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The AIH Transcript for February 15, 2018

Hosts: Carol Off and Jeff Douglas

STORIES FROM THIS EPISODE

Prologue

CAROL OFF: Hello, I'm Carol Off.

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

[Music: Theme]

JD: Tonight:

CO: The courage behind his conviction. Kassidi Coyle died before she could testify against the man who sexually assaulted her. But her words will nevertheless put him behind bars class lunch.

JD: Class lunch, active shooter. Seventeen people were killed yesterday after someone with a semi-automatic rifle walked into a Florida high school. We speak with a man whose daughter made it out alive.

CO: The road away from hell. A student who survived yesterday's shooting says it's time for politicians to take action, because their good intentions, in the form of “thoughts and prayers”, are useless.

JD: Just like starting ova. After decades of work, scientists have managed to grow human eggs in a lab for the first time. And while it is early days, it could have major implications for fertility treatment.

CO: I holly-wouldn't if I holly-were. Facing traffic and repair problems with their famous Hollywood sign, Los Angeles officials consider doubling down and making an exact replica of the Hollywood sign.

JD: And… questioning authority. An Ottawa man is so good at trivia quizzes, and such a presence on the leaderboards of a popular app called HQ Trivia, that the people behind that app have recruited him.

JD: “As It Happens”, the Thursday edition radio went up to the minutia reporting.

[Music: Theme]

Back To Top »

Part one: Ontario rape case, Florida shooting: Parent, HQ Trivia hire

Ontario rape case

Guest: Judi Coyle

JD: She couldn't testify against the man accused of sexually assaulting her on Canada Day in 2016. But her words were used to convict him. Four months after she was assaulted, 20-year-old Kassidi Coyle took her own life. In a rare judicial move, Judge Robert Gattrell allowed the case to go ahead in Barrie, Ontario. And yesterday, the man was found guilty. Judi Coyle is Kassidi's mother. We reached her in Barrie. And a warning: this story is disturbing.

CO: Judi, first of all, I'm sorry for your loss of your daughter.

JUDI COYLE: Thank you.

CO: What was it like in that courtroom yesterday to hear the judge say that word: guilty?

JC: I think I had confidence that he was going to be found guilty. It was just a mother's intuition I think. What he did to her was such so wrong, and she raised so much awareness that there's no way this guy can walk away from here. And I was right.

CO: The defense for Shawn Roy argued that your daughter Kassidi because she wasn't there to testify and be cross-examined, that her statements should not be included in the prosecution. What did the judge say to that?

JC: Well, that was a battle. Because that’s what they told me at first that because there's no victim, there is no crime. And I said that's ridiculous. And the Crown wasn't going to go ahead with it; they were just going to shelf it and not bother going ahead with it, but I wouldn't leave them alone. I just kept phoning them and saying that you have to do something, this is crazy, you can’t just let this go. And so they found a couple of precedents to set an example where the same thing that happened — where the girl had died of suicide before it went to court. And so he decided to take Kassidi’s word on it and go ahead with it because he said he believed Kassidi’s statement.

CO: This is what the judge said?

JC: Yeah.

CO: They had the 911 call that she had made after she had been assaulted. They had her testimony to police because she gave them a full statement of what had happened. They had friends who were there, who had seen Kassidi after she was raped, and she had told them what had happened. They had all of that testimony, and that could have ended up being thrown out?

JC: It could have been, yeah. Because they weren't going to take a second look at me, and I can tell you why they weren't to take a second look at me: because it's only me. So they could have easily swept under the rug because it wasn't exactly a high-profile case.

CO: I know this is painful, but for people listening, we need to be able to talk about what happened to Kassidi that night. What did you learn in the course of the trial?

JC: Oh, I learned some things I can't repeat because they went over it in detail about the assault and how it happened, which I can't repeat. And it was pretty — bad pretty horrible. And I’d never heard this before and I never knew because she never told me. So hearing it for the first time in court, I'm still feeling it today. I actually just got over crying spell before you called me because thinking about everything that was said in court about the sexual assault and what she had to go through.

CO: I’ll just say a bit of it, and I'm sorry about this. But for people who don't know the story that she was staying with her friend — she was asleep in bed. She was completely sober.

JC: This man was completely drunk, or, obviously, not that drunk. But he climbed into bed with her and then proceeded to remove her pajama bottoms. So he managed to get that off her, and then he tried to enter her, which they have proved DNA evidence they said that they had.

CO: His defense argued that he didn't know he climbed into the wrong bed, in his sleep he had an erection, and that he might have touched it with that.

JC: That was ridiculous because they said that they found the DNA on the internal part of her vagina.

CO: But the judge was quite firm on this. What are some of the things the judge said to these arguments presented by defense?

JC: He basically would say that he believed the witness testimony. It appears to be the truth because they were sober. Mr. Roy, I don't believe a word you say.

CO: How did this assault change Kassidi?

JC: It changed her completely. She was my rising sun I'm telling you. She's the youngest of four girls, and I had her when I was 37. So I still had her living at home when this happened because she wanted to stay at home. She was going to go to school, she was going to be a nurse, she was going to go to college here in Barrie, and she was going to live at home. So I wasn't ready for her to leave; she was going to be at home for another two or three more years, so not only did he take my daughter from me, but I went through empty nest at the same time. So it's been awful. It doesn't get better. I don't feel any better today than I did a-year-and-a-half ago. I feel the same kind of pain.

CO: Do you believe that she took her life because of what happened?

JC: Yes, 100 per cent. Because she told me every time she did; she tried three times, and then on the third try, she died in my arms. Her heart stopped beating, and she stopped breathing when I was holding her. The first two times I managed to get her to the hospital on time, and the doctor told her Kassidi, you almost died. You try this again; you will die. And she just looked at them. She didn't care. And when she first came off life support, she wrote something on the board, and I thought it was going to say I'm sorry, I love you, Mom. But it said I just want to die. She wanted to die. She said she couldn't get a safe out of her head. Everywhere she looked she'd see him. She had PTSD. She was diagnosed with PTSD. So she kept reliving the same night over and over and over again in her head. And I was diagnosed with PTSD with Dissociative Disorder, and my other daughter was diagnosed with PTSD, and my grandson who's 14 was diagnosed with PTSD all as a result of what's happened to Kassidi.

