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The AIH Transcript for February 25, 2019

Hosts: Carol Off and Karen Gordon

Prologue

CAROL OFF: Hello I'm Carol Off.

KAREN GORDON: Good evening. I'm Karen Gordon, sitting in for Jeff Douglas. This is As It Happens.

[Music: Theme]

KG: Tonight...

CO: Defeat him -- but don't depose him. A former U.S. ambassador to Latin America tells us that some people in Donald Trump's circle want to go into Venezuela guns blazing -- he says that would be a disaster.

KG: Church disservice. At the Vatican's conference on sexual abuse by priests, some Catholic hardliners blamed homosexuality -- but an advocate for the rights of LGBTQ Catholics says he's seeing progress on homophobia in the church.

CO: Black and white and read the riot act all over. In the outcry after her boss wrote an editorial urging the KKK to ride again, Elecia Dexter considers quitting her job at an Alabama newspaper -- instead, she's the new editor.

KG: Trial by fire. Yesterday, a lobster plant in a New Brunswick village went up in flames -- and tonight, the mayor tells us where his community goes after the loss of one of its main employers.

CO: Statuette of limitations. When "Green Book" won Best Picture, our guests saw red --because she's been collecting evidence that proves its happy message about race relations hides America's true colours.

KG: And never the twins shall meet. A Kim Jong Un impersonator named "Howard X" is booted out of Vietnam before the North Korean leader arrives for his summit with Trump -- and he tells us that's an unfortunate double standard. As It Happens. The Monday Edition. Radio that guesses -- for a guy with that kind of resemblance -- it's easy Kim, easy go.

[Music: Theme]

Part 1: Black colleague replaces Ala. newspaper editor who called for KKK to 'ride again'

Venezuela U.S. aid

Guest: John Feeley

KG: Today in Bogota, the message from U.S. Vice President Mike Pence was crystal clear: Maduro must go. But just how to accomplish that goal is anyone's guess. Mr. Pence was in Colombia's capital alongside of Juan Guaido -- the Venezuelan opposition leader many nations have recognized as the interim president. They were urging the Lima Group to take a tougher stance in ousting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The meeting comes after a violent weekend at Venezuela's borders to Colombia and Brazil. Military forces loyal to President Maduro fired tear gas and rubber bullets at the protesters, and blocked aid convoys. Today, Vice President Pence stopped short of proposing the use of force to oust President Maduro. But John Feeley says there are other more hawkish elements in the GOP who see it differently. John Feeley is the former U.S. Ambassador to Panama. He quit last year, citing differences with President Trump. We reached him in Miami.

CO: Mr. Feeley if you had the ear of the White House, what would you be advising as to how to proceed with Venezuela right now?

JOHN FEELEY: I would tell them to keep doing more or less exactly what they are doing. Vice President Pence arrived in Bogota today -- met with the Lima group, sat right next to Jaun Guaido, and gave the most unequivocal strong signal of the United States support for the legitimate government in Venezuela. The only thing I might change, just a little bit, because I might try to reel in Senator Marco Rubio from Florida. He has been tweeting very aggressively about the use of, or potential use of, American military force in resolving the situation between the forces of Nicolas Maduro and the de facto regime and the legitimate president. I don't think that helps U.S. diplomacy with the neighbours or with the Venezuelan opposition.

CO: But now you do not have the ear the White House since you resigned -- and Marco Rubio might have it. What concerns do you have that that view has an influence over President Donald Trump?

JF: I have two concerns. Number one is institutional. It is not unless a War Powers Resolution is brought to the United States legislative branch. It is not up to the legislative branch to decide whether to employ U.S. military force. That is the product of the executive and the commander-in-chief. Secondly, I am concerned at the propagandistic nature of it. In, where I'm talking to you right now -- from Miami --where you have the largest exiled Venezuelan community. And there are a lot of Venezuelans here in Miami who would love nothing more than to see a military invasion by the United States of Caracas, and a takedown of Nicolas Maduro in the same way that you saw U.S. forces depose Manuel Noriega in Panama '89. Unfortunately for them, that is simply not going to happen without an Iraq style scenario. And I have to say, I do not believe that if we were to repeat the mistake of Iraq where we could militarily topple Maduro in a matter of days -- I don't believe that the 15 years since in Iraq indicates that we would have anything different in Venezuela.

CO: Lots of people would support you in that. But we're still hearing President Trump saying for instance -- the twilight hour of socialism has arrived in the Western Hemisphere, and is raising hopes for some kind of military intervention. Others have, like you mentioned Mr. Rubio, who have hinted that the time has come for some kind of military intervention. Do you think it's possible that that is the direction the United States will take in Venezuela?

JF: Well the first thing I have to say is the twilight of socialism was a rather poetic formulation -- I'm rather proud of the president for that, and I don't find myself in that position very often. Look, socialism is not the issue here. Communism is not the issue here. Nicolas Maduro is no more a socialist than Donald Trump is a Bernie Sanders supporter. He is a good old fashioned autocrat. He acted exactly in the same way that a thug like Vladimir Putin -- who I suppose you might argue is still a communist but Donald Trump doesn't seem bothered by that -- works in Russia. The point here is that the sacking of a country for personal gain by any leader is unconscionable and intolerable. That's what plays among his base. And so I don't imagine that the president will stop saying that anytime soon.

CO: I want to ask you about this past weekend including Friday when we saw aid convoys, with aid from United States, brought to the border -- that turned into the authorities firing on people. People were killed and badly wounded. And the aid did not cross the border from either Colombia or from Brazil. A lot of people have criticized that entire convoy, that entire effort, to cross the border with that aid as to have been using the aid as a political tool or even a weapon. How would you respond to that?

JF: Well I'd respectfully take issue with that. Look the aid is exactly what it purports to be. It is aid -- it is medical kits. It is vitamin kits. This is what we would bring in to tend to people in a natural disaster. In Venezuela you have a slow motion-20 year-manmade disaster. But the needs are the same. The human needs are the same. A second level, undeniably, is to support Juan Guaido. This is a man who has a constitutional basis for his interim presidency. He's obviously not just one man. He represents a movement. But he represents a movement that's been purposefully fractured, purposefully infiltrated, by Maduro -- and Chavez before him. And this is the first time the opposition has had a constitutional basis upon which to stake its claim to legitimate leadership in Venezuela and declare Nicolas Maduro the usurper, the illegitimate president -- as we've seen the rhetoric. Well they need to have something to go to the Venezuelan people with. They need, and they've asked for -- the United States and the 14 countries of the Lima Group responded with that humanitarian aid -- because to do nothing is to condemn those people to continuing death sentence -- is that your strategy? Or would you prefer, as Marco Rubio apparently does, armed military intervention?

