A Section Fri 02-20-15

Transcrição

Buckle up!
Fatalities CraSHES
0
LOCAL HIGHWAYS
01-01-15 to date
40
LOCAL HIGHWAYS
01-01-15 to date
office of highway safety
Mariota becomes
feature attraction
at NFL combine B1
C
M
Y
K
Gov’t charter bank
kills priv. plans for
community bank 3
Jasper Mikaele leads the way
during conditioning exercises of the
American Samoa Men’s Volleyball
Team, at the Veterans Memorial Stadium. It’s part of their training for
the upcoming 2015 Pacific Games
[photo: TG]
this Summer. online @ samoanews.com
Daily Circulation 7,000
PAGO PAGO, AMERICAN SAMOA
CJ interested in who
“manipulated” local
Immigration system
by Joyetter Feagaimaali’i-Luamanu, Samoa News Reporter
The High Court heard from Chief Immigration Officer,
Dennis Fuimaono, on Wednesday this week, that there are two
separate lists being used to track stop orders and deportations and
that both lists could be “manipulated” by anyone. He noted that
the Attorney General’s office and Immigration are trying to fix
the problem; however, Chief Justice Michael Kruse appears to
believe the system actually has been manipulated and wants the
culprit or culprits found, rather than just having the system fixed.
Fuimaono’s testimony under oath was during a hearing
called by the Chief Justice regarding a sex offender, who was
told, as part of his sentencing, not to enter or attempt to enter
the territory during his probationary period. However, the
offender has left and re-entered the territory — four times —
and also has a recent public peace disturbance case pending in
the District Court. The CJ wanted to hear from Immigration
Office how this happened.
It was during Fuimaono’s testimony on the stand that it
came to light that there is a ‘lookout list’ and a ‘prosecution
watch list’ — and one had the sex offender’s name, “Pelenato
Lino”, on it, but not his alias, “Pelenato Maiava” — while the
other list had no name, or names, of the sex offender at all.
For the lookout list, the Chief Immigration Officer (CIO)
explained whenever someone applies for a entry permit, they
scan that name through what is called a “lookout list” to see if
that person was deported or if there is a stop order on that name.
Friday, February 20, 2015
$1.00
Close to 30 attending Retirement
Fund Board meeting in Honolulu
Who’s picking up the tab? Unknown…
by Joyetter Feagaimaali’i-Luamanu
Samoa News Reporter
Close to 30 people are attending the biennial ASG Employees Retirement Fund Board
meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii— including Representatives, Senators, members of the Retirement board, Retirement Office Director and
more than five Fono employees.
This biennial meeting was an issue which
came before the Fono in 2013, when seven lawmakers co-sponsored a resolution requesting
that the American Samoa Government
Employees Retirement Fund Board of Directors
conduct all meetings of the fund, particularly
the biennial meeting, in the territory instead of
in Hawai’i or off-island.
The resolution asked the Board to have their
annual meetings be open to all members and
provide detailed reports of the status of the fund
and its operations to all members.
“Transparency and “unnecessary spending
of fund resources” were cited as reasons for the
resolution.
This year 2015, the biennial retirement fund
meeting kicked off — on Monday, Feb. 16
— at the Hawai’i Prince Hotel for one week,
according to those attending the meeting. In
attendance from the retirement board are HR
Director Sonny L Thompson, Maae Bob Tuiasosopo, Aloma Langford, Chairman Morris
Scanlan, Tofala Iafeta, Beaver Ho Ching, Treasurer Ueligatone Tonumaipe’a, Faoa Aitofele
Sunia and Retirement Office Director Luaatua
Filisouaiga Ta’afua.
The House and Senate retirement committee
members comprise a group of nine, along with
five Fono employees. Senate President Gaoteote
Palaie Tofau and House Speaker Savali Talavou
Ale are also present at the week long meetings.
(Continued on page 15)
C
M
Y
K
Loka e leoleo le ali’i na oso
pa i le maota o le faifeau…
tusia Ausage Fausia
O le ula lea na oso pa i totonu o le maota o le Faifeau Metotisi i Fagaitua ma fa’ao’olima i le afafine o le ali’i faifeau, na
pu’e fa’apagota e leoleo i le vaveao ananafi ma taofia i le toese i
Tafuna e fa’atali ai le taimi e tula’i ai i luma o le fa’amasinoga.
Na teena e Oti Mac tu’uaiga a le malo fa’asaga ia te ia, ma
ua toe taofia nei o ia i le toese, se’i vagana ua ia totogi le $300
ona fa’atoa mafai lea ona tatala o ia i tua, i lalo o tuutuuga e ao
ona ia usita’i i ai.
O ni isi o ia tu’utu’uga e aofia ai le fa’asa lea ona ia toe tu
vae i le maota o le ali’i faifeau na a’afia, pe toe taumafai fo’i
e fa’afeso’ota’i ni isi o lona aiga e aofia ai ma le afafine o le
faifeau o lo o tu’uaia sa ia fa’ao’olima i ai, ua fa’asa fo’i ona ia
toe solia se tulafono a le malo, a ia avea o ia ma tagata nu’u lelei
e tausisi i tulafono a le malo.
O le mataupu lenei na tofu atu i le Ofisa o Leoleo i Fagaitua,
pe tusa o le itula e 1:50 i le vaveao o le aso Tofi ananafi, aso 19
Fepuari ina ua logo e se molimau le ofisa o leoleo mo se fesoasoani, e fa’atatau i se ali’i na ulufale fa’amalosi i le maota o
(Faaauau itulau 14)
Gabriel Dalle playing goalie saves a shot against a competing team during their practice Hand
Ball session at the Veterans Memorial Stadium this past Wednesday afternoon in preparation for
[photo: TG]
the USA Open Beach Handball Championships this coming April.
Page 2
samoa news, Friday, February 20, 2015
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Ferguson officials – No word
yet on federal investigations
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Ferguson leaders said
Thursday they haven’t heard from the U.S.
Department of Justice regarding two federal
investigations, one into the shooting death of
Michael Brown in August and the other into the
practices of the city’s police department.
Earlier this week, Attorney General Eric
Holder said he expects the Justice Department
to announce the results of those investigations
before he leaves office. His successor will likely
be confirmed within weeks.
Ferguson City Attorney Stephanie Karr and
Mayor James Knowles III said they have not been
contacted by the Department of Justice about any
findings, nor given a timeline for completion of
the investigations, which began soon after Darren
Wilson, a white Ferguson officer, fatally shot the
unarmed, black 18-year-old on Aug. 9.
The shooting raised concerns about the racial
makeup of the mostly white police department
and its relationship with the suburban St. Louis
community, which is about two-thirds black.
A St. Louis County grand jury in November
declined to indict Wilson.
“They have not contacted us,” Knowles said.
“We haven’t had any recent conversations with
the Department of Justice, so we don’t know
what they’re going to say.”
Knowles said city leaders have cooperated fully, but conversations with justice officials have been few since the early days of the
investigation.
He said the only recommendations given to
Ferguson so far came months ago, when justice
officials told officers they must wear their name
tags while working but avoid wearing bracelets
in support of Wilson when on duty.
“We’ve heard nothing about any wholesale
changes they see as necessary for our police
department,” Knowles said.
Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson told
KTVI-TV for a Thursday report that the police
department had not been contacted about “any
conclusion of the investigation.”
But he said the Justice Department had
requested documents from the police department as recently as Saturday, according to the
station.
Justice officials are conducting a “patterns
and practices” investigation of the police department and a separate investigation to determine
if Wilson violated Brown’s civil rights.
Wilson resigned from the force in November,
days after the grand jury announcement, which
set off looting and fires that destroyed several
businesses in and around Ferguson.
Gov’t charter bank
kills private plans
for community bank
Avamua: Public funds should
be used for public services
by Fili Sagapolutele, Samoa News Correspondent
With the Fono’s approval of the Charter Bank legislation,
future plans are on hold for the Community Bank of American
Samoa (IO), which has already invested more than $1 million
to get federal regulatory approval, says CBAS board chairman
Avamua Dave Haleck, a long time local businessman.
Avamua also pointed out that the government should invest
public funds in public services, and not in operating a business
enterprise such as a bank. He further noted that “CBAS and its
Board were never afforded the opportunity to testify in the Fono
in regard to the Charter Bank.”
The Charter Bank legislation, which is currently awaiting the
governor’s signature, will create the government owned Territorial Bank of American Samoa, under a new ASG holding entity
called Territorial Bancorp. The only major change to the legislation, which has been approved by the Fono and sent to the governor, is that all seven board members of Bancorp will be selected
by the governor and must be approved by the Fono.
Samoa News should point out that although the charter bank
bill was only approved this month, lawmakers were made aware
of the charter bank last year by the Administration, with the
understanding it would be funded with bonds issued under the
American Samoa Economic Development Authority (ASEDA).
According to ASG, $10 million in bond money will fund the initial capital for the charter bank.
(It should be noted that the bonds have yet to be sold, as the
government is still doing due diligence, including a meeting with
the people who would rate the bonds for investment worthiness
— which should occur in the first week of March.)
Asked if CBAS is still pursing its application with regulator
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), now that the
Fono has approved the charter bank bill, Avamua said yesterday
that “Community Bank’s future plans are on hold at this time.”
“CBAS, with mutual understanding, agreed to withdraw its
original application in Nov. 2014 with a plan to re-file a more
robust application in late March or early April. Gaining FDIC
approval is a long and rigorous process,” he said, adding that
CBAS will likely lose the facilities which had been slated for its
proposed operations, now that the charter bill has passed the Fono
and “is most likely to be signed into law”.
ASEDA officials testified more than a week ago before a House
committee hearing that the Charter Bank is expected to start its
operations at the one-story building that previously housed the
Bank of Hawaii’s Tafuna branch, and later in the year would be
at the current location of BoH at the Centennial Office Building
in Utulei, when BoH has fully closed down all local operations.
Samoa News asked Avamua as to what will happen to the
investments already provided to Community Bank if they will no
longer pursue FDIC approval and he replied, “From Board level
to Management to Investors, we all had faith that gaining FDIC
approval was possible.”
“Although time consuming because of the nature of the business, it was eventually possible. CBAS has invested over 5000
man hours and over $1 million for the possibility of gaining FDIC
approval,” he said. “CBAS has a 150 page business plan with
supporting documentation, including a seven- year projection
based on historical information.”
“CBAS has a local Board of Directors which include former
bank directors and an experienced management team who know the
local market and have worked in American Samoa,” Avamua noted.
Asked for reaction to the governor pursing the Charter Bank
instead of having the private sector handle local banking needs,
Avamua replied, “I don’t believe government should be involved
in banking, as uses of public funds should be for public services.”
“Private sector funds should be used and at risk in the formation of any business, including a bank,” he said. “If the business
is successful, the business fully expects to pay taxes on its profits
and if dividends to investors/shareholders are issued, shareholders
would pay taxes on those dividends.”
Samoa News reported earlier that Avamua had written to Gov.
Lolo Matalasi Moliga on Jan. 23, asking the government to join
forces with CBAS in an effort to get the second bank up and running.
Avamua said CBAS has access to capital, with written commitments from the American Samoan community of up to $8
million in capital. Additionally, CBAS believes that this amount
would increase once regulatory approval was forthcoming with
an expected opening capital base forecast at $12.5 million. (See
Samoa News edition Feb. 4 for details)
Asked if the governor responded to his Jan. 23 letter, Avamua
replied, “ASG has decided to pursue the Charter Bank on its own”
and added, “I wish the Charter Bank all the success.”
Evalani’s
samoa news, Friday, February 20, 2015 Page 3
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Page 4
THE BOB FRANKEN COLUMN
Let Us Prey
By Bob Franken
We all know what a “homer” is; that sportscaster or columnist
who shamelessly boosts the home team, which is his or her bread
and butter. In fact, usually the team approves the announcers to
guarantee this lovefest.
It’s irritating but acceptable in the sports world, but it’s ridiculous when it comes to speaking about our nation or, dare I say it,
religion. Unfortunately that’s rampant too, with pandering commentators and politicians ready to leap anytime anybody has the
audacity to suggest that the home country or the home religion
should get anything but adoring, one-sided analysis. And it’s
hardly a lovefest.
Just ask President Barack Obama, who, at the National Prayer
Breakfast, described the insanely violent hordes who are terrorizing Syria and Iraq as a “brutish, vicious death cult.” But then he
had the audacity to also mildly add that many religions, including
Christianity, need to remember their own histories of violence
and oppression. He seemed to be making an obvious point when
he said: “Lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique
to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and
the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of
Christ.” He then went on, “In our home country, slavery and Jim
Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.”
Well, the homers went bananas. “The president’s comments
this morning at the prayer breakfast are the most offensive I’ve
ever heard a president make in my lifetime,” were the words of
Virginia’s former Republican governor Jim Gilmore. “He has
offended every believing Christian in the United States.” And of
course Rush Limbaugh jumped in to say that the president had
insulted the “whole gamut of Christians.” That’s a lot of Christians.
POTUS wasn’t just targeting Christianity, but all religions that
are “twisted and misused in the name of evil.” His main focus
was the most noxious present-day example -- the madmen who
are inflicting their evil on those who have the grievous misfortune of living on the land that ISIL, or whatever you want to call
them, occupy with little resistance. They seem to take delight in
showing off their extreme inhumanity. It’s not exactly accurate to
describe them as Muslim fanatics, because they have simply used
the religious excuse to justify their own depravity.
To think otherwise certainly is dangerous to the millions of
those who are Islamic and practice in peaceful ways and lead
law-abiding lives here and elsewhere. To tarnish them with the
atrocities of the maniacs in Iraq and Syria is inviting prejudice and
discrimination that goes against the American ideal of pluralism.
As for those monsters in the Mideast who say they are rampaging
to create a caliphate, it’s not a caliphate at all; it’s an asylum. And
the inmates are running it.
President Obama has made it very clear he believes just that,
and those who object to his context are either blinded by their own
fervor, or very clear-eyed about their politics.
His loudest critics this time are the same Republicans who
relentlessly preach that he has weakened the nation, largely
because he just isn’t passionate about the country’s values. They
incessantly suggest that he’s just not one of us. Hopefully, we’ll
have the good sense to realize that the last thing we need is
unthinking homers.
(c) 2015 Bob Franken
Distributed by King Features Synd., Inc.
© Osini Faleatasi Inc. reserves all rights.
dba Samoa News is published Monday through Saturday,
except for some local and federal holidays.
Please send correspondences to: OF, dba Samoa News,
Box 909, Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799.
Telephone at (684) 633-5599 • Fax at (684) 633-4864
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Normal business hours are Mon. thru Fri. 8am to 5pm.
Permission to reproduce editorial and/or advertisements,
in whole or in part, is required. Please address such requests
to the Publisher at the address provided above.
Healthful Diet Report: Sugary
drinks out; coffee and eggs in
WASHINGTON (AP) — An extra cup or
two of coffee may be OK after all.
More eggs, too. But you definitely need to
drink less sugary soda.
And, as always, don’t forget your vegetables.
Recommendations Thursday from a government advisory committee call for an environmentally friendly diet lower in red and processed meats. But the panel would reverse previous guidance on limiting dietary cholesterol.
And it says the caffeine in a few cups of coffee
could actually be good for you.
The committee also is backing off stricter
limits on salt, though it says Americans still
get much too much. It’s recommending the first
real limits on added sugar, saying that’s especially a problem for young people.
The Agriculture and Health and Human Services Departments will take those recommendations into account in writing final 2015 dietary
guidelines by the end of the year. The guidelines
affect nutritional patterns throughout the country
— from federally subsidized school lunches to
food package labels to your doctor’s advice.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said “it
is by no means over” with the release of the
report. The government will take comments
on the advice before distilling it — and possibly changing it — into final guidelines for
consumers.
Even with the changes, the report sticks to
the basic message of the previous guidelines in
2010: Eat more fruits and vegetables and whole
grains; eat less saturated fats, salt and sugar.
EGGS ARE OK
The report says dietary cholesterol now is
“not considered a nutrient of concern for overconsumption.” This follows increasing medical
research showing the amount of cholesterol in
your bloodstream is more complicated than
once thought. The committee says available
evidence “shows no appreciable relationship”
between heart disease and how much dietary
cholesterol you eat, but it still recommends
eating less saturated fat. As in previous years,
the report advises limiting saturated fats to 10
percent of total calories.
The panel doesn’t give a specific recommendation for how much cholesterol — or eggs —
a person may eat.
WATCH THE ADDED SUGAR
Added sugars should be around 200 calories a day — about the amount in one 16-ounce
sugary drink, says the advisory committee,
which is made up of doctors and nutritionists.
The recommendation is part of a larger push
in recent years to help consumers isolate added
sugars from naturally occurring ones like those
in fruit and milk.
Added sugars generally add empty calories
to the diet.
Americans now get about 13 percent of their
calories from added sugar, or 268 calories a
day, the committee says.
Older children, adolescents and young adults
generally take in more.
The committee recommends 10 percent,
which is “a target within reach,” says Miriam
Nelson, a Tufts University professor of nutrition who served on the panel.
Sugary drinks should be replaced with water
instead of those with low-calorie sweeteners;
there’s not enough evidence those drinks can
help with weight loss, the committee advises.
A SOFTER APPROACH ON SALT
Sodium adds up quickly. A turkey sandwich
and a cup of soup can average about 2,200
milligrams.
That’s just under the committee’s recommendation of 2,300 milligrams a day for all
people, even those most at risk for heart disease.
The 2010 dietary guidelines had recommended those at risk for heart disease limit
sodium to 1,500 milligrams. The new report
said lowering to that amount can still be helpful
for some.
But the new advice follows a 2013 report by
the Institute of Medicine that said there is no
good evidence that eating less than 2,300 milligrams a day of sodium offers benefits.
With the average American eating more than
3,400 milligrams daily, the panel recommends
at least trying to reduce sodium intake by 1,000
milligrams a day if the goals are unattainable.
Alice Lichtenstein, a member of the panel
and a professor at Tufts University, said the
new recommendation “puts the focus where it
should be.” Get sodium intake down, and finetune the numbers as more evidence comes in.
COURT
R E PORT...
by Joyetter
Feagaimaali’i-Luamanu
Samoa News Reporter
MAN ALLEGEDLY BREAKS
INTO PASTOR’S HOME,
ASSAULTS DAUGHTER
Mac Oti is being held behind
bars on bail of $300 (reduced
from $500) on allegations that
he broke into a preacher’s residence in Fagaitua and allegedly
assaulted the pastor’s daughter
there, while she was sleeping
in her bedroom.
Oti made his initial
appearance before District
Court Judge Elvis Pila Patea
yesterday.
According to the government’s case, the victim woke
up when she was allegedly
assaulted, and then went to her
parents bedroom and told them
as to what had just happened.
Court filings say that when
the police apprehended the
defendant the strong smell of
alcohol was on his breath, he
could not stand straight on his
own and had slurred speech.
(Samoa News should point out
that during his appearance in
court, the defendant had a black
eye, but there was no mention
of it in the court affidavit or
during the court hearing.)
The government’s case
claims that defendant’s action
alarmed the victim’s “whole”
family.
Patea pointed out that
defendant is on probation from
a Public Peace Disturbance
that occurred last year.
