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AS THE Scariff based Every Mo- ment Counts Youth Group (EMC) heads into its third year, a special plea is being made for helpers and youth leaders.

The club has gone from strength to strength, getting involved in all kinds of entertaining and develop- mental activities but unless parents, aunts, uncles and other adults vol- unteer some time this year, the club could be in trouble.

Said Youth Leader Tracey Doyle, “we’re bound by health and safety regulations as well as insurance and child protection laws. We have to

have one adult for every ten young people. We currently have 42 mem- bers in the club and just three lead- ers. We’ve been lucky in that not all the members turn up together every night but if we are to have any new members this year then the club has to have more adult supervision.”

The club members have been in- volved in schemes such as “Drums not Drugs” , where they learned hand-drumming and eventually per- formed in Croke Park.

A spin off of the club, “Youth Ex- press” in which youngsters learned how to express ideas through art and crafts was set up. The young mem- bers even organised their own youth

music festival this year.

The new youth club year starts on Thursday September 11 and goes on each Thursday between from 7pm- 9pm at Youthreach, Scarriff next to library.

“If parents don’t come along on September 11 to register as helpers, then we simply won’t be able to take in any new members”, said Tracey. Clare Youth Service will train new leaders and the commitment in- volved does not include having to or- ganise outings or paperwork “but it would be great if people would come along, get involved with the activities at club level and come with us to help on outings. We particularly need

people who might be able to bring some activity for young lads. A cou- ple of men would be very welcome’, said ‘Tracey.

Annual membership costs ©25 and includes insurance for all activities.

Weekly admission is ©2 per per- ete

All parents of members are re- quired to come on registration night and sign up to a volunteer rota.

“If enough parents sign up they will only be required to volunteer once every six to eight weeks”, said Tracey. Volunteers can come along in Thursday week or contact the club by email at emcyouthgroup@hotmaiul. com.

that the election process be- ing used “does not allow for adequate communication on a countywide ba- sis between various and community groups that make up the voluntary community pillar in county Clare.” Three members from the public and community groups will make up part of the board, but the selection of these three members is by invitation of nominees rather than using the voluntary and public umbrella group. He also questioned the potential geo- graphic balance in the system used. Clare Community Forum was set up by the Department of Local

Government to represent the com- munity-voluntary pillar, and today represents approximately 500 groups on a number of state and semi-state bodies.

“This was set up by the Government but another hand of the Government is choosing to ignore it,” he said.

“If it was set up as acommunity and voluntary pillar to be part of all bod- ies, why is it not there for all bodies? Why is one body choosing to ignore it?” asked Mr Cahill.

“And why is it being allowed to?”

CLDC has meanwhile reminded community and voluntary groups around the county that the deadline is approaching for receipt of nomina- tions and voter registration forms for electing three community and volun- tary Directors to the Board.

“A good deal of interest has already been shown by the community and voluntary sector in the election,” a statement said.

Monday, September 8, at noon is the deadline for receipt of nomina- tion and registration forms. Groups who have an interest in rural devel- opment, social inclusion, the envi- ronment, culture and community development are being encouraged to get their forms in on time and get involved in the election.

Ballot papers will be sent out by post to registered groups after Sep- 00 aoe

A DRUMBIGGLE man, who took a Swipe at a Garda patrol car with an axe, has a history of mental difficul- ties a judge was told.

34-year-old Sean Sullivan of 16 Waterpark Heights, Drumbiggle, pleaded guilty to an offence under the Firearms Act when he appeared before Ennis District Court yester- day.

The court heard evidence that gardai were called to Waterpark on May 2, 2007, where they found Sulli- van in conversation with his mother.

A Garda witness told the court that as they arrived on the scene “Sul- livan had his back to us. When he turned around he was holding an axe and when he spotted us, he rushed at the patrol car and swung the axe.

Thankfully, no one was hurt.”

Sullivan’s solicitor, Tara Godfrey produced letters from a consultant psychiatrist and told the court that her client had a history of depression and manic episodes.

He had been diagnosed with At- tention Deficit Disorder and has been suffering the negative effects of being cared for in institutions as PO NEen

“He goes through periods where he is stabilised and is quite able to cope. We would ask the court to ex- tend bail conditions but if a sentence is being imposed we would ask that it not be too long a sentence, as it 1s virtually impossible for him to re- ceive proper treatment for his prob- lems 1n prison.”

Judge Leo Malone imposed a two month jail sentence.

CLARE Youth Service in Shannon is looking for volunteers to work with young people. There are several vol- unteering opportunities for anyone aged 21 or over interested in working with young people aged 12 to 25.

There are opportunities in both Youth Clubs, Drumgeely and Sky- view which will be re-opening in September when the schools return. There are also volunteers needed to help supervise and work with young people in the Kick Back Youth Cafe and Shannon Music Project at week- ends.

The Youth Service will be sending

a flyer to homes in the area with the September newsletter, outlining de- tails of what’s involved.

There are new developments in ac- tivities for young people in the town also. Five-a-side Basketball and soc- cer nights are planned for Shannon Leisure Centre in September.

