February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
NUTS ABOUT POSTCARDS
His real name is Edward, but to many Irish people around the world, this Cork man is known as “Nuts” O’Sullivan.
According to the Corkman newspaper, it was O’Sullivan’s unusual hobby that brought him renown — he collects postcards from overseas.
Not surprisingly, the most recent addition to O’Sullivan’s collection was from Tokyo, where an Irish fan who knows him sent a postcard from the World Cup tournament.
Among his collection, O’Sullivan has cards from Bali, Gozo, Malta, New York, Lanzarote, the Netherlands, Rome and Spain. Yet the 72-year-old from Mallow has only left Ireland once — to go to a GAA game in England.
O’Sullivan got his nickname at an early age, thanks to another local character.
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“There was a local huckster of the name Eddie Nuts, who used to sell chips in town and whenever anyone would ask my name sure I’d answer ‘Nuts’ just because of the chip-man, and it stuck ever since.”
DOG DISTRESS
The Kelly family in Coolock, Dublin, has lost four dogs in the last two years to a series of poisoning attacks.
Despite the efforts of the gardai and the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, no one has ever been caught. Last week, Theresa Kelly told the Northside People newspaper that her granddaughter had discovered fresh rat poison in the garden, of the same variety that was used to kill the four dogs.
“It was the worst thing I have ever seen in my life,” Kelly said. “Tara, the second dog, was found in the same condition as Rusty, with blood foaming at the mouth as she lay twisting and writhing on the ground.
The Kellys have lived in Millwood Villas for over 25 years. Since she first moved in, she has kept dogs and only received one complaint in all that time.
“I just want them to stop,” Kelly said. “I am sick of telling my little granddaughter that another dog has gone to heaven.”
FARMING FORUM
A Carlow farmer will appear in a TV documentary next week, about the Philippine island of Negros.
Derek Deane visited the island as part of a trip organized by trade globalization group Comniamh.
The initiative was arranged so that rich and poor farmers around the world could exchange ideas on agriculture. The documentary will show how the farmers of Negros struggle to eke out a living, and how Deane and his colleagues have tried to help them succeed.
BIG MAN, BIG HEART
In Mayo, Jimmy Sullivan has stepped on to the scales in aid of charity. As the Mayo News put it, Sullivan is “a big man with a big heart.”
At almost 450 pounds, Sullivan appears to be Mayo’s biggest man — no one was able to tip the scales to outweigh him last weekend, when his act raised more than