HAVEN ON THE Queensway needs help in a clothing drive.

BOTTLE Drive to help Daily Bread Food Bank on February 28. For more contact Jenna-Marie Donnelly by email at donnellyjennamarie@gmail.com

CHECK out this event if looking for a job with the Toronto Police Service.

EVENT in the Jamaican community to honour first Black Toronto Police Supt. Stacy Clarke.

Are you a senior who is having problems keeping up with gigabytes, bandwidths and Wi Fi technology.

No need to despair.

The Toronto Public Library (TPL) has help for you to keep up with the latest technology.

The TPL Senior Tech Help team is providing free help for you on whether you should get a smart phone, tablet, laptop or the good old desktop computer.

They are offering one-on-one phone help, detailed help sessions or a variety of classes or workshops.

Get help e-connecting with your friends and family, or to borrow e-books, audiobooks or accessing newspapers or magazines online.

There are tips on Internet security, shopping safely online and accessing health and support services.

Library officials say there is no reason to leave home this winter, since they will help you obtain a digital library card with one call. You can start surfing today.

Phone the Toronto Public Library at 416-393-6225 or e-mail techhelp@tpl.ca

Service available until March 12 and the hours are from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily from Monday to Friday.

Happy surfing and shopping.

FIRST BLACK Toronto Police Superintendent Stacy Clarke. Photo courtesy CityNews.

Stacy Clarke was told a long-time ago when considering policing as a career to ‘be part of the solution and not part of the problem.”

She worked for 22 years at the Toronto Police Service, before now joining its senior ranks as an Superintendent, one of a handful of Black women to hold such a position in Canada.

Clarke, a mom of two teens, is the first to admit that it was not an easy task to get this far.

“I’ve spent the last few hours reflecting on the hill I’ve climbed but also on those who have paved the way for me. I am humbled and filled with pride,” she said in a Tweet soon after her appointment.

She thanked Chief James Ramer and the force’s Command for the opportunities “to continue serving our communities and leading our members.”

It was a long journey. She spent her early career years working in the Community Response Unit, Youth Bureau and Intelligence. She served in the Homicide and Divisional Policing Support Units before moving to the Toronto Police College in 2008.

She was promoted to sergeant in 2010 and assigned to 13 Division and transferred to 22 Division in 2012 to work in the Primary Response Unit and Detective Office.

A member of Professional Standards, she then worked on the Police and Community Review (PACER) project, which explored how the force could improve the public’s trust and safety while providing a bias-free service.

She received a promotion to staff sergeant in 2016 and headed the Learning Development and Standards Section at the Police College prior to achieving her senior ranking.

Proud of her Jamaican roots, she rose up the ranks in her work in implementing the province’s Street Check legislation, one of her many accomplishments as Master Trainer and Controller of Legislation.

She believes in advancing policing efforts to gain the trust of the community while pursuing effective policing. A believer in continuing education, Clarke has completed numerous leadership programs, including one with the FBI.

In 2018, Clarke was named a Civic Action Fellow and listed as one of the 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women in that year.

The mother and community leader says she was taken back by the death of George Floyd, in Minneapolis, noting that all her work in trying to forge partnerships between police and the black community may have been lost.

Some 80 Mexican men and women were found living in ‘vermin infested’ sub-standard conditions, sleeping on mattresses on the floor by the RCMP and border agents after they searched seven homes in Hamilton.

The group of 80 were from Mexico and had entered Canada as visitors at Pearson International Airport and airports in Hamilton and Montreal.

Six people, who it is alleged operated the smuggling scheme, were arrested when the foreign nationals were found after warrants were executed on eight residences in Hamilton and Milton, on February 9 by the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

The six were charged February 9 with a long list of human trafficking and immigration-related offences and are back before the courts in Hamilton on March 8.

“These searches revealed approximately 80 foreign nationals who were residing in sub-standard conditions, where many individuals slept on the floor on mattresses and the housing was infested with bed bugs, cockroaches and other vermin,” the RCMP said in a release.

It is not known if they had their travel documents or money taken away from them.

“The investigation uncovered a group of individuals exploiting foreign nationals, as well as manipulating our immigration systems and processes for gain and profit,” said RCMP Insp. Ann Koenig.

She said the foreign nationals “were illegally gaining employment in different lines of work in the Hamilton-Niagara Region” with the help of employment agencies, which were operated by the group bringing them into Canada.

“The foreign nationals were exploited by the group members and their respective companies,” police said.

Police have identified three companies that they claimed were involved with the operation.

Police said more than 16 police agencies were involved in the investigation, which began in 2018.

