Its been a funny and sad last week. The tragic death of the four young Air Corp men in the helicopter crash in Waterford makes us realise how much we take our Air & Sea Rescue Services for granted. Returning from a rescue mission once again, (and I wonder how many lives these men have saved), they sadly lose their lives while working to save others. True Heroes.
What do you make of the Judge in Dublin who gave a young man the option of either standing in O'Connell Street with a placard, or perhaps a sentence. It seems the 19 year old was urinating in public. I listened to Joe Duffy on RTE's "Liveline" and Joe as usual Mr. Liberal Ex Social Worker, whined on about the effect it would have on this 'Boy'.
Surely at 19 you're a man, and surely the effect it should have is that he will never do it again. Last year the same Judge did something similar. Again a young man kicked a bottle which broke. Gardai nabbed him. Sentence - a criminal record or sweep a long street for 4 hours in the presence of a Garda. Humiliation works better than a £10 fine. Do the same to muggers, rapists, crooked politicians. (That reminds me of a joke told to me by a member of Political Party - How do you know when a Politician is lying? Answer: when you see his lips move!!!!!!!).
Driving through Carrigaline on Sunday morning at about 11.00 and not too much traffic on the road, I saw a 'pig' driving a car. No, that's not fair to the pig family. The word I want to use is not suitable in 'The Weekly' . An elderly woman, perhaps in her seventies, was crossing from Cogan's Esso Station Shop with Sunday papers.
She used a walking stick and was half way across when a yellow car came up from the Town and when he saw her he blew the car horn aggressively, swerved dramatically and most of us can lip read the infamous 'F' word which he used. A nasty bit of goods if ever I saw one.
I went down to Crosshaven last Thursday night to take some photographs of our Friends from Kosovo who had a great night at the 'Merries', compliments of the Piper Family. They gave our visitors a free night - all the rides, popcorn, coke, and prizes. The workers turned up on the night free of charge to make it a night to remember. Well done to all concerned.
On a related subject to Pipers, this week the world of popular music lost a singer who will be forever associated with Pipers during the Fifties in Crosshaven. Guy Mitchell passed away aged 72. With hits such as 'My Heart Cries For You', 'My Truly, Truly Fair', 'There's a Pawn Shop Around the Corner' in Pittsburgh Penn'., 'Heartaches by the Number' and his biggest hit was the Marty Robbins penned 'Singing the Blues'. Guy was never out of the charts in the early Fifties. Thanks for the music Guy.
A reader from Douglas West rang us yesterday to complain about the condition of the footpath across the road from the entrance to the Credit Union. She mentioned the weeds and how unsightly it was. I took a look at it and sure enough the weeds are there. So I'm passing on her complaint to the Council. Further down, that's a lovely paint job to John O'Sullivan's rooms, and the South County looks well across the road. Douglas West is the original village of Douglas and perhaps a bit more could be done to preserve it. A few trees as recommended in the 1992 report commissioned by the Council wouldn't go astray.
Work is progressing at a good rate on the Frankfield Hill leading to the Kinsale Road roundabout. I don't know if its going to ease the traffic congestion from Grange to Town, but at least we won't be replacing shocks in our cars in the future. Still no sign of that promised zebra crossing on the Grange Road.
A few readers have told me that election posters are still to be seen. There's a large one of Brian Crowley MEP on the way into Carrigaline. If you know of any more let us know at 896496. It's almost a month since the elections and they should be removed at this stage. Finally, on this subject, are these plastic clip-on strips which tie on the posters defined as litter?, because they're all over the poles. Wouldn't it be as easy to remove them with the posters as leave them hanging there.
Bye for now.
Michael O’Hanlon.
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