CO: You say that Mr. Guaido had to have something to offer -- he had to bring something in, and the aid is needed. The strategy was that once he had something to offer, once he was going to position himself in that way, that what is key to this successful Lima Group is that you see the military go over to the other side to support Mr. Guaido -- to leave the military that supports Maduro. We didn't see that happen. So is there a plan b? Because that sure didn't work.

JF: Carol let me suggest you didn't see that happen; yet. Stalingrad took over six months. Hue city took two months in Vietnam. This is a battle -- make no bones about it. The difference is one side is unarmed. But no battle plan survives first contact with the embassy as Clausewitz reminds us. You know Mike Tyson puts it a little bit better he says, everybody has got a plan until they get punched in the nose. This is going to take time. And this is what Guaido said today, the humanitarian aid is our strategy -- we have to get it in. Not just to topple, although that is a secondary and ulterior motive, but also because these people are hungry. The only other two options you have are to do nothing, and that's effectively a punch as pilot death sentences for the Venezuelan people. Or to invade -- and I disagree with that for the host of reasons that I mentioned earlier.

CO: Mr. Feeley we will leave it there, and I appreciate speaking with you. Thank you.

JF: A pleasure.

KG: John Feeley is the former U.S. Ambassador to Panama. He resigned last year after citing differences with President Trump. We reached him in Miami.

[Music]

Alabama editor

Guest: Elecia Dexter

KG: Readers of the Democrat-Reporter in Linden, Alabama were outraged by the paper's recent editorial calling on the KKK to quote, "night ride again." And Elecia Dexter heard about it. The racist editorial made headlines around the world. And she worked in the front office of the weekly paper fielding complaints. Ms. Dexter, who is black, was angered too. She was ready to tell her boss, who wrote the editorial, she was quitting. Instead, she walked away from their conversation with a new job title -- editor and publisher. We reached Elecia Dexter in Linden, Alabama.

CO: Elecia what was your first reaction when your boss offered you his job?

ELECIA DEXTER: I was very shocked to say the least. I had prepared to let him know that I'm going to finish a few loose ends, and I'm not going to able to stay here based upon the things that were in the paper. In the midst of us having our morning discussion, that's when he informed me. And so, I did not say, huh!? [Chuckles] And he said that he wanted me to take over. I would have free reign to do what I thought was needed with the paper. He would not be involved. So I was very taken back -- seeing that he and I have been working together now approximately six to eight weeks.

CO: Just to help people understand, why did Goodloe Sutton -- your boss -- why did he step down and hand over the controls to you?

ED: He felt that I could take the paper into a new direction. And he felt that I could help bring subscribers back. And I was very taken back because if you would just look at the words that were used in the article, that would not necessarily have been my logical conclusion on him choosing me.

CO: Okay so when you say you weren't exactly the sort of person -- you are an African-American. And the editorial that got him into this trouble -- he wrote an editorial that said, "Time for the Ku Klux Klan to night ride again and go to Washington" -- "seems like the Klan will be welcome to raid the gated communities up there." What did he say to you about this editorial? Did he apologize? Did he say that he was wrong?

ED: The best way I can answer that Carol is to tell you that Mr. Sutton, for good or for not, is a straight shooter. If he says it, he believes it, and he's not going to back down on what he said. You know even in our discussion we talked about how I'm in total disagreement with this thought. And what I tried to relate to him was that I think you may have a perception of this group and maybe that's your personal experience. I can't take that from you. But, whether you want to believe it or not, historically that group is attached to a lot of hatred, a lot of bad things done to people for no reason but based upon their colour or -- you know if you're Jewish -- based upon your faith. So, using that group to use them as an example of how Washington can clean up, I said, you have to understand the impact for people who have been impacted by the group negatively -- and people of more skin colour have.

CO: That you had to actually explain all this is surprising. But then did he understand what you were saying? How hurtful this was.

ED: He understood what I was saying, but I would not say I changed has this thought process about it. But he understood that we have to agree to disagree that he should have chose a different option.

CO: He has since been interviewed by another paper that asked him about his remarks, and he repeated it all. He said, if we could get the Klan to go up there and clean out D.C. we'd be better off -- we'll get out the hemp ropes, loop them over a tall limb and hang all of them. I mean did he say this after you explained to him how hurtful this was?

ED: He didn't say it to me. But I knew that he's the person that stands by what he says. And if that's what he feels, and that's what he thinks, he is going to stick with it.

CO: But Elecia, how can you work for him? This is a family paper. It's been in his family for decades. He wants the paper to continue, but he knows he can't sit in that chair anymore because of the reaction he's had. Why would you help him?

ED: What I thought about was my dad's side of the family is from this area. I thought about some of the people that have talked to me with concerns of how this community has been portrayed historically with different things in relation to his platform of a newspaper. So I looked at it and said, do I let the things that occurred define? And then there's no healing with this community and the surrounding community. So I felt that it was a way that I could take a platform, turn it into a positive direction, build a rapport, hopefully, and trust in this community so that I can reflect what is important to them. What is important to them is their family. They look out for one another. Someone you know doesn't have something or someone thinks that somebody is going to stop by somebodies house or they're going cut someone's mother's grass. So hopefully the community will be proud of the paper and feel like it is everybody's paper. I have been given an opportunity to change the outcome from that article.

CO: Wow. I admire your strength and courage to do that.

ED: Well thank you. Thank you. You know it is still quite surreal. I even told him -- I said, I want to tell you that despite our disagreements concerning what you wrote -- and as I learn more things that you wrote historically, this paper has been in your family for a 100 plus years, it does take me back that despite everything that was out there you show someone you don't technically really know to move the paper forward and change the [inaudible], carry it on, and also take it in a completely different direction.

CO: Just finally, I mean this is not the first time that there has been an editorial like this in the paper's history of it or the legacy of it. But you've offered your former boss, the man who has given you this job, you've offered him a chance to write a piece in the next issue of the paper. Are you concerned about what he might say?

ED: No. I have to approve it before it goes. [Chuckles] I have to 'okay' an article so he knows that he's writing it but I have to approve it. So it's not him solo. I told him exactly the frame we already know what you've done -- I said but I think you need to take a step back and really relay what this has meant to your family. You told me that you use to come up here with your father as a kid and help with the paper together -- that's why I want the focus of your story to be about -- what the paper has meant to you, what it has meant for your family. I said, and that's what I want your last hurrah to be.

CO: Elecia I think you're going to be a good editor.

ED: Oh my gosh. Thank you. I appreciate it. Please keep sending positive energy and prayers my way. I hope that I can make the people of this community proud. And you know my dad is in heaven, I hope he's smiling down.

CO: Elecia it's great to talk to you. Thank you.

ED: Oh me too. Take care Carol. I appreciate your time.

