Salas wants $50k appropriated for athletes

If Rep. Andrew S. Salas had his way he’d rather not have our national athletes sell barbeque and hot lunches to raise funds for their competitions abroad.

That’s the reason why, together with Rep. Ramon A. Tebuteb, Salas is sponsoring a bill that seeks to appropriate $50,000 for the upcoming Micronesian Games this summer in Pohnpei.

According to Salas it is the government’s obligation to give athletes the best possible chance to succeed especially in regional sporting events like the Micronesian Games.

“Nobody likes to lose and we all know the other islands are competing and they’re training right now but here we are in the CNMI and guys that are supposed to be training are barbequing or doing all kind of stuff to raise funds,” he said.

The chairman of the House Committee on Commerce also added that when athletes go abroad to compete they willingly become the ambassadors of the CNMI and because of this they should be provided with the adequate financial support by the government.

“My feeling is rather than have them barbeque or sell launches a critical time before the event, our athletes should use their precious time to train so that they could better represent our islands,” said Salas.

The first-term lawmaker from Precinct II also noted that the $50,000 he plans to allocate to the athletes for the biennial event would only be the start of what he envisions as a more pro-active approach by the government to support its athletes.

“We are co-sponsoring this bill not only to assist our athletes in the coming Micronesian Games. We hope to make this just the beginning. We plan to assist our athletes on the long haul and this includes our participation in the South Pacific Games next year,” he reiterated.

“Any athlete that leaves the island to compete overseas should be supported.”

Salas and Tebuteb’s measure to appropriate $50,000 to athletes participating in the Micronesian Games is actually part of a larger bill that seeks to appropriate the total sum of $320,000 for projects like the renovation of the pavilions in Precinct III and for waterline distribution in Precinct II.

The money, according to the bill, would come from fees collected under Saipan Local Law 11-2. The House passed the bill in its last session and is now at the Senate.

Under House Bill 13-002, the amount of $30,000 will be earmarked for the renovation and reconstruction of the recreation or picnic pavilions over at Precinct III and $240,000 to fund the waterline distribution project in Precinct II.

The balance of $50,000 would then be coursed to the Secretary of Community and Cultural Affairs for distribution to the various sports associations sending contingents to the 2002 Micronesian Games, which will run from late July to early August of this year.