Columnists

WHATEVER you may say about the proposed amendments to the Managaha rules — well, feel free to say it. DPL has sought, and is still seeking, public comments, and has held public hearings during which community members can speak freely. Those who have concerns have also reached out to lawmakers and t…

Ambrose M. Bennett THE TRUTH of the matter is NEVER underestimate a Teacher, as it has been teachers who touch & shape the future every day. Yet, there are those who still want to apply the old Chamorro strategy of “making your name bad” to try and stop the teacher. The Governor called me and A…

BC Cook A FIERCE debate rages among historians and archaeologists about how North and South America came to be inhabited.  We all agree that mankind first populated the Eurasian and African landmasses then spread to Australia and the Americas at a later time.  But how and when did that happen?  And…

THE U.S. invasion of the NMI in 1944 obliterated the islands’ thriving economy. For the next 30 years, government — big government — became the main “industry.”  A 1966 report commissioned by the Interior Department stated that under the U.S. administration, many islanders “were employed in governm…

BC Cook LAST week we discussed various issues related to shipwreck exploration and exploitation.  Numbering in the millions, these wrecks are the objects of great interest by families, historians and governments.  They are also the source of potential uncountable riches.  What are we to do?  Over t…

“THE Northern Mariana Islands are experiencing their most challenging economic status since the birth of the Commonwealth in 1978.  By definition, the CNMI is in an economic depression unmatched even by the Great Depression of the United States in 1929-1933.” That’s from the federally funded, 249-p…

These are excerpts from an essay I wrote sometime between 1995 and 1996 for the CNMI History class I was required to take for my teaching certification.  Offered today in response to calls for public comment in the Public Hearing re: Exclusive Management Contract with Marianas Global for Managaha. …

ALTHOUGH the depreciation of the yen has affected the willingness of Japanese people to travel abroad, there will still be more than 10 million Japanese traveling abroad in 2023 (the number before the epidemic was 20 million). But among these 10 million of visitors to Saipan is almost negligible. W…