Mention of Aherns in
Newspaper Stories of 2009

Interest Rate Drop Has Dire Results for Legal Aid BOSTON—Scores of legal aid societies that help poor people with noncriminal cases—like disputes over foreclosures, evictions and eligibility for unemployment benefits—are being forced to cut their staffs and services, even as requests for help have soared.  . . .  [photo] Zoe K. Cronin, right, meeting with a client, La Toya Haughton, and Allison Ahern, left, an intern. — New York Times 18 January 2009

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In court Wednesday: DISPOSITIONS AHEARN, Andrew G., 25, 61 Chase St., Hyannis; admitted sufficient facts to two counts larceny of a value less than $250 Dec. 23 and Jan. 17 in Barnstable, continued without a finding for one year, $352 costs and $100 fees; disorderly conduct, dismissed. — Cape Cod Times 23 January 2009

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Michael Lee O'Hern, 41, of 17115 Driftwood Lane in Park Rapids, was seriously injured when he was thrown from his 2006 Ski-Doo snowmobile while traveling east at 1:29 p.m. on Jan. 31 along 380th St. E. near County Road 23. O'Hern was traveling around 30 miles per hour when his sled went over a drift of snow that launched him forward. O'Hern went over the front of the sled, landing on the hood and ground with his leg caught above the ski and below the belly pan, dragging him a short distance and breaking his right leg in two places. O'Hern was taken to the hospital in Park Rapids and later taken to Fargo by ambulance. The Wadena County Sheriff's Office was assisted by the Minnesota DNR, Menahga Fire and Rescue departments and Tri-County Ambulance. — Wadena Pioneer Journal 5 February 2009

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Police have charged a fourth Catholic priest from the Hunter region of NSW over alleged child sex crimes. David O'Hearn — once described by a teacher as "charming to a fault", with a "great rapport with the children" — was arrested on Thursday and charged with seven child sex offences. Father O'Hearn is the fourth alleged pedophile in seven months to be arrested by Strike Force Georgiana, a police team investigating claims that young boys were sexually abused in the Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese. Since the detectives began operating in April, they have laid 178 charges against five men, four of whom are Catholic priests. Father O'Hearn was stood down last May, when police began investigating him. At the time, The Newcastle Herald reported that he had served at Muswellbrook, Toronto, Rutherford, Mayfield West and Swansea. The alleged offences occurred at Cessnock, 50km west of Newcastle, in the early 1990s. Father O'Hearn is charged with five counts of sexual intercourse with a child under 16 and two counts of indecent assault of a child under 16. In a memorandum issued to diocese staff on Thursday, Bishop Michael Malone told staff: "The diocese will continue to co-operate fully with the police in this matter in the interests of a just outcome being achieved. The diocese is committed to working with all concerned to ensure that communities are fully supported." The Maitland-Newcastle Catholic Diocese is offering support to those affected, using its child protection and conduct unit. Father O'Hearn has been granted conditional bail on the charges, and will appear at Newcastle Local Court on March 11. — The Australian 7 February 2009

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Two-Car Crash Injures Six People A two-car crash has sent six people to local hospitals and closed a section of Burnside Avenue in front of the police department. The crash occurred about 1:50 a.m. Thursday and involved a sport utility vehicle and a minivan. When police and firefighters arrived, the SUV was on its roof and the heavily damaged minivan was in the road. Firefighters treated the injured, who were then taken to St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford. Police said the injuries did not appear to be life-threatening. The injured were identified as Daniel Persaud, 22, who was driving the SUV; and Billie Jo Demars, 27, William Clayton, 23, and Sarah Cyr, 30, who were passengers in the SUV. The minivan driver was identified as Helene Ahern, 45. Raymond Sherman, 25, was a passenger in the minivan. Two people were ejected from the vehicles and one was trapped beneath a vehicle, police said. Investigators are now working to determine what happened. A detour has been set up around the crash scene. — Hartford Courant 13 February 2009

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Two rescued from Shirley Meadows area Two ill-clad Bakersfield men were plucked from a remote mountainous area of Shirley Meadows Thursday night. Motorcyclists Christopher Crawford, 28, and Kevin Aherne, 34, both from Bakersfield, called Kern County Dispatch around 8:00 p.m., saying they were lost and stuck in the snow in the mountains west of Wofford Heights. Dressed in light clothing and tennis shoes and without food or water and, the duo was ill-prepared for temperatures in the low 30's with 30 mph winds. Kern County Sheriff's helicopter Air-1 quickly located the pair using night vision devices but were unable locate a satisfactory landing zone. Because of thick snowfall, Sheriff's deputies in 4X4 vehicles reported they were unable to access the area. Sheriff's Rescue Helicopter Air-5 responded and hoisted the pair to safety. There were no reports of injuries. — Kern Valley Sun 20 February 2009

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A family still dealing with the trauma of losing parents in the Kinglake bushfires has been dealt another blow after what was left of the family home was demolished before they had time to search for precious mementoes. Charmian Ahern, known as Charm, 58, and Leigh Ahern, 57, died when their house at Steels Creek was gutted in the Kinglake fire. Their family returned to the home on Monday to sift through the site, looking for anything that could give them an everlasting link to their parents. They found everything covered by a pile of bricks. Chloe Ahern, 24, said what was left of her parent's home, including standing walls, had been reduced to a wasteland. "Property of sentimental value that was left intact by the fires has been carelessly crushed underneath tonnes of brick and steel," Ms Ahern said. "We have started searching this house room by room down to the bare ground to find any sentimental remnants. To do this now we must remove by hand tonnes of bricks and underneath find our previously surviving objects shattered. "The most traumatising issue is that due to the time delay by the coroner's investigations we have not yet been able to have a burial for our parents. This was their resting place," she said. A spokeswoman for Victoria Police confirmed that the army, on police advice, had demolished the walls of the building. She said that while searching the area, soon after the fire, masonry from the still-standing walls had started to crumble and threatened the safety of those involved. The walls had then been knocked down. Daughter-in-law, Felicity Ahern, 30, understood that the safety of the searchers was paramount, but felt her family could have been spared additional trauma if they had been notified before they visited the site. "There just seems to be no protocol in place, it should have been handled better," she said. "It's just careless — on top of everything else we now have to deal with this. "We are handling our grief as well as we can but this sort of thing would rip through the heart of some people." — The Age 12 March 2009

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3 parishes to share 1 pastor By Michael Paulson The Archdiocese of Boston, facing a growing shortage of priests but reluctant to close more churches, plans to name one pastor to oversee three parishes in the historically Catholic neighborhood of Dorchester, a practice never before used in Boston. The three-parish pastorate, already common in much of the Midwest, provides a window into the future shape of Catholicism in Eastern Massachusetts. Scholars say that 40 percent of priests in America already serve more than one parish, but the phenomenon has been rare in the urban Northeast, where the high Catholic population for decades generated a high number of priests. Now inexorable demographic shifts are catching up with the Archdiocese of Boston, where the priest population is getting smaller and older, the number of people who identify as Catholic is declining, and many churchgoing Catholics have migrated away from the urban centers where most churches are located. The archdiocese already has 14 priests who oversee two parishes; the Rev. John J. Ahern will be the first to oversee three when he takes over Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Holy Family, and St. Peter parishes in May. "The reality is that in the very near future we will not have the number of priests to meet the number of parishes we have, and so we need to be efficient and effective in the use of our resources," said the Rev. Richard M. Erikson, vicar general of the archdiocese. "This is, on the one hand, a continuation of a trend that has already begun in the archdiocese, but it is also a preview of what we expect to be happening down the road." The major benefit to assigning multiple parishes to a priest is that it allows the diocese to avoid closing the parishes. But the move can be stressful and exhausting for the priest, who must find a way to juggle all the sacramental needs — baptisms, weddings, funerals, and Masses — at multiple locations, while trying to get to know parishioners and minister to them in less formal ways. "It's challenging, and it can be frustrating and lonely if you don't prioritize," said the Rev. Caleb Vogel, a 31-year-old priest who oversees three parishes and three missions over 100 square miles in southeastern Idaho. "But when I was a seminarian I worked in Michoacan, Mexico, and a priest there had 13 parishes. We in the US have been spoiled, having this one-priest-per-parish thing. It's just a matter of perspective." Across the country, many dioceses have long assigned priests to multiple parishes. Many of the multiparish priests are in rural areas with small Catholic populations, but some are in urban areas; the Seattle Archdiocese has at least a dozen priests who oversee three parishes, including some in the urban areas of Seattle and Tacoma. "We on the East Coast have not been hit by the problem as much as the Midwest, where in some places 90 percent of parishes share a pastor, but it's coming," said Charles E. Zech, director of the Center for the Study of Church Management at Villanova University. "The alternative would be to close parishes, especially inner-city parishes that are close to one another, but Catholics have a real love for their parishes and prefer this to seeing their parishes close." Ahern, 55, is one of the more highly regarded priests in the Archdiocese of Boston. The longtime pastor of St. Mary of the Assumption parish in Brookline, he is popular among his parishioners and well liked by chancery officials — characteristics that do not always go hand in hand. The Arlington native served at parishes in Weymouth, Quincy, and Hingham before being assigned to Brookline 16 years ago. He will have help from a second priest, a parochial vicar, and hopes to have help from retired priests and priests who speak the languages of Dorchester's many immigrant communities. But he said he will also have to rely on heavy lay involvement to help oversee parish finances and ministries such as hospital visits, and to manage the buildings. "I'm not there to run plants; I'm there to be a priest," he said. "We'll have to recognize the gifts and talents of the parishioners and try to give them a more active role in the work of the church, so I can have a heavier focus on sacramental things." Ahern said he has not decided where he will live. The rectory at Blessed Mother Teresa was torn down last year, and the rectory at St. Peter's is for sale, so he said he is choosing between rectories at Holy Family and the nearby St. Ambrose Parish. "My first challenge is to get to know Dorchester itself. I've been driving the streets trying to figure out where everything is," Ahern said. He said his goal for the parishes is "to build, and make them more vibrant, and see what we can do to keep them going." He has considerable experience dealing with the emotions of reconfiguring parishes. When he arrived in Brookline, there were four parishes; today there is one, with two campuses. One of the closed parishes was for a time occupied by protesters. The Dorchester parishes have also seen considerable consolidation in recent years. Holy Family was formed in 1995 out of St. Paul and St. Kevin parishes, and Blessed Mother Teresa was formed in 2004 out of St. Margaret and St. William parishes. And last year the archdiocese consolidated seven parochial schools into one regional school, the Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy, which now has 1,400 students on five campuses in Dorchester and Mattapan. The parish in Brookline is also nearly the size of the three parishes in Dorchester, which itself illustrates the transformation of Catholicism in the region. The Brookline parish has weekly Mass attendance of 1,400, according to the archdiocese; the combined Mass attendance at the three Dorchester parishes is 1,860. But the Dorchester parishes, once dominated by Irish-Americans, are now considerably more ethnically diverse than the Brookline parish. Blessed Mother Teresa has several hundred Vietnamese-Americans, Holy Family has a substantial Spanish-speaking community, and St. Peter's has a large Cape Verdean community. "I wish Father Ahern all the luck in the world, but what the outcome will be is anybody's guess," said Patricia Linehan, who has worshiped at St. Peter's for about seven decades. "This is not a surprising thing, in light of the situation in the church, and we've known it was going to happen for a few months. It's a very sad situation, but it's also realistic." — The Boston Globe 24 March 2009

