By Dave Davis
For Variety

WE have a new lineup in the criminal justice enforcement arena that bears scrutiny and comment. We should observe how our new Attorney General handles herself and her office over the next several months. We should evaluate her performance and decide where her loyalties lie: to the administration, her re-election prospects and the political machine, or the people of the Island. There were reportedly thirty-seven active and pending government corruption cases handed off by outgoing AG Moylan. How many of those and others (we know they exist) will Ms Limtiaco vigorously pursue? Other recent cases deserve special attention as well. There’s no visible movement on the April 2006 shooting death of the 14-year-old Yigo boy. The shooter was charged with negligent homicide and other felonies, along with firearms violations that carry a mandatory five-year minimum jail sentence. What’s the status? There’s been no further word on the drug-related charges against the son of Governor Camacho’s Chief of Staff. What’s the status? Fifteen-year-old Jeromy Newby, mortally injured months ago while at school, has died. What’s the status of the case against his assailant? There’s a surprising similar case from Fresno, California that occurred at virtually the same time as the Newby attack. As published in the 5 October 2006 edition of the Pacific Daily News. "Fresno, Calif. – The Fresno County Coroner’s Office ruled the death of a middle school student who got in a fistfight with a classmate was a homicide. Michael Anthony Mobley, 13, died of "head trauma due to blunt impact," coroner Loralee Cervantes said Friday. The Ahwahnee middle School seventh-grader was fighting with a 14-year-old boy Wednesday when he lost consciousness and later died. Police arrested the 14-year-old on a murder charge Friday afternoon, Fresno police said." Has Newby’s assailant been charged, and if so, with what? Shall we continue to complacently and apathetically allow crimes like these to be swept away into some dark corner, quietly hoping that we won’t find ourselves or our loved ones on the receiving end of the next one? Popular author James Lee Burke wrote: "We have so much collective guilt, as a society, that we fear to punish our individual members." Is that really the case here in Guam, where so many literally get away with murder? Let’s hope not. Let’s also hope that our new Acting Police Chief will perform up to snuff. We recall that he hasn’t always been pointed in the right direction. If memory serves, he once padded his resume with credentials from an on-line diploma mill when seeking promotion, and there was the evidence-tampering investigation, and then there’s that troublesome TV news video from a few years back that featured the Acting Chief loading up a government-owned boat for a recreational fishing foray. There was an attempt to pass it off as legitimate government business, but nobody really bought it. Last, but certainly no less worthy of mention, is our new airport chief cop, who apparently learned a few things from his good buddy Jack Abramoff (now unavailable for further tutoring). We now know that through his position as Baseball Commissioner he covertly brokered a sweetheart deal that netted a local liquor distributor a cool million dollars of our tax money, while he enjoyed a lucrative no-show ‘diamond keeper’ job. The whole thing exudes a lingering odor of corruption. He has now reportedly resigned from the Commissioner job -- all that remains is for him to resign from the airport job, or for the Governor to replace him. What’s the point of all the above? From time to time, it’s necessary and important to remind those charged with protecting the public that some of us have inquiring minds and long memories.