• • I "t"°" ···; .• . . :1

arianas %riet.r:~ Micronesia's Leading Newspaper Since 1972 ·~e\'VS

Suit vs Feds in o By Jojo Dass Variety News Staff

HOUSE Minority Leader Dino M. Jones (D-Saipan) said he has already contacted a U.S. main­land-based law firm to prepare a class action suit against the fed­eral government in connection with the alleged inaction by con­cerned U.S. agencies on the poly­chlorinated biphenyl (PCB) con­tamination at Tanapag.

Jones said the law firm that is "interested in taking the case," has the experience for the kind of litigation that will be involved.

He however refused to identify the firm, explaining that they have just began working on specific details, including how much to

ask the U.S. government in com­pensation for Tanapag residents affected by the contamination and government properties rendered useless as a consequence of the U.S. military's failure to clean up the coastal village.

Jones said he decided to lead a legal battle on this "simply be­cause nothing has been done over the past four years" since he started urging federal agencies, includ­ing the U.S. Army Corps of Engi­neers, to address mounting con­cerns about the contamination.

"There were merely meetings after meetings, studies after stud­ies. I have already contacted a law firm in the U.S., and they are interested to take the case," said

Visiting senator says RP not ready to bring home OFWs

Sen. Rodolfo Biazon

By Rene P. Acosta Variety News Staff

A VISITING Philippine sena­tor yesterday said the country is not yet ready to bring home millions of Filipinos working abroad because the economy has not yet stabilized.

Sen. Rodolfo Biazon said a contributing factor in the Phil­ippines' failure to achieve eco­nomic recovery is the unstable peace and order situation.

He cited the ongoing clashes between government troops and members of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (Mil.F) in the country's sou them region.

"Our road to economic recov­ery is being affected by the con­tinued war being waged by the New People's Army, the MILF and the Abu Sayyaf group," said Biazon when interviewed after attending mass· at the Mt. Cannel Cathedral yesterday.

Abu Sayyaf, is an extremist group operating in the Muslim­dominated provinces in

Continued on page 26

Dino M. Jones

Jones. Jones also vowed to put the

issue on top of his agenda in the 12th Legislature, which convenes in January next year.

·CNMlhotels. see 60.5% rate of occµp~ncy By Haldee V. Eugenio Variety News Staff

FOLLOWING the continued.eco­nomic recovery of its two pri­mary tourism markets - Japan and South Korea-various CNMI hotels in the CNMI posted a 13.4 percentage point increase in their average monthly occupancy in October despite being one of the slowest months since 1992.

The Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands (HANMI) disclosed over the weekend that from only 47.05 percent-point average occupancy in October 1998, the figure climbed up to 60.46 percent last month.

This marked the fourth con­secutive month hotel occupancy

Continued on page 26

He said he will also introduce a resolution urging NMI Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio to "bring this case against the U.S. government."

The resolution, he said, will likewise request compensation for "past, present and future" dam­age the contamination may have caused or will cause Tanapag resi­dents.

A group of private residents in

Tanapag has also started seeking the services of lawyers to repre­sent them in a class action suit.

The group is being led by former lands and natural resources secre­tary Benigno M. Sablan.

Jones said Sablan is doing it as a "private citizen" while he is making his moves in his capacity as representative of the village

Continued on page 26

NMHC says delinquency rate in housing very high

Marylou Ada

By Ferdie de la Torre Variety News Staff

THE DELINQUENCY rate in the housing program is very high due to the implementation of a court ruling excluding citizens of Federated States of Micronesia and Republic of Palau from federally subsidized housing in the CNMI.

Northern Marianas Housin_g Corporation Executive Director MaryLou Ada said such high delinquency rate was noted when NMHC started last August implementing the Section 214 ruling.

U.S. District Court for the NMI Judge Alex R. Munson issued a decision last March stating that FSM and Palau citizens who are residing in the CNMI are "aliens" under the Housing and Commu­nit)l'Development Act of 1989 so they are not entitled to such housing benefits.

"When we went in and imple­mented the ruling of section 214, whereby FSM and (Palau) citi­zens are not eligible for federal housing programs, their rent more or less went up. And that has contributed a lot to the high delinquency rate," said Ada, pointing out that 90 percent of NMHC's Section 8 tenants are from Micronesian islands.

To address the rental prob­lem, Ada said, NMHC consults with the tenants and tells them that if they want to continue living in their units, they have to fulfill the terms and conditions of the lease agreement.

"We are scheduling Fridays as our consultation day whereby we bring in all the tenants that

Continued on page 26

First high-tech, deep-ocean search for Earhart's plane launched. By Giff Johnson For the Variety

i MAJURO-AmeliaEarhart's ,. mysterious disappearance in

1937 has, for 62 years, vexed the U.S. Coast Guard, the Navy and dozens of individuals who have scoured the central Pacific in search of the famous aviatrix's Lockheed Electra.

But a search expedition that ; is now on its way to the central ;I 1, Pacific to begin the first deep­!!

!],, ocean search for Earhart's plane

said prior to departure from 'l Majuro that they are confident

that they've set the approximate ' ocean area where the plane went

down. The expedition will be using

high-tech underwater sonar

The high-tech sonar tow-fish is readied by technicians aboard the vessel June Tin Majuro.

equipment that is capable of iden­tifying objects at depths up to I 0,000 meters, although it is be­lieved that the plane is in water only half that deep, said trip orga­nizer Guy Zajonc, who is based in Spokane, Washington.

They are looking for Earhart's twin-engine Lockheed Electra that went down on July 2, 1937 mid­way through the Pacific - and last - leg of Earhart's famous round­the-world flight, a flight that would have given her the distinc­tion of being first female aviator to circle the globe.

On that day, she and navigator Fred Noonan left Lae, Papua New Guinea heading for Howland Is­land in the central Pacific.

The Coast Guard Cutter Itasca

r.:

ri Ii '1

i1

, . , :lv" "l

Tech~icians pr:pare the reel that holds 10,000 meters of heavy duty 1 cable that will drag the sonar tow-fish in search of Earhart's plane in · the Howland Island area of the central Pacific. Photo by GIii Johnson

was standing off Howland to pro­vide radio contact for Earhart. The last radio communication from Earhart was received by the Itasca

nineteen and a half hours into the flight.

"We must be on you but can­Continued on page 26

2-MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS-MONDAY- NOVEMBER 22, 1999

Boat people may be lost at sea

CANBERRA (Reuters)-Aus­trali an Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock yesterday said the latest in a flotilla of boats contain­ing suspected illegal immigrants may have sunk near Christmas Island off the country's remote northwest coast.

Ruddock told Australian television's Channel Nine that the boatload of people of unknown origin - last seen on Saturday bat­tling bad weather off Christmas Island - had not come ashore, and there was a risk it was Jost.

"That's a possibility. The weather out there is quite atro­cious at the moment, I under-

stand." More than I, 700suspected eco­

nomic migrants, mainly from the Middle East and China, have ar­rived in Australia since July I.

Thousands more, including some 2,000 from Indonesia, are thought to be planning the jour-

- ney, lured by the hope of work as Australia's economy booms in the run-up to the Sydney Olympics in September 2000.

In the past week alone, five vessels containing more than 200 boatpeople have come ashore ei­ther at Christmas Island, 2,600 km (1,600 miles) west of Austra­lia, or on Ashmore Reef, 600 km

(370 miles) from the country's northwestern coast.

The journey, often made in rick­ety boats provided by organised people-smugglers, could be per­ilous, Ruddock said.

"We had 14 Sri Lankans drown en route to Australia earlier this year and I had a report that per­haps close to Indonesia, seven Afghanis may have perished."

With the country's detention facilities badly stretched and pub­lic opinion starting to turn against the growing tide of arrivals, Rud­dock is trying to tighten visa con­trols to make Australia a less at­tractive destination.

UNITED THEY STAND. About 20,000 workers gather at the Boramae Park in Seoul, South Korea yesterday, demanding shorter work hours and a suspension of moves to restructure state companies that will result in mass layoffs. The front banner reads: "Union and Fight." AP

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China launches 1st unmanne.d

spacecraft BEIJING (Reuters) - China announced yesterday it had launched its first unmanned spacecraft, joining the world's exclusive space club.

China would conduct more unmanned test flights before putting cosmonauts in space, the official Xinhua news agency said. It did not give a timetable.

The spacecraft, named "Shenzhou", literally meaning "God Ship", was in space for 21 hours and orbited the earth 14 times, making China the · third nation in history to launch a craft into space after the Soviet Union and the United States.

"China deserves a place in the world in the area of high tech­nology," Xinhua quoted the head of China's Manned Space­flight Programme as saying.

"The successful test flight dem­onstrates that China's spacecraft and new carrier rocket are excel­lent in performance," Xinhua quoted him as saying.

The vehicle was launched with a new model of the Long March rocket from the Jiuquan satellite launch centre in the northwestern province ofGansu at 6.30 a.m. on Saturday (2230 GMT Friday), Xinhua said.

. . · N~ws Briefs . , . 4 die in midair plane collision

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - Investigators yester­day combed through the debris of two small planes destroyed in a midair crash that killed four people.

The accident occurred Saturday evening as the sun set on a clear day. A Cessna carrying two men collided .with an Ercoupe also carrying-two men, and all four were killed on impact, said Surrey Royal Canadian Mounted Police Cpl. Janice Armstrong.

All the bodies were found inside the wreckage, which was partially intact. The names of the dead have not yet been released ..

Canadian police and Transportatiori Safety Board of Canada personnel were investig;iting the crasJ:i's cause.

5 die in apparent suicide TOKYO (Reuters)-An unemployed factory worker plunged his car into the sea, killing his wife an.d three small children in an apparent family suicide, police said on Saturday.

The accident occured in Kashima harbour, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of Tokyo. Killed were Hironori Iijima, 27, his wife Hiroko 29, their six-year-old twin daughters Ayaka and Yuka, and their four-year-old son Keisuke, police said.

"There were no brake marks on the pavement and, at this time, we suspect that this was a forced family suicide," a police spokesman said.

The couple dropped off their four-month-old baby daughter at the home of one her grandparents before the accident, they said. ·

Taiwan renews request for US ships, missiles

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP)-Taiwan is trying to-buy upgraded Patriot missiles and ship-born battle systems from the United States that would allow it to shoot down missiles launched at it by China, a newspaper reported yesterday.

Taiwan wants the PAC-3 air defense missiles and destroyers equipped with the Aegis battle management system to form the backbone of a low-altitude anti-missile defense umbrella to protect the entire island, the China Times reported.

Taiwanese negotiators are pushing their requests during annual consultations with U.S. defense officials, the paper said.

Taiwan is also trying once again to buy submarines, an item Washington has repeatedly refused to sell the island, said the report._ Taiwanese officials hope they can overcome U.S. objections by drawing attention to the threat posed by China's ovewhelming advantage against Taiwan in submarine warfare, it said.

Mrs. Clinton urged not to run YORK (AP)-A city councilwoman broke ranks with her fellow Democrats Saturday and urged Hillary Rodham Clinton to stay out of the New York Senate race.

"She's the weakest candidate," said Councilwoman Ronnie Eldridge, who represents the Upper West Side of Manhattan. "I think that she should reconsider her candidacy and that Dempcratic officials should also reconsider the wisdom of her candidacy."

A series of missteps have created campaign trouble for Mrs. Clinton recently, but Eldridge was one of the first Democratic office-holders to come out ~gainst the first lady.

US envoy opposes martial law in Aceh

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - A senior U.S. envoy yesterday opposed calls for martial law in troubled Aceh province and urged Indonesia to expedite repatriation of East Timorese refugees whose return is being blocked by anti-independence thugs.

"We would be delighted if 150,000 refugees in West Timor just got up and went home," said visiting U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke.

"But they are being prevented from doing so by intimidation, by misinformation, by gangs of people who call themselves militias but are thugs."

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said he had asked President Abdurrahman Wahid to speed up the return process. The refugees were forced to flee East Timar after Indonesian troops and militiamen went on a burning and looting rampage following an overwhelming vote for independence in a U.N.-supervised Aug. 30 ballot.

Poll finds concern on teen drug use

WASHINGTON (AP) - Americans are worried about drug use, particularly among adolescents, and would be willing to spend their tax money to fight the problem, according to a poll commissioned by the White House.

The poll by the Gallup Organization found that illegal drug use rates high among the concern of Americans.

More than half of those surveyed, 53 percent, said their concern about drug use has increased over the past five years.

Crack cocaine wa~ _listed as the biggest concern for 56 percent of those surveyed. ManJuana, heroin, and other drugs was considered problems by less than IO percent.

' fl

----------~-------- MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1999 -MARIANAS ~ARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS-3

Plans getting underway to train local residents for casino jobs

By Haidee V. Eugenio Variety News Staff

LOCAL CNMI residents will soon be having better chance of getting jobs operating various casino games following the re­cent membership of the Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino into the Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands (HANMI). ·

Tinian Dynasty is the first ho­tel from Tinian to join HANMI, which now represents approxi­mately 76 percent or 3,480 hotel rooms in the CNMI.

Anthony Ha, hotel general manager ofTinian Dynasty, said plans are underway to conduct a "casino school" where local resi­dents will be able to receive train­ing in preparation for jobs oper­r.ting the various casino games.

Ha said this move will encour­age more employment of local residents.

"We . . . look forward to working with other members on common issues," said Ha as he expressed· gratitude on Tinian Dynasty's recent membership into HANMI.

Aside · from the "casino school,"Tinian Dynasty will also construct a showroom that will

Ronald D. Sablan (left), presideot of the Hotel Association of the Nr_Jrfhern Mariana Island (HANMI), welcomes the membership of Tm,an Dynasty Hotel and Casino, represented by Anthony Ha, hotel general manager. contributed photo

feature live Las Vegas-style shows and casino games that will make use of chips instead of cash.

HANMI President Ronald D. Sablan, in an interview, said Tinian Dynasty has been contem­plating on joining the association since last year in the midst of the economic crisis' threat to various

· businesses in the CNMI. He also said Tinian Dynasty's

inclusion into HANMI's list of members gives memher-hotels and the tourism industry in gen-

era! a better marketing strategy 'to promote the CNMI as a destina­tion where visitors can island hop and see various attractions.

"In the past we have talked about the advantage the CNMI has in being a multi-island desti­nation. By having the Tinian Dynasty as member encourages us to look at more ways HANMI members can better market them­selves as a place where people canislandhopandenjoy a variety of different attractions," said

BOE defers its decision on 2nd high school site

~y1o~f?~~/ •· By Marian A. Maraya Variety News Staff

THE CNMI State Board of Educa­tion (BOE) has decided to tempo­rarily shelve decision on the site for the planned second public high school for Saipandue to lack of public in­put.

Board members during Friday's meeting were dis­mayed at the lack of

Esther Fleming

attendance at the public hearing meant to get feedback on the issue.

BOE Chair Esther Fleming said she had tasked the board secretary to personally send out a memo regard­ing the agenda for the meeting.-

But apparently, according to Fleming, people are "not inter­ested."

money may be gone," he added. Strongly opposed to buildling

the high school down south, Board member Tom Pangelinan urged the board not to pass a . motion finalizing the site.

"If we pass a motion now, we will be neglecting the concerns of these people in front of us," Pangelinan said.

At least two parents and indi­viduals at the meeting suggested that the board refrain from making any final decision due to Jack of input from the general public.

'The board may be violating its fiduciary responsibility if it takes the decision all on its own hands," said Gonzalo Q. Santos, grandpar­ent of a pub! ic school student.

"I urge that the board send out a survey requiring families to par­ticipate in the decision-making with regard to the site," he said.

y,ujefr"':ev;s SIEJ'r / i•••••·•••••·····•• •· W~GPYERNMEm;1~~tJ~···· receiye.~ow~;499.qo9~?1Titile Offiqe ?fII1s~l~ {\ffairf W 1)¢

···useµ iil ~ridiriga C()lllp~llen• s~v; fin~cial ~gernenti'?'" BWX~w~11.t ••.•.... ·prog~ ... •.t9.!tt·•··•»11P·•···

.• ()ver~aul~pe .• aclntlnistrati()ll.'§.· •. cu13c,ntsy.~teip..~aj<I.fMIP:rt·· cti~rpanNielsen. • ..... .. / .

•· • 9ftbe 3fll0ti?t;sqrne$TOO,(l(~O 'ge>~.technfoal assi~iance fe>rthe Pul,lic~hgolSystelli(PSS}an<i 3Il9t~rr$J00,()00to. be usedjri beefi!lg • up the Cqmmonwealth · Health Ce11ter'sinformation sys­tem ..

&orne $101,000 will likewise be used in rolling out the actual FMIPwhile$25,000willbeused in funding the program's man­agement.

Improving the CHC informa- . tion system, according to min­utes of a recent FMIP committee meeting with OIA., would entail a needs analysis study to deter- · mine what CHC's system re-

Sablan. Tinian Dynasty remains the

first and only major casino/hotel on Tinian since its residents voted to establish the gaming industry in 1989.

While its main business is a casino, Tinian Dynasty also op­erates a 412-room hotel, several international restaurants, a cafe, meeting rooms and a swimming pooL

HANMI, a professional asso­ciation made up of over 20 lead­ing hotels representing in the CNMI, aims to support and en­courage cooperation among member-hotels by providing a forum for sharing ideas on is­sues of common concern.

The group also recently elected a new set of officers, and has pledged to focus on elevating the quality of services provided by hotel employees to tourists, particularly through training and education of both local and con­tract employees.

HANMI officials also adopted the proposal to direct 15 percent of membership dues to the development of local employees and students, par­ticularly in pursuing hotel man­agement courses.

> quiten1eritsare .• 'l1le CHC's· in­foqnatipn system i~ peing up­gra9~d • J¥c:ause government is Jgsing a signitjCaJlf a1np1111t Qf rrye11l\~.1fJl:1e Cf!Q7~ pperations

· ·ha.ye OY~I'gtO\\'J,l its c)lll"ent sys­lrP1 .ofidentify111.;.~9c::ounts re,

··•· c:~iy~pl!.: .~qQg others.· •.• · ' Pfoyigjng te<:pryicalassistance

t9 f~S;fpti\S.Part,·'.Vguldal?o· · myoty~ W!1Tg staff1omixi-: . · wize the utiHzatipn of th7PSS . finant;i~m3.11ageriu:11tplan.

'J;li{ fitliltl~ department •. has pro\~4ff5! ~uppoi:tJo PSS. How­t;)yer; In<;/~ CC>tprJli~ rec­Om)Jlend~(l that··PSS· devel()ps its own staff to maintain the sys, temona daily basis.·

Also, the finance department, according to the FMIP commit­tee is currently reviewing the CNMI Procurement Regulations to develop desk manuals for the Division of Procurement and Supply. ..

The FMIP is meant to improve thegovemment'sfinancialmanage­ment processes, iunong other tasks.

USPS makes vehicle

donation to gov't

By Jojo Dass Variety News Staff

GOVERNOR Pedro P. Tenorio, on Friday, received at least 12 used utility vehicles from the U.S. Postal Office which gave them as part of efforts to show appreciation on the cheap lease agreement it was able to get from the local government for the use of a Chalan Kanoa USPO site.

The I 0-year old jeeps, esti­mated to be worth a total of about $12,000, will be issued to the municipal governments of Rota and Tinian, the Saipan Mayor's Office, the Common­wealth Port Authority, and Customs Division among other agencies.

''We are not using those jeeps ... right now it is no longer needed. What we did is help the CNMI government because they are supportive to us and they cooperate in ev­erything we do," said Leo B. Tudela, Director of USPO's Asia Pacific International Business section.

Tudela said USPO is ··very mindful" of the lease agree­ment it got from the local gov­ernment where it pays $1 a year in the next 25 years for the use of the land where a new post office now stands in Chala Kanoa.

"We are very mindful of that (lease agreement)," said Tudela. "And we do anything that we can to help the CNMI in terms of (giving) resources (that we have)."

He cited a recent turnover of the old post office to the Saipan Mayor's Office.

The CNMI government will be responsible in maintaining the jeeps which are reportedly still in good running condi­tion.

Tudela said USPO will hand over to the CNMI government ··anything'' that the office may not anymore need in the fu­ture like excess trucks.

Tenorio said he is happy about the turn over.

·:These empty benches tell us -they don't care!" said board member Tony Pellegrino, at the meeting in Garapan Elementary School (GES).

Most board members present at the meeting are anxious to finally pinpoint a site, citing the need to fa~t-track the project.

"I am very disappointed that that there are very few parents here tonight. I hope the board considers another public hearing like this, before any decision can be made," said another concem·ed parent.

Board member Marja Lee Taitano was reluctant on granting any more time extension for the site selection with the long-delayed second high school project.

Fund faces reorganization Pellegrino, who presented the

advantages of the Koblerville site that night, later on said that the "issue" has ceased to be "where" the structure is to be built.

"I have no interest whetherit 'seas!., west,north,orsouth. We need to hear from you!" Pellegiino said, in refer­ence to parents absent at the meeting.

"We have to act fast. We may find the ideal site later, but the

"If we have another meeting, how many people will show up? For how long do you want us to stall?," Taitano said.

Towards the end of the meeting, BOE decided to give it one last chance by setting ~p another pub­lic hearing early next month.

The board is expected to make the very "final" decision on the site on the next board meeting set for December 9.

By Haidee V. Eugenio Variety News Staff

WITH THE election of new set of officers for the Board of Trustees and a new administrator in place, the NMI Retirement Fund may be heading for an office re-organiza­tion.

Newly seated Fund Adminis­trator Juan Torres, during Thurs­day night's board meeti~g. pro­posed the merging and re-organi­zation of some departments within

the office in an effort to strengthen the investment and accountino aspects of the system. '=

Among others, Torres recom­mended putting the investment and loan services and accounting department under the comptrol­ler, a move seen to improve the operations of the multi-million Fund.

By the end of Sep1. 1999, the value of the Fund's stock market investments was pegged at $334

million. ··With over$300million of(as­

sets). we need to strengthen in­vestment and accounting proce­dures," said To1Tes, who also rec­ommended the delegation of cer­tain responsibilities ';f the admin­istrator to managers.

The board, which also elected a new set of officers last week, showed receptiveness to the pro­posals, but raised concerns on

Continued on page 12

' I ]

4-MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS-MONDAY- NOVEMBER 22. 1999

New tourism council eyed By Haldee V. Eugenio Variety News Staff

A NEW CNMI-wide tourism counci I is up for organization toward the end of the century as the private sector and the gov-

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ernment led by Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio see the need for a strong partnership campaign on tour­ism development which is cur­rently lacking in the islands.

Eyed to be named Marianas Tourism Council (MTC), the group will be a private organi­zation and not a government function. The governor, Lt. Gov. Jesus R. Sablan and key members of the Legislature. however, are eyed to join the counci I as either ex-officio or members.

Tenorio met with tourism in­dustry officials on Friday morn­ing, where private business ex­ecutives discussed how the pri­vate sector and the community in general can work coopera- · tively on enhancing the devel­opment of tourism sites and the industry as a whole.

David Sablan, Marianas Visi­tors Authority (MVA) board chairman, said the council is expected to come up with short, medium and long-term plan for the CNMI tourism to maintain the viability of the island as a prime destination.

