Continued story below)
Journal sample
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Sandy helps TB problem
From left: MediSource Pacific staff Gilbert Alano (bio-medical engineer), Erak Erakdrik (air-conditioning and refrigeration specialist), Sandy Alfred (CEO) and Dess Mercado (IT and inventory).
Jorran jen wonen mweik
(Continued from above) rej bed im joke ion Ebeye. Kinke ekka wot kelet wia mona mokta jen menin aikuij ko jet einwot kokmanman lok mon joke ko. Kim ilo Ebeye kim bar konan bwe en emon im erreo mon joke ko im belak ko kemij bed ie, ak kin kelet in eben kemij aikuij jelmae aolep ran. Enin, ta jen bed ilo juon iim eo ebolomen ke ak ta jen bed ie im kole? Ne kar baj kwe eo ta eo konaj kar kelete? Ne ejimwe ao jenadde, 90 percent in mon jokwe ko rej aikuij kokel. Kajitok eo in kio jiban enaj itok jen ia?
Ijaje ra jet motta, ak ne baj na eo, iar kottar alikar in loan in ekkal eo ao enanin jilu yio ak ejelok alikar, ijujen ebber im kabojrake. Jet kein men dikdik rej koba tok im kaben mour eo ion Ebeye. Armij ro rej jokwe ion Ebeye rejab aikuij bed ilo line ko ilik aolep ien. Enanin aoleper rej job ion Kwajalein. Baj lomnak mok, ne ekilok im kun Kwajalein ekijkan Marshall in? Ejab ebar kun ke? Ta eban jenolok juon loan fund eo ej earmark non Ebeye wot ke? Bwe en maron etor wot loan application ko ijelokin air kottar im bar kottar. Ta ejab kotobar eo juon an Kien in ke bwe en mokaj lok service im emon lok mour im jeramon non aolep armij. Non jiban armij ro rellon im rejab maron wia mona im maintenance materials jimor, ekwe kio kajitok in non aolepen dri kwelok ro ilo Nitijela bwe ne rejab maron kakiene “price control” kinke ekakko, ekwe ren kakiene “price visibility.” Einwot in, jabrewot men eo/ko wia kaki iloan ak ilkin mon wia ko ilo Marshall in ej aikuij alikar oneir ilo jeje. Wewen in, enaj lap an jiban komean ne baj ilo Ebeye e, im ij tomak ro jet mottad ibelakin Marshall in, kinke kim naj maron kaikujkuj ilo jokelet ekkar non maron ko am im jab jen surprise price ko kwaloki tok jen mejatoto. Kajitok in elap im aurok im emon ne ej tobrak ak bok jikin im erom kien jonan wot an maron mokaj einwot an ietlok wot dri jerbal im awa in jerbal. Aolep awa kab penny rej count.
The Cabinet last week directed the Marshalls Energy Company board and management to “revisit” a Mobil fuel supply proposal that Dennis Reeder, MEC’s lawyer, described as “so onerous and one-sided in favor of Mobil that it was close to being unconscionable.” The Cabinet has directed MEC to report back to it with its recommendations following review of the fuel supply proposal. In 2005, Mobil lost its fuel supply contract when MEC switched to SK Networks. But MEC General Manager David Paul (pictured) told the Journal the problem for MEC to comply with the Cabinet directive is there is currently no Mobil proposal on the table. Mobil withdrew it last year when there was no response from MEC, he said. “The board will report to Cabinet that there is no proposal to consider,” he said. An independent review by an Australian firm of MEC’s fuel contract with SK and the Mobil proposal submitted last year recommended that “MEC should not accept the Mobil Oil Guam Inc. proposal.” The independent review by Ouro Preto International of Australia conducted last June said that “if MEC were to accept the original Mobil proposal to replace the existing SK Networks contract, MEC would risk increasing its fuel costs by more than $409,000 per year.” The SK contract has allowed MEC to “achieve a degree of pricing predictability into the medium-term future, which is a valuable instrument for an electricity company,” the independent review said. “Switching to the Mobil proposal would mean that within 12 months, any of the terms and conditions, including price premium, could be modified, thus increasing MEC cost and operational uncertainty.” MEC attorney Reeder was even blunter in a two-page legal review he issued on the original Mobil proposal last year, calling it a “one-sided” plan that made “no pretense of putting the parties on a level playing field or of being entered into by equals.” Reeder proposed a series of changes to the Mobil proposal to address MEC interests, saying “if those changes are opposed by Mobil it would make one think that Mobil is not really interested in MEC’s rights but only in being able to have a stranglehold on the supply of fuel to the RMI.”

