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ww ' i , snd : A one time resident of Port Perry submitted this photo taken years ago. From left, Laura Ingram [Mrs. E.L. McLean], her brother Edgar and a friend Grace Callacutt who lived in a house 60 YEARS AGO Thursday, January 29, 1920 There were three contestants in the-contest for the Wardenship of Ontario County and the position was captured by Reeve Scott, of Pickering. The other con- testants were Reeve Weir of Reach and Reeve Noble of Scott. Mr. Ross Hood attended the Ford convention held at King Edward Hotel in Toronto. - Mr. Sam Griffen is working at the Piano Works in Oshawa. 35 YEARS AGO Thursday, February 1, 1945 A former resident of Greenbank, Flt. Lieutenant Salter, was awarded the British Empire Medal in the King's New Years Honour List. remember when ...¢ pov bi » Keo, as I --. ' t ' a § e 4 Be ¥ vi NAYS next to the Baptist Church. Note the interesting fashions worn by young people in that day. [ Photo courtesy of Mrs. E.L. McLean] Officers elected at the annual meeting of the Perry, Reach and Scugog Agricultural Society were President Fred Christie; 1st Vice, Armour McMillan; 2nd Vice, Leslie Smith; Sec.-Treas., R.D. Woon. By-Law No. 1108 was passed by Council appoint- ing the following to various boards: A.B. Cawker to the Board of Education for 3 years; Roy O'Neill to the Board of Health for 1945; Mr. W. Harris to the Public Library Board for 1945; and Chief George Holmes to the Sanita- tion Board for 1945. 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, February 3, 1955 Mrs. Art Brock, Regent Scugog Chapter 1.0.D.E. (Turn to page 6) RUSSIA AND THE WEST Not since the days of the Berlin Wall and the Cuban missile crisis of almost two decades ago, have the relations between Russia and the Western powers been as strained as they are today. The Western powers know what the Soviets have done in Afghanistan since Christmas Day when they started a massive military invasion of that supposedly sovereign country. In the four weeks since, the situation has become progressively worse in terms of relations between the Soviet Union, and particularly the United States. The question that is confounding the political experts in international relations at this time is not so much what are the Soviets up to, but rather, why? Why did they make the decision to move into Afghani- stan? Will they strike again, and if so, where? There is no shortage of theories making the rounds: - the Soviets have their sights on the Middle East oil fields, and Afghanistan is just the jumping off point. - the Soviets are trying to stir up trouble between India and Pakistan, and thus use India as a counterbalance against the Chinese. - the Soviets are trying to gain control of the oil tanker lanes in and out of the Persian Gulf. - the Soviets are taking advantage of the American crisis in Iran with the aim of further strengthening their influence in that troubled country. All of these theories and others appear to have some merit, but it is obvious that the Soviet decision was not made in a vacuum: the Soviet leadership decided that the time was right for military intervention despite the rather awesome risks involved. My own theory about this is that the events in Afghanistan are an extension of Soviet policy that probably had its roots back in the early 1960's, at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Soviets, you will recall, 'backed down" when they turned their ships around in mid-ocean in the face of the American blockade. They had no other choice because the Americans and the Western powers were stronger in terms of conventional military capability and nuclear weapons. My guess is that at that time the Soviet leadership made a couple of crucial decisions: the first was an all-out effort to increase their military strength of a non-nuclear nature such as tanks, planes, ships and the size of the armed forces. chotterbox ... The second was to embark on a policy with the Americans of limiting the development of nuclear weapons through treaties banning testing in the atmosphere, and the strategic arms limitation treaty of the early 1970's. In other words, while the Soviets were going along with a slowdown of the costly nuclear arms race because they were so far behind to begin with, they were at the same time pulling out all the stops to build up their conventional military strength. Throughout the seventies, there have been ample warnings that the Soviet build-up of non-nuclear weapons far exceeded their needs for defensive purposes, to the point where military analysts now feel that the NATO forces wouldn't stand a chance if the Soviets launched a conven- tional attack in Europe. And at some point since the Cuban missile crisis, the Soviet leadership probably came to the conclusion that the Western nations which have nuclear arms would never use them, unless of course, they were attacked directly. So, what we have now is a situation where the Soviets have superior military strength on the land, sea and in the air, and the