Officers from 22 Division are trying to get this shirtless vandal off the streets.

Police have intensified a search for a suspect described as a one-man crime spree who is accused of committing as many as 10 Break and Entries in the last 14-months in the Lake Shore Blvd. W., and Parklawn Road area.

Police in a news release said the crimes occurred from August 6, 2020 to October 15, 2021.

Detectives allege the man, who roamed the area topless, broke into a commercial building by smashing a window.

“Once inside he caused extensive damage to the building and personal property,” according to police. “He turned the water on flooding a unit overnight.”

The suspect entered a number of high-rise condo buildings committing crimes, officers say.

“He cause extensive damage to the buildings,” the released alleged. “He also pulled the fire alarm when there was no emergency.”

Investigators believe the same man is responsible for the incidents.

He is described as 5-foot 8-inches, 150-160 lbs., clean shaven, with dark hair. He has been observed running through the neighbourhood, with no shirt, on a number of occasions.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-2200, 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).

 

 

Bread glorious bread!

Master Baker Tatsu Sato and his wife, Junko, have been supplying some of the healthiest and freshest breads to residents of our community for more than 15 years.

Tatsu is in the kitchen every morning at 2 a.m. so his customers can have fresh traditional Japanese style breads before they get to work.

Trained in Tokyo and in Kensington Market, Tatsu Sato’s vision is to provide a top quality blend of Western and Japanese cultures for the local community at affordable prices.

Together with Junko, and polite employees, Sato has been living his passion since 2006 at his Tatsu’s Bread, at 3180 Lake Shore Blvd. W., near Kipling Avenue.

The couple settled in New Toronto after moving from Japan many years ago and purchased a home and grew up their children here. They still in the same home in the area.

“All our bread is made by hand from natural ingredients,” says Junko. “We make our bread fresh every day.”

She explains their loaves are made with passion and love and does not contain any chemical or artificial flavouring.

“People come from all over for our bread,” she says. “We make about 15 types of Japanese traditional bread.”

The bread shop often showcases musicians from Humber College’s Music program and features artwork by Humber students and community artists on its walls.

The family believes in giving back to the community and often donate when called upon by local charities. “This community has been good to us over the years,” Junko insists.

The bakery sells lots of fresh pastries, desserts and sandwiches behind the counter. The sandwiches are quite filling and are a favourite of Humber students.

Their breads range from sourdough, egg, rye and raisin to whole wheat, muesli and walnut, and you can get them whole or half-loaf. The much-loved sourdough takes about four days to prepare.

A favourite is Tatsu’s Spelt bread and Japanese milk bread or shokupan, which is well-loved for its fluffy soft texture and slight sweetness.

Tatsu Bread is located at 3180 Lakeshore Blvd. W., or phone 416-253-5557. Visit them at tatsusbread.com

Two enterprising Long Branch women have joined forces to make and market a brand of natural soaps, solid conditioners and shampoos.

Judith Ciniello and Norma Carr make a range of soaps; including one that is vegan, which contains no alcohol or perfume.

The products, which contains a cold relief soap, are sold at Ciniello’s salon, MJ Hair Design, at 3335 Lake Shore Blvd. W., in Long Branch.

“All the ingredients are natural and come from the United Kingdom,” says Ciniello. “The soap contains special ingredients including one that is a cold relief blend.”

The soaps sell for $10 a bar and sales have been brisk.

Ciniello said the products are made from natural ingredients, with no chemicals and promotes healthy skin.

Her store also sells beautiful arts, crafts, cosmetic, gift baskets and other goods on consignment for four talented local women, who work from their homes.

“We are strong women and we support each other,” she says. “I help them and they help me and we all succeed.”

Ciniello also produces a brand of healthy Purple Connection teas, which is brewed to prevent stress and promote a healthy lifestyle. She makes 30 types of teas; which includes 16 flavoured teas and 14 wellness teas.

One of the tea she brews is popular with residents at this time of the year since it contains ingredients that helps prevent and ease colds.

The Mexican-born interpreter and hairstylist spoke English and French when she arrived in Canada 30 years ago. She has since worked her way up to own her own salon.

You can reach Ciniello at MJ Hair Design at 416-259-7992.

 

Landscaping is underway at the New Toronto Cenotaph as workers get it ready for Remembrance Day ceremonies on Thursday November 11.