Regarding the bail, Patea
reduced it from $500 to $300
on the condition that defendant
stay away from the pastor’s
residence and remain a law
abiding citizen.
The defendant cannot contact the victim directly or indirectly, and is ordered not to
consume alcohol.
Patea further pointed out
that the government may file
an additional felony charge
of burglary. In this case, the
defendant is facing charges
of private peace disturbance,
third degree assault and trespassing, all three counts are
misdemeanors. Defendant’s
next appearance is scheduled
on March 5, 2015.
DET. IOANE PASELIO’S
CASE gets CONTINUED
Vice and Narcotics Detective, Ioane “Johnny” Paselio
was in the District Court yesterday for his pre-trial conference in which his attorney
Assistant Public Defender
Mathoni McCormick asked
for a one week continuance to
allow them time to review the
information on the case.
Paselio is charged with two
counts of third degree assault,
property damage, possession
of a prohibited weapon, possession of arms without a license
and public peace disturbance,
which are all misdemeanors.
According to the government’s case, police responded
to a trouble call at a night club
in Pago Pago, which resulted
in the apprehension of two offduty police officers — Paselio
and Det. Geoffrey Tagaloa.
It’s alleged the defendant,
Det. Paselio punched several persons, including the
doorman, during the altercation, as well as a window of the
night club, shattering it. Two
witnesses further told the police
that they saw the defendant
pull out a gun and threatened to
shoot the door man during the
incident. However, its alleged
that on the night in question the
police impounded the vehicle,
and when they searched the car
nothing was recovered.
Det. Tagaloa has not been
charged in this matter.
DRUG DEFENDANT’S
MOTION GRANTED FOR
REDUCTION OF BAIL
Associate Justice Lyle Richmond has granted the motion for
reduction of bail for a 24- yearold woman who was allegedly
found with a glass pipe used to
smoke “ice” or methamphetamine, which had been hidden
in the crotch of her pants.
Drug defendant April Peric,
a mother of two, is facing two
drug charges: unlawful possession of a controlled substance, methamphetamine and
unlawful possession of controlled substance methamphetamine, with intent to distribute.
The defendant was initially
held behind bars on $50,000
bail. If convicted on both
charges Peric is looking at 25
Actor Daniel Craig, center, performs during the shooting
of the latest James Bond movie ‘Spectre’, in Rome, Thursday,
(AP Photo/Angelo Carconi, Ansa)
Feb. 19, 2015.
Page 6
Vehicle For Sale
ANZ - Amerika Samoa Bank has the following vehicle for sale.
2010 HYUNDAI TUCSON
Minimum Bid: $10,500.00
Sealed bids are invited for the purchase of the above vehicle on an “as is”
basis. Vehicle may be inspected at Tafuna Branch per appointment only.
Please address all bids to:
ANZ Amerika Samoa Bank
Assets Management Unit
P.O. Box 3790
Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799
Bids close at 3:00 pm on February 23, 2015
For more information contact:
Isara Uelese, Peni Meleisea, Litia Talaea or
Lui Pua at 633-1151 ext 362 or 348
“FLOWING IMPRESSIONS:
GROWING EXPRESSIONS” ART SHOW
featuring our local young artists
Friday, Feb 20th • 12Noon ‘til 8pm
Saturday, Feb 21st • 10am - 6pm
POWER FLOW YOGA STUDIO IN MALAEIMI
(between Manu’a Store & Lucky Dragon Restaurant)
NEWS IN BRIEF
Puerto Rico Powerball winner appears,
but anonymously
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico
(AP) — The winner of a Powerball ticket in Puerto Rico
appeared a week after hitting
the $564 million jackpot but
has opted to remain anonymous, officials said Thursday.
The person stopped by the
Puerto Rico Lottery office with
their ticket and has 60 days to
decide how they want to claim
the prize they will share with
winners in Texas and North Carolina. The unidentified winner
can choose between a lump sum
payment of $101 million, or 30
payments over 29 years.
The ticket was sold at a Shell
gasoline station in the southern
coastal city of Ponce, but the
winner is not from there, said
Antonio Perez Lopez, assistant
secretary of the Puerto Rico
Lottery. He did not provide
further details.
Puerto Rico began selling
Powerball tickets just four
months ago.
A winner has not been
identified in Texas, while lottery officials in North Carolina have said that a lawyer
informed them a client with
a winning ticket is waiting to
claim the money.
Winners have 180 days to
claim their prize.
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Breakfast is available all day!
LUNCH:
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We are open from 7am to 4:30pm
Fa’afetai, Staff and Management
Driver falls off
a bridge after
stopping to help
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP)
— A Connecticut woman who
stopped to help people involved
in a car accident has died after
falling off a highway bridge.
State police say 34-year-old
Lauren Mohr, of Wallingford,
was acting as a good Samaritan
at the accident scene on Interstate 91 in New Haven at about
12:30 a.m. Thursday when she
fell over a concrete wall and
plummeted 40 feet. She was
pronounced dead at a hospital.
Troopers say she may have been
trying to avoid an oncoming car
when she fell. Her death remains
under investigation.
A Quinnipiac University
spokesman says Mohr was a
temporary admissions aide at
that school. None of the five
people in the two cars involved
in the accident was injured.
One of the drivers was cited for
tailgating and other violations.
Police: Houston car
thief stopped to
take singing selfie
LA PORTE, Texas (AP) —
Police say a Houston teen took
a video of himself singing to a
rap song while driving a stolen
car. Kenneth Davis is charged
with unauthorized use of a
motor vehicle and burglary of
a motor vehicle.
KHOU-TV reported that La
Porte police tried to pull over
three pickup trucks Monday
driving without their lights
on. Two of the drivers fled.
Authorities located one of the
trucks after it was abandoned.
That eventually led them
to Davis. His phone had one
video of him driving a car and
singing along to the Drake
song “How Bout Now.”
Police say the phone also
linked him to other car thefts.
police liaison fired
for smart-alecky
Facebook post
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP)
— A Maryland state employee’s smart-alecky comment
on Facebook about being
“groped” by prison guards
has gotten him fired. Stephen
Moyer, secretary of the Maryland Department of Public
Safety and Correctional Services, announced Thursday
that Michael Allred was fired
based on “inappropriate comments made on social media.”
Allred was employed as a
police liaison with the state’s
government
accountability
program.
In the Facebook post, Allred
wrote: “Visiting the prisons ...
haven’t been groped this much
since the flight on the honeymoon ... and this is just the
guards!”
Department
spokesman
Mark Vernarelli confirmed the
post was the reason Allred was
fired. Security has been extra
tight in Maryland prisons after
a scandal involving smuggled
drugs and cellphones in the Baltimore City Detention Center.
Police: Drunken passenger assaults airline staff at airport
LOS ANGELES (AP) —
Authorities allege a drunken
Delta Air Lines passenger
assaulted airline staff and police
at L.A. International Airport
before she was arrested. City
News Service reports 32-yearold Lisa Piasecki of Irwin,
North Carolina, was held at
Terminal 6 by three flight crew
members, who told officers she
assaulted airline personnel.
Airport police say Piasecki
was uncooperative and combative and was dragged away
“kicking and screaming.” Investigators say she was intoxicated
and also assaulted an officer.
Piasecki was taken to a hospital
for treatment and was arrested
around 2 a.m. Thursday on suspicion of battery on a police
officer and public drunkenness.
Judge and wife sue
driver who killed
son in hit-and-run
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A
federal judge and his wife have
sued the driver in a hit-and-run
crash that killed their 23-yearold son in Pacific Palisades
two years ago. City News Service reported Tuesday that the
wrongful death suit filed by
Dean and Sharon Pregerson, the
parents of David M. Pregerson,
seeks unspecified damages.
The suit names 67-yearold Marguerite Dao Vuong,
who has pleaded no contest to
leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death. Also
named is her 67-year-old husband, Michael Vuong, who has
pleaded no contest to being
an accessory. Prosecutors say
he tried to help his wife avoid
prosecution by identifying
himself as the person driving
the car. They are scheduled to
be sentenced March 6.
David Pregerson, a budding
filmmaker and recent UCLA
graduate, died days after the
Dec. 27, 2013 collision.
TSA: 2 women had
guns in handbags
at JFK airport
NEW YORK (AP) — Federal officials say two women
with guns in their handbags
have been stopped at checkpoints within 90 minutes of
each other at John F. Kennedy
Airport. The Transportation
Security Administration says
officers found a BB gun in one
woman’s bag at around 5:45
a.m. Thursday. The New York
City resident got a summons.
Then officers say an X-ray
machine detected a .40-caliber, semi-automatic unloaded
handgun in another woman’s
purse at 7:15 a.m.
Port Authority of New York
and New Jersey police arrested
40-year-old Nerelis Beatriz
Wiseman of Chatham on a
weapons possession charge.
She told TSA officers she forgot
the weapon was with her. Flyers
can bring guns in checked luggage but not in carry-ons.
AS Economic Development
plan asks for construction
of a runway on Swains Is.
by Fili Sagapolutele, Samoa News Correspondent
Setting up a fish jerky processing plant and exporting coconut
crabs are some of the economic development proposals for Swains
Island, according to the Economic Development Implementation
Plan (EDIP), which also revealed that there have been no studies
or economic development plans for the island.
However, Swains Islands Rep. Su’a Alexander Eli Jennings
says these and other important economic proposals cited in the
EDIP can be achieved if there is vast improvement in either — or
both — sea and air transportation.
The Economic Development Implementation Plan (EDIP)
calls for construction of a runway for Swains Island and introduction of regular and reliable air service.
Responding to Samoa News questions, Su’a said yesterday
that there is “more than sufficient land to build a landing strip”
which will be very important in the development of Swains, as
well as improving trade and commerce with nearby Tokelau —
an island group with close ties with Swains.
He said the new locally based airline, Tausani Air, would be
of great help in getting air transportation introduced to Swains,
once a runway is built. “Air service is important and it can also
help trade with Tokelau, which last year signed a memorandum
of agreement with ASG covering issues such as trade,” he said.
Su’a also pointed out that ASG’s new multi-million dollar passenger and cargo ferry currently being constructed off island to sail
between Tutuila and Manu’a islands, will further assist economic
development for Swains as well as trade between the territory and
Tokelau, which doesn’t have sufficient land space for an air strip.
“The biggest issue for Swains is transportation, which will
also provide assistance to Tokelau,” he said. “And the focus now,
is transportation in order to fast track the achievements in proposed economic developments for Swains.” He also pointed out
that the plans by Philippines based AVM Bernardo Engineering
to invest $106 million to set up “multi-line food processing plant”
on Tutuila can also benefit Swains but — again — improvements
to air and ocean transportation will be needed.
According to the EDIP, Swains Island has sufficient space to
facilitate an airstrip of up to 4000 feet, which can safely accommodate the Inter Island Air’s Dornier 228 and Polynesian’s Twin
Otter airplanes. “This will greatly boost air travel to Swains and
the Tokelau, as well as improve emergency medevac for both
islands,” it says.
EDIP REPORT
A footnote in the EDIP revealed that there are no studies or
economic development plans for Swains Island, let alone anything concerning the need for air transport to and from the island.
As a result, there is no formal written assessment of its potential
contribution to the overall economic development of the Territory.
However, objectives for focus sections as they pertain to
Swains Island, and relevant and viable actions for implementation can still be determined by interviewing knowledgeable persons with first hand experience, it says adding that Su’a was interviewed by the EDIP task force.
Currently, the only means of passenger/cargo transport to and
from Swains is a boat ride from Tutuila that takes about 24-hours.
The EDIP also says that an aggressive campaign to market and
brand Swains Island as a unique eco-tourism destination is currently underway. Swains Island will be promoted for eco-tourism,
dive charters, amateur radio expeditions, science and research
expeditions and fishing charters – all of which will benefit the
Territory’s overall economy.
“Active eco-tourism promotion and concrete plans already
underway to establish a fish jerky processing plant on island and
export coconut crabs will create employment opportunities and
require emergency service transport by air,” it says.
Su’a told Samoa News that coconut crabs take about 15 years
to get to adulthood for export, so “we need to raise coconut crabs
in a manner that will ensure their survival is protected”, he said,
adding that coconut crabs are also excellent for “oso” or the ‘food
gift pack’ for family and friends.
“We’re really at this starting point, trying to promote ecotourism, especially with all the attention Swains has received so
far, and more in the future from Jean Michel Cousteau’s documentary ‘Swains Island, One of the Last Jewels of the Planet’,” he said.
(The documentary had a private viewing last August and will
be released to PBS network and and possibly Discovery Channel
this year, according to the EDIP.)
Action needed to achieve these goals include a focus of ASG
grant application efforts for economic and transportation developmental planning and project funding for Swains Island, and
development of a runway strip and supporting facilities, along
with securing small aircraft services.
JOB ANNOUNCEMENT
Job Title:
Information Technology Administrator
Position Date:
February 10, 2015
Serial No.:
004-15
Department/Division:
Homeland Security
Closing Date:
February 24, 2015
Announcement No.:
004-15
Type of Position:
Permanent Appointment
Posting Type:
Employment Opportunity
Open to the public
Pay Grade/Salary Range:
GS 14 / $18,657 - $45, 047
Note: This is exempted from the freeze as per the Governor’s General Memorandum.
Due to limited number of applicants applied for the above position, DHS has
requested to re-advertise the position.
General Description:
The incumbent provide vision and leadership for developing and implementing information technology initiatives. The
IT Manager directs the planning and implementation of the Department’s systems in support of its mission and in order to
improve cost effectiveness, service, quality, and department development. The IT Manager is responsible for all aspects and
performance of the organization’s information technology and computer systems to provide communications to management, monitor progress and manage risk. Work includes planning and developing policy, systems oversight, guidance and
consultation in the development and operation of the department’s information systems. The IT Manager should be able to
coordinate project phases from development to installation. The position in under the general supervision of the Director.
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
➢ Lead and overall development of electronic and information technology internal controls and internal control systems
including but not limited to complete losing of all employees and their access by employee reporting structure including
applicable policies and procedures.
➢ Lead and manage and supervise all information system needs for the department
➢ Directs and coordinates and implement telephone system including network system design and installation
➢ Undertake and manage relevant IT projects as required
➢ Provide technical and end user training for the department of use of information system technology
➢ Direct, schedule, assign, and supervise activities of employees responsible for providing information technology services
in the Department of implement work methods and procedures to increase productivity, safety and improve dispatch service to other first responder network systems
➢ Establish IT departmental goals, objectives, and operating procedures
➢ Responsible for maintaining the appropriate equipment inventory to ensure that sufficient spare equipment/materials are
on hand to replace failed equipment/materials and maintain continued integrity of the network. Ensure equipment/materials serviceable and completeness before and after installation.
➢ Oversees all computerized database, Interpol 24/7 Global communication System, Regional Information Sharing System/
Automated Trusted Information Exchange (RISS/ATRIX), FBI-National Crime Information Center (NCIC), National Law
Enforcement Telecommunications System (NLETS), EJ Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC), Law Enforcement On Line (LEO)
System, national Drug Pointer Index (NDPIX) System, South Pacific Law Enforcement Xtranet (SPLEXNET), Vital Statistics Database and American Samoa Criminal Justice Information Network (ASCJIN).
➢ Responsible for providing technical support to the ASCJIN database and network and coordinate main infrastructure
maintenance and enhancement for the database server.
➢ Responsible for providing technical support to the ASCJIN secure database for ASDHS, Department of Legal Affairs,
Department of Public Safety and American Samoa Judicial system.
➢ Responsible for enforcing and maintaining security procedures. Control access to certain area, equipment and materials.
➢ Responsible for coordinating and managing the development and production of information technology materials for the
Development initiatives.
➢ Responsible for overall managing the information system odor the department during incident operations.
➢ Responsible for monitoring all Information Technology performances and activities
➢ Supervises recruitment, development, retention and organization of all IT staff in accordance with corporate budgetary
objectives and personnel policies
➢ Supervises third party maintenance of software and hardware
➢ Supervise, motivate, train and evaluate five (5) employees in the Crime & Information Technology staff
➢ Responsible to ensure conformance to standard installation practices
➢ Promotes and oversees strategic relationships between internal IT resources and external entities, including vendors and
partner organizations
➢ Responsible for supervising nine staff and develop position description for each staff member
➢ Responsible for maintaining and sustaining office equipment that were purchased with federal funds valued over a million dollars
➢ All other duties and responsibilities as assigned
Knowledge Skill and Ability:
➢ Knowledge of:
0 Applicable federal and local laws in information Technology
0 Personnel and Supervisory principles and practices
0 Depth related to public safety communications hardware and software
0 Excellent writing and verbal communications
➢ Ability and skill to:
0 set and consistently meet deadlines; manage multiple tasks
0 give directors to fellow staff in a teamwork environment
0 communicate goals and issue in public presentations proficiency with communication; work
without supervision; proof documents for accuracy
0 express ideas clearly, concisely in oral and written form
0 communicating clearly, concisely and effectively, both orally and in writing
0 follow guidelines and comply with any regulations that has been layout in any task given;
evaluate, improve and make suggestions for improvement
0 be objective and demonstrate resourceful, creative, problem-solving skills
0 plan, direct and coordinate the work assigned in any affectively manner
0 effectively plan and organize work flow, activities and scheduling to ensure efficient and
departmental operations
0 operate a personal computer, related software and other standard office equipment
0 establish and maintain effective working relationships with co-workers, clients, and local and state
government employees and officials
0 develop short and long range plans and goals to develop programs and projects related to the
Communication Center operation
0 develop and revise policies and procedures applicable to assigned area
0 translate complex technical language and ideas into language easily comprehensible to non-specialists.
Academic and Experience Requirements:
➢ Applicant must have a Master’s degree in related field from an accredited college/university plus 3 years of
work related experience OR a Bachelor’s degree plus 5 years; 3 years of supervisory level. Years of progressively responsible
working experience may be substituted for portion of academic requirement. Salary will be adjusted according to experience.
Complete information concerning this vacancy may be obtained from the Personnel Division of the Department of Human
Resources, or please contact the Recruitment unit at 633-4485/633-5357.
Faafetai tele,
Page 8
A partially bleached branching Acropora colony at Coconut Point, American Samoa. NOAA
scientists warn that ocean conditions from February to May 2015 will mean widespread coral
[Photo: NOAA]
bleaching and significant mortality in American Samoa.
NOAA warns warm ocean may
mean a major coral bleaching
$1 Million in grants available through OIA’s Coral Reef Initiative
compiled by Samoa News staff
ment planning in Ulithi Atoll, Yap, Federated
While NOAA scientists are warning that States of Micronesia, and the outer islands of
warm ocean temperatures set the stage for major Republic of the Marshall Islands; and coral
coral bleaching, Assistant Secretary for Insular reef internships for university students in the
Areas Esther Kia’aina has announced the avail- insular areas.
ability of one million dollars in grant funds to
Applications for 2015 funding are encourprotect and improve the health of coral reef hab- aged and will be considered from insular govitats in the U.S. insular areas.
ernment entities, educational institutions, or
The NOAA warnings follow severe bleaching non-profit organizations whose grant proposals
in 2014, and come with the release of the most directly benefit coral reef habitats in the four
recent outlook from NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch U.S. territories or three freely associated states.
that forecasts the potential for coral bleaching
Consideration will be given to proposals that
up to four months in the future.
support local and regional priorities for protecIn the Pacific, thermal stress has already tion and sustainable use of marine resources, and
reached levels that cause bleaching in the nations especially coral reefs. Priorities for each insular
of Nauru, Kiribati, and the Solomon Islands, area are identified in each jurisdiction’s Local
and is expected to spread to Tuvalu, Samoa, and Action Strategy and by the U.S. Coral Reef
American Samoa in the next few months.