‘The hall has been booked for four weeks initially and if the program takes off it is hoped that the weekly Wednesday slot will continue and this will benefit those who are inter- ested in sport and keeping fit as well as keeping the youth workers fit,” a spokesman for the Youth Service Cr HKOR

The cost is €2 per night as it is sub-

sidised by the Youth Service and they are looking for 10 to 15 people to sign up and commit to the four weeks of it. Anyone interested should contact Cathal or Pat in the Youth Office to register their name.

The Shannon Music Project has once again availed of the expertise of a local guitar teacher for the coming winter term.

Paul O’ Donoghue (Swive) has again kindly offered his services to the Music Project to teach advanced classes in electric guitar to 10 to 12 young people from the project.

The classes are designed for those who have more than a year’s experi- ence in electric guitar and are inter-

ested in learning new techniques.

The lessons begin Wednesday September 10 at 4:45pm in Respond Building, Rineanna View. They run for 15 weeks at the same time and day each week until December 17.

Anyone interested in signing up for the lessons should contact Ca- thal in Shannon Youth Office 061 364318/087 1374482 before Sep- tember 1 to secure their place in the class.

“The lessons are free of charge and Shannon Music Project would like to thank Swive for volunteering his expertise to the project again this year, it is very much appreciated”, the spokesman said.

THE Mayor of Clare met with the Mayor of Chicago last Tuesday in a bid to strengthen business and tour- ism links between Clare and the US mid-west.

Councillor Madeleine Taylor- Quinn’s meeting with Mayor Rich- ard M Daley in Chicago’s City Hall formed part of a week-long promo- tional trip by Clare County Council to Illinois and Wisconsin.

The council delegation attended the Milwaukee Irish Fest, the world’s largest Irish culture festival, where it

conducted a promotional campaign aimed at highlighting Clare as a tourist destination.

Mayor Taylor-Quinn described her meeting with Mayor Daly, a third- generation Irish American, as ‘pro- ductive’ and added that she was con- fident it would reap benefits for the local economy.

“We agreed that the retention and development of existing air services between Chicago O’Hare Airport and Shannon was a priority for the economies of the regions served by the two airports,” she said.

“T explained how it was imperative

that assurances were sought from airlines operating out of Shannon, especially Aer Lingus, that existing services will be maintained into the GULAbD aoe

“If they are curtailed then I fear that Clare’s economy will suffer immensely with the potential loss of millions of euro and hundreds of jobs,’ continued Mayor ‘Taylor- Quinn.

Both Mayors also discussed the lat- est tourism figures showing that the number of American tourists to Ire- land has fallen dramatically — lead- ing to the first drop in tourist revenue

in four years.

The meeting concluded with Mayor Daley being invited to visit Clare in the near future.

Clare County Manager, Alec Flem- ing said he was delighted Mayor Daley had accepted the council’s invitation to meet with Mayor Tay- lor-Quinn, as part of the delegation’s promotional efforts.

“The meeting was a wonderful op- portunity for the council to showcase Clare’s economic and tourism poten- tial and follows a successful tourism promotional campaign undertaken by the delegation at the Milwaukee

Irish Fest.’

“It is anticipated that work car- ried out by the Clare delegation at this year’s festival will help build on the estimated 3,000 US tourists who holidayed in the west of Ireland as a result of our promotional campaign in Wisconsin last year,’ concluded Mr Fleming.

Over 140,000 people attend the Milwaukee Irish Fest, which show- cased Irish music, history, dance, sports and various other aspects of the Irish culture. Among the featured acts at the festival were the Kilfenora Céili Band.

A DRIVER who was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving on the Kilrush road offered a doctor his big toe to take a blood alcohol sample from, a judge was told.

James Marrinan, a native of west Clare now living at 169 Denton Road in London, failed a random alcohol

breath test at the side of the road on August 24, Ennis District Court heard.

When he was brought to the Garda station he agreed to a specimen of blood being taken for analysis but offered the doctor his big toe for the test. Garda evidence was that when the charge was read to him Marrinan said, “I didn’t refuse’.

He pleaded guilty before Ennis District Court yesterday to refusing to provide a sample.

The court heard that the 49-year- old, who works for a London local authority, wanted to apologise to the court.

Judge Leo Malone imposed a four year driving ban and fined him ©400 which had to be paid on the spot.

CLARE motorists are getting free NCT’s with the Ennis testing centre snowed under by requests for tests.

There is currently a waiting list for NCT appointments in Ennis and a back-up team has been brought in to keep the tests rolling over.

But delays of more than four weeks in giving applicants a test appoint- ment are resulting is some drivers getting their tests free of charge, in line with NCT policy on customer os at (een

Drivers who ring the national test appointment line are being told that there are no appointments available in Ennis and they have to join a can- cellation list.

A spokeswoman for the NCT ex- plained that the policy is “to try to give people a test within four weeks of their requesting an appointment. If we can’t do that, we give a free test.”