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On Saturday evening 54-year-old Jim Ahearn of Kilrush, Co Clare died when his car struck a tree at Tullabrack, Cooraclar, just after 5 p.m. — Irish Examiner 14 April 2009

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BOSTON MARATHON: Hingham's Tom Ahearn casts a giant shadow By Paul Kenney HINGHAM — At 5-foot-6, 130 pounds, Tom Ahearn may be small in stature. But to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, he casts a Goliathan shadow. Today, the 45-year-old Red Cross employee will be running his 13th consecutive Boston Marathon as a member of the Dana Farber Marathon Challenge. In the course of those baker's dozen journeys to Boston, Ahearn will have raised in excess of $65,000 for cancer research. "I'm running in memory of my dad, who died from cancer, as well as for family members and friends afflicted with the disease, and also in memory of a Dana-Farber patient Anthony Hathaway, who passed away 17 years ago. It's the best thing I've ever done in my life," said the Hingham resident. "Every April my immediate goal is to make it to the finish line, but our ultimate finish line is a world that is cancer-free." The Norwood native, who ran cross country and indoor track at Norwood High School, traveled a circuitous route to the Hopkinton starting line that included a German beer festival and a trip to the island of Nantucket. "It was 1995, and I was between jobs. I decided to travel around Europe. I went to Ireland, and hopped over to Germany to meet some friends for the Oktoberfest. When I arrived my pals weren't at the hotel, so I went to the festival festooned in typical tourist fashion, wearing a Red Sox hat, while sipping on a beer. A guy in the crowd spotted the hat and yelled, 'Hey, are you from Boston?' It turned out he was Keith Sheehan from Newton. We went into a beer garden, and during the course of our conversation the subject of running came up, and it turned out that we both had run in many of the same races that previous summer. We finished our beers and that was it, we didn't exchange numbers," he said. What happened next changed the course of Ahearn's life. "The following July, 1996, at a race in Newton, walking up to the starting line, that same guy from Germany spotted me — and after the race, we had a few beers — and we've become friends, not just running friends, but real friends," Ahearn said. "Later that same year, we raced on Nantucket, where he met a girl from Norwood, whom he would eventually marry. She said that she had run Boston the year before as a member of the DFMC team, and encouraged me to give it a try. I was always intrigued by Boston, having watched it many times at the top of Heartbreak Hill, and thought that someday I might like to make an attempt. "Her encouragement convinced me to sign on with the DMFC, and like I said, it's the best thing I ever did. I've met the greatest people," said Ahearn. Not only did Ahearn, who has a personal best of 3:49, enjoy it, "Where else do you have upwards of a million people calling out your name?" But he also had the added benefit of meeting his wife. "I was a member of the running board, and in that capacity I've volunteered to help out with the new runners," he said. The runners are divided up into small groups and each volunteer works with that pod of runners. It was in that pod where Ahearn spotted, as he described, "this girl." "After the session, I stayed behind cleaning up and when I went out to my car, there was only one other car left in the lot and it was her's. We talked a little and eventually got to know each other better, and now "that girl," Amanda Whitford, is my wife and the mother of our 12-week old daughter." Ahearn also said that his marriage isn't unusual as far as the Dana-Farber is concerned. In its 20 years of existence, the DFMC has averaged one marriage a year. When asked to single out the most memorable part of his 12 previous runs to Boston, without hesitation Ahearn cites mile 25. "That's where all the patient partners gather. They come out of the hospital to cheer all the runners of the DFMC, and no matter how much you are hurting, when you see them, all the pain disappears." Asked how long he'll continue his annual trek to Boston, Ahearn said succinctly, "I'll keep on going as long as I can." And his elongated shadow will gladly follow. — The Patriot Ledger 19 April 2009

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Iowa trapper takes on county wildlife problems When imagining a fur trapper, most people probably envision a burly bearded fellow covered in furs carrying a flintlock rifle and riding on horseback, but of course, times have changed. When Michael "Red" O'Hearn made his trip from Iowa to the Delta this spring, he came riding in a Ford pickup, pulling a trailer loaded with a four-wheeler. The Iowa native has been hunting and trapping wild animals since just a fifth grade student. After working in the wilds for over forty years, he has become a seasoned expert. O'Hearn has been traveling to the Mid-South for almost ten years offering his services to state and local agencies as well as to private landowners and property owners in helping control one of this area's biggest problem animals, the beaver. In Tunica County, the beaver builds dams along bayous and creeks, thereby causing damage to crops due to flooding. More often than not, landowners are not equipped to completely rid their property of these animals and find themselves in a cycle of sending workers to problem areas with backhoes or perhaps explosives to bust dams in efforts to control the flooding problems. The beavers simply build back and the problem continues. Last year, Soil and Water Conservation officials helped local farmers by issuing a beaver control contract in Tunica County. O'Hearn won the bid and harvested over 600 beavers in Tunica last year. Although the contract was not renewed this season, local farmers realized the value of O'Hearn's work, and several requested his services this year. Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks officials have developed nuisance animal regulations to provide the opportunity for homeowners and landowners to protect their property. "Some species of wildlife, both native and non-native, regularly cause conflicts through their interactions with humans. This may occur around homes and other buildings, gardens, livestock areas, ponds and crops. Conflicts can range from mere irritating circumstances to significant property damage. Nuisance animal regulations have been developed to provide homeowners and landowners legal options for management and control of these species. Beaver, coyote, fox, nutria, skunk, and wild hogs are classified as �nuisance animals' in Mississippi", say MSDWFP officials on their interactive website at www.mdwfp.com. The classification of these animals as nuisance creatures allows for the issuance of permits and licensing to professional specialists like O'Hearn. The traveling trapper harvested over 400 beavers in Tunica County during this recent trip. "Breaking dams isn't going to solve the problem until you kill the beavers," said O'Hearn as he prepared to return to Iowa last week. Beavers constantly work on their homes, commonly known as "huts", and continuously work on dams that hold water in their colony area. "When beavers in this area establish a new colony, they build their dams and their houses and usually have a litter of approximately four babies after their first winter. If everything suits them, they will stay in the same area, so within two years you may have up to 10 beavers in one colony. When the mother gets ready to raise a third litter, she and her mate will run the two year old beavers off and they then move to a new location and establish their own colony." Left alone, the beaver population and ensuing problems can expand rapidly. "Back home usually only one female in a colony will mate, but here I have found up to four females in one colony raising litters, so the problem down here can grow quick," he said. The professional trapper doesn't simply kill beavers. He also seeks raccoons, coyote, bobcat, fox, nutria, turtles and even skunks and other animals, but after taking them he makes use of every part, saving meats, curing hides for hat making, furs and other uses, and saving certain internal organs that are used in scent attractants, perfumes and even food preservation. When not trapping for beavers, coons, skunks and other nuisance animals, O'Hearn also cares for thousands of beehives in his home state of Iowa, selling his own brand of natural honey. If you are interested in O'Hearns products and/or services, he can be reached by phone at home at 712-534-2272 or by cell at 712-370-5055. The time for taking beavers has moved on, but a professional trapper never rests. O'Hearn spotted an abundance of another species in Tunica County for which he has licenses and permits and will return to harvest this summer that there is a surprising market for, the turtle. — The Tunica Times 14 May 2009

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In the courts SAINT JOHN—Man says he was attacked by militia The man charged after a four-hour standoff on May 12 made a brief appearance in court Tuesday and told Judge Anne Jeffries he was attacked by the militia. Wearing a grey T-shirt and jeans, Jeremy Robert Ahearn, 30, was brought into court under heavy guard, his feet shackled and hands cuffed behind his back. Ahearn was charged after a man held off police for four hours at a Fundy Drive residence after refusing police entry to the home. Ahearn is facing a number of charges including assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, weapons charges and possession of stolen goods. Police had a warrant and had to eventually use tear gas to force the man out of the house. "I was attacked by the militia," Ahearn told the court. "They beat me down senselessly." Ahearn appeared in court Tuesday after a five-day, in-jail psychiatric assessment, but he took issue with the report because he said the doctor only met with him for 15 minutes. Jeffries ordered a hearing Thursday to determine if he is fit to stand trial. He was remanded into custody. — New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal 20 May 2009

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In the courts SAINT JOHN—Man to undergo 30-day assessment A Fundy Drive man charged after a four-hour standoff with police on May 12 has been ordered to undergo a full 30-day assessment at the Restigouche Hospital Centre in Campbellton to determine, among other things, whether he was criminally responsible for his actions on that day. In ordering the assessment on Jeremy Robert Ahearn, 30, provincial court judge John J. Walsh said Thursday that he was basing his decision on a report prepared by a psychiatrist at the Atlantic Health Sciences Corporation following a five-day, in-jail assessment. It determined he was unfit to stand trial at this time, but suggested a longer assessment was needed to determine whether he was not criminally responsible. Ahearn faces a number of charges, including assaulting a peace officer, resisting arrest, a weapons charge and possession of stolen goods. During Thursday's court appearance, Ahearn, who was handcuffed and wearing shackled at the ankles, continued to claim he was "brutally attacked by a militia" and denied medical treatment. He denied any suggestion he was in any way psychotic. "I'm a scholar, your honour, and this is outrageous malarkey." — New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal 22 May 2009

