MAN arrested by police for making online threats to Pearson Airport. File photos.

This guy has been tracked down by police for making online threats to Pearson airport in light of all the events taking place these days.

A 49-year-old Thornhill man was charged on January 15 with three counts of uttering threats, Peel police say.

Members of the Peel Regional Police Airport Division say threats were made through social media against the Greater Toronto Airport Authority (GTAA), which is Canada’s busiest airport.

The sprawling facility is Canada’s largest airport, facilitating travel for over 47 million passengers and handling over 312,000 tons of air cargo a year before COVID-19 struck.

“The GTAA has received multiple threats through social media from November 2020 to January 2021,” police said in a release. “After a thorough investigation, investigators have arrested a man.”

The name of the man has not been released. He is slated to appear at the Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton at a later date.

It is not known where the threats were made from or what it included.

Investigators take all types of threats seriously. Anyone who may have information concerning this investigation can contact the Airport Division Criminal Investigation Bureau at (905) 453-2121 Ext 3133. Information may also be left anonymously by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or by visiting www.peelcrimestoppers.ca

CIVIL rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. addressing the crowds assembled in Washington, D.C.

KING Jr. was slain by an assassin at the Lorraine Motel at the age of 39.

Today marks the 53^rd anniversary of the death of slain U.S. civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and it is traditionally an uplifting time with many positive events to look forward to in the community.

The threat of COVID-19 and escalating military action in the U.S. have overshadowed the celebrations of King Jr.’s life in many areas of the U.S., where the day is a national holiday.

King’s birthday is January 15, but his namesake day is celebrated on January 18 in many countries, including Canada, where there would be speeches and lists of his accomplishments renacted and retold, including his winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.

Back then it was a different time in the U.S., similar to that of the people who briefly overtook the Capitol Building on January 6.

Those folks can learn from a 1963 event when 250,000 demonstrators marched to the Lincoln Memorial, next to the mob overrun Capitol, where King gave his famous “I have a dream” speech. The following year, President Lyndon Johnson got a law passed prohibiting all racial discrimination.

During the racially turbulent times, from 1957 and 1968, King Jr. traveled over six million miles and spoke over 2,500 times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest and police action. During that time he wrote five books and numerous articles.

The husband and father was arrested more than 20 times, assaulted at least four times, spat on and called many racist names.

He was also awarded five honorary degrees; named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963; and became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure.

The risk against his life was great. And, on the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, he was assassinated while in town to lead a protest march in support of striking garbage workers. He was 39.

James Earl Ray was charged after a two-year manhunt with killing the civil rights leader. Ray at one time hid out in a Toronto rooming house, on Ossington Ave., while on the lam from U.S. police.

He was arrested in June 1968 at London Heathrow Airport trying to leave England for Brussels on a false Canadian passport.

Ray was brought back to the U.S., where he escaped from prison, was recaptured and died at the age of 70 in April 1998 in a Nashville hospital.

Generations later, the name of Martin Luther King Jr. still lives on across the world.

CONST. James Lothian’s shooter committed suicide and is led away. Toronto Public Library.

Members of Toronto Police Service are remembering the death of one of their own many years ago.

It is 47 years this month that Constable James Lothian was shot and killed while pulling over a vehicle in the Cabbagetown area of downtown Toronto.

Lothian, who was 28, was killed on January 10 in 1973 by one of the occupants in the car that he was stopping.

He was in the area when he spotted a speeding vehicle that ran a red light, according to police records.

The officer “pursued it until the car ran into the rear of another vehicle on Amelia St., near Rawlings Ave.,” close to Riverdale Farm, records show.

“After leaving his cruiser, Constable Lothian was shot and wounded by one of the occupants of the vehicle,” police said.

The shooter was identified as Brian (Duke) Holmes, who was described as a “drug addict.”

Lothian later died in hospital leaving behind his wife Norma and their son, who would be approaching 50-years-old.

It wasn’t until some hours later that police surrounded a rooming house where they tried to negotiate the surrender of the suspects.

“I had no idea at the time why all of this was happening,” area resident Doug Fisher recalled. “ I did know that I had heard shots and that there were dead people.”

It is reported that Holmes had attempted suicide by shooting himself in the head but was unsuccessful.

Reports state that another occupant in the car, identified as Walter McVicar, shot him an additional two times before he died.

McVicar then turned the gun on himself. A third occupant of the vehicle involved in the original pursuit, a 17 year old girl, was charged with murder but was later found not guilty.

Lothian is among the officers listed in the Toronto Police Service Honour Roll. RIP Officer Lothian.

More than 266 police officers have died in the line of duty in Ontario and are honoured yearly at the Ontario Police Memorial Foundation’s Ceremony of Remembrance.

Const. Mike Palermo with PSD Luke fighting crime and keeping us safe. Toronto Police photos.

Unrelenting Toronto Police Service Dogs are being praised as heroes for nightly helping to make arrests or save lives on the frontline.

Police Service Dogs Taurus and Luke are being hailed as crime-fighting heroes for their actions in the line of duty working in this country’s largest police force.

Const. PC Papadopoulos said he teamed up with Police Service Dog (PSD) Taurus and his handler Const. Russ Keveza on January 14 to search for a driver who fled from a vehicle during a traffic stop.

Handler Keveza and Taurus (small photo) scoured the area and soon found the suspect hiding not too far away.

“Driver was located hiding thanks to PSD Taurus,” PC Pappy tweeted. “Driver is now in custody facing several criminal and traffic charges.”

That same night Sgt Mike Palermo and PSD Luke were called to help officers in 12 Division find another driver who bolted from a car in a police stop.

The crime-fighting canine and handler worked hard back and forth in the area to find a driver who fled from a stolen car in the Black Creek and Lawrence Ave. W. area.

