The drama between two local dog owners and the City of Brampton continues, but it looks like the two parties are finally agreeing on something. Both sides have agreed to bring in an independent veterinarian to settle the dispute and determine whether or not the two dogs in question, Rambo and Brittany, are really Pit Bulls.

Brampton’s animal services staff are sticking to their claim that the two dogs are Pit Bulls, something vehemently opposed by the owners, who say that the dogs are mixes between Boxers and American Bulldogs. The two parties apparently have documents from veterinarians who support their respective claims.

The City of Brampton and the Gaspar and Branco families have been working to reach an agreement in the hopes of avoiding an expensive and ugly legal dispute. On January 13, 2010, Rambo and Brittany were seized from their homes, due to the existing legislation against the keeping of Pit Bulls in Ontario.

The move to bring in an independent veterinarian is a very recent agreement between the two sides. If the vet finds that the dogs are in fact, Pit Bulls, then the city will be holding them until the Gaspar and Branco families find a new home for them outside the province. On the other hand, if the vet rules that they are indeed crosses, then the city will release them immediately, albeit with a few minor conditions.

The dogs have been staying at the animal services shelter for 92 months so far.

To defend the seizure of two dogs by local officials last month, the Brampton City government has hired the services of Toronto-based lawyer Barnet Kussner from the law firm Weirfoulds. This development has caused the owners of the dogs to feel that the odds are stacked against them.

According to Rui Branco, the owner of Brittany, who has been held by the city since her seizure last January 13, the upcoming court battle now feels like a David versus Goliath story.

And there might be some truth to his opinion. Weirfoulds is a tenured lawyer who specializes in legal advice for municipal and other governments in areas such as contracts, land planning, and more.

Branco said that he’s exhausted all efforts to get the dogs back home, leaving him with no other choice but to head to court. It’s a depressing situation he said, he has to pay for the lawyer’s fees, while his taxes as a resident of Brampton are being used to pay for the opposition’s legal counsel.

Joining him is Maria Gaspar, whose family owns Bruno. The two have tried to convince city officials that their dogs are boxer and American Bulldog mixes after an Animal Control Officer from the city seized their dogs after classifying them as Pitbulls, which are banned in the city.

Akin Busari is an extremely talented and skilled singer/songwriter from the city of Brampton. But he’s not just about raw talent. Busari says that his love for music is heavily inspired by significant causes. To him, all it takes to make the world a better place is for everyone to help each other and do their part.

According to the 25-year old, anti-violence is one of the causes he’s most passionate about, and the music he creates often touches on the subject. Busari’s music is a blend of light reggae, R&B, hip-hop, and even world music. Each song is undeniably packed with meaning and soul.

Such is Busari’s dedication to his cause that it’s led him perform for the Connect 2 End Violence campaign, an initiative of the Peel Region. The campaign was aimed at spreading the message of anti-violence, be it domestic or youth related.

Busari is gearing up to release his debut record, True Stories, over the next few months. He will also be representing the City of Brampton this Saturday, the 20^th of February, at a relief concert for Haiti which will be held in Toronto.

You can check him out for yourself if you’re in the area,

For more information on Akin Busari, you can logon to www.akinbusari.com.

Patients suffering from cardiac arrest in the city of Brampton will soon be brought over to the neighboring Trillium Health Centre Mississauga, giving them access to more advanced treatments designed for their condition.

In a memo issued to paramedics in Brampton by Peter Dundas, Director of Peel’s Paramedic Services, he announced that representatives from Trillium and the William Osler Health System have put pen to paper, agreeing to allow the bypassing of their facility for patients suffering from STEMI, or ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction.

Emergency response teams in the Peel region have been directed to transport heart attack patients directly to the cardiac catheterization laboratory in Trillium, without having to make a stop at Brampton Civic Hospital first. The new directive is effective on the 1st of March.

The move is in response to the requests of Brampton physicians towards local health officials, asking them to update cardiology services and treatments in the city by having a new angioplasty program.

At present, patients suffering from heart attacks are immediately brought to Brampton Civic’s E.R. for a dose of powerful drugs that break down blood clots. However, this kind of treatment is considered unreliable and outdated.
With the new directive, paramedics hope they can save more lives in time.

Residents in the City of Brampton and Peel Region may be a bit hung over from all the celebrations and merrymaking brought about by the holidays, but for health officials in the area, it’s back to business to as usual.

For those in the Brampton and Peel Region, H1N1 vaccinations are once again available today, as the flu clinics in the area reopen. The clinics will be open to those needing a second shot of the vaccine.

The follow-up vaccinations will be for kids aged 6 months to 3 years of age, as well as those aged 3 to 9 who suffer from chronic health problems like asthma, bronchits, and the like.

Susan Sterling, Toronto Public Health’s spokeswoman, urges residents in the area to remember that children can only be vaccinated 21 days after their first shot. This is to prevent unwanted reactions and side-effects.

Aside from H1N1 vaccines, seasonal flu shots will also be available to the general public at these clinics.

