Attention to detail. That’s what sets apart the show Queen: It’s a Kinda Magic from other tributes to the legendary U.K. rock band.

Windsor fans of Queen can witness the authenticity themselves when the touring show comes to the Chrysler Theatre on June 8.

Featuring the musical skills and costumed stage presences of Giles Taylor, Richie Baker, Kyle Thompson, and Steve Dennett, the show also has a secret weapon: Consultant Peter Freestone, who was a close friend and biographer of the real Freddie Mercury.

Attendees will enjoy a two-hour set list of Queen’s greatest hits, meant to recreate a concert from the band’s triumphant 1986 world tour.

We had a chat with vocalist Giles Taylor about taking on the role of one of the greatest frontmen in rock history.

Giles Taylor portrays Freddie Mercury in the rock tribute show Queen: It’s a Kinda Magic.

What’s the hardest thing about portraying Freddie Mercury?

“A lot of people think it’s the vocals, but when it comes to the singing, you either have the range or you don’t. The hardest thing is that Freddie Mercury was so fit — He was constantly running around the stage. When you combine the fast-paced movement with the singing, that’s when it becomes a real challenge.”

“He moved very unnaturally. His knees were always locked out, and he would bend ridiculously forward or ridiculously backward. I have to do a lot of stretching before gigs just to mimic these bizarre positions.”

What’s the most difficult Queen song to pull off live?

“Bohemian Rhapsody. It’s effectively three complex songs stuck together. That’s why other Queen tribute bands don’t really do it live: They either do just half of it, or they leave the operatic middle section to a recording, which is what Queen did.”

“We’re the only band, to my knowledge, who play the whole thing live. We spent months and months getting the harmonies down.”

Members of the tribute show Queen: It’s a Kinda Magic. From left: Steven Dennett, Giles Taylor, Kyle Thompson, and Richie Baker. Image courtesy of Showtime Australia.

What’s your favourite Queen song to perform?

“Fat Bottomed Girls. It was not their biggest hit, but it was the first song I remember my father playing for me. I just like the structure of it. It makes absolutely no musical sense. It’s one of those songs that seems simple, but is actually ridiculously complex. Harmonically speaking, it really doesn’t make sense.”

What do you think about the Freddie Mercury biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody, that will be in movie theatres later this year?

“Firstly, I’m a big fan of Rami Malek, who’s playing the lead. I think he’ll do a cracking job of it. But secondly, it doesn’t matter how good the actors are — It comes down to whether you have a good script, a good story.”

“Part of the problem is that they want to make a nice, family-friendly sort of movie. Freddie Mercury was not a family-friendly guy. He was a very controversial human being who did a lot of controversial things, especially during that time. We’ll see when the film comes out how truthful it is.”

Although the movie will bring new attention to Queen, they’re a band whose music has never really left the public consciousness. Why do you think that is?

“The tunes themselves are timeless. There are certain songs that really stand the test — and Queen has them. Further generations will no doubt appreciate them for their musicality and because they feel good, frankly.”

Queen: It’s a Kinda Magic comes to downtown Windsor’s Chrysler Theatre (201 Riverside Dr. West) on June 8. Concert begins 8 p.m. Tickets cost $59 for adults, $30 for youths. Groups of six adults pay $54 per person. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit chryslertheatre.com or call 519-252-6579. Visit www.queenitsakindamagic.com for a preview.

dchen@postmedia.com

A climactic moment in the rock tribute show Queen: It’s a Kinda Magic. Coming to the Chrysler Theatre in Windsor on June 8, 2018.

With one week of campaigning left in the Ontario election, Progressive Conservative leader Doug Ford drops into Windsor for a political rally Thursday night.

The Tory election gathering takes place at 6:30 p.m. at the Fogalar Furlan Club, 1800 North Service Rd.

Ford’s visit to Windsor comes a day after that of his chief rival — according to the polls — for the premiership, NDP leader Andrea Horwath.

The former Toronto city councillor and brother to former Toronto mayor the late Rob Ford made two Essex County stops on May 23.

A rash of collisions in the LaSalle area has prompted the municipality’s police to increase their presence in areas known to be prone to bad driving.

In a social media post on Wednesday, LaSalle Police Service promised to step up patrolling where speeding has been happening.

“We would like to remind all residents and those driving through LaSalle to please stick to the speed limits. They are there for a reason,” police stated.

It seems that the care and attention drivers were showing during the winter months has disappeared just as quickly as spring this year

Since the start of the month of May, LaSalle police have dealt with eight motor vehicle collisions involving injuries — some of which required hospital treatment.

In the same time frame, there have been 11 collisions with damage exceeding $2,000, eight collisions with damage below $2,000, and four incidents where one of the parties involved in the crash failed to remain at the scene.

As of Wednesday, LaSalle police officers have issued 90 tickets and 80 cautions under the Highway Traffic Act in the month of May.

According to police, there have been numerous complaints from the public about vehicles speeding on residential streets in LaSalle, as well as the town’s main traffic arteries.

“The complaints are regarding cars, trucks, motorcycles, and ATVs (which, by the way, are prohibited on town streets),” police stated.

“It seems that the care and attention drivers were showing during the winter months has disappeared just as quickly as spring this year.”

LaSalle police urge all motorists to be diligent and follow the rules of the road — especially during the summer months when traffic increases.

Members of the public concerned about reckless driving on a particular route or neighbourhood can contact LaSalle police at 519-969-5210.

The wreckage of an SUV that was involved in a collision in the 7300 block of Malden Road on May 24, 2018.

An aerial view of the multi-vehicle incident that happened on Malden Road near Golf View Drive on May 24, 2018.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry laid almost three dozen fishing related charges along the Detroit River over the long weekend.

Anglers at Inner Long Point Bay were included in the enforcement blitz.

The provincial ministry laid 35 charges and issued 27 warnings from May 18 to May 21.

Conservation officers checked 749 anglers for compliance with the Ontario Fishery Regulations.

Charges and warnings included fishing without a licence, fishing in a sanctuary, possessing live invasive species, and using more than the permitted number of fishing lines.

tcampbell@postmedia.com

PGA Canada’s Mackenzie Tour is coming to Windsor, and it’s looking for young golfers to play with the pros.

Young golfers are invited to enter a contest to play a round of golf with a PGA pro at Ambassador Golf Club on July 4.

Contestants can enter at wrhgolfpga.ca by describing in 200 words or less why they want to play a round of golf with a pro.

Applicants must be 19 years of age or younger, live in Windsor or Essex County, have parental consent, and be willing to be photographed.

The deadline to apply is June 15 at 5 p.m.

The Windsor Regional Hospital Foundation is partnering with the Mackenzie Tour PGA Canada to select three winners.

All contest applicants who meet the criteria but are not selected to golf will receive free passes to attend and watch the tour. Fifteen applicants will have a chance to participate in a junior demonstration on July 7, and to participate in the junior clinic on July 8.

The Mackenzie Tour stop, billed as The Windsor Championship, is set for July 2 to 8.

tcampbell@postmedia.com

A homeless man’s first full-day day busking on an electronic keyboard donated by a downtown merchant got off to a rough start when police and city crews removed the tarps and meagre possessions from the alley cage he called home.

Kate Isley, the Maiden Lane shopkeeper who rented an electronic piano Tuesday so Jarrod Zavitz could play his way off the streets, was stunned and outraged to see crews dismantling his makeshift shelter when she set out the keyboard Wednesday morning.

