NEWSLETTER Tuesday, November 5, 1991
Aid aged alert
HELP the Aged's shops are warming up for winter with a special promotion of woollies, wellies and waterproofs.
The event begins tomorrow at the charity's eight shops in the Province and will run for two weeks.
A spokesman said: ' People will also be able to browse through a selection of books and games to while away dark evenings.
As well as raising funds for elderly people in need through this promotion, the shops will be assisting in alerting people to the dangers of cold weather by providing information on help available in Northern Ireland. '
The charity has two shops in Belfast and others in Londonderry, Portadown, Coleraine, Strabane, Larne and Ballymena.
LATE REDSKINS!
Washington Redskins remain the only unbeaten team in the NFL after winning 16C13 in overtime against the unlucky Houston Oilers.
Houston's Ian Haufield missed a field goal with one second left, but Washington's Chip Lohmiller sealed victory with a similar attempt from 43 yards.
Houston coach Jack Pardee said: ' I thought our kicking game was good until the last kick. '
Atlanta added to San Francisco's poor season by winning 17C14 with a last-gasp effort.
The touchdown came with only one second left when Michael Haynes jumped among a crowd of defenders to catch for the victory.
Atlanta's victory takes them to second in the NFC West with San Francisco a poor third.
Denver's sixth win in seven games takes them to top of the AFC West after their 20C13 victory against Pittsburgh, who now are third behind Cleveland and Huston in the AFC Central.
Cincinnati got their first win of the season but only by 23C21 against Cleveland.
List of Results omitted
AMERICAN FOOTBALL
Brooke backs market tactics
THE Government's ' I 'm backing winners' policy emphasised that competitiveness was the way to achieve real economic growth, according to Secretary of State Peter Brooke.
Speaking at the Gallaher Business Challenge Awards, he said the change in tactics signalled a move away from concentrating purely on job promotion.
A competitive world market made it essential for businesses to be at least as competitive as their overseas rivals.
' A more competitive Northern Ireland economy will of course lead to, in the long term, an increased level of secure and worthwhile employment, ' said Mr Brooke.
' The Gallaher finalists fit this profile  they have already marked themselves out as winners. '
The criteria for the awards emphasised total quality management and innovation.
Mr Brooke said Ledu would focus on the ' software ' side of business by raising awareness of the importance of quality and market research, and improving export performance.
Soldier's bravery honoured
A SOLDIER murdered in an IRA ' human bomb ' attack has been awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal.
And nine unnamed UDR soldiers have been given honours ranging from a CBE to Mentions-in-Despatches in awards for gallant or meritorious service.
Cyril Smith, from Carrickfergus, died just over a year ago after a huge bomb was driven into the border checkpoint at Newry.
The soldier, a member of the Royal Irish Rangers, took the 65-year-old man forced to drive the Hiace van to safety.
Ranger Smith then ran back into the danger zone to warn the other soldiers though, unknown to him, they had already found a safe spot.
He is believed to have taken the full force of the blast, on October 24, 1990, and died instantly.
Thirteen others were injured, including the van driver.
At his funeral, in St Nicholas's Catholic Church, the Rev Anthony Curran praised the bravery of a young man who ' could have run to safety, but gave his life for his colleagues'.
Ranger Smith, 21, the first member of his regiment to die while on active service, was due to leave the Army only six weeks after the blast.
The UDR awards are one CBE, two MBEs, one Queen's Gallantry Medal, two British Empire Medals and three Mentions-in-Despatches.
Several other members of the Royal Irish Rangers are included in the honours list: Sgt Andrew O'Malley, BEM; Lt Col Frederick James Allen, already OBE, and Major Robin Gerald Russell, both mentioned in despatches.
CYRIL SMITH Gallantry Medal
Contents omitted
' Bland ' Brooke angers unionists
By MERVYN PAULEY
UNIONIST MPs rounded on Ulster Secretary Peter Brooke yesterday after he turned down calls for selective internment in the wake of the IRA bomb outrage at Musgrave Park Hospital.
He failed to announce any new security initiatives in his Commons statement on the atrocity, in which two soldiers died, and his words were dismissed by Strangford MP John Taylor as' bland generalities'.
He said Mr Brooke had nothing to offer the people of Northern Ireland and he told the House: ' There must be condemnation of those who fail to take on the IRA and the finger must be pointed at the Secretary of State and those behind him.
' It is this Government which introduced Dublin rule through the Anglo-Irish Agreement and gave encouragement to the terrorists and they're responding in kind. '
The Saturday afternoon bombing  in which 11 people were injured, among them a five-year-old girl and a baby of four months  was condemned by Mr Brooke as an act of ' cynical depravity '.
And he rejected the IRA's ' callous and cynical ' claims that the building was an operational military base.
' It is purely and simply a hospital, dedicated to healing and the relief of suffering, ' Mr Brooke said.
' The nearest security force base is more than a quarter of a mile away and was manifestly not the target of the attack. '
The internment calls were spearheaded by Ulster Unionist MP Ken Maginnis and DUP leader Ian Paisley.
' The need for the introduction of internment is staring us in the face, ' Mr Maginnis insisted.
Mr Paisley spoke of the ' deep revulsion ' over the hospital bombing and said internment should be a weapon in the armoury of any civilised country.
Mr Brooke responded to a demand from Mr Paisley that he would not allow his hands to be tied by Dublin.
He said: ' I give the House a full assurance that, in the event of the introduction of executive detention, it would be carried out by Her Majesty's Government in line with legislation passed by this House. '
He said that bringing in internment would be a very serious step, the consequences of which would be difficult to predict.
' I would only consider using it in very particular circumstances, and for obvious reasons, I would not predict what those circumstances might be. '
Mr Brooke told MPs that the 20lb Semtex bomb was left part way along a service tunnel between two hospital buildings.
One contained orthopaedic and children's wards, and the second wards and other medical facilities administered by the RAMC for servicemen, their families and some civilians.
He said that, in addition to the deaths and injuries, the blast caused severe damage to both buildings amounting to at least 250,000.
In a newly refurbished children's ward in the Withers Block, debris had fallen on a father who was nursing his baby daughter.
Other children in that ward were immobilised in traction.
' So far, 97 operations due to have been performed early this week have been cancelled and 80 out of 200 NHS beds in the hospital have been rendered unusable.
' I am sure the whole House will join me in utter condemnation of this appalling attack.
But the cynical depravity of this outrage must surely mark one of the lowest points in the IRA's inglorious history.
' I reject all attempts to justify this attack.
Let there be no doubt it has shown the IRA in its true colours.
' It was an attack on the whole community  on sick children and their parents, on old people whose much-needed operations will have to be delayed, on the medical staff who devotedly care for them, and on the security forces who will continue to defend the community and to bring terrorists to justice. '
Mr Brooke said such attacks would not deflect the Government or the security forces from doing their duty ' in seeing off these evil men who want to destroy all that is best in our community '.
' The horrible nature of this attack only underlines that these are the sort of people whom all democrats oppose. '
Shadow Northern Ireland secretary Kevin McNamara backed Mr Brooke, saying: ' The IRA are not soldiers but assassins carrying out a squalid murder campaign. '
He described the attack as a ' crime against humanity ' and urged Mr Brooke not to be ' hustled ' into steps which could only aggravate the situation.
The attack showed that security force members were at risk all the time and they could now best be repaid by finding a political solution to the Ulster conflict.
Mr McNamara said the bombing was in complete disregard of the Geneva Convention, which demanded respect for the wounded and sick.
' Clearly the IRA has cruelly and inhumanely violated those principles.
The members of the IRA claim to be soldiers fighting a just war, but real soldiers are bound by the terms of the convention. '
The Labour spokesman called for a quick decision on RUC requests for more manpower and Mr Brooke replied that he expected to make an announcement very soon.
Mr Maginnis, the UUP's security spokesman, expressed disappointment that there was still no indication that the means necessary to disrupt the command and control structure of the IRA were being implemented.
' The need to intern is staring us in the face, ' he said.
' For people to suggest that to intern is to bring people on to the streets casts doubts on the integrity of the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland.
' The majority of the community from which I come would welcome internment at this time. '
Mr Paisley, MP for North Antrim, said internment should be used to take out of circulation those who were seeking to destroy, murder and maim.
He said there was a cry from all parts of the Province for security policies that would extirpate the IRA.
SDLP deputy leader Seamus Mallon said he thought he had seen it all but the hospital bombing had broken ' every precept of human compassion and morality '.
He called on those involved in the political process to play their part by trying to end ' this terrible spiral of killing and despair '.
They all had a bounden responsibility to start negotiations to end the nightmare.
Mr Brooke said the summer's inter-party discussions were not peace talks as such, but they were one of the pressures that could be mounted on the terrorists.
He backed a call by Tory MP Barry Porter for loyalist paramilitaries not to retaliate.
Mr Porter had said if loyalists did so they would get no support from the House or the country.
DUP Mid-Ulster MP William McCrea said Stormont minister Richard Needham called the Provos' Fascist beasts'.
Yet the Government expected unionists to sit in the same council chamber with them.
PETER Brooke, right, keeps internment option on ice, despite pleas from unionist MPs, including Ken Maginnis, above
Baker wins a thriller to stay in race
BOWLS
By ALEX MILLS
Jim Baker will meet Dessie Hill in the quarter final of the Co Antrim Indoor Bowls Club's Singles Championships.
The former World No 1  who astonishingly announced his retirement from the game during last season's home international series in Scotland, but has since reversed that decision  is now bang on course to retain his singles title.
Certainly, Baker showed no ill-effects from his short lay-off when he beat fellow international Sammy Allen to book his place in the last eight.
However, Baker had to call on his years of experience to shake off the gritty Ballymena man, who made all the running, but faltered over the final ends.
Allen held a 5C4 advantage at the 5th end and over the next four raced into a commanding 13C6 lead.
Allen was still in control at the 15th, leading 16C12, but then Baker began his revival.
The reigning champion pulled the scores back to 17C17 at the 20th before Allen nosed in front 18C17.
However, that was Sammy's final contribution to a thrilling game because Baker picked up four shots over the next two ends to clinch victory.
If Baker found it tight, his quarter final opponent couldn't have had it much easier, because Hill booked his place courtesy of a remarkable 21C0 victory over Tommy Evans.
The remaining quarter final line-up is Mark Trew v Stephen Moran in Section A, David Carson will oppose George Hamilton in Section C, while Sammy Hall plays international team mate Davy Johnston in Section D. The Baker-Hill game makes up Section B.