"The concern was there ought to be a coordinated effort by sectors of the community who

By FE!l'die de la Torre VarietyNewsSJaff

THE NUMBER of building per­mits issued is a good indicator of future economic activity, accord .. ing to the Commonwealth Des velopmeritAuthority.

CDA reports sajd the number· of building permits issued in the CNMI fell from 157 in1he sec­ond quarter of 1998 to 93 in the .

They only get worse. For true customer satisfaction and long term results call the problem solvers today!

are interested in the develop­ment of tourism. This was brought to the governor to have his input and blessing, to assist or at least endorse the organiza­tion," said Sablan.

The governor has vowed to assist this new undertaking, par­ticularly by making available to the council the services of cer­tain government agencies, in­cluding the Department of Pub­lic Works, for example, when needed.

At the same time, Sablan pointed out the council's for­mation will not overlap with the functions of MV A.

"It does not(overlap) because the function of MV A is very specific: To promote abroad and maintain tourist attractions. This is more than tourist attrac­tion that we are talking about (with the council's creation). We're talking about cleaning the entire island so that we can receive our guests properly," said the MV A board chairman.

The council will also mobi­lize the "clean up" of Saipan, Rota and Tinian by private enti­ties whose properties are near or within tourist spots. These activities will include collec-

tion of trash, cleaning up of drainages and gutters, re-paint­ing of buildings, planting of trees and plants.

Those being considered to be named to the council are heads orofficials of the Saipan Cham­ber of Commerce, MV A, Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands, Japan-Saipan Travel Association, the South Korean community and other sectors of the society like schools and religious groups.

Sablan said Senate President Paul A. Manglona (R-Rota) and House Speaker Diego T. Benavente (R-Saipan) will also be asked to name their repre­sentatives to the council.

The council is also set to work with the Public School System (PSS) and the Northern Marianas College (NMC) in training local residents to be more equipped with needed skills to effectively become part of the various tourism busi­nesses here.

"PSS and NMC should begin developing manpower to sup­port the industry. Right now there's very Ii ttle effort on the part of the community to de­velop English-speaking local

.. ~¢§ii~ qu~r 9f 1999--ta 49-16 · · ·· h~stli9W iq}plianf~ arid tlther percent drop. · ho.me furnishings; Coinmt!rcial

CDA explained ~f the cp11~ · ·· buildit1g owners spet1d 911 office structiqn ofresi~~galat1d ".Bm~ furniture and equipment," the mercial buildings res11lts fu- thfl agflrtcy said; . . . .. . .. . hiring of .constiuctiorrwoi~r~, Tusindicator,CDAnoted,also the rentjng ofoquipment, l!llciJhe pi"oyides aglimpse ofthelevejof purchase of construction materi0 activity in thecotistruction,retall, als. .· and other related industries;

"Once the eroJects are s<1m0

plete, home owners purchase "Like the number of. new

car arid fruck sales. the num-

tour guides and we like to do that," said Sablan, who was among thqse who attended the

· Frjday meeting, together with Lynn Knight and JM Gue-rrero.

MV A board member Marian Aldan-Pierce, who is also presi­dent of DFS Saipan, is the one· directly coordinating the forma­tion of the council.

"This is going to take more than MV A because MV A is not really geared to this. We got 82 sites on. Saipan that we are de­veloping. And while we are spending money abroad for people to come here, we aiso need to prepare the place for them to visit," said Sablan.

The CNMI tourism industry has been hit hard by the Asian· economic crisis, with arrivals almost reachi,ng the bottom. With the strengthening of the Japanese yen against the U.S. dollar, the recovery of South Korea, and charter flights, ar­rivals into-the CNMI have been showing growth for the last few months.

Visitor arrivals climbed up by almost 20 percent in October, the highest monthly growth since the onset of the economic turmoii.

bff pf}~iiildipg peifuits•is~ s11ed g;{ye~•sqroeindica~iori of .consuniel'. confidence,'' CI>i\. siid. . ... ·. . .

Buildj11g con~truc:tibpprCljecti are h~ayilyinfhiericed by inter" est rates, <;:I>ApointeQ9"tlt,add0

irrg thaf such. c6nsfruction projects ariusu.al ly deferreduntil irit.eresiratesmake.them.afford­able.

Lujan raps Feliciano's counsel over $3.5M 'sex slave' claims

By Ferdie de la Torre Variety News Staff

LA WYER David J. Lujan said the lead counsel of Mercedes Feliciano should be sent back to "la-la-land" to dream up further fantasies for filing a $3.5 million lawsuit against Larry Hillblom 's estate.

Lujan, counsel for one of -Hillblom's son Junior Larry Hillbroom, said the Superior Court should not only reject Feliciano 's claim but, also require the lead counsel to explain the basis for her request of attorney's fee in the amount of $500,000.

"Counsel is in la-la-land or be­lieves the estate will simply sur­render $500,000 to her because of

her looks!," said Lujan in response to Feliciano's lawsuit.

Feliciano sued the Hillblom estate demanding for $3 million in damages and $500,000 in attorney's fees after the I ate businessman allegedly made her as a virtual sex slave. Feliciano is mother of Merced i ta Feliciano, one of Hillblom 's children.

Junior urged the court to reject the claim as being untimely, said Lujan, adding that his client fur­ther adopts the executor's re­sponse as basis for the rejection.

The executor Bank of Saipan, through counsel Jack Londen, said Feliciano's claim was untimely as it was not filed within the 60

days after the first notice to credi­tors was published.

Lujan said apparently counsel (for Feliciano) has no idea about ferociousness of the legal battles that have occurred in Hillblom estate.

''Counsel's explanation as to her calculation of the $500.000 may be the entertainment we all need to close this probate on a funny note," said Lujan, asking the court to reject the claim sum­marily..

"Junior believes this would be an act of kindness in order that Feliciano's lead counsel can be sent back to la-la-land ..... or per­haps write a comic strip as a liv­ing," he added.

Gov't confident of target for new landfill By Rene P. Acosta to concerns by US Fish and Wild- out the possibility it may be de-Variety News Staff life on endangered birds that may laycd for some months.

THE GOVERNMENT is hoping he affected. "If it would slip, it may be for a to complete the design and devel- John Harder, the Division of few months into the early part of opment of the Marpi landfill on Solid Waster project manager said 2001, but not for six months or a time and have it operational be- his office is still very optimistic year. I don't see a major delay:· fore the year 2000 ends. on meeting the target date for the said Harder when asked about the

This despite the rough sailing operation of the new waste dis- progress of the Marpi project.

.... _ .. _ t~~ ~~~j.e;'. !: ~?!~~ _1~~~~~-~ -~~: .... ?.o.s~'. ~it: ~~t(.1~~¥~.~e.d~~.~~: ~_I~. , .. ~" ·-·-···-~.°.~~~~~a-~-~}3,~~.!-2

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·----------------_________________________ MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1999 -MARl~_N'ASV/\.R!~T'l'l'flC:'\VS AND VI_EW?_:-~_

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND IMMIGRATION

Songsong Village, Rota, MP 96951 .·

Calling all ROTA Employers of Non-Resident Workers November 17, 1999

This is to advise the following Employers of non-resident workers whose contracts will be expiring in January 2000 and who wishes to continue to employ n.on-resident workers to pelase visit the Department of Labor & Immigration, Rota to obtain Applications for Renewal.

Pursuant to PL 11-58, 3 CMC, Division 4, Section 4435 § (d): Renewal of Non-resident employment contracts. No earlier than 45 days but not later than 10 days prior to the expiration of a non-resident employment contract, the employer and employee may renew the contract, subject to the same terms and conditions of the original, by submitting to the Director all required documents. ·

EMPLOYERS EMPLOYEES (FILIPINOS) 21 UP Marianas Inc. Consolacion M. Dena 21 UP Marianas Inc. Emiltta E. Andal 21 UP Marianas Inc. Luvi F. Baylon 21 UP Marianas lnr.. Marilou T. Bayro 21 UP Marianas Inc. Myrna Palma Pelayo Alfred M. Apatang Jr Rose Oliver Tamayo Angyuta Shipping Co. Inc. Diosdado A. Tanama Annabelle A. Atalig Nentta D. Completo ASKS Inc. Rogelia Corteza Abacahin Billy R. Greathouse Ana Rose P. Calegado Calvo Enterprise Inc. Alexander M. Guiawan Calvo"s Development Inc. Feliciano S. Reyes Calvo's Development Inc. Maximo R. Pimentel Calvo's Development Inc. Numeriano S. Cruz Daniel M. Barcinas Rosemari R. Lilies Donnalyn M Sasakura Cecilio F. Fedelicio Donnalyn M Sasakura Edgar D.J. Dacies Donnalyn M Sasakura Emmalou a. Mondragon Donnalyn M Sasakura Feliciano B. Mangune Donnalyn M Sasakura Joebelen P. Bacud Donnalyn M Sasakura Menandro B. Jaraba Donnalyn M Sasakura Roland Alln R. Pullon Donnalyn M Sasakura Sammy D. Tayo Dora Ch. Ganguangco Cleofe C. Tadeo Elaine H. Orilla Jovita M. Reyes Eltte Bakery Inc. Rodolfo L. Fabillar Ephrem S. Taimanao Camilo v. Javier Jr. Ephrem S. Taimanao Felicidad Grace D. Gonzaga Eskuelan San Francisco De Borja Restituto C. Sanlillan Francisco M. Atalig Claro B. Malaque George M. Ayuyu Conrado H. Real Ignacio M. Ogo Jerry P. Valdez Joaquin Q. Atalig AlmaG. Duga Judy Ann M. Mesngon Editha M. Villamor Julian S. Calvo Leonila A. Anglo Lora F. Mendiola Ador G. De Leon Lora F. Mendiola Allan Equibal Perez Lora F. Mendiola Inocencio V. Francisco Lora F. Mendiola Linda S. T upas Lora F. Mendiola Ruby Q. Traya Lora F. Mendiola Divina S. Cardino Marcelina A. Taitano Anionic L. Robina Maria R. Muna Lucena A. De Luna

CENTRAL FILES: JANUARY 2000

PERMIT No.· Merretsu Shopping Center Inc. Melchor R. Mendiola

148413 Nicolas M. Mendiola

125844 Nicolas M. Mendiola 132323 Nicolas M. Mendiola 131232 PB Properties Inc.

133955 Pedro Q. Dela Cruz

154006 Pedro Q. Dela Cruz

147351 Pedro Q. Dela Cruz 136271 Prince Enterprises Ltd.

151899 Rizalina G. Maratlta 147478 Romulo & Dora Gangguangco 138066 Ronnie M. Calvo 147089 Rota Merchandising Corp. 147091 Rota Merchandising Corp.

147153 Rota Merchandising Corp. 141886 Shintani Manglona Corp. 147427 SNM Corporation 147500 SNM Corporation 139775 SNM Corporation

149854 SNM Corporation

147244 Star Homes Gamin Corp. Inc. 156300 Star Homes Gaming Corp. Inc. 134827 Teresita A. Santos 147360 Teresita A. Santos 154345 Tomas & Cecil Calvo 134709 Vincent & Benita Manglona 171491 Vincent M. Calvo 146532 Virginia Taimanao 141384 White Sand Marine Tour Corp. 132457 You Rim Corporation 132478 111074 (BANGLA~ESH) 148410 Francisco M. Taisacan 144656 Francisco M. Atalig 147513 148422 (CHINESE) 140186 Pacific Cooperation 129323 129326 (JAPANESE) 137693

IRIE Inc. 149829 147355 132388 (SWEDISH)

158203 SNM Corporation

Olibeth S. Cartos Rogelio G. Valencia Sandino V. Sarmiento Irene P. Lacanlale MariaNova H. Nuqui Guina Manalang Alpine Gerry S. Gapasin Henry A. Celoza Mario Quibin Biton Jocelyn R. Hablan Clarita B. Lintao Trto A. Catan es Emelda Domingo Lintao Joel Garcia Parason Lucy M.F. Bambico Richard Artemio F. Bambico Lauro Isidro Gatchalian Isidro F. Pobeda Jacinto T. Beloy Joseltto B. De Guia Roneo C. Lajara Doris Garve Guile Tomas R. Baring Ma. lolani Campanon Sattorre

' Rosario L. Lubiano Dilren F. Garcia Arto G. Lucero Daily Danny S. Estrella Marivic E. Mallilin Marina 0. Reyes Amy G. Ballesteros

Abul Abul Abu\ Shana Alam

Lin Zhang

Mayuki Kebukawa

Jonas L.F. Ogren

138064 144684 147526 137197 135575 132403 141370 154258 141367 129448 132412 140648 135189 135271 141379 142503 126592 148437 141887 141908 141909 170167 134706 129281 131039 147340 132495 110243 137328 151133 127909

147863 137274

138056

151175

131190

For more information, please contact Jimmy A. Apatang or Marylou B. Quitugua at telephone no. (670) 532-9479.

/s/ THOMAS A. MANGLONA Resident Director

/s/ ABRAHAM M. OGO Immigration Supervisor

is/ EUGENE M. OGO Labor Supervisor

Wait a minute WHO IS paying for the plane tickets of the (at least) five­count that, five-members of the CNNI ··contingent" who left for Manila to meet today with Air Nauru and Palau officials? This group is made up of task force chair JM Guerrero, Commonwealth Ports Authority board member Roman T. Tudela, Marianas Visitors Authority board chair David Sablan, Reps. David M. Apatang (R-Saipan) and Manny A. Tenorio (R-Saipan).

The· meeting, according to reports, is a "follow up on exploratory discussions" held here last July, and it will be about the reactivation of the Saipan-Palau-Manila air route. The CNMI officials, we were told, may also meet with the executives of Cebu Pacific airline, which landed on the record books early last year for owning the aircraft that figured in the country's worst plane crash in history (more than 200 passengers died-"turned into corned beef," as one Manila newspaper publisher would put it). The CNMI avia­tion task force, reports said, is ·'tapping" (whatever that means) Cebu Pacific and other foreign airlines.

So the CNMI needs to send at least five people to these meetings? Why?

David Sablan, Vlho is also member of the task force, was quoted as saying that .. We will ... meet with top executives of Air Nauru and officials from Palau who are dead set in supporting this." Well, if everyone's in agreement why should the CNMI send five officials to that meeting?

And again we ask: Who's picking the tab? Taxpayers, who have been told that the government is

saddled with an S80 million debt and is still observing austerity measures. would want to know the answers to these questions.

They-and these include parents of students whose schol­arship grants have been significantly reduced-would also want to see the list of their officials' travel expenses over the past two years. They want to know who went where and why and how much it cost them as taxpayers. They are, inciden­tally, very eager to hear government officials, particularly legislators, explain why they cannot provide th is information to the media. Moreover, they want to know how their offi­cials, specifically their elected officials who are always traveling, will address the government's obligations to the Retirement Fund and the Commonwealth Utilities Corp., and fulfill their promise in 1997 to provide more funding for education.

After almost two years of hearing nothing but, taxpayers are already tired of listening to their officials talk about lack of funding and then read news reports about these same officials· off-i,land trips.

For almost two years now, the administration and the Legislature have yet to locate the funding needed to bail out this cash-strapped, debt-ridden government.

The least they could do then in the next two years-while voters eagerly wait for the 2001 elections-is to further cut down their travel expenses.

Rafael H. Arroyo Zaldy Dandan

P.O. Box 231, Saipan MP 96950--0231 Tel. (670) 234-6341/7578/9797/9272 Fax: (6701 234-9271

© 1999, Marianas Variety All Rights Reserved

Member of The Associated Press (AP)

0 WEMBER GINCc°1tM

NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION

J: WANT To SE A MlLL\ONt-.\RE!

J: WANT To SE A Ml \.UONA\Rt: !

Haidee V. Eugenio

• Rush

:t W~t-lT To SEA M\ l\.\ON~\RE !

:I. WANT To &EA

<.i'OVERNMENT EMPLOYEE WHo MAKES $400,000

A Ye"V..~

Bits and pieces IT'S INTERESTING to know that out of the CNMI Public School System's (PSS) 11 func- -tioning school buses on Saipan, two to three units experience engine break downs in a day. Perhaps the issue is not new; just taken for granted.

While PSS' own mechanics are able to remedy certain bus engine or mechanical problems, it cannot go on forever patching up things way beyond repair. Most of these yellow buses have already outlived their life spans. Besides, bus repairs experience delay due to the unavailability of vehicle parts on island. And if vendors do able to provide these parts, chances are, they still have to order them from off-island and it takes days for them to be shipped here.

The solution, as proposed by PSS Adminis­trative Services Officer Jess Sanchez is to ac­quire at least seven additional buses. But as always. it all boils clown to availability of funds. considering. some S80 fnillion govern­ment deficit. So, can PSS get what it is re­questing for? No telling yet.

But sometimes we really wonder why -instead of providing services as basic as school buses - the government tend to shoulder the expenditure of a big contingent of government officials to travel off-island when in fact it can do away with two or three people to negotiate on something.

**********************

Just as throwing away a reporter's recorder for purposes beyond sane comprehension con­stitutes media harassment (and I'm sure Ferdie dela Torre remembers how a government law­yer did this months ago), it is also unpleasant to hear and see a government official throw insulting remarks to the media in the presence of other officials and taxpayers.

Well, not really because the remarks per se are demeaning that reporters feel uncomfort­able, but because it's coming from someone

many have come to know as a leader (or so we were told). And we held our silence for long, giving this official ample time to somehow get a grasp of what he has been lacking. Talking about professionalism and breeding and man­ners. To no avail. He continues to do it, over­the-phone, in actual encounters, and even made it appear an office policy to lie about his where­abouts. So he would instruct the receptionists he is out of the office - right after you were given ihe idea he is just in his office. Now I wonder what this official who oversee the daily operations of an agency handling over $330 million taxpayers' money is up to. Sir, regard­less of your background which has been ques­tioned several times, we would still want to work with you because we believe the public has the right to know what is going on around them, and that includes the operations of the agency you wotk for. But sir. show some decency'

Over the weekend, a friend of mine intro­duced me to someone who just arrived from the U.S. mainland. Eager as he is in learning how to cope with the new environment and his job, he told us the first thing he'd want to learn is the Filipino language. Well, it makes sense. With almost 80 percent of Saipan's labor force comprised of non-resident workers, the bulk of which are Filipinos, it matters.

**********~:****************

Mention Y2K and people tend to think of Apocalypse. Talk about Y2K bug, and people would rather wait for January to buy any computer, fearing that their newly bought technology wonder would malfunction when Jan. I, 2000 strikes. Which is probably why there is currently a slowdown in computer sales.

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FEATURE:

U.S. policymakers did not always take CINs word

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (Reuters) - In the days before .the United States sent ground troops into the 1991

Gulf War after Iraq invaded Kuwait, the CIA was telling policymakers that Iraq's military hardware had not been depleted to the degree that other information suggested.

But U.S. policymakers made the decision to go ahead with the ground attack based on other military reports from the field, former Defence Secretary Richard Cheney said on Saturday .

"'We had set a target for ourselves; we wanted to destroy 50 percent of the Iraqi armour before we launched the ground war," Cheney told an intelligence conference on the end of the Cold War.

"We thought we'd gotten there and we were very close to launching the ground war but then the agency (CIA) believed that a different interpretation of the data suggested that we had not destroyed as much of Iraq's armour as we thought we had.

"We went forward with the attack as planned on a timetable as planned," Cheney said. That was one example given on a _panel about how U.S. policymakers used or disregarded input from the CIA.

Brent Scowcroft, national security adviser to Presidents George Bush and Gerald Ford, said presidents ha:d differing views on the intelligence produced by the CIA, including its daily briefing report.

"President (Richard) Nixon, at least publicly, manifested considerable disdain for the (CIA daily report), and fre­quently would push it aside when we would suggest that he read it," Scowcroft said.

"He sort of thought in a way that the State Department had been captured by the Democrats a long time ago and the CIA was mostly frorn Ivy League colleges," he said.

Ford, on the other hand, "devoured" the report and Bush,_ who once had produced the report as former CIA director, would look at it, not only for content, but for its presentation.

In the situation with the Gulf War, the CIA was telling U.S. policymakers that Iraq appeared I ikely to attack Kuwait, but that produced "a political pr.oblem" because Egypt's Presi­dent Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Hussein were telling the United States to leave it alone and that it was a regional issue, Scowcroft said.

''Then when the attack came, there was nobody in the Arab world who could blame us for provoking Saddam Hussein," he said.

Former CIA director William Webster said at another point the question arose whether Saddam had chemical warheads for Iraq's scud missiles. ''We believed that he did; Colin Powell believed that he did not," Webster said.

After the Gulf War, Saddam acknowledged he had chemi­cal warheads, he said.

Other information the CIA provided presidents included a three-dimensional video to former President Ronald Reagan for his first trip to Moscow on the buildings that he would be

in so he knew what to expect when he went upstairs and around corners, Webster said.

The CIA also tried to provide a medical history of the leaders of foreign countries but did not always have the best information, he said. "Our medical services division were doing the best they could with people they had not treated themselves."

The conference concluded on Saturday after a memorial ceremony for Americans and foreign nationals who worked with the West against the Soviet Union and died. A planned U-2 spy plane flyover was cancelled because the plane had mechanical problems.

Representing the foreign nationals at the ceremony was former Polish Army Col. Ryszard Kuklinski, who was a CIA agent from 1972 to 1981 before defecting to the United States. He provided the United States with information on the military plans and intentions of the Warsaw Pact, including plans in the event of a conflict with NATO.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1999 -MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS-7

• Rlene Steffy The Chamorro culture is alive and well, embodied in every one who

lives on Guam and demonstrated in different ways. It also lives in those who have adopted the values of the Chamorro people, regard­less of what culture they happen to be born into.

Changing Chamorro culture CULTURE has been broadly defined as "a set of shared ideas ... the customs, beliefs and knowledge that characterize a way oflife."

Many of the cultural values we have learned are through direct teaching. If culture is learned, then logic would dictate tlfat from birth, each of us is born into a "culture" that shaped our experiences and behavior in life.

The cultural environment (family) that you are born into creates the cultural creature that you be­come. It influences the way you believe and act that by the time you are grown to take your position in society, to participate in its activities, its habits

. become your habits, its beliefs your beliefs, and impossibilities your impossibilities.

The culture in which you are raised can make life easier for you. For example, which one of you didn't learn the importance of pleasing your parents? That lesson helped you understand how to relate with others when your cultural environment becomes greater than the nucleus of your immediate family.

Leaming what is acceptable at home helps indi­viduals outside the home. If the cultural value of the home differs from the cultural values of the "society" there will be conflict if you do not accept the changes.

Leaming what is acceptable and what is not helps you to relate or not to relate well with others, which determines the level of success, or the lack thereof, in everything you do.

The cultural values you learn serves as the "key" to help you make decisions about how to act, what to wear and how to interact with others.

D/;!spite this fundamental principle, cultural back­ground is not the only source you depend on to formulate what you are as individuals. Genetics, personal experience, education and many other fac­tors determine what you become and how you even­tually look at life.

