CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — This was one bat that didn’t wait for Halloween to bring mischief.

The power failure that caused parts of Camp Foster to go dark on Sunday was the result of a bat landing on a power line and creating a short-circuit, according to a Marine release.

Facility engineers noted the failure just before 7 p.m. After finding the problem and removing the zapped critter, they coordinated with the Okinawa Power Company and restored electrical power by 10 p.m.

The commissary and warehouses south of it, buildings near the Foster Parade Deck, and the Foster chow hall and chapel were among places affected.

Helicopter unit returning to GuamHelicopter Sea Combat Squadron 25, Detachment 1, was to return to Guam on Wednesday after a nine-month deployment in the Western Pacific, according to a Navy release.

The detachment — two MH-60S Knighthawk helicopters and support personnel — is HSC-25’s only sea-going replenishment logistics unit, the release said.

Apart from resupplying ship stores, the unit also provided search-and-rescue and medical evacuations services for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Town hall meeting set for Camp CaseyU.S. Army Garrison-Red Cloud, also known as Area I, will hold a town hall meeting at the Camp Casey Digital Conference Center from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Dec. 3.

Representatives from command, the commissary, finance and most other garrison services will be available to answer questions. The public is welcome.

S. Korea to prop up stumbling currencySEOUL — South Korea will use its resources to prop up its falling currency and prevent a replay of the 1997 financial crash, President Lee Myung-bak said in an address to the National Assembly on Monday.

Lee said the government will continue to make its vast foreign currency reserves available to banks suffering from a lack of foreign deposits.

Currency markets briefly boosted the won following the remarks. But by midday, the won had continued falling to 1,438 won against the dollar, its weakest point in 10 years. About a year ago, 906 won bought one dollar.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Korea cut its key interest rate by a whopping 75 basis points to 4.25 percent. Lee’s move to make more money available to the banks, combined with the rate cut, would make cheaper loans available to businesses and households.

It’s an attempt at jump-starting an economy which grew 0.6 percent last quarter — South Korea’s slowest in four years, according to the national Bank of Korea.