“I saw him running down the street with nothing after they pushed him out,” said Isley. “The city should pay this man for the day of work that he just lost. How do you go to work when you see someone rip your home apart?”

There’s been an overwhelming response of people wanting to help

Zavitz, 32, returned to Maiden Lane later in the afternoon and took the city’s actions in stride, saying it was just one of many hazards the homeless face. Zavitz is uncomfortable in group shelters but he’d already scouted other locations to bunk down, including a La-Z-Boy recliner discarded by a dumpster in the back of an Ouellette Avenue apartment building.

Isley and Zavitz said they were grateful and touched by the offers of support pouring in from people who read about their special connection in the Star. 

“There’s been an overwhelming response of people wanting to help,” said Isley.

Kate Isley holds a sign pleading for Jarrod Zavitz to return after he left the area when police and city crews took away the tarps and rags from the alley cage he called home. Zavitz returned later in the day and was overwhelmed by the generosity of those who read about his plight.

Two people offered to donate an electronic keyboard so she wouldn’t have to rent one any longer and a woman gave her $20 to give to Zavitz. A representative from Veterans Affairs contacted Isley after learning the homeless man had spent time in the navy reserves.

Sarah Cipkar of the Downtown Windsor Community Collaborative dropped by to see if there was any potential for Zavitz to become involved with the Downtown Music Initiative, which provides instruments and lessons to youth from families of limited financial means. Even Ernie “The Baconman” Lamont showed up at Maiden Lane, looking to line up Zavitz for a gig at the Moose Lodge.

A woman named Jennifer, from Amherstburg, dropped off a new Tracker backpack stuffed with Pop Tarts, fruit snacks and a homemade peanut butter sandwich.

“This is the best thing in the world, this peanut butter sandwich,” said a ravenous Zavitz, who offered to share half before polishing it off himself.

Zavitz wasn’t around when the generous Amherstburg woman dropped off the care package, so she left a touching hand-written note.

Jennifer from Amherstburg dropped off a backpack of food for Jarrod Zavitz along with this touching hand-written note after reading about his plight in the Star.

“Keep your head up, life will get better,” said the note. “Your story and talent touched my heart.”

Zavitz said the gifts were “overwhelming” because he was more accustomed to “people phoning the police” and telling him to “go sleep somewhere else.”

Zavitz grew up in Harrow, but the father of five and former naval reservist has fallen on hard times, scraping by on $300 in social assistance monthly while battling an addiction to crystal meth. 

He is a popular fixture in the Maiden Lane area. He is known for sweeping the alley near the site of his makeshift shelter. Another nearby merchant regularly brings him lunch. He played soccer with children during the farmers’ market on the weekend.

Windsor police Const. Andrew Drouillard said a property owner phoned police late Tuesday afternoon to complain about someone making an “encampment” in the alley and that police went with city crews to investigate Wednesday morning. No one was there when they arrived, said Drouillard, and crews removed some pieces of wood and rags.

Drouillard stressed police did not know they were dealing with a shelter belonging to Zavitz and that officers have to balance the interests of property owners against the needs of the down and out.

He said officers, particularly those on bike patrol, try and connect with those on the street, ensuring they know about social service agencies and sometimes giving them gift cards for Tim Hortons or McDonald’s.

“It’s not a police problem, it’s a community problem,” said Drouillard.

Ward 3 Coun. Rino Bortolin was heartened by the generous actions of Isley and others but disappointed with the heavy-handed approach taken by the city. He said it was essential to take a “compassionate” approach and truly embrace a community policing model like in Hamilton.

“Don’t go in heavy-handed, tear down their stuff, throw it in the garbage and tell them to move on,” said Bortolin. “We need to start talking about a community policing model, especially with the opioid issues that we are facing.”

domcarthur@postmedia.com

twitter.com/captainbyliner

Homeless man Jarrod Zavitz, a talented pianist, plays an electronic keyboard that downtown shopkeeper Kate Isley rented for him so he could busk in Maiden Lane for a month.

Imagine throwing out months of planning for an intricate event that involves more than 1,500 people just a couple of days before it’s scheduled to take place.

That’s exactly the nightmare scenario that played out for organizers of the OFSAA West Regional Track and Field championships slated for Friday and Saturday.

Originally scheduled for the athletic facilities at Sandwich Secondary School, problems with the track’s surface forced an 11^th hour change of venue.

We’re trying to get the word out and get confirmation from everyone

Through the collaborative efforts of both school boards, the Essex Ravens’ football club and the University of Windsor, the meet will now be held at the university’s stadium.

“It’s refreshing when you have a community in place where I can call seven or eight people and everyone works to make it happen,” said the meet’s co-convener Craig Cavanagh. “There were a whole bunch of moving parts but it all worked out.”

Once all the details were ironed out, an official announcement about the venue change went up on the meet’s website at noon Tuesday.

Now Cavanagh is trying to ensure that every last coach and athlete from here to Kitchener knows about it.

The meet involves more than 1,300 athletes from 120 schools plus coaches and parents.

“We’re trying to get the word out and get confirmation from everyone,” he said.

Sandwich track coach Rob Moore alerted Cavanagh to surface problems with the track last Friday.

File photo of University of Windsor Stadium.

Earlier this spring there had been minor issues with the rubber coating bubbling up but it has since gotten worse.

“The rubber is like a rug, the rubber is glued to the asphalt surface and it’s been lifting,” said Scott Scantlebury, spokesman for the Greater Essex District Public School Board. “It’s an adherence problem.”

Scantlebury said board staff inspected the track and deemed it unsafe. He said the track was re-done just over a year ago and is apparently still under warranty. Scheduling issues prevented the manufacturer from conducting repairs prior to the OFSAA West Regional meet.

Having it fixed was the first option for Cavanagh and fellow convener Steve Hneidi.

The next was moving it either to the university or to a suitable venue in Chatham-Kent.

“We have 300 hotel rooms booked, maybe more, so we couldn’t really change cities,” Cavanagh said. “OFSAA starts next Thursday so we had no window to move the meet and not having it at all would have been a disaster.”

The West Regional meet is a required qualifier for advancing to the all-Ontario OFSAA championships.

Simply shifting over to the university wasn’t simple at all because of conflicts with an university convocation Friday and three scheduled Ravens’ football games against visiting teams from Ottawa Saturday.

University athletic director Mike Havey and his staff helped tweak a plan that met the approval of President Alan Wildeman.

“We wanted to assist them,” Havey said. “We understood the problem. They were trying to react to it and we are too.”

The university’s final spring convocation involving the faculty of law is Friday afternoon from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. The track meet’s schedule of events runs from 2 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Several years ago, Wildeman decreed that nothing else would occur on campus during a convocation ceremony after public address announcements from a soccer game drifted through the St. Denis Centre during a fall commencement.

“Convocation is the biggest show on campus,” Havey said. “They were able to put a plan in place that the impact on convocation would be minimized.”

The public address system will not be used at the track until the graduation ceremony is over.

University parking lots will also not be available to any track personnel that day. Those lots will be reserved for those going to convocation.

Parking for the track folks will instead be offered for $5 at Assumption Catholic secondary school, just south of the stadium.

Likewise, the main entrance to the meet will be located at the stadium’s south gate as opposed to the normal entrance off College Avenue.

