A follow-up to the story, Orangeville Mazda Overprices Car $25,000 to Intellectually Disabled Woman; the dealership was quickly terminated by Mazda Canada which resulted in the Mazda logo and signs being covered up immediately (pictured above). Mazda Canada said it ended the franchise with Mazda of Orangeville because it breached the company’s business standards under a sales and service agreement in the transaction and other incidents.

However it now appears that Orangeville Mazda dealer has now re-opened under a new name Motion Mazda and under new ownership. Brampton Auto Mall Inc. which already owns nine other dealerships, confirmed earlier this month that it has bought the land and buildings of Mazda of Orangeville from previous owner Sunny Baines; reached a franchise agreement with the Mazda Canada to reopen the dealership as Motion Mazda.

Glen Alizadeh, head of the Brampton dealership group, said there is some skepticism and concern among consumers about the reopening but they are generally happy with the change. “We’re starting from scratch,” said Alizadeh, who would not disclose financial terms of the deal. “It’s an exciting challenge.” Alizadeh said he retained eight of the previous dealership’s 26 employees and hired new staff from other stores in his network.

Charges are still pending for the former owner and sales person who sold the overpriced car to Madeline Leonard. Luckily Mazda Canada gave Leonard the car without further cost or obligation.

Interesting Story being reported by The Star and City TV News, Madeline Leonard who is intellectually disabled arrived at the Orangeville Mazda dealership last December to replace her tires. She drove away the unexpected owner of a car whose price had been massively overinflated.

Leonard, 56, said she had never intended to buy a car or trade in her other Mazda, but the Mazda salesman talked fast, confusing her with numbers and she signed a deal.

A few days later, after doing some homework, she complained to the Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council, which regulates new and used car dealers.

“I felt manipulated and cheated,” she said.

The regulator’s investigation revealed that Leonard actually paid a whopping $66,000 for the 2010 Mazda6 G6 sedan, including taxes and the value of a trade-in vehicle. The car should have cost $41,000 or less. Bains promises to reimburse Leonard $8,000 the dealership paid for her trade-in once Leonard returns the car.

Investigator Carrey Smith said the dealership had actually sold Leonard a “demonstrator” model, which dealers use for test driving. As well, add-on items had been sold three times what they should cost.

The dealership had also saddled her with an eight-year loan and heavy financing costs (7.8%). Leonard, who is unemployed and lives on a disability pension in a subsidized apartment, should have never qualified for the loan, Smith said.

“It’s killing me financially, it’s bi-weekly payments, $319 every two weeks,” she stresses. Leonard is on disability and says she has an income of just over $1800/month.

Last week, the regulator charged the dealership, business manager Kien Trung and sales manager Mohammed “Moe” Shaikh with “engaging in unfair practice by making an unconscionable representation” contrary to the provincial Consumer Protection Act.

In an interview on Thursday, Trung said he didn’t do anything wrong and “made a little bit of money on the deal.”

Bains said he could not discuss the reasons for the abrupt dismissals of the salesmen because the case is before the courts. The defendants are to appear in court next week.

“In my opinion, everyone thinks we did something wrong,” Bains said. “Therefore, I’m going to fix the situation. I do apologize for what she went through and suffered.’’

If found guilty, the dealership could face a maximum penalty of $250,000. The salesmen could receive fines of $100,000 each and/or two years less a day in jail. The regulator could also revoke their registrations to sell vehicles.

The Better Business Bureau of Mid-Western and Central Ontario has issued a D+ rating for the dealership, on a scale of A to F, after receiving complaints.

See the City TV news report below:

Firefighters battled a blaze at a barn in northern Caledon near Orangeville on Tuesday April 27, 2010. A barn containing fireworks and antiques caught fire near on Tuesday evening.

The barn, a business called Lazy Days Antiques, is located at Highway 9 and Coolihans Sideroad. It caught fire at about 5 p.m. and burned until after 7 p.m.

Firefighters worked to cool down a large propane tank at the back of the barn, fearing a large explosion if it caught on fire. At the height of the blaze, eight fire trucks were at the scene with 50 firefighters. Luckily no one was injured. Firefighters on the scene say the building is likely a complete loss.

Traffic on Highway 9 was redirected to Concession Road 2 while firefighters tackled the blaze. An investigation into the blaze has now started.

Google Canada today revealed more than 130 Canadian cities to be viewed in the 3D environment of Google street view mode. Among those cities are Bolton, Orangeville and surprisingly many parts of Caledon, Ontario. Even the smaller the towns of Caledon Village, Caledon East, Alton & Mono Mills are mapped as well as many of the main roads through all of Caledon. Mapping by the famous google camera car was done this past summer, I actually saw it in person in Orangeville one weekend.

Street View is a free feature in Google Maps, Google Earth, and Google Maps for mobile. It was first launched in 2007 and it now includes imagery from 18 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. To start exploring, simply visit maps.google.ca and zoom in to the lowest level or drag the orange “Pegman” icon from the left side of the map onto a blue-lined street.

Google Street View has also become a great tool for real estate, it provides people an easy way to show what is around the house that is for sale in the neighbourhood, gives people a better idea of a property and area instead of just blindly showing up. However on the other side of things Google has come under fire for privacy concerns surrounding the service and has addressed those issues by blurring out the faces of people in the photos, as well as licence plates on vehicles.

If you see anything of interest in the Caledon area on Google Maps Street View please leave a comment here.

Since I reported on this blog on the tragic murder-suicide in Orangeville/Mono some new information has come to light about this very sad story.

The young son Connor, 14 of Heidi & Hugh Ferguson has disputed some of the published accounts of what happened that fateful day defending his father.

