In this week's Westmeath Independent

This week's Westmeath Independent is now on the shelves and is packed with news, sport and photos. Featured stories include: * Athlone councillor Sheila Buckley Byrne is calling for the introduction of a by-law to ban begging in the town * There are reports that the head of a butchered deer was dumped on the road in the Willow Park area of Athlone recently * The Athlone branch of B&Q continues to trade this week, but its 45 employees face an uncertain future after the company indicated that the closure of the store was likely. * This Friday, close to two million BBC2 viewers are set to watch former Tory MP Michael Portillo's visit to Athlone for the 'Great British Railway Journeys Comes to Ireland' programme * We have a wide selection of photos from the Athlone Credit Union Schools Quiz; the St Joseph's College Summerhill and St Aloysius College joint school musical; the launch of local author Mary Elizabeth Coen's new book; and Cllr Paul Hogan's 30th birthday party. * Our Independent People series profiles sheepdog trial champion Barra O'Brien from Kiltoom. * With the annual Westmeath Independent sports awards taking place in the Hodson Bay Hotel this Friday, we feature a four-page special in which we talk to each of the twelve monthly winners. * We also have ten pages of sports news, reports, and photos including coverage of National Football League wins for Westmeath and Roscommon's senior teams, and a special feature on the 40th anniversary of Willow Park FC. All this and much more in this week's paper, which available in local outlets and can also be accessed in the ePaper format (for more on this option, see: http://www.westmeathindependent.ie/epaper#undefined)