CO: I understand that you were trying to get her to get some counseling. And that it had been months since the sexual assault was July 1^st.

JC: And her first appointment was November 15^th. And then her first appointment with the psychiatrist was November 19th. She died October 30th.

CO: How do you think that might have helped her if she had been able to get that counseling?

JC: Oh, it would have helped her a lot. It would help anybody. I can imagine what the horror must have been going through her head and her mind because she was a virgin. And that's what makes it even harder. Because she said she wanted to save it for the man that she fell in love with. And all she could do was see his face over and over again in their head. And she kept reliving that night over and over. And she just couldn't take it anymore.

CO: You're going to prepare a victim impact statement for the sentencing.

JC: Yes, that's going to be hard.

CO: There must be so much to say about this?

JC: There is. You don't know where to start. I have no idea where to start. Where do you start with something like that?

CO: What does it mean to you that even in death, she was able to not just get justice, but actually set a precedent that might make a difference?

JC: Well, she’s done more than that. She was an organ donor, and she saved five lives. And, like I said, to know that even life was easier because she lived is to truly know she succeeded while she was here.

CO: She's also set this legal precedent.

JC: Yeah, she set legal precedent that's going to help. There's never going to be another problem again if anything happens to that victim — little, old Kassidi Coyle.

CO: I'm so sorry to put you through all of this with these questions, but it's a really important story. And thank you for speaking with us.

JC: Well no farewell words were spoken. And we didn't have time to say goodbye. But she was gone before we knew. Only God knows why. That's what I always say. Only God knows why.

CO: Judi, thank you.

JC: You're welcome. Thank you.

JD: We reached Judy Coyle in Barrie, Ontario. Yesterday, a man was convicted of sexually assaulting her daughter Kassidi, even though she died before she was able to testify.

[Music: Folk]

Florida shooting: Parent

Guest: Sergio Rozenblat

JD: A student, an assault rifle, and young people terrorized and killed. School shootings have become a near constant reality in the United States. But even so, yesterday's massacre of 17 people in Florida did managed to shock the country. Police say 19 year-old Nikolas Cruz walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School with an AR-15 rifle that he bought himself, legally. After the shooting rampage, he was caught by police. Sergio Rozenblat's 15-year-old daughter goes to that school. She survived the shooting. We reached Mr. Rozenblat in Parkland, Florida.

CO: She's 15-years-old, and is her memory now that's burned into her mind.

SR: It's so unfair at 15 to go through this. How do these kids go back to the rooms? How did they go back to the floors? Every day for the next two-and-a-half years at 2:15 when the clock hits it's going to be burned into their memories. The real victims are those kids that are not coming home; the coach, who's a wonderful man. There is an element of almost guilt. I cannot be happy, do you know I mean? I cannot fully express my joy and my daughter's safety based on the fact that as a human being, I know the depths of the pain of those parents and those kids.

CO: When did you first know something was going on? When did you get notified?

SR: She texted me about 2:15, and said Call 911; there's a shooter.

CO: She texted you that? My gosh! What went through your mind at that point?

SR: I thought she was pranking me. And then I said no, she's not the type, and she wouldn’t fool around. So I called 911 immediately. And the lady who answered had already received calls; help was on the way. She asked me to instruct my daughter to put her phone on vibrate, to keep her head down, to make sure the doors were locked, and to stay away from windows. As soon as I called 911, I was out the door, headed towards school. There was a large traffic jam already, so I jumped the median and parked two blocks away in a gas station and then ran over. By that time, there was a cordon that was blocking traffic and people. It was a bad movie.

CO: And did you keep in touch with your daughter during all of this?

SR: No, after those first 15-20 minutes, there was no phone contact for the next hour. And it was conflicting thoughts; I pushed away the negative thoughts, I assumed intellectually that the doors were locked, and she wouldn't be able to get into the other rooms. But there was real terror in those moments where I would allow those negative thoughts to slip by. And not been able to be a part of the situation or help her.

CO: But you were there watching. We've seen the pictures of all those kids streaming out, hands over their heads, dropping their backpacks. What were your impressions of them as they came out? What were the kids like?

SR: I was cut off by Fox because they happened to catch me in the corner, and my response to them on camera was you shouldn’t interview me. Go film the faces of the terror in those kids, the fear, the tears, the helplessness, and then send it to Congress — don't bother with me. But, obviously, they didn't put that on. That's what I saw: terror, fear, bewilderment, shock, and rightly so — they’re kids. They have no street smarts; this is not a big city.

CO: When you were finally able to find your daughter, tell us about that?

SR: She walked to a friend's house. When I spoke to her, she wouldn't come out. And I asked her to work with me. I tried to cajole her. There was a sheriff who tried to help me to get her out of the house by speaking to her and she refused. And there was the moment of humanity — this is wonderful Broward sheriff's officer, her name is Sarah, and she told my other daughter who had come down said get in the car; let's go get her. And they did. And even then, it took another half-an-hour.

CO: When you saw your daughter; when you could hold her.

SR: And that's part of what worries me, she didn’t cry, she hasn't cried, she really doesn't want to talk about it yet. So I hugged her, I held her, I told her how much I loved her. She was not emotional, which worries me.

CO: This is what we're told is the eighth case of injury and death by gunfire at a school this year, and it's just the middle of February. Eighteen times a gun is fired at schools in the United States. What do you make of that?

SR: I heard President Trump today; he's going to come down here. He talked about better safety in schools, but can he talk about an AR 15, which is an attack, assault weapon. We have a governor here who spineless, and allows the AR 15s to be sold. We have a senator who gives great speeches, and he probably was a debate champion who claims nothing could have been done to prevent this. Of course, it could have been done. Just outlaw the AR 15s. There's no reason why a citizen, or somebody in majority, 18-21, can own an AR 15. There's no reason. So if we had leaders who were not accepting blood money from the NRA, then maybe we'd have an opportunity to address this and fix this. We have unavoidable tragedies in our life, but this is absolutely avoidable. Marco Rubio is a liar. How can she say this is unavoidable? This is absolutely avoidable.

CO: And we should tell people here Marco Rubio is the senator for Florida, is that right?

