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< wp» 8 -- Scugog Citizen -- Tuesday, July 21, 1993 JEDITORIAL . a Our finest hour In this year, the ]25th anniversary of our birth as a nation, Canadians have been doing a fair amount of flag waving. In fact, one might say a lot more flag waving than has been the cusiom in this country over the years. Surely, no flag anywhere evokes as much pride than the small Maple Leafs on the left sleeves of those incredibly brave Canadians who are righfinow in the middle of a bloody and vicious conflict at Sarajevo. Continuing a tradition of UN peacekeeping that goes back to mid '50s, Canadian forces once again find themselves in a mili- tary situation that is almost intolerable. Muslims, Serbs and Croats in and around Sarajevo are butchering each other without regard to age or anything else. Anyone who has flipped on a TV news report or followed the brutal war in the pages of news magazines and daily papers can't help but be appalled at the slaughter. In the middle of this are the Canadian, wearing the red Maple Leaf on their sleeves and the familiat blue beret of the United Nations. g They are, as usual in peacekeeping operations, vastly out- numbered by hostile forces and vastly ouj-gunned. Their job is 10 keep the warring factions in this civil war apart. They want to Sarajevo to carry out the most lofty of missions: to prevent war not wage it. Stories of individual courage under fire are already coming out of the war zone. And no doubt there will be more as the story of this conflict is finally told in full. i ) But just being there requires courage of the first magnitude. Ando carry our their task requires a degree of skill nd profes sionalism found in few armies in the world today. Would that just one diplomat or politician on the world stage had a tenth of the same courage and skill. Perhaps our brave men and women could return home In a ime when many of us are feeling edgy about our own country and its future, we should all take a look at Sarajevo and the courige shown by a handfuf of our fellow Canadians. From Suez 10' Cyprus, the Middle East to Korea, they carry on a noble tradition that has put Canada on the intermational map: peacekeeping Every minute of every day in what truly has become one of the hell-holes of the world, these Canadians are putting their lives on the line in the name of humanity and basic human rights. And you say there are no Canadian heroes? Five decades ago in a larger conflict, a British Prime Minister with a penchant for cigars and strong speeches talked about "their finest hour." The same could easily be said about the Canadians in Sarajevo. As those brave men and women were dodging bullets (not to mention mortars and artillery fire) in Sarajevo over the week- end, several groups of women in Canada were removing their shirts to demand the right to go bare-breasted in public. And they were showing support for a Guelph university student who was convicted and fined for public exposure last summer. Some Canadians no doubt:are asking themselves what's the point to this bare-chested protest, which as might be expected attracted plenty of leering, smirking male on-lookers (many ' with video cameras) The right of women to go bare-chested in public (as men do) may be important to some. One who was interviewed said something about "empowerment, the right to do whatever we want with our bodies." And the need to rid society ofgpe notion that female breasts are sex objects. Other Canadians may look at these bare-chested protestors and wonder if there is not a slighly more important issue to throw their energies at. Still, the right to protest is what democracy is all about. Kind of like what those brave Canadians in blue berets areal about in Sarajevo..." . { "Published by Scugog Ariag s0¢& I'M JUST WORKIN' ON MY OWN SHORT LisT/ 3§UG06 CITIZEN 92: ~ NS P=------| LetTERs To THE EDITOR ri Sites stir up a real hornet's nest To the editor: The recent identification of five sites in Scugog Township for'a "garbage dump has certainly strrcges a hornet's nest of protest. It 1s unfortunate that an envi- ronmental problem has been con- verted to a political opportunism exercise. 1 suppose we could expect such a result by opening the search and solution procegs o the public. The alternatives, se, would be to exclude the pu and reach a decision behind closed doots Either option places the "Government in a "damned if they do, damned if they don't posi- ui . Contrary to the charges that Liberal leader Lyn McLeod and Scugog Mayor Howard Hall have stated in the press that the Intenm Waste Authority has not consid- ered all the options or listened to the concerns of the public is com- pletely un-true. The IWA was scary set up to receive as muc hc input as ssible, which it does selfs the IWA did not adopt the alternatives that McLeod and No problems at teen dances To the editor: 1 would like to thank the mem- bers of the Sunrise Opumist Club of Port Perry for such a fantasuc job done on the Festival Days events and Canada Day, especially the success of the teen dances. These dances for teens were conducted by the Optimist Club because of problems in the past with crowd control. Since then, there have been no problems, even' - during Festival Days. I have talked to several teens in attendance at the dances. They have had a lot of fun. According to Club members who remain at the Latcham Centre long after the dances are over, there have been no problems with young people outside. ' Many teens are picked up by their parents after the dances and a small group of Optimist members remain to clean up the Laicham Centre. If there 1s any trouble due to teen-agers, il is not caused by those who attended the dances. Membership cards are issued to all students who attend and house rules strictly enforced. ! During Festival Days, the 2 on 2 basketball was a great success. Even during the rain, the students didn't want to quit, so we conun- ued nght through to 6:00 PM. We appreciate the help from Bryce Jones, Pineridge Sports and Dimitri's Rige Foods in sponsoring this. Thanks alse to DJ Steve McEachem for all his hard work during Festival Days, and to our president Greg Maunder and Optimist Pam Vivian who have attended every Club event held so far And 10 my husband Bob Dalby for his help and patience during these events. For our Canada Day events in Palmer Park (face painting, pop-- corn, candy floss, hot dogs etc.) thanks to Super Video Store and Hanks Pastries. All the events the Sunrise Club has been involved in this summer have been successful beyond the ipation of club bers. We Hall would have prefefred docs not mean that they were not stud- ied. If the McLeod-Hall combo has any new proposals, I am sure that Mrs. Grier would be only 100 pleased to study them. What bothers me is the fact the Liberals are using the environ- mental problems to enhance the health of their party at the nsk of damaging the health of the coun- ry. The crisis in which the Rae government now finds sell with regards to garbage disposakhas been obvious and predicted as hs back as the Davis Tones. No sut cessive Government, including the McLeod/Peterson Liberals had the courage to address the problem when they had the power to do so. Lyn McLeod and the local Liberals are obviously more inter- ested in gaining political brownie points than helping cure an envi- ronmental health hazard. If McLeod and all the other "nimbies"™ which probably include all of us, if we happened to be the ones immediately affected, would put the same fervent zeal into the reduction of our Kgpschold garbage, the problel ould be. greatly reduced. Too many of us point our fin- ger at industry and government for a solution. Yeu and I, the mirror image of us, are the creation of the garbage problem and only we can solve it. The bottom line is that it would be very unfortenate if a less envi- ronmentally safe dump site were to be chosen because of the out- cry from the "nimby" syndrome think this shows that there is a need for this Club in Port Perry. By the way, anyone interested in joining can call me at 985-0008. Sue Dalby, vice president, Sunrise Optimists, Port Perry. es Citizen Publishing Ltd. | Copublishen: prop Second, third or fourth choices are not acceptable for the healghof the environment and the safety of future generations. R.E. Grierson Port Perry. 36 Water Street Port Perry, Ont. LIL 1)2 Phone: 985-NEWS Fax: 985-1410 The Scugog Citizen, an independently owned and operated weekly is delivered free of charge 40 10,000 homes and businesses in and around Scugog Township. Printed on 10% recycled newsprint. iE hed |