IN 1975, Marianas Variety was a three-year-old, weekly 12-page newspaper whose copies were sold for 10 cents each. On the front-page of the year’s first issue was a news story regarding the Trust Territory Committee on Gambling’s request for a moratorium on the purchase and importation of slot machines and other gambling devices in the Trust Territory.
The TT was administered by the U.S., and had six districts: the Marianas (NMI), the Marshall Islands, Palau, Ponape (Pohnpei), Truk (Chuuk) and Yap. The TT government’s chief executive was an American high commissioner — at that time, Edward Johnston — who was an appointee of the U.S. president.
MV’s news story mentioned the committee’s discussion regarding a recent article published by another publication, the Micronesian Independent, about the “rumored visit to Saipan by Allard Rosen, the Duke University-trained business manager for mobster Morris Barney ‘Moe’ Dallitz.” The Independent quoted Rosen as saying, “slot machines in Saipan was just a door-opener. Both Guam and Saipan are virgin territory and ready for the picking.” When asked about their plans for the rest of Micronesia, Rosen replied, “Now, there just isn’t enough bread there. The big boys are after the Japanese action.”
In other news: “Two Holiday Shootings, One Dead.”
MV reported that the incident happened on Christmas 1974, and the fatality was a 25-year-old local man who was “found dead in his car in front of his house at San Antonio Village.”
According to MV, the man “reportedly attended a party at a nearby house the previous evening, and had left early saying that he was going home to take a shower. Friends later saw him in his car, and left him alone, thinking that he was asleep. It was only after a check-up the next morning that he was found dead from a gunshot wound between the eyes. No arrests have been made yet….”
The other shooting incident occurred on Christmas eve, at 7:15 p.m., also in San Antonio. The victim was a 35-year-old man who was also “shot between the eyes,” but “suffered only from minor injuries.” The victim reported that his assailant, a 24-year-old man, “had shown him [a] gun, and when [the victim] said that he was not afraid, [the assailant] shot him between the eyes.” The perp — who was, I think, either cross-eyed or blind — was arrested.
Also on Christmas, “police were alerted to the escape of two of their prisoners….” The felons — one was 24 years old and the other was 29 — “had both gone out to ‘feed their pigs’ as they used to do each day…but when they did not return after 10 to 15 minutes, the jailer went to check and found that both the prisoners had fled.” One was sentenced to 37 years for murder while the other was convicted of burglary, aggravated assault and receiving stolen property from Marianas High School.
But not to worry. “After a 3-day break, on the evening of the 29th of December at about 9:30 they both voluntarily returned to surrender themselves to police custody.”
MV’s second issue in 1975, which was published on Jan. 10th, reported that felonies were up 60% since slot machines were introduced on Saipan in June 1974. This was according to the TT Committee on Gambling. The committee also reported a decrease in personal savings, and an increase in the delinquency rates of local lending agencies, utility collections, and retail credit accounts. But MV added that in “none of the…examples [cited by the committee] can slot machine use be directly attributed to the community effects [mentioned by the committee]. However, most of the members of the [committee] feel that the statistics do serve as an index that some ‘cause’ is producing these noteworthy ‘effects.’ ”
And now for some good news.
The TT government’s Mariana Islands District Community Action Agency announced the introduction of a cottage industry project to promote local handicrafts, art, seamstress work, etc. “Workers may produce the items at leisure in their homes, and [the action agency’s] staff will collect and find markets for the products.”
Also to be launched by the action agency was a youth services program “to help youths all over Saipan to organize” and “revive the Island Youth Council.”
“An important part of the project would be to let today’s youth make important decisions. ‘At present,’ [a community project specialist told Variety], ‘youth everywhere are being treated as 3rd class decision-makers.’ The program would also try to combat community youth problems, mainly juvenile delinquency. Perhaps indirectly, drug abuse may be discussed in future seminars.”
Government to the rescue! “Superman got nothing on me”: might as well be government’s official motto.
MV’s Jan. 17, 1975 issue featured one of the youngest, most promising members of the House of Representatives of the bicameral Congress of Micronesia. In his mid-20s, the congressman had a B.A. degree in political science and sociology, an M.A. in education, and was “working toward his Ph.D. in political science.” Among his goals as a pro-people, heart-of-gold lawmaker: to provide “a sound economic system for the common man.” He was for “maximum public service for the masses.”
Several years later, he would be indicted for extortion and wire fraud, and sentenced to three years in federal prison.
Send feedback to editor@mvariety.com
One of the print advertisements published by Variety in January 1975.
