marianas variety - aug. 29 edition

By Alexie Villegas [email protected] News Staff

“AGGRIEVED” retirees can seek adequate remedies only in federal court where judgment can be en-forced.

So stated yes-terday Jane Roe and John Doe, through the i r counsels Robert M. Hatch, Bruce L. Jorgensen and Stephen Wood-ruff, in their re-sponse to the Retirement Fund and Fitial administration’s opposition to their emergency motion to lift stay.

Roe and Doe said the defendants themselves have conceded that adequate remedy is not available in the local court which cannot enforce its judgments.

“Given the defendants’ view that the Superior Court has no power to enforce its judg-ment, it is hardly surprising that in three years of ‘litigation’ no progress has been made there,” the

plaintiffs said. The defendants treated the local

court as a forum for discussion

Vol. 40 No. 119© 2012 Marianas Variety

www.mvariety.comServing the CNMI for 40 Years Wednesday•August29,2012 75¢

Page 4 4 Page 19

LOCAL

Departure of CHC doctors worries Senate

ENTERTAINMENT

From teen loveto adult betrayal

PHILIPPINES/ASIA

Erap backs Arroyo’s treatment abroad

Page 15

NATION

Top California lawmaker sees pension reform deal

Continued on page 2

Continued on page 2

Continued on page 2

By Emmanuel T. [email protected] News Staff

IN the following days, the Legis-lature will work on two pressing issues — the House impeachment resolution and the Senate version of the fiscal year 2013 budget bill.

Speaker Eli D. Cabrera on Monday said they will form a special committee to look into the resolution calling for the impeach-ment of Gov. Benigno R. Fitial.

For his part, House Floor Leader George N. Camacho, Ind.-Saipan, said a bicameral conference com-mittee is likely to be convened to

draft a budget bill acceptable to both houses.

Camacho said the House leader-ship will not delay the impeach-ment proceedings.

Failure to enact a new budget law on or before Oct. 1 will result in a government shutdown but essential of-fices will remain open.

The Senate is expected to pass its version of the budget measure today, along with two bills that will allow CNMI govern-ment employees to join

U.S. Social Security.Cabrera, R-Saipan, told reporters

that the impeachment resolution must go through a process because

it is a very serious matter. Once the Senate acts on the bud-

get bill and the two Social Security measures today and transmit them to the House, its leadership will need a day or two to review them before the speaker can call for a session.

The minority bloc is expected to introduce House Resolution 17-111, the articles of impeachment, once the House holds a session.

“I have to come up with a special committee to tackle the impeach-ment resolution,” Cabrera said.

Rep. Stanley T. Torres, Ind.-Saipan, said the committee should have a member or members from the minority bloc, adding that he,

Budget and impeachment

Eli Cabrera

BACK TO SCHOOL. Simon Pang, a fifth grader at Saipan American Education Foundation, shops for school supplies at Modern Office Supply on Monday. Photo by Raquel C. Bagnol

By Andrew O. De [email protected] News Staff

THE U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service has arrested a 39-year-old woman on the charge of conspi r ing with another individual to submit fraud-ulent appli-cations for a CNMI birth certificate and a U.S. passport.

U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona allowed Ying Liu, also known as Da Niu, to post $25,000 unsecured

Roe, Doe say adequate remedies can only be sought in US court

Feds arrest woman for fraudulent

birth certificate, passport

applications

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WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 29, 2012 - MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS2 Local

Budget...Continued from page 1

Roe...Continued from page 1

THE governor’s special ad-visor on Medicaid program Esther Muna did not go on the record agreeing with the hiring of a public relations of-ficer for the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. She said she does not know Jeanette Rocher’s job description and will not comment on the hiring of CHC’s new spokes-woman.

Correction

Jaylene T. Ada Attao poses with her parents, Jerome and Abelene Attao, and sister Jerene. Contributed photo

JAYLENE T. Attao, of CNMI has been accepted to the Na-tional Society of High School Scholars.

Attao, who studies at Moun-tain View High School in Boise, Idaho, received a letter from society chairman Claes Nobel welcoming her to the “dynamic organization that connects young scholars to an educa-tional community that shares a commitment to excellence, education and world better-ment.” Jaylene is also in the National Honor Society,

Jaylene is the granddaughter of former Rep. Jesus T. and Ra-mona Attao and former Saipan Mayor Gilbert C. and Faustina Ada. (ETE)

Jaylene Attao accepted to National Society of High School Scholars

bond. She was released under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office with conditions after her initial court appearance on Mon-day afternoon.

Liu has been charged with unlawful production of identifica-tion document, false statement of material fact, and conspiracy to defraud the United States.

The court remanded Liu to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service for processing of her release papers.

Liu will be arraigned on Aug. 31, 2012.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ross Naughton, the prosecutor, didn’t move for the defendant’s deten-tion.

After the court advised her of her rights and the charges filed against her, Liu said she was not able to contact her attorney, but she would retain counsel to represent her.

According to the complaint, from on or about April 30, 2012 through July 2012, Liu know-ingly conspired and agreed with unindicted co-conspirator, Hua Li, the mother of the baby, and other persons to defraud the United States.

Liu deliberately counseled and caused Li to falsify her marital status in the birth certificate application of baby BG filed with the CNMI Health and Vital Statistics Office that she, Li, was not married, “when Hua Li was in fact married,” according to the complaint.

Liu also aided and abetted and caused the submission of a U.S. passport application for minor child BG on April 30, the com-plaint added.

It said that Liu and Li fraudu-lently circumvented the two-par-ent consent rule by offering a “fatherless” birth certificate as documentary evidence that would allow exception from the two-par-ent federal consent rule.

But on or about June 25, 2012, Liu aided and abetted and caused the submission of an “Affidavit of Correction on Vital Record” to amend BG’s birth certificate to show the name of BG’s father, Dongjun Guo, the complaint added.

Feds...Continued from page 1

too, wants to be part of it.Camacho said the priority is the

appropriation measure.“Time is of the essence here,”

he added. “The budget is the para-mount reason why we need to hold a session soon. That session has nothing to do with the impeach-ment move. But if the minority bloc will introduce the resolution during that session, so be it.”

Rep. Edmund S. Villagomez, Covenant-Saipan, said the im-peachment resolution “is some-thing that we are going to deal with.”

“We are elected to do our job so we cannot make any excuses,” he added. “The impeachment is-sue is something we cannot just ignore.”

House Ways and Means Com-mittee Chairman Ramon S. Basa, Covenant-Saipan, said the impeachment resolution will not be ignored, “but at the same time we need to focus on the pressing issue which is the budget.”

He added, “We also have to look at Commonwealth Health-care Corp. because the problem there is not getting better — it is getting worse.”

He said he will think about the impeachment resolution later.

Seven House members have signed the resolution which needs the support of at least 14 representatives. As of yesterday, nine members were “solidly” sup-porting the resolution.

only, the plaintiffs said.They said even the looming

threat of a receiver appointed by the local court will not apply pressure on the defendants “be-cause the receiver would have no more power to execute on the judgment than the court that appointed him.”

The plaintiffs said the defen-dants have not shown progress in paying the over $300 million that the CNMI government owes the Fund, in remedying contribution shortfalls or raising revenue.

The plaintiffs said seeking remedies in the local court will be futile.

Roe and Doe at the same time circumstances have changed said since the court last addressed the stay order: (1) the governor has is-sued Executive Order 2012-06; (2) the Fund has been deprived of quo-rum; (3) the Fund unsuccessfully sought bankruptcy protection; (4) defendants have claimed Superior Court has no power to enforce its judgment; and (5) no progress has been made in Superior Court.

These, the plaintiffs said, show that it is no longer warranted to defer to Superior Court proceed-ings where adequate remedy could not be possibly given.

The plaintiffs noted that gover-nor failed to fill the three vacant Fund board seats within 90 days of the vacancy, which they said is a violation of Article III, Section 21 of the CNMI Constitution.

This was followed by the issu-ance of an executive order that dissolves the Fund board, seizes the Fund, and suspends all laws relating to it.

The plaintiffs said the executive order “expressly states that one purpose is to stop the Superior Court litigation.”

They also cited the Marine Revi-talization Corp. case as proof that the Superior Court cannot enforce its judgment.

The government has yet to pay the over $5 million that it owes Marine Revitalization Corp., which is owned by local businessman Tony Pellegrino.

The plaintiffs said the stay order should now be lifted, otherwise Fitial’s executive order will dis-

solve the Fund board. According to the plaintiffs, the

defendants failed to show circum-stances warranting the continuation of the stay.

They said there is no danger that the federal court action would reach a different result from the local court judgment because “it is res judicata, and the plaintiffs do not challenge its validity.”

Res judicata is the Latin term for “a matter [already] judged.”

The defendants have argued that the plaintiffs’ federal claims arise from their claimed rights under the CNMI Constitution thus local law controls the action.

This is not true, the plaintiffs said, adding that the defendants’ actions violated the Contract Clause and Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitu-tion as well as 42 U.S.C. §1983.

They said they want purely federal remedies that arise under federal law.

The plaintiffs said Fitial’s ex-ecutive order provides no legal protection and is an act by the same governor who “deliberately” and “illegally” signed legislation — P.L. 15-15 — mandating a

contribution holiday, which the Superior Court later declared unconstitutional.

The plaintiffs, moreover, find it “ridiculous” for the defendants to claim that [Fund board] trustees could be appointed quickly to comprise a quorum.

They said “if the stay is not lifted, the EO will dissolve the Fund board; if the stay is not lifted, there is no reason to think that the governor who refused to comply with his obligation to timely appoint replacement trustees under Article III Section 21 for several years will suddenly start to do so.”


THE Department of Public Safety has rehired five of its former po-lice officers, including one with a pending case in federal court and another who was convicted of obstructing justice.

“We really need manpower,” acting DPS Commissioner Ani-ceto T. Ogumoro told Variety late yesterday afternoon.

Ogumoro, who is also the police director, said police officers are “quitting,” either seeking higher

education or retiring from the government service.

The newly hired officers are Jesse Dubrall, Kui Rogopes, Glenn Rabago, Vincent Salas and Patrick Togawa.

They will be assigned to the traffic and patrol sec-tions, according to Sgt. Thomas Blas, the traffic section commander.

The five officers sepa-rately came on board in the past two weeks. They have been sworn in, recertified for use of firearms, and are undergoing

on-the-job training, Variety was told.

A Chinese national has sued former DPS detective Dubrall in

federal court for police brutality. The victim was beaten up after he was mistakenly identified as an “ice” dealer in 2010. The case is still pend-ing.

After Dubrall resigned as police detective in the

same year, he worked for the Of-fice of Public Auditor. It was not disclosed why he has left OPA.

Rogopes, for his part admitted the charge of obstructing justice on July 5, 2006, and received a one-year suspended sentence.

On March 19, 2010, the Supe-rior Court issued an order dis-charging and vacating Rogopes’s conviction as he had already “met all conditions of his sentence.”

According to the first amended information filed against Rog-opes, on or about Aug. 6, 2005 through Aug. 7, 2005, he failed to relay to Officer Glenn Rabago the report of a defendant in an assault case.

DPS rehires 5 former cops

Jesse Dubrall

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MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS - WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 29, 2012 �Local

(Office of the CNMI Congressio-nal Delegate) — U.S. Congress-man Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan said today that he was very encouraged to hear that the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. would be getting access to some of the $100 million in new Med-icaid funds now available to the Northern Marianas as a result of “Obamacare.”

Previously, local officials have said the funds do not exist or that the CNMI could not afford to come up with the required local match.

But the governor’s special advisor on med-icaid program, Esther Muna, was reported to have informed the CHC board on Friday that improved bookkeeping had allowed the CNMI to identify $15 million in local funds to match with the Obamacare money.

Under the 45-55 local-federal match, which is also a result of Obamacare, a $15 million local match would be worth $18.3 mil-lion in federal funds.

“Given the crisis in healthcare we face in the Northern Mariana Islands,” Congressman Sablan said, “the additional $100 million in Medicaid funding that the presi-dent and Democratic leadership included in the Affordable Care Act in the previous Congress could not be coming at a better time.

“I am sure that everyone is very glad to hear that CHC is beginning

to account for what it spends to treat Medicaid patients and to use those expenditures to match the available federal Medicaid money.

“That means better healthcare for Medicaid patients and for all of us who use CHC.”

Together with the $100 million in new Obamacare funds and the existing funding stream there are 140 million in federal Medicaid dol-lars available to the Commonwealth between July 2011 and September 2019.

“That is about $17.5 million each year,” Congressman Sa-blan calculated.

“Unless, of course, Obamacare i s re -pealed.”

Sablan was not speak-ing hypothetically. In July of this year Republicans in the House Energy and

Commerce Committee specifically targeted the new Medicaid money for the Northern Marianas and the other U.S. territories for repeal.

The 30 Republicans on the committee beat 21 Democrats on a motion not only to take away the Obamacare money, but also to return the local-federal match to 50-50.

“There is no question that we could lose the Medicaid money that we so desperately need,” Congress-man Kilili cautioned.

“House Republicans have voted 33 times to repeal Obamacare.

“Their leadership has repeatedly said they will not give up until

Obamacare is off the books, even though the U.S. Supreme Court has found it constitutional,” Sablan said.

Meanwhile, officials at the Cen-ters for Medicare and Medicaid Services in San Francisco, who are working with Muna on the account-ing procedures, told Sablan’s office good progress was being made.

They could not predict when the new methodology would be submitted for final approval to CMMS headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland, but could say that when approved it will be used to match federal Medicaid dollars retroactive to January of 2012.

The CNMI will not receive a lump sum payment of $18.3 mil-lion, however. Some of that federal money has already been drawn down this year, using older ac-counting practices. The remainder will be placed in a holding account available for drawdown each month and subject to year-end reconcilia-tion of all expenditures.

“Change can be difficult,” Con-gressman Sablan said. “But the changes that Ms. Muna and CHC officials are making will pay ben-efits to those who need healthcare in the Northern Marianas.

“Obamacare represents a sig-nificant opportunity to improve finances at CHC. We should all be glad to see that this game-chang-ing law is going to have a positive effect here.

“And we should all hope that efforts to repeal the law fail.”

Gregorio Sablan

Kilili hails use of ‘Obamacare’ funds


THE Commonwealth Develop-ment Authority, despite not lift-ing its moratorium on loans, has indicated its willingness to assist a local airline.

On Monday, Variety asked CDA Executive Director Manuel A. Sablan if the agency was able to address a request made by Free-dom Air, to which he replied, “We are having a loan officer contact them and review their financial position.”

Sablan said they will try to figure out how they can assist the local airline obtain ad-ditional financing from a bank.

He said the $13.1 mil l ion State Small Busi-ness Credit Initiative program will also be launched soon.

Back in July, Freedom Air asked the Development Corporation Divi-sion board of the CDA if it could provide $600,000 in supplemental funding to the airline.

In a board meeting, it was re-vealed that even if CDA were to lift the moratorium policy, the agency’s cash reserve of a little over $300,000 would not be sufficient to address the Freedom Air request.

Last March, CDA approved a $900,000 emergency loan for Freedom Air, but its other $2 mil-lion loan request was not addressed pending the launch of the $13.1 State Small Business Credit Initia-

tive program. Variety learned that prior to

obtaining the emergency loan, the CDA board asked Freedom Air if $900,000 would be enough to cover operation costs for two years to which the airline responded in the affirmative.

Variety reported back in March that Freedom Air’s loan was a de-mand note for one year at 7 percent interest.

In July, Freedom Air representa-tive Amjad Farhoud informed the board that they were requesting $600,000 in supplemental fund-

ing.He said that they

were having dif-ficulty in securing loans from banks as they lacked the collateral which t h e y a l r e a d y pledged to CDA. He told the CDA

board that Freedom Air had about $6 million in collateral for the $900,000 loan.

In March, CDA provided the emergency loan to Freedom Air so it could also be released by the banks which held first lien or mortgage on properties and other collaterals.

The $900,000 emergency loan allowed Freedom Air to resume flights on March 28.

The local airline, which has been serving the CNMI for close to 40 years, spent close to $300,000 to repair its 30-seat Short 360 air-craft whose engine was repaired, overhauled and retrofitted in Wis-consin.

CDA to assist Freedom Air


FINDING the Retirement Fund lawyer’s omnibus response as pro-cedurally incorrect, the anonymous retirees through their counsels asked the court yesterday to strike it off.

They said the response filed by attorney Braddock J. Huesman on behalf of the Fund board of trust-ees also shows why the Roe/Doe emergency motions to lift stay, for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction and for leave to file a second amended com-plaint “are necessary and required in order to effectuate justice” in the CNMI.

