Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site bonnie.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!jmm From: jmm@bonnie.UUCP (Joe Mcghee) Newsgroups: net.flame,net.politics,net.nlang.celts Subject: Death of a Terrorist? Message-ID: <244@bonnie.UUCP> Date: Tue, 2-Oct-84 13:52:01 EDT Article-I.D.: bonnie.244 Posted: Tue Oct 2 13:52:01 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 3-Oct-84 20:10:51 EDT Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Whippany NJ Lines: 35 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stephen Geddis was 10 years old when he came to visit the United States from Northern Ireland in 1975 as part of a program to get children away from the atmosphere of constant harassment and conflict. At home he was withdrawn and rarely went outdoors, spending most of his time playing with toys and learning the guitar and harmonica. He was a naive and innocent boy who didn't understand what was happening in his country. In the U.S. he stayed with the Owens family of South Shore, South Dakota. He was fascinated by the novelty of ranch life and rode a horse for the first time. "I like all the horses here", he said, "and the cowboys!" This was also his first experience seeing gophers, turtles, garter snakes, grasshoppers and dragonflies. He learned to play the harmonica, loved to ride a bicycle all over the town and became very well known by the people of South Shore, South Dakota and was amazed that strangers on the street knew him by name after news articles appeared about him in the local paper. He even rode his bicycle in the South Shore Fourth of July parade. "People are very nice to me here" he said. At home he was among the top three students in his class and was scheduled to skip the sixth grade and go on to the seventh. He liked to play soccer, basketball and baseball and he even played ball with the South Shore Little League. On August 5th he started the journey to return home. On returning home he lay in bed crying for three days, refused to go out and pleaded with his parents to be allowed to go back to America. After three weeks without leaving his home, Stephen's father insisted that the boy go out to play. Nearby a crowd of about 30 boys between seven and thirteen years of age were gathered on the street. As an armored car of the British Army's Anglican Regiment passed boys in the crowd threw stones at it. Eyewitnesses stated that Stephen had not been throwing stones with the other boys and no dirt was found on his hands. Chasing the boys, the soldiers fired plastic bullets at them. One of the plastic bullets hit Stephen Geddis on the side of the head. Two days later, August 30, 1975 Stephen Geddis died.