It was the home opener for the Majors (now 1-1), who picked up their first win of the season.

Mike Henry picked up the win on the mound for the home side, throwing six scoreless innings and giving up just three hits with two walks and five strikeouts after coming on in relief of starter Jordi Amargos who threw the opening five innings.

Tyler Graham singled, doubled and drove in a pair of runs while Adwin Springer also had a pair of hits and two RBI on the day. Allan Cattrysse had two hits, two runs scored and an RBI and Steve Froese singled twice and scored twice, including the game winning run in the eleventh inning.

Chris Stewart rounded out the London attack with a pair of hits and a run scored. Alex Gale was dealt the loss for the Twins (1-2), giving up the game-winning hit and run while adding a walk and a strikeout and registering one out. The Twins utilized four pitchers on the afternoon.

NEXT HOME GAME: London Majors vs. the defending IBL champions Brantford Red Sox at Labatt Park on Friday, May 18 at 7:30 pm. $8 for adults; $6 for seniors and children 12 and under.

Beer is sold at all London Majors' home games.

When: Sunday, May 13, 2012 @ 01PM - 4:15PM
Where: Historic Labatt Park
25 Wilson Avenue
London ON

Description: Live Intercounty Baseball League action. $8 for adults; $6 for seniors and children 12 and under. Ice-cold beer is sold at the park during Majors' games. Delayed telecast on Rogers TV-London at 7 pm on Sun. May 13.

Dr. Smith has had a long and distinguished career while holding senior positions in medicine, politics and business, but it is his love of baseball that was the determining factor in his decision to accept the position as the Commissioner of the oldest running baseball league in Canada.

"I have a lifelong interest in baseball, and the IBL is great for the communities that have teams," Dr. Smith says. "I am fortunate that at this stage of my life I have the time required to be able to do this and I am very much looking forward to helping this league continue to prosper."

After eight years as a professor of Psychiatry at McMaster University Medical School, Dr. Smith won the Leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party in January 1976 and was Leader of the Opposition in the Ontario legislature from 1977 to 1982.

From 1982 to 1987, he was the appointed Chairman of the Science Council of Canada, advising both Liberal and Conservative governments on science and technology policy.

UPDATE, MAY 7: The London Majors Baseball Club won both games of their doubleheader yesterday afternoon at Labatt Park against Michigan Jet Box Baseball Club. 5-3 and 6-3. See story HERE.

When: Sunday, May 6, 2012 @ 1PM
Where: Historic Labatt Park
25 Wilson Avenue (at Riverside Drive)
London, ON

Description: The London Majors Baseball Club will be hosting an exhibition doubleheader at Labatt Park on Sunday, May 6th at 1 pm against Michigan Jet Box. $3 admission at the front gates. The 3rd-baseline concession stand is open for business.

The Intercounty Baseball League kicked off its 94th season on Saturday with a pair of games as the 2012 regular season got underway with games in Barrie and Guelph.

In Barrie, the Baycats pounded out 16 hits to start the season with a bang, crushing the Burlington Twins 16-3.

Matt Logan homered, had three hits and drove in three runs for the Baycats, who allowed a run in the top of the first inning before scoring four runs in the bottom of the inning to coast to the win. The Baycats also scored five runs in the fourth and three more in the fifth in the dominating win.

Jordan Lundberg also homered and had three hits, scored three runs and drove in two more, while Ryan Spataro had three hits and scored three runs. Jon Waltenbury also drove in three runs for the winners, with Matt Proctor adding three hits and an RBI. Jeff Cowan contributed two hits and scored three runs for the winners.

NASA says the best time to see the spectacle is 11:35 pm ET tonight (May 5). It’s called a "supermoon" and they occur once every 14 months.

Supermoons are associated with heightened earthquake activity due to the significant gravitational pull of the moon which creates our tides.