SR: He's the senator for Florida, yes.

CO: The FBI has now confirmed that it was warned about this young man, and we know that he'd been expelled from the school. That he had posted his thoughts about violence, guns on his social media, yet he had legally obtained an AR 15.

SR: If I need to cut my hair, it has to be cut by a licensed hairdresser. Please, this is a game they play with mirrors; they're hypocrites. So we can’t register gun owners because it's an invasion of privacy? It's insane. You know driving you need a license. How many how many professions have licenses? Why isn't there a waiting period? Who needs a gun within three days or a week?

CO: How difficult is it going to be for your daughter to go back to school?

SR: I don't know. I just visualize walking through those floors, those rooms. I cannot visualize what they're going to go through on a daily basis, and it's a daily reminder. It's criminal what these politicians are doing. What do we have to do for them to change their beholden-ness to the mighty dollar and the NRA? It's blood money.

CO: Sergio, we will leave it there. I am so sorry about all this in your community at your daughter's school. I'm happy your daughter is OK. And I really appreciate that you'd speak with us. Thank you.

SR: I thank you for the opportunity.

CO: Bye bye

SR: Good day, ma'am.

JD: We reached Sergio Rozenblat in Parkland, Florida. We also have a firsthand account of the shooting from a senior at the high school. We will also hear the story of the assistant coach Mr. Rozenblat mentioned who tried to step in to stop the massacre, and was killed in the process.

[Music: Lullaby]

HQ Trivia Hire

Guest: Paul Paquet

SOUNDCLIP

SCOTT ROGOWSKY: Hold your breath, make a wish, count to three, and let's make HQ history, baby. Which one of these is a cheese: grenadine, brie, or piri piri?

JD: I'm going to go with brie. That was the high-energy Scott Rogowsky, hosting the gaming show app HQ Trivia. Now, in case, like me, you haven't heard of it, HQ Trivia is a live mobile game that harkens back to the days of the classic TV quiz shows. And to more than 1-point-5 million daily users who stop whatever they're doing to play it, it's already a modern classic. One of the biggest attractions is that anyone with the app can take part and win real money, including Paul Paquet, a professional trivia writer from Ottawa. In fact, Mr. Paquet is so good at the game that HQ Trivia has asked him to write its questions. We reached Paul Paquet in Ottawa.

CO: Paul, have you accepted the job offer yet?

PAUL PAQUET: I like the money they're offering me, and now it's just if they like questions I've sent them. I think they will.

CO: What makes a good quiz question?

PP: I think the best trivia questions are like jokes where you provide the punch line. So you've got all the materials, there's little clues in there. I heard a question a while ago John Donne was wrong. What island in the Irish Sea. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and if you think about John Donne, he had a thing: “No man is an island and there's an Isle of Man,” so little clues like that make the questions fun.

CO: Often, are there clues in trivia questions?

PP: There should be. HQ can't do that as much because they're really restricted to number of words they can have. But for the stuff I do in the trivial leagues, I usually made different ways of getting to the questions I can, especially with clues like that.

CO: The impression people have that people who are good at trivia are people who just know a lot of stuff. Is that really the case?

PP: I suppose, although, the questions I find that get the best reaction are the things that people figure out. So it might be a question about opera, and I know nothing about opera. But because as a reference to Bugs Bunny, I was able to figure out the opera in question, so it's often not so much a matter of what you know, but what you can figure out and what you can guess. And that is very much the case of HQ too is you need to be able to guess. Nobody is going to know all 12 items. But if you can guess intuitively, you can get to the top.

CO: You know it's funny that I've never been good at trivia because I overthink things. I keep thinking that it could be this; it could be that, and, of course, I'm finished. So the trick is you go with the instinct. It’s an intuitive thing largely, isn't it?

PP: There's a lot of that for sure. And oftentimes, things will sit in the back of your mind. I was at an event, and you had to give TV characters’ maiden names. And one of them was Edith Bunker. And I don't know how I knew this, but I knew that her maiden name was Baines. And for whatever reason, whatever neurons kept that for 20 years in the back of my head, suddenly fired. Whereas, there are days when I can't remember the names of my neighbours.

CO: That's the other thing that the assumption would be people who have very good memories are good at this. And the rest of us, like you, can't remember your mother's birthday or the neighbour's name, but that's not the case either?

PP: From what I understand, there are different kinds of memory. There's the kind of memory for raw facts that some people are just better equipped for. I have things on my end that I'm not good at, but I've just got one of those weird sticky memories.

CO: Why do you think that this online game app, HQ Trivia, is being so wildly successful?

PP: I think what a lot of it is it's a good habit. It comes on at 3:00 o'clock here in eastern Canada. And at 3:00 o'clock, you often need a break anyway. So it's a fun way of passing some time. And the other thing is even if you don't know any trivia, a half-a-million people play this game every day. And the odds of randomly hitting buttons, and getting all the way the top is one-and-a-half-million.

CO: And how did you come to their attention?

PP: Last fall, I was I believe the first person to be the only one standing. I think I was the first time there was only one person left standing at the end. At the time, the prize was 500 dollars, which was pretty good. So I had this, and because I use my actual name as my handle, I was easy to find. So a media outlet did interview with me — this was when I was at the top the scoreboard as well as. Because I also write trivia questions professionally — I have them online. And so I think they probably looked me up and liked what they saw how much money you do in from HQ trivia.

PP: It's $753.15.

CO: And that kind of money can you possibly make from playing this game?

PP: Well, the jackpots now are $25,000 a day. So how many people split that is based on how many you know make it to the end. And I've seen people win a couple grand —they also have bigger games on Sunday nights. So there are people who have won like two or three thousand dollars. There was one person who I think won $6,500 one day. Although, there are other days when like 200 people split like two or three dollars, and that's cool too.

CO: Now, there's word that HQ might actually make those pots far richer by getting into advertisements and product placement. What do you think of that?

PP: Product placement in a trivia context is really difficult because the advertiser wants certain messages put in, and they don't have a lot of room. If I were to guess, they're already using more video within HQ, and I would guess that they would have quick breaks for short ads. The guy who runs it has already said he doesn’t want to have too many ads in there, but that's definitely what I would do if I were in his shoes.

CO: What's your best one that you submitted them — something that you could tell us?

