The Clare Champion juxtaposed a charming picture of a children's race at the Parteen/St Nicholas Community Games with a report on child prostitution in Co Clare. Intentionally or not, the newspaper offered a thought-provoking view of the two Irelands, one an idyllic place to rear children and the other inflicting the worst the world can offer.
Urgent action is needed to prevent juveniles in Clare from drifting into prostitution and sexual exploitation, according to the Mid Western Health Board.
"The report, which investigated prostitution in the region, claimed that poverty and drug addiction were driving increasing numbers of teenagers into the sex trade," said the newspaper.
"Agencies in Clare reported that in one urban centre a small number of male juveniles between 14 and 16 years of age are suspected of being involved in exploitative sexual activities, believed to be drug-related, with at least one adult.
"There are also reports of three or four females, aged 15 to 18 years of age, who could be involved in prostitution in a port area of a third Clare town."
The Limerick Leader named Foynes as a port town where prostitutes conduct "discreet" sex sessions on board ships. Prostitutes are also offering "roadside sex" to motorists in the county.
An account of a UFO sighting near Derrynaflan last February 28th by a "highly respected couple" so impressed the Tipperary Star that the newspaper chose it to lead its front page.
"The husband and wife made the startling revelation this week that they witnessed an enormous object, resembling `a battleship', moving slowly over a vast area of bogland at Killeens, near Killenaule," it said.
Spellbound, flabbergasted, amazed and astounded were just some of the adjectives which the couple used to describe their reaction. "The object had lights, three on one side and two on the other, but they were not flashing lights. There was no beam from them at all.
"It had panels as distinct from windows, with vertical lines in the panels," said the couple who, like the object, remained unidentified.
With the traditional Communion money piling higher every year, it is no wonder it is becoming the target of thieves. The Nationalist and Leinster Times of Carlow reported the "unholy theft" of a young girl's Communion money in Bewley's Cafe at Carlow Shopping Centre.
Alert security guards gave chase, overpowered the thief and handed him over to gardai.
In Portlaoise rain is drenching people waiting for buses because the county council has become the first local authority in Europe to ban advertising on bus shelters, according to the Leinster Express.
Adshel, which provides the shelters for Bus Eireann, depends on advertising revenue. "In short - no ads, no shelters," said the newspaper.
Losing many a night's sleep to save the corncrake has made a hero of John Feeney, a farmer from Shanclough, Knockmore.
The Connaught Telegraph, picking up the story from Birdwatch Ireland, said that when a corncrake set up home just outside John's bedroom window, he donned a pair of industrial ear protection muffs in an attempt to endure the bird's distinctive nocturnal crek-crek. It wasn't until the bird moved into a nearby field that John got a night's sleep.
The Connacht Tribune gave one very good reason to vote for the Amsterdam Treaty - it will strengthen the case for parents fed up with orthodontic waiting lists to get treatment in Northern Ireland and have it paid for by local health boards in the Republic.
The case is already strong. A recent European Court ruling indicated that children on the two-year waiting list for orthodontic treatment could travel across the Border for treatment and present their local health board with the bill.
The ruling could also apply to hip replacements.
"Male members of Sligo Borough Council have hit back at claims by the Corporation's only female councillor (Ms Sheelagh Hanly) that they are operating a `men's club'," said the Sligo Champion. "We are certainly not sexist, and I am certainly not sexist," said Alderman Sean MacManus.
The age-old conflict arose again at last week's meeting during a debate on the distribution of grants to community associations and the arts, when Alderman Declan Bree accused Ms Hanly of "whingeing and cribbing".
"That is a typical reaction when somebody criticises the men around this table. This is crazy. I knew I would be accused of cribbing," she responded.