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Friday, January 2, 2009
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Phone:
(692) 625-8143
(692) 625-8146
Fax:
(692) 625-3136
Mail:
PO Box 14 Majuro, MH 96960 Marshall Islands
In Person:
On the ocean road behind Formosa in Uliga, Majuro
Cabinet backs $1m for nuclear payment
The RMI Cabinet has approved in principle a plan to provide $1 million to resume partial payments to nuclear claimants after a three-year hiatus. The development is a result of President Litokwa Tomeing pushing the Cabinet to find an interim way to address the lack of US funding for nuclear compensation to Marshallese with personal injury awards from the Nuclear Claims Tribunal, according to officials in the Cabinet. This follows US Interior Department rejection of Tomeing’s proposal to use Compact funding as an interim measure to provide compensation until a new compensation agreement can be reached.
3 cops up
for brutality
Three national police have been hit with a police brutality lawsuit stemming from an incident involving a hand cuffed drunk. Glasses Makroro filed a civil suit in the High Court late last month, charging that national police officers Aloysius deBrum, Roby Levi and Mejleb Mottan used excessive force when arresting him in November 2007. The suit says they not only broke his arm while his hands were handcuffed behind his back, but prevented him from getting medical treatment for nearly 48 hours.
Drunk driver taken to court
for death
The Attorney General’s office moved quickly in late December to charge a Majuro man accused for recklessly killing an 11-year-old boy in the Batkan area of Majuro. Tony Lautrok, 29, was charged with reckless driving, involuntary manslaughter and negligent driving for allegedly hitting and killing Batkan resident Bolton Joel. Lautrok pleaded not guilty to all charges at a December 23 preliminary hearing. It is the first criminal case filed in the High Court by the AG’s office since July.
Stiff penalties
set for negligent doctors
Kiribati House of Parliament has passed a motion to give doctors and nurses heavy penalties for not doing their jobs professionally and for negligence. The Makin MP who moved the motion told parliament a story about a patient who lost her life because the doctor on duty was not around when needed, and his nurse was fast asleep in her office.
Santa had help last week from Marina Joe (left) who livened up a special Christmas party for Delap youngsters at the ECC. With her is Carmen Bigler’s great-granddaughter Nia Wase. Photo: Bonny Taggart.
Holiday murder
By SUZANNE CHUTARO
A 25-year-old Namdrik man was killed on Christmas day after a drinking get-together with friends turned sour. Lania Lakor, a Small Island resident, was found dead at the oceanside behind the Momotaro store area. Police told the
Lania killed in drinking spree
Journal that they received a call at around midnight after residents found Lakor. According to police investigators when they arrived at the scene Lakor was already dead. He sustained injuries to his body and head. Lakor is reported to have spent Christmas day watching Christmas “jepta” programs at the Assembly of God Church in Delap. Later in the evening he and a few friends bought themselves a bottle of vodka and went drinking on the oceanside. Police submitted Lakor’s body to Majuro Hospital for an autopsy to get an exact cause of death. Police have questioned three witnesses and are now looking for a male suspect in his twenties who has managed to elude police since the investigation started.
Gas costs less in Ebeye
Ebeye and Jaluit are making history this week with gas prices lower than Majuro’s for the first time ever. By dropping its gas price at the pump 60 cents below Majuro’s lowest gas price, the ALRO fuel company is demonstrating Majuro is completely out-of-step with pricing in the rest of the world. Even the outer island of Jaluit is enjoying gas at $4.29 a gallon. The last time world market fuel prices were as low as they were this week, Majuro drivers were paying less than $3 a gallon for gas. Instead, prices in Majuro on Tuesday as the Journal went to press ranged from $4.89 (Riwut) to $5.09 (SEPS) — 60-to-80 cents higher than Ebeye’s and Jaluit’s new gas price. ALRO chief executive officer Alvin Jacklick approved the price cut for Ebeye and Jaluit gas on Tuesday this week, dropping the price from $5.84 to $4.29 per gallon. While the bottom has dropped out of the world market price for Brent Crude
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oil, prices in the Majuro have not followed suit. Last July, world market prices peaked at over $140 per barrel, and Majuro’s gas prices at the pump set a record at $6.89 per gallon. But the world market has dropped to under $37 a barrel this week. When world market prices for a barrel of oil were $92 in November 2007 — more than double this week’s world market price — the price of gas at the pump in Majuro was still less, at $4.76 a gallon, than it is today.Mobil cut its price to Majuro gas stations on Christmas Day by 15 cents, bringing the Mobil price to Majuro gas stations to $3.57 per gallon — that wholesale price is nearly $2.50 above the current cost to Mobil at the refinery in Singapore, where gas for the RMI originates. This is Mobil’s second price drop in December, bringing the total reduction for December to 30 cents.
Award for protectingthe reefs
Two long-term Majuro residents have won an international award for protecting reefs in the capital. Cary Evarts and Karen Earnshaw were recognized in December by the Seven Seas Cruising Association (SSCA) for a mooring buoy project they have managed in Majuro. Earnshaw and Evarts, sought funding for the Majuro Reef Protection Mooring Project from the United Nations’ Global Environment Facility’s (GEF) Small Grants Program. The GEF approved about $50,000 for the work in 2007, providing the funds to non-profit Mieco Beach Yacht Club in Majuro. The Yacht Club, in turn, has partnered with the College of the Marshall Islands, Marshalls Billfish Club, Marshall Islands Visitors Authority, and Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority in implementing the project. The GEF grant provided funding to install 15 moorings off Eneko, Enemanet and other islands in Majuro’s lagoon.
Journal 1/68
Journal 1/80
P1 There has been a rash of flu cases here in the district center during the past week, according to hospital sources. It is feared that the Majuro outbreak might be a start for a whooping cough epidemic. The Caroline Islands have already reported the presence of whooping cough.
P1 Thirty nine Ebeye boys have begun their Youth Corps training on Kwajalein this month. The young men left for Calrson Island after induction ceremonies
P1 As press time for this issue arrived this week, word reached Majuro that President Amata Kabua has initialed the agreement for a Compact of Free Association between the Marshalls and the United States in Kona, Hawaii. This act concludes more than a decade of often hectic negotiations between Compact negotiators and marks a new transition
point for the people of the islands.
P2 In the past six weeks, a total of four trips have been made to Kili Island, home of the displaced people of Bikini. The latest trip saw the captain of the MV Micro Palm seriously injured when his landing boat capsized in the winter surf. Now a foray on the isolated island prison of radioactivity land losers will be made by local Bank of America branch manager John Malone who will be carrying $1.4 million worth of cash mark down to the hard-to-sooth islanders. The cash is the result of some hard-nosed demands by the Kilians after their Bikini was again made unsafe for human habitation due to a lowering of the levels of radioactivity acceptable for an area in which humans live. If the landing boat Malone takes does the same thing that the last landing boat did, then there will be treasure stories of interest in subsequent issues of the Journal.
witnessed by the UN team.
P1They will spend one month at the island camp, leaving only to participate in community projects and athletic events. While at training, they will receive instruction in English, fishing and vocational skills. The young men will live in tents, catch and cook their own food.
P1 The people of Arno on Kilange island are planning a new school to be built this year, according to Murray Swartz, Peace Corps Volunteer stationed on Kilange. He reports they have raised $500 for an elementary school. Educational Supply has provided 100 bags of cement to get the project started. The balance of the funds will be sought under the Grant-in-Aid program. The labor will be provided by Kilange residents.