Tuesday, June 14, 2016

‘It was no disrespect’: Dwyane Wade blames timing after video of Miami Heat star shooting during O Canada sparks outrage

MIAMI — Dwyane Wade promises to change his pre-game shooting routine after his behaviour during “O Canada” sparked outrage on social media.

The Miami Heat star has become Public Enemy No. 1 after video showed him shooting through the beginning of the national anthem for Saturday’s game against the Toronto Raptors.

“I’m not a disrespectful person,” Wade said Sunday. “So if anybody thinks I’m being disrespectful to a country, then they don’t know who Dwyane Wade is.”

Wade traditionally doesn’t line up for the anthem until he hits his last shot, and blamed timing for his behaviour Saturday. When Canada’s lone NBA franchise plays in Miami, the anthems start earlier than the regular schedule.

“We spoke to the team, and the Heat will work with its players to make sure no pregame routines interfere with either anthem going forward,” NBA spokesman Tim Frank said in a statement sent to The Associated Press on Sunday.

“It’s something that I do before every game that I prepare for, and I’ve been doing it my whole career,” Wade said. “So I understand whatever is said from that standpoint, but I’m not a disrespectful person.

“It was no disrespect from myself. And if anybody feels like it was, please don’t fill up my timeline with disrespectful comments, because that’s not this guy right here. Find somebody else for that. But we’ll adjust our pre-game routine for the next game.”

The incident sparked outrage on Twitter. Toronto Mayor John Tory posted “Hey @DwyaneWade a Canadian invented the game. Respect the anthem. #WeTheNorth #RTZ.”

Member of Provincial Parliament Mike Colle wrote a letter of complaint to commissioner Adam Silver.

To Wade’s comments about not being a disrespectful person, former Ontario Premier Bob Rae tweeted: “Sure coulda fooled us!”

The Raptors went on to beat the Heat 95-91 to take a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven second-round playoff series. Game 4 is Monday in Miami.

My Thoughts

I was raised to be patriotic and stand silently for any countries national anthem. The fact that he knew the anthems were being played does show lack of respect on his part. It doesn't matter if he didn't get his last shots in, he should have paid closer attention to what was right. It was a pretty selfish and ignorant thing to do.

Family returns from Disney to smashed and flooded home

Doug Schmidt, Windsor Star
More from Doug Schmidt, Windsor Star

Published on: June 13, 2016 | Last Updated: June 13, 2016 5:42 PM EDT

Cassandra Salidas checks out the damage to her Essex, Ont., home on June 13, 2016. Dan Janisse / Windsor Star

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ESSEX — “Somebody hates us.”
That was Talal Hamadani’s only explanation for the destruction and chaos that greeted an Essex family upon returning home Saturday from a fun and free trip to Disney World.
“Burglary is one thing, but it was the vindictive part, the smashing up of our things … and the flooding,” added Cassandra Salidas.
While Salidas, her husband, their three children and her brother-in-law Hamadani were enjoying Mickey Mouse’s Magic Kingdom, someone broke into their Essex home. A number of items were stolen but, perhaps worse, the perpetrator or perpetrators smashed things not taken and then opened up the upstairs water faucets.
Keys to three vehicles in the driveway were stolen, but only Salidas’s brand new Dodge Ram was entered, the seating and upholstery slashed with a cutting instrument before the doors locked shut again.
Salidas is convinced the crime was fuelled by anger and jealousy. In the period leading up to the June 6 departure from Detroit, she’d posted on social media about acquiring the new vehicle and about the family’s excitement over the pending Disney trip.