Task Force, which may be accessed through the
NOAA scientists in American Samoa are U.S. Coral Reef Task Force website.
already seeing the start of bleaching on their
For more information, you can download
shallow reefs, according to the NOAA website. Instructions for Applications on our website:
In a press release announcing OIA’s Coral www.samoanews.com or on Grants.gov.
reef Initiative grants Assistant Secretary
BACKGROUND
Kia’aina said, “Healthy coral reefs are the corCoral bleaching takes place when corals
nerstone of island communities, from the U.S. are stressed by changes in conditions such as
Virgin Islands to Guam … and protect island temperature, light or nutrients. They expel the
communities from coastal erosion, storms and symbiotic algae living in their tissues, causing
wave damage, provide habitat to numerous them to turn white or pale. Without the algae,
marine species, and support cultural practices the coral loses its major source of food and is
and livelihoods as well as important tourism more susceptible to disease.
and recreational industries. These valuable
In a significant advance, NOAA’s Coral
resources are being threatened by a variety of Reef Watch program has refined its satellite
stresses from inland de-forestation to over-har- observational capacity that provides near realvesting and climate change. OIA is committed time information on coral reef environmental
to helping the insular areas protect these vital conditions. It now can focus on reef areas as
resources for present and future generations.”
small as five square kilometers, with an increase
The Coral Reef Initiative in the Office of as much as 50 times more data than before.
of Insular Affairs accomplishes its goals by This allows coral reef managers and scientists
awarding grants for projects that help the insular to accurately pinpoint bleaching thermal stress
areas address a variety of threats from land- levels at coral reef scales and take actions to
based sources of pollution, to over-fishing and protect their coral reefs.
climate change.
Initial tests of the outlook and daily fiveThe program also supports local efforts to kilometer bleaching thermal stress products
improve understanding of the value of coral proved useful for predicting, monitoring, and
reefs through outreach and education programs. understanding major coral bleaching and morExamples of recent coral reef projects funded tality events in Guam, the Mariana Islands, the
by OIA include restoration of watersheds Northwestern and main Hawaiian Islands, the
at Faga’alu, American Samoa, and LaoLao Marshall Islands, Kiribati, the Florida Keys, and
Bay, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana elsewhere in 2014.
Islands; community-based resource manageSources: OIA and NOAA
Perez gives sides
in West Coast port
talks Fri. deadline
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The nation’s top labor official ratcheted up pressure on the two sides haggling over a new contract
for dockworkers at West Coast seaports, telling them if they don’t
reach an agreement by Friday, they’ll have to leave California and
negotiate in Washington.
Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez gave that deadline Thursday
to leaders of the dockworkers’ union and a maritime association
representing their employers.
Should the two sides not succeed, Perez said he will haul their
leaders to the nation’s capital next week, according to Oakland
Mayor Libby Schaaf, who learned about the deadline in an evening call Perez had with mayors of major West Coast port cities.
Shifting the stage to “the shadow of the White House will
place immense pressure on these parties to resolve an issue that is
being underscored as being of national importance,” Schaaf said.
Perez’s office did not have immediate comment Thursday
night. Neither did the bargaining parties, which are operating
under a media blackout.
The talks in San Francisco began nine months ago, but broke
down in recent weeks. Perez began overseeing negotiations Tuesday.
Since his arrival, the two sides appear more engaged than
before. On Thursday, talks extended into the evening.
Meanwhile, billions of dollars of cargo sits on ships anchored
outside the 29 ports. They cannot dock because of historically bad
cargo bottlenecks at ports that handle about $1 trillion of trade
annually, much of it with Asia.
Cargo already was moving slowly due to systemic problems
in the supply chain. Starting this fall though, problems reached
crisis levels, due both to dockworkers who slowed their work rate
to comply fully with safety rules and partial worker lockouts by
companies that load and unload ships.
Thursday also saw continued pressure from elected officials.
“Every day that goes by without a resolution only adds to the
economic pain for the West Coast and the entire country. This
cannot continue,” California’s two Democratic U.S. senators,
Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, wrote to the leaders of the
International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific
Maritime Association of employers. The association represents
companies that own, load and unload massive ocean-going ships.
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Moody’s follows S&P, downgrades
$48 Billion of Puerto Rico’s debt…
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico on Thursday
was hit with its second debt downgrade in a week as the U.S.
territory’s government pushes to overhaul its tax system to help
generate more revenue amid an economic recession.
Moody’s Investors Service downgraded $48 billion worth of
Puerto Rico debt, warning that the island might default on its
debt in the next two years. “Tax reforms now before the legislature, which are uncertain in their timing and their results, further signal a rising degree of political risk that could ultimately
cause outcomes unfavorable to bondholders,” the agency stated.
Moody’s also said that slow economic growth has led to a
drop in tax revenues that could worsen Puerto Rico’s liquidity
issues. Standard & Poor’s downgraded the island’s general
obligation bonds last week. Both downgrades seem to indicate
a breakdown in communication between the territory’s government and credit rating agencies, said Triet Nguyen, founder of
Axios Advisors LLC, an Illinois-based municipal research and
investment advisory company.
“Tax reform is probably a good idea over the long term, but
unfortunately in the short term it may cause a lot of confusion,”
he said in a phone interview. “People are very skeptical about
the government’s ability to pull it off.”
Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla is seeking to implement a
16 percent value-added tax that he projects could generate up
to $1.5 billion in additional revenue as the government struggles to reduce $73 billion in public debt. Puerto Rico also is
expected to soon issue an estimated $2 billion in bonds backed
by a proposed excise tax increase on crude oil. Despite those
actions, concerns over how the government plans to deal with
its debt grew after a U.S. federal court ruled earlier this month
that a local debt-restructuring law is unconstitutional.
On Thursday, Puerto Rico’s delegate to Congress, Pedro
Pierluisi, announced that a U.S. House subcommittee will hold
a hearing next week on his proposal to allow the island’s stateowned corporations to restructure their debt under Chapter 9.
“I believe this is in the best interests of all stakeholders,
including creditors, who are craving stability in a time of deep
uncertainty,” Pierluisi said.
Winter weather both toasty
and cold; a tale of 2 nations
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WASHINGTON (AP) — It may be hard to believe for a
country that’s shivering from Maine to Miami, but 2015 has
gotten off to a rather toasty start.
Last month was the second warmest January on record globally, behind 2007, with temperatures 1.4 degrees above the
average for the 20th century, according to the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration. Meteorologists calculated
that the United States in January was 2.9 degrees warmer than
normal, making it the 24th warmest January since 1880.
In America, January and the entire winter so far has been a
tale of two nations: record hot in the West, bone-chilling cold
to the East. While Boston is buried in more than 8 feet of snow,
parts of Pacific Northwest that depend on winter snow have
gotten next to nothing.
“Winter seems to have completely forgotten about us out
here,” said Kathie Dello, deputy director of the Oregon Climate
Service at Oregon State University.
“If we could find a way of sending that snow out here, we’d
really, really appreciate that.”
Flowers have already started popping out and the ski industry
is desperate, Dello said: “You can’t ski on rain, you can’t ski
on dirt.”
But you can certainly ski in New England, if you can dig out.
California is having its warmest winter on record for a
second consecutive year. And for the first time, San Francisco
had no rain in January.
What’s happened is that high pressure — nicknamed the
ridiculously resilient ridge — has parked just west of California
with unusually warm ocean water, preventing storms and cold
from sneaking into the West, according to NOAA climatologist
Jake Crouch.
Then the jet stream dips south from Canada, bringing the
cold to the Midwest and East and the cold in the East combines
with the warm water of the Atlantic to provide big snow in the
Northeast, he said.
And while it had been chilly in the East and Midwest, up
until this week it hadn’t been too record breaking, especially
compared to what’s been going on out West, Crouch said.
There were 3,499 daily warm temperature records broken in
January, compared to 775 cold ones, he said.
Congresswoman Aumua Amata and Guam Governor, Eddie Calvo at the Pacific Basin Development Council meeting in Washington this week.
She participated in two organizational meetings, including the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force.
They are both meetings that Gov. Lolo M. Moliga and entourage are attending.
The mission of the Pacific Basin Development Council is to foster the socioeconomic development in
the regions of American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam. The council continues its work
to bring economic prosperity and opportunity to those islands it represents. “It is an honor to participate in this meeting where we mark the 35th Anniversary of the Pacific Basin Development Council.
As the daughter of a founding member, it is a privilege for me to be here to recognize the good work this
council has done over the past 35 years on behalf of all Pacific Islanders,” said Aumua.
The Congresswoman also attended the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force’s bi-annual meeting in Washington. The United States Coral Reef Task Force was established in 1998 by Presidential Executive
Order to lead U.S. efforts to preserve and protect coral reef ecosystems. The task force includes leaders
of 12 Federal agencies, seven U.S. States, Territories, Commonwealths, and three Freely Associated
States and helps build partnerships, strategies, and support for on-the-ground action to conserve
coral reefs. “As someone who can actually see the coral reefs from the front of my home in American
Samoa, I’m especially delighted to be here today. As you know, coral reefs are vitally important to
the fragile ecosystems of our oceans. In American Samoa, we have a direct link to the reefs and rely
[courtesy photo]
upon their good health for the continued benefit of our people,” she stated. Grand Opening
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Page 10
➧ NEWS IN BRIEF…
Continued from page 6
Obama gets update on search
for presidential library site
CHICAGO (AP) — President Barack Obama is getting an
update about the competition to pick a site for his future presidential library. Obama stopped by his family’s home on Chicago’s South Side while in town to designate a national monument
and campaign for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s re-election.
The Barack Obama Foundation, a nonprofit, is choosing from
four universities that made the short list. The White House said
the board chairman, Marty Nesbitt, and other members of the
foundation team briefed Obama on Thursday.
But a foundation official said no final recommendation was
being made to the president. The official wasn’t authorized to
comment by name and requested anonymity.
The University of Chicago, the University of Illinois at Chicago, Columbia University in New York and the University of
Hawaii in Honolulu are competing. Last week the Chicago Park
District approved transferring 20 acres to the city, to be leased to
the foundation if Chicago gets the library. Emanuel intervened
to secure the land after the foundation let it be known it was
concerned that the University of Chicago couldn’t secure access
to its proposed sites.
Crying fowl: Crates of chickens
fly out of tractor-trailer
NESCOPECK, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania State Police are
crying fowl after crates of live chickens hurtled off a tractortrailer on a Pennsylvania highway and the birds flew the coop. The
feather-ruffling incident happened at around 6:30 a.m. Thursday
on Interstate 80 in Nescopeck Township, near Berwick.
State police say about 500 chickens fell from the truck. Police
and Department of Transportation workers spent about an hour
gathering up the fowl, some living and some dead.
Police say PennDOT will hand the live chickens over to the
Agriculture Department and the dead ones will be thrown away.
Police say the driver of the truck did not realize he lost his
load and kept going.
Traffic wasn’t affected by the search.
Kentucky town has had just about
enough of the ‘Frozen’ weather
HARLAN, Ky. (AP) — The cold might not bother Disney’s
A giraffe observes visitors on a sunny day at Ouwehands Zoo in Rhenen, Netherlands, Queen Elsa, but it’s wreaking enough havoc in Kentucky that
a police department announced a joke warrant for the popular
(AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Thursday, Feb. 19, 2015. “Frozen” character’s arrest.
Police in the small, rural town of Harlan posted a Facebook
Human Resource Department, Tafuna
message Wednesday about Elsa.
PO Box PPB, Pago Pago
American Samoa
American Samoa 96799
They wrote: “Suspect is a blonde female last seen wearing a
Phone No: (684) 699-3033
Power Authority
long
blue dress and is known to burst into song ‘Let it Go!’ As
Fax No: (684) 699-3046
you can see by the weather she is very dangerous.”
Email: [email protected]
Police soon posted another message, telling residents that
all kidding aside, they should take the weather seriously and be
careful.
A massive system dropped more than a foot of snow in parts
Position Title Electrician II
Posting Date
February 19, 2015
of Kentucky. Bitterly cold temperatures moved in Wednesday
night and were likely to stay for several days.
Department Wastewater Operation
Deadline
4:00 PM, February 27, 2015
Former officer sentenced in
DUI crash that injured woman
Division
Operation
Pay Rate
$8.89 - $10.37 per hour
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) — A former Bakersfield police
Position Type Career Service – 12 months probation Job Grade/Status D/6/A – F/3/D; Non-Exempt
officer has been sentenced to seven years and four months in
prison for a drunken driving crash that left a woman paralyzed.
Reports To
Wastewater Operation Superintendent
KBAK-TV reports Kristofer Randall Carter apologized to
the victim, Leann Katherine Harris, before his sentencing on
Major Duties & Responsibilities
Wednesday.
Will assist Supervisor and Wastewater crews and lead the electrical team to install, test, commission, and maintain
Carter crashed his car into a Bakersfield gas station in April
electrical equipment in Wastewater plants and lift stations. Assist in preparing sketches to show wiring schematic and
2014.
He plowed over gas pumps and severely injured the
equipment with the aim of familiarizing and learning how such items are used and applied accordingly. Will assist with
20-year-old
Harris, who was pumping gas at the time.
the wiring, conduit, fixtures, transformers and other electrical devices in the size, type, and arrangement needed for
Harris, who can no longer walk, says she’s satisfied by the
proper and safe operation of electrical systems and equipment; pumps, tests continuity of circuit to insure electrical
seven-year sentence.
compatibility and safety of all components; observe functioning of installed equipment or system to detect hazards and
Carter pleaded guilty in January to a single charge — driving
need for adjustments; learn to repair or rewire faulty equipment or systems. Perform other duties as required.
under the influence of alcohol or drugs causing bodily injury.
MinimumR equirements
Four other charges were dismissed.
Associate
of
Arts
(AA) or Associate of Science (AS) in Electrical Technology or higher
He served as a Bakersfield police officer from July 2006 to
Education
qualification from an accredited Trade or Technical Institution.
March 2012.
Combined five (5) years of minimum utility / industrial electrical experience.
Man acquitted after 24 years
Experience
Related work experience or related trade certification from approved learning institutions outside
in prison sues NYC and police
American Samoa may substitute certificate. Successful completion of a recognized apprenticeship
NEW YORK (AP) — A man who spent 24 years in prison
as an electrician and a minimum of two (2) years related work experience would be a plus.
Repairing and installation of pumps and other equipment for Wastewater will be a huge advantage before being retried and acquitted in a 1989 New York City
Required knowledge: Electrical principles, materials, tools & equipment used in wastewater
killing is suing police, saying detectives mishandled the
Skills, Abilities,
conveyance and treatment system; generators, and related mathematics; safety principles,
investigation.
Job Requirements methods & practices.
Derrick Deacon is seeking unspecified damages in a lawsuit
Ability to: Read and understand plan specifications, electrical one-line diagram, be able to use
filed Wednesday against the city. The city Law Department had
trade tools and demonstrate skills, other trade skills a plus.
no immediate comment.
Physical demands: Work involves standing, walking and periods of stooping, bending and
Deacon was convicted in the 1989 shooting death of a teenkneeling and occasional heavy lifting of items up to 75lbs may be required. Must be able to
ager
during a robbery in a Flatbush apartment complex. He was
climb a ladder or work at an elevated position when required. Must be able to communicate in
English as a second language. Must be a self starter and a committed, hard worker.
granted a new trial in 2012 after one witness recanted and an FBI
cooperator identified a different man as the shooter.
Qualified applicants: please submit a completed ASPA Employment Application with a copy of your resume to
ASPA Tafuna (address listed above) by the deadline listed above. Please attach copies of credentials and transcripts.
It took a jury nine minutes to acquit Deacon in 2013.
Candidates selected for hire must pass examinations (when applicable), pre-employment clearances & test
His lawyer, Earl Ward, says the case reflects “gross misconnegative on pre-employment drug test. ASPA reserves the right to waive education and experience requirements
duct”
by detectives. Deacon also has an ongoing $25 million
as necessary. No phone inquiries accepted.
lawsuit against the state.
An Equal Opportunity Employer * A Drug Free Workplace
PUBLIC JOB POSTING
Snowden: NSA helped British steal cell phone codes
WASHINGTON (AP) — Britain’s electronic
spying agency, in cooperation with the U.S. National
Security Agency, hacked into the networks of a
Dutch company to steal codes that allow both governments to seamlessly eavesdrop on mobile phones
worldwide, according to the documents given to
journalists by Edward Snowden.
A story about the documents posted Thursday
on the website The Intercept offered no details on
how the intelligence agencies employed the eavesdropping capability — providing no evidence, for
example, that they misused it to spy on people who
weren’t valid intelligence targets.
But the surreptitious operation against the world’s
largest manufacturer of mobile phone data chips is
bound to stoke anger around the world.
It fuels an impression that the NSA and its British
counterpart will do whatever they deem necessary to
further their surveillance prowess, even if it means
stealing information from law-abiding Western
companies.
The targeted company, Netherlands-based
Gemalto, makes “subscriber identity modules,” or
SIM cards, used in mobile phones and credit cards.
One of the company’s three global headquarters
is in Austin, Texas.
Its clients include AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and
Sprint, The Intercept reported.
The Intercept offered no evidence of any
eavesdropping against American customers of
A 1954 Les
Paul Gibson
guitar sells
for $335,500
NEW YORK (AP) — The
1954 Les Paul Gibson guitar
known as “Black Beauty” has
sold at auction for $335,500.
Guernsey’s auction house
says the six-string instrument
with gold-plated hardware set
the standard for other Les Paul
Gibson guitars.
Paul was a jazz, country
and blues guitarist. He made
frequent modifications to his
basic guitar over the years,
refining the sound.
Paul, whose hit songs
include “How High the Moon,”
played his instruments in concerts, recordings and on the
“Les Paul and Mary Ford” television show. He died in 2009.
There was no pre-sale estimate for the “Black Beauty”
guitar, and Guernsey’s could
not provide the name of the
buyer. The auction record for
a guitar belongs to the Fender
Stratocaster that Bob Dylan
played at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. It sold for
$965,000 in 2013.
Paul collaborated on his original design with Gibson after
the guitar maker approached
him about making an electric
guitar bearing his name.
The auctioneer calls it the
most significant electric guitar
ever made.
Years ago, Paul gave the
instrument to his friend, guitar
technician and builder Tom
Doyle of Wantage, New Jersey.
Guernsey’s president, Arlan
Ettinger, said the Les Paul guitar
is considered a “Holy Grail”
among musicians because
it gave birth to thousands of
instruments that bear his name.
those providers, and company officials told the
website they had no idea their networks had been
penetrated.
Experts called it a major compromise of mobile
phone security.
