BRIEFS January 8, 2015 Pohnpei Campus RAC Professor Conducts Training For Technicians In Chuuk WENO, Chuuk (COM-FSM News, Jan. 05, 2015) — Associate Professor Bertoldo Esteban Jr. from Pohnpei Campus conducted training in Refrigeration and Air Conditioning (RAC) in Chuuk from November 19-21, 2014. The training was part of core activities charted under the Pacific Regional Hydrochlorofluorocarbon Phaseout Management Plan (HPMP), which currently is under its implementation stage. The purpose of the training was to re-enforce the vision of Montreal Protocol. The training is also required under the Pacific Regional Hydrofluorocarbon Phase-Out Management Plan (HPMP). This training targeted technicians currently servicing the refrigeration and air condition sector in the State of Chuuk; Not only to enhance their skills in handling new refrigerant but also to expose governmental policy, and obligations under the Montreal Protocol in relation to the RAC sector. A total of 28 RAC technicians from both private and public sectors and 2 customs officers participated in this training. The training was also part of collaboration efforts between Office of Environment & Emergency Management (OEEM) and COM-FSM/Pohnpei Campus. Court Orders BPS To Temporarily Cease Use Of Solitary Confinement KOROR, Palau (Oceania TV News, Jan. 05, 2015) — Although a previous court ruling concluded that the conditions of Koror Jail’s solitary confinement quarters violate Palau’s Constitution that forbids “torture, cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment”, it did not end the use of the facility. But a new case has forced the Bureau of Public Safety (BPS) to cease use of the solitary confinement in the interim. This is after the Supreme Court granted a writ of habeas corpus in the case of inmate Suzuki Temael filed on December 4, 2014. Temael has been serving a 20-year prison sentence since 2008, and according to court information he has been detained in the “dark room” for about 8 months. In his petition, Temael claims he is ‘suffering from deteriorating eyesight because of prolonged lack of light… kidney and urinary issues due to inability to freely use water and bathroom facilities’ and psychological disturbances believed to have been caused by long-term confinement. “I do not have a light in my cell. I am forced to use the bathroom in bottles and bags which are almost never cleaned up”, reports Temael. In addition to health problems, Temael claims he was not allowed out of the cell for any reason other than attorney visits and court dates. He also reports he has not showered since he was placed in the dark room. This is not the first petition regarding the conditions of the solitary confinement quarters. In November 2014, inmate McClain Angelino, 19, filed an emergency application for writ of habeas corpus claiming he was detained and isolated uninterrupted for three consecutive weeks in the solitary confinement cell or the dark room as referred to by prisoners. In this particular case, Associate Justice R. Ashby Pate personally visited the site with Angelino’s attorney Assistant Public Defender Allison Jackson, Attorney General John Bradley, court staff and BPS staff. Jackson also represents Temael. In the 30-page order in Angelino’s case, Judge Pate described the current conditions of the facility as “near total darkness”. Detailing all he witnessed he described one of the rooms he visited “strewn with trash… dank wet magazine pages, and soiled clothes.” Water bottles filled with urine were also found in the cell. The stench of urine and feces was described as “overpowering”. He notes that there was no sink, no toilet, and no ventilation other than a small grated opening in the iron door, no bed or bedding, no light and no drain. He concluded that not only does the condition of the solitary confinement fail to meet even the minimum standards of human decency, the manner and duration of Angelino’s confinement violates the jail’s policies and procedures. Koror Jail rules, according to court information, requires that a prisoner in solitary confinement be allowed one hour outside of the cell each day. But in Angelino’s case he was allowed out once a week for only thirty minutes for a shower. Division of Corrections Lieutenant Ricky Ngiraked admitted to the Court that the jail’s treatment did in fact violate its own house rules. He also disclosed that allowing the prisoner out, in this case Angelino, does not depend on his needs, but whether there is manpower to allow him to shower. With the jail’s current location and aging structure, high-risk prisoners are reportedly housed in the dark room to prevent incidences such as escape. Justice Minister and Vice President Antonio Bells in a press release at that time suggested that basic improvements were being made and will continue when resources are available. In response to the conditions of the solitary confinement, he stated it is designed to be very unpleasant as the dark room “is meant to be a punishment and a deterrent for those who are already confined to jail.” Temael is seeking injunctive relief regarding the jail’s use of the solitary confinement cells as a whole. He is also asking the Court to order an injunction for the Koror Jail to immediately stop housing inmates in the dark room until the facility is brought up to “constitutional muster”. Jackson also argues that it is not feasible to continue to file petitions for every inmate housed there. The Court ordered Koror Jail to cease use of the dark room for any prisoner until an agreement is reached on this matter. In the meantime, the jail can employ limited use of the anteroom as a temporarily holding area. Temael was moved out of solitary confinement when this petition was filed. A status conference hearing is scheduled for January 23, 2015. US EPA Wants ‘Full Accounting’ Of CNMI Utility’s Funds SAIPAN, CNMI (Saipan Tribune/PIR, Jan. 08, 2015) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency believes it is time to conduct a full accounting of funds or potential funds of some Commonwealth Utilities Corp. projects. EPA, through U.S. Department of Justice Environmental Enforcement Section senior attorney Bradley R. O’Brien, stated that the accounting request is not an academic exercise but a reckoning that is necessary to reveal the extent of the funding that will be available to the Engineering and Environmental Management Company, which is necessary for EEMC’s future planning, and CUC’s attempt to shift funding responsibilities to the detriment of the EEMC and to the benefit of CUC. The United States is not accusing CUC of improprieties, but believes that a full financial accounting, firm financial and project commitments, plainly stated contract intentions, a description of ongoing CUC disputes, and public disclosure is imperative, said O’Brien. U.S. District Court for the NMI designated judge David O. Carter recently selected Gilbane Federal, a California-based full service