Police brutality hits hard

So despicable is it that a man should be beaten by a group of police officers, Michel Sarrazin should do the right thing and resign his position as police chief no matter what the outcome of the investigation into the death of Jean-Pierre Lizotte ["Cops, bouncers and eyewitnesses," Dec. 16]. With the amount of training they have, not to mention the four-against-one situation they were in, the police should never be allowed to punch anybody. They can restrain, but they can't hit.

Since even the chief has admitted the police did punch out the now-dead man, all those involved should be given desk jobs, and most importantly the chief should step down, leaving the position open to someone with integrity.

†-Neil Silver

Motion sickness

I have been particularly appalled and angered by what appears to be a new addition to the Mirror, Motion Picture Purgatory. As I am new to the city, I do not know how long you have running this ridiculous and pointless "commentary," but it is in extremely bad taste. On my first glance I was tempted to turn the page, but once having decided to write and protest against this offensive cartoon, I decided to read it to see whether or not "Rick Trembles" had anything somewhat intelligent to say. This "fiasco" is indeed "relentless" in its assault on the intellect.

If "Rick Trembles" wants to indulge his sense of humour he should reserve his witticisms for his own private audiences. Even commercialized, popularized film is an art form of sorts and deserves more respect than "Rick Trembles" can offer in his crude, graphic commentary. Hardly enlightening.

Johanna Paradis

Angelina's got a Lotte Lenya

Angelina Iapaulo of the Lullaby Baxter Trio ["Lullaby Lady," cover, Jan. 13] looks so much like Lotte Lenya my heart almost stopped--and from your interview, the same background and same outlook, minus the rise of Hitler and WW II in the background (presuming you do not consider WW III already underway, given current world conditions).

This is Three Penny Opera for real. Just as Lenya sang her own life and the universe of her day through the works of Brecht and Weill, Ms. "Baxter" sings our world through her own creations, instead of creating music to sell cars by. And is not Montreal the Weimar Berlin of North America?

Bugsy O'Brien

CIQC in review

Your very complete listing of the Year in Review of Dec. 30 [also see "RIP CIQC," Media Circus, Dec. 9] missed one of the saddest days in Canadian Radio History: the silencing of an additional English media voice in Quebec on Dec. 12, when Canada's first radio station, CIQC AM 600, was replaced by the bland, generic, Toronto copycat CINW 940 News.

The station that spread the opinions of everyone from Dave Boxer to John Robertson, Al Pervin to John Oakley, Jim Duff to Howard Galganov, was taken away, replaced instead by 30-second sound-bites from CNN Atlanta.

It may well be that all-news is successful in other markets, as has been trumpeted to the skies by 940's GM, Sean McMullin... I admit to having been a big fan of Ted Rogers' 680News while living in Toronto, and to tuning in WCBS in New York.

However, the latter two stations did not promise "24-hour news, constantly updated," then promptly run taped newscasts overnight. Nor did they hype their focus on local and regional news, then hire only two local reporters while carrying up to 75 per cent U.S. material from ABC and CNN.

A part of Montreal died on December 12. Montrealers have lost an important voice to the dumbing down of the media, to people like Sean McMullin who think that listeners cannot fathom anything longer than 60 seconds in duration, us pea-brained saps for whom 940 News was supposedly designed. This dumbing down seems to have caught on with 940's announcers: if it wasn't for 940 News, I wouldn't have learned that Canada's PM in WWII was really named William Leon Mackenzie King.

Wayne Dayton