Month: December 2017

Just in case you’ve been living in a jungle for the last fifty years, allow me to let you into a little secret. We have a huge problem with alcohol.

The relationship that many of us have with drink is unhealthy and despite the substantial amount of money and effort that has gone into changing our culture of socialising, we are still as bad as ever. In fact, we may even be getting worse.

I was in a pub recently having drinks with a few friends when at about 9pm the doors burst open and there was an invasion of young people. They were delivered to the venue by a private bus. I mean it when I say they were young because they were there for an eighteenth birthday party. The majority of them were already drunk when they came in and many had difficulty in standing up.

Sitting down even posed a problem for some of them. After about twenty miniutes they had the toilets destroyed with wet toilet paper and hand towels thrown everywhere. I went in to the gents toilet at one stage and there was a mixture of boys and girls standing around chatting as if it was a public park.

I saw youngsters falling on the floor because they couldn’t manage to get into a seat. There was one young guy, who looked no more than fifteen or sixteen, who was trying to sit next to a girl that he had his eye on. He made his way towards the chair like a tiger stalking a deer. He wasn’t as sure footed as a tiger and he somehow managed to end up underneath it. He had great difficulty trying to escape from his trap.

This was very early on in the night and we left around ten o’clock so I have no idea how it ended up. But I would hazard a guess that it was not a pretty sight by closing time. Even at that stage there were signs that some of them were becoming messy and a little aggressive. Statistics would suggest that incidents of assault and anti-social behaviour would be likely to occur as the night wore on.

According to the Garda Analysis Service, 83% of offenders in assault cases are male and the majority are aged between 18 and 39 years old. These assaults typically take place in and around public places such as streets, roads, pubs, and clubs between 8pm and 5am and primarily at the weekend.

Around a quarter of the assaults that are linked to the night-time economy involve intoxication of either the offender or the victim, or both. Seven out of every 10 assaults involve men attacking other men, while three-quarters of all assault victims are also male.

I’m pretty sure that most people won’t be surprised by this. The fact that young men fight in the early hours of the morning, after a feed of drink, particularly at the weekends, is hardly earth-shattering news. Alcohol plays a significant part in the vast majority of these assaults and the culture of binge drinking has to be a significant factor.

Alcohol consumption is often offered as a legitimate excuse for someone’s bad behaviour. It is regularly used by offenders to justify their poor judgement and is also regularly used by defendants in court in the hope of gaining some sympathy from the presiding judge. Being drunk should not absolve an offender of guilt and should not lessen his responsibility for his actions.

A simple punch, or even a push, can result in a victim banging his head on a solid surface which can cause serious injury and even death. A recent campaign by An Garda Siochana was designed to highlight this potential danger and to encourage young people to consider the likely outcome of their actions before they get involved in a conflict situation.

For the average uniformed policeman, routine patrolling is what constitutes an average working day. Public order issues are probably the single biggest item that he or she will come up against. It is a major issue across the country, particularly at weekends after pubs and clubs close and a considerable amount of garda time and resources are tied up, dealing with these types of incidents.

Simple cases involving drunken scraps and assaults can be very time consuming, and they are played out with monotonous regularity around the country, week in and week out.

A person who has been convicted of a serious assault will have to live with the consequences of that incident for the rest of their life even though the incident itself it may have only lasted for a matter of seconds. Their victim may be maimed, disfigured or worse.

The conviction will remove the possibility of obtaining a visa and that will impact upon their travel and employment opportunities. That recorded conviction will remain with them for life as a constant reminder of their moment of madness.

Embarrassment and remorse are experienced by the vast majority of offenders once they sober up and re-join the real world. As reality begins to dawn on them, they wish that they could turn back the clock. They swear that they never intended for things to turn out the way they did and they say how sorry they are. Unfortunately, this is of little benefit to the victims.

In the cold light of day, when people come to their sober senses, they start to consider the consequences of their actions but it’s too late at that stage. The damage has been done.

If they could just reduce their intake of alcohol they would save themselves, their victims, the gardai and the justice system a lot of trouble.

There was an incident in America recently involving a politician and a reporter. Nothing new in that you might say. But it happened in Montana and if it’s a case of history repeating itself, then there could be some interesting times ahead.

Greg Gianforte has made a name for himself in the States. He’s the new Republican Congressman for Montana and he got into a bit of bother recently after he “body-slammed” a reporter.

He pleaded guilty in court to assault and the judge fined him $385. He was also given 40 hours community service and 20 hours of anger management counselling.

This isn’t the first time that a politician has been involved in controversy in Montana. Back in the 1860’s, the citizens of Bannack, a mining town in Montana, elected Henry Plummer as their new sheriff. Little did they know how controversial that decision would turn out to be.

