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The AIH Transcript for January 4, 2016

Hosts: Helen Mann and Jeff Douglas

STORIES FROM THIS EPISODE

Prologue

HELEN MANN: Hello I'm Helen Mann.

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

[Music]

JD: Tonight:

HM: An ex-soldier in Nova Scotia is suspected of killing himself and his family. A relative says the veteran had recently sought help for PTSD.

JD: Nature abhors a vacuum. A TV presenter says the BBC's decision to leave some dark realities out of its new “Planet Earth” series will contribute to the extinction of the animals it portrays.

HM: Blast from the vast. A Swedish expedition to see the Northern Lights records what sounds like an attack out of a Star Wars movie, but it is likely just the sun playing on a great big steel guitar.

JD: Grist for the millennial. An Arkansas teen decides to bypass college and go straight to work as the new owner, publisher editor-in-chief and reporter for the Monroe County Herald.

HM: It goes to show. A former Israeli soldier turned actor describes the real life ruthlessness that inspired him to make “Fauda” the Netflix series that's become essential viewing on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide.

JD: And foal her once. All Hannah Simpson wanted was a horse, but when the New Zealand girl's parents gave her a cow instead she turned it into a jumper that's ready to put other equestrians to shame. As It Happens the Wednesday edition, radio that guarantees someone's going to have a beef with the judges.

[Music: Theme]

Back To Top »

Part 1: Nova Scotia family deaths, Planet Earth, Jumping cow

Nova Scotia family deaths

Guest: Elaine Walcott

JD: Four family members and Nova Scotia are dead in an apparent murder suicide. Lionel Desmond, his wife, Shanna, their 10-year-old daughter, Aliyah, and Mr. Desmond's mother, Brenda, were all found dead last night in their home in Upper Big Tacadie. It appears Mr. Desmond shot two or three others before killing himself. Reverend Elaine Walcott is a relative of Mr. Desmond's. She says that he was a combat veteran who was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and that when he sought help just a few days ago — he was turned away. We reached Reverend Walcott in Timberlea, Nova Scotia.

HM: Reverend Walcott, first of all I'm very very sorry for your loss.

Elaine Walcott: Thank you.

HM: What have you been thinking? What’s been going through your head since you heard this news?

EW: That his story be told. That we realize that Lionel had a very loving mother and a great relationship with her. That he had a loving family and a great relationship with them. He had two tours of duty in Afghanistan in his military career. He sought help. He took post-traumatic stress disorder by both hands and proactively sought help. He did six months of treatment in a clinic in Montreal and he was reaching out since last Wednesday to the local mental health department at Saint Margaret’s hospital and they didn't have any beds available. His wife is an RN in the healthcare system so certainly you know everything was being done to proactively work through the system.

HM: Can you tell us anything about Lionel Desmond's military service beyond that he was in Afghanistan how long he was there? What kinds of things he might have dealt with?

EW: Well those closest to him that know the most are no longer with us, but the sister Cassandra, I'm sure is willing to tell his story. It was her one and only brother.

HM: How is she doing today?

EW: Not well.

HM: You mentioned that he had gotten some help for his PTSD at one point. Do you know what kind of?

EW: Yeah, he was in a clinic.

HM: Yeah. And when he emerged from that did he say it has helped?

EW: Well his Facebook page clearly indicates his story.

HM: Yeah. I haven't got that in front of me though and our radio listeners, of course, wouldn't know that. Can you maybe explain?

EW: He was seeking help and it's very heartbreaking to know that he… Well, it’s new to me, he says. As it is anyone else. Over the years in my military career I've hit my head as I rolled over a lav putting my skull off seal. A mudslide on my back causing my back to spasm, jump course hit my head on dirt. I've suffered it until I've seen a doctor and I was told that I've been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, post-concussion disorder that has been why my jealousy towards my wife and being over controlling and vulgar tongued towards my family. I have had thrashing in my head. I've been seeing different doctors. And if they said Halifax would be a better area for me for neuropsychology neurofeedback at that point cannot attend schooling. So I have done wrong with my choosing of my words. I'm truly sorry for freaking out at my wife, daughter and people who know me. I am not getting a lawyer. I'm getting my life back. I just hope there's no brain damage. I will be going to Halifax to find out. Wish me the best.

HM: Reading that on his Facebook page? I mean he was he was public. He obviously he wanted people to know what he was going through?

EW: Indeed. Indeed he was and I just don't want systemically our military to think that a soldier's dead, his wife, all of his immediate family, his mother and his child and that there is no obligation now on their part for addressing the vibrations that the communities of Lincolnville, Upper Big Tracadie and Guysborough will feel as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder unaddressed and now vibrating through generations.

HM: Do you feel like he was abandoned?

EW: I do.

HM: You said that he sought treatment again just last week and wasn't able to get it. What was he told?

EW: That there was no bed available. Well the way the healthcare system is set up now if you live in Guysborough County, you report to Guysborough hospital if you live in Antigonish County or you go to Antigonish. And in order to get in to Antigonish, you need to get there get a referral to get to Halifax to seek professional help that he is mentioning is and trying to get that. And in order to get in Halifax you have to get a bed in Antigonish and that didn't happen; there were no beds available.

HM: You were related to Lionel's wife Shanna and, of course, you knew his daughter and his mother as well?

EW: This is the man who loved his mother and loved his family. His mother was the most wonderful, kind-hearted, gentle soul and loved her son and this is what we're left to bear.

HM: Aliyah, the daughter, was just 10-years-old. Do you know if there's any help out there for her friends? Are people talking to the children in the community about this?

EW: There is a community teacher in Guysborough County that I'm sure is also remotely connected to everything. So I'm sure that everything is being done there. My brother is a retired veteran. He's in the community right now with the family and we're trying and he has a brother who is actively serving as well.

HM: What would you like to see from the military in the way of help for people going through the kind of things that Lionel Desmond was going through?

EW: I would like the acknowledgement that people are going to post-traumatic stress disorder do not have the ability like most grieving souls to reach out. Offers of reaching in, calls if you need us, let us know if we can do anything are redundant. We need to be on the ground where the rubber hits the road, dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder.

HM: Your family is part of a small and very tight-knit community. How are people there coping right now?

EW: They are heartbroken. They're sad, it’s just so raw at the moment. And they're leaning on one another. They're leaning on God. They're standing, they’re kneeling and they're crying in prayer. We are at the Wailing Wall in Guysborough County.

HM: Again our condolences to you and thank you very much for speaking to us on a difficult day.

EW: Thank you.

HM: Bye bye.

JD: Reverend Elaine Walcott is a relative of the Desmond family. We reached her in Timberlea, Nova Scotia last night. Lionel Desmond, his wife, Shanna, their daughter, Aliyah, and Mr. Desmond's mother, Brenda, were found dead in Upper Big Tracadie, Nova Scotia, the RCMP is investigating.

