Nation Briefs
September 24, 2004
Destroyer Named after Adm. Chung-Hoon
PEARL HARBOR, Hawai‘i — The USS Chung-Hoon, the Navy’s newest and most advanced warship, is now in its homeport of Pearl Harbor.
The $1 billion destroyer is named after the late Rear Adm. Gordon Paiea Chung-Hoon, a Chinese American born and raised in Honolulu.
“If Uncle Gordon were here, he’d be very happy,” said Punana Chung-Hoon, a niece of the World War II veteran. “To have the honor of having a ship named after him — he’d be very, very pleased.”
Chung-Hoon, who died in 1979, received the Navy Cross for his leadership after a kamikaze attack in 1945 that left several of his crew dead and severely crippled his ship, the USS Sigsbee. Chung-Hoon was a lieutenant assigned to the USS Arizona, the battleship that the Japanese aircraft devastated at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
The USS Chung-Hoon has the capabilities of fighting air, surface and subsurface battles simultaneously.
JAs in New York City
NEW YORK — A report by the Asian American Federation of New York has noted that even though Japanese Americans have higher income and education levels, they still have lower citizenship rates and problems with the English language. The study also states that Japanese Americans are now the seventh largest Asian American group in New York City, and the greater New York area contains the fourth largest Japanese population in a U.S. metropolitan region.
Drivers’ Licenses Bribery in Chinatown
BOSTON — The Chinatown branch of the Massachusett Registry of Motor Vehicles is embroiled in a bribery scheme involving the improper reinstatement of drivers’ licenses for fees ranging from $300 to $1,600.
Four men were arrested in May along with nine others as part of a sweep executed by Attorney General Thomas Reilly’s office. Harry Fenton, 29, of Somerville; Chris Massey, 25, of Boston; and alleged middlemen Hector “Tito” Ross, 27, of Boston and Johnny Toussaint, 28, of Randolph have all been indicted.
Ross, Toussaint and others allegedly recruited clients who were willing to pay for reinstatements. Arraignments are scheduled for Sept. 30 in Suffolk Superior Court.
Washington Economy Slow and Steady
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington should expect a slow and steady growth for its economy, aided by a sizzling real estate market and the prospect of new Boeing jobs, according to state economist Chang Mook Sohn.
Sohn chairs the Revenue Forecast Council, a bipartisan group of legislators and state budget officials, which released the mostly upbeat revenue update, including information about extra state revenues of $132 million to help offset a potential $1 billion budget gap.
Gov. Gary Locke, on a trade mission to Asia, released a statement saying the new forecast shows that the state is on a slow path to recovery and pulling out of bleak times.
But even though the state’s growth is expected to outpace the rest of the country, its job growth, at only 2 percent is still the slowest in modern times, Sohn said.
House Committee Passes Akaka Bill
HONOLULU — The U.S. House Resources Committee unanimously approved the Akaka bill on Native Hawaiians, setting up for a possible vote by the full House, even as Senate Republicans refused to reveal themselves in blocking its progress in the upper house.
Rep. Neil Abercrombie, the bill’s primary sponsor in the House, and the rest of Hawai‘i’s congressional delegation face a deadline of mid-October. The bill has failed in two previous sessions.
The bill would recognize Hawaiians as a native population, similar to American Indians and Native Alaskans. It passed out of committee verbatim just like its Senate counterpart, which is stalled, Abercrombie said.
Arizona Republican Sen. John Kyl is reported to be the one who placed a hold on the bill. “He’s in opposition to the bill,” a spokesman said. “Whether he’s the one who did it or somebody else, it’s not all that important.”
Fasting for a DREAM
NEW YORK — Dozens of Korean Americans around the country started five days of fasting to draw attention to immigration issues including the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act (DREAM).
“Progress in Congress has temporarily stalled as Congress and the president debate other priorities,” said Yu Soung Mun, executive director of the Young Korean American Service and Education Center.
DREAM would allow students to apply for legal residency if they entered the United States before age 16, have lived here for at least five years, and have graduated from high school or are enrolled in college.
