Journal 8/19/1982
P1 US compact negotiators called amateurs
Lawyers for the Marshall Islands Atomic Testing Litigation Project are extremely critical of the way negotiations have been handled for the Compact of Free Association and the settlements offered their clients, victims of US nuclear testing in the 1940s and 1950s. “The negotiations were handled by a bunch of amateur diplomats out of the Interior Department instead of out of the Department of State,” said Dick Gerry, a MIATLP attorney. Gerry will probably be the lead attorney when the multi-billion dollar lawsuits for land damage and personal injury comes to trial in US courts.
P1 Speaker denies Sen. Chutaro the floor
What rights do you have under the Constitution of the Marshall Islands? That is the question Mili Senator Chuji Chutaro is asking after he was not recognized on the Nitijela floor August 18 by Nitijela Speaker Atlan Anien. “There is discrimination in the government, to be sure,” Chutaro told the Journal, “but I’ll continue to sit at Nitijela and represent my people and I’ll continue to say what I want to say.” He said what Anien did by denying him to speak on Resolution 10 (to hold a plebiscite on the Compact of Free Association and the termination of the Trusteeship) was clearly unconstitutional. He said many senators are already afraid to speak on important issues and the speaker’s tactics today will make them even more scared. When contacted at his office, Anien said there was nothing to say as to why he denied Chutaro the floor. All he said was: “The Chair didn’t recognize him.”
Journal 8/23/1991
P1 NCT issues first check
The first payment of a claim for a medical condition under the auspices of the Nuclear Claims Tribunal was made today to Paul Irujiman in the Tribunal’s conference room. Sitting before NCT Chairman Sebastian Aloot and Tribunal Judge James Plasman, Irujiman sat quietly while Chairman Aloot explained the terms and conditions under which the payment was being made. The fact that Irujiman was exposed to radiation on Rongelap Atoll and suffered radiation burns and subsequent thyroid problems meant he qualified for a $62,500 award. Since he previously received a $25,000 payment from the United States, the award he is credited with from the Tribunal is $37,500. His check was $7,500. Due to the probability more claims will be awarded than money available to pay the claims, payments would necessarily be made on a pro rata basis. Irujiman was told he will receive an additional payment in October and then additional payments annually.
P1 NIHS to start next month
Actual construction of what will probably be the biggest educational facility in the northern Marshalls for the coming decades is due to begin by the end of next month — it will be the Northern Islands High School, to be built by Anil Construction, a Majuro-based firm owned by Charles Takao Domnick.
Journal 8/26/2011
P3 Back in class
Delap Elementary School finally opened Monday after landowners locked the school for a week. Students are obviously happy to be back to class, and many parents were seen at the school with their children at break times.
P9 Waylon blasts on to Istanbul
Marshall Islands wrestler Waylon Muller won a silver medal at the Samoa Oceania Championships qualifying him for a shot at the Olympics with the next step being the regional qualifier in Istanbul.