Hens Left Stranded.

Twenty ladies from the Dundalk area, who flew to Liverpool last weekend for a hen party, were left stranded by Ryanair, and one can only imagine the volume of the cackling at the check-in desk, when told they had no return flight.

The group arrived at Liverpool airport on Sunday afternoon for their return flight, which was due to take-off at 4.30 p.m. to be told that the flight was cancelled.

Two flights to Dublin later that evening were fully booked, and they were told they would have to wait until Monday morning, or make their own arrangements, at their own expense.

Some did, and flew to Belfast to be ready for work on Monday morning, others whose purses were somewhat empty after the weekend shenanigans, had to wait over.

Naturally it will not end there, since it appears that no saitisfactory explanantion was given by Ryanair, who it must be remembered are not strong on explanations, or apologies, for failure on their part.

A Drugs Bust In Dundalk !

Things are definitely looking up for Dundalk, with rumours circulating that there actually was a sizeable drugs-bust in the town last weekend.

The string of embarassments that the Garda Siochana nationally have suffered, and the ensuing continuous bad press which has hounded the force, must eventually be leading to recognition that the public are entitled to the policing for which they pay.

For weeks major drug-busts have been taking place in other parts of the country, and now it appears that a drugs raid actually took place in Dundalk.

Oh shock horror, whatever next!

During this raid a considerable amount of drugs and a very susbstantial amount of cash was discovered in a house in Woodbury Gardens, yet not one word in the local papers.

Here's the interesting part!

The plot thickens,(as the saying goes)with the rumour machine suggesting that the man involved is a local taxi driver, who father is on the 'Force', possibly a plain clothes detective.

Which might explain the lack of response from the Gardai to this astronomic problem in the town over the years. It has been blatantly obvious for yonks that the place was 'coming down' with drugs.

So what went wrong this time! Was it simply an accidental discovery due to a lack of communications between units, mobile phones ran out of credit !

Don't get excited, and don't hold your breath waiting for charges to be brought against the offender, but we can live in hope. Yeah, right.

Dundalk Murder Suspect Re-arrested

Just as anger was growing over the release of Gregory Conway, the 36 year old Dundalk man, suspected of the murder of Liam Murphy, at his house in Woodview Terrace, at the end of June, he was quickly re-arrested last night in Dublin, and presumably is being charged once again with the crime.

He had been allowed to walk free from a Dublin Court some days ago, when the State failed to present their book of evidence to the Court. The prosecution had been given two extensions to the time period, plus a grave warning by the presiding judge that Conway would have to be released if they failed to present their case.

Solicitor Website Shutdown

The highly entertaining website www.rateyoursolicitor.com has been temporarily removed from the web, although you can still read it here.

The shutdown comes ahead of a pending High Court libel case due for hearing on October 5th against one of the founders of the site, Mr. John Gill, Drumline, Newmarket On Fergus, Co. Clare.

John is not easily scared by the legal profession, and has been on a mission against them for some time now. It appears that John Gill suffered serious financial loss, in excess of €150,000, at the hands of what he terms 'corrupt' solicitors and others in the legal system.

He and a number of others started 'The Victims of the Legal Profession Society' and you can read their cases at http://www.crookedlawyers.com

They then went on to set up the site www.rateyoursolicitor.com where the public could select their county and town and rate their experiences with their local solicitors.

It's probably fair to say that it may have been abused to some extent since most complainants remained anonymous, but yet there's no doubt that it gave an oppportunity to people who had suffered at the hands of 'less than efficient' legal practitioners, to vent their anger, and it made for some very interesting reading.

One of those solicitors joined in the forthcoming High Court Case is local solicitor Fergus Mullen, who appears to have been one of a number of Dundalk solicitors who received less than favourable comments from their clients.

The forthcoming case could well backfire on the legal beagles since it will afford John Gill a platform to air his, and other members grievances, and the wave of publicity which is certain to surround the case, will undoubtedly give him much needed publicity.

Watch this space!

Suspected Killer Walks Free

There is widespread anger in Dundalk over the fact that the man suspected of involvement in the murder of local man, Liam Murphy at Woodview Terrace, in June walked free from Court yesterday.

Gregory Conway, also known as Gregory Schmeding, from the town, had been arrested shortly after the discovery of the body, and later charged with the murder.

This shocking turn of events occured because the State failed to present their case within the prescribed period of time.

Despite having been granted two extensions to the time limit, and been given a formal warning at Cloverhill District Court, they still failed to present the 'book of evidence', as a result of which the Court had not option but to allow the man to walk free.

At the time of his arrest in June it emerged that Conway/Schmeding had been charged with manslaughter 14 years ago, but had fled the country, and despite a warrant being issued for his arrest, he had returned to Dundalk and was living freely in the area, without ever being questioned by Gardai.

