Return Volley

Our non-profit organization, the Association Récréative Milton-Parc, and those who play volleyball in Jeanne-Mance Park, take strong exception to the recent headline and article about our program which appeared in the Mirror [“Beach Nazis must die!,” June 27].

Although your editors and journalists may believe that the headline “Beach Nazis must die!” for an article that describes our community volleyball program is cute and catchy, we find it highly objectionable, and, in fact, libellous. We also object to the characterization of us as “bullies” (as you also describe us in your cover page headline).

If your reporter, Kristian Gravenor, had done a little bit of research he would have found that our community volleyball program is one of the most inclusive organized team sports programs in all of Montreal.

Our program is open to everyone, regardless of age, sex, or ability. We provide all of the necessary equipment to play. At only $2 a day, it is by far the most affordable organized sports activity in Montreal. We are open from noon until 9 p.m., over 140 days a year (except when it rains). We have animators on site to teach beginners how to play and to ensure that everyone gets a fair chance to play.

Mr. Gravenor gives far too big a platform to Bob Silverman to air his personal differences with our organization. Jeanne-Mance Park volleyball doesn’t correspond to Bob’s myopic philosophy, but this is not news, nor is it in any way representative of what the vast majority of participants feel.

The biggest problem that we face with our volleyball program is that there are far too few courts for the huge demand that exists. There are over 15,000 players at our courts every summer. Yet, we only have our six courts for all of Montreal to accommodate those, who range from the best players in the province to absolute beginners. All are equally welcome!

My idea of bullyism is when a newspaper owned by one of the largest publishers in Canada abuses its freedom of the press by unfairly labelling as “Nazis” a vastly popular, inclusive, community sports program which has been successfully operating, in its own quiet way, for the past 29 years.

-Terrence Regan
Director, Association Récréative Milton-Parc

Art
attack
I think it’s worthwhile to point out that contrary to Omen’s assertion [“Trane spotting,” July 4] that you have to pay for “every museum, every permanent collection of religious bullshit,” many of the world’s best fine art museums have either free days or pay-what-you-can policies. In fact, here in Omen’s hometown of Montreal, the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts is always free. I suggest that a visit to one of these museums may help Mr. Omen understand that making art is a more complex endeavour than ripping off jazz photographers of the ’60s for his own profit.
-Emma Kaiso

Anti-anti-
trust
Rudy Komsic [“Bell’s big digital win,” July 4] needs to open a dictionary to find the meaning of competition before he starts using it in a sentence.

Guess what Rudy, this is what it’s like in the nitty-gritty business world. My father started a small bulk food business and was the first in our town until the mighty Loblaws caught on and started competing with him. Times got tough for a while but he didn’t whine or bitch like the rest of you and there was no “bulk food commission” to protect and wipe his ass so he stuck it out and in the end, succeeded in being THE bulk food store in town.

Granted, this is on a smaller scale, but the proportions and the principle are the same. Let me finish with this: imagine that we are 10 years from now and Rudy’s company has toughed it out and with lots of sacrifice and hard work, it has become the Bell of the Internet world. Do you think Rudy would mind if I got the government to come in and force him to raise his prices just so that I could start my business with a competitive edge and make a profit my first year?
-Darcy Greer