Hall was in tremendous form in his last outing when defeating Michael Nutt 21C7.
The Ormeau player, who made his Irish debut last season, was never in trouble against his opponent and he ended the contested after 18 ends.
Hamilton has been the surprise packet of the championships, but his 21C17 win over Ronnie Garland  who is the reigning indoor pairs champion  proves that he can not be underestimated.
Brandywell
300  River Reef (4C5 fav) 1; Tipsy Flash (4C1) 2. 10. 17.34.
Due to mechanical failure the remaining six races had to be abandoned.
The card will be re-run tomorrow night (8.00 pm start)
Big race warning
Trainer Charlie Brooks has warned that ante-post favourite Espy could miss Saturday's Mackeson Gold Cup at Cheltenham.
The recent Newbury winner has been installed 6C1 favourite by Corals and Ladbrokes, but Brooks warned: ' He's far from a definite runner.
I 'm not all that keen on the race because he prefers a flatter track.
' I want to wait until I know more about the likely opposition.
I wouldn't advise anybody to back him until the day of the race. '
Twenty-one of the 51 entries stood their ground at yesterday's five-day stage.
JOB FOR MILLAR
Liam Brady yesterday pinned his faith in winger Joe Miller to help extricate Celtic from the hole they dug for themselves in Switzerland two weeks ago.
The Glasgow side must beat Neuchatel Xamax 4C0 at Parkhead tomorrow night to qualify for the third round of the UEFA Cup, but Brady believes his side can accomplish that awesome task.
Brady aims to field the same 11 players who began Saturday's Old Firm clash with Rangers at Ibrox and admitted: ' I 'm depending a lot on Joe Miller and I've told him so. '
The 23 year old is one of the few old-fashioned wingers left in the Scottish game and Brady added: ' I think Joe could be a key player for us.
If he's on song he can unlock what is bound to be a very defensive set-up by Neuchatel.
' I need Joe to get to the by-line and supply the ammunition for our strikers and he knows that.
We are counting on a very big performance from him. '
Tony Cascarino, who scored the equaliser in the 1C1 draw with Rangers, will be on the bench again, while Gary Gillespie has been ruled out of the return.
Celtic's 5C1 defeat in Switzerland still irritates Brady, who admits that not even in his playing days did he take part in a recovery of these proportions.
' It never happened to me, but it has happened before, ' said the Celtic boss.
' I still have a nagging disappointment and frustration from that first leg but I still believe we have a big chance.
' I am not just saying that for effect.
I genuinely believe it and so do the players. '
Neuchatel, who arrive in Glasgow this afternoon, have a slight doubt over striker Hossam Hossan who grabbed four of the five goals in the first leg, but missed his team's weekend fixture with a foot injury.
Clowning around
CLUBBING TOGETHER: Circus Belfast clown Jim demonstrates juggling skills to Aine Meegan and Sara Gunn of St Michael's primary school, Ravenhill Road, Belfast, at the Youth Libraries Group ' extravaganza ' at Maysfield Leisure Centre
Musgrave horror
Hospital counts the cost of terror
By IAN GRAHAM
THE IRA bomb which killed two soldiers at Belfast's Musgrave Park Hospital put almost 50 per cent of the hospital's civilian beds out of commission and halted orthopaedic surgery, it was revealed yesterday.
A spokesman for the Eastern Health Board said the attack affected more than 80 of the hospital's 200 beds, including a new children's ward which opened on Friday.
Health board engineers have been working around the clock since Saturday's attack to get operating theatres cleaned and sterilised.
But already operations on 35 patients due for orthopaedic surgery over the next two days have been cancelled, and more may follow.
The situation will be reviewed this morning by a medical-nursing and management team but according to an insider, the five operating theatres knocked out of action by the bomb may not be deemed re-sterilised before Friday.
By then 100 operations would have been cancelled.
Some of the patients waiting for surgery are young children born with congenital problems.
Musgrave Park is the regional centre for orthopaedic surgery and has a reputation second to none for its geriatric work.
A new geriatric centre is due to open later this month.
The bomb blast fractured the ventilating system and spewed dust particles along the system throughout the hospital.
Piping carrying phone cables were also been fractured and the steel gland which carries the steam for sterilising equipment in the theatres had to be closed down.
The maintenance staff has been working 18-hour shifts to bring the hospital into full operation.
Details of the damage to the hospital were released after the IRA issued a second statement trying to justify the bombing  its first attack on a hospital site in Northern Ireland.
As well as killing the two soldiers, the blast also injured several people, including a five-year-old girl.
' The IRA state categorically that this was not an attack on a hospital, ' the IRA statement claimed.
' The target was an operational British Army base which is situated adjacent to the hospital. '
The 20lb Semtex device was planted beneath an operating theatre in a duct between civilian and military hospital wings after being smuggled through a children's ward.
ON GUARD: a soldier on patrol at Musgrave Park Hospital, Belfast, passes floral tributes to those who died in the IRA bombing
Information technology
ONE of the most fashionable computer applications at the moment is Desk Top Publishing.
Unfortunately, the level of interest is not backed up by the right level of knowledge either from prospective users or from many of the suppliers.
Indeed, there is no agreed definition of what constitutes' desk top publishing '.
The narrowest definition would be the use of page layout software on a PC and using a laser printer.
However, others may have a broader view eg. the use of appropriate software on PCs to create formatted printed material for widespread distribution.
Even using the narrow definition it is clear that desk top publishing is a complex and technical area!
It is highly technical not just in the sense that it involves computer technology but also because it is totally based in the area of printing.
The latter abounds with its own specialists eg. designers, editors, pasteup artists, typographers and all using their own jargon.
To gain the most benefit from installing a desk top publishing system you must be prepared to learn something about the general area of printing.
You must also have a clear idea of why you want such a system.
It is not enough to have a wish to improve the quality of your reports, price lists etc.
You need to define the sort of layout you require eg columnar, different type styles, photographs or diagrams.
If you define your requirements in enough detail you could find that a good word processing package used with a laser printer could satisfy your needs.
Even if you do require a full desk top publishing system these can range quality in price depending on exactly what you require.
Generally speaking, a full desk top publishing system requires at least the following.
? appropriate software  the ' desk top publishing ' package.
? a PC with enough memory, processing power and disk space.
? a high quality monitor to display the documents prior to printing.
? a suitable laser printer.
Most people would also consider a scanner so that they can capture images and documents.
Desk Top Publishing can bring benefits to an organisation but only if the requirements are properly defined and there is an appreciation of what such systems can do and the learning curve involved.
However, all too often such systems end up as glorified word processors just producing documents with different sizes of print and maybe a few boxes.
SEND IN SAS  CALL
By RICHARD SULLIVAN
UNIONISTS in Belfast have called for the SAS to take out known republican terrorists.
Last night's meeting of Belfast City Council was adjourned in honour of the dead and injured from Saturday's IRA bomb attack at Musgrave Park Hospital.
A minute's silence was observed, during which two members of Sinn Fein left the chamber.
At an impromptu Press conference, unionist councillors accused Secretary of State Peter Brooke of not having the guts to take on the IRA.
Alderman Jim Kirkpatrick, leader of the Ulster Unionist grouping in the chamber, said the Government was abandoning its duty of protecting citizens.
He said it was time crack SAS troops were deployed to take out leading members of the IRA.
' The policies adopted by every Government since 1972 have failed  all we hear in response is the gospel of hopelessness, ' he said.
' We believe the Government has two options.
One is to introduce selective internment and the other is to deploy the SAS effectively.
' However, I don't believe this Government or Peter Brooke has the belly to deploy the SAS effectively so the only alternative is selective internment.
' Delay costs lives.
If the bombing of a hospital can not shake the Government out of its complacency, what will? '
Selective internment, he said, would free the Roman Catholic people of the Falls from the stranglehold of terrorism.
' Ordinary Catholics on the Falls Road can not stand up to the IRA.
It is too much to ask. '
Mr Kirkpatrick said terrorists should be targeted.
Former Lord Mayor Tommy Patton slammed Sinn Fein councillors for having the ' audacity ' to turn up for last night's council meeting two days after the atrocity.
He said the Government had failed to understand the depth of feeling amongst unionists, especially as they had to share the council chamber with Sinn Fein.
Fellow councillor Margaret Crooks said it was clear the bombing had been an ' inside job ' and she called for those who helped the bombers to be ostracised.
She said there could be no complaints if they were hanged.
Sammy Wilson of the DUP said it was a scandal the ' political henchmen ' of those who carried out the bombing were allowed into the City Hall.
' Richard Needham claims that they belong in hell, and in that he is correct, ' he said.
' The reality, however, is that his Government has given the bombers' political wing the right to be in the council chamber. '
However, Sinn Fein councillor Alex Maskey defended the Musgrave Park bombing.
He said the IRA had bombed a military target.
' The fact is troops are not welcome here.
The British Army knows when they send troops here they are going to be targets.
That is a fact of life.
' I think it is tragic that anybody has to die in this conflict but the Peter Brookes and Richard Needhams of this world have the solution in their hands.
' They can begin the process which will lead to a withdrawal from Northern Ireland.
' While the British are here, the IRA will continue to attack them. '
He said he was not aware that it was IRA policy to bomb operating theatres.
Mr Maskey added that internment in any form would not bring an end to the republican campaign.
Earlier, leading Sinn Fein member Martin McGuinness said Britain was to blame for Saturday's bombing.
' In siting its military bases, it has consistently sought to use the civilian population as human shields.
It has chosen to construct its bases beside or on top of housing estates.
hospitals, blocks of flats, nurses homes and schools. '
Yugoslavs intensify war
THE Serb-led Yugoslav army and Croatian forces blasted each other with artillery, mortars and rockets across rebel Croatia yesterday in one of the heaviest days of fighting in the four-month conflict.
The death toll from an army offensive launched on Saturday rose to more than 60 as the federal forces pounded targets from the Adriatic port of Dubrovnik to the besieged Danube river town of Vukovar.
And in a further blow to peace hopes, Serbia's ruling Socialist Party (SPS) rejected the latest draft of an EC peace plan to be discussed at The Hague today.
The fighting dimmed hopes of peace, but Lord Carrington, the former British foreign secretary who heads the EC peace talks, said he would take a tough line with the Serbian and Croatian military leaders.
' I am going to do what I can to bang their heads together  but it is, frankly, hard going, ' he said.
The EC has threatened to impose economic sanctions on any Yugoslav republic that rejects its proposal, which calls for the break-up of Yugoslavia in its current form.
Serbia, the only republic that has not signed the EC plan, has not said if it will accept.