The plaintiffs said they seek the lifting of the stay so they can pursue their claims in federal court and enjoin Gov. Benigno R. Fitial from executing his “unlawful” execu-tive order that abolishes the Fund board, transfers direct control of the Fund’s assets to him, and prevent enforcement of the Superior Court in 2009 judgment.

They noted that Huesman himself admitted that the Fund board lacks quorum: “No one has authorized him to take any action

in response to plaintiffs’ motions. Without a quorum, the Fund cannot authorize Mr. Huesman to act as the Fund’s lawyer, so his response should be stricken.”

Saying that he was trying to protect his clients’ rights, Huesman filed an opposition to the plaintiffs’ emergency motions until such time as the board and its members are able to take a corporate action to defend themselves.

According to the plain-tiffs, the board’s lack of quorum is due to the governor’s inaction which they said is a violation of the Constitution.

Fitial refuses to reap-point trustees or nominate anyone to fill three current vacancies knowing that he renders the Fund unable to act, the plain-tiffs added.

“The Fund’s lack of quorum is an intentional act of the governor’s own doing in violation of the CNMI Constitution,” the plaintiffs stated.

They said that they and the class they represent should not be penal-ized for the governor’s deliberate violations of CNMI law and failure to abide by the Constitution which,

they added, further illustrates the need for court intervention.

They noted that the Fund has admitted that the CNMI Supe-rior Court is not an appropriate venue.

Yet “Huesman purports to argue that the plaintiffs should compel the Fund and its board to pursue post judgment remedies in Superior Court,” they said.

According to the plain-tiffs, the Fund has said that “it operates in a jurisdic-tion where…judgments may be ignored and/or not enforced.”

The plaintiffs reiterated that the U.S. District Court for the NMI which, they added, “is the only court

that can actually provide a remedy for the plaintiffs.”

The plaintiffs said they want to pursue their claims in federal court as Superior Court action have proven fruitless.

The Fund itself admitted that it has no intention or ability to col-lect on the 2009 judgment in local court, the plaintiffs added.

The financially strapped CNMI government owes the Fund over $300 million.

Roe/Doe counsels say Huesman’s response should be removed from record

Braddock Huesman


TINIAN residents want Gov. Be-nigno R. Fitial impeached, accord-ing to, Rep. Trenton B. Conner.

Conner, R-Tinian, said his con-stituents “have been calling me up [to tell me that] if [the impeach-ment resolution] is the action to take then, ‘by all means do it.’ ”

He said he believes that the impeachment resolution he and his colleagues in the minority bloc pre-filed last Monday is for the benefit of the entire com-monwealth.

Conner said impeach-ing the governor will be for the best interest and well-being of the people of the CNMI.

In the 2009 elections, Fitial won on Saipan and Rota but lost on Tinian.

But Conner said politics “is not the issue here. I think the issue is helping the CNMI as a whole.”

The upcoming November elec-tions also have nothing to do with the impeachment resolution, he added.

He said the issue is about

whether the governor has been upholding the law.

“If he has not fulfilled his duty to uphold the law and has instead made things go from bad to worse, then we lawmakers have to stand up and effect change for the people,” Conner said.

But not all Tinian residents sup-port the call to impeach Fitial.

One of them, Martin Sakisat, who calls himself “a staunch sup-porter” of the governor, said the

incumbent lawmakers should go house to house so they can answer the following question:

“What have you ac-complished?”

Sakisat said all mem-bers of the Senate and the House, especially those

who want to impeach the gover-nor, should “honestly and openly” answer that question.

Sakisat said this is not the right time to fight the governor. The people of the CNMI are suffering, he added.

“These lawmakers are using the impeachment as propaganda so they can hide the truth — they have done nothing in office,” Sakisat said.

Conner: Tinian residents want Fitial impeached

Trenton Conner

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WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 29, 2012 - MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS�


U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona has revoked former CNMI Adult Probation Officer Robin Norita Sablan’s supervised release and sentenced him to nine months’ imprisonment.

Manglona handed down the sentence on Aug. 21, 2012 but al-lowed Sablan to remain at liberty pending notification from the U.S. Marshals Service for the service of

his sentence.On the following day, Aug. 22,

federal and CNMI law enforce-ment officers executed search and arrest orders against 10 individuals, including Sablan, for separate “ice” and gunrunning charges.

Sablan along with his wife and a current CNMI Division of Youth Services juvenile probation officer were indicted on charges of con-spiracy to distribute methamphet-amine, and one count of distribution of methamphetamine.

Sablan has been in the custody of

the U.S. Marshals Service after his arrest on Aug. 22.

According to court documents, Sablan failed to refrain from unlawful use of con-trolled substance on April 24 and June 13, 2012; failed to show for drug testing on several appointments; failed to answer truthfully all inquiries by his proba-tion officer, and to follow instructions by the officer; failed to pay $7,040 in restitution and perform 200 hours of com-

munity service; failed to submit for evaluation; and failed to report to the probation officer and submit truthful

and written reports.The court ordered Sablan

to participate in a 500-hour drug treatment program and any vocational training program available while incarcerated.

Once he gets out of jail, he will be placed on supervised release for 27

months.On Sept. 17, 2008, then-Chief

Judge Alex Munson sentenced Sa-blan to 30 months imprisonment fol-lowed by three years of supervised release after he pleaded guilty to the charge of extortion under color of official right.

The extortion occurred between Sept. 18, 2004 and March 20, 2006, the prosecution said.

At that time, Sablan was a CNMI assistant probation officer who de-manded and received money from defendants under his supervision in return for promises of favorable of-ficial action, the prosecution said.


THE recent departure of Common-wealth Healthcare Corp. doctors and the resignation of its director for medical affairs are adding more pressure on the Senate which has yet to act on the fiscal year 2013 budget bill.

Today, the senators will meet to consider more funding for CHC, according to Sen. Ralph DLG Torres.

In an interview yesterday, Torres, R-Saipan and the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare, said it is very un-fortunate that the hospital no longer has a director of medical affairs after Jeremy Richards stepped down to focus on his job as psychiatrist.

Torres said CHC should receive funds from its $7 million line of credit provided by the Marianas Public Land Trust so the hospital can meet its next payroll.

He noted that CHC now stands to receive bigger Medicaid funding.

According to U.S. Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, improved bookkeeping has allowed

the CNMI to identify $15 million in local funds to match with the new Medicaid money for the common-wealth under “Obamacare.”

Based on the 45-55 local-federal matching requirement, the CNMI’s $15 million local match will be worth $18.3 million in federal funds.

Torres said it has always been the Senate’s priority to secure local matching for Medicaid in order to get more federal funds for CHC.

For his part, Senate Presi-dent Paul A. Manglona, Ind.-Rota, said the resigna-tion of many doctors con-cerns the Senate a lot.

“A lot of our doctors have been resigning. We don’t need to continue to move in this phase. We need to give the MPLT loan to CHC so

they can use it,” Manglona said.The Senate, he added, is fully

aware of the situation at CHC. “The drawdown of the MPLT money has not materialized. Why?” he asked.

“I think that should be transferred immediately to address the situation there,” he added.

The Fitial administration and MPLT earlier said that they were still waiting for a payment plan from CHC.


ACTING Gov. Eloy S. Inos yesterday approved a local bud-get appropriating $190,000 in developer’s tax collections for Saipan projects.

House Local Bill 17-69 is now Saipan Local Law 17-16.

In his transmittal mes-sage to lawmakers, Inos said the expenditure authority, the Depart-ment of Public Works, “must be cognizant that the source of funding for these various projects is the developer infra-structure fund, which is limited for use of infrastructure improvements to electrical sys-tems, water systems, sewerage systems, road drainage and flood control systems and solid waste management systems.”

He said all projects, therefore, “must conform with the require-ments of the statute before they

are approved.”Unanimously passed by the

Saipan and Northern Island Legis-lative Delegation a few weeks ago, the measure appropriates $100,000 for various projects in Precinct 2, including the repair of Niyok Road in Chalan Kanoa.

The rest of the money is divided proportionately to the other Saipan

precincts. Precincts 1, 3, 4 and 5 will receive $22,500 each for their respective projects.

In an interview yester-day, the local law’s author, Rep. Ralph S. Demapan, Covenant-Saipan, said he is grateful to Inos for

acting on appropriation measures that benefit the people of Saipan, particularly those in Precinct 2.

He said S.L.L 17-16 is very important for the residents of Precinct 2.

“We the leaders of Precinct 2 always want to make sure that infrastructure projects are com-pleted,” he added.

Local

Eloy Inos

Joseph Camacho

Ramona Manglona

Jeremy Richards

The Commonwealth Development Authority board members address the policy of loan moratorium and qualifying certificate issues last Friday. Photo by Alexie Villegas Zotomayor


THE Commonwealth Develop-ment Authority is reviewing a company’s compliance with the qualifying certificate requirements, according to CDA Executive Director Manuel A. Sablan who declined to provide any other details.

Sablan said they are requesting the company to provide CDA ad-ditional information.

In a separate interview, CDA Board Chairman Pedro I. Itibus said the matter was referred to the CDA administration so it can discuss with the QC beneficiary the CDA board’s concerns.

“There were several issues that the board wanted to clarify with the company,” he said.

Asked if the board is considering the revocation of the company’s QC, Itibus said “No.”

A QC entitles a company to tax breaks.

Itibus said once the QC benefi-ciary is able to clarify the points raised by the board, then CDA will issue a certificate of compliance.

According to the list of QC beneficiaries available in early 2011, CDA issued 15 certificates

to investors. Of the 15, seven remain active:

(1) SandCastle Saipan, (2) HRC Saipan Co. dba Hard Rock Café Saipan, (3) WDI Saipan Inc. dba Tony Roma’s & Capricciosa, (4) World Corporation dba World Resort Saipan, (5) Bridge Capital LLC, (6) Saipan Laulau Develop-ment Inc., and (7) Sandy Beach Homes LLC.

Late last year, two investors — IT&E and We Manage Calls — voluntarily surrendered their

qualifying certificates because their projects didn’t move forward.

The QC program was es-tablished in Dec. 2000, and was later amended to include a provision allowing existing tourism-based businesses with a minimum of $2 million invest-ment to avail themselves of the tax breaks.

Issuance and revocation of the QC certificate rests with the governor at the recommendation of CDA.

CDA reviews an investor’s qualifying certificate


SUPERIOR Court Judge Joseph N. Camacho has converted to $5,000 property bond the cash bail separately imposed on two men arrested on “ice” charges.

Camacho also ordered that Antonio E. Reyes, 43, be released to his mother, while Dusty Nisarafach, 45, will be released to his wife as their third-party custodians.

The defendants will return to court on Sept. 10, 2012 for their arraignment.

Assistant Attorney General

Darren Robinson represented the government during the bail modification hearing while the defendants were represented by attorney Michael Ernest on behalf

of Colin Thompson, and Assistant Public Defender Daniel Guidotti.

On Aug. 15, 2012, CNMI Drug Enforcement Task Force officers and Di-vision of Fish and Wildlife conservation officers were executing a search warrant on a boat for possession of green sea turtle when

Reyes and Nisarafach arrived in Reyes’s pick-up truck.

One of the detectives approached Reyes on the driver side and saw

in plain view a blue container that contained several Ziplock bags, a cut-off straw and a clear glass pipe with residue.

When asked by authorities, Antonio said he owned the para-phernalia.

After securing consent from Antonio to search his vehicle, authorities found a black bag which Nisarafach admitted that he owned.

Authorities found more Ziplock bags as well as another cut-off straw and a clear glass pipe with residue in the black bag.

When tested, the residues seized from Antonio and Nisarafach yielded presumptive positive “ice,” police said.

Inos OKs $190K spending bill for Saipan

Departure of CHC doctors worries Senate

Judge Camacho allows ‘ice’ defendants’ to post $5K property bond

Manglona revokes ex-probation officer’s supervised release

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docomo

By Junhan B. Todeno [email protected] News Staff

TERESITA Sorroza, who served as president of the Senior Citizens Advisory Council for two terms, will now be its adviser.

Her current term ends on Sept. 30 when the eight new council members will choose who among them will be the officers for 2012-2013.

“I am always willing to help for the benefit of the council,” said Sorroza who has also served as its treasurer and secretary.

She said she decided not to seek reelection to give others a chance to serve.

She is satisfied with the council’s achievements during her adminis-tration.

Council treasurer Christiana Mi-chael said Sorroza has been a “very good helper.”

“We really appreciate that she will continue to be a volunteer because we can’t do it on our own,” she said.

Sorroza said the support of the congregates, the private sector and the Aging Office, including its pro-gram coordinator Walter Manglona, are important.

Under her leadership, she noted that the council was able to conduct a series of fundraising events, includ-ing a recent talent show, as well as other entertain-ment presenta-tions that included the production of a movie.

She said she ap-preciates the talent of Manglona who has helped the ma-namko’ learn about music, acting, dancing and sports.

Through its fundraising efforts, the council has acquired basketballs, a treadmill, drum sets, a set of free weights, an HDTV, keyboards and others.

“I always see to it that our money is

spent well and all of us benefit from it,” Sorroza said.

It was also Sorroza who succeeded in persuading then-acting Lt. Gov. Eloy S. Inos to allow the Aging Office to remain open during austerity Fri-days so the manamko’ could spend more time at the center.

She is hoping that the incoming council officers will continue to ask the central government not to include the Ag-ing Center in the implementation of austerity mea-sures.

Moreover, Sorroza said the council should always take disci-plinary action against misbehaving congregates.

“Disciplinary action is allowed by our by-laws and it should be enforced without exemption,” she added.

Sorroza to serve as manamko’ council adviser

Teresita Sorroza

THE Saipan Chamber of Com-merce believes that stiffer penal-ties against minors consuming alcoholic beverages and stiffer fines on those who sell alcoholic beverages will deter these illegal activities.

The chamber also expressed comments about various other House and Senate bills in a letter addressed to acting Gov. Eloy S. Inos dated August 25, 2012.

Chamber president Douglas Brennan said they support H.B. 17-17, which will strengthen the penalties for minors consuming alcoholic beverages, and impose stiffer fines for persons or estab-lishments who are providing and selling alcoholic beverages.

Brennan said the chamber also supports additional enforcement activity created by the application filing fees collected by the De-partment of Commerce Alcoholic Beverage and Tobacco Control Division.

“The intent of this legislation is admirable, where stiffer penalties and better enforcement would curb illegal activity but without that e n f o r c e m e n t activity being carried out, this bill becomes nothing more than ‘lip service’ to a problem all know exists in the CNMI,” Brennan said.

The chamber likewise supports H.B. 17-294 which will allow the Northern Marianas College board of regents to make certain excep-tions from the basic residency requirement.

The chamber at the same time expressed support for H.B. 17-214, which will amend some sections of the Public Utilities Commission Act of 2006.

Brennan said although the cur-rent administrative orders negate such proposed amendments to current law, the chamber supports the bill as necessary to properly establish quorums on matters be-fore the PUC.

The chamber, however, chooses not to comment on the other mat-ters contained within the bill such as commissioner standards and restrictions, as well as television broadcasting requisites.

Finally, the chamber recom-mends a further review be un-dertaken for S.B. 17-62 which proposes to repeal sections 3 of Public Law 13-1 and repeal and reenact the Civil Service Act 1 CMC Division 8 Part 1in order to establish a non-partisan and inde-pendent Civil Service System.

Brennan said the chamber agrees with the intent of the Senate to correct partisan abuse of employ-ment practices in the CNMI for all government employees.

But he said the chamber is not

certain whether the bill, as written, would necessarily stop abuse.

“It is an election year, and the chamber neither supports nor [op-poses] this bill,” Brennan said.”

“We recommend a further re-view be undertaken to determine if this realignment of the Office of Personnel Management within, and into a new Civil Service Commission would effectuate the desired changes to those partisan practices identified, and as recog-nized by the chamber as needing to be addressed,” Brennan said.

Copies of the chamber’s com-ments were also furnished to Sen-ate President Paul A. Manglona, Ind.-Rota, and Speaker Eli D. Cabrera, R-Saipan.

(Raquel C. Bagnol)

Chamber supports stiffer penalties for minors consuming

alcoholic beverages

Douglas Brennan

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CRUISE ship Silver Explorer, which will come from Japan with 132 passengers, will visit Maug and Pagan islands on Sept. 27 and 28, Variety was told.

“Our aim is to break away from the normal cruise itineraries and we want to be able to offer our guests something different, something that they will not be able to experience on a normal cruise ship,” said Conrad Combrink, direc-tor of expedition cruises for Silver-sea Cruises.

