The Goderich Signal-Star, 1987-07-08, Page 5Heydon applauds motion
• Dear Editor:
In a free and democratic society
everybody has the right to rain on
eve: ybody else's parade, although in some
cases one wonders a little why a person
would want to do so.
One such occasion was Mr. Torn
Melady's letter in your last week's paper,
condemning the Goderich Town Council
( and indirectly the large group of people
who had approached the council with the re-
quest) for declaring the town a nuclear
weapons free zone.
When I listened to Councillor John Str-
inger's. arguments (Mr. Stringer was the on-
ly council member to oppose the declara-
tion) and after reading similar statements
made by Mr. Melady in his letter, my reac-
tion was and is that the two gentlemen are
reaching beyond, around and outside the
simple message of the declaration, but do
not address its point.
Their response makes me think of a per-
son who,.when you greet him with a cheerful
"good morning", starts to brood, with the
ponderous machinery of deep thinking set in
motion, over the hidden angles and possible
effects of such a wish.
No doubt all council members, the
"representatives of the medical profession
and all other individuals in the audience
were equally smartly aware that the na-
tional defence is a federal jurisdiction. The
declaration does not aim to redirect national
defence.
Coun. Stringer and Mr. Melady feel that
the declaration "does convey the message
that we do not have the materials nor the
will to defend ourselves against nuclear at-
tack nor to retaliate if attacked".
Canada has no nuclear weapons and no
known intention to become a nuclear power.
The declaration addresses only nuclear
weapons, in a very clear wording.
Since conventional weapons are no
defence at all against a nuclear attack, are
Mr. Melady and Councillor Stringer actual-
ly saying that Canada should Have nuclear
weapons?
It looks to me that the declaration is in
greater harmony with our national defence
than the philosophy of the two ;gentlemen
who are still addressing the realities of past
wars, without admitting that • these ex-
periences are obsolete in the face of the en-
tirely new reality of the nuclear age.
Incidentally, Ontario has been declared
nuclear weapons free zone by our provincial
legislation. Our declaration is in accord with
Ontario's spirit. We have. already lived in a
nuclear weapons free zone for a period,
without harming our national defence or the
balance of power.
Mr. Melady mentions notifying the
Kremlin. Since we vote in Goderich,
Canada, and not in Moscow, it was natural
to' take our petition to our own closest
government.
LETTERS
On second thought, Mr. Melady makes a
good point. Why not notify the Kremlin of
our philosophy? We are a small town, bu„ we
are inevitally part of contemporary global
realities. Without burdening the town coun-
cil with a new controversy, I am going to
send, as an individual and in a symbolic
gesture a copy of our town's proclamation to,
Mr. Gorbachev. I am in favour of nuclear
peace, because I am in favour of living and
continuing our civilization. I am going to
keep you informed, if there is a reply from
Moscow.
The proclamation in question does not ad-
dress the intricacies of international
politics, but Mr. Melady uses the occasion
for including references to it when painting
his own picture, just as Councillor Stringer
spoke of the "other side",
References to the "other side" -.contain
some irony that is not lost on me. Most
younger people probably do not know and
older Canadians appear to have forgotten
that Canada and the Soviet Union ended up
as great friends and allies in the Second
World War when Stalin's dictatorship was
on its worst level of oppression. Your
women knitted socks and scarves and sent
parcels for Russian soldiers. I say "your
women", because I was not here then and I
was not on the side of the Soviet Union.
Mr. Melady's letter refers to "eastern
European countries". I was born in Estonia.
As a young girl during the first Soviet oc-
cupation of Estonia ( and other Baltic coun-
tries) I took food to the railway station
where Estonian people were loaded on bag-
gage and cattle cars for Siberia. We did not
know why some of us were taken and not
others.
After the subsequent German occupation,
at the end of the war Estonia became a
Soviet republic which it still is.