But the decision by the SPS, which dominates the republic's parliament, indicated Serbia would reject the proposal.
Crosses laid at garden of memory
THE first of what is likely to be thousands of crosses were planted at Belfast's Garden of Remembrance yesterday.
Following a short religious ceremony led by the Dean of Belfast, the Very Rev Jack Shearer, more than 50 crosses representing units of the armed services, civil defence and military associations were planted in the grassy areas in front of the Cenotaph, next to the City Hall.
Each symbol was placed in front of larger crosses bearing the name and crest of the unit or group.
The Garden of Remembrance, at which renovation work has recently been completed, will be open to the public for the next two weeks so they can place their own tributes.
LEST WE FORGET: ex-servicemen lead the cross-laying ceremony at the renovated Belfast Garden of Remembrance where the two Army Medical Corps victims of the Musgrave Park Hospital atrocity were specially remembered
Future of dole office ' in doubt '
POMEROY social security office in Tyrone will not open today for the first scheduled signing-on since the IRA attack on a fraud squad investigator a fortnight ago.
The future of the sub-office hangs in the balance as a result of the attack.
A Social Security Agency spokesman has said the situation is still under review.
Unemployed people due to sign on will be paid as usual.
Department of Health and Social Services staff throughout Northern Ireland walked out in protest over the attack, and many offices remained closed for more than a week.
Racing Data omitted
Racing Tips omitted
Guilt by silence attacked
ONLY a Satanic mind could have placed the death-dealing bomb at the hospital, said Alliance deputy leader Seamus Close.
' Yet again the depths of depravity have been plumbed by these people.
Is there no limit to their evil  to their hell on earth?
' Yet, tragically, there are still people who will give these evil beings help and assistance.
They provide cover for them, they harbour them, they turn a blind eye to their work. '
Mr Close accused the ' hear no evil, see no evil ' brigade of guilt through silence and urged the whole community to stand united and to reject terrorism from whatever quarter it came.
He said this meant no more votes for those who supported any paramilitary organisation, no more safe houses, no more slogans of support on gable walls, footpaths and even schoolbags.
' Let the carnage of Musgrave Park be a clear demonstration to those who support the thugs and gangsters that their help and silence leads to out and out barbarism. '
A growing problem for Britons
THE number of fat people is rising and Britons must radically change their diet if they are to meet Government health standards by the end of the century, a nutritionist said yesterday.
Although people cut down fats and sugar in the 1980s following official advice, there were more fat and very fat people in 1987 than in 1980, Dr David Buss told nutritionists and doctors at a Royal College of Physicians conference in London.
There were also more fat women than fat men.
The proportion of very fat women had risen from 8 per cent to 12 per cent, while the proportion of obese men had risen from 6 per cent to 8 per cent, said Dr Buss, head of nutrition at the Ministry of Agriculture Food and Fisheries.
Women did not eat as many sausages, pies, or fish and chips than men, yet did have more fruit and recommended reduced fat milk.
Consumption of butter today was only half what it was in 1980 and a quarter of the 1970s figures, Dr Buss said.
The increase in numbers of fat and very fat people in the 1980s showed diet was not the only factor.
' Lack of exercise and the motor car probably play a part, ' Dr Buss said.
People needed to return to something nearer the wartime diet  with the fruit it lacked  to meet health targets, ' though how, I do not know.
You can not drag people screaming to one. '
Check the spare tyre
MIDDLE-AGED women are growing fatter as the century wears on despite the wealth of slimmers' diets, a leading nutritionist has claimed.
Dr Margaret Ashwell told the conference that the worst form of middle-age spread was around the middle as the traditional beer-belly shape meant more fat was concentrated where it does most harm  around the internal organs.
Baby's death recalled in court
THE tragic death of a baby was recalled at Londonderry Crown Court yesterday.
Londonderry man Liam Patrick Donnelly, 20, pleaded not guilty to the murder of his one-year-old daughter Samantha Jane Brothers, who drowned in the River Foyle.
Niall Bradley, 19, pleaded guilty to kidnapping the baby.
Donnelly, from Long Tower Court, Londonderry, pleaded not guilty to the murder of his daughter on January 21 and he also pleaded not guilty to the kidnapping of the baby on January 4 and on the morning of her death.
Donnelly also denied assaulting Janice Bernadette Brothers, mother of the baby, between January 1 and January 5, and on January 4 damaging a door belonging to a member of the Brothers family.
Judge Malachy Higgins, releasing Donnelly on continuing bail pending a trial date being fixed, told the accused that part of the bail conditions were that he must not attempt to see Janice Brothers, or speak to her or make any contact with her.
Niall Bradley, of Lenamore Gardens, Londonderry, pleaded guilty to kidnapping baby Samantha Jane Brothers on the morning of her death, and was released on bail.
List of Football Fixtures omitted
FORMWATCH, HAMILTON Tuesday
1.00 race.
BOLD MOOD: No impression on leaders last time when 9l 5th to Majors Law (Chester 6f, Gd-Sft).
Better previous outing when stayed on well last quarter mile, nearest at finish 4l 3rd to Prince Emilio (Haydock 6f, Gd-Sft).
Will go close with similar effort here.
BURNING POINT: Held every chance entering final furlong but was outpaced close home 2l 3rd to Philidor (Goodwood 7f, Gd-Sft).
FROINECH: Outpaced to halfway, good late progress but not reach leaders 7l 4th to Cranfield Comet (Edinburgh 5f, Gd-Fm) extra furlong here should suit.
KAY BEEYOU: Always in touch, unable to qkn last two furlongs 2l 3rd to Jigsaw Boy (Folkestone 6f, Fm).
1.30 race.
USHBA: Much improved last two races, gaining first success last time out when made all, ridden clear two furlongs out, easily bt Harlequin Girl 7l, with MISS ARAGON (level) nearest at finish, 4th btn 7l (Pontefract 6f, Fm).
SEA DEVIL: No impression on leaders latest when 6l 8th to Breezy Day (Chester 6f, Gd-Sft).
Previously progress from halfway, ran on well to lead last strides, bt JOHANNA THYME (rec 22lb) hd, with MIMINING (rec 14lb) 4th btn 2l and BEAUMONTS KEEP (rec 26lb) 9th btn 6l, and CHAPLINS CLUB (rec 9lb) in rear (Redcar 6f, Gd-Fm).
DARUSSALAM: Always close up, hit the front two furlongs out and stayed on well to bt Kissavos 2l with MIMINING (rec 7lb) never dangerous, 9th btn 10l (Chepstow 5f, Gd-Sft).
2.00 race.
PROHIBITION: Every chance two furlongs out, wknd qkly, 10l 5th to Sacque (Newcastle 6f, Gd-Fm).
Can win here in first venture in selling company.
GLENCROFT: Returns to selling company, has won numerous races and can not be disregarded here.
LINCSTONE BOY: chased leaders to past halfway, faded, 6l 7th to Arc Lamp with SHEDAD (gave 17lb) in rear (Catterick 5f, Gd).
DREAMTIME ECHO: Soon in touch, beaten and dropped away in straight, 15l 6th to Ushba (Pontefract 6f, Fm).
MEESON TIMES: Chased leaders for half a mile then faded in similar event latest when 6l 6th to Miss Bell Ringer (Leicester 6f, Fm).
2.30 race.
TULFARRIS: Consistent last season but this term has saved best running for the all weather tracks.
Has slipped down the weights and could surprise at long odds here.
CHAMPENOISE: Progress last two furlongs, never nearer 3l 5th to Cartel.
(Nottingham 1m, Gd-Fm).
ISCA'S SON: Runner-up last two outings, latest when chased winner from two furlongs out, unable to qkn, btn 2l by River Chase (Newcastle 1m, Gd-Fm).
LITTLE ROUSILLON: Always prominent, kept on at same pace final furlong 3l 5th to Lochsong (Newbury 7f, Gd).
HARRY'S LADY: Has not been out since July when chased leaders until faded three furlongs out 9l 5th to Sir Danik (Nottingham 1m, Gd-Fm).
3.00 race.
CHEQUERS: Will appreciate this trip judged on latest outing when headway from rear last two furlongs, nearest at finish, 2l 3rd to Roar On Tour with TALENTED TING (rec 10lb) every chance quarter mile out, kept on, 4th btn 3l (Doncaster 7f, Gd).
TRAFALGAR BOY: Always close up, led over two furlongs out and ran on strongly to bt Rainridge l (Haydock 1m, Gd-Sft).
MANBAA: Recorded a lucky victory on debut when presented with race after rider of Hamanaka fell when saddle slipped on line.
(Redcar 7f, Gd-Fm).
MAD MILITANT: Good progress from rear halfway, kept on same pace final furlong, 7l 3rd to Corals Dream with GYMCRAK CYRANO (rec 21lb) shortlived effort three furlongs out, 5th btn 14l.
(Chester 7f 122yds, Gd-Sft).
FRAULEIN EQUILIA: Held up, progress over two out but no extra final furlong 5l 3rd to Bonny Scot.
(Haydock 1m, Gd-Sft).
3.30 race.
NO CANDLES TONIGHTS: Acts well on this track and is taken to gain third success here this term.
Earlier this season completed double here when led entering straight, qknd clear and comfortably bt Swift Silver 3l (1m 3f, Sft).
Course and distance winner previous outing when made all the running, qknd clear over two furlongs out to easily bt SAINT BENET (gave 10lb) 7l, (Gd-Sft).
CHEEKY POT: outpaced last quarter mile, 13l 5th to Irish Native (Redcar 1m 3f, Gd-Fm).
SANTARAY: Winner of Hexham bumper race last season and does not look harshly treated on handicap bow.
First race for seven months latest when never a factor, 25l 7th to Cardinal Point (Chepstow 1m, Gd-Sft).
EASY OVER: Backed from 14C1 to 13C2 latest, never placed to challenge 10l 5th to Valiant Warrior (Chepstow 1m, Gd-Sft).
Top firm stretches into 90s
STAFF REPORTER
AN ULSTER company fought off tough competition to win the 15,000 Gallaher Business Challenge Award last night.
Elastic Knitting of Ballymena took the prize at a banquet in the Culloden Hotel near Holywood.
The firm produces stretch fabric for lingerie and leisurewear and employs 70 people.
It began trading in 1971 as the subsidiary of a Germany company before being bought over by its management team in 1987.
The firm exports 85 per cent of its products and 40 per cent to customers manufacturing for Marks &amp; Spencer.
The Fledgling Award, worth 4,000, went to Meteor of Cookstown for a business with less than three years' trading and outstanding prospects.
