Certainly no Christmas spirit in Mitchelstown in December 1994, as some individual continued to be a ‘pane’ to authorities and members of the public, with yet another instance of a car window being stolen in the town. This time the rear side window was removed from a Ford Fiesta, while the owner was attending evening Mass. Local gardai suspected a spate of recent incidents were perpetrated by the same individual, who might have a specific market for the stolen items.

Two Cappoquin gardai came out tops at the Garda Siochana Merit Awards, which were presented to members of the force by Commissioner Patrick Culligan in Templemore College. Garda Denis Reilly and Garda Oliver Croke were deemed to be the best when it came to policing, not only in Cappoquin, but in the Dungarvan District.

A find of suspect material from the Ballyguyroe landfill by members of the Kildorrery Anti-Dump Group, was brought to the attention of Cork County Council, through the chambers of the Northern Division at Annabella House, Mallow. The second such suspicious find in a matter of weeks, a group spokesperson produced what was understood to be ‘a sealed test tube full of blood, which they had retrieved from the site’. Cllr Joe Sherlock produced a number of pictures from the dump, which also ‘seemed to confirm the presence of clinical waste’. However, council chairman, Cllr Carey Joyce, felt ‘the whole matter was irrelevant’, with the authority now powerless to act, as the decision to continue or cancel operations at Ballyguyroe was now in the hands of the Department of the Environment. Concerns were also aired regarding possible leachate affecting the water supply in the area, with assistant county manager, Des Wixted pointing out that the Southern Health Board had already confirmed that the water supply was not contaminated from the dump. Respective motions were deferred to the January 1995 meeting.

The staff at Shaws Fermoy had just received a makeover – being issued with ‘attractive new uniforms’, created and manufactured by Irish designer, Michael Jacob. The new-look styling was described as ‘classical and stylish’, ‘simplistic and uncluttered’.

A Christmas card designed by Anglesboro youngster, Thomas Barry, a pupil at CBS Primary School, Mitchelstown, was one of 12 designs nationwide chosen to feature on cards to be sold in aid of charities Bernardos and Focus On Children. The Irish Times - US Embassy competition, saw Thomas visit the US embassy in Phoenix Park, Dublin, where he was presented with a large pack of art materials by US Ambassador, Jean Kennedy Smith.

A motion by Mitchelstown based Councillor Conor O’Callaghan, to make breathalyser kits widely available to the motoring public, was supported by Cork County Council’s Northern Division. He felt that the newly introduced drink drive legislation was too restrictive and he ‘condemned the practice of stopping people at checkpoints while they were on their way to work in the mornings.’ He described the situation as ‘reaching realms of farce’. Deputy Ned O’Keeffe agreed with the concept of self-testing breathalysers, however wouldn’t go along with the councillor’s remarks about the ‘roadblocks’. While Cllr Jack Roche FF felt it ‘grossly unfair’ that a man who drinks one and a half pints would get the same punishment ‘as the man who has drunk two gallons of the stuff’. Party colleague Ted O’Riordan was worried that rural Ireland was ‘becoming like the outback in Australia’.

Contemporary folk group, Unknown Legends, were preparing to play support to Eurovision 1994 winners, Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan, at a gala New Year’s night concert in the Midleton Park Hotel. Formed in November 1993, the Fermoy group consisted of Paul Comerford, Kevin McCormack and Odhran O’Reilly and had made their television debut on RTE’s ‘Live at Three’ afternoon show. Some of their own songs included ‘Peace, Love & Politics’, ‘Dreaming’ and ‘Restless Time’.

A ‘virtually foolproof’ method of stopping hiccups in The Avondhu Christmas supplement of 1994 involved a simple mouth massage. No gulping down water upside down or blowing into a paper bag needed, according to Dr David Goldsmith, USA - just take a cotton swab and gently message the centre point of the roof of the mouth, just beyond where the hard and soft palates meet for about a minute….. simple!

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