Cassandra Salidas surveys the damaged goods that work crews brought out of her Essex, Ont., home and placed in the backyard on June 13, 2016. Dan Janisse / Windsor Star

On Monday, as Essex OPP officers took statements from the home’s owners, a work crew with Paul Davis Restoration Inc. was busy ripping out destroyed flooring and emptying the home of its soaking contents. The backyard was filling up with junked furniture, mattresses and other items, while inside, where there was a terrible reek, sodden bits of collapsed ceiling were piled on the floor, and downstairs the flooring was buckled and the streaked walls showed signs of water damage.
The family is staying in a hotel in Windsor, but Salidas said her three children — ages five, 11 and 16 — insisted Monday on returning to school. The children haven’t been allowed to view the home, but she said her daughter, in particular, has been traumatized by the event.
“The kids are really scared,” she said.
Salidas runs a home-based business as a successful member of the global direct sales firm Scentsy, which markets a wickless candle system considered a safe alternative to the regular burning variety. The Disney family adventure was her seventh such free trip, earned through a combination of sales and growing her Scentsy “team.”
It was on the final night of the trip, the family digging into their salads ahead of a large banquet dinner, when a family member, tasked with taking care of the cat back home, called to alert them that the house was flooded. With neighbouring homes on Gosfield Townline East nearby, Salidas estimates the upstairs drains were plugged and the taps left running since the previous night.
“We were told the downstairs was like a pool,” she said, adding the cat was also gone. Children’s toys left behind were wantonly smashed.
“The kids said the only thing they cared about was the cat,” said Salidas, adding the feline returned after the family put its familiar litter box outside the front door.
Adjusters were on their way to the home Monday, and Salidas said insurance should cover the cost of what was damaged or stolen. But, describing the guilty party as “heartless,” she said the family won’t ever be returning.
“This is not our house anymore,” she said.

My Thoughts

I would be beyond livid if I came home and someone destroyed my parents house. My parents work so hard to be able to live where we do and it would be devastating to come home to that. I don't blame them for not wanting to live there anymore. It's so wrong that someone would destroy someone's home like that. Their once happy home is now a constant reminder of someone's ignorance. Your supposed to be comfortable in your own home. This is wrong on so many levels.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier 2 Announced for UFC 200: Full Match Card,

Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images

After pulling Conor McGregor from the card, the UFC needed to do something drastic to ensure UFC 200 would live up to its status as one of the most highly anticipated pay-per-views of 2016. The company received a lifeline in the form of a rematch between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier.

Jones, who won the first fight between the two, thinks he's capable of triumphing easily once again:

:With the main event now sorted out, the UFC has finalized the main card, although Nate Diaz, who was originally set to face McGregor, still doesn't have an opponent:

UFC 200 Main Card
Matchup	Division
Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier	Light Heavyweight
Nate Diaz vs. TBA	Welterweight
Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar	Featherweight
Miesha Tate vs. Amanda Nunes	Women's Bantamweight
Cain Velasquez vs. Travis Browne	Heavyweight
Johny Hendricks vs. Kelvin Gastelum	Welterweight
Gegard Mousasi vs. Derek Brunson	Middleweight
Diego Sanchez vs. Joe Lauzon	Lightweight
Sage Northcutt vs. Enrique Marin	Lightweight
Jim Miller vs. Takanori Gomi	Lightweight
Cat Zingano vs. Julianna Pena	Women's Bantamweight

Source: UFC

McGregor was originally booked to headline UFC 200 with the Stockton, California, fighter. A disagreement about how much promotional work he'd do for the event led to his self-imposed exile.

McGregor is the UFC's biggest star—as shown by the massive reaction to and coverage of his standoff with the company. Nothing the company could do in response to his removal from the UFC 200 card could match having him in the main event. With that said, Jones vs.Cormier II comes close.

What will be the result of Jones/Cormier 2?

Jones win via KO/TKO

31.3%

Jones win via submission

6.9%

Jones win via decision

44.1%

Cormier win via KO/TKO

4.8%

Cormier win via submission

2.1%

Cormier win via decision

10.7%

Total votes: 5,672

The two were originally supposed to fight at UFC 197, but Cormier suffered an injury in training and pulled out of the fight. Jones instead fought OvinceSaint Preux, winning a unanimous decision. It was his return to the Octagon following an indefinite suspension issued in April 2015 as a result of his involvement in a hit-and-run in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

On Jan. 3, 2015, Jones and Cormierfought at UFC 182, with the former earning a unanimous-decision victory.Cormier was a game challenger early in the fight, but the gulf between the two grew the longer the bout went on. Although Jones was the clear winner, he and Cormier were close enough that the UFC could realistically argue a rematch was warranted.

