Generally Speaking: Happy 162nd birthday to Bay Ridge!

Posted by Jim on December 16, 2015

By Theodore W. General | editorial@homereporter.com

It was a mild winter Friday evening, on December 16, 1853 when a group of prominent area landowners met at the School District No. 2 Yellow Hook school house, then located on Third Avenue near our present day 73rd Street. As a result of the 1848-49 Yellow Fever epidemic, villagers were especially concerned about the continual stigma of having a name like Yellow Hook! So in the one-story frame school building, a historic meeting was called to consider a name change for their village.

James Weir, a florist with nurseries and greenhouses in the area, proposed the name “Bay Ridge,” taking in consideration the geographic features of the surrounding land, specifically, the bay along the Narrows and the high ridge just up from the shore which was formed by a glacial moraine. The new name was unanimously accepted and a resolution passed adopting it.

On December 16, the Bay Ridge Historical Society will be devoting a part of its meeting to a champagne toast heralding the 162nd anniversary of Bay Ridge. Also on the evening agenda, Colonel Joseph Davidson, commanding officer of the U.S. Army Garrison at Fort Hamilton, will be the keynote speaker. He will be discussing the history of one of the oldest U.S. Army bases in the nation which just happens to be located in Bay Ridge. Fort Hamilton is now the only active military post in New York City.

The BRHS meeting kicks off at 7:30 p.m., in the Shore Hill Neighborhood Center, on 91st Street between Colonial Road and Shore Road. Admission to the event is free and open to the public. Thomas McCarthy is the current BRHS president.

* * *

Bay Ridge Democratic District Leader Kevin Peter Carroll, who running for re-election in 2016, recently held a fundraiser at the Salty Dog on Third Avenue. Among the elected officials attending we saw Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, City Councilmembers Vinnie Gentile and Mark Treyger, newly minted Assemblymember Pamela Harris, Kings County Democratic Chair Frank Seddio, District Leaders Joseph Bova, Betty Ann Canizio, Ari Kagan and Mark Davidovich, plus a host of civil and criminal court judges. We also spotted community leaders like Ilene Sacco, Cory Provost, Mary Ann Walsh, David Ryan, Irene Hanvey, Janet Gounis, Linda Orlando, Larry and Phillipa Morrish, and Kathy Khatari.

Onus on Britain to deal with past

Posted by Jim on December 12, 2015

Irish News Editorial. Friday, December 11, 2015

FOR some, the past may be a foreign country, but for those whose loved ones were killed and injured during the years of violence here, it is a place of immense significance and sorrow.

While no death can be regarded as more important than another, a full-page advertisement in this newspaper yesterday highlighted the failure of the British government to conduct effective, independent and reasonably prompt investigations into a number of killings.

It is a situation which adds unnecessarily to the suffering of many.

In highlighting these cases, the Pat Finucane Centre and Justice for the Forgotten quoted the view of Nils Muizneiks, European Human Rights Commissioner, that the British government is in breach of the European Convention of Human Rights. It is difficult to disregard his opinion.

The British government’s defence is that national security must take priority over independent investigation.

It is an argument which has validity in some circumstances, such as an on-going war.

But is it really suggesting that in every one of more than 150 killings, some of which happened more than 40 years ago, there are current national security issues?

If it is, then there is more to these killings than we have previously imagined and it might reasonably be argued that the case for an independent investigatory mechanism becomes significantly more pressing.

The government’s failure to act fuels the belief that it may have something to hide. This does little to help those who advocate peace and democracy here.

Government supporters argue that since it was not the only organisation involved in violence, there is also an onus on all paramilitary groups to reveal what they know about the deaths for which they were responsible.

This is a reasonable line of thought. However, it cannot lead to the conclusion that government can therefore be excused from failing to live up to its legal responsibilities.

The British government cannot claim that it reserves the right to behave like an illegal organisation.

The failure of the political parties to agree a way forward on dealing with the past has not helped to address the concerns of those who are still grieving.

It is particularly disappointing that the agreement reached a year ago at

Stormont House could not be sustained in the more recent Fresh Start document.

