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The AIH Transcript for August 28, 2017

Hosts: Susan Bonner and Jeff Douglas

STORIES FROM THIS EPISODE

Prologue

SUSAN BONNER: Hello I'm Susan Bonner sitting in for Carol off.

JEFF DOUGLAS: Good evening. I'm Jeff Douglas. This is As It Happens.

[Music: Theme]

JD: Tonight.

SB: Get the picture? A Florida woman scrambles into action after her mother sends her a photo from Houston showing residents in her care home sitting in murky waist deep floodwater.

JD: You can't go home again. She fled New Orleans when Katrina blew through. Now Hurricane Harvey has chased Christine Valerio from her family's new Houston home.

SB: Pressed into service. A journalist goes from podcasters to life-saver when he throws his body over a suspected alt-right provocateur to save him from a violent anti-fascist attack.

JD: Furniture score. The game of Scrabble crowns a new world champion after he studies his opponent and plays a 74 point word most often used to describe library desks.

SB: Read ‘em their rights. An unknown author tops the New York Times list of young adults bestsellers. Then our guests started sleuthing and now the new novelist has been written right off the list.

JD: And down in the moth. A retired science teacher says the discovery of two rare “sad underwing” moths is the highlight of his career. And since there's both a male and a female he's hoping for some sad moth romance. As It Happens the Monday edition. Radio that hopes neither of them runs into an old flame.

[Music: Theme]

Part 1: Houston: seniors home, New York Times bestseller, moth sighting

Houston: seniors home

Guest Kim McIntosh

JD: The rain just will not let up. Tropical Storm Harvey is battering the Gulf Coast of Texas. A year's worth of rain is expected to fall in the area this week alone. Large swathes of Houston — one of America's largest cities — are already under water. All weekend, images of submerged highways and dramatic rescues were broadcast from the region, where thousands of people were calling for help. One of the most dramatic images shows frail seniors in an assisted-living facility with dirty flood water up to their waists. Kim McIntosh’s mother, Trudy Lampson, took that photograph. Ms. Lampson owns the nursing home and was trapped there with the residents pleading for their rescue. We reached Kim McIntosh in Tampa, Florida.

SB: Ms. McIntosh before your mom sent you that photograph — that picture inside the residence — What did you know about how serious the situation was?

KIM MCINTOSH: I didn't think it was serious at all. The night before, on Saturday I called her — it wasn’t really raining. She had power — she said everything was fine. So really when I called to check in on Sunday I expected maybe the power to be out, but that was it. So when I texted her in the morning and asked her if her power was out and if she was OK and she responded with the pictures I was truly shocked. I couldn't, I couldn't believe it, it didn't make any sense to me really.

SB: I want to ask you what exactly went through your mind when you looked at that photograph — because all of us have had such an intense reaction to it — what did you think?

KM: I almost started crying. I was truly upset. It's, it's horrifying if you look at it. And I responded back immediately — I said, “that's horrible.” After I did that I asked her, you know, if there was anything that I could do at that point. And that's when she basically told me that they were waiting on the National Guard, but no one had shown up. So they were just waiting there, that's what they were doing.

SB: Was the water still rising when she texted you?

KM: She said the water was rising when she texted me and that was it. After that — she said it was rising contact anyone — her phone died. Now I know her phone died, but at the time I didn't know her phone died, I just know she quit responding to my texts. So her last text was, “the water rising,” and I'm very concerned that something has just happened to her. That's kind of when I went into panic mode, because I felt like I couldn't help her.

SB: And this was all happening so fast for you. You weren't expecting any of it.

KM: Right

SB: So what did she tell you about how long it took for the water to get to waist level like that?

KM: Initially she said maybe 15 minutes, but I talked to her today and she said 30. So, I mean, I think their sense of time, you know, I don't know. But she said essentially what happened was, the toilet started bubbling up. Then water started pouring through the door and it was like ankle-deep. And she at that point went to run to get the residents to bring them to the front — there were 15 residents in total. They had three nurses there, plus my mom and my stepfather. So they were rushing to go get all of the residents to bring them to the front. And what they found was that the mattresses floated — the furniture floated. So they were putting them on the floating furniture so that they had like a raft.

SB: What was the health condition of these residents? I saw in the photographs some of them were in wheelchairs.

KM: Some are in wheelchairs, some can walk around. They're elderly, so they just need care.

SB: Now back to — you get the photograph, you lose contact with your mother. What goes through your mind — what do you do?