Before the 'last phase closed its doors I
was able to join the streams of refugees
heading westwards through Europe's bom-
bardments and destruction. I shared the ex-
periences ,of millions. It 'Is over and done
with. The past does not restrict me. I men-
tion these things only because Mr. Melady
has nothing to teach me about war or peace.
I was fortunate indeed in the choice and
opportunity of my new country, although it
too had some disturbing elements. I learned
that Canada had recently turned back ships
full of Jewish refugees and had placed its
citizens of 'Japanese descent in concentra-
tion camps, after confiscating 'the'ir
properties,
Canada's neighbour, the United States of
America, spoke of itself as the epitome of
•Reader' enjoys . 'The Shipwatcher'
Dear Editor: Compound steam engines. These engines
As a subscriber, I do look forward to were manufactured by the 'Doty Engineer-
-reading 'The Shipwatcher' material now ap- ing Works of Goderich in 1907 and 1914
pearing in your newspaper. A column
devoted to interesting tidbits of ,Great Lakes
shipping is indeed a worthy acquisition.
In a recent edition it was noted that the
R.M.S. Segwun, beloved cruise ship of the
'Muskoka waters, celebrated her 100th birth-
day on July 4th. Of interest to residents of
the Port of Goderich. is the fact that the Se-
gwun is equipped with two Fore -and Aft
No conflict
Dear Editor:
Regarding the report from the police in
the Signal -Star last week.
I wouldlike to assure your readers that
the postal strike in Goderich has resulted
in no conflict between picketers and police.
The relationship has been a friendly one
and I would not like anyone to assume
otherwise.
Yburs truly,
Patrick D. King
Chief of Police
respectively.
While cruising on the Segwun, I visited
both the engineer room and the wheelhouse.
How gratifying to view the last of these old
Goderich steam engines still in operation
today.
Yours truly,
Glen I. Gardiner
Port Albert
Pat Raftis
• from page 4
in Ontario and when reform does come, it
will be province -wide, not just in Huron,
as a result of a study currently being
done by the provincial government
(that's why I say it will take at least five
years).
One more thing. I would bet a week's
salary (if I could find someone to take on
so paltry a wager) that we never see the
day Exeter, or any other town goes so far
as to secede from the recently -rocky
union of Huron.
•I
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freedom and democracy, but its black
citizens rode "in the back of the bus" and
were without vote for practical purposes.
I am mentioning these episodes because
in my opinion there are no people with
unblemished white hats under which pure
virtues are exclusively concentrated, while
the bad guys with the black hats on the other
side are condemned to everlasting mistakes
and misery.
Moreover, I am mentioning these
episodes with an emphasis on showing that
since then we have learned developed,
grown, changed. Such things no longer hap-
pen. Is it not reasonable to believe that a
whole lot of things have also changed on
what we have been taught to call the "other
side"? That, if we are speaking of the Soviet
Union, the country under Stalin 50 or 40
years ago was different from the Soviet
Union of the Gorbachev era in 1987?
Perhaps we owe it to ourselves, to "take yes
for an answer".
Coming back to the declaration, Mr.
Melady objects to the symbolic nature and
value of the action. Are our lives not enrich-
ed by symbolic gestures, daily? Standing to
our national anthem is a symbol,, Legion col-
our party marching in a parade is a symbol.
Rings in a wedding ceremony are symbols.
The mayor cutting the ceremonial ribbon at.
the opening of a business is a symbol. Say-
ing hello to our neighbour is a symbol of
civility.
Incidentally, by quoting Councillor Glen
Carey selectively, Mr. Melady might leave
the reader with the wrong impression.
Although Coun. Carey acknowledged the
symbolic nature of the motion, he went on to
say that in this case "it is better to do
something than to do nothing" and voted in
favour of the declaration.
My own hat is off to the Cd incil members
who understood the synibol which is in their
power, and had the imagination to support
it.
The simple and modest message of the
declaration is no more and no less than say-
ing that ours is a peaceable town. Can you
beat that?
Elsa Haydon
i+
GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, WEDNESDAY, JULY 8, 1987 --PAGE 5
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