City staff and the Royal Canadian Legion have been able to preserve and relocate the Cenotaph at Colonel Samuel Smith Park, in the Lake Shore Blvd. W., and Kipling Avenue area.

Today it proudly stands in front of the historic Assembly Hall of Humber College.

The 9000-pound granite memorial stood for decades in front of the former Legion location at Fifth Street and since 1983 it was the site of local Remembrance Day ceremonies.

The move was completed in time for Remembrance Day in November 2020.

Landscaping work is still to be completed, along with adding Afghanistan to the battle honours listed on the memorial.

 

 

Prayers were said to honour five firefighters from the former Kingsway-Lambton Fire Station who were killed 67 years this week while rescuing residents in Hurricane Hazel, one of the worst storms to hit Canada.

The brave men were killed as they went to rescue people stranded in a car by floodwaters on the Humber River. The fire truck the men were driving became stuck on a flooded street and overturned, tossing the men into the raging water.

Five of the nine men on board died. We remember and pay tribute to Angus Small, Dave Palmateer, Frank Mercer, Tiny Clarence Collins and Roy Oliver. Marsh Palmateer, Jack Philips, Jim Britton and Bill Bell survived.

Hurricane Hazel struck the Toronto area on October 15-16, in 1954, with catastrophic results. It was Canada’s worst hurricane and Toronto’s worst natural disaster. During the storm, winds reached 124 km an hour and over 200 millimetres of rain fell in just 24 hours.

This city felt the brunt of the hurricane on October 16.  In Toronto, 81 people died. Some 30 of the victims were on Raymore Drive, where the Humber River tore homes from their foundations.

“I felt so helpless, but there was nothing I could do, nothing anybody could do. The water was so deep, up to our chins, and all the firemen were weighed down by clothing and boats and equipment,”   volunteer fireman Bryan Mitchell told reporters afterwards.

The hurricane left Etobicoke Creek overflowing its banks, flooding three Long Branch streets and killing seven people.

Several houses were washed into Lake Ontario, many while their occupants watched from higher ground or roof tops, but some with the residents still inside.

“If it hadn’t been for the trees, which held the houses back, half of them would have been swept out into the lake,” Reeve Marie Curtis told the Globe and Mail. She said two trees prevented a house with 35 people perched on the roof from floating into the lake.

Firemen and police rescued people from their homes, moving them to higher ground or roof tops. People pulled into the lake were rescued with ropes.

The destruction left thousands of people homeless. The total cost of the destruction in Canada was estimated at $100 million (about $1 billion today). The storm would change the Toronto landscape forever and mobilize the need for managing watersheds on a regional basis.

A plan was proposed to clear 300 homes from the lower elevations at a cost of $1,600,000 and create a 35-acre park, named after then Reeve Curtis.

By the time Hazel dissipated it had caused between up to 1,200 deaths and inflicted damages in Canada, Bahamas and the U.S., Haiti, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Grenada, Bonaire Curacao and Aruba. Damages was estimated at $382 million then.

 

 

Area residents say they were startled by a loud crash and then police sirens.

A search is now underway for a driver of a vehicle who fled the scene of a fatal crash on October 15 in the Burnhamthorpe Road and Shaver Avenue area, just west of Islington.

Toronto Police were called around 12 p.m. for reports of a loud crash.

Investigators say a Gold Pontiac Montana van and a black sedan were travelling westbound on Burnhamthorpe at a high rate of speed when the van collided with a Honda CRV that was going south on Shaver, causing that vehicle to flip over.

The driver of the sedan fled the scene of the crash.

The driver of the CRV, a 59-year-old man, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the van was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Police released surveillance images of the black sedan and are asking anyone with dashcam footage or additional information to contact them.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-1900, 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).

A beauty queen with a heart of gold.

An Etobicoke contestant of this year’s Miss World Canada beauty pageant has taken to Go Fund Me to raise funds for kids in Make a Wish Foundation on behalf of Miss World Canada.

Simran Sohal has raised almost $1,000 in an online fundraiser to help the foundation, which helps fulfill the wishes of children with a critical illness between the ages of 2 to 18 years old.

“Together we can change the lives of children with critical illness by granting them their wishes and giving them strength to fight their illnesses,” Sohal wrote in a post. “Let’s bring a smile to their faces and make a difference in their lives.”

