By Jeff Sanford
Toronto, Ontario — July 20, 2018 — In today’s Friday Fun: Saturn the dog is found two weeks after fleeing a collision, Park N’ Fly attendants trash a drop-off, southwestern Ontario NASCAR team does emergency repair overnight, and much, much more.
When a one-year old lab mix named Saturn bolted from the scene of an accident two weeks ago his owners were worried he was gone for good. The panicked pooch had run from a collision. But the Saskatoon couple didn’t give up. They created a Search For Saturn Facebook page, which grew to 500 members. Eventually dozens of people in the area were actively searching. Sightings were reported. Information, updates and calls came in. Until this week, when Saturn was found. https://bit.ly/2uJzPTz
Emergency crews raced to the large Vars (ADESA) car auction lot in Ottawa this week, at 4 a.m. Responders found six vehicles in flame. A fire investigator was been called in to explore the cause of the fire. A number of vehicles were destroyed. Another six were damaged. No one was injured.
Get your aluminum room ready. According to the latest sales stats Ford is selling more F-Series pickup trucks than ever—if sales continue at the current pace the company will set a record. Over the first six months of this year 450,000 of the best-selling, aluminum-bodied pickups were sold according to Automotive News. https://bit.ly/2LuhQrr
Last week a collision involving a remarkably large number of victims saw Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre declare its first ever ‘Code Orange’ alert. Hospital administrators declare a Code Orange event if the hospital is about to be flooded with large numbers of patients as a result of, say, a natural disaster or an event like the recent Toronto van attack. A pickup truck carrying five people collided with a large passenger van. A dozen patients ended up being transported to hospital. https://bit.ly/2L2ZkKB
A business professor and preferred customer of the Park N’ Fly at Toronto’s Pearson Airport returned from a recent trip to find his car trashed. According to a newspaper report, the prof gave the company permission to perform an oil change while he was away. But on his return, as he approached the customer service counter, the assistant manager said, “We’ve got bad news.” Turns out his Lexus SUV had been in an accident. He claims he had not given consent to take the car from the valet lot. If you’re going to outsource services, you’ve got to be careful. https://bit.ly/2zvwIV3
A southern Ontario newspaper, the London Free Press, reported on a local race team competing in a NASCAR series in Toronto during the recent Indy race. Pete Shepherd III was driving the car when he crashed into a wall during practice. To get the car back in shape for the next day, Dad Pete Jr., “… scooped up the entire posterior of the Dave Jacombs-owned No. 79 Ford and returned it to London for a long-distance emergency pit stop.” Said Pete III to a reporter, “He had to carry it through the lobby of Hotel X (near the Exhibition grounds). It’s got this big greasy back end and he went up an escalator with it to go load it in the truck. People were probably looking at him funny.” The story goes on to say that Pete, Jr. battled through Toronto rush-hour traffic on Friday to get the damaged hindquarters to McColl Racing Enterprises. “With the race set for Saturday, he was facing a massive time crunch,” according to the story. Said Pete III, “The type of guy Mike (McColl) is, he stopped what he was doing and made sure he had enough bodies there to get that fixed. He really looked out for us. And it was important Dad brought that piece back. We bent some tubes beyond repair. So even with new ones, MRE had to measure all the brackets, re-weld new ones and make sure they all qmatched.” According to the report, “Pete, Jr. zoomed back to the Big Smoke when they were finished… Even Pete Sr., — a 76-year-old grandfather — rolled up his sleeves and started pulling the front calipers off the car… The crew — with all hands on deck — had the car back together by 11:30 p.m., leaving just final set-up in the morning… They finished with a memorable 10th place on the Honda Indy Toronto undercard.” https://bit.ly/2NrBRzw
