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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 At home he was withdrawn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.