PP: I probably shouldn't say actually.

CO: OK. Do you want to just give us a good one that you've done in the past?

PP: Yeah, sure. What war saw the only known battle between a submarine and a cavalry unit?

CO: What are the possibilities?

PP: World War One, the Korean War, the Civil War.

CO: You know what we'll do? We'll leave that for people to figure out, and we'll get from you answer is, and we'll see how many people get that. Paul, It's been great talking to you. Thanks.

PP: You too.

CO: Bye

PP: Bye bye.

JD: That was quizmaster Paul Paquet. We reached him in Ottawa. And if you think you may have the answer to Mr. Psquet’s trivia question there, give us a call: 4162055687.

Back To Top »

Part two: Florida shooting: Student, human lab eggs

Florida shooting: Student

Guest: David Hogg

JD: Earlier in the program, Carol spoke with Sergio Rozenblat. His 15-year-old daughter survived yesterday's mass shooting at a Florida high school. Police have now charged 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz with murder in the deaths of 17 people who were fatally shot during the incident. David Hogg is a student who also survived the massacre. And after living through what he lived through, and seeing what he saw, he has a message for American politicians. Mr. Hogg is a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. We reached him in Parkland.

CO: David, I'm sorry for everything that's happened to?

DAVID HOGG: Fine, people can say sorry all they want, but it doesn't bring people back. And I hate to say that, but it doesn't. What people can do though is take action.

CO: Can you take us back to where you were when all this began?

DH: It's just like any other day, I was in my AP environmental science class, and the door was open ajar. And because of that, we actually were able to hear the first gunshot. And after hearing the first gunshot, we initially thought it might have been a drill or something. And we hear the first gunshot, and we closed the door after we tell our teacher she closes it. And promptly, right after she closes the door, the fire alarm goes off. And that's when it got real. We didn't we weren't thinking, we were just doing what we instinctually do want to hear a fire alarm, and that's going out to our field. And, sadly, what that did is created a number of soft targets.

CO: So when you say soft targets, The fact that the shooter we understand pulled the fire alarm in order to get the kids to come out so that they be more accessible.

DH: As disgusting as that is.

CO: At what point did you know that an active shooter was in the school?

DH: We didn't, until we started reading the headlines about 75 per cent of the way through. And I'll start off back where I left off. So after the fire alarm went off, we start peacefully walking outside because we still think this is just a normal fire drill because we have had one earlier that day. And as we're going outside, we're walking to our evacuation zone, and there's just a tsunami of people are saying go the other way go the other way, go the other way. So we all follow the herd. And as we're headed the other way, we finally get down the hallway into this corridor. And as we get down this corridor, this insanely brave janitor tells to stop, and not come inside because he's over here. At this point, I still thought this was a drill. And at the same time, the closest classroom opened her door and got in around 30 to 40 students within a matter of I want to say 30 seconds. And it was unbelievable.

CO: Did you think that you were not going to survive this?

DH: For a split second I did. But it was actually kind of surprising because I thought this was a drill throughout 75 per cent of it. I never really thought I was going to die until like one point when we just entered the classroom. Like it was almost like I got struck by lightning with sheer adrenaline coursing through my veins, out from my spine, and just going through my body. And then I had to stop that and remain calm. But by the time we actually found out it was the actual shooter, it was about I think 45 minutes after he had started shooting. And we figured he was taken down; he wasn't, but we thought he was. So that helped at least me feel a little more safe.

CO: So much going on in your head at the time, eh? Did you know this man — this this young man who did this shooting? He was a former student.

DH: No, I didn't know him. But from what I've heard about him, he sounds like your average, stereotypical — and it’s just awful that we have a stereotype of a typical school shooter. Like he was a lonely guy that was extremely angry, and sadly, let out that anger using guns and taking out children.

CO: Did you lose any friends?

DH: I had multiple friends from a close. I had a friend in the class that actually got three people around her was shot; She wasn't. She got to the floor as fast as she could. One of my other friends was actually in the hallway, and he was wandering around, and he started hearing gunshots. He got in the bathroom and locked himself in. My friend lived — all of my friends — the guy made it to the bathroom, he survived. But sadly, two of my sister's friends were lost. I don't know their names because I was not going to ask my sister, especially with how distraught she’s been about that. But it's unacceptable, and we need to change. We just cannot become the new norm.

CO: We know that the president, Donald Trump, is coming to your community. Other politicians are there. What do you want to say to them?

DH: Don't make false. False promises are lies, and false promises without action ends up costing people's lives.

CO: And what is the action you want to see done?

DH: Literally, anything that they can do. I know the Republicans want more mental health, and the Democrats want more gun control. Why not both? Let’s see which one works best. These are children's lives that are being taken, and if that's not enough for people to get politically-active or for legislators to become politically-active, I don't know what will be. But I know that it will be terrifying once it does.

CO: David, what will it be like for you to go back to school?

DH: Not the same, obviously. It's my senior year; I can't imagine what it's like for my sister and everyone else that's not like senior — that's going back to school. I mean there are not words to describe what it would be like. Honestly, I don't know what is next. I just know that this community is one of the strongest, most open, kind, friendly, and loving communities I've ever been in or ever seen. And I think that's what's really going to help them here is the true passion that they have. And just the sense of community that everybody comes together in the face of situations like this.

CO: David, I appreciate speaking with you. I'm glad you're OK. What a time, and as you say, it's worse for those who lost their kids and friends.

DH: I know. I can’t imagine.

CO: Thank you for speaking with us.

DH: No problem.

JD: David Hogg is a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. We reached him in Parkland, Florida. We have more on yesterday’s shooting on our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Horns]

Lost ring

JD: Ralph Dawe is from Newfoundland, and he spends a lot of time on beaches with his metal detector. He's found a lot of stuff: a lot of old coins, trinkets, that kind of thing. But he recently he made a more unusual discovery: he found a class ring from the 1960s. He decided to see if he could track down the owner. And he did, eventually, he traced it to a Vietnam veteran from Florida, who had slipped it on the finger of his girlfriend in Newfoundland before shipping off to war. That veteran, Henry Whidden, spoke to the host of "The St. John's Morning Show", Krissy Holmes. Here's part of their conversation.