It employs 11 people and creates designs in glass.
Prestige Brass won the new 2,000 Gallaher Enterprise Award for small businesses operating with Local Enterprise Centre support.
It was established in 1989 and is based at the Work West Enterprise Centre in Belfast.
Employing one full-time and two trainee staff, it fabricates and supplies brass fittings for fireplaces and produces architectural brass fittings to order.
Work West Enterprise Centre won 1,000 for sponsoring Prestige Brass.
The 1,500 Gallaher Innovation Award for a young business showing an outstanding innovative product or service idea was awarded to Ballymoney firm Marketing Exports which specialises in helping small and medium-sized companies into the export market.
Nine firms took part in this year's competition.
Business Challenge Award: Automatic Temperature Controls, Newtownabbey; Elastic Knitting; Typerite, Warrenpoint.
Fledgling Award: Meteor; Provita Eurotech of Omagh.
Enterprise Award: Design and Print of Ballymoney; Marketing Exports, Ballymoney; Prestige Brass; Tojo Sports, Belfast.
The Innovation Award applied to firms applying for the Fledgling or the Enterprise Award.
REFLECTIONS: John Conway of Meteor, Cookstown, displays some mirror designs to judge Pat Killen.
The firm won a top business award last night
Gorby pleads for solidarity
PRESIDENT Mikhail Gorbachev has appealed to the Russian Republic not to go it alone on reform and warned that the Soviet Union stood on the brink of an economic and political abyss.
Mr Gorbachev said the Union faced ' an acutely critical situation ', and neither Russia nor the other republics could cope on their own.
Gordon sees Ibrox and gets a thrill
Dale Gordon set foot in Scotland for the first time in his life yesterday to complete a 1.2 million move from Norwich to Rangers  took one look at the imposing new-look Ibrox which will become his home and admitted: ' I 'm gobsmacked! '
Gordon, who has signed a four-year contract with the Scottish champions, looked bewildered by the speed at which the deal was rushed through.
He said: ' This place is absolutely phenomenal  just a little bit different from Carrow Road!
I can't wait to get my boots on and get started. '
The winger now hopes to use the Ibrox move as a platform to advance his international credentials.
He said: ' I was on the verge of the England squad with Norwich and played for the Under-21 side a few times.
The next stage is to get into the full international team.
' I didn't manage to get on last summer's tour of Australia, but that was just one of those things.
My form's good this year and I 'm scoring goals.
I've got five so far and I've been getting into good positions. '
Rangers boss Walter Smith admitted he has had Gordon in mind since Trevor Steven moved to the centre of the midfield at the start of the season.
Steven has since moved to Marseille while winger Mark Walters is now with Liverpool.
Smith said: ' I've been looking for someone to play wide on the right.
For some reason there are few players willing to play there nowadays  but he does.
' He is a skilful footballer with good touch and control and he will be a fair addition to our pool. '
Although Gordon is English, Smith is not concerned about the attendant problems of UEFA's ' four foreigners' rule.
Gordon's arrival lifts the number of non-Scots at Ibrox to eight, but Smith said: ' It doesn't particularly concern me.
I look at Scottish-born players first but they are thin on the ground in that position. '
Gordon looks set to make his Premier Division debut against bottom of the table Dunfermline this weekend.
Tottenham boss Peter Shreeves is relieved to have an extra 24 hours this week to prepare his battered side for their crucial European Cup Winners' Cup return with Porto.
The White Hart Lane medical staff are working overtime on injuries to Paul Stewart, Vinny Samways and Steve Sedgley and striker Gordon Durie missed training yesterday with a chest complaint.
Shreeves' side have another day's advantage on the other British teams involved in Europe as they don't meet Porto in their second round second leg tie until Thursday night.
That is because Porto's local rivals Boavista stage a UEFA Cup return against Torino tomorrow.
In the meantime, Shreeves is worried about his midfield.
Stewart and Sedgley are both suffering from ' dead legs' and has a knee ligament injury picked up in last week's Rumbelows League Cup win at Grimsby.
Shreeves said: ' I think they will just sneak in  but our medical people are definitely pleased we've got another day.
' I 'm optimistic about all three of the midfielders, but not certain.
If the game was on Wednesday I would be more concerned. '
Spurs, 3C1 up from the first-leg at White Hart Lane when Gary Lineker scored twice and Durie once, fly out to Portugal today.
Two held after weapons find
TWO point 22 rifles and 650 rounds of ammunition have been found in a house at the Ballybeen estate, Dundonald.
Two people were being questioned by police.
HAMILTON
Odds omitted
HAMILTONSIS all races (Going: soft)
DEVONSIS all races (Going: good to firm)
NOTTINGHAMSIS (Going: good to firm)
DUNMORE (First race 8C00)
JOB FOR MILLER
HEREFORD
Odds omitted
Family bid by Stuart and Sandra
HOCKEY
By MARK TRACEY
Queen's University brother and sister Stuart and Sandra Boomer will be giving midweek lectures a miss over the next three days.
Instead, the Lisburn pair will be concentrating on the task of leading their teams to inter-varsity success as the Mauritius and Chilean Cup competitions begin at Upper Malone this morning.
Stuart and Sandra share a common objective  to help their teams recapture the trophies from University of Ulster, who won both events last year.
In the men's competition, the Mauritius Cup, the two northern teams have enjoyed a monopoly in recent years and have met in every final since 1983.
But last year's 1C0 win was UU's first for seven years and this season, Jonathan Rose's squad has been weakened by the absence of Irish international defender Paul Hollway who is on a course in Dublin.
But the good news for the Cliftonville skipper is that Hollway's Ireland colleague Dan Clarke will play in today's opening games against Limerick and Royal College of Surgeons from Dublin.
However, the Lisnagarvey striker could miss the knock-out stages because of academic commitments.
In the Chilean Cup, University of Ulster's chances of repeating last year's win over Queen's have been hampered by the loss of several key players.
Goalkeeper Lynda Pauley is off to England, Ulster player Mary King has joined Randalstown and Irish Under-21 striker Nadine Long is now playing her hockey with Pegasus.
The tournament, which is part of the Belfast 1991 Festival, gets under way this morning and the preliminary stages continue tomorrow, with the finals scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
Draw and Fixtures List omitted
Winging in on a winner
BELFAST International Airport's new 5 million hotel will be a slap in the face for those who allege that Northern Ireland is not a safe place to travel to or do business in.
This was stated yesterday by airport chairman Hugh O'Neill when he announced that work on the 108 bedroom, three-star hotel is to start before the end of the year, opening in the spring of 1993.
It will be run by the international hotel group Novotel, although built by the airport and Cookstown construction company McAleer and Rushe.
Mr O'Neill said that Novotel's involvement, as a major international brand name and market leader, was a very important endorsement of Northern Ireland.
The hotel, which will have full conference, banqueting and leisure facilities  including an outdoor swimming pool  is the first Novotel venture in Ireland, but others are expected over the next few years.
It already has 16 hotels and plans to open 30 by the end of 1995.
The airport hotel will be built on a two-acre site opposite the airport entrance and will be linked to the terminal building by a covered walkway.
It is expected to be in the 53 to 64 a night tariff range, less than other major hotels around Belfast.
A spokesman said the hotel hoped to be operating at 55 per cent occupancy within its first year and up to 70 per cent within three to four years.
The announcement was welcomed yesterday by Economy Minister Richard Needham, who said that Novotel was the first major international group attracted to Northern Ireland  but he expected it would not be the last.
He said it demonstrated how much more acceptable Northern Ireland now was as a business venue than a few years ago.
IN STYLE: Belfast International Airport's new 5 million 108 bedroom hotel, which is due to open in the spring of 1993
Solicitor heads car-death probe
By RIC CLARK
BELFAST solicitor, Bernard Turkington, has been appointed by the Independent Commission for Police Complaints, to direct the investigation into the killing of Gerald Maginn at the weekend.
The 17-year-old was found dead at 4.30am on Sunday in the back seat of a stolen car, at Glen Road, after shots had been fired at the vehicle by police during a high-speed chase from Lisburn to Belfast.
A spokesman for the ICPC said the investigation into the death started early on Sunday morning, a few hours after the body of Gerald Maginn was found.
' Mr Turkington was directing the investigation from a very early stage, ' the spokesman said.
A detective chief superintendent has also been assigned to the investigation.
It is understood the dead youth had been a passenger in the Vauxhall Cavalier which had been stolen in Belfast at 8p.m. on Saturday night.
It was later spotted in Lisburn at 4.15am on Sunday by police who gave chase.
Shots were fired by the police during the chase along Belsteel Road, near Poleglass.
Yesterday it was not clear if police lost contact with the stolen car during the chase.
The car was found on the Glen Road, near Monagh by-pass.
Police are questioning a 15-year-old youth who was admitted to hospital early on Sunday morning with gunshot wounds to an arm and shoulder.
Detectives have appealed for anyone who saw the silver Cavalier, registration number WIJ 3762, to phone 650222 and ask for the incident room at Woodbourne RUC station.
Police are also interested in a stolen white Ford Fiesta car, registration number UXI 8624, which was also seen in Lisburn town centre around 4.15am.
The vehicle was later abandoned at Andersonstown Crescent.
SDLP deputy leader Seamus Mallon has called for the immediate suspension of the officers involved and for the investigation to be carried out by officers from another police force.
An RUC spokesman said he could not confirm that police officers involved had not been suspended.
Gold Cup at mercy of Sabin du Loir
By John O.Connell
There seems sure to be a bumper crowd at Devon today to see some top-class chasers run in the 25,000 Plymouth Gin Haldon Gold Cup Chase.
Last year, this revamped contest attracted Desert Orchid, but the grey misses out this time in favour of Wincanton on Thursday, leaving the prize at the mercy of Martin Pipe's Sabin du Loir.
Successful 12 months ago, Sabin du Loir comes here fresh from his Wincanton win over ' Dessie ', and should have a big fitness pull over the likes of Waterloo Boy, Young Snugfit, and former Champion Hurdler Beech Road all making their seasonal debuts.
Former champion hurdler Beech Road is an interesting contender, as he reverts to fences after a disappointing season over the smaller obstacles, where his one success came in the ' Fighting Fifth ' at Newcastle.
Peter Scudamore is on record as saying that Sabin du Loir is one of the best horses he has ever ridden, and could have gone a long way towards towards justifying that high opinion but for falling in last year's King George at Kempton when holding a healthy lead.
Martin Pipe's charge should be good enough to pick up this decent prize.
