Guth & Tuairim, Meitheamh 1980

A Cbara, Atlantis, Burtonport. 16th May, 1980. Friends have urged me .to reply once more in verse to Mr. Ward 1 s second pro-Uranium poem in your issue of May 1980, but aft. er reading the line 1 Let 1 s leave 1 t to the expe~ts then', I hardly feel in a rhyme-writing mood. That line, along with "I know damn all about the stuff/ A nd the protesters know far less", makes me feel more like answering with a long line of ~~~~~~~t than writing a sensible letter, but I will nonetheless try and tread gently on my typewriter and gather my thoughts coherently. Lit reacha "Fal Alastar" Leim an tSionnaigh~ A Chara, Sllim gur mhaith-an rud do "Guth 7 Tuairim" da mbeadh cuntas ar bhaile .t'earainn airithe acb&n mh!. Tame~ cinnte go bhfuil duine eigin ar gach baile a bheadh abalta S!'O a dheana.mh, ag tabhairt cuntas ~ stair, seanachas ague logainmneacha na. h-&ite·. I think readers would enjoy reading about the different townlands, and some useful information would be available in later years, that may otherwise be lost. I believe it would also help the sale of the paper, especially in places like Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham. Mise le meas, I find it astonishing and scary that there are still people prepared to believe in 'experts' in a world that is falling apart at the seams; on a nlanet that is creaking and groaning under the weight of expertly- produced pollution, expertly-invented industrialization- "d ·"Cloch Mor te'im an tSionnaigb". ;o~~i~~~o~~~;t~~a~n~~~~~:~ ~~e~~~ui:t~~~;to!~l ~ ---------------T-H_E_F~LUT~-E-. -BAN-.-DS------~--------~~----- 11>- in one final nuclear tantrum. For goodness' sake, what • 1 expert 1 do you know - really know, as a person - that ,... you'd like to hand over charge of your life to? m 'Experts' have headaches, get constipated, quarrel g with their wives and get out of bed on the wrong side, just like anyone else. In surrounding them with non-human mystique and investing them with the powers of a modern witch-doctor, we pay the ultimate heavy price. Each one of us lllllst become our own e:.;ert, and mighty fast, if we are to salvage anything beautifUl from the mess made of our Earth by leaving it to the ones with the grand titles. f t • I wonder whether Mr. Ward happened to attend the Uranium meeting organized on 15th May at the Ostan na Rosann by the Dungloe Development Association? · There we had two pro-nuclear 'experts' with lots of lovely letters after their names, and two 'ignorant protesters 1 from the Donegal.Uranium Committee (DUC) • on the platform. Such was the level of intelligence. g coming from our 1 exprrts 1 that I actually felt sorry ·~ for them and had to restrain myself from crawling under e my chair with embarrassment at the way~hey were handling their task. My comment to a member of the DUC after 2 the meeting was, 'With enemies like that, you don't need .friends. 1 Amongst other gems issuing from these 'experts' were the following: 1) 'that anyway the land could be put back after the mining and be made to look even nicer than it was before' (I believe you have a sin in your religion called 'hubris'?) and 2) 'that anyway people get skin cancer from sitting in front _or peat fires because of the radiation emitting from the turf.' I lllllst apologize to the good Chairman of that lJungloe meeting for my slightly unrUly behaviour at these points, but in spite of a friend sitting next to .me having me handcuffed and gagged, I couldn't help emitting a few unladylike splutters at such inanities (but at least I did manage not to scream~). Finally, with regard to the state of 'ignorance' of the 'protesters', if Mr. Ward would like to call on any member of the Donegal Uranium Committee, or indeed at this establishment, I think even he might have to swallow his words when he saw the massive amount of information that has been gathered from all over the world on the Uranium and related issues. It is a fact that a certain gentleman from the Nuclear Energy Board at the beginning of this whole Uranium issue locally had to get his information from a member 9 t the puc. Yours sincerely, Jenny James. / +2 0 bO ~ 1 EARRAI COINCREID ~t Gaoth Dobhair Gl 0 :a 0 ~: +2 c.> ., A Chara, Permit me to reply to F. Ferry's letters on flute bands. He got his fair share of the paper recently including photograpbsl I will try and write without a dictionary and I am just wondering where to start - maybe from the hips down. No, I think the brain is the place, it contrpls all body fUnctions. He did not give credit to my closing remarks - hoping the Keadue band would go on winning but I hate to think he would not give .credit to the ex-members of the Acres band when he talked in his first article on the revival of the Keadue band. We all know they trained hard across the water and came over here with new drums and flutes but that did not change the scene one bitl It was Mr. McGeehan, John O'Donnell and Miss Boner N.T. who really influenced the future and again with the Acres children. He says he only did the article on the large bands but he also did an article .in the Irish Post last year and left out the Acres Senior Band - one of the best bands at the time. As far as his remarks on marching are concerned he really made an "ass" of himself on this issue. He can watch as many parades ·as he likes in Edinburgh but the marching of a pipe band is not like marching of a flute band. I will quote from the Scottish Pipe Band Association TUTER covering the theory of marching. It calls for'(l) Keen rhythmical sense, (2) a good military smartness (J) ability t~ march properly with head erect and steady, chin in, chest out, arms swinging rreely back and forth to waist level. 1 When you said to march from your hips down, not your knees what about from your waist up? Back in the 50's and 60 1 s you had Eddie Jock 0' Donnell, Rampart, leading the Roshire band, the late Packie Joe Boimer from Cloughlass, Frankie Effie 0 1 Donnell and the Kid 0' Donnell.. There you had men not marching from their hips down but their whole body. In his article he did not mention the ~ullaghduff Junior Band under the late P. O'Donnell, but while they were very good they were not in the same staodard as Dungloe and Acres bands; You mus.t start your bands at school level like ed~cation. Finally, I am entitled to my anonmity especially in a community such as ours. All that matters la that I wrote the truth and I hope Mr. Ferry can learn from my letters. · I wonder does he know how many semequaver·a = 6?, what a compound duple is? I could go on. (By the way I am told that it .was a tin whistle which first came to Keadue and that the flutes were not introduce~ until 1942). •How many of his members know·? My advice to him and to all barrls is - when yo•l go into a competition dont always go out to win. Take a beating and think of other bands that are working as hard as you • Manufacturer of Pre-stressed Lintels Window sills Garden Edging -£ .o Mise le meas, Paving slabs Septic Tank Lids Manhole covers Wall & Chimney Coping Supplier of wrap around boilers '-------' APPROVED BY I.I.R.S. Phone BUNBEG 90 ] ~ "Interested" ~ +2 p. s. How many of. the Keadue band are actually ----- from Keadue? guttyuairim, Doire Beaga Beidh "Guth 7 Tuairim" le fail ar!s thart fa 4u JUNE. Iuil. Olosing date for competitions, articles, letters, etc. - 27th June. Phone - Bunbeag 265 . 27