A spokeswoman for Sprint Nextel said Thursday
that her company had no comment on the report,
while a spokeswoman for T-Mobile said her company was referring reporters to Gemalto and declined
further comment.
In addition to SIM cards, Gemalto is a leading
maker of encryption systems for other business and
industrial uses, including electronic payment processing and “smart” key cards that businesses and
government agencies use to restrict access to computers or other sensitive facilities.
“Their SIM cards would be used by most of the
major telecom operators,” said Linley Gwennap,
principal analyst at the Linley Group, a Silicon
Valley tech research firm.
The NSA did not immediately respond to a
request for comment. In the past, former agency
officials have defended using extra-legal techniques
to further surveillance capabilities, saying the U.S.
needs to be able to eavesdrop on terrorists and
U.S. adversaries who communicate on the same networks as everyone else.
The NSA, like the CIA, breaks the espionage and
hacking laws of other countries to get information
that helps American interests.
Still, the methods in this case may prove controversial, as did earlier Snowden revelations that the
NSA was hacking transmissions among Google’s
data centers.
The Intercept reported that British government
hackers targeted Gemalto engineers around the
world much as the U.S. often accuses Chinese government hackers of targeting Western companies
— stealing credentials that got the hackers into the
company’s networks.
Once inside, the British spies stole encryption
keys that allow them to decode the data that passes
between mobile phones and cell towers.
That allows them to ungarble calls, texts or emails
intercepted out of the air.
At one point in June 2010, Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ, as
its signals intelligence agency is known, intercepted
nearly 300,000 keys for mobile phone users in
Somalia, The Intercept reported. “Somali providers
are not on GCHQ’s list of interest,” the document
noted, according to the Intercept. “(H)owever, this
was usefully shared with NSA.”
Earlier in 2010, GCHQ successfully intercepted
keys used by wireless network providers in Iran,
Afghanistan, Yemen, India, Serbia, Iceland and
Tajikistan, according to the documents provided to
The Intercept.
But the agency noted trouble breaking into Pakistan networks.
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
American Samoa Government
Tel: (684) 633-5155 FAX: (684) 633-4195
Lolo Matalasi Moliga
Governor
Lemanu Peleti Mauga
Lieutenant Governor
PUBLIC NOTICE
February 11, 2015
Keniseli Faalupe FLafaele
Director
Uili Leauanae
Deputy Director
2015 BUSINESS LICENSE RENEWAL PERIOD AND BUSINESS SITE INSPECTIONS
The business community is hereby reminded that all 2014 business license expired on December 31, 2014.
Any business that fails to renew its license by January 30, 2015 is required to cease all business operations
or will be subject to prosecution pursuant to Section 27.0211 (b) of the American Samoa Code Annotated.
The public is hereby informed that the Department of Commerce will be conducting regular on-site inspections of all businesses for CY 2015 business licenses. Business owners are advised to post their 2015
business license certificate(s) in a conspicuous place on the premises. In the event that the Revenue Office
has not yet issued a business license certificate, business owners are asked to present their receipt as proof
of payment.
For further information regarding this notice, contact the Economic Development Division of the Department of Commerce at 633-5155.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Keniseli F. Lafaele
Director
FA’AALIGA
FA’AFOUINA O LAISENI PISINISI 2015 MA ASIASIGA I PISINISI
E fa’asilasila atu i le mamalu o le ‘au fai pisinisi, ua fa’amutaina uma le aoga o laisene pisinisi o le tausaga
2014 ia Tesema 31, 2014. O pisinisi uma foi e le’i fa’afouina laisene pisinisi talu mai Ianuari 30, 2015, o le a
taofia lona fa’afoeina pe molia fo’i i le tulafono Maga 27.021(b) o le Malo o Amerika Samoa.
E fa’alauiloa atu i le mamalu lautele, o le a fa’atautaia asiasiga a le Matagaluega o Fefa’atauaiga i pisinisi
uma i le teritori. Talosagaina pisinisi uma ia fa’apipi’i laisene pisinisi 2015 i se tulaga e fa’afaigofie ai lea
fa’amoemoe. Afai e le’i taua’aoina atu lau laisene ua uma ona fa’afouina, fa’amolemole ia saunia le risiti e
fa’ailoa ai ua uma ona totogi.
Fa’amolemole fa’afeso’ota’i mai le Matagaluega o Fefa’atauaiga le vaega o Tamaoaiga ma Atinae ile numera
telefoni 633-5155, mo se malamalama’aga i fuafuaga ua ta’ua i luga.
Male Fa’aaloalo,
Keniseli F. Lafaele
Fa’atonu
Page 12
Alaska deep-water port
proposed for vessels
sailing in Arctic waters
Visitors look over masses of ice formed around the Canadian Horseshoe Falls in Niagara Falls,
(AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Aaron Lynett)
Ontario, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2015. ➧ NEWS IN BRIEF…
Half-million of Wal-Mart’s
US workers to get pay raises
BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Wal-Mart
Stores Inc. is hoping its decision to boost
workers’ paychecks will help it boost its
bottom line.
The nation’s largest private employer
announced on Thursday that it’s giving a raise
to about half-million U.S. workers as part of
a $1 billion investment that includes changes
that Wal-Mart says are aimed at giving workers
more opportunities for advancement and more
consistent schedules.
The changes come as the company has faced
increased pressure to pay its hourly employees
more. But Wal-Mart, which has been criticized
for its messy stores and poor customer service, says it’s also focusing on recruiting and
retaining better workers so that it can improve
its business.
The company has struggled with disappointing sales for most of the past two years,
even though
it posted better-than-expected results during
the most recent holiday season. Wal-Mart hopes
that taking better care of its workers will lead to
better-run stores, more satisfied customers and
an increase in sales and profits.
Ex-NY Assembly Speaker
Sheldon Silver indicted
NEW YORK (AP) — Former New York
State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was
indicted Thursday on three charges after his
arrest in a federal bribery case.
The indictment was returned in Manhattan
federal court, where he appeared briefly last
month when he was freed on bail just a day after
sharing the stage with Gov. Andrew Cuomo
during his State of the State address.
The indictment doesn’t add to the charges
against Silver when he was arrested, but it’s a
critical step that provides a legal roadmap for
prosecutors’ presentation of evidence at trial.
Two conspiracy charges contained in a criminal
complaint were not included in the indictment,
though no explanation was offered.
Silver will now have to enter a plea at an
arraignment scheduled for Tuesday to charges
that include two forms of honest services
fraud, plus extortion under the color of official duties.
“Our client is not guilty. We can now begin
to fight for his total vindication. We intend to
do that fighting where it should be done — in
court,” Silver’s lawyers, Joel Cohen and Steve
Molo, said in a statement. Silver has said he is
confident he will be exonerated.
Man accused of shooting
whales with a WW II rifle
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A tuna fisherman
has been accused of shooting at pilot whales
from his vessel with a World War II-era rifle.
Daniel Archibald surrendered Thursday to
face the charges and was released on a $10,000
unsecured bond.
Archibald, who’s from Cape May, widely
considered America’s oldest seaside resort,
used a Mosin-Nagant rifle to shoot at pilot
whales from the vessel Capt. Bob, the U.S.
attorney’s office for New Jersey said.
A whale shot with a bullet from such a rifle
was beached and then died in Allenhurst, more
than 100 miles northeast of Cape May, in September 2011.
Authorities said Archibald told them he
had “sprayed” fire at pilot whales, which are
extremely social animals, about a month earlier
to chase them away from his vessel’s fishing
lines.
Archibald’s lawyer Bill Hughes had his
doubts about the case. “I seriously question the
U.S. attorney’s decisions with respect to this
case,” Hughes said. “I wish the government had
done a few things such as a fuller investigation
and read the law.”
Under a 1972 federal law, it’s illegal to hunt,
kill, capture or harass any marine mammal. The
law exempts from penalties commercial fishermen who harm marine mammals incidentally.
Hughes said his client is cooperating with
authorities.
N. Idaho escapee wounded
by homeowner, captured
WALLACE, Idaho (AP) — Authorities say
a prisoner who escaped earlier from the county
jail in Wallace, Idaho, has been captured after
he was shot and wounded by a homeowner.
KXLY-TV reports a Wallace-area resident
encountered 48-year-old Roy Bieluch when
he went to check on his barking dog Thursday
evening.
The Shoshone County sheriff’s office says
the resident confronted the stranger, called 911
and ordered the man to stay put. The armed
homeowner reportedly fired when Bieluch
approached him, and the escapee was hit at least
once in the leg.
Sheriff Mitch Alexander said earlier that
Bieluch escaped Tuesday night by working his
way through a ceiling crawl space in a utility
room to reach the jail lobby.
Bieluch had been jailed since December on
charges of burglary, malicious injury to property and petty theft.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A historic Alaska goldmining city could be the first place where the federal government
invests in a deep-water port to serve vessels in Arctic waters.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is preparing to release a
study for public comment that suggests expanding the Port of
Nome as a first step in improving infrastructure along Alaska’s
west and north coast.
Nome is south of the Bering Strait but far closer to Arctic
waters than the nearest Coast Guard base in Kodiak, an island
east of the Aleutian Chain.
The lack of a deep-water port along Alaska’s north and west
coasts has been a point of concern as climate warming has made
Arctic waters more accessible. As ship traffic has increased, the
corps, the Coast Guard and other federal agencies have expressed
concern about responding to vessels in distress, industrial activities and oil spills.
Royal Dutch Shell PLC began exploratory drilling on offshore leases in 2012 in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas.
The company is considering drilling again this summer in the
Chukchi if it can obtain the necessary permits. Tour boats travel
across the Bering Strait, and state and federal officials anticipate
shipping companies could someday use Arctic Ocean routes for
moving freight between continents.
Nome would welcome expanded port facilities that could
handle larger, deeper fuel tankers and possibly lower fuel prices,
said Joy Baker, Nome’s port project manager. The city would
also like to accommodate the Coast Guard fleet and vessels used
for petroleum drilling, she said.
The corps in 2012 launched a three-year study on deep ports
in response to increased vessel traffic. The study area covered
3,626 miles of coastline from southwest Alaska to the Canada
border. The goal was to evaluate, with the state of Alaska, potential locations that could service deep-draft vessels.
Nome was the first location identified for possible expansion
or development. The city offers advantages that more-northern
communities don’t, such as an airport that handles jets.
Its outer port, however, with annual dredging is only 22 feet
deep. Ships with deeper drafts must ferry their contents to shore.
Corps spokesman Tom Findtner said by email that the agency
in December tentatively selected a plan to modify the Port of
Nome. The plan suggests extending Nome’s causeway by 2,150
feet, building a 450-foot dock and dredging the new, protected
area and entrance channel to 28 feet.
The corps report is a feasibility review that will be released
for public comment, possibly by Friday. Details for expanding
the port would be developed in a planning, engineering and
design phase, Baker said.
“It’s just a rough sketch at this point,” she said.
➧ Healthful Diet Report…
A HEARTY ENDORSEMENT FOR COFFEE
The report looks at caffeine for the first time, and says coffee
is OK — even good for you.
The panel says there is strong evidence that 3 to 5 cups a day
can be part of a healthy diet, and there’s consistent evidence
that it’s even associated with reduced risk of type 2 diabetes and
heart disease.
The advice comes with some caveats — don’t add calories
with cream, milk and added sugars.
The report also advises against large-size energy drinks that
are popular in the marketplace, and it recommends pregnant
women limit caffeine to two cups of coffee a day.
EAT A PLANT-BASED DIET
The panel recommends eating more vegetables, fruits, whole
grains, legumes, nuts and seeds.
A plant-based diet is “more health promoting and is associated with less environmental impact” than the current U.S. diet,
which is high in meat.
The report stops short of telling people not to eat meat, saying
“no food groups need to be eliminated completely to improve
sustainability outcomes.”
Overall, the panel advises a diet lower in red and processed
meat, and in a footnote says lean meats can be part of a healthy
diet. The North American Meat Institute criticized the report,
saying the health benefits of lean meat should be “a headline,
not a footnote.”
The meat recommendations in particular may prompt pushback from Capitol Hill. Last year, Congress noted the panel’s
interest in the environment and directed Vilsack “to only include
nutrition and dietary information, not extraneous factors” in
final guidelines.
Join us for
We are open:
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TUESDAY – THURSDAY
4:00PM – 12:00AM
Tuesday – Friday
4:00pm – 7:00pm.
FRIDAY & SATURDAY
4:00PM – 2:00AM
• FREE Karaoke
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Fri & Sat 9:00pm-2:00am
• Drink Specials
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try our APPE-BREAKER menu
• 4 flatscreen TVs for your
viewing pleasure
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“Located on Iliili, Airport Road (Former Runway Bar & Grill)
• Call us today to
book your functions
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or 252-5037
LIMA FESOASOANI
QUICK FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS
PO Box 308, Pago Pago, AS 96799
Tel: (684) 699-3848 or 633-3848
Fax: (684) 699-3849 or 633-3849
E-mail: [email protected]
The following account holders are encouraged to visit or contact our Collection Representative, Masi Manila
Suisala, Taulua Jr.
at 699-3848 at our Tafuna Office, regarding your delinquent account.
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Timo, Lupi
Tini, Timena
Tipoti, Mike
Tiumalu, Nafanua
Tiumalu, Saimua
Toatelegese, Nofoagatotoa
Toeava, Spencer
Toilolo, Allen
Togi, Alipapa
Togiaso, Patisepa
Togiola, Yolanda
Toomalatai, Vaesavali
Toomata, Afereti
Tua, Epi
Tua, Meleane
Tua, Seneuefa
Tuiasosopo, Saufaiga Cecilia
Tuigamala, Ropati
Tuiletufuga, Fonotaga
Tuiloma, Isaia
Tuiolemotu, (Lee Chee) Lovi
Tuisamatatele, Afiafi
Tuiteleleapaga, Simeonica
Tunu, Laia
Tupua, Mekiafa
Tupuola, Calvin
Tusitala, Samu
Tuufuli, Tuufuli
Tuupo, Doris
Ufuti, Tilomai
Uikirifi, Krystellen “Faga”
Va’a, Sala
Va’a, Liva
Vaeao, Naomi
Vaesau, Asisione
Vaieli, Maselino
Vaifanua, John
Vaina, Misionare
Vaivao, Benjamin
Vasega, Savalivali
Ve’a, Joseph
Viliamu, Seiaute
Viliamu, Uili
Visesio, Pelenatete
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Page 14
➧ Who manipulated Immigration system?…
He said the list is maintained by the Immigration Office and the Attorney General’s office
and there are a select few from both offices
who manage this list, which is in the [computer] system. However, Fuimaono stated that
in the Immigration Office, anyone has access to
the lookout list — where any of the names can
be changed, even the dates of arrival, and any
name can be removed from the list.
Chief Justice Kruse asked Fuimaono if
anyone at the Immigration Office “can potentially manipulate the list… and he responded,
“That is correct.”
Kruse then asked, “…so Mr. Kailo (Mr. I
don’t know) manipulated the list?” and Fuimaono said “No.”
The Chief Immigration Officer then
explained that last week he met with Attorney
General Talauega Eleasalo Ale, where they
were told that there is a “prosecution watch
list” that is overseen by the AG’s office, apparently separate from the Immigration Office’s
lookout list.
He said this list was “news” to both him
and the AG, and he said this list could also be
manipulated by certain members of the AG’s
office, as it was explained there are a select few
in the AG’s office who are able to input information into the system.
Fuimaono said this was the first time he’s
heard of this list, since he’s been working as the
Chief Immigration Officer.
The court heard from Fuimaono that the sex
offender’s name or alias was not on the Immigration’s lookout list, but that his name — Pelenato Lino — was on the AG’s prosecution
watch list— but it does not indicate that he’s
also known as Pelenato Maiava.
During the court hearing, Deputy Attorney
General Mitzie Jessop asked Fuimaono if there
were any possible solutions discussed during
his meeting with the AG. The CIO replied that
in his “professional opinion” it is necessary to
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• College level English writing and verbal communication skills essential. Effective Samoan
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• Ability to perform the essential duties and responsibilities with efficiency and accuracy
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• Develop, prepare and analyze recurring key financial reports and metrics for
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replace the system, something he has asked the
previous AG and the current AG to do. He said
there is a need to hire someone with specific
software and computer security expertise to fix
the system’s current problems.
Fuimaono said the current AG has instructed
the [system] administrator to seek out the former
[system] administrator to assist Immigration
with the system’s security issues, to ensure that
this situation does not occur again.
(Samoa News assumes the situation the AG
is referring to, has to do with entry permits
being given to persons who have been deported
or who have stop orders issued.)
However, the explanation was not to
Kruse’s satisfaction, who stated that rather
than trying to work on remedying the situation they should be looking for the person
who manipulated the system.
Kruse then ordered: “Every entry permit
issued since the day of judgment for the defendant, I want copies.”
In addition, he ordered the government to
present all the government or Immigration
paperwork on the defendant at the next hearing,
which he scheduled for next week.
BACKGROUND
In 2011 the defendant admitted in court to
touching a female victim in a sexual manner,
and was sentenced to more than 28 months
detention at the Territorial Correctional Facility
followed by seven years probation.
Maiava also was ordered to register as a
sex offender and take an HIV test conducted
by the Department of Health — both of which
are required under law when the victim is a
minor.
After serving 12 months of his 28-month
detention, Maiava was released and ordered
to depart the territory immediately and remain
outside of American Samoa during his 7-year
probationary period. He was further ordered to
have no contact with the victim.
➧ COURT REPORT…
years in jail, a fine of up to $20,000 or both.
Peric’s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Karen Shelly
requested a bail reduction, pointing out that Peric is a mother of
two children, who is employed and she’s not been charged with a
violent crime. Richmond granted the motion and reduced bail from
$50,000 to $25,000. In the meantime, Public Defender Douglas
Fiaui who also represents Peric filed a motion to suppress evidence,
noting the government does not have evidence to support he had
the intent to distribute the illegal substance. Further, the substance
itself was not found on her. This motion will be heard March 19.
According to the government’s case, there was a traffic stop of
a Nissan Sedan for operating an illegal spotlight (headlight) at the
Lepuapua Leone highway and the driver did not provide a driver’s license or any other identification, so police impounded the
vehicle. During an inventory search of the vehicle, police allegedly
found what “appeared to be crystalline substance” in a package on
the car’s visor, and a blue plastic container with numerous drug
paraphernalia items. Cash in the amount of $341 was also found.
Peric was present during the inventory search, to which she had
consented, say court filings. Police then searched the defendant
and discovered two glass pipes. One of the glass pipes found on
Peric tested positive for methamphetamine or ice, as well as the
substance in the package found on the car’s visor.
➧ Loka e leoleo le ali’i…
Mai itulau 1
le Faifeau. Na taua i fa’amaumauga a le fa’amasinoga e fa’apea,
e le gata o lo o tu’uaia le ulufale fa’amalosi Mac i totonu o le
maota o le ali’i Faifeau, ae o lo o tu’uaia fo’i lona tu’i fa’atolu o
le vae o le afafine o le faifeau a’o moe, ma avea ai ma itu na ala
ai i luga le tama’ita’i ina ua te’i i le gaioiga a le ua molia.