KG: Elecia Dexter is the newly appointed editor of the Democrat-Reporter in Linden, Alabama. And that's where we reached her. If you want to share that interview, it's up on our website: cbc.ca/aih.

[Music]

Fake Kim Jong-un

Guest: Howard X

KG: There's only room for one Kim Jong-un in Vietnam. That was the message authorities there seemed to be sending, anyway, when they deported an Australian impersonator of the North Korean leader earlier today. As the real Kim made his way to Hanoi by train for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, the fake Kim -- who goes by the name "Howard X" -- was put on a plane to Singapore. Which is where we reached him.

CO: Howard what were you doing that led the Vietnamese government to deport you?

HOWARD X: Well my crime was looking like the leader of the North Korean regime. That's my real crime.

CO: But not coincidentally that you look like Kim Jong-un.

HOWARD X: I'm a professional impersonator since 2013. And basically my impersonation was the crime that got me kicked out of the country. Now I went over to Vietnam, Hanoi, to team up with a Canadian called Russell White -- he's a Trump impersonator. He actually looks like Trump. And we held a press conference at the same hotel where Kim Jong-un was going to be staying. When we went there over 50 journalists turned up from around the world, including the local ones. And after that went viral, the police came after us. We were at a station to do an interview -- and they found out where we were, and they vaguely interrogated us.

CO: This is both you and Russell White -- this Canadian man who does a Trump imitation as you're doing a Kim Jong-un one. The two of you have been working together...

HOWARD X: Yes we were allowed to go after being forced to promise them that we would not appear in public together as impersonators whilst our case was being decided by their bosses.

CO: But then how did it come to be that you were kicked out of the country?

HOWARD X: Well their bosses decided that I had to go. On Saturday they came again and told me that you need to leave on Monday 25th. And they told Russell the same thing. But by 6:00 on the same day, on Saturday, they told Russell that he could stay but I had to go.

CO: Was it clear to you though that you were being deported because of your Kim Jong-un impersonation?

HOWARD X: That's exactly what I've been deported for. What I've heard through the grapevine was that the North Koreans actually requested the Vietnamese government to do something about me because they were not happy. When I did that stunt -- that media interview -- it was right outside the hotel where Kim Jong was going to be staying as I said, and also opposite where all the North Korean officials were staying. So they could see the whole thing from their window. And they do not have a sense of humour. They don't know what satire is.

CO: It is not the first time -- in Vietnam -- you did this impersonation. You were at the Olympics in South Korea. And again you had somebody working with you there who was doing a Trump impersonation. But they let you stay. You were in the stands. You walked around. And were you given any grief impersonating Kim Jong-un when you were in South Korea?

HOWARD X: The South Koreans absolutely loved it. And the police, the South Korean police, were very professional. I wasn't breaking any laws. And they did not actually you know throw me out of the country like Vietnam is doing. Now, South Korea is a democracy, and their freedom of speech is something they fought you know decades for because it used to be a dictatorship. And it is evidence that all dictatorships have no sense of humour. And I got detained in Singapore when I did this as well -- but they were a little bit more subtle and less heavy handed than the Vietnamese. But the Vietnamese is you know is a so-called communist regime, and they don't care what other people think so they just threw me out of the country.

CO: Why do you do it?

HOWARD X: I love taking the piss out of the North Koreans. You know having the face of the Dear Leader gives me the power to really shine a light on all the horrible things that are happening there. And by doing it through humour it's much more acceptable. And for the average person, they are not going to read about the concentration camps that are happening in North Korea. But they are going to get informed through me and my impersonation that this regime is really horrible. It's been published through the U.N. -- it's the worst human rights abuser in the world. And I think it really needs to be drawn attention to that.

CO: There are others who have done this, and they have come to grief too. I'm thinking of Seth Rogen doing the movie "The Interview" -- the parody that is in there of Kim Jong-un. And The Onion did one on the sexiest man alive -- very funny as well. But Kim Jong-un -- the North Koreans come down pretty heavily on anyone trying to do this. Where do you find that they have their most influence in trying to stop you from your impersonations?

HOWARD X: Well what they don't realize is that whenever they try to stop people from poking fun at the regime is that it always backfires. Seth Rogen, you know he makes what I call stoner movies. If North Korea had never acted and hacked Sony and you know put out a threat that they were going to blow up any cinema that was going to be showing it (The Interview) in America. You know this could have been you know probably just break even maybe at the box office but it managed to make it actually a profit. When the North Koreans actually hacked Sony and told them that this film was an insult to our nation and the cinemas pulled it, it had the opposite effect and everybody wanted to watch it.

CO: Do you think that there will be more attempts to imitate Kim Jong-un in the days coming up to this summit or do you think that the authorities have sent the message that you can't make fun of the Dear Leader?

HOWARD X: I'm going to keep continue taking the piss out of the North Koreans. And I hope anybody that wants to highlight what these abuses are in North Korea -- this is the time to speak out now because all the focus is on North Korea.

CO: Howard it's good to talk to you thanks.

HOWARD X: Okay thanks.

KG: Howard X is an impersonator of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. We reached him in Singapore. If you want to see him and his Donald Trump impersonating friend head to our website: cbc.ca/aih.

[Music]

Mark Hollis

KG: He started out making perfect synth-pop songs. Progressed to making music that defied easy classification -- or easy listening. And then, he disappeared. According to reports, Mark Hollis -- the mastermind behind the British band Talk Talk -- has died. He was 64 years old. Talk Talk formed in London in 1981. And their early albums were the kind of keyboard-driven new wave that became as synonymous with the '80s as teased hair or shoulder pads. But later that decade, Talk Talk's music changed completely. It's awkwardly classified as "post rock" -- a complex combination of jazz, ambient, psychedelic, and rock. The last two albums the band made before splitting -- "Spirit of Eden" and "Laughing Stock" -- are both considered masterpieces. After that breakup, Mr. Hollis made only one more album, released in 1998 -- a hushed, intimate, self-titled album. And that was it. His music had become quieter and quieter, and then he fell silent altogether.

[Music]

Part 2: A lobster plant in a New Brunswick village went up in flames

Vatican conference

Guest: Francis DeBernardo

KG: Yesterday, the Vatican's unprecedented conference on sexual abuse by priests came to an end -- but not a resolution. Many abuse survivors are leaving Rome disappointed. And a number of senior bishops made it clear that they don't believe the Catholic Church is the problem. They think homosexuality is. But hardline conservatives did get some pushback from their fellow prelates. Francis DeBernardo is the executive director of New Ways Ministry -- an organization which fights for the acceptance of LGBTQ individuals in the Catholic Church. We reached Francis DeBernardo in Rome.

CO: Mr. DeBernardo are you leaving Rome feeling that something was accomplished?