Northern Islands acting Mayor Jerome Aldan said he has been communicating with Inchcape Shipping Services which will facilitate the Silversea expedition.

Aldan said they will have an initial scoping meeting on Saipan or Guam with Inchcape Shipping Services to identify stakeholders and key players in this “historic cruise of a lifetime to the naturally pristine garden isles of the North-ern Frontier.”

He said he also invited Ariel R. Dumapit and Matt Buenabajo of Inchcape Shipping Services to at-

tend the Northern Islands summit on Sept. 6.

The event, he added, will discuss tourism in the Northern Islands, and the assistance that stakehold-ers can provide during the visit of the cruise ship.

In his letter to Mayor Tobias Aldan, Inchcape Shipping Services executives said they don’t find any problem heading to an island that doesn’t have a port.

With the use of Zodiak landing craft, “we can vir-tually go anywhere and do not need to go into big ports of call in order for us to explore ashore,” Beunabajo said.

He said it is their aim to explore some of the world’s most remote and pristine locations.

“Our guests have a genuine in-terest to learn about the areas we visit and we like to show them the countries, cities and villages from a different perspective,” he told the mayor.

He said they will need a guide for snorkeling tours.

On Sept. 29, the cruise ship will visit Saipan and Tinian.

It will be on Guam on Sept. 30 before proceeding to Gaferut and Ifaluk on Oct. 1.

Marianas Variety News & Views is circulated by home and office delivery throughout Saipan, Rota, Tinian, Guam and Palau as well as mail delivery to the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, South Pacific, Hawaii, Japan and the U.S. Daily coverage also can be read from our Web site via www.mvariety.com.

Local

GOLDS GYM

Volunteer project consultant William S. Torres uses a whiteboard to explain how Department Public Safety personnel can direct during the opening ceremony of the kiosku project. Looking on are Capt. Pete Leon Guerrero, Police Officer Josefa De Leon Guerrero, Police Officer Antonio Kaipat and Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council Chairman Ramon B. Camacho. Photos by Junhan B. Todeno

Ike Demapan presides over a meeting to discuss the traffic route and other preparations for the opening of the Chalan Kanoa kiosku on Sept. 29.


ORGANIZERS of the Saipan and Northern Islands Leadership Memo-rial Kiosku opening next month say they are preparing “Plan B” to ensure that the ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held regardless of the weather.

Former Rep. William S. Torres, the volunteer project consultant, said they will not cancel the event scheduled for Sept. 29 unless there’s a typhoon.

Local architect Herman B. Cabrera, kiosku project manager, said they are monitoring the weather forecasts.

For his part, Ramon B. Camacho, logistics committee chairman, said construction company GPPC will assist in providing aggregates to fill up the surrounding area of the municipal council office which will serve as a parking area for VIP’s and a refreshment station.

The Department of Public Works will also help level the ground, he added.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony com-

mittee headed by Indigenous Affairs Office Director Ike Demapan said it has finalized the ground arrangement for the event, including the canopies for the honorees, guests and com-

munity members.Traffic

Yesterday, Police Capt. Pete Leon Guerrero, Police Officers Josefa Deleon Guerrero and Antonio Kaipat

discussed with the committee mem-bers traffic control in Chalan Kanoa on the day of the event.

Also discussed were the 21-gun salute and the need to conduct a site assessment in the area in order to come up with a smooth traffic plan.

DonationsCamacho is again urging family

members of the honorees to contrib-ute refreshments and finger food for the event.

Those who want to donate are requested to call the Saipan and Northern Islands Municipal Council office at 664-2700.

Camacho said KKMP radio station,

for its part, will provide the sound system.

Torres asked the Carolinian Affairs Office headed by Angie Mangarero, who is also a member of the ribbon-cutting ceremony committee, and Demapan to sponsor the printing of the souvenir booklets.

Torres said they should also ask the Marianas Visitors Authority to provide souvenir gift items, including mwars and leis, for the honorees and special guests.

The committee asked Torres, who is a Northern Marianas College trustee, to find out if NMC can help video-tape the event.

Kiosku program organizers prepare for bad weather

Cruise ship to visit Pagan, Maug in September

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By Raquel C. [email protected] News Staff

OVER 2,000 children, parents, teachers and representatives from various organizations are expected to join the Let’s Move Marianas Expo at the Ada Gym Track and Field in Susupe on Sept. 29.

Let’s Move Marianas commit-tee chairwoman Amber Men-diola who was one of yesterday’s guests at the Rotary Club of Saipan meeting at the Hyatt, said the initiative is in line with first lady Michelle Obama’s campaign launched in Feb. 2010 to fight obesity especially among children.

Mendiola said September is also Children Obesity Aware-ness Month and the CNMI has adopted the Mrs. Obama’s initia-tive through the support of sev-eral agencies and organizations including the KKMP Foundation, the Division of Environmental Quality, the Commonwealth Cancer Association, Joeten-Kiyu Public Library and the Division of Youth Affairs.

Mendiola said there will be various activities September.

“The Let’s Move Marianas Expo on Sep. 29 will officially start a whole year of activities for

Saipan’s young dancers surprised the Rotary Club of Saipan members perform a flash mob to promote the Let’s Move Marianas Initiative yes-terday at Giovanni’s Restaurant. Photo by Raquel C. Bagnol

Let’s Move Marianas initiative to be launched next month

everyone,” Mendiola said.The expo will be held from 7

a.m. to 12 noon and will feature cooking demonstrations by chefs and other activities.

Mendiola said Esther Huh will also participate in the expo.

A sixth grader from Kagman Elementary School, Huh won the Healthy Lunchtime Chal-lenge and was one of the children from across the nation who were invited to have dinner with Mrs. Obama at the White House last week

Mendiola said they sent an

invitation letter to Mrs. Obama and the Let’s Move council to watch the event, which will be seen live on the Internet.

“We are still waiting for a response to our invitation,” Men-diola said.

The Public School System is strongly involved in the initiative and has started a “Ten at Ten” pro-gram in which students will step out of the classrooms at 9:50 a.m. and do some stretching and physi-cal exercises for 10 minutes.

Mendiola said local radio sta-tions will plug the commercials at

9:50 a.m. and KSPN will air in-structions after every news time.

For the whole month of Sep-tember, Mendiola said they will incorporate three things in their campaign — nutrition demon-strations, physical activities on the three major islands, and demonstrations regarding the dangers of tobacco and substance abuse.

During yesterday’s Rotary meet-ing, young dancers from different groups performed a flash mob much to the surprise and delight of the Rotarians.

Saipan’s choreographers put a twist to the original “Let’s Move” dance steps performed by Beyonce to give it a local flavor.

Mendiola said more flash mobs can be expected in the coming days.

“If you want to get involved let us know we will come to your place to teach you the dance moves. Join the campaign to move everything and have everyone get involved in physical exercise,” Mendiola said.

For more information email [email protected].

Amber Mendiola

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SAIPAN’S Next Top Chef 2012 winner Emmanuel Pancha of Marianas Resort & Spa will be at the Street Market at the Garapan Fishing Base tomorrow afternoon to help raise funds for school sup-plies of children from low-income families.

Empty Vessel Ministry Founda-tion founder/director Rose Smith said for a $1 donation, anyone can have their photo taken with Pancha.

Smith is also encourag-ing members of the com-munity to bring school supplies to support Pan-cha’s efforts.

Last year, 280 students benefited from the school supplies drive initiated by Empty Vessel through the help of 2011 Saipan’s Next Top Chef winner Chef Melquiades De Ramos of Fiesta Resort & Spa, along with the generous donations from individuals and businesses.

“We would like to thank again all our sponsors and supporters who have supported our efforts in the past, for us to reach out to the com-munity and abroad,” Smith said.

“Let us all share what we have to help those families struggling through the hard times. We en-courage the community to make a difference in children’s lives by donating school supplies, including

pencils and pens, coloring pens, crayons and markers, writing pads, notebooks, filler paper, rulers, glue, erasers, sharpeners, scissors and school backpacks.

“These are basic needs and will go a long way to support and provide a significant impact on the children and their families,” Smith said.

The 2012 Saipan’s Next Top Chef fundraiser competition was successful, she added, because of the generosity of businesses and churches including the Pacific Islands Club which was the major

donor and event host. The other sponsors

and supporters are Joeten Enterprises, Docomo Pa-cific, Fiesta Resort & Spa, Hyatt Regency Saipan, Mobil Tanapag, Kevin Department Store, Taro Sue, 360 Revolving Res-taurant, Delta Air Lines,

Mariana Resort & Spa, Serenity Salon & Spa, Kanoa Re-sort, Wushin Corp., Bridge Capital, McDonald’s, Dolphin’s Wholesale, IT&E, Marianas High School, Faith Works Church, Life in the Son Church and Guam “Outdoor” Chef Peter Duenas, owner of Chamoru Fusion cuisine restaurant on Guam, for hosting this year’s event.

Those who want to make mon-etary donations can do so at the Empty Vessel Ministry office in Gualo Rai or at its street market booth. For more information, call 483-0162 or 235-2340.

Local / Pacific Islands

COMMONWEALTH OF THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS STATE BOARD OF EDuCATION, PuBLIC SCHOOL SySTEM

P.O. Box 501370 CK, Saipan, MP 96950HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICE

JOB VACANCy ANNOuNCEMENTOPEN COMPETITIVE

EXAMINATION ANNOuNCEMENTIt is the policy of the State Board of Education, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, that the Public School System’s Human Resources Regulations shall be applied and administered according to the principles of equal employment opportunity as defined by the Northern Marianas Commonwealth Public Law 6 - 10, regardless of age, race, sex, religion, political affiliation or belief, marital status, handicap or place of origin. Applicants for this position must be a U.S. Citizen or be eligible and authorized to work in the U.S., including the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.==========================================================================Announcement No: PSS-2012-077 Position Title: Certification & Licensure Officer Pay Level/Step: UNGRADED Per Annum Salary: $40,000.00 per annumOpening Date: August 16, 2012 Closing Date: August 30, 2012Location: PSS, Office of the CNMI State Board of EducationBenefits: Salary Commensurate with qualifications and experience, plus excellent benefits (including Life Insurance, Retirement Benefits, and Paid Leave/Holidays

Minimum Requirements: Graduation from a U.S. accredited college or university with a Bachelors Degree in Human Resources Management, Business Management, Education or related field with at least five (5) years work related experience.==========================================================================INTERESTED APPLICANTS MAY OBTAIN A DETAILED JOB DESCRIPTION WITH QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS AND APPLICATION FORMS AT THE PSS HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICE AT THE 1st FLOOR, CNMI PSS CENTRAL OFFICE BUILDING, BWUGHOS STREET, SUSUPE. REQUIRED DOCUMENTS MUST BE ATTACHED TO COMPLETE APPLICATION FORMS: (1) COPY OF DIPLOMA/DEGREE, (2) TRANSCRIPTS, (3) POLICE CLEARANCE (FROM PLACE OF RESIDENCE FOR PAST SIX MONTHS), (4) VERIFICATION OF EMPLOYMENT LETTER, (5) RESUME, AND (6) TEACHING CERTIFICATE (IF APPLICABLE).COMPLETED APPLICATIONS AND REQUIRED DOCUMENTS MAY BE SUBMITTED TO THE HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICE OR MAILED TO: CNMI PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM, ATTN: HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICE, FIRST FLOOR, CNMI PSS CENTRAL OFFICE BUILDING, BWUGHOS STREET, SUSUPE, P.O. BOX 501370 CK, SAIPAN, MP 96950, and TEL. #. (670) 237-3052/79/64/31, FAX # (670) 664-3707. ALSO VISIT http://www.cnmipss.org ON THE WORLDWIDE WEB.

(SSHS) — Saipan Southern High School would like to inform its students and their parents about the following upcoming events:

First day of classes for SY 2012-2013 will be Sept. 4, 2012. Students must be on campus by 8 a.m. Classes start at 8:30 a.m. and dismissal is at 3 p.m.

All new students enrolling at SSHS for school year 2012-2013 must complete and submit a

registration form ASAP. Reg-istration forms are available in the registrar’s office or main office.

All returning students who attended SSHS last year must return all your textbooks and settle all obligations with the school, before you can pick up your class schedule.

Should you have questions, call 237-3702, 664-4000 or 237-3710.

SSHS advisoryEmmanuel Pancha

USS Greeneville SSN-772, a Los Angeles class submarine, pulls into the Saipan dock on Monday. Photo by Saipan Chamber of Commerce/Richard Pierce

COLONIA, Yap (Yap State Government) — The People’s Market has invited all members including vendors and customers to its next event scheduled for Friday, Sept. 21.

It will take place at the Small Business Development Center from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on that day.

People are encouraged take part in the event as it is open to the public, and groups and individuals are also welcome to sell their local food products on market days.

A special membership meeting is being scheduled to begin shortly following the event on Sept. 21. All members have been requested

to attend and participate in the discussions of all the issues that will be brought up during this special meeting which starts at 3:15 p.m.

For further clarification on the Market Event, contact the Yap Small Business Development Center at 691-350-4801.

Yap People’s Market schedules new event


USS Greeneville SSN-772, a Los Angeles class submarine, is here with 150 officers and crewmem-bers for a few days of rest and recreation.

Saipan port manager MaryAnn Q. Lizama said the submarine pulled into the harbor at 10 a.m. on Monday.

Lizama said because of the rainy weather, the crewmem-bers and officers did not get the customary welcome from the Marianas Visitors Authority’s cultural dancers.

But Frank Tudela representing the MVA was there to greet the sailors, along with Saipan Chamber of Commerce executive director Richard A. Pierce and president Douglas Brennan.

The USS Greeneville is the first submarine to visit Saipan this year, according to Lizama, but this is its second time on island. USS Green-eville made its first visit in 2001.

Tonight, the chamber will host a reception for the USS Greeneville officers and crewmembers at Tony Roma’s in Garapan from 6 p.m.

to 8 p.m.The chamber is calling on the

members of the community to wel-come the USS Greeneville officers and crewmembers, and continue the tradition of making Saipan the “best recreation destination in the western Pacific for our visiting military vessels.”

USS Greeneville is under the command of Capt. Martin Muck-

ian whose executive officer is Lt. Cmdr. David Coe.

The vessel is named after Green-eville, Tennessee. It was launched on Sept. 17, 1994, sponsored by the then-vice president’s wife, Tipper Gore, and commissioned on Feb. 16, 1996 under Cmdr. Duane B. Hatch.

USS Greeneville is scheduled to depart Saipan on Friday.

USS Greeneville here for R&R

Saipan’s Next Top Chef at street market tomorrow for school supplies donation drive

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MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS - WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 29, 2012 9

(MVA) — Six South Korean media outlets, including one of the top newspapers in the country, will arrive on Saipan and Rota Friday, Aug. 31, to report on this beach resort destination and highlight golf opportunities.

DongA Ilbo, one of Korea’s top daily newspapers with a circula-tion of 2.3 million copies, will visit along with economic dailies The Aju Business and The Seoul Economic Daily, daily sports newspaper The Daily Sports Seoul, and travel trade weekly newspapers Korea Travel Times and Global Travel News. The combined circulation of all the me-dia attending this familiarization, or FAM, tour is 6.7 million copies, and the Northern Marianas will receive $157,000 worth of ad coverage.

The Marianas Visitors Author-ity assisting the FAM tour with airfares, ground handling, and film-ing permits. During their three-day visit, the me-dia will cover golf at Mariana Country Club, Laolao Bay Golf Resort and Rota Resort & Country Club. Other tourism attractions will be featured, includ-ing Mandi Asian Spa, Rota Bird Sanctuary, DFS Galleria, I Love Saipan store, SandCastle Saipan dinner show, and Hanamitsu Spa.

While on Rota, the group will also take time for an island tour. Lodging will be at Mariana Resort & Spa and Rota Resort & Country Club.

As of June this fiscal year, visitor arrivals from Korea to the North-ern Marina are up 17 percent to 94,160.

“Since November 2011, monthly arrivals from Korea have shown consistent growth compared to the same months the previous year. This underscores the growing value of the Korea market,” said MVA marketing manager Bruce Bate-man. “Supporting FAM tours such as this are an excellent investment and a way of getting the best value for MVA’s advertising dollar, as the resulting stories will provide major publicity coverage that we could not afford to purchase outright.”

MVA will also provide a Korean-speaking staff member to assist the media during their visit.

Local / Guam

DELTABruce Bateman

By Joy [email protected] News Staff

HAGÅTÑA — Guam Delegate Madeleine Z. Bordallo stressed the value of experience during her speech on Monday at the Rotary Club of Northern Guam meeting.