David T. Hughes For the Variety Web page: www.neec1701.net

Culture is the lens through which you see the world and how you live in that world.

Parents serve as the main personality influences thattake you through life. Ifan abuserraisesyou, the natural progression is that you will become an abuser.

I have often wondered how my brothers and I were brought up in the same home, taught by the same parents educated in the same system and yet funda­mentally different?

It was from that point on that I learned the value of communication and that despite what some people would like you to believe, "their way is not always best"

In the early 70' s I heard that "aesthetic reasoning" again when the movement for the revival of Chamorro culture became.a political issue. I can't tell you what my initial reaction was without looking for the paper that I wrote for my sociology class at the university, but I can say without any reservations that I have never bought into the belief that the survival of Chamorro culture is under threat.

The Chamorro culture is alive and well, embodied in every one who lives on Guam and demonstrated in different ways. It also lives in those who have adopted the values of the Chamorro people, regardless of what culture they happen to be born into. The Chamorro culture has changed from pre-contact days, but it's far from dead. Modern day Chamorro culture is alive and well it has taken on the influence of Spanish, American, Japanese, Filipino, Indone­si'an and other cultures.

To say that the Chamorro culture is dying is to admit not knowing that culture is progressive and that the Chamorro people have willfully intended the changes in their culture by adopting other values that forever altered the culture they once practiced.

(Rlene Santos Steffy is a business consultant, Web page publisher <http://www.rlenelive.com> and K57 daily morning talk radio show host.)

• Info-Tech Corner

Internet from the ether ONE WORD seems to be issuing from the techheads at COMDEX this year: "Wireless." Judging from what I have seen online and on live broadcasts from the site on ZDTV, there seems to be a rush to free us from the modem wires, mice and keyboards of today's Internet. The problem with all these wireless gizmos is that they don 'tgo very fast. Some are even slower than a 56-K connection. Why can't they show us something that' sf aster? Plus, what I have seen on TV appears to be a cross between a pillow and an Etch-a­Sketch (r) machine. Instead of using a keyboard and mouse users have to use a special stylus-just like a personal planner from 3COM. The screens don't seem to have much color or clear graphics.

One of the great things about today's Internet is the beautiful graphics, starling sound and other multi­media experiences. Much was being made of the fact that these new "net appliances" as they were dubbed didn't use Windows.

I guess that's OK for the Windows-haters out there, but I would judge something by quality and convenience, not the fact it dicln 't use a specific type of operating system.

Wireless Internet delivery-may-be the way high-speed Internet services will be delivered in the future for high-density housing such as apartments, dorms, condo complexes and the like. New tech­nologies in beta testing around N011hem Virginia and Maryland allow speeds over a million bits per second using a master antenna in a central location to

the complex and boxes about the size of a box of frozen vegetables. Instead of stringing telephone wires or cable television to receive Internet in your home these radio devices will be picked up at a central office, turned on and you are online at light­ning speeds.

This is all well and '.!Ood for what I call static installations such as wo~ld be found in a home. But, the real challenge is going to finding a way to deliver Internet connection~ on the fly, just like cell tele­phone service. Several companies now offer wire­less Internet including Ricochet, Bell Atlantic, Nextel, Sprint and others but it is painfully slow. The most reliable speed is 19.2 kilobits per second with Rico­chet offering 28.8 in a metro area.

Industry leaders felt that the years between 2000 and 2002 would show tremendous strides in wireless Internet delivery. I also predict the Internet will become more and more a common carrier for all kinds of data. The Palm Pilot VII is constructed with a wireless Internet transceiver inside. But, instead of browsing porn sites these PDAs will use the Internet to keep in constant touch with their offices and have the ability to send and receive faxes, meeting up­dates, pages and any kind of written text. The Pilots have their own wireless networks and should be shipping later this month.

Look for a flurry of new.product announcements to hit the ·Net and other trade media beginning this week. Most companies wait until COMDEX to announce their new goodies.

Wider bird issues snag landfill plan

By Rene P. Acosta Variety News Staff A LARGER issue involving en­

dangered birds on Saipan is stall­ing the government's Marpi land­fill project. Division of Solid Waste Project Manager John Harder said.

1l1e government had said the US Fish and Wildlife Service has been denying the CNMI' s request for permit because the project will destroy the habitat of federally­protected birds at the new waste disposal site.

··No. that's not the problem. There are a lot of issues that we have been dealing with, not only Marpi. but on how the CNMI will manage these birds overall.'' said Harder.

COMMUNITY

The solid waste chief said that while there are birds, like nightin­gale reed-warbler, on the project site, this type of bird is common all over_S~a~ip~a~n_. -,----=

Continued on page 12

POS/VITE ACTION FOR NOV. 12. Melvina Villanueva, Cole Bradley Caska, Ike agulto, Ann Mariel Flores, Clyde Sablan, Crystal Mendiola, Melanie Licerio, Dagger Diaz, Juliana Villanueva, Franklin Sablan, and Jason Padama. PEACEBU/LDERS FOR NOV. 2. Dazey Gail Padama, Joaquin Camacho, Lola Ngeskebel, Antonette Castro, Darren Apela, Bethany Maratita, Cassandra Ngeskebel, Trina Palacios, Megan Ito, Alvin lndalecio, Marvin Ngeskebel, Diana Elayda, Shannin Nestor, Joreen Pangelinan, Kayla Sablan and Figure Eight Kepwe.

WSR teacher takes pride in student progress SUCCESS isn'talwaysfound with a letter grade on top of a piece of paper, William S. Reyes Elemen­tary School (WSR) teacher of the

year John Jenkins said. Jenkins believes it can be found

in so many other different ways that need to be appreciated and

WSR students Aemir Villegas (left) and Miracle Villegas (right) per­form in a puppet show based on Arnolds Label's Children's stories of Frog & Toad. Contributed Photo

recognized. To exercise their creative skills,

Jenkins encourages his third grade srudents work on puppet shows they perform in the classroom once a week.

Each week, two students per­form a story from Arnolds Lobel' s famous Children's stories ofFrog and Toad.

This week, the kindergarten class en joyed a presentation made by Aemir Villegas and Miracle Villones on a show they named "The Surprise,'' according to Jenkins.

"Students make their own pup­pets, story's set designs and scen­ery as well as other props. They each are given scripts which I have adapted to a play their voices onto tape so that during their per­formance, they can concentrate on the movement of their pup-

pets,'' said Jenkins. The students feel so proud in

being able to rum language arts into accomplishments of perfor­mance, Jenkins said.

"Reading has turned into something fun and something where srudents can accomplish something tci be proud of as they demonstrate their theatrical skills to the rest of the school," he said.

Jen kins revealed that eversince he built the puppet show stage, srudents have been eager to par­ticipate in the presentations and learn more about the theater.

This quarter, Jenkins contin­ued, he and his srudents are ready tolettheSaipancommunityknow that education is being accom­plished in productive ways where student can actually show off their progress and be proud of their own classroom community.

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Pacific regional HIV-prevention conference held JACKIE Quitugua, program co­ordinator with the CNMI Public School System, said the partici­pation of the Northern Marianas at a recent regional conference to integrate HIV prevention educa­tion spoke of personal commit­ment.

The conference held from Nov. 18 to Nov. 20 at the Pacific Star Hotel saw some 30 participants from the CNMI.

Quitugua said they had orga­nized themselves so that there was a school team consisting of ad­ministrators, counselors, teachers, and parents.

Church representatives and public health officials were also part of the group.

"The collaboration is to strengthen our comprehensive effort to do more in our preven­tion and education activities in the schools," Quitugua said.

According to Quitugua some individuals on the group had paid their own wav to attend the con-ference. ·

"This trnly speaks of personal commitment," Quitugua said.

Quitugua said because the con­ference was geared to the Pacific region it benefited many in atten­dance.

"In our efforts to find solutions, we are looking at our data, revis­iting our conversations, reflect­ing on what we have done and what we need to do to make things even better for everyone-students, parents, the community," Quitugua said.

Reina Camacho, a health edu­cator with the CNMI's Division of Public Health, said the confer­ence can benefit the Northern Marianas by having those partici­pating actively take the informa­tion to'their work sites and con­duct presentations on what was learned.

' I

t \ '

____ ---------------___________ ____ MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1999-MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS-9

Reyes hits, Teno defends Nielsen By Jojo Dass Variety News Staff

GOVERNOR Pedro P. Tenorio on Friday defended his special assistant for education, Dan Nielsen. who has been criticized by Senate Floor Leader Pete P. Reyes (R-Saipan) over remarks on the Senate's failure to pass administration-sponsored bills.

Tenorio called for better ties between the Senate and the ad­ministration, stressing that as elected officials, "we should all cooperate and pass legislation that will be beneficial to everybody."

Reyes has said that the Senate wants to make sure that the pro­posed measures will not have an adverse impact on the local com­munity.

The governor agrees. ··r leave it up to the Senate to

review these bills," he added. "If they think the bill is good, then I recommend that they pass it."

Still, Reyes said, he was "sur­prised to hear criticism regarding certain economic bills pending in

CPA honors its retirees

THE COMMONWEAL TH Ports Authority (CPA) recently hosted a special retirement party for five of its resident employees, thank­ing them fortheir loyalty and valu­able services to the ports author­ity.

CPA Board Chairman Roman S. Palacios offered his words of gratitude to the group, thanking them fortheir many years of dedi­cated service, adding that while he is happy for them, they will truly be missed as members of the CPA family.

Board Treasurer Roman T. Tudela echoed also echoed Palacios' sentiment, joking that it's about time CPA returned them to their·'anxiously awaiting fami­lies."

After the official speeches and plaque presentations, Port of Sai pan Manager Antonio Cabrera presented the outgoing employ­ees with gifts.

Outgoing Maintenance Super­visor Jose 0. Camacho received a new putter to "polish his golf game;" Ports Police Assistant Chief (Operations) Ramon P. Agulto got a new aluminum bat to "take out on the baseball field;" Assistant Aircraft Rescue Fire Chief (Operations) Mariano A. Mendiola took home a new bas­ketbail to "work on his fade away jumper;" and Gardener Jesus Arriola of Landscaping "should be able to fine tune his fishing with a new rod and reel."

Also retiring this year is Tinian Ports Manager Silvestre C. Palacios, Felipe Celis of Airport Operations. Landscaping Super­visor Rodrigo Castro, Ports Po­lice Captain Frank Babauta, and Rota Fire Chief Luis M. Manglona retired earlier in 1999.

The retirement party was held at Plumeria Resort.

Pete P. Reyes Pedro P. Tenorio Dan Nielsen

the Senate coming from an assis­tant for education."

He added, "I would suggest that the governor's special assistant for education improve his perfor­mance and focus more of his time on education or ask the governor for a transfer to the Economic Development Division."

Reyes accused Nielsen of do­ing "nothing positive to help sn1-dents," as the special assistant has merely been working on "reinter­preting the law, deviating from standard scholarship practices and identifying additional justifica­tions to conveniently alter agree-

ments already in place between government and the students."

"In general," said Reyes, Nielsen has been "erecting more and more obstacles in front of the CNMI students."

Nielsen, he said, should instead ·'focus more of his time and atten­tion on our students' scholarship needs ... than armchair coaching

· Senate legislative matters and playing with his calculator esti­mating (accountancy) Board ex­amination fees we are supp,os­edly losing to Guam."

Nielsen, in an interview with reporters last week, said the bills

which include that on the cre­ation of a free trade zone and an accountancy board among oth­ers, would help increase revenue generation if finally enacted. He said Tenorio' s "hands are tied" unless the Senate pass the bills.

Reyes said the bill creating the

accountancy board needs further review as it may cause local ac­counting companies to close down once enacted.

Tenorio suggested that the con­·cerns being raised by the local community be taken into consid­eration.

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10-MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS-MONDAY- NOVEMBER 22, 1999 MICRONESIA

Taiwan eyes continued relations with Marshalls

Air Nauru bares expansion plans

By Giff Johnson For the Variety

MAJURO - Despite the de­feat in Monday's election of the two Marshall Islands cabinet ministers responsible for this country's switch to diplomatic ties with Taiwan.the Republic of China's ambassador to the Marshall Islands says it is his hope that the close ties between the two nations wi II continue long into the future.

Finance Minister Tony deBrum and Foreign Minister Phillip Muller were the archi­tects of the Marshall Islands switch from the People's Re­public of China to the Repub­lic ofChina(Taiwan) last year.

a move that has led to the flow of millions of dollars from Tai­wan for development projects in the Marshalls. The two pow­erful cabinet ministers were defeated in Monday's election, ending 16 year terms in the par­liament for both.

ROC Ambassador Leo Fu-lien Liu said that the relationship "be­tween our two countries is coun­try-to-county, not party-to-party. For the interests of both coun­tries, we hope the relationship will last forever."

With diplomatic flip-flops on China recognition the orderof the day in some Pacific nations -Tonga dropped Taiwan in favor of the People's Republic last year,

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while Papua New Guinea briefly recognized Taiwan and then a few weeks later reestablished ties with PRC earlier this year- there is speculation in the Marshalls about the future of ties with the ROC following the results of Monday's election. Though elec­tion tabulation is not completed, the opposition United Demo­cratic Party appears certain to control the parliament when it convenes in January.

Although some members of the opposition criticized ties with Taiwan when they were estab­lished last year, opposition to relations with the ROC now ap­pears to be a position held by only a small minority.

ROG Ambassador Leo Fu-tien Liu discloses at a recent groundbreaking ceremony for a government building that his government is spending $500,000 on Majuro. Photo by Gitt Johnson

• wt

Variety News Staff AIR NAURU yesterday gave a preview of its expansion plans as well as its new marketing thrust for the coming year during a spe­cial reception called "Pacific Trea­sures" held at the Pacific Star hotel.

According to Air Nauru Re­gional Sales Manager Vernon Prieto, the airline plans to add new destinations and increase fre­quencies next year, possibly to Palau and Kosrae.

Moreover, Prieto said the air­line has bought a new 737 jet to

· supplement Air Nauru's other jets serving the Micronesia region.

"We 're looking to have this on line by January next year maybe for use in our charter services so that we can free other planes for new routes or. more frequencies," Prieto said.

Along with the airline's expan­sion plans, Prieto said Air Nauru has also adopted a new marketing thrust that will more deeply stress Air Nauru's commitment as a re­gional airline in the Pacific.

"Nauru is also an island that's why we·can relate with the other islands in the Pacific.

"Not many people know that Nauru is actually a part of greater Micronesia.

"So what we're trying to do in Air Nauru is actually bridge the whole of Micronesia. We want to be a truly Pacific airline," Prieto said.

He added that Air Nauru also wants to be known as a regional airline with a strong presence in Australia because although it is a Nauru company, it is registered

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Air Nauru Regional Sales Man­ager Vernon Prieto.

Photo courtesy of Air Nauru

as an Australian airline. ;•we 're considered the third in­

ternational airline of Australia. "Because of this, we are gov­

erned not only by U.S. safety stan­dards but the even tougher Aus­tralian safety standards.

"Our jets are maintained by Quantas which has the highest safety standards in the world. So our passengers can be assured that they are traveling with a very safe airline which offers island hospi­tality to boot," Prieto said.

During the Pacific Treasures reception, the new Air Nauru ad­vertising video filmed by an Aus­tralian award-winning director and cinematographer was shown.

According to Prieto, the film crew traveled throughout the airline's route network to film footage for the new commercial which stresses Air Nauru's em­phasis on being the Pacific's re­gional airline.

Palau bank to issue loans as ban lifted

By Eileen 0. Tabaranza For the Variety

KOROR(PalauHorizon)-Af­ter a long lull, the Palau National Development Bank (PNDB) is set to issue $963,000 worth of guar­anteed loans this month follow­ing the lifting of the suspension of the issuance of said loans.

In an interview, PNDB Opera­tions Manager Ulai Teltull said the re-issuance of loans was or­dered by PNDB Board of Direc­tors last Oct. 26, noting that the bank has enough reserves to be loaned out to borrowers.

The $963,000, which came from direct funds and re-payment of principal loans and interests, can guarantee loans of up to $9 million, she said.

The PNDB guarantees 90 per­cent of the borrowers' housing and commercial loans from any of the commercial banks on Palau like the Bank of Hawaii, Bank of Guam, BankPacific, among others.

Most of the banks are using PNDB 's guaranteed loans to back up the borrowers' loan. Without the PNDB's guaranteed loans, banks would restrain themselves from giving out housing and busi­ness loans.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1999 -MARiANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS-11

Marshalls · upsets

DeBrum, Muller Biazon calls on Filipinos to work at maintaining competitive edge lose in elections By Marian A. Maraya

Variety News Staff importantly, in the past. .. our schools were (compared to Asia), were still very high, except of course, Japan," he added.

countries to open up economic boundaries, not only in relation to trade and commerce but in relation to·exchanges of man­power, b.oth in the skilled and the unskilled departments. ·

By Giff Johnson Special to the Pacific Islands Report

MAJURO, Marshall Islands (Marshall Islands Journal) -In a stunning setback for the Marshalls ruling majority party, powerful Cabinet Ministers Tony deBrum and Phillip Muller were defeated in the preliminary and still unofficial election returns from Monday's national election.

Despite mounting·a high-pro­file campaign as part of a three­way team with Iroij and Vice Speaker Jurelang Zedkaia, 16-year Nitijela veterans Muller and deBrum - previously untouchable office holders - were dropped by voters in favor of United Demo­cratic Party candidates. While Zedkaia, the dominant traditional landowner for Majuro, was com­fortably in third place, Muller and deBrum did not share his success.

With all but absentee votes counted for Majuro, Muller and deBrum were in seventh and eighth place, respectively, in the five-seat race.

Although absentee votes still must be counted, they are not ex­pected to change the vote. Muller and deBrum 's defeat shifts Majuro from a pre-election three-to-two majority for the ruling govern­ment party, to a four-to-one edge for the opposition United Demo­cratic Party which campaigned on a strong anti-corruption plat­form that targeted Muller and Likiep representative Health Min­ister Tom Ki jiner. Kijiner, though strongly challenged, appears headed to his fifth consecutive term as his two challengers split a majority of the vote.

Foreign Minister Muller and Finance Minister deBrum are the architects of the Marshalls recent Taiwan recognition, and have been the chief strategists for the government party. Muller is the Marshalls chief negotiator in talks with the U.S. on extending long-term eco­nomic aid provisions of the Compact of Free Association.

With heavy voter turnout in Majuro, voting didn't end until close to midnight on Monday al­though the polls closed at 7 p.m. Many people waited four hours or more in long lines to cast their votes for the 33 senators.

The government's radio sta­tion, which normally switches off at 11 :30 p.m., continued throughout the night, broadcast­ing ward-by-ward election re­sults for Majuro.

Electoral administrator Jo­seph J orlang said the hand-count started close to midnight Mon­day and halted at 5 a.m. due to the exhaustion of the more than I 00 tabulators, and was re­started at 10 a.m. Tuesday morn­ing. The tabulation of absentee votes is continuing.

Four years ago, when deBrum was a leader of the opposition, he was the second-leading vote getter in Majuro behind Presi­dent Amata Kabua. But, after more than a year as President

Imata Kabua 's chief spokesman, he has been eliminated in the preliminary count.

Wilfred Kendall, a former am­bassador to Washington, was top vote getter in the unofficial results for Majuro, with a total of 2,199 votes.

Witten Philippa, a former chief justice of the high court and first term opposition sena­tor, was second with 2,177 votes. Brenson Wase, a long time senator from Amo Atoll and former cabinet minister who switched to Majuro for this elec­tion, was in control of the fourth spot (1,682), while former J aluit senator Alik J. Alik took the . fifth spot with 1,325 votes over sixth place UDP colleague Jack Jorban (1,248) for the final seat for the nation's capital.

Mu Iler received 1,034, deBrum 819, Marie Maddison 642 and John M. Milne 586.

THOUGH Filipinos are still "preferred" and widely known to be capable of competing with world class middle level man­agement positions globally, vis­iting Phiiippine .Sen. Rodolfo Biazonoverthe weekend warned that such a "standing" may not exist for long.

Biazon said that while Filipi­nos· still have the upperhand when it comes to skilled and professional job openings, other nationalities are slowly catch­ing up in the global competition.

He thus urged all Filipinos to maintain their level of "com­petitiveness."

"We have to watch out, we are being contested by Sri Lankans, Indonesians, by Thais, Vietnam­ese, Bangladeshis, and Chinese," said Biazon.

"But we are still preferred, our language advantage for example is on edge, but I think more

Biazon, who was guest speaker in the induction of the new board and members of the Marianas Association of Filipino Engineers and Architects (MAFEA) Satur­day, warned that Filipinos are slowly being overtaken by other countries in raising the quality of expertise in the middle level.

"Forexample, 80percentofthe crew of a Norwegian registered vessels are Filipinos but slowly, Vietnam is trying to improve its merchant marine schools, Indo­nesia is doing the same, Thailand also ... ," he said.

"We do need to watch out or we could lose the dominance in that market," Biazon told members of MAFEA during a luncheon at the Pacific Islands Club (PIC).

The so-called advent of globlization, according toBiazon, is providing leeway between

"Developing countries· are looki11g at exporting human re­sourc;es as a major component of their economy ... as it is now it is now a major income component of our economy," he said.

Biazon also noted that the ex­port of human resources is the only major factor that keeps the peso from running widely in re­lation to the dollar through re­mittances of workers from out­side the country.

"This keeps the supply of dol­lars in the country, a level that is preventing a wild run of the de­valuation of the peso vis-vis the dollar," said Bfazon.

"Our competitiven\:SS in the human resources is very high . I hope we don't lose this," the Senator said.

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12-MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS-MONDAY - NOVEMBER 22, 1999 SOUTH PACIFIC

·Factories not sweatshops. says acting PM . , '· .

Fiji defends garment sector SUVA (Pacnews) - Fiji's Act­ing Prime Minister, Dr Tupeni Baba has told a group of visiting garment buyers from Europe that garment factories in the country are not the "sweatshops" that the mention of the "rag trade" usually conjures up.

Dr Baba said garment workers in Fiji, which number close to I 7,000, enjoy conditions that are the envy of garment workers in many developing countries.

The 12 garment buyers from Europe are in the country at the invitation of Fiji's garment in-

dustry to see if they can source orders from Fiji.

The team visited garment fac­tories in Suva and those in the western part of the main island of Viti Levu. They will also inspect infrastructure in the country.

Their visit was facilitated by the Centre for the Development -of Industry (CDI), which is an African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)-EU institution funded by the European Development Fund under the Lome N Convention.

Fiji's garment industry could see a boom in foreign revenue if

talks between the European del­egation and local garment manu­facturers prove successful.

Export.revenue for garments for 1999 is projected to increase to $FJ27I.8 million ($US 139.9 million) - an increase of 13 per cent compared to last year's record of $FJ24I million ($FI 124 million).

Dr Baba told the visitors they will be impressed with what they hear and see about the Fiji's garment industry.

"You will find that most com­panies are using leading ·edge

technology, including com­puter-aided design and produc­tion and manufacturing as well as computerised inventory and production management in their operations," he said.

"Our infrastructure in terms of port and airport facilities, sea and air links with Pacific Rim coun­tries, and telecommunications are well developed and modem."