[Music: String]

Planet Earth

Guest: Martin Hughes-Games

JD: “Planet Earth” is a hugely popular BBC nature series. The cinematography is stunning. And David Attenborough is… well, David Attenborough. And last month 10 years after that original series, the BBC aired a sequel “Planet Earth 2”. Here's a clip:

SOUNDCLIP

[Sounds: creatures in nature]

DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: It lives only here, where the sand grains are so perfectly dry and polished that they flow almost like water. It's no bigger than a Ping-Pong ball: the Golden Mole. It’s totally blind, but there's nothing to see underground anyway.

JD: Like the original “Planet Earth 2” has been a loved and lauded by nearly everyone who has seen it… nearly everyone. Martin Hughes-Games is a British producer and presenter of wildlife documentary television shows and he says the “Planet Earth” and series like it actually do more harm than good for the environment. We reached Mr. Hughes games outside of Bristol, England.

HM: Mr. Hughes-Games, what is your biggest concern with the “Planet Earth” series?

MARTIN HUGHES-GAMES: My biggest concern is that it presents a kind of a fantasy world, a utopia, where it's almost as if man has had no influence on this and tigers roam free in mighty jungles. This I fear gives people a sense of complacency about what's really going on in the natural world which is, of course, an appalling disaster right now.

HM: You go so far as to say in a piece in The Guardian that a show like this is actually a significant contributor to the planet wide extinction of wildlife. How do you figure that is?

MHG: That's because I think people are simply not aware of what is going on. They feel when they watch these programs that everything is absolutely fine because that's what the programs give the impression that there is no problem out there and therefore people feel quite complacent and quite relaxed about the natural world. That's my fear. They don't they get a lot of fantasy, but they get very very little clarity.

HM: One of the reasons a show like this is so popular is I mean it is entertainment it's also very beautiful. Do you think if a series was focused on environmental degradation people would watch in the numbers that they are?

MGH: Absolutely not. You make a very good point there. And I'm not for one moment suggesting that series’ like this should never be made. I think that “Planet Earth 2” is an exquisitely beautiful series, some wonderful behavior in it. As a matter of fact, I bought my wife the DVD for Christmas. But I think we've shied too far away now, we make everything so sanitized we just go for the entertainment. What our job is I think is as program makers is to think of ways clever ways of getting these points — these essential points — about what's really going on across. But in an exciting and an interesting way because if we don't you know I mean in for instance “Planet Earth 2” there was a lovely sequence of really memorable, exquisitely beautiful lions you'll see this trying to bring down a giraffe you know lions are now only IUCN Red List their numbers in the ‘50’s were estimated to be as high as 400,000 individuals in Africa. One of the latest figures estimates them at most 16,500. I think that's pretty shocking and I don't think for me the lovely sequences that you get there is no balance that ever suggests the ongoing disaster that's actually happening in the world.

HM: Do you think there was also something with the fact that we do this anthropomorphizing of the animals where we you know we personify them to some degree. Some people say that that's ridiculous?

MGH: That's a difficult one. I've been involved in making television programs for 30-35 years. You know you have to be able to relate to the animals in some way. I once made a program about earwigs could you believe it? But, of course, you have to be very careful they don't start naming them and getting to Disney-esque if you like. Disney is great as Disney, but not if you're calling it a documentary.

HM: David Attenborough is as you know probably one of Britain's great national treasures right now at least in the opinion of most people. Have you gotten any criticism for taking this public stand?

MGH: Yes I have. I have I have from the head of the BBC Natural History Unit. Although I think broadly he agrees with the overall point that I'm trying to make. He did say to me that you do realize that you are in a way not directly but indirectly criticizing Sir. David, and that, of course, is you know I've had the pleasure of working with David over the years and he is you know no one would question his absolute commitment to wildlife or wildlife conservation. My concern is that when he started out you know all those years ago making “Life on Earth” which is back in 1979, I think he and the whole production team they absolutely believed that they were going to make a difference. They were going to get people to see the wonders of the world and get people involved in conservation. My concern is now that we have lost the idea of actually showing people the reality and we got involved in entertainment. I'm sure he feels that by as you'll see at the end of the program, he does make a plea for the wildlife. But that's right at the end of the last program and that's just not good enough in my opinion.

HM: In your piece in The Guardian you've suggested that these wildlife documentaries — these rather large productions — as you say in many cases be charged a conservation tax. How would that work?

MHG: These sort of programs like “Planet Earth 2” are immensely popular. They are very likely to get commissioned because the BBC itself, they couldn't possibly afford to make the series on its own, but it knows that BBC Worldwide, other television companies around the world will be overjoyed to invest in a series like this. What I'm suggesting is that we should balance that with a certain percentage of the natural history programs of this ilk that are much more information content they got a lot stronger conservation remit in the program. But not necessarily just natural history, as I say it could be drama. It could be kids programs. It could be observational documentaries of inspirational people who are working with animals. BBC will be in a good position to actually do that because of its unique way that it it's funded rather than having quite such a strong financial pressure on it as independent companies have.

HM: So what would you like viewers to think to consider as they're enjoying the new “Planet Earth”?

MHG: I think they should sit back and enjoy it exactly as the producers intended. It is magnificent and beautiful, but if you can possibly give a moment's thought to what is really happening in the natural world that will be a very good thing.

HM: Martin Hughes-Games, I appreciate you speaking with us today. Thank you so much.

MHG: Thank you very much indeed.

HM: All right, bye bye.

JD: Martin Hughes-Games is a British producer and host of wildlife television series’. We reached him outside of Bristol, England.

[Music: Ambient]

Northern Lights

JD: Stark and white with a strange glow in the sky. It was a landscape out of a star wars movie… then Oliver Wright heard blaster fire. Mr. Wright is a photographer with the Swedish tour company Lights over Lapland, and over Christmas he took a group to see the aurora borealis 250 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle. And sure enough the sky lit up and that is when Mr. Wright heard the noise. It seemed louder near some power lines. So that is where Mr. Wright stopped to record. And here is what he captured our sound of the day:

SOUNDCLIP

[Sound: laser sounds straight out of a science fiction movie]

JD: So could that be the sound of the Northern Lights? Well according to an astrophysicist by the name of Tony Philips, the answer is… kind of! Most of you probably know this already, but the Northern Lights are basically electromagnetic energy from the Sun's solar flares ripping through our atmosphere. That energy can be turned into mechanical motion. So basically that stuff that happens on the sun can shake things here on Earth. Stuff like power lines which is the sound that we just heard; incidentally Star Wars blaster fire also made by banging on a steel cable. But we can still close our eyes and imagine the heavens speaking to us.

[Music: Somber piano]

Jumping cow

Guest: Hannah Simpson

JD: When an 11 year old girl in New Zealand asked her parents for a horse they gave her a cow. So she decided to strap some reins on the cow and ride it anyway. Well now Hannah Simpson is 18 and hey diddle diddle, her cow Lilac can trot, canter and jump. We reached Hannah Simpson in Queenstown, New Zealand.

HM: Hanna how does one ride a cow.

HANNAH SIMPSON: I just jumped on and rode her. It’s kind of like a horse I guess; she's slower and slightly different in motion.