William Henry Plummer was born in 1832 in Washington County, Maine and at the age of 19 he headed to San Francisco to seek fame and fortune during the great Gold Rush. He worked in a book shop until he saved enough money to buy a mine in Nevada County. Fellow businessmen were impressed with the young man and they persuaded him to run in the election for the position of town marshal.

Plummer won and he quickly earned a reputation as a good worker. He captured Jim Webster, a murder suspect who was terrorising two counties and took him into custody.

His first controversy happened when he became involved in the marital problems of a local couple, John and Lucy Vedder. Vedder was a gambler who battered and abused his wife. On one occasion, a passer-by heard cries coming from the house and he saw Vedder beating her. When Plummer heard about it, he sent in the police and a lawyer to advise her about getting a divorce. She took the advice and decided to leave her husband.

Vedder was hopping mad and decided to kill the marshal. He didn’t exactly keep his intentions to himself and he went around the town asking people if he could borrow a gun. On the night that Vedder’s wife was due to leave him, Plummer turned up at the house to offer some protection. Vedder came home armed with a pistol and fired twice at Plummer. He missed with both shots but Plummer didn’t, and he shot Vedder dead.

Plummer, however, was charged with second degree murder and was convicted. The judge sentenced him to 10 years in San Quentin. By this time, Plummer was ill with consumption and his condition was deteriorating rapidly. It looked like he was going to die. A petition was sent to the governor with the signatures of more than 100 officials who felt sorry for Plummer and the Governor granted a pardon on compassionate grounds.

He didn’t die though, he made a full recovery and went back to Nevada City to return to mining. Even though he was no longer in the business of law enforcement, he soon got involved in the citizen’s arrest of San Quentin escapee ‘Ten Year’ Smith.

He then came across another escapee, ‘Buckskin Bill’ Riley, and tried to arrest him too. When Riley whipped out his bowie knife and slashed the ex-marshal across the forehead, Plummer shot him dead. He was arrested and locked in a cell where his wound was stitched up. The police decided it was self-defence but they knew he wouldn’t get a fair trial, given his previous history, so they allowed him to make a run for it.

While on the run, Plummer and some companions went to a brothel where they caused more trouble. The owner was a man by the name of Ford and he threw them out. When they went to get their horses, Ford followed them and tried to shoot them. Plummer returned fire and killed Ford. The dead man’s Irish buddies gathered a mob together to lynch Plummer but he managed to escape.

He headed for Maine but he obviously had a nose for trouble. While at Fort Benton waiting for a steam ship, the agent of a government farm rushed into the fort, begging for volunteers to help him to defend his family against an anticipated Indian attack on the small holding.

Plummer, not one to turn his nose up at the prospect of a fight, agreed to help. A man called Jack Cleveland also agreed to go.

The Indian problem never materialised so he resumed his journey to Bannack in Maine. Jack Cleveland travelled with him. In Bannack, they were in a bar having a drink when Cleveland tried to provoke him into a fight. Plummer fired a warning shot into the ceiling but Cleveland wouldn’t back down.

He drew his gun so Plummer shot him and Cleveland died. Plummer found himself back in court charged with murder, but Bannack was a thriving mining town by then and a miners’ jury acquitted him. He was so well regarded by the miners that they elected him sheriff of Bannack.

As a lawman, he wanted to abolish lynching and mob rule. Ironically, in 1864, an armed mob went to Plummer’s cabin and dragged him outside. They marched him to some pine trees, bound his hands, slipped a noose over his head, and hung him.

The lynching of Henry Plummer is one of the great mysteries of the Wild West. Some said that he secretly led a band of outlaws who stole huge amounts of gold from the miners and killed more than 100 citizens. Others disputed that and said there was no evidence to support the claim.

In any event, they lynched him and after all he’d been through, he was still only 32 when he died.

If you happen to be in Cobh on Saturday morning next, 9th December, you will see a crowd gathered outside the Old Town Hall, next to the Well House Bar. You may very well wonder what they are doing there.

They will be there to remember a black day, 75 years ago, when the town of Cobh lost five of its citizens; John Higgins of Connelly Street, Francis Lloyd of King’s Street, Willie Duggan of Bellview, Frank Powell of Plunket Terrace, and Patrick Wilshaw of The Mall. They were all young men.

They lost their lives in the service of the State in an incident in Cork Harbour on 12th December 1942.

There are many who feel that this tragedy needs to be remembered but unfortunately, RTE’s Seacapes radio programme is not one of them. Seascapes is produced in Cork covering maritime matters, but obviously the Cork Harbour Tragedy, that occurred on its door step, is of little interest to them.

Having recorded a piece for the show to promote the event, I received an email from Fergal Keane, presenter of Seascapes, to say “Sorry for the delay and to tell you that I will be unable to use the interview. The brief I have been given is to move the programme more away from historical issues and to bring it out an about more.”

So, our story is not interesting enough for the listeners.

