A lot of people put in a lot of time and effort this past week in support of all the activities connected to the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the battles for Saipan and Tinian, from those staffing the \u201cmedia center\u201d at the Victoria Hotel and the \u201cMASH\u201d unit at the edge of Memorial Park to the backstage crew at the Amphitheater and the many troubleshooting \u201cgo-fers\u201d seemingly all over the place, not to mention the actual participants\u2014from speakers to performers\u2014and the planners who put it all together. <\/p>\n
Except for the rain, and the apparent lack of preparedness of the USO show (judging from its first night performance, which not only started more than 1?2 hour late but was disappointingly slow of pace)\u2014and even though it wasn\u2019t my \u201ccup of tea\u201d\u2014it all appeared to go smoothly, to hit all the right notes, to touch everyone concerned. All in all, a masterful production, deserving of praise and congratulations to all involved.<\/p>\n
Of the few events I myself attended, the high points were Angel Santos\u2019 outstanding dance performances at the USO show, and Fred Kluge\u2019s wonderful, witty, satirical comments on \u2018Saipan then and now\u2019 at the last of the \u201cHistory Alive Seminars.\u201d (It was Kluge who pointed out that the U.S. military did not invade Saipan and Tinian for the purpose of freeing the islanders, but because it provided them with a base within bombing range of Japan.) <\/p>\n
I did not go to the parade, or attend General Tibbets\u2019 presentation, but did manage to catch the interview of Tibbets and his crew by Sam McPhetres and Bill Stewart that was re-broadcast over KRNM during the week. Tibbets sounded curt and testy, his navigator far more thoughtful, but there seemed to be just a hint of defensiveness even now. I\u2019m sorry I missed the mass at the Chamorro-Carolinian memorial\u2014I wasn\u2019t sure how to get there, where it was located, where I could park. And I\u2019m sorry I missed Dave Sablan\u2019s presentation. I also missed Guy Gabaldon\u2019s. What a pity he wasn\u2019t able to be here! <\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
In terms of the overall production, though, I would cavil at two points, one major, one less so. The major lament has to do with the fact that the extensive and outstanding WW II-related exhibits at NMI Museum of History and Culture received no attention, no publicity at all. Noel Quitugua, exhibits coordinator, has done a masterful job of arranging hundreds of photographs of all aspects of the war here\u2014as well as some of its relics\u2014a truly eclectic collection depicting the lives of the islanders, the Japanese, and the American military. That no attention was given to this exhibit, except a single page in the commemorative program (which received limited distribution), is a shame. <\/p>\n
The minor lament: that the phone numbers for the Commemoration committee were so hard to find. They are not at all in the Commemorative Program (nor are the \u201ccreators\u201d of the program\u2014bibliographically speaking, the program is badly flawed), nor on the brochure, nor on the \u201cSchedule of Events\u201d handout. Future editors should take note: hard copy (that is, on paper) of mementos\u2014flyers, programs, posters, etc.,\u2014are a researcher\u2019s treasure. Witness the efforts to put such things in time capsules. But without \u201cprovenance\u201d\u2014an indication of the date, the source, the origin, the creator, the publisher, the artist, the writer\u2014they become only pretty paper, not meaningful sources of information.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Despite the protestations of General Tibbets and his crew, and the statements by \u2018President Harry S. Truman,\u2019 however, I still could not bring myself to accept the necessity for dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Not until I read Hiroo Onoda\u2019s No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War, a tale of Onoda\u2019s survival in the Philippine jungle for 30 years after World War II ended, believing he was still under orders as a guerilla fighter. In the book he describes his certainty that Japan must be winning the war because the newspapers left for him as proof the war was over (which he steadfastly rejected as propaganda) showed pictures of a prosperous Japan. If Japan had lost the war, he wrote, he knew there would not have been a single survivor, since all Japanese had vowed to fight until the last one of them was dead. The book was on sale during this past week by the Arizona Memorial Museum Association.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
In the meantime, the governor is back on island, temporarily at least, the House has passed a bill calling for an evaluation of Pagan\u2019s ash before any mining permits\u2014except the existing one\u2014can be issued, the Senate has sent back to committee a bill passed by the House that would have made mandatory child support payments, and the CNMI has again escaped a threatening typhoon.<\/p>\n