"A salient feature of our trade performance has been the in­crease in re-exports signifying the growing importance of Fiji as a distribution port for Pacific

New Cook Islands gov't takes office RAROTONGA (Pacnews) -The new Cook Islands Prime Minister, Dr Terepai Moate and his new Government were sworn into office Thurday - ending a 10-year reign by the Cook Islands Party.

Dr Moate replaces Dr Joe Wil­liams who tendered his resigna­tion shortly before a vote of no confidence was moved against his Government in Parliament.

Dr Moate, a long-t'.me Opposi­tion Leader, heads the Democratic Alliance Party (DAP)/New Alli­ance Party (NAP) Coalition.

The leaderof the minority NAP, Norman George is the new Deputy Prime Minister.

The Cook Islands Government website reported yesterday that after five months of furious poli -ticking since the inconclusive gen -eralelection on June 16, the Cook

Islands finally appears to have a stable government.

'111e coalition between the two Opposition parties has ended the 10-year reign of the Cook Islands Party," the report said. As soon as it had confirmed the changeover Parliament immediate] y adjourned until December 16 to allow the new Government time to organise.

Dr Moate in an interview with Radio Australia said his team will spend the next four weeks, before parliament resumes, getting briefed by government officials and plan­ning ahead.

"We need to know the economic situation of the country. We need to know how much money is there, how much money has been spent and so forth," Dr. Moate said.

"And we have already decided that for the first 100 days, starting today, we will be trying to imple-

Fund . . . Continued from page 3

whether the re-organization would violate personnel regulations. Among the issues raised were the demotion and salary of certain personnel.

The board recommended fur­ther review of the proposals.

Meanwhile, Board Chairman Vicente Camacho (Saipan) was reelected for the same position for the third consecutive year, while Board Trustee Rosita Santos (Rota) was voted vice chairper­son. She replaced Board Trustee Chark, Reyes (Saipan) who de­clined the nomination for reten­tion.

Board Trustee Marian DLG.

Tudela (Saipan) now heads the Fund board's investment com­mittee, with Reyes and Sue Mafnas (Women representative) as committee members.

The board failed to take up during the meeting the proposed two percent hike in government contribution to the Fund, as well as the equal contribution scheme being proposed by the Legisla­ture to enable the government to reduce its liabilities which now stands at approximately $80 mil­lion.

Camacho earlier said the rec­ommended new scheme needs actuarial evaluation.

Wider . .. Continued from page 8

Harder said the CNMI and the US Fish and Wildlife are in agree­ment on how the former will miti­gate the endangered birds, but there are a lot more issues in­volved.

He said these issues are now the subject of a negotiation between the Division of Fish and Wildlife and its federal counterpart office.

"The Division offish and Wild­life and the US Fish and Wildlife

are trying to come up with an agreement on how we will ad­dress these birds island-wide,'' the project manager said.

The government has already done an endangered species sur­vey on the landfi 11 and Harder said it was able to identify just one or two pairs of birds.

The landfill will be in an about 40-acres of government land and its facilities will be built in phases.

ment a lot of the policies that we have given· out during the cam­paign period. And that's a lot to do in the first 100 days."

Dr Moate is also confident his Coalition Government will last a long time, despite reservations by some MPs about the coalition agree­ment He said during the last four weeks of political uncertainty, when the outgoing Prime Minister re­fused to resign, all 14 MPs (DAP and NAP members) remained as a team.

He said now there is talk of a merger between DAP and NAP.

''I'm confident it will be sustain­able in the long term because he (George) and I have already ad­dressed our strong feelings towards that and we talked about the past and we both agreed we should put the past out of our way, because the NAP and the DAP members i)ave

originally come from the Demo­cratic Party. There is a very strong feeling from both sides to see that at the end of the term both parties are no longer called two different names, but form a single party."

The outgoing Prime Minister, Dr Williams said he was disap­pointed but not surprised at los­ing the vote of no confidence in Parliament. He criticised the Westminster style of Parliament, saying it is unsuited to the Cook Islands.

Dr Williams still believes in a three-waycoalition,even though the new government has rejected the idea. "I don't think it is an impossibility. I believe in a sys­tem whereby you unite your people, unite your parliament, unite people in all walks of life, after all there's only 20,000 people here."

Gov't . . . Continued from page 4

Lt. Governor Jesus R. Sablan last week disclosed that the gov­ernment is having a hard time securing a permit from officials of the US Fish and Wildlife due to the enda.r1gered bird species whose habitat maybe altered by the de­velopment of the landfill.

Harder said the project is rea­sonably progressing although it is taking a bit longer than what gov­ernment officials have thought.

He said the consultant tapped to render an artist's sketch of­the landfill-Harding, Lawson and Associate-has already made a significant headway in the design of the project, and were expecting to see a 30-per­cent completion at the end of this month.

Harder said that after the de­sign is submitted to them, they will discuss it with officials of the Division of Environmental Qual­ity and the US Environmental Protection Agency for inter­agency review.

Meanwhile, the consultant has also already finished its waste characterization project on the Puerto Rico dump site.

Ending the project last Friday, the waste characterization, was initiated Wednesday the other week to partially determine the volume of garbage that were be­ing dumped on a regular basis into the dumpsite.

The project also characterized the trash as to their types.

Harder said the characteriza­tion was carried out by Harding, Lawson and Associate in a ran­dom basis, although it covered all types of trash hauling vd1iclcs. compactor, dump. and pick up trucks.

The waste characterization, however, was not able to deter­mine the exact volume of trash that were being poured into Puerto Rico, since it only cov­ered 20 to 25 trucks everyday and was only done in a very short period.

There are more than a hundred trucks visiting the dump site ev­eryday.

However, Harder said the waste characterization was very important since its result will help them in the design of new landfill.

Read vvith your child everyday.

Islands. Blessed by its strategic location. and well-developed shipping links with Au~tralia and New Zealand and the Pa­cific. Islands, this feature of Fiji:s trade can be expected to· increase in prominence in the future."

Dr Baba also emphasised to the EU business people that of all Pacific Island nations, Fiji has the most developed and larg­est manufacturing base.

"Expott products range from garments, to furniture, gold and fish."

Fuel prices in Fiji tjse SUV A (Pacnews)- The price of fuel has gone up by seven per cent in Fiji - the-second such increase in about two months.

The Prices and Incomes Board (PIB), which regulates the price of fuel, said the increase is related to the rise in the cost of fuel world­wide because of crude oil produc­tion cuts enforced by the Organisation of Petroleum Export­ing Countries (OPEC).

The cost ofone litre of ( unleaded) motor spirit now stands at $FJ 1.09 ($US0.56)-up 7-cents ($US0.04).

On September 17; the price went up 8-cents a litre to $FJ1.02.

The new price for diesel-· is $FJ0.80 per litre, an increase of 6-­cents.

Dispute stops flights into

New Caledonia NOUMEA (Pacnews) - Stop­work protest action by staff at New Caledonia's international airport in Noumea continues to disrupt international flights and airport operations.

The action started IO days ago and many flights have suffered delays as a result. Unionists are demanding the transfer of an ex­ecutive.

Spokesman Pierre Chau vat said the union will consider strike ac­tion next week, if there are no talks by the end of Friday.

Happy 7th Birthday

Jose Mafnas Jr. From Auntie Mel

,1J I I ",, 1_ ,~1 ;, ': ;' ,·., r ~ -r r ' : " /.

NATION MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1999-MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS-13

Bradley focuses on health .care DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) -Former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bra­dley said Saturday the United States has been far too timid in broadening health coverage dur­ing the economic boom. "We should be fixing our roofs while the sun is shining," Bradley said. Despite solid economic growth, he said, "I see 44 million Ameri­cans living without health insur­ance." Bradley spoke to about 250 people in a tent at the University of Iowa's Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, where the Hawkeyes were playing Minnesota.

He then headed to Dubuque to

preside over the National Catho­lic Basketball Tournament. In both appearances, Bradley was focusing on health, which has become central in his fight against Vice President Al Gore for next year's . Democratic presidential nomination.

Bradley has proposed a major expansion of health coverage that Gore has criticized as too liberal and overly expensive.

Bradley responds that Gore is far too timid on health issues: He was sounding that theme across Iowa Saturday.

Bradley is mounting a surpris-

McCain wants better care for veterans

John McCain

COLUMBIA,S.C.(AP)-Sen. John McCain fears the dying gen­eration of World War II veterans is being shortchanged in health care at an age when the old sol­diers' medical needs are more expensive than ever.

"Our World War II veterans, the greatest generation, they're dyingat30,000amonth. Thirty­thousand of these brave Ameri­cans are dying a month, and they 're not getting the care they've been promised," the Republican presidential candi­date told members of his South Carolina steering committee Sat­urday.

"They need long-term and ge­riatric care. If you've got a flat budget, and you've got millions of Americans who need long­term and geriatric care, the most expensive kind of care there is, it doesn't match up."

McCain said he plans to an­nounce soon a plan that once enacted would guarantee that promises made to America's military men and women are

kept. "We 're goingtocomeoutwith

a "Contract with Veterans' where we 're going to tell them that there are going to be specific things that will happen, includ­ing restoring the benefits - the heal th-care benefits - that we promised," McCain, R-Ariz., said.

On Friday, the Senate passed and sent to President Clinton for his signature a veterans' health-care package designed to meet the changing needs of the nation's 25 million veter­ans that McCain spoke of Sat­urday.

The bill requires the Veterans Affairs Department to increase long-term care for qualifying veterans, lift a six-month limit on VA-providedadultdayhealth care and reimburse low-income veterans for emergency treat­ment at non-VA medical facili­ties.

McCain, a Navy veteran who was captured and held prisoner in Vietnam for more than five years, has long said that win­ning South Carolina is essential to his campaign strategy.

The state has the first Re­publican primary in the South and counts a large military population among its voters. Rep. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., co-chairman of McCain's South Carolina campaign com­mittee, cited polls that show the candidate pulling closer in New Hampshire to front-run­ning Gov. George W. Bush of Texas.

2 dead in Mo.-.shooting ' .

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -Two parking lot workers were shot to death at a private lot near Kansas City International Airport early Saturday in a likely murder­suicide, authorities said.

A third person was critically injured but managed to drive a shuttle bus to the airpo1t for help. "We believe that one of the dead people is the shooter," said pol ice spokesman Steve Young.

He said a note found at the crime scene contained a possible motive for the shootings, but he

would not elaborate on the con­tents.

Both of those killed were men. The injured worker was a woman. All three are believed to be in their 30s.

Another employee at the lot witnessed the shooting and drove to a nearby gas station to report it about 8 a.m., Young said.

There were no patrons in the lot, which holds about 1,200 cars and shuttles passengers to the air­port about 2 miles away.

ingly strong challenge to Gore in Iowa's leadoff precinct caucuses.

While Gore leads in mpst polls and has the backing of much of the Democratic Party establish­ment, Bradley .has carved out pockets of support.

One of those is Dubuque,

among the state's most heavily Democratic and Roman Catholic regions.

Bradley has been involved with the basketball tournament for I I years, dating well .before his bid for the nomination.

Those ties with the city have

made him a local favorite against Gore in the Jan .. 24 caucuses.

His. appearances come as the Democrats each step up the intensity of their cam-. paign. Gore returns to Iowa on· Monday for a two-day swing across the state.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle displays a copy of Democratic Budget Wins Thursday on Capitol Hill after a tentative budget agreement was reached. AP

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14-MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS-MONDAY-NOVEMBER 22 1999 NATION

Bush raises money for Calif. GOP DEL MAR, Calif. (AP) - The George W. Bush fund-raising machine continued to pay divi­dends Saturday, generating $900,000 for him a day after it raised $2.2 million for the Cali­fornia Republican Party.

The Texas governor and Re­publican presidential front-run­ner had breakfast with support­ers at the Del Mar Fairgrounds before heading to Thousand Oaks, Calif., for a "Fiesta at the Farm" event at the vacation home of David Murdock, chair­man of Dole.Foods.

Bush went to Murdock's resi­dence in Bel Air, Calif., for Fri­day night dinner with support­ers who had raised $25,000 each for the state party.

The governor's most recent campaign finance report logged $57 million in contributions, and the Bush team expects to raise about $65 million by the end of the year.

The cash drive has been so successful that Bush is now raising money for state Re-

George W. Bush

publican committees, trying to generate an across-the-board party victory in the 2000 elec­tions.

In his remarks at the fair­grounds, Bush said he intended not only to win the California Republican primary in March but also to carry the state in the general election next Novem­ber.

President Clinton won Cali­fornia when he unseated Bush's father in 1992 and again on his 1996 re-election.

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"California is going to be the place," Bush told 500 people eating a budget breakfast of fresh fruit and coffee.

"California is the place, when they see I'm willing to open up my arms to new faces and new voices, and welcome new folks into the Republican Party, then I think the people of this state will say, 'IwanttosupportGov. George W. Bush.'" The gover­nor added a new element to his standard stump speech, branch­ing into the world of foreign affairs.

On Friday, Bush outlined his foreign policy vision during a speech at the Ronald Reagan

Presidential Library north of Los Angeles.

Bush said the country should resist turning inward through protectionism but also should be stern in its dealings with China and Russia.

He advocated a national mis­sile defense system. "This is still a dangerous world," he said Saturday.

"It's a different world from when we were youngsters. In the old days, you knew exactly who; today we're not sure. It's a world of madmen.

It's a world of missiles." The remarks went over well with the audience, which included sev-

era! Republican governors who had been attending their annual conference in nearby Carlsbad, Calif.

Bush skipped the two-day .meeting because of campaign events in Iowa and California. "I support him because I respect him, and I respect the office of the president.

That's the combination !want in the White House," said Roy Wheatcraft of Del Mar.

Bush was scheduled to ap­pear Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" for a full hour from the Texas Governor's Mansion. On Monday, he is to head to New Hampshire.

FOR W. Former Secretary of State George Schultz (left) and former first lady Nancy Reagan applaud Texas Gov. George W. Bush during his first major foreign policy speech at the Ronald Reagan Library m Simi Valley, California. REUTERS

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T _ MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1999 -MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS-15

Texas town mourns students COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) - Friends and families be­gan burying their dead and com­forted their wounded Saturday as Texas A&M University struggled to cope with the bonfire collapse that killed 12 people and injured 27.

Hospital waiting rooms near the campus were crowded with stu­dents offering blood, sympathy and support for the seven people still receiving treatment.

Up to 40 students have main­tained a 24-hour vigil at St. Jo­seph Regional Medi'cal Center. .. It has been incredible," Chery I Davis, motherofhospitalized stu­dent William Davis, said of the support.

··This has been wonderful." Questions have begun to resur­face about the safety of the annual bonfire, a venerated tradition on the A&M campus for 90 years. · Texas A&M President Ray

Bowen has ordered the formation of a task force of engineers and other experts to look into the di­saster "so we'll be able to analyze all the facts and make decisions to see this horror never visits our campus again."

The funerals began Saturday in the Houston suburb of Bellaire with services for Nathan Scott West, a 19-year-old sophomore oceanography major who was killed in the Thursday morning collapse.

About 1,000 people attended the service. "Why does tragedy happen to good people who are going about doing good for oth­ers?" asked the Rev. Mark Young. ··we live in a world that is not always fair.

To suggest it was Scott's time to leave earth is some kind of cruel joke." At the end of the service. mourners linked anns and

sang the Aggie fight song. Two people - Davis, from

Bellaire, and John Comstock of Richardson - remained in critical condition Saturday, while three were in serious condition: Chad Hutchinson of Houston, J.H. Washam of Dallas and Dominic Braus of Hallettsville.

Lannie Hayes of Monahans and Milton Thiel of Livingston were in fair condition. Twenty students had been treated and released from the hospitals by Saturday.

Hutchinson's father said his son grew emotional when he regained consciousness Thursday and was told of the loss of life, including three of his friends.

"He shed a few tears," Bill Hutchinson said, adding that his son remains committed to the bonfire tradition. "If they would release him (from the hospital) to build it, he would." William Davis and Chad Hutchinson were both crew chiefs who coordinated the student work gangs building the bonfire. · "They are so cautious and care­

ful," said Davis' mother. "The manuals are passed down. There are years and years of experi­ence."

Ms. Davis said her son "is do­ing great" despite pelvic and wrist fractures, a lacerated liver and a punctured lung.

Officials have said about 70 people were stacking the logs when the pile gave way. Some students were hurled from the structure; others were trapped in the shifting logs.

Past A&M engineering profes­sors said they tried over the years to warn students that the design of the bonfire contained perilous flaws.

"You put a pine pole in the center and then ... lash all these

Texas A&M students comfort one another during an impromptu prayer service at the site of the bonfire collapse Thursday in College Station, Texas. AP

A body is carried from the the pile of toppled lumber that was to be the traditional Texas A&M bonfire Thursday in College Station, Texas. The 40-foot pyramid of logs assembled for the University's traditional pregame bonfire collapsed killing four students and injuring 25. AP

matchsticks together," Swiki Anderson, now a consulting engi­neer, told the Houston Chronicle. "It's an accident that's been wait­ing to happen."

Anderson said he voiced his worries to his department chair­man when teaching at A&M in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The bonfire pile is flawed be-

cause it consists of a relatively loose bunching of upright logs and because its base is too narrow to hold its looming tower, said A&M professor emeritus Louis Thompson.

"I kept telling them it was dan­gerous," said Thompson, a civil engineer who retired in 1991 after 25 years.

"What's amazing to me is that it went on as long as it did." Other A&M staff have defended the practice as both safe and techni­cally sound.

Bill Kibler, assistant vice presi­dent for student affairs, said he is unaware of any warnings made by engineering faculty over the years.

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16-MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS-MONDAY NOVEMBER 22, 1999 NATION

NYC cracks down on homeless NEW YORK (AP) - City of­ficials plan a crackdown on people who sleep on the streets following a random attack on a woman by an apparently home­less man.

··srreets do not exist in civi­lized societies for the purpose of people sleeping there," Mayor Rudolph Giulinai said Friday during his weekly radio call-in show on WABC-AM. ··Bedrooms are for sleeping:· Giuliani said. adding that the right to sleep on the streets ··doesn't exist anywhere.

The founding fathers never put that in the Constitution." The mayor's remarks were prompted by an attack last week on a woman who was critically injured when a man believed to be homeless smashed her in the head with a brick, police spokes­woman Marilyn Mode said.

Police Commissioner Howard Safir said all precincts would be urged to inform the homeless about city shelters and social services available to them.

Ina subsequent interview with

The New York Times, Safir said those who refuse could end up being arrested or receive a sum­mons.

"If they 're blocking people's access to property, we'll move them along," Safir said. Mary Brosnahan, executive director of the Coalition for the Home­less, questioned Friday's com­ments in the wake of the administration's announcement last month that the homeless would have to work in order to receive shelter.

"Where's the logic here?" she

Senate Appropriations Chairman Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska (left) and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Sen. Pete Oomenici, R-N.M. hold a news conference Thursday on Capitol Hill. Republicans and Democrats have agreed to a tentative budget agreement. AP

COMMONWEALTH PORTS AUTHORITY REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

For a High-Speed Runway Vacuum Sweeper for the Saipan International Airport

The Commonwealth Ports Authority (CPA) is soliciting sealed proposals for the procurement of one (1) high-speed runway vacuum sweeper for the Saipan International Airport, Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

The proposed sweeper must be equivalent or more advanced than the following:

I. -MAIN ENGINE a. Diesel 6-cylinder engine b. 80 or more horsepower C. 12-Volt DC System d. Automatic transmission e. Power Steering

2. AUXILIARY ENGINE (Vacuum Sweeper Section) a. Diesel 6-cylinder engine b. 80 or more horsepower c. Hopper: 4 or more cubic yard capacity d. Minimum 200 gallon water tank

PRICE MUST BE CIF SAIPAN

Interested proposer should submit proposals no later than 4:30 p.m.,December 10, 1999. Late proposals will not be entertained.

The CPA reserves the right to reject any or all proposals for any reason, if in its sole opinion to do so would be in its best interest.

Send information to: Mr. Carlos H. Salas Executive Director Commonwealth Ports Authority P.O. Box 1055 Saipan, MP 96950

/s/ ROMAN S. PALACIOS Contracting Officer/Board Chairman

Rudolph Giulinai

said. "We 're going to round them up and bring them to a shelter, and if they refuse to work, they 're going to be thrown back on the streets?" Mode said the department's efforts would actually re-emphasize an exist­ing policy.

In the mid 1990s, police be­gan rounding up homeless· people in Manhattan, leading many to move out of tourist ar­eas to avoid arrests or sum­monses for such public nuisance violations as impeding the flow of pedestrian traffic.

SAN DIEGff(AP) - Bidders logo, was.tumed.overtci surviv-snapped llp (elevisions, {)()()kS, ing cultmembers as part of a bunk beds and other household legal settlen,ent . .. . . . ·· <

items Sftturday thatwere left be- 1ben1oreygenera.tedfr?!llfh~ ~incl by the • ~eaven's. Gate cult•·' remaining items .. t ,pprlli~q at \Vhen its 39 members committed $50,000-wilJ • par p}aii:ps ~led the worst mass suicide on U.S. by relatives <>fthe cµlt 1nernijr~

soil. . .. • . . ··.·.· .... ·• ·.. . .. ··... . .. whQ died, ~an I)ieg<> Coµpty Ken Powell, aSanDiegodealer offki.flls ·said;·· Thl\f?Ifl\ raised

iµ secondhand.·.goods, ,hought wasn()timmed}flte}t~r~lable. seven of the 19 bunkbeds where . . ''ThisswfftasJt certain ca~ tlle cult members.·.werefound chetjusr~ca~se Qf\Vh<> itbe-dead. March 26, 1997,Jrb111. a lo11?e<l t()," said NMer Jµlit; mixture.of applesauce,v.odlrn:and••·. •··· Stangeland 9f Sflol.i~ea9h> ......•.. · •.. · · barbiturates. ..•••. < ..•.•.... · ...•. ·.· . ;fhe. :39 Jirav1:1p's §~.~ njf!U-

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'IJffi 1:1,up~?H ~w·· aboiifJQOi•.• .·•·'try(lyief! l:iep~~ f Yiflf¥) ~ay~· ~1~; fi'?ltl ¥qous• co11ect()rs·· · ··· Nw tlt(lY ~e~•·$he4~\ng >meir to the curiou~; Heidig~te~9n,•.a·· ;'.eat4ll)' 99ntainers? to••join•· •~ ~~ .• ·I?i.egq p~sp:Ycl;ef, had .. her (i. spacesliirtraiU4gthefJaJJ1?0PP

~t::~c;r:.i~if ~l~~;~: . co;t~ ~~JJ~]i ~~ieJ~itll that it had been used to mix the from Orange; said he plans to deadlyappl¥saµ<:"e, ·· · • put the bun~IJ¢g M l:i94glit m ~

Thf ciilt's #Jost di~tinctive . gue#roorn,ti!Ntj~jt#'iffmill<~ property,jncluding.artworkand a gopd cpnVer¥atiori pi~pewl;fn patches with the H~veri's Gate · peo1* staJover,7 he .sajd. ( .... "",' ...... ,··: __ . __ :--:· ·,· .. _ ....... · ... , .. .