The problem will not be solved by shelving it and it does not help to include it on the same agenda as negotiations on social and economic policy.

The past raises issues of human loss and suffering. They are difficult to deal with. It also raises the issue of legal responsibility. There is no reason for failing to deal with that.

Remembering political prisoners at Christmas

Posted by Jim on

December is the traditional month for republicans to think of our
political prisoners. The following is a list of IRPWA and Cogus
prisoners behind bars this Christmas.

Addresses are included at the beginning of each section for sending
cards at this time of year. Additions or corrections are welcome.
——————————————————————

IRPWA PRISONERS, MAGHABERRY

Address:
Roe 4, Maghaberry Prison,
Old Road Ballinderry Upper,
Lisburn, BT28 2PT, County Antrim

Colin Duffy
John Paul Wotton
Brendan McConville
Anto Davison
Harry Fitzsimons
Martin Kelly
Alex McCrory
Ta McWilliams
Barry Concannon
Jason Ceulmans
Damien Harkin
Neil Hegarty
Nathan Hastings
Seamus McLaughlin
Christy O’Kane
Gerard McManus
Kevin Barry Nolan
Barry Petticrew
Davy Jordan
Gavin Coyle (CSU)
Martin McGilloway (CSU)

IRPWA PRISONERS, HYDEBANK

Address:
Hospital Wing,
Hydebank Wood,
Hospital Road,
Belfast BT8 8NA,

Sharon Rafferty

IRPWA PRISONERS, PORTLAOISE

Address:
Portlaoise Gaol E3 & E4,
Dublin Road,
Portlaoise, County Laois

Michael Finlay
Sean Connolly
Bob Day
Brian Quinn
Ciaran Burke
Stephen Hendrick
Pierce Moran
Nick Kendall
Cormack Fitzpatrick
Tony Carroll
Brian Walsh
Kevin Devlan

COGÚS PRISONERS, MAGHABERRY

Address:
Roe House, Maghaberry,
Old Road Ballinderry Upper,
Lisburn, County Antrim, BT28 2PT

Phil O’Donnell
Eamon Cassidy
Conor Hughes
Gerard Flanagan
Kevin O’Neill
Robert O’Neill
Danny McClean
Carl Reilly

COGÚS PRISONERS, PORTLAOISE

Address:
Portlaoise Gaol E2,
Dublin Road,
Portlaoise, County Laois

Michael McKevitt
Charles Anthony Deery
Garret Mulley
Paddy MacDonagh
Seamus McGrane
Donal Ó Coisdealbha

The jailing of Claire Knowles

Posted by Jim on

By 1916 Societies

Today, just two weeks before Christmas, a law-abiding mother, daughter,
sister, grandmother and friend to many, one Claire Knowles, was
committed to prison by Judge Sean O’Donnabhain in Cork Circuit Court.

Her crime seems to be that she was in ‘flagrant breach of a Court Order’
and it seems she was also guilty of being ‘brazen’, even though to
observers she tried to defend herself in a most calm, polite and assured
way.

Claire is what is known as a lay litigant. She represents herself, and
has done so for several years at this stage in both the Circuit Court
and the High Court, to answer the claim that is being brought against
her. Of course, like so many tens of thousands of people in Ireland, the
claim is to do with a mortgage issue; in Claire’s case the mortgage
being on her family home.

Claire has always worked hard. The financial history of how she got to
the position of defending her family home in Court is not so unique and
therefore is not central to events today. What is now far more relevant
and serious is the reasoning and logic used by the Judge when sending
Claire to prison this evening.

There is a concept in law known as a ‘Void Order’. It is recognised in
Common Law jurisdictions. At its most basic it means there is no Order
of a Court if the Court is found to have acted outside its jurisdiction
in the Granting of the said Order. Claire has gained much rock solid
evidence that an Order, as handed down by the Circuit Court in Cork that
granted possession to ICS Building Society of her family home on 20th
January 2014, is a Void Order on multiple provable grounds.

Indeed Claire was in the High Court just yesterday, 7th December, and
won the right to have an appeal heard of this Circuit Court Order
sometime in the New Year, with the view to getting it officially
declared Void. Claire it seems was ‘brazen’ for even mentioning this
information today to Judge O’Donnabhain. He completely ignored the fact
that she has an appeal yet to be heard in the High Court and informed
her that the High Court did not have jurisdiction while he in fact did.

