A look back at events of 2002

August

• Orkney MSP Mr Jim Wallace announced that the Scottish Executive may be considering setting up a separate contract to ship livestock from Orkney and Shetland in future not linked to the lifeline ferry contract won by NorthLink.
  
  The announcement came after Norse Island Ferries confirmed that they planned to operate a six-day-a-week freight and livestock service between Shetland and Aberdeen. Mr Andrew Banks also applied to the Scottish Executive to qualify for Tariff Rebate Subsidy, as a livestock carrier.
• Orkney Islands Council convener Councillor Hugh Halcro-Johnston confirmed his intention to stand for election to the council.
• Orkney Police Sergeant David Miller said that the county¹s police force must not be complacent, following news that Orkney had recorded the lowest statistics in a number of crimes.
• Orkney looked set to go it alone with the livestock cassette system after a series of meetings hosted by Orkney Islands Council, involving representatives from NorthLink, the National Farmers Union, Orkney Tourist Board and Orkney Auction Mart.
• The East Mainland Show of 2002 was hailed as a great success by the president, Mrs Lizzie Linklater, mainly because of a new layout and timings which attracted a good number of entries.
• A lobster caught off Stromness sparked interest from sealife centres down south because of its completely white body. The lobster was caught by local fisherman James Marwick who handed it over to Orkney Fishermen¹s Society. The lobster eventually found a new home at the MacDuff seacentre in Aberdeen.
• Viking Islands Holidays, the tourism marketing initiative which was hailed as a way of encouraging more visitors to the Northern Isles, folded this month without one package being sold.
• Partners in the ill-fated venture, NorthLink and Orkney and Shetland tourist boards, blamed the failure on the lack of agreement over the formal structure of the operating company.
• Quoyloo-based racing driver Garry Dickson narrowly escaped with his life after an 120-mile-per-hour crash during a race in Northern Ireland demolished his car and sent him to hospital.
  
  Although Garry had to be hoisted from the wreckage of his Westfield car, after being put on a drip and stabilised for 30 minutes, he miraculously walked out of hospital the next day.
• Dounby FC were stripped of the Reid Cup after an investigation by the Scottish Amateur Football Association, following complaints about "player irregularities".
• Pentland Ferries secured a second vessel to support the Pentalina B on the short sea ro-ro route - the former CalMac ferry, Claymore.
• Official recommendations to refuse planning permission on air safety grounds of a Flotta project were swept aside, meaning that proposed plans for the erection of a wind turbine on the island were to go ahead.
• Serious concerns were raised this month over the delays in getting a berth at Scrabster ready for NorthLink¹s new Pentland Firth vessel Hamnavoe at the end of October. The company had chartered the CalMac vessel Hebridean Isles to cover the route until the work on the pier was completed.