Flashback – Jan. 2005-Jan. 2010

January 21, 2010

‘Explore thermal energy on Pagan Island’
The chairman of the Commonwealth Retirees Association, Juan M. Sablan, is urging the U.S. military to explore thermal energy on Pagan Island for its energy requirements when it relocates troops to Guam. There are about 8,600 Marines and about 9,000 of their dependents that will be transferred from Okinawa, Japan, to Guam starting in 2012. Because Guam cannot accommodate all training for the relocating Marines, the military looks at Tinian to provide opportunities for training groups. Tinian is only about 100 miles or 160 km away from Guam and two-thirds of its land is leased to the U.S. Department of Defense.

3 in human smuggling case plead guilty, get probation
The federal court imposed yesterday a one-year probation sentence on three Chinese nationals who were charged with attempting to unlawfully enter Guam through a boat. Junhua Chen, Jian Dong, and Ping Liu were part of a group of 24 Chinese nationals who allegedly tried to enter Guam on Jan. 5, 2010. U.S. District Court for the NMI designated judge David Wiseman ordered that the three be turned over to a federal immigration official immediately for deportation. The judge said If immediate deportation fails and defendants are released pending further immigration proceedings, they were directed to immediately report to the U.S. Probation Office to begin their probation terms.

January 21, 2007

Lizama dismisses many claims in Hafadai Hotel dispute
The Superior Court has dismissed many claims pertaining to a legal dispute among the owners of Hafadai Beach Hotel in Garapan. Associate judge Juan T. Lizama ruled that Pacific Development, Inc. shareholders do not have standing to sue PDI for breach of fiduciary
duty, dilution, accounting, or injunctive relief. Lizama granted PDI’s motion to dismiss the PDI shareholders from plaintiffs Guerrero Family Trust and others’ claims of fiduciary duty, dilution, accounting, and injunctive relief. The Guerrero Family and others are the minority shareholders in two corporations—Saipan Hotel Corp. (SHC) and its parent PDI. SHC operates Hafadai Hotel.

Ex-Rep. Demapan gets probation sentence for taking endangered birds
The federal court has imposed a one-year probation sentence on former Representative Ignacio DLG. Demapan for taking endangered birds. U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Alex R. Munson also ordered Demapan to write a 10-page double spaced type written report on the importance of protecting an endangered species. Munson said Demapan should present the report to three school classrooms. The judge required the defendant to perform 100 hours of community work service and pay a $25 court assessment
fee. In April 2006, special agents from the Division of Fish and Wildlife arrested Demapan for taking endangered birds.

January 21, 2005

Dentist allegedly assaults businessman
A businessman sued a dentist for punching him over an altercation at a Saipan restaurant, asking the Superior Court for an award of monetary damages. James B. Matsumoto, who owns a financing company, yesterday filed with the court a civil action against Dr. John Ronan, part owner of Toothworks. Based on the complaint filed by Matsumoto’s lawyer, Joseph A. Arriola, he went to the AJ’s Restaurant on a Friday night last November to meet with another man regarding some business matters. At the restaurant’s bar, Matsumoto struck up a conversation with a man whose friends included Ronan. Matsumoto proceeded to introduce himself to the group. Matsumoto had a conversation about a proposed business partnership between the financing company and the dental clinic.

Man fined $500 for threatening couple
The U.S. District Court yesterday placed a man on three years of probation and fined him $500 for threatening a couple in a letter. The court had convicted Crisanto T. Balolong of transmitting a threatening letter, an offense that entails a maximum prison term of five years. Balolong pleaded guilty to the charge in a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office last year, expressing remorse for what he did. Prosecutors charged Balolong for threatening Efren and Filomena Francisco by sending them newspaper cutouts that claimed his alleged membership to the New People’s Army, a communist guerilla group in the Philippines.