Josh Gifford has his string in fine form and Harbinger is napped to win the Furguson-Plympton Brewery Novices' Hurdle.
The six-year-old was clearly in need of the race on his debut at Worcester  he looked to be travelling well with three to jump, but tired quickly.
That race was over two-and-a-half miles, so Harbinger will be well suited by today's shorter trip and will be hard to beat.
Arctic Teal has the class to overcome lack of a previous run in the Gedling Handicap Chase at Nottingham.
Oliver Sherwood's gelding was a decent novice last season, putting up his best effort when second to Strong Gold at Newbury in March.
A repeat of anything like that form will be enough to see off his modest rivals.
Peter Scudamore
Oliver Sherwood
Nelson eyes sprint
By John O.Connell
Dawes of Nelson can make the long trip from Surrey worthwhile by plundering the Finishing Post Sprint Handicap at Hamilton.
The six-year-old triumphed over the Scottish track in July, running on strongly to beat Minizen Music over five furlongs on heavy ground.
Dawes of Nelson, re-united with capable lightweight John Lowe, will be suited by the extra furlong here, and is expected to come late and fast to land the spoils.
Burning Point, from Sir Mark Prescott's Newmarket stable, can get off the mark at the fourth attempt in the opening Parliament Maiden Stakes.
Have courage Mr Brooke
John Lowe
THERE has seldom if ever been such a sickening and depressing sight as Secretary of State Peter Brooke's performance at Westminster yesterday.
Even by House of Commons standards his words of condemnation and pledges on security rang like an empty barrel in the ears of those who have suffered at the hands of the terrorists for more than 20 years.
' Cynical depravity. |.
|.
callous claims.
|.
|.
the Government will not be deflected from its duty '.
|.
|.
the meaningless phrases were all there, trotted out yet again to disguise the lack of real commitment to grab terrorism by the scruff of the neck.
Yesterday they were spewed out in the aftermath of the Musgrave Park Hospital outrage but they were the same words which Mr Brooke and his predecessors have used time and time again after other bloody acts of terrorism.
Of course Mr Brooke and the others at the Northern Ireland Office won't give in to terrorism.
They don't have to.
Neither do they have to face up to it.
They live in a political cowards' Disney world where Tom is always chasing Gerry in an ever-decreasing circle of options while, outside in the real world, Bugs Bunny is having his tail shot off as he chokes on the latest political carrot.
Worse still, the rabbit has no real hope of reaching the safety of Mr Brooke's warren.
In the real world political initiatives come a poor second to security considerations.
If only Mr Brooke were to stick his head above the parapet he would soon realise that fact.
While he persists in looking for the golden egg before the chicken is even hatched the terrorists will continue to exact a mounting price in blood for his dithering approach to security.
It is time for some good old fashioned courage in the face of the gunmen, the bombers, the propagandists and the sympathisers at home and abroad.
North's star carer
WHILE Northern Ireland was still trying to recover from the breath-taking savagery of the IRA attack on Musgrave Park Hospital, a lone Fermanagh woman came to the rescue of our bomb blackened image.
People in need of care and help and even children are now regarded as legitimate targets by the IRA's faceless men.
It has taken a woman to remind us all that there are people out there who are determined that Northern Ireland will not be dragged down to the level of barbarity displayed by the terrorists.
Madeleine Noble's story is one of dedication to the elderly and needy.
After carrying out her duties as a home help in the Fermanagh village of Tempo she slips into her unpaid role as she cooks, cares, does the shopping and provides transport for the many village people who have come to depend on her selfless efforts.
Fifteen hours a day of dispensing help and affection have earned Madeleine a Help the Aged Golden Award and the thanks of the organisation's patron, the Princess of Wales.
Her work and that of many other caring people is just one of the bright stars shining for the world to see in an otherwise black sky over Ulster.
Churches round on SF
By RIC CLARK
WITHIN hours of church leaders rejecting an invitation to talks with Sinn Fein, its president, Gerry Adams, refused to condemn the IRA outrage at Musgrave Park Hospital.
And he later said he was concerned about patient care in the Royal Victoria Hospital.
Mr Adams made his offer to meet the four church leaders in a letter last August, but in their reply the churchmen said they would not talk until Sinn Fein publicly called for an end to violence.
The message was delivered to Mr Adams on Sunday, yet only a few hours later he refused to join with the leaders of constitutional parties in condemning the bomb outrage.
He said: ' The politics of selective condemnation will mean little to the victims or the families of the victims of the IRA operation.
' Many people will note that British ministers and other politicians are not as outspoken about other deaths arising out of this conflict.
' Unlike them, Sinn Fein regrets all deaths and injuries.
The politics of condemnation are no substitute for a real process towards peace. '
Mr Adam's offer to meet with church leaders was discussed by Cardinal Cahal Daly, Archbishop Robin Eames, Presbyterian Moderator the Very Rev Rodney Sterritt and Methodist President the Rev Winston Good.
They told Mr Adams they welcomed the statement that Sinn Fein was committed to work towards' bringing the conflict to an end ' and that he was' prepared to take political risk '.
The church leaders said: ' In our opinion these are merely words  fine words certainly and welcome  but nevertheless only words.
' Until Sinn Fein gives public, tangible and credible proof that it is actually taking the only ' political risk ' which is meaningful in our situation, namely calling for the cessation of violence, then your words will lack credibility. '
The church leaders said that no party which supports violence can seriously claim to be ' discharging its responsibilities in a positive and honourable way ' in so far as the establishment of peace is concerned.
And Cardinal Daly asked: ' How can they relate what happened on Saturday to the fine words they wrote in August? '
Mr Good said the four leaders came to the conclusion that they would not be prepared, under any circumstances, to talk with men and women who use violence and kill and destroy.
' I haven't heard anything to suggest that Sinn Fein are condemning the bombing at Musgrave Park Hospital, ' he said.
' I can't envisage any circumstances in which we as church leaders would talk. '
Sinn Fein spokesman Martin McGuinness said the party would discuss the letter from the church leaders and give them a considered response in the near future.
Mr McGuinness said: ' In view of the ongoing conflict, with people being killed by British state forces, the IRA and loyalist death squads, there is a heavy responsibility on those in our society who have influence to sit down and discuss how this conflict can be brought to an end. '
SDLP councillor Dr Joe Hendron condemned the hypocrisy of Sinn Fein and what he called the depraved bombing of a hospital, ' attacking the most vulnerable '.
He found it incredible that Mr Adams should issue a statement within hours of the hospital bombing expressing his concern for patients in the granting of trust status to the Royal Victoria Hospital.
GERRY ADAMS attacked
WINSTON GOOD talks rejected
Challenge on Castlereagh
I watched with interest the UTV Counterpoint programme, 31 October 1991, featuring Denis Faul and Mr David Trimble MP, regarding allegations of mistreatment at Castlereagh RUC centre.
As a result of this programme I wish to ask two questions;
1, Is Denis Faul under the impression that all those interviewed at Castlereagh are of the Roman faith?
I would advise anyone taken to Castlereagh to sit on the floor and say the Rosary for seven days.
2, Would Denis Faul deny that, in the events leading up to the conviction of the so-called UDR 4, he passed information to the RUC, conditional upon the following points:
1, that the entire UDR patrol operating in the north of the city should be arrested by police officers from another locality; 2, that the UDR soldiers be taken to a holding centre other than Gough Barracks, namely Castlereagh; 3, that the interviewing officer should be of senior rank and again the majority of these officers preferably completely unknown to any of the soldiers (see the case for a re-trial of the UDR 4, pages 20/21).
Would not my observations indicate that Denis Faul is partisan in his condemnation of the techniques used by the RUC in their attempts to protect the population of Northern Ireland from terrorists.
John Preston.
Course will be beautiful
As owner of the golf course at Ringdufferrin Road, Killyleagh, I would like to put the record straight as regards the article in the News Letter, October 29th, Golf Bad for Beauty.
To my knowledge, no one living in Killyleagh objected to the golf course, nor was there a concerted campaign by villagers.
I have been delighted by the interest and support of the people of Killyleagh.
Mr McGiffert stated that he was concerned that the large volume of traffic caused by the new golf course would wreak havoc, with farm machinery and animals using the same road.
I think it is only fair to point out that this is not the first major development on the Ringdufferin Road.
Mr McGiffert himself ran a very successful shopping complex on the same road, which brought a lot of concentrated traffic at weekends.
The traffic going to Mr McGiffert's shopping complex did not wreak havoc on the Ringdufferin Road, nor would I expect the traffic going to the golf course to do so.
When granting approval, planners took into consideration, roads, design of the course, conservation and effect on wildlife.
The course boasts a large conservation area, and it is my intention to plant some two thousand species of hardwood trees.
The golf course is a badly needed amenity in the Killyleagh area.
It will create a number of jobs for people living in the area.
It will also provide a recreational facility for the people of Killyleagh and district, especially the young people.
The Ringdufferin golf course has been designed in a manner which does not harm the heritage and natural beauty of the area.
I am sure when it opens in May 1992, golfers will appreciate its outstanding beauty.
Yours, Jim Lindsay, 7 Ringdufferin Road, Toye, Killyleagh, Co.
Down.
Abortion a sacred issue
Abortion is an issue for everyone, not the ' Left ' or the ' Right '.
It is an issue for anyone who cares for the sanctity of human life.
We agree that a woman has the right to govern her own body  but a person's right logically ends where another's begins, in this case the right of the baby to live.
This is true regardless of whether the child will be born into poverty.
Don't poor children have a right to live and grow-up as anyone else?
The real problem is that of poverty and the break-up of the family unit.
The family is the basis of any healthy society, but today it is being broken-up and degraded by materialism, anti-culturalism and sexual perversion.
The results are clear to see: divorce, child and wife abuse, alcoholism and drug addiction.
The right to ' choose ' isn't about democracy.
It's about one person deciding whether another person (the unborn baby) will live or die.
Such barbarism is part and parcel of the liberal capitalist state: the throw-away society is trying to justify the throwing-away of human life.
Our organisation, Ulster Movement, offers an alternative.
For more information write to PO Box 20, Portadown, BT62 3PX.
Yours G.N., Ulster Movement, PO Box 20, Portadown, Co.
Armagh.
Discovering Columbus
I was most interested to read your review of the Columbus Myth by Ian Wilson, relating to various claims of some whom the author suggests were first-footers in America.
He mentions an island called Brasil beyond Iceland.
