Ireland has become the first country to legalize gay marriage through a popular vote news services are saying. The support for this referendum is being called a landslide. As thousands celebrated Saturday afternoon on the grounds of Dublin Castle, official results were released showing a 62.1% “yes” vote for allowing same-sex couples to marry. Reports say that Premier Kathleen wind has sent her congratulations to the Irish government.
June 4 opening of Go Green Cricket will be a full day
by •
The Grand Opening of the Go Green Cricket and Sports Field will be held Thursday, June 4, 2015 at the field just beside Valley Park Middle School at 130 Overlea Blvd. A news release has many details of this important community project. The young people and elders too of the adjoining Thorncliffe Park and Flemingdon Park neighborhoods love cricket. They spend hours planning, practicing, playing and recalling the games. This opening will feature what should be a classic match up of the Go Green Youth team and the Toronto Police Cricket club. It looks like a well thought out day of fun with a first inning match set for 2.30 p.m. and a second one in the evening. In between there will be a barbecue and a chance to catch some Toronto Raptors instruction in basketball. Then there are speeches and the second inning. There is also a youth talent show concurrent with the second innings News release Outreach and Revitalization
Fines for replacing grass with turf says Karen Stintz
by •
A CBC story says there is a chance you will be fined if you install artificial turf where you previously had grass. Former Councillor Karen Stintz has done her front lawn. “I call it year-round grass,” she told the CBC, showing off her a front yard carpet of green. “It doesn’t need to be watered. It doesn’t need to be maintained. There’s no mowing. There’s no care and feeding.” As for the threat of being fined, a “vague” bylaw is to blame, said Stintz, who ran as a mayoral candidate last year before dropping out of the race last August. “I can’t explain why it is that inspectors feel it’s a good use of their time to go and ticket people for having an artificial lawn. But they are.”
Yard sales, Bessborough Mayfair and action on Bayview
by •
There was much to see and do this Saturday, May 23, 2015 and a lot of it was nearby. Bessborough Public School held its Mayfair today with a large turnout. Councilor Jon Burnside was present with his handy cotton candy making machinery. The lady inset top at right was on the lawn and yard sale tour. This was a busy event on Soudan Ave. where she spied this child’s shirt. The Northlea United Church “Items of Interest” Yard Sale was crowded at 125 Brentcliffe.Rd. The lovely treed lawn of the church was full of people shortly after 9 a.m. The lady inset second has bagged up some lemon-lime sugar cookies that were edible items of interest to The Bulldog. Thank you very much. The bake table at all such fairs is a first stop but the Northlea ladies (and possibly men) certainly produced a nice offering. The greatly anticipated first day of Ron White Shoes at 1553 Bayview drew many shoppers. That’s a promotional picture in the store of Ron with Dennis Quaid. Another business up the street and yet to open is the children’s store Never Grow Up. But the sign went up in recent hours so it won’t be long. That’s at 1725 Bayview. Up at the Metro grocery complex the new Beer Store is nearing completion. There’s abundant caution built in with those fearsome yellow metal and iron posts out front (inset bottom). Presumably beer drinkers sober and otherwise will be required to walk into the store, not drive. No no. The next-door store that was built for Tim Horton’s remains for lease. As reported in the South Bayview Bulldog, Timmy’s has decided to open a shop on the south-west corner of Bayview and Eglinton Ave. East where work is now underway to accommodate the Canadian coffee phenomenon. One last note, Paws and Claws at 1721 Bayview was doing an outside promotion for My Healthy Pet treats which are said to be suitable for humans as well. Lot’s of fun.
Its a fact the rich do better when serious illness strikes
by •
This is a Toronto Star-originated story on the cost and red-tape of getting a rare and urgent operation. Ottawa Senator’s boss Eugene Melnyck now recuperating from a life-saving liver donation will probably pay a good dollar for his surgery. He is a citizen of the Barbadoes and thus would have no OHIP coverage. The assumption is that he will be billed directly by the Toronto professionals and the Toronto General Hospital for the work that saved his life. Not surprising but interesting. The rich do better
Ten-inch pies custom-baked overnight at Wiseys
by •
Rachel and Andy were in charge at Wiseys Pies and Bakehouse at 974 Eglinton East Saturday morning. While some we know enjoyed a muffin and a Pilot Coffee double espresso customers came and went. One ordered the large steak and mushroom pie custom-made for Sunday dinner. That’s the ten-inch number baked in the middle of the night and picked up at 8 a.m. Sunday or whenever.
Driver critically injured in rollover on Highway 404
by •
A 23-year-old man is in hospital in critical condition after his car rolled over on Highway 404 near Steeles Ave. Police said the speeding car was in a collision with a truck which caused the car to go out of control. It happened about 8 a.m.
Compelling assumed-identity story of Ontario man
by •
Dental school lounge had 25 years of obscenity on walls
by •
Dalhousie University is putting the dentistry school scandal behind it. The men who posted or condoned the obscene material have apologized to the women in question and have had their apologies accepted. Much if the process seems vague and perhaps it is intended to be that way. But details of the callous process by which such things were publicly stated are interesting. The report concludes that the so-called Gentlemen’s Club in 2011 was created as a bonding exercise but that it turned offensive over the more than three years it existed. “Members sought to ‘one up’ each other in ways that were frequently crude in nature and aimed at shock value,” says the 70-page report. “(It) became a place to vent frustrations, often in unhealthy and at times extremely offensive ways.” The investigation found there were perceptions among participating students that racist, misogynistic and homophobic behaviour were not adequately handled, amid rumours of favouritism and un-professionalism. One phenomenon on campus will seem alien to most people who attended university in Canada. A student lounge at the school called “the Cavity,” had walls scrawled with racist, homophobic and sexist graffiti dating back to the 1990s. Students also signed their names and date of graduation next to the comments.
Out-of-control Alberta NDP rookie gets the boot
by •
NDP says it will restore mail delivery if elected federally
by •
The NDP says it will restore home mail delivery if it wins the federal election this fall Alexandre Boulerice, the NDP’s post office critic, says a New Democrat government would terminate the phase-out plan and restore service to those households that have already lost their home mail delivery. The Canada Post plan to eliminate home delivery has seen dozens of local skirmishes with city and taxpayers as well as a national legal challenge by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. Hamilton is in a furious legal battle with Canada Post to stop the installation of so-called super mailboxes. A group of Montreal-area mayors has joined the court challenge against the phase-out of home delivery.
Babcock thanks all Detroit and “guys who clean the ice”
by •
A classy Mike Babcock took out a full page ad in the Detroit Free Press to thank the city for his ten years of success there.
