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PAGE 2—The Newberry Sun, Newberry, S. C., Thursday, January 7, 1971 - — >* Npuibrrrg £>mt 1101 Boyce Street, Newberry, South Carolina 29108 PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY 0. F. Armfield, Jr., Owner Second-Class Postage Paid at Newberry, South Carolina SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $3.00 per year in advance; six months, $2.00. SENATOR STROM THURMOND REPORTS TO THE PEOPLE TWO CANALS Attention is now focused upon the two great artificial water ways of the world, the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal. The Suez Canal has long been closed by Egypt, while the Pan ama Canal has never been closed willfully by the United States. By a strange twist of fate, the nation that most desires the opening of the Suez Canal is Egypt’s ally, the Soviet Union. Once the Suez Canal is opened, the land-locked Soviets will at last have control over the vvarm-i water route from the Black Sea through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. Soviet ships are already on sta tion at Port Sudan and Aden; they are rapidly increasing their presence in the Indian Ocean,, driving their range of influence down around the Cape of Good Hope and into the Atlantic. Thus, in time of war, the enor-1 mous Soviet fleet will be free to roam the seas at large. NARROW WATERWAYS The prospect of this develop ment shows us the strategic im portance of holding control over the narrow waterways of the world. For just as the Soviets have been striving to get effec tive control over the Suez, at the same time they have sought to undermine United States control over the Panama Canal. It is highly disturbing, there fore, that a Presidential Com mission appointed by President Johnson in 1964 has just deliv ered an elaborate study with conclusions which would require the United States to give up its sovereignty in the U.S. Canal Zone, and build a new sea-level canal under international con trol. The new Canal recommended would cost $2.8 billion and be excavated by conventional means. But, most important, it would require the negotiation of new treaties, giving Panama participation in the operation, income, and control of the Canal. The Commission argues that such an arrangement would be less vulnerable to radical agi tation in Panama, and therefore easier to defend. LOST RIGHTS But the example of the Suez Canal reminds us that once the British and the French gave up the rights of sovereignty and ownership, the so-called treaty rights were of no value. Ulti mately, Egypt was so weak that the Soviets moved into the vac uum left by Britain and France; and now the Soviets are about SERVICE AT THE LOCAL LEVEL That's the nice thing about doing business with your hometown, independent insurance agent. On the spot settlements . . . immediate service by the agent who wrote your policy . . . prompt attention to all details by those who have your interests at heart are only part of the dividends. WE WOULD LIKE TO BE YOUR AGENT! “YOUR PRIVATE BANKERS” 1418 Main Street Phone 276-1422 "Whatsoever Things' By DONALD E. WILDMON Minister Lee Acres United Methodist Church TUPELO. MISSISSIPPI PAY THE PRICE OR FORGET THE CAUSE Gerald LePage is a pacifist. He is a pacifist 1 admire. For he is one of thousands who claim that title who is fit to wear it. LePage, a 26-year-old Specialist 5 from Waterbury, Connecticut, was ar rested by military police shortly after attending a midnight Christmas ser vice. The HP’s didn’t have to do that because he was on his way to turn himself in, he said. LePage had served 10 months as a clerk in Viet nam. He told newsmen he would be a hypocrite if he continued to serve the military. He would have been eligible for an honorable discharge in a couple of months. A Deserter He had earlier said he would remain AWOL at least 30 days—long enough to be classified as a deserter—and then would turn himself in. At the Christ mas service LePage read a statement saying, “ ... this sanctuary is just the beginning—the commitment to love and freedom and life will endure.” Four blocks from the church after the service, MP vehicles stopped a car LePage was riding in and he was ar rested. LePage said he could have used underground connections to get to Canada, as literally thousands of others. But LePage didn’t want to go. “Canada is a cop out,” he said. And he is right, that’s exactly what it is. Here is the reason this man gained my admiration. “It’s my right to speak out and then take the punish ment for it,” he said. That is a sign of bigness in a man—to go against that which he believes is wrong and then to be willing to pay the penalty. LePage asked no favors. He knew the punishment. But he believed some thing, believed it enough to pay the price of punishment. That man I ad mire. If you will recall, there was another Man some two thousand years ago who felt the same way. There w^as wrong in society, He said, and He set out to correct it. He walked the hill sides of that little province of Galilee teaching men a new way of living, a new way of worshipping, a new way of serving. He went from Jerusalem to Jericho to Sidon teaching those who would listen about a new way of life. Prepard To Pay And when it came time for Him to face the authorities concerning this new way of life He preached, He did so fully prepared to pay the penalty. And so the powers that were took His life on a Judean hillside, hanging Him on a tree between two thieves. I admire a man who stands up for that which he believes to be right, and then is willing to take the punishment for his belief. I have nothing but dis gust for that person who knowingly breaks the law and then tries to escape punishment. While they both do the same thing, there is a world of difference in their methods and rea sons, and in themselves. With one I will stand, with the other I have nothing in common. If there is an unjust law, first make up your mind that you will pay the penalty for breaking it. And if you aren’t willing to pay the penalty, for get it. Yo do the cause more harm than good. It is a pretty little person who wants the benefits without the Cross.— FIVE STAR to walk oflf with the lon^-sou^ht prize. A defense treaty with Pan ama is likewise of no value if we do not have the rights of a sovereign in the defense of the ('anal. We cannot share defense rights when a small defenseless nation is given ultimate author ity. In an emergency, we would lack the proper initiative to act; in the long run, we would face the danger that the Panamanian government could become radi calized or overthrown. It is folly to reach out for a new canal, when, in doing so, we would let fall our historic rights. Moreover, the closure of the Canal in such a situation would have a serious effect upon our strategic preparedness. Studies show that 70 per cent of all the cargo that goes through the Canal is bound for or coming from U.S. ports. In World War 11. the Korean War, the Cuban crisis of 1002, and the Vietnam War, the Canal has played a vital role in logistics and naval deployment. Loss of the Canal would he equivalent to losing a large part of the Navy. UNWISE The conclusions of the Presi dential commission studying the Panama Canal problem are both unwise and unnecessary. Mod ernization of the present lock canal would require no new treaty, and would provide al most as great a capacity at a fraction of the $2.8 billion esti mated cost. I have introduced such a pro posal in Senate Bill S.2228. With eur sovereignty undiluted, the U.S. would he in a position to defend the Canal more easily and quickly, and to take strin gent security measures. All de cision-making and key operating personnel on the Canal should be American citizens with unim peachable security records. The Panama Canal is too im portant to the United States to surrender it to other hands. We should learn our lesson from what is happening in Suez. A GREAT MYTH ABOUT The Women’s Army Corps It’s almost laughable the impressions some people have about the Women’s Army Corps. So, we’d like to set the record straight. To squelch the myths. Give you the real story. The facts. 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