Bordallo reminded Rotarians of all work that had been done during the five terms she had been serving as Guam’s delegate to Congress and how the progress made could be lost if she is not re-elected.

“The relationships I have built during my tenure as your delegate means that I have more influence on issues than any delegate would have,” said the former first lady,

Guam Delegate Madeleine Z. Bordallo was the guest speaker during Monday’s Rotary Club of Northern Guam’s weekly luncheon at the Hyatt. Photo by Matt Weiss

Guam’s Bordallo: Experience is importantsenator and lt. governor.

If a new candidate were to take the seat, they would have to start from the bottom, Bordallo stressed.

Bordallo also pointed out that she had been continuously pushing war claims and the issue had progressed farther than it had in the years before her term had started.

In addition, Bordallo said she had been working for a fair and beneficial military buildup for Guam.

Bordallo also discussed her ef-forts for more Compact-Impact funds for Guam, improved health care, the Russia visa waiver, and the economy.

“These and many questions about the direction for Guam and our nation are the reasons I am running for re-election. But above all, I am running to ensure that our families on Guam will have an avenue for their success,” Bordallo said.

Korean media to explore golf on Saipan, Rota

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WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 29, 2012 - MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS10

By Marc A. ThiessenLANSING, Mich. — It is no surprise that in the run-up to this week’s Republican National Conven-tion, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan made their first joint campaign appearance in the key battleground state of Ohio. More interesting is that Romney and Ryan took their pre-convention tour to a Midwestern state that went for Barack Obama by double digits in 2008: Michigan.

No GOP presidential candidate has carried Michi-gan in almost a quarter-century, and four years ago Obama won here in a 16-point landslide. This No-vember, however, Romney sees Michigan as ripe for a pickup.

Most polls show Obama leading here narrowly, but Romney strategists point out that their man is nearly tied with the president before the TV ad war between the campaigns has even begun. Michigan is one of 11 states where the Romney campaign is fully staffed with a battleground footprint and money flowing in.

So can Romney pull an upset here? While he emphasized his Michigan roots this weekend with an ill-considered birther joke, his favorite-son status gets him only so far. After all, most Michigan voters have only distant memories of his father’s tenure as governor in the 1960s, and Romney barely squeaked out a three-point primary win over Rick Santorum in his home state.

But a number of factors suggest that Romney has a shot in Michigan. For one thing, since Obama’s 2008 victory, Michigan voters put the House in GOP hands and have elected a Republican governor, Rick Snyder, who campaigned (like Romney) on his experience in the private sector. Since taking office, Snyder has erased a $1.5 billion budget deficit and cut corporate taxes by $1 billion a year — and Michigan’s unemployment rate dropped from over 13 percent in 2010 to 8.6 percent in June. If Michigan voters are comfortable enough to put a chief executive in charge in Lansing, it stands to reason they would also put a chief executive in charge in Washington.

Despite the recent progress, Michigan is not yet out of the woods economically. The state is still in its 48th straight month of above-8-percent unemployment and has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation. The election will turn on jobs and the economy — and those are the issues Romney and Ryan emphasized

at a rally in Commerce this weekend.But the Romney campaign has also been highlight-

ing two other issues that have particular resonance in Michigan. One is the administration’s contraception and abortifacient mandate, which hurts the president with the socially conservative Reagan Democrats in such places as Macomb County. There are 2.4 million Catholic voters in Michigan, and Obama’s assault on religious liberty has alienated many of them. In May, the Michigan Catholic Conference filed suit against the Obama administration over the Health and Hu-man Services mandate — and Catholic priests will be preaching against it in parishes across the state between now and Election Day. Look for Romney to underscore his opposition to the HHS mandate — and his endorsement by Lech Walesa — with these Catholic voters, many of whom are of Polish and Ukrainian descent.

The second issue is welfare reform. Welfare fraud is fresh on people’s minds here, thanks to the news of a Detroit area woman who was recently caught continuing to collect benefits despite winning a $1 million state lottery prize. Michiganders have a strong work ethic and remain justly proud of their state’s role as a pioneer of welfare reform in the 1990s. The charge that Obama is gutting welfare reform hits a nerve here.

For these and other reasons, some Michigan Demo-crats are increasingly worried that Obama may be taking victory here for granted. Local Democratic pollster Bernie Porn recently told the political newslet-ter MIRS that the Obama campaign seems to be “of the opinion that the bailout and loans he approved for the auto industry is such a powerful message that’s going to win the day for him. But I think he could be waiting too long.”

Romney knows he must win key battleground states, like Ohio, and take back states such as Virginia and North Carolina, which George W. Bush carried but John McCain lost in 2008. But he is also making a serious play for a few additional states no Republican has carried in the past five elections. His selection of Ryan as his running mate has put one of those states — Wisconsin — in play. And while a GOP victory in Michigan is still a long shot, Romney is betting he can also become the first Republican to win the state since 1988 — and with it the White House.

(The Washington Post)

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P.O. Box 500231, Saipan MP 96950-0231Tel. (670) 234-9797/9272Fax: (670) 234-9271E-mail: [email protected]: www.mvariety.com

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Continued on page 11

Romney’s play for Michigan

• Dr. Chen Huang

Doctor’s Notes

HAGÅTÑA — Key points: End-of-life care provides physical, mental and emotional comfort, as well as social support, to people who are living with and dying of advanced illness. People who have already discussed their wishes for end-of-life care with their loved ones feel less stress at the end of their life, and so do their families.

Advance directives are legal documents that record a person’s wishes for end-of-life care. Research has shown that hospice care may improve the quality of life of a cancer patient who is dying and of the patient’s family.

What does end-of-life care mean for people who have cancer? When a cancer patient’s healthcare team determines that the cancer can no longer be controlled, medical testing and cancer treatment often stop. But the person’s care continues, with an emphasis on improving their quality of life and that of their loved ones, and making them comfortable for the following weeks or months.

Medicines and treatments people receive at the end of life can control pain and other symptoms, such as constipation, nausea, and shortness of breath. Some people remain at home while receiving these treatments, whereas others enter a hospital or other facility. Either way, services are available to help patients and their families with the medical, psychological, social and spiritual issues around dying.

Hospice programs are the most comprehensive and coordinated providers of these services. In Guam the hospice programs operate out of a person’s home. A nurse may be sent to the home to assess and assist the patient and provide support. A hospice director is the physician in charge and will be advised if symptoms are not control-lable at home or if further need for medications arise.

Pain control is a cornerstone of symptom management. Pain in a loved one many times means pain for the family that is around and assisting the patient with pain. Soon enough it becomes a symptom not only for the patient, but also for the whole family; therefore the importance of pain control in end-stages of cancer.

The period at the end of life is different for each person. The signs and symptoms people have vary as their illness continues, and each person has unique needs for information, palliative treatment, and support. Questions and concerns that family members have about the end of life should be discussed with each other, as well as with the healthcare team, as they arise.

Communication about end-of-life care and decision-making dur-ing the final months of a person’s life are very important. Research has shown that if a person who has advanced cancer discusses his or her options for care with a doctor early on, that person’s level of stress decreases and their ability to cope with illness increases. Studies also show that patients prefer an open and honest conversation with their doctor about choices for end-of-life care early in the course of their disease, and are more satisfied when they have this talk.

Experts strongly encourage patients to complete advance direc-tives, which are documents stating a person’s wishes for care. They can dictate (of course upon previous discussion and thought) wishes about life support — intubation (the act of putting a breathing tube in the windpipe of a patient) and cardiac resuscitation, as well as

End-of-life care for people dying of cancer

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MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS - WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 29, 2012 11

OPiniOn

Forum

Letters to the editorE-MAIL your letters to [email protected]. Letters must carry the full name of the writer, with a telephone number for verification. Let-ters addressed to other publications or to third parties and those endorsing particular political candidates are discouraged. All letters are subject to editing. The Variety reserves the right to reject any letters. Name withheld and unsigned letters will not be printed.

✑

End-of-life...Continued from page 10the overall level of “investment” from the healthcare system. They also designate who the patient chooses as the decision-maker for their care when they are unable to

decide. It’s important for people with cancer to have these decisions made before they become too sick to make them.

However, if a person does become too sick before they have completed an advance directive, it’s helpful for

family caregivers to know what type of care their loved one would want to receive. In fact, everyone — not just cancer patients — should have a good idea of how they view top-ics such as cardiac resuscitation, intubation and the overall level of

investment desired.Your primary care physician is

a good source to start discussion about this topic. Please make sure to bring this up on your next visit with your family doctor. This will ensure that everyone has the ques-

tions answered and there are no surprises if something should hap-pen. So beware of issues regarding end of life — this is important for everyone.

We will have more information in future articles.

By E.J. Dionne Jr.TAMPA, Fla. — In 1964, George Romney, then the governor of Michi-gan, walked out of the Republican National Convention during Barry Goldwater’s acceptance speech. He was protesting his party’s sharp turn rightward and its weak platform plank on civil rights.

This week, 48 years on, Mitt Romney is set to achieve what his father never could. But his great family triumph will not represent a vindication of his father’s principles. Mitt Romney reached the summit not by bat-tling the GOP’s staunchest conservatives but by accommodating them. Nothing better captures the absolute victory of the forces of Goldwater-ism than a Romney triumph on the basis of Goldwater’s ideas.

There will certainly be no speeches akin to the one offered by Nelson Rockefeller, the champion of liberal Republicanism. He was booed and hissed by the Goldwater legions who dominated the 1964 gathering.

Scorning the militants of a new right, Rockefeller pronounced their views “wholly alien to the sound and honest conservatism that has firmly based the Republican Party in the best of a century’s traditions, wholly alien to the sound and honest Republican liberalism that has kept the party abreast of human needs in a changing world, wholly alien to the broad middle course that accommodates the mainstream of Republican principles.”

Liberalism cannot speak its name at a Republican convention anymore. And the contemporary figure closest to the liberal Republicanism of old may well be a man named Barack Obama.

Nowhere is it written that a son must follow his father’s political creed, and the times that shaped Mitt Romney were very different from the post-World War II era of social solidarity that set George Romney on his course in business and politics. The capitalism of Bain is not the capitalism of the auto industry during the ’50s and ’60s in which the elder Romney made his mark.

And to get to the top of a far more conservative GOP, Mitt Romney had to make his peace with the tea party, the Christian Coalition, the Club for Growth and all the other forces that have produced the most radically individualistic brand of politics our country has seen since the Gilded Age.

Romney sealed this pact by choosing to run with Rep. Paul Ryan, the onetime devotee of Ayn Rand’s self-regarding philosophy. Thus will this election be as large in its implications as Goldwater’s was — but against an incumbent presiding over an economy far less carefree than the booming prosperity machine that helped Lyndon B. Johnson to his landslide and liberalism to its high tide.

The Romney top brass, however, is contemplating not 1964 but Ronald Reagan’s convention of 1980. That’s when the Gipper, a proud Goldwater disciple, used a truly exceptional speech to begin reassuring the nation that he was no extremist while reaching out to the restive constituency that came to be known as the Reagan Democrats.

A Romney who badly needs to reintroduce himself to voters has a lot of work to do this week. It will be difficult work in an era when party conclaves do not draw the audiences they once did. Partisan polarization (and the multiplication of programming options) has sharply limited convention audiences, tilting them toward the already decided.

So far, Romney has used the campaign to make negative arguments — first against his primary opponents and then against Obama. He has not made the case for himself, he has seen his business experi-ence transformed from an asset into a liability, and he cannot seem to escape curiosity about his reluctance to release more tax returns. He has let the summer campaign dialogue get away from him, most spectacularly last week when the political media were focused not on the sluggish economy but on the bizarre comments of Todd Akin, the Republican Senate nominee in Missouri who put forward the concept of “legitimate rape.”

So Romney’s tasks will be both biographical, presenting his best self, and thematic, turning the campaign toward Obama’s shortcomings rather than his own.

But above all, Romney must solve his authenticity problem. Through all his transformations since 1994, when he first sought public office in Massachusetts, Romney has seemed more a politician who would do whatever it took to close a deal than a leader driven by conviction and commitment.

This is a problem George Romney never had. For all of Mitt Romney’s impressive achievements, he will not emerge successfully from Tampa unless he can convince voters that what they are seeing is a real person and not an image cleverly crafted for the sole purpose of getting to 270 electoral votes. (The Washington Post)

Image problem

THANK you to the seven repre-sentatives who have pre-filed the articles of impeachment. You have done an amazing thing and some-thing you should be very proud of. Surely you may encounter some backlash. Stand strong against it. There are many many people that are so proud of you. Many that have not or cannot speak up.

Although there may be some argument as to what constitutes a “felony,” “neglect of duty” or “corruption,” it is very clear from these 16 articles and the informa-tion contained, there is no question that Fitial has committed some extremely questionable acts.

I appeal to the remaining 13 members of the CNMI House of Representatives to read the articles and do what is right. Pass this reso-lution. Give the Senate the ability to investigate the claims. Some among you have said that Fitial is “innocent until proven guilty.” This is true. I ask you to give the Senate a chance to hear Fitial defend himself against these charges. Should this matter go to public recall, he will not be given such an opportunity. It

is immensely clear that the public sentiment is behind the impeach-ment proceedings.

I ask each of you to look around at the state of the CNMI today. You know as well as I that it is in bad shape. It is due to at the most basic level, a neglect of duty by Governor Fitial. Will impeaching him solve all the problems? No, but it will send a message throughout the community and throughout the world that the neglect is not tolerated and that we as a com-monwealth deserve more.

There has always been a strong sense of fear in this community. I am so glad that is disappearing. As a friend of mine wrote back in 2007:

“There is the problem of our silence in the midst of crisis. Our si-lence is perhaps the single greatest threat to the future of the common-wealth. Why have we been so quiet in the face of blatant corruption and failed leadership? I can think of at least three reasons: fear, cynicism, and an unquestioning acceptance of what we are told.”

Aside from all the many fears

to act, one may be that we are being told not to “cast the stone if you have done wrong.” To that I share this other quote from that same person:

“Perhaps we do not speak up for fear that we ourselves will be exposed for wrongdoing or dishonesty. Maybe we ourselves have benefited unfairly from the ‘who-you-know not-what-you-know’ way of doing things in the islands, and we are reluctant to be the ones in the glass house throw-ing stones. If this is the case, then let’s be honest about our mistakes, and let’s focus on moving forward to solutions. No one among us is perfect, no one is above reproach. I would venture to say that all of us have played the system in one way or another in order to get by. It is up to all of us now to change the system, and we can begin by changing ourselves.”

Let us do the right thing CNMI. We can do this.

Regards,

GLEn HUnTERFina Sisu, Saipan

To all legislators

A RECENT Guam Variety edito-rial refers to polls taken by We Are Guåhan and the Guam Chamber of Commerce as “intended to stifle debate, not promote it.” You miss the point. It is not about debate, it is about decision.

The debate over the buildup has raged large for years now, and people have been all over the road. Look at just one “debater,” Sen. Judi Guthertz. She at one point called for putting up tollbooths

outside the bases, and then just a couple of weeks ago declared, in an article carried in your paper, “I support any program by our mili-tary to enhance its presence in the Mariana Islands.” So, where then does she, and all the other “shades of gray,” actually stand?

All intelligent people under-stand nuance and qualification. But when you go into the voting booth, you don’t get to qualify your vote and wax eloquently

and conveniently about what’s in this hand and the other. It is a “yes” or “no” vote. Elections are not debates, they are decisions, often very hard and soul-search-ing decisions.

We’ve heard the debates, and we understand the issues. It is time to count noses, and these polls are very useful for that purpose.

JOHn BROWnTumon, Guam

Time to count noses

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WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 29, 2012 - MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS12 Local

Community Briefs

(DPS) — The Department of Public Safety will conduct DUI sobriety checkpoints on the dates and times listed below:

Friday, Aug. 3110 p.m. to 11:15 p.m.,

Beach Road Chalan Kanoa by Meena’s.

Saturday, Sept. 11 a.m. to 2:15 a.m., Chalan

Monsignor Guerrero, Chalan Kiya by the CUC Waterloo.

Each sobriety checkpoint will last at least one hour and 15 minutes.

For more information, con-tact Sgt. Thomas Blas at 664-9022.

(Commonwealth Cancer As-sociation) — All people facing cancer, their family members, and caregivers are invited to the next CCA monthly support meeting scheduled for Thurs-day, Aug. 30, at Fiesta Resort, starting at 5:30pm.

