The South Bayview Bulldog

The Maurice Cody Spring Fair is Saturday, May 28, 2016. See you there.

A frightening bully of a driver whose reckless driving led to the paralysis of two little girls has been sentenced to four years in prison in Britain. A judge had said that this penalty for Andrew Nay, 39, will never feel like enough to the family whose bright young daughters are now confined to wheelchairs for the rest of their lives. It is interesting to compare the sentence given to Nay to that imposed on Marco Muzzo for the impaired driving death of three children and their grandfather in York Region last year. Muzzo got ten years. It is the horrifying manoeuvres made by Nay that grip the mind. They were caught on the dashcam of the car in which the children were riding with their parents. Nay was seen by other drivers laughing with his passenger before he tailgated and “bullied” a woman driving the other vehicle seen in the video. Such contemptible driving seems to warrant a harsher penalty. Court heard how Nay made a sudden right-hand turn across oncoming traffic and smashed into the car containing Katrina and Karlina Raiba, aged five and eight last October.

The adventure of an 11-year-old boy at the wheel of a Chevy SUV has ended more or less okay. No one is hurt. Just how it got started is still to be told. It happened downtown around Lake Shore Boulevard and Parkside Drive area. In a tweet sent out shortly after 7 p.m., police said they believed he was driving a black Chevy Equinox. But they confirmed that the boy had been found just before 8 p.m. “Police have stopped the vehicle,” the tweet said. “The (11-year-old-boy) has been located. He is safe and sound. Thanks for all of your help.” The boy was driving the vehicle when he was pulled over in the Queen Street and Ossington Avenue area, police confirmed.

UPDATE: Police have stopped the vehicle. The 11 year old has been located. He is safe and sound. Thanks for all of your help and RTs.^adc

— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) May 27, 2016

https://twitter.com/TPSOperations/status/736336956876001281

The 11 yr old is a male white, 5'10", wearing an orange t-shirt, driving a blk Chevy Equinox., plate #: BCBY219, any info pls call 911.^adc

— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) May 27, 2016

Premier Wynne herself has said that Ontario won’t ban the use of natural gas for home heating as part of its climate change action plan. She said it in Alberta where people hate the idea as passionately as they do in places like Leaside and Larder Lake. And it is important to note that the gas-ban fear has stalked the province for many days. Often it seemed as if the Liberal Party’s plan was to pretend no one had said such a thing.  Who knows, but  the Premier has called the report “false” and said natural gas will “absolutely” be used to heat Ontario homes in the future.  “The criticism that we have been getting is that we were going to be banning natural gas, and that is not something that we’re doing,” Wynne said after meeting Alberta Premier Rachel Notley in Edmonton Thursday.

Neighbors talk about closure of the marijuana store on Mt. Pleasant

The marijuana storefront at 562 Mt. Pleasant Rd. is closed, its hours of business “cut short by intimidation” according to a sign on the door. The lights are off. The Green Room reaction is rather mild compared to the fire-breathing condemnations being issued by marijuana militant Mark Emery and his wife. Such advocates have invoked the name of swinish big business, the suffering of millions and a mission worthy of Florence Nightingale. Maybe. But the store is closed and a CP24 online poll of listeners suggests a slight majority of a small sampling of barely a 1,000 people by dinnertime Friday favor the closures 54% to 46%.

This summer China will run tests of the amazing “straddle bus” concept which permits traffic to move under the transit vehicle. This extraordinary invention has been in the planning stages for a while but it will now be installed in northern China to see if works. Brilliant really.

JAYE ROBINSON

Jaye Robinson (Ward 25) has an Environment Day event Saturday at York Mills Collegiate at 490 York Mills Road, East Parking Lot from 10 in the morning until 2 p.m.  It a chance to clear out forgotten items during your spring cleaning as well as used electronics and household hazardous waste. Bring everything from computer equipment and electronics to compact and fluorescent light bulbs for disposal and recycling. Also accepting items for donation such as sporting goods and books and small household items like dishes and utensils.  City staff will be giving out one cubic meter of compost per household – for free! – on the west side of the high school.

AGA KHAN WALK

Aga Khan World Partnership Walk will take place Sunday with the roads affected by closures to be John Street in the west, Wellington Street in the south, University Avenue in the east and Queen’s Park Circle in the north. University Avenue will be closed in both directions from Wellington Street to Queen’s Park Circle from10 a.m. to 1:45 p.m Sunday

WALK WITH ISRAEL

A number of partial closures will take place from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, May 29 to accommodate the Walk with Israel event. The roads affected will be in the area bounded by Strachan Avenue in the west, Lake Shore Boulevard in the south, York Street in the east and Wellington Street in the north.

DOORS OPEN TORONTO

The 17th annual Doors Open Toronto, presented by Great Gulf, returns this weekend, May 28 and 29, offering free and rare access to more than 130 architecturally, historically, culturally and socially significant buildings across the city. The event includes 40 new participants this year, walking tours, talks and other special programming. Most venues will be open to media and the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Detailed locations and hours are available at http://www.toronto.ca/doorsopen.

One of many events this weekend is the Branksome Hall reunion with dinner in the school gymnasium on Mt. Pleasant Rd. It is customary for alumni to make a visit every five years even though the reunion is held annually. Last year many old girls got to see the splendid Athletics and Wellness Centre which opened last year. Keep Well The Road ladies.

Video shows some of the heartbreaking evidence of the millions of people who no longer want to live in North Africa. The chaos flowing from the collapse of all order there, part of the Arab Spring disaster, has left essentially no government worth the name. Libya in particular is now an ISIS hunting ground.

2015 induction November 18th with Special guest speaker award winning Canadian novelist Terry Fallis @TerryFallis pic.twitter.com/jrh3SIQHVt

— Leaside SportsHall (@Leaside_Hall) May 25, 2016

There is much excitement among washroom-watchers as a new Royal Ontario Museum exhibit on exploring gender diversity in ancient Japan has inspired the ROM to open a set of gender-neutral toilets. The story doesn’t say but it seems this means that you can’t lock the door behind you the way you do at home or at Starbucks. The new inclusion means men are denied that male sport of standing while they urinate. Urinals are covered with plastic caps. The CBC story has an air of emancipation about it. Hallelujah brothers and sisters. Will the ROM be counting how many men, as opposed to women, venture into these new come-one-come-all rooms? We’re thinking not too many women except maybe the adventurous kind. CBC