On My Mind

This week, the CNMI celebrates two holidays in one: Dec. 8 is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a Catholic holy day; it is also observed in the CNMI as Constitution Day, commemorating the day that the delegates to the CNMI’s first constitutional convention signed their final product at Mt. Carmel auditorium in 1976. Actually, the Constitution was signed on Dec. 5, but sages somewhere along the way wisely decided to combine the two observances, since they were so close, into a single official holiday.

So far, there’s been no mention of any formal ceremonies in honor of either the feat of hammering out a Constitution acceptable to most of the delegates (six delegates from Rota and Tinian had walked out and did not sign the final document), or in honor of those who accomplished it.

Official ceremony or not, one would hope that the schools, at least, will give the event passing notice.

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A group of students that is giving attention not to the Constitution but to the lawmaking process is Sam McPhetres’ Current Issues class at NMC. Twelve students are circulating a petition that would place on the ballot an initiative—in accordance with Article IX, Section 1, of the CNMI Constitution—that would restrict poker parlors from proximity to churches and schools, head start centers, early childhood, day- or child-care centers, and nurseries.

According to an article in the Saipan Tribune earlier this week, the students are hoping that the petition in support of Clyde Narita’s House Bill 14-267, as amended, will persuade legislators to pass the bill without the need to undertake the more costly and time-consuming process of putting it to a vote as an initiative on the ballot.

As I’ve mentioned in this space before, I fully support the concept of restricting poker parlors—assuming one can’t ban them altogether—to designated areas away from villages, schools, churches, and the like. However, I strenuously object to the provision in this particular bill that would allow poker parlors along Beach Road all the way from American Memorial Park south past the Pacific Islands Club on into Koblerville, and along Monsignor Guerrero Road (the airport road) from the intersection with As Lito Road south down to Beach Road.

Beach Road, particularly from south Garapan to the intersection with Monsignor Guerrero Road, is a prime tourist feature in the CNMI—a beautiful scenic highway along the lagoon. While there are some commercial areas along the way, most are not all that intrusive, leaving those driving along that stretch of road to enjoy the vast open vista—except for the behemoths—across Saipan’s lovely lagoon. Opening this area to tawdry, garish, poker parlors, and the increased traffic they will incur, will only degrade what has been, up until now, the loveliest road in all of Saipan.

While the road from the airport to Beach Road is not nearly as attractive, it still has the breath-taking view of the lagoon along its upper reaches. It is also a road that all incoming visitors to Saipan must travel to reach their hotels or other destinations. What a blot on Saipan’s reputation—and appearance—to have that road lined with poker parlors!

I would object as well, to the provision that Middle Road—all the way up to the La Fiesta mall across from the Nikko Hotel—be included in the designated “poker, pachinko slot and similar amusement machines zones.” It would be enough, I believe, to allow poker parlors up to the Puerto Rico/Lower Base area, but beyond that Saipan is still largely rural in appearance, and allowing any more poker parlors into that setting than are already there, again, would desecrate the natural beauty of the island.

The bill is also flawed in that while it stipulates that no poker parlor may be established any closer than 250 feet from churches, schools, hospitals and the like, there is no provision in the bill defining how far away from residential areas poker machines must be located (unless that provision is already in the Code—which I was not able to check on in the time available). Another flaw is that it grandfathers in every one of the existing poker parlors until they close down, or their poker business licenses are revoked or terminated. (Now, that could mean that at the end of the year for which the business license was issued, the parlor would have to close, but I doubt that that is the way the provision will be interpreted…)

And it also allows poker parlors in all the interior roads and highways within the Garapan District. Which means that any effort to “clean up” the Garapan district would still allow poker parlors therein—another thing that would not appeal to the family-oriented tourists the CNMI is allegedly trying to attract.

There’s no denying that poker interests in the CNMI are very strong. But student power can also be very strong. It is unclear whether the students intended to support the amended version of the bill, which is far less restrictive than what was first introduced. The original provided for a 500-foot distance, rather than 250, from schools, churches, etc., but it did not specify distances from residential areas either. Moreover, the original also provided that poker parlors not complying with the location restrictions would have six months to re-locate (or close down), and did not include Garapan within the permitted areas. It also excluded Middle Road north of the Capitol Hill intersection, but did include the entire length of Beach Road as a permissible poker parlor zone.