Fly Tipping DVD Pirates.

Here's hoping the Dundalk Litter Wardens may be successful in tracing the culprits who dumped the huge amount of blank dvd's, cases, and the injet printer recently at Muirhevnamor.

The injet printer should be a helpful lead in their forensic trail, since it would have a serial number, and may be traceable through it's warranty.

There is absolutely no excuse for this behaviour, especially in view of the fact that Dundalk leads the way with it's excellent recycling facility on the Newry Road, where for a couple of Euro charge, all this sort of material is welcome.

Town Council To Get Tough.

Dundalk Town Council are to get tough on anti social behaviour, and if they live up to their promises to seriously tackle the issue, it will be good news for those living in constant hell in the town's estates.

Worst affected is Doolargy Avenue in Muirhevnamor, where these gangs, some of whom are as young as 10 years of age,have been subjecting the neighbours to an almost nightly program of terror, as they tried to detroy vacant houses with fireworks. Anyone brave enough to check them for the carry-on is subjected to both physical, and verbal abuse on an almost unbelieveable scale.

It is reported that parents of some of the youths may be 'aiding and abetting' them in their outlandish behaviour, by listening to Garda radio traffic transmissions on hand-held scanners, and warning the gangs of imminent Patrol Car visits.

The Council has taken the unprecedented step of appointing an investigatiions officer specifically for the task of indentifying the culprits involved in this anti social behaviour, and eviction procedures against the parents could be set in motion.

Mystery Lights Explained.

The mysterious lights recently seen in the night sky out over the beach at Blackrock could have a reasonable explanation.

Did anyone establish the whereabouts of 'Blackrockonian' Conor Hughes at the time of the incident?

It could well be that Conor was rehearsing a very elaborate fund raising stunt, many of which he staged on the beach over the years, and raised goodly sums of money for deserving causes.

So Lets See If I've Got This Right, "It's not a topless bar, but !

Eden, the new "different" bar which opened last weekend in the Abbey Centre in Drogheda is not, in fact, a topless bar.

The owners, Corrigan and Coyle, who sound like half of a firm of solicitors from Castleblayney, are going to great pains to stress, "that it is not a topless bar".

However in the same breath they go to equally great pains to point out that "for an €30 charge" the dancer will remove every single stitch, down to the birthday suit, "behind a curtain".

So when is rose not a rose?

Lottery Loss

Most people dream of winning the lottery, but for one unnamed local, the dream became a nightmare, when scammers relieved them of €20,000 in 'Lottery Win Acceptance Fees'.

They had received the scam letter from Madrid telling them that they had won €674,349.69 in the spanish lottery, and were asked to contact the company within three weeks to claim the money.

At this point they were asked to transfer €20,000 in acceptance fees after which the scammers disappeared off the radar, no doubt to set up once again elsewhere.

It's a variation on the Nigerian oil money scam which has been operating for years, and while you may well question the gullibility of some people in believing wild improbable stories, the sheer numbers which the scammers target, means they will certainly 'catch' someone.

Some wise wag once said that a fool and his money are easily parted, to which another wag added that he didn't understand how they got together in the first place.

Cafe Metz Fire

There were panic scenes in Francis Street last Thursday morning when a fire broke out in Cafe Metz. Fortunately the outbreak occured before the daily lunchtime crowd had arrived, or the results could have been a lot different.

During the incident flammable material in the ceiling fell on customers in the very popular cafe diner, and seven people were taken to hospital for treatment, but none of the injuries were thought to be serious. The fire broke out as workmen were repairing the roof and were using a gas torch.

It is rumoured, though as yet unconfirmed, that Foreign Affairs Minister, Dermot Ahearn, had just left the cafe when the fire broke out. His brother Tim, who is part of a nearby legal practice, is a daily visitor to the cafe.

Topless Bar in Dundalk. A Matter of Time.

It can only be a matter of time until Dundalk gets a topless bar, since Drogheda is already ahead with a Demi Moore 'Striptease' style topless dancing bar, due to open in the Abbey Centre.

It was expected that Gardai would object to the application for a public dance licence when the matter came before Judge Hamill, at Dundalk District Court, a few weeks ago on the grounds that the venue didn't have a dance floor for what is described as "Exhibition Dancing".

The venue is an existing licensed pub premises, and the applicants must have complied with the requirements because it appears that they got the 'go-ahead' at the same court on Friday last.

One thing is certain, some of the cash registers in Dundalk's Park Street pubs will suffer a downturn over the coming weeks while the guys check out the topless venue.

It wil be interesting to speculate as to which of Dundalk's many pubs will venture down the route.

Stan Staunton Sent Off

Stan needs a break. It's been anything but easy for him lately, between gunmen, and squad members becoming unavailable to play.

