news
Weekend Newsstand: December 3, 2011
The sun is sort of shining and the birds aren’t really chirping, but at least it’s Saturday, and you ain’t got shit to do. As much-missed but always-loved actor Richard Widmark would say, “sounds reasonable!” In today’s passable news: a councillor suggests cut to the police budget, a grown man bullies the Junction, a Christmas concert is cancelled, and a loving lady brings home eight dogs.
It seems Councillor Peter Milczyn (Ward 5, Etobicoke-Lakeshore) wants the police to feel the budget-cutting heat as much as the rest of us. A member of the mayor’s executive committee, Milczyn has tabled a motion to cut another $4.3 million from the $933.7 million police budget. That would give the force the same amount they got last year, still far from the 10 per cent cut that Ford has asked most other departments and agencies to accept. The cut would equate to about 60 jobs, and the idea is that uniformed officers wouldn’t be affected. So we are left with the question: What does Mayor Rob Ford and his hordes prefer: the salt-of-the-earth folks on the force, or victoriously ridding the city of gravy it never had? It will be fun (?) to see.
Speaking of grown-ass men who act like wee babies, police are trying to track down a 39-year-old bully who they say has been threatening his former neighbours in the Junction. In 2009, Ralph Scala pleaded guilty to charges based on a campaign of tire-slashing, window-smashing, and threats against others in the area. Notably, his charm runs in the family, with his even-more-grown-ass father pleading guilty three months later to charges related to speaking aggressively with a neighbour. Both were asked to leave the neighbourhood for three years, but Ralph’s recent threats they’ll be back have police hot on his tail again. Oh, grown-man bullies. When are they going to find whatever it is they’re looking for?
And, in one of the most grievous sins we can think of, a Catholic school in Ajax has cancelled its Christmas concert. Big news, guys! Outrage!
Finally, in an age-old story, a Hamilton woman with a heart of gold has brought home eight dogs from India. To know the love of a good foreign dog is to want to bring it home and love it forever. It’s something we can all relate to. Traveller meets dog, dog is a flea-decimated disease-trap with a lot of heart, traveller wants to bring dog home but can’t imagine he’s house-broken enough to take on a plane. And hearts are broken, again and again (I’ll love you forever, Perrito!). But not this time! Naz Sayani is living the dream. You go, girl!