NO ~ Ward 4 Coun. Steve Orser, Ward 5 Coun. Joni Baechler, Ward 6 Coun. Nancy Branscombe, Ward 9 Coun. Dale Henderson and Ward 11 Coun. Denise Brown (5).

To jam a giant apartment building into the treed slope of Reservoir Hill in west London: YES ~ Mayor Joe Fontana, Ward 1 Coun. Spud Polhill, Ward 2 Coun. Bill Armstrong, Ward 3 Coun. Joe Swantana®, Ward 4 Coun. Steve Orser, Ward 9 Coun. Dale Henderson, Ward 10 Coun. Paul Van Meerbergen, Ward 11 Coun. Denise Brown, Ward 12 Coun. Harold Usher and Ward 14 Coun. Sandbox Sandy White (11)

NO ~ Ward 5 Coun. Joni Baechler, Ward 6 Coun. Nancy Branscombe, Ward 7 Coun. Matt Brown and Ward 7 Coun. Paul Hubert (4).

FACT: Dr. Graham Pollett, the Middlesex-London Medical Officer of Health, supports water fluoridation but is not an expert in the field of water fluoridation nor preventive dentistry.

* 50 Reasons to Oppose Fluoridation (with many scientific references cited at the bottom of the article)

If the majority of London city council can't see the light on this issue, at the very least Londoners deserve a ballot question pursuant to the Fluoridation Act since it's been 46 years since the last one in 1966 ~ when the majority of Londoners alive today were either not of voting age or not born yet.

Joe Swantana®

UPDATE, MAY 1: After hatching one gosling, the mother and father goose appear to have abandoned the original nest with five remaining goose eggs in it.

According to park staff, the goose family of three have moved to the other side of Labatt Park, in the parking lot behind the third-baseline. But the small yellow gosling was nowhere to be found on the afternoon of May 1.

PROTECTIVE FATHER GOOSE: One of the City workers at the park was attacked by the male goose and sprained his ankle during the incident, leading to the installation of temporary metal fencing near their office-tool shed. Workplace health and safety, indeed.

Parks Director Scott Stafford says the new scoreboard will be ready for the homeopener of the London Majors Baseball Club on May 13.

Updated August, 2011

By Paul Connett, PhD and other members of the Fluoride Action Network (including James Beck, MD, PhD, Michael Connett, JD, Hardy Limeback, DDS, PhD, David McRae and Spedding Micklem, D.Phil.)

Introduction

Fluoridation is the practice of adding a fluoride compound to the public drinking water supply ostensibly for the purpose of fighting tooth decay.

The levels used range from 0.6 to 1.2 milligrams of fluoride ion per liter (or parts per million, ppm).

The practice began in the U.S. in 1945 and was endorsed by the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) in 1950.

Very few countries have adopted this practice to any significant extent. Only eight countries in the world have more than 50% of their populations drinking artificially fluoridated water (Australia, Colombia, Ireland, Israel, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, and the U.S.).

In Europe, only Ireland (with 73% of the population fluoridated), the U.K. (10%) and Spain (10%) fluoridate some of their water supplies.

In the U.S., about 70% of the population is drinking fluoridated water – that is approximately 200 million people and about half the number of people drinking artificially fluoridated water worldwide.

Some countries have areas with high natural fluoride levels in the water. These include India, China and parts of Africa. In these countries measures are being taken to remove the fluoride because of the health problems that fluoride can cause.

Fluoridation is a bad medical practice

1. Fluoride is the only chemical added to water for the purpose of medical treatment. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classifies fluoride as a drug when used to prevent or mitigate disease (FDA 2000).

As a matter of basic logic, adding fluoride to water for the sole purpose of preventing tooth decay (a non-waterborne disease) is a form of medical treatment. All other water treatment chemicals are added to improve the water's quality or safety, which fluoride does not do.

Yet we readily accept social assistance rates that were slashed by nearly 23-per-cent 17 years ago in 1995.

Our concern for the dental health of the poor is truly outstanding.

Heritage preservation doesn't mean jack-shit in London, Ontario. As a taxpayer, I want the $10-M back.