Saturday’s schedule has been compressed and will start an hour earlier – 8 a.m. for field events and 9 a.m. for track events – to minimize the disruption to Ravens’ football. The meet needs to be done by 2:30 p.m. which makes for a hectic day for the 100 volunteers and track officials trying to pull it all off.

The Ravens moved their bantam game to Sandwich Secondary while keeping the junior and senior varsity games at the university at 3:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. respectively.

Moving the bantam game to a 12:30 p.m. start at Sandwich required lining the football field and reinstalling goal posts there as well as getting permission from the visiting teams, the league and the referees.

“This whole thing has been a little chaotic,” said Ravens’ club president Glen Mills. “But they’ve got a thousand athletes coming, we had to make sure this thing goes off.”

Cavanagh is beyond grateful.

“A lot of people helped out during a stressful time to make it happen last minute,” he said. “I would really like to publicly thank them.”

mcaton@postmedia.com

twitter.com/winstarcaton

An NDP government would begin twinning the rest of Highway 3 within two years, leader Andrea Horwath promised at a campaign stop in Leamington on Wednesday.

“We’re going to get to the work right away,” Horwath said at the TSC Stores off Highway 3. “We expect within a two-year time frame we should be able to be well underway with construction.”

Widening the rest of the highway is in the party’s Southwestern Ontario platform.

Horwath seemed much better briefed on this key local issue than Conservative Leader Doug Ford when he was in Lakeshore last week. She cited three collisions since the campaign began.

We’ve heard loudly and clearly the need for more concrete barriers, so we’re going to take a hard look at that

She also referred to the Ontario Ministry of Transportation’s letter to Essex County council this month stating that improvements planned between 2019 and 2021 include resurfacing but not widening.

“That’s not good enough,” she said. “Highway 3 needs to be twinned now.”

The problem will worsen as the greenhouse industry grows, she said.

“We talk a lot about encouraging more agricultural activity, so the very least we should be doing is making sure transportation routes that help products get to market are ones that are safe,” she said.

“That gives us a time frame we can work on,” said Essex County Warden Tom Bain.

NDP leader Andrea Horwath, left, meets Monique Durand and her newborn daughter Paige, in Forest Glade on May 30, 2018. Horwath earlier met with homeowner Santparkash Aujlay, shown behind, to talk about dental healthcare for seniors.

Horwath also promised “a real commitment” to increasing safety on Highway 401 between Windsor and London, saying her government would consider measures such as concrete barriers along the median and widening the highway from two lanes in each direction to three.

“We’ve heard loudly and clearly the need for more concrete barriers, so we’re going to take a hard look at that,” she said. “We’re going to have transportation experts look at what the best solutions are.”

She also promised to work with communities on what infrastructure is needed.

NDP leader Andrea Horwath met with homeowner Santparkash Aujlay, not shown, to talk about dental healthcare for seniors.

Bain called the stretch of the 401 by Tilbury, where there are only two lanes in each direction and no barriers, “very dangerous.”

“We know we have a high volume of accidents,” he said, saying he was in a collision there several years ago. He also called it “really depressing” when senior governments “just go ahead and we don’t have a voice.”

Horwath was also asked about the current government’s plan to invest $105 million a year for 19 years in horse racing. Rural residents and people in the industry weren’t consulted, a man complained.

Horwath promised to review the plan and work with the industry “to breathe more life into the industry.”

Horse racing, which accounted for about 2,000 jobs in this region, was devastated when the government pulled  slot machines out of race tracks in 2012. Windsor Raceway and farms closed.

Now, the same class of horses race for double the money in London than in Leamington, Sarnia and Dresden, said Bain, who fought to preserve racing here. He wants to see “some equality.

“I think there’s a real future for horse racing in this area,” he said.

Before going to Leamington, Horwath visited Debby and Santparkash Aujlay in Forest Glade to talk about the party’s plan for dental care. Two-thirds of seniors, or 1.5 million retired people, don’t have dental benefits, she said. Under the NDP, they could use their OHIP cards to pay for dental appointments.

NDP leader Andrea Horwath, right, chats with homeowner Santparkash Aujlay and Shamsher Jammu, left, in Forest Glade on May 30, 2018.

The Aujlays pay almost $500 a month for drug and dental insurance, but it only covers teeth cleaning. He had to have root canal treatment, and she needs a crown. Neither is covered.

The NDP would pay for the plan by increasing taxes on the richest and corporations and operating deficits for at least five years.

The NDP “won’t give up on” the auto sector and manufacturing, Horwath said but was vague about the party’s plan.

“We have a strategy that’s outlined — lightly, but outlined — in our platform,” she said. “We need to have a co-ordinated approach. We need to engage more investment in the auto and manufacturing sectors. We need to make sure we have the skilled workforce that’s needed.”

Homeowner Santparkash Aujlay, left, and his wife Debby Aujlay speak with NDP leader Andrea Horwath and MPP Percy Hatfield, right, in the Aujlay home in Forest Glade on May 30, 2018.

She acknowledged the “vigorous debate” about the location of the planned new hospital, but said “the location is something that the local community has to hammer out. What my priority would be is to get the hospital built and up and running to ensure people have access to that service.”

Related

• Ontario government: Highway 3 won’t be widened for now
• Elections Ontario looking for a few good men, women

If the NDP is elected provincially and re-elected in Windsor and Essex County, there is “more than a chance” that at least one of the three local MPPs will be named a cabinet minister, Horwath said.

NDP leader Andrea Horwath, left, MPP Percy Hatfield and MPP Lisa Gretzky answer questions from the media while visiting the Aujlay family home in Forest Glade on May 30, 2018.

Horwath travelled to Sarnia later Wednesday. Ford was also in Lambton County and London on Wednesday and will be in Windsor on Thursday for a rally at the Fogolar Furlan Club.

Both leaders have made several trips to Southwestern Ontario. There are fewer seats here than in other regions, but there’s opportunity. The NDP holds all three seats here and two in London, and the Conservatives hold the four rural ridings between. There’s one vacant seat in London.

Many of the ridings have both urban areas, where there is NDP support, and rural areas, which are often Conservative. Races in three ridings, including Chatham-Kent-Leamington, are expected to be close.

ajarvis@postmedia.com

As Generation Z begins to show up in the workplace in increasing numbers, employers sense a bit of history is repeating itself.

The values of loyalty, long-term commitment to a company, job security, savings and even the traditional goals of owning a car and a house are all back in vogue for this generation, born between 1996 and 2012.

Most strikingly, Gen Zers have returned to the belief that they will be more successful than their parents.

They’re not as questioning and they’re less cynical than Generation X and Millenials

“What strikes me is an echo of the Baby Boom Generation in how sentimental they are,” said Doug Sartori, owner of tech consulting firm Parallel 42 Systems.

“It’s something they might have seen in their parents or grandparents.

“I’m wondering how much of it is aspirational. They want to go back to way a life they feel is better than what they see around them now.”

The similarities don’t end with sentimentality.

Sartori said his experiences with Gen Z have revealed an impressive work ethic and more acceptance of authority if it comes with clarity of purpose.

“They’re not as questioning and they’re less cynical than Generation X and Millenials,” said Sartori, who falls into the Gen X category.

Sartori’s anecdotal observations are backed up by the findings of a survey of Generation Z conducted by the Toronto-based training firm n-gen People Performance Inc.