KM: I felt helpless, honestly. I didn't know what to do. I'd never been through a disaster before and I didn't even know who to call. I mean they always say call 9-1-1, but at this point 9-1-1 wasn't in the cards because she had already done that. You can't get through to 9-1-1. So what are my options now? So I just started Googling, and we came up with the Emergency Management Office and that's who we called.

SB: In the meantime you posted the picture on Twitter.

KM: We tried — I mean we were thinking of any possible thing we could do. One was trying to call people there who were officials that could possibly get over there. The other was, let's see if there's someone around with a boat. Now the thought was that we could use Twitter then to mobilize somebody around the area to get over there. Is there is there a neighbor nearby? Anybody with a boat — can they get over there. Here are the residents, they’re in dire need, please get over as soon as possible.

SB: What kind of reaction did you get?

KM: All over the board really. I would say people were just commenting, “Oh my goodness this is horrible.” Some people said, “Fake, this is all fake,” and so, at that point my husband was watching the Twitter, and were monitoring their responses and trying to find ones that were useful. Like one was a lady who was a friend of somebody who lived down the street, and she took a picture of the front of another house down the street. So that made me feel better because that was maybe an hour later, and I could see that the water was still only halfway up the house. So at that point, I breathed a sigh of relief, because at that point I thought maybe the water had gone up to the roof.

SB: You thought the water inside the residence might have reached the roof? You must have been frantic.

KM: I was! That's the whole reason we did the Twitter photo in the first place — we were so concerned. We felt like we couldn't get there, would someone, someone who, you know, is over there. There are so many good people who could go over there and help them.

SB: Were you at all worried that help wasn't going to make it on time?

KM: Absolutely. I mean, we were frightened the whole time. I was sick, I was absolutely sick. And it just, it plays out so long. I mean, you know, my mom — I received the text from her at 9:00 in the morning and they were rescued at 1:07. I got a text from my stepfather that they were in the back of the truck. So that's how long it took. But they were in the water prior to that Like 3:00, 4:00 in the morning.

SB: So they were in the water for that many hours?

KM: Yes, yes.

SB: Why was this facility not evacuated before the storm?

KM: Dickinson County Emergency told them to stay there — not to evacuate. They were instructed to stay there. There are lots of regulations for assisted living facilities. My mom, you know, goes to classes on this. She has plans laid out, so she followed her plans, which was to call the state and request that — there's a certain name, I can't remember what it is for evacuation, they have this laid out — she called them and they told her to call 9-1-1. They couldn't help her. And then 9-1-1 was overloaded and then they were put on a waitlist for the National Guard. So, I mean, at this point she was out of options, and that's why when I finally, when I contacted her I had no idea she had been already suffering through this since early morning.

SB: How's everybody doing now?

KM: They're great, it's amazing. They are such troopers, I mean, these residents are fantastic. They were picked up by the National Guard at 1:00 and they drove them to some place — my mom said like to drop them off on the on a freeway where other people were waiting also for assistance — but no one came there. There were no buses, so then they took them to a school, and at the school they said, “we're not a shelter here, but we can give you water and food.” And then from there they went to a church, and then from there they finally ended up at the assisted living facility. It's called Laurel Oaks and it's in Alvin, Texas. And my mom said she is so grateful to these people at Laurel Oaks because they took her residence in. They gave them showers, warmed him up, made sure everybody was OK, and no one sustained injury. Everybody appears to be fine. So, I mean, I can't believe it. It's unbelievable and we're just so grateful that everybody's OK. It's a hard thing to go through.

SB: It's an incredible story and none of us who saw it will ever forget that picture. Thank you so much for telling us about it.

KM: Thank you.

JD: We reached Kim McIntosh in Tampa Florida. Comparisons are already being drawn between tropical storm Harvey and Hurricane Katrina. And later on in the program we will speak to a woman who fled Katrina in 2005, only to be driven from her new home in Houston.

[Music: Whimsical Strings]

Berkeley Protest

SOUNDCLIP

Crowd chattering and air horns going off.

