Hundreds of Palestinians and pilgrims gathered outside Bethlehem’s Church of Nativity yesterday to attend the traditional lighting of a giant Christmas tree. The crowd applauded and cheered as the tree was illuminated with colourful lights. Last Saturday pilgrims welcomed the Custodian of the Holy Land on his arrival in
Leaside Junior Wildcats earned a 2-1 victory over the Southwestern Wildcats Saturday at home. The cellar-dwelling ladies from down Windsor way put in a plucky performance. They made it 1-0 by the end of the first on an unassisted goal by Shannon Fehr. Leaside scored in both the second and third periods. Samantha Jones (assisted by Myah Bowal and Olivia Reid) scored on a power play at 5.34 of the second. Then in the third, Payton Bray skated past Southwestern defenders to pot a very pretty marker unassisted at 5.23. There were a few anxious moments when Leaside was hit with overlapping penalties in the second period. But they fought off Southwestern through both including 58 seconds of three against five. Kristen Swiatoschik faced 28 shots in the Southwestern net and Shanna Dolighan for Leaside, 18. The Junior Wildcats face Southwestern again on December 17 at Forest Glade Arena in Windsor in Game 24 of their Provincial Women’s Hockey League season.
In Rhode Island 20-year-old Onasi Olio-Rojas went a little crazy Wednesday behind the wheel right up until he drove into the back of a garbage truck Apparently he will survive. Authorities have released the video in the hope that it will act as a caution to others. But this brings us to the field of psychiatry and the conclusions of Charles Darwin. There is a body of thought that young men will do anything that they are able to do no matter how stupid. Darwin chimes in with the dreadful news that while parents may care whether kids kill themselves (and others) Mother Nature not so much.
Geoff Kettel is reminding residents of East York and Leaside about nominations for the Agnes Macphail Award which closed at midnight on Thursday January 26, 2017. The award will be presented on Agnes Macphail’s birthday which Friday March 24, 2017. The Awards Ceremony and celebration will be held at the East York Civic Centre starting at 7 p.m. Agnes Macphail was the first woman MP in Canada in 1921, and represented this area as MPP in the 1940s. This award honours her name and accomplishments — as well as honouring present day citizens for their extraordinary volunteer efforts.
The fun is on from 10 until 6. Also see Mt. Pleasant Christmas Fair features scavenger hunt
For the second time in barely two weeks a Porter Airlines aircraft has been detoured and delayed because of drones flying around Billy Bishop Airport. It is an outcome that is written in the sky — to use a term — as the consumer drone market booms with devices owned by unlicensed people who can and will fly them anywhere. Transport Canada says that at 8:28 a.m. Friday a drone was spotted flying “in a reckless manner” around the approaches of Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport. The drone incursions were clearly repeated, the agency said. A Porter passenger flight and an Air Canada flight, both originating from Montreal, were forced to circle over Lake Ontario until the drone was observed leaving the area a few minutes later. On Nov. 14, a Porter Airlines plane was forced to plunge steeply to avoid a drone. Anyone with information about this drone sighting is asked to call Toronto Police 14 Division at 416-808-1400
The Mount Pleasant Village BIA Christmas Fair is Saturday, December 3, 2016, beginning more or less at store opening (10 a.m.) and running through to closing. There is a very good list of activities planned at the linked page. They include strolling carollers, a “gigantic snow globe” for picture-taking (Wow) the ever-popular face-painting and many others.
SCAVENGER HUNT
Most ambitious is the Scavenger Hunt in which residents are invited to hunt down answers to questions about the shops of Mt. Pleasant Village. Check the prizes. A quirky little bit of fun involves “extra points” for wearing red. See you there. Christmas Fair
Some east end residents have tweeted questions about the taste of their drinking water. But the city says it is perfectly safe although technicians did notice a slight increase in the chlorine levels. “Anyone else in #eastyork got funny-tasting water?,” Cabbagetown resident Matthew Browning tweeted at 311 Thursday night, as reported by CP24. A number of other people quickly chimed in to say that their water was also tasting strange. How much of this is the power of suggestion no one will ever know. Twitter
The Salvation Army is close to opening up one of its Thrift Stores at the former Goodwill location on Overlea Blvd at Thorncliffe Park Dr. Reader Bob McMaster saw the signs going up for the much-needed service store and messaged how good it is to see commercial activity there again. Like many people, McMaster is a fan of the Salvation Army but not affiliated with it. It looks like the store should be open by New Year’s or before. As is known, all Goodwill operations closed in January in a bankruptcy crisis. Overlea Goodwill store to close as part of mass shutdown
Video has captured a case of the most remarkable good luck on the part of a woman pedestrian who escaped what would surely have been fatal injuries as a car came rampaging toward her. It happened in the Polish City of Kalisz as cars collided at an intersection. Both drivers should be suspended. The woman was able to shield herself by quick wits or chance behind a post that stopped the car before it hit her. No one was seriously injured.
Durham Police Constable Beth Richardson took a cat from the home of a drug user and visited the vet to give the animal a checkup. But she failed to tell the homeowners or make any mention of it to her superiors. Now a police tribunal will have to decide just what the caring policewoman was doing. They might discipline her or decide her failure to mention what she did is a forgivable oversight. That hearing is January 12, 2016.