Ina ua mae’a ona faia e le ua molia lea gaioiga e pei ona taua i
fa’amaumauga a le fa’amasinoga, na aga’i atu ai loa le tama’ita’i
i le potu moe a ona matua ma logo i ai le mea sa tupu.
E le o taua i fa’amaumauga a le fa’amasinoga po o ai na
logoina leoleo e tusa ai o le mea sa tupu, ae ina ua maua e leoleo
le ua molia, e le gata sa fa’alogoina le malosi o le manogi pia mai
lona tino, ae sa vaaia fo’i lona savali tau tevateva solo atoa ai ma
le fa’atosotoso loloa o lana tautala i le taimi na fesiligia ai o ia.
O le vaiaso fou lea ua fa’atulaga e toe tula’i ai Mac i luma o
le fa’amasinoga fa’aitumalo, mo le fa’aauauina o lana mataupu.
Team Handball seminar and clinic for coaches and athletes at Onesosopo Park
Saturdays at 10:00 am. Boys and Girls ages 12 through 16.
Join American Samoa’s fastest growing sport. It’s FREE!
Girls can try out for our U-16 youth national team.
Call 770-4954 for details or just show up.
M & M FINANCE
Would the following people please contact our office at
699-1807 or 733-5776, regarding your overdue balances.
Thank You
Close to 30 people are attending the biennial ASG Employees
Retirement Fund Board meeting in Honolulu, Hawai’i, including
Representatives, Senators, members of the Retirement board,
Retirement Office Director and Fono employees. The annual
meeting has been a bone of contention with the public — many
asking why it is not held ‘on island’ — saving the taxpayers and
the ASG employees money. [Photo courtesy: Etenauga Lutu’s Facebook page]
➧ Retirement Fund meeting…
It’s unclear as to who is paying for the Fono employees who are
attending — the Fono or the Retirement office.
According to one of those in attendance, they received a check
from the Retirement fund for a little over $3,000 which takes
care of the roundtrip ticket, accommodation, local transportation and per diem — and that would be an estimated $90,000+
for about 30 people. Samoa News understands that the roundtrip
ticket is about $1,100 and the hotel is close to $800, car rental is
about $600 for seven days, and the rest is for food.
CONCERNS WITH FUND’S FUNDED PERCENTAGE
In the governor’s State of the Territory address to the Fono,
he pointed out that for the third consecutive year, the Retirement
Fund’s funded percentage has declined: 2011– 94.1%; 2012–
89.3%; and in 2013– 80.8%.
Further, recent numbers obtained from the 2014 audit report
reveal that the funded percentage of the fund has fallen to 63.5%
— a 21.3% drop between 2013 and 2014 — and this “affirms
initial concerns over the declining solvency of the fund.”
According to the governor, this is of real concern, as it’s clear
that with the acceleration in the number entering retirement, the
pension plan payments will correspondingly increase.
BACKGROUND
According to the resolution of 2013, the members have been
ill-informed as to any of the losses suffered in the past years
given the lack of transparency, as well as limiting the sharing
of fund investments to a single meeting held every two years in
Hawai’i ,which is only attended by the members of the retirement committees of the House and Senate.
This only satisfies the statutory requirement to provide a
report to the legislators, and “members of the fund would be
better served if an annual meeting was held in the territory”,
according to the resolution.
“This would further save the fund tens of thousands of dollars
that they currently spend to have legislators travel to Hawaii to
attend a two day meeting, yet this fund is the only real retirement
plan available to government employees,” said the resolution.
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Page 16
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Manumalo – Manuia
taumafaiga Science
Fair & tauvaga sipela
C
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tusia: Leua Aiono Frost
I le tauvaga o Galuega Fa’atino Fa’asaeanisi a fanau a’oga
i le teritori na se’i mavae atu nei, ua manumalo ai se Poloketi
na fa’atino e le tama’ita’i o Dorvida Fonoifafo Fuiava mai le
Manumalo Baptist Academy i lana vaega o ituaiga o poloketi toe
fa’aopoopo i ai, ua toe manumalo fo’i i le fa’aaliga atoa a tamaiti
a’oga tulaga muamua i le tatou teritori atoa.
O lea se fa’aeaga sili ma o se fa’amalosi’au aoga tele i ali’i ma
tama’ita’i faia’oga o le Saianisi i le Manumalo, e pei ona fa’ailo
mai e le tama’ita’i o Amy Blizzard i lana emeli, “O le fa’afetai
tele ua tua lelei se galuega fa’atino a faia’oga i lea mataupu o le
matou a’oga, ae sili ai, ua sili ona fa’afetaia le fanau a’oga sa
fai ma matou sui, ona o le tutumau i a’oa’oga lelei ma ua latou
mafai ona fa’asoa atu lo latou iloa e ala i lea tauvaga.”
O Dorvida o lo’o vasega fitu, ma sa ia taumafai e faamatala
auiliili mea eseese o lo ua mafai ai ona malo atili le sima pe afai
o le a e fa’aopoopoina i ai le suavai e palu a’i.
Ua i ai nisi o lo ua mana’o Dorvida e fa’afetaia mo lana taumafaiga ua a’e manumalo nei: O lona faia’oga, Mrs Miriam
Mirasol, sa la’ua feutaga’i mo lana galuega fa’atino, sa fesoasoani fo’i i lana vaega o ituaiga fa’asaeanisi e saili ai lana poloketi fa’atino o lenei tausaga.
“Ou te fa’afetaia le ali’i faigaluega a le Paramount Builders
JR Mirasol, o ia sa tele ina fesiligia mo ni tali fa’ata’ita’i lelei
mo le poloketi, fa’atasi ai ma se malamalamaga atoatoa o nei
mea uma.”
Sa ia fa’aopoopo mai fo’i le igoa o Rosanna Meredith Saleapaga, “O se tasi e faigaluega i le Laboratory a le Public Works
a le tatou malo, mo le tele o fa’amaumauga mo’omia sa ia fesoasoani mai ai.”
O le igoa o lana galuega fa’atino: “O le Aoga o le Suavai - ia
Malo lelei le Sima!” Na ia aumaia fa’ata’ita’iga lelei ma ta’iala,
ina ia iloa patino le aofa’i o le suavai, e maua ai se paluga sili
ona malo ma anagata o le sima mo le fausaga o fale ma alatele!
O ia o se alo e fa’asino ia Seiuli Michael Fuiava ma le faletua
o Dorothy Tofilau Fuiava.
I le vaega o tamaiti a’oga maualuluga sa tauva fo’i i a latou
poloketi fa’asaeanisi, ua manumalo mai ai le tama’ita’i o Liana
Gurr, mai le a’oga Tafuna High. O lana Poloketi sa tauva ai
fa’asaeanisi, ma ua toe filifilia fo’i e togisilia i le Fa’aaliga
fa’asaeanisi atoa a le Teritori mo le Tauvaga i Uosigitone DC
ia Me, 2015. Vaaiga lomiga o le aso Gafua i le tala mo Liana.
(Faaauau itulau 18)
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O se va’aiga i le tamaita’i ua ia mauaina le fa’ailoga o le Poloketi Fa’asaeanisi Togisilia i le Vasega o Fanau A’oga Elementary,
Dorvida F. Fuiava o Manumalo Baptist Academy i Malaeimi.
[ata: foa’i Manumalo Baptist]
Lali
Le
O se va’aiga i le laititi o se tasi o ali’i na mata’ina lona tula’i mai i le tauvaga sipela i le aso Lulu.
O ia lea o Levalefaiva Kl-El Malala Turituri mai Olomoana Elementary i Aoa. E matua suia lava
le mea fa’aleotele leo i so’o se taimi e tula’i ai o ia e sipela, ae ua va’aia, o lo’o i ona autafa ane, o le
[ata: Leua Aiono Frost]
sui na manumalo, ma le sui na tulaga lua. Tala tusia i le lomiga aso Gafua.
Talia talosaga Falefatu
Asi e sui lana loia fautua
tusia Ausage Fausia
Ua talia e le fa’amasinoga maualuga le talosaga na fa’aulu e le ali’i o Falefatu Asi, lea na
tauala atu i lana loia fautua o Sharran Rancourt,
ina ia tolopo le fofogaina o le fa’asalaga a le
ua molia sa fuafua e fa’ataunu’uina ananafi, ina
ia maua ai le avanoa e saili ai e Asi sana loia
fautua fou, ina ua le toe manao o ia e avea Rancourt ma ana loia.
E le i manatu le tama’ita’i loia ia Rancourt e
fa’amatala auiliili i totonu o le potu fa’amasino
mafua’aga o le taloaga a Asi, pau le itu na
fa’ailoa e Rancourt i le fa’amasinoga, o lo o i
ai le aia a Asi e fautuaina ai o ia e se loia ua ia
filifilia, lea fo’i na ioeina e le afioga i le ali’i
fa’amasino ia John L. Ward II.
Na fesili Ward ia Asi pe o lona mana’o lea
ua i ai, o le a le toe avea Rancourt ma ana loia
fautua, ae o le a saili se isi ana loia fou, na tali
le ua molia “ioe”.
O Asi, lea e to’atolu i ai ali’i na latou osofaia
le faleoloa o le Gold Gonda i le masina o Me
2014, ua ta’usala e le fa’amasinoga i le moliaga
mamafa na toe teuteu e le malo, le moliaga o le
fesoasoani lea i se isi tagata e fa’atino le solitulafono o le faomea i le tulaga muamua.
I le tali ioe ai o Asi i le moliaga e pei ona
ta’usala ai o ia e le fa’amasinoga maualuga,
sa ia ta’utino ai e fa’apea, i se taimi o le po
o le aso 30 Aperila e oo atu i le vaveao o le
aso 1 Me i Fagaalu, sa latou taupulepule ai ma
Samuel Wright ma Alatuna Simi e osofa’i le
Gold Gonda.
E le i fa’atuiese le loia a le malo ia Tiffany Oldfield i le talosaga a le itu tete’e, mo se
avanoa e toe tolopo ai le lauina o le fa’asalaga a
Asi, a o tau saili ai sana loia fou.
I le taliaina ai e le fa’amasinoga o le talosaga a Asi, na poloaina ai loa ma le Ofisa
Nofova’ava’aia ina ia fa’aauau loa le tape-
naina o se ripoti e fuafua i ai se fa’asalaga a
le fa’amasinoga, ina ua mae’a ona fa’ailoa e
le ua molia i le ofisa nofova’ava’aia i se taimi
ua te’a, e le fia faia sana fa’amatalaga i le ofisa
nofova’ava’aia pe a fesiligia o ia.
Na fa’ailoa fo’i e Rancourt i le fa’amasinoga,
o le a avanoa pea o ia e fesoasoai ai ia Asi ma
lana loia fou, mo le tu’uina atu o ni fa’amatalaga
e manaomia ai lana fesoasoani.
O le aso 23 Aperila 2015 lea ua tolopo i ai le
lauina o le fa’asalaga a Asi ma le tu’utu’uga, ia
oo atu i le aso lea ua maua sana loia fou.
Sa fofogaina fo’i i le taeao ananafi le
mataupu a le ali’i o Wright, lea na tolopo mai
i le masina na te’a nei ma le tu’utu’uga, e tatau
ona o o mai ananafi ua maua sa latou maliliega
ma le malo e fa’amuta ai lenei mataupu, peita’i
na fa’ailoa e le loia a Wright o Michael White
i le fa’amasinoga, ina ia fa’atulaga loa se aso e
fa’ataunu’u ai le fa’amasinoga autu a Wright,
ina ua le mafai ona latou taunu’u ma le itu a le
malo i se maliliega e fa’amuta ai lenei mataupu.
O le aso 12 Oketopa 2015 lea ua fa’atulaga
e fa’ataunu’u ai le fa’amasinoga autu a Wright.
Ae na taua e le loia a le malo o Oldfield i le
fa’amasinoga e fa’apea, talu ai o ni fa’amatalaga
fou fa’atoa maua e le malo e fa’atatau i le
mataupu lenei, o le mea lea ua manatu ai le malo,
o le a latou faila se talosaga i le fa’amasinoga,
mo sana poloaiga e tu’u fa’atasi ai le mataupu a
Wright ma Simi, ona o lo o atagia i fa’amatalaga
fou e tasi lava le taimi na tupu ai le gaioiga o lo
o molia fa’atasi ai laua i lenei mataupu.
O lo o taofia pea Asi, Wright ma Simi i le
toese i Tafuna ina ua le mafai ona latou totogiina le ta’i $100,000 na fa’atulaga e tatala ai i
latou i tua.
Feso’ota’i mai i le tusitala ia
[email protected]
Page 18
FOR SALE
Pasia faipule pili
fa’asala ai tagata
faia fa’amaumauga sese pisinisi…
tusia Ausage Fausia
1 acre of prime individually-owned property located
next to golf course. Highest bid to date: $210,000.
Closing bids March 13, 2015. Contact: 770-6782
NEWS IN BRIEF
India insists president
Obama’s tree is not dead
NEW DELHI (AP) — Officials in India
want to make one thing clear: The tree that
President Barack Obama planted in New Delhi
three weeks ago is not dead.
It just looks dead.
The peepal tree was awash in leaves when
Obama planted it at the New Delhi memorial
to Indian independence leader Mohandas K.
Gandhi. By Thursday, though, it was just a
single lonely stem.
Its lack of leaves has been giving Indian
officials sleepless nights, with the media here
blasting them for allowing the tree to die less
than a month after the presidential visit.
But the reality: Peepal trees often lose their
leaves this time of year.
“It’s a seasonal phenomenon,” B.C Katiyar,
a top regional government horticulturist, said
Thursday, after he and other officials visited the
tree and pronounced it in good health. “It will
send out shoots within the next 10 days.”
The peepal, or ficus religiosa, is seen as
holy by many in Asia — the Buddha is said
to have attained enlightenment under the tree
in 589 B.C.
French gov’t survives no-confidence vote triggered by rebels
PARIS (AP) — France’s prime minister
survived a no-confidence vote Thursday called
after rebel lawmakers in his Socialist Party
teamed up with conservatives to fight his probusiness policies.
A total of 234 lawmakers voted for the censure motion that triggered a political crisis and
forced Prime Minister Manuel Valls to defend
his economic views.
The count was far below the 289 needed
for the motion to pass and bring down the
government.
The plan to free up labor rules and regulations, authored by 37-year-old Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron, has improbably put
some Socialist lawmakers in the same camp as
their most conservative counterparts.
Valls this week forced through the bill
without a vote by invoking rarely used special
powers.
That drew a censure motion by the conservative opposition.
Theater shooting trial could
start sooner than expected
CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) — Jury selection has moved more quickly than expected
in the Colorado theater shooting case and the
trial could begin as soon as April, a judge said
Thursday.
During direct questioning of potential jurors,
Judge Carlos Samour said the pool of candidates for further screening was growing more
quickly than he had anticipated.
After six days of direct questioning, the
judge said he had 27 potential jurors for group
questioning.
Samour has said he wants at least 100 people
for that part of the process.
He initially expected the entire selection process to last four months.
Samour asked one potential juror Thursday
if a trial that starts in late April or early May
would pose a hardship.
He replied it would not.
James Holmes has pleaded not guilty
by reason of insanity in the 2012, attack at a
Denver-area theater that killed 12 people and
wounded 70 others.
‘Frozen’ Niagara Falls drawing
tourists to winter spectacle
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) — The winter’s deep freeze has transformed Niagara Falls
into an icy spectacle, encasing the trees around
it into crystal shells and drawing tourists who
are braving below-zero temperatures.
The Niagara River keeps flowing below
the ice cover, so the falls aren’t completely
frozen over. But the massive ice buildup near
the brink has become a tourist magnet for the
second straight year after several relatively mild
winters.
Visitors have been flocking to Niagara Falls
State Park, next to the American Falls, one
of three waterfalls that make up the natural
attraction.
Days of subzero temperatures have created
a thick coating of ice and snow on every surface near the falls, including railings, trees and
boulders.
Things aren’t expected to thaw out soon:
Temperatures dipped to 7 below zero in Niagara
Falls on Friday morning.
O le vaiaso na te’a nei ao le i alo atu le Fono Faitulafono mo lana malologa e fa vaiaso, na pasia ai e le maota o
sui sa latou tulafono tau fa’aofi sa fa’aulu e ni isi o faipule, e
avea ai ma solitulafono le faia e se tasi o ni fa’amaumauga e
fa’asese ai fa’amaumauga fa’apisinisi, po o le faia fo’i lea o ni
fa’amaumauga fa’alilolilo e fesuia’i ai fa’amaumauga a le malo.
Na fulisia le maota o sui i le palota e 14-0 e pasia ai lenei
tulafono taua, ma ua tu’uina atu nei i le maota maualuga mo sa
latou fa’aiuga.
O le agaga autu o lenei tulafono e pei ona taua i le fa’atomuaga
o le pili taufa’aofi ua pasia, o se taumafaiga lea a le Fono
Faitulafono ina ia fa’aitiitia ai faiga tau fa’asese atoa ai ma le
faia o fa’amaumauga fa’alilolilo o lo o faia e ni isi o tagata i
fa’amaumauga tau pisinisi, lea o lo o tele ina afaina ai tagata
lautele ma le malo.
E tolu fa’asalaga o lo o fa’atulaga i totonu o le Maga fou o
le pili ua pasia. O le Maga 1 (46.4130), afai e ofoina atu e se
tasi ni fa’amaumauga sese mo le failaina o se pisinisi i le malo,
e aofia ai lona iloaina o fa’amaumauga ua tu’uina atu e le sa’o
ma moni, ae ua ia tu’uina atu lava ma lona iloa ina ia avea ai ma
fa’amaumauga tumau mo lea pisinisi i totonu o le malo, e nofosala lea tagata i le Vaega A o solitulafono mama.
O Maga mulimuli e lua o lo o soso’o, e aofia ai le ‘Fesuia’i
o fa’amaumauga’ atoa ai ma le ‘Fa’aseseina o fa’amaumauga a
le pisinisi’.
O se tasi na te faia se gaioiga e fesuia’i ai ma fa’amaumauga a
le pisinisi, i lona iloaina lelei, e na o ia e mafai ona faia suiga i nei
fa’amaumauga, ma ua ia faia ina ia aveese, fa’aleaga, taumafai
e nana, po o le taumafai fo’i ina ia suia soo se fa’amaumauga
i totonu o le pisinisi, o le a nofosala lea tagata i le Vaega O o
solitulafono mamafa.
So o se tasi fo’i na te taumafai e fa’agalo ni fa’amaumauga
sa’o a se pisinisi, taofi ni fa’amaumauga moni ma lona iloa ina ia
aua ai nei iloa tulaga moni e fa’atatau i le pisinisi, po o le manatu
fo’i ina ia faia tusitusiga sese ma le le fa’amaoni e taitai sese ai
le malo e fa’atatau i fa’amaumauga a le pisinisi, o le a nofosala
lea tagata i le Vaega O o solitulafono mamafa.
Na taua e le teutupe a le malo ia Ueligitone Tonumaipe’a ma
le Loia Sili ia Talauega Eleasalo Ale i le taimi na molimau ai
i luma o le maota o sui i le tulafono lenei, o le taua o lenei pili
taufa’aofi, o le a taofia ai faiga tau fa’asese o lo o faia e ni isi o
pisinisi tua, lea ua avea ma itu ua mafatia ai le malo.
