Inside Caledon, Ontario

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:

As first reported here, Caledon OPP now say a woman found dead after a minor collision in Caledon was a homicide and the man charged with second-degree murder in her death are mother and son.

Krystina Armstrong 45 years old, was found dead in the passenger side of one of the vehicles involved in the two-car collision on Friday is a victim of homicide and did not die as a result of the crash, police said. The Ontario Provincial Police identified the man behind the wheel of that vehicle as Luke Armstrong, the victim’s 18-year-old son. He was arrested at the scene Friday and remanded into custody on Sunday. He is set to appear in an Orangeville court on Thursday for the continuation of his bail hearing, said Caledon OPP Constable Jonathan Beckett.

“This case is very complex and this investigation will be ongoing for some time to cover off all the details of what happened before, during and after the event,” Constable Beckett said, declining to share specifics since the matter is before the courts.

Police were called to the scene of the minor crash on Simpson Road, at 9:40 p.m. Friday night, he said. “Once our officers arrived on scene, it quickly became apparent we were dealing with a much more serious incident. Quite often when police officers are dispatched to calls for service, sometimes the initial details we’re given do not turn out to be what we end up investigating.”

Josh Stevenson, who knows Mr. Armstrong from high school, was surprised by news of the young man’s arrest. He remembered him as a “pretty good kid,” but also troubled.

And Mr. Armstrong’s relationship with his mother was strained, he said.

“I know was his parents were divorced and that he didn’t see his mom,” Mr. Stevenson, 18, said.

Marital problems had torn apart the family. Krystina Armstrong a former travel agent had been split from her husband, George, for more than a year and had found a home on Rolling Hills Lane in Bolton’s south end, a few kilometres away from her old life.

Luke was to continue living with his father on Old King Rd. His younger sister, Hayley, was moving in with her mother.

Mr. Armstrong began his high school career at Robert F. Hall Secondary School in Caledon, Ont., before transferring to Humberview Secondary School in Bolton where his father, George, lives.

Luke’s Facebook page which was still active as of Monday night.

Anyone with information about the case was asked to contact Det.-Const. Matt Noble at 519-927-3041 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.

The Millcroft Inn is a hotel, restaurant and spa located in Caledon near the town of Alton, Ontario. The Millcroft Inn was originally built by Benjamin Ward as a knitting mill in 1881 to harness the power from the adjacent Shaw’s Creek. The mill continued to run until 1965, when the mill ceased production and the contents of the building were sold. The Millcroft Inn & Spa has been elaborately renovated to preserve its architectural beauty. For more info on the Millcroft Inn click here to check out their website. Click on the images for larger pictures.

A woman who died in Caledon was not the victim of a collision, but a victim of murder, police alleged Sunday.

The Caledon resident was a passenger in a vehicle that was involved in a “minor collision” on Simpson Rd. on Friday evening, Ontario Provincial Police said in a statement released Sunday night.

Const. Jonathan Beckett would not identify the woman or comment on how she died, except to say it was not as a result of the collision.

Nor would he release the name of the 18-year-old driver who was arrested at the scene and charged with second-degree murder, citing the need to notify the victim’s next-of-kin before any names could be released.

However, a family friend said the victim was Krystina Armstrong and the young man charged with murder as her son, Luke.

Armstrong was legally separated from Luke’s father, George, and was in the process of divorce. She moved into her new home on Station Rd. in Bolton the day she was killed, according to the friend.

Luke, a student at Humberview Secondary School in Bolton, lived with his father, said the friend.

Anyone with information about the case was asked to contact Det.-Const. Matt Noble at 519-927-3041 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.

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.

I managed to sneak up on a small group of deer to get these pictures, they were caught off guard but did not spook immediately, I was still able to get snap a few pictures before they took off back into the woods. Pictures were taken in north-east Caledon, click on the images for larger pictures.

The following is information about the Bolton By-Pass currently being planned out, the above picture is the route it will take through Bolton, Ontario. Richard Whitehead, Regional Councillor for Caledon’s Ward 3 & 4 was kind enough to type out and provide all this useful information that until now seemed difficult to come by online.

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The “Bolton by-pass” is the name commonly given to the western arm of the Bolton Arterial Road System (B.A.R.). It’s called the by-pass because it is the only part of the system that will carry “all” vehicle on a north south route without going through Bolton’s core.

About 20 years ago, a process was started to identify a road network to carry increasing traffic volumes in, and through, Bolton as it continued to grow. The final system called for a road network for both the East and West side of Bolton plus an east – west industrial collector in south Bolton. The study not only included roads in Caledon but Coleraine Drive in Brampton as well.

The Eastern arterial allows for all types of vehicles south of King Street down to Mayfield and only light vehicles north of King Street.

The eastern route was completed some years ago with the rebuilding of the Town Line from Mayfield Road to King Street as a two lane road (capable of widening to four lanes) built to carry all vehicles including heavy trucks. The road north of King Street has been rebuilt all the way up to Castlederg sideroad and is paved from there (Mount Wolfe Road) all the way to Hwy 9 but only for light vehicles.

The road network carries considerable traffic at commuter hours to Bolton, East Albion and many communities north of Hwy 9. It also relieves traffic, particularly truck traffic, from the south hill and the Bolton core that is going south to east on hwy 50 and from Mayfield Road to King Street east in York Region.

The industrial connector is the George Bolton Parkway but is only completed from Coleraine Drive to Hwy 50 and has not been completed from Hwy 50 to the Town Line.

The western arterial route (Bolton by-pass) is the most complex and most expensive part of the B.A.R. It has been further complicated by the need to replace virtually all of the utilities in the corridor to facilitate further development in the industrial area and to provide services for the residential area west of Coleraine Drive (Greenpark).

