PAGE 6
News Advertiser
december 20, 2017
www.NewsAdvertiser.com
FROM THE PAGES OF THE VEGREVILLE OBSERVER
COMPILED BY DAN BEAUDETTE
90 Years Ago – December 21, 1927
The farmers of this district are busy hauling some of their grain. The roads are in good condition but not passable for cars throughout the northern part of the district. There is much discontent shown by the farmers towards the railway company which does not supply sufficient cars to take the grain away. The telephones are used to a great extent inquiring which elevators are still in the testing, grading and quality basis a position to take grain. The elevators at Vilna are filled to capacity. One of the best big game seasons on record in the province closed last Thursday, December 15th, with reports from all sections of the province indicating that more interest has been taken in hunting this year than in any other since the game laws went into effect. Few were the hunters who did not get their quota of moose or deer, while more American hunters came to the province this year than ever before. They secured good specimens of deer and goat, with the occasional grizzly in the hills.
75 Years Ago - December 23, 1942
Approval to form an Air Cadet Squadron in Vegreville was received by the local committee from Ottawa, November 16, 1942. The local committee was elected at a public meeting held at the Alberta Hotel on October 8th, 1942, under the direction of Flying Officer W.F. Ewert of the No. 4 Initial Training School, RCAF, Edmonton. F.O. Ewert gave the meeting a brief outline of the aims and organization of the Air Cadet League of Canada, following which election of the local committee took place. Motorists who desire to obtain a refund from the provincial government for license plates turned in must make application by January 10 next, which is the cut-off date, according to information received from the provincial secretary’s department by the Alberta Motor Association. The refund is 20 per cent of the annual license fee. If a person wishes to lay up his car for the balance of the license year, which ends on March 31, turns in his plates and gasoline rationing coupon book, he will receive a cheque from the provincial treasurer for the refund. Last year the province paid out between $30,000 and $40,000 in refunds.
50 Years Ago – December 21, 1967
A well – filled auditorium cheerfully applauded all the participants who had braved unusual conditions to attend the Carol Festival. De. Edmunds kept the program moving along, which consisted of such items as a lovely solo by Mrs. L.L. Smiley, the lively Trumpeters and the venerable Von Schnippers. Members of the Wendy Brook W.I. made a substantial cash donation to the Minburn-Eagle Auxiliary Hospital last week which will be directed to the purchase of a wheel chair for use in the hospital. The funds were raised by the Wendy Brook W.I. through the sale of programs at the Centennial musical program held earlier this year. Presenting the cheque on behalf of the W.I. to Mrs. O. Lazarowich was Mrs. A. Toronchuk. Also present at the presentation was Mrs. P Albrecht and Mrs. D. Giebelhaus. On December 14, 1967, the Mundare 4-H Food and Clothing Club meeting was held in Mundare School, with fifteen members present and five mothers. The 4-H Club consists of 18 members now, with the following executive: President, Mrs. Christine Darichuk; vicepresident, Beatrice Zacharkiw; treasurer, Jane Chequis; social convener, Geraldine Kucherawy; press correspondent, Sylvia Seniuk.
25 Years Ago – December 22, 1992
Thin ice is a danger of Vegreville ponds this year. The Elks pond has beaver problems and the Rainbow Park pond is now being aerated to prevent winter kill of the stocked fish. The aeration system keeps the water moving thus creating thin ice. The manmade lake on the north side of town has also been posted as having thin ice. Skating rink at Central Park was filled with water by town crews last week. This rink is the only outdoor public skating area in Vegreville that does not have thin ice danger. The town of Vegreville held a name the building contest for the Vegreville Multipurpose building last spring. There were about 12 entries. The winning name is the Vegreville Multiplex Centre. The parks and recreation department is currently looking into a new sound system for the Vegreville Social Center. The original system was installed by Karlen Electronic Systems. The town is planning to use the same company again with the condition that any new system be installed on a trial basis. “It will be an exciting opportunity to help in the decorating of the third Seventh Day Adventist float in the 1993 Rose Bowl Parade in Pasedena, California”, says Kevin Saruk of Vegreville and Larissa Gascoyne of Beauvallon.
Letters Welcomed
One role of the Vegreville News Advertiser is to promote dialogue on various issues of concern to area residents. We accomplish this by welcoming Letters to the Editor and allowing various issues to be debated through our pages. All letters must contain the writer’s name, address and phone number. Anonymous letters will not be printed, however the writer’s name may be withheld from publication in special circumstances deemed appropriate by the Publisher. The Vegreville News Advertiser reserves the right to edit letters for length, clarity, spelling and grammar, taste or for reasons of potential libel. The Vegreville News Advertiser reserves the right to withhold letters from publication.
Islamic State: Is It Over? By Gwynne Dyer On Monday Russian President Vladimir Putin was in Syria to announce a partial withdrawal of Russian troops from the country because they had inflicted a “total rout” on the jihadi militants of Islamic State. Is the war in Syria really over? Just one year ago, Islamic State (formerly known as ISIS) controlled a territory the size of Belgium and the Netherlands, with 7 or 8 million people. Now it is homeless, and even its propaganda output has dropped by 90 percent as its video production facilities were overrun one after the other. Its credibility among the faithful has taken an even bigger hit. When the ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared the re-founding of the traditional Islamic Caliphate in the territory controlled by ISIS in mid-2014, he was claiming quite specifically that the enterprise had God’s blessing. So it’s deeply embarrassing when his troops lose all that territory again within 30 months to the local ‘enemies of God’ and their infidel foreign allies. The standard tactic of prophets, when their prophecies don’t come true, is to say that God is testing people’s faith. We are already seeing some of this in ISIS propaganda, but the people who watch it are not complete fools. If they are fanatics interested in waging jihad, they won’t abandon the idea, but they will probably look for some other organization that has a better claim to divine support. That alternative organization, at least in Syria, is al-Qaeda. It has credibility because it planned and carried out the 9/11 attacks, and its Syrian branch still controls most of the province of Idlib in northwestern Syria. It was never as Sy interesting as Islamic i State in attracting foreign volunteers,
but if you’re a Syrian jihadi, it’s now the destination of choice. The Syria branch of al-Qaeda was known as al-Nusra for a long time, but in the past two years, it has changed its name approximately every second week in a bid to disguise its origins. It wasn’t trying to hide its loyalties from potential recruits. It was pretending to be a ‘moderate’ rebel group so that it wouldn’t get hit by American bombers. This didn’t actually fool the Americans, of course, but it did allow them to denounce the Russians – who WERE bombing al-Nusra/al-Qaeda – as evil allies of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad who were killing ‘good’ rebels. It was hard to tell whether Barack Obama’s State Department was being delusional or merely hypocritical, but it insisted that there were ‘good rebels’: a ‘third force’ of non-jihadi Syrians that was also trying to overthrow Assad. The US was supporting them, and the wicked Russians were trying to kill them. But the ‘third force’ didn’t exist: it had been swallowed up by al-Nusra years ago. The US bombed Islamic State and nobody else, while the Russians only did that occasionally. Instead, they concentrated on bombing al-Nusra, which held territory much closer to Syria’s big cities. And Washington scored propaganda points against the Russians, for whatever good that did. Now, with Islamic State defeated, the US forces will probably leave eastern Syria. But most of the Russian forces will stay because it will probably take another year to destroy al-Nusra in Idlib province. So why was Putin in Syria to announce a Russian troop withdrawal? Because there’s a presidential election coming up in Russia, and he wanted to declare a victory and bring some troops home now. But the war goes on.
Gwynne Dyer is an independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries.
Early Holiday Deadlines Don’t Be Late!