Flashback – December 2000-2002

JAL plans to deploy 9 more flights to Saipan[/B]

Gearing up to meeting the increased demand during the holiday season and the winter month of January, Tokyo-based Japan Airlines is dispatching nine additional flights out of three major cities in the country to Saipan. JAL-Saipan sales manager Yasuyoshi Kinoshita said the airline company will be deploying four extra flights from Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka to Saipan in addition to its daily flight services this month. According to Mr. Kinoshita, JAL is deploying five flights between Jan. 1-6, 2001 from the three major cities to the Northern Marianas in anticipation of the increased demand since overseas trips by Japanese travelers are normally high during this period when temperature is at its coldest in Japan.

The Tanapag Action Group has asked Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio to provide $500,000 in funding which will be used to carry out a congener-specific testing on members of Tanapag community. According to community leader Juan Tenorio, the money will also fund the blood test to be conducted on selected group of community members to verify the results of the earlier examination carried out by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry as well as the Commonwealth Health Center. “We made it clear to the governor that we want the testing done as soon as possible,” said Tenorio.

NMI honors homegrown hero[/B]

It may have been fate that brought Emergency Medical Services Skills Retention Coordinator Derek T. Hocog to fly aboard Horizon Air last November 26, 2001, while transiting from Washington to Idaho for a national EMS training. The 29-year-old Department of Public Safety Fire Division employee, who was one among 39 passengers of that flight, made excellent use of his medical training when an elderly woman collapsed on the jet way, without sign of a pulse. Airline representatives seeking medical aid did not have to wait long for the assistance, as Hocog immediately volunteered to help revive the unconscious victim.

A former Saipan Grand Hotel cashier was slapped with 54 counts of criminal charges based on complaints she used someone else’s credit card to purchase items and services from various commercial outlets. The Attorney General’s Office, through lawyer Daniel Cohan, filed the complaint before the Superior Court, alleging that Adrienne Akemi Brown, 18, engaged in theft by deception, forgery, receiving stolen property and misuse of credit card from July until November 2001. The defendant, who used at least four different names or aliases to conduct the alleged fraudulent transactions, was arrested Saturday in connection with the charges.
[B] December 19, 2002

Rebates may be out Monday[/B]

Long awaited refund/rebate checks may finally be released Monday following tumultuous yet relatively speedy legislative action on the bill that would authorize the borrowing of $19 million to replenish the depleted Special Rebate Trust Account. Over the last two days, the House of Representatives and the Senate passed House Bill 13-240 or the legislation that would authorize the Department of Finance to borrow $19 million from the Bank of Guam so it could pay out all overdue tax rebates/refunds. The House passed the measure on a 16-1 vote Tuesday night, with Rep. Stanley Torres as the dissenting vote. The Senate concurred with the lower House action yesterday morning on a 7-0 vote. Both Senate Floor Leader Joaquin G. Adriano and Sen. David M. Cing were absent.

Many of the hundreds of barrels of waste oil stored at a Puerto Rico yard near the Tanapag Harbor have been leaking into the ground, threatening contamination of waterways, the Saipan Lagoon and its marine life. This prompted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to issue an administrative order directing the two firms handling the waste oil-Clean Earth and Solid Builders-to correct the situation. The two firms are engaged in storing waste oil and shipping them off-island. “There are leaking containers all over the place,” said Rebecca Snider, public information specialist at the Division of Environmental Quality. She said EPA ordered both firms to conduct cleanup at the storage yard.