Journal 4/16/1976
P9 The bad news
This is a short story, being put in the paper at the last minute because what happened just happened a few minute ago: another young Marshallese man has attempted suicide.
He was discovered hanging in a washhouse several buildings from where the paper is printed in Majuro. Fortunately he was cut down before suffocating himself and was rushed to the hospital in an unconscious state.
This incident bears an uncomfortable and undeniable relationship to a rash of such hangings and self-shootings by young men — there have five or six since January.
Journal 4/5/1991
P3 Oops!
It was 8:57am on the clock at Radio WSZO this morning when a warning red light blinked on in the broadcast studio. Something was wrong with transmission. Someone was sent down to check the wiring at the 180ft broadcast antenna site in Uliga. There was a problem, a big one. The entire antenna was down, having fallen towards the lagoon. Strong winds through the previous night are the assumed cause of the accident. Fortunately, while minor damage may be apparent on an adjacent house, no one was injured.
P5 Tobolar Notice
Tobolar Copra Processing Plant and the Tobolar Copra Stabilization Board regrets to announce that due to the continued depressed coconut oil market and to meet the requirements of Tobolar’s bank financing the price Tobolar pays for copra will be reduced from 9 cents to 7 cents per pound on the outer islands and from 11 cents to 9 cents per pound on Majuro effective April 3, 1991.
P23 Ronnie wins billfish tourney
Ronnie Reimers’ 117lb Pacific blue marlin ‘nosed’ out Anton deBrum’s 116 pounder to win the Marshalls Billfish Club’s bonus Billfish Tournament Saturday and claim the $1,440 jackpot. Chief Secretary Oscar deBrum presented the check and his congratulations to Ronnie in a brief ceremony at the Lanai dock following the tournament.
Fishing with Baron Bigler and Timmy Kelet, Ronnie’s team also had another marlin and a sailfish to lead a pre-Easter parade of seven billfish to the club’s digital scale.
In addition to picking up the big check, Ronnie’s two marlin were worth 223 points in the annual President’s Cup competition to bring his total to 612, only 13 behind Rudy Aliven, the leader in the Cup race with 625 points.
Journal 4/7/2000
P4 USP’s live broadcast from Fiji
USPNet 2000 was officially launched last week Thursday, with a live TV broadcast from the Suva campus to 11 campuses and satellite centers around the Pacific.
Many local dignitaries, including the Acting President Brenson Wase, Acting Education Minister Nidel Lorak, former Education Minister now Senator Justin deBrum and Japan’s Charge d’Affaires Takashi Suzuki, were in attendance for the broadcast.
P5 Public Works turning clock back to TT time?
Local businessmen are unhappy with the direction they see developing with the government’s new Public Works Ministry.
Local business leaders who otherwise gave the new government high marks for its involvement of the private sector in a variety of boards and committees, said it was disturbing to see Public Works moving to do jobs that local companies could easily do and do better.
P10 Mayor names new executive committee
Majuro Mayor Mudge Samuel recently named his new executive committee members. They are:
• Jouban Kabua, Health, Education and Social Affairs.
• David Kramer, Parks and Recreation
• Kurban Samuel, Justice
• Tony Muller, Finance
Samuel noted that under previous administrations the Finance portfolio had come under the mayors, but he has now established it as a separate division with his executive committee.
P16 Wake Island N-storage proposal dropped
Washington, DC — Businessman Alex Copson has abandoned a plan to store up to 200,000 tons of weapons-grade plutonium on Wake Island to the north of the Marshalls. Copson, who has proposed for several years storing nuclear waste in various parts of the Pacific, said he now has dropped the idea entirely because of opposition from regional countries. He tried to reduce opposition to his plan by announcing that $1 billion would be set aside as an environmental and education trust fund for the Pacific Islands region. But the proposal was rejected on environmental grounds.
P20 Crowds turn out for Coconut Cup
A record number of traditional sailing canoes burst over the start line in last Saturday’s Coconut Cup Regatta.
The winning canoe was Wut Kio, owned by former Naorik mayor Augustine Nakamura and skippered by current Namdrik mayor Wolser Clement.
A huge crowd gathered at RRE’s gas dock to watch and cheer on the passing parade of sail.
The yachting division was an international affair with boats from the US, England and France competing in the third annual race. Windsurfers and sailing dinghies made up the rest of the field.