It will be hot today — a predicted high of 31 C — and continue sultry into next week. The mercury was at 22 C at Pearson at 5 a.m. and it might exceed a 1945 high of 32. Of course that was measured in Fahrenheit degrees and there are 1.8 F degrees to each Centigrade degree so who can really be sure if a record is set.
Hailey Conroy entered Grade Six at D.A. Morrison Middle School on Gledhill Ave. Tuesday. This simple act carried out by hundreds of thousands of kids across Ontario represented a signal achievement for Hailey. She has finished nine months of intensive chemotherapy in her battle with leukemia and is now in a maintenance phase. The story of this courageous East York girl they call Haileybird is told today by Gary Webb-Proctor, editor of the East York Chronicle. To the right, TDSB Ward 13 Trustee Gerry Gershon has told The South Bayview Bulldog that she will retire from that post at the end of her present term. Gerri’s husband recently passed away and she wants “to put things in order and review my life. I loved being a trustee but it’s now time to seek another path.” Back on the left, house proud landscaping is underway at 111 Airdrie Rd. Interesting plants. Below, mark October 13 for the Holland Bloorview Leaside Block Party in Trace Manes Park. To the right, September 27 is the start of a series of seminars for local seniors who want to stay abreast of services for them. Then at the bottom, McKesson Corp., the new US owners of Rexall Pharma Plus (2016) have decided to simplify the name of their stores. Here we see the work being done at Sunnybrook Plaza and at 325 Moore Ave. plaza. The new name is simply Rexall Drugstore.
A growing thread at Leaside Community Facebook Tuesday morning has a report and comments on a coyote seen this day on the Heath St. footbridge between Hudson Dr. and Brendan Rd. The post says in part: “Just a heads up to all the people that walk the ravine during the day with their dog(s) like me – today, 9:00am at the pedestrian bridge that crosses the ravine at Heath (so south of Moore) was a huge coyote. I had just got out of my car, a woman was walking towards me with her dog – and unbeknownst to her just 10 meters behind her she was being followed by a very large coyote. Coyotes have been spotted in the last couple of weeks throughout the ravine area – middle of the day – even when busy on weekends with people walking to the Brickworks.”
The City has hired Neptune Security Services to provide “backfill” — the emergency replacement of school crossing guards — for the school system beginning this fall. A notice from Toronto Police tells of this change. It is related the reorganization of the TPS and the use of police officers elsewhere. Neptune guards will be screened and trained for the job. They will be identified by a card that will be present on the left chest and a vest that contains a “Neptune Security Services” logo on the left chest and the letters “Crossing Guard” at the back. For the 2018-2019 school year, TPS will continue to manage the administration of the School Crossing Guard Program. The School Crossing Guard program transitions fully to the City of Toronto, Transportation Services Division, in September of 2019.
A man has shot himself in the foot, according to police, and then tried to drive himself somewhere, maybe to hospital. Cops received a call from a bystander around 4 p.m. on Monday that a man’s gun went off inside a restaurant in Scarborough near Markham Road and Painted Post Drive. One comment called for him to receive the Darwin Award.
MOTORCYCLIST INJURED
Toronto paramedics say a motorcyclist has been rushed to a trauma centre after crashing in Scarborough. Emergency services were called to the scene at Sheppard Avenue East and Rouge River Drive just before 7 p.m. The man is believed to be in his 30s or 40s. He is badly hurt, they say.
Saint Augustine of Canterbury Anglican Church will have its annual barbecue Sunday. You must drop in. On Saturday, enterprising homeowners on Hillside Drive just across the Don will hold a street-wide garage sale starting at 8 a.m. You can bet some hunters will be flying around before that. Centre left, the midnight flit of Sport Clips from 1538 Bayview Ave. has permitted a modest barber shop shake up. Eli the barber at 1693A Bayview has posted a sign on the front of the Sport Clips storefront. Many men have taken their business to Lena Feng since the death of Leo Cornacchia last year. She’s in the little plaza at Millwood Rd. and Sutherland Dr. Bottom left, Deb Lace-Kelly snapped this Monarch butterfly hanging around a sunflower in her garden Sunday morning. Nice. At right, Deke Macdonald posted this 1964 clipping from the Leaside Advertiser telling of how private eyes were hired to make sure the Leaside hockey peewees had not cheated in their 11-0 thumping of Loretteville, Quebec. Very amusing. Finally, mark your calendar for the annual Rotary Club Corn roast. This year there will be a dog show too.
