PETERBOROUGH-When Peterborough’s Peggy Shaughnessy and her daughter Liz left for Guam a week ago they had no idea they could be caught up in the threat of nuclear war.
Shaughnessy owns The Whistle Stop Cafe in Peterborough. She’s also the woman behind a unique program aimed at helping people overcome addiction and mental health issues called Redpath. The pair are in Guam to teach the program to local residents.
On August 7th North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un threatened to send nuclear missiles to Guam. Guam is a tiny island in the Pacific but it has an important strategic US airbase located on it as well as US nuclear bombers and about 6,000 troops. It’s a US territory with 165,000 civilians, so an attack on Guam could be considered an attack on the US.
Despite the rhetoric Shaughnessy told Kawartha 411 today the people of Guam are taking it in stride. “The people of Guam seem not to be concerned about the news. The militarization of this island has kept the Indigenous people away from self determination in fact the military is attempting to expand and there has been protests as this land is sacred and endangered species of turtles, rare bats and other animals will also be threatened.”
Authorities in Guam told residents today there was nothing to fear and some of the population seem to agree. But others expressed concern.”The threat is pretty scary,” Graceful Fiden, 28, of Tumon, Guam told USA Today. “It’s going on further, so we should worry about it.”
US President Donald Trump warned of “fire and Fury” if any more threats were made against the US.
Shaughnessy and her daughter were scheduled to fly out of Guam on Sunday but have cut their visit short and are leaving today(Thursday inGuam) at noon. “We all know how Trump and North Korea are both unstable which is a bit unsettling but I pray that we will be safe until our flight home.” Shaughnessy said. “We have completed our trainings so it’s best we leave”
