US tightens funding control in Compact II

Journal 7/4/1975

P1 New salary plan passes The Congress of Micronesia Monday unanimously passed the new base salary schedule and sent it to the HiCom for action. Minimum wage under the new law will be 80 cents per hour. This is a 31 percent increase over the present 61 cents per hour wage minimum.

P1 Johnston Island How would you like to live on an island where every resident has his or her protective mask at wear — in case dangerous, invisible nerve gas stored nearby escapes into the air? This is the case on Johnston Island where 550 civilian and military residents live. The US government keeps nerve and mustard gas in concrete bunkers.

P3 DUD Council opposes July referendum The District Center Municipal Council (Darrit-Uliga-Delap Council) has passed a resolution requesting the High Commissioner and the Congress of Micronesia to postpone the July 8 referendum to give the people of Micronesia and the Marshalls in particular a chance to learn more about their future political status. The resolution was signed by DUD Magistrate Birash Joash.

P11 Blue shirt bait proves irresistible Pilots for Tradition Air Transport Service reported Sunday that a fish weighing over 100 pounds breached one deck of the MV Robert deBrum at Ebon and struck and injured a member o the Institute of Cultural Affairs who happened to be standing on the deck below the bridge. Tradition Air, which is operated as a non-scheduled airline by Island Construction Company, flew their twin-engine Grumman Goose to Ebon. Pilot John Slattebo said he saw the marks of the fish on the leg of the man who was injured and that the fish was stranded after landing on the deck. It was a wahoo. The fish was cooked and eaten.

Journal 7/3/1992

P5 Majuro cable TV plugs in Cable television will soon be a reality in Majuro. Alfonso Diaz, director of the newly formed Marshalls Broadcasting Company, said all of the equipment has arrived and he expects the company to be operational by August 1.

P23 Gardens needed to fight malnutrition Majuro Mayor Amatlain Kabua, Food Services Coordinator Zedkaea Zedkaea, Family Food and Nutrition Project Director Steven Lepton and a large number of alaps from the DUD area gathered Wednesday at the MALGov chamber for a three-day workshop to discuss ways to prevent malnutrition and ways to increase local food supply.

Journal 6/27/2003

P3 US tightens its control of cash The bar is being raised on accountability requirements in the amended Compact of Free Association. In testimony to the US Congress last week, Government Accounting Office’s Susan Westin commented that a series of GAO audits in 2000 and 2001 “found that many Compact-funded projects in the FSM and the RMI experience problems because of poor planning and management, inadequate construction and maintenance, or misuse of funds.” Accountability measures in “Compact II” have been strengthened to ensure proper use of funding, she said.

P6 Compact hearings “There is no deal,” Kwajalein spokesman Tony deBrum told Washington officials last week about the US-RMI agreement for extending use of Kwajalein through 2066. He said the plan negotiated between the US and RMI is unfair. The landowners want $19.1 million annually in rent. The new deal will provide $15 million this year, up from the current $11.13 million.