This month’s support meet-ing guest speaker will be Trina Sablan, healthy life-style promotion coordinator, Non-Communicable Diseases Bureau. Her presentation will feature detailed information on health promotion. To RSVP or for more information, call the Commonwealth Cancer Association at 682-0050 or email at [email protected].

(American Memorial Park) — American Memorial Park has the following schedule of events for September:

• Sept. 7First Friday film: 6:30 p.m.“End of the Line”• Sept. 19, Wednesday“International Talk Like a

Pirate Celebration,” 5 p.m.• September, any day, “Talk

Like a Pirate Month”• Curriculum-based team

building programsCall Ranger Nancy Kelchner

for reservations at 234-7207 ext. 2020

• Saturdays, Sept. 1, 8, 15, 22

Let’s Move — movies and activities

2-6 p.m.The Visitor Center is open

every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.

DUI sobriety checkpoints

Survivors, caregivers

support meeting

Park events

(Office of the CNMI Governor) — In response to a call for innova-tive community teams for JobLinks Employment Transportation Job Access Mobility Institute, the Commonwealth Office of Transit Authority took the initiative to form one. By favorable decision, a CNMI Job Access Mobility Institute Team was organized and submitted its application on August 23, 2012 before the August 24, 2012 deadline.

The Community Transportation of America’s Joblinks Employment Transportation Center is looking to support five communities in designing new and improved on-the-ground transportation services that respond to a key transportation challenge facing job seekers, train-ees, and employees in their locale. The Job Access Mobility Institute is a multi-month, team-based re-search, design, and implementing process in which teams will develop and test a transportation service that solves a key challenge of their constituents. This opportunity will bring to-gether innovative thinkers from the transportation, employment and training, and business sectors to solve their community’s unique mobility challenges, according to CTAA.

Five communities (states/insular areas) will be competitively chosen to participate in the Job Access Mo-bility Institute, CTAA team-based training and action planning pro-cess to grow innovative solutions to local and regional workplace mobility challenges.

The institute process includes community fieldwork, a commu-nity-based workshop for the team and a larger group of stakeholders, and a 3.5 day training and action planning summit in the Washing-ton, D.C. area.

Selected team members will 1) undertake community-based work involving listening sessions, customer-focused data gathering, and research (September-October 21012) to inform the team’s work during and after the Institute; 2) convene an on-site community workshop that Joblinks will co-develop with the team. During the one-day workshop (to be held in October or early November), the team and other community

members will discuss informa-tion and insights from the listen-ing sessions, determine the key mobility challenge to solve, and otherwise prepare for the work of the Job Access Mobility Summit; 3) Attend the 3.5 day Job Access Mobility Summit (November 27-30, 2012) in the Washington, D.C. area. During this summit, teams will have several hours dedicated to team discussions and action plan development. Work in these team meetings will be supported through plenary sessions, workshops, fa-cilitation, and networking; and 4) be active participant in team work following the November summit to implement the job access solution the team designed for its com-munity (December 2012-March 2013).

In return, Joblinks will 1) provide assistance from September 2012 through March 2013 to support

teams in designing and implementing their job access solutions, and will link teams to additional support beyond that period, as request; 2) collaborate with an innovative strategy company to support

teams in building an innovation design process

into their work, customizing the process to meet local needs; 3) offer trainings sessions and work-shops both virtually and in person, customized to this Institute process and the team’s goals; and 4) Pay all costs (up to $7,500 airfare per team including ground, room and meal accommodations) for up to eight members from each com-munity to attend the November 27-30 Job Access Mobility Summit in Arlington, VA.

This is a timely opportunity for the commonwealth Office of Tran-sit Authority because of its infancy stage and its plan to expand the current transit system to serve other riders in need of transportation and the newly awarded Veterans Transportation grant, said Thomas J. Camacho, special assistant for public transportation. The teams met two times and communicated via emails to decide and prepare the application. Members of the CNMI Team includes a repre-sentative from 1) the Common-wealth Development Authority (economic development agency); 2) representative from the Saipan

Call-a-Ride (private transportation provider); 3) representative from the Workforce Investment Agency (Workforce Investment Board staff or board member); 4) individual with disability who uses the transit system; 5) representative from the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (community-based employment and training provider); 6) repre-sentative from the CNMI Council on Developmental Disabilities (advocates for job-seekers/mobil-ity manager); 7) representative from the Commonwealth Office of Transit Authority (public transpor-tation provider/transportation plan-ner). As a requirement, the team designated CDA representative as the Team Leader who comes from the economic development sector. Originally, representatives from the Office of Aging the Saipan Cham-ber of Commerce were participants on the team but later withdrew. The team also invited the Department of Commerce.

Joblinks will select teams whose members bring diverse perspective and knowledge; have a broad and diverse networks; are committed to solving often complex mobility challenges; are knowledgeable or interested in learning about exist-ing conditions affecting access to employment opportunities; and are flexible, open to new ideas and comfortable doing things differ-ently, when necessary.

Realizing the critical and impor-tance of this institute for the CNMI transit system, the team agreed to pursue its plan to participate re-gardless if the team is not selected. According to the CNMI Team’s application statement, “Currently, there is NO public or mass transit system available to residents on Saipan, Tinian and Rota. The Saipan Call-a-Ride, a small scale para-tran-sit service offering specialized ser-vice to those with disabilities and the manamko’ (elderly), addresses the needs of just a small segment of the population. Its services should, thus, be broadened to address the transportation needs of the general populace — the many low-income and carless residents and the work-ing and work-seeking population

(i.e., for events such as job fairs, interviews, employment training programs and other employment services). A private bus company once offered public transportation services along a fixed route on Saipan. The service; however, was not operational for too long as it received no public assistance/gov-ernment subsidies.”

In 2003, the CNMI under the leadership of the CNMI Council on Developmental Disabilities ap-plied and was selected to attend the 2003 Mobility Planning Services Institute in Washington, D.C. spon-sored by the Easter Seals Project ACTION (Accessible Commu-nity Transportation in our Nation, http://www.metro-magazine.com/News/Print/2011/10/Improving-accessible-transportation-through-coalition-building.aspx). Team members were awarded $4,000 for travel-related expenses. The team then included representative from the Advocacy Organization repre-sented by the CNMI Council on Developmental Disabilities (Team Leader); Public School System Bus Services; PSS Special Education Program; then Department of Pub-lic Health; and a community dis-ability self-advocate who used the transit system. Just like Joblinks, the MPS CNMI Team developed an Transportation Action Plan. Originally, the team included representative from the private transportation provider of Saipan Call-a-Ride operated then by PDI. As a result of the team action plan, two major accomplishments were realized in the CNMI: the estab-lishment of the first transportation services for people with disabilities

and the elderly and the ad-vocacy work towards the passing and signing into law establish-ing the Com-m o n w e a l t h

Office of Tran-sit Authority (or PL. 17-43).

The Transportation Employment Plan of Action the team will design will be made a part as a reference when designing and developing the CNMI Transportation Master Plan.

The 5-Team selection decision will be announced on August 31, 2012.

NMI job access mobility team submits application

(Zoning Office) — The Zoning Office is advising the public that the zoning law contains require-ments regarding signs and banners for busi-ness establishments as well as community, personal, and political events and therefore encourages all

owners to apply for and obtain the appropriate permits.

Such requirements include the specific timelines for tempo-rary usage, allowable distance from the public right-of-way, intersection clearance

for safe vehicular/pedestrian view,

or the permanent removal of any damaged signs.

Due to the growing number of violations, the Zoning Office is announcing a deadline of Sept. 4, 2012 for owners to bring their busi-ness, personal, or political signs and banners into compliance with the law. The office further advises that failure to do so may result in

the imposition of up to $1,000 per day until the day that such violation is corrected.

Zoning encourages the public and business community to visit their website at www.zoning.gov.mp or office on the 2nd Floor of Joeten Dandan Building to learn more about the requirements for signs and banners.

Zoning advisory on business/political signs and banners

Thomas Camacho

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MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS - WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 29, 2012 1�Guam / Pacific Islands

GUAM COnTESTAnT. Jennifer Lynn Cortez, 21, smiles during the Miss Universe Guam 2012 preliminaries on Sunday. She is one of the nine candidates vying for the Miss Universe Guam, Miss International Guam and Miss Super Model Guam titles on Friday, Aug. 31. Photo by Matt Weiss

Pacific Digest

SUVA (Pacnews) — The man responsible for Fiji’s first two military coups says they have been a serious setback for democracy.

Former Maj. Gen. Sitiveni Rabuka staged two coups in Fiji in 1987 in an attempt to reassert ethnic Fijian supremacy.

He is due to be a keynote speaker at a conference on democracy at University of Canterbury in New Zealand.

“Democracy has suffered it has been wounded. It’s up to us to recover from the wounds and move forward,” he said.

He officially apologized for the coups in 2006 saying they were wrong.

He hopes Fiji’s new constitution will be framed to ward against coups.

Fiji is currently under a military regime that seized power in a coup six years ago.

SUVA (Pacnews) — Fiji’s government has rejected a proposal by Australian euthanasia advocate Dr Philip Nitschke to set up an assisted suicide clinic in the country.

Nischke previously said the clinic could a considerable source of revenue for Fiji if it went ahead.

The government said the proposal was never seriously consid-ered.

Fiji’s Methodist Church has welcomed the decision, and its deputy general-secretary, the Reverend Tevita Banivanua, said Fijian Christians would never have supported it.

PORT MORESBY (Pacnews) — The Australian government is under pressure to reinstate funding for tuberculosis clinics in the Torres Strait islands and Papua New Guinea after warnings of an increase in medical refugees.

Doctors warn a humanitarian crisis unfolding in PNG’s Western Province is spreading to Brisbane, Cairns and Townsville hospitals as more medical refugees seek treatment for drug-resistant tuber-culosis, cholera, AIDS and leprosy.

The Queensland and Australian governments controversially decided to close health clinics in Queensland’s northernmost islands in mid-June despite the World Health Organization listing it as a crisis.

JAYAPURA (Pacnews) — West Papua resistance leaders say they are losing their struggle for independence amid a rising tide of violence.

After almost 50 years of Indonesian rule, the reins of control are being pulled tighter than ever, with human rights groups saying the frequency and ferocity of abuse is on the rise.

There are even claims that an elite counter-terrorism unit, one that has been funded and trained by Australia, is operating in West Papua where it is accused of targeting and killing independence leaders.

ABC’s Hayden Cooper went undercover in the secretive In-donesian province, where he discovered a police state operating with impunity.

The sheer scale of the police and military presence is obvious from the moment of arrival in the ruggedly beautiful region — a treasure trove of mineral wealth and a place where two vibrant cultures meet and struggle for the right to rule.

AUCKLAND (Pacnews) — The Tongan king and the Auckland mayor discussed plans for a consulate in the city over lunch Monday during the king’s first visit to New Zealand since his coronation in March.

King Tupou VI is visiting the country after an invitation from the Maori King Tuheitia in conjunction with his annual coronation celebration.

Guests at the Auckland Town Hall included his wife, Queen Nanasipau’u, Tongan delegates, Auckland councillors, local board chairs and the Minister of Maori Affairs Pita Sharples.

“It was quite a historic day because it’s the first time that we have officially hosted the Maori king as well as the new Tongan king,” Mayor Len Brown said.

Tongan community leader Kehe Moana Fameitau said plans for a new high commission were a talking point during the visit.

The high commission in Wellington was closed last year to save money.

‘Democracy has been wounded’

Fiji rejects proposal for assisted suicide clinic

Australia under pressure to fund TB clinics

West Papua resistance losing fight for freedom

Tongan consulate plans on the table

By Zita Y. Taitano [email protected] News Staff

HAGÅTÑA — The Guam Fire Department is getting much-needed vehicles to add to their fleet using Compact-Impact funding.

Acting Gov. Ray Tenorio on Monday announced that the Office of In-sular Affairs is award-ing GFD $1.5 million from the Compact-Impact program to purchase new fire trucks and new am-bulances.

“Having more fire trucks and more ambulances on our roads will save more lives — it’s as simple as that,” Tenorio said. “I congratulate Gov. (Eddie) Calvo and the men and women of the fire

department on this milestone.”The money will be used to buy

two new fire trucks and four new ambulances. The funding will also continue the current lease of four ambulances.

GFD spokesman Lt. Ed Artero said the department will determine

where to place the new trucks when they come in.

“Some current trucks will go to other stations and some will be determined at a later date,” he said, adding none of the trucks need to be

replaced despite their age.There are currently 12 fire sta-

tions, 10 of which have fire trucks. One facility has a forestry fire truck but one fire station, in Sinajana,

doesn’t have any, although it has an EMT vehicle and an advance life support vehicle.

As for the new ambulances, Artero said they have three that had just arrived and four that are on lease.

“And then we have another three coming in that are exactly the same as the first three that arrived last month,” he said. The three new ambulances are expected to arrive by the end of September.

When asked about the new ambulances, Artero said the total number of vehicles for this particu-lar fleet will come to 10.

With regard to the four leased ambulances, Artero said the Com-pact-Impact money will continue the lease of those particular vehi-cles until the end of October, which is when the contract expires.

Guam gets federal funds for fire trucks, more ambulances

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WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 29, 2012 - MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS1�

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s top court on Monday gave the country’s prime minister three more weeks to decide whether to obey its order to reopen an old cor-ruption case against the president or face the prospect of being ousted from office like his predecessor.

The decision followed an ap-pearance by Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf before the judges and was seen as a rare conciliatory gesture by the supreme court to-ward the government after months of conflict over the issue.

With the reprieve, the judges may be responding to criticism from the public for relentlessly pursuing the case. Some have suggested the court should focus on legal matters affecting ordinary citizens and leave the government alone to tackle pressing problems like the country’s ailing economy and fight against the Taliban.

Taliban militants coming from Afghanistan attacked an area of northwest Pakistan for the fourth day in a row Monday, trapping people in villages where the fight-ing was most fierce, said officials and local residents.

The dispute involving the prime minister centers on a graft case in a Swiss court against President Asif Ali Zardari dating back to the late 1990s. The Pakistani Supreme Court has demanded the government write a letter to Swiss authorities asking them to reopen the case. The government has refused, saying Zardari enjoys immunity from prosecution while in office.

Zardari is in little immediate danger of being tried — the Swiss

have indicated they have no plans to continue with the case, at least not while the president is in of-fice. But the supreme court still wants the government to write the letter.

The court convicted then-Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani of contempt in April and ousted him from office two months later for rejecting its order. The ruling Pakistan People’s Party rallied support to elect the new premier, Ashraf, and has given no indication it plans to implement the court’s decision.

Many expected the judges to announce Monday that they would charge Ashraf with con-tempt for also refusing to write the letter.

Philippines / Asia

MANILA (The Philippine Star) — Former President and now Congresswoman Gloria Macapa-gal Arroyo should be allowed to seek medical treatment abroad, former President Joseph Estrada said on Monday.

Estrada said the International Police could track down Ar-royo should she try to hide abroad as feared by some peo-ple in the Aquino administration.

Estrada cited his own case when the ant-graft court special division al-lowed him to un-dergo knee surgery in Hong Kong.

On Dec. 27, 2004 his personal doctor, Christopher Mow, flew to Hong Kong to do the surgery.

“There were four policemen from the Philippine National Police sent in addition to the three or so Hong Kong policemen assigned to guard me,” Estrada recalled.

“Like her, I had titanium im-planted in both knees. In GMA’s

case, she had titanium in her cervix spine that loosened up. I could just imagine the pain she’s going through now, like when she reportedly choked even while just eating,” he said.

“It’s a very painful procedure, especially after the effect of an-esthesia wore off. I called on all

the saints, but none of them answered,” he added.

Estrada returned to the country on Jan. 15, 2005 and continued his thera-py at his rest house. He can now walk without a limp.

Estrada also ad-mitted undergoing stem cell treatment in Germany recently. The procedure was in preparation for his mayoralty bid in Manila against re-electionist Mayor Al-fredo Lim in the midterm elections next year.

Arroyo was Estrada’s vice presi-dent when he was ousted in a mili-tary-backed uprising that installed her as president in 2001.

BEIJING (AFP) — The car car-rying Japan’s ambassador to China was targeted here on Monday by a man who ripped off the vehicle’s national flag, prompting a protest by Tokyo, Japanese officials said.

The incident followed wide-spread anti-Japan demonstrations in China over a disputed East China Sea island chain known in China as Diaoyu and in Japan as Senkaku.

The ambassador, Uichiro Niwa, was in the vehicle at the time but was not hurt in the incident, said a Japanese foreign ministry official in Tokyo.

