Guth & Tuairim, Samhain 1980

Could this be the true, unabridged history of CARRICKFINN INTERNATIONAL AIRPOR".t:? 10 8 ~ The history of Carrickfinn International Airport goes back some fifteen years, when Donegal County Council, in a ~ • bid to appease mounting pressure after being bombarded with complaints from irate members of the public, ~~ embarrassed by articles and lead ·stories which appeared in local.and national papers and television decided once ~o and for all to improve the condition of the so-called roads in the county. A plan was carefully drawn up and ~~ the Council quickly moved into action. ~ ~ They searched the length and breadth of the land for the right man for the job. A man of vision, a man with : ~ genius, a man with a zest for huge enterprises, an Albert Einstein of the ctvil engineering field; A man who ." o would not turn his back to the wind. Atter an extensive and exhaustive search which took five years, ~~ interviewing professors and lecturers from Engineering Universities and Colleges, and other forms of skullduggery they finally found their msn quietly sipping pints of Guinness in a Dublin dockland pub cum ~~ massage par lour. How he ~~s found there is anybody's guess. ~M He was one of the old school, Anglo- Irish and an ex-officer in the Irish Army Engineering Corps. His name a~ was Major Rod Works-Ahead. So proud were the Council of finding a man of this calibre that they decided to ~ ~ take out a copyright with exclusive rights to the use of the name MAJOR ROD HORKS-.AHElt.D. And so .even up to m s.. this day whenever you travel by road, no matter where in the County, no matter what the size of the road be it 0 ~ main-road or single track bog-road, the chances are before you have gone a mile you'll name MAJOR ROD WORKS-AHEAD • ...,~ Within three days t he project had begun, the plan was revealed to the general public and a wave of excitement ,:1.~ swept the entire County at the magnitude of the scheme. The plan was to build a road similar to the MI in ~ ~ England from Carrickfinn to Dublin. Three hundred men rallied to the·cause, machines chugged, hammers ~langed ~-~ day and floodlit·-night. After two months the first five hundred yards of the motorway were completely finished 8 r!: and so was Donegal County Council 1 s budget for roads for the next ten years. "Ah well 11 , said a local wit when the news .broke, "at least we have the only motorway in the country, even if it is just 500 yards long and leads nowhere" . ~t the next Council meeting there was complete silence. Not a word was spoken, no one looked at no one else, all heads were lowered down. Was this complete guilt, shame or maybe depression? No, not at all, this was the. serious business of filling in the expense accounts before the usual formalities began. Business however did soon return to what seemed normal, as Candy- 'one lump or two', the tealady arrived. But this was no ordinary meeting as the.Cm1ncillors would find out. Two hours later, just es the teabreak ended, Candy 'one lump or two', the tealady, announced amid a near riot that she was resigning and had accepted a position as executive tealady with Rockall Council and would fly there next day. "Thats it, thats it", cried the Major, leaping to his feet. Let's convert the motorway at Carrickfinn into an airstrip". And so an Airport was born. Incidents still occur now and again. Like the plane which took off recently from Carrickfinn for Dublin. Five minutes af ter departure a passenger forced his way onto the flight deck and announced. "This is a hijack, I want to speak to the Captain" . "I'm the Captain", said a voice sitting behind the controls. "How .., do I know?" said the hijacker. 11 \>'ell", replied the Captain swivelling round in his chair, "you can see the 5 three gold stripes on my wellies". "OK, OK, I believe you", said the hijacker. "Now take this plane to Dublin". ~ "But this plane IS going to Dublin", sa·id the Captain. "Dent give me that", said the hijacker. But Sir, this is flight J05 from Carrickfinn to Dublin" said the Captain. "Look", said the hijacker, 11 1 1 ve been on five (;> flights from Carrickfinn to Dublin; twice I landed in Beruit and three times in Cuba. Now this plane is going to Dublin , OK~ " Another exciting episode next month folks. "An Madadh Rua". Acc ident ~-------------------------------------------------------------------- Black spot Following last month's bombshell of a headline in "Guth 7 Tua i r im", and our summary of all the Black Spots which showed how little had been done to make our roads safer in North-West Donegal, we are back on the road again. This time we feature a spot in Min a'Chladaigh which is a 90 degrees bend situated between the two schools. happen before Christmas? - 1980 that is! Now, remember all the thousands of Black Spots walking around at nighb. Would all these Black Spots. walking at night please wear a white spot on their· arms in the form of reflective arm-bands. If you get killed due to not being seen, you will probably never know anything about it. But the poor driver will have to live with it for the rest of his ·life. ID Driving from Min Urach the _corner is suitably "The Wheel" • . ~ 0 ..., "' forewarned by a double bend sign followed by a r-------------------------------------------------~~ ~ reflective black arrow on a white and yellow pillar. MC GAR.VEY'S ~ ~ Isn't this great to see! Fine, but what happens if Cll 8 you come in the opposite direction? No double D ~ ~ bend sign, a demolished black arrow on reflective ORE, SUNBEG ~ m yellow and white pillar. Could the reason for it M -a being demolished be due to the absence of the double p!Llt'!. XMAS ~ " n Je ,.. ... Atl...,. Nftv2.t'J-r" ~ ~ . bend warning sign? Whether or whi h, the Council ~~ 111 t;D~~~ ~ 1 n•~ ., ~ Cll ~ must take action FAST. It is downhill, the icy GREAT REDUCTIONS ON ~ f .?.1 roads will be upon us soon, there is a drop behind ~ ,;~ "' the demolished pillar; Nasty! CARPETS DEDDINr.:_ 0 ~~:a Nov, Councillors, last month's headline showed pretty CJ ~ d ~A..., poor results arising out of our recommendations for FURNITURE Phone Bunbeg 17 ~ ~~ a aaking our Black ~pots safe. Who is going to be the ~ ~ o good, responsible man to see that the corner past ~ 1 --------------------------------------------------J~~~.l acoil Naomh Bride, Min a 1 Chladaigh gets its bend sign The overtaker meets the undertaker. • tll 111 o....., put up and its black arrow pillar rebuilt? Will it Li'nlocht mac Tlomnachan DRAvliNGS <(>~ vlORDS .tP.a.n.d.'f' ---p-y~o-~----------~T.~A~--5--Ao-L~ GAfiBH I flff'tfl/f\/111 !