HM: What made you decide to start riding a cow? Like it was a horse in the first place?

HS: I didn't have a horse I'd always wanted to ride one. I was reading stories about little girls riding the horses and ranches in America and being I think it was a dare from my younger brother to ride. So I just jumped on her and expected to get bucked off, but she just trotted forward and then stopped and I thought oh we can do this! She is not going to buck me off, she doesn't mind. So I just went from there and started doing things like taking her for a ride. And she listened to me really well.

HM: And your cow is named Lilac, is that right?

HS: Yes, that is correct.

HM: Did you use a saddle?

HS: No I didn't. I just jumped on bareback. I just hopped on the first time I rode her and then after that I put a halter on so I’d have a bit of control, but she’s pretty good.

HM: But you said she didn't buck you off that time. Does she ever throw you off?

HS: She doesn't really like to canter too much. She's quite lazy, so if I want to make her canter I usually have to go up a hill or down a hill or heading towards home kind of thing. But sometimes she’ll get happy and buck first. If I can stay on that then I get a good canter or she goes home without me.

HM: She doesn't like cantering. I've never heard cantering in cow in the same sentence before?

HS: I had another little ginger cow called Honey that she loved cantering and would canter all the time. She let me canter the other day and I got a video of me cantering on her which I was quite surprised. I thought maybe we should try that again and get a video as she actually did it again again. She obviously had lots of energy that day.

HM: So what else have you been able to teach her to do?

HS: Apart from the jumping, I was chasing her down the river and she hasn’t been swimming, but she's been out pretty deep. She's got big tree stumps and things I’ve told her to climb up on those. She's just chilled out and doesn't really care that much. She can do all sorts of things. I've ridden standing up on her back and then she is generally just at house cow as well for our own personal milk.

HM: Yeah. Now as we all know this is not normal or typical behavior anyway for a cow. Do you think it was hard to teach her to do these things?

HS: No not really. With the jumping when she was a calf — only a couple of weeks old — she would jump out of the cow she had all the time anyway. So she was naturally a jumper and I remember mom and dad didn't like it and she has broken a few gate thinking that she can jump over them, but she's too big and doesn't quite make it lands on top. So mom and dad weren't too happy about that.

HM: How big is she now? How much do you weigh?

HS: I don't know how much she weighs, but I’m guessing quite a lot. She's really big, so she's quite large anyway and she didn’t have a calf this year.

HM: You have posted videos on your Instagram account of you riding cow who's leaping over things and it's pretty unusual. What kind of response do you get from people when they see you riding by?

HS: They usually glance over and say, “Oh, she’s riding a … wait no, she's riding a cow.” and then they come over and they're like, so why are you riding a cow? This is really crazy. What made you ride a cow kind of thing and ask a few questions like that? I was riding my cow up the road I was riding my other little cow and my younger brother who took photos and videos, He was riding Lilac and this lady saw us and stopped us as was like, “Oh my goodness this is so amazing!” I was talking to her and she said I got a wee horse home I need to get rid of. Would you like him? So I went back home and I was like, “Mum can we please have a horse? I really wanted one for ages.” And she was like, “Oh, OK. And then Dad wasn't so keen. It took a while to convince him, but they both really like the horse.

HM: Do you know of anybody else who does this? Who rides a cow and jumps a cow?

HS: I've heard of a few other people riding the cows or even just sitting on them in the paddock. It's not too uncommon. With jumping, I’ve only heard of one other person who is a girl in Germany and then that was about two years or three years after I started riding and I was like oh, wow there’s someone else who does this. Who jumps the cow and rides around. There's probably other people, but that’s the only one I know of.

HM: Cows I would think aren't really built for jumping. Is this hard on her body on her back or anything?

HS: I've had a few negative comments about people saying you shouldn't do this to your cow. But then also there was a vet commenting on one of the things who said is should be fine for the cow as long as you don’t overdo it and if she's happy with it it's fine and it's quite good for the cow to get out and do things.

HM: And she seems happy?

HS: Yes, she seems to enjoy. I think if she didn't want to do something she wouldn't do it. She has her moments where she won't do anything because she doesn't want to. I get away with it sometimes.

HML: So she's stubborn and she's lazy. You said both, but you love her anyway?

HS: Yes. She can be stubborn and she can be lazy, but she can also be perfect sometimes. And I just love her. She's so cool, she's really friendly and loves cuddles and scratches and food.

HM: Well, I love the pictures of you and lilac, they're charming and amusing. And it's been a pleasure to talk to you. Thank you.

HS: Oh that's so good. Thank you. I'm glad you enjoy them.

HM: OK. Bye bye.

HS: Bye.

JD: Hannah Simpson trained her cow Lilac to run and jump. while Ms. Simpson sits astride her. We reached her in Queenstown, New Zealand — Ms. Simpson that is. And we do have photos of her and Lilac on our website, as Helen said they're terrific. You should check them out ww.cbc.ca/aih.

Back To Top »

Part 2: Fauda feature, 19-year-old newspaper editor

Fauda feature

Guest: Lior Raz

JD: There is a unit in the Israeli Special Forces where soldiers use disguise as their primary weapon. It is called the “Mista Arvim” which translates to “those who live among the Arabs”. Its soldiers speak perfect and un-accented Arabic and immerse themselves into the customs and the mannerisms of Palestinians. The Israeli television series of “Fauda” portrays one of those soldiers Doron is an officer who comes out of retirement to carry out one last mission: to find and kill an infamous terrorist. For the man who portrays Doron and who also co-created “Fauda”, fact and fiction blend. Lior Raz was himself a Special Forces officer and in his new role as actor and producer, he has created a textbook binge- watching Thriller. It is also a rare portrayal of just how complex the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is and has become a hit with Israelis and Palestinians alike. Lior Raz is our guest today. We reached him via Skype in Tel Aviv.

HM: Lior Raz, welcome to As It Happens.

LIOR RAZ: Hi, how are you?

HM: Very well thank you. How does one go from being a Special Forces soldier to the creator and leading actor in a hit TV series?

LR: Wow. You just said the story of my life actually in question. You know I was a soldier like Israels’ is supposed to be. We are all it is mandatory in Israel, you have to be in the army for three years. So when I was in the Army I was going to you know the hardest thing is to go to the Special Forces. I was there for three years. And then as a reserve in Israeli you do a reserve, so every year you have to serve one month in the army and actually just because of that the creation “Fauda” the TV I wanted to talk about the mental price that people paid for their action as undercover as Special Forces. So everything is come together in and me and as an actor as well. You know I was I was studying at acting school that's what I really wanted it to be all my life.

HM: Where does the name “Fauda” come from?

LR: “Fauda” in Arabic the name “Fauda” is chaos. In the late ‘80’s and in the beginning of the ‘90’s there was the first anti-fauda the riots that began in Israel. In Israel, our population started to use the word as a symbol for you know there is “Fauda” let's go out, let's go demonstrate, let’s go do some stuff. But in the Israeli side — the undercover side — the soldiers started to talk when someone discovered that they are Jews or Israelis got burned. So when it got burned they called to the Walkie-Talkie and they said listen we have “Fauda” and this was the code for the rescuer to come and rescue them for their “Fauda”.