1. To deny they were at the Feb. 21 lunch meeting at the Harmony Grand Buffet. (Oops, all six have admitted they were there.)

2. To deny city hall business was discussed at the Feb. 21 lunch meeting at the Harmony Grand Buffet. (Oops, Mayor Fontana and Councillor Henderson have already admitted city hall business was discussed at the lunch meeting whereas Councillor Denise Brown denies it.)

3. To ask the complainants where they worked so they could try and get them fired.

4. To tell the complainants they'll never get any help from them if they have a problem with city hall.

5. To put the complainants on the "enemies of city hall" shit list.

The motion was made by Henderson and seconded by Swan. It carried by a vote of 8-6. (The eight were Henderson, Swan, Fontana, Orser, Denise Brown, Paul Van Meerbergen, Polhill and Armstrong.)

City lawyer Jim Barber, however, had advised council that it was not appropriate for council to indemnify the Harmony Six since they were not conducting official City business and there's no legal peril associated with the Ombudsman's final report decision.

Today (Apr. 11), investigators from the Ontario Ombudsman's office are at London city hall.

Right-wing radio blowhard Charles (Marble-Mouth) Adler (pictured left) is now trying to blame winner Justin Trudeau because Senator Patrick (Baby-Cakes) Brazeau smokes cigarettes and lost the fight.

FROM TWITTER: "Justin Trudeau, MP @justinpjtrudeau Your boy lost, @charlesadler. Get over it. In reply to Charles Adler"

Both Jerry and Fanny survived the Holocaust. Fanny's book, Rising from the Holocaust, can be found HERE.

Jerry is the father of Steve (Dr. Love) Garrison, host of the popular London-in-the-Morning Show on Newstalk 1290-CJBK-AM, Monday to Friday from 6 am to 9 am.

Funeral service: Wednesday, April 4, 1:30 pm at Or Shalom Synagogue, 534 Huron Street, London. Rabbi Ammos Chorny officiating. Reception to follow at the Jewish Community Centre, 536 Huron Street.

Trudeau wins a third-round TKO after a bloodied Brazeau punched himself out in the first round.

More than $230-K was raised for cancer research.

With 31 months left in his four-year term, it's as good a time as any to provide an analysis of how he's doing at 300 Dufferin Avenue.

While Mayor Joe has shown an incredible amount of energy and cheerleading ability since landing in the Big Swivel Chair in December of 2010, a disturbing pattern has emerged regarding Joe's leadership style.

JUICE MONKEYS: It really started to go off the rails for the mayor in September of 2011, when officials from London Hydro made a case for restructuring the publicly owned utility by shifting several City (revenue-generating) departments over to Hydro.

Enhanced operating efficiencies and productivity were cited by Hydro brass as the reason for the restructuring.

Remember, Mayor Joe is also a member of London Hydro's board of directors.

A month later in October of 2011, the head honchos from Edmonton-based utility giant EPCOR made a presentation at city hall, wanting the go-ahead to begin negotiations with London Hydro in order to purchase a significant chunk of the local utility.

The idea was shot down by city council after Londoners made their feelings known on the proposed merger or sale.

While it was never reported by London's mainstream media (not surprising, given the sad state of affairs at The London Free Press), attentive Londoners subsequently learned from the clearly frustrated former city manager Jeff Fielding during a council meeting that EPCOR had been in discussions with London Hydro officials since March 2011.

Ward 4 Coun. Steve (Swag Boy) Orser, who purports to be "full-time," is again pounding his lonely tom-tom in favour of making London's ward councillors full-time.

Currently, six or seven ward councillors out of the 14 have full-time jobs in addition to their duties as council members.

If the position of council member is ever deemed "full-time," many competent people in London could never realistically run for city council.

Further, the role of council is to set policy, not micro-manage the City's affairs. We have full-time City staff to implement policy set by council and handle the day-to-day problems of the municipality.

