The South Bayview Bulldog

A team of 17 students from Thorncliffe Public School has place fifth among 24 teams competing in the finals of the Running and Reading Club competition at Guelph University. The Running and Reading Club is a 32-week after school program that effectively addresses the need for enhanced literacy and physical activity among economically challenged children in the communities it services. The club is for elementary school children up to Grade Six and includes Junior and Senior Coaches who give time to the program weekly for the 32-week period. The clubs operate directly within local inner city schools and is run for two hours per week from October to June. The program takes children on an adventure that improves their physical, mental, emotional and social health, fostering discipline, goal-setting and literacy. Each week, children build their strength and endurance through running and fitness activities, receive individualized assistance in both reading and writing, and are given a balanced, energy-filled snack. The program culminates in the Start2Finish 5 Km Running and Reading Challenge and an awards ceremony recognizing each child’s achievement at the end of the school year. This year 17 students from Thorncliffe Park Public School along with nine coaches, including PC Stather of 53 Division made it through the program and attended the Challenge hosted at Guelph University. All of the children completed the 5k run and placed 5th among the 14 schools that attended. They also placed fourth overall in the Reading and “Jeopardy” portion of the Challenge. With parts from 53 Division TPS.

Here in a New Jersey stable we have a moment or two of good fun as JD (the horse) and his lady friends gather to celebrate his birthday.

Read it and weep the way the skies are doing as forecasters say we have a sloppy week ahead. There may be some sun Tuesday afternoon but don’t bet the bank. The weekend looks good though. Photo Toronto Star Tweet

A notice circulated in Leaside Sunday, June 7, 2015, announced a planned meeting regarding the rejuvenation of Trace Manes playground and wading pool. Anyone with knowledge of this initiative is asked to mail the South Bayview Bulldog 

The leaders of the G-7 are comfortable in a quaint Bavarian Alps castle-hotel today while demonstrators chanting “revolution” are bottled up by German police wherever the cops find them. CNN’s Karl Penhaul shows some of the unhappy campers surrounded (kettled?) by the cops. As usual, it is all about the demonstrators. The media doesn’t even make an attempt any more to say why the protesters are there. Perhaps it’s for a day or two in the country. Much nicer setting to keep people kettled however than Adelaide Street.

Service is has now resumed after a 90-minute stoppage because it was not safe to operate. Commuters were left in the rain as the TTC was caught flatfooted.  Thousands of riders were stranded by the “major communication issue.” Chief general manager Andy Byford said the entire subway network lost radio communication at around 6:30 a.m. ET, and the backup system didn’t kick in. Shuttle buses didn’t run during the service suspension, because it wasn’t possible to replace the entire subway’s capacity with buses, Ross said. During the peak of the service outage, Toronto taxi companies sent cars to transit stations throughout the city, however many commuters told CBC News that they were still unable to find an empty car. Similarly, the ride-sharing service Uber was charging fares several times the average of a normal morning.  Globe and Mail   John Tory on Twitter

It’s a bitter way to end a life. A 76-year-old woman is denied a chance to visit with her husband and son because authorities have concluded she is just too dangerous. That’s the verdict of Corrections Canada on Jean Ann James.  Now in the Fraser Valley Institution, she was convicted in 2011 of the gory torture slaying of her husband’s suspected lover, Gladys Wakabayashi. Wakabayashi was the daughter of a Taiwanese billionaire. Her bloody body was found with slashes on her legs and her throat sliced open. The convicted Ms. James says she desperately wants to be able to enjoy private family visits with her husband and adult son. Curiously, the two men are said to believe James is innocent of the crime, a fact that the authorities say they have noted. The evidence at trial included a recorded confession. The prison alleges that the woman has tried to poison one inmate and take out a contract on another.  The elderly convict denies all the allegations against her and has asked the Federal Court for a review of the refusal to allow her private time with her mate of 40 years. James will be 94 when she is eligible for parole.

Over the dinner hour on Sunday, June 7, 2015, the Toronto Hydro outage map showed an outage in South Bayview. It ran north from Broadway Ave and Blythwood Rd., west of Bayview over to Yonge, up the uneven northeast boundary formed by the Don River ravine.  It included York campus at the end of Lawrence E. The outage map said that fewer that  50 customers were effected by this outage so something, the map or the statistic, seemed a bit out of whack. A lot of territory includes Mt. Hope Cemetery. and Sherwood Park. It appears that Sunnybrook Hospital was on its alternative power supply briefly as well. The map was taken down by 7 p.m.

The first Mac and Cheese Festival in Liberty Village has left residents and organizers disappointed. It was a huge attraction, mind you (look at the lineup). But this morning the streets were filthy with food, paper and, according one woman, vomit. Organizers promise to do better next year and say they were ambushed by a number of people calling in sick.

These follow-up pictures from Yonge and Roxborough News reveal the effect of the fall of a Maple on a car and truck on Roxborough St. W. early Saturday morning. Previous pictures