HM: The character you play, Doron, bears a similar resume to your own. How did your experience affect the writing of that character in particular?

LR: I think we have a lot of things in common, but there is a lot of not because the role is a character of the TV drama character. I'm you know I'm living my life; I have kids and a family. I'm very sensitive guy. I'm an actor and Doron is a warrior. All his life he was just a warrior. He is addicted to adrenaline and addicted to his work and that's why he came back to do the thing that he's doing. The thing me and Doron have that’s quite similar is we taking things and going and go to the end very hard and with no compromising. And I was in the Special Forces, of course, and I did a lot of stuff in my military service that affected my family. My mother, my father and it's the same with Doron. And I think everyone that is in a war zone. Even the Palestinians in our show, they are all affected. You know people affected from there from what they are doing. If you are in the war zone you pay a price.

HM: And besides following Doron and his colleagues in the Special Unit “Fauda” also shows us a close-up vision of the lives of the Hamas terrorists that Doron is trying to kill. Specifically a fictional character by the name of Abu-Ahmed. Can you tell us a bit about that character? What is he based on?

LR: Abu-Ahmed is a terrorist that killed 160 people — Israeli innocent people — but I wanted to show him as a round character not just a flat character. So in our show he has family he loves his kids, he loves his wife so much that sometimes he is doing mistakes because of his love to his wife. And I think that between Doron and Abu-Ahmed there is something that's very similar that they are both of them don't see the price that people paid because of their action. And I think people actually in in Israel this character Abu-Ahmed was very lovable. People loved this terrorist and they didn't understand why they loved the terrorist. The secret is to make him round character with love, with hate, with fear like everyone else.

HM: And it wasn't just his character, it isn't just his character it's other Palestinians as well. The wife, the other family members. Why was it so important for you to tell both sides of this story in such a personal way?

LR: First of all, I'm an actor and we were writing in the car of my partner and in the writers room we’re sitting and I said to everyone listen I want to be able and I want to want to play each and every character in this show. And in order for that they are supposed to be very lovable. They are supposed to be rounded. They are supposed to have a life of their own. And this is the secret I think for those characters. But you know the Israelis, people don't know the other side so well. Because in Israel as you know I'm sitting down in Tel Aviv 10 minutes from me there is a Palestinian city, but with people that live in Tel Aviv barely think about it. They don't want to talk about it, they don’t want to think about it because here in Israel people just live and they don't and sometimes they forget what happened over there. So we wanted to show everyone what's going on there.

HM: There's an episode where we watch a family member of a Hamas terrorist exact revenge on your unit by carrying out a suicide bombing. You've dedicated this episode to a woman named Iris Azulai, who was she and how did her memory inspire parts of how to.

LR: Iris Azulai, she was my girlfriend when I was in the army; we were together for three years.

She lived in Jerusalem and one morning she went out of her house and a terrorist came from Bethlehem and stabbed her to death; her and two other people from our neighborhood. And she was my girlfriend and we were together she was my first love — my only to love — at that time and it was very hard for me. And actually I didn't talk about it for 20 years you know? Until we started to write the show I didn't talk about it with no one not with my family, my wife and with my friends. There was a big wound that stayed in my heart. And when we started to write, me and Avi, we talked about it. We want to show Iris. We want to talk about and let's make a character. The name is not Iris, but this woman who's dying in the terror attack and she had a boyfriend — like I was her boyfriend — that is serving in the army in the same unit and how it affects him in the way that it was affected me. We say something it's very hard to say but this show was written in blood of our friends and my girlfriend and then I think there is so many stories — small stories — in this in this show based on a true story that happened to us and you can find me and Avi in every character in his show.

HM: Is there is there catharsis for you then in producing this show and working on the show?

LR: It's a healing process for me actually because you know about Iris, I didn't talk for 20 years, but now I taled about her. I just talked for you know group of American people that came to Israel this morning and I talked about Iris. I'm talking with you about Iris, so it's quite a healing process for me. So it's amazing.

HM: You’re listening to As It Happens, I'm speaking to Lior Raz, creator and starring actor in ‘Fauda” an Israeli TV series which recently came to North American screens on Netflix. This is such a complicated topic for a dramatic television series — really risky in many ways. I'm just wondering how it was received by viewers in Israel when it first came out?

LR: First of all, nobody wanted to do the show — to broadcast it. We try to sell it for so many broadcasters and nobody had the balls to take this kind of show. In the beginning you're right we are right, I just my mother and Avi’s mother will see the show. But it was a big hit in Israel. I think it the most viewed show in Israel. People from all sides of the political range loved the show and we were amazed about it because we thought that we're going to be you know people going to be angry about us. But everybody: Arabs, right wing, left wing, everyone loves it.

HM: Were you surprised by how popular it's become among Palestinian viewers?

LR: You know I was shocked actually because I didn't understand it in the beginning. Why they Love it, but when the times go go by I can understand that first of all we love their language. You know I love their language I love Arabic and I've loved the Arabic and we took care of their language in very delicate way. We honored the language and we honor their narrative as well. It doesn't mean that I understand it, it doesn't mean that I accept it, but I honour them and I'm Israeli and I love my country. But I know and I can understand there is other people that they have their own opinions and their own lives. And we showed it just as it is. I think it's the most viewed show also in the Arab population in Israel as well. You know I'm getting e-mails from all over the world from Arab countries and the people are Arab men, women that loved the show, loved the characters, loved the run. It's amazing. It is amazing.

HM: And 75 per cent of the dialogue in the show is spoken in Arabic?

LR: It's in Arabic the Israeli actors had to study Arabic for the show. We are speaking in very specific dialect how they speak near Jerusalem. And this is you know this kind of thing is honoring their language and I think the most import thing — one of the most important things — that happened because of the show that many Israeli Jews are starting to learn Arabic just because of the show. So I don't know if you're going to have peace in Israel in the in the next 10-20 years, but it's so important that people Israelis will learn Arabic and Arabs will learn Hebrew in order to talk — just to connect and communicate. And this is so important. And I’m so glad it’s happening now in Israel and because of the shock.

HM: Now I understand that you yourself are already speaking un-accented Arabic because of your work in the special unit you were involved in, in fact you had to immerse yourself into Palestinian customs and mannerisms during your service. What happens when you do that? I mean did you build relationships within that community?

LR: I don't want to talk about my experience in the Army, but I can tell you about the characters. When you go undercover there is a paradox because in one way you fight against Arabs in the other way in order to be a good undercover you have to love their culture and to get connected to their culture and the language and to act like them. They are getting confused. They are getting confused.

HM: There are some pretty ugly, violent incidents committed in “Fauda” and some of them are carried out by your character and his colleagues. There's kidnapping, torture, a child is used in one operation. Were you trying to reveal something uncomfortable to Israeli viewers with those kinds of scenes?