University of Windsor graduate Kyra Wardell, 21, celebrates with her father Kevin Wardell, mother Tina Wardell and sister Sydney Boersma, right on May 30, 2018.

“The good news for employers is companies that can align their values with this generation and provide internal opportunities for growth, they’re going to get talented, loyal employees who are willing to stay with an employer for a long time,” said Giselle Kovary, president of n-gen People Performance Inc.

“Gen Z is a bit of a throwback generation to more traditional values.”

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• Generation X is 'stretched beyond their financial limits' and struggling to save for retirement

Kovary’s firm, which specializes in corporate, generational and leadership training, conducted the survey of 600 Gen Zers in late 2017.

“This is an incredibly optimistic generation,” said Kovary, a University of Windsor graduate.

“Fifty-nine per cent of them feel they’re going to be better off than their parents. They’re far more optimistic than the previous generation.”

Employers will also be buoyed at the prospect of finding employees who aren’t looking to move jobs so frequently.

Gen Z values job security and would prefer to remain with a company for a long time if it offers opportunity for professional growth.

“They’re not looking to work for five or six companies in their career,” Kovary said. “Eighty-five per cent of those surveyed wanted a job they could stay at for a long time.”

University of Windsor graduate Kyra Wardell, 21, on May 30, 2018.

Kyra Wardell, who collected her business degree from the University of Windsor Wednesday, said the survey painted an accurate picture of her generation.

“I just want someone who offers me an opportunity to grow and gain more skills,” the 21-year-old Wardell said.

“To grow as a professional is my number one thing.

“I want to keep learning. That’s how you become your best self.”

Wardell also said she’d prefer an opportunity to do that with a company over the long term.

“I believe in loyalty to a company 100 per cent,” Wardell said.

“If you love the people, that would make me stay. If I got an offered a job elsewhere with more compensation, I would stay with my company, especially if I believe in what their selling or in the company’s values.

“It’s when you don’t have that positive culture that a Gen Z would leave regardless of whether it was better or worse compensation.”

Sartori said there are also some unique aspects to Generation Z that employers must understand.

“What stands out for me is how caring they are,” Sartori said. “It’s striking how supportive they are and how open to diversity they are.

“As an employer, what you have to do to get the most out of them is create that emotional bond in the workplace. To Gen Zers they want to feel at home at work.”

University of Windsor graduate Jack Zhao, 26, on May 30, 2018.

Matt Marchand, president of the Windsor Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce, said feedback from his members about their experiences with Generation Z has been positive.

“You want the right fit with people, but companies prove they’re doing the best they can to promote the right work environment,” Marchand said.

“You want people to stay and grow, so you have to be flexible.“

University of Windsor graduate Hassan Hamid on May 30, 2018.

Business graduate Hassam Hamid, 23, also confirmed the survey’s results reflect his own beliefs.

“I’ve seen how hard my family has worked, so I know the world is a much better place for me than before,” Hamid said.

“I expect to start at the bottom and have to work myself up. It’s important to me to see the opportunity to do that within a company.”

Hamid also said he wouldn’t be comfortable working for a firm that varied too far from his own values. He said such an alignment is important to make a professional connection with your employer.

“I want to work for a company with a good reputation, that does good things for people,” Hamid said.

“Loyalty is also very important to me and not just in the workplace. Once you lose that, nothing came be the same after that.

“You have to have that to run a successful business and reach your goals faster.”

University of Windsor graduate Jack Zhao, 26, on May 30, 2018.

Millennial Jack Zhao illustrates just how much a difference a few years can make in altering perspectives.

The 26-year-old Zhao, who graduated Wednesday with a masters in management, has entirely different expectations of his career.

“Loyalty isn’t that important to my generation,” said Zhao, who will return home to work in a large Chinese city.

“Most of us are just seeking opportunities and a more colourful life.

“I think I’ll change companies every three to five years. I want to try different industries and different challenges.”

dwaddell@postmedia.com

twitter.com/winstarwaddell

In one of his last convocations as University of Windsor President and Vice-Chancellor Dr. Alan Wildeman, centre, waves to graduates during the morning convocation May 30, 2018. University of Windsor Chancellor Edward Lumley, right, and other university officials walk from the stage to the reception area.

University of Windsor graduate Kyra Wardell, 21, celebrates with boyfriend Zach Farina, left, father Kevin Wardell, mother Tina Wardell and sister Sydney Boersma, right, on May 30, 2018.

Musician Keith Stiner was overwhelmed when he went to Toronto a few weeks ago and saw people lighting candles and laying flowers at the memorial on Yonge Street where a van plowed into a crowd of pedestrians, killing 10 and injuring 16.

“It was very emotional. It almost brought tears to my eyes,” said Stiner, who moved to Windsor from the GTA about eight years ago.  “I just felt in my heart that I needed to do something.”

I don’t know how anybody could do such a selfish thing like that, just mow those people down

Stiner is organizing a benefit concert to raise money for Toronto Strong, the city-sanctioned fundraising arm dedicated to helping those affected by the attack. The concert is being billed as “Musicians With Hearts” and features acts from both sides of the border.

A police officer walks past a van used in a deadly attack on pedestrians in Toronto on April 23, 2018.

The concert kicks off at 2 p.m. and runs all day Sunday at Good Time Charly Bar & Grill at 4715 Tecumseh Road East. Organizers are asking for a minimum $10 donation at the door and hope to raise at least $1,500, which Stiner plans on delivering in person.

Stiner said he was horrified by the April 23 attack, when a man driving a Ryder rental van plowed into pedestrians on Yonge Street near Finch Avenue, leaving a trail of carnage that stretched for more than 2 kilometres.

Alex Minassian, 25, has been charged with ten counts of first-degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder in connection with the rampage.

“I don’t know how anybody could do such a selfish thing like that, just mow those people down,” said Stiner. “My heart just goes out them. The whole thing was just totally uncalled for.”

Stiner sings and plays harmonica for Keith and Co. Joining him at the benefit will be lead guitarist Yvan Lichtensteiger, bassist Jeff Sinclair, rhythm guitarist Terry Taylor and drummer Lizzy Muldoon.

Other acts on the bill include the Bad Moustache Band; the Dale D’Amore Trio; Bobby D; Chris Ould; Echo Steps; Joe Perry and the Wellness Band; and Joe Kidd and Sheila Burke from Michigan. Stand up comic Bill Squire will also make an appearance.

Related

• Van hits pedestrians in Toronto: Suspect arrested after up to 10 people injured near Yonge and Finch
• Uncertainty over fate of loved ones after Toronto van attack devastating for families

Stiner urged locals to help raise money for a great cause while listening to some great music.

“It’s going to be fun,” said Stiner. “They’re going to have a blast.”

domcarthur@postmedia.com

twitter.com/captainbyliner

The Art Gallery of Windsor’s spring-summer exhibits featuring the work of Andy Warhol and others could leave you hungry for more.

Not to mention just plain hungry.

The Sandwich Project Part II takes a tantalizing look at the economics of food through art.

The exhibition’s centrepiece is a collection of Warhol pieces from later work done in the ‘70s and ‘80s.

There are several examples of the iconic pop artist’s “space fruit,” featuring prints of grapes, peaches, pears, apples, oranges and fish.