United States and the West are sitting on a massive nuclear arsenal which they will not use. If one wants to be entirely cynical over this issue (and I- am when it comes to the Soviet leadership) they simply have the Western powers where they want them, and it has taken them 20 years to do it. The Russians have duped us into believing they wanted a stable international situation. They sent their hockey teams to North America. They bought our wheat in great quantities (instead of turning out combines and tractors, they were turning out tanks and guns). They bought our technology, especially in the area of computers and oil drilling equipment. They opened up their country to Western tourists, cultural and scientific exchanges of all kinds. They even went so far as to allow Pepsi-Cola to set up bottling plants. All the while this warming of relations was taking place, the Russians were building more and more tanks, artillery pieces, submarines, MiG 21's, and so on. The Western nations are only now beginning to realize that '"'they've been had." There were signs earlier this decade when the Russians got involved in Angola, Ethiopia and Somalia; but Afghanistan is the ultimate example that the Soviets now know they can march into just about any third world country and the Western powers can do precious little to stop them. We can of course, cut off their wheat shipments. (They PORT PERRY STAR -- Wed., January 30, 1980 -- 5 letters Put library issue to a popular vote Dear Sir: The Library. I wish I had never heard of the Library. Never in my life have I read such a continuous stream of statement, contradiction and what would appear to be deliberately misleading information from various parties. I think it is time to make a few more points against an immediate library relocation on Water Street and for some clear, forthright and honest res- ponse from the Mayor and Town Council. At the time of writing, a considerable number of the voting population of this area have indicated NO to reloca- tion of the library on Water Street, on the lakeshore in response to a petition. The actions of the Mayor, Mr. Taylor, and the Library Board have appeared at all times to indicate that they are either: (1) Not listening to objections to the library; (2) Are going to have their way, and to heck with the opposition; or (3) Will say anything to support a library on the waterfront or, (4) Are committing political suicide. The piece in the Star two weeks ago about a vote of the Scugog Chamber of Com- merce to give $3,000 to the library fund, when closely McClelland examined might indicate a lack of propriety, perhaps lack of quorum for such a move. Can anyone imagine why there were five direc- tors of the Chamber absent (Turn to page 6) Gordie's prediction Dear Sir: I am a grade 7 student and 11 years old at Cartwright Central Public School. I have predicted the election for February 18 and have enclosed a copy and I would like you to keep it on file until after the election to see how well I have done. I am very interested in politics and this is my first prediction. Yours truly, Gordie Gettins Jr. Caesarea, Ontario Editor's Note: A very interesting predic- tion Gordie. We will keep it on file until February 18 and then find out just how close you are. If you are 'On the money' one of the parties may want to hire you as an official pollster. w- ~ probably have enough stock-piled to last them for years.) We can boycott the Moscow Olympics this summer. (The Russians could care less when they can gobble up a tiny country at will.) We can cut off their line of credit and cancel high technology trade arrangements. (Big deal, the only ones who will really suffer are the Western companies that have been selling their wares to the Russians.) We can make a lot of fancy speeches at the United Nations. (And the Soviet ambassador just pulls out his ear-plug and chuckles at it all). What we cannot do, of course, is muster enough military might and the will to use it, to get the Russians out of Afghanistan. They have us over a double barrel and they know it. Throughout the late sixties and seventies, Western leaders refused to believe, or in some cases, even listen to (Turn to page 6) _ 8 port perry star ) Company Limited Phone 985-7383 Serving the Township of Scugog J.PETER HVIDSTEN Publisher Advertising Manager J.B. McCLELLAND Editor Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association and Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association Published every Wednesday by the Port Perry Star Co. Ltd_, Port Perry, Ontario Authorized as second class mail by the Post Office Department, Ottawa, and for payment of postage in cash Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 Subscription Rate: In Canada $10.00 per year Elsewhere: $18.00 per year ao» Ry 'sr, QA, = ® 7 ~ 0 v, 5 "Cag ad Single Copy: 25° Fes a Le) wx RN oN, Cs | i ~ a RCE CARR oA A a a Pl} vege' AR LU yi - I Nd vo IR AR '. oe ve. PW oe a WV ~ dot 2 " y- A CETTE TO ~K = Be} aN Cael AA ET: yy Ls > ers Ea a te od ER URI Rey - - nt er ~~