Sperling admits that health officials in the region don’t quite know how many people will show up this week. In spite of this, she says medical staffs in Peel and Brampton are more than ready for the crowds.

You know the Holidays are officially over when it’s time to take down your home’s Christmas tree. And for residents in Brampton, that’s around next week.

Those living in the City of Brampton and the entire Peel Region have one more week to cherish their Christmas tree before bringing it down and setting it outside on the curb for pickup.

Christmas trees all over the region are due for pick-up on the 11th of January, Monday next week. Waste collection agencies in Brampton expect not to finish the work in one day, so they’ve extended the pickup dates on the rest of the week’s waste collection days.

Locals are requested to remove ornaments, tinsel, nails, wire, lights, and other decorations from their trees before leaving them on the curb. Residents can also help in making things easier for the region’s waste collectors by dropping the Christmas trees at Community Recycling Centers scattered throughout the area.

Residents are also reminded that this week will be the last for the two-week exemption period for waste pickup. Locals can put out all the garbage bags they want at the curb until Friday, January 8, with no garbage tags necessary.

The usual two-garbage bag limit resumes next week on Monday.

As always, the arrival of the New Year brings it with new things, like trends (both having to do with the economy and fashion), products, politicians, events, and more. Indeed, a look back at 2009 shows that the year was a colorful one, to say the least.

For the City of Brampton, the New Year also means the implementation of a new set of laws and regulations. One such area that’ll be affected this year is traffic enforcement.

In a move to better discipline drivers and car owners in the city, officials have now either doubled or tripled traffic fines and penalties for violations on the road.

The adjustments are stated under the provisions of Bill 126, or the Road Safety Act of 2009, which officially took effect on January 1, 2010.

Yes, it’s a pretty gutsy way to the start the New Year.

The Act stipulates that:

• Drivers caught not wearing seatbelts, wearing it incorrectly, or improperly restraining a child in the vehicle will be fined $240 (the old fine was pegged at $110).
• From the old $110 fine, drivers caught running a red light will be slapped with a $325 penalty.

These are just some of the new adjustments city officials have made on the traffic code’s existing fines. They hope the stiffer penalties encourages drivers to follow the law at all times.

A look back at the past year shows that business issues and the economy took center stage in 2009.

With 2008’s global financial crisis striking markets and industries, businesses all over the world were hurt and battered after the collapse of the global stock markets.

One thing lead to the other and the chain-reaction quickly resulted in thousands of people losing their jobs largely due to businesses declaring bankruptcy. 2009 was a record year in terms of company foreclosures, and massive bailouts.

Things in the City of Brampton were no different.

Auto manufacturer Chrysler sank further into debt in 2009, with talks of declaring bankruptcy forcing the company to displace thousands of workers in its Windsor facility. Fortunately, workers were only required to make concessions with regards to their pay and benefits – a not to pleasant development, but immensely better than losing their jobs altogether.

This was largely thanks to a deal by the Canadian and U.S. governments to save the North American auto-industry with a multi-billion dollar bailout for both General Motors and Chrysler.

However, Canada’s economy also saw a bit of improvement last year. And while growth was slow, experts and analysts both predict things in 2010 to be considerably better.

With 2010 upon us, it looks like the City of Brampton’s political race is now officially on.

In a recent announcement made by city officials, Brampton’s Clerk Office will be open to nominations for the 2010 municipal elections on Monday, January 4. Open for nominations are for the offices of mayor, regional councilor and city councilor.

Aside from these offices, nominations will also be accepted for the post of school board trustee for both the Dufferin-Peel and Peel District school boards.

Nomination forms are now available at the city clerk’s office at Brampton City Hall. Interested parties can go to the office from 8:30 in the morning to 4:30 in the afternoon, Mondays through Fridays, starting on the 4th of January, until September 10 of this year.

Already, aspiring candidates and their respective camps have made preparations for next year’s electoral race. With some interesting and promising figures, the 2010 municipal elections look to be colorful, to say the least.

For more information on the upcoming election, as well as updated lists of the candidates, you can log-on to the city’s officials website at www.brampton.ca. Residents in the area can also dial 311 for more details.

Here some good news to end the year with. While the City of Brampton had its share of homicides this past 2009, the numbers are lower than the 10 cases recorded last year.

A yearly record of 10 homicides is pretty low in itself. But for a city in Ontario, whose overall crime rate has been on a steady decline since 1991, 10 is still a significant number. But law enforcement officials have outdone themselves this year, solving and making arrests in all of the 8 reported cases this past year.

Like most years in the past, the homicide cases in Brampton had no common denominators – meaning all cases were isolated and not connected to each other in any way. According to authorities, three of the murder victims were not from Brampton, and another—whose body was found in the trunk of his SUV—wasn’t even killed in the city.

An in-depth look into this year’s record shows that among the victims were a 15-year-old teenager shot when hanging out with a drug addict, and a 59-year-old church volunteer who was allegedly killed by her own mentally unstable son.

The news is a testament to the investigative prowess of the police officers in the Peel Region and Brampton. But to them, true success means that the city is finally crime free.