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PAGE 8 â€"â€" WA.T-ERLOO CHRONICLE, W,EDNESDAY. DECEMBER 31. 1986 Second Class Mail Registration Number 5540 It was encouraging news that Waterloo regional police had for the Chronicle last week when they reported that until December 22 only 37 impaired driving charges had been laid in 1986 as a result of the department‘s Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere (RIDE) program. This wasn‘t because of reduced vigilance on the part of the police. Quite the opposite, in fact. As part of a provinceâ€"wide crackdown on drunk driving, in 1986 Waterloo regional police expanded RIDE from a seasonal effort (in effect primarily during Oktoberfest and at Christmas) to a yearâ€"round endeavour. As a result they stopped more than 6,500 vehicles in spotchecks during the year, up from the 4,500 of 1985. In total only 278 drivers were tested, resulting in the 37 impaired driving charges and 61 12â€"hour suspensions. That works out to only one charge for every 200 vehicles stoppedâ€"â€"not bad. Waterloo regional police say these figures reflect a drop from previous years, and they attribute this success to increased public awareness of the dangers involved in drinking and driving, together with the stiffer penalities imposed on offenders. What better time to remember the message of the RIDE program than this evening, December 31, as around the globe friends gather to ring in the new year together. This is a time for celebrating, yes. A time for all those fun things associated with this particular holiâ€" day. It is also a time for caution. If you‘re going to be drinking this New Year‘s eve don‘t drive. Call a cab; take a bus; designate a driver for the evening whose job it will be to remain sober and get everyone home; make alternate sleeping arrangements. Just don‘t conclude your partying by climbing behind the wheel of your car and trying to find you way home. It‘s not safe and it‘s certainly not smart. One thing you can count on is that the RIDE spotchecks will be out early today. Have a safe and happy new year. The Chronicle welcomes letters to the editor. They should be individuaily signed with name, address and teleâ€" Address all correspondence to Waterioo office, 45 Erb St. E., Waterioo, Ont. N2J 1L7. Telephone 886â€"2830, News and Sports line 886â€"3021. Waterioo Chronicle office is located in the Haney, White law office building (rear entrance, upper floor). Parking at the rear of the building. Open Monday to Friday 9 a. m. to 5 p.m. lished and the Chronicle reâ€" serves the right to edit. Publisher: Paul Winkler Waterloo Chronicle is published every Wednesday by Fairway Press, a division of JEMCOM Inc., owner. Publishing address 225 Fairway Rd. S., Kitchener, Ont. Ride message policy Display Advertising: Helen Smiley, Paula Hummel, Gerry Mattice Classified Advertising: Marie Kapshey Managing Editor: Rick Campbeli Sales Manager: Bill Karges Circulation Manager: Greg Cassidy Senior reporter Circulation: Jerry Fischer Typesetting and Composing: Fairway Press and will be rter: Melodee Martinuk Mark Bryson (news) Richard O‘Brien (sports) trik: anos an tuw y gmhwdm::m that all complaints can be resolved. Those who feel furâ€" ther action is needed should address their concern to the the possibility of human The Chronicle is proud of its tradition of accuracy and fair Council Suite 108, Ottawa, established 1854 LETTERS Reader relates other side of South Africa I wasn‘t surpised by Sherrie Cochrane‘s letter in a recent Chronicle about her experiences in South Africa. A relative of mine recently had a similar experience when working for a large multinational engineering firm in South Africa for a year. He too said that the situation wasn‘t all that bad, and that most Blacks either weren‘t ready or didn‘t desire the right to vote. From his contacts with his Black servants, his Black bus driver, and his few visits into the Black areas, he felt Blacks would be unable to govern themselves. He also felt that the Western media exaggerated the South African sitâ€" uation. However, I also have good friends who have lived and worked in South Africa for several years as Mennonite Central Committee volunteers. As such they lived among the Blacks in one of their soâ€"called "Homelands." Their experience is quite different. They talk of people (their Black friends) being imprisioned and tortured for being in the ‘"‘wrong‘"‘ place or without their passes, or for being a community leader or pastor, of poor educational opportunities (six times as much as is spent on the education of every Black child is spent on the education of every white child); of poor health care for the