FRANCIS DEBERNARDO: Well I came to Rome to focus on the issue of the scapegoating of gay priests in the clergy sex abuse crisis. And I'm leaving Rome very encouraged that the high levels of the Vatican seem to discount the idea that gay priests are the problem in the sex abuse crisis.

CO: There were a lot of clergy at the conference who insisted that that was missing from the agenda. That is what should have been the main theme which is what they call the gay culture in the Vatican, the gay culture in the priesthood -- and that's the root of the problem with the sexual abuse. What did you hear at the conference from those people?

FD: Well there were some bishops who wanted a discussion of the topic of gay priests. But I think they were in the minority. The topic did not come up in any of official presentations. It did not come up in any of the written documents that were sent to people. And I think we also have to remember that this was a global meeting, and so a number of the bishops were from countries where they don't have an understanding of homosexuality as a naturally occurring way of being in the world -- so they're operating under ideas about homosexuality that are you know in the western world 40 or 50 years old at least.

CO: There were bishops from Africa, Asia, Latin America, who were saying that the failure to connect homosexuality to the sexual abuse is a [inaudible] -- the Vatican is ignoring this -- that's the claim they made. But we also hear from a number of prelates from the United States and from Europe -- I'm thinking of this letter that an American cardinal and a German cardinal published together talking about a conspiracy of silence about the plague of the homosexual agenda. So it's not exclusively countries from Africa or Asia, it seems to be pretty mainstream as well.

FD: I think that those bishops from U.S. and from Europe who are saying it, are really on the fringe of the church. That they do not represent the mainstream of Catholic thought and even Catholic leadership thought. Most of the Catholic bishops in the U.S. recognise and accept the -- 2004 I believe it was -- John Jay College of Criminal Justice report that the bishops had commissioned which said that the idea that homosexuality and pedophilia are linked is rubbish. And other reports have born out the same conclusion. And I think that a lot of the bishops are willing to listen to the scientific evidence in this case. They want to get to the bottom of the sex abuse crisis. So they don't want to be sidetracked by false theories or scapegoating theories. You know what -- what came out at the meeting is that there has to be structural change in the way the church is governed that this is what the problem was in the sex abuse crisis.

CO: And numbers of people, including someone we spoke with last week, have criticized this conference for failing to change that -- and to do more to stop the abuse of children, and to deal with the higher ups who enabled and covered up. But to what degree do you think that these people who are trying to claim that the homosexuals in the church are responsible -- to what extent do they prevent the church from actually grappling with the issue?

FD: Well it becomes a red herring. Even the survivors of sexual abuse here in Rome all of them unanimously said that they do not believe that gay priests are the cause of the problem. But you know I think we think of this as a sexual problem but it really is a governance problem as well. And I think it's sometimes enticing to want to talk about sexuality rather than the more boring topics maybe of governance.

CO: If there are those who can blame it on gays within the church as a way of escaping from that responsibility, do you think that that's part of it?

FD: Right. It's a convenient scapegoat. You know gay people have from time immemorial been tarred with the image that they prey on children. Abuses use opportunity. And you know in the Catholic Church priests are usually supervising male children rather than female children. So the opportunity to abuse a child that just happens to be a male child who are their presence -- this is not about sexual attraction, this is about power. This is about power, and the need to dominate or assert power over other people.

CO: Mr. DeBernardo it's a complex subject, and I think you've explained it well. I appreciate that. Thank you.

FD: Well thank you very much.

KG: Francis DeBernardo is the executive director of the New Ways Ministry. We reached him in Rome.

[Music]

Mark Rutte

KG: You know that old saying: friends don't let friends drive their country into a no-deal Brexit. That was the message Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte had for British Parliament earlier today. Here's what he told the BBC.

SOUNDCLIP

MARK RUTTE: I myself, but also the Netherlands, is one of your best friends you have in the European Union. And the best friends have to be very straight forward. And what you guys are doing, leaving the EU in this time of insecurity in the world, instability around the European Union -- I think is a wrong decision. Given the fact then having a process which might lead to a no-deal -- we are now four weeks before the end date and still the U.K. has not agreed to on a final negotiating position. So we are now sleepwalking into a no-deal scenario. It's absolutely unacceptable. And I think your best friends have to warn you for that. And I think I'm one of your best friends and the is Netherlands is one of your best friends, so we have to be very straightforward. Wake up. This is real. Come to a conclusion, and close the deal.

KG: That was Mark Rutte, prime minister of the Netherlands, speaking to the BBC earlier today.

[Music]

New Brunswick fish plant fire

Guest: Serge Leger

KG: Thick black smoke filled the air over Cap-Pele New Brunswick yesterday. It was the village's biggest employer -- the Cape Bald lobster plant -- going up in flames. It is the second time a plant owned by the company was destroyed by fire this month. Serge Leger is the mayor of Cap-Pele. And that's where we reached him.

CO: Mayor Leger when did you first hear that there was a fire at the plant?

SERGE LEGER: At 10:30 yesterday morning.

CO: And did you go up there and take a look?

SL: Yes I did. Yes. I drove down right away. I was there to watch it burn down. All day. I stayed there all day, so it was quite a disaster for our little village.

CO: There was a number of different communities that sent their firefighters. How many firefighters were out there trying to stop that blaze?

SL: There were seven communities around with fire trucks and there were about 75 firefighters.

CO: And how difficult was it to fight that blaze?

SL: Well it was pretty hard because it started -- it seems like -- in the middle of the building. And by the time they got there, it was already engulfed in flames. So they just controlled the fire and it burned to the ground.

CO: So that was all they could do at that point was just to let it have a controlled burn?

SL: Yeah. A control burn because it was too late. Everything was gone already.

CO: The Cape Bald lobster plant going up in flames -- what does that mean for your community?

SL: It means a total loss. It's the biggest employer of this little village here. Employs about 400-500 seasonal workers. And it's a heartfelt loss because like every member of a family has worked there or has been working there in their lifetime. Like it's either your fisherman, you are going to sell, you've got something associated with Cape Bald Packers.

CO: It was really a centrepiece of the community?

SL: Yes it was. Yeah.

CO: And so a lot of seasonal workers, but how many altogether? How many people were working there?

SL: 400-500.

CO: And any sense of what caused the fire?

SL: Not yet. It is still under investigation.

CO: So what are you saying to the workers?

SL: They're looking to alternatives. There are other places. They will come up with a solution. I'm not quite sure -- I can't say what's going on there.

CO: What do you mean looking for alternatives?

SL: Well there's different plants. There's other lobster plants around. They had another plant, so maybe bring their workers there -- they are going to find work for them.

CO: So the concern is that while there will be lobster and there are people who need to work, there just isn't a plant at this point.

