Journal 10/18/1983
P4 Alfred now director of Assumption
It is seldom that you hear about someone quitting his or her high paying job to take a less paying and probably less glamorous job. Alfred Capelle, for one, did just that. Last month, Capelle quit his job at the Education Department as Chief of Vocational and Post Secondary Education to become director of Assumption Schools. The former elementary classroom teacher from Likiep, taught at Ebon Atoll and Likiep between 1969 and 1971, then he took a leave to go work on the Marshallese-English dictionary developed by the Social Sciences and Linguistics Institute at the East-West Center. From 1974-1976, Capelle enrolled in English as a Second Language (ESL) program at the University of Hawaii where he graduated with a BA and master’s degree in ESL. He came back to the Marshalls in 1977 to work in the Education Department as a language specialist. In 1979, Capelle left Education to accept a new position at the College of Micronesia (Majuro) as the coordinator of the college’s Marshalls extension services. Earlier this year, Capelle found himself back in Education as chief of Vocational and Post-Secondary Education. But then, the Catholic Mission was looking for someone to fill the present position. The salary advertised was about half Capelle’s salary at the Education Department. With eight children (six attending Assumption and one at PATS in Pohnpei), and himself, his wife and relatives to support, it was not an easy decision. But being a devout Catholic, Capelle finally took the less-paying, less-glamorous job. “I want to help the church and the school since not many people seem interested,” Capelle explained.
Journal 10/16/1992
P3 CMI marks third charter birthday
“Things are happening here at CMI.” With those words,College of the Marshall Islands Acting President Sean O’Connor gave a blow-by-blow account of CMI’s rapid expansion to a large audience celebrating the third anniversary of its charter at the Majuro campus. President Amata Kabua’s presence at the event lent credence to the importance national leaders are placing on the emerging college. During the ceremony, O’Connor presented former CMI president Hilda Heine-Jetnil with a certificate of appreciation.
P11 Jaluit: A major port town in 1880s
Most people know of Jaluit Atoll as the former German and Japanese administrative headquarters for the Marshalls. And that it was. But Jabor was a big port town even before the Germans formally annexed the Marshall Islands in 1885. This atoll has a remarkable array of six passes on its eastern and western fringes, including two a stone’s throw from Jabor. This easy access led early chiefs and traders alike to settle into Jabor.
Although chiefly power and missionary work was concentrated on Ebon and other islands, Jabor by the early 1880s was a center of commerce. German, British and American traders settled here, making it the Marshalls’ “metropolitan” center. Such was life in a Pacific port town then that seamen and missionaries alike agreed on one thing: Jabor was “a seedbed of drunkenness and licentiousness,” in the words of one missionary. The First Taint of Civilization, Fr. Fran Hezel’s fine historical account of the Marshalls and Micronesia, recounts the comment of a sailor who remembered Jaluit as “the place where they say that they always know when Sunday comes around, from the people being worse drunk than in the rest of the week, and I think it is true; but I never saw them sober any day.”
P15 RMI Auditor General issues new report
The Auditor General’s Office released its 17th semi-annual report to the Nitijela that includes 18 local governments, government joint ventures, health programs and statutory agencies such as the Nuclear Claims Tribunal, Air Marshall Islands and the Marshall Islands Scholarship Board. Acting Auditor General Jean M. Tonyokwe transmitted the report.
P24 Hertz joins competition in Majuro
Hertz has joined the competitive local rental car business in Majuro, becoming the first worldwide franchise to set up shop in the Marshalls. The operation is based at Gibson’s.
Journal 10/19/2012
P4 RMI’s passion for fashion
Tourism Ministers from around the Pacific were treated to an entertaining fashion show, dance and music extravaganza to close out a week of tourism meetings in Majuro last Thursday. The poolside show at Marshall Islands Resort was described as “fabulous” by many local participants. The main event featured a fashion show that celebrated Marshallese dress styles from ancient to modern, which was organized by the KIO Club, with support from numerous local groups and dancers. Local residents showed off everything from jaki-ed of pre-missionary times (with prominent tattoos) and the missionary style long dresses to modern attire — running the gamut of church wear to stepping out for a night on the town styles —replete with Marshallese-made accessories.