SOUNDCLIP

KRISSY HOLMES: So how did you react when you pick up the phone, and there's this guy Ralph, claiming that he has your ring? How surprised were you?

HENRY WHIDDEN: It came as a complete surprise. He asked me, and I said well, the last time I saw that ring it was on my Newfoundlander girlfriend’s finger in 1968 before I shipped out to Vietnam. And while I was in Vietnam, she sent me a “dear John” letter; that's like the lingo for breaking up with me. It's one piece of my history Pre-Vietnam; the only piece that I will have in my personal history pre-Vietnam.

KH: What were you doing in Argentia? Can you tell us a little bit about that?

HW: I was stationed at the Naval Air Station Argentia; I was up there for 18 months.

KH: And you meet a woman?

WH: Yeah, well, you know sailors, they wander around — gotta find a girlfriend. I was lucky, I found me a nice Newfoundlander girl. And we would walk out to the area similar to what I think where Ralph found it, and that was our secret place for you know making out.

KH: What made you take that ring off your finger?

WH: giving it to her as a promise that I would return, and eventually get married. Got the “Dear John” letter, and then when I came back from Nam, I went up there on Liberty, and we got married March 8^th. Our daughter was born December 4th.

KH: I know that it is right now traveling to you. Have you thought about how you're going to feel when you have it on your finger again?

WH: Terrified. You know we're terrified. We, as combat Vietnam veterans, came back to environment that was not conducive to healing warzone experiences. And here I’m going to have a piece of my life that is before everything that changed my life.

KH: How do you remember that part of your life now, and who you were before Vietnam?

WH: Light-hearted, you know just social you know, and just an energetic, happy young man; no real fears of the world. Just hey, let’s go and do it. And then coming back, and really suffering the consequences of full-blown PTSD, it's just there is no straight road; you're always at a crossroads. Is today going to be a good day or a bad day? Am I going to be able to sleep or am I not going to be able to sleep? I don't know? You know maybe this is an omen from the past that I can continue healing maybe somewhere, you know? Get a day where I feel like a normal man. There's so much attached to that Vietnam tour.

JD: That was Vietnam veteran Henry Whidden speaking with the host of the “St. John's Morning Show”, Krissy Holmes.

[Music: Pop]

Human lab eggs

Guest: Evelyn Telfer

JD: Women who need medical assistance to have children may soon have a new way to start a family. For the first time, scientists have grown human eggs in a lab — that is a breakthrough that was decades in the making. Evelyn Telfer is a professor at the University Of Edinburgh School Of Biological Sciences, and a co-author of the study. We reached Ms. Telfer in Edinburgh.

CO: Professor Telfer, how significant is it that human eggs have been successfully grown in the lab?

EVELYN TELFER: Well, it's significant for several reasons. It's the first time that we now have the opportunity to look at the whole process of human egg development all the way from the very immature stage to maturity. But apart from that, we can also see that if we improve this system, it could have many benefits in terms of fertility preservation.

CO: So who would that benefit?

ET: At the moment, we would see the main beneficiaries to be young women. Before they undergo chemotherapy, they're given the opportunity to remove a small piece of their ovaries, so if they're suffering from say a blood-borne cancer, they're going to get aggressive chemotherapy and radiotherapy, they can have a small piece of the ovary removed, then frozen, and then that can be used later when the young girls have recovered. And they may be thinking about the fertility, but that in itself brings problems because you cannot transplant every tissue because some of the tissue may contain cells that, when they’re re-transplanted, could cause the cancer again. So they have no other options to restore the fertility. And if we develop this system where it was safe and the eggs were normal, then you could grow these eggs in the lab and then get them to a stage of maturity. If they are ready, they could have them fertilized and form embryos. And then the embryos could be stored, and they could be re-implanted when the woman was ready to have that done.

CO: Can you just explain what it is you did? You working with where you were working with immature eggs, is that right?

ET: So how it works is that we were working with pieces of ovarian tissue. So in our system, what we're doing is we're taking this piece of tissue, which contains many immature eggs, and we're getting them to start to grow, and then we're putting them into different culture systems to support their development at various stages. And then getting them to the point where they would be at the time of ovulation. So what we would refer to as a “mature egg”.

CO: So the eggs you have worked with are immature eggs, but in a mature woman — a woman who is able to conceive. What would be the benefits say for example children, girls, who are haven't developed mature eggs, who still have immature ovaries, who have cancer?

ET: Well, that’s exactly what we're doing. So we've also been working with pieces of ovaries from pre-pubescent girls. And we get those ovaries through the fertility preservation clinic. So in fertility preservation, many young girls will come through, and they will have pieces of their ovary removed and stored for later use. And the consent and their parents’ consent for us to use a small piece for research. So we've had the opportunity — were very privileged to have the opportunity — to have looked at tissue from very young girls — as early as you know at 2-years-old, and up to you know around puberty. And what we find is that we can use a very similar system, but the process seems to take longer when we use tissue from pre-pubertal girls. So there are differences that we need to work out, and we need to support both types of tissue, like the tissue from mature women, and the tissue from younger girls as well. But essentially the system is very, very similar.

CO: And presumably, what you would want to do — I mean there is the study of human egg development that's important, but in a practical application, you want to help women to conceive. How do you know the eggs can be fertilised?

ET: No, we don't know that. And this work is, of course, you know the first step towards that. So what we've been able to show is that the eggs can get to the stage of maturity, which is when they start to undergo the first step in meiosis, which is what you see at the time of ovulation. And that's significant. The next step for us is to improve the numbers that we can get, improve their quality, and then test whether they can be fertilised, and if we can form embryos. And then to do some detailed genetic and molecular testing of those embryos.

CO: What are the possibilities of this actually working? That you're going to be able to provide this for women, for girls who want to preserve eggs or to be able to develop eggs? What's your success rate at this point, and when you might be able to actually apply it?

ET: Well, I think you know I would never make predictions about when this could reach that stage because the main concern is to really test the whole process. And it would never go into clinical application unless it was shown that this was a safe and reliable technique. And, of course, we're not that stage at the moment, but that's what we're working towards to make improvements. But even if it doesn't get to clinical application in my lifetime, I mean it will still provide a lot of information that will ultimately help people who have fertility problems, because at the moment, we know so little about the process of human egg development, and particularly what controls it. And here we have a system that we can actually find out more about that process, which will help in development of all the treatments.