In New York, city employees are technically prohibited from asking for or disclosing immigration information about residents.
“In fact, people are being arrested solely on the basis of their immigration status because of the NYPD’s use of a federal database that lists people who have immigration violations,” said Margie McHugh, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition.
Meng Upsets Incumbent
NEW YORK — Jimmy Meng, a lumber company owner, has beat out Assemblyman Barry Grodenchik in the Democratic primary in Queens.
Meng advances to November’s general election as the favorite in the heavily Democratic district in Flushing to become the first-ever Asian American elected to the New York state Legislature.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said the Legislature intentionally drew the district first-termer Grodenchik with the hopes of sending an Asian American representative to Albany.
The race was tinged with racial and anti-Semitic overtones.
Internet journal entries by Meng’s daughter, Caroline, criticized Jewish power brokers, the Queens Democratic Party and Councilman John Liu, who she said would rather support a non-Asian than someone who is from mainland China.
“I don’t agree with my daughter,” Meng said after hearing her comments. “Jewish people help me a lot,” he noted, referring to Jewish campaign contributors. He added, “My lawyer’s Jewish.”
Aryan Nations Founder Dies
SPOKANE, Wash. — Aryan Nations founder Richard G. Butler died asleep in his home in Idaho on Sept. 8.
Butler built a compound adorned with Nazi symbols on 20 acres near Hayden Lake, Idaho, moving there from California upon his retirement in 1974. His disciples included some of the most notorious figures in the hate movement. Their mission was to turn the Northwest into a whites-only retreat.
In 2000, a jury ruled against Butler in a $6.3 million civil lawsuit, sending him into bankruptcy and forcing him to forfeit the compound to two of his victims.
A Butler associate, Buford Furrow, was a former Aryan Nations security guard who killed a Filipino American postal carrier, Joseph Ileto, and shot up a Jewish day care center in Los Angeles in 1999.
Feng Shui Goes National
MONMOUTH JUNCTION, N.J. — Although the National Association of Realtors does not track how many real estate agents use feng shui, there are signs that its appeal is broadening. Realtors are flocking to seminars on harnessing its principles to sell homes.
“Feng shui is really not about investing a lot of money because most of the time our clients have the proper things. They’re in the wrong places, feng shui-wise,” said Shelley Mengo, who runs a feng shui consulting business in New Jersey called Harmonious Living.
Gail Lyons, the association’s regional coordinator for Asia, said as many as 30 percent of her clients are interested in buying a home with good feng shui.
“They’ll say, ‘I want to be sure the hallway doesn’t go all the way from the front door to the back door. The good energy, the chi, can just go right through the house,’” said Lyons, a real estate broker in Boulder, Colo.
Fanny Chu with Prudential California Realty said she’s seen feng shui consultations make or break a transaction.
One young man had picked out a condominium,“but backed out totally because of a feng shui master,” Chu said.
National Korean Convention in D.C.
WASHINGTON — The Korean American Coalition is hosting its second national convention in Washington, D.C., Sept. 23 - 26. The KAC was founded in 1983 in Los Angeles, Calif. It is a nonprofit service, education and advocacy organization that facilitates the Korean American community’s participation in civic, legislative and community affairs.
The event will be held at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill. For more info visit www.kacdc.org/member/conference.htm
Fuji Festival in Chicago
EVENT: Japanese American Service Committee’s 34th annual Fuji Festival in Chicago
BACKGROUND: JASC was founded in 1946 to assist in the resettlement of Japanese American internees. It is now a social services agency that helps the elderly and families and individuals in Asian and non-Asian communities in Chicago and its suburbs.
INTERESTING: Chicago’s preeminent jazz bassist Tatsu Aoki is also the founder and artistic director of the Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival. The Miyumi Project is a multicultural, multigenerational ensemble that combines elements of traditional Asian music, African American jazz and new music, featuring taiko drums, acoustic bass and horns.
DETAILS: Sept. 24 at the Union League Club of Chicago, 65 W. Jackson, (773) 275-0097 or www.jasc-chicago.org. Silent auction and reception from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $125 per person ($60 for students, $100 for JASC members).
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