FOOD ALERT – OBQ burgers still packing them in Alderwood’s longest serving hamburger venue

May 9, 2021 by SouthEtobicokeNews

Kristen (left) and Juliana love their jobs at OBQ, Alderwood’s longest-serving burger place. Photo by Tom Godfrey.

The Organic Big Burger before it became OBQ about 10 years ago.

One of Alderwood’s longest serving burger joints is still packing them in after more than 50 years of grilling thousands of orders for hamburgers, cheeseburgers and fries.

OBQ, or Obsessed by Quality, has been serving the community since 2011, in a strip plaza at 602 Brown’s Line, just south of Evans Ave.

“It is one of the longest serving hamburger places in the community,” says George Tsiambouris, the owner of OBQ. “This has always been a burger place as far back as I know.”

The property was previously owned by a family who owned and operated Big Burger for 40 years, according to Tsiambouris.
“People still come in and tell us they had a hamburger here on such a date,” he says. “There is a long history here.”

Tsiambouris says OBQ burgers are freshly ground and spiced with a secret recipe before it goes on the grill.

“We sear the burger on the flat grill so all the delicious juices stay in,” he explains. “We then transfer them to the charbroiler to get that exquisite charred flavour.”

The burgers, and we have been coming here for years, are always great.

“We cook and top your burger to your liking with your favourite original toppings,” he insists.

They use only 100% Canadian Angus beef and gluten and egg free products.

The prime location came up when he was searching for a spot to open and the rest is history.

“We love the area because it is very family oriented and we get a lot of families as customers,” he says.

The love of burgers run down to the staff, with customer servers Julian and Kristen both agreeing they love the job and people.

“We love working here,” Kristen says. “The people are open to new ideas.”

You can place an order at OBQ by calling 416-253-0835.

It is affordable and the food, as there is much more than burgers, is pretty good.

More than 1,100 people sign police online petition for CCT cameras in Garnett Janes area

May 8, 2021 by SouthEtobicokeNews

AN ONLINE petition has been launched to install CCT cameras in the Garnett Janes area. Police photo.

POLICE say residents are living in fear and cameras will help with their safety.

More than 1,100 people have signed an online petition calling for closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras to be installed in the Garnett Janes neighbourhood to help deter and solve crime.

The petition for cameras was initiated by Toronto Police last month in a social media posting.

Police said in the post that they “actively engage with the community on an ongoing basis, however the violence continues.”

It was only last week that officers were called to investigate a drive by shooting in the Lake Shore Blvd. W., and Brown’s Line area, in which a victim was driving a vehicle when four shots were fired by gunmen in another car, which sped off.

The victim was hospitalized for gunshot wounds as officers escalated a search for two men.

There has been at least six shootings in the Garnett Janes area in the last month.

“Unfortunately the neighbourhood has also been affected by gang activity for some time,” police wrote in a proposal for cameras. “These gang members hang out in the buildings, on the streets, and in Lakeshore Village Park as well as Eighth Street Skate Park.”

“Street drug dealing is not an uncommon occurrence,” officers said. “’This gang activity leads to violence in the neighbourhood. “

Police said the Garnett Janes neighbourhood has seen a ‘disproportionately amount of violent crimes occurring within its’ borders as compared to other neighbourhoods in south Etobicoke.’

They cite two recent shootings that occurred in the middle of the day only steps from neighbourhood parks.

The cameras are proposed for the corners of Garnett Janes Rd., and Ninth St., Coin St. and Tenth Street, Etta Wylie Rd. and Garnett Janes Rd., and the corner of Ninth St., and Lake Shore Blvd. W.

The Garnett Janes neighbourhood is a shining example of why Toronto is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world, according to police. The residents are hard-working and family oriented but are being exploited by gangs.

The area is bounded by Birmingham St. on the north, Lake Shore Blvd. W. on the south, Thirteenth and Twelfth Streets on the west and Eighth Street on the east.

Police said images captured by CCTV will be automatically over-written within 72 hours, unless required for use as evidence in a case.

Many residents of the community seem to be in favour of the cameras.

“In addition the new cameras I feel it is time to reopen the police division on Lake Shore Blvd. W., which was at one time deemed unnecessary,” wrote Lynn.

Del said “I want to see and hear that all our neighbourhoods are safe.”

“I live in the neighbourhood and want to keep our community safe,” said Valerie.

“Protecting the community is of the utmost importance,” wrote Darlene. “We need to get rid of the gangs that are terrorizing the people.”