SL: Yeah. But they got a second plant that can convert so much I think. Maybe do some lobster there to help the cause and maybe put two [inaudible] and they are going to look at a different scenario.

CO: But is it the case that another processing plant that the company has in your community was also destroyed by a fire about a month ago?

SL: Yes. But it's not in this community -- it is their neighbours yeah. Like some people lose their job twice because from that plant that burned down a month ago they were all for job in Cap-Pele carefully because they're all the same business. And this one burned down too, so now they lost their job twice in a month. But we're going to raise from this fire and we'll be stronger at the end.

CO: Well how old are these plants?

SL: That one there I would say 70 years old. It was up to par. It was up to code though. It was a really nice plant. They finished it all out -- they did a lot of renovation and all that. And it was a good plant.

CO: But what do you make of the fact that two plants go up in flames so close in time and distance?

SL: I'm not sure honestly. It is still an investigation. I'm not going to speculate anything. We're just looking at the fire right now. The first one was an electrical fire. I guess they assume it was -- I think it were what the investigation said. And so I don't know about this one.

CO: So police are investigating?

SL: Yeah. Fire marshal and the police -- and everything is investigating.

CO: And so any suspicion of foul play?

SL: Not sure. Can't answer that.

CO: Haven't heard anything yet about that?

SL: Nope.

CO: Now the people at the plant -- what are people saying? What are people in Cap-Pele saying about this?

SL: It's a big loss for the community. Everybody's still on their heartbroken side. They're trying to find a solution, but nobody has got the right answer yet.

CO: How are you feeling about it?

SL: Heartbroken for the families, for the employees, for the owners, and for the economy of this whole village that depends on the work and the business. But knowing them -- they were build again, we will be there to support, and we will raise stronger with this.

CO: Can you get some support? Can you get some financial support to rebuild the plant?

SL: That's [inaudible] them. But we already got a few government people that called and are getting on board. So they'll work things out.

CO: When does your lobster season begin?

SL: Well our lobster season will begin in August 9th. But they process early spring. And they process for ten months from all over the place.

CO: So they're bringing in lobster from all the different places...

SL: All the different places from Yarmouth, P.E.I, northern New Brunswick, Maine, Melville Island -- wherever they can find lobster that is what they bring in.

CO: So you've got 500 people who need to find a place to be processing that lobster pretty fast.

SL: Yeah. Yeah they do.

CO: Mayor Leger I'm sorry to hear about what happened in your community, but they sound strong and I appreciate you telling us about this. Thank you.

SL: Not a problem. Thank you very much.

KG: Serge Leger is the mayor of Cap-Pele. That's where we reached him.

[Music]

Mac Wiseman

KG: Mac Wiseman was not a musician who liked to be penned in. He was known as a bluegrass legend. But he loved all kinds of music. And he released more than 60 albums over his seven decade long career. Mac Wiseman died yesterday. He was 93 years old. At an early age, he had expensive tastes. According to The New York Times, at the age of eight or nine he heard a New Year's show on the radio. He said quote, "I liked Bing Crosby and Montana Slim...and it just struck me that I liked one as well as the other." And so it remained. Mr. Wiseman would later record with big bandleaders -- and share a stage with Johnny Cash. Here's Mac Wiseman in 1985 on the CBC Show "Six Days on The Road" speaking with host David Essig.

SOUNDCLIP

DAVE ESSIG: There's a song that I guess people all over Canada and all over North America associate with you, it's called: Bringing Mary Home. It's a song I learned from John Duffey of The Country Gentlemen at about the time he was figuring out the melody to this set of words that someone had sent him. Can you tell us how you came upon the song?

MAC WISEMAN: Well that is really a coincidence when you mentioned the song. I first heard it right here in Toronto. I was working at the Horseshoe Club and The Country Gentlemen were working Vintage Corner where a little folk music plays further up in the city. And after our sets closed on Saturday night. We closed each of our respective places. We got together for a little jam session up the Village Corner. And during the course of the evening these boys said, here's a song we just recorded. And I always collected their ballads, and thought I was quite a collector. But this song just absolutely froze me to death: Bringing Mary Home. Man I had them do it over and over again. Out of respect to them I told them I said, well I'll lay off of it to see what your record does. But eventually I wound up having a big record nationwide -- and on first release on an unknown label.

DAVE ESSIG: That's wonderful the way it worked out. There you were a gentlemen and you still came out ahead...

MAC WISEMAN: Just one more badging out on that. Tex Ritter, Red Sovine, and Jimmy Dickens and I were on tour for 20 days out through the west in Oklahoma and Texas and there -- the same fall that this record "Bringing Mary Home was released. When we left Nashville none of us had hits. We were out 20 days and during the course of the tour, Giddy Up Go with Red Sovine broke open. Jimmy Dickins' The Bird of Paradise. And my Bringing Mary Home went into the charts during that course of three weeks we were on the road.

DAVE ESSIG: Well you're hearing country music history from the inside tonight. It's our special guest Mac Wiseman. I'm going to ask you to play this song, Bringing Mary Home for our listeners right now.

MAC WISEMAN: Be glad to.

DAVE ESSIG: Here he is Mac Wiseman.

[Music: Mac Wiseman - Bringing Mary Home]

KG: That was Mac Wiseman accompanied by Whiskey Jack, with Bringing Mary Home on the CBC show "Six Days on The Road" in 1985. Mr. Wiseman died yesterday of kidney failure. He was 93.

[Music]

Part 3: Breakdancing at 2024 Olympics 'a hammer blow' for squash lovers, says top athlete

Green Book film criticism

Guest: Jan Miles

KG: The movie Green Book won Best Picture at last night's Oscars. But there are plenty of people who think it's not even good. The film is about African-American pianist Don Shirley, who toured the Deep South in 1962. It's told from the perspective of his driver and erstwhile bodyguard -- the macho, bigoted Italian-American Tony Vallelonga -- or Tony Lip. And the movie references the "Negro Motorist Green Book" -- a travel guide for African-American travelers in the U.S. telling people about safe places to stay. Jan Miles is among the critics who say Green Book pushes an unrealistic "white saviour" narrative. Ms. Miles is a writer. Last year she published "The Post Racial Green Book." It's a state-by-state compilation of incidents of racism -- a sort of inverse companion to the original Green Book. We reached Ms. Miles on the road between New Orleans and Atlanta.

CO: Jan what was your biggest problem with Green Book winning the Best Picture Oscar last night?

JAN MILES: It's the reinforcement of the concept that racism is very easily resolved and potentially is something that the rest of us are blown out of proportion.

CO: Just give us a synopsis of the film as to how it pushes that narrative.

JM: You know it was fine for me up until toward the end when they wanted to tie it up in a very neat bow, and to do so they show a change in literally police response to black people. It goes from a very hostile encounter to this really helpful-kind encounter, and then they wrap it up with this beautiful scene of all the white people who were very very racist towards black people suddenly being welcoming. They welcome him into their home. And that seems like you know a conclusion that implies that racism is very easily solved.