An official at the Japanese em-bassy told AFP the Japanese flag, which identifies the ambassador’s car, was taken away by the man but the vehicle was not damaged in the afternoon incident.

“At least two cars let the ambas-sador’s car stop on the road and a Chinese man took the national flag,” he said.

Chinese authorities later said they were “seriously investigating” the incident, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The agency quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying the Chinese gov-ernment always conscientiously fulfils the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations to protect the safety of foreign embassies and personnel.

Diplomatic vehicles in China are also identified by special car plates but typically only ambassadors’ vehicles carry national flags.

A Japanese diplomat later reg-istered a protest with the Chinese foreign ministry in a meeting, demanding an investigation and prevention of future such incidents,

the embassy official said.No arrests have been made, he

said, adding the embassy has not warned Japanese nationals in China following the incident.

Tensions between Japan and China flared earlier this month after pro-Beijing activists who landed on one of the disputed islands were arrested by Japanese authorities

and later deported.Around a dozen nationalists

raised Japanese flags on the island just days later.

Thousands of Chinese citizens in more than 20 cities have pro-tested over the last two weeks, which saw Japanese businesses, restaurants and cars targeted in some cities.

Anti-Japan protesters march in Chengdu, in southwestern China’s Si-chuan province on Aug. 19, 2012. AP

Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

Japan ambassador targeted in China amid protests

MUMBAI (AFP) — More than 200 people were bitten by dogs every day last year in India’s commercial capital Mumbai, up 50 percent in four years due to a surging population of strays, a

report said Monday.The number of bites recorded

since 2001 is 650,000, and last year’s average of 221 a day up was up by 50 percent from 2007, according to data from the Brihan-

Mumbai dogs bite man — more than 200 times a daymumbai Municipal Corp., pub-lished in the Mumbai Mirror.

The newspaper said the number of stray dogs roaming the chaotic city has doubled to 150,000 since 2007.

But fewer deaths related to dog bites have been recorded, probably because sterilization and vaccinations have improved. Six dog bite-related deaths were registered in 2011, down from 14 in 2010.

The figures were released in response to a Right to Informa-tion request.

Abodh Aras, chief executive of the Welfare of Stray Dogs trust, said he was unsure how the BMC’s figures had been derived, but the increase in registered bites did not necessarily mean more dogs had started biting.

“It’s very clear that awareness has gone up,” he told AFP, so people are more likely to go for anti-rabies medication and get their bites recorded.

Erap backs Arroyo’s treatment abroad

Pakistani court gives premier time to obey order

Stray dogs are seen in Mumbai, India. AFP

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MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS - WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 29, 2012 1�Nation

SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) — Democrats who con-trol California’s legislature aim to hammer out a pension overhaul deal by Tuesday, improving the odds for voter approval of Gov. Jerry Brown’s November tax measure.

State Senate President Darrell Steinberg told reporters in the state capital Sacramento that a committee of lawmakers would vote on Tuesday on a package of bills based on Brown’s pension proposals.

Lawmakers end this year’s session on Friday and Brown, a Democrat, wants to show voters the state’s leaders are intent on curbing retirement expenses. That would raise government credibil-ity — and chances for a temporary tax hike he is pushing, Brown and his allies believe.

Pension costs have become a major concern for voters in California and across the nation. California cities Stockton and San Bernardino recently filed for bankruptcy protection from their creditors, and both had substantial pension burdens.

“I’m confident there will be a deal tomorrow,” Steinberg said.

The state Assembly and Senate will not be able to amend the conference committee deal, and he predicted Democrats with majorities in both houses would approve it on Friday.

Democratic legislators have been cool to some of Brown’s key proposals such as higher re-tirement ages, increased pension contributions by employees and “hybrid” pensions combining features of traditional pensions and 401(k)-style accounts.

Hybrid plans will not be in-cluded in the package the legisla-tive committee will vote on, but a cap on salaries used to determine pension payments will be in the bill, Steinberg said.

Steinberg did not mention changing retirement age, but he did suggest there would be a step toward Brown’s proposal that em-ployees share equally in pension contribution costs now shouldered mostly by employers.

“It deals with formulas, it deals with mandatory contributions — additional contributions — by current employees, it deals with all of the abuse issues, it deals with more of a wide range of issues that have been discussed and debated

for some time,” Steinberg said.“There are going to be some

people — people in organized labor, frankly — that are not going to be thrilled with it,” he added.

A spokesman for Brown de-clined to comment on ongoing talks between the governor’s of-fice and lawmakers.

Taxpayers without pensions are increasingly cranky about having to support government employees in retirement, said Bob Stern, past president of the Center for the Governmental Studies: “There is a bit of pension envy.”

Brown last year rolled out his plan to overhaul pensions for government workers in the most populous U.S. state, a move that made many Democratic lawmak-ers allied with public employee unions nervous.

Overhauling pensions would give Brown a major selling point for his tax measure, said Dan Schnur, director of the Unruh In-stitute of Politics at the University of Southern California.

“It’s his single best chance be-tween now and November to con-vince voters the state government can be trusted with their dollars,” Schnur said. Polls show the mea-sure ahead, but support is expected to wane by election day.

The state budget Brown signed in June closed a $15.7 billion deficit in part based on assumed revenue from voters approving his ballot measure. If voters reject it, California will need to cut more spending, including more than $5 billion from popular educa-tion programs, to keep its books balanced.

Brown’s tax measure would increase the state sales tax to 7.5 percent from 7.25 percent for four years and raise income taxes on Californians making more than $250,000 a year for seven years.

NEW YORK (Reuters) — The broadest legal challenge to the New York Police Department’s controversial crime-fighting tactic known as “stop and frisk” will head to trial in March, a U.S. judge ruled on Monday.

The case stems from a class ac-tion lawsuit filed in 2008 by four black men claiming they were improp-erly targeted by police because of their race.

U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhat-tan granted class action status to the lawsuit in March, saying the plaintiffs had established their cases were emblematic of a city-wide problem.

The city promptly appealed her decision and the NYPD has strongly defended the tactic, arguing it has

been critical in taking guns off the streets and achieving an historic drop in crime rates. The police deny that race or quotas motivate stops and say they are stopping people considered suspicious.

At Monday’s hearing, the judge said the case had

dragged on long enough and noted that the March 18, 2013 trial would be more than five years since the case was first filed.

Darius Char-ney, a lawyer for the Center for Constitutional Rights, told the judge Monday that the plaintiffs had not yet decided whether to ask for a bench trial or whether they would seek to present their case to a jury.

Judge Scheindlin is also over-seeing two other separate lawsuits contesting the NYPD tactic.

TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) — Mitt Romney enters Republican convention week facing serious challenges in his drive to unseat President Obama in the Novem-ber 6 election, with the Democrat outscoring him on eloquence and likability, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Monday.

But many factors weigh in the Republican’s favor as he seeks a boost from his Tampa, Florida, convention. An overwhelming majority of Americans believe the U.S. economy is on the wrong track, the poll found.

The convention that will nominate Rom-ney as the Republi-can candidate to face Obama begins in ear-nest on Tuesday. The former Massachusetts governor addresses thousands of delegates gathered for the event on Thursday.

Obama and Vice President Joe Biden were ahead of Rom-ney and running mate Paul Ryan by 46 per-cent to 42 percent, ac-cording to the online poll. The Obama team led the Republicans by 16 percentage points among independents, a key voting bloc that could tip the election in battle-ground states.

It was the first installment of a four-day rolling poll by Reuters/Ip-sos which will measure and track attitudes during the Republican and Democratic conventions.

Other polls have shown Obama and Romney neck-and-neck and the Republican’s campaign of-ficials believe they are in good position to upset the Democrat in November given that Romney has withstood a barrage of nega-

tive attacks from Obama over the summer.

The poll found that Obama far outstrips Romney on who is more eloquent by 51 percent to 21 percent. Obama also gets higher likability numbers, with 54 percent to 26 percent finding him more likeable.

Forty-seven percent say he is “a good person,” compared to 29 percent for Romney, and 48 percent said Obama would be “fun to meet in person,” while 21 percent said that about Romney.

Romney is seeking to use his convention this week to improve his likability perfor-mance with several speakers expected to talk up his life and ca-reer as a family man, former businessman, and ex-governor.

The one trait where Romney leads by a large margin is “a man of faith” — 40 percent for Romney against 28 percent for Obama.

The two candi-dates were within a few points of each other on “will protect

American jobs,” 36 percent for Obama against 33 percent for Rom-ney. There were identical numbers on the question of who “can be effective in Washington.”

A host of factors that arose in the poll should serve as warning signs for the president despite his advantages over the lesser-known Republican.

According to the poll, 75 percent believe the economy is on the wrong track, 83 percent believe the same of fuel and gasoline prices, and 79 percent think “your cost of living” is doing badly.

Top California lawmaker sees pension reform deal

Poll: Romney faces headwinds in race against Obama

California Gov. Jerry Brown trades pens with Jong Joong Kim, president of Samsung Electronics Co. at the MOU signing ceremony at San Jose City Hall in San Jose, Calif. on Aug. 16, 2012. Samsung will expand its research and development operations in San Jose. Brown said Samsung’s announcement shows that despite persistent criticism that California’s high taxes and heavy regulations make it hostile toward business, the state remains a draw for technology companies. AP

Mitt Romney

New York ‘stop and frisk’ trial set for March 2013

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WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 29, 2012 - MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS1� World

PARIS (AFP) — French President Francois Hollande stepped up pressure on Syria Monday, saying France would recognize a provi-sional government and warning of a foreign intervention if the regime uses chemical weapons.

In a speech to French diplomats, Hollande called for an “intensifi-cation of efforts for the political transition to take place quickly” and urged the Syrian opposition to form a “provisional, inclusive and representative” government.

“France will recognize the pro-visional government of the new Syria as soon as it is formed,” he said.

Washington, however, reacted that before setting up a government the Syrian opposition first needed to coordinate with citizens inside and outside the country and set a democratic path.

“So that’s the first order of busi-ness — for them to all agree on what a transition ought to look like. Obviously, it’s a matter for them to decide if and when they may be prepared to start naming folks,” said U.S. State Depart-ment spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.

Hollande was on the same page with the United States and Britain when he warned the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that using chemical weapons would be a legitimate reason for a foreign intervention.

“We with our allies remain very watchful to prevent the use of chemical weapons by the regime, which would be for the interna-tional community a legitimate cause for direct intervention,” Hollande said.

Hollande also confirmed France was working with its partners on the possible establishment of buf-fer zones within Syria to receive

people displaced by the conflict and prevent them flooding over the borders into neighboring states.

Turkey in particular has been pushing for such a move, which would require military back-up to ensure the security of the refugees.

“We are working ... (on) the initiative of buffer zones proposed by Turkey,” Hollande said, adding

that “we are doing so in coordina-tion with our closest partners.”

Hollande said the opposition of Russia and China to action against the Syrian regime was weakening the United Nations.

“I am saying to Russia and to China that their attitude in the Syria crisis is weakening our ca-pacity to fulfill the mandate given us by the United Nations charter,”

he said.“Our country only participates

in operations to keep the peace or protect civilians by virtue of a mandate and therefore a resolution of the United Nations Security Council,” Hollande said.

“For this the (Security Council) members must take their responsi-bility to allow it to take decisions,” he said.

Hollande said resolving the Syria crisis was crucial not only for the country itself but for the region as a whole.

“I know the difficulty of the task, I understand the risks, but the stakes go beyond Syria. This concerns the security of all the Middle East and in particular the independence and stability of Lebanon,” he said.

Hollande also touched on Iran in the speech outlining his foreign policy priorities, saying it was unacceptable for Tehran to obtain nuclear weapons and warning of new sanctions.

“It would be unacceptable for Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon and this country must meet its international obligations,” Hol-lande said.

“As long as Iran does not an-swer all questions (on its nuclear program) and does not conform to international law, it is France’s responsibility to further increase sanctions against the Iranian regime.”

France ready to recognize Syria opposition government

GAZA (Reuters) — The Hamas Islamist government in Gaza said it had declined an invitation to a meeting of 120 developing nations in Tehran this week, heading off a potential confrontation with rival Palestinian leaders in the West Bank.

Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s leader in Gaza, had accepted the invite over the weekend but backtracked on Sunday “in order that the participa-tion would not be an introduction to deepening a Palestinian, Arab and Muslim division over the Palestin-ian cause,” said spokesman Taher al-Nono.

Iran’s call for Hamas to attend the annual Non-Aligned Move-ment conference had infuriated the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which sees itself as the sole legitimate representative of all Palestinians.

PA leader President Mahmoud Abbas has been at loggerheads with Hamas since his forces lost control of Gaza in a brief 2007 war with the Islamist movement. He has since governed only in the occupied West Bank.

Abbas had also accepted an in-vitation to the conference. But his aides had earlier mulled cancelling

the trip if Haniyeh attended.“We won’t allow Palestinian rep-

resentation to be ripped up — we won’t allow anyone to do this,” Abbas told a cheering crowd at a civic event in the West Bank capital of Ramallah earlier on Sunday.

“We are capable of looking after ourselves and our dignity, and we want unity and want to return to this unity,” he added.

The Non-Aligned Movement

conference, a grouping of develop-ing nations founded during the Cold War, has emerged from obscurity with this year’s summit - largely thanks to the fact that its revolving leadership has passed to Iran.

Iran hopes to earn diplomatic ku-dos by hosting the summit from Au-gust 29-31 at a time when the West is seeking to cripple its economy and isolate it diplomatically over its disputed nuclear program.

Britain appalled by Afghanistan beheadingsHamas declines invite to Iran summit, citing Palestinian unity

French President Francois Hollande, left, welcomes Syrian opposition leader of the National Council Abdel-baset Sieda at the Elysee Palace, Tuesday. AP

A Palestinian woman walks past a poster of Gaza’s Hamas Prime Min-ister Ismail Haniyeh, left, and Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi in Gaza City, Saturday. AP

An Afghan police officer walks over the debris after Monday’s night explosion in Kandahar south of Kabul. A truck bomb killed two civilians and wounded the provincial police chief. AP

LONDON (AFP) — Britain on Monday condemned “in the stron-gest terms” reports that Taliban Is-lamist insurgents had beheaded 17 civilians at a party in Afghanistan’s Helmand province.

Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said he was “appalled” at the killings and also at an attack on a checkpoint in the province which killed 10 Afghan soldiers.

“I am appalled at the cruel kill-ing of 17 people at a party.... The facts are still being established but early indications are that the Taliban were responsible,” he said in a statement.

“We condemn acts of extreme violence like this in the strongest

terms.”The Taliban were responsible for

beheading the civilians, including two women, who were holding a party with music in a southern Af-ghanistan village, officials said.

“This incident, alongside the attack today on a Helmand check-point where 10 Afghan soldiers were killed, underlines the con-tinuing importance of our work to strengthen the capacity of the Afghan security authorities,” ar-gued Burt.

“We will continue to work close-ly with the Afghans to develop a more secure and prosperous state where the Afghan people can live free from fear,” he added.

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MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS - WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 29, 2012 1�Business & Trade

NEW YORK (Reuters) — Shares of Apple climbed to another record on Monday, keeping the Nasdaq index afloat in the lowest trading volume of the year, with investors looking ahead to a key speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Friday.

Apple Inc. hit an all-time high of $680.87 during the day after the iPad maker won a $1 billion judgment in a patent lawsuit against Samsung Electronics. The Korean company said it would contest the verdict. Apple, the world’s most valuable company, ended up 1.9 percent at $676.68.

The verdict on Friday jolted shares of Google Inc., as the case could change the dynamics of the mobile device market. Companies using Google’s Android system may have to consider design changes. Google shares declined 1.4 percent to $669.22.

Beyond the notable moves of those tech giants, investors mostly cooled their heels before Bernanke’s remarks to central bankers at Jack-son Hole, Wyoming, on Friday.

Data showed volume was 4.46 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the Amex. The year-to-date average is about 6.6 billion.

Expectations are for Fed action of some kind next month, but Bernanke is likely to keep markets guessing about the timing of another round of bond purchases.

“The big upswing in the equity market that we’ve seen is based on the belief the Fed is going to do something and that Bernanke is going to say sooner rather than later that he’s willing to commit

to further easing,” said Subodh Kumar, chief investment strategist at Subodh Kumar & Associates in Toronto.

“But I don’t think he’s got the policy support within the Fed to do that, so the markets are set for some more correction here.”

The Dow Jones industrial aver-age was down 33.30 points, or 0.25 percent, at 13,124.67. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was down 0.69 points, or 0.05 percent, at 1,410.44. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 3.40 points, or 0.11 percent, at 3,073.19.