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PITTSFIELD—Park Square was littered with debris and packed with Fire and Police personnel after a motorcyclist was struck by car. The accident, which took place at about 7:50 p.m., Friday occurred when a black Audi S4 driven southbound on North Street by Joseph Blazuk, of West Roxbury, collided with the blue Honda motorcycle of James Ahearn of Pittsfield. The motorcycle then fell into the rotary island, jumping the curb, scattering debris, and hitting two traffic barrels before coming to a halt. Ahern was ejected from the motorcycle, landing a few feet away from his bike. The Audi, meanwhile, suffered dents and scratching to the driver's side door. Injuries were not serious. — Berkshire Eagle 23 May 2009

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New Milford man charged with DUI at checkpoint NEW MILFORD—A Twin Oaks man was charged with driving while under the influence Saturday at a sobriety and seat-belt checkpoint on Kent Road (Route 7 North). When Gerald Aherne, 43, was stopped at the checkpoint, police detected an odor of alcohol on his breath, and he failed a series of sobriety tests, police said. Officers were conducting the checkpoint late Friday into early Saturday as part of a federal grant program. — Danbury News-Times 26 May 2009

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He's no Bertie, but Maurice sure knows how to work the crowds By Aoife Finneran You're not like Bertie. You don't look like him." The woman on St Eithne's Road in Cabra eyeballs Maurice Ahern suspiciously as she assesses the veracity of his family credentials. "I'm the older brother," insists the sprightly Maurice. "I look like my mother." Mid-afternoon in Cabra and Fianna Fail's dual candidate for the Dublin Central by-election and the local elections is pressing the flesh. The preparation is swift but effective — a bowl of porridge for breakfast, followed by an enthusiastic swig of Lucozade Sport that would put Ronan O'Gara to shame. Next up is a dollop of factor 50 sunscreen, which we're reliably informed cost a reassuringly expensive €22. Then, there's Maurice's secret weapon for the day, a young lady by the name of Jessica Brennan. A niece of the late TD Seamus and a cousin of Shay, she's been softening up even the most irate voters on the doorstep. With that kind of disarming smile paving the way, Maurice Ahern has it easy. Mind you, the spectre of the famous brother doesn't hurt either. "I'm looking for my pension back, and the Christmas bonus," complains Marie Brady when Maurice pitches up at the door. "Bertie was here the other day," she adds, to which a delighted Maurice responds: "Ah we're keeping Bertie busy." "I had my photo taken with him years ago," reminisces Marie. The vote all but secured, Maurice moves in for the kill: "I'm sure we could arrange another photo for you." Marie's face lights up, and as Maurice trots off into the sunset, she confides: "I'm a true blue; Bertie is one of the best." Across the road, an irate voter takes one look at the election leaflets and shakes her head in an unapologetic refusal. Maurice, however, is already on the move, with surprising agility for a man of his age. Then again, he's not about to reveal the date on his birth cert, reminding us that the Equality Act prohibits discrimination of any description, including ageism. The bottom line, he insists, is that: "I've worked hard for the area over the years and if the wider constituency still wants me, I'll be there." He's probably fit for the job too, considering he was once short-listed for the marathon in the 1968 Mexico Olympics and is currently running two miles a day Prowess He follows this up with an Enda Kenny-esque declaration of his prowess, adding: "It's usually seven at the weekends." Two schoolgirls amble by, throwing a casual eye over the posters. "Are you Ahern?" asks one. "Yeah, that's Bertie's brother," his press handler helpfully supplies. "Bertie's my uncle," says the girl, squaring up for a spot of verbal sparring. "No, he's not," says Maurice swiftly. In case you hadn't noticed, Ahern the Elder isn't the type to engage in the same empty banter that made his brother so popular. A passing motorist isn't concerned about his penchant for straight talking, leaning out the window to shout: "Good on you Maurice, I hope you get in." A beam lights up his face, only to be wiped away when he realises that he won't be getting his dinner until midnight thanks to a scheduled radio show. So is the sacrifice all worth it just to get savaged by disgruntled voters? "It was harder in the first week," he conceded. "It has turned around now. I won't say that it'll turn to the extent it did the last time, but it's gratifying." Around the next corner, former Sinn Fein Councillor Nicky Kehoe is standing in his front garden, ripe to be canvassed. Advisor On sure ground, the pair twitter away about the local hurling club until Maurice feels the tug of the proverbial leash and is gently but firmly manoeuvred onwards by his advisor. Bad move. The next house harbours his worst nightmare — a mother and baby group. This is the kind of meeting that would have had Bertie chomping at the bit, kissing babies galore and shooting the breeze with the mammies. Momentarily lost, Maurice hovers uncertainly on the door before Katherine Kirby takes pity on him and invites him inside. A gaggle of babies and toddlers stare up at the white-haired giant as he awkwardly thrusts a leaflet into Katherine's hand. The tots are transfixed, but Maurice offers a swift farewell and beats a hasty retreat. Give him an irate voter any day, but when it comes to laying on the charm for the cameras, gurgling babies make for the toughest crowds. — Evening Herald 27 May 2009

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Design on a Shoestring: High, Low and Eccentric by Audrey Tempelsman RUSSELL LEWIS, a 37-year-old graphic designer, really liked his one-bedroom apartment in Leigh-on-Sea, a fishing village an hour east of London. It was hardly extravagant — a rubber plant, a fish tank and an old recliner were his main possessions. But the apartment, on the first floor of a white-brick town house, is uphill from the ocean and offered plenty of light. Then his girlfriend moved in. ''It was dreadful,'' said the girlfriend, Gemma Ahern, 36, recalling the mildewed bathroom, mushroom-brown carpet and outdated kitchen. ''It was very much a bachelor pad.'' Luckily, Ms. Ahern had recently switched jobs; she had been a freelance florist, then became a design assistant at her sister's home furnishing and interior design shop in London, called Atelier Abigail Ahern. Short on cash, the couple tinkered with the apartment in stages. They tore out the musty carpet, tossed the plants and donated the beat-up armchair to a recycling center. Borrowing hand-me-downs from Ms. Ahern's parents, they also experimented with different furniture, like vintage wrought-iron chairs and a Muji couch. But no matter what they tried, the sterile white walls and bland kitchen still brought to mind a bachelor pad. Nothing short of a total makeover, they decided, would do. So they pooled their savings — about £6,500, or $10,300 — to overhaul the entire 1,200-square-foot apartment, starting in May 2007. With so tight a budget, they started by using every designer's money-saving tool: fresh paint. Choosing a dark, almost funereal color by the British paint company Farrow & Ball called Down Pipe, they transformed the lifeless walls and the floors into a dramatic, lead-gray backdrop. ''Dark paint really cozies up a space, making rooms look far more luxurious and sophisticated than they really are,'' said Abigail Ahern, who picked the color and is known for mixing upscale designer pieces with salvaged vintage finds. Next, the couple dressed up the kitchen. They replaced the white cabinet doors with slender plywood panels bought at a hardware store and painted ocean blue. And for furniture, they bought an old dining table for £30 ($48) at a flea market in West Sussex and spray-painted it glossy black. The new kitchen cost just £1,000 (about $1,600) — half of which was spent on a hand-blown black glass lamp from Prandina, an Italian lighting company, that hangs over the eating nook. ''One or two really wild pieces make everything come together,'' Gemma Ahern said. The whimsical mix of high and low is also on view in the den, where a designer chandelier made of recycled glass hangs over a window seat with views of the tree-lined street. The deer skull above the fireplace, also a flea market find, is a wry reference to the old English manor house cliche. The bedroom also got the high-low treatment, with an elegant ballroom chandelier and a large Australian bus sign found on eBay. In the bathroom, a new shower was decorated with clay-colored mosaic tiles. It was a joint effort. Mr. Lewis lent his streetwise, urban sensibility to the mix. In the living room, he hung colorful prints by the street artists Dicy from England and C215 from France. He also created a kind of graffiti collage in the bedroom, layering spray paint and cutouts from newspapers and magazines. It was designed to evoke the surfaces of London train tunnels, crusted with wheat paste. By the time the renovations were completed last December, all traces of the bachelor pad were gone. ''There's not a single element that we didn't discuss and spend time together finding,'' Mr. Lewis said. ' 'Now it really feels like our space.'' — New York Times 28 May 2009

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Unidentical twins Ditchwater? Dishwater? When not to worry. By Jan Freeman Making decisions can be anxiety-provoking, as many of us knew in our guts even before Barry Schwartz wrote "The Paradox of Choice." Even in the little decisions of language, we recoil against too much freedom; if a pair like hanged and hung or further and farther arrive on our doorstep, looking like identical twins, we find ways to differentiate them: Pictures are hung and people are hanged, further is figurative and farther is literal. But sometimes, despite the strenuous efforts of usage mavens, the twins insist on doing everything alike. Several recent queries from readers, coincidentally, dealt with the problem of these "needless variants" (as H.W. Fowler dubbed them): how to choose between two correct options? For Dennis Ahern, the question arose in a recent Globe story about life as a merchant marine. It's tough and stressful work, the reporters said; and yet, unless a mariner is seized by pirates, it's also "dull as ditchwater." Ditchwater? "I always thought it was 'dull as dishwater,' " said Ahern. I had heard both expressions, and I assumed the ditchwater version was the older one, if only because we no longer talk about ditchwater (except in this cliche). And that turns out to be true, though dishwater itself is pretty well aged: The Oxford English Dictionary has a citation for the word - as "dysshe water" - from 1484, courtesy of William Caxton's edition of "Aesop's Fables." It was ditchwater, though - stagnant and murky, presumably - that first found its way into belittling phrases. In the 14th century, the expression was "as digne as ditchwater" - digne (related to "dignified") meaning "haughty, stuck up," as in "stinking with pride." "Dull as ditchwater" came along in the 18th century, "dull as dishwater" not till the mid-19th. But dishwater was doing its part to liven up the language, even before it hooked up with dull; Google Books finds examples of "flat as dishwater" in 1781 and "dead as dishwater" in 1831. "Dull as ditchwater" prevailed till a few decades ago, but Americans now go for dishwater, by a huge margin. In Britain, "dull as ditchwater" still prevails, though both expressions are used. But this is not a case where changing the idiom changes the meaning, as it does when "free rein" is reimagined as "free reign," or "to the manner born" as "to the manor." With ditchwater and dishwater, the only question is whether you like your dirty water with an antique flavor or fresh from the stainless steel sink. — The Boston Globe 31 May 2009