In addition, some might question whether Jones remains at the fighting level he maintained during his previous run as light heavyweight champion. He looked rusty against Saint Preux, which, to a certain extent, was to be expected after his year-plus layoff:

"I wonder if this is the new Jon," Cormier said after the fight, per ESPN.com's Brett Okamoto. "That guy that fought tonight? That guy does not beat me."

That doubt about Jones provides just enough belief that Cormier can avenge his defeat.

From a commercial perspective, the UFC had little other recourse than to fast-track this fight. The company is starved for headline-grabbing clashes, especially with McGregor at a standoff and Ronda Rousey's Hollywood commitments taking up more and more of her time. The UFC couldn't afford to pass on Jones and Cormier, who seem to have a genuine dislike of each other:

In a March interview on Tiki and Tierney (via FoxSports.com's EliasCepeda), Jones explained how their hostility is strictly professional:

I definitely don't hate the guy. We don't like each other because we're both really elite in our sport. We're at the highest level you can get when it comes to being a UFC fighter. He's only lost to me. I've never lost to anyone. So I know that he's a capable guy [who could] possibly defeat me. He knows that I can defeat him because I've already done it. There's just a competitiveness there that only we can bring out of each other.

And even if a certain amount of their competitive rivalry is staged and played up for the cameras, they do a good enough job of creating an entertaining spectacle that it doesn't matter. Take as Exhibit A their post-interview reaction on a 2014 edition of SportsCenter

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Exterior of Caesars Windsor is shown in this March 2013 file photo.

A 50-year-old Windsor man is facing an array of charges after he allegedly stabbed a police officer in the hand at Caesars Windsor.

Michael A. Knapp has been charged with aggravated assault, assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, uttering threats, two counts of possessing a dangerous weapon, and raising a false fire alarm.

The incident happened around 11:45 p.m. Saturday at the downtown casino.

The police officer was in uniform working on contract duty for Caesars Windsor in a common area at the casino. Security asked for his help with a disorderly male who had allegedly been pulling fire alarms.

The officer approached and spoke to the suspect. The man allegedly threatened the officer in reply.

The officer attempted to arrest the man, but the suspect brandished a knife and stabbed the officer in the hand.

While bleeding from his hand, the officer fired his taser and brought the suspect under control.

Staff Sgt. Dan Potvin said the officer had to use the taser at least twice.

“He kind of worked through it and — even though he was using his injured hand — was able to deploy the taser again and arrest the male,” Potvin said.

Once the man was in custody, the officer was taken to hospital for treatment. Police described the injury to the officer’s hand as serious. He underwent surgery Sunday morning and is now recovering at home.

Anyone with further information about the suspect or this incident is encouraged to call Windsor police at 519-255-6700 ext. 4830 or make an anonymous tip via Crime Stoppers at 519-258-8477 or catchcrooks.com.

Windsor police officers are sometimes privately contracted as additional security for businesses such as downtown nightclubs.

My Thoughts

I would not want to be a police officer. You can't predict other people, especially if someone has mental illness. In this case the police officer is attempting to arrest the guy and instead of listening he used violence. I don't blame the police officer for tasing him. People don't respect the laws and police officers and that's why these situations happen. Police are generally good and want to help, in this case the officer did not lose his cool. I probably would have beat that man. Props to the cops!

Two teenage males are facing charges after Windsor police interrupted a break-in at Kennedy high school early Friday.

Police were called to W.C. Kennedy Collegiate Institute at 245 Tecumseh Rd. E. around 1:15 a.m.

A security guard had heard voices inside the building.

Officers arrived and saw two young males leave the building. They were running west through Jackson Park.

There was a brief foot chase until the officers found the teens in the 2200 block of Pelissier Street.

Both males were arrested.

Police went back to the school and found some property gathered near the door that the suspects had exited.

Both of the teens are Windsor residents. One of them is 18. He’s been charged with breaking and entering, as well as possession of break and enter tools.

The other is 17. He’s been charged with breaking and entering.

Anyone with more information about this incident is encouraged to call Windsor police at 519-255-6700 ext. 4350, or make an anonymous tip via Crime Stoppers by calling 519-258-8477 or visiting catchcrooks.com.

