Child Hit in School Zone

MU ALL OVERHA L LIVING THE DREAM DeBaermaeker champions NHL players remember their much- needed shopping centre facelift Scarborough roots - See pages 4 & 5 - See page 8 THE EAST TORONTO OBSERVER • Friday• November 26 • 2010 • • PUbLiSHed by UTSC/CeNTeNNiaL CoLLeGe JoUrNaLiSm STUdeNTS aNd ServiNG maLverN, HiGHLaNd CreeK aNd WeST HiLL • •ToroNToobServer.Ca• Child hit in school zone EMILY HUNTER The Observer A 10-year-old girl hit by a car while trying to cross the street last week is one of 16 pedestrians struck in the city in a span of two days. Police say the girl was crossing in a school zone at Coronation Drive and Gallo- way Road at 8 a.m. on Nov. 18. The mirror of the vehicle clipped the girl, causing minor injuries with a cut to her head. “She was walking with her dad and struck by a passing ALINA SMIRNOVA/The Observer vehicle,” Sgt. Murray Camp- Yuanling Yuan, 16, the top female chess player in Canada and a member of the Scarborough Chess Club, plays a game at the Birkdale com- bell said. munity centre. Yuan started her own chess club at Brookbanks Library last year to challenge stereotypes about the male-dominated game. The driver was a 62-year- old woman who was unaware the incident even took place and continued to drive, he said. “The owner of the vehicle Local teen chess champ hopes to bring continued on for some dis- tance until another citizen alerted her to the fact that she greater exposure to age-old game in Canada had hit the child,” Campbell said. Unsafe driving Officials say pedestrian-vehicle collisions are common, especially in November when QUEEN of the BOARD there is usually a spike in this type of incident. Last year around this time, 18 pedestri- ALINA SMIRNOVA ans were struck by vehicles. The Observer the 27th spot out of 564, many of the national In 2008 during the same pe- teams had uniforms showing team spirit while riod, 16 were hit. There have All I want to Canada’s didn’t, she points out on her blog. been 16 pedestrian fatalities lthough the Scarborough Chess Club is In just two months, her chess club became this year. composed mostly of men, its top player do is promote the most successful one at the library, attracting Police blame shorter days is a 16-year-old girl. chess in Canada about 30 participants, Yuan said. Adopting her with fewer hours of sunlight AYuanling Yuan, who recently returned from model, 14 branches in Toronto, two in Ottawa and colder weather for the rise the biennial Chess Olympiad, is the top-rated — Yuanling Yuan and one in Victoria now host chess clubs. in collisions, as pedestrians female chess player in Canada and also holds Chess is a fascinating game that teaches skills dress in darker clothing mak- the distinction of being the youngest Canadian beyond the board, Yuan said. Because it requires ing them difficult to spot. female to hold the title of international master. a lot of logic, visualization and planning ahead, Toronto Police recently Although Yuan admits she may have to look she said it directly helps with academic subjects concluded a week-long pedes- at the men’s game for challenge and inspiration, interested in chess. Last summer, at the age of and languages. trian safety campaign now that she’s the top female player, she never “15, she started a Chess in the Library club at Yuan enjoys math and logic and said she More than 7,000 tickets thought chess was limited to a particular gender. Brookbanks Library. hopes to go to an Ivy League university in the were handed out to motorists “It’s a stereotype,” Yuan said. “People think “All I want to do is promote chess in Canada, United States for business. and cyclists who endangered that chess is a game for boys because it’s kind of because in Canada all they care about is hock- “And when I have the ability to help kids pedestrians to curb collisions, based on war.” ey,” Yuan joked. who play chess even more, then I’ll probably do while nearly 1,200 tickets The grade 11 Victoria Park Collegiate Insti- At this year’s Chess Olympiad, where she something more than just chess in the library,” were given to pedestrians for tute student has been working to get more people played the world’s best female players and took Yuan said. jaywalking. PAGE 2 - The East Toronto Observer, November 26, 2010 NEWS Students Bluffs base-jumper snagged say no to Dangerous stunt leaves Guildwood residents angry bottled JOSEF JACOBSON “The only way of protect- The Observer ing people by the edge of the water Bluffs is with warning signs,” Daredevils on the Scarbor- he said. “And that will always ough Bluffs don’t get much be