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By Agnes E. Donato

SAIPAN, CNMI (Marianas Variety, Nov. 4) - The Department of Labor has ordered a Saipan employer to pay $92,786.04 in back wages, damages and fine for participating in a scheme to defraud nine non-resident workers.

Margie Tudela of Pyramid Enterprises was also barred from employing alien workers in the commonwealth.

Records showed that Tudela had promised to provide nine Bangladeshis with work in the CNMI on the condition that they pay her approximately $5,000 each.

But after they paid her, Tudela allowed the complainants to be stranded in the Philippines for five months.

When they finally arrived on Saipan in 1996, they were not provided with jobs.

The complainants filed their labor cases in 1996 through 1997, but Hearing Officer Linn Asper stayed the case, pending the resolution of a separate civil action filed by the nine complainants.

On April 12, 2002, then Judge Virginia S. Onerheim dismissed the civil case,...

By Edwin Tanji

MAKAWAO, Maui (The Maui News, Oct. 3) - The Maui Invasive Species Committee has not given up on efforts to eradicate the coqui frog from Maui, despite a report out of Honolulu that the frog is beyond control here.

The organization involving government and private agencies concerned about the spread of unwanted alien species in Maui County still is seeking to bring the small but noisy frog under control, said Teya Penniman, committee manager. One of the issues that the group is seeking to resolve is determining where the frogs have been established, she said.

A recent report out of Oahu said there are 40 or more areas on Maui where the frogs have been heard.

"That's what we have been trying to determine. We are trying to determine what is the extent of the population," Penniman said. "We want to find out how valid that number is."

Wildlife specialists with the committee know some of the areas around Maui infested by the coqui,...

NUKU‘ALOFA, Tonga (Maganti Tonga, Oct. 24) - Disregarding strong public protests and the opposition of People’s Representatives, the Tongan Government pushed through a bill for Constitutional change on October 16.

The changes, which have yet to be signed into law by the king, will allow government to control freedom of speech.

After eight working days of sometimes heated debate, the Tongan Legislative Assembly passed the Bill for an Act to Amend the Tongan Constitution with a vote of 16-11.

The two major amendments to the Constitution are an amendment to Clause 7 "Freedom of Speech" allowing government to draft laws to regulate the media and to regulate media reports on the basis of cultural and religious acceptability, and national security. The other amendment is a new clause, which prevents anyone from seeking damages when government bans publications. It reads, "There shall be no damages awarded for any breach of the provisions of the Constitution and...

Editorial

WAILUKU, Maui (The Maui News, Nov. 3) - Olelo o Hawaii, the first language of these islands, is wonderfully complex with subtleties that require going beyond the surface to the meanings behind the meanings. With its softly rolling vowels and shadings of intonation, olelo o Hawaii is a language for poets.

But that doesn't mean it isn't a language for everyday use, particularly on its home grounds. As is the case with all languages, olelo o Hawaii both reflects and shapes the islands' native culture, the one thing that makes Hawaii different from all the other sun-and-sea tourist destinations.

It's a difference that should be protected and nurtured, not only by na keiki o ka aina (children of the land) but by everyone who holds the islands, and Maui in particular, close to their heart.

One of the more commonly used, and abused, expressions borrowed from the islands' first settlers is kamaaina. The surface meaning of the word is "land child,"...