It is not known if the group may seek refugee status or return home after the court case is completed.

City of Toronto officials say plans for a shelter in New Toronto was halted because the site did not meet  building and environmental assessments after a comprehensive due diligence process.

“The decision not to proceed with the acquisition is a reflection of information gained during the City’s diligence review of the site, including building condition assessments and environmental assessments,” Kris Scheuer, the City’s Senior Communications Coordinator, wrote in an email to the South Etobicoke News to clarify why the project was nixed.

“It was determined that the City would not be able to proceed with the renovation and activation of the site within the Council approved budget and project timeline required for the acquisition,” Scheuer stated. “Please note that the early community engagement had no bearing on the decision to not move forward on the site.”

The New Toronto community is breathing a sigh of relief after the City said it will no longer purchase 2950 and 2970 Lake Shore Blvd. W. for use as a shelter.

Plans are now underway for a nine-storey apartment building to be constructed on the site.

POLICE are warning of the latest taxi driver scam targeting innocent people. File photo.

THIS honest cabbie helped to prevent an elderly passenger from being scammed.

Police are warning of this most recent taxi driver scam that is making the rounds by trying to take advantage of peoples’ fears of COVID-19.

Officers say in this scheme, a fake taxi is parked in a parking lot as one suspect poses as a driver and the other a customer.

“One of the suspects asks (a victim) for help paying for his taxi fare,” 22 Division officers posted online. “He tells the victim that the driver refuses to take cash due to COVID-19.”

Police said the victim is asked by the fake passenger if he can use his debit card to pay for the fare, in exchange for cash.

“The victim then inputs the PIN for their debit card and into the modified Point of Sale terminal,” police said. “The device records the card data and PIN.”

After the transaction is successful, the victim is given another bank card resembling their own card and accepts cash from one of the suspects before leaving,” officers explained.

Soon the victim’s bank account is cleaned out by the suspects who have access to his card.

Detectives believe there may be others operating similar scams and further victims.

Police are reminding the public to be vigilant when using any type of public transport that results in debit or credit card transactions.

Some tips include: do not leave your debit or credit card unattended inside a Point of Sale terminal anywhere or at any time, be aware of taxi numbers and company names when using their services, be aware of the driver’s identification that is displayed to the customer in the rear of the cab.

Residents are also warned not to make payments for an unknown person, using your personal card, in exchange for cash; inspect your card after each transaction and ensure it is your card and cover your fingers when entering your PIN.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-3200, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), online at www.222tips.com, online on our Facebook Leave a Tip page, or text TOR and your message to CRIMES (274637). Download the free Crime Stoppers Mobile App on iTunes or Google Play.

22 DIVISION officers arrested a man and prevented this new-born pup from being kidnapped. Toronto Police photo.

Toronto Police are warning residents to beware of scammers selling puppies and other pets online as people seek company as we now spend more time at home due to COVID-19.

Police said the pet scam is rampant online and people have to be careful and look for red flags as more people purchase companionship with a credit card.

Officers said scammers use photos of animals obtained elsewhere and post them online. They then take the money of good-natured pet buyers and are never heard of again, leaving some of the potential owners broken-hearted.

The warning stems from a recent case in 22 Division, in which officers responded to a robbery call where a puppy was kidnapped.

“The officers acted quickly in locating and arresting the suspect,” detectives said in a statement. “The puppy was safe and happily reunited with the owner.”

Police are warning that if you’re planning on buying or selling a pet, to do the exchange in a public place with video surveillance.

Always bring a friend or a family member with you and don’t forget to trust your gut if something doesn’t seem right, officers said.

It will be 34 years this year since U.S. astronaut Mae C. Jemison realized a dream and became the first Black woman to travel to space.

Jemison, 65, a physician, flew into space aboard the Endeavour on September 12, 1992, becoming the first African American woman to float around Earth for eight breath-taking days.

Jemison, of Decatur, Alabama, was the first Black woman to be admitted into NASA’s astronaut training program in June 1987.

The youngest child of carpenter, Charlie Jemison, and elementary school teacher, Dorothy, was a quick learner, who loved the sciences. She spent most of her time in the school library reading about science and astronomy.

She flew into space with six other astronauts aboard the Endeavour on mission STS47, and conducted experiments on weightlessness and motion sickness on the crew and herself.

Jemison spent more than 190 hours in space before returning to Earth on September 20. Following her historic flight, she noted that society should recognize how much both women and members of other minority groups can contribute if given the opportunity.