Girl dies in school shooting DEMING, N.M. (AP)-A 13-year-old girl who police said had been shot in the head by a fellow student at a New Mexico school died Saturday.

Araceli Tena died at Thomason Hospital in El Paso, Texas, where she'd been rushed by ambulance Friday shortly after she was shot in the lobby of Deming Middle School, police said.

VictorCordovaJr., of Pal om as, Mexico, was wearing a camou­flage jacket when he fired a single shot from a .22-caliber handgun, police said.

Police say the boy is 13 years old, but his family says he is 12.

Investigators were trying to determine a motive for the shoot­ing at the only middle school in this farming and ranching town of

15,000, about 33 miles north of the Mexican border, said Carlos Viramontes, Deming schools su­perintendent.

Cordova had been charged with attempted murder.assault, aggra­vated assault and aggravated bat­tery Friday.

Investigators will be working with prosecutors to amend the charges, said police. The school district had established a safety plan for such an incident follow­ing the fatal shootings at Colum­bine High School in Littleton, Colo., Viramontes said.

It was not known how the al­leged shooter managed to get a gun into the school. Counselors met with about 100 students and parents earlier Saturday at the school.

Teen boy dies after school fight PALMDALE, Calif. (AP) - A schoolyard fight with an older classmate left a 13-year-old boy dead.

The fight broke out shortly before 2 p.m. Friday when the two eighth­grnders began throwing punchesout­sideJuniper IntermediateSchool,said Los Angeles County sherifrsdeputy Bruce 111omas.

The boy fell and hit his head on

a cement sidewalk, then went into convulsions, said schools Super­intendent Nancy Smith.

He was pronounced dead at Antelope Valley Hospital about an hour later.

Thomas said an autopsy was being conducted to determine the cause of death. Sheriff's investi­gators spoke with the 14-year-old boy Friday. No charges were filed.

-,-----· ---,,..-. _____ MONDAY. NOVEMBER 22, 1999 -MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS-17

'Demseye calendar change WASHINGTON (AP) - The Democratic Party, considering changes to its presidential nomi­nating calendar for 2004, began hearing Saturday from state offi­cials unhappy with the influence New Hampshire and Iowa hold in picking the White House nominee.

The current system, which leads off with the New Hampshire pri­mary and the Iowa caucuses, is ··fundamentally wrong," not to mention unfair, Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan .said at the first of four hearings by the party's rules committee.

The others are set for early next year. "Why should two states have this kind of impact? Any two states?" he said.

The system now encourages presidential candidates to pay closer attention to a particular state's needs, drawing commit­ments and assurances in order to win votes, Levin said.

He pointed out that Vice Presi­dent Al Gore flew to New Hamp­shire this weekend for his 18th campaign trip to the state.

"Eighteen visits to one state -folks. it effects policy," Levin said.

The party rules guarantee that voters in New Hampshire and

Iowa pick first in the nominating process.

Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa said the two states give candidates without name recognition or money the chance to campaign alongside better known and fi­nanced politicians.

New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen cited the !976race when Jimmy Carter, a relatively un­known governor from Georgia, sought the nomination.

"Because he won New Hampshire, he was able to take his message to the rest of the nation," she said.

She said the GO P's similar sys­tem has helped Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona "level the playing field" this year against the front-runner, George W. Bush, who has raised much more money.

The Democratic Party allows only Iowa and New Hampshire to hold caucuses or primaries before March 7 without penalty.

The Republican National Com­mittee does not impose such lim­its, and states have crowded the GOP calendar with many Febru­ary elections. Democratic officials in some states have sought to hold primaries earlier to save money and stay competitive with state

Feds may upgrade island disease lab PLUM ISLAND, N.Y. (AP) -Contrary to rumor, there are no three-headed pigs here. Still, this tiny, high-security island, only a mile and a half off Long Island's prosperous North Fork, is the site of the Plum Island Animal Dis­ease Center, where scientists study some of the world's most infec-. tious animal viruses.

It's the lab made famous in Nelson De Mille 's 1997 bestseller "'Plum Island," about stolen vi­ruses and murdered scientists. And because the public is usually kept out, there is wild speculation about what goes on inside the lab 135 miles east of Manhattan.

Now that the Agriculture De­partment wants to upgrade the laboratory, allowing scientists to also study animal diseases that endanger humans. officials are going out of their way to ease public concern, addressing local residents and taking elected offi­cials and reporters on tours.

It's not likely to be an easy sell for residents of the east end of Long Island, which boasts the rich and. famous in the Hamptons on the South Fork and miles of roll­ing wine country on the North Fork.

More than a decade ago. they helped halt construction of the Shoreham nuclear power plant. More recently, they lobbied the Energy Department into perma­nently shutting down a nuclear reactor at the Brookhaven Na­tional Laboratory.

Wilda Martinez, area director for the Agricultural Research Ser­vice, told about I 00 people at a public hearing at the Greenport American Legion that a cutting-

edge lab on Plum Island is essen­tial to protecting public health.

She warned that new diseases were spreading - citing the West Nile virus blamed for killing six people in New York in Septem­ber.

'The protection afforded by ocean barriers and geographical separation will no longer prevent the introduction of foreign ani­mal diseases," Martinez said.

What's being considered is up­grading the lab to "Biosecurity Level 4" - the highest security level.

For the lab's current security level, reporters and photographers given a tour last week were or­dered to strip naked and don plas­tic coveralls and clean sneakers -standard procedure for Plum Is­land employees.

Photographers had to carry waterproof cameras thal could be soaked in acetic acid after the tour.

Eve1yone had to shower for at least three minutes when they left. U.S. Rep. Michael Forbes, D­N.Y., whose district covers the east end of Long Island, said he had serious reservations about upgrading Plum Island.

··I think we need additional in­formation about their plans," Forbes said. "I am not outright opposed to it, but neither have I embraced the idea."

Ed Barrett, a retired chemistry professor from Marion. asked if the BSL-4 lab could be located "somewhere where there is no possibility that some kind of error won't cause something that cou Id be catastrophic for us?'" No ev­eryone was so worried.

Republicans. ·'I hope we don't let the Republican party and lack of structure drive us to some kind of internal strife," Harkin said.

The DNC chairman, Joe An­drew, said he has been working on the issue with his GOP coun­terpart.

Among the options being con­sidered by Democrats: -Provid­ing states with incentives - such as "bonus" delegates - to hold their primaries later in the year.

-A regional delegate selection system in which primaries would

be held the first Tuesdays of March, April, May and June.

Under that system, however, Iowa and New Hampshire prob­ably still would be allowed to hold their elections first. New Hampshire's secretary of state, William Gardner, urged party of­ficials to consider the tradition of his state. having the first in the nation primary since 1920.

Changing the date would be like "saying you're going to let 'M' be the first letterof the alpha­bet - or Z," he said.

But Rep. Sander Levin of Michigan, Carl Levin's brother, said tradition is not enough to prevent the current system from further getting '"out of control."

Levin dismissed claims by New Hampshire and Iowa officials who said voters in their states are among the few in the nation who can talk to candidates inside their home and ask "personal, charac­ter type of questions." "I think people in living rooms ask frank questions no matter where they live," Levin said.

Shawn Allen Berry (center).comforts his fiance Christie Marcontell (left) as his attorney, Joseph uLum" Hawthorn sits beside him after the jury's verdict of guilty was delivered Thursday in Jasper, Texas. Berry was found guilty of capital murder in the dragging death of James Byrd Jr. AP

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The individuals we seek are likely to have a ~ombination of the following qualjfications:

· • Experience managing and driving a successful sales team (OIC) • Excellent verbal and written communication skills • Able to use a PC¥ to create memos and spreadsheets

(very comfortable using Word & Excel) • Able to work under pressure • A team player • University degree and/or 5 years banking experience (OIC)

HSBC offers a competitive salary commensurate with· qualifications and experience as well as an extensive benefits package. If you are one of the highly motivated individuals we are seeking, please complete an application and submit your resume to HSBC Branch, Garapaa, Saipan. ·

Resumes/Applications wiUbe accepted 9:30 a.m. 4:00 p.m.1 Monday, 22 November- Wednesday, · 24 November 1999 only. No phone calls please. ·

As a condition of employment HSBC requires proof of identity and eligibility to work in the CNMI (RESIDENT WORKERS ONLV),.drug t~sting, police and court clearance, a credit check and ability testing. HSBC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. · .

The HSBC Group is one of the ~lid's largest banking and financial services organizations wi1h major persenal, commerdal, co~rale and investment banking and.inswance businesses operating in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. We employ some 140,000 people in. 79 rountries, and territories and at 30 June 1999, recorded assets of USD497 billion.

HSBCID

· 18-MARlANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS-MONDAY- NOVEMBER 22, 1999 LATIN AMePU0A

----·-~ ~11,NORTHERN MARIANAS HOUSING CORPORATION -,;-,-~\~ G) ~~/ Koblerville Turnkey House and Lot for Sale -

EOUAI. IOJSING OPPORTUNITY

The Northern Marianas Housing Corporation (NMHC) is offering for sale a three (3) bedroom concrete house, "AS IS" without any expressed or implied warranty, together with the land located in Koblerville, Saipan. The property is described as:

Lot No. 005 I 496, containing an area of 7 45 square meters, more or less, on which the dwelling is situated.

The sale will be conducted on Monday, January 1 o, 2000 at 10:00 a.m. at NMHC's Central Office in Garapan. A minimum bid price should not be less than $78,000.00. The purchase price shall be made in cash certilied, cashier's check or partially financed by or through NMHC, d~ pending on the successful bidder's repayment ability. Minimum down payment shall be twenty five percent (25%) of the highest bid amount. Maximum financing term for the balance shall be ten (10) years. All payments must be received within 72 hours after the bid.

Interested individual(s) may contact Thomas C. Duenas, Manager, Mort­gage Credit Division, at 234-6866/7689 on or before Monday, January 10, 2000.

NMHC reserves the right to reject any and all bids and to cancel or ex­tend the date, time and place for sale of such property. Any prospective buyer must be a person authorized by the Constitution and laws of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands to hold title to real es­tate in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. · ·

"NMHC is an EQUAL EMPLOYMENT AND FAIR HOUSING PUBLIC AGENCY"

0} «:omnrontnealt{J of tbe iiort{Jern Jflariana 3f slanlls COMMONWEALTH DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

Wakin 's Bldg., Gualo Rai, Tel. 234-7145m 46/6293

0 Saipan. MP %950

.dt1' PUBLIC NOTICE ,o November 18, 1999

PURSUANT 1D PUBLIC LAW 8-41, SECTION ·n, GOVERNOR PEDRO P. TENORIO AND LT. GOVERNOR JESUS R. SABLAN, TilROUGH TIIE CDA BOARD OF DIREC­TORS ARE HEREBY GIVING NOTICE THAT THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF Tiffi COMMONWEALTii DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (CDA) WILL BE HELD ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23. 1999 AT 10:00 A.M. ATTIIE CDA CONFERENCE ROOM, WAKIN'$ BUILDING, GUALO RAJ. SAIPAN.

AGENDA: l. PRELIMINARY MATI"ERS

I. Roll Call ll. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Ill. ADOPTION OF M!NlITES IV. REPORTS

I. Fund'sAvaifabilit)' Report 2. Chairman's/Executive Director's Report 3. Committees' Report 4. Manager's Report

V. OLD BUSINESS I. Loan Guaranty Agreement 2. FY '99 Financial Audit 3. SBA Micro Loan Program

VI. NEW BUSINESS I. CPALoan

VII. DCD MA TI"ERS I. Loan Status

Vlll. ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS IX. OTlffiR MATI"ERS X. ADJOURNMENT

All interested persons are welcome to attend and to submit writtt!n or oral testimony on the above agenda Hems. (Nole: Pursuant to Public Law 8-4/, Section 13(a)(7) and Section 13/c), the Board may \'Ole IO meet in executive session).

ls/JUAN S. TENORIO Chairman. CDA Board of Directors

••• ••• ···Hanson Micronesian Cement Company

and Hanson 1?eJrmanen1te Cement Guam

would like to THANK the management and employees of the following companies:

Joeten's Ace Hardware Kwek's Enterprises Saipan

Mid-Pac Micronesia AAFES Post Exchange (Saipan)

for providing us with free pallets to enable Micronesia Cement Company to ship over

460 tons of cement to help lessen the cement shortage on Guam.

THANK YOU!

Dynamic · Innovative · Reliable • Responsible • Strong • Successful · Unified

Hurricane death toll reaches 12 PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten (AP) - Relief workers fanned out across the eastern Caribbean on Saturday to assess damage from Lenny, a late-season hurri­cane that killed at least 12 people and destroyed hundreds of homes.

Lenny, which was downgraded Friday to a tropical· storm as it drifted east toward the open At­lantic, left thousands of people without power as it rampaged across a region encompassing at least 16 islands.

U.S. Coast Guard crews recov­ered the body of Carl Wake, 43, of

. Bradenton,Fla,about4mileswest of the island of Saba, said Petty Officer Terry Holster in San Juan.

Wake and a companion, Steve Righby, 54, of New York City, were last reported on a yacht off the U.S. VirginislandofSt.Croix, 80 miles west of Saba, on Wednes­day, when Lenny pounded the region with 150-mph winds.

The search for Righby was continuing, Holster said. The Bar­bados-based Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency was mobilizing teams to go into Antigua, Anguilla, St. Kitts and Nevis to assess damage and hu­manitarian needs, said deputy coo~dinator Audrey Mullings.

Most damage in those islands was confined to coastal flooding, which could affect drinking wa­ter supplies, she said.

Mullings said the agency was working with the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, the Pan American Health Organiza­tion, the U.N. Development Pro­gram and the Canadian Interna­tional Development Agency.

The U.S. Federal Emergency

HAV ,&A(AP)....::Fidel Castro bas a m~w best friend in Latin America.. .·.. . .... Laughing, backslapping and· . tra,ding curveballs with Castro'sbase­ball tean1, Vene.zuelan !'resident Hugo Cliavez, a lefty to be s~re, shares the wit, wind and popu­lism of the Cuban leader. And he promises that the two countries are now marching together to­ward a "sea of happiness."

So far, however, the idea of Chavez has been easier.for the Unit~d States to swallow; a Castrowithout calories, with no anti-American rhetoric, no ex­propriations of private property and nosquelching of domestic dissent. . .

:Many have seen Chavez as a sort of Castro for the future: a lineup replacement for the left in Latiri America - rnuch as wily manager Castro gradually slipped young stars into the old­timers baseball game against Chavez's Venezuelans on Thurs­day.

The two leaders, both pretty fair baseball players in their youth, are strikingly similar in style.

The Russian cargo ship Sergo Zakariadze sits grounded at the en­trance to San Juan Bay just next to El Morro Castle in San Juan Puerto Rico as Hurricane Lenny got stalled off the coast of Dutch islands of Si. Maarten. AP

Management Agency said St. people were killed in Dutch St Croix had been spared the worst Maarten - two struck by flying of Lenny, with damage limited to debris late Thursday andamotorist minor flooding, some downed who died when the hillside road he utility poles and at least 50 boats was on collapsed. Lenny also was washed ashore. blamed for one death in Puerto

France allocated $318,700 for Rico and two in Colombia. emergency relief in its Caribbean One person was missing in islands of Martinique and Dominica. Guadeloupe. Lenny's winds reached 150mph

Fourpeoplediedin·Guadel.oupe last week before dwindling to 50 and more than 600were left home- mph - tropical storm strength- as it less on the two islands, officials rapidly disintegrated. said. On Saturday, its poorly defined

Authorities in Martinique said center was about 130 miles east of no one died there, despite earlier Dominica. The storm killed live-reports of one hurricane-related stock, stripped beaches of sand, death. flooded hotels and roads, downed

Four people who lived in house- utility lines and disrupted commu-boats off St. Martin were missing, nications throughout the region. French officials said. Earlier, St.Croix'sAnnAbramsonpier Coast Guard crews rescued a St. in Frederiksted - the main entry Maarten man who had spent two point for cruise ships - also was days in 100-rriph winds and 30- damaged, but workers were set-foot seas. ting up a temporary facility until

His companion died. Three the pier could be repaired.

.·. C~vi:;) spee6J~i•2kiif~bi~ for hours·•\thougl).· }Jeavpids Castro's practireofdrp;,vrii11g lis­teners .• with.en9~~ statistics· to

fill ail alrnan;u:..•\ ..• /·.········ ...• . Like Castro, .Chayezmi~es hu-

mor 'Nith bitter references. to the "false democracy'' and corrup­tion that reigned inhis country prior to his arrival.

Chavez also calls himself a revolutionary andsays 9e is dedi­cated\to. "sttu?r-1ral changes," Some suspect h.e plaIJs a C:astro0

like s~yin power. .. · "Thisisalongprocess,"hesaid

· Thursday in Havana, "We see ou~elves .giving oudife .to this project, all ourlife.'·

But so far there '.s little evidence that C:llavez's "sea qfhappiness" looks much like Fidel's, "Chavez is a social reformer. .

His objectives are socialjus" tice, a more equal distribution of income, a better shake . for the downtrodden," said Wayne Smith, a Cuba specialist who is senior feilow at the Center for International Policy in Washing­ton, D.C. Even so, "Idon't see any indication Chavez is going to follow the path that Cuba did in

···· .. i~~~· .. •.oe· ••• ~Jitbhkiic!ij{~] tions,"• Stnitlf sai~; ~·'liiey lf/3Y. have very.similar gQalf +.1:im .

. diffe~nt y.rays of achieving it;'' Chavez co1:w~d···a C?~tituc ·

tional conventior tharis. t(}malc; ingVenezuela's courts, legisla-ture and govem,ment.

It has calledfor state control of oil and social security- but so far it has stopped far short of Cuba's path .of nationalizing •l:iusi~t:sses and expropriatingforeign prop-

erty. <·.·· > / .. • The.1eaders.·.9~Jipti~p9ippat­

ibglty. may stem partly fl"onr~ mutua)impatience ..yithpartis:m. democmcy, a tornmpnpl:i~snta and a shared setl~ ()f.1Jytn%

They are. SQ cornfortabfoWitlJ. · one anoth.er tlw~5all; ~lcpange

goqdanatllredjibe!: tpath~y~ tl}ei~ aui:lience ro~ng with laughter. And no U.S.politiciancanoutdo Chavez in telling a joke'.

But their outlooks may be afa fected by very different paths to power. Castro's campaign for Cuba's congress in 1952 was foiled by Fulgencio Batista's coup d'etat. He came to power in 1959 as a guerrilla fighting the established army.

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·ASIA· MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1999-MARiANAS VARIETY NEWS ANb VIEWS~19

Clinton admits:

S · erred in Greece'

U.S. Pr1:;sident i?ill Clint~n (left) conf(!rS with National Security Advisor Sandy Berger and Secretary of State Madeleine Albnght during the opening session of the OSCE summit in Istanbul Thursday. AP

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - A Clinton said nothing suspicious peaceful." day after violent anti-American was found. Clinton said his re- Clinton readily acknowledged protests,PresidentC!intonsought mark about the Greek junta was that "almost all of the people of to heal old wounds Saturday by prompted by thinking about U.S.- Greecedisagree"with U.S. policy acknowledging the United States Greek history "in both its painful in Kosovo and, before that, in failed its "obligation to support and its proud aspects." Bosnia. democracy" when it backed The 1967 coup, led by the late "But that doesn't affect our af-Greek's harsh military junta dur- Col. George Papadopoulos, fection for, and our support for ing the Cold War. toppled the parliamentary gov- the people of Greece and the gov-

The president's words came as ernment after years of political emment of Greece." a concession to long-standing instability, which many Greeks Simitis said Greece is a nation Greek sensitivities and to tens of blamed on what they saw as U.S. "whereeveryonecanexpresstheir thousands of demonstrators who meddling in Greek affairs. opinions."Butheagreedthatsuch take to the streets each year on The junta imposed an ultracon- expressions should be made Nov. 17 to denounce the United servative regime that did not per- peacefully. States and mark the anniversary mit political dissent or free ex- 'Tm sorry for the fact that cer-of a bloody crackdown against pression at a time when much of tain people did not respect this student demonstrators in 1973 by Western Europe was being trans- fundamental principle oflaw ," he the old military regime. formedbystudent-ledprotestsand said .

"When the junta took over in underground movements. National Security Council 1967 here," Clinton said, "the The military rulers jailed hun- spokesman David Leavy said the United States allowed its inter- dreds ofopponents, tortured many president's statement about the ests in prosecuting the Cold War and banished others to barren is- old junta was "not intended as an toprevailoveritsinterest,Ishould lands Anti-America protest dur- apology. It was intended to chart say its obligation, to support de- ing Clinton's visit produced a a forward-looking vision of U.S.-mocracy, which was, after all, the night of mayhem in central Ath- Greek relations." cause for which we fought the ens. The firebombs and destruction Cold War. Hooded rioters among a crowd triggered an uproar of finger-

It is important that we acknowl- of I 0,000 demonstrators set fires pointing and recrimination. "Hell edge that." and smashed storefronts and banks in Athens," read the headline in

His statement, in a speech to Friday evening. the Apogevmatini newspaper. business and community leaders, The protest was aimed against The spokesman for the opposi-brought a burst of applause. U.S. U.S. policy in Kosovo and Bosnia tion New Democracy Party, Aris · Ambassador Nicholas Bums had and the American-led bombing Spiliotopoulos, said Greece's "'in-apologized in 1998 for U.S. sup- of Yugoslavia, a traditional Or- ternational image was battered." port of the junta but Clinton's thodox Christian ally of Greece. Even the sports newspaper words carried far more weight. The president opened the day SporTime lamented the "interna-

LaterClinton flew to Florence, by climbing the hills of the tional humiliation." The govern-Italy, by way of Pisa, to attend a Acropolis, hand in hand with his ment blamed Greece's small but dinner with five European lead- daughter Chelsea, to see the an- influential Communist Party, ers and Brazil's president, cient temples of the Parthenon. while leftists insisted the govern-Fernando Henrique Cardoso, at Asked about Friday's violence, ment was responsible by impos-Villa La Pietra, a 14th century he said simply, 'Tm sorry about ing an unprecedented ban on estate surrounded by gardens, hills that." Later, Clinton elaborated marches, including the route to and olive groves. during a joint news conference the U.S. Embassy.

On the flight from Athens to with Socialist Prime Minister Clinton, addressing Greece's Pisa, Secret Service agents asked Constantine Simitis. disputes with Turkey over terri-all aboard Air Force One tocheck "ldeeplyregrettheGreekswho tory in the Aegean Sea, said the their carry-on luggage for "any- had their property injured and who two nations should take their ar-thing suspicious." suffered losses through these dem- gument to the International Court

White House spokesman Joe onstrations," he said. of Justice in the Hague or to some Lockhart said the extra precau- Clinton said people have the recognized international agency. tion was taken in response to a right to demonstrate - especially Greece strongly favors that ap-security threat, which he would in Greece, the birthplace of de- proach but Turkey prefers direct not describe. mocracy - but that "I strongly negotiations. Greece was the sec-

A senior official traveling with believe the protests should be ond country on a I 0-day, six-na-

tion trip. From Athens, the president was

heading to Florence, Italy, for a conference with Italian Premier MassimoD'Alema,BritishPrime Minister Tony Blair, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, and Cardoso.