Stocks have rallied in recent weeks on growing expectations for

a third round of quantitative easing from the Fed, as well as possible action from the European Central Bank. News from Jackson Hole could determine whether the rally that took the S&P index to four-year highs will be sustained.

The S&P 500 has been unable to stay above the April high of 1,422.38, which is seen as a key resistance point, the index finds support at the 1,400 level.

Investors will be faced with other potentially market-moving events in the next few weeks.

The European Central Bank will meet on September 6 and is expected to take some action to support the

region’s sputtering economy and tackle the debt crisis.

Germany’s constitutional court is expected to rule on the legality of the euro zone bailout fund on September 12.

The Dow was led down by shares of IBM Corp., which agreed to buy Kenexa Corp. for $1.3 billion. IBM shares were off 1.1 percent at $195.69. Shares of Kenexa were up 41.4 percent at $45.79.

In other deal news, car rental firm Hertz Global Holdings said it would buy smaller rival Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group for about $2.3 billion, ending years of an on-off takeover battle.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) — Pigs are an unlikely barometer of infla-tionary pressure, but in China the country’s declining herds are a mat-ter of concern amid fears that a spike in pork sales could drive consumer prices higher next year.

Faced with sluggish domestic demand and the record cost of fat-tening animals — due to a steep rise in the price of corn and soybeans as a drought grips top exporter the United States — China’s hog producers are being forced to sell their herds.

China’s food price cycle is driven in a large part by pork, the country’s staple meat, and while it is in abun-dance now, in about six months meat stocks are expected to fall as a result of the sell-off, resulting in a surge in prices.

Any increase in food prices is expected to push up inflation, which now sits at a comfortable level in Beijing having cooled from last year, but is still one of China’s big-gest economic concerns given the potential for rising prices to trigger social unrest.

“If you look at corn and soymeal prices in China, the cost of feeding animals is a l r e a d y r e a c h -ing a re-cord,” said Jean-Yves Chow, a senior feed industry analyst at Rabobank in Hong Kong.

“We expect pork supplies to decline by early next year if profit-ability remains depressed, resulting in higher prices which will fuel food inflation.”

Worried by the state of the pig industry, China’s top economic planning agency this month or-dered stockpiling of frozen pork in anticipation of a supply squeeze when consumption peaks during the Lunar New Year next February.

China holds reserves of pork, both in live animals and frozen meat, to help stabilize domestic prices during extreme price fluctuations. The stockpiling is also used to try to curtail food inflation and steady its domestic industry.

In 2007, rapidly rising pork prices became a national concern when China’s hog industry, responsible for producing 50 million metric tons, or half of the world’s pork, a year, suffered a deadly outbreak of blue ear disease.

Then, the resulting jump in pork prices drove food inflation sharply higher, the impact of which was most acutely felt in the poor rural areas, home to most of the country’s billion-strong population.

Rising global food prices fuelled by the U.S. drought have so far had a limited impact on China’s consumer price inflation, which fell to a 30-month low in July. China’s food prices, which account for about 30 percent of the CPI basket, rose 2.4 percent in July from a year earlier, cooling from 3.8 percent in June as pork prices eased.

TOKYO (Reuters) — Japan’s government cut its assessment for the export-reliant economy on Tuesday for the first time since October 2011, as slowing global growth weighed on exports and factory output, and threatened recovery prospects.

Deceleration in the United States and China, on top of Europe’s debt crisis, caused the downgrade, the government said, warning that further global slowdown and sharp market swings posed risks to the world’s third-largest economy.

The assessment underscores policymakers’ worry that fresh stimulus measures could be needed, as exports may struggle to recover before the economy feels the full effects around the year-end from rebuilding following last year’s earthquake and tsunami.

“The economy is moderately recovering helped by reconstruc-tion demand, while some weak movements were seen recently,” the Cabinet Office said in its monthly report, adding that the recovery will be affected by a

global slowdown.While the previous monthly

report had also seen the economy recovering moderately helped by reconstruction demand, it had merely noted that there were dif-ficulties, whereas the latest report’s allusion to “weak movements” struck a more negative note.

Flagging concern that personal consumption, which accounts for about 60 percent of the economy, may lose momentum, the govern-ment cut its view on private spend-ing, saying it is in a moderately

increasing trend, again using a slightly more negative term than a month earlier.

“We used the word trend to show that the pace of increase is slow-ing. Car sales are leveling off after a rapid increase earlier this year. In addition, poor weather in June has hurt consumption of clothing, beverages and air-conditioners,” a Cabinet Office official said.

Japan’s growth slowed to 0.3 percent in April-June as a rebound in personal consumption lost mo-mentum and Europe’s debt woes

weighed on global demand, and economists have trimmed forecasts for Japan’s growth in the second half of 2012.

The government cut its view on exports and industrial produc-tion, saying shipments overseas are weakening and factory output leveled off recently. In July it said exports were showing signs of re-covery and output was recovering moderately.

July trade data had shown the sharpest drop in exports since Janu-ary, in line with trends seen among other export-driven economies in Asia.

Still, Japan’s growth is seen outpacing that of most other G7 countries.

The government lowered its outlook for the world economy, in-cluding the United States, Europe, China and other parts of Asia.

Earlier this month the Bank of Japan reiterated its expectations that overseas growth will gradually pick up while warning that there was a high degree of uncertainty over the outlook.

Japan cuts economy assessment as global slowdown bites

Wall Street finishes flat but Apple reaches another high

Hot hog sales raise specter of

inflation in China

The Apple share price is shown on a stock ticker at the Nasdaq MarketSite on Aug. 21, 2012 in New York. AP

A woman shops around jewels at a jewelry store in Tokyo, Japan. AP

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WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 29, 2012 - MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS1� Lifestyle & Entertainment

By Dr. Joyce Brothers• Ask Dr. Brothers

When young children lash out with violence, it can be difficult to know where the problem lies. Aggression often is the first line of defense against anger and frustration for young children, and it’s important for adults to know how to respond to these outbursts in a way that will help teach kids how to respond more appropriately in the future. This quiz will test your knowledge of aggression and violence in children, and some good ways to cope with it.

1. Overly aggressive children are always bullies.TRUE ( ) FALSE ( )2. Learning and practicing needed social skills can help aggressive

children control their impulses toward violence. TRUE ( ) FALSE ( )3. Many kids who struggle with aggression problems also have

other social issues, such as being unable to concentrate or sit still. TRUE ( ) FALSE ( )4. Giving aggressive children a predictable daily routine only will

make their aggression worse.TRUE ( ) FALSE ( )5. Teaching aggressive children to focus on the positive aspects

of a situation can help them reduce their violent and impulsive reactions.

TRUE ( ) FALSE ( )6. Kids model their behaviors from television, movies and video

games, so eliminating violence from your kids’ media can help them reduce their own aggression.

TRUE ( ) FALSE ( )7. Punishment is the most effective way of combating aggression

in children.TRUE ( ) FALSE ( )ANSWERS1. FALSE. Aggressive kids often end up in fights with other kids

who are bigger and stronger than themselves, and their problems stem not from their aggression per se, but from aggression in the wrong situations. They react to any perceived threat with aggression, and therefore this aggression often is inappropriate and gets them into trouble. They don’t focus on seeking out a smaller or weaker target, though, as bullies often do.

2. TRUE. While some aggressive kids seem to have a very hard time controlling their impulse toward violence, practicing appropriate social skills and reminding your child what an acceptable response to certain situations looks like can make it easier for him or her to act appropriately. Aggression sometimes can be the easiest response when one feels threatened, so it’s important to give your kids a toolbox of other ways to deal with frustration or anger rather than pushing or hitting.

3. TRUE. Kids who struggle with controlling their aggression also have other self-control or concentration problems. They may not be able to concentrate in school or sit still when asked. Once they get excited or angry, this only becomes magnified, and they can’t control their responses or actions. Teaching kids skills to help their self-control also will minimize the aggression they act out.

4. FALSE. Actually, giving these kids some measure of predictability and control can help keep them calm. When they feel more in control of a situation and are able to predict what will happen in their day, they’ll be able to respond in a more reasonable way. If you can determine what situations typically trigger aggression in your kids, you can avoid these triggers or teach your kids to anticipate their feelings when these situations come up.

5. TRUE. It can be helpful for kids who tend to be aggressive to look at situations from a different perspective. Rather than focusing on what is wrong or unfair about a situation, teach them to look for other ways to deal with the issue. Focusing on the negatives creates a spiral that only emphasizes a child’s problems. Instead, look at the progress and gains that your child has made. Point out improvements just as much as, if not more than, you point out failings.

6. TRUE. Kids learn how to behave from all kinds of different sources, but the media they take in on a daily basis provide an important model. For this reason, it’s a good idea to monitor your kids’ viewing closely, especially if they’re exhibiting behaviors that you’re not teaching them. It’s always appropriate to restrict their access to violent content.

7. FALSE. Punishing kids who are aggressive, especially if you use spanking or other forms of violent or aggressive punishment, actually has the opposite effect. This can teach children that aggression and violence are the way to deal with their problems, and sends them entirely mixed messages.

If you answered five of the seven questions correctly, you are more informed than most on this subject.

(c) 2012 by King Features Syndicate

Quiz topic: Aggression in children NEW YORK (Reuters) — Devo-

tees of British novelist Martin Amis anxiously awaiting his fictional commentary on the state of America after his move to U.S. shores shouldn’t hold their breath.

It will take time for the acclaimed author, who moved to the United States six months ago, to dig into U.S. culture the way he has in his satirical new novel, “Lionel Asbo: State of England.”

Although he is certain of at least one thing in these days of fiscal austerity: He does not understand why some Americans want less taxes for the rich.

“Lionel Asbo” once again il-lustrates the author’s insight into modern Britain as he explores his country’s working-class citizens, a vacuous tabloid media and declin-ing morality reflected in celebrity culture.

It was written before the author of “Money,” “London Fields” and other celebrated novels abandoned London for an idyllic writer’s ha-ven in Brooklyn, and Amis said he has yet to distill his thoughts about America’s own class warfare and obsession with celebrity.

“It has different kinds of vulgar-ity — the English more sordid, the American more glitzy and cosmetic, kitsch,” the 62-year-old said under the high ceilings of his new home. “My wife insists it is not very much (different)...but I am not so sure.”

Amis, often called one of the most innovative voices of his generation, has himself long been subjected to scrutiny by the Brit-ish media.

Most recently, critics have said his decision to leave London reflected spite, rather than his publicly stated reason of needing to be close to his wife’s mother and his late friend, writer Christopher Hitchens.

“It was rigged up that I was leaving in bitter hatred of Britain, and every chance I got I said the opposite,” he said.

The immediate response in the United States to his new book has been lukewarm. The New York Times said “Lionel Asbo” “reads less like a big ‘state of England’ novel than a smallish postcard

mailed from there some years ago.”

The writer’s 13th novel centers around a thuggish, yet briefly endearing antihero, Lionel Asbo, whose last name results from being handed down at age 3 an Anti-So-cial Behaviour Order, a civil order issued in Britain against conduct that includes things like begging, graffiti and excessive noise.

In contrast, Lionel’s nephew is depicted as a working-class role model in his earnest pursuit of education and love.

When Lionel wins the lottery, earning the tabloid nickname “Lotto Lout” and begins dating a publicity hound, the novel comes to reflect society moving toward re-warding the base actions of people such as those found on reality TV shows, who typically reap some fame and fortune.

“It’s that strange democratiza-tion of fame,” Amis said. “Since celebrity is ‘A’ the new religion, and ‘B’ considered a basic human right now, you feel incredibly deprived if you haven’t got it, right? It’s the spur for many of these terrorist acts, such as these massacres.”

Without recalling the exact tab-loid, he said the genesis for his new book came from two newspaper clippings, including one snippet about a boy having an affair with his grandmother.

“It was probably, ‘The Sun,’ or worse, ‘The Daily Sport,’” he said, trying to recall the London tabloid

before comparing their outlandish headlines to New York’s compara-tively more tame reporting.

“Compared to ‘The Sun,’ ‘The New York Post’ is sort of like ‘Critical Quarterly’ or something,” Amis joked.

Reflecting upon the two coun-tries, Amis said the United States and Britain were now pursuing a “terrific evil” of separating the rich and poor, “back to the levels after the first World War.”

Amis, a self-described political leftist, is outraged by U.S. political support for tax cuts for the rich. “I mean, everyone would say, hang on, tax cuts for the rich?” he said.

His own belief is reflected in the slogan from Britain’s Labor Party based on taxing the rich and educat-ing the poor, and that view comes across in “Lionel Asbo.”

He scoffed at suggestions in Britain that he shouldn’t be writ-ing about the working class by saying such criticism reflected current British “anxiety about class,” and calling it “incredibly patronizing to the class they are speaking for.”

As for suggestions his latest book, as well as some of his more recent ones, do not reflect his best writing, Amis feels the opposite. He is happiest with his most re-cent novel and less happy with its predecessors, “all the way down the line.”

The reason, he said, can be found in an essay about “Lolita” author Vladimir Nabokov, which contends that every writer has a bit of genius — “your God-given stuff and that musical quality” — and talent — that “gets the thing going, knows what goes where.”

“What happens is your genius gets weaker and your talent gets stronger,” Amis said.

As for that next book from his new base in America, it may not be the work his readers expect. Against the warnings of fellow writers, he said, he is now “having a good time” writing a Holocaust novel.

Martin Amis weighs ‘State of England’ from new US home

Novelist Martin Amis, left, talks to Tina Brown at the launch of Brown’s book “The Diana Chronicles” at a party hosted by Reuters in the Ser-pentine Gallery in central London on June 18, 2007. REUTERS

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MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS - WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 29, 2012 19Lifestyle & Entertainment

EMPLOYMENTOffice & Accounts Manager (1) - Directs or coordinates operational, administrative & personnel matters. Handles the company’s account system including preparation of government taxes, payroll, and billings. Must have at least 5 years work experience with at least 4 years Bachelor’s degree. Knowledge in computer is a must.Interested applicants may pick up an application form at Team Advance Group’s office located at Beach Road (besides Naked Fish), Garapan, Saipan.

Bartender (1) - Applicants must have a thorough knowledge on mixing and serving variety of drinks, customer service oriented, and able to work on flexible shifts. Interested applicants, please send application or resume at PMB 144 Box 10001, Saipan, MP 96950 or email to [email protected].

Cook (1) - 2 years experience requiredPlease send application to KYS Enterprises, Inc. PMB 1336, P.O. Box 10003, Saipan, MP 96950 Tel. 233-4865

• 1-storey, 3 units of 1 BedroomApartment Bldg. at Dandan Village $125,000.00

• Vacant Lot For SaleGood for Commercial or Apartment Bldg., located along ISA Drive, I-Denni/Capitol Hill Area (3,379 sq. m.)

• 1990 Toyota 4Runner, $1,000.00Contact: 285-8189 Vince

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• 2 bedroom with washer and dryer outlet• front and backyard space

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Rent is only $ 300.00 every month plus security deposit required. Please call 287-4447 for more details.

EMPLOYMENT(2) Civil Engineering TechnicianRate : $ 5.05 to $ 7.50 per hour With minimum 5 years experience as a Civil Engineering Technician. With knowledge how to apply theory and principles of civil engineering in planning, designing, and overseeing construction and maintenance of structures and facilities under the direction of engineering staff or physical scientists. Must be able to work. Deadline for accepting application is on September 1, 2012. Applications are available at GPPC Inc office located in As Perdido, Saipan. A copy of valid Police Clearance must be attached to the application. Incomplete application will NOT be accepted. Skills testing may be required. GPPC, INC is an Equal Opportunity Employer

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CopyrightAll advertisement copies designed and created by the YAS graphic artists are the property of Marianas Variety Newspaper. Advertisers agree that it cannot authorize the production of any such advertising copy, in whole or in part, for use in any other medium without the written consent of the publisher.

WAITER/WAITRESSFOR IMMEDIATE HIRING

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WANTED IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF THE NORTHERN

MARIANA ISLANDS

IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION FOR GENERAL GUARDIAN OF

M.J.C.M.Minor Child,

By: VICTORINO DLG. TORRES AND BRENDA DOREEN C. TORRES,

Petitioners.

FCD-GU CIVIL ACTION NO. 12-0399

NOTICE OF HEARING ON PETITION FOR APPOINTMENT OF

GENERAL GUARDIANSHIP

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that Petitioners, will cause the Court to hear its Petition for Appointment of General Guardianship on the above-entitled matter, on the 27th day of September, 2012, at 10:30 a.m. before the Honorable Judge Kenneth Govendoin courtroom 205A at the Commonwealth Superior Court, Susupe, Saipan, CNMI. SO ORDERED this 25th day of August, 2012.