“After a lengthy track, Luke sniffed out the fugitive who immediately surrendered,” Palermo tweeted. “Luke sniffed out the fugitive who immediately surrendered.”

Palermo and Luke received and passed police canine unit training and had been working together since September last year.

The Toronto Police Dog Services was formed in 1989 and consists of 21 handlers and dogs. Most teams are comprised of one handler and one general purpose police dog. There are teams for detecting narcotic, guns and explosives.

Every handler is responsible for the care and maintenance of his canine partner. The dog not only works with the officer but becomes part of the officer’s family.

The Service uses German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois for general purpose police dogs and a Labrador, Springer Spaniel, and Malinois breeds for the detection of narcotics, firearms, ammunition, and explosives.

All are purchased after testing and are usually between the ages of one to two years.

Monitoring this Renforth Dr. strip of road is a traffic camera that generates a lot of revenue for the City. 

Traffic cameras as this one on Renforth Dr., is a top revenue generator for the City. Courtesy photos.

An unforgiving traffic speed camera on the outskirts of Etobicoke is gaining notoriety as a top money earner for the City of Toronto.

The busy Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) camera pointed towards a nice stretch of road at Renforth Dr., near Lafferty St., in Etobicoke Centre, Ward 2, has issued 890 tickets against lead-footed motorists in a four-month period.

This ASE, as the system is called, includes 50 cameras that from its installation in July 2020 to October 2020, issued more than 54,000 tickets, which are mailed to the registered owner of the vehicles.

The Renforth Dr. traffic cam issued almost 900 tickets during that period, or about 12 per cent of the tickets mailed out.

The camera was also connected to the single biggest fine issued: $718 to a vehicle owner driving 89 km/h in a 40 km/h zone.

City officials said the most frequent repeat offender was a driver in Scarborough North, who received 17 tickets from a device located near Crow Trail and Bradstone Square.

They noted as the initial enforcement window continued, there was a notable reduction in both the overall number of tickets issued and also the number of repeat offenders.

The cameras were moved to other locations last November.

Mayor John Tory said one car was ticketed 12 times in a month.

From October 7 to 31, the last day before the cameras were moved, there were 5,174 tickets issued, with 251 repeat offenders.

The cameras were installed as a key part of the City’s Vision Zero plan to eliminate traffic-related fatalities.

For the first 90 days, motorists caught speeding received warning letters instead of tickets as part of a public education campaign.

Area residents say they are aware of the cash-collecting camera in their area and always slow down when leaving their homes.

Some residents are trying to save the former Campbell’s Soup 200-foot smokestack (above). File photo.

The Four Sisters smokestacks that formerly stood at the Lakeview Generating Station, in Port Credit. File photos.

Some New Toronto residents are trying to save the iconic Campbell Soup 200-foot smokestack from being demolished in March.

The destruction of historic smokestacks, some more than 100-years-old, which represents part of our industrial past, have always been a popular pastime for area residents to witness.

The last smokestack that was taken down was in 1990 when the massive stack at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Plant came crashing to the ground after more than 70 years of service.  The plant was constructed in 1917.

At one time, the U.S.-based company was manufacturing 50 per cent of all the auto tires in Canada and it was a leader in the tire industry for more than 60-years.

It was no wonder that Goodyear ex-workers and fans from across the city turned out more than 31-years-ago this month to witness history when that smokestack was brought to the ground with explosives.

Another major removal was in 2006 with the explosion of the four stacks, dubbed the Four Sisters, at the Lakeview Generating Station, in Port Credit, which was built in 1958.

The impressive four stacks were each 500 feet, or 150 metres tall and could be seen on the lakefront for miles.

Then Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion joined dozens of city residents at McMillan Headland Park to watch as the historic smokestacks fell to the ground like thunder.

Now that workers have begun flattening the former Campbell Soup site, at 60 Birmingham Ave., residents are talking about the giant smokestack.

Some residents would like to keep the stack and have written letters to the developer without success. Other residents say they are concerned by the noisy truck traffic that the warehouses will bring.

Some have taken to social media to make plans to try and save the smokestack as others try to find a good spot to capture images of the crash.

Officials of QuadReal Development, the developers of the site, confirmed that the stack will be demolished in March.

Campbell’s Soup has hired generations of families and purchased crops from many in the area.

The stack has stood over the sprawling 18.8-acre site since the plant was opened in November 1931.

Some long-time residents are concerned that it is the last-surviving major smokestack in the area and brings and end of the industrial era in New Toronto, during a time with powerhouses as Goodyear Tire and Rubber, Anaconda Steel and other multi-national companies.

It was a bittersweet moment for many who on the one hand were happy to see an end to what was considered the most significant single source of pollution for the GTA, but on the other hand were saying goodbye to a piece of the city’s history and landmarks.

THIS WANTED MAN is looking through your windows and property as you sleep at night. Toronto Police photo.

Police are concerned this night time prowler may become more brazen.

Officers have stepped up a search to locate a suspect in connection with an ongoing prowl by night investigation.

Police have released a photo of the suspect obtained from a security camera.

In May of 2020, police say investigators began looking into a number of incidents reported in the area of Weston Road and Church Street.

Investigators said that between March and May, an unknown man had been “acting suspicious” in residential areas on several occasions between the hours of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.

Police in a release said they had worked to identify the man and have now taken the step of releasing an image of the suspect in an effort to identify him.

He is described by police as standing five-foot-seven, with a slim build and a dark beard. He was last seen wearing a black winter jacket, black pants, black puma shoes with white soles, according to police.

Anyone with information relating to the investigation is asked to contact police at 416-808-2200 or Crime Stoppers.