Journal 4/26/1983
P2 Food Service runs a major operation While RepMar may be short on cash, one division — the Division of Food Services — has a budget of over a million dollars, according to its Director Saeko Shoniber. Food Services is responsible for the school hot lunch programs, breakfast included, in the Marshall Islands.
P3 Four to Alaska The Marshall Islands has selected four police officers to attend the Alaska Police Academy in Sitka, Alaska. Those selected are Lt. George Lanwi, Tarkine Lavin, Aloysius Wase and Phillip Dribo. If any of these officers are not able to go, there are two alternates: Wilson Lokeijak and Ring Eliu.
Journal 4/28/1995
P1 Thumbs down The verdict is in: Marshall Islands voters have rejects call but one of the 35 proposed constitutional amendments, according to final unofficial results released by the Electoral Administration. Only the first amendment received at least the two-thirds major vote to pass. Seventy-two percent voted “yes” to Marshallese language being followed in the Constitution in the event there is a dispute between the English and Marshallese versions of the Constitution. Fewer than 7,000 people voted out of more than 20,000 who are registered.
P1 Another big one (yawn) for Bwiji? Calling all fishermen. Can anyone take on young Bwiji Aliven’s team. He’s almost 500 points ahead in President’s Cup points going into Saturday’s Gibson’s jackpot tournament. You can bet the guys aiming for President’s Cup points — Gerry Smith (473), Jackie Jacobs (438), Almo Momotaro (428) and Timothy Anok (410) — will be out looking for some big fish to chip away at Bwiji’s lead.
P3 Take action before Marshalls are destroyed AIDS, Vitamin A deficiency, budget crises are all threats to the Marshall salads. But none compares with the possibility that the entire country may be underwater in few than 50 years. Minister of Health and Environment Tom Kijiner recently returned from a gathering of top government officials at the first Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Berlin, Germany. He made an impassioned appeal to industrialized nations to take action now before it is too late for the Marshalls and other low-lying island nations.
P14 Vitamin A to over 10,000 kids The Vitamin A distribution program got into full swing last week as nurses, student nurses and school staff began administering the vitamin to children in the schools and in the community. It is the first of three doses that will be given within 12 months.
P19 Wotje high rise The high school to be at Wotje Atoll is the largest structure on the atoll. It is still under construction, but the first block of classrooms is almost completed.
Journal 4/28/2006
P1 RMI pay delay hurts private schools Higher tuition, no books, no pay, fewer students — these are all the laments of private schools that are struggling to deal with erratic and unreliable payments from the RMI government. At Assumption High School, Fr. Richard McAuiliff says that last Friday the school received its second quarter payment from the Ministry of Education. School finishes in five weeks,and he has no expectation that the unpaid funds for the last two quarters will arrive before the term is over.
P6 Korent key to trio’s survival Aron Rithen, his son Rithen Rithen and Jablon Jibdi were saved last Friday night after more than four days drifting at sea. Captain Korent Joel and the few of the Aemman rescued the three men in their 15-foot aluminum boat about 10 miles north of Bokanake Island in Jaluit Atoll. They left Arno mid-afternoon April 17 for Majuro, but ocean conditions were rough and it was raining. When relatives reported them missing that same evening, a search was organized. Joel told the Journal that he initially calculated a possible drift course based on the prevailing currents and on the vessel traveling a bit over two nautical miles per hour. This led the Aemman to begin a “grid” search to both the east and west of Jaluit Atoll from April 18 through 20. “We wanted to find them before they passed Jaluit,” Joel said. Once past Jaluit, the island in their drift path would likely have been in the Federated States of Micronesia. But after repeated grid searches that came up with only empty ocean, Joel said he turned to one of the crew and said, “if you were in their boat, would you put your anchor out?” The answer was “yes.” Dragging an anchor would slow their pace. “So I recalculated the drift pattern based on a slower drift of 1.3 nautical miles per hour,” he said. By Joel’s calculation, this would put the small boat just to the north of Jaluit Atoll Friday. Aemman then moved to start a grid search due north of Bokanake at the tip of Jaluit Atoll. Fortunately for the three Arno men, Joel’s math was spot on. Also fortunately, they had put their anchor out to slow their drift.
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