Either way, it’s a pity that the students did not take it upon themselves to urge more restrictions than the existing versions provides. The students will make a presentation on the status of their efforts on Tuesday, Dec. 6, at 5pm at Northern Marianas College.

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Both versions of the bill include another interesting wrinkle. For Saipan, at least, no poker parlor will be authorized to have fewer than 25 machines. What an economic impact that will have on the smaller operators!

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On another subject entirely, a newly-hired emergency room doctor at CHC wrote in to say that the hiring of physicians from other than the U.S. or Canada is not a decision that is up to the Commonwealth Health Center to make—that the restriction is due to a provision of Medicare regulations which prohibit reimbursement for treatments given by other than U.S.- or Canadian-trained physicians. I had raised the issue in this column last week, in relation to Guam’s problems in trying to hire a much-needed orthopedic surgeon from the Philippines. I’d said that similarly, the CNMI sends patients on medical referral to the Philippines, but does not hire Philippine doctors for CHC—despite its severe shortage of doctors.

I made a brief attempt to find the pertinent provisions in the Medicare regulations as they appear on the web, but gave up because I wasn’t getting anywhere—either my search skills aren’t good enough, or the Medicare regulations are just too dense (considering the arcane thought-processes typically found in federal regulations, as well as the extensive use of jargon, it’s more likely the latter). To digress for a moment: that is why I often prefer so-called hard copy reference tools. It’s ever so much easier to leaf through their pages, their tables of content, their indexes, when one is looking for this sort of thing, than it is to try and locate it on the web with its single-page exposure, ever-changing search engines and sometimes artificial terminology.

In any case, if that is indeed the truth of the matter, it might be worthwhile for the Washington Rep’s office—working with the Guam delegate, since Guam has the same problem—to try get the U.S. Congress to amend Medicare law so that in hard-to-serve, remote, areas, such as these, those restrictions on physician qualifications be made more realistic.

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Short takes:

I’ve heard that what with the change in administration, there’s a possibility that the U.S. Geological Survey office that has served the CNMI so well in the past may not leave after all. As I understand it, one of the issues that led to the decision to leave was the present administration’s unwillingness to commit to more than a year’s match to USGS funding. The extended funding requirement is new on the part of USGS, but it is not unreasonable, in light of the many services the agency provides.

While the CNMI has used primarily used its expertise in the area of hydrology, the USGS website defines the agency as “the nation’s largest water, earth, and biological science and civilian mapping agency… [which] collects, monitors, analyzes, and provides scientific understanding about natural resource conditions, issues, and problems. The diversity of [its] scientific expertise enables [it] to carry out large-scale, multi-disciplinary investigations and provide impartial scientific information to resource managers, planners, and other customers.” Which sounds like it could also offer help in assessing the validity of mining Pagan’s pozzolan ash….

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It will be interesting to see whether the Senate—without the need to show its loyalty to the present administration—will go along with Gov. Juan N. Babauta’s recent appointment of seven nominees for new or continuing appointment to several boards and commissions. The appointments require Senate confirmation, and were made in the face of requests by the incoming administration that the out-going governor refrain from taking actions that would extend into their term. Babauta has allegedly already certified 31 vacant positions since the election, and has also apparently lifted austerity measures he had imposed during his term.

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Not only has the office of the Attorney General not been able to keep up its promised online access to the Commonwealth Register—November’s issue has yet to be posted—it has now begun to omit certain of the Register contents, informing those who go to the web that some sections are not available online, but only in hard copy. A particularly frustrating example: the AG’s legal opinion on Commonwealth ownership of the outer cove marina.

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Movies this week: 6 “PG-13’s” and one “G.” That’s a little better, at any rate…

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Last but not least, “Leis On Arrival” has just opened next to Skyway Café on the airport road. It offers fresh leis and mwars (as well as woven and braided ones)–a welcome addition since the Alvarez mwar shop on Beach Road closed. Telephone: 285-5347.

(The writer is a librarian by profession, and a long-term resident of the CNMI. To contact her, send e-mail to ruth.tighe@vzpacifica.net)