CO: And they all lived happily ever after.

JM: They all lived happily ever after in 1962. The end.

CO: We should just remind people that this is set in the 1960s. And it's based on the true story of the African-American pianist Don Shirley. He was touring with a white man who was his driver, and he says that they were friends. And this is the central relationship of the movie. But how is it typical of how Hollywood views dealing with racial issues and especially in that particular era?

JM: What's typical about it to me is that it's seen through the eyes of a good hearted white person. That is the typical tack that you see in these movies -- from Driving Miss Daisy, you know The Help -- things like that.

CO: Something that is set in a once upon a time kind of feel to it when things were bad and that things are good now.

JM: Yes absolutely.

CO: Can't it just be dismissed as a bad movie that won best picture -- and move on?

JM: I mean I think the complicated part is that it wasn't a bad movie. I went in thinking, oh this is going to be a bad movie but it was beautifully acted, it was beautifully produced. It wasn't really until the end that I had a problem with it -- until they gave it that feel good ending that makes racists comfortable. That's where it troubles me.

CO: And you wrote in The Washington Post that it was worse than a disservice: it's a danger. What do you mean by that?

JM: What I mean by that is that it reinforces that concept that the rest of us are blowing it out of proportion. It reinforces the white lens on racism instead of incorporating the black one which is us screaming, please see what we're seeing. Please believe us.

CO: Just to remind people that the "Negro Motorist Green Book" was something that was put together by Victor Green who wanted to give a travel guide to African-Americans traveling in the United States where they can find friendly businesses and not deal with racism and segregation. You have recently thought it was necessary to bring that book back in a different version.

JM: Yes. Someone referred to it as an inverse Green Book -- in that I compiled incidents of racism as opposed to compiling safe places. And I didn't do it with the intent of creating a travel book or a guide book. I used the Negro Motorist Green Book format and aesthetic just to make a point about how far we have or have not actually come on the issue of racism.

CO: And just tell us what you hope to achieve with it -- what you are achieving with it.

JM: I did it for a few reasons. One is that there were so many of these incidents and stories coming at me and I felt like the news cycle is so fast that they're going away very quickly and they are not being preserved. And I felt like they needed to be preserved. And I also feel like in compiling all of it together, it's a really useful tool for people who don't see it -- for people who aren't conscious or capable of seeing what's really happening. If you were to give someone that book then they could potentially see what's really happening because everything in there is a news story. Everything in there is corroborate. Everything in there actually happened. And so I think that it's a really useful tool in that way.

CO: Victor Green wrote that there will be a day sometime in the near future when this guide will not have to be published -- that is when we as a race will have equal opportunities and privileges in the United States. The book did go out of print.

JM: Yes because segregation ended. That doesn't mean that racism went away though. Segregation was no longer legal.

CO: Do you think at the Oscars last night there was I guess a feeling that since Spike Lee won for his film and that there were others who won -- Ruth Carter won for Best Costume Design for Black Panther -- that they feel, well there you go. That Oscars So White is no longer an issue.

JM: Yes. Simply yes. Absolutely. And I almost felt like having Green Book win Best Picture was sort of a thumbing of the nose at the rest of us.

CO: So you can understand why Spike Lee walked out?

JM: Yeah absolutely.

CO: Jan we'll leave it there. Thank you.

JM: Thank you for having me.

KG: Jan Miles is the author of The Post Racial Negro Green Book. We reached her on the road between New Orleans and Atlanta.

[Music]

Game interruption

KG: According to recent research, Major League Baseball has a minor problem. Last year attendance was down an average of 4 percent per game. For the first time since 2003, total attendance across the league dropped below 70 million. MLB put that down to what it called "historically bad weather" last spring. But the numbers also suggest that millennials are less interested in watching the game. Some suggest -- and this is pretty out there, I'll warn you -- that they might possibly find baseball a little boring. I know. It's a crackpot theory. But on the extreme off chance that there's even a smidgen of truth to it, here's an idea: the young folks might find it a little more exciting if we had more birds of prey fighting over a fish in the outfield. In the eighth inning of an NCAA game between Jacksonville State and Jacksonville University on Saturday, there was a brief delay that was more interesting than the college game it was interrupting. Here's commentator Scott Manze with the call.

SOUNDCLIP

SCOTT MANZE: We got a fly over -- and I mean a hawk. And he just dropped a fish in the outfield. There is an osprey out there that just dropped a fish out in shallow right field. And now a bald eagle has entered the scene and everything has come to a halt. The eagle comes in, chases the osprey away, makes him drop the fish. Now the eagle... Connor Stephens is going out in the shallow right. Is he going to go try and get the fish before the eagle gets it. The eagle is circling overhead. Stephens has the fish wrapped up in a towel and he makes his way back over to the home dugout.

KG: Scott Manze, voice of the Jacksonville Dolphins NCAA college baseball team, ably handling an incident in which two raptors tussled over a fish on the weekend. The Dolphins by the way defeated the Jacksonville State Gamecocks 5 to 2. The more important game between the bald eagle and the osprey ended in a tie.

[Music]

No squash Olympics

Guest: Nick Matthew

KG: For some reason, the Olympics won't touch squash with a 10 foot rocket. Organizers for the Paris 2024 Summer Games recently announced a new sport to be featured at the games: breakdancing. That's pending approval from the International Olympic Committee next year, which has signaled that it's open to the idea. Meanwhile, squash is once again not on the Olympic agenda. And after decades of organizing for inclusion, squash athletes have had enough. Nick Matthew is the former number one ranked squash player in the world. We reached Mr. Matthew in Sheffield, England.

CO: Nick why do you think that squash is more deserving for inclusion in the Olympics than breakdancing?

NICK MATTHEW: Obviously anyone with their particular sport, you have your bias and your preferential opinion on your own sport you know. I'm trying to not see it through rose tinted glasses. You know we've been trying for Olympic inclusion ever since day one really. And you know I think it ticks all of the original Olympic ideals: faster, higher, stronger -- that gladiatorial aspects of the sport. To me it is just a sport that has been growing with our world tour. We feel like we've been sort of forming a place in the queue as well. So each year we've got closer and closer and closer, and we sort of find something just nipping ahead of us in the queue each time which is almost as a disappointing thing as those logical reasons.

CO: And so this time it is breakdancing -- also skateboarding and surfing are set for inclusion in the Tokyo 2020 Games, right?

