Many May 1 anniversaries

Journal 4/30/1982

P1 Zeder says he came to settle radiation claims US Ambassador Fred Zeder has his marching orders from President Reagan to settle all radiation from nuclear testing claims in the Marshall Islands in a subsidiary agreement to the Compact of Free Association. Zeder was the lead off speaker in the formal opening April 24 of the first political status talks ever held in the Marshalls. Zeder told Marshall Islands officials and radiation affected atoll representatives and their lawyers that President Reagan has personally authorized him to negotiate the political arrangements, money and programs “necessary to produce binging agreement.”

P4 Kwaj missile test referendum Last week the Kwajalein Atoll Corporation announced it would conduct an August 13 referendum of its membership on whether to make Kwajalein available for continued use as a nuclear weapons delivery system test facility. “I believe it would be a very serious mistake to dismiss anything as a negotiating ploy,” said KAC attorney George Allen. “In the entire time I have been involved, I have never heard one of my clients say he liked or approved of the fundamental activity at Kwajalein. And I have heard repeated expressions of desire to return to home islands. That is a very strong thing. It always has been.”

P23 The Site LaBwera’s Disco, normally packed on weekends, has had overflow crowds all week as negotiators, attorneys, and observers flocked to talks on the subsidiary agreement to Section 177 of the draft Compact of Free Association.

Journal 4/29/1994

P1 Chinese hook most RMI tuna Tuna catches by locally-owned fishing boats have dropped more than 50 percent in the first three months of 1994 compared to the same time last year. While local fishing boats’ production is down, overall catches for the first quarter of 1994, including the caches of the first 12 Zhong Yuan boats to arrive, have put the Marshalls on target to about double the 800,000 pounds caught in 1993.

P3 AMI meets fish demand with additional flight Air Marshall Islands is responding to increasing tuna exports with plans to add a third flight each week to Honolulu beginning June 1. “Once the DC-8 gets back from its ‘C-Check’, we plan to start three flights a week,” said General Manager Steve Fulk.

P14 111 contest 33 Con-Con seats In what may be seen as a “warmup” for the 1995 national election, some 111 candidates are campaigning for 33 places in the upcoming Constitutional Convention election. Another 28 are running for 12 seats set aside for irooj. The Con-Con election is May 31.

P18 Assumption beats Co-op in a close competition In a three-game showdown Friday to determine the champs of the Majuro Academic Quiz, Assumption Elementary School beat Majuro Cooperative School — last year’s local and national champs. After 23 quizzes in a double-elimination contest of public and private elementary schools on Majuro, Co-op and Assumption seventh graders went toe-to-toe — academically speaking, that is — in the former Nitijela hall. Co-op team members were Ingrid Kabua, Melissa Kramer, Yoko Lokboj, Damien Oliverio, Derek Milne and Eugenia Note. Assumption’s team was Velma Edwards, Christian Sebastian, Charita Rilometo, Juan Silk, Marina Mook, Donna Demanarig and Eduardo Conception.

P19 May 1, 1994 7th anniversary of Women’s Athletic Club, 10th anniversary of Marshall Islands Postal Service, 15th anniversary of Constitutional Government, 44th anniversary of Robert Reimers Enterprises, Inc.

Journal 4/29/2005

P15 Importance of promoting private sector Promoting business development and honest government operations are the priorities topping David Cohen’s agenda. The Interior Department’s deputy assistant secretary for insular affairs said that a key part of developing island economies is encouraging discussion about the links between island culture and how it helps or hinders opportunities for a better standard of living. “In much of the US-affiliated Pacific, we have upside-down economies: the private sector lives off a dominant public sector, rather than the other way around,” Cohen said. “Without heavy outside subsidy, these economies would collapse.”