Quote of the week:

"People aren't cooperating with police, so it's hard to get information." - Montreal Police Constable Lynne Labelle, on the shooting at Prince Arthur and St-Laurent Monday morning, in Tuesday's Gazette. Police suspect street gangs were involved. Three people were wounded.

Unplug the chair

The electric chair still retains a firm hold on popular imagination when it comes to prisoner execution, even though the preferred method in most American states is lethal injection. Still, the image of thousands of volts blasting through a human being is a shocking one, enough for local actress and activist Katherine Adams to take part in the Second World Congress Against the Death Penalty, to be held in Montreal in October. To help pay for it, local organizers are holding a benefit concert this Tuesday, Sept. 14, featuring the talents of Quebec stars like Dan Bigras, Richard Desjardins, Luck Mervil and Arianne Moffat, among others - all offering their talent gratis.

"We're calling the show ‘Unplugged,'" says Adams. "It's a reference to the electric chair, but it's also because all the sets will be acoustic."

Adams says Montreal was a logical choice to hold the second Congress - the first was in Strasbourg, France, in 2002 - for several reasons. First, it's close to the United States, one of the biggest state executioners in the world; second, it's a bilingual city, so more Europeans will be interested in coming; and third, there are two legal systems in operation here, the common law and Napoleonic, so there are cross-referencing possibilities.

Adams hopes to present a petition to President Bush, who oversaw 152 executions as governor of Texas, but, she says, "We won't be well-received in the U.S."

Unplugged takes place Tuesday, Sept. 14 at Club Soda (1225 St-Laurent), $26, $20 for students. For more info, visit www.montreal2004.org. » Patrick Lejtenyi

TMR skater haven

Mirko Konecny doesn't skateboard, but he knows skateparks. The 34-year-old Montreal entrepreneur, along with his three partners, is getting ready to open the city's newest indoor park, Orkus, this fall in the Town of Mount Royal. "I plan on starting skateboarding, though," he says.

Like in any major endeavour, one of the biggest headaches was finding a spot that was suitable. "It was a long, painful process," he says. "We had clearly defined criteria for the space: it had to be on the island, close to bus and metro service, have few columns and 22- to 24-foot-high ceilings." He and his team finally found what they were looking for at 4300 Côte-de-Liesse, "a two-minute walk from de la Savane metro."

The park, christened Orkus (www.orkus.ca), will feature 3,000 feet of floor space, a street course 50-feet wide and 250-feet long, a mini-half-pipe, a mini-vert ramp and 121/2-feet by 60-feet full vert. "I'd say you can have about 200 people using the park at any given moment," he says. There's also large mezzanine for spectators and a parents' lounge.

Konecny says he spent a lot of time checking out other skateparks, talking to concerned parties about the requirements necessary for a class-A park. "I asked them about peak hours, peak days, accessibility, services, parents' stuff," he says. "Big issues were activities for parents, safety and having full-time monitors."

Konecny says that the park should open soon, and that skate-apparel store West 49 has already contacted them for tournaments. » Patrick Lejtenyi

Got them cancer blues

Maria Sandoval doesn't have cancer after all. She was misdiagnosed in January 2002, and it took several weeks before she found out she was, in fact, cancer-free. But her mother, father, brother and niece did have cancer, so, in March 2002, Sandoval had created a foundation in her own name to help victims in one way that was of particular importance - paying for patients' medication. The Fondation Maria Sandoval pays the difference between government insurance and actual cost at the drugstore. So far, they can only afford 10 clients, and so are asking the public to help them help cancer patients.

The Fondation recently stepped up its profile by getting a celebrity endorsement from Quebec actor Sylvain Marcel and by planning its first benefit concert next Thursday, Sept. 16. The concert, called "Cancer en Blues," will feature, among others, harmonica player Jim Zeller, blues guitarist Joe Jamer and the Kool Kats. "We get no money from the government," says project coordinator Manon Vezeau. "But we have a commitment to give $150 a month to people of all ages, for as long as they are sick and need financial help."

Vezeau says the Fondation's waiting list is growing. "We have another 30 people waiting. We want to help as many people as possible," says Vezeau. "We are known now by the CLSCs and hospitals, and more people are calling every day."

The benefit concert takes place on Thursday, Sept.16, at Lion d'Or (1676 Ontario E.). Tickets are $12.50. For more information, go to www.fondationmariasandoval.com. » Noemi Lopinto

REAR-VIEW MIRROR

12 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
Sept. 10 - Sept. 17, 1992

On the cover: Grandmotherly workers' rights activist and feminist Madeleine Parent, whose Solidarité populaire Québec issued a vision for an egalitarian society. Much of it focuses on women's issues, from violence to sexism in the workplace.

• The new theatre season offers work that is, as usual, mostly straight and white, even in the era of AIDS and racism, to Gaëtan Charlebois's distress. He ponders "the possibilities of reinterpretation just in Shakespeare's canon: re-evaluation of Mercutio's love for Romeo, Iago's for Othello, Bassanio and Antonio."

• "As a young man, I was dead set against the death penalty," says serial-killer movie Rampage director William Friedkin. "But my attitude has changed because the U.S. has become a more violent society. It's not the America I remember as a kid."

• "‘Evangeline' is based on a space-age nun from an obscure comic book. She has this thief sidekick named Johnny Six, who really lusts after her but can't have her," says Matthew Sweet, dispelling rumours that his album Girlfriend is autobiographical.

Angel >> Fish Everyone knows fish is brain food, but a new study by a Université de Laval researcher suggests that regular consumption of omega-3, a fatty acid found especially in sardines and salmon, can help fight the onset of Alzheimer's disease and heart disease (see Insect). The study says people genetically disposed to Alzheimer's are especially at risk of suffering from the disease if their diet is lacking in omega-3. The acid is gaining in popularity among the diet-conscious, and has been added to milk and eggs by food manufacturers. One prominent nutritionist says the desire for omega-3 as a food additive could reach Atkins-craze-like proportions. But unlike the low-carb, high-protein diet, an omega-3-heavy diet could be good for vegetarians as well.
Insect >> Burgers 'n' fries Bill Clinton is recovering following his quadruple bypass surgery in New York earlier this week, and newspaper headlines have been making much of the fact that it's the end of the road for the former U.S. President's well-known love affair with fast food. Other Americans (and Canadians) would do well to heed the same advice and cut down on saturated fats: heart disease is the number one killer of adults today, and obesity is poised to overtake smoking as the leading cause of preventable deaths. And no, substituting a Filet o' Fish for a Big Mac probably won't help.