“This is the largest solo exhibit of Andy Warhol work at our gallery, so it is a first,” said Jaclyn Meloche, the art gallery’s curator of contemporary art.

Friday marks the official public launch for the exhibits from 7 to 10 p.m. The event is free to AGW members and $15 for non-members.

There are moments of humour and moments of silliness

Members can also participate in a private tour of Andy Warhol: Printed Food Matter and Andy Warhol: EAT, a black-and-white silent film from 6 to 7 p.m. with Jose Diaz, the chief curator at the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.

Diaz was on hand for Thursday’s unveiling to the media.

“To see all these young emerging artists who are inspired by Andy Warhol is unbelievable,” Diaz said. “The exhibit looks great.”

Meloche incorporated the work of eight contemporary artists to complement Warhol’s collection in a reflective look at the food industry known as The Contemporary Sandwich Shop.

Making its first presentation in Canada is Iain Baxter& with a study of commercial relationships between art and food through bread.

Meloche said the entire exhibit invites visitors “to consider ways in which food is a metaphor for economic and social consciousness. We’re asking you to contemplate the business of food and consider the effects of food on the economy.”
While Part I of the Sandwich project tied in with Canada 150 and looked at local history and local identities, Part II looks at the economics of food.

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• Empowering art that stares you in the face and urges you to reflect

A series called “Swine” by contemporary artist Elizabeth Biset “is unpacking the politics of the slaughterhouse,” Meloche said.

One piece shows a pig’s head wearing a Batman mask and another has its snout to the sky while blowing a New Year’s Eve noisemaker.

“There are moments of humour and moments of silliness,” Meloche said.

Folks can also dig into a series of still lifes entitled “Food” for the eye, mind and body.

The exhibit even manages to include a connection to the actual lunch-time staple, the sandwich.

Those who produce a receipt from one of four local sandwich shops will receive a free guided tour at 6 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month from now until September. The participating eateries are Malic’s Restaurant and Delicatessen, Toasty’s Grilled Cheese & Salad Bar, Bread Meats Bread and the combined efforts of Sandwich Brewing Co. and Rock Bottom Bar & Grill.

mcaton@postmedia.com

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Jose Daiz, left, chief curator at The Andy Warhol Museum, and the Art Gallery of Windsor’s Jaclyn Meloche view works in Andy Warhol’s Space Fruit Series on May 31, 2018.

About 50 patients from Windsor and Essex County have travelled out of town in the last couple of weeks for PET scans — and many more are likely to hit the road in the near future.

What’s more, London is at capacity for PET scans, so a number of Windsor patients have had to travel to Hamilton or Mississauga — about a three-and-a-half hour drive.

The provincial health ministry covers the roughly $1,000 a pop for PET scans, including isotopes — as long as it’s in Ontario. Patients are welcome to have PET/CT scans done in Detroit, a few minutes from Windsor, but would be on the hook for the costs.

Since 2011, Windsor and Essex County patients have been able to use the PET scanner at the Precision Diagnostic Imaging private clinic co-owned by Dr. Kevin Tracey, the head of nuclear medicine at Windsor Regional Hospital.

The 10-year-old Precision scanner, however, goes down occasionally, as it did in the last couple of weeks.

Tracey did not speak with the Star about the recent complication but instead sent a media release on the issue.

“Precision Diagnostic Imaging PET/CT centre has suspended PET/CT imaging on its Mobile Scanner pending repairs to its system,” the release reads. “In the meantime as we have done in the past during downtimes, we have been working in conjunction with the Windsor Regional Cancer Centre to redirect patients who require scanning to other provincial PET/CT centers in London, Hamilton and Mississauga until our system is back up.”

Windsor Regional Hospital CEO David Musyj has not been told what the problem is with the Precision scanner, though he heard it won’t likely be a quick fix.

“We don’t own or operate that PET scanner,” Musyj said Thursday. “And we heard it might not be up for service for a couple of months.”

Precision Diagnostic Imaging did not provide a date by when the machine is expected to be repaired.

But Musyj said a new state-of-the-art PET/CT scanner at the hospital will help ensure fewer patients have to leave town for necessary diagnostic imaging in the future.

“It’s part of what we have been dealing with in the last few years,” Musyj said. “But this time it sounds like it’s going to be down longer than in the past.”

He said new equipment comes with warranties. And though new machines tend to break down less than old equipment, the warranty requires repair work to start within hours, just in case something goes wrong.

Musyj said hospital staff have been trying to find other arrangements for patients ever since hearing about the suspension of PET scans at Windsor Diagnostic Imaging.

“As soon as we found out, we started dealing with it,” he said. “Yes, it’s inconvenient for now while we transition to a hospital-based PET scanner. But we’ll have a new PET scanner soon.”

PET scan 101

Positron-emission tomography is a nuclear medicine imaging technique used to observe metabolic processes — of tissue or organisms — in the body to help diagnose disease. Three-dimensional imaging is often accomplished with the aid of a CT X-ray scan performed on the patient during the same session, in the same machine.

cpearson@postmedia.com

In this March 2, 2018, file photo, Sue Renaud, a PET/CT technologist, is shown with the scanner at Precision Diagnostic Imaging in Windsor.

West Windsor Coun. John Elliott is pushing for rapid approval and installation of a crosswalk at the Prince Road location where a four-year-old girl was struck by a Transit Windsor bus.

Lila Jane Zuest remains in hospital in London after the accident that happened Saturday when she was walking with family towards Mic Mac Park and excitedly ran ahead and into traffic. That location, where Barrymore Lane ends at Prince and the front gates to the park stand across the street, is the prime crossing spot for neighbourhood kids. Since Lila was hit, petition campaigns calling for a crosswalk have been launched in the neighbourhood.

Residents are organizing a gathering Sunday night at 6 p.m. at the intersection. Elliott plans on consolidating all the signatures and presenting them to city council on Monday night.

“Summertime’s coming, the kids will be out of school, and I’m telling you on any given day you can drive by that park and it’s just loaded up with people. It’s a busy, busy park and it’s right there at that corner,” he said, referring to the Barrymore/Prince intersection. “The kids cross right there.”

He said Prince Road has become increasingly busy in recent years. In addition to the crosswalk, he’d like to see if the speed limit on Prince can be bumped down from 50 to 40 km/h in the area by the park.

“Unfortunately, it takes an accident like this to alert us all.” Elliott said.

He said he’s already communicated with the city’s traffic experts to discuss what pedestrian crossing might work best.

Earlier this year, council approved a first-in-Windsor illuminated pedestrian crossover at Wyandotte Street and Chilver Road. The $35,000 crossover will feature a  button that pedestrians can push to activate flashing lights and audible signals, requiring motorists in both directions to stop. A similar one was erected last year by the county where a new recreational path crosses Walker Road.

Elliott said he would leave it to the experts to recommend what type of crossing would work best at Barrymore/Prince. But it’s essential the process be speeded up because it doesn’t do much good to have it installed in the winter when no one uses the park, he said.

“When kids are out of school (in the summer), the park is right there and the swimming pool is right there and that’s where they’re going.”

Related

• West-side residents demand crosswalk after Transit Windsor bus critically injures 4-year-old girl
• Family of B.C. girl struck by bus near Mic Mac Park petitions for crosswalk
• Walkerville gets its pedestrian crossover

Elliott lives around the corner from where the accident occurred and was on the scene a short time later. “It was just tragic. The little girl saw the park, got excited and ran out.”

