Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, January 5, 2002
Road hockey: A proud Canadian sporting tradition or a dangerous nuisance?
A Hamilton court will weigh in Monday on a father’s fate after he played hockey with his kids on their street, infuriating a neighbour while breaking a bylaw that divides neighbourhoods nationwide. “The bylaw says we stay off the street,” said Nadia Ciuriak, whose garden has been invaded by countless stray hockey balls from Gary Kotar’s kids over the years.
“If people want street hockey, the proper way of dealing with that is to go to city council and insist that the bylaw gets removed.”
While Kotar’s kids haven’t caused any damage to their neighbour’s property, it’s the principle of breaking the bylaw and trespassing to retrieve errant balls that bothers Ciuriak.
“Initially I retrieved the balls from my garden, but then I decided I had other things to do, and I didn’t want them going into my garden,” said Ciuriak, who has lived with her mother and sister at the house for 40 years.
Ciuriak also objects to the behaviour of some of the players on her street. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)