Claire was evicted on the 22nd September of this year from her home. She
was encircled and intimidatingly frog-marched out by many Security men
who acted under the instructions of Cork County Sheriff Sinead McNamara.
Claire re-occupied her home thereafter. It seems this act of occupying
her home is what the Bank has now used to successfully get Claire sent
to prison, even though the Order used by them to gain Possession – and
now imprisonment – was and remains void.

Many witnesses heard Claire Knowles state today in open Court, before
she was jailed, the many ways in which her Order was void. All that she
stated is provable and not only that, it was all submitted by way of
affidavit to the Courts and to the Plaintiffs. She also has both a High
Court Judge and the Master of the High Court granting her leave to
appeal that initial Order. Claire went to court today in the now false
belief that she could not go to gaol as the High Court have vindicated
her right to appeal.

Yet Claire sleeps in Limerick prison tonight. A gun was put to her head
today by the Judge. She was instructed that unless she took the Order
seriously and arranged to hand over the keys to her home he was
committing her to prison. Could this be viewed as an abuse of process to
intimidate?

Claire would not be coerced in such a way and said she would not give
consent and re-iterated that the initial Order was void and wondered how
could she be in contempt of an order that did not exist? She was jailed.
This is Justice in Ireland in 2015. If you catch the Banks and their
agents out you get an endless array of overpaid Barristers and
Solicitors thrown at you in order to break you. Claire Knowles will not
be broken.

It seems the bank and agents for the Bank may have been on very
questionable grounds for evicting a woman from her home on a void order.
The pressing question is where does their liability now stand for
subsequently getting her jailed on a void order? The Tomás Mac Curtain
Society, with the 1916 Societies overall, stand full square with Claire
and demand her immediate release.

Frongoch, the first internment camp

Posted by Jim on December 9, 2015

People in Wales have called on the governments in Dublin and Cardiff to
provide a permanent commemorative centre in Frongoch, where 1,800
Irishmen were interned after the 1916 Rising.

The PoW camp, on the site of an old whisky distillery outside the town
of Bala, held rebels such as Michael Collins, Terence MacSweeney and
Richard Mulcahy.

It became known as ‘The University of Revolution’, as it was here that
plans were discussed for future attacks on British rule in Ireland.

“During the summer, we sent an invitation to President Higgins to come
here on the centenary of 2016,” said Councillor Alwyn Jones, who lives
nearby.

“This place is so important, both to Irish and Welsh history, and if
nothing is done to permanently mark it in 2016, we fear that nothing
will ever be done and it will be totally lost to history.”

Without Frongoch, the IRA could not have attained the efficiency and
professionalism it was able to demonstrate in 1919.

Personal bonds of friendship were established amongst prisoners
from opposite ends of the country. Command structures and intelligence
networks were established or prepared with strategic planning ready to
be implemented as opportunity arose.

The GPO may have been the birthplace of the war for independence but
Frongoch was its creche.

A small plaque was placed here by the Liverpool branch of Conradh Na
Gaeilge in 2002. A school has been built on the Southcamp site, with the
Northcamp’s location now farmland.

“It was here that young rebels like Michael Collins learned from fellow
older rebels – and, remember, it brought together rebels from all over
Ireland and placed them on one site. It was a huge mistake by the
British government,” said local Welsh natonalist councillor Elwyn
Edwards.

The camp housed German POWs prior to Irish republicans being brought in.

It was chosen because escape was all but impossible, with the nearest
large town 20 miles away. Prisoners quickly established Irish classes
and sports events. One field is still known locally as ‘Croke Park’
because Gaelic games were played there.

Chris Ruane, a former Labour MP in this constituency, believes the time
is now right for appropriate commemorations at Frongoch. His grandfather
Tommy Ruane, from Galway, was interned here in 1916 for republican
activities in Carnmore.

He said: “Think of the thousands of people who get the ferry from
Ireland to Holyhead and drive by without knowing that this place is
here.”