Lila, who has been in an induced coma, has responded to treatment really well, her aunt Courtney Belanger said Thursday. “It’s going to be a long journey, but they think there will be a full recovery when it’s all done,”  said Belanger, who started an online petition that on Thursday had more than 2,000 signatures.

A group of neighbours have also been helping her collect signatures walking door-to-door. Lila and her parents are from British Columbia. She was visiting family in the neighbourhood when the accident happened.

“We need a crosswalk so bad, it’s been 25 years we’ve been calling for it,” said Ken Oriet, who lives across the street from the site of Saturday’s crash, called 911, and has been circulating the petition. The day after, on Sunday morning, he witnessed a close call when a kid on a bike failed to stop at the park gates and went right onto the road. A car swerved to miss him. On Tuesday, there was another near miss when a young child “bolted” across the street.

Elliott said he doesn’t know if a crosswalk would have prevented Saturday’s “tragic” accident.

“But now we’re here, let’s do something in terms of pro-active prevention,” he said. “Let’s just make sure we do what we can to make sure the kids are safe moving forward.”

bcross@postmedia.com

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The news that U.S. President Donald Trump had levied tariffs on Canadian metal products crossing the border Thursday didn’t catch the chairman and CEO of the largest steel and pipe manufacturer in North America unawares.

“I’m not surprised,” said Barry Zekelman, who owns Harrow-based Atlas Tube as well as 15 steel product manufacturing enterprises in the U.S.

“It’s unfortunate it came to this. In particular with Canada, but you know president Trump wants to — he’s a transaction-oriented guy and he wants to get a solution on NAFTA, in particular with Canada, and there’s some sticking points he wants to get over and I don’t think it’s anything out of the playbook that I wouldn’t use either.”

Most of the stuff that’s used in Canada is foreign and it’s sent in here at very cheap prices

Zekelman said it’s too early to tell how the U.S. tariffs, and those announced by Canada in retaliation, will impact his business.

“Short term, it’ll cost us some money with the duties, we’ll have to see what happens with the exchange rates, we’ll have to see what happens with local supply of steel and the pricing and that,” said Zekelman. “We’ll have to shift some production around but we’re going to continue on as business as usual.”

Zekelman said the issues surrounding metal imports are extremely complex and that he can’t export a lot of the product he produces in the U.S. into Canada in the first place.

“The reason I can’t export a lot of that product produced in the U.S. into Canada is because Canada has become a dumping ground for other foreign nations of the product I produce in the U.S. … primarily standard pipe which is pipe that’s used in the basic plumbing of a building,” Zekelman said.

“Most of the stuff that’s used in Canada is foreign and it’s sent in here at very cheap prices. From China, from Thailand, from Vietnam, the Philippines, Oman, from all over the world, Canadians are using this product at the expense of the Canadian steel mills, like Stelco and Algoma.”

Zekelman said he owns a plant in Welland, Ont., that has been sitting dormant since 2015, and both Stelco in Hamilton and Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie have suffered from the dumping of cheap foreign steel.

“That (Welland) plant could be running, employing about 100 people, at good paying jobs using Canadian steel, but I can’t compete with the dumped imports that come into Canada,” said Zekelman.

“This isn’t as simple as everyone thinks. It’s not just U.S.-Canada. Canada should be in lockstep with the U.S. fighting the dumped imports that come from around the world, which is ridiculous, products like that coming across the ocean.”

Matt Marchand, president and CEO of the Windsor Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce, agreed that dumping is a problem but that Canada should not be in the crosshairs of the U.S.

“We think that we should be exempted in the first place because we are part of the national defence apparatus, part of NATO, part of the national security apparatus,” said Marchand.

“Canada is certainly not a national security threat to the U.S. and we feel we should be exempted.”

chthompson@postmedia.com

Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford drew hundreds of cheering supporters at a rally in the NDP stronghold of Windsor on Thursday.

The hall at the Fogolar Furlan was packed half an hour before Ford arrived, with more chairs being set up and people lining the side and back walls. By the time he arrived, between 250 and 300 people were shoulder to shoulder, with more spilling out the door. Blue PC baseball caps and signs stating “Doug for the People” and “Help is on the Way” dotted the crowd.

Standing on a stage, in front of a bank of Ontario flags, he gave a classic populist speech punctuated repeatedly by applause, cheers and shouts of “Yeah!” Former leadership rival and now Newmarket-Aurora candidate Christine Elliott, who many believe would have been a more moderate leader, joined Ford on the stage.

“Together we will turn this province around,” he told the crowd. “A new day will dawn with growth and prosperity the likes of which this province has never seen.”

Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford, left, is joined by local Tory candidates Chris Lewis, Mohammad Latif and Adam Ibrahim, as well as by the PC candidate for Newmarket-Aurora, Christine Elliott, during a campaign stop Thursday at the Fogolar Furlan.

He repeated his plan to cut hydro rates 12 per cent, fire “the $6-million man” — referring to Hydro One CEO Mayo Schmidt, who earned more than $6 million last year — cut taxes for middle income earners by 20 per cent and eliminate taxes for minimum wage earners.

“We believe people can spend money a lot wiser than the government,” he said. “People are a lot smarter than the government.”

He also repeated his plan to reduce some of what he called the province’s 380,000 regulations.

“We will make sure we’re the most competitive region in North America,” he said. “We’re going to go down to the border and we’re going to put up that big sign we’ve been talking about — ‘Ontario is open for business.’ We will be booming once again.”

The crowd ate it up, cheering and waving signs.

Ford repeated his promise to add 30,000 new long-term care beds, spend $1.9 billion on mental health care, addictions and housing and provide dental care for seniors. He didn’t say how he’ll pay for these measures, and he said nothing about his promise to cut four per cent or $6 billion from Ontario’s budget.

But he did say, “No one — no one — will lose their job.”

He attacked both the Liberals and NDP, repeating his promise to conduct “a complete audit top to bottom, line item by line item, going through all the sole-sourced deals making money off all the hard-working people in this province,” suggesting something untoward by the Liberal government.

He said the province was being “destroyed” by the highest sub-national debt in the world that costs $12 billion a year in interest.

He warned that the NDP would be “ten times worse,” calling them “radical anarchists” and raising the memory of the Bob Rae government. NDP candidates are attacking the military and police, he said, referring to a candidate who once posted on social media she refuses to wear a poppy on Remembrance Day and another who criticized Toronto’s police chief.

He received a standing ovation when he finished.

“I want to go shake his hand,” a woman declared, marching off to the stage.

We’re Ford Nation

Half an hour after he finished, people were still lined up the length of the hall waiting to meet him. He shook hands, posed for photos, signed shirts and signs, pulling out a handkerchief to mop the sweat dripping down his face.

“We’re Ford Nation,” proclaimed Catharine Winkler, a 56-year-old semi-retired executive assistant who lives in Belle River and posed for a photo with Ford.

She and her husband Greg moved here a year ago from Toronto. Doug Ford’s late brother Rob was their councillor. When he became mayor, Doug was their councillor. When Doug ran for mayor, his nephew Michael became their councillor. They’ve been to Doug Ford rallies in Kingsville and Chatham.

“When you call them, they return the call and fix the problem,” she said. “Work ethic is No. 1.”