O ni isi o tulaga sa maitauina i ni isi o pisinisi tua, e le gata
ua latou fa’asese fa’amaumauga e fa’atatau i a latou tupe maua
mo le failaina o lafoga i le malo pe a mae’a le tausaga, ae le o
fa’amaoni fo’i i isi fa’amaumauga o lo o tu’uina atu i le taimi e
lesitala ai a latou pisinisi.
O faipule e to’alua sa la fa’aulufaleina lenei tulafono taufa’aofi
e aofia ai Larry Sanitoa ma Vailoata Eteuati Amituana’i.
Feso’ota’i mai i le tusitala ia [email protected]
➧ Science Fair, tauvaga sipela…
Mai itulau 17
Peita’i, ona o ia o se tasi o fanau a’oga na amata mai ana
a’oa’oga i Manumalo Baptist, e ekalesia lava fo’i i latou i
Manumalo, o lona uiga, o le autalavou lava e afua mai lea a’oga
i latou uma ua fa’amanuiaina i togisilia o Poloketi Fa’asaeanisi
o lenei tausaga.
O se fa’amalo ma le agaga fa’afetai ua fa’atumulia ai faia’oga
ma matua ina ua ausia nei matati’a e le a’oga e pele i o latou loto
ma galulue a’ia’i i ai.
I le tauvaga Sipela Fa’aperetania, ua tula’i mai ai le taumafaiga a le sui mai le Manumalo Baptist, William Loi-On Spitzenberg ua mauaina le tulaga lua. Peita’i, e i ai le taimi o le
tauvaga sipela sa i ona a’ao ai le tulaga manumalo, peita’i, ina
ua toe taumafai mo le upu e tasi e manumalo ai, sa toe sese fo’i
lana sipela, ma toe o’o atu ai le ua togisilia e tauva ma ia mo lea
tulaga maoa’e.
Ona o lo’o vasega fa o ia i le taimi nei, ua tele nisi avanoa
matagofie mo ia i lea fo’i tausaga a sau. O le isi to’alua sa latou
tauva mulimuli mo le manumalo, Debrina Meggie Alaia Su’a
lea ua maua le manumalo ma Mikaele Nelson o Aua Elementary, o lo’o vasega fitu uma i la’ua. O lona uiga, e i ai fo’i avanoa
e toe tauva ai nei sui i le tausaga fou i le tauvaga sipela.
Strong cyclones hit remote Clown from amusement park
found in sex offender’s home
parts of northern Australia
SYDNEY (AP) — Two powerful cyclones
smashed into northern Australia on Friday,
knocking out power to thousands, tearing roofs
and doors off houses and prompting coastal
residents to flee their homes, but appeared to
have spared the region earlier predictions of a
“calamity.”
The twin storms, dubbed the “cyclone sandwich” by locals, struck within hours of each
other, about 2,500 kilometers (1,500 miles)
apart. Cyclone Lam hit a sparsely populated
stretch of the Northern Territory, while the more
powerful and potentially dangerous Cyclone
Marcia crossed over small towns along the east
coast of Queensland state, packing wind gusts
up to 285 kilometers (180 miles) an hour.
Despite the storms’ ferocious winds and
drenching rains, no injuries had been reported
by Friday afternoon, and both systems were
steadily weakening as they moved over land.
“We are very, very thankful that we have
avoided the worst of what could have been
an absolute catastrophe,” Queensland Premier
Annastacia Palaszczuk said.
Marcia was originally predicted to be a relatively weak cyclone, but grew in strength at an
alarming rate late Thursday into a menacing
Category 5 storm — the most powerful form of
cyclone in Australia. The storm’s rapid growth
prompted Queensland Police Commissioner Ian
Stewart to warn: “This is going to be a calamity,
there’s absolutely no doubt about that.”
About 30,000 people living in and around the
Queensland town of Yeppoon — 700 kilometers (400 miles) north of the state capital, Brisbane — were initially expected to experience
the worst of the storm, and nearly 900 residents
in low-lying areas were told to evacuate. But a
slight change in the cyclone’s path spared the
town the most ferocious winds, and it steadily
weakened as it headed south toward the city of
Rockhampton, home to about 80,000 people.
Yeppoon resident John McGrath, who rode
out the storm with his family in their house just
100 meters (330 feet) from the beach, watched
as the roof of his neighbor’s home peeled off,
flew through the air and landed across the road.
McGrath, his wife and their two children,
Emma, 6, and Michael, 4, dragged cushions
and mattresses into a bathroom at the back of
the house and huddled there for several terrifying hours as the walls shook and water seeped
through the windows. When they emerged to
survey the damage, they were relieved to find
their house largely spared, apart from a couple
broken windows. But elsewhere in Yeppoon,
the ground was cluttered with ripped-off roofs,
twisted trees and awnings torn from shopfronts.
“The house is intact and everyone’s healthy
and well, so I can’t complain,” he said. “It was
just intense, absolutely intense.”
Officials pleaded with hardened Queensland
residents — no strangers to violent cyclones —
to take the storm seriously. A cyclone of similar
strength, Yasi, hit the state in 2011, destroying
scores of homes but causing no deaths.
More than 30,000 Queensland homes were
without power on Friday, an unknown number
of houses had been damaged and roads were
flooded, Palaszczuk said. But early reports of
the storm’s impacts were “quite encouraging,”
she said.
In the Northern Territory, Cyclone Lam struck
a remote stretch of coast, tearing up trees and
downing power lines, but causing no widespread
damage as it fizzled out and moved inland.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A ceramic clown that went
missing from a closed Wichita amusement park more than a
decade ago has been found at the home of a sex offender who
once worked at the park and two decades ago helped restore
the clown.
The return of Louie the Clown, the mascot of the Joyland
amusement park, was announced during a media briefing
Thursday.
Wichita police say officers found the clown statue Tuesday
at a home of 39-year-old Damian Mayes, who is serving a
prison sentence for a 2010 conviction for aggravated indecent
liberties with a child and aggravated criminal sodomy.
Mayes built and repaired organs at the park before he was
charged.
Louie disappeared from the Joyland property in 2005 or
2006, but it wasn’t reported stolen until 2010.
Police say that the nearly 50-year-old clown is worth about
$10,000.
Wichita police Detective Matt Lang said that he has an
appointment to meet with the Sedgwick County district attorney
about the case and that Mayes and another suspect may face
charges.
Lang called the discovery of the clown “quite a shock” and
said a phone tip led to its discovery.
“Social media and a lot of interest, not only in Joyland but
the clown in particular, kind of kept it alive,” Lang said of the
case.
Mayes’ longstanding fascination with the clown was
detailed in a March 1994 article in The Wichita Eagle, which
described Mayes’ three-year effort at that time to maintain and
rebuild the artificial clown and the automatic organ.
“He’ll be scaring the kids even more this summer because
he’s a lot more lifelike,” the newspaper quoted Mayes as saying
at that time, when he was a high school student.
“He’s got new hands, which can rest between the songs
instead of keeping on playing, like he used to. They’re made
out of plastic, and they’re so real it freaked me out. I think it’s
also the pointy style of makeup that he wears. It’s scarier than
the more rounded kind of makeup.”
Mayes added that he “really liked Louie when I was little.”
Page 20
Ta’aloga mo tamaiti
UPU
Paso o le Vaiaso
SAUNIA E HERCULES
NANA
saunia e Hercules
Saili mai upu o lo’o tusia i lalo i totonu o le fa’atafafa o mata’itusi. Ia manatua o nei
upu, e mafai ona sipela aga’i i luma, aga’i i tua, i luga po o le aga’i fo’i i lalo.
Ia manuia le taumafaiga.
N M I UMO EMOE AO
N A T I V AL E FOP E
I E M A E I T O E L A F
F T F UT OFASV E I
E IMUL I IV IULA
N SUGN EAAMU EO
E ISIAEGLEANT
NMAFAUFAUI VA
E AEOTAPUTIMU
V UO T L E L I KANL
E MG I A OUN TU P A
N A E P T T PA SO E V
UPU: Paepaeuli, Niulaita, Toluuaea, Nefunefu, Mafaufau,
Namulega, Niualava, Moemoeao, Mativale, Vaainifo, Nevenene, Taputimu, Valuato, Tugaivae, Gaupito, Teusolo, Muliivi,
Tuitino, Amata, Simauma, Misitea, Faleoti, Tateme, Poloai
?!? TALI o Paso ?!?
FAALAVA
LALO
1. Tele atu ta’amu
1. Mataitusi: Am. Samoa
9. Telefoni, BLUE
Telecom Authority
11. Le o fafo, a’o ___!
2. Ta’avale: T___ta
12. Ma’ava/Ilaoa ma ___?
3. Foliga e iloa atu ai/ata
14. La, ____, Nu
4. Leai masini ae toto i lima
15. Pu’upu’u: CALIFORNIA
5. Manulele o le afa/savili
16. Matua: Galoia, P___e
tele
18. Feagai: Alili Laititi
6. Malamalama
21. Aiga pe a elo (sea)
7. Se sukalati lanu eseese
22. Taf___a High School
8. Mauilima a’o fa’asuaava
24. Evagelia: M__aio
10. Tafu ai afi [papalagi]
25. Manu S. James
13. Fagalii, ___, Fagamalo
28. E le mamao ae lata mai
17. Sasa ave ai ti/isi ta’uga
31. Waik___, Hi
19. Igoa tamaitai
32. Peepee ua pupuga
20. Af___, Sua
34. Peteru, ____, Iuta
23. Fautasi: ___vii
35. O a’a O o’o
26. Tui ____ Tupu. T. E.
27. Siamani, ____ropa
29. Salu u’amea/L___?
30. Si, So [pepe]
33. Tagi tama’i moa
Dutch SIM card
maker investigating
reported UK-US hack
THE HAGUE, Netherlands
(AP) — A Dutch company that
makes SIM cards for cellular
phones says it is investigating
reports that it was hacked by
Britain’s electronic spying
agency in cooperation with the
U.S. National Security Agency.
Amsterdam-based Gemalto,
which describes itself as the
world leader in digital security,
said Friday it could not immediately confirm the reported
hack and “had no prior knowledge that these agencies were
conducting this operation.”
A story posted Thursday
on the website The Intercept,
based on documents provided
by Edward Snowden, said the
hack was aimed at stealing
codes that would allow both
the U.S. and British governments to seamlessly eavesdrop
on mobile phones worldwide.
Gemalto says it “will devote
all resources necessary to fully
investigate” the reported hack.
man pleads not
guilty to creating
ice to mask crash
SPARTA, N.J. (AP) — A
New Jersey man who police
say poured water onto a
freezing road to try to fool
police officers into thinking the
cause of his drunken car crash
was black ice has pleaded not
guilty. The NJ Herald reports
that 20-year-old Brian Byers,
of Sparta, pleaded not guilty
to disorderly conduct charges
before Municipal Court Judge
James Devine on Thursday.
Co-defendant
Alexander
Zambenedetti pleaded not
guilty to driving while intoxicated, careless driving and
failure to wear a seat belt.
Police say Byers hit a guardrail after running a stop sign in a
BMW early Saturday morning.
They say Zambenedetti showed
up in his own car and they then
dumped 5-gallon buckets of
water onto the road to create
black ice. Police say it took a
half-ton of salt to melt the ice
and make the road passable.
Florida police dog
fired from force
after biting 2 people
COCONUT CREEK, Fla.
(AP) — A Florida police dog is
being kicked off the force after
biting a doughnut shop worker
and an officer in separate incidents. Officials say 4-yearold Renzo had been with the
Coconut Creek Police Department for more than a year. The
Belgian Malinois bit an officer
in November while tracking a
suspect. Last week, he burst out
of a patrol car and bit a Dunkin’
Donuts worker in the calf.
Renzo and Officer Carl
DiBlasi went to the doughnut
shop Feb. 11 to meet a
police sergeant. The sergeant
approached the patrol car and
began to pet Renzo. The dog
lunged at her and DiBlasi struggled to restrain him. Renzo
broke away and bit the worker
who was nearby.
The retired dog will now
live with DiBlasi.
More violence
erupts in Turkey’s
Parliament
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) —
Turkish legislators have scuffled for a second day in parliament over a new security bill
which critics say aims to crush
dissent.
Ruling and opposition parties’ lawmakers traded punches
and pushed each other during a
late-night session on Thursday.
One opposition legislator fell
down a set of stairs during the
melee but was not hurt.
On Tuesday, five legislators
were injured in a similar fight
that saw chairs fly and deputies
hit with a gavel.
The opposition parties
meanwhile succeeded for a
second time to hold up the
start of the debate through tactics that included submitting
motions on unrelated issues.
The government says the
measures to give police heightened powers to break up demonstrations are aimed at preventing violence.
L.A. hazmat crew
investigates suspicious court mail
LOS ANGELES (AP)
— The Los Angeles County
Sheriff’s Department says it
is investigating suspicious letters mailed to employees at a
downtown courthouse.
A sheriff’s spokeswoman
says a hazardous materials
team was dispatched Thursday
morning to the Stanley Mosk
Courthouse.
The investigation comes a
day after police and a hazmat
crew were called to the Van
Nuys courthouse after powder
was found on a letter addressed
to a judge.
Initial testing found the
powder was boric acid, a
common ingredient in pesticides, but dangerous if swallowed. The spokeswoman says
the suspicious letters found
Thursday were mailed to court
employees, but offered no further details.
A court spokeswoman says
the courthouse is open and
operating normally.
Police and fire crews also
responded and were outside the
court building.
Manufacturer of
device in ‘superbug’
outbreak probed
LOS ANGELES (AP) —
The company that manufactured the medical devices tied
to a deadly “superbug” outbreak is being investigated
for possible violations of false
claims and anti-kickback laws.
The Olympus Corp. of the
Americas, an arm of Japan’s
Olympus Corp., disclosed Feb.
6 that it has been under federal investigation since 2011
for possible violations of laws
that typically ban improper
payments to doctors or other
customers.
A company statement says
Olympus is talking with the
Justice Department to resolve
the case, and it warns the company’s financial results could
be “adversely affected.”
At least seven people have
been infected with an antibiotic-resistant strain of bacteria
after undergoing endoscopic
procedures at Ronald Reagan
UCLA Medical Center. Two
of them died.
Olympus’ Medical Systems Group supplied UCLA’s
equipment.
APNewsBreak: Plea
deal coming in fatal
punch of referee
DETROIT (AP) — A
lawyer for a soccer player
charged in the one-punch
killing of a referee during a
game says his client has agreed
to a plea deal with prosecutors
in which he would serve 8-15
years in prison.
Attorney Cyril Hall told The
Associated Press he expects
Bassel Saad to plead either
guilty or no contest to involuntary manslaughter during a
hearing Friday in Detroit. A
message was left Friday with
the prosecutor.
Saad’s trial had been scheduled to begin Monday. The
36-year-old auto mechanic is
charged with second-degree
murder.
Authorities say Saad struck
John Bieniewicz (BEN’-uhwits) once in the head during a
match in Livonia last summer.
The 44-year-old Bieniewicz
died two days later.
Bieniewicz’s wife, Kris,
said earlier this week she
hoped Saad “never sees the
light of day.”
OFFICE OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE
AMERICAN SAMOA GOVERNMENT
NOTICE
The following individuals have matters pending before the Administrative Law Judge. Please come
into the office to update your information in your file and to state whether or not you wish to
pursue your matter. You have 60 days from the date of this notice to notify the office. The office is
located on the 2nd floor of the Wesley Bookshop in Fagatogo; office contact 633-7712/7713/7714.
Alice M. Pili
Ane Tofili
AtamuM atamua
Baby Mulipola
Daniel Punimata
David T. Te’o
Edward Frazer
Ella Gurr
Emma Taufete’e
Ernest Haleck
Esther Wall
Faatauomalo F. Brown
Feagaiga Fou Church
Fiatu Fiatu
Foma’i Paepule
Fotu Leuta
Gasetoto Gasetoto
Hipa Fouvale
Irene Kane
Isaraelu Ofoia
Island Builders Architects
Iupeli Faatau
Jeremiah Tatupu
John Lee Hang
John Marsh
Joseph W. Langkilde
Laifeta Solomona
Leafa Tonise
Leupolu Matailupevao Jr.
Lisa Togiai
Lisone Fagaima
Lopa Lesa
Marie Ripley
Masalo A. Matavao
Naseri Aitaoto
Nofo Fuifui
Nofoa Fagaima
Pago Harbor Inc.
Pago Pago Yacht Club
Pati Apelu
PatolomeoI sumu
Peniamina R. Faumuina
Repeka Nu’usa
Samuelu Pupuali’i
TOETAGATA ALBERT MAILO
Administrative Law Judge
Seakerise Tuato’o
SetuL euma
Siaosi Tauialo
Sina Toli
Siope Tanoi
Stephen Leasiolagi
Tafafa Atoa Siatagata
Talatufi Leleisiuao
Theodore K. Mata’utia
Timothy Holu
Toaga Seumalo
Toeaso Tauane
Toleafoa Take Naseri
Bertie Tanielu
Monica C. Yandall
Kalifa Levaoali’i
Kapeneta Manu
Kim Pilitati
Talipope Tumanuvao
Taoipu Toilolo
Tauive Gaisoa
Page 22
Last week, the American Samoa Community College was fortunate to be visited by Tony
Meredith, the brother of Art professor Reggie Meredith, in the ASCC Fine Art department.
Tony was in the Territory for the “talaga teu”, or one year anniversary of their mother, Eleanor’s passing, and while here, he took the opportunity to visit the ASCC art and drama students,
where he gave them a fantastic demonstration of ballroom dancing.
Keith Michaels, “a dancer extraordinaire in his own right,” according to Reggie, accompanied
her brother during the visit.
While there with the students, who were inspired by the pair, Meredith and Michaels choreographed the dance number “Go, Go, Go, Joseph” which will be featured in the ASCC production
of “Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” scheduled for later this year.
Tony Meredith has twice won the title for the United States Ballroom Latin championship,
held every year in Florida.
He’s considered fifth in the world of Ballroom Dance, but has retired from competition.
However, he still works as a full-time choreographer and adjudicator at venues around the
world, according to his sister.
Later this year, he will co-host a program — “The World Dance Challenge” — as a commentator, scheduled for PBS on April 21.
His co-host on the program will be Mary Murphy, who is a former Latin ballroom dancer and
a judge on the program, “So You Think You Can Dance” currently on CBS.
Seen here, Reggie Meredith (top row, Center) is flanked by her brother, Tony on the left and
Keith Michaels on the right, while everyone had fun clowning for the camera.
[courtesy photo]
ASCC Music professor Poe Mageo (far left) was also on hand for the visit.
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Giuliani questioning
Obama’s love of US;
Democrats cry foul
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats on Thursday assailed
former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani for questioning
President Barack Obama’s love of country, and urged the potential field of Republican presidential candidates to rebuke him for
his comments.
Giuliani said at a New York City event on Wednesday night,
“I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that
the president loves America.”
“He doesn’t love you. And he doesn’t love me. He wasn’t
brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up
through love of this country,” said Giuliani, who sought the 2008
GOP presidential nomination. His comments were reported by
Politico and the New York Daily News.
Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman
Schultz said it’s time for Republican leaders to “stop this
nonsense.”
