Jet imperilled

Beaumonde Heights Park

Lanyard Park

Toronto police have named two parks in northwest Toronto where someone has been shooting laser beams at jetliners landing at Pearson airport. The dangerous game can blind pilots and cause disaster. Cops are reported to be on the ground at Lanyard Park and Beaumonde Heights Park Sunday night. The two small green areas are a few blocks apart east of Highway 27 and north of 401. Police issued an alert over TPS Operations Twitter service that laser pointers have been aimed at a number of planes landing and taking off at the airport.

Leaside Jr Wildcats were trailing Durham West Lightning 2-0 after two periods Sunday but they fought back to win the game in overtime 3-2. The win gave the Wildcats a sweep of the weekend following their shut out of London Devilettes Saturday night.Sunday boxscore Kate Stuart earns SO as Jr. Cats beat London Devilettes 2-0

The legislation requiring college teachers to return to the classroom was voted into law at Queen’s Park Sunday after a torturous five-week strike by members of the Ontario Public Services Employees Union (OPSEU). It was only the latest vicious confrontation between teachers and the education system to convulse Ontario in recent years. There seems no appetite or strategy to change the process. The conventional political and court-interpreted view of such strikes is that the students must face the loss of their time, money and learning in order to satisfy the right to strike.

“JEOPARDY NECESSARY TO ACT”

The minister, Deb Matthews, offered this view of the only acceptable role of government. “There is a very high bar. Collective bargaining is protected. The Supreme Court has ruled that you have to have a very, very good rationale, that the academic year [must be] in jeopardy. Had we gone before that final offer vote, this absolutely would have been challenged,” she told reporters at Queen’s Park.

The CBC examination of trolling on Facebook for the purpose of extorting money from gullible users is well worth a look. Then to the right, a City News story tells of the all too believable strategy at the TTC to ignore parking at stations on the new Vaughan subway. That’s so you will take the bus. Uh-huh. Below that, Pope Francis marks World Day for the Poor as only the Vatican can. Then finally, jubilation in Zimbabwe as the poster boy for African mismanagement, Robert Mugabe, is dumped by his own party. But will he retire at age 93? Not likely.

Be very, very good

Sometimes it’s too much

Bulldog sends best wishes

The Santa Claus Parade starts at 12.30 Sunday and many roads will be closed.  The parade begins at Christie Pits Park and runs eastbound along Bloor Street, southbound on Queen’s Park Crescent/ University Avenue and then eastbound on Wellington Street West/Front Street East. The event will wrap up outside the St. Lawrence Market building at around 3 p.m. Here are the closures.

• Bloor Street West, from Ossington Avenue to Christie Street, at 8 a.m.
• Bloor Street West, from Christie Street to Bathurst Street, at 10 a.m.
• Bloor Street West, from Bathurst Street to Bay Street, at 10:45 a.m.
• Avenue Road/Queen’s Park, from Davenport Road to College Street, at 10:45 a.m.
• University Avenue, from College Street to Dundas Street, at 11 a.m.
• University Avenue, from Dundas Street to Front Street, at 11:15 a.m.
• Wellington Street, from University Avenue to Jarvis Street, at 11:30 a.m.
• Front Street, from Bay Street to Jarvis Street, at 11:45 a.m.
• Front Street, from Jarvis Street to Sherbourne Street, at 11 a.m.

John J. Henry writes at Leaside Community Facebook that the Second Cup at 1595 Bayview Ave will close November 28 for reasons that are probably varied. Second Cup fans are lamenting the closure at LC Saturday night but they will know that many of those who still patronize this shop do so merely to avoid the huge traffic at Starbucks. But the quality of coffee and food aside, this Second Cup has not been able to attract an effective franchisee. It has been a mundane place since Hong Ngo, the dynamic Vietnamese businessman departed. He was a congenial host and always ready to talk. Ngo put together an excellent team of full and part-time staff seen in the 2011 picture from Bulldog archives. Some may remember that this location was the first storefront occupied by the Sleuth of Baker Street. It moved to the location across the street at 1600 Bayview, a building still owned by the firm. It is now leased to Leaside Orthodontic. Sleuth is on Millwood Rd at Sutherland.

The May 2011 gang at Second Cup, 1595 Bayview. Top left to right: Hong Ngo, Ally, Gabe and Sadie. Second row from left, Andy, Steve, Sophie and Matt.

