Columnists

THE Pacific is a busy place these days, which is a good or bad thing depending on your point of view.  In the interest of leaving you on a positive note, let’s take them in the order of bad news/good news. The bad news is: • Korea. Once again, the Korean peninsula is arming for a showdown.  North K…

ON July 6, 2022, the House utilities committee met with CUC officials to discuss an “emergency”: the ever increasing Fuel Adjustment Charge (a.k.a., FAC!) and how lawmakers seeking reelection could placate irate voters. The CUC officials were led by their new deputy executive director, Chretien Voe…

ASAN, Guam — On Thursday April 27, we witnessed democracy in action when the Guam Legislature voted to override the Governor’s veto of Bill 12-37.  The introduction of this new legislation effectively stopped a potential lease of federal land for a new civilian hospital and medical complex.  I firm…

THE TRUTH of the matter is the CNMI create the Cannabis Tourism Industry but we tied our hands failing miserably in growing the industry. How can there be a Cannabis Tourism Industry and there is NOWHERE for tourists to smoke — it’s beyond ridiculous and bordering on being brain-dead from the effec…

CAMOUFLAGE is found everywhere in nature.  Walking sticks are bugs that resemble twigs, fish take on the color of the sand under them and so on.  But have you heard of the curious case of the ship that looked like an island?  Here is what happened. During the Second World War, as the Japanese conqu…

IT was in 1986 when the Reagan administration expressed concern over “the  tremendous growth in alien labor” in the CNMI which the White House found “extremely disturbing.” We’re talking about a few thousand of legal foreign workers in a remote U.S. territory with a small population — at a time whe…

FROM the book “Sea Quest” by Charles Borden comes this gem: “Eleanor Wilson, ordained minister and island pilot whose skill with a ship is known from Guam in the Marianas to Ebon in the Marshall Islands, became “Lady Skipper” in 1950 when the former captain was suddenly called home and no one else …

IN June 1987, Variety reported that one of the island’s leading shopping centers lost  $70,000 (about $186,000 today) worth of Rolex watches and jewelry “to a still unknown number of thieves.” There were two security guards on duty at the time of the incident. According to  Variety, the thieves “ma…

THIS year marks the 53rd anniversary of Earth Day, a global event celebrated annually to promote environmental awareness and encourage action toward protecting our planet. Earth Day is significant as the world grapples with climate change and environmental degradation challenges. The need for urgen…

ALAIN Gerbault was the world tennis champion a hundred years ago.  Having survived the horrors of the First World War, in which nearly everyone important to him died, he turned to professional sports and excelled.  But the life of a superstar rang hollow for him.  The money, media attention, and co…