It's supposed to be a holiday tradition: the selfless appeal of America's legendary funny man, coming into our hearts and homes to ask us to help those less fortunate than ourselves. Most years, talent and celebrity merge for a 21-hour festival of caring.

But the frightening image that will remain with viewers of the 2001 MDA Telethon will be of former Beatle Ringo Starr collapsing as he was teargassed by Italian police in full riot gear, and then clubbed mercilessly as he lay prone on the stage.
 
Haunted as we are by the images of violence flashed across our TV screens -- images of Bob Costas and Angela Lansbury being hustled away to waiting police vans; of disco diva Gloria Gaynor, her mouth set in a grimace of pain, struggling to free herself from two helmeted officers; of Alan Jackson and the Oak Ridge Boys, pummeled by water cannons -- even as we try to erase these disturbing pictures from our minds, we demand answers. Was such astonishing force justified, or even necessary? Why were so many of those arrested not Italians? What were the Italian police doing in Las Vegas?

The telethon is now over, ended in chaos and a tear-stained plea from water-soaked host Jerry Lewis, bleeding from a wound to the temple and awaiting word on the condition of co-host Ed McMahon, who was rushed to the hospital after experiencing chest pains when ordered to lie on the floor with his hands over his head. But the controversy continues. MDA poster child Amiee Chester remains in a Genoa prison, where she has languished since Saturday night upon suspicion of belonging to an Anarchist organization known to the Italian government as the Brownies. Officials had no comment as to when she might be released. And no word whatsoever could be obtained as to the whereabouts of Penn & Teller,  Wayne Newton, Merv Griffin, Andy Williams, or Don Francisco, host of the Spanish-language television hit "Sábado Gigante." They were last seen approaching the perimeter of the "Red Zone," which officials had set up some 60 yards from the green room where telethon performers congregated before going onstage.

Truly, for this City of Bright Lights, this is a dark hour indeed.