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• Jarvis: Ford here Wednesday, Wynne not invited

“I love him,” said 80-year-old Natalina Capannelli. “We don’t have a choice. We cannot support the Liberals any longer. I never trusted the NDP. They ruined Ontario when Bob Rae was in.”

“I like everything he was talking about,” said Randy Tansley, a 57-year-old retired truck driver from Windsor, referring to Ford’s promises to cut hydro rates, taxes and the price of gasoline.

He lives on an $1,100 a month pension, he said. He has $200 left after he pays his bills.

“Every time somebody wants more, that’s less left,” he said.

Much of his money goes to pay for insulin, he said. He pays for that or he eats — “it’s a toss-up,” he said.

He asked Ford about the cost of auto insurance, and Ford told him he’ll investigate that.

“Make Ontario great again — I think that’s what he’s going to do,” said 25-year-old Olin Ashak, borrowing U.S President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan.

“I’m incredibly happy with the turnout,” said Chris Lewis, the PC candidate in Essex. “It’s very supportive. People know change needs to happen. They’re open to Conservative voices.”

It was Ford’s second visit to this area and his second straight day in Southwestern Ontario, a battleground for the Conservatives and NDP, the two top parties.

ajarvis@postmedia.com

A big crowd packed into Windsor Hall at the Fogolar Furlan to hear PC candidate Doug Ford speak during a Windsor campaign stop on May 31, 2018.

Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford shakes hands with supporters before speaking at the Fogolar Furlan Thursday night.

Christine Elliott, PC candidate for the riding of Newmarket-Aurora, introduces Doug Ford during a Windsor campaign stop at the Fogolar Furlan on May 31, 2018.

WINDSOR, ONT:. MAY 31, 2018 — Adam Ibrahim, Ontario PC candidate for Windsor West, stands on stage while Doug Ford speaks during a campaign stop at the Fogolar Furlan, Thursday, May 31, 2018.

A third culprit involved in the kidnapping and robbery of a would-be john from Chatham was sentenced Thursday to two-and-a-half years in prison.

Jorge McConnell, 30, yawned widely and rubbed his eyes as if he’d just gotten out of bed Thursday while Ontario court Justice Lloyd Dean passed sentence. Along with Megan Subotin, 26, and David Bullock, 27, McConnell pleaded guilty earlier this week to robbery and forcible confinement. He additionally admitted he had uttered threats and breached the conditions of probation from previous crimes.

On Feb. 20, a Chatham man arrived on St. Antoine Street in Windsor’s west end for a sexual encounter he had arranged on the internet. But instead of the prostitute he was expecting to meet, the man was set upon by a group  — two men and three women — armed with a pellet gun, a switchblade, a hunting knife and an axe.

The group forced the man into his car and drove him to various ATM machines and businesses to withdraw cash. He said his captors also stole an envelope containing $20,000 he said he was holding for a billiards league.

Dean on Thursday imposed a publication ban on the victim’s identity after assistant Crown attorney Bryan Pillon argued the married man had already suffered enough embarrassment. Pillon argued not imposing a ban might keep future victims from reporting such crimes.

Pillon also said the man feared for his safety.

Defence lawyer Lisa Carnelos pointed out the prosecutor had not sought to protect the man’s identity during earlier court proceedings.

“This really has nothing to do with the risk posed by my client,” Carnelos said.

Related

• Jail ordered for 'amateurish' trio in kidnap, robbery caper

Dean gave McConnell credit for the time he has spent in jail awaiting sentencing, reducing McConnell’s sentence to roughly two years and one month.

Dean also ordered McConnell to pay $800 in mandatory court fines that go toward programs to help victims of crime, banned McConnell from possessing any firearms, weapons or ammunition for the next 10 years and prohibited him from contacting his accomplices or his victim.

Still before the courts in relation to the same incident are Miranda Ackroyd, 22, and Giselle McKenna, 23.

ssacheli@postmedia.com

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Seniors can ride the bus for a loonie next week, a special discount being offered by Transit Windsor and the city’s seniors’ advisory committee.

“This is not only our opportunity to thank our senior riders but also to encourage other seniors to explore public transit as an option for their travel,” a City of Windsor news release says, noting that June is Seniors’ Month.

The seniors fare is for people over 60. The driver may request to see your ID, and you can’t get the $1 deal for tunnel bus service.

The $1 fare runs June 3-9.

A Lebanese ice maker from Windsor oversees the gleaming playing surface at the home of the Vegas Golden Knights and his sons operate the Zambonis and shovel the shavings that pile up in the crease of goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.

George Salami, who earned repeated shoutouts from Don Cherry during the first two games of the Stanley Cup finals this week, said hockey has been a passion since he roamed the hallways of King Edward Public School and played outside his Windermere Road home with his brother and three sisters.

“It’s a love. Hockey is in our blood. You’re Canadian, our sport is hockey,” said Salami, 54, the conversion manager for the T-Mobile Arena on the Vegas strip. “It’s a passion. It’s deep within.”

Salami’s son Nicholas drives a Zamboni between periods alongside Richard Crossley, a life-long family friend Salami considers a son. Salami’s eldest son, George Jr., is the lead skater on the Knights’ shovelling team and his daughter, Aubrie Salami, also has considerable experience operating an Olympia ice resurfacer.

“I’m so proud of them,” said Salami. “They are hockey players and they know what it takes.”

Salami grew up a fan of the Detroit Red Wings but is now firmly in the camp of the Knights, an expansion team that has taken the sports world by storm. Salami is at ice level during games so he can rush out and go to work if glass breaks or blood spills and said the spirit of exuberant Knights’ fans is incredible.

“No matter how loud you scream you can’t hear yourself,” said Salami. “When the first buzzer goes off and the people are going nuts and your body is vibrating you’re like ‘Oh, my God!'”

Salami showed up for Game 1 of the finals wearing a black suit and tie emblazoned with small Knights’ logos. It caught the eye of dapper Don Cherry who asked if he could wear it to kick off the television broadcast. Salami was happy to oblige.

“When Don saw me wearing the jacket before the first game, he just lost his mind,” laughed Salami, who refers to the broadcaster by his nickname Grapes.

Cherry praised Salami’s ice-making prowess following Game 1 and talked him up again during the Coach’s Corner segment in Game 2, prompting calls and texts from Salami’s friends living in Detroit, Windsor and Alberta.

“He’s a good guy. It’s a good feeling being recognized for what you do and what your passion is,” said Salami. “It’s awesome. You work your whole career and you just hope that one day you get to this point.”

Salami, in turn, praised his colleagues in barns across the NHL as the “best ice makers on the planet.”

I couldn’t skate, but what interested me was how do they make the ice?

Salami was born in Alberta and said he moved to Windsor — “one of the hardest working cities in the world” — with his family as a child before heading back out west when he was about 20. When Cherry asked him where he was from, he told him Windsor without missing a beat.

“Windsor is home to me,” said Salami, who went to W.D. Lowe High School. “It’s a special place. I have a tonne of friends there and they are like my family.”

One of those friends, Jeff McAllister, went to grade school with Salami’s sister and has known him for more than three decades. He said it was cool his friend was playing such a pivotal role in one of the biggest stories in sports.

“He’s a great guy. He’d give you the shirt off his back,” said McAllister, recalling how Salami brought him Red Wing swag following a recent symposium in Detroit. “He’s a once-in-a-lifetime friend.”

