Max Tutivan (left) and Jayesh Prajapati and his family

The transparently false story told by Max Tutivan that he didn’t know he was dragging a gas station  attendant to his death on Roselawn Ave. has earned him the disgust of a judge and a life sentence. There will be no possibility of parole for 16 years. Tutivan pulled into a Shell station at Roselawn and Marlee Ave. on the night of September 12 five years ago and tanked up his SUV. He also filled two gan cans. The bill was $112. As he left without paying he ran down Jayesh Prajapati, 44 and dragged the husband and father 78 metres. In court Tutivan, a lifetime criminal, claimed he didn’t know he had hit anyone even though witnesses say Pajapati’s screams curdled their blood. Tutivan fled to Montreal and was not caught until authorities issued a $25,000 reward for his capture and conviction. “Mr. Tutiven’s actions in callously killing a vulnerable victim, his lengthy criminal record and absence of any real prospect of rehabilitation call for a sentence that denounces the conduct, deters others and protects the public,” Judge Maureen Forestell said in her ruling Wednesday.

Spaghetti sidewalk

Take your choice

Garden in this triangle?

As we teased you Tuesday, the sidewalk at the corner of Randolph and Kenrae Rds. is a work of art with walkways that wind about like freshly-cooked spaghetti. Work proceeded again Wednesday and now it appears the concrete part is done. A garden in that triangle would be nice.

The installation of Bitcoin ATMs in some corner stores appears to have facilitated the payment of fraudulent “overdue taxes” in a scam by people claiming to be from the Canada Revenue Agency. Police say more than 40 York Region residents have fallen victim to a Bitcoin tax scam, sending over $300,000 to fraudsters since August. The perpetrators tell victims they have overdue taxes to pay, and threaten them with arrest if they don’t settle up. Officers say Bitcoin transactions are unregulated and untraceable, making it difficult to investigate the frauds. York police have advised the public that any calls or emails asking for Bitcoin tax payments should be treated as a scam. Locally, there are Bitcoin ATMs in a few corner stores such as the Hasty Market on Redpath Ave.

Josh Matlow (Ward 22) will propose a motion at Council Wednesday to have the Auditor General, Beverley Romeo-Beechler, do a “value for money comparison” between the one-stop subway extension and a previous plan for a seven-stop LRT that was scrapped in 2013. Matlow has long opposed the $3.35 million single-stop plan and there are many informed municipal and transit figures who agree. He will however find it difficult to get support for this motion because Scarborough Councillors, with the exception of Paul Ainslie, will vote against it.

SINISTER POLITICS?

Some see sinister politics behind Mayor Tory’s support for a project that seems to be an enormous waste of money.  His purpose, say some, is to keep peace with Premier Wynne and her desire to mollify the Liberal voters of Scarborough who fiercely demand a full-fledged subway, even if it only has one stop, rather than a more functional LRT.

From left, St. Anselm Catholic School students Cate Gaffney, Claire Martin, and Nora Nousiainent with Canadian Air Force vet Jim Coburn at Sunnybrook Veterans’ Centre Tuesday/Joanna Lavoie Metroland Twitter

They bring him cheer/Joanna Lavoie Metroland via Twitter

Army nurse Frances McIlroy, 100,, is delighted to see St. Anselm students/Joanna Lavoie Metroland via Twitter

Operation Raise a Flag celebrates Canada’s heroes and honours their sacrifice. (CNW Group/Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre)

Teach Syrian children English

As reported by Joanna Lavoie of the Beach Mirror, 85 pupils from St. Anselm Catholic School on Bessborough Drive have visited the Sunnybrook Veterans’ Centre. The kids brought happy postcards for the vets but maybe more importantly they wore their shining faces as seen above in photos tweeted by Joanna. Well done St. Anselm. Read it here. Further down a reminder to Raise A Flag this Remembrance Day. At the bottom, an appeal from Leaside United Church for teachers to help Syrian immigrant kids learn the language. It is done Saturday and Sunday in Thorncliffe Park. If you can assist, contact the church office at (416) 425-1253

Loblaw Companies Ltd. says it will merge Shoppers Optimum points and PC Plus points under the name PC Optimum starting in February. The food and pharmacy giant says consumers can collect points as usual until February 1, 2018 when Optimum and PC Plus points will be moved to the new program at equal value. If a collector has $100 worth of Optimum points, they will receive $100 worth of PC Optimum points, for example. Loblaw says the new program will have an easy to remember redemption system — with 10,000 points valued at $10, 20,000 points at $20 and so on to a maximum single transaction redemption of $500. There are said to be 19 million Loblaw and Shoppers cardholders in total.

Click photo for Points Calculator

City Council has voted 36 to 6 Tuesday to make the bike lanes on Bloor St. West from Shaw St. to Avenue Rd. permanent. The decision could be seen coming by almost anyone when the idea was proposed as a pilot more than a year ago. It may well make cycling safer on Bloor (we hope so) although the unasked question which looms over any such accomplishment is by how much. The number of bicycle-car collisions is said to be about the same, but no number is given. Where the cyclists go when Bloor turns into the Bloor-Yorkville BIA east of Avenue Rd. is unaddressed, as is their safety. In a similar way, statistics repeated in the media more or less justifying today’s decision seemed oddly vague related to real numbers. “Near misses” were down in percentage terms not actual incidents, nor was there a defintion of the term. This line taken from the CP24 story quoting City statistics seems typically unhelpful in knowing pubic sentiment.

In an online survey of approximately 14,000 people, 92 per cent of respondents who say they bike along Bloor Street were in favour of the lanes. Of the respondents who said they drive and don’t cycle, 57 per cent are not in favour of bike lanes on Bloor.

A suspect police have identified as Robert Cropearedwolf, 38, is wanted for break and enter. Toronto Police Service

Seeing stars

Police are now saying that Robert Robin Cropearedwolf, 38, of Toronto, escaped with more than $2 million in jewellery during several break-ins in the Duncan and King St. West area in October. He also took cash and electronics. He is described as 5’6″, 145 lbs., with long black hair that is often braided. He has star tattoos on both elbows. Pictures of the stolen items have been released.

Former Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Roy Halladay, 40, is dead after his light plane crashed into shallow waters off the coast of Florida on Tuesday. The crash occurred in the Gulf of Mexico about 10 miles west of St. Petersburg at around noon. According to the Pasco Sheriff’s Office, there were no mayday calls sent out prior to the crash.

Spaghetti sidewalk in Leaside

Holly Berry Fair

Unique Jewellery closed

b Espresso coming here

Raise a Flag

Mary Shadd School kids (Twitter/@OfficerMeganTPS)

The emerging sidewalk at Randolph Rd. and Kenrae Rd. looks like it was cooked for dinner. The new arrangement will be nice for the homeowners there with a large triangle of grass (we’re guessing) and a further boulevard on the roadway. To the right, don’t forget to visit that jolly church fair known as Holly Berry down at Rosedale United November 18. Go for the excellent lunch but get there early if you’re hankering for one of those unique egg salad sandwiches. They always sell out. Below that, we have the sad departure of Unique Jewellery from Bayview Ave. Rent issues. Centre left, this now empty premises will soon be home to a coffee shop and restaurant on Leaside’s south-east side. The highly regarded b Espresso will offer an alternative to Starbucks at Laird Drive opposite the Telus building. Below that, a reminder of the approach of Remembrance Day. And then finally a handsome gang of kids from Scarborough’s Mary Shadd Public School at Burrows Hall Community Centre helping to kick off Crime Prevention Week. Mary Shadd was a 19th abolitionist who is claimed by both Canada and the US.