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

EE --------------_----. Su ra mn ivi EY « ER SP ST NII ETE HII INE I IEEE. PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, August 26, 1986 -- 5 Vi ewpol NE ums McClelland If you are a regular TV viewer, you have likely seen a rather curious ad that's been running on certain sta- tions for the past couple of weeks. The commercial opens with a grainy newsreel clip of Nazi storm troopers on the march, then shows por- traits of Stalin and Hitlc. with voice-over about the in- folios pact signed by the two dictators on August 23, The ad ends with a scene of a black ribbon tied to a strand of barbed wire with the announcer stating something about the relationship between Stalin's ag- gression and the invasion of Afghanistan and the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe and the Baltic countries. It asks viewers to don black ribbons on August 23 to pay homage to the millions who now live under the heel of Soviet oppression. It's a curious commercial, to say the least. I must admit I don't quite see the relationship between the Hitler-Stalin Pact of August, 1939, and the invasion of Afghanistan some 40 years later. The very strong im- plication is that Hitler and Stalin jumped into bed together to carve up Europe and this is still on today. Maybe, depending on one's political perspective, that is true. : But what the commercial fails to tell the viewer is that the Nazi-Soviet Pact of August 23, 1939 was a direct consequence of the utter failure of the spineless French and British leaders to stand up to Hitler. After watching Hitler march into Czechoslovakia, Austria and the Rhineland in the 1930's, Stalin saw the writing on the wall, more so than Chamberlain and the French. He knew Poland was the next country that would fall to the Nazis. He also knew that Russia was HISTORY LESSONS some time to prepare for the Blitzkrieg was to sign that Pact with the Devil, so to speak. ) Stalin's motive in signing the Pact was self- survival. It was not until June 1941, that Hitler invaded Russia. By then Stalin had had enough time to shore up his miserable army and thanks to massive aid from the Americans, was able to turn the Nazis back at the gates of Moscow and in the snows at Stalingrad. Nothing was going to stop Hitler from invading Poland in the fall of 1939. And he likely would have kept going into Russia. Had Hitler invaded Russia right after Poland, the outcome of the World War could have been entirely different. Historians agree that the brutal and savage war waged from June 1941 to 1944 on Russian soil at a cost of some 20 million Russian lives broke the 'Nazis and "softened up" Germany for the Anglo- American-Canadian invasion of Europe in June 1944. What the ad running on television today fails to note is that no other country suffered as much as Russia dur- ing World War Two, and without that Russian sacrifice, all of Europe and much of the rest of the world might still be under the heel of the Axis powers. All this of course does not justify in any sense the on-going and brutal oppression by the Soviets in Hungary, Poland, Estonia, Czechoslovakia and several other once independent states. But again, history tells us that with a little guts in 1945, the Americans and the British could have chased Stalin's armies back into "Russia without even a great deal of effort. "There is even some historical evidence to suggest that Eisenhower, supreme commander of Allied forces allowed the Russians to move across eastern Germany to Berlin. Some historians suggest that lke, who was eyeing a political career back in the States after the war, was only too happy to save as many Allied lives as possible by allowing the Russians to do the "dirty "work" in mopping up what was left of the Nazis in eastern Germany and Berlin. : Given this opportunity in 1945, Stalin, as in 1939, was only too happy to oblige. When it became obvious that the Americans and British didn't care much about the Eastern Europe territory under Russian control, Stalin simply dug his armies in, set up the puppet governments and assured himself that if Germany ever rose from the ashes again and threatened Russia, there would be hun- dreds of miles of buffer between Germany and the Rus- sian borders. As the TV commercial suggests, there can be no denial whatsoever that the policies of Stalin are respon- sible for the virtual enslavement of millions of Eastern Europeans in 1986. But Stalin, in addition to being the most ruthless and cold-blooded leader of the 20th cen- tury after Hitler, was also the shrewdest. He simply took advantage of historical opportunities first in 1939 to save his own country, then in 1945 to assure that Germany never again would have an easy time in invading Rus- sian soil. It is easy to blame Stalin for the death and misery of millions as the "black ribbon' ad does. But the milk- toast leader of France and England in the 1930's and the war-weary resignation of the Allied powers in the final days of World War must also shoulder some of the blame as well. The conclusion of the TV ad are true. The historical on Hitler's list, too, and the only chance he had to buy in Europe, put the brakes on in the spring of 1945, which -- premises are misleading and incomplete. Yesterday's Memories . 60 YEARS AGO Thursday, August 26, 1926 A very enjoyable time was spent at the home of Mr. and Mrs. W.F. Walker, Manchester, when the local Ladies Aid entertained the ladies of Myrtle, Prince Albert, Prospect and Raglan. ~ Thereis a rumor that the Canadian National Railway is putting in a Y at Brooklin to give Port Perry a through train to Toronto. This will speed up travellers and also allow the C.N.R. to ship their milk directly to Toronto without transhipment The new Bandstand, located at the foot of Queen Street and south on Water Street in Port Perry was opened Friday evening with hun- dreds of spectators present. School re-opens Sept. 7 with Miss B.M. Lowes in charge at the Myrtle School. 35 YEARS AGO _ Thursday, August 23, 1951 Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Redman, Scugog Island opened their home Saturday evening to celebrate a surprise party for her sister and brother-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. W.J. Fry's, 40th Wedding Anniversary. Mr. and Mrs. Luther Luke of Leaskdale, who have recently returned, from a trip to the Pacific Coast, called on his Mother, Mrs. P. Luke, Epsom, last week. Mr. and Mrs. Parks of Perth, have purchased the Bright Farm north of Epsom. 