History
This site has been active since 1996
I tried for many years to bring American Samoa a quality telephone directory and I think I accomplished that. It was a difficult task and many of my friends told me I was crazy for putting so much effort into the directory. My mantra was always “If I produce a quality product it will be good for me and the community”. So, I set out to do exactly that – produce a quality product that both the community and I can be proud of.
My history of telephone book production goes back to 1967 when I produced the first-ever telephone directory for American Samoa. It didn’t amount to much because there weren’t many telephones in the territory back then. ASTCA didn’t exist then, it was the Communications Department. I don’t have a full book but one of my old friends sent me pictures of the front and back covers along with the page describing how to use a telephone, shown below. The book was supported entirely by the local business community by way of advertising in the book. Actually, there wasn’t enough advertising to support the publication, so I just spent my own money to complete the project. From that first telephone book came many years of telephone directories published by my old company Transpac and later by Pago Printers.
In the year 2000, I began producing telephone directories again for ASTCA with the first book being published in 2001. Production of the books went well for nearly 10 years. Shown below are the covers for the first six directories published between 2001 and 2008.
But, in 2010 that all changed. This website will tell the story of ASTCA’s complete failure to perform and my attempts to compel performance.
Summary
by John Newton
In 2010, ASTCA’s Marketing Director asked me to produce future telephone directories. Due to past issues receiving listings, I agreed only after ASTCA assured me that a new hire, J.D. Hall—son of longtime friend Roy Hall—would provide timely and complete data. Hall, tasked with improving ASTCA’s billing systems, expressed confidence in his ability to supply the listings, which persuaded me to proceed.
Because there had been no competitive bidding for years, I required a new contract for compliance with procurement laws. ASTCA’s legal counsel, Gwen Langkilde, agreed to draft it but later bypassed me and proposed amending the outdated 2001 contract via internal email. The Marketing Manager shared this with me. I declined to respond, recognizing it as an attempt to avoid procurement rules.
I submitted talking points in the form of a draft contract for consideration, which launched years of delay and resistance—mainly from Gwen. She misrepresented my request for a listing count as a demand for accuracy and rejected my suggestion to distribute directories to subscribers, citing unverifiable data.
Hall struggled to provide the data in proper format despite my guidance. I later learned he was posting ASTCA listings on a personal website and selling ads. Over the next three years, he sent incomplete data with ongoing excuses. Senior officials Gwen Langkilde and Alex Sene ignored my repeated appeals for intervention.
In 2013, ASTCA’s new CEO assigned Margaret Willis—an experienced collaborator—to assist. She produced key listing sections within days, but Hall withheld her work.
After four unproductive years, I filed a breach-of-contract complaint. Despite supplying extensive documentation, the court—after eight years—dismissed my evidence and ruled the MOU unenforceable.
I am now appealing. The process is opaque: the Appeals Court rules are on an outdated, unofficial website, and the Clerk could not confirm who sits on the panel.
I received transcripts only in low-quality hard copy, making them difficult to digitize. Gwen’s misrepresentation persisted throughout the trial and was accepted by the court. Judge Kruse barred her from testifying publicly due to her current judicial role, ordered a deposition instead, and limited my opportunity to present key evidence.
Before I could testify fully, Kruse abruptly ended proceedings, allowing only one question: whether I had received post-paid cell phone listings. I had not—clear evidence of ASTCA’s breach. Nevertheless, Kruse disregarded this and invalidated the contract entirely, despite its execution by all parties and its unchallenged use since 2010.