The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

c-mnil letters to ncwsroom@durhamregion. The world waged peace 60 years ago VJ Day marked end of worst slaughter in human history / • •, V- • ' ■ x Though it is not celebrated with the same ceremony as VE Day (May 8) and D-Day (June 6), VJ Day, or Victory over Japan Day, marked the real end of the last time the world was at war. That day was 60. years ago this past Monday, when Emperor Emperor Hirohito surrendered to the Allied Forces. For many, the day is remembered remembered by. "the kiss," when a : happy sailor swept an unsuspecting unsuspecting nurse in his arms in Times Square. The pair are forever immortalized immortalized in that joyous occasion, a picture that captures a day. Others recall the. horrific atomic atomic bombings of Hiroshima (Aug. 6) and Nagasaki (Aug. 9) which killed hundreds of thousands and brought Japan to its knees, But we in Canada would do well to remember that it was the end of nearly four years of suffering and pain for Canadian soldiers who were captured on Christmas Day, 1941. • It was just a few weeks after Pearl Harbour, and Japanese forces were striking at areas throughout, Southeast Asia. , " A hardy band of Canadian sol- ■ diers -- aldiijf'with some Brits and Indians - were ordered to protect the British Colony of Hong Kong. Against overwhelming odds, they held out for two weeks but were eventually overcome. Some 1,975 Canadians fought in tlie battle. Those who survived, including Durham resident Sergeant Robert Robert "Flash" Clayton of Brechin, faced a grim future of torture and suffering. . Many had to work in Japanese plants as they lasted out the conflict conflict as prisoners of war. Some 557 died either in battle or in POW- camps. Few are left alive today. VJ Day is also an opportunity for us to recall our own unfortunate unfortunate part in the war --'on the home front. Because we were at war with Japan, some 22,000 Japanese- Canadians, three-quarters of whom were naturalized Canadian Canadian citizens, were stripped of their belongings and forced to live in camps'for years until.the end of the war. The Government of Canada has since formally apologized-to' those who were affected by this treatment. Aug. 15 is a day that allows us to remember that we can never' again become embroiled in a world war. That war left 50 million dead ". and many countries devastated, 'in ruins for years. v Never again. ' " : ' No Cast your vote online at infodurhamregion.com Last week's question: Is Michaelle Jean a good choice for Canada's next Governor General? No 39.2% Yes 60.8% Votes cast: 492 HAVE YOUR SAY Are you already shopping for back-to-school items? dorighan.com LETTERS TO THE EDITOR i-mail letters to iiewsroom@clurhamregion.com BACKWARD GLANCE Tyrone Soccer Team 1885-95 Photo supplied by Clarington Museum and Archives Soccer has a long tradition in Darlington as the local league recently celebrated its 125th anniversary. This photo of the Tyrone men's soccer team dates from 1885-1895. Downtown appreciates support To the editor: Re: Thank a volunteer this weekend, weekend, editorial, Aug. 12. On behalf of the historic downtown downtown business area of Bowman- ' ville I would like to say thank you for the kind remarks in the editorial. It is true not only in Bowman- villc, but other Villages in Clarington, Clarington, and throughout Durham Region that there are a lot of volunteers who spend countless hours planning events, such as our most recent very' successful Midnight Madness Event. These events give old and new residents of Clarington an opportunity opportunity to come visit downtown and participate and shop the many unique businesses there. • The businesses downtown are responsible for the flower baskets, street furniture, banner flags, Christmas decorations and • the general cleanliness (with thé help of the municipality) and the five events starting -with'the.- Maplefest, Fabulous Fifties Fes-' tival, Midnight Madness, Apple Festival, and the annual Christmas Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony. All businesses try to design their store fronts in keeping with the historic flavour of the downtown downtown and hopefully can plug into the Community Improvement ' Policy Initiatives being offered through the Municipality, which has been very supportive,. Most of your businesses downtown downtown are very supportive of sponsorships of various teams and events, as well as local charities charities such as Memorial Hospital Bowmanville, Big Brothers and Sisters, and Bethesda House just to name a few. Ron Hooper Chairman Historic Downtown Bowmanville Business Improvement Area Vacation allows us to find our 'inner salmon' To the editor: Re: Oh, the joys of going to the island, Neil Crone column, Aug. 14. _ If anybody ever hit it on the head, it was Neil Crone and his island vacation column. My girlfriend and I both read Mr. Crone's piece and it hit so close to home we thought he was with us on our vacation. My better better half's sister allows us to use her cottage (or camp as the are called in the north), on St. Joseph Island. We go there, we shed the city, our jobs and our lives. It is the hardest thing to come, back to all of this. The trick is to never forget that inner salmon and what he really represents: A life that we can all have, but the material things and status - in society seem to swallow swallow the psyche of people making them live in a very shallow, cruel world, unable to see the truth . in their, own existence. I will always have my inner salmon with me, reminding me to not get too caught up, and don't even try to keep up. I live with what I need, not what I want, and appreciate appreciate what I get. Richard Romanchuk Oshawa We