Journal 9/13/1982
P1 Delap Elem School may send students away: Overcrowded There is no doubt that Delap Elementary School will close its doors for some children in Majuro because there is not enough space to seat them. There are not enough classrooms, according to Lucky Lokboj, principal.
P1 Negotiations to be held in Washington if Kwaj occupation ends A group of Kwajalein landowners passed through here today on their way home from talks in Honolulu concerning terms on which they will make their atoll available for US missile testing. Senator Jollie Lojkar said that at first the US had said no talks unless the people leave the camps on Kwajalein Island and elsewhere. He said they told the US the people would not leave and the US agreed to listen to their views. Senator Imada Kabua seemed happy with the Honolulu talks. “They’re talking to us. That’s a good sign,” he said. Kabua also said he had no reason to expect they would get anything from the Washington talks. He said he did not think the people would move from the resettlement or occupation camps established in June.
Journal 9/16/1994
P3 Majuro’s PCBs laid to final rest The final stages of the joint US EPA and RMI EPA PCB clean up in the Marshall Islands was completed September 9. The PCBs were used in transformers as insulators because of their low flammability properties. There were approximately 180 transformers that need to be emptied of their oil and then refiled with cement. The PCB oil will be shipped to the US in special containers and incinerated.
Journal 9/16/2005
P1 Arno aims for second Shootout win Team Arno, last year’s winner of the Ralik Ratak Shootout, is all pumped up and ready to meet all challengers in this year’s seventh annual basketball tournament. 14 teams had signed up for games, which will be held at the ECC gym starting Friday.
P10 Hard going It’s hard work to get a driver’s license in this town. And you need extra money to cover the expense of driving or taxi riding on multiple trips around town. First, show up at national police station. Fill out the form, get paper to take to Ministry of Finance to pay fee. Ride to Finance, stand in line to pay $10. Get receipt, ride back to national police. They give you a license, but because somebody at the police station forgot to order film, they can’t take your photo. So walk next door to Ministry of Internal Affairs to the ID office. Get a form. Ride back to Ministry of Finance. Stand in line to pay another $10 for the photo/lamination. Then ride back to Internal Affairs to get your license laminated.
P10 Use what you promote An irony with education in the Marshall Islands is the known fact that many of those who are responsible for our public schools don’t send their own children to public schools. Sit outside a private school and you can watch all the yellow (government) license plates dropping off their children. Despite some claims by Ministry of Education officials that public schools can be compared to private schools, where they send their kids suggests rather pointedly that they themselves don’t have faith in the system that they are providing for the nation’s children. One ministry official says that if, and only if, teacher attendance improved would they consider sending children to a public school. So maybe a good rule of thumb should be that you have to use the product you’re promoting — if, that is, we want to see faster results.
P14 President Note: “We will go beyond words to action” Fifteen people spent two days talking about the future of the Marshall Islands — and came up with some interesting ideas for the government and the public to consider. The two day meeting was a “retreat” — meaning people spent eight hours together on two days with no phones, computers or other things to interrupt them. The retreat brought together not only government and business people, but also representatives of non-government organizations. “Let’s reinvent the Marshall Islands” might be a good title for the discussion that took place.