Community Briefs

INFO ON FARM LOAN PROGRAM AVAILABLE

Are you a Tinian farmer who wants to know about the Farm Loan Program? Please come see Laurie Talbo, Farm Loan Officer of the Farm Service Agency, USDA.

Talbo is available on Friday, Oct. 14, 10:30am at the DLNR conference room on Tinian.

For more information, call Lawrence Duponcheel, NMC-CREES Tinian at 433-2576 or 433-0639. (PR)

DPS FIREARM TRAINING FACILITY OPEN TO PUBLIC ON SATURDAY

The Department of Public Safety Firearm Training Facility will be open on Saturday, Oct. 15, from 9am to 4pm.

Within those hours registered gun owners will be given the opportunity to do function check, serviceability, zeroing, and recreational firing.

The set fee for the training facility is $15 for each hour of use, which will be paid at the DPS Training Facility in San Juan, Marpi. The range will provide cardboard backings and targets. If you have any questions or concerns, contact acting DPS public information officer Eric F. David at 664-9023. (PR)

ENVIRONMENTAL SURVEY ON FDM SET

The U.S. military will conduct a five-day environmental survey on Farallon de Mendinilla Island after completing target bombing exercises this month.

In a public advisory, the EMO said the environmental survey would be conducted from Oct. 17 to 21.

The EMO said the military would also conduct bombing exercises from 9am to 2:30pm from October 6 to 7, and from 8am to 7pm from October 11 to 13.

The EMO cautioned the public, especially fishermen, commercial pilots, and tour operators, to stay away from the training area while the scheduled military activities are ongoing.

The EMO said the training area covers the FDM island “from 15,000 feet mean sea level on a 10-nautical mile radius on all quadrants.”

TEEN JAM AT GIG MOVES TO FRIDAYS

The weekly party for high school students dubbed “Teen Jam,” originally scheduled every Saturday, is now transferred to every Friday beginning Oct. 14. Doors will open at 5:30pm.

The weekly Solo Dance Competition continues until December. The following weekly winners are already assured of slots in the Grand Finals: Keesha Paez, Jeff V. Barton, Masayos, Daniel Agulto, Arden Crisostomo, and Troy Santos.

Teen Jam is co-presented by COCA COLA. For more details, call 234-5050 and look for GIG manager Fred Santos. (PR)

MEETING ON UNINTENDED HOOKING OF SEABIRDS RESCHEDULED

The Oct. 6, 2005 meeting of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council to consider modifying proposed measures to reduce the unintended hooking of seabirds by U.S. longline fishing vessels based in Hawaii has been rescheduled to Nov. 1, 2005.

The meeting will be held at the Council Office, 1164 Bishop Street, Suite 1400, Honolulu. For more information, contact the council at (808) 522-8220, (808) 522-8226 (fax), info.wpcouncil@noaa.gov or www.wpcouncil.org.

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, the policy-making agency for fisheries management in federal waters (3 to 200 miles offshore) of the U.S. Pacific Islands.