LR: No, I think that what we did was we showed that we didn't do any violent thing just because of violence. Everything is just a reaction and actually I want to tell you something about this unit that when Israel created this universe it's because that it will sound to very odd, but it's Instead of bombing houses instead of bombing hospitals. They are sending four or five people to take out just one person and risk their life instead of bombing and killing innocent people. So this is why this units actually was created.

HM: Just today an Israeli soldier has been convicted of manslaughter in the shooting death of a wounded Palestinian. Just as someone who’s watching all of this what kind of reaction is there in Israel to that today?

LR: I think most of the Israelis do not agree with what he's doing. And it was right that he was convicted because it was an awful thing.

HM: The military judges found it was a case of revenge. It's interesting that that is a theme that runs through your series. You explore that quite a bit. Do you have a lot of thoughts on how one breaks that kind of cycle?

LR: Yes sure. I think someone has to stop someone have to stop in order to stop this revenge circle. I have many Arab friends — many Arab friends good friends. And when we are sitting together and talking and drinking and having fun it's just people who talk with people. And I think politicians you know they don't have peace probably. And there is a lot of fundamentalists you know and terror action. It's very complicated and this is a very complicated situation. It's not just revenge; there is many forces that are working in the Middle East and now in Europe and in the U.S. all over the world. That for us as people — human beings — it's very hard to change them. But it's religion, it's fundamentalistic and it's terror groups that you can look at them and you can say listen stop please stop. But they don't do it you know and the politicians as well.

HM: Given those forces that you mention: the politics, the religion, the violence. How hopeful are you that Israelis and Palestinians can ultimately live peacefully?

LR: I'm not so optimistic, but you know as a Jew in the ‘40’s there was the Holocaust between Germany and the Germans against the Jews. But now the Germans and the Israelis are very good friends. So maybe one day 50-years from now all the hatred that we have between the Israelis and the Palestinians will vanish and live in peace and love like now we live with our friends from Germany.

HM: Well look thank you very much for speaking with us. I'm partway through the first season, I'm completely hooked and I'm looking forward to more so thank you.

LR: Thank you very much.

HM: All right good bye.

LR: Bye bye.

JD: Lior Raz is the co-creator and the leading actor in “Fauda” on Israeli television series which recently made its premiere on Netflix here in Canada. We have posted this interview to our website and you can find that at www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Electronic]

19-year-old newspaper editor

Guest: Hayden Taylor

JD: Like a lot of 19-year olds and some who are a lot further down the path than 19. Hayden Taylor wasn't really sure what he wanted to do with his life. The Arkansas team was thinking of going back to college and then he had another idea as sure fire get rich quick scheme: buy his town's local Newspaper. After cutting a check for five thousand bucks, Hayden bought the assets of the floundering Central Delta Argus –Sun and he re-launching it this week as the Monroe County Herald. He is now the paper's owner, publisher, editor-in-chief and reporter, but he found a few minutes to speak to us from Brinkley, Arkansas.

HM: So Hayden Taylor, what does it feel like to be the founding publisher, editor, et cetra of the Monroe County Herald.

HAYDEN TAYLOR: It's pretty incredible really. It's, of course, nothing I've ever had any experience with, so I didn't honestly know what to expect when I came in. But the support that I've gotten has been really just bordering on overwhelming.

HM: So you say you have no experience in the newspaper business at all?

HT: No ma'am, I do not. No journalistic background, I attended one year of college and I enjoyed writing class and that's the closest thing that I can think of.

HM: So what triggered this? How did the opportunity even come around?

HT: Well, the owner of the paper had been looking to sell it for some time because she had been running it for such a long time. She needs a change of scenery, so she was really just kind of wanting to get rid of it and she wanted to sell it for just a price that would cover her leaving.

HM: Right, so what's your vision for the Monroe County Herald what kind of paper do you want this to be?

HT: Of course, short term is make it feasible economically where it can continue. But as for any kind of agenda, I'd really like to cover local sports a little bit more closely because it's — especially in eastern Arkansas — that's one of the major things that holds the community together. But probably more than that, I'd like to publicize what happens with local politics a bit more than it is.

HM: I gather for you contacting at least one member of city council won't be too difficult. Is it true that your dad is a member of council?

HT: Yes it is. He was sworn in yesterday morning.

HM: So what does that mean in terms of the potential for conflict of interest do you think?

HT: I don't cut him any breaks anywhere else. I'm probably honestly going to be harder on him there than anybody else.

HM: Are you worried about tensions at the dinner table?

HT: It's kind of a family dynamic with no tension.

HM: OK, so what's the big story going to be in your first issue?

HT: We're writing a piece on Miss Glenda Arnett. She's worked with the paper in all of its incarnations and it's been for over three decades and just want to write a piece on her, things she's done, her life in Brinkley and just kind of show appreciation that she would be willing to work for a 19-year-old to keep the paper running.

HM: What's the big political story around Brinkley right now?

HT: Around here most people don't really like the idea of taxes. There's a tax that people are very disgruntled with not because of the amount maybe, but it's going towards a city project that has been around for quite some time that we haven't seen much productivity out of.

HT: Ms. Glenda's shown some faith in you. Any concerns do you think among the others about working for a 19-year-old who's never done this before?

HT: Oh absolutely. I'm just for the time being until I get my feet wet. I mean I understand it, like I said — like everybody said — I have no experience, but I'm also not quite so incapable that saying I don't know what I'm doing. I'm not trying to shift it and mold it into some grand vision that I have for a paper for the time being. I understand and I'm trying my best to step on no toes — not to be abrasive. I have no delusions of grandeur really.

HM: OK, Hayden, Look it's a pleasure to talk with you thank you very much. I wish the very best luck. It's good to see somebody doing this and in a time where we know newspapers face some challenges.

HT: Yes ma'am. I appreciate the interview.

HM: Okey doke. Bye bye.

HT: Bye.

JD: Hayden Taylor is the 19-year-old owner, publisher, editor-in-chief and reporter for the newly christened Monroe County Herald. We reached him in Brinkley, Arkansas.

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Part 3: As It Happened: The Birds & Bees Episode

Intro

JD: During the holiday season we are bringing you some of the very best stories we have ever aired on this program. We will be digging into the As It Happens archives to bring you some of the best stories from our past through encore presentations of As It Happened: The Archive Edition. And now here is tonight's encore presentation of As It Happened.

[Music: Rock]

JD: Hi there, I'm Jeff Douglas and this is As It Happened: The Archive Edition. The program that brings you the very best from the As It Happens archives. This week's theme: birds & bees. We're going to hear about a 17-year-old cockatoo who had a surprisingly maternal reaction to a dish of Easter cream eggs.

SOUNDCLIP

GUEST: Immediately she ran straight over, got onto the bowl of eggs and just sat there.

JD: We'll hear from a recently adopted talking bird whose vocabulary was absolutely incomprehensible to its new owners — except for all the unexpected four letter words.

