To Howard Cole

Next time, could you please “check your source code.” I say this in response to your letter in Saturday’s Saipan Tribune. You, above others, should know that newspapers often erroneously print comments, quotes and other misinformation. I have yet to meet a reporter who could sit down in front of someone listening to a statement and write it verbatim. Even when a tape recorder is used, they will listen to it afterwards and try and take down notes as it plays. It never gets transcribed verbatim.

This is where, if one is really concerned over a topic in the news, it would benefit them by going to the “source” before attempting to lecture someone whom they are not acquainted with. So to clarify some facts for you, and without contention‚ I never said anything about the inability to modify “source code.” The interviewer most likely saw me looking at the code as I went to the web page in question when he came to my office; however, what I was looking for was to show him the fact that it was made a long time ago, hence your observation of the Win95 feature, although it was actually only updated by me with Win98.

My comments with respect to the “code” were actually that I had said, “I no longer had access through the FTP server after I left MHS as the user name and password had been changed.” I am not the forgetful type of person as you seemed to indicate. So please don’t lecture me on HTML, I can write HTML standing on my head. And yes it was me who had it taken offline—right after the interviewer left my office. Out of courtesy I called Saipan.com, I explained what had happened and had them simply take down the site, inasmuch as they knew that I was the person responsible for it; that was no problem. Added MHS has their new website up.

All that being said, let me elaborate on the issue of Pteropus marianas. In the spring of ‘97‚ as department chair for MHS, I embarked on a mission to bring the students to a higher level of education in the field of Biology by creating the “Advanced Biology Institute” with the help of federal grants and fundraising. This select class of seniors, known as the “Extreme Bio Team,” and a few other students conducted long-term research projects throughout the CNMI. Most notably was the Wetland Project‚ where we spent four days a week in the wetlands from 7:30am to 10:30am and some evenings, doing survey work, monitoring wildlife, and collecting samples such as water, soil, fish, and crab for laboratory observation. We would also go out and camp every weekend all year long at different locations, exploring the many features the CNMI has to offer, whether it was rappelling hundreds of feet into caves in search for microbes and a cure for cancer in cooperation with the labs at NASA, diving on the reefs at Obyan to monitor coral growth, or searching for the elusive Marianas fresh water eel in the rivers and streams of Talafofo (which we captured on video I might add). This group of students was like no other, and indeed excelled in their understanding of not only the study of life but the “preservation” of it.

The involvement of Pteropus marianas was undertaken to better understand the relationship between the anthropology of man and other mammals, in this case Pteropus marianas. Unlike other animals, mammals have body hair, have three middle ear bones (the malleus, incus, and stapes), and nourish their young with milk that females produce in modified sweat glands that are called mammary glands. These placental mammals‚ (subclass Eutheria) are advanced mammals whose young are born at a relatively advanced stage (more advanced than the young of other mammals, the monotremes and marsupials). Before birth, the young are nourished through a placenta. The placenta is a specialized embryonic organ that is attached the mother’s uterus and delivers oxygen and nutrients to the young. Bats belong to the class Mammalia (mammals) and the order Chiroptera (bats). There are two types of bats that differ in their diet and in the way they sense and obtain food. Bats are divided into:

* Microchiropterans: These bats use echolocation to find insects and small animals to eat. While flying, these bats send out high-pitched sounds that bounce off other objects. The bat listens for the bounced sound, and can determine where objects are located. People cannot hear these high-pitched sounds. Some Microchiropterans are the vampire bat and the frog-eating bat. The vampire bat is the only bat (and the only mammal) that eats only blood. It makes a small hole with its two very sharp incisor teeth and laps up the blood, which doesn’t clot because of anti-coagulants in the bat’s saliva.

* Megachiropterans: These large bats use the sense of smell to find their food, fruit and/or nectar. Some Megachiropterans are the fruit bat and the blossom bat.

This study also included lectures on “protected versus endangered” species, federal and local fines, and the active involvement of DFW officers who help educate our youth through their own presentations, of whom I am extremely grateful for their cooperation in education of local youth.

As the efforts to “localize” instruction were much in favor with both local and federal programs, I requested the help of DFW to obtain several species of wildlife that had been confiscated and were to be destroyed, such as the fruit bats, turtles and birds. I also asked for a feral goat or pig but they didn’t have any. To clarify here, I did not obtain a “permit‚” as you don’t need one; you just need “permission.” What I did was merely write a letter requesting local assistance. It was then granted and arranged for me to go to DFW and retrieve the items by signing for them for use as educational purpose. As for the bats being from Anatahan, what I said was they were confiscated off a boat coming in from the outer islands, maybe Anatahan or something, so I’m not sure where the bats came from. And only one turtle came from the restaurant; it was tagged where it came from. I said I thought it was Kinpachi, but that the interviewer could go to MHS and just look on the tag to check out where they came from as they should still have them. And yes, in retrospect, the educational disclaimer would have been a nice feature, but other sites don’t have them, and I really can’t imagine that someone would look at a bunch of kids in lab coats in a science lab and think, “Oh my God! They killed these bats.” Commonsense would show there was educational purpose and any prudent judgment would say they were most likely obtained legally and or educationally.

By the way, if you type in “fruit bat dissection photos” on the Internet you’ll find plenty of them from universities like Duke University, and University of Michigan. Maybe your next letter could be to the president of those universities or better yet, the entire worldwide web. Class dismissed!

Craig H. Garrison
Saipan Southern High School