need laws to protect the unborn To the editor: I have been deeply disturbed and saddened by the recent murder of Liana White and her unborn child in Edmonton. What further -disturbs me in this case is that our present law only allows the murderer to be charged with one murder as her unborn child is not protected under law. ■This is unthinkable. What has our nation come to that our law does not even allow us to charge this murderer for killing the baby as well as his or her mother? I call on (our MPs) to enact compassionate compassionate and common-sense legislation that will allow tme justice to be done. ■ Brendan Witton, Pickering Elaine Hamill "Not yet. I don't want to think about it, the summer has gone too fast." Tracy Emberley "No, not until the end of the , week." ' LETTERS We welcome letters that include name, city of residence and phone numbers for verification. Writers are genérally limited to 200 words arid one submission submission in 30 days. We decline announcements, poetry, open letters, consumer complaints, congratulations and thank you notes. The editor reserves the right to edit copy for length, style and clarity. The newspaper newspaper contacts only those people people whose submissions have been chosen for'publication. FAX: 905-579-1809; E-MAIL: Newsroom @ durhamregion. com. ()t) Tera Gerosavas "Yes, so I can get the best ! '■' selection and on sale. M, ' ■ :l.: Kaitlin Wilson "No. I have a stack of paper and lots of pens." Heritage designation not history Possible designation has divided neighbourhood Just when residents of Bow- manvillc's older residential area thought it was safe to paint their pillars purple, it's ba-ack^ the Heritage Conservation District. Pushed to the backburncr while the preparation of a Heritage Conservation District (HCD) plan, which will include guidelines guidelines for changes people within the designated area, could make to their properties, the matter hasn't seen a lot of discussion over the past year. But now, it's moving back into the public realm. The HCD plan is expected to be finalized and ready for public distribution and Jennifer Stone comment in early September, An open house on the matter will be held on Wednesday, Sept, 21, at 7 p.m. at the Clarington Beech Centre, 26 Beech Avenue in Bowmanville. The sort of triangular area under consideration is bounded by the north side of Concession Street West, the south side of Wellington Street, and the west side of Liberty Street North, It's an area, without question, filled, with beautiful old homes, and lovely examples of carly-Bow- manville-era architecture, But, the matter has, to some , degree, split the neighbourhood, with some saying there's a great need for such a designation, in order to protect the area from modern degradation, In fact, last summer, one homeowner went so far as to paint the pillars in front of his house -- gasp -- purple, to prove what could happen if such a designation is not put in place. Funny that an example had to be made, and that residents couldn't point to a property that had been so degraded as a result of no rules being in place. Still, there's certainly a very vocal group, crying crying out on the side of designation, designation, Ollier neighbours, though, argued that the designation could pit neighbour'against neighbour, if one believes the other is working working outside the guidelines when making alterations to their property, property, One wonders how such a blanket blanket designation could even hold up in a country like Canada, where individual freedoms, while not being paramount, arc certainly certainly taken into consideration in the Constitution, What right, one has to ask, docs the government have in saying what colour one paints, say, their pillars? Seems like more bureaucracy than is really necessary. Bringing the matter back into the fore also brings up another contentious issue: should Councillor Councillor Don MacArthur, who not only lives in the area, but chaired the Municipality's Heritage Designation Designation Committee, be forced to declare a conflict of interest on the matter.' Though there's some argument that councillors regularly regularly set rules, such as tax levies, that will impact them directly, but one has to wonder if this doesn't impact Cotin. MacArthur to so much greater a degree that he should excuse himself. So far, he's seen no reason to. The Sept. 21 open house will include a review of the contents of the plan, as well as options suggested for protection of the area other than designation under the Ontario Heritage Act. Further comments will be gathered at the Oct, 3 meeting of the General General Purpose and Administration committee, At some point, probably probably before too long, a decision will have to be made on whether to allow the designation to move forward, Surely, a way can be found to preserve heritage features without the exercise of so much control over homeowners, Let's hope Clarington finds a way. Reporter Jennifer Stone's column appears ev : ery other Wednesday, E-mail jstone @ durhamregion. com. The Canadian Statesman isyi " one of the Metroland Printing Publishing and Distributing group of newspapers. The Statesman is a member of the Bowmanville Clarington jw* Board of Trade, the Greater;!; Oshawa Chamber of Com- -•>' merce, Ontario Community ; * Newspaper Assoc., Cana- dian Community Newspape|gj Assoc., Canadian Circula- ^ tions Audit Board and the jk Ontario Press Council. The publisher reserves the right »! to classify or refuse any r advertisement. Credit for ad- : vertisement limited to space : price error occupies, Editorial! and Advertising content of i the Canadian Statesman Is 1 £ copyrighted. Unauthorized r©'- productlon Is prohibited. jl' A ocna B (?c)na