The South Bayview Bulldog

For Special Olympics Ontario/TPS re;lease

Fernz in town/Leaside Wildcats release

Leaside United Church team/LUC

Weather Network

A hardy few from the Toronto Police and others took a plunge into chilly Lake Ontario at Sunnyside Beach Saturday to raise funds to support Special Olympics Ontario. The 75 polar bears raised $17,500 for the cause. Well done all. To the right, the hockey bond between the Leaside Wildcats and the New Zealand Ice Fernz women’s hockey team will be strengthened this week as the Kiwi ladies are billeted with Wildcat families. On Tuesday, March 6, the Wildcats Senor BB will play the Fernz at the Beaches Complex and on Wednesday, March 6, the match will see the Wildcats Midget AA and the Fernz at Scarborough Village Arena. Centre right sees the Leaside United Church team (LUCY) getting ready for their “coldest night of the year” walk in aid of the Yonge Street Mission. And at the bottom is revealed another week of warm temperatures taking us into March. Could be good.

Six injured in Leicester

Dead at 54

Russian-style meddling feared

Companies cutting ties with the NRA

Six people have been injured, two critically, in the explosion of a corner store in Leicester in the UK. Authorities have confirmed that it is not a terrorist act. Upper right, Sridevi, Bollywood’s leading lady of the 1980s and 90s has died prematurely at the age of 54 of a heart attack. She redefined stardom for actresses in India and became known as the first female superstar in India’s male-dominated film industry. Below that, scurrilous material on the Internet has Ottawa worrying about a possible Russian-style meddling in Canadian elections. Who knows. At the bottom, the logos of companies which are responding to a #BoycottNRA campaign over the gun lobby’s continuing opposition to control of any kind. Two videos (below) are a look at the remarkable new Samsung phone and then an NBC report on how the big four tech companies, Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook, are dividing societies by feeding users just the stuff they want to hear. Name your poison.

Players, staff, police and friends of the Thorncliffe Park Youth Committee

The newly-formed Thorncliffe Park Youth Committee was at work Sunday with a first event, the creation of the Jenner Premier League. It is an indoor cricket organization which will play at the splendid new (in 2010) Jenner Jean Marie Gymnasium at 48 Thorncliffe Park Drive. The committee is a testament to the ingenuity and ambition of the young men and women who brought it to reality. With the help of the City of Toronto, Toronto Police at 53 Division and many community friends like Councillor Jon Burnside (who was present) the committee hopes to assist Thorncliffe Park area youth in endeavors ranging from sports to education. Many business sponsors have stepped up and Pharmacist Mohamed Mobarak is the principal supporter of the league. He owns the Guardian Drugstore at 28 Overlea Blvd. Mobarak spoke graciously of his desire to give back to the community for its support of his business. Notable Jenner staff present were Toronto administrator Fidelia Nelson, youth activity organizers Nasser Khan and Sakib Manjawala and PC Harold Shin, among many Toronto officers.

PCs Natalia Epperson and Kyle Widmeyer on sign duty

Fidelia Nelson helps hand out team shirts

Sponsor Mohamed Mobarak was awarded his own jersey

A man, 19, has died in the crash of his car into a guardrail on Highway 400 near Bradford. The vehicle was impaled by the rail.  OPP report that they found the man lifeless when they arrived as the scene about 5 a.m.  Northbound 400 is closed between Highway 88 and Highway 89 until at least noon.

Sikh separatism in the open

Xi Jinping the new Mao?

Mao Zadong

It is said there are between a 1.5 and two million Canadians of Indian extraction and fearfully, as many as half are inclined to support Sikh independence on the subcontinent. It is not a problem Canada needs but it will never perplex a country like China. They will curry favour with the Indians without such silly irritants Now, with the prime minister due home from a somewhat mixed trip to India, Global News is reporting that Sikh separatists in Canada, and in the Liberal Party, are lauding Mr. Trudeau. “I condemn in the strongest terms the Government of India’s cold shoulder behavior during reception of PM [Trudeau],” pro-Khalistan activist Sukhminder Singh Hansra, president of one of the Canadian chapters of Punjab-based political party Shiromani Akali Dal, said in a statement. “Once again, [Trudeau] and his team displayed the higher standard of democracy as they put the interest of people ahead of their own by meeting with the head of Punjab state, the arrogant Capt. Amarinder Singh,” the statement read.