As usual, Orser's self-serving brain wave would make for lousy public policy.

The proprietors of the East Village Coffeehouse also had numerous problems with their landlord at the original location.

2. Police Chief Brad Duncan is a member of Funshawe College's Board of Governors. (Did this affect his judgment not to use tear gas, for example?)

3. The worst student riot in London occurred on Oct. 19, 1984, at the Gatewood townhouse complex on Huron Street in northeast London. Tear gas was repeatedly used on 1,500 students.

4. Let's call a spade a spade: Fanshawe and Western attract students from across Canada and around the world. Think $. It was a political decision not to use tear gas to quell the riot and stop the property damage and arson.

4. I don't think a "nuisance by-law" that takes away rights for everyone in London is the answer. The City of London and the police already have enough power to deal with riots, property damage and arson.

"I'm concerned it could become a retaliatory weapon for people who don't like council's decisions." ~ Ward 4 Coun. Stephen Orser

By majority vote, London city council has selected the Ombudsman of Ontario as its "closed meeting investigator" and the process outlined here is the one Coun. Orser is suggesting is being abused or not in the public interest.

The eight-page Ombudsman's report can be read HERE.

The investigation of the Harmony Grand Buffet meeting by six members of London city council on Feb. 21 is a separate matter altogether.

This is in addition to top City bureaucrats Jeff Fielding, Pat McNally and Ron Standish, who all resigned effective Jan. 31, 2012.

London's media needs to start putting two and two together about why the City's senior bureaucrats are resigning or retiring. It's not too difficult to figure out what's going on.

Ah, maybe because arrogance and stupidity are a dynamic combination just like sweet-and-sour chicken balls and vegetable rice?

To date, Mayor Fontana and Coun. Henderson have publicly admitted City business was discussed at the Harmony whereas Coun. Polhill and Coun. Denise Brown deny it.

To date, Orser's justification for the Feb. 21st lunch meeting at the Harmony (immediately prior to three meetings at London city hall) include the following:

1."I'll have din-din with whoever I want!" (CTV-London news clip)

2. Lunching at the Harmony with a select group of city council members is the same as eating during the dinner recess at city hall (where ALL members of council are invited, as well as City staff and the media); (print and local radio)

3. I want to know who made the complaints so I can "face my accuser." (print and local radio); (contrary to the Ombudsman Act.)

4. If we were up to no good, why would we meet in a public restaurant? (local radio)

Who knows, perhaps Coun. Orser was just giving away City of London watches and umbrellas at the Harmony?

An exclusive story first reported by AltLondon on the afternoon of Feb. 23 and picked up six days later by London's mainstream media.

The Majors will also be hosting a 2nd exhibition doubleheader at Labatt Park on Sunday, May 6th at 1 pm against Michigan Jet Box Baseball Club.

To donate and help save the Salvation Army's Bethesda Centre in London, Click Here.

Shop420 will help people with the process of getting their federal medical marijuana licences. Currently, there are estimated to be more than 400,000 Canadians self-medicating with marijuana and only 12,000 federal licences issued by Health Canada.

Shop420 also has outlets in Kitchener and Stratford, Ontario.

So The London Free Press likes to blow its own NNA horn but for about the past six years has made its newsroom employees pay for this corporate recognition.

The 62nd annual NNA bun-fest will be held in Hogtown on Fri. Apr. 27, 2012, but it can be held in any major Canadian city from coast-to-coast (despite Mayor Joe's pipe dreams, London, Ontario, isn't considered a "major" Canadian city by the NNAs since the gala has never been held here).

Last year for example, it was held in Ottawa where tickets for the NNAs cost $180 each, plus HST ($203.40). Tables of eight were $1,440, plus 13% HST ($1,627.20).

EL CHEAPO: As an aside, Quebecor-Sun Media, which throws nickels around like manhole covers, is no longer involved with the Ontario Press Council nor subscribes to The Canadian Press news agency ~ both cost-cutting measures.