The petition can be found at change.org

Man arrested for month long Asian spitting terror campaign on the TTC subway

May 8, 2021 by SouthEtobicokeNews

Toronto Police undercover officers have slapped the cuffs on a suspect who was on the run for a month for allegedly spitting on Asian female riders on the TTC subway system.

POLICE SAY suspect was involved in hate crime targeting Asians.

The suspect was arrested on May 5 and is before the courts on criminal charges.

Police in an April 16 news release said the suspect was sought for a number of hate-motivated assaults on the subway system.

It is alleged that these incidents happened between April 9 and April 11 at three different subway stations, according to police.

They were called on April 9 around 8:47 a.m. to Christie Subway station where a man “assaulted a person by spitting on them on the eastbound platform.” He quickly fled.

Officers were called again on April 11 at 11:12 a.m. to the Lansdowne Station where a man “assaulted a woman by spitting on her.”

“The man yelled racial slurs at the woman and threatened a bystander who attempted to intervene,” officers from 11 Division said.

The suspect fled on an eastbound train.

About an hour later, police responded to Wellesley Station, where another woman was spat on by a man.

The suspect fled the scene. Police believe the same man is alleged to be responsible for the assaults.

Officers from 11 Division after consultation with the Service’s Specialized Hate Crime Unit determined the offences were suspected Hate Crimes.
Joseph O’Sullivan Martinez, 25, of Toronto, was charged with two counts of cause disturbance, four counts of assault, 10 counts of fail to comply probation and five counts of breach of recognizance.

He is before the courts.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-1100, 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.

Tom Godfrey is out In The Community at Large

May 4, 2021 by SouthEtobicokeNews

THE STORE that Tina and Italo and their family owned on Royal York Road for 62 years.

FAMILY PATRIARCH Italo Vigiliante came to Canada as a young man and married Tina in a great love story.

This a thank you to long-time Mimico merchants Tina and Italo Vigiliante, the owners of Tina’s Department Store, on 364 Royal York Road.

Family patriarch Vigiliante passed away earlier this year and the store Is slated to close. Such sad news.

Many customers for decades have shopped in Tina’s store. Loyal customers, as my mother, who would later become friends of the couple and received a peek at some of the many newcomer families the haberdashers helped to succeed on their arrival in Canada.

One of those immigrant families was ours. It must be more than five decades now, when we resettled in Canada from Trinidad and Tobago.

The couple never forgot the feeling of being alone and new themselves in a foreign country. And it is with such values that they lived their lives, traits which they passed on to their children.

My mother would recall that back then she was a young bank worker, who had arrived here with husband, Neville. They had left five children in Trinidad, as they worked at one or two jobs to earn enough funds to sponsor us here.

“They are great people,” my mother said of the Tina and Italo. “They were nice, genuine people who helped many families when they first arrived here.”

It was Tina’s Department Store to whom many newcomers, stunned by autumn’s falling temperatures, leaves and snow, would visit during their first days in Canada to obtain winter clothing, like boots, gloves and toques.

My mother, today in her 80s, will never forget being given clothing for five children on credit, which she dutifully repaid to Tina $100 each payday on her bank worker’s salary until the debt was paid off.

Simple and easy, it was the way business was conducted generations ago in South Etobicoke.

I only recently found out that our first winter gear in Canada was fronted to my mother by Tina, who took a chance on another arriving and thankful family.

“I went looking for her over the years,” my mom says. “I could never catch up with them.”

Even though the two live in different parts of Mississauga, they were never able to re-connect, only in memory and good thoughts.

This all came back recently on learning on the death of Italo Vigiliante, who could only receive a COVID-19 send off with less than a dozen mourners present.

My mother was shocked to learn of his passing at the age of 87.

“He was a really nice man,” according to my mother. “He and Tina kept that place running for many years.”

Their lives was a true love story. Vigilianti met his sweetheart, Giustina Viola, in April 1955, a month after arriving In Canada by ship from his hometown of Terracina, Italy.

The couple married and settled in Mimico to raise a family. Italo worked for Tip Top Tailor and Chubb Canada, before they opened their business in December 1958.

The store, which was named after Tina, has been a mainstay on the Royal York strip, from Judson to Evans Ave., for more than 62 years.

It is a sad loss for the community.

Tom Godfrey is the Publisher of The South Etobicoke News. He was a reporter at the Toronto Sun for many years before deciding to use his skills to work in community journalism.

Monika Meulman is looking after Your Health & Wellness

May 4, 2021 by SouthEtobicokeNews

MONIKA says this is the season of love and to express yourself. Photo by Scott Falkowski.

May is for all the colours of love.