JD: That was some of the sound from Sunday's peace rally in Berkeley, California. Beneath all those air horns there were thuds, and that thud or those thuds were the sound of a journalist named Al Letson using his body to shield a man from a beating. Mr. Letson is the host of Reveal, that is a podcast produced by the Center for Investigative Reporting and he was on hand to cover the rally. It was largely peaceful despite the presence of menacing looking black clad anti-fascist protesters. And then Joey Gibson showed up with some of his followers. Mr. Gibson is the founder of the right wing Patriot Prayer group. That is when the violence broke out. And then Mr. Letson saw a suspected it's alt-right provocateur on the ground being beaten by some of those black clad fists. And here's Mr. Letson on his podcast describing what happened next.

SOUNDCLIP

AL LETSON: In my head, like automatically, I just thought, “oh my god, like there's like this whole little army of people that they're going to end up killing this guy.” And then I just jumped on top of him and held them and I put my back up to shield him because somebody was hitting him with a flag pole. Another person was punching and kicking, and I got punched and kicked like once or twice — nothing major. I felt like every time they hit me, when they realized it was me they kind of pulled their punch a little bit, so I didn't get injured. Those cops were still there and I'm sure they could see what was happening but they weren't doing anything at all. And all of this happened like really quickly. And the whole time I thought, well first I thought, “Oh my god they're going to kill him.” And then I thought, “oh my god they're going to kill me.” And then it just suddenly stopped. Then I believe a tear gas grenade was fired and it kind of dispersed the area. But it was, it was, it was really, really intense.

JD: That was Al Letson, the host of Reveal, a podcast produced by the Center for Investigative Reporting.

[Music: Banjo]

New York Times bestseller

Guest: Phil Stamper

JD: If you check out The New York Times best seller list for young adult novels today, you might notice something missing right at the top. The paper recently listed a new book called Handbook for Mortals by an unknown author as the number one title. And that seemed a bit strange to a lot of people in the young adult fiction community, including writer Phil Stamper. So he and some others started asking questions, and they soon uncovered enough fishy business about the books sales, that the Times pulled it. We reached Phil Stamper in New York.

SB: Mr. Stamper what was it that raised red flags for you when this book Handbook for Mortals debuted at the top of the New York Times best seller list?

PHIL STAMPER: I think the first thing that caught my eye was not only that I never heard of it, but just because it's peculiar for no one I know to also not know anything about this book. And I just wanted to look into it a little bit more to see what it was about this book that, you know, I completely missed. And then when I started looking it up, you know, I couldn't find any press releases or any information about the book itself — it's peculiar. There was no publicity it seemed that was being put into this book. I just didn't know how it was possible for a book to hit the list without kind of something suspicious happening. And then that's when a lot of the other industry people started chiming in. Jeremy West chimed in saying that he looked it up and there were 18 000 sales in the first week, which…

SB: So let me ask you about that, because you and Jeremy West were looking into the sales for this book, and I understand its sales that drive titles onto the New York Times bestseller list. So what was it that you discovered when you looked at those numbers?

PS: So I know that the normal amount for this list is about five thousand plus to top it. So I was saying you know how could a book that no one has ever heard of, that had no publicity behind it sell 5 000 copies in a week. And then we find out that it's not 5 000, it's actually 18 000, which is hard for anyone to do — even the books with the biggest buzz because, again, it's only one week.

SB: Well how do you know that it wasn't just something that people were excited about — word of mouth?

PS: Well that's the thing. You search it on Twitter, you can't find anything. The Amazon rankings were really low and they had none in stock. So that means there's no way for people to actually buy it. And then I actually I went to Barnes and Noble dot com and I started searching in the New York Tri-State area — there were zero copies.

SB: So what was going on?

PS: So Jeremy kind of did the same thing — he was actually calling bookstores to see if they had any in stock — independent bookstore that is. And so we couldn’t find anywhere where people could even get this book — so how are people buying them? One of the ways that this happens — that we've seen a lot in business publishing — is bulk orders. You know, you have an event coming up your publisher buys 5 000 copies — that's probably an exaggeration — but let's say for argument's sake, you know, that happens. The New York Times usually notates that with dagger in the listing, you know, it will have an asterisk if it means one thing, and as a dagger if it means these were made for bulk orders. Because it wasn't notated that was strange. And so we looked into it a little bit more and it looked like it was spread out evenly across the country. And so at this point we were kind of at a plateau because, you know, we found this information — nothing adds up — but we don't have anything concrete. And we don't know how they could have pulled it off. And that's when the first bookseller reached out to say that they had actually had a dealing with them where — it was an independent bookstore that reports to the New York Times list — and they had someone call in and place an almost-bulk order. So just under what would be considered a bulk order, after asking whether they report to the New York Times or not.