NM: Yeah absolutely. I think you know we knew that skateboarding, surfing, were ahead of us in the last game. But obviously breakdancing is the new one. It seems like it's come a little bit from left field -- sort of wasn't mentioned in previous bids. So good luck to them -- they've obviously been doing something right. It is a sport that seems to sort of you know generate that interest across the youth. I'm not sure what that world -- you know whether they have a tour, whether they have a sort of structure behind their sport like we do. But you know it's very exciting to watch, but you know so is squash.

CO: Now what have you been doing to try and convince the Olympics that you should be included -- that squash should be part of the games?

NM: Well they set out the criteria. Some of the important things were that the Olympics had to be the pinnacle of the sport. You know we've seen sports in the past that maybe you could question that. That was the first thing. So it was a big lobby about that. We've been a bit of a trailblazer sport. We have been the first professional sport to amalgamate male and female governing bodies. You know our anti-doping record is fantastic. As I said we're truly global. And one of the big aspects of squash was that televisual side of things -- you know making sure that you could see on television exactly how fast the game is. I guess a little bit like ice hockey in a way, you know you want it to come across on TV -- you want to be able to see the ball, see the different camera angles, or slow-mo you know, the high resolution, all the HD etc -- and we've done that. We've been recently voted YouTube's most successful sport in terms of highlights and everything. So you know we are right up there. We seem like we do it all that is asked of us, and it seems like bit of a hammer blow each time because we're not quite sure now what we have to do next.

CO: Well the view seems to be -- and you know this better probably from having put all this work into it -- but they're trying to draw in a younger audience. They want it to look more hip. That breakdancing appeals to young people as does the climbing and skateboarding and surfing. And that you know squash is like I guess an older person's game.

NM: Yeah you know there is that image. You know there's two ways to look at that. One, you know if you look at the sport you know we are working to try and get that more engagement with the youth you know. A lot of the walls now that we play squash on -- for example are like giant iPads. You know you hit the ball against the wall -- and all these different games -- youth engagement is unbelievable at that. And all of this different technology that we are bringing into the sport.

CO: I just want ask on a personal note, for yourself as being world number one squash player and not being able to compete in Olympic games -- what does that mean for you?

NM: Oh it is the biggest hammer blow any athletic could have. It is the one regret I have in my career I guess. You know it's probably hard to call it a regret because it has not really been in my hands. But it is something -- especially in London 2012 where British athletes have that home games -- the biggest thing was I went to bed one night in 2005 with squash having been voted in as an Olympic sport. We actually got accepted as an Olympic sport. The very next day they decided not to bring it into the 2012 program. So bizarrely squash has been given Olympic status but yet we've not been put on the program. That was the biggest thing for me. I went to bed one night thinking I was going to be an Olympian in 2012. The next day I woke up and the goalpost had been changed. And that's why everyone in the community, in the world of squash really, just feels disillusioned and distraught with the whole process now because we've not only been close, we've actually been in.

CO: And do you think that that was your chance and now this has a kind of smell around it of staleness, and people think well you know that was considered then and you didn't make it into London 2012 which you'd think would be a logical entry point for squash. And it just lost its moment.

NM: Yeah I mean one thing the sport is definitely not is stale. It doesn't take much of an Internet search to see the strides -- even since 2005 -- the strides the sport has taken. You know I barely recognize the sport from the one I first started playing. And you know it's unbelievable and you know anyone who's not familiar with the sport I really sort of would say go out and engage on social media and have a look at what it is now on a world level because I think there's maybe just that little bit of stigma attached to the sport that probably just is not accurate now -- and we need to change that perception.

CO: All right Nick will leave it there. And I'm sorry you are not going to be in the Olympics. But thanks for speaking with us.

NM: Thank you.

KG: Nick Matthew is the former top squash player in the world. We reached him in Sheffield, England. For more on this story you can go to our website: cbc.ca/aih.

[Music]

The little redheaded girl

KG: 19 years ago this month, we lost the man who made heroes of a beagle who flew a Sopwith Camel, a kid with a security blanket -- and an anxious round headed kid who couldn't kick a football. Charles Schulz -- the creator of "Peanuts" -- died of colon cancer on February 13th, 2000. Just weeks before his death, the last daily "Peanuts" strip ran -- more than 60 years after its debut. On that day -- January 3rd, 2000 -- As It Happens host Mary Lou Finlay spoke with Donna Wold -- the Minnesota woman who inspired the unrequited love of Charlie Brown's life, the "little redheaded girl."

SOUNDCLIP

MARY LOU FINLAY: Ms. Wold how did you feel when you read the last daily Peanuts comic strip today?

DONNA WOLD: I really felt bad. It was a sad strip, and I'm having a little hard time wishing him good wishes in his retirement. I just want him to be well and have a good time.

MARY LOU FINLAY: We wanted it to go on forever, didn't we?

DONNA WOLD: Exactly. Exactly. At least make 50.

MARY LOU FINLAY: How did you come to be a Peanuts character? What's the story behind the "little red haired girl?"

DONNA WOLD: Well we met while we were working together at art instruction. And we started dating, and he proposed and I turned him down. It's a very simple old story: I married the other guy.

MARY LOU FINLAY: You were in love with someone else?

DONNA WOLD: Yes. And him too.

MARY LOU FINLAY: And him too.

DONNA WOLD: Yeah. Difficult decisions.

MARY LOU FINLAY: Did you ever regret it?

DONNA WOLD: No.

MARY LOU FINLAY: So you made the right decision?

DONNA WOLD: I think so.

MARY LOU FINLAY: And he married and had children.

DONNA WOLD: Yes. I'm sure he was very happy.

MARY LOU FINLAY: But you broke his heart at the time I guess.

DONNA WOLD: Well that's what he says.

MARY LOU FINLAY: Now when did you first realize that there was a little girl in the comic strip that might have been based on you?

DONNA WOLD: Oh well when I first saw it in the paper I didn't know anything about it until he introduced the little redheaded girl as simply the little red haired girl without -- she wasn't ever pictured or anything.

MARY LOU FINLAY: No. It had to be you? You had flaming red hair, did you?

DONNA WOLD: Yes I did. And so does my husband. So that was in the olden days-- now we're both grey.

MARY LOU FINLAY: How did you react at first? Were you annoyed that he...

DONNA WOLD: Oh my, no. It is awfully nice to be remembered by an old love.

MARY LOU FINLAY: And what about your husband?

DONNA WOLD: Oh he's fine with it. I guess it's been enough years that he's not too concerned.

MARY LOU FINLAY: How did he feel about it then?

DONNA WOLD: I think he just felt lucky. He better just feel lucky.

MARY LOU FINLAY: Were you in touch with "Sparky" Charles Schulz all his life?

DONNA WOLD: Yes, on occasions. We talk on occasion.

MARY LOU FINLAY: What do your children make of it all?

DONNA WOLD: Well they think it's a lot of fun.

MARY LOU FINLAY: When did you tell them?

