4 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, December 16, 1986 Editorial Comments Quit The Stalling Peterborough MP Bill Domm is not the most popular guy among his fellow Conservatives on Parliament Hill. Domm and a few others have been waging a lonely battle in Ot- tawa to get the capital punishment issue back on the floor of the Com- mons for a debate and a "free vote." Last week, he had some words of criticism for fellow Conservative back benchers on the Justice Committee, accusing them of stalling on a motion to study the pros and cons of restoring the death penalty. The Justice Committee decided to delay a vote on this issue until this week and Domm thinks it could be the new year before further action is taken by the Committee. The capital punishment issue has become a "cause celebre" for the Peterborough MP. He keeps reminding his own Party, the Con- servatives, that one campaign promise leader Brian Mulroney made way back in the summer of 1984, is that there would be a free vote on the issue before the next election. Mulroney is half way through the term and there has been no vote. In fact, the issue is bogged down in front of committees, a long, long way from the floor of the Commons. Canada officially abolished capital punishment a decade ago, but it's been nearly a quarter century since the last person was hang- ed in this country. All three federal party leaders have stated that they personally are opposed to a return of capital punishment, but that is not the posi- tion of many Ottawa back-benchers who claim their constituents want the noose brought back for certain crimes, including murder. With the Conservatives holding a large majority of seats in the Commons, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney may have good reason to fear the outcome of a so-called "free vote" on this issue: Such a vote just might end up in the affirmative, and the Prime Minister would then face the ticklish task of dealing with legislation that he and many members of his Cabinet personally find repugnent. Nevertheless, this issue is an important one to a great many Canadians, who at very least would like to see a full and complete debate in the Commons. And there is little doubt that a lot of Cana- dians want this country to re-instate capital punishment. They firmly believe the death penalty is a deterrent to murder, and they are tired of hearing horror stories of convicted murderers gaining parole and then taking another innocent life. It is time to bring this issue back to the House of Commons where MP's, with input from all sectors of Canadian society, can debate, discuss and hold a vote according to their consciences, not the dic- ~ tates of their party. Canadians are waiting for some answers. They are waiting for some leadership. And like MP Bill Domm, they are growing more frustrated and impatient day by day at the stalling tactics on Parlia- ment Hill. "= "I'm on one of those fad diets. The more | eat the fadder I get!" IT's A TRENDY APPROACH JO THE SUNDAY collecrioN PLATE / { Port Perry STAR |§ 235 QUEEN STREET - PORT PERRY, ONTARIO i Phone 985.7383 P.0.Box90 LOB INO J. PETER HVIDSTEN Publisher Advertising Manager Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association and Ontano Community Newspaper Association Published every Tuesday by the Port Perry Star Co Ltd , Port Perry, Ontario J.B. McCLELLAND E Authorized as second class mail by the Post ; Ottice Department. Ottawa, and for cash CATHY OLLIFFE payment of postage in cash News & Features Second Class Mail Registration Number 0265 ' a, En - Subscription Rate: In Canada $15.00 per year. Rs "Elsewhere $45.00 per year. Single Copy 35' ©COPYRIGHT -- All layout and composition of advertisements produced by the adver tising department of the Port Perry Star Company Limited are protected under copyright and may not be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher Chatterbox by Cathy Olliffe ANASTASIA? Caught a little bit oi interesting TV the other night -- Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna. Did you see it? If you did, you know as well as I do it was just another trashy mini-series, full of romance and minor intrigue, designed to titillate the senses without provoking any in- telligent thought. } Trouble is, it did provoke a lot of thought. Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna, dealt with the ultimately thought-provoking story of Anna Anderson, the woman who spent her entire life at- tempting to prove she was Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov, youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, ruler of pre-Communist Imperial Russia. According to most history books, the Imperial family, seven in all including Anastasia, were kill- ed in cold blood by ten members of the Bolshevik Cheka (secret police) on or about July 16, 1918. I say "on or about" because no one is exactly sure what date the murders took place. In fact, there are those who believe certain members of the Imperial family were not murdered at all. For that reason, the mystery surrounding An- na Anderson still lingers. According to one book, The File On The Tsar, 'Anastasia' first appeared February 18, 1920 when a 20 year old woman jumped off a bridge in Berlin, attempting to commit suicide. No identifying papers were found in her possession, and she clammed up when police ask- ed for her suicide motives. For six weeks she lay in a hospital bed, refusing to say anything about her identity. Finally, both police and doctors gave up and transferred "Jane Doe' to an insane asylum for observation. After two years of steadily deteriorating health in the asylum, the mystery woman finally told a police official that she was Grand Duchess Anastasia, that she was present at the murder of the Imperial family and that she was the sole survivor. The following is a quote from The File On The Tsar: 'She said she had hidden behind one of her sisters, had herself been hit by gunfire, and had then lost consciousness. When she came to she found herself with the family of a soldier who had realized she was still alive, and rescued her at the last minute from Bolshevik clutches. According to Baron Kleist (the police official), the grand duchess then travelled with the soldier's family by road to Roumania, and then made her own way on to Berlin. In another conversation, said the Baron, the mystery girl added to the story. She named the soldier as Alexander Tschaikowsky, and said she had a child by him, a son, conceived during the trek out of Russia. Tschaikowsky had been killed in a street fight in Bucharest, and her child had been placed in an orphanage." From the moment she told the story, '"Anastasia" was a celebrity. And from that moment on, the woman who became known as Anna Anderson (an alias she adopted) fought to attain acceptance from the re- maining members of the Romanov family, who believed the real Anastasia to be long dead, and who bitterly disclaimed the so-called "imposter" at every turn. - According to the mini-series, all Anna Ander- son wanted from the Romanov family was her name and title, and she fought for both through a lengthy court battle that lasted until 1974. When the dust settled, the judge said neither side had won: there was not enough evidence to either confirm or deny "Anastasia's" existence. Eventually, Anna Anderson settled in Charlot- tesville Virginia, where she died in 1980. Was Anna really 'Anastasia?' Personally, I'd love to believe it. The story is infinitely roman- tic -- not the lovey-dovey romance found in Harlequin novels, but the romantic stuff adven- ture stories of made of. How perfect it would be for a young girl to escape the clutches of murderous soldiers and reappear as the rightful heir to an exiled dynas- ty. Everyone loves royalty (witness our winsome regard for England's monarchy), especially royalty with such a deliciously adventurous background. : And according to the writers of The File On The Tsar as well as the producers of Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna, there is a wealth of evidence to support Anna Anderson's claim. Why else would a court case run on for so many years? But deep in my heart, I have to believe Anastasia died along with her parents, her three sisters and her brother. Why on earth would soldiers, sent to annihilate the Imperial family, allow one member to live? The following is another quote, a gruesome account of the murders, found in a book called The Last Tsar and Tsarina: "That night Yurovsky (the leader of the 10 Bolshevik Cheka) awakened the family at m.d- night, telling them the White Army was ap- proaching. They were to dress quickly and to come downstairs, because a fleet of cars would soon be arriving to take them away. Nicholas ap- peared first, carrying Alexis (his son), and soon the whole family was assembled in the small base- ment room. The Emperor and the Empress were given chairs. Behind Alexandra stood the four girls, and next to them the cook, the valet, a doc- tor, and the ladies' maid, Demidova, who carried a cushion concealing a collection of imperial (Turn to page 6)