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On Monday Morning, Police Colonel Teerapong, the Acting Chief of Pattaya Police was called to the Spanish Condominium Development located on the Sukumvit Road in Central Pattaya to investigate a suspected suicide of a foreign man. At the scene, the Colonel was directed to the stairwell between floors 3 and 4 at Building Number 6. It appeared that the victim had hung himself using a length of material from the stairwell. A search of his pockets revealed his passport and door entry card for room number 208 on the second floor of the same building. The man was identified as Mr. Alan Michael Ahern aged 33 from Ireland. The body was discovered by a cleaner at the Condominium, Khun Suree aged 40 who did not recognize the man at first but she later remembered that he was staying in the room which was owned by his friend. On Sunday Night she remembered seeing Mr. Ahern holding a can of beer and he appeared to be in a drunken state. Nothing else is known about Mr. Ahern including any possible motives behind the apparent suicide which is now under investigation by Pattaya Police. — Pattaya One News 2 June 2009

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The president of a Pittsfield Township business swerved off the roadway and was killed in a crash on US-23 on his way to work Thursday morning, police said. Dennis William Ahearn, 55, died after his Pontiac Grand Prix drifted off the southbound lanes of US-23 and struck a large sign pole in the median near the Washtenaw Avenue interchange at about 7:35 a.m., Michigan State Police Sgt. Tony Cuevas said. Ahearn, of Brighton, was president of the Huron Valley Glass Company in Pittsfield Township. He was reportedly on his way to work. "This was a total, tragic shock,'' said Pino Mancina, CEO of National Construction Enterprises, the glass company's parent corporation. Ahearn joined the commercial glass and curtainwall manufacturer more than two years ago as vice president. Ahearn quickly rose to company's chief position with an open mind and honest approach, Mancina added. "Denny was a phenomenal person to have as a leader in our company and truth and honesty just flowed from his pores,'' Mancina said. An autopsy was scheduled for late Thursday to determine if any medical emergency led to the crash, which remains under investigation, Cuevas said. Cuevas said witnesses indicated Ahearn's car just drifted off the roadway and struck the metal support beam for a freeway sign. Neither alcohol nor speed appear to be factors in the crash, he added. Lanes of both northbound and southbound US-23 were closed through the morning rush hour. — The Ann Arbor News 19 June 2009

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College News Ryan O'Hearn of 67 Valley St., Adams, son of Karen Kelly, achieved the dean's list at Rochester (N.Y.) Institute of Technology's College of Applied Science and Technology in the fall, winter, spring quarters. He is studying environmental management and technology. O'Hearn is a 2007 graduate of McCann Technical High School in North Adams. — Berkshire Eagle 1 July 2009

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Man suffers heart attack while trying to stop fire A Berlin man suffered a fatal heart attack June 29 as he tried to contain a fire that began as family members packed for a camping trip. According to an incident report from the Berlin Police Department, Ronald Ahern, 46, was stricken at his home, at 73 Robbins Road, shortly before midnight. A flurry of activity occurred when a fire started in a Jeep Grand Cherokee that was being loaded for a camping trip planned by Ahern's son and his son's girlfriend. According to Deputy Fire Matt Odishoo the fire was an accident as a result of metal kerosene can arcing across battery terminals. A marine battery was part of the gear. Ronald Ahern rushed to remove a small propane tank in the Jeep in order to keep it from exploding and also to move his car which was parked nearby. He collapsed shortly thereafter. Emergency personnel worked for several minutes at the scene to revive Ahern. He was then transported to the New Britain hospital where he was pronounced dead. According to his obituary, Ahern was devoted to his family and enjoyed cooking and entertaining his friends with dinner parties. He was described as an avid sportsman who loved the outdoors. He leaves behind his wife Josephine and two sons, Chad and Craig. — The Berlin Citizen 9 July 2009

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Police Blotter - Bangor Arrested—Marc Ahearn, 25, of 410 S. Main St.; suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and other charges; following accident 9 p.m. Monday; allegedly crashed vehicle on Church Street and fled; allegedly was driving without license or insurance; charges pending blood-alcohol test results; investigated by Bangor Police Department. — The Morning Call 12 July 2009

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SALEM—An East Hampstead man suffered serious injuries when his motorcycle collided with a car at an intersection yesterday afternoon. Gregg Driscoll, 23, was transported to Lawrence (Mass.) General Hospital by rescue workers shortly before 3 p.m. His medical condition was not available last night. Driscoll was driving south on Shannon Road when his bike struck the rear quarter panel of a Cadillac crossing Providence Hill Extension onto Providence Hill Road, police Sgt. Robert Morin said. An accident reconstruction team was at the scene while officers directed traffic and helped clean up. Morin said the driver of the car, Kathleen Ahearn, 55, of Plaistow, and her three passengers were not injured. No one has been charged. Morin said the accident investigation remains open. — The Lawrence Eagle-Tribune 31 July 2009

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Barnstable District Court In court Wednesday: ARRAIGNMENTS (The following pleaded not guilty.) AHEARN, Andrew G., 25, 61 Chase St., Hyannis; shoplifting, Tuesday in Barnstable. Pretrial hearing Aug. 27. — Cape Cod Times 3 August 2009

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Local seniors going for the 'gold' Spring Lake Township resident Jimmy O'Hearn, 71, will be competing in track and field events during the senior games. O'Hearn, the proud athlete of more than 30 gold medals from previous senior Olympic competitions, is recovering from a July injury, suffered sprinting out of the blocks in a 100-meter race on the east side of the state. "I was two or three seconds into the race and I pulled my groin," said O'Hearn, an athletic trainer. "I've been in rehab ever since. But I'm going to run Saturday. I'll be at about 70 percent. But I have to do this. I have cancer survivors' names on my workout jacket. I've partnered with the American Cancer Society because I'm a cancer survivor. "Being competitive, I want to win but beyond that I want to shed some hope for those who are still suffering," O'Hearn said. "I want to give them a little bit of life and hope through what I do." O'Hearn is competing in the 100-meter, 200-meter, long jump and high jump. He hopes fellow senior citizens debunk their chronological age and have some fun. "There are a lot of people who do this just for the sake of making friends," O'Hearn said. "It's a good social type of atmosphere. When people are running they're applauding for everyone. It doesn't matter if they're first or last. The community has to be aware that a lot of us do not sit at home and play with the remote all day. "I think in some circles there's a feeling like 'well, you've lived your life.' It's almost like we're the forgotten ones."' — Grand Haven Tribune 7 August 2009

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Fundraiser for priest on sex charges HUNTER parishioners and visitors from as far away as Sydney were among about 100 people to attend a function at a Port Stephens restaurant this week that raised $18,000 for a Catholic priest accused of child sexual assault. The function, a "Greek-themed night" that included an auction of donated items such as football jerseys, was held at The Deck restaurant, at Soldiers Point, on Monday evening to raise money for priest David O'Hearn, 48, of Raymond Terrace. The priest, who was stood down from his position at St Michael's parish, Nelson Bay, attended the event despite being described as initially "a bit nervous" about what the crowd would say. It is understood the function has infuriated other Catholic parishioners. Corlette resident and parishioner Tony McGowan said the function had been organised by himself and four other O'Hearn supporters and had nothing to do with the Maitland-Newcastle Diocese. He emphasised the function had not been promoted as raising cash for O'Hearn's legal fees, but rather an amount for "him to use for whatever he wanted". Tickets were sold, cash donations made and items donated by supporters and businesses were auctioned. "It was packed to the rafters . . . and everyone wanted to know when the next [night] would be," Mr McGowan said. O'Hearn, previously based at Muswellbrook and Toronto, was charged in February with seven child sex offences relating to one alleged victim. Detectives laid another six counts of indecent assault in July taking the number of alleged victims to four and the total number of charges to 19. Mr McGowan said O'Hearn, who had supported him at the time of his wife's death, had been under enormous pressure since the charges were laid, which had prompted the function. He said he had not heard of any complaints about the function, but that "everyone is entitled to their opinion". A diocese spokeswoman said Bishop Michael Malone was out of the area and unavailable for comment. She said the diocese had not been involved in organising the event. She declined to respond to a question as to whether the diocese considered it appropriate that the function took place. — The Herald 27 August 2009

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Horlick students travel to China for model U.N. program RACINE—When Nicole Fuls stepped out of the airport with other Horlick High School students by her side, she could not believe where they were standing. "The whole group was just so excited we were actually there," Fuls, 17, said. "We had worked so hard beforehand and all of a sudden we were just there. We looked around and took it all in." What they took in was the colorful and glowing night sky of Beijing. Fuls was one of 11 Horlick students in the Chinese capital earlier this month for a Model United Nations conference. Aside from being a once-in-a-lifetime experience, students said the trip also taught them about other cultures and teamwork. Students from the Model U.N. club at Horlick, 2119 Rapids Drive, arrived in China on Aug. 1 and spent the next several days exploring Beijing, attending a Model U.N. conference and spending time visiting sites like the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. "For (my) first time being out of the country it was definitely a great experience," said 17-year-old Briana O'Hearn. "We saw the day-to-day life of average Chinese people and we got to interact with them. I played the Chinese version of hacky sack with these elderly Chinese people and I got a Tai Chi lesson." Native fare O'Hearn and the other students also ate traditional Chinese food, including such exotic dishes as fried scorpion and ox lung. "It's not like anything here at all," Fuls said. "We're all sitting around a table and there's a Lazy Susan in the middle and you eat with your chop sticks off the same plate. Eventually we all kind of got the hang of it but the noodles slip right through the chopsticks." Aside from food, Fuls said another cultural difference is personal space, which does not really exist in China. "All the girls in China want to hold your hand," she said. "They constantly come up to you and grab your hand." Fuls found this out at the Model U.N. conference, which featured mock debates, committee meetings and resolutions similar to what takes place at the real United Nations. The conference trip was paid for by fundraisers, the individual students and Peking University in Beijing, which hosted the conference. Portraying Albania Attending high schools from around the world each represented a country. Fuls and O'Hearn represented Albania. "We debated in front of like 200 kids," Fuls said. "We went around and collaborated with people to write resolutions." Horlick's students got to develop teamwork and leadership skills by working with other students to pass those resolutions. Nicole helped pass a resolution denouncing terrorism and weapons of mass destruction in all countries. "When I first walked in, I felt so alone and sat in the back. I didn't really talk to anybody because they were all speaking Chinese," Fuls said. "But we ended up making really good friends with people from Columbia and India." Based on such a cultural experience, O'Hearn said she feels confident she could travel anywhere. "Even though we come from all different cultures," she said, "we still work together." — Racine Journal Times 29 August 2009

