Leanne Prendergast was teased and bullied at school. So was her older sister, Laurece. “I didn’t want to go to school,” says Leanne, a grade 9 student at Woodbridge College. “I wanted to stay at home. I didn’t want to see anyone. I didn’t want to get made fun of anymore. I felt like kind of hiding.”
But bylaw enforced on a complaint basis only Frances Stern sounds as if she’s on the verge of pulling her hair out in frustration. The owner of 2 Hot Blondes Hair Salon in Thornhill says she’s being picked on in an unfair fight over signs.
Councillor Bernie DiVona’s political fate is now in the hands of the city’s independent prosecutor. At a special meeting Tuesday, DiVona’s colleagues heard advice from Timothy Wilkin that DiVona should be charged for apparent contraventions of the Municipal Elections Act uncovered in an audit of his 2006 campaign books. Council agreed to retain Wilkin to pursue charges against DiVona.
The tally so far: nearly three-quarters of a million a dollars. That’s how much the city has paid, as of March 31, for audits of the 2006 campaign books of four Vaughan political heavyweights and related legal fees.
“Good morning,” Anne Vandrie says to someone who’s just walked into Pennywise Thrift Shop on a Monday morning. “Customers are coming in,” she says before turning her attention back to the visitor. “Good morning. Wonderful. Thank you very much.”
The proposed Yonge subway extension cleared a major hurdle this week. The project’s completed environmental assessment was filed with the province’s Environment Ministry Monday after being approved last month by Environment Minister John Gerretsen.
Vaughan’s city councillors are looking for outside legal advice on what to do with a damaging audit into the 2006 campaign books of one of their own. Councillor Bernie DiVona, who resigned his post as budget committee chair last month after the audit was released, may find himself in the same boat as Mayor Linda Jackson.
In the eyes of the students at St. Clare CES, Major Charles Jansen is a returning hero. Last Thursday, he visited the Woodbridge school to talk to the kids about his recent 15-month mission, which included a 10-month tour of duty in Afghanistan’s volatile Kandahar province. Jansen was greeted by cheers from the primary students assembled in the gym. Following the major’s lead, some saluted when the national anthem was played.
Police are on the lookout for two suspects after hardwood flooring was stolen during a holdup in Vaughan last week. At about 6 p.m. on April 30, two men, one armed with a handgun, entered ACXA Flooring at 7777 Keele St. and confronted the clerk, police say.
Jane Lowe turned the corner from one Walmart store aisle to another. She stopped short when she saw a new barbecue and lawnmower in front of her. Both were gifts for Lowe’s Royal Canadian Legion Branch 414.
The Vaughan Coyotes has a nice ring to it. The Vaughan Predators ain’t bad, either. Whatever the team might be called, the idea of landing a National Hockey League franchise in the city above has fired Vaughanians dreams of the coolest game on ice.
Protecting Woodbridge’s past will secure the village’s future. That’s the idea behind the city’s move to create the Woodbridge Heritage Conservation District, Vaughan’s fourth after Thornhill, Maple and Kleinburg-Nashville.