| Tryst Williams, Western Mail
ITV1 Wales managed to do this week what right-wing zealots have been demanding for years - by bringing back National Service. OK, so, technically speaking, they didn't conscript the nation's hug-deprived hoodies into the armed forces. What they instead offered in Call Up was a glimpse of the brutal reality behind a notion often spoken of with nostalgia by flint-hearted pensioners. A motley collection of Welsh oldies - including ex-rugby star Clive Rowlands, broadcaster David Parry-Jones and Rhodri Morgan's alarmingly eloquent brother Prys - recalled their own experiences of the dreaded post-War conscription. And what emerged was less a cosy image of Dad's Army-style escapades and high-jinx and more an early version of Guantanamo Bay. .
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NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) - Anna Nicole Smith's five-month-old daughter and the baby's purported father have reclaimed the Bahamas mansion where they lived before the former Playboy Playmate died last week, her lawyer said. Not only is the paternity of Smith's baby - who stands to inherit a fortune from Smith's late husband - in dispute but so is the Bahamas mansion where Smith had been living. Smith, who died in Florida on Thursday, claimed a U.S. developer and former boyfriend, G. Ben Thompson, gave her the house. But Thompson said he had only loaned it to Smith - and during the weekend had the locks changed. Smith's lawyer and companion, Howard Stern - one of three men who claims to be the baby's father - had the locks changed again and on Sunday was once again at the gated waterfront estate, known as "Horizons." The baby girl, Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern, was also there, lawyer Wayne Munroe said.
Teenage drug dealer who shot toddler gets 10 years in prison
CAMDEN, N.J. - Ernestine Drisdom had a special T-shirt made to wear to court Friday. She thought it would help the man whose errant shot struck her great-granddaughter's head understand the damage he had done. "One Bullet Did This," the shirt read. On it were two pictures of the little girl, Yanajeah "Ya Ya" Kirkland. In one, taken before the October 2004 shooting, the toddler was smiling broadly; in the other, taken after the bullet ripped through her skull, she was in a hospital bed, clinging to life. On Friday, a judge sentenced the shooter, Taleaf Gunther, to 10 years in state prison _ a term negotiated in a plea bargain. As part of the deal, authorities dropped an attempted murder charge. Assistant Camden County Prosecutor Mary Ellen Murphy said Gunther, at the time a teenage drug dealer with a history of run-ins with the law, was trying to impress a friend by firing a handgun into a street in Camden, an often violent city that was in the midst of one of its deadliest years ever.
Library receives $330,000 grant Announcement acts as catalyst for West Perth council to consider major project now
It was a historic day at the West Perth Public Library on Friday, Feb. 2 as Minister of Culture Caroline Di Cocco announced the library will receive $330,000 for renovations. Perth-Middlesex MPP John Wilkinson said the announcement was significant as capital grants have not been given to libraries in over a generation. The grants, totalling $2.3 million, were distributed to only five libraries across the province that have ready-to-go infrastructure projects. The fact that the library board had ready-to-go plans - which were first introduced to West Perth council last year prior to budget deliberations - played a key role in receiving the grant, Minister Di Cocco said. Last January the library board asked council for a $700,000 capital grant to essentially double the size of the 2,380 sq. ft.
A Car Lover's Dream Come True
(ARA) - As we go through life, there are certain memories that stick with us so vividly, it seems like they happened just yesterday. For Ronald Gulliford of Findlay, Ohio, it's the time he spent cruising the Jersey shore in his '57 Chrysler 300 Convertible."I was in the service then stationed at Fort Dix, and have many fond memories of my time spent in that car," he says. In addition to the sentimental value the car has for the retired architectural draftsman, there's another reason why it's so special. "Quite simply, I think it's the most beautiful American car of any era."Now that he's retired, Gulliford would like nothing more than to get behind the wheel of one again, but the $100,000 price tag it carries today is too steep. .
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