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Recalling the 1926 fire tragedy in Co Limerick by Willie White "48 Die in Co. Limerick"—that headline appeared today it would merit worldwide attention, but the tragedy happened 83 years ago. It has been mostly forgotten. It was not like the Stardust fire of Feb 1981 which is still very much in the news as survivors and families of the victims continue their quest for reasons for the cause of the fire. It was Sunday the 5 September 1926, in the Co Limerick village of Drumcollogher. The congregation was leaving Saint Bartholomew's church after evening benediction. It was coming up to 9 pm and while some went home, many joined other villagers packing into the upstairs loft which was the village cinema. Local legend has it that the film being shown was Cecil B DeMille's The Ten Commandments, however there is confusion about what films were shown with some people saying Baby Be Good and The White Scout, while others say Decoy was the short, first film which had finished before the fire. The second one was said to be False Alarm. The loft was over a hardware shop where petrol was stored and was reached from the outside, via wooden steps. It was 60 feet long and besides the entrance door, the only other way out was two windows near the opposite end of the building but those were barred. On the night of the fire it is thought there would have been close to 200 people in attendance. Three people were involved in running the cinema, William "Babe" Forde set up the cinema while his mother ran a small sweetshop. He was a hackney driver and brought Patrick Downing, who was a projectionist in Cork's Assembly Rooms, to Drumcollogher. No films were shown in Cork on a Sunday so Downing was using his day off to make a few extra pounds. The owner of the loft was Patrick Brennan. The projector was placed on a table just inside the door with the film reels placed beside it. Also on the table were two lighted candles used to read the reels so they would be placed on the projector in the correct order. As the first film concluded, one of the candles had burned out; however disaster was only minutes away as the feature film started. It is not known how the candle fell. It has been said some young fellow knocked it over with his cap but this story has not been confirmed. It happened that the candle landed on a reel of exposed film, which burst into flames. Local garda Sergeant Long tried to kick the reel off the table but another man standing close to the table began to beat out the flames with his cap but only succeeded in fanning the flames and within a minute the table and films on it were a mass of flames causing widespread panic. Garda Davis was there too and shouted to people to jump through the flames. Many took his advice and were saved; many more thought it safer to move to the opposite end of the loft. During the War of Independence the IRA had held meetings in the building and a former member John Gleeson knew the bars on one window had been loosened to allow a quick escape in the case of an RIC raid. He removed them, allowing people out, however a Mrs Madden who was overweight got stuck in the window and that was the end of that escape route. Shortly after, the floor collapsed into the hardware store. August had been a dry month and water was scarce for those trying to tackle the fire. Two nearby wells were dry and the river almost the same, while the closest fire brigade was in Limerick. It was all over in less than an hour and 46 people were dead with two more dying later. Of those who lost their lives 15 were children with another ten under 25. Only 21 of the bodies were identifiable, the rest were named because they did not return home. The Army was called in to coffin the dead, permission was sought and granted for a communal grave and all but one of the victims is buried there. This was the first major tragedy for the fledgling state, the funeral was attended by the president of the Executive Council William T Cosgrove and a message of condolence was received from the government of Northern Ireland. Mary O'Flynn spoke of how she and her mother escaped through the window as they were up front, close to the screen. Other members of the family stayed at the back of the hall and perished. These included her father, her uncle's wife and their two children. Her mother later identified her father by his boots. Schoolteacher Jeremiah Buckley, his wife, brother, sister-in-law, niece and the family maid all perished. Robert Ahearne rescued his new wife Nora, then went back to look for his mother-in-law, Mary Anne O'Callaghan. Sadly both died, as did Nelly O'Brien and her mother Mary. William Savage died trying to find his two sons who both survived. Mrs Collins, her daughter and two nieces died and so did Mrs McAullife alongside her son and daughter. Mrs Fitzgerald and her son and daughter perished. Mrs Barrett and her two children died. Two little sisters called Kenny were among the victims as was 11-year-old Norah Hannigan who was on holiday with her mother from London. Everything possible was done to ease the suffering of the village. The inquests were held within a week while the three men involved in the cinema project were charged with manslaughter and brought to trial in December and were acquitted. William "Babe" Forde had to leave and emigrated to Australia. He worked as a cook to a rabbit extermination company in New South Wales and while on a rabbit hunt, he died after ingesting Strychnine poison, which he had mistaken for flour. In 1946 relatives of the victims bought the site of the tragedy from Patrick Brennan and built a library which is still there today. A Celtic cross was erected in memory of the dead just inside the church gates. — The Carlow Nationalist 30 August 2009

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Top Hoodlum by Christopher Hoffman Chapter Three in a five-part series on the heyday of New Haven's mob At about 2 a.m. on April 23, 1960, about 30 men were gambling on the second floor of the Grand Avenue Social Club. Cards and money were strewn over tables. Suddenly, a window shattered, splattering glass against the shade blocking the view onto Grand Avenue. Shocked gamblers looked up to see a crowbar pull aside the shade and New Haven Detective Stephen Ahern standing in the bucket of a tree-trimming truck, a gun in his other hand. The men could hear wood splintering downstairs as police broke into the club. "This is the police!" Ahern bellowed. "Don't touch the table!" Midge stood up, scooped some bills into his pockets and slowly walked toward the window. As he approached, he picked up a chair and reared back. "No Midge, don't do it!" someone yelled. Midge didn't listen and heaved the chair at Ahern. The detective ducked. The chair sailed over him and into the street below. Aside from minor cuts from flying glass, Ahern was uninjured. Midge and everyone else in the room were arrested. Ahern was only 30, but already a legend. Born in New Haven, he became a police officer in the early 1950s after serving in the Marine Corps. He eventually joined the city's elite Special Service Division, created in response to the Mele murder nearly a decade before. It focused on gambling, vice and organized crime. Ahern became its star, especially renowned for his intelligence-gathering abilities. His sources were so good that he knew about crimes before they were committed. More than once, Ahern waited inside a building and arrested burglars as they broke in. The secret to Ahern's success would not emerge for nearly two decades: He was wiretapping people. He started in the late 1950s by climbing telephone poles and clipping a phone company device to the wires to listen. He had a Yale student build him a primitive listening device and then moved on to ever-more sophisticated bugging equipment. Years later, a witness would tell a commission investigating the wiretapping about visiting Ahern's Whalley Avenue apartment and hearing a "pen register" — a machine that records numbers dialed by a targeted phone — running in the next room. The witness told the commission that James Ahern, Steve's younger brother and also a New Haven police officer, was in the apartment at the time. Both men paid little attention when the pen register — a noisy machine — went off. Steve and Jim had two other brothers on the force. Years later, it would seem as if the New Haven police were a wholly owned subsidiary of the Ahern family. Steve was relentless, dedicated and ruthless, and he hated the mafia. He is credited with being the first New Haven police officer to take the mob seriously and target it effectively. Midge and the mob had a nemesis. — New Haven Independent 7 September 2009

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Ipswich police arrested Bernadette Ahern, 36, of 15 Cove Road, at her home today, Sept. 9, on three Ipswich District Court arrest warrants, for entering a dwelling by false pretense with intent to commit a felony. An investigation by the Ipswich police and surrounding police departments into nine recent housebreaks reported within the Neck area resulted in the arrest. Ahern was released on $500 cash bail, and will be arraigned in Ipswich District Court Thursday morning, Sept. 10. — Cape Ann Beacon 9 September 2009

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Get on your boots! Miriam can't resist €800 pair of Choos THE GIFT: Ahern girls treat glam mum to top designer's latest trend GLAMOROUS granny Miriam Ahern was treated to a pair of the newly-unveiled exclusive Donegal Tweed Jimmy Choo Boots by her daughters Cecelia and Georgina last night. The estranged wife of former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was first in line to snap up a pair of the limited edition boots at an exclusive reception held in The Shoe Rooms in Brown Thomas. The blonde fashionista explained how her beloved daughters' had presented her with a voucher as a present and said she couldn't resist spending it on the chic, new designer boots. Cecelia, who has enjoyed huge success as an author and is said to be worth more than €6m and her sister Georgina, who is married to Westlife star, Nicky Byrne, shelled out over €800 on the coveted gift. It was a quick dash in and out for Miriam, however, as she only [had] a few minutes to spare to pick up the boots before her next engagement. "My daughters actually gave them to me as a present," Miriam told the Herald after making her purchase. Charity "It was very nice of them indeed, I'm looking forward to wearing them. "Unfortunately I can't stay around too long as I've arranged to go and meet a friend," she added. Miriam went on to explain how she was keen to support such a worthwhile cause, given that 25pc of the proceeds raised from the exclusive sale last night will go towards Keith Duffy's charity, Irish Autism Action. The stylish Dubliner is currently awaiting the birth of her third grandchild and says the family are all very excited about the new arrival. Novelist Cecelia is due to give birth to her first baby with boyfriend David Keoghan in December and the doting grandmother claims she's already been roped in for baby-sitting duties. — Evening Herald 9 September 2009

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Five Apply for MV seat Council will appoint new member Sept. 17 Five residents have applied for the open seat on Mountain Village Town Council. The candidate pool represents a healthy variety of people — from a politically-active carpenter to a banker, a gallery owner, ski company employee and the owner of a landscape business. All have their eye on the council seat vacated two weeks ago by Nick Ball, who resigned to move to his residence in Indiana. But only one will be appointed by the town council, which plans to fill the seat at its meeting next Thursday at 8:30 a.m. Town council members have until then to educate themselves on the candidates, and the council will choose its new member by majority vote. Here are the applicants, in alphabetical order: — Brian Ahern, a local carpenter, snowboarder, husband and father who keeps himself busy with politics. Along with being the vice chair of the county Democratic Party, he is a member of the County Planning Commission, the County Fair Board and the Mountain Village Ethics Commission. Ahern, who unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the Mountain Village Town Council in June, says he aims to save the taxpayer money and act as a voice for the working class people. — Telluride Daily Planet 11 September 2009

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Worcester Central District Court Criminal and Traffic Sessions Jason S. Ahearn, 32, of 134 White Birch Road, Leicester, charged with state highway traffic violation, marked lanes violation, and driving negligently, continued to Oct. 1. — Worcester Telegram & Gazette 12 September 2009