My Thoughts

I can't understand why anyone would want to break into a school. Most of the equipment and electronics in schools are outdated and most likely used and abused. Not only are they taking things from a school where these items are intended for kids to learn, they are interfering with our educational tools. They obviously do not value their own education or they would not be out at 1 in the morning breaking into a school for a quick buck. Stay in school, break into it.

A garbage truck lost its load at the intersection of Riverside Drive East and Starbane Avenue in Windsor, Ont. on Tuesday, April 12, 2016.

A Windsor truck driver is facing charges after the load he was towing spilled-out onto Riverside Drive East Tuesday afternoon.
Traffic snaked along Riverside Drive after the garbage truck from Recycling Makes Cents flipped over around 2:30 p.m.
It happened near the intersection of Strabane Avenue.
The westbound lane of Riverside Drive was blocked while crews worked to clear the scene.
Windsor police said a 61-year-old Windsor man has been charged with operating a motor vehicle with an insecure load.

Hundreds line up for Raise-A-Reader book sale at Devonshire Mall

Published on: April 10, 2016 | Last Updated: April 12, 2016 1:10 PM EDT

Christel Gaoiran, 6, looks through children's books with her father, Charlie Gaoiran, at the Raise-a-Reader book sale at Devonshire Mall, Sunday, April 10, 2016. Windsor Star

Charlie Gaoiran saw long lineups and people running to the doors at Devonshire Mall Saturday morning near the former Target store and wondered what all the fuss was about.

The Leamington man soon discovered people were rushing to get inside the annual Raise-A-Reader book sale which was held at Devonshire Mall for the first time this weekend. After seeing the crowds and the room with thousands of books Saturday, he returned Sunday with his three children.

Shoppers browse through thousands of donated books at the Raise-a-Reader book sale at Devonshire Mall, Sunday, April 10, 2016. Dax Melmer / Windsor Star

His six-year-old daughter Christel could barely reach up and over into the boxes of books. She had nabbed some princess books, Sleeping Beauty and My Pretty Kitten.

“Excitement,” she said of her first look inside the room full of books.

“You get to learn stuff and learn how to read,” she said.

If you missed this weekend’s Windsor Star Raise-A-Reader sale, don’t worry. The sale continues next weekend and volunteers will put out more books. The cash-only sale is April 16 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Volunteers said there was a lineup Saturday morning that was four people across and went to about the middle of the mall.

“We sold thousands and thousands of books yesterday,” Beverly Becker, The Star’s director of local marketing and special projects, said Sunday morning. “I think we raised over $10,000 in one day.”

Volunteers were carting in more boxes of books Sunday morning and will re-stock the tables next weekend.

“People wait for it,” Becker said of both the annual sale and the chance to donate books to a good cause.

Charlie Gaoiran looks through children's books with his daughter Christel Gaoiran, 6, at the Raise-a-Reader book sale at Devonshire Mall, Sunday, April 10, 2016. — Charlie Gaoiran looks through children’s books with his daughter Christel Gaoiran, 6, at the Raise-a-Reader book sale at Devonshire Mall, Sunday, April 10, 2016. Dax Melmer / Windsor Star

Sharron Thompson is a book lover who didn’t want to miss the sale. The retiree was in the romance section Sunday looking for any paperbacks by Nora Roberts she hasn’t read. She comes to the sale with her list so she knows which ones she’s already read.

“I try to come every year.”

The Raise-A-Reader campaign which includes the book sale has raised more than $725,000 for literacy programs in Windsor and Essex County.

My Thoughts

As a kid I can remember participating in the Raise A Reader campaign. When I was in grade 1 my teacher Mrs. Vlanich helped teach me how to read. I remember how frustrated I would get when sounding out the words. she made reading fun. It actually challenged me. I remember she gave me a part in a mass at the church and I went home and practiced everyday. I had to read it in front of the whole school. Because of her and her desire to teach her kids to read I improved because she believed I could. By the end of grade one I was reading on my own. Every year since then my family donates books to a whole classroom at Christmas. Its a good feeling to help kids.