A bachelor farmer from an isolated part of County Kerry, Ireland, will
not be banned from the road for drink driving until December so he can
get his affairs in order, a judge has ruled.
In the meantime, John O’Shea, 60, is to try find “a nice woman” at
the Lisdoonvarna matchmaking festival to
drive him around, the court heard.
Mr O’Shea, of Derrinadin, Mastergeeha, had previously pleaded guilty to
driving with excess alcohol at Tarmons, Waterville, on July 25, 2014.
Mr O’Shea’s solicitor John O’Dwyer told the court in Cahersiveen that
“football had been his downfall on the day”.
The court heard how Mr O'Shea had gone to Waterville for animal feed for
his cows and ended up talking about Kerry’s performance in the Munster
Final while consuming alcohol. He also forgot to eat on the day.
He hit the ditch while driving home in what was a single vehicle
accident.
The blood-alcohol reading was 198mg so the offense carried a three-year
penalty, the court was told .
Mr O’Shea lives in an isolated valley around six to seven miles from
Waterville and would be at a severe disadvantage if put off the road
immediately, Mr O’Dwyer pleaded on Thursday.
The judge decided he would not be put off the road until December to
allow him to make arrangements for his cows and possibly find “a nice
woman” at Lisdoonvarna who could drive him around.
“Are you going to stay single or are will you to take the plunge?” Judge
O’Connor asked Mr O’Shea.
Without transport his client would be at a great disadvantage in that
area, Mr O’Dwyer remarked.
“You’d never know now with Star Wars,” Judge O’Connor suggested in
reference to the increased visitor numbers to south Kerry after the
filming on Skellig Michael.
“He’s living alone,” the solicitor continued, “and his relatives are
residing in Cork”.
Judge O’Connor asked whether he had “good neighbours“ and Mr O’ Shea
said they were “alright”.
When asked how many cows he had, Mr O’Shea told the court he had “13 or
14”.
“He’s a big football fan and that’s his downfall,” Mr O’Dwyer
continued.
Judge O’Connor replied that religion, games or politics should not be
discussed in pubs.
Women were another subject that should not be discussed, Killarney
solicitor Padraig O’Connell suggested. However it was "all consensus
about Kerry on the day," Mr O’Dwyer said, asking again if is client
could not be put off the road until after the summer.
Being off the road he would find it very difficult to continue working
with the cows and he’d have to make arrangements to get rid of them, Mr
O’Dwyer said.
“Or find himself a nice woman!” the judge advised.
If the extension went beyond September it would allow him to go to
Lisdoonvarna, Mr O’Dwyer agreed.
Judge O’Connor said it was not the purpose of the State to “nail” people
in terms of undoing their livelihood and he granted the adjournment to
December 8th.
On that date it is expected Mr O’Shea will be convicted and disqualified
for the mandatory three year period.
Rob Kurdy and his friends were coming back from shark fishing off the coast of New York on Saturday afternoon when they spotted something six
miles off shore.
“Here’s a freaking buck swimming out in Long Island Sound,” Kurdy said.
They went to check it out, and it didn’t look like the six-point buck
was going to be able to tread the 58-degree water much longer.
“You could see it shivering. It was barely staying afloat, kind of just
going in circles,” he said.
So they decided to save him.
“[We] actually got a piece of rope and were able to stick the rope
around the antlers real gently, and corral the deer towards the boat,”
Kurdy said. 
“We used one of the boat cleats to tie it to him and make sure he was
comfortable and we weren’t pulling on him too hard.”
They made the six mile trip to shore and a Madison beach. They weren’t
sure how close they could get the boat to shore, and the buck couldn’t
swim another stroke. So, Kurdy put on a life jacket and jumped in, and
pulled the deer to shore himself.