SB: So they were trying to avoid the dread dagger — they were getting around the rules.

PS: So once we've shared the first screenshot, you know, she wanted to be anonymous, and that's when we got we got contacted by someone who works at a Barnes and Noble in the Vegas area, and they said that there was some unusual buying on their end — where if you buy 30 copies from a Barnes and Noble, according to this person, then it's considered a corporate sale. But at all three Barnes and Noble’s in the area that they placed an order for 29.

SB: So you believe someone was gaming the system then? Do you have any evidence about who it might be who is behind this?

PS: Well we've looked in to it as much as we could. You know, there are things that we can't, we can't verify, and so we're working right now with other journalists to actually go in and talk about, you know, right now that there are companies reportedly out there that you can call and you know if you have a usually a business or conservative nonfiction book, is where this usually lies. You can call them and they can help you become a best seller on those lists.

SB: The author of the book in question Lani Serem spoke to Publishers Weekly and she said quote, “It's silly to say I didn't know about this book so how can it be doing well. We should all be supportive of each other,” end quote.

PS: I totally agree that we should be supportive of each other, and the number one book that she knocked down was, you know, the Black Lives Matter book by Angie Thomas, who she's a debut author. She was a really celebrated in the community, she — it was such a buzzed book. It was, you know, organic publicity for that, but also, you know, she had the backing of publishers, and authors, and everyone, and even, you know, the number two right now — she is the debut author as well. We love new voices YA community, but by all accounts, everything points to them scamming the system.

SB: Them being who?

PS: I don't know who is the exact person behind it, but either the publisher, the author, or someone on her team. The scam itself, you know, I can't point to one person because they're all kind of denying it and talking around it. But hopefully that comes out in the future for sure.

SB: Well Mr. Stamper thank you for telling us about it.

PS: Yeah. Thank you for reaching out.

SB: Bye bye

PS: Bye.

JD: Phil Stamper writes novels for young adults. We reached him in New York City, and we did reach out to the publisher of Handbook for Mortals, as well as the author Lani Serem for comment. We received no response before we went to air.

[Music: Rock Guitars]

Moth Sighting

Guest: Maurice Bottos

JD: Maurice Bottos is a retired science teacher from Windsor Ontario. And he really, really likes moths a lot. So much so, that he has a license plate dedicated to a specific group of moths called catocala. Well, last week Mr. Bottos made a discovery that he is calling, “the high point of his scientific career,” to find out more we reached Maurice Bottos in Hamilton, Ontario.

SB: Mr. Bottos, what kind of moth did you find?

MAURICE BOTTOS: It's called “sad underwing,” — catocala maestosa. Catocalas are unique specimens — unique genus of moths. They are very — they can be elusive at times — and so this particular one is from the deep south and it has ventured a few times up in the northern United States, but it happened to find its way up to Canada — to Windsor.

SB: And you didn't find just one, I understand you found another one the very next day. So how did you react?

MB: This was very, very exciting news. The minute you see one, you think it’s maybe an errant moth that has flown off its course and it's made its way up there. The minute you find two — and I happened to find a male and female — you then realize now that you have a local population. And a local population means a lot to a scientist. Now you know it is established here in Canada.

SB: All right so now tell us why spotting this particular moth, let alone two, is so significant.

MB: Well was so surprising was — what's it doing up here. This is this is strange, I mean the food source is here — it feeds on hickory, it feeds on walnut. Then again that's down south and there's many specimens and species down south too that never make its way up here. To find an underwing appear, of that size, up here in Canada, well outside its range, is extremely strange.

SB: Have you heard of anyone else in Canada who has seen or found a moth like this?

MB: Never, never, never. No nothing like that. Not the “sad underwing,” not the maestosa. We've, you know, there's a number of entomologists out there that have studied moths and yet we've never, ever come across this. This is a pretty incredible find.

SB: OK so why do you think this moth has decided to relocate?

MB: Yeah, that's a great question. I really don't know. I mean, I guess, the only thing — there has been a couple of other sightings of other moths first in Canada — and we suspect now that global warming has extended their range. And what's happening now is during the winters etc. these moths are starting to work their way slowly more north. And this particular one obviously Windsor being in the southern point of Canada, and has a lot of the Carolinian forest — very similar species that you would find down south. It would make it an ideal habitat for it to start the population.