She is a National Delegate for Miss World Canada 2021, to select a beauty queen to represent Canada at the 70th Miss World Final on December 16, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

 

“Please support me and join me in raising funds for making children’s wishes come true,” Sohal appealed. “Regardless of the amount, every donation creates a life changing impact.”

She was also crowned Miss GTA World 2021 earlier this year.

The area resident is a hard worker and a graduate of a Bachelor of Arts Specialized Honours in Theatre from York University.

“I feel blessed for this life-changing opportunity as it would pave the way for turning my dreams into reality,” she said.

The Miss World Canada contest has been held annually in different incarnations since 1957 to select Canada’s representative to the Miss World contest. The contest was not held last year due to COVID-19.

The pageant is held each summer in Toronto. This year it was integrated as part of the Miss World Canada 2020 selection process, in which some 44 candidates faced off.

Jaime Yvonne VandenBerg, of Alberta, won the title of Miss World Canada 2021 on October 3 in Vaughan. She held the title of Miss International Canada 2020 and Miss Earth Canada 2018.

The current Miss World is Toni-Ann Singh of Jamaica who was crowned in 2019. There was no contest in 2020 due to the pandemic.

 

 

BY DAVE KOSONIC

The community of Markland Woods has a lot to be thankful for.

Developer Marc Cavotti had a vision in 1958 to create a unique residential area in Etobicoke that was to be carved out of 400 acres of land that was owned by the Silverthorn family since 1809.

Now more than 60 years later this community named Markland Woods, or sometimes just Markland, continues to thrive and hundreds of the original Silverthorn forest trees are preserved and protected.

Cavotti overcame one development hurdle in a positive and productive manner in 1965. His land near Etobicoke Creek by the present- day Bloor Street was deemed a floodplain not safe for homes so he created the Markland Wood Golf Club as an alternative.

Markland is not a typical subdivision with many identical homes, instead most residences are unique in style because so many different builders were involved in home construction there.

And how prices have soared. My late father Edward purchased our Markland family home in 1962 on Toledo Road for $28,000 from two independent builders.

We maintained ownership on the home until about eight years ago when my father’s estate was settled.

Markland has a very strong sense of community spirit with residents working together for the better of all. Much of this can be attributed to the Markland

Homeowners Association formed in 1962. One of the association’s biggest battles involved the low-flying airliners travelling over Markland while approaching Pearson Airport by using the south-north runway.

They won that battle in two ways. A parallel south-north runway was built with an aircraft approach to the west of Markland. Secondly these two runways are only used when absolutely necessary for example due to wind conditions.

Markland is formed around the four- kilometer Markland Drive and divided down the middle by Mill Road.

Numerous well-known people lived in Markland Wood including the late Ron Lawless who resided on Thicket Road. He was the President and CEO of Canadian National Railways for many years.

The late Thomas Bolton who was at one time the President of the Dominion Stores grocery chain lived on Markland Drive.

And keeping the forest tradition alive many Markland roadways relate to trees, for instance, The Green Pines, Mountain Ash Court and Maple Gates Crescent.

By the way here is how the name Markland came to be. It refers to Mark Cavotti’s land or Markland.

 

 

Some Long Branch autumn lovers are taking part in a car rally to watch the beautiful turning of colours of the leaves across the region. Others are cleaning up our prized lakefront, others praying for their loved ones lost due to COVID-19.

There are many things to do this fall as the weather is still warm. Here are some events that may tickle your fancy, if you do not want to remain inside.

 

 

A number of South Etobicoke agencies have come together to celebrate the lives of loved ones lost due to COVID-19 in our community.

“We have navigated quite a year, one that has robbed us of many things but most dearly our loved ones,” according to Rev. Jacqueline Daley, of St. Margaret, New Toronto, on Sixth Street.

“We are coming together to remember and celebrate the lives of those who have passed away in our families, at our workplaces and other circles,” she said.

The community is invited to a gathering and remembrance installation to honour those who have passed. It will take place on October 23, at St. Margaret, New Toronto, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Daley said attendees will receive a ribbon to write the person’s name to add to the installation.

Should organizers not be able to hold the gathering in person due to weather or health restrictions, a virtual celebration will be held on the same day and time.

If you have any questions, would like to RSVP and have your loved one’s name your loved one’s name read please send their name to operations@lakeshorearts.ca

Rev. Daley can be reached at  647-766-7794 or priest-stmargaretnewtoronto@toronto.anglican.ca