Love knows no boundaries. Love is universal. I’m sure you have heard these sayings before. But I say really think about them. Love is the one constant in this world. Maybe where we find love changes, but believe me, it is what keeps us ticking.

It’s no wonder the idea of love, giving and receiving love comes straight from the heart. Our heart, our life ticker, is what keeps us going. Love keeps us going. Do you share your love, your love of life, your love of the goodness in your life, with those you love? All it takes is a smile. In these trying times, a smile is the easiest, simplest gift we can give. Celebrate the gift of your heart with a smile.

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh

And how about a loud cheer, bless you and thank you to all the Mother’s of this world! We have all been born of a mother’s love. But, many of us forget how fruitful, how giving, how endlesss that love is. This month, we invite you to remember at least 3 moments in your life, when you felt your mother’s love, or a mother figure in your life. Remember them supporting you, cheering you on, boosting your confidence and helping you grow. Write the moments down. Reflect on them. How do you see those moments? Do you see their wisdom? Do you see the patience? Do you recognize the energy, time, effort that went into showing you love?

We have all had at least one cheerleader that has paved the way for us to keep strong, to choose the next unknown venture.

I ask you to practice gratitude this month in a very specific way:

take action.

We have all heard the words: take action. Do it. But what do we usually do? Many of us will pick up flowers, or cake and a card for the mom in our life and offer it as a thank you. Let’s take it a step further and make this a month of healing and growth. Let’s take the step of action to grow our kindness towards others, in a time of stress. Let’s choose. Choose one small action you can take and offer someone this month. Act on it. Do it just because. Because it’s good for your heart health. For example, clean out that pantry for mom. Or stock up grandma’s book shelf from one of the small ‘Free little libraries”. Plus, there is the massive health benefit of helping someone!

Did you know there are actual improvements you feel in your life when you share your time or resources with another person?

For example, volunteering with a social community group, or community centre, delivering food for a friend, offering to do yard work for an elderly neighbour improves YOUR quality of life and decreases depression. Donating some of your time, extra clothing, or even tithing (donating some of your hard earned income) to a community group gives you a brain boost. It directly makes you feel good. The ‘commitment to generosity…can make people happier’ (Psychology Today May, 2018) In one study assessing the Keys to Happiness, those who prioritized spirituality/religion, and then relationships (with family, friends, neighbours) were happier than those that valued personal life goals first.

So, to grow your heart health…

Take a small step toward opening your heart to a loved one and fill this world with the colours of love, all month long.

“Everybody wants to save the Earth; nobody wants to help Mom do the dishes.” —P.J. O’Rourke

Contact Monika Meulman, of the Healing Muse Apothecary, at 2859 Lake Shore Blvd. W., or 416-347-5449, or @healingmuse or www.healingmuse.com

From The Bench By Retired Judge Lloyd Budzinski

May 4, 2021 by SouthEtobicokeNews

Virtual Ontario Police Memorial Service held yearly to honour police on May 2. Courtesy photo.

Here are some thoughts. Reasonable doubt was originally intended to increase conviction rates. Around the 15th century according to the historian Whitman, the English took over God’s job of ‘Judging’ crime. Before that it was ‘Trial by Ordeal’. If you survived drowning or burning you were innocent because God – the Judge — had saved you.

This new judging job had its headaches — the fate of those who sat in judgment was at stake.

Jurors had to fear vengeance from the convict’s relatives. There were also religious reasons. The Bible, in 19 Deuteronomy, the part we think of as ‘an eye for an eye‘, also deals with false witness. It means, that if someone falsely alleges that “X” committed a murder, then the liar should face the same penalty as ‘X’.

Secondly, convicting an innocent defendant was regarded, in the older Christian tradition, as a potential mortal sin. The reasonable doubt rule developed in response to this possibility. It was originally a theological doctrine, intended to reassure jurors that they could convict the defendant without risking their own salvation.

It excluded absolute certainty; instead, used a moral certainty as the standard.

Today, Judges tell Juries that ‘Reasonable Doubt is not a far-fetched or frivolous doubt. It is not a doubt based on sympathy or prejudice. It is based on reason and common sense.

The doubt arises from the evidence or the lack of it as it relates to the essential elements of the offence …. It is not enough for you to believe that the accused is probably or likely guilty. In that case, you must find him not guilty.

The Criminal standard of Reasonable Doubt falls much closer to absolute certainty, than proof on a ‘balance of probabilities’ as in Civil Trials (51% certain). The Judge determines the law and the Jury, the facts.