SB: This moth is known as a “sad underwing” moth. Can you tell me what it looks like — is it sad looking? [LAUGHTER]

MB: Well, it does have a uniform gray forewing — top wing. However, it has a distinctive arch black line on it that comes along and that's on its forewing, on each corner that comes across — it's very unique and it has an underwing that's black. And most of the black underwings have some very unique names — very depressing names like sad, and tearful, and widows et cetera. So they have some pretty funny names that are associated with it. But it is actually, it is a very beautiful moth, in my eyes.

SB: Doesn't make you sad at all. What is it that you love so much about these creatures?

[LAUGHTER]

MB: Well, you know what, they're, they're so unique. They're, they're difficult to find and unfortunately moths have had a little bit of a bad reputation — butterflies get all the headlines. And moths most people look at it, you get a little gray moth or brown moth, but they don't really have that much color. But people don't realize how many moths we have here in Canada that are just spectacular. It's just unfortunately, you only see them, you know, under the cover of darkness. And that's what I've always been interested in and, you know, I try to educate some other people about these moths and to show them what, what actually is really out here.

SB: So what did you do with the moths you found?

MB: I collected them. I brought them home and I put them in the fridge —the fridge kind of settles them down — and I was able to get some really, really nice pictures, and then of course send these pictures off to other experts to confirm that this is the first one really in Canada, or it to show that the records indicate what the is all about. One of the specimens I’ve kept and the other one released back into the forest exactly where I found it, hopefully to keep the population going.

SB: So you say you kept one of the specimens. What does that mean?

MB: Well that means I killed it, and I will pin it, and I will make sure that it has all the proper localities et cetera on it — all the information on it — so we now know this is a specimen that has been caught. This is the specimen that was here in in Canada, and most likely I'm sure it will work its way up to the collection up in Canada — in Ottawa.

SB: And just before I let you go I do want to ask you about this license plate of yours. How many people stop you and ask you what the heck catocala is?

MB: Many people. Since we live on the border, a lot of people when I cross the border the customs always asks me, you know, what exactly that means. And it's funny I was I'm a retired teacher, so a lot of people know me and they’ll quickly google what the name is and it comes up it’s a moth, and people that know me, that know that I've always been an entomologist and interested in moths kind of figure, “Oh yeah that must be Mr. Bottos, that's the gentleman there you know. And so yeah they ask me more about it and it is quite humorous but it's fun.

SB: Well congratulations on your discovery and thanks for telling us about it.

MB: You're very welcome. Thanks for this time.

SB: Bye bye

MB: Bye.

JD: Maurice Bottos is a retired science teacher. We reached him in Hamilton, Ontario.

Part 2: Houston: Katrina relocated, Eritrean family

Houston: Katrina relocated

Guest: Christine Valerio

JD: The storms and flooding in Houston have brought back memories of New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina. Boats and helicopters are being used to rescue stranded residents. Highways and overpasses are completely submerged. A sports stadium has been transformed into an emergency shelter for thousands of people who have been forced from their homes. For some though, the similarities have hit too close to home. Katrina drove Christine Valerio out of New Orleans in 2005. She has made her home in Houston ever since — as have one thousand other Katrina evacuees. Now Ms. Valerio has been forced to flee Houston. We reached Christine Valerio north of the city, in Humble.

SB: Christine did you have a feeling of history repeating itself as you bolted from your apartment on Saturday with your family?

CHRISTINE VALERIO: Yes, yes I did. I have a little girl and I just, I couldn't let her experience or see the things I saw. I had to get get me and my family out of there — my husband and I — we had to go.

SB: You didn't want them to see the things you saw — you're referring there to Katrina?

CV: Yes ma'am.

SB: Bring me back to that moment on Saturday when you were still in your apartment in Houston. What made you realize that you had to leave?

CV: I woke up at about 5:00 and it was just a torrential downpour. I could hear the wind, I hear the rain hitting the window. When I thought of checking my social media is when I saw there was an incredible amount of devastation that happened in the city while I was literally laying in the bed sleeping — and it was happening just miles away from me.

SB: The Mayor had been urging people to shelter in place — to stay at home. How did that factoring into your decision to just go?

CV: I mean, I respect our Mayor. I understand his reasoning — to try to evacuate almost 7 million people — it would have been disastrous. Our roads are collapsing right now. Every major highway out of Houston has some part that is completely under water. And when I saw — right behind my apartment there's like a manmade little trough — that was already filling up with water. And my mom, she's farther up north and she has a two-storey house. I was in a one-storey apartment on the first floor. I just had to make the decision — I couldn't wait any more.