The spokeswoman said that the av- erage lead-in time for a test is three weeks.

“People are given appointments

and if they don’t confirm those ap- pointments within a specified time, then they automatically fall. Our call centre opens at 8am and the first thing they do is re-distribute any test appointment which have not been confirmed.”

The spokeswoman said that while there does not seem to be a specific problem with Ennis, the back-up team which is brought on board to have the test centre working seven days a week is currently in situ in OE

“We have a core team and an non-

core team, who will work late eve- nings and weekends when the need arises. Not every centre has an non- core team, but Ennis does, as does Limerick,’ the NCT spokeswoman Cr AKOR

Since January | this year, the En- nis centre has carried out a massive 11,438 full tests.

This does not account for cars which returned for second tests that only involved one detected fault.

Of those cars which take the test in Ennis half fail and half pass, the figures show.

LAURA O’Donovan from Ardnacru- sha is in the running to be selected as Ireland’s most curvaceous woman.

She qualified to represent Clare in the national final of the Simply Be CiiaAmmceyseelcsiseyrmmUueN(Onmm stl mmole held at the Radisson Royal SAS in Dublin on August 31 after she was picked from thousands of applicants in the Limerick heat of the competi- tion

Simply Be.ie launched their search to find Ireland’s most curvaceous woman ‘Simply Be Curvy’ in April, looking for women size 14 and over who love and celebrate their curves

to enter. After three heats and from the thousands of entries 28 finalists were chosen.

The winner will become an in- stant cover girl, gracing the cover of Simply Be.ie Spring/Summer 2009 catalogue. She will also win €1,000 worth of SimplyBe.ie clothing and accessories, a holiday to the value of €1,000 plus €500 spending money and a modelling contract with one of Ireland’s top modelling agents.

A panel of celebrity judges includ- ing Caroline Morahan, Celia Hol- man Lee and Brenda O’Donoghue will choose the winner from the 28 finalists. As well as one to one inter- views with the judges, the event will

take the finalists to the catwalk to model Simply Be.ie autumn/winter range 2008. Each of the girls will be trained by model agent and former model Celia Holman Lee.

Ireland’s only dedicated on-line home shopping company for curvy women, Simply Be.ie was estab- lished to keep women looking stun- ning with no fuss – no communal changing rooms or unflattering lights and mirrors, just the comfort of their very own home.

A 35-YEAR-OLD German national with a previously clean record who bought a car with a dud cheque, has been in jail since June 18, a judge heard.

Klaus Scheel, originally from Sch- wenningen, pleaded guilty to issuing cheque which would bounce.

Judge Leo Malone heard that he wrote a cheque for €6,000 and gave it in exchange for the second hand car. He then left the area and couldn’t be contacted when the cheque bounced,

Ennis District Court heard.

Gardai traced him and arrested him.

His solicitor, Tara Godfrey said her client “has never been in trouble be- fore. He arrived here 18 months ago with his wife and child and his job was at some distance from his home. He was running out of money and needed a car and used the cheque to buy it. He is most remorseful and he has been in custody since June 18.”

Judge Malone heard the car was recovered. He imposed a one-month jail sentence backdated to July 22.

CLARE County Council could face a large compensation claim over its decision to refuse planning permis- sion for a ©50 million retail park ad- jacent to the Ennis bypass.

That’s the view of Green Party councillor Brian Meaney who said that the 2000 Planning and Develop- ment Act provides for compensation claims to be paid out.

The developer in question, Stephen Harris purchased the 48-acre site zoned commercial for €18 million in 2005. However, in spite of the com- mercial zoning, the application can- not proceed because of flooding of

the site.

The Planning and Development Act allows for individuals to secure compensation if a decision by a local authority reduces the value of land.

Cllr Meaney said the council should be concerned as there was now a new dynamic with climactic conditions.

“Planners should be very wary of granting any development in the flood plain even if a flood relief scheme is put in place. We have to protect the population living in residential areas of Ennis that are prone to flooding.”

Cllr Meaney also urged the council not to repeat the mistakes made in drawing up the current Ennis devel- opment plan.

He made the call after the second retail park was refused with flood- ing considerations to the fore of both decisions. Along with the Harris project, the council last year refused planning for a retail park at Quin Road to Sean Lyne and Noel Connel- lan when flooding also featured as a reason in the council’s decision.

The decision throws the county’s retail strategy into further disarray with the ruling guaranteeing contin- ued leakage from Clare into Limer- ick and Galway for the purchase of bulky goods.

Refusing planning permission to the Harris application which was two years in the planning process, the

council stated that the site was locat- ed on the lower Fergus floodplain.

The planner’s report stated, “Until such time as flood relief works are completed, these lands remain as flood plain. To permit development on lands currently functioning as a flood plain would not be in the inter- ests of sustainable development.”

Mr Harris was seeking permission for a retail warehouse park, a mo- tor sales village, a Travelodge ho- tel, drive-thru restaurants, storage and distribution. The developments were to provide over 30,000 m2 in commercial floorspace including 15,300m2 in retail units.