Several likely GOP candidates declined to get involved
Thursday. Giuliani, meanwhile, softened his remarks somewhat
in an interview, saying he didn’t mean to question the president’s patriotism.
Asked by Fox News’ Megyn Kelly whether he had demonstrated “civility,” Giuliani replied: “I think it was perfectly civil.
I think that is a perfectly reasonable opinion.”
His comments at the dinner brought to mind a familiar conservative criticism during Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns
that he wasn’t proud enough of the United States. During his
presidency, a smaller segment falsely claimed that Obama was
not born in the United States but rather in his father’s native
Kenya.
White House spokesman Eric Schultz said Giuliani “test
drove this line of attack during his fleeting 2007 run for the
presidency.” Asked whether the comments were appropriate,
Schultz said he would leave it to those at the event to make that
assessment.
The private dinner was attended by Wisconsin Gov. Scott
Walker, who is considering a 2016 campaign. Giuliani said that
“with all our flaws we’re the most exceptional country in the
world. I’m looking for a presidential candidate who can express
that, do that and carry it out.”
“And if it’s you, Scott, I’ll endorse you,” Giuliani said,
addressing Walker. “And if it’s somebody else, I’ll support
somebody else.”
Walker, asked about the comments in an interview with
CNBC, did not directly address whether he agreed with the
former mayor.
“The mayor can speak for himself. I’m not going to comment
on whether — what the president thinks or not. He can speak for
himself as well,” Walker said.
“I’ll tell you, I love America, and I think there are plenty
of people, Democrat, Republican, independent, everywhere in
between, who love this country.”
Democrats said the incident reflected poorly on Walker,
who has generated early presidential buzz among Republican
activists in Iowa, the nation’s first 2016 contest. New York City
Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, said he heard a “deafening
silence” from Walker and said the governor should “disassociate
himself immediately” from the remarks.
Asked about Obama in an interview with Fox News on
Thursday, Giuliani said he wasn’t “questioning his patriotism.
He’s a patriot, I’m sure. What I’m saying is, in his rhetoric, I
very rarely hear him say the things that I used to hear Ronald
Reagan say, the things that I used to hear Bill Clinton say, about
how much he loves America.”
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a potential presidential candidate, defended Giuliani, saying what Obama had “obviously
demonstrated for everyone is that he is incapable of successfully
executing his duties as our commander in chief.”
Most Republican presidential hopefuls largely avoided the
subject. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said he had “no doubt” that
Obama loves the country, “but I just think his policies are bad
for our nation.”
Officials with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sens. Rand
Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas declined comment.
Wasserman Schultz, a Florida congresswoman, said she
often disagreed with former President George W. Bush and
Republicans in Congress but never questioned their patriotism.
She noted that Arizona Sen. John McCain, during his 2008 presidential campaign, urged fellow Republicans not to question
Obama’s love of country.
“I would challenge my Republican colleagues and anyone
in the Republican party to say, ‘Enough.’ They need to start
leading,” Wasserman Schultz said at the start of the DNC’s
winter meeting.
C
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C
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Defense rests in
‘American Sniper’
murder trial
C
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STEPHENVILLE, Texas (AP) — Attorneys mounting an
insanity defense rested their case Thursday in the trial of the exMarine charged with gunning down “American Sniper” author
Chris Kyle and another man.
Eddie Ray Routh did not testify during his trial for capital
murder in the deaths of Kyle and friend Chad Littlefield at a
shooting range two years ago. Jurors heard from a forensic psychiatrist who said Routh has schizophrenia and showed signs of
psychosis in the weeks leading up to the slayings.
Prosecutors, who argue that any history of mental illnesses should
not absolve Routh of being accountable for the deaths, indicated
they would call two rebuttal witnesses Friday, The Dallas Morning
News reported, an indication that the jury could soon have the case.
Routh, 27, faces an automatic life sentence without parole if convicted, since prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty. The jury
could also find him not guilty by reason of insanity. In that case, the
court could initiate civil proceedings to have Routh committed.
The trial has drawn intense interest, partly because of an Oscarnominated film based on Kyle’s memoir. Kyle served made more
than 300 kills as a sniper for SEAL Team 3, according to his own
count. After leaving the military, he volunteered with veterans
facing mental health problems, often taking them shooting. Kyle
had taken Routh to the shooting range after Routh’s mother asked
him to help her son.
About a week before the slayings, Routh had been released
from the hospital after having a psychotic episode. Dr. Mitchell
H. Dunn, testifying Thursday as a defense witness, said that after
Routh returned to work, he thought two of his co-workers were
cannibals who were going to harm him.
Routh’s friends and family have testified that his behavior in
the weeks before the killings was increasingly erratic. They said
he acted as if he believed that someone was going to hurt him and
that the government was listening to him.
Dunn, who spent more than six hours interviewing Routh in
April 2014 to determine his state of mind when he shot the men,
testified that Routh described seeing neighbors and friends as
turning into pig-human hybrids.
The doctor said Routh was displaying signs of schizophrenia
as early as 2011, when he was first taken to the mental hospital.
Routh left the Marines in 2010. Dunn also looked at crime scene
reports, police interviews and Routh’s medical records.
OLAGA LE TUMAU
Tusia: Akenese Ilalio Zec
Vaega: 5
Tatou fa’afetaia pea le alofa ma le agalelei o lo tatou Matai oi le lagi, ona o Ana fa’amanuiaga
ma Lana tausiga alofa e le mavae mo i tatou, e i ai le fa’amoemoe o lo’o aoina pea le masina
i le soifua laulelei o le atunu’u, ae alo maia o le a toe fa’auaua atu la tatou tala mo lenei aso.
Ae ia manua le alo atu i faiva ma tiute o le a feagai ai.
Na liliu nei Keisi ma toe fesili ane i a Lenina,“E a, o lelei mea uma?”
Na tali Lenina, “Ioe, o lo’o lelei lava mea uma, o le a le mea ua e fesili mai ai fa’apena.”
Na tali Keisi, “Ou te le iloa….e foliga mai e i ai se mea o lo’o tupu i a te oe…ou te le o iloa.”
Na toe tali ane Lenina, “Ioe, e tatau ona e iloa, aua e te iloa lava e oe mea uma.”
Na toe fa’apea ane Keisi i a Lenina, “Va’ai la ia, o le uiga tonu lava lea o la’u tala.”
E fa’alogologo atu Keli, ua tau o a’e i luga leo o Lenina ma Keisi, o lea na oso ane ai loa,
“E i ai se mea ua ou misia.”
Na toe fesili ane Keisi i a Lenina, “E i ai se mea o e ita ai i a te a’u.?”
Na toe tali ane Lenina, “O le a le mea o le a ou ita ai fua i a te oe, e maua ai sa’u fasi falaoa
e ‘ai.” Ua ‘ata Keisi ma tilotilo ane i si ana uo, ma lulu lona ulu.
Na toe fesili ane lava Keisi i a Lenina, “Nina, o le a le mea o lo’o tupu, ou te iloa e i ai le
mea o lo’o e le fiafia ai, tautala mai.”
Na tali Lenina, “Se o le ali’i fo’i lea e leaga le ulu o Lisati Mone.”
E faia pea…
AMERICAN SAMOA POWER AUTHORITY
February 2, 2015
PO Box PPB, Pago Pago
American Samoa 96799
Phone No: (684) 699-3057
Fax No: (684) 699-4129
Monthly Fuel Surcharge Notification
The American Samoa Power Authority is informing its customers about the monthly fuel
surcharge rate, which is the direct cost of fuel to generate electricity. The charge for each
kilowatt hour (kWh) comprises the “base rate” and the “fuel surcharge rate.”
Lottery audit: Winners used
dead people’s IDs to collect
C
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LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. (AP) — Forty-six New Jersey lottery winners from July 2013 to July 2014 used Social Security
numbers of dead people to collect their winnings, the state auditor
said. An audit released Wednesday said the use of dead people’s
identification numbers creates a risk of reduced tax revenue for
the state, overpayment of public assistance and lost collections on
child support, defaulted student loans and other debt.
Auditor Stephen Eells said that up to $890,000 in prize winnings could have been recovered if winners below $250,000 were
checked for debts against the Treasury Department’s Set-Off of
Individual Liability system. The lottery now only checks winners
of more than $250,000 in the SOIL system, but the audit recommends checks for all winners over $600.
Executive Director Carole Hedinger said during the Lottery
Commission’s monthly meeting Thursday that they are aware
people try to cheat the system and are working to tighten their
regulations. “What we are working on is trying to find or get
authorization to go even further to verify the legitimacy of social
security numbers, something we are currently not authorized to
do,” Hedinger said, referring to federal law that she says prevents
the lottery from performing automated Social Security matches
for all state departments.
According to the commission, 26 winners were flagged as
owing money after their Social Security numbers came up in various state agency databases in January. Twenty-three of them had
their winnings garnished for things like public assistance, food
stamps and student loans.
“That’s a problem with all industries with people using illegal
Social Security (numbers). In fact, we are ahead of the curve,”
said Lottery Commission Chairman Thomas Tucci. “We’ve been
working to try to get that corrected, it’s just a matter of getting the
regulators to give us the authority to go further.”
Hedinger said in her written response to the audit that the lottery has to balance providing good service and timely payments
with its legal responsibilities. She said that the lottery collected
nearly $300,000 from winners that owed the state.
The base rate, which remains the same monthly for all electric customer classes, pays for
ASPA’s operating costs and for infrastructure upgrades needed to get power to your home
and business.
The fuel
surcharge rate
changes
monthly due to
fluctuating fuel
costs. The fuel
surcharge is
approximately
70% 75% of
the total kWh price. This is considered a “pass through” revenue because it goes directly
to pay the local fuel suppliers for diesel fuel consumed at the five power plants in Tutuila,
Manua and Aunuu. The fuel surcharge rate also includes the “Renewable Reduction”
from electricity produced by the ASPA Photo Voltaic panels. The avoided fuel costs or fuel
being saved from producing electricity through the Photo Voltaic panels, is passed on to
customers as the “Renewable Reduction” savings. There are two active sites and a third
site in progress that produce renewable energy.
As ASPA increases renewable energy capacity, more savings will be realized and passed
on to customers.
Page 24
In this Jan. 20, 2015 photo, wooden arrows show the distances to various cities near Chile’s
Escudero station on King George Island, Antarctica. Thousands of scientists come to Antarctica
for research. There are also non-scientists, chefs, divers, mechanics, janitors and the priest of the
world’s southernmost Eastern Orthodox Church on top of a rocky hill at the Russian Belling(AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
hausen station.
OFFICE OF PROCUREMENT
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP)
RFP No: RFP-024-2015
RFP No:
RFP-024-2015
Issuance Date: February 9, 2015
Date & Time Due: March 9, 2015
No later than 2:00 p.m. local time
The American Samoa Government (ASG) Office of Procurement intends to issue a Request
For Proposals (RFP) from qualified firms to provide:
“Wide Area Network Data Services for the Department of Education”
Submission:
Original and five copies of the Proposal must be submitted in a sealed envelope marked:
“ASDOE WAN Services”. Submissions are to be sent to the following address and will be
received until 2:00 p.m. (local time), Monday, March 9, 2015:
Office of Procurement
attn: Tiaotalaga J.E. Kruse, CPO
Any Proposals received after the aforementioned date and time will not be accepted under any
circumstances. Late submissions will not be opened or considered and will be determined as
beingn on-responsive.
Document:
The RFP Scope of Work outlining the proposal requirements is available at The Office of
Procurement, Tafuna, American Samoa, during normal working hours.
Review:
Request for Proposal data will be thoroughly reviewed by an appointed Source Evaluation
Board under the auspices of the Chief Procurement Officer, Office of Procurement, ASG.
Right of Rejection:
The American Samoa Government reserves the right to reject any and/or all proposals and to
waive any irregularities and/or informalities in the submitted proposals that are not in the best
interests of the American Samoa Government or the public.
“Equal Opportunity Employer / Affirmative Action”
TIAOTALAGA J.E. KRUSE
Chief Procurement Officer
Middle school student finds
loaded gun on California street
SAN LEANDRO, Calif. (AP) — A middle school boy found
a loaded handgun in bushes in a San Francisco Bay Area suburb
a day after the gun was fired outside a bar.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the gun was found
last Friday morning while the boy was walking to school.
He was not injured.
San Leandro police Lt. Robert McManus said boy believed
he had found a toy gun. He picked it up and realized it was real.
He called his parents, who called police.
Police said the stolen gun was fired outside a bar last Thursday
night. No one was hit or injured.
Detectives later developed leads that led them to arrest
an alleged 25-year-old gang member in connection with the
shooting outside a San Leandro bar. His name wasn’t released.
police report: Plant worker killed
colleague a day after chair prank
FRANCONIA, Pa. (AP) — Police say a worker at a suburban
Philadelphia meat rendering plant has been charged with fatally
stabbing a colleague a day after the co-worker yanked a chair
out from under him as a prank.
Thirty-two-year-old Peter Atem has been charged with firstdegree murder in the Wednesday death of 25-year-old Danny
Vazquez. Vazquez was killed at the MOPAC plant in Franconia
Township. His last words were: “Tell my wife I love her.”
Police say witnesses saw Atem stab Vazquez. It wasn’t clear
Thursday if Atem had hired an attorney.
Police say they found Atem hiding in a shed with self-inflicted
stab wounds, along with a note that said “See you in hell. Life
for life.” He was taken to a hospital, where he had surgery. He
remained hospitalized Thursday.
Coroner: Wrong body buried
after crime lab mix-up in Georgia
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — A coroner says a mix-up at the state
crime lab led an Augusta area family to bury the wrong body
during a closed-casket funeral.
Burke County Coroner Susan Salemi says the body of Johnny
Morgan Lowe III was never returned after an autopsy.
Instead, Salemi says, another body — Louie Caldwell of
Clayton County — was mistakenly buried during the December
graveside service for Lowe.
The Augusta Chronicle reports that officials confirmed the
mix-up on Wednesday.
Salemi tells the newspaper she was notified of the mistake
Feb. 10, when she received a phone call from Georgia Bureau of
Investigation Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Kris Sperry. Salemi
says Lowe’s body remains at the GBI lab.
GBI officials say the agency will retrieve Caldwell’s body
and pay for Lowe’s burial.
Toronto boy dies after
wandering away from apt.
TORONTO (AP) — A 3-year-old Toronto boy died Thursday
after wandering away from an apartment building into bitterly
cold weather overnight.
Police were notified of the boy’s disappearance at 7:30 a.m.
by family members who said they woke to find him gone and
the front door open. They said they’d last seen him in his bed
Wednesday night.
Security camera video showed the boy, Elijah Marsh, leaving
the building at about 4 a.m. After a massive search, he was found
just after 10 a.m. in a nearby yard. He did not show any vital
signs, and was rushed to the hospital. Police later announced his
death on Twitter.
“You see the picture of that beautiful little boy with a nice
smile and the video of the child going out into the cold,”
Toronto police chief Bill Blair said. “It really is a tragic set of
circumstances.”
Temperatures dipped to as low as minus-20 Celsius (minus-4
Fahrenheit) during the six hours Elijah was outdoors.
Study: Discrimination endures
in the Mexican labor market
MEXICO CITY (AP) — A new study says racial and ethnic
discrimination continues to be an obstacle for many in the Mexican labor market.
The Project on Ethnicity and Race in Latin America reports
that the study determined lighter-skinned Mexicans with a university education are 11 percent more likely to win a higherpaying job than their darker-skinned counterparts.
The study also finds that fair-skinned Mexicans tend to go to
school longer and enjoy more socio-economic advantages.
It says that while 65 percent of participants identified themselves as “mestizo,” 74 percent were classified as such by the
interviewers.
The study included 3,000 surveys in Mexico beginning in
2008 and was made public Thursday.
It was carried out by researchers from Princeton University
and Mexico’s Center for Research and Higher Studies in Social
Anthropology.
Massachusetts man
pleads guilty to uniform fraud scam
WORCESTER, Mass. (AP)
— A Massachusetts man has
pleaded guilty to his role in the
creation of a fictitious uniform
manufacturing company that
did business in Afghanistan
and defrauded the U.S. government of as much as $200,000.
Dimitry Jean-Noel, of
Worcester, pleaded guilty
Wednesday in U.S. District
Court to conspiracy to defraud
the government.
The Telegram & Gazette
reports that the 42-year-old
Jean-Noel reached a plea agreement in October regarding his
involvement in the scheme,
which prosecutors said took
place in 2008 and 2009.
Authorities say Jean-Noel,
who worked for a government
contractor, and co-conspirators
created the fictitious company
to supply Afghan prison guard
uniforms, but simply bought
uniforms from other companies,
then overbilled the U.S. government, for example, billing for
100 uniforms when they delivered 50. Jean-Noel is scheduled
for sentencing May 27.
Convicted police
chief to collect
pension in prison
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP)
— Convicted of extortion and
illegal gambling, Savannah’s
former police chief will continue to collect a pension worth
nearly $130,000 a year while
he serves 7 ½ years in federal
prison.
That comes to more than
$970,000 before taxes.
Some City Council members have called for revoking or
slashing the retirement benefits
of former Savannah-Chatham
County Police Chief Willie
Lovett, who was sentenced
by a U.S. District Court judge
earlier this month. But City
Attorney Brooks Stillwell told
council members Thursday a
state law that forces convicted
public employees to surrender
a chunk of their pensions can’t
be applied to the ex-chief.
City officials may ask Georgia’s attorney general for a
second opinion.
“We all agree, as does the
community, that this is a miscarriage of justice,” said City
Council member Mary Ellen
Sprague. “For him to get such
a huge pension is just incredibly troubling.”
During his trial last fall,
prosecutors said Lovett pocketed more than $70,000 from
operators of carnival trailers
used as a front for illegal gambling in Savannah during holidays such as St. Patrick’s Day
and New Year’s Day.
Lovett was accused of
taking cash in exchange for
letting the gambling trailers
stay open for a decade.
That included Lovett’s four
years as police chief, until he
retired abruptly in September
2013.
The ex-chief was indicted
about nine months later..
teen convicted of
terrorist plan to
behead soldier
LONDON (AP) — A British
teenager who rapidly became
radicalized after converting to
Islam was convicted Thursday
of planning to behead a soldier.
A jury at London’s Central
Criminal Court found 19-yearold Brusthom Ziamani guilty
of preparing an act of terrorism.
The London-born teenager
was raised by Jehovah’s Witness parents but converted to
Islam early in 2014 and became
influenced by the radical group
al-Muhajiroun.
Prosecutors said Ziamani
was inspired by the two Islamic
extremists who murdered soldier Lee Rigby in a London
street in 2013.
They said he researched the
location of army cadet bases
in London and told his girlfriend he planned to “kill soldiers” before he was arrested in
August with a 12-inch (30-centimeter) knife and a hammer in
his backpack.
Ziamani also posted comments on Facebook saying
he was “willing to die in the
cause of Allah” and calling for
Islamic Sharia law.
Dog shot by officer
investigating San
Marino robbery
SAN MARINO, Calif. (AP)
— Authorities say an officer
responding to a home robbery
shot and wounded a dog that
confronted him in a yard in a
wealthy Los Angeles suburb.