SB: Were you thinking about what you lived through with Katrina?

CV: Of course, of course. Ever since they were saying it was coming that's all I had been thinking about — telling people to take you seriously, you know. At first I remember, you know, inboxin a few people and telling them, you know, we need to pray. They’re like, “Ahhh man, Harvey ain’t gon’ do nothing,” you know just had that type of laugh, “Ha ha ha hee hee,” moment. And I knew that this was not something to play with — this was not a laughing and moment. I have friends that have been rescued in boats to get dropped off to knee or to leg and thigh-high water, and have to walk for a mile just to get to dry ground because the boats can't even bring you back. There’s so many people that need to be rescued that they're dropping people off where they need to walk the rest of the way through the water to get out. Right now the only words you can say it is catastrophic.

SB: You left on Saturday morning — what was that like for you on Saturday?

CV: Well when we when we finally got gassed up — we got everything packed up and everything — we left. And my husband realized when we got to the first main intersection that he left his wallet at home. We immediately made a U-turn — we went back. It took us about five minutes to get back to the spot that U-turned at, and when we got back to this spot the water was already coming in on the street. We got to the next intersection — there's a neighborhood right down there — people were walking out of that neighborhood with water up to their waists. We didn't realize we can't go, we can't get to the freeway — that’s under water. And we were driving down, we couldn't take the underpass underneath 45 and 1960, because it's like a bowl under there. So we went on top of it — as we’re driving we were passing these little bridges and on the sides of it there’s lakes there — those lakes were already at that at the banks. And if we wouldn’t have when we did, we would have never been able to make it to my mom because every way to get to her would have been covered in water.

SB: That must have been terrifying knowing you had a destination, not sure if you could get there.

CV: Right. And what I did, you know, as a mother I had to make the decision — I put my daughter in a life jacket, tighten up her life jacket — and we just got in the car. And I just told my husband — you know he can swim — his name is Honton, Honton Valerio, he swims very well. I don't know how to swim, and after Katrina I tried to learn, and I tried, and I just needed this push. I told him that if we make it we make it through this, you have to teach me how to swim — you have to teach our daughter Mackenzie how to swim. I told him, “But if we go into water, save our daughter, let me go.” I couldn't fathom something happening to her — living without her. And, you know, these are decisions that I know there are mothers that are making, and fathers that are making right now. During Katrina I had a father call — I was a youth minister at my church in the Lower Ninth Ward — one of the parents called me crying and asking for help. He had been bussed here to the Astrodome here in Houston. And I'm asking about the girls — his two daughters — and he's crying and telling me he had to choose between them. And the older girl, she knew how to swim but the currents were coming in so strong that he watched her drown. And it was either all three of them drowned, or he at least tried to save one.

SB: Were those images with you as you were trying to get your family to your mom's house?

CV: Yeah. It's heartbreaking. I stayed up most of the night just looking out the window crying and praying to God, “please you know spare our city.” That's all you can do. We can't stop the rain. I know that the Mayor, I know that the city they're doing everything it can. We have Coast Guard, you have other cities that are bussing in, other states that are stepping in. But when you have a city with so many people, with so much a widespread disaster, there's just not enough responders.

SB: You mentioned that you believe city officials are, are doing everything they can. When I think back to Katrina, the President at the time, George W. Bush, was so harshly criticized for his slow response to Katrina. What are you expecting from the current president Donald Trump?

CV: When I saw the video of the reporter asking him, “Do you have anything to say to the people in Texas?” and he put up his thumb and said, good luck,” — that hurt that, hurt us all. And honestly I don't expect much. And I believe our city officials don't expect much. That's why they are stepping up. You have business owners here — they're using their delivery trucks to get through water that normal cars can't get through to save people. Everybody is coming together. All we can do is be a good neighbour. With all it is race baiting — all it is hateful stuff going on in the United States right now — the one thing that I am happy about, is that they’re seeing that in Texas, right now, colour it does not matter, your life matters.

SB: Christine, after the trauma of Katrina in New Orleans in 2005, you left that city — you moved to Houston and made it your home — will you leave Houston when this is all over?

CV: I don't know. I don't know if we could handle another uprooting like this. You know, another start all over again from scratch. It hurts — it hurts to go through this again. It hurts to relive these images — the nightmares have come back — emotions are up and down.

SB: What's giving you strength right now?

