En Voc

Tony Pellegrino's letter to the editor about vocational education caught my fancy.

He says there is no vocational school in Saipan. I haven't been keeping up with the college, but I know they used to have a number of programs. Well, yes, most of the students weren't strictly 'local', they counted a student twice if they took two classes and anybody who could immediately applied their skills in Guam or the mainland because of the wages here. But the classes were available. (I did try to check out their new and improved website but it's obviously still a work in progress.)

Still, I'd bet on Tony. I remember saying his public library scheme was stillborn. He signed up Joeten (added parking) and Kiyu (keeping up with Joeten) and motivated a lot of kids. OK, that's not fair, they both contributed greatly. We now have a library to be proud of, and I always remember Tony when I think about it.

I wish some reporter would follow up on this, but it's obvious they don't read the papers, even their own.

Pubic Library?

For instance, back on January 15 the Northern Marianas Housing Corporation was advertising for PURCHASE OF ADULT BOOKS for the Tinian Public Library (built with public funds) in the Saipan Tribune. Maybe the Marianas Variety, too, but I read that one online. Part of a Community Development Block Grant.

Now, doesn't that pique your interest just a little? Maybe enough to be worth a phone call?

The lie of the land

Since I've started, it's time to rage about public land leases again. Now, the government does its job to the letter of the law. Of course, the average person has no clue about the location of section 15...blah, blah, blah, but the proposed lease has been published.

I would hesitate to bug them about every lease they advertise, and obviously I'd come off as a crank or a busybody. A reporter, on the other hand, would just be doing his or her job. The flip side being not doing his or her job by ignoring such simple leads.

Right. I've been here before. I did try to get around this basic laziness or incompetence by approaching one of my Representatives. "How about legislating a requirement that the location be described generally so that ordinary people could understand it?" Sez I. "Great idea," sez he. "I'll get right on it."

It pays to advertise

Now I'm waiting to see if they follow up on the ad for CNMI Labor's new job posting site. I would expect their business departments to be a tad nervous about losing revenue if newspaper posting of job vacancies gets replaced. We already see one or two pages of ads where there used to be three or four.

I had to look it up, you know. Using 'marianaslabor.net' instead of 'marianaslabor.gov.mp', I thought it might be a scammer.