The leaders gathered in Florence, the renaissance capital of grand palaces, magnificent churches and famed museums and masterpieces, for two days of talks on a "Third Way" in politics - a path between the politics of the left and the right, trying to link economic growth with social fairness.

Clinton said one of the most important challenges is to elimi­nate old hatreds and rivalries among people. "If I had to leave

tonight and never have another thing to say about public· life," Clinton said, "I would say, 'Ifwe could find a way to enshrine a. reve'rence for our common hu­manity, the rest would work out just fine."'

On his visit to the Acropolis, Clinton expressed sympathy to­ward Greece for its claim on an­cient statues taken from the Parthenon and now housed in.the British Museum in London, Greek culture minister Elisavet Papazoi said.

"He said, 'If it would be me, I would give them back immedi­ately, "'she said. The United States has not taken a'n official view on the issue, but White House offi­cials said Clinton would raise the matter with Blair.

.c-SAIPANCELL COMMUNICATIO~S

Tfu: Cfu,iu: i.5 O::ur.

SaipanCell Communications welcomes you to apply for a position with our growing ream if you have the qualifications for the following:

FULLTIMECORPORATEACCOUNTEXECUTIVE • Must have a minimum of two years experience in Corporate Sales and

Account Management • Will be responsible for establishing new accounts as well as managing

existing accounts • Will be required to maintain a monthly quota • Must have a valid drivers license anp own transportation • Must have strong verbal, written communication and organizational

skills • Must have a pleasant disposition, professional attitude and

appearance . • Must be familiar with cold calling and keeping a daily itinerary • Must be a self starter, enthusiastic, and aggressive • Must be able to work under pressure, work flexible hours, including

weekends when necessary • Computer experience preferred

Interested applicants must submit resume/ application to SaipanCell Communications

Attn: Hans W. Mickelson/GM PMB 198 Box 10001 Saipan, MP 96950

email address for this position: hans@cellular.saipan.com or ccaJugay@guamcell.net

Deadline to submit application/resume is November 26, 1999

U.S. Marshall sealed bid auction of the following vehicles

1991 Toyota P/U (White, Extra Cab, 4 x 4, After market tires and wheels)

1991 Mazda B2600 P/U (Black, 4x4)

1991 Nissan Sentra XL (Gray, four door)

1990 Bayliner Capri Boat (White on Gray, open bow, 19', 150HP outboard, Trailer)

Minimum bids of $500 on each vehicle, sealed bids to be open at 10AM, Friday November 26, 1999 at the U.S. Maarshall's office

first floor Horiguchi Building Garapan.

To see the vehicles and to get a bid form, contact the contracted vendor:

FAST CASH PAWNSHOP SAN JOSE

235-5116 / 234-5117

l

20-MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS-MONDAY - NOVEMBER 22, 1999 EUROPE

Jets resume Chechnya bombing

Russian soldiers load howitzers as they fire at positions of Islamic militants near Gudermes, east of Grozny. Russia's military campaign was continuing at full speed. AP

•WBtilililfillB!IB;r jli;IJi..

OMBUDSMAN CASE WORKERS

VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Insular Affairs

The U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of Insular Affairs 's mission is to assist the islands in developing more efficient and effective government by providing financial and technical assistance; and to help manage Federal-island relations by promoting appropriate Federal policies. We are seeking four highly qualified case workers/translators to work on an intermittent basis as contract employees in our Labor Ombudsman Office in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). The Ombudsman acts as a worker's advocate by facilitating assistance for alien workers in the CNMI in the resolution of labor complaints and problems.

Case Workers/Translators duties include translation and interpretation services; labor, immigration, and civil rights counseling; outreach education to alien workers; and assistance in filing for relief with appropriate Federal and CNMI agencies.

Requirements: Candidates must have fluency in English both written and spoken as well as one or more of the following languages; Tagalog, Mandarin, Bengali, Singhalese, Urdu, Hindi, Nepalese, Tamil and Korean. Candidates must have knowledge of Federal and local labor and immigration laws, regulations and procedures. Candidates possessing an interactive experience with the CNMI alien worker community, especially in regard to obtaining the trust and cooperation of the workers are preferred. Computer skills are desirable. While U.S. citizens, U.S. permanent residents, U.S. nationals, and non-residents are eligible to apply for this position, preference will be given to U.S. citizens, U.S. permanent residents and U.S. nationals.

Application Information: Recruitment for the position is being conducted by Attorney Pamela Brown, Federal Ombudsman, located in Saipan. Please send resume to Attorney Pamela Brown, Department of Interior, Ombudsman Office, P.O. Box 2452, Kallingal Building, Saipan, MP 96950 or you may fax resume to (670) 233-8040. Position opens 11/30/99 to 12/20/99.

The Department of the Interior is an equal opportunity employer.

GROZNY, Russia (AP)-Rus­sian troops on Saturday tightened their ring around the Chechen capital, the key prize in Moscow's two-month campaign in the break.away republic, as clear skies allowed renewed bombing.

Meanwhile, Russian officials were trying to restore basic utili­ties to areas occupied by federal troops, turning on gas supplies and promising electricity within days.

Military officials said Saturday that Russian forces were within three miles of the Chechen capi­tal, Grozny, and had the city nearly surrounded, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency,

Russian aircraft have been shell­ing Grozny for weeks. Saturday's resumed airstrikes came amid in­tense international criticism of Russia's military campaign in Chechnya.

At a summit in Turkey last week, a defiant President Boris Yeltsin angrily rejected calls for negotiations to end the war.

A day after fog grounded flights, Russian Su-24 attack planes and Mi-24 helicopters flew 70 mis­sions Saturday, the military com­mand said.

They focused on the rebel stronghold of Bamut in the west of the Caucasus Mountains re­public; Urus-Martan, southwest ofGrozny; and Argun, east of the capital.

The army has said it hoped to seizeBamut this weekend, though Russian planes have been pound­ing the rebel base for weeks and it was unclear how much closer they were to a takeover Saturday.

Chechen Deputy Prime Minis­ter Kazbek Makhashev told Interfax that Urus-Martan was being pummeled Saturday with­out letup.

He said the Russian troops wanted to force residents to fl~e,

then "announce its capture with­out a single shot."

. Meanwhile, Russian ground forces oh Saturday seized towns around Chechnya's second-larg­est city, Gudermes, which the Russians occupied last week. CoL . Yuri Em told reporters that troops were beginning house-to-house searches of the towns and that most of the rebels have fled into nearby mountains.

Em said no Russian service­men were killed in Saturday's fighting. The claim, like most ca­sualty reports in Chechnya, could not be independently verified.

The head of Russia's electricity monopoly, Anatoly Chubais, vis- . ited Gudermes on Saturday and turned on the city's gas supplies for the first time in months. ·

He promised electricity within days, and helped light Gudermes' eternal flame for soldiers killed in World War II.

More than 217,000 refugees have fled to the neighboring Rus­sian republic of lngushetia since Moscow's. campaign began in September.

In Moscow, the U.N. Commis­sionerfqr Refugees Sadako Ogata met with Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov to discuss (he plight of the refugees.

Chechnya has effectively been beyond Moscow's control since Russian forces withdrew at the end of a 1994-96 war.

Moscow now says it is aiming to clear the region oflslarnic milf­tants blamed for terrorist acts around Russia, and insists it is targeting only rebel fighters, de­spite claims from human rights groups and Chechens that. the ci­vilian toll has been high.

Yeltsin met in the Kremlin on Saturday with Ivanov and De­fense Minister Igor Sergeyev to discuss the situation in the north­ern Caucasus.

Pontiff criticizes reform. m_overnent

VA TI CAN CITY(AP) - Pope John Paul II issued a stem rebuke Saturday to grass-roots Catholic reform movements, rejecting their demands for women priests and a greater role for laity.

John Paul spoke before an au­dience ofbishops from Germany, home to a reform movement as active as the one in the United States.

The pontiff has never left any doubt he opposed the aims of

· reform movements. On Saturday, he made it clear he disapproves of the movements themselves and their methods. 'These groups are trying to provoke within the church, through concerted action and insistent pressure, changes that run counter to the will of Christ," John Paul said.

He said he sympathized with the German bishops for their "fa­tigue and great expenditures of energy" in countering the de­mands of the groups.

Foremost among the reform

Pope John Paul II

groups is an Austrian-born lay movementcalledWeAreChurch, which has gathered millions of signatures in Austria, Germany and other countries on petitions demanding liberalization of church law.

In October, conducting its own shadow synod during a Vatican conference of European bishops, the reform movements presented the Vatican with a list of demands that included lifting bans on con­traception and married priests.

I i1

Ii. + MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1999-MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS-21

Jordan to free Ham.as leaders AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - The government plans to free 24 Hamas leaders soon under an agreement authorities claim will end the militant Palestinian group's activities in Jordan, a law­yer and an official said Saturday.

Saleh Armouti, the chief de­fense lawyer of the jailed Hamas officials, said Prime Minister Abur-Ra'uf S.

Rawabdeh told him Saturday that the "Hamas leaders will freed from jail within 24 hours." Three of them, senior Hamas leaders in Jordan, "will be asked to leave Jordan, but will be allowed to return for visits every now and then," Armouti told The Associ­ated Press.

He refused to say if the remain­ing 21 middle-ranking leaders also will be asked to leave. All the men are Jordanian. Deputy Prime Min­ister Ayman Majali told the AP

that "there is no final government decision except that we are study­ing this issue closely and a deci­sion will be made within three to four days."

But a government official, speaking on condition of anonym­ity, confirmed the account. Harn as is opposed to a peace settlement with Israel and advocates its anni­hilation.

The group has claimed respon­sibility for scores of deadly at­tacks against Israelis. Hamas also opposes Jordan's 1994 peace treaty with Israel.

The government had long tol­erated Hamas' presence in the kingdom, until Jordan came un­der pressure from the United States, the Palestinians and Israel to restrain the group.

The activists were arrested in batches after the government be­gan a crackdown in August with

4,000-yr-old palace discovered in Syria DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) ·­Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of a royal palace be­lieved to be 4,000 years old near Damascus, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported Saturday.

It said "highly valued ru­ins" were discovered by a joint German, Italian and Syrian ex­pedition in Qatanah, about 12 miles southwest of the Syrian capital. The palace dates back to 2000 B .C., the news agency said.

It did not give a more precise year or say which ruler built it. Government officials in charge of archaeology were not immedi­ately available for comment. His­torians believe that the Amorites, who came from the Arabian pen-

insula around 2100 B.C., were the first important Semitic set­tlers in the area, and that they established many small states.

The palace contains a throne hall that is 70 feet by 132 feet with 6-foot high adobe walls, the agency said.

In the center of the hall, an unbroken jar with "amazing deco­ration" was found stuck to the ground, the agency said.

The archaeologists also discov­ered houses with clay jars and basalt tools for grinding grain.

Weights and spindles were found in one house. More than 30 human footprints in the yard of one of the houses were found in addition to nine tombs scattered in different places.

police raids on six Hamas offices. The government accuses the

arrested officials of undertaking illegal political activities. Armouti said the Hamas offices will re­main shut and "no activities for Hamas will be allowed on Jorda­nian soil under any circum­stances."

Leaders of a Jordanian group allied with Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood Movement, met with Rawabdeh to seal the agreement they have been negotiating on behalf of Hamas over the last six weeks. No details of the meeting were immediately available.

The three high-ranking Hamas leaders are political strategist Khalid Mashaal, party spokesman Ibrahim Ghosheh and political bureau member Izzat Rushoq.

A fourth leader, Mohammad Nazzal, is believed to be in hiding in Jordan.

Turkish party ~ ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -Turkey's True Path Party re­elected the former premier as its leader Saturday after a tense party congress in which rival factions pushed, punched and insulted each other.

Delegates stuck with Tansu Ciller despite a poor showing in April elections, when the center­right party received 12 percent of the votes and dropped to the fifth­largest party in parliament. On Saturday, Ciller received 922 of the 1,228 votes cast by delegates.

Her closest rival, Koksal Toptan, a former education min­ister, received 280.

Police formed a human chain around the ballot boxes to protect them from any attacks after sup­porters of the two main candi­dates engaged in fist fights.

Police have said they seized computer disks from the offices of the men that led authorities to caches of arms and explosives and proof that the four had gath­ered sensitive security informa­tion.

Jordan's King Abdullah II ac-

cused the Hamas leaders of using Jordania·n soil for illegitimate purpose, but promised a "politi­cal solution" as a gesture of sup­port for the Palestinians. ·

Brotherhood leaders have said the. Barnas leaders may end up iii neighboring Syria.

Palestinian flower farmers toss their produce on fhe ground during a protest at Erez Check point, northern Gaza strip Thursday. Some 50 Palestinian flower and strawberry farmers protested against Israeli restrictions on the exportation of their goods. AP

SECOND DEATH ANNIVERSARY _...,., ....

. . . .~ . \~- J.._..._ ! '

~'~ ':

In Loving Memory of our Dearly beloved Mom.

LORENZA ADA TORRES

We, the children cordially invite all our families, relatives and friends to join us as we commemorate the second Anniversary of her passage into eternal life.

Daily Mass for the repose of her soul will be offered at Kristo Rai Church: Monday, November 15, 1999 to Saturday, November 20. 1999 will be at 6:00pm Sunday, November 21, 1999 to Tuesday, November 23. 1999 will be at 6:00am

I

22-MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS-MONDAY- NOVEMBER 22, 1999 BUSINESS & TRADE

Tokyo market 'b ish' TOKYO (Reuters)-Japanese stocks are expected to test higher ground this week after hitting a two-year peak on Friday, as in­vestors pour more money imo tele­communications and growth tech­nology stocks, traders said.

The market's Nikkei 225 av­erage barometer finished Friday's session at 18,570.84, its highest close since Septem­ber 10, 1997.

It gained 312.29 points or 1. 71 percent from its close a week ear­lier, boosted mainly by a rush of buying into infonnation technol­ogy stocks and bargain-hunting

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in domestic demand-related sec­tors that had been oversold in recent months.

Stock watchers expect the Nikkei 225 average to test the psychological barrierof 19,000, a level not seen since late August 1997.

"Liquidity is boosting the mar­ket right now," said Hiroshi Arano, a director at Dai-Ichi Kangyo Asset Management. "In such situations, we don't need specific factors to back up a rally.;,

With Japan's rock-bottom in­terest rates reducing the attrac­tiveness of fixed-income securi-

ties, liquidity in Japanese stocks has been swelling.

Total trading volume on the Tokyo Stock Exchange reached a massive 1.23 trillion yen on Fri­day, recording a ninth consecu­tive session of turnover exceed­ing one trillion yen.

Arano said November would likely be the first month since December 1989 when daily trad­ing volume averaged more than one trillion yen.

"The market will trace an uptrend until early December, when liquidity will dwindle due to Christmas holidays and war-

r·-~·· HM

Both sides of the redesigned $5 dollar bill, which was unveiled at the Treasury Department in Washington Tuesday. The redesigned $5 and $10 bills are an effort to foil computer-sawy counterfeiters. AP

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean Finance and Economy Minister Kang Bong-kyun said on Sunday the government would retain its low interest rate policy until inflationary pressure emerges as a real threat.

"I don't think the low interest rate policy needs to be changed at this point of time," Kang told a recorded talk show with the state-run Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) television.

Economists, and central bank . officials according to media re­

ports, have warned the South Korean economy is facing an imminent threat from growing inflationary pressure after its stronger-than-expected rebound from recession.

The country's gross domestic product for the first six months of this year expanded by a pro vi -sional 7.3 percent from a year earlier, compared with a 5 .8 per­cent contraction for all of 1998.

The Bank of Korea will re­le.ase third quarter GDP figures

on Monday, A Reuters ppU co11-ducted late last week showed an average forecast for the period's GDP growth at 1 1.2 percent.

"Of course, we will counter immediately if infhitionary fac­tors materialised," Kang said, without elaborating.

The ministry has forecast this year's consumer price index (CPI) growth, thecountry's measurefor consumer inflation, at l.5 percent following a 7.5 percent average growth in 1998.

Kang said the top four business conglomerates were all expected to meet the 200 percent debt-to­equity. ratio requirement by the deadline set for the end of this year.

But he said Hyundai Group , the largest, should work harder to slash the debt ratio.

"In case of Hyundai, it has to make more efforts ... but l think all the four groups are expected to achieve the 200 percent goal," he said.

Hyundai has pledged to cut the average debt-to-equity ratio at its

affiliate~ t?199.1 pii-c~t by the end of this year from about 450 percent last year.

Kang said the Daewoo Group debtrestructuringprocesswould not pose serious problems for local banks because banks will be accounting for losses from their expos.ure to the group qver the next several years.

"Banks willbe able to set aside provisionings (over) the next year and the year after that," Kang said.

South Korea's second-largest business conglomerate, whose affiliates include the nation's leading cannaker Daewoo Mo­tor Co and the world's leading shipbuilder Daewoo Heavy In­dustries Co , is now being dis­membered by its creditors.

The group was put under a sweeping debt restructuring programme by its domestic creditors in late August as it wa~ teetering on the brink of bank­ruptcy after piling up some 87 trillion won ($74 biHion).

ries over Y2K," he said. Hiroshi Ichio, a strategist at

Commerz Securities Co Ltd, also expected the Nikkei average to touch 19,000 briefly, but added that gains would lose momentum above 18,500.

"A rise above 18,500 would be quite slow for some time because we expect corporate investors to unwind cross-shareholdings," Ichio said.

The high liquidity was partly due to a series of investment trust funds that have been or are sched­uled to be launched this month. The funds focus on companies involved in promising telecom­munications and online busi­nesses.

Foreign investors have also been active.

"The belief that foreigners need to buy Japan, and will continue to, has helped sentiment mightily," Paul Migliorato, a senior sales­man forCommerzSecurities, said in a recent daily market comment.

In the second week of Novem­ber net foreign buying totalled 251.99 billion yen.

A recent report by Okasan Se­curities Co Ltd said the Nikkei 225 average has entered into its third uptrend phase this year, pull­ing out of a decade-long slump amid signs that the economy is tentatively pulling out of its worst post-war recession.

The latest phase started on Sep­tember 27 at 16,821, following the first trend that began at 13,921 on March 2 and the second phase from 15,886 on May 28.

British Airways upbeat about Asian recovery NEWDELHI(Reuters)-Brit­ish Airways expects the growing strength of Asian economies to ease the burden of excess capac­ity on North Atlantic routes by next year, its chairman said on Saturday.

"I would expect to see some of it happening by early next year. South East Asia is definitely re­covering. Far East .... its showing the first signs of it happening," Colin Marshall told reporters.

European airlines' profits have fallen this year after carriers shifted flights to North Atlantic routes in the wake of Asia's fi­nancial crisis. That has resulted in market capacity exceeding demand, driving down fares.

Pre-tax profits for the airline in the first six months was 240 million pounds ($388 million) compared with 385 million pounds for the same period last year, a BA spokeswoman said.

"The combination oflow fares and reduced fares have produced a very negative factor on the bottomline," said Marshall, but added the tight market situation was unlikely to last long.

"Once the signs of recovery are clear, then one will see some of the (extra) capacities going back," he added.

' .

To cope with the market situ­ation, BA has announced it will cut capacity by 12 percent over the next three years. It plans to fly a fleet of smaller planes that hold fewer economy passengers, but a greaternumber of business travellers to boost profitability.

Marshall said the cut in capac­ity would not have any negative impact on the Asia-Pacific routes.

"The capacity reduction is largely being brought about by replacement of larger aircraft with smaller aircraft. We are not having less aircraft," he said, adding that frequencies could be increased according to demand.

Marshall said the capacity re­duction will not have any impact on India, where it is seeking per­mission to increase its total num­ber of flights to 22 from 16.

India and Britain have not ne­gotiated a new aviation bilateral agreement for additional flights between the two countries since 1995.

Marshall said the airline had started upgrading aircraft interi­ors with the aim of attracting more passengers.

Marshall said the airline was also prepared to deal with rising jet fuel prices.

Coles Meyer sees e..:bµsi_ness growth SYDNEY (Reuters) - Coles Myer Ltd, Australia's largest re­tailer, said on Sunday it expects a modest performance from its new e-commerce unitnext year, but added the business has great po­tential.

Chief executive Dennis Eck, asked on Channel Nine's Sunday program if the e-commerce unit would be profitable in its first year of reporting as a separate division, replied:

"We would like to think so, but I don't think that's the issue in the early days.

"The issue is whether we 're developing an internet commerce based business across our brands

that is on a sound foundation, is bringing customers in, and has got the framework to make money in the long term, and we're con­fident about that.

"But, sure, we 're prepared to take a longer-term view in the be­ginning ... I think it will be a mod­est business next year," Eck said.

Eck said he expected the company's Coles online grocery business was running ahead of expectations in Melbourne, and was likely to start up in Sydney before Christmas.

The group's e-commerce busi­ness has been largely built up through its acquisition of HarTis Technology.

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LIFESTYLE/ENTERTAINMENT MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1999 -MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS-23

At the movies

Bond is back in 'The World ... ' LOS ANGELES (AP) - Some elements of a James Bond movie cannot be altered. For instance, the traditional action prologue in which 007 escapes from immedi­ate peril with a series of superhu­man feats.

"The World Is Not Enough" maintains the high standard, with airborne snowmobiles pursuing the hero and a beauty on skis through the milk-white slopes of the French Alps.

The 19th chapter of the most lucrative series in film history maintains some of the other Bond traditions: the unbelievably per­fect women, the shaken martini, the madman seeking mass de­struction, the climactic cataclysm, the fadeout of Bond bedding the surviving female.

Perhaps preparing Bond for the new millennium, the producers have added new features, some of them subtle. The action seems al­most wall-to-wall, perhaps to cor­ral the juvenile violence lovers.

Seemingly for the same reason, the dialogue appears dumbed­down, with an excess of off-color lines.

It may displease Bond purists, but"The World Is Not Enough" is unquestionably a crowd-pleaser, a slick entertainment that rockets along with a speed that defies ennui. The stunts are of the usual high quality.

Pierce Brosnan contributes im­measurably to the film's success. In his third outing as Bond, he has captured the quality of the off­hand remark, the coolness under pressure, the swift response to his tormentors. None of the 007 por­trayers has come as dose to the high standard set by Sean Connery.

This time, the focus is on an oil pipeline which a British industri­alist is building on a southerly route to compete with three Rus­sian pipelines to the north. Whe.n he is assassinated, his mysterious daughter, Elektra King (Sophie Marceau) vows to finish the project.

Her apparent nemesis is Renard . (Robert Carlyle), a terrorist with a bullet wound in his head that eliminates pain but also means eventual death. An ideal foe for 007.

Singer Shania Twain makes a big splash LOS ANGELES (AP) -Country music queen Shania Twain seems to be everywhere these days.