LEADER FOREVER?

Speaking of China, the news seems quite ominous. The Chinese Communist Party has proposed scrapping term limits for the country’s president. That’s what was reported by the official news agency said Sunday, appearing to lay the groundwork for party leader Xi Jinping to rule as president beyond 2023. Leader forever it seems. It is not a good omen for China nor democracy. The party’s Central Committee proposed to remove from the constitution the expression that China’s president and vice-president “shall serve no more than two consecutive terms,” the Xinhua News Agency said. “Xi Jinping has finally achieved his ultimate goal when he first embarked on Chinese politics — that is to be the Mao Zedong of the 21st century,” said Willy Lam, a political analyst at the Chinese University in Hong Kong, referring to the founder of communist China. What would Deng Xiaoping say?

OTHER NEWS

• What really happened on Trudeau’s India trip: Trade concerns overshadowed by wardrobe choices, extremism talk
• Customers get their $25 Loblaw gift card as compensation for overpriced bread read 
• South Korean women on ‘birth strike’ as children come with too high a cost 
• Bollywood star Sridevi dead at 54

No winning ticket was sold for the $9 million jackpot in Saturday night’s Lotto 649 draw. However, the guaranteed $1 million prize was claimed by a ticket holder in Quebec The jackpot for the next Lotto 649 draw on Feb. 28 will be approximately $12 million.

OPP have found four people dead in a home on Starrat Rd. in Ryerson Township about five km from Burk’s Falls west of Algonquin Park. They received a 911 call on Friday night from an unknown person who apparently discovered the bodies of two men and two women. All the victims showed signs of unspecified trauma. The Northeast OPP Criminal investigation Unit is investigating, alongside the forensic identification unit, emergency response team and a canine unit. Police say the preliminary work intends identify the victims and identify the caller.

The Leaside Junior Wildcats struggled to win a 2-1 victory over the K-W Rangers in the first of their best-of-five game playoff series Saturday night at home. The go-ahead marker was scored with 24 seconds left in the game by Kristin Della Rovere unassisted. The game was marked by a rare slew-footing penalty assessed as both a double minor and a game misconduct against Emma Thomas of the Rangers. In addition to that, the Rangers took three more penalties to a total of two for the Wildcats. It may be rough series. The next game is in Leaside on Wednesday. Incorrect information on the location was published previously. Boxscore

Thr Leaside Meraki Synchro Intermediate Team pose proudly after winning the gold medal at the Skate Canada Synchronized National Champions 2018 in Oshawa. Standings are below. Congratulations all.

Christ Bentley and the Pontiac

LHS is there as Robots Collide

Jenner Cricket Sunday at 1.30

Meet K-W Rangers are Gardens Saturday

Strike up the band, Please!

Learn to curl

Earth Care 2018

Upper left, Christine Bentley, a resident of Summerhill, declares she cannot bear to part with her trusty 2000 Pontiac. Chris is one half (with Kate Wheeler) of What She Said, the informative and fun radio and Facebook syndication. Read why we love this old car so much.  Then at upper right, robots collide this weekend and the Leaside High School wonks are competing in the VEX Robotics Competition at Governor Simcoe Secondary School in St. Catharines. This is a qualification event with the World Championship set for a later date. Centre right, don’t forget the Jenner Cricket kickoff Sunday at 1.30 at 48 Thorncliffe Park. Down the left side, the Leaside Jr. Wildcats begin their best-of-five series with the K-W Rangers Saturday (tonight) in the quarter-finals of the Provincial Women’s Hockey League. Puck drops at 5.40 at Leaside arena. Then the Toronto Tuba Euphonium Symposium is March 17 at Lawrence Park Community church. Strike up the band. And a nice invitation from the Leaside Curling Club to learn how to play. That’s in April. Finally at the right, the St. Cuthbert’s Earth Care 2018 events are shown. Looks good.

Devastation/OPP

Where the diesel poured out/OPP

Sawdust sops up oil/OPP

Need lots/OPP

Just after dawn/CP24 Twitter

The stench of diesel oil hangs over the 401 between Avenue Rd. and Yonge Saturday morning after a transport truck hit a concrete barrier and spilled what is being called “a significant amount” of diesel fuel. The accident happened in the westbound collector lanes of the highway at around 7 a.m. This was one of two tractor-trailer crashes Saturday within a few hundred feet of each other. It’s a mess.