Sticking up
for the SPCA

This letter is in response to Watson, who recently chastised executive director Pierre Barnoti of the SPCA [Letters, Oct. 9] regarding your cat cover story by Kristian Gravenor. Watson states that the SPCA "refuses to network with other animal-rescue agencies, and frowns on those, like [cat caretaker Monica] Campo, who take action into their own hands."

As a volunteer at the SPCA, I would like to assert that these accusations are completely false and out of context. First of all, if Watson were more like Sherlock, and did his homework, he would know that Pierre Barnoti does in fact work with other agencies, and has even worked with Campo herself on numerous occasions. Although he empathizes with Campo's love for animals, what he discourages is breaking the law, as he clearly states in the article. Barnoti believes that breaking the law, even for a worthy cause, hurts credibility and damages the overall goal of the mission to rescue animals.

Watson then goes on to accuse the SPCA of "appalling inertia." I'd like to ask the first question: Watson, what are you doing to help the SPCA? Criticism is your right, but it doesn't exactly feed the animals. If you took the time to find out, you'd know that aside from feeding and housing Montreal's abandoned animals, reuniting lost pets with their owners, constant fundraising efforts and so many other tasks too lengthy for this letter, the SPCA currently has many active programs on their extensive agenda.

My second question: how does an organization that relies solely on public support do a "better job than it is"? It's simply too easy to scapegoat the SPCA, which receives no funding from the government and works within a lawless framework (Quebec is the only province without an animal welfare act, which the SPCA is working around the clock to change) than it is to get involved on a personal level. Watson, get real. Spend one day at the SPCA, where people dump their cats off for not matching the furniture and you'll probably have a bit of a different perspective.

» Nancy Breitman

On time

Thank you very much for your article about switching the time [Cover, "Kitty Crusader," Oct. 16]. I hate this with a passion. It's not my mind that fights it, but my poor body. When my children were small and I stayed home with them, I never changed their schedule, and they were very happy about it.

Every time I have to go through the time switch I suffer from health problems with sleep, terrible headaches and bad moods. All this happens around times when the clocks change in October and April. How can we influence the Quebec government to give up this unhealthy practice?

» Irina Kondratieva, Programme Coordinator,
Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre

Without being part of any anti-clock-forward lobby, I feel that if we put an end to time changing (which would be good), it's the normal hour (Eastern Standard Time) that we should keep. Why? Because that's the real time - west of the zone line in Rimouski anyway. From April to October the sun doesn't set an hour later, it's us who get up an hour earlier. You think you're getting up at 7 a.m., but it's actually 6 a.m.; in actuality all the clocks are set an hour late.

That said, we could open offices at 8 a.m. or 7 a.m. in the morning instead of 9 a.m.

» Sylvain Auclair

What Israel
means to Jews

To those who want to understand what Israel means to Jews, read this quote from Rabbi Usher Kirshblum:

"When I was a child, in my own mind I always thought a Jew was a person whose back is bent, who is always afraid, who is always on the run, who is always absorbing blows. Israel has straightened the backbone of every Jew - every Jew consciously or otherwise walks taller than he did before Israel was created… He is serene and unafraid, the look of the persecuted has gone from his face."

» Barry Merson

Resto Bizarro
inspirational

I am half-heartedly working on a drawn and scrawled Alice+Yanka go on a fooding adventure, kind of a "let's see what it turns out" lil' project. Part inspired by master bizzaro+gonzo (www.gonzo.org) art-specialist Ralph Steadman, I'd capture some of their franglais droppings (made famous by Bernard Levine for the London Observer, n'est pas?)!

The story goes like this: they live in the Mirror masthead and have wings, which turn to hands when they touch ground, and they use foul language. Alice is the skinny, sickly Aunt Maud and Yanka is the foul-mouthed tough one. They are both asexual.

Moi panse qui c'est intérestent to read about le toilette dans le restaurants, etc. If you want food reviews, moi dit read da fuckin' Gazette or something!!

Compliment: as a rule, I try to stay away from resto reviews - I don't have da money to dine out. Resto Bizarro caught my attention in a letter to the editor, and my little idea germinated. Will keep you posted…

» Je ne suis pas Van Gogh

Correction

Due to an editing error in Gabriel Morency's Oct. 9 Sports Rage column, one of his weekly picks read Edmonton over Vancouver when in fact it should have read Vancouver over Edmonton, thus making Morency 2–1 on the week and not 1–2. The Mirror apologizes to anyone who may have placed a bet based on this error.

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