spotty at best.” EMILY HUNTER sympathy from residents or Setting up barriers along the The Observer politicians. cliff’s edge can be dangerous, On Nov. 13 a man tried to said Timo Puhakka, president Scarborough high schools base-jump off the Bluffs, only of the Guildwood Village have begun an anti-water to be left hanging 60 metres Community Association. bottle campaign this month. up after getting snagged on “The problem with fences Water should be a basic the cliffs. Firefighters spent and barriers is that to erect human right, said local high more than an hour rescuing these, you must dig post holes, school students, and not just the man, who escaped the or- but that weakens the bluff and for those who can afford bot- deal without serious injuries. causes rapid erosion,” he said. tled water. “These things happen almost Puhakka said the city once Three Scarborough catholic regularly,” said outgoing Ward tried and failed to install a bar- high schools, including Pope 36 councillor Brian Ashton. rier on the Bluffs’ edge. John Paul Catholic Second- “There’s always an idiot who “I remember when the city ary School, plan to create wants access to the Bluffs.” sunk a row of post holes and “bottle water free-zones” in He said the best way to installed posts on the Bluffs’ their cafeteria, ending the discourage daredevils from edge at Greyabbey Park,” he selling of water in vending endangering themselves is to said. “Before they could string machines to promote the use charge them for the cost of cables between the posts, the of drinking fountains instead. rescuing them. entire row slid to the bottom, “It will be like having “It’s not an accident and it along with 15 feet of park.” no baseball caps worn at costs the taxpayers,” Ashton Ashton said those who do schools, there will be no wa- said. “Perhaps this will make try dangerous stunts are not ter bottles at school,” said Ni- them think twice.” thought of highly by taxpay- cole Scarlet Costa, a grade 12 Ashton said he hopes in- ers, who see their money student from Pope John Paul coming councillor Gary Craw- spent on building barriers and II Secondary School. ford will bring these concerns cliffside rescues. The anti-bottle water cam- to city hall. There are warning “I prefer people to just be paigns were initiated in signs notifying the public of careful [on the Bluffs] and re- schools across the Toronto dangerous cliffs, Ashton said, spect nature, but it seems that Catholic District School adding people should be rea- folks would prefer to protect Board after students took part BRADLEY FEATHERSTONE /The Observer sonable and responsible when idiots from themselves,” Pu- in a seminar Nov. 17 by the exploring the Bluffs. hakka said. Ross Armitage walks his dog along the unguarded edges of the Scarborough Bluffs. Catholic charity, Develop- ment and Peace. “The students were really engaged and excited about what we were teaching them,’ Centennial College student remembered said Luke Stocking, execu- tive director for Development and Peace. Twenty-year-old Ying Tang killed in blaze sparked by cigarette on Oct. 30 He says the point of the seminar was not necessar- FIONA PERSAUD in Canada. ily teaching students to be The Observer The blaze, which officials against water bottles, but say was likely caused by a turning water into a com- The mother of interna- cigarette, also took the life of modity. tional student Ying Tang another woman, whose name “We live in a culture that will never walk the halls of has not been officially re- thinks its normal to pay for Centennial College along- leased, and sent 22-year-old our drinking water and pur- side her daughter as she once Yuanjie Guan to hospital. chase it from vending ma- dreamed. “Her friends in China will chines, as opposed to having Tang, 20, was one of two never see her or hear her access to safe, clean, free wa- women killed stories about ter coming out of our taps,” in the mid- Toronto,” said he said. day fire on Fang, who, Critics argue that this issue Oct. 30 at her along with affects Canadians and people Kimbermount her husband abroad. Drive home was presented “There are communities in in the Kenne- with an hon- Indonesia that are being de- dy Road and orary diploma nied access to spring water Finch Avenue from the col- because bottled water compa- area. She was the lege. nies like Coca-Cola are buy- FIONA PERSAUD /The Observer “She often Students, ing up their streams,” Stock- talked about kind of friend faculty and Xiyuan Fang mourns the loss of her daughter Ying at the memorial held on Nov.

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