CV: The fact that I'm here with my family. When I made it to my mom's house I ran straight upstairs into her arms and I cried. I just, I was so glad we made it.

SB: we're glad you made it too. I'm glad your family is safe. And thank you for talking to us. Good luck to you and to your neighbours and friends.

CV: Thank you so much.

JD: Christine Valerio fled Houston with her family on Saturday morning. She fled New Orleans in 2005. We reached Ms. Valerio earlier today in Humble, Texas, and we have more on this story on our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Ambient Bells]

Tobe Hooper Obit

SOUNDCLIP

Sally I hear something. Stop. Stop.

[SOUND OF CHAINSAW REVVING]

[SOUND OF SCREAMS]

That is the sound of Leatherface doing what he does, in true Texas Chainsaw Massacre style. The director of that iconic 1974 film died Saturday. Tobe Hooper was 74 years old. Mr. Hooper leaves a legacy of horror films. His villain, Leatherface, wore a mask made of human skin while on his chainsaw murdering rampages, and he inspired an entire generation of boogie men — from Jason and Freddy Kruger to Michael Meyers, who dominated the screen and our nightmares in the 1980s. Tobe Hooper went on to direct Poltergeist, written by Steven Spielberg, and he created a TV adaptation of Stephen King's Salem's Lot. But Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which was made for less than 300 grand, remains one of the most influential films in the genre. In July of 2014 Mr. Hooper spoke with CBC's Homerun host Sonali Karnik about his first big film. This is from our archives.

SOUNDCLIP

TOBE HOOPER: It created that new genre and turned everything around. I think the creature of Death personified took a bit of a turn and we found out that the monster is in the human being. And then at the end of all of that the true monster is termination. And so you know after Chainsaw they started wearing — in genre films, masks and had weapons and a machine driven devices — and did it change things permanently it seems, at least up to now.

SONALI KARNIK: The story actually though behind Texas Chainsaw Massacre was based on a real event.

TH: Well, sort of. I mean, when I was a child some real relatives from Wisconsin told me about, you know, human skin lampshades, and Ed Gein thing — they found human parts in his refrigerator, and the chairs covered in scat and things like that — I didn't know who really, who he was, just knew that my Wisconsin family was torturing me telling me these stories. And so that, you know, that branded my brain forever. And then so when this idea came along I brought those elements into it. Now I found out years after making the film that people started saying that it was based on the film, and then the more I knew Ed Gein, the more I realize that there is this similarity.

JD: That was Tobe Hooper director of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre — among other films — speaking on CBC Radio's Homerun in 2014. The director died Saturday. He was 74 years old.

[Music: Ambient Strings]

Eritrean Family

Guest: Ryan Wiebe

JD: They fled Eritrea and found a home in Winnipeg, eventually. But now the family of five says they may have to move again. They are being taunted and threatened by a neighbour who many in the community describe as racist. Ryan Wiebe is a member of the church that sponsored the family to come to Canada. We reached him in Winnipeg.

SB: Mr. Wiebe when and how did this threatening behavior against this family begin?

RYAN WIEBE: Well, the family arrived in Canada almost exactly a year ago, and a few months after they arrived they shared with us that a neighbour down the street had made some threatening remarks and gestures toward one of the family members as they walked past the house.

SB: Can you tell us what kinds of things this man, this neighbour did and said to the family?

RW: Some of the threats or the verbal abuse was things along the lines of, “go back to where you came from,” or, “you're not welcome here.” Comments based on their race and some of the threatening gestures the kind of finger-slitting-the-throat motion, or even their hands to kind of mimic a gun — were some of the physical threats that were made.

SB: What was the last straw? What did he finally do that prompted the family to contact authorities?

RW: In March, after a couple of months of just a verbal threat, two children and the family were walking down the side of the road and this individual was driving this truck, and he veered off toward them and kind of acted like he's going to hit them, and they obviously screamed, and were terrified, and jumped off the road onto the median, and that was kind of the last straw. We got a call from them immediately that they were quite scared, and after some encouragement they agreed to contact the authorities.

SB: What kind of response did they get from authorities when they finally did reach out?

RW: The initial response was very positive. Police came to the house and took statements to kind of reassure them that they were there to help them. They encouraged them to pursue a protection order. So our sponsorship group — there's a lawyer that agreed to help them navigate that process. They did apply for a protection order, which unfortunately was denied.

SB: Why was that it denied?

