Journal 4/17/1987
P3 Best in the west
Majuro’s weather station men are the best in the west. The Pacific region director for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Richard Hagemeyer presented them with the “Surface Observatory of the Year” award at a ceremony last week at the Chief Secretary’s office. Hagemeyer presented a plaque to weather chief Paul Peter. Other Weather staff at the ceremony: Atran Lakabung, Antonio Momis, Ben Jerilong, Howard Tarbwilin, Currie Lejena, Audie M. Kabua, and Ataji Phillip.
Journal 4/16/1999
P4 Private high schools have major impact
A Ministry of of Education school enrollment report shows that while public schools educate 75 percent of all elementary students, private schools educate a majority of high school students in the Marshall Islands. The 1998-1999 enrollment report confirms the major impact that private schools have on education in the nation. The 76 public elementary schools account for 9,313 students. Private school handle an additional 3,081 students. The 14 private high schools account for 1,482 students, while three public high schools handle 1,185students.
P5 Experts: Enewetak scrape could cost $3 billion
A cleanup of Enewetak Atoll that scraped contaminated soil off the islands could cost between $320 million and $3.9 billion depending on the removal method and cause an ecological “disaster,” said a scientific review of cleanup possibilities. The report, by Enviropro, a US-based consulting group working with the Nuclear Claims Tribunal’s Defender of the Fund, does not recommend scraping Enewetak. “Scraping contaminated soil from the atoll would “substitute a radioactive disaster with an ecological disaster that would take 25-50 years to recover, if ever,” the report said. But scientific consultants for Enewetak dispute the recommendations made by the Defender’s consultants.
Journal 4/16/2010
P3 Battle over resettlement
The push to have Rongelap resettled by the end of 2011 is boiling over into battle mode following the visit last week to the RMI by US Senate and House officials. US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee staff Allen Stayman and Isaac Edwards, with their House counterparts Brian Modeste and Bonny Bruce, visited Rongelap and Mejatto — home of the displaced Rongelap people — as well as Kwajalein and Majuro. Stayman told the Journal that Rongelap Atoll Local Government has “decided to get the resettlement back on track and has agreed on a target date for resettling Rongelap of October 1, 2011.” He also indicated Rongelap people at a community meeting last week on Mejatto expressed their support for going home. But Rongelap Senator Kenneth Kedi told the Journal he is expressing concern of Rongelap people on Mejatto, Ebeye and Majuro who do not agree with the recently adopted RALGov Council resolution endorsing a return home by October 1, 2011. “Since 1985, our concern has been for lingering radiation at Rongelap,” he said. “The original agreement involving Senator Jeton Anjain and Mayor Billiet Edmond and the US government was for cleaning all of Rongelap Atoll, not just Rongelap Island. But…the small islands have not been touched.”
P5 Not enough books or teachers
The “constraints” section of the Ministry of Education’s quarterly performance report to the US government for October to December 2009 on the National Vocational Technical Institute, which has 360 students: Lack of teachers; leaks in classrooms cause flooding; student, teacher and staff poor attendance; not enough qualified or capable teachers; and missing purchase requisitions.