San Marino police Chief
John Incontro says a woman
returned to her home after
dropping her kids at school
Thursday and discovered a
burglar in the house.
The suspect confronted the
woman and she ran upstairs,
locking herself in a bedroom
and calling 911. The chief tells
KABC-TV the suspect stole a
white Mercedes SUV from the
garage and drove off.
Responding officers were
searching nearby yards when
they were rushed by a large
black dog. Incontro says one
officer, fearing for his safety,
shot the barking dog.
The dog was taken to an
animal hospital in unknown
condition.
US Democrat delegation meets with
Cuban vice president
HAVANA (AP) — The
minority leader of the U.S.
House of Representatives and
a delegation of fellow Democrats met with Cuban Vice
President Miguel Diaz-Canel,
the man currently expected to
take power after President Raul
Castro leaves office in 2018.
Cuban state media said Rep.
Nancy Pelosi and eight colleagues on Thursday discussed
Cuban economic reforms,
U.S.-Cuba relations and congressional efforts to lift the
U.S. trade embargo on Cuba. A
spokesman for Pelosi said her
office had no immediate comment on the meeting.
U.S. officials have said
Pelosi’s delegation is the first
to meet with Diaz-Canel. Some
previous delegations have met
with Castro.
The meeting ended a twoday trip to Cuba by the delegation that included meetings with Cuban diplomatic,
agriculture and trade officials,
the Roman Catholic archbishop of Cuba and private
businesspeople.
Sex offender performs at Wash. state
school assembly
BENTON CITY, Wash.
(AP) — Authorities say a registered sex offender performed
at a high school assembly in
Washington state even though
she’s not allowed to be where
minors congregate.
The Tri-City Herald says
Melissa Salsbury had been sentenced to nearly a year in jail
for her role in forcing underage
girls to work as prostitutes.
Schools
Superintendent
Wade Haun said in a statement
that administrators had not
cleared her in advance to speak
at Kiona-Benton City High
School.
Salsbury performed with a
group of musicians who shared
inspiring messages about overcoming negativity, peer pressure and other issues.
Spokesman Ron Adams
says the group was not aware
she was a sex offender.
Benton County sheriff’s
Detective Mike Wilson says
Salsbury turned herself in to
authorities and was jailed on
Wednesday — a day after the
assembly.
AMERICAN SAMOA
COMMUNITY COLLEGE
TRADES & TECHNOLOGY DIVISION
APPRENTICESHIP AND WORKFORCE
DEVELOPMENT TRAINING PROGRAM
(USDOL Approved)
Feb 23 – April 30, 2015 (10 Week Semester)
(First Day of Instructions is Feb 23, 2015 - 5:00pm to 7:30pm)
Registration:
Date:
Time:
Feb 17 – Feb 20, 2015
10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Registration Locations:
Apprenticeship:
Workforce Development:
TTD Office or Participant Sponsor (Employer)
TTD Office (Non-Traditional Students)
Cost:
Registration Fee:
Course (5 CEU):
$25.00 (Non-refundable)
$60.00 per CEU ($300.00 per course)
Placement Test (English & Math)
Location:
Date:
Adult Education Literacy and Extended Learning
TBA
Enrollment Requirement:
Apprentice:
Workforce Development:
Must be employed in the respective area
Must be a high school graduate or equivalent
Required English & Math Courses:
A participant may be placed in a required English & Math Course pending Placement Test results. English & Math Courses
are FREE courtesy of the AELEL Division (Adult Education), ASCC.
COURSE #
COURSE TITLE
CEU
DAYS
TIME
INSTRUCTOR
AST 800
Introduction to Automotive Technology
& Services (Auto Mechanic)
5.0
M/W
5:00PM-7:30PM
A. SIONE
CON 802
Walls and Ceiling Framing
(Construction)
5.0
M/W
5:00PM-7:30PM
D. FAUMUI
ETP 800
Basic Electrical Theory (Electrician)
5.0
M/W
5:00PM-7:30PM
J. LEAE
WLD 800
Welding Fundamentals & Metallurgy
(Welder)
5.0
M/W
5:00PM-7:30PM
A. FUGA
ACR 800
Introduction to Air Conditioning & Refrigeration
(Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Technician)
5.0
T/TH
5:00PM-7:30PM
P. MARIO
AST 802
Automotive Engine Performance Driveability
(Auto Mechanic) Pre-Requsite - AST 800
5.0
T/TH
5:00PM-7:30PM
P. NG LAM
BPR 810
Blueprint Reading
(Construction/Architectural Drafting)
5.0
T/TH
5:00PM-7:30PM
A. ESERA
ETP 870
Electrical Installation II (Electrician)
Pre-requisite-ETP 860 or with
experience
5.0
T/TH
5:00PM-7:30PM
TBA
ICT 860
Computer Networking II (Computer Technology)
Pre-Requisite - ICT 840 or with coputer experience
5.0
T/TH
5:00PM-7:30PM
J. MARTINEZ
WLD 840
Advanced Shielded Metal Arc Welding I
(Welder/Fabricator)
5.0
T/TH
5:00PM-7:30PM
A. FUGA
For more information please contact AWD Coordinator, Fred Suisala at
699-9155 Ext. 353 or TTD Administrative Assistant, Juliet F. C. Pen at 699-9155 Ext. 472.
Page 26
OFFICE OF PROCUREMENT
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP)
RFP No: RFP-026-2015
RFP No:
RFP-026-2015
Issuance Date: February 13, 2015
Date & Time Due: February 27, 2015
No later than 2:00 p.m. local time
The American Samoa Government (ASG) Office of Procurement intends to issue a Request
For Proposals (RFP) from qualified firms to provide:
“Forklift Maintenance & Repair Services for School Lunch Program”
Submission:
Original and five copies of the Proposal must be submitted in a sealed envelope marked:
“Forklift Maintenance & Repair Services for SLP”. Submissions are to be sent to the following
address and will be received until 2:00 p.m. (local time), Friday, February 27, 2015:
Office of Procurement
attn: Tiaotalaga J.E. Kruse, CPO
Any Proposals received after the aforementioned date and time will not be accepted under any
circumstances. Late submissions will not be opened or considered and will be determined as
beingn on-responsive.
Document:
The RFP Scope of Work outlining the proposal requirements is available at The Office of
Procurement, Tafuna, American Samoa, during normal working hours.
Review:
Request for Proposal data will be thoroughly reviewed by an appointed Source Evaluation
Board under the auspices of the Chief Procurement Officer, Office of Procurement, ASG.
Right of Rejection:
The American Samoa Government reserves the right to reject any and/or all proposals and to
waive any irregularities and/or informalities in the submitted proposals that are not in the best
interests of the American Samoa Government or the public.
“Equal Opportunity Employer / Affirmative Action”
TIAOTALAGA J.E. KRUSE
Chief Procurement Officer
White House claims higher wages
needed to make up for stagnation
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack
Obama’s top economists say that even as the
U.S. has managed to kick start a lasting and
growing recovery, modest wage gains are far
from making up for decades of paycheck stagnation for middle-class workers.
The White House, in its annual report to Congress, also warns that despite the nation’s relative economic strength, slowdowns abroad still
pose dangers at home.
The 400-page “Economic Report of the
President” is a largely bullish portrayal of the
economy replete with appendices, charts and
statistical tables designed to support Obama’s
policy initiatives
As a political document, the report is likely
to find little favor in the Republican-controlled
Congress. But as an assessment of the state of
the economy, it broadly tracks with Republicans
who say lack of significant wage growth is a critical flaw of the current recovery.
The post-recession economy has been
growing at an annual rate of 2.8 percent over the
last two years, an improvement from 2.1 percent
growth during the first three-and-a-half years of
recovery.
Middle class income already is emerging as a
key economic issue for the 2016 presidential and
congressional elections.
The report dates weaknesses in wages back
to 1973 when productivity slowed and income
inequality between the top 1 percent and the
bottom 90 percent expanded.
Starting in 1995, fewer Americans began
to participate in the labor force, further compounding pressure on wages.
“This is the big-picture challenge that we’re
trying to overcome as an economy,” said Jason
Furman, the chairman of Obama’s Council of
Economic Advisers.
The report concludes that if the productivity,
income gap and labor participation trend lines
that were evident before 1973 had continued, a
typical household would have nearly doubled its
income by 2013, or an additional $51,000 a year.
The document uses the data to buttress
Obama’s domestic policy goals, including raising
the minimum wage, increasing spending on education, overhauling the business tax system, and
expanding international trade. As such, it underscores the difficulties facing Obama over the
next 23 months of his presidency.
Republicans, who have majorities in the
House and Senate, resist new spending initiatives
and minimum wage increases. A majority of
Democrats oppose trade deals. And changing the
tax system is a heavy lift under any circumstance.
“The White House should focus less on trumpeting the slowest recovery in over 50 years,
and more on finally cooperating with Congress
to advance opportunity and jobs for the middle
class,” said Don Stewart, a top aide to Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
The White House report also contained cautionary signals. “The available 2014 indicators
suggest that the economies of Japan and our euroarea trading partners are sagging,” the report
states. “A slowdown abroad not only reduces
our exports, but also raises risks of financial and
other spillovers to the U.S. economy.”
The report also says difficulties for consumers
seeking low-interest loans are creating a headwind for the housing sector. It says that mortgage underwriting standards are tight, reducing
access to home loans.
Despite efforts by the administration, the
report concedes it may be some time before
lenders improve access to credit, especially
for borrowers with “less-than-pristine credit
histories.”
Guard troops to stay
on border, but some
question the mission
McALLEN, Texas (AP) — On U.S. 83, the highway that hugs
the southern stretch of the Texas-Mexico border, law enforcement is everywhere.
Even on a national holiday this week, the green-and-white
trucks of U.S. Customs and Border Protection circled tirelessly
around the empty streets of Rio Grande City, a hotspot for illegal
border crossings. Texas state troopers pulled over vehicles, and a
Border Patrol helicopter hovered above, keeping watch over the
Rio Grande.
Less visible are hundreds of Texas National Guard troops who
arrived last summer and are under new orders from Gov. Greg
Abbott to remain indefinitely — probably at least through next
year. But with migration numbers falling and the guard moving
to remote outposts, local authorities and residents are questioning
the troops’ continued presence here.
Previously scheduled to leave in March, guard members who
typically respond to short-term disasters like hurricanes are instead
digging in for one of the longest domestic deployments in the U.S.
That is despite dwindling apprehensions and an even steeper drop
in unaccompanied children arriving from Central America.
It was the arrival of those children in overwhelming numbers
that prompted former Gov. Rick Perry to activate the guard in the
first place. Abbott says the extended mission is necessary until
Texas hires more state troopers.
“We will stay on station until our presence there is not needed
any further,” National Guard Maj. Gen. John Nichols said.
The troops had been stationed mostly along the Rio Grande.
But in recent weeks, their presence became less visible as the
guard began a gradual drawdown in anticipation of the mission
ending in March. Still unclear is how many guard troops will
remain, serving in their strictly surveillance role. They are armed,
but they do not have arrest authority and must call another agency
at the first sign of trouble.
Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw
this week refused to disclose the total number of gun-carrying
patrolmen the state has saturating the Rio Grande Valley, making
a complete picture of security elusive.
The governor and state officials no longer disclose the number
of guard troops being kept on the border, citing what they call
operational security.
When about 1,000 guard troops first arrived in August, more
than 6,600 illegal crossers were apprehended in the first week,
according to state officials. Those numbers have since fallen to
around 200 guard members and about 2,000 weekly apprehensions.
The National Butterfly Center, on a 100-acre property adjacent
to the Rio Grande in Mission, was home to a group of guardsmen
through the end of 2014. The center’s executive director recalled
seeing them set up on a nearby levee in full body armor in the
hot sun with high-tech surveillance equipment. Their presence
appeared to act as a deterrent.
“The folks on the other side are aware of everything going on,
so they move it elsewhere. It is a business, and they want business
to go smoothly,” Marianna Trevino Wright said.
But the crush of law-enforcement activity and the media attention focused on the border also deterred visitors — the birders
and butterfly enthusiasts who come from as far away as Japan.
Participation in the center’s annual festival last fall fell by 20 percent, she said.
“You come out here and see how lovely and tranquil and
peaceful it is, and the news made it sound like we were being
invaded,” she said.
The center held two dinners for guard troops, but she said she
has not seen one guard member anywhere in the area since January. “They sort of vanished,” she said.
The National Guard’s lowered profile has caused some local
law enforcement officials to balk at the cost of keeping them in the
area. Next year, Texas will surpass $1 billion in border-security
spending since 2008. The money has paid for everything from
raw manpower to futuristic spy planes and $600,000 armored
boats with machine guns that fire 900 rounds per minute.
Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio said that he’s never
spotted the guard working in his county and his officers don’t
report seeing them either. That money would be better used
beefing up local law enforcement, he said.
“We have to know when you can stop somebody, when you
can interrogate someone, when you have probable cause to stop.
The National Guard does not have that authority,” Lucio said.
Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities in McAllen, which opened a shelter for migrants last summer,
also questioned what the guardsmen added.
“Folks in general appreciate the sense of safety that our local
law enforcement provide for us,” Pimentel said. “I don’t know
that the National Guard is doing anything to increase that safety.”
China holiday makes business, cultural waves around world
HONG KONG (AP) —
Decades ago the Chinese New
Year holiday, also known as
Spring Festival, had little impact
outside of China. But as the
country gained outsized economic influence, the holiday,
which has enormous cultural
significance in the Chinesespeaking world, has become
more prominent. This is how it
ripples around the world.
FACTORY FREEZE
Chinese factories shut down
for the holiday and then some,
with hundreds of millions of
migrant workers heading to their
hometowns, part of the world’s
largest mass movement of people.
In the lead up to the holiday, factories run flat out to fill orders
before shutting. The holiday itself
runs from Feb. 18 to 24 this year,
but workers start setting off as
much as two weeks earlier on
packed trains and buses. After the
holiday they may take the same
amount of time to return, or not.
The holiday is a prime occasion
to switch jobs.
It all means an annual headache for retailers and importers
overseas who rely on China.
Shipping companies warn customers that China’s transport
and logistics networks are at
capacity and their shipments
must be at ports two weeks
ahead of the holiday to stand
a chance of getting on a boat
before the country shuts down.
This year, shipping delays are
compounded by a slowdown at
U.S. West Coast ports.
QUIET MARKETS
Stock market trading shudders to a halt as mainland China
shuts for an entire week and
financial hubs such as Hong
Kong and Singapore take a break
as well, albeit shorter. Numerous
other countries including South
Korea and Vietnam also observe
Lunar New Year holidays.
Muslim majority Malaysia and
Indonesia, with large Chinese
minorities, take holidays too.
Trading volumes “drop
off considerably” about three
working days before the start of
the holiday, said Andrew Sullivan, managing director at Haitong Securities in Hong Kong.
This year, Friday was “the last
day that you can sell in Hong
Kong and get your money before
Chinese New Year” under
trading settlement rules, he said.
Foreign investors also tend to
wind down trading in Asia as the
holiday nears, Sullivan said.
ECONOMIC DISTORTION
Because the Lunar New Year
never falls on the same date, it
plays havoc with Chinese economic data at the start of the
year. Economists are cautious
not to read too much into figures from January or February,
and prefer to wait until March
to see the trends lest they make
an incorrect interpretation of
the world’s second-biggest
economy. Last year, the holiday
started on the last day of January
which meant activity was more
compressed as factories rushed
to get their orders out the door.
This year, the holiday falls about
two and half weeks later, so factories had more time to work
on orders. The result is that this
year’s January trade data, for
example, was artificially weak.
“We always warn about
the CNY effect and the risk of
reading too much into these figures at this time of year,” said
Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital
Economics. “This affects most of
the data out of China in January
and February as well headline
export growth in countries such
as Korea that are heavily dependent on the Chinese market.”
CHINESE ABROAD
The holiday is celebrated by
Chinese communities around
the world. In San Francisco,
where about one in five residents is of Chinese descent, the
celebration is stretched over a
few weeks, with fairs, beauty
queens, bazaars, lion dances and
deafening firecrackers in Chinatown. The festivities culminate
in the San Francisco Chinatown
Chinese New Year Parade, complete with feisty 270-foot-long \
dragon. It’s such a big deal that
schools close for the holiday.
Pius Lee, chairman of the
city’s Chinatown Neighborhood
Association, said its Chinese
New Year celebrations resemble
those in Hong Kong and
Shanghai, especially the parades
and family reunions where food
is abundant and children get
red envelopes filled with crisp
“lucky” dollar bills.
But unlike in China, San
Francisco workers will take just
two or three days off, said Lee.
“We can’t follow China’s system
because the cost of shutting down
for many days here is a lot higher
than in China,” he said. Lee said
many grocery stores and other
shops close for two or three days
but a handful remain open to tend
to the tourists who flock to the
downtown neighborhood for a
glimpse of China.
The festivities have embraced
foreign culture. For example, the
traditional red envelopes, usually
decorated with gold Chinese letters, are sold by Chinatown merchants with pictures of Pokemon
and Disney characters.
New York dazzled crowds
with a 20-minute fireworks display Tuesday over the Hudson
River organized by the China
Central Academy of Fine Arts,
which said it was the first time
the holiday had its first major
celebration outside of China.
GLOBAL SHOPPING
The festival is traditionally
the most important time of the
year for family reunions, but as
China has become prosperous,
an increasing number of wealthy
Chinese are opting to travel
abroad. That translates into
big business for global luxury
brands. Many British department stores, for example, are
pulling out all the stops to woo
mainland Chinese shoppers.
(Designer handbags, watches
and jewelry can be up to 30 percent cheaper in Europe because
of high luxury taxes in China.)
Harrods is selling its own
brand of red envelopes traditionally used to give “lai see,”
or lucky money. Selfridges and
luxury brand Burberry are each
offering cards and envelopes
personalized with Chinese calligraphy. Designer label Vivienne Westwood has launched
a collectors’ necklace featuring
a sheep pendant. Shoppers at
Fortnum & Mason paying with
47
UnionPay cards — China’s
homegrown payment network
— will get bonus gifts.
Chinese spending in Britain
last February jumped 23 percent
over the same month in 2012,
said Gordon Clark, manager
at Global Blue, a Switzerlandbased firm that tracks luxury
retail spending worldwide. Chinese shoppers spend an average
739 pounds ($1,137) per transaction in Britain each February,
mostly on luxury jewelry,
watches and designer clothes.
HOLIDAY SURPRISE
Just because it’s a holiday
doesn’t mean there won’t be any
major surprises. Chinese officials are notorious for releasing
big news during important holidays, unexpected announcements that “hit you with your
pants down unprepared,” said
Francis Lun, CEO of GEO
Securities. The timing may be
an attempt to reduce the impact
on financial markets, or for the
more skeptical, to bury bad
news. In 2011, the central bank
raised interest rates at the tail
end of Chinese New Year.
CHANNEL * (E) English Subtitles
* (L)-Live Programming/News
* (R)-Rerun
*Note: If you need this Schedule, e-mail <[email protected]>. and I will send it to you every week!”
“TRUTH of DOKDO & EAST SEA”
< http://www.truthofdokdo.com >
< http://www.forthenexgeneration.com >
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Transcrição

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