Admin puts forward bill to purchase van for TCF while House calls for a special shelter at the airport

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — An administration bill appropriating $54,000 to fund the purchase of a 2018 Ford Transit 15-passenger van to transport inmates was introduced in the House yesterday morning.

The bill is sponsored by Vice Speaker Fetu Fetui Jr and is transferred to the House Budget and Appropriations Committee for review.

According to the preamble, the Department of Public Safety (DPS) has determined that the most effective utilization of the available funds at this time is to purchase a 15-passenger van in order to safely transport inmates and prisoners.

The current transport van is no longer safe to operate and must be replaced to ensure the safety of the public, inmates, and corrections officers. Due to the urgent need to transport inmates safely, the bill should have an immediate effective date.

Pursuant to Section 22.0820 of the American Samoa Code Annotated (ASCA), there has been created a designated account entitled, “ASG- Traffic Rehabilitation Account”, into which are deposited law enforcement costs offset fees of $10 per traffic conviction.

The funds in this account can be utilized for purchase or maintenance of traffic control devices, traffic patrol vehicles, and traffic safety or traffic law enforcement equipment.

SHELTER AT THE AIRPORT FOR BODIES OF THE DECEASED

A House Resolution to construct a shelter at the Pago Pago International Airport where bodies of deceased loved ones may be properly received when they arrive from off-island was introduced in the House  last week.

The resolution, sponsored by Rep. Gafatasi Afalava is transferred to the House Port Administration Committee for review.

According to the resolution, since the beginning of air travel to the territory, bodies of loved ones have been transported from off-island and received at the airport. Upon arrival, families gather at the airport for a cultural receiving of the body where traditional and religious ceremonies are performed.

Within the last decade, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of bodies arriving in the territory for funerals and burials, where the frequency of bodies arriving were few within an entire year, families are now seen gathering to receive loved ones as many as once - or more - a week.

The single greatest need to maintain the reverence and respect in this tradition is a proper shelter at the airport where the deceased can lay as families dispense cultural formalities.

“It's important to make sure that the deceased are not left in an open field and therefore airport management should provide a covering or shelter to ensure that the bodies of loved ones are protected."

Under the resolution, the Governor is respectfully requested to instruct the directors of Port Administration and Public Works to prepare plans and begin construction of a shelter at the airport.