construction company, as EEMC, which will have the power to expeditiously complete some stalled CUC projects. O’Brien asserted that it is important that the court require CUC to fully inform the court and the parties of current and past project funding, available project funds, contracting issues, the extent to which funding will be earmarked or transferred to the EEMC, and CUC’s intentions regarding current and past contracts that CUC seeks to potentially transfer to the EEMC. It is time for a CUC accounting, he pointed out. O’Brien specifically asked the court to order CUC to provide information, under oath, for each of the Stipulated Order 2 projects. SO2 refers to court-mandated CUC projects that include the CUC pipeline; tank erection cleanout and testing; secondary containment; and used oil disposal, and others. O’Brien said in light of the federal funding implications and the insufficient information that has been previously provided, providing the information under oath is appropriate. O’Brien requested for an accounting of all SO2 funding or potential funding (whether federal funding or CUC and CNMI funding) for each of the past, current, and future SO2 projects. He requested for information regarding the extent to which funding is available for each of the past, current, and future SO2 projects. To ensure complete and accurate grant funding information, he said it is important to clarify whether the grant funding is obligated or unobligated and the extent to which the funds have been spent, invoiced, not invoiced but spent, or expected to be spent. O’Brien said much of the funding information was provided verbally by CUC to the U.S. government. He disclosed that, on Dec. 10, 2014, CUC submitted the required grant status report for SO2 projects as of Nov. 30, 2014. The grant status report is not up to date and does not clearly delineate grant funding obligations and payments, thereby hampering EPA’s ability to discern available grant monies and funds obligated or earmarked to contracts or projects, the counsel said. On the Tank 102 project, O’Brien said their response describes CUC’s apparent intention to transfer the project construction to the EEMC at the EEMC’s sole expense—and to shift to CUC approximately $1.5 million in combined grant and CUC funding currently earmarked for the project contracts. Notably, CUC’s reply is silent on this point, a silence that needs unambiguous clarification as requested by the United States, he said. On the CUC pipeline project, O’Brien said CUC must be required to fully account for the project’s funds and to state whether CUC intends to support the EEMC’s use of these funds. He cited that CUC’s grant status report states that there remains only $195,649 in unobligated grant funding for the project. However, CUC does not account for approximately $1.682 million that EPA was informed was released from the Smithbridge of Guam contract—a total of $1.877 million that should be available in unobligated grant funding, O’Brien said. He said CUC may have made a payment to Smithbridge to resolve the CUC/Smithbridge contract dispute. If so, CUC should specify the extent to which additional payments were made to Smithbridge and the extent to which grant funding was used for this payment and the funding now available for the CUC pipeline, he said. O’Brien said that, on Oct. 23, 2013, the court ordered CUC to establish an $866,000 CUC pipeline contingency fund. While the contingency fund may have been fully funded originally, EPA has been informed that CUC has withdrawn funds from this account, possibly for non-CUC pipeline activities, he said. A full accounting of these funds is needed, with a firm CUC commitment that all CUC pipeline funding will be available to the EEMC, O’Brien said. On miscellaneous grant funding, O’Brien said in addition to the $1.17 million in grant funding currently obligated to the CUC pipeline and Tank 102, there is $1.962 million in grant funding that is associated with SO2 projects but is either not obligated to specific contracts or obligated but not spent and can be used for SO2 projects. CUC and EPA are in disagreement over EPA’s role over the implementation of identified CUC projects with the selection of the EEMC. CUC, through counsel James S. Sirok, stated that under the provisions of the EEMC order, CUC believes that the EPA does not have the authority to micromanage the SO2 projects and SO2 project management responsibilities of the EEMC. Last September, Carter approved a settlement agreement entered by EPA, CUC, and the CNMI government that will require the CNMI government to, among other things, deposit over $22.8 million until 2018 to complete some stalled CUC projects. Fiji Looks Forward To Sydney Talks On Forum FIJI, Oceania (RNZI, Jan. 08, 2015) — Fijis Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola says Fiji is looking forward to discussions in Sydney next month on Pacific regional groups. A top-level meeting of Pacific leaders to review the structure of the regions agencies was agreed by Australia and Fiji following Suvas refusal to rejoin the Pacific Islands Forum. Ratu Inoke has reiterated Fijis stance that unless there are some changes to the Forums make-up, Fiji will not retake its place at the table after its suspension was lifted in October. For example Japan had indicated their interest last year to become a full member, whilst also as a development partner and Im sure Korea, the United States of America, France, China. So that is our position and we look forward to the meeting thats going to be held in Sydney next month. Ratu Inoke Kubuabola has also reiterated Suvas opposition to just Australia and New Zealand being development partners and members of the Forum. -END- COMMUNITY MESSAGE: 2014 is history and, for our land, our Yalfath cannot note it in his history paper for us. He ate the paper at the very beginning of time for our community. But, for 2015, we, while thinking extra hard about economic development, may find it useful to rethink the basics in cultural norms regarding respect, if respect is still important to us and our community. Respect was important and necessary to our forebears because it kept them together. And it did because of the unusually high value they placed on appropriate cultural behaviors in all situations—family, village, public, etc. In our time, some may think that appropriate behaviors are not important anymore because of this freedom of expression thing while others may feel that learning and using them are not important because they or their parents were not born in this land. The latter brings to mind the Eskimo who ran a red traffic light in New York City. His tried but could not avoid a traffic citation despite his excuse that there were no traffic lights in his Eskimo land. Copyright © 2015 Yap State Government, All rights reserved.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 06:14:30 +0000
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