CORRECTION
Regarding yesterday's
article about Mental Health Month, the correct number to reach
the Prevention Unit is 699-4155.
"THANK
YOU TO MY TEACHERS"
Dear Editor,
This is Teacher
Appreciation Week!
There has been
much success in ALL aspects of my life due to the many teachers
who taught or advised me in my life.
Thanks,
Bob Coulter
"LOOKING
FOR NANCY ROBERTS"
Dear Editor,
Hello. I am producing
an educational documentary on indigenous cultural performance
art and need to contact an artist named Nancy Roberts.
I would like
to use this painting of a tattooed Samoan chief and need to request
permission, however all I have is a name that the Guam Humanities
Council provided.
They own the
painting and tell me that it was done about 13 years ago, but
they do not have any other information. Attached is an image
of the painting. Would you happen to recognize it and have any
contact information about this artist?
I would greatly
appreciate any help you could give me.
Thanks,
Mel Perez
"TAFUGA
RAINFOREST"
Dear Editor,
It has been said
that "Deception never works so well as when baited with
half truths." One useful negotiating tactic applied by the
original planners and supporters of a National Park for American
Samoa was the deployment of a well orchestrated public relations
campaign spiced with certain ego boosting snippets: "the
Samoans are the world's foremost and preeminent conservationists,"
so we were informed of our magnificent and rare wisdom by our
learned distant brethren.
Underscore that
fallacious spin with another factually suspicious claim that
American Samoa now has the only lowland paleotropical rainforest
left anywhere in the United States and territories.
Sounds great
but clearly insincere, inaccurate and in my humble opinion -
a "deception. baited with half truths."
We have had 20
years of receiving rental payments ("easy money") from
Dr. Cox's unused and undeveloped biological laboratory - the
apple of this vested hoax. And in retrospect, it appears that
the simple but sometimes illusive wisdom of the older chiefs
has remained sound: "As we are not getting anything from
the land laying idle for all these years, at least from now on
we can get something from it."
The ongoing "landowners-rights-be-damned"
dispute between the Halecks and the local government over the
best use of the 20-acre remnant of the once extensive Tafuga
rainforest reminds one of the formative years of the present
National Park and the use of the familiar tactic (ungentlemanly
in my opinion) to help garner public support and more importantly
- secure the 'always' necessary funding.
The claim that
the Haleck-owned 19 acres as the only remaining plot of so-called
"intact contiguous lowland lava flow rainforest in the
entire Samoan archipelago" (Samoa News: 4/22/08) is inaccurate.
Yet it appears
that this erroneous claim serves as the main compelling argument
for judicial consumption by the opposition - unfortunately preventing
the Halecks from exercising a right that adjacent landowners
of the Tafuga Plain had exercised many years ago.
Few remember
that the Tafuga Plain was one time sparsely populated and densely
covered with the same tropical rainforest. Ironically, the Halecks,
like the landowners in the National Park, while not nearly "the
world's foremost." have been shrewd conservationists in
preserving all inhabitants (trees) of this land. And instead
of wrestling the control of the land away from them - and infringing
on their God-given right of property ownership - perhaps a more
God-pleasing civilized solution would be a similarly negotiated
arrangement as received by the landowners in the National Park
- fair compensation (but without the kill-joy discount!).
Reluctantly,
one will concede, that if you can tolerate the low and slow returns,
making money while watching the trees grow is a great pastime.
Malala
"YOUNG
MAN AND DRUGS"
Dear Editor,
I would like
to respond to the story on Eliu Hari.
Chief Justice
F. Michael J. Kruse said "pushing drugs to kids" will
not be tolerated. Eliu is but a child himself (I know he is over
18 but he is still a youngster). Sentencing this young man back
to jail to serve the remaining four years for a couple of joints
is ridiculous.
THIS IS HIS FIRST
OFFENSE!
Isn't there a
program or camp out there to assist in rehabilitating this young
man or something mandated to where he would have to attend community
college, get good grades and report to his parole officer or
something other than jail? Something? What makes you think he's
learning anything positive by being in jail (if you can call
TCF a jail). I'm pretty sure the OG's are telling him how stupid
he was for getting caught and next time, this is how it is to
be done. Sending him to jail will only make it worse, trust me.
As for the Police
trying to find out who the "knock" is providing these
teenagers with the drugs, let me tell ya, Tutuila is 78 square
miles, it's not that hard to find the "SUPPLIER" on-island.
What the Force needs to do is look in their OWN backyard. Isn't
there a DTF (Drug Task Force) on this rock?
What you need
to do is check them for narcotics. Enforce mandatory drug testing
for the whole force and let's see what happens. Lets start from
the top ( Commissioner ) and work our way down to the beat cop.
I bet you 10 to 1, the Government will be weeding out the officers
due to narcotics of some sort found in his/her results. Get rid
of 'em. We don't need him/her serving the community.
We need to let
the old folks that have been in the force for years retire and
let's start fresh. The rookies that you did hire last year are
as bad as the old ones. Learning how to work the system, taking
favors from drug dealers, parking at some rest stop and drinking,
partying while on duty and the list goes on. You call this community
service? Remember, it's my tax dollars that is feeding your behind.
Help this young
man. Sending him to TCF is not the answer.
Disgusted,
Puataunofo de
Haystack, Bay Area
"STRAY
DOGS & THE ARTS FEST"
Dear Editor,
I am writing
regarding stray dogs that roam the road, the street, and people's
yards. Many a time a dog would be found run-over on the road,
dead on the street, pooping everywhere even in people's yards,
attempting to attack ongoing vehicles by the tire on the road,
scattering trash out of the large trash-and-garbage containers,
and attacking bystanders. Some appear to carry some kind of a
disease.
Since we are
preparing for the Arts Festival Celebration, is it safe for our
prestigious visitors to explore our island with dogs around unrestrained?
I know that we
are advised to restrain our dogs for this upcoming Arts Festival
event, but most of the stray dogs are owned by no one. Most of
them, as a matter of fact, are abandoned and disowned by families.
We are also advised to clean and beautify our environment. Other
than people littering, however, stray dogs are also contributing
to the untidiness of our island. What can we do about this?
Personally, I
think it is best that not only should people restrain their dogs,
but also the 'aumaga' of each village should cage every stray
dog and announce to the village families to identify whether
any of the dogs are theirs. Dogs that belong to no one should
be executed somehow or be given to families who are willing to
care for them.
We cannot afford
for stray dogs to continue messing up the beauty we try to create
in our environment. We need to take on an active position to
resolve this issue that has long been addressed, but has not
been thoroughly dealt with.
Signed,
A concerned individual
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Samoa News reserves all rights.
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