RCMP in Saskatchewan say they are treating the death of Greagan Geldenhuys, 7, as accidental. The lad’s body was found Sunday by a couple walking on the beach at a campground near Fort Qu’Appelle northeast of Regina. His mother, Tamaine Geldenhuys, was found dead, apparently washed up on a nearby beach, on August 24. The boy’s uncle, Darcy Pantel, posted the following to Facebook:
“There could be more details, but in reality, a mother and son perished after being at the beach on a windy, windy day. They were at the beach because they enjoyed being there together. Our plea to you is to love your children, teach them to be safe. Don’t turn our sadness into fear of the water, but rather to help them understand the seriousness of water safety,” he wrote, adding it’s also important to teach appreciation for first responders, police and firefighters. “I can’t think of any way that anyone could have been more supportive throughout the entire process. I could not have asked for more.”
Home Hardware in the Sunnybrook Plaza has confirmed that the end is near for the store that has been an essential go-to place in South Bayview. An employee says that that owner Malcolm expects to be at the location until about November. There are apparently no plans to open another area store so far. Rents are high, it was noted. Malcolm owns three other Home Hardware operations, two on the Danforth and one at 2305 Queen East in the Beach. The closest Home Hardware store now appears to be at 1420 Yonge (at Pleasant Blvd). You will walk from the Green P garage on Pleasant up to Yonge and cross the street to patronize it. Dickson Home Hardware at 2028 Avenue Rd. is very good (and large) but it’s nearly at Highway 401. Most days, we would trade an LRT for a good Home Hardware.
Fan Expo is underway at the Toronto Convention Centre until Thursday. It’s appeal to widely diverse age groups as a source of make-believe, adventure and good old-fashioned commerce can make the mind spin. Here are a couple of videos which reveal this phenomenon. City News profiles people old enough to be parents who like to dress in Star Wars (and other) regalia and rent themselves out. They are the 501st Canadian Garrison and the money goes to charity. On the right, the astonishing YouTube business of a whirlwind personality named Michael, of Toronto (you guess his age). He talks about, discovers and generally lives a life of pop dolls made mostly by a firm called Funko. Here he visits Fan Expo.
Coca-Cola has purchased the coffee brand Costa Coffee and has positioned itself to cash in on the stimulating market of high-margin lattes and pre-paid cards. That’s where customers fork over millions of dollars for coffee that they intend to buy — someday. What a deal. Anyway, Costa is a growing name in the UK and China. The price was $5.1 billion US. There is much speculation Coke will be launching storefronts to compete with Starbucks, Tim’s and McCafe. The coffee business is hugely profitable. In additon to getting many customers to pay months in advance for coffee, the margin on most Starbucks products achieves or exceeds 100 percent. Yes sir, that’s business.
No winning ticket was sold for the $5 million jackpot in Saturday night’s Lotto 649 draw. However, the guaranteed $1 million dollar prize was claimed by a ticket holder in British Columbia. The jackpot for the next Lotto 649 draw on Sept. 5 will be approximately $7 million.
Police are speaking out after Drake, rap darling to many, is seen wearing a Hell’s Angels hoodie. Then, the amusing get-ups among dreamers and doers at Fan Expo. Below that, gird yourself for Germaine Greer’s candid view that boring sex with her husband is worse for an obedient wife than one-off forced intercourse (rape). Hey, we don’t make up this stuff. Finally, Indigenous culture rules and the purity of the product counts, you may have heard. Now there are too many white directors working on their films. Only in Canada.
