By Stephen McKinley
A sheep made headline news in Leitrim last week after falling off a cliff and landing on a ledge, where it remained trapped for over a week, apparently without anything to eat.
The drama unfolded at Slievenakilla, Bencroy, on the lonely and isolated road between Aghacashel and Ballinaglera, and local news sources reported the event with a veritable storm of sheep puns — including " ‘Ewe’ wouldn’t believe it!" and "Sheep are woolly jumpers after all."
Eventually, the gardai went to investigate the trapped sheep, and discovered that it had managed to escape — no one knows whether it went up or down, but no body was discovered, not a squeal was heard, and it is presumed that the creature made it to safety of its own accord.
Polish wedding thrills
A wedding took place recently in Athlone, according to the Westmeath Independent. Nothing surprising with that, except that it was the first-ever all-Polish wedding in Ireland, as far as anyone could remember.
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Ania Kida wed her groom, Leszek Bogun, both of whom moved to Ireland recently — Ania for only a few months, and Leszek since 1999. Ted Carty, Ania’s boss from Carty Meats, acted as father of the bride.
Carty said that they were a lovely couple and he was delighted to have been asked to give Ania away on her wedding day. Her former employer, Norma Wilson, acted as "mother of the bride," while Norma’s daughter Laura was flower girl. The bridesmaids and groomsmen were all friends of the couple. Leszek is also working in the area, currently employed by Kepak in Ballymahon.
Because it was not possible to have their families home for the wedding, Ania says that they plan to conduct the ceremony again when they return home to Poland at Christmas.
Many of the couple’s Polish friends, who are also working with them, joined them for the ceremony, which was conducted in both English and Polish as a joint celebration between Fr. Jacques Ragmen of Poland and Fr. Patsy McDermott.
Although the couple had met before in Poland, their romance blossomed on Irish soil.
Farmer escapes fine
In Caherlistrane, Co. Galway, a drunk farmer cursed and swore at a policeman who had stopped him for driving his tractor while intoxicated, but since the farmer sped away from the scene on said tractor before evidence to sustain the charge was gathered, Peter Greaney of Ballinapark was found not guilty.
However, Judge John Garavan fined Greaney heavily on related charges.
Greaney denied the charges, saying he would never use the type of language described by the Garda in Court and pleaded that he had only left his tractor because it ran out of diesel and had to go for more.
Greaney’s neighbor John McInerney said that he had gone for a walk and found Greaney’s tractor blocking the entrance to his cottage.
He waited until after dark, then called the gardai, who sent Garda Brick the next morning. Brick tried to move the tractor, at which point Greaney appeared in a drunken state and shouted "don’t tow away my f***ing tractor." He added "You’ll get no tractor without taking me."
In court, Greaney told Justice Garavan that he had no recollection of the event, nor would he have dared swear at a policeman. He also said that he had only had a pint and a half to drink.
Garavan ruled that a drunk-driving charge could not be sustained but imposed a fine of £200 for failing to comply with the directions of a police officer. In addition, he added a fine of £100 for the obstruction with the tractor and a further £100 for obstructing Garda Brick.
For failing to have insurance, a fine of £250 and a one-year driving disqualification was imposed. But Garavan said the driving ban should not apply as the defendant was a farmer and would need his tractor.
Funeral protest
Funeral directors in Fermanagh took their protest to Omagh, Co. Tyrone, recently in protest over the ending of embalming facilities at Erne Hospital.
The Sperrin Lakeland Trust has given the undertakers one month to submit proposals for upgrading the facility. If these are not acceptable to the trust, undertakers will no longer be able to carry out embalming at the hospital mortuary beginning Oct. 1.
A spokesperson for the hospital said there are concerns around the standards of safety in the embalming facility.
"Embalming is an invasive procedure and there are risks to our staff, the undertakers and members of the public," he said.
But Tommy Gallagher, speaking for the funeral directors, said that the facility had been closed without adequate consultation of those using it.
Save our priest!
Fr. Gerry Condon, curate at Sacred Heart Church in Folly, Co. Waterford, is bound for a new parish in his native Tipperary — or so he thinks.
Local parishioners have mounted a campaign to keep the popular priest in their area.
The chairman of the Folly Residents’ Association, Tom Fraher, said: "Whereas we are all delighted at Fr. Jerry’s elevation to parish priest, we are all greatly saddened at his departure."
According to the Munster Express, residents have also appealed to Bishop William Lee to reverse the decision.