I feel sure Mr Wilson must be aware of the poem by the Irish poet, Gerald Griffin (1803C40) entitled, HyBrasil, The Isle of the Blest and ' the peasant who heard of the wonderful tale in the breeze of the Orient loosened his sail ', and who ' died on the waters away far away. '
HyBrasil relates to the belief in the west of Ireland, and elsewhere, of an Atlantis of some kind or other lying on the western ocean.
Yours, George A Osborough, 76 Alliance Road, Belfast, BT14 7JB.
Internment is immoral
I was glad to hear Lord Belstead say he would not use internment.
It would be immoral, and I don't believe any Christian would approve of it.
The troubles are going on for over 20 years and the NI Office is doing very little about it, so it could go on for another 20 years.
Can any of your readers imagine what it would be like to be thrown into a ' concentration camp ' for 20 years without trial, and, then the door of that awful place being opened and you are told you may go?
I don't consider anyone who advocates internment any better than Hitler.
Yours, Newry Reader, Full Name and Address Supplied.
Martin Trust says thanks
On behalf of the Martin Residential Trust, I would like to thank the members of the public who contributed so generously during our recent flag days.
The amount donated in Belfast on 15th &amp; 16th October 1991 was 1,224.42.
Yours, Mrs M Grattan, Hon Treasurer, Management Committee, Martin Residential Trust, Ballyclare Road, Glengormley, Newtownabbey, BT36 8HL.
TSB charity commended
WE IN Extra Care were fortunate to be included in the recent list of recipients of cheques distributed by the TSB Foundation for Northern Ireland.
We would commend the fund to other voluntary organisations who strive to provide help to those in need.
Yours, James Hynds, Chairman, Extra Care, 11a Wellington Park, Belfast.
Gratitude of research group
The Belfast Committee of Action Research would like to thank the people of Belfast for their generous support on their Annual Flag Day in Belfast on Tuesday 2 October 1991.
The amount raised was 1,228.13
Yours, C Gilligan, Belfast Chairman
Arabic yes, Roman no
XVIIIp?
Surely our new 18p stamp should not be printed as I8p with a Roman I followed by an arabic 8.
If the post office is correct, then Elizabeth II on coins may well confuse future historians.
Well may they ask: what happened to Elizabeths 2 to 10?
Stickler.
Heartfelt appreciation
MAY I thank the following persons who gave their services free at a recent function held by the Royal Victoria Heart Club: Barnbrack, Sylvia Paris, Yvonne, Mary Ann, Bobby Crowthers, David Patterson; the committee and staff of the Ulster Sports Club, High Street who gave their premises free; the prize donors; and, finally, those who attended.
We raised 800 and we sincerely thank you for your generosity.
T Kavanagh, Chairman and N McAteer, Secretary, Royal Victoria Heart Club, c/o Abernethy Gardens, Carnmoney.
Paddy takes plunge
Lurgan based greyhound Abbeymore Paddy represents the home side in the IR3,000 Ladbrokes Anglo-Irish International at Shelbourne Park on Saturday night, writes MARK CONNOLLY.
Laurence McGeown's wide runner satisfied selectors last week at the Dublin track when he cruised to a facile seven lengths victory, 30.61 seconds, over the Anglo-Irish International 503 metres distance.
The International draw, made yesterday by Pat Flanaghan of Ladbrokes, is as follows:
Draw omitted
Brooks issues Mackeson warning
Trainer Charlie Brooks has warned that ante-post favourite Espy could miss Saturday's Mackeson Gold Cup at Cheltenham.
The recent Newbury winner has been installed 6C1 favourite by Corals and Ladbrokes but Brooks warned yesterday:
' He's far from a definite runner.
I 'm not all that keen on the race because he prefers a flatter track.
' I want to wait until I know more about the likely opposition.
I wouldn't advise anybody to back him until the day of the race. '
Twenty-one of the 51 entries stood their ground at yesterday's five-day stage.
Topweights Barnbrook Again and Katabatic were taken out, leaving 1988 winner Pegwell Bay at the head of the handicap.
' That's a pity, ' said trainer Tim Forster when told the news.
' I'd hoped Katabtic would be kept in.
Still, Pegwell Bay is very well and, all things being equal, he will run. '
Forster also has Major Match in the race although his participation is uncertain.
' He needs top of the ground and I 'll wait until later in the week before deciding whether to run, ' added the trainer.
Of the five Gordon Richards entered, only Clever Folly and Pat's Jester remain.
Clever Folly, winner of the A F Budge Chase at Cheltenham two years ago, has already scored twice at the track this season but needs fast conditions.
' I will only have one runner, ' said Richards.
' If the ground is on the firm side it will be Clever Folly and if there's any give it will be Pat's Jester. '
Ladbrokes bet: 6C1 Espy, 8C1 Anti Matter, 10C1 Pegwell Bay, New Halen and Another Coral, 12C1 others.
William Hill: 8C1 Another Coral and Espy, 9C1 Major Match, 10C1 Anti Matter, 11C1 Pegwell Bay, 12C1 Clever Folly, Hogmanay, Pat's Jester and Toranfield, 14C1 others.
Corals: 6C1 Espy, 8C1 Major Match, 10C1 Anti Matter, 12C1 Another Coral, Guiburn's Nephew, Hogmanay, New Halen, Pat's Jester, Pegwell Bay, 14-1 others.
Forster: optimistic
Imelda goes back in tears
FORMER Philippines' first lady Imelda Marcos plans a week of high-profile activities to generate publicity and set the stage for a possible bid for the presidency after nearly six years in exile.
Mrs Marcos returned home to Manila yesterday, five years after she and her late husband, former President Ferdinand Marcos, were exiled following a popular uprising that installed Corazon Aquino as president.
Thousands of supporters turned out to welcome her, chanting ' Imelda, Imelda ' as she drove through the streets.
There were tears, moments of high drama, flashes of comedy and bizarre touches  like opening her husband's coffin to brush back his hair  and more tears.
Today, she flies to the Marcos family home province of Ilocos Norte and is expected to surrender to police tomorrow on tax fraud charges.
Israelis bring discord to talks
ISRAEL and Syria have concluded an historic round of direct talks on a discordant note  but agreed to meet again.
Just hours after yesterday's talks, three Israeli cabinet ministers signalled a fresh settlement for Soviet Jews on the occupied Golan Heights, calling it their response to Syrian demands for return of the disputed plateau.
' We are going to be here forever and it does not matter what happens in Madrid, ' said a spokesman for the Jewish settlers.
Israel's five hours of talks with Syria, which started on Sunday after much diplomatic wrangling, were described as frustrating.
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa said the Israelis had been intransigent and had done all they could ' to make the peace conference and the talks a waste of time. '
Despite the venom, the talks were described by participants as a benchmark for peace in the Middle East.
And US Secretary of State James Baker acknowledged that his painstaking diplomacy of the last eight months could quickly unravel in a region where religion and history have fuelled five Arab-Israeli wars.
Ostracise killers call
THE Rev David J Kerr, superintendent of the Belfast Central Methodist Mission, has called on people to ostracise the sectarian killers.
In a letter to his congregation he said: ' It may be that we have no influence on those who plan and carry out murders in both parts of our community, but we can all help create a climate of opinion where they will be increasingly isolated and disowned. '
He urged the constitutional politicians to renew the search for a settlement and said people should speak out against prejudice and bigotry and on behalf of reconciliation and peace.
He also called for prayers for both victims and perpetrators of violence.
Noble face of caring Ulster
THE Princess of Wales got a real Ulster welcome in London yesterday where she hailed the ' inspirational ' contribution elderly people made to society.
Taking pride of place at the Help the Aged Golden Awards in the Hilton Hotel was Madeleine Noble, 59, from Tempo, Co Fermanagh, who met the Princess.
Madeleine was awarded for her many hours spent with the elderly, helping with cooking, shopping or driving, as well as her work for the social services.
Other Ulster personalities at the gathering were Belfast Lord Mayor Nigel Dodds, his wife Diane and Radio Two personality Gloria Hunniford.
The awards are organised by Help the Aged and Tunstall Telecom to mark the accomplishments of elderly people.
photograph omitted
ROYAL PRAISE: the Princess of Wales presents a Help the Aged Golden Award to Ulster woman Madeleine Nobel at the Hilton Hotel in London
ICL's Gary Burnett answers questions
I've heard that by next year 60 per cent of all PCs will be connected to local area networks.
What are the major networks that are being used?
THe local area network business is growing much more quickly than the PC industry as a whole.
By 1994, it is likely that there will be more business PCs attached to LANs than there were total business PCs two years ago.
The fuel for this growth has been the demand by users to share applications and data, and to connect disparate information systems and environments, rather than computing in isolation.
' Workgroup computing ' is the new industry buzz word that describes this trend amongst business PC users.
In addition, the proliferation of networks has been assisted by the arrival of effective PC networking standards a couple of years ago.
Now more than 60 per cent of the networked market has standardized on Novell Netware, to the point where the choice of a PC network is termed a ' no-brainer ' decision by US analysts.
The Novell system is supported by virtually all the leading PC software products that run on networks.
The most advanced version of Netware, Netware 3.11, is a sophisticated network management system, with support for up to 250 users, ' fault-tolerant ' computing features and facilities to link into minicomputers, mainframe systems and Wide-Area Networks.
In addition, it has the ability to link a huge variety of hardware and operating systems platforms  these include, as well as DOS, OS/2 and Windows, Apple Macs, Sun Systems and a number of UNIX workstations.
Novell's network products are mostly for PCs, but the next few years will see them move into the traditional minicomputer market with support for a number of minicomputer systems, thus re-enforcing their dominance.
Dominant Novell may be, but there are alternatives.
Microsoft is fighting hard to compete in the PC network market with their Lan Manager.
The current version of the product is designed to fit in with Microsoft's Windows NT (New Technology) strategy and allows Microsoft to offer an environment that runs on anything from laptops to 80486 servers and engineering workstations.
It remains to be seen who will end up being the dominant supplier, but it would seem that the sheer volume of Novell and DOS/Windows users will dictate that future PC Lan systems will have to be compatible with them.
Children check out book week
By GEOFF HILL
MICHAEL Hardcastle was halfway through a story about a struggling Fourth Division football club when he started talking about Mozart (aged five).
' No one said to him, ' Wolfgang  that was his name, Wolfgang  you're far too young to have music published, ' ' said Michael.
The combined P7s of two Belfast primary schools looked on, their faces agog with the possibility of writing a symphony before extra time.
Michael, the children's author of 114 titles, was the hero of a Maysfield Leisure Centre extravaganza to open Children's Book Week.
Book Week sets out every year to persuade children that life is not square and sits in the corner with knobs on.
