MORE TAX REFUNDS RELEASED BY TREASURY DEPARTMENT

Just in time for the Flag Day 2012 celebration, the Treasury Department released on Monday 745 refund checks totaling $956,186 with $335,894 in local and $620,291 in Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC), said Tax Office manager Melvin Joseph and that these refund checks are for those who filed up to Feb. 21st.

Total to date of refund checks released comes to  just over $6.29 million with $2.25 million for local and $4.03 million for ACTC, said Joseph.  The ACTC is funded by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

SOUTH SEAS BROADCASTING FINED BY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has levied a $18,000 fine on locally based South Seas Broadcasting Inc., which owns and operate two radio (including 93KHJ ) and one television stations in American Samoa.

The fine deals with the broadcast license of WVUV (AM), the now defunct radio station that was previously located in Leone but the facility was reportedly destroyed by fire several years ago. South Seas had acquired WVUV (in March 2000) and broadcast on the FM radio band under V-103 from the company’s main studios at Pago Plaza. The company wanted to keep this once very popular radio station WVUV alive and not to be forgotten.

The FCC’s 7-page “Forfeiture Order” dated Apr. 19th and publicly released yesterday, states that South Seas “willfully and repeatedly” violated provisions of FCC rules by engaging in operation of  WVUV(AM), at an unauthorized site; by leaving WVUV silent without proper authorization; and failing to respond to FCC communications.

A footnote in the order states that the WVUV station is now identified as “DWVUV” in the federal agency’s database.

Responding to Samoa News inquiries, South Seas president Larry Fuss says this matter “stems from our attempts of several years ago to keep WVUV-AM alive under trying circumstances.  We finally gave up and did not file to renew the license.”

“We have 30-days to appeal the forfeiture order, and will certainly do so,” he added.

Background information provided by the Forfeiture Order states that South Seas timely filed during the last renewal cycle in 2008, the application to renew WVUV’s license, but the District Council Assemblies of God (which operates KJAL-AM) in American Samoa  filed a Petition to Deny the Renewal alleging, among other things, that South Seas no longer had access to the tower site specified in its license.  (Full details of the FCC decision is found on www.fcc.gov)

CRUISE SHIP ARRIVES MONDAY IN PAGO PAGO

The cruise ship “Rhapsody of the Seas”, on its first sail to American Samoa will call into the Port of Pago Pago on Monday, Apr. 23rd and not tomorrow (Apr. 22) as initially announced, according to the American Samoa Visitor’s Bureau.

The ship is scheduled to arrive in Pago Pago around 8a.m. from Fiji and departs 12-hours later for Apia, Samoa. Total number of passengers and crew arriving on the Royal Caribbean International cruise liner  was not yet available at press time.