DONNA WOLD: Well actually about 10 years ago when the book came out...

MARY LOU FINLAY: Yes.

DONNA WOLD: Good grief. Then I was mentioned in there, and then they realized that it was me.

MARY LOU FINLAY: You had never said anything to them before that?

DONNA WOLD: Well it was hard to work into the conversation -- by the way [chuckles].

MARY LOU FINLAY: By the way it is me that breaks Charlie Brown's heart every day. Were they fans of Charlie Brown though?

DONNA WOLD: Oh yes of course. Of course. They always read it too.

MARY LOU FINLAY: Who wasn't huh?

DONNA WOLD: Yes that's exactly it. Who isn't a fan.

MARY LOU FINLAY: What do you think it is that makes that comic strips so special, so universal?

DONNA WOLD: I don't know. I think the innocence of it. It is just a gentle type of strip. And I think everybody can identify with Charlie Brown at some time in their life...

MARY LOU FINLAY: And everyone's been spurned at some time in their life. Given your special status have you saved the Charlie Brown comics...

DONNA WOLD: Oh I have saved everyone I've ever seen. I've got a whole cedar chest full of memorabilia. And all of the strips that mentioned me.

MARY LOU FINLAY: Oh isn't that wonderful. There's one more to come I guess a Sunday strip in February.

DONNA WOLD: Yes. I understand that'll be the end of the Sundays.

MARY LOU FINLAY: We asked our listeners what they thought should be in the last strip and the second most popular choice was the little red haired girl should accept him.

DONNA WOLD: Aww isn't that sweet. I like that idea. I think that would be a great ending.

MARY LOU FINLAY: It would be a lovely ending wouldn't it?

DONNA WOLD: Yes it would. And the first one would be that he got to kick the football.

MARY LOU FINLAY: You're right. What do you pick?

DONNA WOLD: Oh I think the little red haired girl.

MARY LOU FINLAY: Maybe both. Maybe he kicks the football and he's such a hero that the little red haired girl falls all over him.

DONNA WOLD: Oh there you go. We can combine them both. Very good idea.

MARY LOU FINLAY: Thank you so much for talking to us.

DONNA WOLD: Oh you're welcome.

KG: From our archives, that was the late Donna Wold speaking with Mary Lou Finlay on As It Happens on January 3rd, 2000. Mrs. Wolds former flame, Charles Schulz, immortalized her in his Peanuts comic strip as the "little red haired girl." Mr. Schulz died 19 years ago this month.

[Music]

Obi

KG: To the untrained eye, Obi might look like a pretty average shih-tzu dog: small, black, white, fluffy. But don't be fooled: Obi is a survivor. Last Monday Obi was in the car with his owner Tanya Cassell Purdy, and her two sons, when they were rammed in a 15 vehicle pileup near Birchy Narrows, Newfoundland. Ms. Cassell Purdy broke her leg, and she and the two boys grabbed their dog and jumped out of the car to avoid being crushed. Which is when Obi disappeared into the snowdrifts. After a long search they left him for dead. That's where our story begins. Today, Tanya Cassell Purdy spoke with Fred Hutton, host of "The St. John's Morning Show." Here's part of that conversation.

SOUNDCLIP

TANYA CASSELL PURDY: So I was convinced that he was buried in that snow underneath that vehicle.

FRED HUTTON: So you made the decision to leave. You got treated. You're back here on the Avalon Peninsula obviously worried about your dog. You had posted something on Facebook about this?

TANYA CASSELL PURDY: I posted in hopes of getting his body back, so we could get some closure.

FRED HUTTON: But that's not what happened.

TANYA CASSELL PURDY: No.

FRED HUTTON: What did happen?

TANYA CASSELL PURDY: Saturday evening at 5 o'clock a lady named Beverly Scott called me and she said we are driving on highway, we came upon the crash site, and we saw your dog. They got out and they tried to call him over, but he was very scared. And he just ran away again. After I got off the phone my husband said there's a flight leaving for Deer Lake in an hour. Should I go? And I said I think you should. So he ran out the door. He went to the airport, jumped on the flight. My sister had her truck left at the airport for him. He jumped in the truck, picked up my dad, and I think they got to the crash site at about 8:30. And they had flashlights, and they searched, and they searched, and they searched. They called this name. And then almost at 10:00 he said it was a still night -- like there was no wind and there was no noise. So he then walked into the last track that they [inaudible] and he called and whistled and just stood still for a second. And he heard a little bark in the distance. So he walked a little further and called him again. And he heard the bark again. And they kept doing that. Walking in and walking in, until he called and Obi didn't bark anymore. He called and called and he didn't bark. So my husband turned around to walk away and we he did, Obi barked. And then he had him.

FRED HUTTON: And so now Obi is home with you this morning?

TANYA CASSELL PURDY: He is. When my husband called me we cried and cried and cried. We cried just as much knowing that he had found him as the night that we had lost him.

KG: That was Tanya Cassell Purdy on "The St. John's Morning Show" earlier today.

[Music]

Hash brown or phone?

SOUNDCLIP

VOICE 1: McDonald's hash browns may be a little funny looking but they sure taste great with your favorite breakfast.

VOICE 2: Sure are cute little rascals aren't they?

VOICE 3: Hmm. And they sure are great with scrambled eggs and sausage.

VOICE 4: They're great with orange juice and hot cakes.

VOICE 5: Hash browns eat them with your fingers.

[Music]

KG: That 1978 commercial for McDonald's hash browns addressed at least one issue: despite the name, the restaurant's hash browns weren't plural. It was a single potato patty. A single patty you could eat with one hand. Freeing you up to use the other hand to frantically pour coffee down your chin, or hold another hash brown, or drive. Now that hand-held hash brown has a Connecticut man in court fighting for his life. Well not his life exactly. He's fighting to not pay a 300 dollar ticket. But he really doesn't want to. Last April that man -- Jason Stiber -- said he was eating a hash brown while driving, when a police officer pulled him over. Mr. Stiber told the court on Friday quote, "He said he saw me on a cell phone. And I was thinking he had seen the hash brown." Mr. Stibers says he offered to show the officer his call history to prove he hadn't been on the phone. He says the officer refused and then gave him the ticket. But the officer tells a different story. He says he clearly saw Jason Stiber holding a black cell phone. That it was obviously illuminated -- and as the Connecticut paper The Hour put it quote, "Mr. Stiber held the object close to his face, lips moving, while speaking into the device." So which is it? Was he eating a hash brown? Or talking on his phone? Or was he talking to his hash brown? The judge is currently mulling the evidence, and will issue her decision in a few weeks. In meantime, it's a case of two vastly different takes on the same story. You know, like that classic film: "Hashomon."

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February 25, 2019 Episode Transcript

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