RW: I believe the judge said there was a lack of enough evidence to issue without notice order.

SB: Which means, essentially, that the man himself wouldn’t have been notified?

RW: Correct. So he had not been notified at that point. I believe they were told that they could pursue peace bond, I think it was called, which is with notice, but it's quite a lengthy procedure. So just knowing that it would be more time and a bit more difficult process to go about it, and the fact that they would be confronted by the individual, they decided at that point to not pursue the peace bond.

SB: But even when the family made it clear that this had been going on for months and culminated with — at least what they perceive to be a real threat that they would be run over with a vehicle — they couldn't get any help?

RW: Yeah it's very unfortunate and certainly disheartening.

SB: So they got some help from authorities when they first complained. Clearly the church is supporting them — what about the neighbours in the community?

RW: The neighbourhood has rallied nicely. The landlord — who is actually a close neighbour of the family as well, and part of our church group — I have spoken with him and he kind of organizes the neighbourhood watch us essentially, and he's reached out to them. He delivered a tape to them welcoming them, apologizing for the behavior of this one individual, to reaffirm that they are welcome in this community. So it is a positive community, but obviously it just takes one bad apple to ruin their experience so far.

SB: This family is originally from Eritrea. Why did they flee that country?

RW: They've been living most of their lives — at least all of the children — have been living or their lives in Sudan, just fleeing persecution in Eritrea, and being welcomed in Sudan anyway, on some level. But living as refugees their lives in Sudan were — their kind of day to day existence was relatively normal and free from immediate harm or danger —but based on being a Christian family in a predominantly Muslim country, they didn't experience the same rights and privileges, or opportunities for their future. So there really wasn't a positive outlook for their future there.

SB: They have asked to remain anonymous — they're afraid of speaking out and being named — but what have they told you about how they're feeling about all of this — these repeated incidents and what they've gone through since they've arrived in Canada?

RW: Different family members have handled it differently. The elder son has gone from frustration and obviously nervousness and anxiety about it, to more of an attitude that they can kind of handle themselves. It's unlikely that this individual will do something physical — that he’s just kind of all talk and no action. But the younger daughters are very scared. They have to walk past the house, to get to bus stops, to attend school, and they're nervous when they go. I mean the tragic, the sad part is the mother is also terrified. And she, she stands on the front steps and watches until the daughter walks past the house and she knows that she's safe for today to go to the bus stop. And when she expects her home from school she kind of stands outside again to make sure she watches, and make sure she’s OK. So, I mean, as a parent myself, I can't imagine feeling that fear or that anxiety about the safety of my kids on a daily basis.

SB: Do you think the family will leave?

RW: They’ve certainly expressed interest in leaving. Some of the kids would like to stay in the house — they like the area. They have a close connection with the landlord, who I mentioned before is part of our church community. They feel very supported by him and just having him right next door in the neighborhood is a huge bonus. Rent is reasonable, there's room for — more of their family members are in the process of being sponsored — and they could move right into that house. However the mother is very keen on leaving.

SB: So their antagonist may in the end drive them out?

RW: That is a possibility — an unfortunate possibility.

SB: Well it's an upsetting story. Thank you for telling us about it. I appreciate it.

RW: I appreciate you wanting to discuss this and further the dialogue, so I thank you very much.

SB: Goodbye

RW: bye.

JD: Ryan Wiebe is a member of the church that sponsored a family from Eritrea to come to Canada. The family is now considering leaving their Winnipeg neighborhood because of repeated incidents of what they say are racial intimidation by one of their neighbors. We reached Mr. Wiebe in Winnipeg and we have agreed not to identify the family because they fear for their safety.

[Music: Sombre Guitar, Piano & Strings]

JD: Study carrels are depressing pieces of furniture. Rows of the desks-inside-cubicles line most university libraries. By design carrels are meant to isolate whoever is sitting in them — typically, students cramming for exams, or sleeping. Free from the distractions of the rest of the world pupils can focus on their drool-stained course packs and get to important work, like reflecting on the graffiti etched into the carrels drab wood veneer, or sleeping. The boring spaces are great for staring off into space, which is likely what David Elder was doing on Sunday, when in some freshmen flashback the World Scrabble Champion conjured up the word carrels from the depths of his subconscious to win the final round of the competition. The Australian-born 27-year-old scored 74 points with that word, to clinch the 2017 title and a seven thousand pound purse. That is an expensive handbag.

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August 28, 2017 episode transcript

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