25 YEARS AGO Thursday, August 24, 1961 The Hon. Dr. M.B. Dymond of Port Perry, has decided to enter the contest to determine the new leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party. Congratulations to Mrs. Louise Patterson, Port Perry on winn- ing second prize on her Westboro rug at the Canadian National Ex- hibition, Toronto. Mr. and Mrs. Fred Brooks and sons, Toronto, have moved to the White Rose Station in Manchester and Mrs. Meta Howsam has moved to her new home in Port Perry. 20 YEARS AGO Thursday, August 25, 1966 Recent visitors at the Mansfield home, Queen Street, Port Perry were Mr. and Mrs. E.C. MacArthur, their son Ronald and Miss Wilhelmina van Daalen of Tilburg, Holland. Mrs. Dean Beatty, R.R.2, Cannington, a member of the Beaver- ton Junior Farmers, will represent Ontario County in the preliminary Dairy Princess competition to be held at the Canadian National Exhibition. 10 YEARS AGO Wednesday, August 25, 1976 James Cookson of Maple Grove had reason to smile last week as he was re-united with his brother Joe from England after a 65 year separation. Mr. Cookson's daughter Edith Davis of Scugog Island entertained them at her home. Humewood Fable, a bull owned by Murray Jackson of Humewood Farm won the Grand Champion award at the Peter- borough Exhibition Black and White Show. Work began last week on the new Liquor Control Board Store to replace the existing building on the corner of Queen and Perry Streets (now the Royal Bank). For the proposed Brooks Farm subdivision It appears as if Scugog Township council will only a'low 100 lots to be developed on. the former Brooks Farm property, just north of Port Perry. Council met with developer Michael Zygocki Monday afternoon- and several members stated that 100 lots is the number they want to see on the 132 acre parcel. When the plan for a subdivision was first presented to council earlier this year, it called for 141 lots. But the council indicated July 28, it wanted that number pared down to 100. - ""The-100 lots was a compromise number. We (council) felt that 141 was just too many for that area and not in keeping with the policy of slow but steady growth," said area coun- cillor Harvey Graham at Monday afternoon's meeting with the developer. : Mr. Zygocki noted that other developments in the Township have a higher number of lots per acre than this one, and he wondered why he can't be treated "like everyone else." He also said he has concerns over council stipulation that lots in the development which front on Lake Scugog should be doubled in size which in effect would reduce their numbers by half. Mayor Jerry Taylor replied that the council wanted the lakefront lots increased in size to help cut down on any adverse impact they may have on the lakeshore. All the lots in the proposed development will be serviced with municipal water and individual sep- tic systems. The lots average more than half an acre in size. Mr. Zygocki stated that to decrease the total number of lots from 141 to 100 will mean higher ser- vicing costs per lot, and this in turn will push the selling price up. When the proposed developinent first came in front of council last spring, many existing residents of the area just north of Durham Road 8 strongly objected to the size of the subdivision. They also strongly ob- jected to a proposed commercial development on the Regional Road of about three acres. Last month, council scaled down the commercial component of the development to just one acre, enough land for a single conve- nience store. "We felt that would be in the best interests of the future residents of that area," said Mayor Taylor Mon- day afternoon. However, many residents living in that area of Port Perry are still very Council wants 100 lots concerned about the development of a convenience store, and these con- cerns likely will be voiced when the matter comes in front of council again on September 8. Mr. Zygocki said Monday he would be disappointed if the council deleted the one acre of commengial land from his development proposal. Trucks moving? Scugog Township council will assist municipal garbage collector Edgar Brown in finding a new loca- tion to park his fleet of five garbage trucks. Mr. Brown, who is under contract with the Township for garbage col- lection in three wards, has been parking his trucks at his residence "on Scugog Island. Victorian street lighting (From page 1) start for a long time,"' Mr. Hvidsten told the council. The council declined to ear-mark any funds from this year's budget. But they did agree to give the Chamber of Commerce the green light to order the light standards so that hopefully they will be up for the Christmas season. Council agreed to ear-mark funds Letters to the Editor ... our policy It has always been the policy of this newspaper to encourage our readers to make use of the letters to the editor column. Our readers have a right to freely express their opinions and view- points on just about any subject, and we feel that a lively letters column helps make a better community newspaper. We insist, however, that a letter writer sign his or her name. On rare 'occasions, we will agree to with-hold publication of a letter writer's name, if we feel there are very good reasons to do so. Under no circumstances will this paper print an anonymous letter to the editor. While we enjoy receiving letters from our readers, we must continue to insist on knowing the identity of the writer. Township council would like to get the trucks moved to a new yard for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the yard on Scugog Island now being us- ed to park the trucks is a legal non- conforming use, and councillors feel this fact could present some sticky zoning problems in the future. And also, with the Township growing, (Turn page page 9) from next year's budget which would be put towards the cost of the new benches and garbage recep- ticles. These would not be placed on Queen Street over the winter months, anyway. Mr. Hvidsten said after the meeting he was pleased with the reaction and response from council as it will allow the Chamber to get started on this project immediately. 8 i