Quote of the week:

"It's a sad day, but sometimes I put on my hat as a journalist and other times I have to put on my CEO hat and make difficult decisions." - Richard Desmarais, publisher of Allô Police, on folding the classic 51-year-old tabloid, in Tuesday's Globe.

CSL's park confusion

In a bizarre and questionably legal move prior to the city's mega-merger, a bunch of outgoing Côte-St-Luc city councillors bade adieu to their burg by naming their city's parks after themselves. The Quebec Toponymy Commission has refused to recognize the stupefying example of self-absorption, citing that one must be dead a year prior to attaining such geographical immortality. So now that Côte-St-Luc has voted to return to its previous municipal status, will the defiant anti-megacity gesture remain? Will parks named after Ruth Kovac, Richard Schwartz, Glenn J. Nashen, Isadore Goldberg, Mitchell Brownstein and Allan J. Levine revert to their old monickers?

"The next election as of now is November 2005, but residents will start to ask the question whether parks should still be named after these people," says councillor Robert Libman, who as former CSL mayor - now its current borough mayor - oversaw the renamings. "I took a lot of flack for them when they voted to name the parks after themselves and despite that, I continued to defend them. And then they turned on me and I'm still puzzled as to why." Libman originally opposed the merger but came around to supporting the megacity.

One of Libman's opponents, who plans to oppose Libman's return to the CSL mayoralty, Glenn "the Human Park" Nashen, won't comment on whether a park should still be named after him now that CSL will be a city again. "I have no idea. I don't think it's an issue. I think it's a great honour," he says. » Kristian Gravenor

Kids in care speak up

For the past nine months, Rachel Kronick and five young single mothers have been learning the ins and outs of radio journalism. They've also learned a lot about themselves, each other and kids living in government care, from foster homes to lock-ups. And now the women - four having lived through government care themselves - are sharing that experience with the public, with a one-hour show airing every Wednesday in July from 5 to 6 p.m. on CKUT 90.3 FM. The project, led by Kronick and funded mostly by Human Resources Development Canada, brought the six women to a school for troubled kids aged seven to 17 to hear their stories, teach them creative writing and produce four hours' worth of personal memoirs, documentaries and spoken word. Called VOYCE (Voices of Youth in Care), the experience let these kids talk about the issues they've faced growing up.

"We address things like restraining and confining kids, about the experience of going to special, alternative schools and we have a piece on the politics of disclosure," says Kronick. "Growing up, these kids are always having to reveal something to social workers or police officers."

VOYCE will be releasing the series on CD, to be made available to educators, community centres, social workers and group homes. The launch will be on Tuesday, July 20, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Café Touski (2361 Ontario, near Frontenac metro). Organizers are asking for voluntary donations, and $10 or more gets you a CD. Series archives can be heard at www.ckut.ca. » Patrick Lejtenyi

Give your bike away

Cyclo Nord-Sud, a local group of bike enthusiasts, have shipped another container filled with 407 used bicycles off to Togo this week, where they will be refurbished and sold to locals. This marks the 22nd container the group has shipped off, thanks to cyclists who donate their wheels. Accompanying the bikes was a big pile of accessories, spare parts and tools, says Cyclo Nord-Sud's Isabelle Tremblay. In the last five years, they've sent almost 10,000 of them to the global South.

"Because each bike is used by between five and 10 people, that means we've helped between 50,000 and 100,000 people," she says. "Many people in the South have to walk for kilometres for work or food every day. A bike allows them to carry three times as much in one-third the time. It's a very important development tool."

She says the group will be taking a two-week sabbatical during the construction holiday but will be back in business afterwards. Donors - who are given a receipt for the full value of their bike - will be able to drop theirs off Wednesdays to Fridays starting at 1 p.m. at 7235 St-Urbain. For more info, visit www.cyclonordsud.org or call 843-0077.

While Cyclo Nord-Sud focuses exclusively on helping people in the South, one cycling group with a local angle is SOS Vélo, now issuing a call-out for decrepit bikes that will be cannibalized and transformed into workable wheels. Bikes can be dropped off at 2085 Bennett or picked up by the group. For more info, call 251-8803. » Patrick Lejtenyi

REAR-VIEW MIRROR

13 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
July 18-July 25, 1991

On the cover: Sarah McLachlan, who discusses the pressure of releasing the follow-up record Solace to her hit debut, Touch. "I set pretty high standards for myself," she tells Brendan Kelly. "I wanted Peter Gabriel to hear it and go: ‘Wow, this is fucking great,' and not, ‘Oh, there's another Canadian artist ripping me off.'"

• Working at a computer can lead to a host of ailments, from carpal tunnel syndrome to migraines to eye damage to increased risk of birth defects, writes Josey Vogels, and the labour code doesn't know how to deal with it. "The Labour Code is old, and VDTs are new," guesses a Labour Canada official.

• While the surfing and action in Point Break are good, writes Martin Siberok, the movie "fails miserably on the psychological level."

• "Do you want a picture of a Mermaid? (A sea creature, lower part woman, upper part fish, 6 feet long, caught in Bangladesh)," asks a classified ad. Cost is $10, payable by money order to a P.O. box.

Angel >> Stretch, Shaft and Dick The creation of Ottawa animator Firdaus Kharas and his South African partner Brent Quinn, these three talking condoms are spreading the word about AIDS prevention on South African TV and are seeking more exposure in some of the world's worst-hit regions. Kharas has been shopping 20 60-second episodes featuring Stretch (tall and black), Shaft (short and blue) and Dick (lanky and blond) - the Three Amigos - around the 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok this week, looking for international distributors. Aiming to reach over one billion people in 100 countries and in 40 languages, the two financed the project almost entirely themselves. More info can be found at www.thethreeamigos.org.
Insect >> Abstinence as policy Also at the International AIDS conference were thousands of protesters decrying the developed world's paltry funding for research and the Bush administration's lunatic emphasis on abstinence. Calling the policy a "serious setback" in the global fight against AIDS, scientists and activists around the world say it presents a fatal danger to millions, especially in countries where sex work is one of the few means of survival for poor women. Even in the States, sex educators and sexual health professionals are saying that conservative ideology in Congress stressing abstinence over safety has caused their budgets to be slashed, and that a chilling effect has hampered important research.