There are those splashy Revlon ads on television. Her records are in heavy radio rota­tion (there is a dance version of "Come on Over" on pop sta­tions). And her CBS-TV spe­cial "Shania Twain: Come on· Over" will air Nov. 25.

Her 1995 album "The Woman in Me" has sold 11 million cop­ies.

"Come on Over," released in 1997, has sold nearly IO million copies. "You 're Still the One," the single from that album, won best country song for Twain and husband Robert John "Mutt" Lange anafemale country vo­cal performance for Twain at the Grammy A wards.

A spin of the radio dial is sure to tune in to her hit singles "Don't Be Stupid," "That Don't Impress Me Much," "From This Moment On" or "Man! I Feel Like a Woman."

And then there are those sexy videos.

These are heady times for Country Music Association's Entertainer of the Year, a Cana­dian-born sensation who rolled into Nashville and took the country music capital by storm with her skintight black leather pants, an exposed bellybutton, supermodel looks and a truck­load of talent.

She isn't like those Southern gals, but her heart is pure coun­try.

"I consider myself a country artist. That music was always

such a big part of me growing up," she said by telephone from her home in Switzerland, where she was taking a break with Lange, her husband of six years ..

Twain, 34, was born in Canada and raised in Timmons, Ontario. She began singing in a local club when she was 8. There were many performances after that, then tragedy struck. When she was 21, her parents were killed in an automobile crash, and she took on the task of raising her three younger siblings.

Twain kept the household go­ing with a stage job at Ontario's Deerhurst Resort. When the kids were old enough to set out on their own, Shania was free to pursue her dream of becoming a country music entertainer. She headed for Nashville.

Lange, a rock producer for Def Leppard, Foreigner, Bryan Adams and AC/DC, heard her 1993 single "God Ain't Gonna Getcha for That." He called to tell her that he admired the song. One thing led to another, and they were married that Decem­ber.

The couple began writing songs together. "Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?" - their first collaboration -was a hit.

Fans should be warned that her TV special is not a variety­style hour.

"I really hate contrived tele­vision. It's all based around my show. I just do my thing. The first special was two hours long, so it was basically my concert. This is a short show, so we won't get it all in," she said.

Renard demonically plans to destroy Istanbul with a nuclear bomb located in a Russian sub­marine. Bond's mission is to pre­vent the disaster. He is aided by a scantily clad nuclear weapons expert, Christmas Jones (Denise

Richards). Michael Apted, best known for

directing such human dramas as "Coal Miner's Daughter" and "Gorillas in the Mist," seemed an unlikely choice for a Bond movie. But he has accomplished his mis-

sion, despite the formulaic con­straints.

Familiar faces have returned, including Judi Dench as the agency boss M and Samantha Bond as her assistant, Moneypenny.

VINYL SIGNS: For indoor/outdoor with col­ors, style and quality, on wood, glass, metal, plastic cloth and walls, designed in computer graphics, artistically drafted, composed with a lot of talent and knowledge, )s now avail­able at Younis Art Studio, Inc.

VINYL BANNERS: On cloth and plastic materials, from 1-5 feet wide and length from

· 3 feet to 50 or 75 feet and more, with any color, letters size and style and rich graph­ics.

Also hand painted signs and banners, artis­tically designed and colored on any mate­rial surface of all sizes.

DIGITAL PRINT: Signs for inside markets/ stores/shops in full colors with print of the goods/merchandise on plastic sheets/ boards or on transparencies on special pa­per or cloth for ceiling hang for display or above shelves, counters and merchandise stands, can easily be produced by the tal­ented and capable sign makers at YAS Sign System.

Full color digital print for back light in shops window or special display in the outdoor, such as food items, drinks cosmetics, per­fumes, jewelry and many more.

Vinyl signs are durable, colorful and guar­anteed to last for five to seven years in all weather conditions and stands heat tem­perature 40-180 degrees Fahrenheit.

For all signs need, please visit or call

I at Y~ Younis Art Studio, Inc., ~n Garapan.

Telephone Nos. 234-6341 ¥ 234 .. 7579 ¥ 234 .. 9797 ¥ 234 .. 9272 or Fax No. 234 .. 9271.

-~

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24-MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS-MONDAY- NOVEMBER 22, 1999

~t}llarianas 'Variety'~ Classified Ads Secti·on .

Employment Wanted

·liltttti _ JobVacancy Announcement

PUBLIC NOTICE All Interested resident workers ore

urged to register al the Dept. of labor & lmmlgrallon,

Division of Employment Services for the iob/s being advertised In which

you are qualified and avallable. For further assistance,

please call Alfred A. Pangelinan al Tel. 664-2078.

01 WAITRESS/WAITER-Salary: $3.05 per hour Contact: ROYAL PALM INT'L. INC. Tel. 233-0767(11/29)M33473·

01 COMMERCIAL CLEANER-Salary: $3.05 per hour 01 CAFETERIA ATTENDANT-Salary: $3.05 per hour Contact: AUNTIE MAGS CATERING Tel. 288-0964(11/29)M33474

01 TIRE REPAIRER-Salary: $3.90 per hour Contact: MARIANAS REPAIRS CO., INC. Tel. 234-9084(11/29)M33477

01 ACCOUNTANT-Salary: $3.05/4.50 per hour Contact: HECNY FORWARDERS (SAIPAN) INC. dba Hecny Forwarders (Saipan) Inc. Tel. 235-7005(11/ 29)M33475

01 PRODUCTION ASSISTANT MAN­AGER-Salary: $3.05-8.00 per hour 10 QUALITY CONTROL CHECKER­Salary: $3.05-3.50 per hour BO SEWING MACHINE OPERATOR­SALARY: S3.05-3.50 per hour 01 PACKER-Salary: $3.05-3.20 per hour 07 (CUTTER) CUTTING MACHINE OPERATOR-Salary: S3.05-3.40 per hour 15 IRONING PRESSER (MACHINE)­Salary: S3.05-3.40 per hour 01 ELECTRICIAN (MAINTENANCE)­Salary: $3.05-3.20 per hour 01 ADMINISTRATIVEASSISTANT-Sal­ary: $3.05-5.70 per hour 01 SEWING MACHINE REPAIRER (MECHANIC)-Salary: S3.05-3.20 per hour Contact: PANG JING SANG SA COR­PORATION Tel. 234-7951(11/ 29)M81632

01 BLACK & WHITE, STRIPPER-Sal­ary: $3.05-3.20per hour 01 OFFSET PRINTER OPERATOR­Salary: S3.05-3.40 per hour 01 SALES REPRESENTATIVE-Salary: S800.00 per month 01 MATERIAL COORDINATOR-Salary: S3.05 per hour Contact: ASG CORPORATION dba Elite Printing Tel. 233-6465( 11 / 29)M33476

02 CARPENTER-Salary: $3.05-4.00 per hour Contact: PACIFIC DRILLING LTD. Tel. 235-8531 (11/29)M33478

01 SUPERVISOR GARAGE (AUTO)­Salary: $3.05-4.09 per hour Contact: TABORA ENTERP(,ISES, INC. dba Saipan Car Care Tel. ~34-5601 (11/29)M33482 '

01 AUTOMOBILE MECHANIC-Salary: S3.05 per hour Contact: MARIANAS RENTAL COR­PORATION Tel. 234-8338(11/ 22)M33378

01 ELECTRICIAN-Salary: S3..05 per hour Contact: U.S.A. FANTER CORPORA­TION LTD. dba G.C. Construction Con­tractor Tel. 235-8228(11/22)M33379

Classified Ads . FIRST .

01 CARPENTER-Salary: S3.05 pe rhour 01 WELDER -Salary: S3.05 per hour Contact: SAIPAN AUTO SUPPLY CO., INC. dba SASCO Service Plus Tel. 234-6841 (11/22)M33375

01 ACCOUNTANT-Salary: $3.05-4.00 per hour Contact: KEY POINT (SAIPAN) INC. Tel. 235-3403(11/22)M33377

01 WAITRESS-Salary: S3.05 per hour 01 COOK-Salary: $3.05 per hour Contact: MARY MINI MART, INC. dba Mary Restaurant Tel. 234-2888( 11 / 22)M33380

01 ACCOUNTANT-Salary: $1,250.00 per month Contact: MARIANAS TUG AND BARGE, INC. Tel. 322-7788(11/ 22JMB1519

01 CHIEF ENGINEER (SEAMAN)-Sal­ary: S1 ,200.00 per month 01 TUGBOAT MASTER CAPTAIN-Sal­ary: $1,500.00 per month 01 COOK (SEAMAN)-Salary: $3.05 per hour Contact: TUGS AND PILOTS, INC. Tel. 322-7788(11/22)M81518

02 TRANSLATOR-Salary: $3.05 per hour 02 ELECTRICAL TECHNICIAN-Salary: S3.05 per hour 02 COOK-Salary: $3.05 per hour 13 PRESSER, HAND-Salary: $3.05 per hour 06 QUALITY CONTROL CHECKER­Salary: $3.05 per hour 09 CUTTER, HAND-Salary: $3.05 per hour 130 SEWING MACHINE OPERATOR­Salarv: $3.05 per hour Contact: MIRAGE (SAIPAN) CO., LTD. Tel. 234-3481(11/22)M33374

01 BAKER-Salary: $3.05 per hour Contact: WINCHELL'S INC. dba Winchell's Donut House Tel. 235-0247(11129)M33498

08 HAND SEWER-Salary: $3.05 per hour 02 PACKER-Salary: $3.05 per hour Contact: TOP FASHION CORPORA­TION Tel. 322-1611(11/29)M33486

02 PACKER-Salary: S3.05 per hour Contact: TRANSAMERICA DEVELOP­MENT CORP. Tel. 322-1611(11/ 29)/133487

01 OVERHAULER-Salary: $3.05 per hour 05 HAND SEWER-Salary: $3.05 per hour 01 CUTTER, MACHINE-Salary: $3.05 per hour 09 HAND SEWER-Salarv: $3.05 per hour 10 HAND SEWER-Salarv: $3.05 per hour 01 IRONER (PRESSER MACHINE)-Sal­ary: $3.05 per hour 02 PRESSER, MACHINE/IRONER, GARMENT FACTORY-Salary: $3.05 per hour 01 PACKER-Salary: $3.05 per hour 01 ASSISTANT PRODUCTION MAN­AGER-Salary: S3.05 per hour Contact: HANDSOME TEXTILE (SPN) CORPORATION Tel. 322-1504( 11/ 29)M33485

43 SEWING MACHINE OPERATOR­Salary: $3.05 per hour 05 CUTTER, HAND-Salary: $3.05 per hour 04 PRESSER, HAND-Salary: $3.05 per hour Contact: COMMONWEALTH GAR­MENT MFG., INC. Tel. 234-7550(11/ 22)M33373

05 CORRUGATED MACHINE COM­BINING OPERATOR-Salary: $3.05 per hour Contact: UNITED PACIFIC INVEST­MENT, INC. Tel. 234-3311 (12/3)F33569

02 WAITRESS-Salary: $3.50 per hour Contact: DIVERSIFIED ISLAND IN­VESTMENT INC. dba Bobby Cadillacs Tel. 234-3976(126)M81766

01 ELECTRICIAN-SALARY: $3.05 per hour Contact: ARSENIO N. FLORES dba Arsenic Enterprises Tel. 234-3572(12/ 6)M33585

02 COOK-Salary: $3.05-3.25 per hour Contact: 729 RESTAURANT Tel. 234-5520(12/6)M33587

01 CASH! ER-Salary: $3.25 per hour 01 DANCER-Salary: $3.05-3.50 per hour Contact: STAR FOUR CORPORATION dba Starlite Disco/Karaoke Club Tel. 234-5520(1216) M33586

01 HOUSEKEEPING SUPERVISOR­Salary: $3.05-4.00 per hour Contact: KAN PACIFIC SAIPAN, LTD. Tel. 322-4692(12/6)MB1765

01 (SUPERVISOR) SALES-Salary: $3.30-4.50 per hour Contact: YCO CORPORATION dba YCO Servistar Hardware/Liberty Plaza/ YCO Construction Tel. 233-3112(12/ 6)M81762

01 DENTALASSISTANT-Saiary:$8.00-1 0.00 per hour Contact: DR. TODD K. JOHNSON dba Toothworks Tel. 234-3810(12/6)M33575

02 HAND SEWER-Salary: $3.05 per hour Contact: TOP FASHION CORPORA­TION Tel. 322-1611 (12/6)M33576

18 HAND SEWER-Salary: $3.05 per hour 04 PRESSER MACHINE-Salary: S3.05 per hour 02 PRESSER MACHINE-Salary: $3.05 per hour Contact: HANDSOME TEXTILE (SPN) CORP. Tel. 322-1611(12/6)M33577

01 WAITRESS (RESTAURANT)-Sal­ary: $3.05 per hour 01 COOK-Salary: $3.05 per hour Contact: JNM KINTOLINC. dba Auntie Mag's Diner Tel. 288-0375(12/ 6)M33579

03 COOK HELPER-Salary: $3.05 per hour Contact: AIDA L. GARONG dba MJ Kitchennette Tel. 234-6854(12/ 6)M33581

01 FREIGHT CLERK-Salary: $5.00 per hour 01 FREIGHT LOADING SUPERVISOR -S5.00 per hour Contact: AMBYTH SHIPPING MICRONESIA Tel. 322-0970(12/ 6)M33580

01 CEMEND LOADER-Salary: $3.50 per hour 01 SUPERVISOR(CEMENT)-Salary: $5.00 per hour Contact: MICRONESIA CEMENT CO., INC. Tel. 322-3333(12/6)M81754

DIESEL ENGINE I GENERATOR MECHANIC ----­LOCAL HIRE ONLY Must have a minimum of 5 Years proven Experience maintaining & Repairing Diesel Engines and GenNators. You will be tested. Engines and Generators. You will be tested. Caterpillar experience preferred. Must have a Complete set of tools & a Volt/Frequency Meter Salary Range $6.00 to $12.00 per hour, depending on experience. Pick up application i person at Pacific Machinery in As Lita. Phone # 288-6900

LOCATION! WCATION! 2 SELECT COMMERCIAL SPACES

FOR RENT ON BEACH ROAD, 6ARAPAN,

SAIPAN. First Floor, 1,050 sq. ft. space and Second floor, I,IOO sq. ft.

spaee at SI.10 per sq. ft. Large par~g area on site.

· Call: 233· 1337 or 233-0456 for information.

Name: Lin, Xue Quan

Chinese National Date of Birth: Nov.27, 1967 Contact: 235-4418

DEADLINE: 12:00 noon the day prior to publication

NOTE: If some reason your advertisement is inco~rect. cal\ us immediately to make the necessary corrections. The Mananas Vanety News and Views is responsible only for one incorrect insertiC!n· We rese1Ve the right to edit, refuse. reject or cancel any ad at any time.

24 HOUR FAX & EMAIL SERVICE I will send and recieve business

messages to the mainland

& Asia for you.

I work while you sleep! 288-2456

LEAVING ISLAND

FOR SALE Established Bar

Entertainment Center Along Beach Road in

Susupe about 4,000+ sq. ft.

For more information call: pager: 236-6688

L~ND FDR LEASE·SSYears Adjacent to San Vicente Post Office

Fronting Highway -~430 sq. DL

HOTEL FOR LEASE .

Contact Rose: Tel: (670) 233-2031 Fax: (670) 233-2037

· FORRENT Two Bedroom Apartment Located in Chalan Kanoa

$300.00 /month For more infonnation please

call at 234-8000.

LOST PASSPORT

Name: Jin Zhongcheng National: Chinese

DOB: August 4, 1962 Contact #: 288 - 5550

4 bedroom, 2 Bathroom Steel Construction

8,000 gallons Water Catchment

I·.-_· PAPACO AREA ·I

$160,~00.00 256-7080

APARTMENT FOR RENT • 2-Bdrm near Coral Ocean Point and

Koblerville Elementary School • Fenced lxation, aircon in each bdrm,

refrigerator, stove, water heater • Water, trash collection ard sewer paid • 8ectricity not included. 235-4341 after 5:30 .m.

FOR RENT Nightclub/Restaurant/Barracks

Located along Beach Road,

Chalan Kanoa Tel.234-5520

(8:00 A.M. - 5:00)

TWO (2) BEDROOM APARTMENT FULIY FURNISHED

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT 233-1064 OR 322-1949

LOST PASSPORT Name: Zheng Zhlpeng

DOB: June 1, 1978 Chinese National

Contact: 235-8990

FOR RENT 2 bedrooms furnished

apartment Garapan close to Beach Road

Call 233-0510 or 234-7119

APARTMENT FOR RENT 1 Bedroom for rent

$350!0,month Pis. contact at tel.# 234-1233 or

288-2222

The wise reader buys only one newspaper

and saves

because;

• r1anas ~rietr

has it all!

I

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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1999-MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS-25

EEK & MEEK® by Howie Schneider

PEANUTS® by Charles M. Schulz HOW D0E5 Tl-115 SOUND?

11 TI-IE NILE RIVER 15 LIKE TJ.IE Ml5515SIPPI 11

11 II= '{OU'VE SEEN ONE RIVER,

't'OU'VE SEEN TI-IEM ALL''

'1THE NILE RIYER1SAL50 LIKE Tl-lE M1550URl,Tl-lE Rl-llNE, THE AMAZON, T/.lE COLORADO, THE VOLGA,n!E EUPHRATES,

AND THE DANUBE .. "

STELLA WILDER

YOUR BIRTHDAY Born today, you always insist on being directly involved in your own affairs, and you will never let anyone else take charge of those things which affect you the most. Always a solitary fig­ure, you are, nevertheless, quite able to harness the abilities and the loyalty of those around you in order to work with others to make your own dreams come true. Realistic in your outlook and down-to-earth in your ex­pectations, you are able to take your knocks in stride. You are always eager to get back in the ring and have another go at it. You know how to develop your skills to the utmost, reaping the maximum rewards from your every effort.

Private and introspective, you are not the kind to do things without considering the possible consequences of your actions. You are not one to use others for your own personal gain, at least not in a deceptive or manipula­tive fashion. You have a deeply spiritual side which will blos­som early or late in life.

Also born on this date are: Wynton Marsalis, musician; Pam Dawber, actress; Jean­Claude van Damme, actor; Martina Navratilova, tennis player; George C. Scott, actor; Lotte Lenya, actress and enter­tainer.

To see what is in store for you tomorrow, find your birthday and read the corresponding para­graph. Let your birthday star be your daily guide.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23

LIBRA (Sept. 23-0ct. 22) -Be discreet today, and don't give away your plans prematurely. The wrong remark to the wrong person might ruin things for you.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov.21) - Don't be so quick to get an­noyed with friends or family members today. Rememberthat we all have our idiosyncrasies, and we all must deal with them.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) - Don't let quick re­actions to things give away what you 're really thinking. Some things are best kept secret at this time.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)- Trial and error is the only way you'll know for sure just what works for you today, par­ticularly when dress or appear­ance are concerned.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) - Unusual behavior today will be recognized as something quite different, and may actu­ally lead to remarkable rewards. Experiment freely.

PISCES (Feb.19-March 20) - What you are facing today is not a test. You must be willing

WE NEED TO MAKE A LITTLE EXTRA MONEY. I'M THINKING OF SELLING A ~EW SMALL THINGS I'VE GOT AROUND

.....__, THE HOUSE ...

to take even the most improb­able developments quite seri­ously at this time.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) - You've been following some­one else's suggestions for long enough. Today, it's time to get to that special list you've made up for yourself.

TAURUS (April20-May 20) - Despite what you've been told, there is a far greater chance for you to prevail in a current struggle than usual. Luck and timing will be on your side.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) - It's time for you to set aside any kind of bias or prejudice today and jump into a new situ­ation with an open mind and a willingness to have fun.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) - Take time out to relax and think back over the past few days or weeks. You can restore your energy simply by letting things happen without you.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -The consequences of your own actions will become all the more apparent to you today, and you may be compelled 10 break a few bad habits.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) - You can accomplish much today when you set your mind to it, and when you actually ac­cept your own limitations. You mustn't procrastinate!

TURN LITTLE THINGS INTO BIG MONEY WITH A CLASSIFIED AD!

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26-MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS-MONDAY- NOVEMBER 22, 1999

Sprewell returns to face Warriors OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - TI1e anger and bitterness from Latrell Sprewell's last meeting with P.J. Carlesimo surfaced again two years later. And Sprewell wouldn't even meet his former coach halfway.

Carlesimo had expressed hopes of shaking hands with Sprewell during pregame introductions but Sprewell stayed by the New York KnicksbasketandtheGoldenState Warriors coach was left standing by himself at midcourt, before fi­nally returning to the bench.

Sprewell took the game's first shot and missed badly, with one fan yelling"Nice shot, Spree!"Fans booed each time Sprewell touched the ball.

Before the game, Sprewell, was greeted by cheers, applause and chants of "Spree!, Spree!" upon

First . .. Continued from page 1

not see you ... gas is running low." When Earhart failed to arrive, a

search by the Itasca and other Naval vessels of the area found nothing, and was ultimately called off on July 18. Since that t:me, a dozen diffen:nt theories - ranging from her being captured by the Japanese military to her landing on nearby Nikumaroro (formerly Gardner) Island - have been ad­vanced. But no plane wreckage has ever found.

Zajonc said that's because all of the previous expeditions into the Pacific have concentrated on land searches, which"are the easi­est places to look. If you drop your keys at night in a parking lot, you 're going to look for them under the light. But that's not the most like! y place where you' 11 find them."

Recent technological develop­ments of underwater search equip­ment make a deep ocean search feasible, though still extremely expensive, said Zajonc's expedi­tion partner, Dana Timmer, who

NMHC ... Continued from page 1

are seriously behind to work out some sort of payment schedule with them," the NMHC executive director said in an interview.

CNMI ... Continued from page 1

registered an improvement since the regional economic crisis hit the CNMI tourism industry.

HANMI President Ronald D. Sablan attributed the growth to the strengthening of the Japa­nese yen against the U.S. dollar which gives Japanese tourists more purchasing power in U.S. dollar-based destinations like the CNMI, as well as to South Korea's economic recovery and surge of charter flights into the islands.

"Yen has gotten strong, the Korean market has started to build

taking the floor Saturday night for pregame warmups. But he ignored a child who sought his autograph by dangling his old Golden State Warriors jersey over a railing.

Then, he got in a brief shouting match with a heckler who came to courtside and yelled repeatedly, "Spree, who are you going to sue now?"

Sprewell, facing Carlesimo for the first time since choking the Warriors coach in a fit rage at a team practice, stopped taking his practice shots for a moment, turned toward the heckler and told the fan to shut up and used an expletive.

Security guards escorted the heckler away from courtside and other fans shouted him down, one yelling, "Don't worry about it, Spree. Go for 40 tonight"

added it took him eight years to put together the current search effort. "No one wants to fund a search," said Zajonc. "But every­one says 'as soon as you find it call us first.'"

Zajonc and Timmer have brought in the ocean engineering company Williamson and Asso­ciates, that in the 1980s located the SS Central America, a ship that sank in 1857 to a depth of 2,500 meters in the Caribbean carrying $400 million worth of gold bullion and coins. The com­pany also recently located an Is­raeli submarine, the Dakar, that had been lost in 1961 in the Medi­terranean.