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Brother questioned in connection with woman's violent death The brother of a woman who died after being beaten about the head with a fire poker was tonight being quizzed by detectives over the violent death. Brenda Ahearne was found in a house in the south of Waterford City with the rod lodged in her skull in the early hours of the morning. She was rushed to hospital but frantic efforts by medics to revive her proved unsuccessful. Her 31 year-old brother was arrested at the house around 2.30am and taken into custody. Local Fine Gael councillor John Cummins said the brutal death had stunned the area. "Everybody is talking about it, it is a huge blow to the community," he said. "It is a tight-knit community for something like that to happen, and everybody is certainly affected by it." gardaí were called to the two-storey house at Richardsons Meadows, Kilcohan, in the early hours of the morning where they discovered Ms Ahearne with serious head injuries. It is believed the 30-year-old lived elsewhere in the city and was visiting the area for the evening when the violent incident occurred. Emergency services were called to the scene and she was rushed to Waterford Regional Hospital, but died a short time later. Residents of the quiet residential area said they were shocked and saddened by the death. The man arrested at the house was being held under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act and can be detained for up to 24 hours. The scene was preserved for gardaí to carry out a technical examination and the state pathologist was called in to carry out an examination. — Irish Examiner 16 September 2009

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A Democratic primary fight is brewing in a Quad-Cities-area House district. With state Rep. Mike Boland, D-East Moline, looking at a possible run for lieutenant governor, two Democrats who previously challenged Boland are vying to fill his House seat. Dennis Ahern of Moline and Jerry Lack of East Moline filed this week to run for the 71st House District post. Lack, who served as an aide to former U.S. Rep. Lane Evans, ran against Boland in 2008. Ahern ran in 2004. Boland says he plans to file for lieutenant governor on Monday. — Quad-City Times 30 October 2009

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A testament to human spirit, a reflection of an artist's soul; Rockport artist tells of his past while painting a promising future By Gail McCarthy John Terelak, an American impressionist, grew up in Boston, where he remembers his youth as a time filled with sports and athletic prowess. But even as a teenager, he would realize his fine motor talents were a source of untapped creativity. After he graduated from high school in 1960, he worked in the press room of Rust Craft Greeting Cards, when a foreman saw him drawing a card. "He said, 'why don't you go to art school and we'll put you up in the art department?'" recalled Terelak. On a whim, he attended the Vesper George School of Fine Art in Boston. "All the kids I grew up with remember me drawing but I don't remember that," said Terelak. "I remember being a jock and playing all the sports. I must have taken it for granted. But halfway through art school, I got hit over the head by the Lord and saw that I can paint pictures. It was like 'wow.' I started painting and visiting all the galleries and absorbing all the art I could." That epiphany changed the course of his future. Terelak's mother insisted her son get a job. To pacify his mother, the young man went to an advertising agency on Boston's Boylston Street, where he met commercial artist Martin Ahearn. "He didn't hire me," recalled Terelak. "I continued to paint and went to Rockport." Unbeknownst to both men, years later Terelak would meet Ahearn's daughter, Patricia Ahearn, who would become his wife and mother of their four children. "When I left his agency, I said thank God he didn't hire me, but I'm going to get even with him," he said with a chuckle. Terelak remembered the day he asked Ahearn if he remembered the time they first met at the agency, and then informed him of their wedding plans. Both men would develop long careers in fine art. Terelak came to Rockport, a thriving art colony, at the invitation of Don Stone, one of his teachers at art school who saw a natural talent in the young student. "I moved here when I was 19 because I had a scholarship to paint with Don Stone," said Terelak. Stone, a modernist impressionist painter, said he thought Rockport would be a better environment for the young artist to expand his abilities. "He lived with us in the South Street house for four to five years and he worked with me for a while and through my associates, he had a chance to develop his talent," said Stone, a member of the National Academy and a Dolphin Fellow of the American Watercolor Society. "He's done very well. Like the majority of us (artists), we go out and search. It's a self educational type of life." Stone wanted to give a young artist a chance, like a Rockport artist had done for him decades earlier when he was an aspiring artist. "Paul Strisik — also a National Academician — was my mentor, and I swore I would do what I could for somebody else because I was so grateful," said Stone. Terelak himself went on to teach for a few years at the Vesper George art school. An army reservist who served actively for a short time at the age of 24, he made Rockport his home. "I found an artist's life here and soon after I met Pat," whom he married a couple of years later. Forty-five years later, Terelak remains enchanted with his chosen profession. "I'm a blessed man to paint pictures for my life and make a good living from it," he said. "I love every minute of it. I think I'm starting to mature as a painter and I hope I have another 50 years." He has excelled in the various media. He started off in watercolor, went to acyclic and pastel. He was a past president of the New England Watercolor Society at the age of 28. "But working in oil has always been my first love," said Terelak. "I went from Renaissance dark painting to an impressionistic style, to eventually my own style of painting where there's a lot of different elements of art I keep honing. I see a subtle change from year to year. But every painting is a new adventure and there is something new to be learned in each one." Terelak said he believes this is his best show yet, in part, as a result of the poor economy. "I think this bad economy has made me a better painter simply because I was not in any hurry to finish any painting and I took more time and made them better. I did slow down and went over my paintings many times," he said. Terelak's works have been included in exhibitions at The National Academy of Design, The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The Springfield Museum, and The Butler Museum, among others. He is represented by galleries in Rockport, Nantucket and Connecticut. "I have been given a gift from God that I have cherished my whole adult life," wrote Terelak in an artist statement. "I have always thought art is man's most glowing achievement. . . . I believe that all art is a testament to the human spirit, and that every good artist lets his and her soul escape into their art." — Gloucester Daily Times 4 November 2009

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla.—A woman said she was driving in a neighborhood last month when she was pulled over by what she thought were police, only to find out they were fake officers. The woman, who asked not to be identified in exchange for an interview, described exactly what happened. "It looked like a police car, and that's never happened to me before, you know," the woman said. "Who would've thought?" The unidentified woman said it all happened on Monday night Oct. 19. She was driving down the road with three other friends in a neighborhood on Hastings Street, and before she knew it, they were being pulled over by what they thought were undercover police officers. "They said, 'Get out of the car,'" the woman said. She said she doesn't remember seeing a badge or a police uniform, but the car was similar to a Chevy Impala, a common police car used in undercover operations. The woman said one of the men had a gun and even identified himself as an officer. She said the reason they pulled over is that the unmarked car was shining a spotlight into their vehicle and motioning for them to stop. "They asked if we had anything illegal and drugs," the unidentified woman said. "No, of course not. Then they asked for my ID. I put my purse on their car." She said a woman named Brandy Sellers, one of her friends who was also in her vehicle, walked over with her wallet. Before she knew it, the two so-called cops grabbed their wallets, purses and keys and took off. "They left really, really quick," the woman said. But what she didn't know was the story got much more convoluted after that. It turned out that Sellers wasn't a friend at all. In fact, police said Sellers was the mastermind behind the whole operation. "I didn't know her that well, but I had been hanging out with her all that day and would've never thought that in a million years, ever," the unidentified woman said. Investigators said Sellers was caught talking about the setup in a jailhouse conversation. They later learned that two men, Scott Ferguson and Anthony Pitts, were the ones in the fake police car. Police later arrested Randy O'Hearn because they said he was in the vehicle with the victim the entire time and knew about the setup but didn't do anything to try to stop it. "It's terrifying," the unidentified woman said. "I told the cop, 'What am I supposed to do? Do I pull over? Do I not pull over now?'" — Jacksonville News 9 November 2009

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Hero jakes rescue teen from Dorchester fire Babysitter, kids caught in 2-alarm Dorchester blaze A 14-year-old girl is in a hospital oxygen chamber fighting for her life today after two courageous firefighters got under the smoke on their hands and knees and pulled her from a blazing Dorchester home yesterday. "I'm concerned about my kid" said the girl's frantic mom moments after she left her Evans Street home on the way to the hospital. Boston fire Deputy Chief Joseph Fleming said the victim and her brother were in the care of a babysitter when the two-alarm blaze sparked at about 4:30 p.m. The fire erupted in the home's basement and the girl fell unconscious, fire officials said. Boston Fire spokesman Steve MacDonald said the cause of the fire was an electrical short-circuit and that it was unrelated to a small leak in the street in front of the house that gas inspectors had scheduled for repairs. Firefighters from Engine 16 were nearby and arrived soon after the blaze started. Fleming said two people near the entrance of the building told responding jakes a girl was trapped inside. Lt. Michael Sameski and firefighter Michael Ahern put on their masks and dropped to their hands and knees to crawl through intense heat and thick black smoke. Sameski said he couldn't see, but he swept the floor in front of him with his outstretched hand until he touched the girl's leg. He said she was passed out in the hallway. "The girl was located closer to the rear of the building, down the hall," Sameski said. "She was not conscious. She was not responding to anything." Sameski picked her up, put his respirator mask on her face as best it could fit and raced from the house to across the street. He and Ahern took turns performing CPR on the girl until her pulse and breathing returned. The girl was taken to the Norman Knight Hyperbaric Medicine Center at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, where she is in critical condition. Of the exterior gas leak, which fire officials said was unrelated, National Grid spokeswoman Jackie Barry said technicians were called to the address Nov. 9 and scheduled a repair. "It is a very minor leak. If there is any risk of any damage, we fix it immediately," she said. — Boston Herald 13 November 2009