A crime requires two factors: a law-breaking event, the Actus Reus and a criminal intent, a Mens Rea. Murder or manslaughter requires the act of killing, an Actus Reus, a homicide. Homicide simply means that someone killed someone. It is not a crime by itself. Whether a homicide is a murder or manslaughter depends on intent — an intentional, unintentional, negligent killing, a reaction to a provocation, duress and such.

If you lack an operating mind you could lack a criminal intent, be acting under a delusion and end with a “Not Guilty Because of Insanity”.

Juries like to compromise. Manslaughter is an included and lesser offence of murder. Juries find the facts from the evidence; thus, the verdict. A Jury has a choice. They need not explain their decision. They are empathetic and often, faced with a choice between a murder, manslaughter, they often choose manslaughter by deciding the intent of the accused.

This inclination for compromise or empathy became apparent when hanging was abolished. The conviction rate for murder increased. Before that, juries opted for manslaughter. The 15-century guys were right, reduce the responsibility and you increase conviction rates. But be careful of going too far. We could reduce the test for guilt to the Civil Law standard — a balance of probabilities. It would reduce the chance of the guilty getting away but would cause more innocent people being convicted.…oops! A law is like an aspirin; not perfect; it can cure a headache but may cause internal bleeding.

In Floyd, the Jury had several choices, assuming he caused the death. It depended on interpreting Chauvin’s intent . Sometimes empathy for the accused encourages a Jury to view the intention as more accidental – a manslaughter. Clearly, Chauvin drew no empathy.

In the Latimer Case, a farmer killed his teenage daughter. She had severe cerebral palsy, functioned as a four-month-old, suffered chronic pain, couldn’t walk, talk or feed herself. Latimer maintained her pain was unbearable. Latimer killed Tracy in 1993 using exhaust fumes from a truck. Recently, he maintained with the CBC, “The harm I caused by her death would have been less than the pain inflicted by her life”. He claimed innocence as a mercy killer. I believe, had he called evidence indicating he was under unbearable stress he would have been found guilty of the lesser offence of Manslaughter – less specific intent. He was wrong in law, ‘mercy killing’ is not a defense. He stood on his principles, leaving the Jury with no choice.

So, justice wins for Floyd. Destiny was in the hands of 12 Jurors. Notwithstanding, our systems aren’t

perfect – It took a thousand years to evolve the Jury System yet it remains the best of all possibilities.

ANSWER TO LAST MONTHS SENTENCE: I sentenced him to 2 yeas less a day to be served in his home followed by 3 years’ probation.

Judge Lloyd Budzinski retired after 28 years and was a former Crown Attorney, Defence Counsel and Ontario’s Deputy Minister of Criminal Law. He was a Chief Prosecutor in the high profile trial of ex-RCMP officer Patrick Michael Kelly, who was found guilty of murder for throwing his wife from a 17 th floor balcony n March 1981.

Fifth drive by shooting in the Lakeshore area in the last month

May 3, 2021 by SouthEtobicokeNews

The victim was a marked man and it was a targeted shooting.

A 28-year-old man was rushed to hospital in non-life-threatening injuries on Monday (May 3) morning in a targeted incident in Long Branch, police said.

The victim is about the fifth young man shot in the community in the last month and residents are calling for the gunplay to end.

Among those hit by gunfire was a 14-year-old boy in the Garnett Janes neighbourhood on April 17. He survived.

Traffic was closed off along Lake Shore Blvd. W., near Thirty Seventh Street around 8:30 a.m. as many were on their way for coffee at a nearby Tim Hortons.

Police said it appears as though four shots were fired as the victim’s car was secured by police for a forensic team.

It is believed that two suspects followed the victim into an area in a black hatchback and at some point pulled alongside the shot man’s vehicle and started firing.

The victim was shot at least once to his lower body, according to police.

Duty Inspector Michael Williams said detectives are following all leads.

“It sounds like two vehicles had seen each other and the suspect vehicle may have followed our victim into this area and then the two cars came door-to-door over on Thirty Seventh Street and that is where the shots were fired,” Williams said, adding that the shots were fired through an open window.

He said Lake Shore Boulevard is a busy street and we are hoping that someone had dash came video or even have some cell phone video they can help us out with.

Williams said that it appears as though the passenger of the hatchback opened fire through an open window and that the vehicle they were in then turned onto Lake Shore Boulevard, where it was last seen headed westbound.

Police said the victim’s vehicle had four bullet holes and four shell casings were found on the street.

“This appears to be a targeted incident,” Williams said.

No suspect descriptions have been released at this point.

Police have circulated a petition online seeking the installation of five CCTV cameras in the Garnett Janes community to help them solve crime and protect residents. Police said there are a number of known gangs in the area.

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