SOUNDCLIP

BIRD: F***[incompressible]

JD: And we will speak with the minder of Harry the Hawk, who had to be grounded from his public appearances after an unfortunate incident.

SOUNDCLIP

GUEST: it landed on somebody’s head and ran off with their toupee.

JD: As it happened: The Archive Edition, radio that knows how to use the insubordinate clause.

[Music: Rock]

Cream eggs

Guest: Geoff Grewcock

JD: Pippa, she was never very maternal. And that is why the 17-year-old cockatoo's behavior was particularly surprising to staff at Englands Nuneaton and Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary. It was also surprising because it all started with an Easter treat. Geoff Grewcock works at the sanctuary in Nuneaton and he spoke with my regular co-host, Carol Off in April of 2007.

CAROL OFF: Mr. Grewcock, First of all, take us back to the beginning when you first noticed that Pippa was acting a bit strangely?

GEOFF GREWCOCK: My deputy manager Stacey, she put some cream eggs out for the stuff and also for the visitors. She put them on the table. We also put Pippa which is the sulfur-crested cockatoo on the same table. Pappas saw the eggs and immediately she ran straight, got onto the bowl of eggs and just sat there and would not move. It was as if to say they are my eggs, no one else is having them. And I think she tried to hatch them out.

CO: Did she get off the eggs after a while or what happened?

GG: No, she's still there now. What's been happening because we've had some nice weather, some of the eggs have been melting. So we have been going to the shops to buy new cream eggs.

CO: So why do you have to replace them?

GG: Because she got so angry she started attacking us. I mean she hacked a bit through my ear lobe. She bit so hard that you can actually put an earring straight in. So we've got to put a big sign in there saying “free piercing”.

[Sound: Laughing]

GG: But eventually now we've started taking eggs away one-by-one. Eventually we will take all the eggs away.

CO: Now has she ever done anything like this before?

GG: Nothing at all, I mean she's 17-years-old. She should hopefully live to about 70 and it's the first time she's ever shown any maternal instincts. Never been bothered, I mean she's actually turning the eggs around now with her beak and the other one is she's actually peeling the silver paper off.

CO: You think she's trying to figure out when they're going to hatch?

GG: Well I think I think she's trying to work out if they’re going to hatch or to eat them. But she won't eat them because they're not very good for her. But she is a bit puzzled at the moment.

CO: So what do you propose doing? How are you going to get her off the eggs?

GG: Well I would say that we will take them off one at a time. And if need be put some pot eggs, plastic eggs and see what she does to them.

CO: Thanks Mr. Grewcock.

GG: Thank you very much.

CO: Bye bye.

GG: Bye.

JD: Geoff Grewcock runs the Nuneaton and Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary. He spoke with Carol in 2007.

[Music: Electronic]

JD: Still ahead on the Birds & Bees episode of As It Happened we will speak with police officer Anthony Planakis who was in charge of handling New York City's problems with roving gangs of bees. If there's a swarm anywhere in the city Tony Bees is on it and he loves it. That's coming up on As It Happened: The Archive Edition.

[Music: Electronic]

Harry the Hawk

Guest: Tom Graham

JD: For years Harry the Hawk had been a huge draw for zoo goers in North Yorkshire, England. But in 2003, certain acts of aggression caused a real flap for Harry at his home, so Harry was retired from all public events. Tom Graham is Harry's owner. He spoke about Harry's change in fortune with former As It Happens host Mary Lou Finlay.

MARY LOU FINLAY: Mr. Graham, what has Harry done now?

TOM GRAHM: Harry's been a little bit mischievous I'm afraid. He's landed on some of these had disappeared with Toupee. He's been a character for quite a few years really. He's had all sorts of instances, but this is the straw that breaks the camel's back if you like. It's not something I want to encourage him — landing on people's heads.

MLF: When did this happen.

TG: It happened in a show that we've done. The Miner’s Gala which is in County Durham about 60 miles from where we are based in the Yorkshire Dales.

MLF: What's he supposed to do in the show?

TG: Well he's supposed to chase a dummy rabbit which is made of artificial wool. He's supposed to chase it along the ground and catch it as he would do what he's naturally hunting. But instead he got more destructive and decided he would land on somebody’s head it was a gentleman at the end of the main arena that we were flying in. He landed on this chap’s head and, of course, when he took off his foot caught the hair piece.

MLF: Did the hair piece look anything like a woolly rabbit?

TG: It didn't look so good when he'd finished with it. By the time he got it onto the floor he’d had a few bites of it and got his feet through it a couple of times.

MLF: Oh dear. The gentleman wasn't pleased I suppose?

TG: He was bit more surprised than anything. I did offer him some compensation, but he just picked his hair piece up and wandered off. Bouncy castles was another one of his favorites.

MLF: What’s a bouncy castle?

TG: It's like an inflatable castle that the children bounce around and play in and blow them up with a big compressor. And he took to actually landing on them and he punctured one of them in the Lake District when we were doing a show over there also.

MLF: So there went that little castle.

TG: Well that's right yeah. Yeah you get a little hole in it and all of a sudden the air starts to come out of it. So that ended up a bit of a deflated castle.

MLF: All right Mr. Graham, nice of you to tell us about your friend Harry.

TG: Thank you very much.

MLF: Take care, Bye.

TG: Bye.

JD: From 2003, that it was former As It Happens host, Mary Lou Finlay speaking with Tom Graham of the Thorp Perrow Arboretum in North Yorkshire, England. After he was retired from public life Harry was used for breeding which we assume made him a much happier hawk.

[Music: Dance

Swan Guard

JD: When the call comes in you can hardly believe it. In all your years on the force you've never heard anything so tragic — so downright cold. But you suit up. You jump in your squad car because this is what you were trained for. You knew what you were getting into when you joined the Swan Guard. The Swan Guard, of course, is the elite force that responds to emergencies, crisis and crimes involving swans in the city Korla in northwestern China. The guard got a call from a couple that had stumbled on a serious Swantastrophy. While strolling along the peacock river, they decided to feed the ducks among the ducks was a swan. They tossed it some bread it swam over, but it just poked at the bread. It didn't open its bill. It couldn't open its bill. It was frozen shut. According to a member of the Swan Guard the swan probably fell asleep with a wet beak and awoke to find it sealed shut by a blob of ice. So Swan Guard officers swiftly donned their spandex suits in their swan-proof groin protectors and they headed for the peacock river using their specialized training they gently apprehended the frozen-billed Swan then using less of their training they put it somewhere warm. Where a process called Beak melting took place naturally. Now members of the Swan Guard are asleep in their cryogenic chambers or perhaps they're each sitting around playing candy crush and waiting for another Swan-related crisis. And this swan whose beak situation once threatened its very life has been given a clean bill of health.

[Music: Electronic]

Spelling bee

Guest: Anna Francesca Garcia

JD: They came, they spelled and then they spelled some more. In fact, they spelled so much that the organizers of the Jackson County Spelling Bee ran out of words. It was e.p.i.c and then after more than 60 rounds by the final two contenders spelling bee officials had to put the contest on hold. Anna Francesca Garcia is one of the coordinators of the event held at the Kansas City Public Library in Missouri. She spoke with As It Happens guest host, Laura Lynch in 2014.