Journal 2/27/1971

Journal 3/1/1985
Stan Rayner, captain of the MV Ralik Ratak, returned from a field trip to Ujelang recently with one of the glories of the Marshalls — a long sleek Enewetakese canoe. The canoe is now located on the beach by Rayner’s thatch house and as well as being worth a detailed inspection is also worth some comment here before these canoes become a thing of the past. The present inhabitants of Ujelang are the former people of Enewetak who were displaced by the US Administration for atomic bomb testing. It was during their history on Enewetak that the people of Ujelang learned to build their magnificent sailing canoes. For generations the canoe was a treasured and carefully kept part of life. This tradition was carried with the Enewetakese to their new home on Ujelang in 1948 when large LCUs ferried the people and their belongings to the rocky little atoll of Ujelang. Until 1969 the Enewetakese
Following a 1984 visit to Ebeye, US Ambassador Fred Zeder extolled improvements on the island, saying that while it wasn’t a “garden spot,” rapid economic development was changing the face of Ebeye. He went on to cite the “two-inch thick carpeting” in the office of Kwajalein Atoll Mayor Alvin Jacklick as evidence that Ebeye is no longer a slum. After spending an hour in the Mayor’s office, we can assert that the carpeting is barely half an inch thick. We are also glad to report that height, or lack therefore, of Jacklick’s carpeting does not appear to be the major factor
governing development in the economic sector … The roads on Ebeye are paved which in and of itself is cause for celebration. AIC did the work on the roads in an extremely short time period. It seems to be having the desired effect of keeping down the dust, but now presents Ebeye residents with the new hazard of speeding automobiles … The recreation scene on Ebeye has actually worsened despite the many positive changes. The only full-length basketball court on the island is now the resting place for three large shipping containers. The lack of organized recreation possibilities can only encourage one of Ebeye’s main forms of recreation: drinking. Ebeye has many urgent needs and youth/recreation considerations generally seem to get a low priority.
canoe was a very rich and real part of life on Ujelang. Now, unfortunately, the Enewetakese canoe is threatened. A dole gift of nearly one million dollars in January 1969 to appease the people in their demand to return to their home islands has populated Ujelang with squat little outboards and put the canoes on the beach to rot, perhaps never to be replaced.
It is easy to point an accusing finger at the military for removing the people in the first place, or at the Trust Territory officials who were ‘just carrying out orders’ when they drew up papers and organized the evacuation of Enewetak, but some of the blame here must go to the Ujelangese themselves. Thoughtless acceptance of money and reckless abandonment of their own lifestyles for that of the new comer leaves no hope for future generations of Enewetakese to appreciate and marvel a the wonder of their forefathers. And when the children of tomorrow look around for their roots and their past, they will see nothing beyond rusted broken engines and common nailed plywood where finely planed and carefully designed canoes once lay.

Journal 2/26/1993
A continuing, unaddressed problem in the Majuro community is the lack of a clearly identified cemetery. This is true despite the fact that many of our numbers continue to die and families are forced to face the often difficult question of what to do with the remains of the deceased. The problem, however, is not limited to the fleeting period of discomfort while families figure out where to plant. We have had very clear and unmistakable warnings from the RMI Environmental Protection Authority that burial of human remains too close to fresh water wells can lead directly to brain damage for infants drinking nitrate-contaminated water. It would seem proper for the Majuro Atoll Local Government to consider the establishment of a public burial site, and appropriate ordinances to prevent people from continuing to bury the dead haphazardly around the island. We could also look into the possibility of a local-
government-run crematorium, paid for out of tax dollars. Either way, by cremation or designated grave area, something must be done to prevent both the continued strain on our limited living space and the threat of continued exposure to brain-damaging chemicals.