The South Bayview Bulldog

This is actually last year’s parade because the 2015 version is still about to take place. If you have three or four minutes of nothing to do and love your pooches dressed up funny, have a look.  Monster Mash tribute to Boris Karloff is sung by Bobby “Boris” Pickett. It’s quite amusing too.

She was the woman who John Wayne called “a heck of a guy.” The red-haired leading lady of memorable roles in such films as The Miracle on 34th Street and The Quiet Man was a woman and among women, and man’s woman all at once. She has died quietly at home in Idaho at the age of 95. All leads

The mother of a St. George, Ontaro boy dying of inoperaable brain tumour speaks of a renewed faith because of the kindness of the people of the small town. CBC 

Leaside United Church hosted a Rally of Hope Saturday which saw many members of the community join in a “four-wheeled scavenger hunt” to raise money in support of El Hogar Project Canada’s homes and education programs for poor and abandoned children in Honduras. El Hogar, which means The Home, has four homes in Honduras  The featured speaker was Eduardo Bennett, an  El Hogar graduate who went on to become a celebrated soccer player in Honduras, Argentina and Chile. He spoke with passion and humour about his upbringing and the opportunities he gained when his mother enrolled him at El Hogar.

FEARED A LIFE OF ALCOHOLISM

She feared he faced a life of alcoholism. Bennett spoke of a broken home with four children in which he said he was “a freedom kid” who could do whatever he wanted. With is father gone and his mother working to keep the family alive, he had little opportunity for a relationship with his mother. He went to the streets and refused to attend school. His life was fighting and football, he said. His older brother George was drinking heavily. It seemed like Eduardo might follow the same path. His mother wanted him to go to El Hogar. “I didn’t believe my mother, that she would send me to El Hogar,” he said. “I am the special guy, she’s not going to let the diamond leave home,” he recalled to laughter.

LEARNED TRADES

But his mother was serious and despite his tears, Bennett found that he began to care about the El Hogar people who cared about him. At the technical institute he learned to love his new home. He was taught welding, plumbing and carpentry, skills he  enjoys and is proud of even though his place in life was secured by his skill as a soccer player. The large church gymnasium was the scene of a fine dinner catered by Andy Elder of Grilltime. The gym was filled to capacity. Some well-known Leaside residents there were Tim Morawetz and his wife Sue MacGowan and Tim Magwood who was MC for the evening. Below is a video outline of El Hogar’s program by the organization’s chair Margo Mingay.

Four people were taken to hospital following an accident on the Don Valley Parkway in which a vehicle rolled over and hit another car today (Saturday, October 24, 2015). It happened in the southbound lanes of the parkway near Don Mills Road shortly before 3 p.m. Two children were treated for various injuries but later released from hospital.

The much admired home on the ravine at 117 Hudson Drive in Moore Park has sold for $3,101,000 some $206,000 over the list price of $2,895,000. The transaction occurred in September. It has a large bungalow appearance but was sold as two-storey. The 1960s structure has large principal rooms and master bedroom with much useful landscaped table-land at the rear before the lot descends to its full length of 263 feet in the ravine. Taxes this year on the 70-foot frontage were $18,439. The listing shows 8 plus 2 rooms and four baths.

Joaquin “El Chapo” (or Shorty) Guzman has been on the loose for four months since his outrageous Mexican prison break. There is speculation he is in the U.S. and that his beauty queen wife Emma Coronel is helping him avoid capture. She is a U.S. citizen. Another glamorized episode of Shorty’s criminal career.

The 53 Division Thorncliffe Indoor Cricket Tournament will be held tomorrow (Sunday October 25th, 2015) at Jenner Jean-Marie Community Centre (48 Thorncliffe Park Drive).

It is all over as the Kansas City Royals defeat the Blue Jays 4 to 3 in the top of the ninth inning when the Jays are unable score despite having men on third and second. It was Game 6 of the Jays best of seven series with KC. KC wins series 4 games to two. CBC 

The hot sauce team of Carlos Flores and Sandra DaSilva (right) move into Andy Elder’s Grilltime meat shop on 62 Laird Drive at Kenrae Rd. Saturday, October 24, 2015 to zing you the way you like it. The husband and wife team make and market No. 7 sauces like Habanero Garlic and Pasilla BBQ. Get in there between 11 and 2 p.m. for some good eating samples. About No.7 hot sauces

Gordon Lightfoot has been honoured with the unveiling of a sculpture of the famous singer-songwriter as a young man. It sits on the lakefront of Lightfoot’s hometown of Orillia where the ceremony was witnessed by hundreds of fans. Lightfoot is 76 and a resident of South Bayview. The event was attended by his wife and daughter and the mayor of Orillia.  Artist Timothy Schmalz of St. Jacobs created the four-metre-high bronze work called “Golden Leaves, A Tribute to Gordon Lightfoot.” It is located at  Barnfield Point on the Gordon Lightfoot Trail. The sculpture depicts a bearded Lightfoot in his 20s sitting on the ground and looking down contemplatively as he plays an acoustic guitar. A wreath of leaves in the shape of a giant maple leaf artistically frames him. Some of the leaves depict scenes from songs on his 1975 album “Gord’s Gold.”