LAURA LYNCH: Ms. Garcia, I'm betting that an awful lot of planning goes into an event like this. And I'm wondering if when you were planning this you were ever worried that you were going to run out of words on the spelling bee list?

ANNA FRANCESCA GARCIA: We were not worried at all when we were planning this that that would happen. This is my first year as a co-chair but the other co-chair Mary Olive Thompson, has been at the helm of the spelling bee for three years in Jackson County and last year we went for 21 rounds. So this year going 66 rounds was definitely not something we expected to have happen.

LL: So 66 rounds? AFG: Yes.

LL: And I'm just picturing these contestants going back and forth. I'm wondering how the kids held up?

AFG: You know, they didn't seem to really be fatigued. It was amazing. They just seemed so hyper focused, however, at the time when it actually ran out of words and my co-chair Mary Olive Thompson called it. That was the first time I saw Sophia smile because I think that there was a sense of relief like OK, we can stop for now. But I wasn't really seeing — if they were fatigued they were hiding it well.

LL: So when you had used up all of the words you thought about using the dictionary is that correct?

AFG: Yes, as one of the rules that Scripps says we can use any word that is in the Webster's Third Edition.

LL: But you decided against using it I understand?

AFG: Well we didn't use it for 15 words that we'd pre-selected, but then did not use it anymore because we wanted to make sure that the words were on par with one another. We didn't want to just randomly pick as it would have been potentially quite unfair.

LL: One might have been pretty easy one might have been more difficult?

AFG: Exactly.

LL: So in those final few hours you were coming out to the end there well how was the crowd reacting? You talked about that sense of quiet, but was anything else going on in those final moments?

AFG: Well, I watched Mary Olive Thompson's face and she just her smile was huge and she just kept shaking her head like in disbelief. I knew this was something pretty special, but I didn't have a full sense of how special I was just amazed at what they were doing. And again was very much aware of the fact that I couldn't be doing anything even close.

LL: All right, Ms. Garcia, we will watch for round two and for the results. Thank you.

AFG: Thank you.

LL: Bye bye.

AFG: Bye.

JD: From 2014 that was As It Happens guest host, Laura Lynch in conversation with Anna Francesca Garcia from the Kansas City Public Library in Missouri. Two weeks later and after another twenty nine rounds Kush Sharma was finally declared the winner of the Jackson County Spelling Bee.

[Music: Drum and Bass]

Chicken to rooster

Guest: Jeanette Howard

JD: There are lots of jokes about chickens crossing the road. But one chicken in the UK made a much more impressive crossing: Girtie The chicken has crossed the gender divide. Girtie has become Bertie, changing sex from female to male. Jeanette Howard is Girtie Birdie's owner. She lives in Needingworth, England. She spoke with Carol in April of 2011.

CO: Ms Howard, what did Girtie look like before this change began?

JEANETTE HOWARD: Well, she was scruffy because she kept losing her feathers and she wasn't a particularly pretty bird, but she suddenly started walking peculiar.

CO: What do you mean walking peculiar?

JH: She lifted her foot right up and then take that shoulder right up and put it down and then the other one, so like a goose step.

CO: So those are the first changes you noticed in Gertie?

JH: Well yes, I noticed that. So I took it to the doctor. I thought probably she was the pain or something she hurt one of her legs or whatever you call it. And he said no there was nothing wrong with her. Everything was fine.

CO: And then what else happened and how else did Gertie start to change?

JH: Well then one day I said to my husband look at Gertie. She looks really pretty now and is getting quite filled-out and he said oh, yes. So we didn't think anything of it. Then the next few days I heard her go cock a doodle doo. I said I think she is trying to go cock a doodle doo and he said don't be silly. I said it sounds like it. As it progressed and now she's a he and she's out there with the best of them.

CO: I mean is that all? It is just a cock a doodle doo? is that the only thing that suggests?

JH: No because her comb on her head. She's got big red comb on the head now and she really is filled-out and she really is a handsome guy.

CO: Have you had any theories as to why Gertie became Bertie?

JH: apparently they get something on the ovary something happens to it and it splits and then she puts out lots of testosterone and consequently that's what happens. But now I've had to change from Gertie to Bertie.

CO: Were you interested in having a rooster?

JH: No. No. Definitely not. When I got them you know around here people are not very keen on having a rooster because they make too much noise.

CO: They do.

JH: Especially early in the morning and in our garden we've got concrete what looks like a concrete mushroom and he gets up on that and really lets rip. And obviously we've got no more eggs from Gertie.

CO: No more eggs?

JH: No. No. Which is a shame because when when she was Gertie, she was the one that made the biggest egg. She used to lay really big eggs.

CO: Well, I wish Betrie a good long life and to you as well Ms. Howard, and it's great to talk to you.

JH Yes and you.

JD: That was my regular As It Happens co-host Carol Off in conversation with Jeanette Howard in 2011. Ms. Howard was anything Needingworth, England.

[Music: Drums]

Bad mouth bird

JD : At first there was nothing that seemed out of the ordinary about Peaches. She's a mature female cockatoo. It's a kind of parrot and when her new owners brought her home, she just sat there for a few days quietly preening herself. But peaches it turns out had something other than feathers to get off its chest. From February of 2015 this was our sound of the day:

SOUNDCLIP

PEACHES: F*** [incomprehensible]

JD: That is our sound of the day: Peaches, a cockatoo started ranting several days after new owners in North Carolina took her home and apparently has not stopped. They say they have no idea what the bird is saying, but they do know that the previous owners are divorced.

[Music: Jazz]

Tweet Away

JD: Sometimes as a musician you've got to take a break to recharge creatively speaking. Take a trip to find some inspiration for your next project then return with a fresh new sound. And that certainly seems to be the approach of the male great reed warbler. You may be familiar with one of his hits.

SOUNDCLIP

[Sound: Bird singing]

JD: So layered the great reed warbler is huge in Europe where complex love songs like that make him a sex symbol. In fact, the more complex the song the more successful he is at mating. And like any big star the warbler winters somewhere warm: Zambia. It’s not mating time it's chillout time, but scientists have found that male great reed warblers don't rest their throats, they sing and they sing a lot. And so one of those scientists went to Zambia to find out why. She thought maybe they were defending territory against other males or maybe their testosterone levels were elevated or maybe they were singing to work out some challenging new material. Well Dr. Marjorie Sorensen found out a couple of interesting things. First that the male warblers didn't care if other male warblers were around. So the song's not a territorial thing. And second, their testosterone levels have nothing to do with singing. But in conducting a survey of 57 species of birds. Dr. Sorensen's team found that the ones that spent the most time belting out songs in Africa had the most complex songs when they got back to Europe. Dr Sorensen says quote, perhaps their hearing sounds in Africa and incorporating them into their repertoires,” unquote. That could explain it. The great reed warblers are rehearsing new material because for them unlike for human singers, working up a fancy tweet is more than marketing.

