SN clearest, but it does show a good view of Brooklin in the year 1907. Taken on Baldwin Street, looking north from the vicinity of Cassels Road, you can see Elliott's General Store in the foreground. This building was constructed early in 1870 on land where the Canadian Im- perial Bank of Commerce now stands. It was demolished in 1972. To the north is the Brooklin House Hotel which was built in 1885 or 86. Originally built with a Belvedere on top, it was removed in 1900 and is therefore not in this photograph. The building stayed as a hotel until 1967 when it was purchased by Brooklin Legion. Next to this is the T.J. Holliday store. Built in the late 1870's it was also used as a township hall for a while; Fred Ormston had a clothing store there; and This week's photograph is not the AE ') it was the Bell Telephone exchange for Brooklin for some time. It has also seen service as a hardware store and is presently housing an antique store. To the right of the photograph can be seen the picket fence that surrounded the Globe Hotel, built in the 1840's, and which is now Grass Park. Next to that is the flat- topped frame building that was once the Methodist Episciple Church, built in 1845. This was the first church in Brooklin and was moved to this site in 1884 from its original location on Church Street. It was operated as a store until the early '30s when it was torn down to make way for a brick Bank of Commerce building. It now serves as the home of Brooklin Printing on the corner of Baldwin and Roebuck Streets. Photograph courtesy Whitby Historical Society pr] Take a Look Back - Just when things seemed to be going so great for American President Ronald Reagan, the proverbial stuff hit the fan. And it hit in a big way as the media services rang - with news of his operatives sending upwards to $100 million worth of weapons to Iran. It is almost a deja vu situation ... reminis- cent of Watergate ... you remember the 1973 scandal that turned out to be the undoing of Richard Nixon? Well the same thing is hap- pening again. Reagan, like his predecessor is playing a "I didn't know what was going on ... they did it behind my back," routine. And the darn crazy thing is that Reagan expects the population to fall for this bunk, just as Nix- on did. Well we all know what happened to Nixon don't we? Let's get down to the bare facts. The operation was called 'Project Recovery" and the "'cowboys" were in charge. Directed from the White House basement, members of . Reagan's staff shipped arms to Iran in the same free-wheeling style they used in their dealings with the Nicaraguan contras. Only a handful of need-to-know officials in the en- tire administration learned the full story. American's military leadership and its civilian experts on Iran were left in the dark. But the question sill remains ... how could this possibly exclude the president? As one of Reagan's top White House Aides put it, "This is a more serious episode than anything in his presidency." And it looks as though Project, Recovery was also Ronald Reagan's biggest blunder. Co If you are to believe a recent article in Newsweek, the president's operatives sent between $50 million and $100 million worth of weapons to Iran. They used the Central In- telligence Agency to get around normal legal restrictions on arms exports, and they went to extraordinary lengths to keep the Joint Chiefs of Staff out of the picture. With the CIA involved, raiding the arsonals turned out to be easy. Incredible as it seems, most of the formal Viewpoint by ROXANNE REVELER government of the United States is still try- ing to figure out what Reagan's cowboys were up to and how many weapons were actually sent to Iran. The president himself has done his best to downplay the scope of the Iran operation. At a recent news conference, Reagan said soothingly that the entire arms shipment '"'could be put in one cargo plane, and there would be plenty of room left over." But some well-placed officials have dug up a different story. They say Washington had shipped 2,008 TOW anti-tank missiles to Iran, along with parts for Hawk anti-aircraft missiles and Phoenix air-to-air missiles, plus other equip- ment ... more than enough to overload the big- gest cargo plane in the U.S. fleet. Now who is kidding who? The replace- ment cost of the TOWs alone was nearly $20 million. To move all that hardware, the cowboys went far outside the normal channels. The CIA carried out the operation. It opened a Swiss bank account into which Iran paid money for the purchase of the American Arms. The agency chartered the cargo planes that carried weapons to Teheran via Israel. The CIA actually extracted the arms from military arsenals in the United States, without the knowledge of the brass. Reagan's ad hoc intelligence operation apparently was design- ed to circumvent both congressional scrutiny and the objections of top administration officials. Now the plot thickens. The president ordered his defense secretary, Casper Weinberger to "facilitate" the arms transfers, despite Weinberger's expressed opinion that the whole idea of cozying up to Iran was '"'absurd."' In addition to selling Teheran TOW missiles and Hawk parts, military officials have said they suspect that the administration supplied the Iranians with equipment they needed to get their American-made F-14 Turn to page 22) TS Ry a - -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, December 2, 1986 -- 19 Reflections of