Blacks; of children being rounded up and taken into detention in various locations of South Africa as well as children being shot while playing soccer in the schoolyardâ€"â€"all too instill unholy terror terror into the Black people. They tell many agonizing stories of split up families where one parent finds work as a servant of some White people or in a Whiteâ€"owned and managed factory or mine, but cannot have family nearby. They talk of people yearning for justice and equality of treatment. They felt that the Western media only reported a fraction of the injustice. It was often much worse. A fairly good description and analysis can be found, however, in magazines like the New Internationalist. Soâ€" journer‘s magazine is also quite helpful. _ The real tragedy of South Africa is that most of the White community lives so well insulated and isolated from the truth about life for most of the people in South Africa. It is this point that the letter from Sherrie Cochrane illustrates most vividly. The White community has even developed an impressive array of myths and fables to keep themselves psychologically insulated from the few incidents that might filter through the walls of Apartheid. This is most clearly illustrated by stories that insist the only Blacks killed are those killed by other Blacks. (Just as I am writing this letter I hear the news on the radio that a 15â€"yearâ€"old boy has been shot by White South African Defense Force (SADF) commandos out on another raid.) I have another friend, Richard Steele, a White South African who has chosen to break through the insulated walls of Apartheid that "protect" he "weit, 111 rett yha, LADDIE, DoN‘7 EXPEC anly BiRTH ayNouscemeny caRDs !" 3C) 3 p zie x ’? 2‘( i 4 sY 1/ \;&,‘:\:‘i\ o gh C ;( C \‘a\ es Th s y 6\ Ԥ i# ~. * ~ us 1 ¢ <fZ»* , * Ds %g \fl , & e eag KE / ‘ 9 8 7 ; P _ 4;%‘@?_f * > > â€"_ 7 ~â€" ' Letters welcome White community and become informed as to what is going on. As a result he is one of the proportionately small number of whites who have spent time in prison. A number of years ago (before I met him) he spent long periods of time in solitary confinement for refusing to serve in the SADF. More recently he and another woman, Anita Kromberg, both who have worked with the Mennonite Central Committee, were imprisioned for working to end conscription. Most readers should know that Mennonites insist on nonâ€" violence and the refusal to bear arms is central to their understanding of the Christian faith. In South Africa it is against the law for Whites to refuse to serve in the SADF. Whites must be prepared to kill their fellow South Africans (Black, that is) and refusal results in court martial and imprisonment. Those who speak out against, or refuse to participate in, the systematic military oppression and the senseless torture and slaughter of Blacks by White "security forces‘"‘ are quickly imprisoned and severely punished. These conscientious objecâ€" tors are not planting bombs, rather they are being imprisoned for the refusal to kill. Thus, in South Africa it is against the law for Whites to refuse to be prepared to kill Blacks as it is against the law for Blacks to oppose their oppression. Further, it should be noted that attacks on Black children are not unusual for a government that practises the instillation of fear and terror as a cornerstone of its totalitarian policy. There are presently more than 1,400 children (under 18) in detention. Many of these children, some only 11, 12 or 13 years old (both boys and girls), have been tortured during the last several months of detention. Are these children terrorists, or is their only crime that they are Black and happened to be in school the day the SADF came by? This Christmas, many South African Whites will be celebrating Christmas with their children, well insulated from the pain of many Black families whose children remain in detention and cannot freely receive visits. In fact, due to ‘"emergency restrictions‘"‘ many don‘t even know where friends or family members are being held. Meanwhile, today, December 12, 1986, the South African government took one more step to insulate the White community and the rest of the world from the truth of its terrorist policies with further clampdowns and restrictions ‘on an already severely restricted press. This Christmas while we celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace and sing about "peace on earth‘"‘ and "joy to the world‘"‘ let us not forget the many people in South Africa and elsewhere around the world who are forcefully and painfully separated from family and whose Christmas will definitely not be Merry as a result. Edmund Pries Waterioo