[Music: Theme

Attack of the bees

Guest: Gordon Lane

JD: It is the stuff of movies and nightmares. Fortunately John Reeves lived to tell the tale. Mr. Reeves it was a beekeeper in Tennessee and in 1991 he was swarmed by more than 1000 bees after he accidentally kicked over one of his hives. So many bees went after him. The paramedics could not reach Mr. Reeves for half an hour. Gordon Lane was the assistant fire chief in Johnson City Tennessee and one of the rescuers he spoke with former As It Happens host, Michael Enright in June 1991.

MICHAEL ENRIGHT: Mr. Lane, first of all how was Mr. Reeves doing in hospital?

GORDON LANE: They downgraded his condition to fair, he’s doing good now.

ME: He had kicked over the beehive?

GL: Yeah he had. Well he had a diabetic coma and when he went down when he came to him he started kicking on the bee hive.

ME: Right. What did you see when you when you saw him?

GL: Well, he was covered with bees and they were flying all around him. He had bees in his ears and nose and in his mouth and his whole body covered. So I told I'm here to help and he said well just help me and get me get me somewhere where they can help me.

ME: Was he screaming or?

GL: No he was quiet. All he said was I need help get me somewhere to get help. So I took a hold of him. We got him down to the street which is maybe a hundred yards from the house and immediately while the paramedics were there we started stripping him of his clothes.

ME: And the bees were still on him?

GL: They were still on the body. They were all over him. So we stipped him off and knocked all the Bees that we could and put him on a cot and they put him in the ambulance, but he had so many bee stings on his face you know a little sac of a bee a little white sac? His face was white with those.

ME: Were these honeybees?

GL: they were honeybees — Italian honeybees.

ME: are they aggressive or?

GL: Not normally, but see like I said he went into a comma and when he come through he must have been thrashing around. He knocked the hives over. And when you knock over the hive they’ll attack, so they were pretty aggressive.

ME: You had to put on a special suit or you would have been attacked.

GL: Yes. Well we had some heat reflecting suits with hoods on them. And I only put that on because it covered the whole body. And I didn't want to put this regular turnout gear because they could sting through that. So I put these like asbestos suit on.

ME: You said the bees got in his mouth?

GL: Well He was vomiting bees.

ME: He was vomiting bees was he? Well I'm curious now about the stings. I mean did they get the stingers out you couldn't get all of them?

GL: it took them a little over three hours to get the stingers out of him.

ME: He's going to be very sore man. I would think?

GL: I would say so.

ME: What happened to the bees? Have they finally settled down?

GL They backed down, yeah.

ME: Disturbed because you know he kicked there hive over and they settled back down now.

ME: Mr. Lane, Thank you.

GL: You're welcome.

ME: Thanks for talking to us take care.

GL Bye bye.

ME: Bye.

JD: Gordon Lane was the assistant fire chief in Johnson City, Tennessee. He spoke with former As It Happens host, Michael Enright in 1991.

[Music: Rock]

Tony Bees

Guest: Anthony Planakis

JD: Officially he is Officer Anthony Planakis. But on the streets of New York City is better known as Tony Bees. For decades Tony Bees was the only guy on the city's police force who could deal with a particular kind of call: the honeybee emergencies. If there is a gang of bees on the streets of New York, dispatch knows to give Tony Bees a buzz. Officer Planakis spoke with Carol in the summer of 2012.

CO: When you get these swarms or pick up these swarms how do you do it?

ANTHONY PLANAKIS: It depends. It depends if there was a couple of swarms that I had no choice. I had to find the Queen and I used the Queen to attract the bees into the swarm box that I have. Quite a few times I used my hands and then a couple of times I used a vacuum.

CO: A vacuum?

AP: it’s a special bee vacuum where I have a throttle that's on there where I throttle the suction so it doesn't injure the bees as they're coming in.

CO: And then what do you do with them?

AP: I put them in the front seat of my truck with the air conditioning on because I wanted to cluster up tight. What's happening is because the temperature is dropping down so low so fast they start to cluster up a lot tighter. So yeah, I have the bees flying around in front of my truck while I'm driving. But it's not a problem because they're all attracted to the Queen. So anyhow after I get them as I'm vacuuming them up I start thinking which hive am I going to put these in? And if I can possibly do a split — a newspaper split — I call it and attach them to one of my hives. I'll do that. If not I'll start making phone calls to people and ask them Hey do you need bees? I have a four-five pound swarm.

CO: So you're driving around your car with all these bees around you?

AP: Yes.

CO: it must be very distracting?

AP: No, not at all. Again I'm doing this 35 years.

CO: And when you say you have to sometimes fight you have to go in and find the queen. How do you find her?

AP: Well the Queen is the largest one there. She's the biggest one, she's very distinct you could find her. You have to look for her through a cluster. I use the bees to point me in a direction as to where she is. I look at their body movements — their motion. I look at the direction that there abdomen is facing. You know that tells me which direction that they're sending her pheromone. I look at the waggle in their abdomen. I call it “the waggle dance”. But it's really a waggling. And what they're doing is spreading the pheromone so they know hey the Queen is still here. So obviously the more that you're going to see that that means she's not there.

CO: How often have you been stung?

AP: About 40 times. Of the 40 times 14 of them were self-inflicted.

CO: What do you mean by that?

AP: I had them in the jar with long set of tweezers and I just put them in various parts of my body like my legs, my knees, you know just to make sure that I wasn't allergic. And also the same time to bring up the resistance or the tolerance for them. And 14 was the magic number because then I started feeling flu- like symptoms you know little aches which went away eventually.

CO: You are amazing.

AP: I just love working with these ladies, I really do. to me it's the most perfect society. Everybody knows what they have to do everybody knows the job, the uniform. There is only one leader and their duties are pre-determined that breath actually when they come out and they know that in the 38 day span during the summertime during the season, they have to do what they can to make sure that that hive is going to go on.

CO: Do you ever wish the other people you pick up for whatever else for whatever crimes do you wish it was as easy as that?

AP: It would be a perfect world.

CO: Well you know it's just fascinating to talk to you. Officer Planakis, I've learned a lot. I have a new appreciation of the bees in my city.

AP: I'm telling you I love them.

CO: OK. Well it's infectious. Thank you.

AP: No thank you.

CO: Bye bye.

JD: From 2012 that was Carol Off the speaking with NYPD officer Anthony Planakis aka Tony Bees.

[Music: Rock]

JD: That is it for this encore presentation of As It Happened: The Archive Editon. You can also find all the episodes on our website www.cbc.ca/aih. Click on “As It Happened” under the features tab listen again or share them.

[Music: Rock]

JD: Our thanks — very special thanks — to Keith Hart and the team at CBC Radio archives. To our writer Chris Howden for help with the words. And of course to our technician, Reynold Gonsalves. As It Happened: The Archive Edition is produced by Laurie Allen, I’m Jeff Douglas. Have a good night.

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Jan. 4, 2017 episode transcript

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