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"Wild West Saloon" scenes in Ballycroy pub A CHARGE of assault causing harm against a Castlebar man was dismissed by Judge Mary Devins after she described the evidence of both the prosecution and defence as "unedifying" and "not credible". Denis Ahern of 72 Springfield Court, Castlebar appeared before Achill District Court after he was accused of assaulting Ballycroy man Michael Conway and dislocating his shoulder during an altercation outside the Inn 59 pub in Ballycroy. However, Mr Ahern told a completely different story saying that someone hit his brother over the head with a chair. Judge Devins described the events as something that would occur in a "wild west saloon" and after hearing the evidence she said that all the people involved had made a "disgrace of themselves". Michael Conway told the court that on February 1 last, he was in the Inn 59 with his two cousins waiting for a taxi. He said that the group Mr Ahern was in came over and accused them of eye-balling them and his mother accused him of fighting with his sons. Mr Conway claimed that Denis Ahern punched his cousin, Michael Keane in the back of the head and after going outside said that Mr Ahern attacked him and punched him in the body and face and knocked him to the ground. He said he went to the hospital and he suffered a dislocated shoulder. Under questioning from Ms Fiona McAlister, solicitor for the defendant, he said he told the hospital he tripped and fell but when pressed on the issue he admitted he did not tell the doctor how he sustained his injuries although he told garda he was assaulted. He added that he was a distant relative of Mr Ahern. Michael Keane said that when he was outside he was hit a few times and saw Michael Conway being punched but did not see who hit him. Mary McNicholas, the publicans wife said she was tidying up the pub when she heard raised voices from the two groups. She said she ushered the two groups out of the pub but didn"t see anyone assaulted in the pub. Garda Adrian McNulty said that on February 19, Michael Conway made a complaint that he was assaulted by Denis Ahern. He said he interviewed Mr Keane and Mrs McNicholas and approached Margaret Ahern, the mother of the defendant. He said he arranged to meet Mr Ahern his brother, Michael and their girlfriends who were in the pub but they declined to make a statement. He added there was no CCTV on the premises. Denis Ahern said he was in Ballycroy for his grandfather"s Mass and went to the Inn 59 pub at 11.40pm. He said there were about 20 people in the pub and he was playing pool with Mr Conway. When he came back from the toilet he saw his girlfriend on the ground and saw someone smash a chair over his brother, and claimed a table collapsed under the weight of people. He said between ten and 15 people attacked them but denied hitting anyone. When asked by Superintendent Mick Murray why he did not tell this to the Garda, he explained that they were a close family and they "don't do that where I'm from". Judge Devins said that Mr Ahern gave the impression that he "lived in Sicily" and suggested to him to stop being ridiculous by referring to how his family did things. Michael Ahern claimed he was punched in the face but did not give a statement on the advise of his solicitor. "What I heard today is a complete and utterly unedifying recital of events and all the people made a disgrace of themselves. The prosecution witnesses, with the exception of the garda, and the defence were not credibile. Mr Conway was not credible and from the medical report, it shows that we have not heard the full story of what happened and maybe just as well," said Judge Devins before dismissing the case. — The Mayo News 17 November 2009

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Scout honors troops Most U.S. soldiers currently fighting overseas won't get to be home for the holidays this year. That is why one 15-year-old boy from Marlton is making sure that at least one troop in Afghanistan will receive stockings filled with treats just in time for Christmas this year. Bobby O'Hearn, a freshman at Cherokee High School, is working to fill 100 Christmas stockings with items that are donated from family, friends, neighbors, other members of the community and local businesses and ship them to U.S. troops fighting overseas this holiday season. Bobby, a member of Boy Scout Troop 100 of Marlton, is completing the project, which he calls "Stockings for Soldiers," in order to obtain the highest rank a Boy Scout can achieve — the Eagle Scout rank. Bobby said he chose this particular project because he wanted to do something that would have a big effect on others and that other people could participate in, he said. "I thought it would be nice if we could do something more widespread," Bobby said. Bobby said he was inspired with the idea of sending stockings full of treats to soldiers after helping his family clean out his great grandmother's house. "We found some letters from my great grandfather, who was in World War II, thanking my great grandmother for all of the gifts and things that she had sent him," Bobby said. Bobby said his great grandfather was also a Boy Scout and, also when cleaning out the house, they found his Scout badges dating back to the 1930s. "He was a Boy Scout and was also in the army, so we thought that was an interesting twist," said Bobby's mother, Christine O'Hearn. In order to complete an Eagle Scout project, Scouts must work with a community organization. Through research, Bobby found The Yellow Ribbon Club and began working with the group's founder Leslie Drummond to get the stockings overseas. The Yellow Ribbon Club is an organization that shows support for United States military forces serving in Iraq and Afghanistan by shipping care packages for the exchange of yellow ribbons and also by helping to promote and foster welcoming home events for local veterans and providing monetary assistance to U.S. military hospitals and care facilities, according to the group's Web site. Drummond chose a unit for Bobby to send the stockings to in Afghanistan, which consists of about 80 soldiers, she said. Bobby came up with a list of items to collect and send to the soldiers inspired by a list posted on The Yellow Ribbon Club's Web site, www.yellowribbonclub.org. The list is comprised of a variety of items that soldiers have requested. "They told me to focus on edible things to fill the stockings, so we just narrowed it down from there," Bobby said. Items Bobby is looking to collect include the following: Beef jerky or Slim Jims in individual packs or small packages, individually wrapped Rice Crispy Treats, candy canes, gum, individual packs of lemonade mix that can be mixed with water bottles, lollipops, single pack servings or small bags of trail mix or nuts, multi-packs of individual servings of Pringles, microwave popcorn, Skittles, Lifesavers, Jolly Ranchers or any other variety of hard candy, Nips, Twizzlers, Tic Tacs, Now and Laters, Spree, Dots, snack-sized bags of potato chips, Fritos, pretzels, and peanut butter or cheese crackers, Top Ramen noodle soup, Dinty Moore two-minute meals, canned or bagged tuna or chicken, dried fruit and individual packs of fruit cups. Bobby will also accept gift cards to purchase items from local stores for the solders, he said. Drummond said it's been nice to work with Bobby, who she called a "fine young man." "I like that a young man his age chose a project such as this, I think it tells a lot about his character." Drummond said. Drummond said she has been impressed with Bobby's hard work to get the stockings filled and shipped overseas. "He has been detailed and organized and he wants to do it all on his own," Drummond said. "I just can't say enough about a young man his age picking this as his Eagle Scout project." Once all of the items are collected, Bobby plans to engage the other members of his troop as well as other friends and family members in order to stuff the stockings and package them before they"re sent off. So far, Bobby said, the support he has gotten from the community to collect the items has been good. He handed out flyers at school and received a great deal of support from two of his teachers who have sons overseas and one whose husband is currently fighting in Iraq, he said. Bobby's parents donated the stockings for his project and The Yellow Ribbon Club is going to cover the funds necessary to ship the stockings overseas, Christine said. Christine's employer, Brown and Connery, LLP of Westmont, helped out by donating 100 calling cards to be placed in the stockings for the soldiers, she said. Bobby will be accepting donations until Nov. 6. Residents and local business owners who would like to donate items or gift cards for Bobby's project can contact him through e-mail at bohearn86 @ verizon.net. — The Marlton Telegram 29 November 2009

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Latest court results Recent cases dealt with by Taunton Deane Magistrates' Courts include: Aron Lennon Ahern, 29, of The Redhouse, Carhampton, drink driving, £445 fine, £85 costs, £15 victim surcharge, 12 months driving ban. — Somerset County Gazette 2 December 2009

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Ahern says main concern on Mahon is his good name Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said his main concerns with the findings of the Mahon tribunal were whether it found he was "corruptible" and the implications for his good name. Mr Ahern was speaking in an interview with Ursula Halligan in her new series This Is, broadcast on TV3 last night. He didn't mind what the tribunal said about his personal finances and his bank accounts. "All that stuff is immaterial. How I rented the house or didn't rent the house etc. What matters is the point that I was corruptible in taking money in a row between two developers that I hardly knew," he said when asked about the findings. "That issue was the substantive issue — was I involved in taking a bribe to do a man down? That's the bit that matters to me. I am not too worried about the rest." He would be upset with such a finding because "I know it's a lie". "I know I got nothing in benefit or in kind or in any other form, so that's the only thing that matters." Mr Ahern said his assertion during the tribunal that some sterling had come from backing horses was "a Bertieism that went wrong". "I was going through the figures. It came down to a very small amount, about €2000, and he said, 'How could you have got that income?' and I said, 'Well I could have easy got that on the horses' . . . and it came out I got £20,000. "Listen, I wouldn't believe I got £20,000 on the horses," the former taoiseach said. Mr Ahern also said he knew the identity of a person who had been trying to destroy his political career. "There was one person working overtime, you know, out to damage me, and I know who the person is." He said the laws of libel meant that he could not name the person. "But there was one person working night and day to screw me up. And I think I know why and I think I know how . . . " he said. Asked why the person may have been out to get him, he said: "Maybe along the way, maybe they got things wrong and maybe they had to be punished a bit for that too. And maybe they set about then to screw you up. "If you can't prove it you can't say it, but you can still know it," he said. Mr Ahern spoke of his disappointment that Tanaiste Mary Coughlan and Miniser for Finance Brian Lenihan had been speaking about him behind his back at the end of his time as taoiseach. "If they had come into me and said some of the things I know they were saying against me, I could have taken it. I know what they were saying. You are not around as leader for 14 years and your intelligence wasn't good. So I know what they were saying." They were "getting jittery and nervy and you know the stuff that people do". "Listen, I forgive them all but if you've something to say to Bertie Ahern, I'd always rather when people say it to my face," he said. On RTE radio yesterday Conor Lenihan said Brian Lenihan had not spoken badly to him about Mr Ahern. He said he was a friend of Mr Ahern, "so if he were bad-mouthing him he wouldn't do it to me". — The Irish Times 4 December 2009

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Jakob William Ahern was born at Nantucket Cottage Hospital on December 12, 2009 weighing 7 pounds and 3 ounces. He is the son of Miroslava Bartkova and Peter D. Ahern of Nantucket. — Nantucket Independent 9 December 2009

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Cambridge—A man from Braintree was arrested in Cambridge for dealing drugs in Harvard Square during an undercover operation on Dec. 9, according to a police report. While assigned to the Special Investigations Unit under the direction of Sgt. Grey, detectives Agrait Colazzo and Thomas Ahern were patrolling Harvard Square at 8:20 p.m. in an unmarked car and stopped in a lane of traffic next to Out of Town News. A man came up to the car, tapped on the window and told them they could not park there, threatening, "Roll the window down or I'm going to break the window." The detectives told him they didn't want any trouble, but the man reportedly reached into pocket for a white lighter and made a fist holding it in his hand. Ahern told him they were waiting for someone when the man reportedly told them "he controlled the area" and to be careful or the police will give them a ticket for parking there. He then gestured to the area of the pit behind the T stop and the people in it, indicating that he controls it. "These guys work for me," he said, according to the report. The detectives assumed that meant the people in the pit sold drugs for him. The man then asked them if they wanted to buy some weed. Ahern said they would. The man said, "I got the best $20 bag of Arizona marijuana around." As the cops reached into their pockets, the man reportedly took out a Ziploc bag. Ahern told him they would park out of traffic and moved the car to the end of the island and walked toward the man, who asked them how much they wanted. Ahern said he had $100. The man reportedly reached into the left side inside pocket of his dark jacket and handed them four small bags containing a green leafy substance. The detectives identified themselves and Patrick Pasquale, 32, of 225 Longfellow Ave., Braintree, was placed under arrest. A search revealed four more bags of marijuana and $50 in cash. Pasquale was charged with possession of a Class D substance with intent to distribute and drug violation near a school or park, according to the report. The incident took place within 1,000 feet of the Bigelow Cooperative Daycare and the Garden Cooperative Daycare on Garden Street. — Cambridge Chronicle 16 December 2009

