Archive - Feb 1, 2012 - Article (News Story)

American Samoa is being represented in the 2012 Oceania Wrestling Championships (January 27- 29), with wrestlers from the American Samoa Wrestling Association (ASWA), as well as those who are of Samoan descent and have been training off-island. The championships are taking place in Sydney, Australia, and are the first stage of the Olympic qualifier for the 2012 Olympic Games to be held in London, England this summer.

The American Samoa High School Athletic Association (ASHSAA) wrestling season is just getting warmed up for this 2011-2012 season,with its first regular season tournament on Saturday at the Samoana High School gymnasium, with a starting time of 9:00 a.m. Nine teams are competing; Leone, Nu’uuli VocTech, Tafuna, Faga’itua, Samoana, Kanana Fou, South Pacific, Fa’asao Marist and Manumalo.

Samoa Bowl IX featured a lot of new sporting events to its weeklong schedule, one of which was the Girls Softball clinic, called the “Ta’alo Malosi” Softball Clinic, hosted by the Ricketts sisters, Samantha, Keilani and Stephanie. When they left island, they not only donated equipment to the territory’s softball association, but also left a wealth of insight or tips into the game that has brought them success, both in their professional as well as personal lives.

Samoa News reported in the second week of January 2012 on the statistics out of the Attorney General’s Office, which indicate that there is a “massive increase” in sexual crimes in the territory, based on figures the office has collected in 2010, and compared to 2011.

The Senate has again rejected Gov. Togiola Tulafono’s nomination of Dr. Jacinta S. Galeai as director of the Department of Education, as the nominee failed to muster enough “yes” votes to be confirmed yesterday. The vote was 8 in support of Galeai, while 6 senators voted “no”. She needed at least 10 “yes” votes.

Two police officers are at the center of a police investigation on allegations that they took two iPods in connection with a stolen property case from a store last year.

This has been confirmed from a government official who asked for anonymity because this person is not authorized to speak about the investigation at this time.

The government official said a local store filed a complaint with police last year about minors who allegedly stole two iPods from the store, and police were contacted. The minors were taken in for questioning, along with the iPods.

The American Samoa Hawai’i Cable Limited Liability Company (ASH Cable), whose primary business activity is the operation of the only undersea fiber optic cable between Hawaii, American Samoa and the Independent State of Samoa recorded a net loss of over $1.159 million in 2010 after more than $2.5 million in depreciation. Before depreciation and interest deductions, the net profit from operations was more than $2.2 million.

After making several amendments to a Senate bill, the House approved yesterday in final reading the measure that provides for the LBJ Medical Center funding to the tune of $3 million, which is a loan to be repaid with a new 2% wage tax.

The bill now goes to the Senate, where senators will decide on whether or not to accept the amendments. If they do, the bill will then be registered and sent to the governor for his action but if not, a conference committee will be called for both chambers to iron out final language of the measure.

The federal court in Washington D.C. has ordered Paul Solofa to be released on his own recognizance but he must self surrender in Honolulu for detainment while awaiting sentencing in April.

Solofa, the local Department of Education’s former business office manager, was convicted last week by a federal court jury on one count each of witness tempering and obstruction of justice in connection with the DOE school bus spare parts scheme.

AARON WISDOM

The Attorney General’s office has re-filed their case against Aaron Wisdom, the owner of the container at Port in which customs agents allegedly discovered a marijuana substance, drug paraphernalia, guns and live ammunition two weeks ago.

The government’s move to re-file followed when District Court Judge John Ward dismissed the charges against Wisdom Monday afternoon, after the government failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that a crime had been committed and that Wisdom had committed that crime.