CO: All right we will leave it there. Professor Telfer, thank you.

ET: OK, thank you.

JD: Evelyn Telfer is a professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. And that is where we reached her.

Hollywood sign

JD: The Mona Lisa: great painting, so many people in front of it. At the Louvre, you can hardly take a selfie with it — not a good one anyway. Solution: make another Mona Lisa, suddenly, twice the masterpieces, half as many people in front of each! The Great Sphinx: singular achievement in sculpture, sure, but always surrounded by tourists. So what if it wasn't singular, but doubular? Then everyone could enjoy it. Plus you could give the new one a nose, and make it better than that busted-up old one. Those are obviously excellent ideas, but I can't take more than really 95 per cent of the credit. The rest goes to the transportation consulting firm that just submitted an analysis to a committee of the Los Angeles City Council — the committee responsible for the city's legendary "Hollywood" sign. The Hollywood sign is on Mount Lee; it’s a symbol, but it's a problem. There are hordes of tourists, access is limited, visitor facilities are inadequate, and so the consulting firm put forward 29 recommendations about how to improve things for residents and out-of-towners. There are some pretty dull ones in there: make more bathrooms, fix the sidewalks, yada, yada, yada. But there's also an awesome one: build another sign, on the other side of Mount Lee. It's just a proposal. But I say, "I do." I mean, sure, yes, there are some people who might find the idea of just replicating the real sign silly — because the whole point of seeing the original is that it's the original. But, I want the people who made this recommendation to know they've been heard. And I say, "Copy that."

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Part three: Wheelchair train death, Florida Shooting: Football coach

Iran interview

HOST TWO: A lot of Americans might take offense to that — you're an American.

HK: I am.

HOST TWO: You don't sound like an American when you say that, you know what I mean?

HK: That’s because I’ve read, you know? And I think that it's really important that we look beyond sort of these really simple narratives that we're told, whether it's about Muslim women, whether it's about the legacy of this country, and knowing that this country literally was built on the backs of black slaves, and after the genocide of Indigenous people. And I think there's a lot that we can be proud about, but I think that we shouldn't let that sort of blindside us for the realities of the situation.

JD: That was Iranian-American fashion blogger Hoda Katebi, being interviewed yesterday on Chicago's WGN TV. After that exchange, the hosts rather quickly changed the subject back to Ms. Katebi's fashion blog, JooJoo Azad. The clip of Ms. Katebi being told she, quote, "didn't sound like an American" went viral. And this morning, Ms. Katebi tweeted to say she had received a personal apology from the program's co-host, Robin Baumgarten. Ms. Katebi said she accepted the apology, and then suggested a follow-up interview to discuss what happened, and then to talk about American imperialism. She said they're going to get back to her on that.

[Music: Indie]

Wheelchair train death

Guest: Diane Harel

JD: It was around 2:00 o’clock in the morning when Stephen Harel's wheelchair got stuck at a railway crossing in Moncton. He couldn't get free. And so, he was trapped there. And he was struck and killed by a freight train. That was in 2016. Today, the Transportation Safety Board released its report into his death. Diane Harel is Stephen Harel's mother. We reached her in Moncton.

CO: Diane, first of all, I'm sorry for the loss of your son.

DIANE HAREL: Thank you.

CO: How are you reacting to this Transportation Safety Board report?

DH: Well, it's been a little bit hard on us, but we're doing good. And my husband, we went to meet with the transportation board. We had a private meeting with them, and then they discussed their report that was going to come out today, and we were very happy with the report — very happy with the results, so yeah.

CO: And what does the report say? Or what led to your son's death?

DH: Well, his wheelchair back wheels got stuck on the train tracks that wasn’t very well-maintained. So that's what happened: he got stuck, and he couldn't move his chair forward or backward. He was stuck. So we don't know how long he was there. But that's why we decided to go forward to push more for them to fix it because it's been a year and seven months, and there's not much that has been done.

CO: It still hasn't been repaired, even the place where your son's wheelchair got stuck.

DH: They fixed it a little bit. They put a wide rubber on the track, so that if like a wheelchair goes by, it can easily get by a little bit better. But we went this morning, and it still needs a lot of fixing. ut who's going to fix it? We haven't got any answers yet.

CO: Before your son's death, that crossing had been repaired by a contractor to CN, and they put new asphalt down. But apparently, this is according to the report, the surface was uneven, and there were no sidewalk lines. And all this was not corrected, even afterwards. So what did the wheel get stuck in? What do you know?

DH: The track. So yes, he was passing the track, and the back wheels got stuck, and he couldn't get out.

CO: Just awful. And the train was not able to stop as it came through?

DH: No, that's what they told us. They just saw light, like he had lights on his chair, and by the time they saw the light and they want it to stop, they couldn't.

CO: Just a horrible tragedy.

DH: It is. It is a horrible tragedy, and like we're still in contact with all of his friends — lots of his friends. And they keep telling us they still have a hard time going by the tracks, passing, and that's a daily thing for them; they live not far from the tracks. And so every single day, if they want to go out, they have to pass the track. Some of them still get stuck. You have to do a whole circle if you want to pass the track. You know into the distance to go if you want to avoid passing the track.

CO: Especially if you're in a wheelchair.

DH: Especially in a wheelchair, or anything, you know? A baby stroller, pedestrian, you know anything can happen to anyone. All we want somebody to do is we don’t know if it’s the City of Moncton that needs to fix it, or if it's CN Railway that needs to fix it. Everybody is like tossing the ball at each other. So who's gonna fix it, we don't know yet?

CO: Back to the report, as you point out, blame is not laid. But they do they do reveal that there didn't seem to be any necessity for CN or the City of Moncton was not required to do a post-work inspection. After that the repairs were done that left that void that ended up being where your son's wheelchair casters got stuck.

DH: Yeah, yeah, there was a lot of I don't know how to say it? But if you do maintenance, go check back your work after you've done it, you know? Maybe after a few months or something like that, maybe they did some work on it, but it was maintained?

CO: I know you and your husband are suing CN and the City of Moncton. Do you think this report will help your case?