Fighting for the shutout in the third

Leaside Junior Wildcats defeated the London Devilettes Saturday night at Leaside arena. Cats goalie Kate Stuart stopped 25 shots to earn the shutout. The home-team goals were scored in the first period. Veterans Quinn Johnston, Kristin Della Rovere and Myah Bowles teamed up to sink the first marker at 2.22 of the first on a power play. Then at 11.53 Erin Arsenault scored on a pretty breakaway against London netminder Erica Fryer. She faced 20 shots. Stuart’s shutout was well-deserved but hockey requires luck. She saw a zinger clang off the net in the second. The win places Leaside 11th in the 20 team Provincial Women’s Hockey League with 16 points for five wins, four losses and six ties. The top three teams in the PWHL are Toronto Aeros, Ottawa Lady Senators and Stoney Creek Sabres with  27, 25 and  23 points respectively. Sunday Leaside travels to Ajax to face the Durham West Lightning at Ajax Community Centre. Game time is 2.30.

Forecasters say a strong storm will cross Ontario bringing heavy rain for Toronto and heavy snow further north. Generally there will be rain for southwestern Ontario through the Golden Horseshoe on Saturday with spotty rain/snow mix overnight Saturday. Freezing rain could occur in eastern Ontario Saturday afternoon, persisting through the overnight. As the core of colder air arrives Sunday, lake-effect snow streamers will bring bursts of snow for the snow belts, with occasional flurries into parts of the Toronto and the GTA — Weather Network. 

No winning ticket was sold for Friday night’s $22 million Lotto Max jackpot. That means the big prize for the next Lotto Max draw on Nov. 24 will be approximately $31 million.

Two men are now in custody for these crimes. There is an alarming wave of carjackings in Durham Region where police say they have dealt with seven such incidents in a month. Most recently, a man was accosted outside his home on Thursday about 7 p.m. in Ajax. Two men entered his car, one in the passenger seat and the other sat behind the driver. They demanded he hand over his wallet and drive them to a bank. When he refused, the victim was hit with a hand gun and punched in the head. The victim began to honk the horn and a scuffle ensued before the suspects fled. The victim was treated in hospital for his injuries and released. Police say suspect #1 in the front seat is black with a thin build, approximately 6′ tall, 165 lbs, in his early to mid 20s. He had a deep voice and was wearing grey pants and a grey or white hooded shirt. This suspect had a hand gun. Suspect #2 in the back seat is described as: male black, with a thin build, about 6′ tall in his early to mid 20s. He was wearing a dark baseball hat. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact Det. Carter of West Division Criminal Investigations Bureau at 1-888-579-1520 ext. 2562.

HIGHWAY 427 COLLISIONS

Late Friday the express lanes of Highway 427 near Dundas Street West are closed after a number of collisions there. Officers said at least two collisions took place in the area causing the closure of the northbound and southbound lanes at around 7 p.m. on Friday. An OPP officers was taken to hospital as a precaution but he is in stable condition.

Natasha Biondolillo/Twitter

Hall of Fame inductee Shawn O’Sullivan and twin sister Maureen

A large turnout of residents attended the Fifth Annual Induction Ceremony and Reception of the Leaside Sports Hall of Fame in the Lea Room at Leaside arena Friday. Among those present was Shawn O’Sullivan, former Leaside resident and Canada’s Athlete of the Year in 1984. Among many other distinctions, O’Sullivan won the gold medal as a light heavyweight in the World Amateur Championships. He was accompanied to the induction by his twin sister Maureen. The inductees were former Canadien Dave Gardner, long-distance runner Robert Moore, the late Phil Stein as a builder and O’Sullivan. Leaside Athlete of the Year was Mariah Hinds, a three-year defensive star with the Leaside Jr. Wildcats. She was unable to be present because she is attending classes at Lindenwood University in Missouri. The guest speaker was Charles (Spider) Jones, journalist, author and former boxer. Some of those present in the early evening of this event were Rob Oliphant MP, Jon Burnside (Ward 26) Ray White, Chair of the Board of Leaside Memorial Community Gardens, Alan Redway, former mayor of East York, Ann Brown, Chair of Community Relations at Leaside arena, Kim McCullough, head coach of the Junior Wildcats, realtor Patrick Rocca and Andy Elder of Grilltime. Mariah Hinds chosen Leaside’s 2017 Athlete of the Year

Joe Tilley

Lance Brown

Melissa Lamb

A news release from Unifor, the union which represents on-air and broadcasting technicians at 17 local CTV stations, says that CTV Toronto sports reporting figures Joe Tilley and Lance Brown are among those laid off in a series of job cuts. Unifor says that as many as 50 jobs have been cut at 15 television stations across Canada. So far as is known, Bell Media has not yet announced or commented on this. The South Bayview Bulldog requested confirmation Thursday but has not had an answer. Others laid off according to Unifor are Ottawa CTV 2 hosts Melissa Lamb and Lianne Laing and BNN host Michael Kane. The union is critical of the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission for granting Bell a five-year licence renewal in May of 2017 without requiring conditions related to what it calls “local presence.”  CTV News Toronto Sports said to be close to end of road