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Ahearn earns all-scholastic accolades For the first time in the history of the Marshfield High School volleyball program one of its own has been named to an All-Scholastic team in a major Boston newspaper. Marshfield senior Ashley Ahearn was one of only 23 volleyball players in the entire state to earn a spot on the Boston Herald Fall All-Scholastics volleyball team. "I felt really honored because no one (from Marshfield volleyball) had been recognized before," Ahearn said. "I'm really gracious they picked me out of all those people. I'm really happy and really thankful." Ahearn was joined on the Herald's All-Scholastic team by fellow Mass. Patriots club teammates Berkeley Hall (Pembroke), Morgan Thatcher (Brockton), Maura Manley (New Bedford), and Stephanie Gove (Millis). "It was really cool that we were all on it (All-Scholastic team) together," Ahearn said. Ahearn, also an Atlantic Coast League all-star, won the Lady Rams' most valuable player award this year. The senior outside hitter helped Marshfield go 17-3 overall, 10-0 in the ACL, and win the school's first-ever ACL title. "This year was year of firsts," Ahearn said. "Winning the ACL title, going undefeated in the league. We set the bar high." Ahearn attributes this year's team's success to her teammates, which include fellow ACL all-stars, outside hitter Chelsey Covitz and setter Shannon Nagle, as well as first-year Marshfield Head Coach Al Mirabile. "He just came in right away and got right to work," Ahearn said. "He worked with us as a team, and he worked with us individually." Even though Covitz, Nagle, and Ahearn will graduate and leave the Marshfield High School volleyball teams in the hands of their other teammates, Ahearn said she's more than confident that the team's winning ways will continue next fall. "Everyone coming up is so talented," she said. "The captains — Jackie (Keating), Emily (Boudreau), and Angela (Lomuscio ) have already shown responsibility taking care of the team next year. I'm excited to come back and watch them." Ahearn, who will play volleyball in college, has narrowed down her list of schools to Assumption, Babson, Bentley, and St. Anselm. "Ashley worked extremely hard this past offseason to become the player that she is now," Marshfield Head Coach Al Mirabile said. "She really didn't have much of a break between offseason volleyball and the regular season. The results were tremendous as she led all hitters in D.1 in both hitting percentage and kills. I was glad to see her (recognized) for her contributions on the court and for our team this season. It is well-deserved." — Marshfield Mariner 22 December 2009

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Annual Ahern Award [photo] Yarra Glen student Corey Dumergue received the inaugural Ahern Natural History Award from Dale and Chloe Ahern. THE contribution made by a Steels Creek couple who died in the Black Saturday fires will be commemorated annually through an award made in their name. Leigh and Charmian Ahern had a passion for the natural environment and Leigh was a member of the Yarra Glen and District Historical Society (YG&DHS). The Ahern Natural History Award will be presented by the society to the graduating student of Yarra Glen Primary School most interested and talented in the field of natural history. The inaugural award, an impressive book on native wildlife, was presented to Corey Dumergue by the couple's children, Dale and Chloe Ahern, on 11 December. YG&DHS spokesperson Helen Mann said the award commemorated not only their contribution to the ecology and conservation of the natural environment, but to the society and the Steels Creek and Yarra Glen communities. "Leigh Ahern was a man of many skills and talents, which he applied quietly, effectively and with much good humour," she said. "Charmian is remembered for her gentle, caring nature. Both have inspired others with their ability to apply these attributes in their workplace, to share their knowledge and to encourage others," Ms. Mann added. She said Dale and Chloe were raised, surrounded by the bushland they all loved. "Through the children's education at Yarra Glen Primary School, Leigh and Charm developed an active and supportive association with the school. For a period of time Charmian was an integration aide at the school. More recently she worked as an aide to special needs children at Birralee Primary School," Ms Mann said. Ms Mann said Leigh was a member of the Yarra Glen & District Historical Society for many years and that one of his lasting legacies for the Yarra Glen community was the work he did for the society, including the recording and transcription of oral histories of the district's senior citizens and the design and production of brochures and publications. — Upper Yarra Mail 22 December 2009

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O'Hern—Perfetto Nuptials Michael and Candice Perfetto exchanged vows on the beach overlooking the Sea of Cortez on October 28, 2009. Candice is the daughter of Patrick and Pamela O'Hern of Stockton, California and Michael, the son of Richard and Kathleen Perfetto of Erie, Pennsylvania. The couple was joined by their parents, Candice's grandparents Lawrence and Marcella Wallace of Stockton and approximately forty other family members and close friends for the nuptials in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Candice's maid of honor was her close friend Dr. Jennifer Dao and Michael's best man was his brother Mathew. Candice wore a strapless Paloma Blanca sweetheart, trumpet style gown in raw silk. The couple will honeymoon in the Mediterranean. Dr. Candice O'Hern Perfetto is a physician and works for the George Washington University Medical Center. Michael is a Captain in the United States Marine Corps and is stationed in Quantico, Virginia. The couple will live in Arlington, Virginia. — The Record 26 December 2009

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Lost New Paltz tax bills found lying on street KINGSTON—Mary Ahearn has a habit of spotting stuff in the road. So it was not unusual for Ahearn to spot a large gray tray, about 3-feet long, in the middle of South Manor Avenue Monday afternoon. "I have found so many things on the road," said the lifelong Kingston resident. "My eyes are always on what is in the road. Everyone has their little freaky thing. This is mine." "It was in the middle of the road and had United States Post Office on it," Ahearn said of the tray. "It was kind of hard to miss." Ahearn, who is a Medicaid welfare examiner for the Ulster County Department of Social Services, said she pulled over and found that the tray contained hundreds of envelopes, most of them some sort of tax bills to residents of New Paltz. Ahearn, who was on a lunch break, went back to her job. From there, she called Kingston's Acting Postmaster George Stengel to inquire about the mail. Contacted later, Stengel said an employee was sent over to collect the tray of envelopes from Ahearn and then launched an investigation into how the mail wound up in the middle of South Manor Avenue. Stengel said tax bills from the New Paltz Tax Collector's Office were being delivered from a printer to the U.S. Post Office on Cornell Street. They were not being transported by the Postal Service, Stengel said. Somehow, Stengel said, the tray "fell out of an SUV" being used to bring the envelopes to the post office for delivery. Stengel said the driver realized the tray was missing and went looking for it. He guessed that Ahearn had scooped up the tray before the driver could locate it. — Daily Freeman 29 December 2009

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Family struggles after fire in historic house SALEM—Mary Jane Ahearn put the key in the front-door lock of her Buffum Street home and went inside yesterday. It was not a pretty sight. Charred chairs and blackened furniture were piled everywhere. There were holes in the ceiling, and paneling ripped from the walls. The stairs leading to the second floor were covered with black soot and debris. "I lost everything," said the 53-year-old disabled woman, who walks with a cane. "I had a lot of stuff." But it's not only the stuff she worries about. Ahearn also had two cats. She found April inside the house six days after the fire, but May, a brown striped cat with a white bib, is still missing. "Did you hear a meow?" she asked, standing perfectly still in the entrance near a large cardboard box to a nativity set. After listening for a few moments, she decided it must have been her imagination. The 4 Buffum St. house, the Ahearns' family homestead for more than a half-century, was badly damaged in a Dec. 18 fire. Ahearn lived in the house with two brothers, Anthony and James. The family was told the damage was $100,000, but Mary Jane Ahearn suspects the real figure is higher. Whatever the number, she said they can't afford to fix it. They have no homeowner's insurance, she said. "The insurance company dropped us last year because we couldn't afford to put a new roof on the house" and make other improvements, she said. The fire started around 5 a.m. on a Friday morning a week before Christmas, and three days before Mary Jane Ahearn's birthday. It originated in the basement and moved quickly to the second floor, a fire official said. "It was definitely accidental," fire Capt. John Payne said. "It looked to be an electrical problem, probably an overload." James, 49, was sleeping in his bedroom in the cellar. "The smoke alarm woke me," he said. "Thank God for those alarms." James, who works as a painter for the YMCA of the North Shore, could see only smoke at first, but quickly noticed the cellar rafters were engulfed in flames and headed upstairs to awaken his sleeping siblings. The smoke "hit me pretty good at first," he said. "For a second, I didn't think I was going to make it." Mary Jane Ahearn is thankful her brother woke up in time to get them all out of the house. "I usually smell things, but I didn't smell nothing," she said. "When I was coming down the steps, I could see smoke coming from the living room." As she fled the house, she was able to grab one of her canes. The others were lost in the fire, along with virtually everything she owns. The Ahearns were put up in the Hawthorne Hotel for the weekend, but have been living with friends since then and are looking for housing. "None of us can really afford a place to stay," she said. Nearly two weeks later, the house is boarded up, and there are still pieces of shingles and broken glass on the ground. The house, which is just off Mason Street, is of historic significance, according to city records. A combination of Greek and Italian Revival, it was built around 1852 by the Salem clothier S. Augustus Carlton, according to the book, "Architecture in Salem." In the book, the home is called the Carlton-Waters Cottage. The late Robert Ahearn, a leather worker, and his late wife, Constance, raised five children in this home. Two other siblings live in Michigan. The fate of the house is uncertain, Mary Jane Ahearn said. There are some in the family who feel it will have to come down, but she holds out hope it can be saved, even though she knows the odds are long. "I always feel safe in my house," she said. "I still want to live here, (but) what can I do?" A fund has been set up to assist the victims of the fire. Donations can be sent to the Ahearn Family Fund, Eastern Bank, 125 Washington St., Salem, MA 01970. — The Salem News 30 December 2009

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Pair accused of credit-union fraud Two men face formal charges after police said they committed fraud on two local credit unions, according to Allen Superior Court records. William O'Hern, 39, of the 4500 block of Winterfield Run; and David Lister, 33, of Huntington; face two counts each of fraud on a financial institution. Police said O'Hern and Lister, both then employees of Bradford-Scott Data Corp.—which maintains credit-union finance software—schemed to embezzle from Eastern Indiana Federal Credit Union and Industrial Centre Federal Credit Union in October 2006. During an interview Lister admitted the two had taken more than $20,000 in total from the credit unions through electronic means, police said. — The Journal Gazette 30 December 2009

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