Court to hear NSS breath test rights challenge

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Jonathon Lisus

The “right” of high school students to go to the school prom without having to take a breath test will be heard in Ontario Superior Court. A Toronto lawyer, Jonathan Lisus, will be on the job to prosecute his view that the breathalyzer for high school kids is a “presumptively unreasonable search.” One of those Mr. Lisus will attempt to protect from the test will be Northern Secondary School Student Council President Brett Gorski.  Mr. Lisus told Post City Magazines that although he is aware of other schools in the city and the province that have similar policies, “the case is only in relation to Northern and Principal (Ron) Felsen in his capacity as principal.”  “I do expect this will set the precedent for the city and the rest of the province, though,” Mr. Lisus told the Post. Northern Secondary School announced early in May it would implement the breathalyzer test for kids to get through the door to the senior prom. The dance is set for Thursday, May 29, 2014. It is a policy used by a number of other Toronto and District School Board high schools, but not all. Those who fail the test are not allowed to enter the dance and parents are called to pick them up. The NSS decision was taken because the school has had problems with kids being intoxicated at the prom. “My first year here, I had to shut down a dance because students were drunk.” Mr. Felsen said.

Dog feces in neighbour’s garbage can in court

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A sorry tale of Forest Hill neighbors who took their squabbling to court and got slapped down by the judge is recorded in the National Post. It began, apparently, when a woman left her bagged dog feces in the neighbor’s garbage can. That would be annoying. National Post  (May require subscription) 

Opposition to moving Isabella house to Molson St.

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The Ward 27 meeting at City Hall yesterday to explore the possible moving of 119 Isabella Street to a newly-created lot on Molson St. (off Roxborough St. W.) took place with residents from the Roxborough area in total opposition. Some 25 or maybe more people were at the meeting where the developers showed their plans for a severance application and the moving the so-called Casey House coach house to Molson Street. Reaction from the residents is said to have been based on the under-sized nature of the lots that would be created by the  severance. Coming out of the  meeting is said to be not too clear where the idea will now go. Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam is said to remain attached to this project presumably for the purposes of “saving a piece of history.”  With Yonge and Roxborough News. Previous post 

South Bayview BIA meeting to feature Alex Ling

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The second of two meetings dedicated to an understanding of the BIA (or business improvement area) concept will be held Wednesday night at Leaside Library. The event is organized by John Parker (Ward 26) and tomorrow’s will feature Alex Ling, a seminal figure in the creation of BIAs in Toronto. Last meeting 

CTV poll also shows race between Libs, PCs

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Information in video speaks for itself, as they say. Abacus Data Inc. CEO David Coletto said he will be closely tracking the two largest swing voter groups over the coming weeks: those who could vote either Liberal or NDP, and those who would vote either PC or Liberal. Sun News

Esso bar: Heavy work and gas pump replacement

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Many have picked up on The Bulldog’s red flag warning about the closure of the Esso (On-the-Run) gas bar at Mt. Pleasant Rd. and Merton Street. Sadly, the steel fences and serious construction equipment at that corner this morning came as a shock to others. It looks like they’re replacing  the pumps. It will be that way until 6 p.m. Saturday, May 24, 2014.  

What good is a poll of Twitter Machines?

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God bless Ipsos Reid but a poll of what Twitter users think of Ontario political parties seems less useful than a poll of people holding up the bar at the local public house. Ipsos found that most of the tweets comment on the Progressive Conservatives (62%) but that 59% of those who tweeted didn’t like the PCs. Only 25% of tweets were about the Liberals but 35% of those were positive. Can you follow this? The users, as Ipsos says, are young and “better educated.” The poll was done wth a “random” sample of tweets. The mind swims. Did Ipsos sample any tweets to #GardeningToday or just #KillTories? Unmentioned in the news stories is the inescapable reality that most twitter users who comment on politics are one-person Twitter Machines. They fire out dozens of partisan tweets on essentially the same subject. Some of them may be part of a Party Twitter Machine. Imagine that. 

Fire call to 198 Moore Avenue but little fire

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The busy corner of Welland Ave and Moore Ave. saw what appears to be have been a fire call right smack on the corner Tuesday afternoon. The call was to 198 Moore, a house that looks south down Welland. The call came from the landlord of the home, who lives across the street in a home that fronts on Hudson Drive. Quite a little bit of excitement for a few minutes but not much evidence of damage or even fire. Everything was cleared by rush hour. 

Man with the small moose is a big man

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Wonderful tale of a Northern Ontario man who found and adopted a baby moose until it could go to a proper sanctuary.

Weather story now outdated

Happy’s smile reveals macabre human teeth

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McDonald’s has introduced a box to contain a kid’s food order and given it the name Happy. The problem is that Happy seems to scaring people into a state of extreme criticism. There may be some mock piling-on hatred of fast food as well. We mean, few people are really genuinely frightened by Happy (we guarantee it) but there is a kind of macabre look about Happy’s teeth. A Bulldog knows these things. It looks as if Happy’s choppers may belong to a human. Homo Sapien teeth superimposed on a cartoon box. Yes. We think it’s the teeth. Let’s see how long Happy lasts, or perhaps they’ll change his teeth. But this morning (Tuesday May 20, 2014) he is taking a serious beating on Twitter and in such publications as the Huffington Post.

Break-in on Rosedale Heights Drive nets silver

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A break-in occurred on Rosedale Heights Drive in Moore Park between about 1 p.m. on Friday, May 17 and 11.30 p.m.on Saturday May 18, 2014.  Police say entry was gained into the home by “unknown means” and that a sterling silver dinner set, purses and a quantity of jewellery were taken.

Target fires Canadian president Tony Fisher

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Target Corp., seeking to fix a money-losing expansion into Canada, pushed out its top executive in the country and announced plans to name a nonexecutive chair to oversee the effort. Target Canada President Tony Fisher will step down immediately and be replaced by Mark Schindele, a senior vice president in charge of merchandising operations, according to a statement today. Schindele, a 15-year veteran of Minneapolis-based Target, helped roll out new store formats for the chain, including PFresh, CityTarget and Target Express. Bloomberg