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The Brussels Post, 1977-11-09, Page 2INTAIILMINNO 1,73 Brussels Post .0,40EL$ ONTARIO WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1977 Serving Brussels and the surrounding community, Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario by McLean Bros. Publishers, Limited. Evelyn Kennedy - Editor Dave Robb - Advertising Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association COM *CNA Subscriptions (in advance) Canada $8.00 a Year, Others $14.00 a Year, Single Copies 20 cents each. The silent witnesses Natures debris Behind the scenes By Keith Roulston RCMP scandal a game There aren't many of them left now, and their numbers get smaller with each passing year. They went off in the fall of 1914, full of patriotism and bravado, to a war that most people thOught would be over by Christmas. When it did end, on November 11, 1918,, they came home to a different world. "The war to end all wars", as it was often called, had ended forever any notions of the romance of battle. Machine guns and poison gas had replaced swords, and people had died by the .millions. But those who came back carried with them .the *hope that their suffering, and the sacrifice of tho'Pe who had died beside them, had brbught peace to the world. Yet little more than 20 years later; another generation prepared itself to fight for freedom against.the political,W designs, of madtdiatator more malevolent' than. anyone had ever known. And when thal war was over and the enemy was crushed, the hope for peace burned as strongly as ever. Why did they fight and die in those wars? They went because they felt there were things in life worth protecting, whatever the cost, and the life we now live is a testament to their beliefs. In 1922,. King. George the Fifth of England was present at a Remembrance Day ceremony in a cemetery full of soldiers who had died in France. "I have many times asked myself" he said, "whether there can be more potent advocates upon the earth through the years to come than this massed multitude of silent witnesses to the desolation of war". Peace hasn't yet come to the earth. Wars haven't changed human nature, and the dre'am of universal peace may remain just a dr earn for a long time to come. But it's a dream that those who fought and died embraced, and its up to us to see that the dream is kept alive. . On Friday, each of us should pause to remember "those silent witnesses" in the hope that the kind of sacrifice they made will never be necessary again. Blyth pioneers Knight operated a harness shop in Petrolia for a few years. They eturned to Grey Twp. in 1899 to the north half of lot 21, con. 12, Grey Twp., where they resided for the rest of their lives.This farm is now operated by his grandsons. Jas. Knight was a beef cattleman and acquired extensive land holdings. They Were members of the Cranbrook Presbyterian Church and are Wrier! in that cemetery, Dr. and Mrs. US. Anderson Jim (1)00),AnderSciti was born on the 3rd of Morris. He Was goal tender for the Championship Brussels Football team. He married ISabella MeSIabb (Continued on Page 6) The R.C.M.P. Scandal has some people angry, some people shocked, and some people are indignant. Me, I'm just, confused. Oh I was like the rest of the country, a little stunned to hear our famous R.C.M.P. would get invovled in illegal activities but from there on, I see everything in terms of grey;• not an easy black and white. I hate to see police breaking the law, no matter how small the law. I've been irritated over the years by police cruisers that whip along at over the speed limit when they aren't using their siren or flasher and there's obviously no emergency. Yet I can see the side of the po lice in the problem of national security too. During World War 2, I wonder how many times the Mounties had to br eak the law to counter the efforts of enemy agents. I can imagine the frustration I would feel if I were a policeman and the other side was allowed to play without any laws while I had to stick to prescribed regulations, like a hockey game where one team could do anything while the other had to play by the rules. Y et it' the bad guys win, we still get upset with the police because they're not doing their job well enough. Civil rights are a very" important part of our democratic way of life. Civil rights are the one thing that sets our society off from the non-free countries on both sides of the iron curtain. There are times, however, when protecting the rights of a handful of individuals (crooks, terrorists, enemy agents) can work against the rights of the citizens as a whole. If you knew, for instance, that a man was'going to hijack an aircraft and hold 200 people hostage and there was nothing legally that you could do to stop him, would you take illegal action to stop him? The government has been put in the embarrassing position of having to defend the R.C.M.P. on an unpopular issue. Prime Minister Trudeau has explained some of the extenuating circumstances the Mounties face in trying to protect Canadians from terrorists and politcal unrest and Some of his points make sense. Yet there's extreme danger too, in allowing the police to use their own judgment as to when they can take the law into their Own hands, Such willful setting aside of the law can grow in use to the point where police disobey the law even in less than essential cases. I get confused by the Prime Minister' because in defending the R.C.M.P., as he must, from a blanket conderiniation that some people appear to be giving the foreei he has at times appeared to be condoning their every action, which I don't think he ,does. He ends up sounding like an advocate of a police state, an 'idea given plenty, of support by his detractors: In fact if you believe the hints thrown by the Opposition, Trudeau and his cabinet may even have been deeply involved in ordering the R.C.M.P. illegal activities. It would be a sad day if the government was involved, but then after Wateriate. who wouldn't believe a government capable of it? But while Joe Clark and friends are plenty willing to self-righteously suggest the government may be involved in the whole mess, They turned livid when the Prime Minister suggested the. Tories might have planted bugs in their own offices to add fuel to the controversy. If you can be cynical enough to believe the government might be behind ,the bugging and other hijink, must you not be cynical enough to conisider that the Conservatives might resort to such tricks, especially considering the impecbable timing of the discovery and the amateurishness of the equipment? And confused and cynical as I am, why do I think I can see a slight twitching at the corners of the mouths of Mr. Clark and Mr. Broadbent as they solemnly declare how guilty the government is in all this and how it should never have happened? Is it because, I can hear the back room men of the party rubbing their hands with glee at the possibility of a major scandal that will destroy the government and put the Opposition parties in a strong new position? Why is it that in the midst of a televized debate over such a momentous issue, I kept getting the feeling that these were little boys playing gaines in the House of Commons as they called each other names and tr ,ied to drown each other out and thumped their desks? These are people we're supposed to respect? And how about my fellows in the press. I sense an almost gleeful mood along the reporters as they tell us how horrible thewhole situation is. After all these guys have been waiting, for More than three years now for our very own Wat ergate and now they think they have it. The Whole affair somehow just makes me doubt the ethics of everybody involved: the Polite, the government, the opposition parties and the press. We, the ordinary citizens are supposed to be taking all this seriously while everybody else seems to be playing their little games with it. Mr. and Mrs. Lorne Nichol Lorne Nichol was born and lived his entire 87 years on lot 26, con. 6. Morris. After his marriage to Margaret Mickie, from Lot 11, Con. 6 Morris they took over the operation of this farm from his father. Their son Ross now lives on this farm, making the third generation to reside on the property. Mr and rs. Nichel both passed away in the same year (1977). They were members of the Brussels United Church and are buried iti the Brussels Cenietery, and Mrs. lanieS M: Knight Same Knight was born in 1859 In Usborne ToWnship. He married Christina. McNeil from Lot 17, Con. 14,. Grey Twp. in 1895. Mr. Al fry she sys sen Lir at fee5, Tn be der sal ate Ho No al Wi 4!331,13113.)s.g.a....