Hey Asher - T.O.'s at it again...

[Wezil]

T.O. politicians fight at picture day

City councillors bicker over front row seat for picture day

By ZEN RURYK, CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF






When Toronto's municipal politicians try once again to pose together for a group photo on March 5, they'll be doing it without Councillor Maria Augimeri.

Acting more like elementary school kids than civic leaders, efforts to take a city council photograph fell apart earlier this month following a kerfuffle over who got spots in the front row.

Augimeri said yesterday that "nothing is drawing" her to the second attempt to take the picture, adding she is not a supporter of Mayor David Miller's administration.

"I don't feel I have any friends there. My presence isn't worth anything," Augimeri said.

A memo to councillors -- from protocol chief Barbara Sullivan -- includes a seating plan that assigns the mayor's hand-picked members of the executive committee to the front row.

BACK ROW

Augimeri is relegated to the back row. The plan also wrongly identifies another member of the back row -- Councillor Mark Grimes as "Mike Grimes."

After the disagreement over where councillors would stand led to the cancellation of the last photo shoot, Councillor Case Ootes said he refused to give up his spot in the front row in protest of the way the mayor is exercising tight control over how city council is run.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2007/02/20/3648059-sun.html

This council can't even manage to have a picture taken. World class my ass.

[SlowwHand]

Oh, Hell. I thought this was about Terrell Owens.

[Asher]

Yep, it's a gong show.

[Main_Brain]

"I don't feel I have any friends there. My presence isn't worth anything,"

Is she of german heritage?

[MRT144]

kerfuffle?

[Wezil]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
Oh, Hell. I thought this was about Terrell Owens.

I had to Google the name to see who/what the hell you were on about.

T.O. is shortform

"Trawna" is pronounciation.

[Provost Harrison]

Transfer Order? Damn, I've been using SAP too much

[Asher]

There are all kinds of quality people here.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070221.wcane21/BNStory/National/home

Woman, 76, attacked with a cane – but she was able

PAUL WALDIE

Globe and Mail Update

Walburga Schaller is 76 years old, blind in one eye, has an artificial hip and severe arthritis, and walks with a cane. But she isn't afraid of a scrap. Just ask Robert Smith.

Ms. Schaller and Mr. Smith had never met until a spring afternoon in June, 2005, when they both set off on errands on the same west Toronto street. Ms. Schaller was going to the bank near her home and she took her usual path on the right-hand side of the sidewalk.

Mr. Smith, 52, was heading to a medical appointment and he was also walking with a cane because of a foot injury.

As they walked toward each other, both expected the other to give way.

The Globe and Mail

Neither did and they ended up standing directly opposite, so close their shoes almost touched and Mr. Smith's glasses nearly rubbed Ms. Schaller's eyes.

That's when things turned nasty, the court file says.

First came an exchange of insults, then obscenities.

Cherie Coyle, who lived nearby and watched the altercation, testified in court that Mr. Smith and Ms. Schaller soon began hitting each other with their canes, both landing several blows.

Finally, Mr. Smith walked around Ms. Schaller. As he went by, Ms. Schaller said he pushed her shoulder and she called him a “bastard.”

Mr. Smith then whacked her one last time with his cane near her collar bone, according to court files. He hit her so hard his cane shattered into pieces and Ms. Schaller fell to the ground. A bystander helped her up and called the police. Mr. Smith was arrested and charged with assault.

In court, Mr. Smith acknowledged hitting Ms. Schaller but insisted he was acting in self defence. He testified that he'd bought the cane that day for $14 “and that it was cheap and possibly filled with termites.”

In an interview yesterday Ms. Schaller recounted the impasse on the sidewalk.

“He looked me straight in the eye and said ‘You old *****, **** yourself,'” Ms. Schaller said, recalling her testimony in court.

“I couldn't believe it. I was stunned. I never knew the guy. I never saw him in my life and I told him, ‘No, you **** yourself.'”

According to the court file, Mr. Smith folded his arms, rested his cane on one arm and said: “I have all day.”

“So do I,” responded Ms. Schaller. Then she warned him that she would break his glasses if he didn't move, according to court files. Mr. Smith was not deterred.

He said he tried to go around Ms. Schaller but she said she would teach him how to treat a lady and rammed her cane into his stomach. As he walked around her, Mr. Smith said Ms. Schaller whacked him with her cane. “That was it,” he told the court, and he brought his cane down on her.

Ms. Schaller denied striking Mr. Smith and told the court that she had several bruises on her arm and back of her head as a result of his blows. It took her weeks to recover but there was no lasting damage, the court heard.

In a ruling made public this week, Judge Howard Borenstein, of the Ontario Court, sided with Ms. Schaller, but he didn't let her off the hook, calling her actions aggressive. “Despite her age, and her cane, she is not a shrinking violet,” the judge said.

“I find that they were both hitting each other, probably without sufficient force to cause any injury at first. Then, Mr. Smith delivered the last shot — the coup de grâce,” the judge said. “Even if the two, by their conduct, could be said to have consented to this duel of canes, the last strike was so beyond the pale as to be beyond any consent.”

The judge found Mr. Smith guilty, saying his blow was excessive and unnecessary. “Despite Mr. Smith's foot, he could have easily kept walking away at that point. In the result, Mr. Smith will be found guilty of assault with a weapon.” He received a two-year suspended sentence.

Mr. Smith and his lawyer were unavailable for comment.

Ms. Schaller said she was pleased with the outcome. She said she never thought of suing Mr. Smith for damages. “I don't want the money,” she said. “I want him to get punished for what he did.”

[Wezil]

Living in Toronto will do that to people.

GET OUT WHILE YOU CAN ASHER!!

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Asher
There are all kinds of quality people here.
[/q]

I am justr picturing these two folks too stubborn to step aside

I blame the guy though. I'm sexist enough not to fight with girls PLUS he was almost 25 years her junior so the whole respect your elders thing kicks in for me