This year it includes a series of extravaganzas in sports centres at Omagh, Craigavon, Lisburn and Ballymena and the distribution of a booklet telling children how they can take up a sport.
Michael Hardcastle was a hit with the pupils of St Michael's and St Malachy's even before he turned up yesterday.
' I read one of his books called Joanna's Goal, ' said Natalie McManus, 11, from St Michael's on the Ravenhill Road.
' She wanted to be in the school football team, ' said her friend Jennifer McKeown, also 11.
' But her brother wouldn't let her, ' said Natalie.
' Then she cut her arm, ' said Jennifer.
' Broke it, ' said Natalie.
' But we don't know how it ends yet, because Sister's still reading it out to us, ' said Jennifer.
If Sister doesn't get a move on, they could always content themselves with the shortest children's story ever told.
Here it is.
Once upon a time they all lived happily ever after.
photograph omitted
STORYTIME: Michael Hardcastle reads for St Malachy's PS pupils Lisa Monaghan, 10, left, Shauna McDermott, 11, and Geraldine McKiernan at the Youth Libraries Group ' Extravaganza ' in Maysfield Leisure Centre
Review: TESS HURSON
The spirit of spring explodes into life
IT is perhaps difficult to understand why The Rite of Spring caused a theatrical scandal when first it was danced in Paris in 1913.
Everybody keeps their clothes on and in any case the French were not then, or now, a people to blanche at mere nudity.
What they witnessed, and what was recreated for us by the Ulster Youth Dance Company in Stranmillis College Theatre at the weekend was a spectacle far more disturbing and revolutionary.
For The Rite Of Spring celebrates the mythical and timeless regeneration of both the natural and the human world in a spirit far removed from the tranquil and ordinary daffodils immortalised by Wordsworth.
The dance responds to another rhythm  the violent modern dissonances of Stravinsky's famous musical score and spring releases itself with a boundless, dangerous energy in movements tense, muscular and frankly sensual.
If you were expecting the graceful and chaste fluidity of Swan Lake, you would surely have got the right gunk.
The stage at Stranmillis is too small for the 90-odd cast and a couple of fainting youngsters had to receive kindly ministrations from an American nurse.
(Tip for reviewers: Bring a medic.)
Nonetheless, the great pulsating wheels, the furious criss-cross rushes over the floor, the rapid shift from gentle, undulating movement to angular violence and the sheer weight of numbers on stage gave to the performance an undeniable exhilaration.
But more than that, it gave a sense of tension, amounting at times to menace  which was, perhaps, what shocked those urbane Parisians.
Here is Earth, clad in what looks disconcertingly like a badly crocheted red dress, here is a stage where an eerie pale yellow orange light plays over small details of figures, and here is a child carried off on a pole  one in a series of victims in the sacrificial Rite Of Spring.
Under the rational conventions of the cycle of the seasons there is revealed a subversive world where the sensual and violent creation of new life is enacted.
The lid is lifted, the subconscious reveals itself, God-like and demonic, both challenging to light assumptions.
An established order of seeing, of understanding, of ruling, is simply exploded  the Modernist spirit asserts itself.
Especially spectacular was the veil scene where three spectral figures hang suspended above a billowing orange red cloth, held like a tent over the dancers.
And memorable too was the dance of the Earth in her bloody red dress  rapacious and, equally, hunted.
From a purely technical point of view, this may not have been the standard performance, but in a place almost completely lacking in a tradition of classical dance, it is a delight to watch native talent channelled so joyously and with such a spirit of challenge to the myth that we exist only from the neck upwards.
Letters to the Editor:
Dreams become nightmare
On Saturday, November 2, the sanctuary of hospital was defiled by the Provisional IRA.
This profane act will long be remembered and its perpetrators too will not be spared for it will live with them until the end of their days.
Conscience, the great intruder, is a formidable companion.
Granted they may point to the assassination of Marie Drumm in hospital.
Granted, too, they may point out that the bombers of Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Dresden blew to oblivion hospitals by the score in fireballs along with everything else.
By comparison the PIRA may view its action as of little consequence  a perverted act of war in a vicious campaign  but they would be wrong for, by this act on top of so many others, they have turned the Ireland of hope and dreams into a nightmare of guilt, shame, resentment, remorse, anger and grief.
The crucifix which used to adorn the portrait of the Protestant patriot Robert Emmet in so many of the simple homes of Ireland symbolised the ennoblement of failure.
What nobility can members of the IRA claim for the future by an act such as this?
From the mists of antiquity the spirit of the most ancient of Irish healers, Dian Cecht must surely be calling to you to ponder on what you have done.
Finian  physician to the heroic King of Ulster, Connor MacNessa of Emhain Macha, may well be calling too in grief as the chivalrous upholder of the ancient Gaelic comraind legis or ' impartial treatment of the wounded '.
In those days the warriors fought by day  in the open  and at night they dressed one another's wounds.
The PIRA choose instead to ignore the plight of the wounded in their sanctuary and to plan instead to destroy it, killing in the process.
The Brehon Laws representing the most ancient code in Europe and existing centuries before the birth of Christ, long, long before any conquest or plantation in Ireland, made special provision for the sick both for their accommodation and for their protection.
In Medieval times the Benedictine monasteries had a rule which called for ' the care of the sick to be placed above and before every other thing, as if indeed Christ were being directly served in waiting upon them '.
The wartime bombers didn't seem to care what went up; by contrast the PIRA did and cared so deliberately as to set out selectively to destroy what is now an illusion  the sanctity of hospital in which, regardless of loyalty or background, so many thousands of victims of our vicious little civil war have received care since those nights in August 1969.
With the vision of Robert Emmet and the crucifix in mind, could the PIRA not stop to ask how they  or any of the rest of us for that matter  may redeem the bitter legacy of centuries by adding to it?
photograph omitted
HORROR: the scene at Musgrave Park Hospital in Belfast after the IRA bomb blast at the weekend
It's end of the road for ' Captain Marvel '
Robson hangs up England shirt after 90 games
SOCCER
By ROB KING
' Captain Marvel ' Bryan Robson yesterday gave up the fight to keep his 34 year old legs pounding towards a century of caps and announced his England retirement.
The Manchester United captain, the rock on which both Ron Greenwood and Bobby Robson built their hopes, decided to quit the international scene after last month's depressing win over Turkey.
Old Trafford boss Alex Ferguson talked him out of an immediate announcement, but Graham Taylor's decision not to retain Robson for next week's decisive game in Poland made any further delay pointless.
The England manager accepts his decision as realistic and, even though Robson was never central to his establishment of a new generation, he summed up everyone's sadness at the old warhorse's parting, 10 short of the magic 100 caps.
' We are talking about a man who played 90 times for England and if he hadn't been injured would certainly have played over 100.
' He's played for a decade for his country, he's been an inspirational player.
He's been to three World Cups and one European Championship  that record is there for everyone to see.
' It falls to me, as it did first with Peter Shilton and then with Terry Butcher, to place on record on behalf of the Football Association what he has done for his country.
' It's an international career coming to a close and one that people have been full of admiration for for over a decade. '
Taylor was at pains to stress that Robson's decision to retire had nothing to do with pique.
' Alex felt that if I selected him for the Poland game, he should play and try to help us get the result before announcing his retirement, and that was Bryan's intention. '
Taylor was surprised that Robson forced his way back into the side this season, after having only a disappointing performance against the Irish when he made his previous comeback in March.
' Bryan had an exceptional start to the season and that certainly was my reasoning behind bringing him back into the Turkey game, ' said Taylor.
' But even now he's having to pick his games, with one every three days or so, and he is 34 years of age and we can't alter that.
' Bryan did no better or no worse than anyone else in the Turkey game, but that's not the standard by which he judges himself.
He judges himself by being better.
' He said to me that he felt that in the last couple of internationals he hadn't done himself justice.
I wouldn't want that to be seen against the other 88. '
The England squad for the European championship qualifier in Poland on November 13:
squad omitted
GOODBYE  England captain Bryan Robson calls a halt to his international career
Roxburgh calls up his' hit squad '
GORDON SIMPSON REPORTS
Scotland manager Andy Roxburgh yesterday named the most attack-minded squad of his career in an effort to combat San Marino at Hampden Park next Wednesday.
Roxburgh believes that the minnows of Group Two in the European Championship will employ every negative tactic available to them, so the Scots boss has included only five out-and-out defenders in an attack-minded squad of 21 for a game in which every goal will be precious.
Depending on the outcome of the other matches involving Switzerland, Romania and Bulgaria, Scotland may need an 11-goal victory to qualify for the finals.
' We have to adopt a really attacking policy and give it our best shot, ' declared Roxburgh, who has recalled creative players in Celtic's Paul McStay and John Collins along with Rangers skipper Richard Gough.
' The way San Marino play tends to keep scores to a minimum.
They are really frustrating to play against and we badly need a good start.
' The actual playing time is the big problem.
A game lasts 90 minutes, but you're lucky if it's 50 minutes actual playing time  and that is not too much time to run up a score. '
Roxburgh will travel to Switzerland on Thursday in an effort to overturn the UEFA decision to make Scotland kick-off at 2.30pm.
A three-man delegation is heading for Geneva to deliver the Scottish FA's appeal and Roxburgh said: ' It is really important to have vocal backing at Hampden, not only to stir up our guys but to put San Marino under pressure.
' Switzerland had four home matches with full houses at normal kick-off times so why should we be denied that basic right?
Duffy through, but sad Sharpe out
SNOOKER
By TONY MASTERS
Michael Duffy yesterday clinched a place in the last 16 of the World Amateur Championships in Bangkok, but there was great disappointment for Ulster number one Andy Sharpe who failed to make the play-offs.
The 43 year old Carrick man finished equal on points in group H with Eire's Jason Watson and Welshman Dominic Dale.
All three lost one of their eight matches, but when it went to the frames count-back All Ireland champion Watson was the group winner with Dale pipping Sharpe for the crucial second place.
Dale had beaten Sharpe 4C1 early on in the tournament.
The County Antrim player yesterday defeated N.Bohling from Sweden 4C3, but at the same time Watson was beating Dale 4C2 on an adjoining table.
Had Dale won, then Sharpe would have qualified.
As it is, the Carrickfergus player does not come home empty handed, because a break of 104 wins him a gold chain, the prize for every century-maker in the Tailand tournament.
Young Duffy was in fine form when he defeated B Valdimarsson of Iceland 4C0.
Duffy won a black ball fight in the opener and took the second frame 62C40 before winning the next two easily with breaks of 35 and 57 in the third and 92 in the fourth.