a golden age by Mabel M. McCabe Memories So many holiday times to sift through and only a few words to put on the paper. ) can't recall the first time we had a Christmas tree in our home but | do remember the traditions that grew around it. Our tree was never put up until the night before Christmas. We all took part in decorating it and then the children would be bathed and clad in clean new pyjamas. The whole family gathered around that twinkling vision singing Christmas songs and drinking hot chocolate. It was then time for all the wee ones to go to bed and strive to get to sleep. | found this hard for | was sure | would miss something very important if | closed my eyes. We were not a wealthy family and many times the gifts were home made but the day was made special by the grace of loving parents and a mother who was expert with a needle and a father who could make toys from anything. Always the centre of our celebrations was the fact that this was the birthday of the Christ Child. And oh, the marvelous dinner. Mom would spend hours making it just right and we never felt poor, just greatly blessed. As the years advanced and | grew into a teenager all these traditions seemed to mold my thinking and | eventually brought most of them to my own home and family. | hope | managed to give my children a sense of the importance of love and togetherness. | think they have the right ideas for most of them do take the time to set their own forms of celebrations. They may be different than mine but they are just as special to all the little ones now waiting, starry-eyed for Santa. You have in your own way laid down the foundations for holidays for your families, just as | have and even though they are different they are just as valid and important. Never feel that your contribu- tion is lost on the emerging generations for something of you will always seep through. You will be remembered and blessed for what you gave. One Christmas that is a highlight of my past is the one in nine- teen thirty six. That year my husband to be gave me my cedar chest and as any one from my youth knows that is very special. My daughter has that chest today and the mahogany still glows and she loves it as | did for it carries memories for her too. | think most folks of my era miss the Midnight Mass. We always went with a group of friends and relatives. Walking through the snow singing carols. Our church was within walking distance and it was a joy to hold the hand of a loved one when your-gloves did not keep your hands warm. | think often of that church and the meeting of so many friends after Mass. One would have thought it was the middle of summer as we stood talking and wishing everyone Merry Christmas. a : Things are so different now. My parish church is too far for me to go and if | did | might have to leave early for health reasons. That is the way life is. No one can take away the treasures in my mind though. | will always be able to sing my carols as | walk through the snow even if it is only in memory. Region derelict on waste - Stoner A Pickering councillor has accus- ed the Region of being derelict in its treatment of waste disposal management in Durham. Norah Stoner told council members last week that they "had been derilict in their duties in that they had not put aside one penny for waste management." The comment was made during a debate on landfill sites and Stoner added council should have been working on finding a new land fill site, or other methods of waste disposal, long ago in preparation for the time when it will need an alter- native site. She said council must now begin to find a landfill site to replace existing ones that are rapid- ly being filled up with garbage. Stoner was speaking to a letter received from Bruce Taylor, the clerk of Pickering, which advised the region his municipality does not support any attempt to expand the Brock West facility in Pickering, and would not support the creation of a new dump site anywhere within the boundaries of the town. Stoner who is an outspoken critic of the dump, stated Durham can't rely on Metropolitan Toronto (who own the present dump in Pickering) to find a new site because they are not involving the region in their search for a new site. Stoner's comments were echoed by Whitby representative Tom Ed- wards who said council can't afford to leave the matter to any future members. "We're about to be buried under a mound of garbage if we don't do something," said Edwards. Regional Chairman Gary Her- rema said the management com- mittee has discussed landfill sites recently and has asked chief ad- ministrative officer Don Evans to prepare a report on the procedure to be followed by the region to locate a new dump site. He added he hoped works, planning, finance and management committees would work together to secure a new site for the dump. But Scugog Mayor Jerry Taylor expressed his concern that new pro- vincial legislation is forcing municipalities into drawn-out, cost- ly searches that led nowhere. He cited the case of Halton Region, who the week before admitted to spen- ding $6 million on its search for a dump site, but is still no closer to getting a garbage dump. Halton now hauls its garbage to New York State for disposal. Brock Mayor Allan McPahil alluded the province must set up the rules which are to be followed by the municipalities needing new landfill sites. He indicated the present rules are not clear and need a major overhaul.