Gas Bar Clerk Attacked For Money And Smokes

A male clerk inside the Petro Canada gas bar on Bunting Road in St. Catharines was attacked around 1:30 a.m. Christmas Day by a man who stole cash and cigarettes.

Police say the suspect kicked, punched and choked the clerk, before fleeing south on foot on Bunting Road.

The clerk was taken to hospital where he was treated for head injuries. He is expected to be released today.

The suspect is described as white, in his mid-20s, about five feet six inches tall. He has short dark hair and was clean-shaven. He was wearing a hooded black winter coat and dark pants. Article clipped from Standard.

Shrinking Mill In Port Colborne Ontario

As you drive closer to the mill, it actually seems to move further away! An incredible optical illusion, located in Port Colborne on the shores of Lake Erie.

A Stoned Crew Member Shows Us The Welland Canal Part 1

Here is a video made by one of the crew on a ship moving through the Welland Canal. He gets high and shows us around a bit.

Boxing Day: A Canadian Tradition

According to Wikipedia, there are several origins to the meaning of Boxing Day. Below are a couple of my favourites.

Because the staff had to work on such an important day as Christmas by serving the master of the house and their family, they were given the following day off. As servants were kept away from their own families to work on a traditional religious holiday and were not able to celebrate Christmas Dinner, the customary benefit was to “box” up the leftover food from Christmas Day and send it away with the servants and their families. (Similarly, as the servants had the 26th off, the owners of the manor may have had to serve themselves pre-prepared, boxed food for that one day.) Hence the “boxing” of food became “Boxing Day”.

In churches, it was traditional to open the church’s donation box on Christmas Day, and the money in the donation box was to be distributed to the poorer or lower class citizens on the next day. In this case, the “box” in “Boxing Day” comes from that lockbox in which the donations were left.

In Canada, Boxing Day is observed as a holiday, except (in some cases) for those in the retail business. Boxing Day and the days immediately following are when many retail stores sell their Christmas and retired model products by holding clearance sales. Some shoppers will line up for hours at night (sometimes before midnight and after midnight on December 26) for retailers to open their doors. Except in Quebec, retailers often open their stores earlier than usual, such as 6 or 7 am. Some retail companies internally refer to the sales week after Christmas as the “thirteenth month.” It is similar to Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, in the United States. Boxing Day 2005 was the single largest economic transaction day ever in the history of Canadian commerce (according to Visa). Individual big box stores can even gross over CAD$1,000,000 on one single Boxing Day.

As an exception, most retail stores are not permitted to open on Boxing Day in Atlantic Canada, nor in some Ontario communities. (The Nova Scotia government eliminated its ban on Boxing Day openings in 2006; however, most retailers voluntarily remained closed. The ban was reinstated in 2007.) In these areas, most stores offer the same specials on December 27 that they would offer elsewhere on the 26th. This distinction is not well known in central and western Canada.

In Alberta, employers have a choice of giving their employees the day off on either Boxing Day or Remembrance Day, which falls in November.

Crazy Guy At The St.Catharines Library

This guy yells at some kids out in front of the St. Catharines Library after he thought they were Taliban Weed Dealers. The first 5 minutes is hard to make out because the sun is blinding the camera, but it does clear up after that.

Police Search For Missing Man

On Wednesday, December 19, 2007 at approximately 6:30 P.M., Cameron McKerrow, 40 years, was reported missing by his wife. Cameron suffers from epilepsy, is blind in one eye, suffers from a past stroke and walks with a limp.

Cameron McKerrow is described as a First Nations male, approximately 5’11”, 200 lbs, with a full salt and pepper beard and partially balding black hair. He was seen wearing a black leather jacket, camouflage cargo pants, black ball cap with feathers, white running shoes and glasses.

Police are concerned for the welfare of Mr. McKerrow and if sighted please direct phone calls to the Niagara Falls Front Desk, 905 688-4111 ext. 2200.

Giant Snow Castle In Welland

Two students spend the entire night building a giant snow castle on their First Avenue lawn.

Teen Gets Pushed Into Chess Game At Pen Centre

One teen pushes the other into the giant chess game being played in the Pen Centre Mall.

Animals Go Over Niagara Falls For Entertainment

Below is an advertisement that began to appear in August of 1827 for an event where ferocious animals, such as panthers and bears, would go over the falls in a cargo vessel. This is word for word, directly from the posters that hung in Niagara Falls so many years ago.

A cargo of ferocious animals will pass the great rapids and the falls of NIAGARA 8th September, 1827, at 3 o’clock
The first passage of a vessel of the largest class which sails on Erie and the Upper Lakes, through the Great Rapids, and over the stupendous precipice at Niagara Falls, it is proposed to effect, on the 8th of September next.

The Michigan has long braved the billows of Erie with success, as a merchant vessel; but having been condemned by her owners as unfit to sail longer proudly “above” her present proprietors, together with several publick spirited friends, have have appointed her to convey a cargo of Living Animals of the Forests, which surround the Upper Lakes, through the white tossing, and the deep rolling rapids of the Niagara, and down its grand precipice, into the basin “below”.

The greatest exertions are making to procure Animals of the most ferocious kind, such as Panthers, Wild Cats, Bears, and Wolves; but in lieu of some of these, which it may be impossible to obtain, a few vicious of worthless Dogs, such as may process considerable strength and activity, and perhaps a few of the toughest of the Lesser Animals, will be added to, and compose, the cargo.
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Crystal Beach Gone But Not Forgotten

Just one of the many stories from the book “Crystal Beach:The Good Old Days” by Erno Rossi

My memories of Crystal Beach Amusement Park can best be described as bittersweet. That which gives the most joy may also give the most sorrow. This was the case of my family’s relationship with the Park. Our story spans most of the 20th century.

I was born in 1926 in Crystal Beach just after the completion of the famous Crystal Ballroom and the infamous Cyclone roller coaster. My American mother Helen and Canadian father Charles had a home within walking distance of the Park. Here they raised sister Ruth, brother Fred and me.

Growing up in Crystal Beach during the first half of century could be compared to a vacation in Disney World for three months of the year. Excitement filled the air. From 11 a.m. until midnight, the clang of the riders, the screams of the riders and the shriek from the whistle of the S.S. Canadiana echoed throughout the village.
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