/s/ Clerk of Court

Victorino DLG. TorresBrenda C. TorresP.O. Box 501856 Saipan MP 96950Tel: 670-233-5503/4/6 Fax: 670) 233-5510

Pro Se

Must have (2) yrs. experience in Japanese Cuisine, know how to drive & w/ valid driver license. Salary $5.05/hr.

Please apply to Emperor Ent. Corpor call 234-1111 (1pm-7pm)

JOB VACANCYCOOK (1)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) — Molly Ringwald is perhaps best known for playing the teenage protagonist in 1980s film classics “Pretty in Pink” and “Sixteen Candles,” but the now 44-year-old mother of three has published a novel focusing on the decidedly adult topic of betrayal — marital and otherwise.

“When It Happens to You” centers on a Los Angeles couple with a troubled marriage, while also tell-ing the stories of their friends’ and neighbors’ struggles with child-rear-ing, crashing careers and the death of a spouse.

The novel is Ringwald’s first book of fiction, though it does follow her 2010 title, “Getting the Pretty Back,” which was part advice book, part memoir.

Ringwald, whose newly launched website includes a simple introduc-tion page noting she “acts, writes books and sings jazz,” spoke with Reuters about her novel, commu-nicating with fans via Twitter and suffering with other writers.

Q: You call the book “a novel in stories.” What do you mean and why choose to write it in that form?

A: “I had originally intended to write just a collection of stories along the line of betrayal. As I started it, I realized ... it would be more interest-ing to have the characters connect and intersect, because ... one of the themes, if you want to call it, is that we are all betrayers and we are all betrayed. I thought it would be in-teresting to have them all connect in that way, even though their betrayals are of different natures.”

You write a lot about what children do to a marriage, the good and the bad. Can you address that?

“It really is different for each character. You know, I have three mothers in the book and the ways that they are with their children are very, very different. And...in terms of Greta and Phillip, who are the anchor of the book, it’s very difficult for them.

“It’s difficult for both of them, but they respond to it in different ways as men and women tend to

do. Phillip acts out and Greta kind of internalizes everything.”

Infidelity touches every chapter. Do you think society sees infidelity as one of the great betrayals?

“Betrayal really is one of the great connectors. I think we’ve all been through it at one point of our lives, and we’ve probably been on either side of it, in some way. Because of the age I am, and being around mothers in my kids’ schools, it feels like it was very prevalent. I saw it all around me.

“It’s basically one of the most painful things you can go through...I was interested in that.”

Is this something you’ve had to deal with personally?

“I know betrayal from my life. I’ve been on both sides of it. But no, I wasn’t writing about my mar-riage.”

Do you think the book would translate to film?

“I think it’s something I’d like to do, but I didn’t think about it at all as I was writing it. But I think the characters are all really interesting and compelling, if I do say so my-self...I always put my own characters to the test and ask myself, ‘Would this be someone I was interested to play?’ ”

You do that as you’re writing?“Yes. And if they’re not, if they

don’t snap, if they’re not complex and they’re not flawed, then what’s the point?”

Who would you want to play?“I very much want to direct it,

and I very much want to write it. If I played any part, I’d want to play Marina.” (Note: Marina is a woman whose young son wants to wear girls’ clothes and believes he is a girl.)

how did you approach writing this book versus writing your first one?

“My writing schedule’s the same, which was set up for the first book. Five hundred words or two hours, whichever came first. That seems to work for me. When I get to write, and I have a place where I go, that’s the plan...I like to write around people, there’s a certain comfort in that, that everyone’s going through the same thing. And you can look around and you can see people being absolutely as tortured as you are.”

You’re active on Twitter. Why did you decide to tweet, and what do you like about it?

“I started a while ago because I’d been doing a blog and I found that the blogging took a lot of time away from my writing. I didn’t feel like I mastered the quick blog...I fretted over it way too much.

“(Twitter) has given me a connec-tion to fans that I’ve never really had before because I’m a pretty private person, and I don’t do a ton of events ... It’s been amazing to connect with these people who have followed me for all of these years.”

Known for teen love, Molly Ringwald now writes of adult betrayal

VEniCE FiLM FESTiVAL. Italian actress Kasia Smutniak, left, master of ceremonies of the 69th edition of the Venice Film Festival, and festival’s director Alberto Barbera wave as they arrive at Venice Lido, Italy, Monday. AP

Molly Ringwald

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WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 29, 2012 - MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS20

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WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 29, 2012 - MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS22 Sports

NEW YORK (AP) — Maria Sharapova’s stomach ache turned out to be nothing more than that.

That lopsided loss she suffered at the Olympics — well, that may have only been a false alarm, as well.

Playing her first match since a blowout loss to Serena Williams in London and a stomach virus forced her out of two tuneup tournaments, Sharapova returned to tennis in fine fashion Monday at the U.S. Open.

The third-seeded Russian came back from a three-week break and defeated Melinda Czink of Hungary 6-2, 6-2 in a stress-free, 67-minute first-round match at blustery Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Later, top-seeded Roger Federer took center stage and beat Ameri-can Donald Young 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to begin the chase for his 18th major title.

Sharapova completed the career Grand Slam earlier this year by winning the French Open. Mon-day’s victory, in front of the half-filled stadium, was her first match since a 6-0, 6-1 loss to Williams at the London Games in a gold-medal showdown that looked more like one of these first-round wipeouts Sharapova usually inflicts.

Turns out, Sharapova was deal-ing with some stomach pain then, which only got worse a few weeks later. She went to the doctor for a series of tests, including an ultra-sound to see if she was pregnant. The test turned up negative.

“Just because of the pain I was having, it was really weird,” said Sharapova, who is engaged to basketball player Sasha Vujacic. “They told me I was fine, not pregnant. Then, I’m like, ‘Can I get my money back?’”

It has been an eventful summer for one of tennis’ biggest stars.

After serving as the flag-bearer for Russia, then finishing as the silver medalist at the Olympics at Wimbledon, Sharapova’s original plan was to come to North America and play in tuneups in Montreal and Cincinnati to acclimate herself to the hard courts.

But the Olympics took a lot out

of Sharapova, and when she ar-rived in Canada, she got knocked down by a stomach ache so bad that she went to the doctor.

It turned out to be a virus — her body’s way of telling her to take it easy, she said, so she withdrew from the events and took a few weeks off.

“It was a nice break in a way, but after so many weeks of practicing, you’re just eager to get back on the court,” she said.

She looked eager to get off the court, as well, showing very few signs of rust against her 88th-ranked opponent.

Wearing a soft-pink dress with a touch of mauve — more sub-dued than what she usually wears for, say, a nighttime appearance — Sharapova served five aces and maxed out at 115 mph. It took her

31 minutes to finish the first set and she was up 3-0 in the second before Czink got her only break.

That made things only mildly in-teresting, and only for a very short time. Leading 4-2, Sharapova won one point by chasing a ball almost into the stands on the sidelines, reaching out to get it back, then closing in on the net to win the point. Czink stood there shaking her head, hardly believing what she had just seen.

Sharapova said getting the blowout loss to Williams out of her mind was not a problem.

“It doesn’t stick with you,” she said. “I mean, personally, I’ve been part of many different types of matches in my career. Looking back at that week, it was really special. It was so hectic.”

The routine win was part of a

day filled mostly with by-the-book results: Defending champion Sam Stosur’s 6-1, 6-1 victory over Croatia’s Petra Martic, No. 3 Andy Murray’s 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 win over Alex Bogomolov Jr., of Russia and, of course, a two-hour rain delay at a tournament that has fin-ished on a Monday for four straight years because of bad weather.

Federer closed the night with a 1-hour, 34-minute dispatching of Young and stayed in the mix for his sixth U.S. Open title. Federer, a loser to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals the last two years, is seeded first for the 23rd time at a Grand Slam, breaking the record he shared with Pete Sampras.

“Being back in New York as world No. 1, it’s crazy, and I really, really enjoy it,” Federer said.

Before Federer played, No. 23 Kim Clijsters extended her Flush-ing Meadows winning streak to 22 straight matches, defeating the youngest player in the field, 16-year-old American Victoria Duval, 6-3, 6-1.

Top-seeded Victoria Azarenka, the Australian Open champion, began the quest for her second Grand Slam title of the year with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Alexandra Panova.

Stosur won the day’s first match in Ashe, and any thought that the early round jitters might get to her — the way they did in first-round exits at the Australian Open and the Olympics or a second-round loss at Wimbledon — were over before the crowd even got settled.

The seventh-seeded Aussie won the first 19 points — she was five away from a perfect set before she double-faulted — and needed only 51 minutes to finish the match.

“It did pop into my head for a split second,” Stosur said of the prospect of a golden set. “Then I hit the double fault and it was erased and I was quickly on with the next point.”

Murray is trying to become the first man to win the Olympics and the U.S. Open in the same year. His first match of 2012 at Flushing Meadows gave him a decent test — with just a little something to worry about.

He fell down a break to open the first two sets but won the last five games of the first and last four games of the second, then cruised in the third, which he began by shouting “focus.”

“It’s an important stage of the match, when he was up 4-3 in the second with a break, then I won three games in a row and momen-tum was with me,” Murray said. “You want to win the matches as quickly as possible.”

He finished with 46 winners to 24 for Bogomolov, and handled the array of drop shots Bogomolov tried on him. Leading 4-1 in the third set, Murray grabbed his left hamstring while lunging for a ball near the net. But he closed out the match with no problem.

“Maybe I didn’t take enough fluid,” Murray said.

That could have been the problem No. 22 Florian Mayer encountered, as well. He withdrew while trailing 19-year-old Ameri-can wild card Jack Sock 6-3, 6-2, 3-2, saying he felt dizzy and had blurred vision.

“ H e p l a y e d t h e p e r f e c t match,” Mayer said. “He hit the forehand fast, didn’t really make any mistakes, just played really good.”

Sharapova eases into 2nd round at US Open

Maria Sharapova of Russia returns a shot to Melinda Czink of Hungary at the 2012 US Open Tennis tournament, Monday, in New York. AP

Belgian Kim Clijsters returns to Victoria Duval of the U.S. in the first round of play at the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Monday, in New York. Clijsters won 6-3, 6-1. AP

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MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS - WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 29, 2012 2�Sports

Photos by Demalynn F. Sablan

Natibu Sports Association’s T-Ball Tournament 2012 Funday

Rookie’s Lamar pops the balloon at second base for Dalin to proceed to third base. Jr and Johnathan Baby of Bad News Bears during the Ball Toss competition.

Sluggers’ Josh up to bat in the Homerun Derby. The only girl to participate in the Homerun Derby, Team Zokai’s Kiana Camacho.

Jylon of Team Zokai hits the Tee-Ball during the Homerun Derby. The Rookies pose during the award ceremony.

Sluggers’ Kika, Mya, Tyler, and Fabio receive their prizes after winning third place in the Balloon Pop Relay.

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WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 29, 2012 - MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS2� WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 29, 2012 - MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS & VIEWS 2�

P.O. Box 500231 Saipan, MP 96950 • Tel. (670) 234-9272 • 9797 • Fax: (670) 234-9271E-mail: [email protected] • [email protected]

P.O. Box 6338, Tamuning Guam 96931• Tel. (671) 649-1924 • 4678 • Fax: (671) 648-2007E-mail: [email protected]

Ron Cal and Raymond Angeles are Budweiser King and Queen of the Lanes for the SBA August tournament at the Saipan Bowling Center last weekend. Contributed photo

From left, Ryan Batac, John Taisacan, and MJ Aldan pose with prizes after the Fiji Water Prince or Princess of Lanes last weekend for the SBA August tournament at the Saipan Bowling Center. Contributed photo

By Demalynn F. [email protected] Variety

THE Saipan Bowling Associa-tion held its monthly tournament for Budweiser King and Queen of Lanes and Fiji Water Prince or Princess of Lanes on Aug. 26-27 at the Saipan Bowling Center in San Jose.

Ron Cal was again named Queen of the Lanes after reigning

over 11 other women. She averaged 188.75 and

ended with a game-high 755, rolling games of 159, 267, 159, and 170.

She locked in first place after striking the highest pinfalls in game two.

Raymond Angeles was King of the Lanes after rolling an aver-age of 215.75 and a total pinfall of 863.

Early in the game, Angeles was close to conceding the top spot to second-place winner Simon Manacop whose surge faltered in games three and four.

He scored 207 pinfalls for game one, 197 for game two, 247 for game three, and 212 pinfalls for game four.

Monthly tournaments award cash prizes to the top three in-dividual winners in the men and

women categories. As Queen of the Lanes, Cal

won $50; second-place winner Gloria Omechelang, $25; and Gigi Zapanta, who placed third, won $15.

In the men’s category, Zapanta earned $60; Manacop, $30; and Percy Omecheland, $15.

This month, John Taisacan was declared FIJI Water Monthly Prince of the Lanes dethroning

last month’s prince MJ Aldan. With 659 total pinfalls, aver-

aging 164.75, Taisacan wrested control of the competition from three other opponents.

Taisacan took an early lead after pinning down 180 in game one, winning himself $15.

Aldan rolled 647 total pinfalls while third-place winner Ryan Batac had 474.


THE Amigos Golf Club held their “qualifying round” on Aug. 12 at the Kingfisher Golf Links. A total of seven players participated vying to qualify for the club’s August Ace honor.

Topping the qualifying round was Diding Hocog who shot a net score of 69. Hocog shot 52 at the front and vastly improved in the back mine by eleven strokes with a 41 for a total gross of 93 with her 24 handicap posted 69 net.

Despite the dismal score at the front, Hocog somehow made the necessary adjustment going to the back and putting greatly helped her in the process.

Coming in second was Frank Sablan who shot a 38 at the front, but added three more strokes at the back for a 41 for a total gross of 79, with his 8 handicap putting him a

stroke behind leader Hocog. Joe Tudela completed the top

three carding a 39 at the front and 45 at the back for a total gross of 84 with this 12 handicap securing a net score of 72. John Guerrero and Dr. Larry Hocog settled for a net of 84 and 86 respectively.

In last Sunday’s “Ace of the Month” at Kingfisher Golf Links,

Hocog began her round with confidence, drawing from her back nine performance during the qualifying round as she continued her consistent striking and timely putting that earned her the Club’s August “Ace”. She posted a gross of 91 with her 24 handicap garnered an impressive net score of 67 her 69 qualifying net for a total net score of 136.

Coming in a distant second was Frank Sablan with a net of 72 and his qualifying net of 71 for a total net score of 143.

Joe Tudela placed third with his net 73 and his qualifying net of 72 settled for a total net of 145.

Hocog was determined to not let anyone derail her quest to be the Ace of the Month for August.

John Guerrero’s and Dr. Larry Hocog’s game did not go as planned and both were already looking forward to September by midway in the round.


JOHN Capoyun’s resurgent game in the fourth quarter put Church 360 in the driver’s seat and claimed victory over Gualo Rai Boys last Saturday in the Domino Lux Inter-color Baksetball League at Gualo Rai court.

Church 360 won, 74-67.

After Church 360 took the lead, 21-15, at the end of the first quarter, JP Jose and Victor Mallari picked up the pace and together lifted the Gualo Rai Boys 14 points to steal the lead, 37-35.

In the third quarter, Josh Lutrell of Church 360 and Capoyun both knew they were not going down with a fight and pushed to the lead, 51-45. Lutrell contributed seven points, while Capoyun bagged five.

Lutrell was able to shoot three

that broke the deadlock and helped widen the gap.

Capoyun then caught a foul behind the three-point line and went three for three.

Locking it at 51 points was Matt Buenabago with an easy layup.

Capoyun took it away right in the fourth quarter stepping on to the

court and popping five shots in a row with no movement on Gualo Rai’s scoreboard.

Already at 61-45, the win was locked in.

Scores: Church 360 74 – J.

Lutrell 26, A. Wood 16, J. Capoyun 15, J. Buniag 2, E. Chavez 2, M. Buenabajo 2

Gualo Rai 67 – J. Jose 17, V. Mallari 14, D. Dayrit 14, R. Morales 11, J. Gazote 4, Z. Diaz 2, A. Lauron 2, Navaro 2

Quarterscores: 21-15, 37-35, 51-45, 74-67

Diding Hocog

Bowlers’ association awards August King, Queen, Prince of Lanes

Hocog secures AGC’s August Ace of the Month

Church 360 triumph over Gualo Rai Boys, 74-67

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