Particularly noteworthy is the Department of Labor\u2019s patience and diligence in providing to interested members of the public ample opportunity to comment on its proposed revision of labor rules governing alien workers, as evidenced by its second hearing on Monday of this past week. After providing a 30-day comment period for its first draft of the proposed revisions, the department will now offer a second 30-day period for comments on the second draft. The new 30-day period starts with the publication of the new draft in the Commonwealth Register on June 26. <\/p>\n
Department officials, particularly attorneys Kevin Lynch and Jay Livingstone and Director Dean Tenorio, have been very open, forthcoming and accommodating throughout the process, a refreshing change from the often tight-lipped and obstructive behavior of other agencies in similar situations. A copy of the 100-page document can be e-mailed to those interested upon request.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Also up for comment are the proposed regulations regarding protection from \u201crefoulement\u201d\u2014the CNMI\u2019s answer to mainland concerns about asylum issues. Refoulement\u2014a term so arcane that it shows up in neither my American Heritage College Dictionary, 3rd edition, nor in my Merriam Webster\u2019s Dictionary of Law\u2014means the non-voluntary return of a person to that person\u2019s country of origin, where they might face persecution or torture, according to the explanation in the Commonwealth Register. <\/p>\n
The Attorney General\u2019s Office\u2019s proposed procedural mechanisms for implementing certain nonrefoulement protections (that is, the spelling out of the procedures to be followed when a person who has been ordered deported requests asylum) appeared in the 5\/24 issue of the Commonwealth Register. The general public has 30 days in which to make comment.<\/p>\n
The most egregious aspect of the regulations would appear to be the fact that while it is the Office of the Attorney General that decides whether a person requesting \u201cnonrefoulement\u201d will be given asylum, it is also the Office of the Attorney General that decides any appeal of its decision not to do so by the person denied asylum\u2014sort of like asking the fox to guard the chickens. Almost as disturbing is the proposed rule that the appeal decision of the Attorney General is not further appealable.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Another event worth noting was the decision by the Retirement Fund Board to\u2014at least temporarily\u2014extend its contract with Hawaii Pacific Medical Referral of CNMI. This leaves in place, at least until end of February 2005, HPMR\u2019s processing of government health insurance medical claims. It is not clear whether the problem is a weak board, a weak Fund administration, or the micro-management of the governor, but it appears that HPMR\u2019s services, which available records appear to indicate have provided the CNMI with substantial savings, is in its death throes. And that would be a pity. <\/p>\n
The Office of the Public Auditor has issued a report that found flaws in the original contract let by the Retirement Fund, and that quarrels with the right of the Retirement Fund to conduct its own procurement and supply procedures, but not only have some of those flaws since been corrected, but when one looks at the alternative\u2014the governor\u2019s proposed \u201ccafeteria-style\u201d health care system\u2014the services offered via the HPMR contract would appear far more preferable. At least it provides professional control of services and billings. From the sound of it, a \u201ccafeteria-style\u201d operation might offer variety, but not the necessary comprehensive control. <\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
Noteworthy, also, was the Saipan Tribune\u2019s masthead during the days of the commemoration of the 60th\u2014it was overlaid on a picture of American Memorial Park\u2019s Court of Honor and Flag Circle. Nice graphic! <\/p>\n
(The writer is a librarian by profession, and a long-term resident of the CNMI. To contact her, send e-mail to ruth.tighe@saipan.com.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A lot of people put in a lot of time and effort this past week in support of all the activities connected to the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the battles for Saipan and Tinian, from those staffing the \u201cmedia center\u201d at the Victoria Hotel and the \u201cMASH\u201d unit at the edge of Memorial Park to the backstage crew at the Amphitheater and the many troubleshooting \u201cgo-fers\u201d seemingly all over the place, not to mention the actual participants\u2014from speakers to performers\u2014and the planners who put it all together. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82015\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}