For several years now, the project has been proceeding in phases with the majority of the utility work being installed first (hydro, water, sewers, gas etc). Phase one of the road work was to build the four lane arterial from Mayfield Road. This is substantially completed but there will be traffic lights installed at Parr Avenue, The George Bolton Parkway, and Healey Road at a later date.

Phase two is the section from Healey Road to Holland Drive and should be substantially completed by spring.

Phase three is going to tender as we speak. It will be the section from Holland Drive to just past Harvest Moon. This complex section will include the construction of a new King Street connection to downtown Bolton starting at Harvest Moon. This will create a new four way signalized intersection on Coleraine at Harvest Moon and King Street.

From this point on, construction of the by-pass will be the responsibility of the Region of Peel who will complete it from Harvest Moon north to Duffy’s Lane and then through the river valley to Hwy 50 north ending just on the north side of James Dick Construction. This section of the arterial road will be very expensive and will include such features as a possible round about at Coleraine and King Street / Duffy’s Lane, and a lengthy span bridge over the Humber River. This part of the road will continue as a four lane road to Duffy’s Lane and a two lane road (with four lane capability) after that. The bridge will be equipped to handle four lanes.

Construction of the Region’s share of the road commence in 2011 with completion in 2013.

At the same time, the small remainder of the of the Greenpark subdivision will be completed as King Street West is straightened out to meet the new arm of Coleraine Drive.

As you know, the Province is intending to extend the 427 north to Major Mackenzie Drive in about 2015. Effectively, this will bring all 427 traffic to Hwy 50. Peel is recommending, in this event, that Major Mackenzie be extended into Brampton, as a regional road, and that this new road swing up to intersect Mayfield Road near, or at, Humber Station Road.

At the same, it is recommended that Coleraine Drive (in Brampton) be rebuilt to a four lane standard and intersect this new Major Mackenzie extension instead of Hwy 50 as it does today.

The effect will be that all traffic north bound on 427, or hwy 50, and that is westbound or using the Bolton by-pass will be diverted from Bolton.

Consequently, the Bolton by-pass will process a very large volume of inter-regional traffic.

The funding needed for the B.A.R. has been, and will continue to be, enormous. Ontario, Peel, Caledon, Brampton and the development industry area are all partnering in the project. The total cost including connections from the 427 and the full B.A.R. with utilities may top $100 million. Very little of the cost will be financed from debt.

This road network should significantly relieve traffic congestion in the Mayfield – Town line – Queen Street intersection and reduce through volumes in Bolton.

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Thanks again to Richard Whitehead for all this information, he can be reached at 905-880-0911 or by email: [email protected]

Former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer has been much in the news the past several months for drunk driving and possession of cocaine charges yet receiving basically a slap on the wrist for the events that occurred that late Sept. 10 night last year. The Toronto Star has an excellent article in Thursday’s paper detailing the events of the night and how he eventually ended up getting busted by Caledon OPP during a routine ride check. The above photo is the spot where Rahim Jaffer was busted in Palgrave.

An excerpt of the article:

Constable Kim Stapleton was going off shift and left her fellow officers at the RIDE program in Palgrave at 12:45 am. A diligent officer, she activated her mobile radar detector as she drove south through Palgrave on Highway 50. The speed limit in the small town was 50 kph. The detector beeped and clocked the approaching Ford Escape SUV at 93 kph.

“I’ve got a high miler here,” Stapleton said into her radio, turning on her lights. She told Sgt. Mike Garant back at the RIDE program that she was pulling over an SUV.

Walking up to the car, the female officer shone her flashlight in at the driver. Rahim Jaffer looked back. Stapleton smelled alcohol and asked Jaffer several questions.

“I smell alcohol, I am doing an alc test,” Stapleton radioed to Garant.

Pulling a roadside breathalyzer unit from her cruiser she administered the test, which showed positive for alcohol. Stapleton radioed for a male officer to join her because she was arresting Jaffer. Stapleton called for a tow truck to take away the Ford.

Sgt. Garant sent an officer down to Stapleton’s position. The officer searched Jaffer and found a bag in his pocket, which turned out to be cocaine.

The police officers looked inside Jaffer’s car and found a stack of Helena Guergis’ business cards. They drove Jaffer to the Caledon East OPP detachment and administered a blood alcohol test, which showed a level above the legal .08 level (police have not released the level or amount of cocaine). In Ontario, the penalty for being found guilty of driving above the legal level is a one year licence suspension, a $1,000 fine and a requirement to install an ignition lock that prevents a vehicle from starting unless the driver provides a sober breath sample.

Officers at the OPP detachment conducted a strip search of Jaffer, which police say is standard protocol when drugs are found on a person.

Stapleton charged Jaffer, 38, with driving over the legal blood alcohol limit, speeding 93 kph in a 50 kph zone; and possession of cocaine. He was released from the station around 6 am on Friday, Sept. 11.

With the much welcomed unseasonably warm weather this Easter long weekend across Ontario and the Caledon area the wildlife is literally buzzing around everywhere now. While sitting on my deck enjoying a few beers I managed to capture this Red Tailed Hawk flying around over the field behind me, a few times he flew right over top of me. I was able to grab a couple nice pictures of him that show off his feathers quite nicely, click on the photos for larger versions. Photos taken with my Olympus 70-300mm zoom lens, for more info on Red Tailed Hawks click here or two see to previous close up photos I have taken of them click here.

Found this large bee’s nest or hornets nest in the woods, not sure exactly what kind it is.