Other NI News In Brief

Acting The Goat

Luke Denton, aged 7, was the winner of Belfast Zoo's 'Name the pygmy goats' competition, and enjoyed his prize day out at the zoo last Saturday. The winning names were Hannah and Edmund, after the great climbers Hannah Shields and Edmund Hillary. Luke enjoyed a special visit to meet the keeper at the farm and also meet and feed the two goats that he named. He also got a surprise opportunity to go on to the island in the giraffe enclosure and feed the giraffes, (pictured). Luke also won adoption of the two goats.

Balmoral Opens For Business

Some 70,000 visitors are expected to take in the sights and sounds of the three-day annual Balmoral Show in Belfast. Exhibitors, competitors, judges and visitors will make the trip to the King's Hall complex for the highlight of the local show calendar. The show will boast an extravaganza of colour, competition and showmanship along with daily displays of pedigree horses, ponies, cattle, sheep, poultry, pigs and goats as country comes to the city once again.

NI Crime Rate 'Dropping'

The crime rate in Northern Ireland is now 23% lower than the decade's peak in 2002/03, the PSNI has revealed. From 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010, 109,139 crimes were recorded, compared with 110,094 in the previous year. In 2002/03, 142,496 crimes were recorded. However, there were 247 more sectarian crimes in the past year, an increase of 24%. The overall detection rate increased from 23% to 25.8%.

Mill Workers Recalled

A new sculpture, celebrating the rich mill working heritage of Belfast's Crumlin Road area, is to be unveiled at the end of this month. The bronze sculpture, by local artist Ross Wilson, called The Mill Worker, will be installed at the corner of Cambrai Street and the Crumlin Road, near to the former Edenderry Mill site. The sculpture, commissioned by Belfast City Council, will be unveiled on Thursday 27 May. It is the latest artwork to be erected reflecting the heritage and history of the Crumlin Road area. At the end of March, two stone sculptures, by local artist Jason Mulligan, were unveiled at the corners of Snugville Street and Tudor Place.

Car Dealer In Court

An Antrim trader who sold two misdescribed cars was this week fined a total of £3,000 plus £900 costs at Antrim Magistrates' Court. In a case brought by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment's Trading Standards Service, Lee Caskey, who traded as Body Tekk, Antrim, was found guilty of four charges under the Trade Descriptions Act 1968. The charges related to the sale of a Vauxhall Corsa which was falsely described as being in excellent condition, having a full service history and one previous owner. In reality, the service history had been falsified, there were five previous owners and the vehicle had previously suffered substantial damage which was badly repaired. A second vehicle, an Audi A3 was falsely described as not having been in an accident, when in fact it was discovered that this vehicle had been involved in an accident and had been recorded as a category D insurance write-off.

Drinkers Fined

Two women have been given a conditional discharge at Belfast Magistrates Court for on-street drinking. Sisters Stacey and Natasha Scott, from Beechmount Parade in the west of the city, were also ordered to pay court costs of £66 each after they were detected drinking alcohol at Locan Street on November 27, 2009. The prosecutions were brought by Belfast City Council.

(BMcC/GK)