“My father was a wonderful man and was not the crazy man that shot at cops during the event as you stated,” wrote the couple’s son in an e-mail.

“You would never understand the full story behind the … situation between my mother and father,” he stated.

Connor wrote the e-mail to Sun Media objecting to a published account from a neighbour who told a reporter the man shot the tires of an Ontario Provincial Police van. Police have now confirmed that no shots were fired at police and said the van had driven over a spike belt police laid out on a roadway.

The full details of what initially sparked the tragic chain of events may never be known but according to OPP Constable Peter Leon the police received an initial call about an hour before the shooting involving a domestic dispute at the Orangeville address. There was no weapon involved in the initial incident, but police wouldn’t say if Heidi Ferguson was threatened or assaulted. Orangeville police were “actively investigating the original call and they were called back to the residence,” Leon said.

The whole incident has shocked many friends, neighbours and the community.

“It was such an amicable breakup,” said Bridget Wilson, a neighbour who knew the Fergusons for 19 years. “I never heard a bitter or a nasty word from either of them. I get a headache thinking what could have gone so horribly wrong.”

“Everything was fine,” said Wilson, who recalls they hosted a party two weeks ago for the lacrosse team their teenaged son, Connor, plays for. Their daughter, Courtney, is 19.

“This is completely out of character,” Penny Bogner (Heidi Ferguson’s mother) says of the allegations against Hugh Ferguson. “They were really remarkable people. They were friendly even though they separated.”

Todd, a teen who worked with Courtney at Boston Pizza, said he remembers her saying a few months ago: “My parents are still good friends – thank God for that.”

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit continues the investigation.

Tragedy has struck a family in Mono Township just north of Orangeville. A mother of two teens apparently wanted to cut ties with her estranged husband and move on with her life but her plans ended when he instead went to her rented home in Orangeville and shot her. As she fought for her life in hospital, the man 42-year-old Hugh Ferguson faced off against police before turning a gun on himself.

Just before midnight Saturday police were called to a domestic disturbance at an Orangeville house. Police later were called back to the house and found that a woman had been shot. She died after being airlifted to Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, says a statement issued by the SIU (Special Investigations Unit).

The 39-year-old woman, identified by friends and neighbours as Heidi Ferguson, ran to her neighbour’s home on Westdale Ave. to get help after being shot late Friday. Her ex-husband, identified by neighbours as Hugh, 42, then fled to his home in Mono Twp. north of the town where he barricaded himself in the house for several hours in a tense standoff with the OPP tactical team before killing himself.

Hugh Ferguson a hunter had about 10 firearms in his home and ended up shooting out the tires of an OPP van during the standoff , neighbours said. The standoff ended just before 6 a.m. when police confirmed Hugh was dead.

Friends and neighbours said the couple had been separated since about last fall, but maintained an amicable relationship.

Neighbours of the couple’s Mono home on Madill Dr., which is up for private sale, say the couple hosted a party two weeks ago for the lacrosse team their high school son, 13-year-old Connor, plays on. The couple also have another teen, daughter Courtney, now at university.

“It’s kind of hard to believe,” said a friend who didn’t want to be named. “There were no signs.” He said he last saw Hugh Thursday night, and “he seemed a little bit cooler, which is unlike him,” adding the man was usually upbeat emotionally.

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New Articles about the story:
http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/09/13/10867271-sun.html
http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090912/Orangeville_Deaths_090912/
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/694880

The above photo is a panorama picture I made of Caledon Lake which is located just south of Orangeville and west of Highway 10. Caledon Lake is easily the largest lake in all of Caledon which isn’t known for having lakes of any significant size. Given the size of the lake you would thing it would be a little more well known yet it isn’t because Caledon Lake is mostly a private lake with no easy public access to this lake and I am sure those who own cottages along this lake would like to keep it their private secret. Despite it being mostly a private lake it doesn’t appear to be totally private, except for the row of 20-30 cottages the rest of the area appears to be protected land going by the official name of the Caledon Lake Forest Conservation Area.

There is two ways to get to Caledon Lake, you can turn down a private road which leads to those cottages (road isn’t marked at all from the road) or better you can access it from the other side by driving over and up to the end of Mississauga Road. There you will find lands owned by the Peel District School Board which is a camp / nature centre. If you choose the later option simply walk up the driveway, pass the barn and you will find a trail that follows a river to Caledon Lake, make sure you are on the trail which follows the left side of the river. The trail is well maintained and a nice 5-10 minute walk to the lake. When you arrive at the lake you will see the same view as the picture above (click on the photo for a larger image).

Searching on Google I can’t find much else about the lake, only tiny bits of info here and there. It appears to be a good fishing spot, while I was there taking photos two guys arrived on the same path I took and easily started catching good sized fish with in a few minutes. The lake also looks like a great place to swim, the water very warm. Power boats also seem to be allowed on this lake despite it boarding on protected lands. Here are a few more photos of Caledon Lake.

Here is where Caledon Lake is located, click on the image below for a large version on Google Maps.

After buying a new camera this past week (the Olympus E-620) I was motivated to give it a good testing so what better way to get some test photos with a new camera than going to the Orangeville Dodge Rodeo Tour at the Orangevill Fair Grounds. The rodeo show kicked off at 2:00pm and featured Saddle Bronc riding, Steer Wrestling, Break-a-Way Roping, Tie Down Roping, Barrel Racing, Team Roping, Pole Bending and Bull Riding. There is also a beer garden and BBQ going on all day long. Here below are some photos taken with my zoom lens.

For more photos click here to see 42 images in the photo album.

Also attending the Orangeville Dodge Rodeo Tour was a minor celebrity, Terry Grant from the popular OLN show Mantracker. He participated in the Team Roping competition.