The South Bayview Bulldog

A Valentine’s Day feature sponsored by the Daily Mail newspaper has found that a love letter written by Johnny Cash to his wife June in 1994 is judged by readers the greatest such missive of all time. Writers today are recalling Cash’s rather stoic image in the context of this letter revealing a deeply romantic soul. His relationship with wife June Carter Cash was chronicled in the movie ‘Walk the Line,’ as well as ‘Anchored in Love,’ a book written by their son, John Carter Cash. The letter was written to mark June’s birthday and reads in part: “Once in awhile, like today, I meditate on it and realize how lucky I am to share my life with the greatest woman I ever met.” Cash wrote while he was in Odense, Denmark. “You’re the object of my desire, the #1 Earthly reason for my existence.” The sweet letter has been voted the greatest love letter of all time by the readers of the Daily Mail in the U.K., topping romantic missives from Napolean, Richard Burton, Beethoven, King Henry VIII and John Keats.  See the note and read it here.

A news conference at the Hospital for Sick Children has been told that doctors have identified as many 7 possible liver donors for the second Wagner twin, Binh. They are working on refining the medical match and say they hope to do the transplant that will save the child’s life within about a month. At the news conference Joanne Wagner (inset) adoptive mother of the two Vietnamese children, offered a moving thank you to her husband for giving up part of his liver for the other twin, Phuoc. That operation occurred earlier this week and was pronounced successful for both parties by doctors this morning. Ms. Wagner said her husband is “my hero, the best man I know” for his act.  The girls have a genetic disorder called Alagille syndrome. It affects their vital organs and is fatal without a transplant. The surgeries on Tuesday lasted 13 hours at the Toronto General Hospital and the Hospital for Sick Children. 

Bob Simon

CBS News 60 Minutes correspondent and foreign reporter Bob Simon died on Wednesday night at the age of 73, the network announced. The veteran newsman was reportedly in a cab when it crashed on the West Side Highway in New York City, police told the Daily News. Simon’s cab collided with another vehicle around 7 p.m., sending it off the road, the New York Post reported. Both the driver and Simon had to be cut out of the cab, according to the paper. Simon was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital in serious condition, but later died from his injuries. The driver of the cab and the 23-year-old driver of the other involved vehicle were not seriously injured, according to the Daily News. The award-winning reporter’s career spanned five decades, taking him conflict scenes around the world. Simon joined CBS in 1967, and then 60 Minutes in 1996. Over his career, he covered topics including the Vietnam War and the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan. One of his most notable assignments, “Curveball,” detailed the investigation of the Iraqi defector who provided the faulty testimony that eventually led America to war. Simon spent 40 days in an Iraqi jail after being arrested while covering the Gulf War. He won a total of 27 Emmys.

A York Region woman who has 15-day old baby has been caught in a measles quarantine says she is mad at hell at unvaccinated people who have caused her a week from hell. “I blame you,” are among accusatory statements of Jennifer Hibben-White whose son Griffen is too young to be vaccinated. Baby Griffin was in a York Region doctor’s office with his mother and was potentially exposed to  measles. That’s because a man who had been exposed to measles had been in the office shortly before them. Now Hibben-White, her son and three year old daughter are all in quarantine until February 17, 2015. Griffin is too young for vaccination and the daughter is not yet old enough for her booster. Ms. Hibben-White has written on her Facebook page, unburdening frustration, anger and fear over the situation.  Elsewhere, there have been no new cases of measles reported in Toronto although York Region has identified a case in a young man who it says had already been vaccinated according to CTV. There are ten reported cases in Quebec, most of them related to the Disneyland outbreak. At City Hall Christin Carmichael-Greb (Ward 16) introduced a motion that asks the city’s Medical Officer of Health to draft a report on the “potential enhancements to existing public health programs to ensure children in day nurseries are adequately immunized.” It surprised some that Toronto Public Health doesn’t offer a day care immunization program, something apparently required by Ontario Public Health Standards.  School- aged children are also required to be vaccinated. Parents are able to request an exemption from vaccinating their children on medical, philosophical or religious reasons. Photos: Jennifer Hibben-White, Griffin