Month: April 2017

Police have issued a public safety alert and are looking for two suspects after two attempted carjackings Sunday morning. The first was at Wilson Avenue and Allen Road area where the two showed a gun to a woman motorist before fleeing in a white van. Soon after, the same two tried to carjack another woman at Victoria Park and Ellesmere area by showing a gun and threatening her. But they were scared off and fled in the white van. Police say both incidents happened near coffee shops. The perpetrators have dark complexions, slim builds and are between 20 and 30 years old. One was wearing a grey jacket. The second was wearing a black jacket and red shirt.

STOLEN OXYCODONE

On Friday morning three containers of Oxycodone codeine medication were stolen in the Queen Street East and Carlaw Avenue area. The pills could be harmful/fatal if ingested, especially to children.

WHAT SHOULD WE MAKE OF VIMY?

What should we make of Vimy Ridge a hundred years later? It was a staggeringly costly battle far from home in which more than 3,500 Canadians died and 7.500 were wounded. The sense of duty and raw courage required by those who were there might well make us marvel. Today some 25,000 Canadians will be on the ground to honour the sacrifice and perhaps, try to make sense of it all. Some will visit the graves of great, great relatives.

VIMY AT HOME

Here at home, the history of Vimy is a story all its own. In the early days, widows, orphans and those left alone came to grips with the terrifying bloodshed and loss by finding solace in victory. Empire and the reputed forging of a new identity for Canada were the focus. But the succeeding chasm over conscription divided Canada for decades. Robert Borden, a Toronto lawyer was prime minister. His government imposed mandatory duty on Quebecers. It inspired rioting and resentment that lasted for decades. In the sixties, the father of the current prime minister made it his business to submerge memories of military victories. For years no one, certainly not cabinet ministers, spoke of Vimy.

Connor Brown scored the go-ahead goal with less than three minutes left in regulation as the Leafs clinched their first playoff berth since 2013 with a 5-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night. CBC

Former BSS Head Judith Carlisle

In happier times (l-r) Head of School Deryn Lavell, Judith Carlisle and Board of Governors Chair Cindy Tripp ’82

The summer of 2017 will be one of change for Bishop Strachan School as school head Deryn Lavell resigns after eight years and the new head, Judith Carlisle, comes on board. Ms. Carlisle has a distinguished record in the United Kingdom where she has had leadership roles at a number of schools. She is now head of Oxford High School, part of the Girl’s Day School Trust alliance, the largest grouping of private schools for girls in the UK. The news release issued by BSS earlier this year noted Carlisle’s initiative known as “Goodbye Little Miss Perfect,” the goal of which is to teach students to make the distinction between high standards and “unhelpful perfectionism.’’ The Search is Over!  Girl’s Day School Trust 

Friends and fellow members of the Leaside Curling Club will meet Monday, April 10, 2017 to celebrate the life of Mildred (Millie) McConnell who died March 8, 2017. Millie was a founding member of the club. Members of her family will attend the reception in the lounge of the club at 1075 Millwood Rd. from 1 to 3 p.m. The club has posted an invitation to “one and all” to share memories of Millie and extend condolences to her family.

Arabella and Joseph Kushner sang a Chinese song and recited Chinese poems for President Xi Jinping and Madame Peng Liyuan at Mar-a-Lago Friday. The performance was well received in China where the state news agency Xinhua News said “Trump’s grandson and granddaughter sing traditional Chinese ballad What a Beautiful Jasmine.” Next, in Stockholm, police have detained a man said to be from Uzbekistan for yesterday’s truck attack on shoppers. Then in Cavendish PEI, Lucy Maud Montgomery might find it hard to recognize her childhood home as Green Gables gets a serious re-make. Finally, a diminutive woman is lifting weights with the ease of a much larger person and she loves it.

Leaside – The Scouts are coming! (door to door). Pls support the 132nd's Garden Products campaign. Online orders: https://t.co/y6fzVXXFK6 pic.twitter.com/g2Tk1ju6ag

— Wilmar Kortleever (@WKortleever) April 7, 2017

Toronto Zoo has posted details of the hatching of four African penguin chicks starting on Good Friday (April 14). No names yet for any including this hearty character. Chicks are viewable in their indoor viewing area from 11 am to 2 pm daily. Lots of detail on Facebook

The Canadian mint has taken no chances in its design of the 150th anniversary edition of the ten dollar banknote. It touches four bases of ethnic and gender importance. There are likenesses of Canada’s first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, fellow Father of Confederation (and Quebecer) Sir George-Étienne Cartier, Canada’s first female member of Parliament, Agnes Macphail and James Gladstone, Canada’s first Indigenous senator and a member of the Kainai (Blood) Tribe. CBC

Joke shop humour brought the Yonge subway (Line 1) to a halt Friday afternoon during rush hour when someone threw a “stink bomb” smelling like rotten eggs into a car at St. George Station. The device filled the train with stench causing crew and passengers to abandon it a stop later at Museum. One person suffered a minor injury and was treated and released. Service was delayed for about an hour.

So much fun to start the alarming ignition count down

It remains unknown just what 58-year-old Joseph Galaska was carrying to Chicago Thursday when he ran afoul of US customs at Pearson airport and landed in jail for carrying a mock bomb. There has been no precise description of what it was but “the bomb” had zero capacity to explode. Except in Galaska’s face. Was it one of the bomb look-a-like alarm clocks that the twisted manufacturers think are such fun? No one is laughing about this escapade, especially the judge who told Galaska he will spend another night in a Mississauga jail cell until his son arrives Saturday to post bail of $5,000.

15-YEAR-OLD CHARGED IN 2015

The charge is mischief. Galaska is required back in court April 10. We know about alarm clock bombs because a 15-year-old was charged with mischief at Pearson in September 2015 when he carried the oh so funny Nootropic Design manufactured  “Defusable Clock.” into customs.