A promotion piece for one of their recent programmes declared; “On tonight’s programme, Fergal Keane speaks to members of the Connaught Angling Council about a decision by Inland Fisheries to review their policy of culling pike on Lough Corrib; more reflections from Dave Hennessy on his four-year around the world trip; and the plans to commemorate the centenary of the sinking of the Mail Boat Leinster next year.”

Fascinating stuff.

If, unlike Seascapes, you would like to know more about this tragic story, you can read it here: http://www.trevorlaffan.com/?p=391

Oglaigh Naisiunta na hEireann are organising the ceremony next Saturday, beginning with Mass in St. Colman’s Cathedral at 10.00am. Following that, wreaths will be laid outside the Old Town Hall, on behalf of the relatives of the deceased, Irish Naval Service, Cobh Branch ONE, Cork Harbour Pilot Boat Crews, Royal Naval Association and the National Maritime College of Ireland.

They were called traffic accidents once upon a time and then that changed to crashes. Now it seems that they are referred to as Road Traffic Collisions. Well, whatever you chose to call them, accidents, crashes or collisions, they happen regularly on our roads.

They come in all shapes and sizes and vary from fender benders to the more serious, involving death and serious injury.

The one thing that they all have in common though, is that they attract curious glances from people passing by. Whether it’s the sight of blood and guts or broken cars, the fact is that there are some who get a thrill from watching the scene of a crash.

It’s not unusual to see people slowing down at an accident and straining their necks to see what’s going on. It’s called ‘Rubber necking’. Other drivers will often take it a step further by parking their cars nearby and walking back to the scene to get a better look.

Gardai in Waterford took to Twitter to advise motorists that five drivers had been fined for using their mobile phones to film or photograph a traffic accident while they were driving their own cars. Their behaviour was described as dangerous and inappropriate, and rightly so. Why anyone would feel it necessary to photograph a crash site in the first place is beyond me.

Many years ago, I was at the scene of a serious accident in Cork. There was one car involved and it went straight into a wall after failing to take the corner. The steering wheel had become embedded in the driver’s stomach. He was leaning over the steering wheel, alive but unconscious.

The plan was to cut the steering column from the car and leave it attached to the driver for doctors to remove at the hospital. A fireman asked me to hold the drivers head up off the steering wheel while he cut it off. (The steering wheel, not the head).

As you can imagine, we were operating in a confined space and it was difficult work.

I suddenly became aware of movement next to me and I saw an individual trying to squeeze his head into the car. This guy had no business whatsoever being there, and he was getting in the way. I recognised him, and I knew he was not a member of the emergency services. He actually worked in a fast food outlet.

He parked his car across the road and came back for a gawk. Not only was he trying to see what was going on, but he was being a complete nuisance.

He was advised in plain English to remove himself from the car and he was lucky that one of the firemen didn’t land him in the ambulance. He seemed to be a little confused as to why people were getting annoyed with him and he obviously believed it was perfectly normal behaviour to be crawling over firemen.

The term rubbernecking is used to describe the actions of drivers who are trying to watch something happening at the side of the road instead of concentrating on driving. That has the potential to cause delays for other drivers and can also lead to further accidents.

Reacting to the scene of a crash is natural because people will be curious about the commotion. But when the cause is identified as a serious accident then the aim should be to get out of the way as quickly as possible and allow the professionals to do what needs to be done. Slowing down for a nose doesn’t help and getting in the way is definitely not recommended.

For most people, the prospect of seeing victims at the side of the road with severe injuries is a turn off. It’s enough to cause most of us to divert our gaze and to keep going. But that’s not the case for everyone.

But morbid curiosity is nothing new. There was a time when crowds were attracted to public hangings and there was only one reason they went. They wanted to see other humans coming to a sticky end.

Penal executions in early modern Europe were civic events and were considered to be a form of entertainment. Executions were organized by town officials and conducted in full view of the expectant public. The prisoners were paraded from the prison to the execution site and to the waiting spectators.

Public punishments such as whippings and executions, were always very popular and were normally well attended events. In the days before newspapers, they also served a practical purpose. By allowing the natives to see justice done, officials hoped to encourage others to think twice about committing crime.

In some cases, judges ordered the executions to be carried out at the scene of the crime. An early crime prevention technique if you like. These days we get crime prevention advice from An Garda Siochana and it’s a bit more civilised.

Back in the 18th century, executions were very much a spectator sport for all classes of society, the wealthy as well as the poor. Seats were arranged like grandstands at a football stadium and were very expensive. Two shillings (10p) was a lot of money in the 1700’s. These events attracted huge numbers of onlookers and the better off would rent rooms in houses opposite the gallows to get the best view.

In ancient Rome, large crowds gathered to watch Gladiators fight each other to the death. It was survival of the fittest. An underdog might be spared by the crowd to fight again but if a favourite lost, his fans could easily turn on him and call for his blood or maybe even his head.

So, it seems the thirst for blood and guts goes back a long way.