The net result was that Duffy finished top of group C ahead of Hong Kong's Sammy Leung, the only player to beat the Northern Ireland champion so far.
Eire's Joe Canny won Group D ahead of Welshman David Bell.
In the last 16 matches tomorrow Duffy plays Dale and will be going out to avenge that defeat over fellow Ulsterman Sharpe.
Canny plays Australia's Brian Anderson while Watson tackles A S Ng of Malaysia.
Ken knocks spots off Sun
THE final episode of the Coronation Street libel drama was a cliff-hanger to the very end  even after a London High Court jury had awarded actor Bill Roache 50,000 damages.
Mr Roache  known to millions as Ken Barlow  had convinced the jurors that he was not smug, self-satisfied and boring and that he had been defamed by an article in The Sun which suggested just that.
After two and a half hours of deliberation, they awarded damages against The Sun, editor Kelvin MacKenzie and freelance journalist Ken Irwin.
But the 59-year-old actor had to endure another 15 minutes of crucial legal argument to discover if his gamble in refusing The Sun's pre-trial settlement offer of 50,000  made on October 7  had backfired and meant he would have to pay the bulk of the estimated 200,000 costs of the case.
There were sighs of relief on Mr Roache's side as Mr Justice Waterhouse ruled that he was entitled to his costs.
The Sun was granted leave to appeal against his order.
It argued that, following normal legal procedure, Mr Roache should have to pay the costs incurred from the date of the settlement offer because the jury's award failed to top it.
The judge also granted an injunction preventing The Sun from repeating any of the libels.
As the forewoman of the six-man, six woman jury announced the verdict, Mr Roache, swallowed hard and gripped the bench in front of him.
His wife Sara, 42, covered her eyes with her hand and sobbed.
Her husband reached for her hand to comfort her as the legal wrangling continued.
Mr Roache, of Wilmslow, Cheshire, had told the court he was' devastated and humiliated ' by a November 1990 article which said he was smug and self-satisfied like his screen character and had been universally nicknamed ' BKB  Boring Ken Barlow, ' a reputation he had earned both on and off the screen.
photograph omitted
BILL ROACHE appeal over costs
Jewel theft brings alert
POLICE have told jewellers around the Province to be on the alert after a man and a woman stole jewellery from a shop in Magherafelt.
The 3,000 worth of jewellery included a charm bracelet.
race meeting information omitted
Go-ahead soon for extra police
By MERVYN PAULEY
THE Treasury is expected to give the go-ahead soon to the RUC's plea for more manpower and resources.
Ulster Secretary Peter Brooke said in the Commons yesterday that Whitehall's examination of the application for 400 more officers was in its final stages.
Politicians were confident last night that Cabinet approval will be a formality.
Mr Brooke held out the prospect after his Commons statement on Saturday's IRA bombing of Musgrave Park Hospital in which two soldiers were killed and ll people injured.
Mr Brooke side-stepped unionist calls for the introduction of selective internment, saying he would only use it in ' very particular circumstances'.
Strangford MP John Taylor dismissed Mr Brooke's statement as' bland generalities, ' and said there must be condemnation of those who fail to take on the IRA and the finger must be pointed at Mr Brooke and those behind them.
Labour spokesman Kevin McNamara said the RUC request for more manpower would win the approval of the whole House.
The IRA blast knocked out the five operating theatres in the regional orthopaedic hospital which is also noted for its care of geriatrics.
Thirty-five orthopaedic operations have so far been cancelled, and 65 more may have to be postponed.
Maintenance crews have been working 18-hour shifts to repair the damage.
Racing facts-list omitted
Twiceover opening
by Micky Twiceover
GREY November or no, Festival fever is here again, with its prospects for of makin' whoopee and temperatures rising as they always do with the actual Festival opening.
Festival's funny, of course.
For instance, Festival is and is not.
Is open yet not open.
And no, that's not the conundrum you think it is, but a fact.
Officially, Festival opens tomorrow night when one of its biggest events, the sold-out Hamburg Ballet, takes the Grand Opera House stage.
But it really started on Friday in the Stranmillis Theatre with the Ulster Youth Dance, who could not get the theatre at any other time for its Rite of Spring.
You'd think Michael Barnes, OBE, hereinafter referred to as Micky Twiceover would know just exactly when he opens his Festival since he's the Artistic Director, General Administrator, Grand Panjandrum, (Twiceover) and what-have-you of the Grand Opera House.
Yet tonight, one of the finest productions of the recent Dublin International Theatre Festival opens in the Civic Arts Theatre  Cheek By Jowl with their raved about As You Like It.
This 10th anniversary production is about Love, merely a madness, but a madness in which a beautiful young man is a beautiful young woman who is a... beautiful young man... who is...
Actually, As You Like It has an all-male cast of 14, is uproariously funny, absorbing, brilliant, gripping theatre,  so good that seats were on the black market in Dublin.
Don't despair, though  there are some seats still going but not a-begging, as I write.
But be quick: pick up your phone or else gird up your loins, grab your staff and hie you like blazes, sprinting as though pursued by the fires of hell, to the Arts Theatre or the Festival box office, whereupon you should pawn your handbag or your jock strap  even your jewels, just as long as you succeed in laying claim to a seat.
Twiceover Micky will be there, for I know he likes it, leaving it until tomorrow night to preside over the first night of The Hamburg Ballet, one of the great ballet companies of the world, which he has sold his soul and what else only his God knows to cajole to Belfast, its first-ever visit to these islands.
Sadly, it's sold out but never take anything like that for gospel, for in my experience, there are always a few seats to be had if you take the trouble to hunt for 'em.
Returns do come in, often just before the curtain, but it's well worth checking at Festival House daily (or even hourly if you are really keen) for any of the sold-out shows.
Don't forget, too, the Grand Opera House has two score of inexpensive slip seats sold only after ten of the clock on the day and they are excellent seats too  far better than seats at twenty times their price in great opera houses around the world.
Thursday is the date at the Lyric Theatre for another likely major Festival event and one that is likely, if it comes off, to be heralded around the world.
It's Pygmies In The Ruins, the latest new play from leading playwright Ron Hutchinson, author of Rat In The Skull, and that's an event of international importance in any critic's book.
Fortunately Pygmies runs throughout Festival, truly a Festival production with a stunning cast, so it should be possible to get seats at the Lyric without too much difficulty if you don't delay.
Meantime, here's my up-to-date list, as of last night, of the Festival events which are sold out:
List of events omitted
Festival director and Grand Opera House chief Michael Barnes has a busy month ahead
Today's event
Soccer: Budweiser Cup semi-finals  Linfield v.
Cliftonville at Windsor Park, Belfast, 7.30pm; Glentoran v.
Omagh Town at Mourneview Park, Lurgan, 7.30pm
University of Ulster, Jordanstown: autumn musical serenade in Assembly Hall, 8pm
Down Leisure Centre, Downpatrick: Is the Priest at Home?  by Theatre Ulster, 8pm
Riverside Theatre, Coleraine: Richard Baker's grand tour to melody, 8pm
Funderland at King's Hall, Balmoral, Belfast, 5 to 10pm
Film show by Frank Warke in Ballymoney Town Hall, 8pm
Northern Ireland Photographic Association: silver jubilee print exhibition in Crescent Arts Centre, 2C4, University Road, Belfast, 10am to 5pm
Lunchtime talk: The Church and Worship  in Stranmillis Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Belfast, 1pm
Exhibition of landscape watercolours, pastels, and drawings at Riverside Theatre Gallery, Coleraine, 9am to 5pm
Blood donation sessions in College Street headquarters, Belfast (10am to 1pm and 2.30 to 5pm); Ballroom, Bostock House, Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast (10am to 12.30pm and 2 to 4.30pm); 2nd Limavady Presbyterian Church Hall (2 to 4.30pm and 6 to 8pm); Ballyclare Presbyterian Church Hall (10am to 12.30pm and 2 to 4.30pm)
Millions strike against new tax
MILLIONS of black South Africans went on strike yesterday in what anti-apartheid movements called the biggest stoppage in the country's history.
The two-day protest against the introduction of Vat was baptised in blood as an eve-of-strike battle between rival black factions on a gold mine killed 15 and wounded 43.
At least 19 other blacks died in scattered incidents across the country on Sunday and yesterday.
Congress of South African Trade Unions and its political ally, Nelson Mandela's African National Congress, hailed ' the largest-ever general strike in the history of our country '.
They said that almost four million workers stayed at home to protest against the tax.
Many believe the tax unfairly penalises poor blacks by increasing basic food prices.
Weather forecast omitted
Hospital horror
Words of anguish
THE distraught widow of murdered soldier Philip Cross has branded his killers' monsters'.
' To attack a hospital without any warning is just utterly despicable, ' said Mrs Janet Cross.
Her Army medic husband was one of two soldiers killed when the IRA planted a 20lb Semtex bomb at Belfast's Musgrave Park Hospital.
Mrs Cross flew back to Manchester yesterday to break the news to her sons Andrew, 11, and Richard, 12, who attend a boarding school in North Wales.
Mrs Cross wept as she condemned her husband's killers.
' These people are monsters.
The sad truth is that it won't achieve anything.
' The IRA have gained nothing over the past 20 years by their tactics of terrorism and murder.
And they will achieve nothing over the next 20 years. '
Comforting her sons, she said: ' We always knew this could happen but how can I explain this to the boys? '
She was speaking at the home of Sergeant Major Cross's parents, Arthur and Joy, in Little Hulton, near Bolton, Greater Manchester.
Mr Arthur Cross said: ' The men who did this are bloody murderers.
The whole family is devastated.
Although we all knew there were risks, we really can't believe this has happened.
' Sgt Maj Cross was coming to the end of a three-year-posting with the Royal Army Medical Corps.
The distraught parents of a young Army ambulance driver have also told of their grief and horror at the IRA bombing of the Belfast military hospital in which their son died.
Post Office worker Roy Pantry, 43, said his 20-year-old son Craig was dedicated to serving others in his job with the Army's ambulance service.
' We are horrified that such an innocent young lad as our son Craig could be cut down in this way when he was doing humanitarian work, ' he said.
' Our hearts go out to the other victims of this atrocity. '
Craig, who joined the Royal Corps of Transport 18 months ago after leaving his job as a postman, had just returned to Northern Ireland after attending a driving course in England.
Relatives were comforting his grief-stricken mother Sheila, 41, and her other two sons Lee, 17, and Robert, 15, at their home in Newport, Gwent.