DH: My lawyer would be best to answer those questions. But yeah, our main goal is to get the message out. You know after we lost our son, Stephen, but we don't want to lose anybody else, like some of his friends. We talk to his friends like weekly. Every time we talk to them, it's like everybody is scared, and everybody is like you know it's not fair for them. All they want to do is live their lives on a daily basis like everybody else. If they want pass the track to go to a doctor's appointment, or do their groceries, they want to be safe. So that's the message we want to send: make sure that everybody is safe to go by on that track. That's our main goal.

CO: How old was Stephen when he died?

DH: He was 29. Yeah, he was too young, and he was so full of life. He loved life, and he was such a sociable person. He loves everybody; everybody loved him. He was really a little sociable person. So yeah, it is such a big loss. But we deal with it every day, and we're never going to forget this like never. But we've been going on with our lives. We have to, and we still have two other sons. And we keep together, and that's the best way we can deal with it, I guess? Once in a while, we talk about Stephen, we laugh, we cry, you know he's gone, but we're never going to forget him, like never.

CO: Diane, I appreciate you talking to us. And I'm glad you're getting some answers about what happened to your son.

DH: Well, thank you very much. I hope we do get some answers, but we'll stop until something really good is being done.

CO: Thank you so much.

DH: You're welcome. Thank you. Bye bye.

JD: We reached Diane Harel in Moncton.

[Music: Guitar]

New Brunswick transmitter guy

JD: Bill Steele likes to collect things. But Bill Steele isn't in to old coins, or hockey cards. Bill Steele thinks bigger. Last year, he bought an old jail in Dorchester, New Brunswick. And this year, he's got his hands on another rare piece of Canadian history: a massive 1940s shortwave transmitter. The Radio Canada International transmitter was installed near the end of World War Two. It was used until the 1970s, broadcasting Canada's stories to the world. Eventually, it became a showpiece. And now, it's once again: Mr. Steele will show it off inside his old jail, which also, indecently, serves as a bed and breakfast. Bill Steele spoke with CBC New Brunswick's Tori Weldon about why he bought his newest object of affection.

SOUNDCLIP

BILL STEELE: Well, I thought it was interesting. I love weird and unusual stuff — that's why I bought the jail. So and this is something I think that should be staying in Canada. You know I took some money out of my retirement too to purchase it; I thought it was unique. I looked at the history of it online, and oh goodness! There is you know Canadian Army newsreel number 67 is all about that transmitter, and William Lyon Mackenzie was the first one to broadcast to our soldiers that were overseas, and on the sea. So anyways, huge history behind it; how could you not save something like that? So I stepped up.

TORI WELDON: Visually, when you look at, like what sort of sold you on it when you saw it?

BS: When I first seen it, it was the big, huge, Frankenstein-looking bulbs that were in there. It’s like oh my god, this is like something you see on TV! I expected like a Tesla spark to be flying over top of it. It was incredible, and I looked at the art deco look at the front of it. And just the rich history that went through those bulbs, you know? The information; the way it conveyed information. It’s an incredible bit of history. Like unless you actually go up and look at it visually up close, it's remarkable when you come up close — it's incredible.

JD: That was Bill Steele, in conversation with our colleague down in New Brunswick, Tori Weldon. Bill Steele recently purchased a massive 1940s shortwave transmitter.

[Music: Country]

Winnipeg window cleaner

JD: He has a mop and bucket, and Tristan Derksen also has a certain je ne sais quoi. Mr. Derksen is a cleaner at the Kildonan Place shopping mall in Winnipeg. And while the 20-year-old performs his duties, he also just straight-up performs — singing a wide range of classics, from Elvis to Sinatra to opera. Here's something operatic from his repertoire.

SOUNDCLIP

[Sound: Tristan singing opera]

JD: And when Mr. Derksen sings, people tend to videotape him. Recently, someone posted a video of him singing on the job on Facebook. And in a matter of days, it's gone viral. Tristan Derksen spoke to CBC Manitoba's Aidan Geary about what inspired him to start singing.

SOUNDCLIP

TRISTAN DERKSEN: Basically, the story behind how I started singing was just watching a movie with my girlfriend; my number one supporter. And it was The Conjuring Two, and in one of the scenes, there's a part where one of the lead roles he sings Elvis Presley's “Can't Help Falling in Love”. And he sings it in just the lower register than the original by Elvis. And so I thought to myself that I could go ahead and do that.

JD: Tristan Derksen — the singing mall cleaner — speaking with CBC Manitoba's Aidan Geary.

[Music: Classic rock]

Florida shooting: Footbal coach

Guest: Willis May Jr.

JD: The Staff and students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, had long prepared for the possibility of a school shooting. And everyone knew that if a Code Red was called over the intercom, it meant an active shooter. So when the real thing happened yesterday, the school sprang into action, including the football team's assistant coach, Aaron Feis, and the school's athletic director, Chris Hixon. Both tried to shield students from the shooter. Both were among the 17 people killed. Willis May Jr. is the head coach of the school's football team. We reached him in Parkland.

CO: Coach May, first of all, I'm sorry for your loss.

WILLIS MAY JR: Thank you.

CO: When did you first realize that something was terribly wrong yesterday at your school?

WM: About 2:35, when we heard the first gunshot, somebody come on the radio. You know we have walkie talkie radios that maybe 12 people in the building have them. I heard somebody say was that a firecracker? And then when my assistant coaches come and said that wasn’t no firecracker. Not long after that, the alarm went off, the fire drill went off, and we knew that something was wrong.

CO: And could you see what was going on? Could you see the gunman anywhere?

WM: No, I was in the 600 building, which is where my office is; it had occurred in the 1200 building. So no, we didn't know really what was going on. We had a fire drill you know in the morning. Usually, we don't have two a day. We've been working real hard on being prepared for a situation like this as far as our administration, our staff, you know the county. In my 25 years of teaching, this was a year where we've worked harder than any year on that. So it was kind of weird to have a second fire drill in a day. Not long after the fire drill went off, a short period of time maybe a minute, our administrator came on and said we were in a Code Red. He screamed that three times: We’re in a Code Red; it’s Code Red. And then that means we're in lockdown, and that's when everything got really scary.

