European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 26, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 16 the stars and stripes May 1985 american Samoa a special place in the Sun by Charles Hanley associated press like the rare Maumea Bird cooing contentedly atop rainmaker the people of american Samoa Are a Breed apart a forgotten Colony Happy with their place in the the samoans ruggedly Lush land is a South Pacific an american territory whose people Are not a democratic outpost ruled by an autocracy of local and while other colonies clamor for a better Deal from the samoans the a smiling est people i Ever said 19thcentury author Henry Adams love things just the Way they their primary political concludes a recent congressional is to preserve and maintain the samoan Way of that samoan or Faa of sharing and caring and sometimes of daring to dip a bit too deeply into the Bounty can overwhelm the american Way of efficiency and people Here bananas and papayas Are lying around to feed moneys also lying so ill take John Kneubuhl says with a the part samoan retired director of the samoan studies program at the local Community is a onetime Hollywood but in this Case he May be Over dramatizing Only islanders readily acknowledge that years of easy Federal Money 70 percent of the local budget comes from Washington have made them and made Petty corruption and fiscal irresponsibility facts of life the relaxed samoan attitude toward Public Money is enough to pop the Strait laces on visit ing after taking a look in astounded Interior department inspectors reported Back to Washington that american Samoa fiscal management was in a state of since then the Public works chief had government Crews build a Surprise free of for his lieu tenant governor at the the incoming governor reported his predecessor spent on travel in his final three months in office As a lame More than budgeted for the entire the president and Legal counsel of the american Samoa development Bank were sentenced to five years in prison for fraud and larceny involving tens of thou Sands of dollars in bogus the head of a government Agency was fired be he he resisted pressure to pay someones relative for a no show the say concerned is that Sam Oas age old matai system of minor chiefs traditional Heads of family with unquestioned claim to a hefty share of clan earnings has simply been grafted to an american style local As a government agencies become the private fiefdoms of incompetent and greedy the critics the new elected last novem recognizes the problems and promises its part of the appointing people without says a 62yearold High but that was part of growing now the tendency is to appoint people with both title and but not he when 51 Pulenuu Village mayors were sworn in for new terms the governor had to chastise them for not working hard enough for their a Napoleone an 80yearold agrees it is time for a a fifth generation Bald and Tuitele Leapaga is the composer of the amerika Samoa Anthem and author of a samoan history All these ignorant chiefs care about is their family and their he for one Tuitele Leapaga suggests making the samoan Senate a popularly elected like the Legislatures lower the 18 senators now Are chosen by a murky process of chiefly a samoan version of the smoke filled the old matai at a full scale attack governor Lutali is promising change for american a photo a photo samoans the worlds smiling est on you take away the matai system from and Samoa wont be Samoa he after 85 years As a samoans wave the american Flag As High As they claim to have the highest per capita military enlistment rate of any and probably american samoans three times the population of the territory reside in Hawaii and elsewhere in the United Many living on welfare payments they share with the folks Back but if they Are proud of their american samoans Are even prouder of a place Robert Louis Stevenson called a simple and sunny a Century after Stevenson died in neighbouring West Ern now an Independent these islands still evoke a fabled polynesian a dozen shades of Green pour Over mountainous to american Samoa 40squaremile main in the great fjord like Harbor of Pago Pago pronounced Paongo tropical downpours give Way to vivid pastel a Rainbow of More than a dozen unique flashes through the thick even the samoans clotheslines hang with the Brash colors of a Rousseau the american Way infiltrates the samoan but Only to a youngsters toss a football around a Harborside but they Wear brightly hued lava lava Samo ans buy fast food at Pago Pagos Chicken but they also still Rise at 4 to prepare traditional Sun Day meals of breadfruit and new woo Frame houses Rise on Pago Pagos but the families retain their old open sided As samoans Are most intent on keeping their traditional land system communal family ownership overseen by the their unusual territorial status american Samoa Tutuila and a Hal dozen smaller islands was ceded to the Navy by local chiefs in today described As an unincorporated pos it is the Only one of the four overseas territories the others Are puerto the Virgin islands and Guam whose people Are not citizens but in practical this Means samoans selectively apply the Constitution we do our own Lutali one Choice they have made to bar no samoans from owning property in the the same thing that happened to Hawaii will happen we will be taken Over by the governor every 10 years or most recently in Ameri can samoans set up a commission to review their while other colonies agitate for either greater autonomy or greater integration into the United the samoans opt for the status quo every they have the Best of both one Mainland american in the local administration comments privately they keep their traditional system and get their Money from