During her time at Morgan Park High School, she became convinced she wanted to pursue a career in biomedical engineering. When she graduated in 1973 as a consistent honor student, she entered Stanford University on a National Achievement Scholarship.

She received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from the university in 1977. Upon graduation, she entered Cornell University Medical College and, during her years there, found time to study in Cuba and Kenya, and working at a Cambodian refugee camp in Thailand.

After Jemison obtained her M.D. in 1981, she interned at Los Angeles County/University of Southern California Medical Center and later worked as a general practitioner. For the next two and a half years, she was the area Peace Corps medical officer for Sierra Leone and Liberia where she also taught and did medical research.

Following her return to the U.S., Jemison made a career change and decided to follow a dream she had nurtured for a long time: she applied for admission to NASA’s astronaut training program. The Challenger disaster of January 1986 delayed the selection process, but when she reapplied a year later, Jemison was one of the 15 candidates chosen from a field of about 2,000.

In recognition of her accomplishments, Jemison received a number of accolades, including several honorary doctorates, the 1988 Essence Science and Technology Award, the Ebony Black Achievement Award in 1992 and a Montgomery Fellowship from Dartmouth College in 1993. She was also named Gamma Sigma Gamma Woman of the Year in 1990. In 1992, the Mae C. Jemison Academy, an alternative public school in Detroit, Michigan, was named after her.

After leaving the astronaut corps in March 1993, Jemison accepted a teaching fellowship at Dartmouth. and established the Jemison Group, a company that seeks to research, develop and market advanced technologies.

EP.  Taylor with the Queen’s Mother at a 1949 horse race in which his horse won. File photos.

E.P. Taylor with one of his horses in the winner’s circle photo-op.

By DAVE KOSONIC

Etobicoke’s E.P. Taylor is described by many for earning his historic place in the winners’ circle of business, local, Canadian and international horse breeding and racing.

His official name is Edward Plunket Taylor and he owned a stately mansion tucked away in the exclusive Lorraine Gardens in Etobicoke, near Burnhamthorpe Rd. and Kipling Ave.

To those close to him he was known as ‘Eddie,’ a business tycoon who passed on at age 88 in1989 in the Bahamas, nine years after suffering a debilitating stroke.

Taylor loved horse racing and accomplished so much during his life and he thrived on challenges including pulling businesses out of the gutter and back to success.

During the highest point of his career, he was one of Canada’s richest people, who was friends of the Royal Family and U.S. Presidents, who would frequent his homes.

E.P. was voted thoroughbred racing’s man of the year in 1973 and the following year was elected to Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame. In 1977 and 1983 he was named the winner of the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Breeder as the leading thoroughbred breeder in North America.

Taylor’s horses won 15 Queen’s Plate races and were named Canadian Horse of the Year nine times. He was also a founder of the Jockey Club of Canada.

“The sport (horse racing) wasn’t keeping up with the progress made in other areas,“ Taylor said. “I was afraid that horse racing might die here as it did in Quebec.”

He was the first person to breed the winners of both the Kentucky Derby in 1964 with Northern Dancer and the English Derby in 1970 by running Nijinski, a son of Northern Dancer.

To the sadness of horse lovers, Northern Dancer died at age 29, at Taylor’s Windfields Farm in 1990, near Oshawa. The horse went down in history as one of the world’s greatest thoroughbred sires and about 70 per cent of today’s best race horses are among his descendants.

“People do not understand that the principal motivation is not money, “Taylor explained during a 1966 New York Times interview. “I do something that is constructive. There are people who like to paint or garden. I like to create things.”

Windfields Estate was the Taylor family home from 1901 to 1989, where his Royal visitors included Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, in the summers of 1974 and 1981, and Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales.

Taylor founded one of Canada’s most powerful conglomerates, which held brewing, grocery, mining and broadcast interests.  He was also a philanthropist, and a portion of his former Estate was acquired in 2013 by Durham College and Ontario Tech University.

A press release at the time indicated ‘E.P. Taylor saw what others could not. Here on his land our students will answer questions that others have yet to ask.’  The land-use agreement included the preservation of Northern Dancer’s grave and the farm’s historic barns.

He was a private man and not much is recorded about Taylor’s personal life. His wife was the former Winnifred Duguid Thornton and they parented a son and two daughters Charles, Judith and Louise.

On a personal note,  my late father owned and operated a home electronics business near the Six Points called Belmont Television and Electronics. He employed factory-trained technicians to do all his in-home electronic installations and service calls.

However Taylor was one of dad’s favorite customers and dad personally did all service calls at his Lorraine Gardens mansion. Dad said that whenever he did Taylor’s work he was given a crisp $100 bill as a tip.