CO: Where you with some of the students?

WM: I had four of my football players with two college coaches in my office.

CO: But we saw so many kids leaving. Were you not able to get out with your students?

WM: Once they knew that the kid — the gunman — was gone, one time the SWAT team came in and took classroom out at a time. They eventually got us, and got us out. But it was a very scary situation.

CO: I understand there were two men at your school: the assistant coach of your football team, Aaron Feis, and the school's athletic director, Chris Hixon, and they were both killed. I’m so sorry, Coach May.

WM: Two outstanding men. Aaron Feis had graduated at Stoneman Douglas; he had been an assistant coach there ever since he graduated. He was a great family man; our kids loved and respected him. I have a bunch of players who have played for us over the last six years just in tears, and crying, and upset. You know they can't believe that Coach Feis is no longer with us. He was a very kind-hearted man, and a big, old teddy bear.

CO: And what we've heard is that he was trying to help the students. What have you heard about those final moments?

WM: The same thing. I’ve had a couple of football players tell me that he jumped in front of a girl. He moved her behind him, and as he moved her behind him to get in position to get toward the gunman, he got shot in the process. Him being a hero is by no means surprising to me. Him and Coah Hixon — who's another security guard — our athletic director, they were heroes every day. Because every time we'd have something in the school, they’re the first ones on the scene. And if it's a fight, they’re the first one there, and they’d break it up. They didn't think about risk or injury; they’d just jump in and do their job, and they were awesome men for that reason.

CO: You mentioned about how prepared everybody was, and that you had all these drills.

WM: We were really prepared; our staff did a wonderful job. Our school was locked down, and it's almost impossible to go from one place to another with locked doors. It was just it was just crazy how fast it happened, and how quick, he understood the lay of the school a little bit — when he came in was just a perfect time to come in, I guess. And it’s just sad.

CO: The shooter you mean, yeah.

WM: He pulled the fire alarm, which drew kids out to him. And I guess that's what he wanted to do.

CO: you mention about how prepared you were, and that there was all these drills, and the kids knew them so that they were ready for a shooting. Did you ever question why kids have to be at school, ready at any moment for a shooter?

WM: That’s the world we live in. I don't know why that is, you know? It’s just terrible times we live in.

CO: At the same time, you know there is someone reporting today that the security equipment in schools is the biggest part of the safety equipment industry in the United States at two-and-a-half-billion dollars spent on trying to make schools more safe with bulletproof aspects, and security training for schools. What does that tell you that the education system is spending billions of dollars trying to protect kids from shooters?

WM: You know I don’t really want to get involved in that. It breaks my heart to see my coach's wife and daughter be without you know without him. He loved his family; Coch Hixon loved his family. And I just grieve for our kids that don't get to see him every day. I'm sad for myself because I don't get to see him every day. I don't know what to say about it. This world needs Jesus.

CO: What do you think will be the lasting effect on your school from this?

WM: I don't know. Hopefully, we'll get stronger from it. Hopefully, come together, and we're able to care for one another a little bit more; love one another little bit more, because we've all been through a horrific thing together. Maybe we can have a little bit of common ground and decency toward one another.

CO: Coach May, I hope that's the case, and that comes out of it. I appreciate that you would speak with us today. Thank you.

WM: Thank you.

JD: Willis May Jr. is the head coach of the football team at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High. We reached him in Parkland.

[Music: Spanish guitar]

Moose trucker

JD: They are the majestic kings of the forest, the tallest mammals to walk this land. But sometimes, even moose need a helping hand. Luckily, Wayne Rowley has two of them. Mr. Rowley drives a logging truck, and last week, he was on a run, not far from his home base in Vanderhoof, British Columbia. He told CBC Vancouver what happened.

SOUNDCLIP

WAYNE ROWLEY: On Thursday morning, I was heading out to work on the forest service road out of Vanderhoof. I got about 96-kilometre on there, and I just kind of come around the corner, and I seen something weird sticking out of a snow bank. I'm wasn’t quite sure what it was because we had like two-and-a-half feet of snow. I backed up to have a look, and there is this little moose upside down. I went down and checked to see if he was still alive, and as soon as I got close to go to touch him, he lifted his head a little bit. I said oh, you’re still alive. I just went and crabbed my shovel and did what I could. They will kick you and bite you, even though they are restrained like that. I just dug down right beside him, and left a little barrier. And then I just took the shovel and broke the barrier, and then put a rope around his neck with a hook on it. So when he does come free, we can just make it go loose and unhook him.A guy that was ahead of me never even seen him in the ditch. But he came back to help me give him a tug. Once we got him up on his feet, he just climbed right there on the road, and down the road he went. Poor little moose there with all that snow that’s pretty tough slugging for them.

JD: That was Wayne Rowley of Vanderhoof, British Columbia, speaking to CBC Radio Vancouver.

[Music: Ambient rock]

Bitcoin mining

JD: Communicating with extra-terrestrials is tricky. We don’t have their contact information. And while a lot of Twitter users don’t seem to be human, we don’t know for sure any of them are actual ETs. And so we have to monitor as much of our solar system as possible, to see if anyone is out there, talking to us. And to answer the crucial questions: Are we alone? Is there anybody out there? For most earthlings though there are different crucial questions: Am I rich? Am I richer now? And to get the answers they want, these earthlings are buying up the stuff scientist need to get the answers they want. Researchers with the SETI Institute — SETI is an acronym for "Search for Extra-Terrestrial intelligence — need to keep their ears on every possible frequency, to find any possible alien messages. So they need super-powerful computers, and as many Graphic Processing Units — or GPUs — as possible. GPUs, as I've known for forty-five minutes now, are processors that help render images and do math at phenomenal speeds. Not that long ago, they were mostly bought by scientists and by people building fancy gaming units. Now, everyone wants them. Because their ability to do fast, complex mathematical calculations makes them ideal for mining crypto-currencies — like Bitcoin. So the price of the units has skyrocketed. And the availability of GPUs has plummeted. SETI researcher Dan Werthimer told the BBC, "We've got the money, we've contacted the vendors, and they say, 'We just don't have them'." Well, come on, people. When we buy these things just to be able to buy more things, science can't compute, and that does not compute.

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February 15, 2018 episode transcript

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