Last night took the biscuit. A German free kick in the 57th minute, deflected off Robbie Keane, and gave victory to the Germans, with the only score of the game.

Then in the 74th minute he gets sent off, banished to the stands, for kicking a plastic bottle on the sideline. He told the media, afterwards, that he kicked the bottle in frustration, because he believed Ireland should have been awarded a penalty for a foul on Kevin Doyle.

However he can be justifiably proud of his team on the night. They gave it there all, and but for that flukey deflection off Keane, the result would have been different.

Sam Curran is Getting Right Up My Nose. A Comment fromThe Editor

First off I have to admit that I wouldn't know Sam Curran if I fell across him, but be that as it may, he is managing to get right up my nose.

To answer your burning question, Sam is spokesman, and frontline 'head-buck-cat' for Finnabair Estates, the group of 'venture capital' guys, behind Dundalk Retail Park. For the past few years they would not have been happy-chappies, given the fact that the development was quickly taking-on all the hallmarks of the biggest 'white elephant' Dundalk has ever seen. In fact I would 'venture' to say that the jury is still out on that one.

To digress for a moment, a major part of Dundalk Retail Park's problems from the outset has been the fact that Dundalk Chamber of Commerce always dictated the balance, and content of the businesses in the development. It was widely rumoured, a few years ago, that their refusal to approve the tenancy of a well known sports apparel group led to legal proceedings. In nearby booming Newry the Chamber of Commerce joking said that their biggest asset was Dundalk Chamber.

Meanwhile back to Sam. He is going to save Dundalk! He has his soapbox out, pontificating to all who will listen, as to how the town has finally turned the corner, and is now back on the agenda of many of the large retailers that they,(Sam and the gang) have been trying to woo to the retail park in order “ to get the balance right”. Ugh, who writes this stuff!

Next minute he is ready to reveal plans for a 'district centre' on the Carrick Road, while also taking countless trips out to the Ballymac roundabout, talking to guys about building a travelodge hotel on the site of “the house that Jack built”. You know the one, in the trees above the roundabout.

At the same time he is bemoaning the fact that the town centre is shrinking because of the sheer size of the Marshes shopping centre, and for this very reason has already expressed to the Town Council 'a keen interest' in becoming involved in the re-development of the town centre.

Now don't yawn, please pay attention! He is currently looking at a very interesting project which will compliment what Frank McArdle, Gerry Matthews and Brian o'Neill are doing, in and around the Market Square.

Are you listening! He says that as a group of developers they have got together to discuss their collective plans to ensure that no two people are doing the same thing. Heaven forbid that we should end up with two of anything! I think I'm going to puke.

At the last count I figured we had four shopping centres and a retail park, but then you can't count that one, because it doesn't really work yet. Perhaps the forthcoming Ice Dome will give it the much needed kiss of life, and attract a few more cars to the empty carkpark. Indeed perhaps some of these big retailers who have 'Dundalk on their agenda' and may decide to opt in for a 'rent free period' just like Havee Nawman, Atlantic, and PCWorld.

I remember BS,(no not that BS), before Sam, there was Laurence Breen with the retail park, and his sidekick, or should that be 'kickstand', Hugh McEvoy, local Husjvarna motorcycle agent, and together they were going to change the face of the earth 'as we know it' in that area of town. What happened to those plans?

I'm really scared now! What will we do, how will we manage if we lose Sam Curran.

The Editor.

Clean it Yourselves, say Dundalk Town Council.

A disturbing, and rather offensive graffiti attack on a new wall, at the rear of houses in Laurel Grove, has upset many of the residents there. The wall is on the side of the new road between Tom Bellew Avenue, and the Marshes Shopping centre,

However to add insult to injury they have been told by the Town Council that it's not their problem, and to clean it up themselves.

If the graffit was on the outside of the wall it might have been a different story, but because it's on the inside, and won't offend passing traffic on it's way to swell the coffers of commercial enterprise, the Council don't see a problem.

Yet the Council was instrumental in creating the situation which has provided the 'canvas' for the demented artists, and poets.

Despite massive objection from residents both here, and in nearby Oaklawns, and Meadowgrove, this road, and the one from the roundabout at the swimming pool, on the old railway line( hence the name) Bothair Iarainn, was pushed ahead to faciltate the development of the Marshes Shopping Centre.

During the construction on both roads a high block wall was built at the rear of properties, but at the rear of Laurel Grove the wall isn't at the rear of the gardens. It's a little further back, which has created an alley way, affording the crazed poets and artists, access to the 'inside' of the wall.

Memo to Dundalk Town Council:
Get a grip on reality. Spend a little of the huge payments you received by way of charges to the developers of the Marshes, for handling over the land for them to create the roads. Clean up this mess, and prevent it from recurring. The residents are entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of the homes.