news
Newsstand: August 14, 2010
Illustration by Matt Daley/Torontoist.
In weekend news: more people kick it with some kabbadi, others feed feral felines, and some take a page out of a mob story.
If you’re the sporty kind, why not try out something besides the good ol’ standbys? Because of waves of immigrants coming to the city, Toronto has seen a change in its sports scene. What used to be just baseball is now cricket, table tennis, and kabbadi. Sure, these games may not fill arenas, but it’s not just the niche sports that’re grabbing hold. Soccer jumped from the thirteenth most-played sport in the 1990s to the fourth most played by 2005. Now go learn more about the aforementioned sports, or better yet, go play them.
Everybody’s got their own hobbies: kabbadi, stamp collecting, etc. But one woman has decided that tending to a feral cat colony is the best way to be. Jean Banks, an elderly (of course) Scarborough resident, is adamant about protecting the colony, which police have threatened to remove. Apparently some people haven’t made feral cats their hobby and are complaining about the things, which like to hang out by the building next to Banks’ condo. She feeds them boneless, skinless chicken breasts. “Only the best for my babies,” she says.
Over to politics. Because the thought of one Tory in office isn’t enough, John Tory Jr. (that’s John A.D.—not H—Tory) is also considering running someday. Although a “natural-born canvasser,” A.D. became a pilot instead. This year he stepped into politics, as mayoral hopeful (very hopeful) Sarah Thomson’s advisor. Clearly that’s not going so well, but maybe the young Tory will do better for himself.
Here’s a tidbit that sounds like something out of Goodfellas—a cabbie was robbed at knife-point and then locked in the trunk of his car. Granted said car didn’t get pushed off a bridge into murky waters, but the trunk scenario sounds spot on for a mob flick. Police are looking for the suspect, who the driver picked up in the Junction Road and Keele Street area.
Onto the actual mafia: a hit man for the Hamilton mob shared his “code for killing” via telephone from a halfway house in B.C. Ken Murdock has spent the last ten years in jail, serving out a life sentence. He says he followed a personal set of rules, such as not killing victims near their families, and he doesn’t believe in bombs. His most well-known victim was likely Hamilton mob boss John Papalia, who was killed in 1997. Murdock is eligible for full parole next December.
On that happy note, happy weekend!