Drumcree town editor is waiting for the handshakes

The Portadown Times has a circulation of 13,000 in a town with a population of 21,000 - that is good market penetration, and …

The Portadown Times has a circulation of 13,000 in a town with a population of 21,000 - that is good market penetration, and its editor, Mr David Armstrong, is not going to blow it by announcing where he or the newspaper stands on the Belfast Agreement.

Portadown is, Northern Ireland's sectarian flashpoint. It is, of course, home to Drumcree Church and the Garvaghy Road. Mr Armstrong and his staff are now gearing themselves up for an event which for a local newspaper is far more significant than the Referendum, Drumcree Four.

For the past 30 years he has edited the newspaper in the town where he was born and brought up. He has attended countless funerals and seen his town centre destroyed twice. He says that facing Drumcree Four - this year's re-run of the Orange parade to and from Drumcree Church - is a "horrible thought" because it divides the town. The town always bounces back, but there is a great deal of harm done to community relations, he says.

Mr Armstrong is convinced that the Parades Commission was going to ban the parade this year but that Mr David Trimble managed to convince the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, that such a course of action would kill the Belfast Agreement in Portadown.

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The Portadown Times has been careful to present both sides of the agreement. In a full-page editorial following the signing of the agreement on Good Friday, the paper said: "This is not a perfect package in terms of delivering all of what any one group may have wanted. But then in such a bitterly divided country as ours, anyone who ever thought that an `I get everything, you get nothing' deal might materialise was either hopelessly deluded or unreasonably selfish."

The Portadown Times reports activities from the whole community, he says. It reports the sporting and cultural achievements of both Protestant and Catholic schools. Mr Armstrong is welcomed by both sides. Neither he nor his staff have been attacked. He does not know how the people of Portadown will vote. "There are those for it, and those against it and many still making up their minds. Many do see it as an opportunity to build a future, but they have questions to ask about it."

Living with Drumcree has probably made a pessimist out of David Armstrong. "You can talk about agreements, but what happens to Drumcree? What happens to other parades? Let's see the great respect for each other's cultures, the great coming together, the great handshakes," he says.

He is convinced the vote on the referendum will be one of the biggest events in his career as editor. "We will give extensive coverage to all the views. Drumcree is the litmus test. If you have a peaceful Drumcree, then we are on our way to a new Northern Ireland."

Some see the Portadown Times as an Alliance Party paper, others see it as an Orange rag, and some even see it as "Fenian-loving", he says. The newspaper has held its circulation, he says, by giving everyone their say.

"What we will be trying to do is find some sort of lead that gets us out of the mess we have been in for the past 27 years."