NI weekly paper review: Fishermen pull mother and child to safety

A Strabane mother had a lucky escape after being rescued from the River Mourne by a pair of passing fishermen.

This week Noelle Kelly tells the Strabane Chronicle how she got into trouble while trying to rescue one of her son's friends.

Her son Dean had been on a play date with James O'Neill.

"Dean was laying on the bank and James was paddling at the side of the river, the next thing he lay down on his belly in the shallow water and was just swept out," said Ms Kelly.

After seeing him panic, she entered the water and managed to get him to put his arms around her neck, before she found herself being pulled under the water.

She said they became "stuck in a vortex" and the water was running over her head.

Fishermen Aidan McKinley and Mark McKibbin, both from Belfast, intervened and pulled her and James to safety.

"One of the men tried to get out to us but his waders kept filling up," she said.

"Then he hooked a net into the water and shouted at me to grab the net."

There was another successful river rescue in County Down, this time of the canine variety, the Down Recorder reports.

Rosemary, from Killyleagh, had been out for a lunchtime walk near Downpatrick, close to the River Quoile.

Her dog Maggie jumped up on a wall next to the river and then fell in.

After scrambling to a ledge, she was left trapped there at the edge of the water - at which point Rosemary called the fire brigade.

"I was really worried. I would never have been able to rescue Maggie myself," she said.

"The firemen were absolutely fantastic. I just want to say a big thank you to all of them."

The paper also reports anger after graffiti was daubed on a wall near a Downpatrick housing estate.

The message, reading Soldier F 1, IRA 0, appeared at the entrance to Down High School in Mount Crescent.

Soldier F is a former member of the Army's Parachute Regiment who faces prosecution for two murders on Bloody Sunday.

SDLP councillor John Trainor said the painting of the slogan was a "shameful act".

After the graffiti appeared last week, the residents in the area banded together to hire a specialist cleaner to remove the paint, although the business agreed to carry out the work for free.

Wednesday's bomb attack in Wattlebridge makes the front of this week's Impartial Reporter.

"It brings me back, it's like history repeating itself," said Rosemary Barton, an Ulster Unionist MLA who grew up in the area.

Following the attack, PSNI Deputy Chief Constable Stephen Martin called it a "reckless and indiscriminate" attempt to kill police officers.

Inside, the paper focuses on a crackdown on untaxed vehicles in the Fermanagh area.

Over a two week-period this month, 27 vehicles were clamped in the area, the DVLA confirmed.

Sinn Féin councillor Anthony Feely said he believed this could be linked to the MOT backlog, and urged individuals "to be careful and to try and apply for their MOT on time or to take cancellations".

Plans to convert the former Armagh Gaol into a prison-themed hotel will not take too much longer, according to the Ulster Gazette.

It reports that plans for the redevelopment could possibly take a step forward when Armagh, Banbridge, and Craigavon Borough Council returns from its summer break next month.

UUP councillor Sam Nicholson told the paper he was "confident" progress could be made on the project in the lifetime of the current council.

To date, plans for the luxury development have been stalled by the gaol's historic status and a requirement for ministerial sign-off in the absence of devolved government.

The project is being spearheaded by English company Osborne Group, which has committed to investing £11m, with Stormont coming up with a further £4m.

All sorts of things wash up on beaches, as one County Antrim woman discovered this week.

Caroline Orr was out strolling at Loughshore with her children, when they uncovered what turned out to be a cache of rubber bullets, according to the Antrim Guardian.

"I'm still in shock. Obviously I didn't tell the kiddies but that's not what you expect to find lying on the beach at the lough," said Ms Orr, who is also an environmental campaigner.

The Derry Journal reports there were two highly-strung rabbits on the loose in the Buncrana area of Donegal.

The animals were so nervous it proved difficult for the public to catch them, but they were eventually apprehended by a "kind-hearted lady" who coaxed them into her garden.

The ISPCA, the animal welfare charity in Ireland, is now appealing for their owners to come forward.