"This is more than a job," said Mike Williamson, the president of the company who is on the current voyage. "I've been think­ing about this target for more than nine years." Williamson said that he and Timmer have been dis­cussing the search project for the past eight years, and that plan­ning finally came together this year with the expedition to Howland, a tiny island in the cen­tral Pacific just above the equa­tor.

Not only has Timmer been pre-

"But when worse comes to worst and they fail to fulfill their promise to pay, we have to act. We evicted several residents from our Section 8 program due to non­payment and violation of the te1ms of the lease agreement," Ada said.

Ada said a large majority have

up again and the addition of char­ter flights by certain airlines ser­vicing the CNMI," said Sablan in an interview.

Charter flights by Japan Air­lines and Asiana Airlines have fuelled hotels' occupancy growth, and HANMI expects these spe­cial flights will be sustained to bring in more tourists here.

Moreover, Sablan said the oc­cupancy rate for the second half of the year is better than those of the first six months of 1999, but the association remains cautious on the hotel industry's perceived recovery.

Sablan also said an improve­ment in tourism arrival does not necessarily reflect an increase in

The Oakland Arena remained a house divided, erupting in a seem­ingly equal mixture of cheers and boos when Sprewell led the Knicks onto the floor for the last round of warm ups, starting the drills off with a thundering tomahawk dunk. . "Choke on th.at Spree!" one sign

held aloft by a fan said. "Spree is God," said another. Ushers were busyconfiscatingmanyofthesigns, which are not allowed if they're considered derogatory.

The game drew a capacity crowd to the Oakland Arena, putting Sprewell and Carlesimo together on the basketball court for the first time since the infamous confronta­tion that stigmatized the star guard and put Carlesimo's sometimes abrasive coaching sty le on trial.

"I don't think it's ever going to

paring for this foray for eight years, he's purchased the rights to the plane from Earhart's estate, through Earhart's niece Amy Kleppner. This was essential, said Zajonc, so that if the group finds it there is no dispute over owner­ship.

Timmer said that earlier in the yeartheytookeverypieceofavail­abledataaboutEarhart's last flight and had technicians at the Univer­sity of Washington run a computer probability analysis of the location where Earhart ditched her plane -an analysis that has provided them with their current target near Howland Island.

"We have a 'box' (northwest of Howland)," said Timmer. The ex­pedition is prepared to search that area for up to 40 days, he added.

It's still like looking for a needle in a haystack. But Zajonc said that they believe that _even if the "twin engine plane hit the ocean hard enough to knock off the wings, the solid engines will provide a big object for the sonar search.

"Weknowshewasdownto I ,OCO feet and circling," Zajonc said. "We'recountingonitbeingaditch­ing, not a crash. There are other Lockheeds that ditched and re-

been affected because many are unprepared "for that segment of their lives whereby they will be paying from $30 rental to $400."

"So there was a great impetus for them to go out and get a better job to pay their rent," she . added.

occupancy. The Marianas Visi­tors Authority reported a total of 40,941 visitors for October 1999, up by 19.93 percent from last year's 34,137 figure during the same month.

The half-a-billion-dollar tour­ism business, being the hardest hit by the Asian economic crisis, experienced a hotel occupancy averaging only 58 percent in 1998, tl1e lowest ever in a period of seven years. The average monthly rate in 1997 would even reach as high as 95.92 percent.

HANMI is a professional asso­ciation made up of the 20 leading hotels here, representing approxi­mately 76 percent of all hotel rooms in the CNMI.

be over," Carlesimo said. "I think it is another step toward putting it in the background. But no, I don't think it is ever going to over for Spree and myself. I think with each successive game it will be less and less of a story. At least I hope so."

The tension leading up to the matchup between the Carlesimo­coached Warriors and the Sprewell0

led Knicks had been building all week, heightened by Sprewell's simmering anger and caustic re­marks that he hoped to crush his

old team. "I'd love itif we just killed them,"

Sprewe11 said earlier in the week. He.didn't talk before the game. Even some of the W aniors play­

ers were taken aback by Sprewell' s harsh outlook but others said they understood it. · "I can't blame him," said Chris

Mills, one of three former Knicks traded to the Warriors for Sprewell. "I guess he feels he got the raw end of the deal and wants to annihilate our team."

Suit . .. Continued from page 1

residents at the Lower House. Aside from the PCB contamination problem, Jones said the lawsuit

will also cover at least two abandoned military dumpsites in Upper Tanapag and San Roque as well as some 40 fuel storage tanks left to rot in the village by the U.S. military.

mained intact." Underwater search technology

developed in recent years gives the group hope that if they're in the right area, they wi111ocate the plane. Williamson's sonar equipment comes with a price tag of more than $1 million. The sonar equipment is on a "tow-fish" that will be low­ered at the leading end of a heavy duty cable that can unwind to 10,0CO meters.

"If everything works, we can complete searching more than 70 percent of the target area (in the 40 days)," Willian1Son said.

The sonar image that the tow­fish will transmit back to the ship "is not a picture," said Williamson. "It needs some care to determine what it is we 're looking at"

The group may be helped by the fact that Howland is not on any major shipping routes, nor was it a battlefield in World War II, which should translate into an ocean bot­tom relatively free of debris that could be mistaken for Earhart's Electra.

The group is using International Bridge Construction Comp::!ny's vesselJune T, a cargo ship based in Guam that normally supports IBC projects in the Marshalls and other

islands. Numerous modifications, including welding the heavy duty cable reel to the ship's deck and installing one container with backup generators and another con­tainer filled with sophisticatedcom­putermonitoringequipmentlinked to the underwater sonar tow-fish, weremadeinMajurothispastweek to prepare the June T for the voy­age.

Zajoncsaid that both Williamson andIBCare playing critical roles in the expedition, donating a substan­tial amount of their costs which has helped make the voyage financially doable.

Asked why the group is prepared to spend about $1 million on-this search, Zajonc said:"Earhartwas a world famoµs celebrity who was ahead of her time. We want to put her back in the limelight so another generation can be inspired by her efforts."

Timmer added: "We want to answer the question: What hap­pened to Amelia Earhart?" It's a question that has occuppied the time of doz.ens of investigators, producing numerous articles and books on the subject, but to date no conclusive evidence of Earhart's final resting place.

Visiting. 0 • Continued from page 1

Mindanao, the Philippines' southern-most region. Biazon, who chairs the Phillipine Senate's Committee on National

Defense, said fighting between the government and the three outlawed forces are scaring away potential investors.

He said because of the war, the government is using its resources and money in beefing up its armed forces and securing ammunitions instead of building infrastructures which will uplift the economic lives of Filipinos.

According to the former Philippine armed forces chief of staff, the ongoing war between the MILF forces and army troops, especially in the village of Carmen, in Pikit town, North Cotabato, have already affected a big number of farmers who have been forced to be evacuated.

As the national defense chairman, Biazon said he is urging the · government and the MILF panels involved in the ongoing peace talks

to go to the table and resume negotiations, since both parties are being hurt by the war.

The senator said the Philippine government is also pushing through with its negotiation with the Communist Party of the Philippines and its military arm, the New People's Army.

•

Happy 2nd Birthday Gerald Esquivel

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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1999 -MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS-27

Shorter final suits Hingis NEW YORK (Reuters) -When top seed Martina Hingis and second seed Lindsay Dav­enport meet in Sunday's Chase Championships final, they will not have to work as hard for the $500,000winner's check as past champions in the WT A Tour season finale.

The tournament for the year's top 16 performers, which had featured the only best-of-five­sets final in women· s tennis since 1984, was changed back to the traditional best-of-three for­mat by the WTA Tour this year.

The change received an enthu­siastic thumbs up from world number one Hingis, but Daven­port was feeling ready for a mara­thon after her swift 7-6 6-0 demo­lition of Nathalie Tauziat set up a rematch of last year's final.

"Last year (in the semis) I won 6-3 in the third against Steffi (Graf) in a long match, had a really long doubles final on Sat­urday and was just exhausted for the final last year," said Dav­enport, who lost in four sets to Hingi s in the 1998 final.

"This year, now when I'm fresh, it's two out of three when I really could play three out of five," she said.

Hingis played a five-set final in 1996 with Graf and was cramping badly during the fifth set, which she lost 6-0.

'Tm happy not to have to play another four or five setter," Hingis said after beating third seed Venus Williams 6-4 7-6 in Saturday's first semifinal.

Although she is much fitter now than she was in 1996, Hingis insisted that it was qual­ity and not quantity that counted in the entertainment value of matches.

"Everybody is so good, the game is so improved," said the 19-year-old Swiss.

"You have more of the qual­ity of the tennis and not the length, I think. Today we played two sets, but almost like two hours (1 :49), so I think that's pretty good too."

Since the 1984 change to the longer format, only three finals went the distance. But one of them was one of the most thrill­ing women's tennis matches of all time.

In that 1990 classic, an up and coming Monica Seles outlasted New York crowd favourite Gabriela Sabatini 6-4 5-7 3-6 6-4 6-2 in a match that had the

Martina Hingis joins with Bart McGuire, left, CEO of the Sanex WT A Tour, and Frank Meysman, Chairman of Sara Lee/DE, for a news conference in New York. Beginning in January, 2000, the women's tennis tour will be known as the Sanex WTA Tour. Sanex isa bodycareproductline owned by Sara Lee/DE. Sara Lee/ DE is a Netherlands-based company that is a division of Sara Lee Corporation of Chicago, Ill. AP

fans howling and on the edge of their seats throughout.

Although she is ready to go five, Davenport ultimately said she supported the change.

"We play all year two out of three. It didn't necessarily make sense at one tournament that we went three out of five," said the Wimbledon champion.

"It's women's tennis and that's what we play and that's what we're used to."

Maybe so, but it was a heck of a way to end the year.

Florida State, Virginia State· move closer to title game NEW YORK (AP) - Florida State virtually clinched a berth in the national championship game, while Virginia Tech moved one step closer to locking up the other spot.

PeterWarrickranforonetouch­down and set up another with a 38-yard catch, and Sebastian Janikowski kicked three field goals as top-ranked Florida State beat No. 3 Florida 30--23 Satur- · day to complete its third perfect regular season.

The Seminoles (11-0) are al­most guaranteed a berth in the Sugar Bowl, site of the Bowl Championship Series title game. If second-ranked Virginia Tech ( I Q..0) beats Boston College on Friday, the Hokies will probably play the Seminoles for the cham­pionship.

Freshman quarterback Michael Vick ran for 134 yards and two touchdowns and passed for two more scores as Virginia Tech routed Temple 62-7.

While Florida State and Vir­ginia Tech moved closer to a title game,NotreDame(5-6)andOhio State (6-6) were knocked out of bowl contention.

The Buckeyes lost to No. I 0 Michigan 24-17, and the Irish fell to No. 25 Boston College31-29. Because neither team will finish with a winning record, Ohio State and Notre Dame are ineligible for bowl bids.

The biggest individual star of the day was TCU's LaDainian Tomlinson, who broke the NCAA Division I-A rushing record with 406 yards and scored six touch­downs in a 52-24 victory over Texas-El Paso.

Tomlinson topped the record held by Tony Sands of Kansas, who rushed for 396 yards on 58 carries against Missouri on Nov. 23, 1991.

"All the credit goes to the offen­sive line .... I need to buy them a couple of steaks," Tomlinson said.

At Gainesville, Florida, the Florida State-Florida game wasn't decided until the final play.

With the Gators on the FSU 40, Jesse Palmer threw a desperation pass into the end zone, where a half-doz.en players were waiting for the ball. It was tipped by several Florida Stale defenders and fell to the ground before Brian Haugabrook had a chance to grab it.

Florida (9-2) lost for just the fourth time at home in JO years under coach Steve Spurrier. The Gators will play in the SEC title game on Dec. 4, needing a win to qualify for either the Orange or Fiesta bowls.

At Philadelphia, Virginia Tech clinched at least a share of the Big East championship, avenged last year's loss to Temple and re­mained on track to play for its first national title.

If the Hokies beat Boston Col­lege, they will finish the regular season undefeated for the first time since going 8-0-1 in 1954.

In other Top 25 games, it was No. 7 Tennessee 56, Kentucky 21; No. 8 Alabama 28, Auburn 17; No. 9 Kansas State 66, Mis­souri 0; No. 15 Michigan State 35, No. 13 Penn State; 28; Wake Forest 26, No. 14 Georgia Tech 23; No. 21 Georgia 20, No. 16 Mississippi I 7; No. 17 Minnesota 25, Iowa 21; No. 18 Southern Miss 30, Louisville 27; No. 19

Purdue 30, Indiana 24; Utah 20, No. 19 BYU 17; and No. 23 East Carolina 23, North Carolina s·tate 6. .

No. 7 Tennessee 56, Kentucky 21

Travis Henry, filling in for in­jured Jamal Lewis, ran for I 79 yards and a career-high three touchdowns as Tennessee beat Kentucky for the 15th straight time.

One week after a loss at Arkan­sas ended theirnational title hopes, the visiting Volunteers (8-2, 5-2 SEC) returned to form against Kentucky (6-5, 4-4), which is eli­gible for a bowl bid but not guar­anteed to get one.

No. 8 Alabama 28, Auburn 17

Shaun Alexander scored three touchdowns and ran for 182 yards, including IOI in the fourth quar­ter, as Alabama (9-2, 6-1 SEC) won the SEC West title.

The Crimson Tide, who will play Florida for the league cham­pionship, won at Auburn (5-6, 2-6) for the first time in five games.

No. 9 Kansas St. 66, Missouri 0 Jonathon Beasley threw for two

touchdowns and ran for another, and cornerback Dyshod Carter scored twice as Kansas State kept its Big 12 title game hopes alive.

Frank Murphy added two TD runs and Adrian Beard recovered a blocked punt for a touchdown as the Wildcats bounced back from last week's loss to Nebraska. Kan­sas State ( I 0-1, 7-1 Big 12) could still win the North Division if Colorado upsets the Cornhuskers on Friday.

Visiting Missouri (4-7, 1-7) committed six turnovers and was

shut out for the third time in five games.

No. 10 Michigan 24, Ohio St. 17

Michigan forced three second­half turnovers and Tom Brady threw two touchdown passes as the Wolverines rallied to win at AnnArbor,leavingtheOhioState out of post season play for the first time in 11 years.

The victory gave Michigan (9-2, 6-2 Big Ten) an excellent chance of landing a berth in a BCS game, perhaps the Orange or Fiesta. Ohio State won't qualify for a bowl for the first time since 1988, John Cooper's first year as coach.

No. 15 Michigan St. 35, No. 13 Penn St. 28

At East Lansing, Michigan, T.J. Duckett ran for four touchdowns as Michigan State handed Penn State its third straight loss.

It marked the first time Penn State (9-3, 5-3 Big Ten) has lost three straight since 1988, and the first time since 1914 that it has lost its final three regular-season games. The Spartans (9-2, 6-2) won despite squandering a 21-point lead in the second half.

Wake Forest 26, No. 14 Geor­gia Tech 23

At Winston-Salem, North Caro­lina, Morgan Kane rushed for 224 yards and a touchdown as Wake Forest posted its first winning record in seven years.

Wake (6-5, 3-5 ACC) qualified for its first bowl game since 1992, but still may not get a bid.

No. 21 Georgia 20, No. 16 Mississippi 17

At Oxford, Mississippi, Quincy Carter threw for 349 yards and

Hap Hines kicked four field goals to lead Georgia (7-3, 5-3 SEC) over Mississippi (7-3, 4-3). Terrence Edwards.

No. 17 Minnesota 25, Iowa 21

At Iowa City, Iowa, Arland Bruce scored on a 73-yard run and linebacker Sean Hoffman knocked down a pass in the end zone with 8 seconds left to pre­serve Minnesota's victory.

Minnesota(8-3, 5-3 Big Ten) earned its eighth regular-sea­son win for the first time since the 1967 squad went 8-2 and shared the conference champi­onship. Iowa (1-10, 0-8) dropped its 13th straight Big Ten game and finished with its worst record since the 1973 team went 0-11.

No. 18 Southern Miss 30, Lmisville 27

At Louisville, Kentucky, Brant Hanna kicked a 27-yard field goal with 1 :07 remaining fol­lowing a fake punt to lift South­ern Miss (8-3, 6-0 Conference USA) over Louisville (7-4, 4-2).

The Golden Eagles held Lou­isville to three second-half points to clinch the league championship and earn a berth in the Liberty Bowl.

No. 19 Purdue 30, Indiana 24

At Bloomington, Indiana, Vinny Sutherland returned a punt 66 yards for the go-ahead touchdown and Purdue (7-4, 4-4) twice stopped Indiana on downs in the fourth quarter.

Antwaan Randle El passed for 329 yards for Indiana ( 4-7, 3-5 Big Ten), which led 24-23 at the start of the fourth quarter.

!,

' 28-MARIANAS VARIETY NEWS AND VIEWS-MONDAY- NOVEMBER 22, 1999

SPORTS I kicks off

season tonight THE Basketball Association of the Northern Mariana Islands (BANMI) is set to kick off its 1999 - 2000 season 6 p.m. tonight, Monday at the Ada Gym at 6 p.m.

A total of 11 teams will be par­ticipating in the league, led by defending champions, the APC Brothers.

BANMI has elected a new set of officers and board members, with Ray Lizama becoming the man in charge to start the new season.

Lizama is acknowledged by some as one of the CNMI's best basketball players and was a mem­ber of the CNMI National Team

which competed in the SPG, Micronesian Games and Oceania Games.

Elected as board members are Juan Diaz, Vice President; Mike White, Secretary and Treasurer; and Abner Venus, Member of the Board of Directors.

According to the incoming president, he will have his hands full in leading BANMI into the new millennium, but added that it will be for the good of the organi­zation and the sport here in the CNMI.

Aside from the defending champs, the other teams set to see action are: GTE Pacifica, Marpac/

Mark Shark- "Sharks," Ben Fitial - "01 Aces, Cong. Benavente & Babauta - "Get Covered Surf' & "CK-1," Len's Bar & Grill, Cong. Manuel Tenorio & Cong. Karl Reyes - "Saipan Stars," Cong. Ana Teregeyo - "Sunrisers," Pa­cific Trading Co. - "Lite," & Joe Pangelinan's Team.

Games will be played at the Ada Gym every Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. First game starts at 7 p.m, followed by the second game at 8:30 p.m., or 10 minutes right after the first game.

BANMI- is inviting the public to come down and watch the games.

Smith, Ruluked athletes of the.month SAIPAN'S top triathlete Stuart Smith and Marianas High School freshrnanKyles Ruluked have been chosen athlete of the month and student athlete of the month for October, the North­ern Marianas Amateur Sports Association announced.

Smith, placed a remarkable 5th in the 40-44 year old age

group division and a respectable 115thoveralloutofl,540partici­pants in the recent Worldlronman triathlon in Kona, Hawaii in Oc­tober.

His time for the 2-km swim, 100-km bike and marathon run was 9 hours 37 minutes and was 2 hrs 24 minutes than the last try in 1996.

On the other hand, Ruluked was chosen for winning the.is­land-wide village youth basket­ball league regular season scor­ing title with39.6pointsaverage per game.

He had two game highs of 52 and 54 points. Kyles was also selected as the regular season most valuable player.

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!Boxer critical after KO ATLANTIC CITY, New Jer­sey (AP) - Stephan Johnson

• was on a respirator and in criti-cal condition after he was

1 knocked out in the 10th round

. by USBA junior middleweight

. champion Paul Vaden on Satur­

. day night. Dr. Rick Semper, a ringside

physician who was briefed by doctors at the Atlantic City

Medical Center, said doctors be­lieve there is blood collected be-tween Johnson's brain and skull.

"It is compressing the brain so they are evaluating what they are going to do," Semper said. "This is a major injury. This is the worst kind of thing that can happen to a boxer. On the other hand, they could take it out and he could be fine."

Johnson was expected to un-

dergo surgery early Sunday morning. "Until .he walks out ofhere, wewon'tknow,"trainer Kenneth Woods said. "His life is more important than some belts. Belts come and go. You only have one life."

Woods said doctors want to insert a tube in Johnson's brain to relieve some of the pressure. ~

"A nurse came out and said ~ they're just trying to keep him r alive," said Willie Ross, the ti fiance of Johnson's mother, fl who was at the hospital with the fighter.

Johnson and Vaden were ex­changing punches in the middle

[i of the ring when Vaden landed l~ a stiff jab and Johnson stag- ii ij gered backward. lj

~

ri. Vaden missed with a big (1 . right, but landed a left to the 1:

,,I: r1 head and Johnson went down. i1 The back of his head hit the r: " lower strand of rope and the Ji upper part of his body landed : , ij on the apron. l' t1 Johnson was taken from the ! i a ring on a stretcher. h ~ "He took a bad hit on that last Ii il Stephan Johnson from New York is wheeled out on a stretcher after one," said Dr. Charles Wilson, 1·j:

~ being knocked out during his middleweight fight against Paul Vaden who accompanied Johnson. · ~ in Atlantic City, N.J., Saturday. AP ~~--:::--.······--..-.~, ... ~:o:rr:i~~~~-,·7'"'~ _::::::.:z:s.:r: ~ ~- r:::::::r:::= ... ~·1

Tiger Woods of the United States shows the trophy after Woods won the World Cup Golf in Kuala Lumpur Sunday taking US$100,000 for best individual score. AP

Woods' 21-under lifts US to World Cup title KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Tiger Woods slashed another six shots off par Sun­day, shot the best total ever in the World Cup and ensured that the team trophy would return to the United States.

Woods' 21-under-par263 to­tal added to Mark O' Meara's 282 gave the United States· a five-shot victory over Spain, 545 to 550.

O'Meara managed only a 77 Sunday, but Woods made up for that with a 65 to clinch the dlrs 400,000team pri;?:e. Spain's Miguel Angel Martin shot 68 for 273, and Santiago Luna slumped to a 72 for 277.

When Woods also took the dlrs 100,000 for best individual score, it was his fifth personal triumph in his last six tourna­ments and ninth in 13. It also marked his 13th victory in a row in tournaments where he has been leading after 54 holes.

His 263 total beat the 265 set by Fred Couples in the I 994 World Cup, although Couples was 23 under on the par-72 Dorado Beach course in Puerto Rico.

His nine shots ahead of New Zealand's Frank Nobilo also constituted the largest_ victory margin for the individual title. Sam Snead had set the previous record of eight strokes in the 1961 World Cup.

Woods and O'Meara started the final round with a seven-shot lead over Spain thanks to Woods' course record-tying 63 Saturday.

But Luna was 4 under on the front nine and Martin 2 under, whileO'Mearawent4over,put­ting Spain ahead by one shot at the tum.

But Woods birdied the first four holes on the back nine while Luna followed a double-bogey on the 10th with bogeys on the next two holes, and the Ameri­cans led by five.

In all, Woods shot an eagle and six birdies, and bogeyed two holes - the eighth and the last.

Luna had five birdies, but four bogeys and a double-bogey.

The United States now has won 22 of the 45 World Cups. It had not won, however, since Couples and Davis Love III swept four in a row from 1992 throughJ995.

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