Jailed Frenchman Wins No Sympathy

Is Elizabeth Venant serious? Are we really supposed to feel outraged that Patrick Rombeau, with his “dancing eyes” and “coquettish, fluffy white-bowed” wife, drew jail time for shooting up his yard while drunk? (“A Shot in the Dark Lands Frenchman in a Tight Spot,” Jan. 19).

The charge--”willfully and unlawfully discharging a firearm in a grossly negligent manner which could result in injury and death to a person”--sure sounds to me like what he did.

Listen up, Ms. Venant: It would be blind, stupid cops who didn’t respond with guns drawn to a call of a shooter. Their jobs involve more stress than pushing stalled cars for characters out of Marcel Pagnol. And, if it were my alcoholic, suicidal, armed husband, I’d lock myself and my kids in the house and call the LAPD too.

I am delighted that the Rombeaus are returning to Provence. With luck, they’ll take their firepower with them.

LILLI COLTON

Glendale