The idea of building the schools Guam so badly needs through a municipal school lease is commendable.
However Douglas Moylan attorney general has raised a number of important points in a July 5 letter to Gov. Felix Camacho that deserve attention and to-the-point answers: All schools — including Harmon Loop Elementary which is to become a middle school — are at risk of being lost if the lease is in default on payment. Why is funding calculated from Compact Impact funds until 2025 if the funding is only scheduled to 2023? If the amounts of Compact Impact funds are subject to appropriation each year from the U.S. Department of the Interior how can the lease be certain of $6.1 million annually? What provisions have been made to fund new faculties around $27.2 million for four new schools and additional faculty at Harmon Loop?
These questions deserve detailed answers.
As the Journal’s Front Page story reveals one of the major components in the “munitions highway” planned by Naval Forces Marianas and the Department of Public Works is Route 15 commonly called “the back road to Andersen [Air Force Base].”
The deeply potholed road is to be upgraded as part of the plan to move arms ammunition and equipment between Naval Station and Andersen Air Force Base.
Because it is an alternative to Marine Corps Drive and because of the build-up and urbanization of Guam’s Northern villages Route 15 is heavily traveled.
It’s entirely likely that a new Route 15 —even if it doesn’t happen immediately — will encourage a leap in commercial and residential development along its passage through Mangilao and Yigo particularly if a school is built in the Marbo area.
Upgrading the road with federal funds will be a tangible benefit to the island and its citizens and one directly resulting from the military buildup on Guam.
In two cases in the United States journalists face jail time if they do not reveal sources. Closer to home one daily news reporter has a similar dilemma. The Supreme Court of Guam on July 1 upheld the decision of the Superior Court of Guam to require the reporter to testify concerning his sources. While the reporter’s source is known tampering with a reporter’s right to protect what was told in confidence is part of the same slippery slope. Shame on the judges for doing damage to another noble profession equally dedicated to the search for truth.
“