When James Begley, another lifelong friend, walked into work at Centerline Thursday morning, everybody was talking about this “George Salami” from Windsor touted by Cherry the night before.

“I said ‘that’s Georgie boy, that’s my brother, that’s the guy I go and see in Vegas,’” said Begley. “He’s a great guy to talk to though he’ll do most of the talking.”

Salami’s love for hockey wasn’t matched by his skills, but he didn’t let that deter him from chasing his dreams.

“I couldn’t play the game, I couldn’t skate, but what interested me was how do they make the ice?”

Salami would frequent area rinks and watch his friends play as a kid and he’d catch Windsor Spitfires or Red Wings games, asking questions and tinkering with equipment whenever he could. Like his father, who worked in a factory and now lives in Vegas, Salami was mechanically inclined.

He moved to Vegas in 1996 and when a Zamboni broke down during one of his son’s hockey games, Salami walked out onto the ice and fixed it. He parlayed that into a job overseeing the ice at a private two-rink facility and was primed and ready for the show when the T-Mobile Arena gig opened up.

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• SIMMONS: Are the Vegas Golden Knights good or bad for the NHL?
• How did we get here? Is the Vegas Golden Knights' success random or an indictment of all the flailing franchises?

While there are challenges maintaining pristine ice in a desert environment like Vegas, Salami said he knows the building like the back of his hand and takes the time to get it right, spending hours and hours using a spray boom to layer on thin sheets of ice like he was “building a phone book.”

Salami worked nearly eighty hours over four days perfecting the ice for the opening games of the final and was enjoying a bit of a breather Thursday with the series now headed to Washington for two games. Some of the Capitals’ players groused about the ice following their opening game loss, but Salami chalked that up to sour grapes in an interview with the Las Vegas Review Journal.

When Salami finally retires, he envisions settling down somewhere warm like Costa Rica, far from the cold and ice he’s loved for so long. He’s coming back to Detroit in about a month for a conference of ice makers at Little Caesars Arena and has plans to spend time reconnecting with friends in Windsor.

“It’s a truly good place,” said Salami. “I go there and I just feel comfortable. Plus, they’ve got damn good pizza.”

domcarthur@postmedia.com

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A fentanyl dealer who somehow got his hands on a stolen Windsor police baton to use as protection was sentenced Thursday to four years in a federal penitentiary.

Charles Michael Burkoski, 55, will get nearly 15 months’ credit for the time he has spent behind bars, reducing his sentence to 33 months.

While at his trial Burkoski tried to argue the drugs he had in his possession were for personal use, Superior Court Justice Pamela Hebner drew a different inference.

“Mr. Burkoski was in the business of selling drugs,” she said in sentencing him Thursday. Of fentanyl, she said, “It is a blight on any community where it is sold on the street.”

Armed with tips from confidential informants, Windsor police drug officers followed him on Oct. 29, 2015, as he left his Bonita Street trailer home and made his way to a nearby parking lot for what appeared to be a drug transaction.

They arrested him as he drove away and found him carrying two, 100-microgram fentanyl patches — the most powerful available — half of a 75-microgram fentanyl patch and another patch, strength unknown, cut into quarters.

In his gold Dodge Journey he had three bundles of cash totalling $6,620 in Canadian currency and another US$280. Beside him was a Windsor police expandable baton that Chief Al Frederick told the Windsor Star had been stolen from a female auxiliary officer six months prior.

Police raided Burkoski’s home where they found Percocet tablets, marijuana, methamphetamine and a fentanyl injection similar to what would be used in a hospital setting. They found a stash of fentanyl patches — nearly 100 — in a shed outside the trailer.

Defence lawyer Maria Carroccia successfully argued the search of the shed was illegal and Hebner earlier excluded all evidence related to it.

Carroccia had argued for a jail sentence of 18 months. Federal drug prosecutor Richard Pollock was seeking six years.

Hebner said the four-year sentence addressed Burkoski’s criminal record of drug dealing.

Burkoski’s record dates back to 1980 when, at the age of 18, he was convicted of attempted robbery. He had a conviction in 2008 for uttering threats and in 2012 for a break-in.

His first drug convictions came in 2014. He was arrested for further drug crimes while free on bail after his 2015 arrest.

In addition to jail time, Burkoski must provide a blood sample for the national DNA databank police use to solve crimes and he was given a lifetime ban from possessing weapons.

ssacheli@postmedia.com

twitter.com/WinStarSacheli

Despite heaved concrete again wreaking havoc with traffic on Highway 3 earlier this week, Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation says it has no concerns about the integrity of the road.

For five years running now, joints in the concrete roadway surface east of Manning Road have buckled when temperatures soar.

“We are aware of four previous occurrences between 2014 and 2017 on the section of Highway 3 just west of the Town of Essex,” said Liane Fisher Bloxam, MTO spokeswoman.

Some of those occurrences involved multiple locations and one resulted in vehicle damage the ministry had to pay for.

Bloxam said the ministry does not believe there is a problem with the way the road was constructed. “This portion of Highway 3 was in good condition before the recent extreme heat.”

On Monday, a swath of concrete heaved across both westbound lanes of Highway 3 just east of Manning Road forming a speed-bump of jagged, unstable material. Police rerouted traffic off the highway while emergency road crews removed the crumbled concrete and filled in the crevice with cold asphalt.

“Crews have responded quickly to patch the area of concern and will continue to monitor all locations,” Bloxam said. Longer-term repairs will take place this summer, she said.

But Essex County engineer Tom Bateman said the ministry should be investigating why the road keeps buckling.

Bateman said concrete roads are supposed to be designed with shallow cuts every 10 to 12 feet to control cracking. Further apart, there should be “control joints” where the concrete is cut through its full depth to allow for expansion during hot weather.

“Concrete roads, because of thermal expansion, will expand,” Bateman said. When the control joints are not deep enough, not close enough together or if they become jammed with debris, the abutting edges of the concrete will push against each other, heave and crumble.

“They will expand and it has to go somewhere,” Bateman said. “It’s like an earthquake — stress builds up and it blows.”

Bateman said it has happened to a much lesser degree of severity on County Road 22 and Walker Road — both concrete roadways built and maintained by the county. There, the concrete merely spalled at the joints and repairs took place without road closures.

And in those cases, it happened after long spells of scorching hot weather — not on the first day of hot weather like what happened this week on Highway 3.

There’s a safety problem there

Bateman said it is suspicious that the damage to Highway 3 takes place annually in the same westbound section of the roadway and not elsewhere. Bloxam Thursday confirmed there have been no other instances further west along the twinned section of the roadway.

She would not comment on how much the ministry has spent repairing the heaved concrete.

Related

• Ontario government: Highway 3 won’t be widened for now

County Warden Tom Bain called the heaved concrete an added problem to an already dangerous highway. He and other county politicians have long called on the province to finish twinning the highway through Leamington to cut down on the number of fatal and head-on collisions on the two-lane portion. Currently, the roadway is a single lane in each direction from east of County Road 8 to Highway 77.

The regularly heaving concrete on the portion that has already been twinned adds to concerns. “There’s a safety problem there,” Bain said.

“The main concern with that road is safety — it has to be built properly.”

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A vehicle drives over a patch of Highway 3 on Thursday after it was repaired for heaving during this week’s hot temperatures.

A patch of Highway 3, shown Thursday after it was repaired for heaving.