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WORRY MOAT EEDA ETE SAN CER FILLES ol REAR SEY HOLBY Sa LY dS ACE TTF SER CAN Ps 0 a WAT HE RE RAILS R 2 Ter Ral hr (RL 4 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday June 15, 1982 editorial comments . , 5, ALL THE KINGS HORSES AN ALL THE KINGS MEN TRIED, OH LORD Hot THEY TRIED. . . PUCOECEENR W., tay, NSS. AF MNS ON NS -. » ~ A SR chatterbox by John B. McClelland THE NUKES Most experts on the subject agree that a full nuclear people outright in Russia and the United States, and leave the survivors a planet impossible to live on. A full nuclear war would mean the end of human civilization as we know it, and probably the end of all life. Those are the facts, despite what a few crank-pots in the American defense department may say about the possi- bility of not only surviving a nuclear war, but winning one. Unbiased scientific and medical opinions leave little doubt as to the outcome of a nuclear exchange. There is no such thing as a limited nuclear war. : The anti-nuclear movement is growing in Canada, the United States and western Europe. Sadly, the masters who rule from the Kremlin are clamping down on citizens - of the Soviet Union who are starting to question the insanity of their country's nuclear arsenal. What is happening outside the Soviet Union is that more and more ordinary men and women are being drawn into the anit-nuclear movement. They are not pacifists; they are naive idealists who believe that one day mankind will do away forever with conflict or war; they are not the back-to-the-landers who invision a society happily making candles, growing organic vegetables, and eating then out of the same communal pot; they are not professional protesters who manage to find a new cause every month just so they can march in some parade and wave silly banners for the TV cameras. No, a lot of the people now deciding to take action against the nuclear arms race are just like you and me; people with families, who get up in the morning and go to work; people who never joined a protest march or signed a petition. They are simply people who have come to realize that their chances of living when the big nukes go off are non-existant. They don't like those odds; they are going to put pressure on their governments like pressure has never been applied before, and they aren't going to fake any silly answers about why we need nuclear weapons on every street corner. nt . Inthe next couple of months (if we are still here) the anti-nuclear movement is going to continue to grow. And war between the super powers would kill about 200 million the activists will include a wide cross section of society; the kinds of people that politicians and govenments listen to, especially when they are united, "motivated and organized. In the past, anti-nuclear activists have been painted with that brush that they were soft on communism (they'd rather be Red than dead) that they were chicken-livered and anti-military in general; that they didn't understand why nuclear arsenals are necessary; and that they were Yorkie from within to dismantle western society as we w it. A lot of people were frightened away from the movement because they did not want to be painted with those brushes. . But that is changing now, and people are saying enough is enough. They are going to tell our political leaders that the nuclear arms race must be stopped; that the nuclear inventory must be reduced; that time is running out. They are telling Mr. Reagan (who is a politician) to get serious with the Russians about reductions of nuclear weapons, and never mind the shop-worn Cold War rhetoric that the only way to maintain peace is by building bigger and better nuclear bombs. I personally feel that coming to grips with the nuclear crisis is the most important issue facing all of us today. Unemployment, the economy, inflation, interest rates and so on will not matter much to anybody if somebody presses the button. I believe there are a lot of people right here in Scugog who feel the way I do; people who are not anti-military, chicken-livered, or soft on commies. But those who simply want a chance to see their children grow up. I believe there are people like myself who feel frustrated and angry that our governments appear helpless to do anything to stem the nuclear weapons race. The time is long overdue for people to stand up and tell the governments that they have a stake in their own survival. I very seldom use this column space to ask for opinions from readers, but in this case, I'm going to.do just that. If you feel angry, frustrated and a bit frightened about the prospect of frying in a nuclear war, give me a call or drop into the Star office and let's talk about it. Maybe if there is enough of us, we can organize a " movement right here in Scugog Township. It would be a start. Unwise Decision Durham Region council made an unwise decision last week when it essentially voted in favour of a proposed shopping mall in south Bowmanville, despite strong and adament opposition from members of Regional council who represent the ratepayers in that area. Not only did Reglonal council ignore the please of the majority of councillors from that area, the decision last week Ignores a recommendation from the Durham planning department and committee and the pleas of existing merchants who feel that 165,000 square foot mall away from the downtown core will have a devastating effect on business there. Whether Bowmanville needs a shopping mall of that size In that location is not the issue. Whether Newcastle council is being overly protective of existing merchants is not really the issue either. Whether the proposed mall at Baseline and Waverly Roads in Bowmanville makes sense from a purely planning point of view is also not the main issue. The fact is that Regional council has made an intrusion into what little is left of political autonomy at the local municipal level. Essentially what Durham council did last week is tell the duly elected members of the Newcastle council that they don't know what's best for their municipality. The bitterness and anger of those members from Newcastle is understandable. To put it in a perspective, what would the reaction be in Scugog if the local council here was strongly opposed to an important issue and the Durham council turned the situation around and voted in the face of this opposition. There would be a hue and cry against Regional council's meddling in local affairs, and members of Scugog council would be extremely upset. When the Region was formed nearly a decade ago, it was given powers for overall planning through the Official Plan. Matters of specific zoning were left in the hands of the local municipal councils. However, it has been a kind of unwritten rule at . Regional council that when the local council is strongly in favour or opposed to an issue, Durham will if possible go along with the wishes of the local politicians. It doesn't always work that way, of course, but if an issue does not have a financial Impact on ratepayers, In the rest of the Region, the council usually lets local politicians fight it out at the local level. The Issue of this proposed mall for Bowmanville Is a complex one and. many strong arguments have been made for both sides. The argument put forward that development of the mall will somehow spur housing In the area Is open to serious question. Housing developers are hamstrung these days by the high cost of capital, and the fact that current mortgage rates have killed the new house market. One shopping centre is not going to alter those facts of life. . - - Durham Region has undergone many growing pains over the past seven years. Some of the deep feelings of mistrust and alienation have been allev- iated, but the process has been a long, painful one. In the issue of the proposed Bowmanville mall, Durham council should have heeded the wish of the local council. Heritage Language Thank goodness the provincial govenment through its Education Minister Bette Stephenson has sald no to the request from the Toronto Board of Education for the teaching of heritage language programs during regular school hours. What the Toronto Board has proposed is that Instruction be given in language other than French or English in certain schools in that city. Critics of the proposal are quite right when they say that the effect would be to Isolate and "balk-- anize" students Into language ghettos. They say that what many of these students need ~ Is more Intensive training and instruction in English, which after all, Is the language used by the vast over- whelming number, of people in nine of the ten provinces in Canada. : The retention of language and culture is an admirable undertaking, and Canada does more than (Turnto page 6)