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The AIH Transcript for July 4, 2019

Hosts: Susan Bonner and Karen Gordon

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

KAREN GORDON: Good evening, I'm Karen Gordon. This is As It Happens.

[Music: Theme]

Prologue

KG: Tonight:

SB: Rules of the robed. Five out of six recent judicial appointments have personal connections to Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc. And now our guest wants an investigation of the way judges are appointed in the first place.

KG: Rest in peace at last. A research group finally finds the graves of more than 30 American marines and sailors who died on a Pacific Island during the Second World War — and is returning them to their home country.

SB: Time flies when you're making fun. After 67 years, it looks like the home of the “Fold-In” is folding — and an artist with Mad Magazine reflects on the end of a furshlugginer institution.

KG: The emancipation provocation. A member of the Brexit Party says the UK is noble desire to leave the EU is just part of a long history of oppressed people turning on their oppressors. And then it gets worse.

SB: Growing pains. It took six years of fighting with community bigwigs — and a change in Florida state law — but Hermine Ricketts can finally plant a vegetable garden in her front yard.

KG: And the tooth will out. It began with a blister on Jeff Weakly's foot, and ended with the emergence of a chunk of bone that once resided in the mouth of a shark — which attacked Mr. weekly 24 years ago.

KG: As It Happens, the Thursday edition. Radio that clarifies he's not long in the tooth, but the tooth was long in him.

[Music: Theme]

Part one: New Brunswick judges, Mad Magazine, tooth in foot

New Brunswick judges

Guest: Duff Conacher

KG: Five out of the six most recent federal judicial appointments have some kind of personal connection to Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc. And while New Brunswick's legal community is a small world — and Mr. LeBlanc is a former lawyer — those connections aren't sitting well with some people. Legal experts and opposition politicians have raised the issue this week, after CBC New Brunswick's initial reporting. Here's how Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded today at a news conference.

SOUNDCLIP

JUSTIN TRUDEAU: We have a merit-based, transparent appointment system. It was a significant improvement over the process that Stephen Harper and the Conservatives had in place that was not transparent, not merit-based. We are pleased that we have nominated top-notch judges right across the country. And we will continue to.

REPORTER: Will you review those appointments in New Brunswick?

JT: We are fully confident that the process — the transparent, merit-based process — that we've put in place is the right one, and we stand by it.

KG: Now, Duff Conacher has raised his own concerns. He's the founder of Democracy Watch, a government accountability watchdog. And he's now asking the office of Canada's Ethics Commissioner to investigate the links. We reached Mr. Conacher in Ottawa.

SB: Mr. Conacher, what bothers you about these recent judicial appointees and their ties to Dominique LeBlanc?

DUFF CONACHER: The problem is really that the standard of appearance of conflict of interests seems to have been violated. When you look at the donations that some of these people have made, and also possibility that in one case they bought a property from him and or his neighbours, and likely also there's some friendships in there. It all crosses the line and the real standard is appearance of a conflict of interest. That's all you need a cabinet minister to be prohibited from taking part in a decision making process.

SB: Briefly, can you review these five judicial appointments and their links to the minister?

DC: Sure. First of all, you have Justice Charles LeBlond, who was appointed to the New Brunswick Court of Appeal, and Justice Arthur Doyle, and Robert Dysar, who were appointed to the Court of Queen's Bench. And they all donated to help Minister LeBlanc pay off his debt from his 2008 Liberal Party leadership race campaign. And they have also although needed to Minister LeBlancs ridding association. In the case of Mr. Doyle, more than 4,000 dollars. Mr. Dysar, 1,600 dollars. Mr. LeBlond, almost 8,000 dollars — 7,800 dollars to this ridding association. Mr. Doyle doesn't even live in the riding. He lives 100 kilometres away from Minister LeBlanc's riding. And then with the other case — the appointment of the chief justice of the court a Queen's Bench by Mr. Trudeau of Tracey DeWare — her husband also donated to Minister LeBlanc’s campaign — among other donations to the Liberal Party. And the couple purchased a home from Minister Leblanc in 2013 for 430,000 dollars. A home that is located next to Minister LeBlanc's summer home.

SB: You talk about the appearance of a conflict of interest, but do you have any evidence to suggest that that the Minister pulled any strings to get any of these people appointed?

DC: Well, if he did, he would have violated the criminal code. And that's why the rules for conflict of interest are there. Because unless you can do a Vulcan mind meld, you can't tell why someone's making a decision or why they might be saying something about somebody. You have to have people step aside when there's an appearance of a conflict of interest. But we don’t have to have proof that he did anything, in particular, to push for them. all we have to have proof of this that he participated and the appearance of conflict of interest is there, and that's a violation in and of itself.

SB: New Brunswick is a small province, and so its legal community is certainly not huge. Dominic LeBlanc himself is a former lawyer. He went to law school there. Doesn't it stand to reason that he might know some of these people eligible for these jobs?

DC: Very much so. And that's why he should not be taking part in the decision making process. And why the whole appointment process needs to be changed. It's not any more transparent than the Harper Conservatives used. Nor is it any more merit-based. It's not a merit-based process when you have politicians involved. When you have politicians involved, it’s a political process.

SB: Judges swear an oath to be impartial regardless of any political affiliations they might have had before taking the bench. Why don't you have confidence that Canadian judges will uphold those oaths?

DC: Well, it's not just me, The Canadian Judicial Council, which is the body that disciplines judges when they don't act impartially, and Canadian Judicial Council raised concerns back in 2007 about changes to the appointment process. And said the appointment process must itself be totally free from even the appearance or hint of political interference or bias. Otherwise, it undermines judicial independence. And judicial independence is key to having a democracy and having the law upheld fairly and impartially across the country. And that's why the system should be changed. We have a model in Ontario. It's not as good as it could be, but it's better than the federal system. The United Kingdom does it even better. And there should not be this involvement of politicians in this process.

SB: Do you believe that there is any role for government discretion when it comes to appointing judges?

DC: No, it really has to be restricted.

SB: What if they want to make sure that they have more women or more minorities represented on the bench?

DC: Then set that goal for the committee, but have a fully independent committee do the search. Come up with a shortlist of candidates, as they do in Ontario. A committee sends a list of only one to three candidates. We don't know exactly how many are sent by the federal committees, but it can be a very long list. They may be sending lists of 10 or 20 lawyers. And it's very easy for the prime minister and the justice minister to find one of those lawyers who supports the party, and then appoint them above everyone else. And they won't even disclose whether the people they're appointing are the most qualified.

SB: You've also raised concerns about how the Ethics Commissioner, Mario Dion, himself was appointed by the federal Liberals. If you don't trust him in that role, why are you asking him to investigate Dominic LeBlanc?

DC: We're not actually asking him to investigate. The ethics commissioner was handpicked by the Trudeau cabinet through a very secretive and dishonest process. And we're asking Mario Dion to refer the investigation out to someone who is independent of him, independent of all political parties. It's very key because his senior lawyer, who actually heads up the investigation division, is the sister-in-law of Dominic LeBlanc. So we really have a layer cake of layer after layer of conflict of interest in this situation. And in many appointments and law enforcement situations at the federal level because the whole appointment process of law enforcement officers is politically tainted.

SB: Duff Conacher, thank you so much.

DC: Thank you for your interest.

KG: Duff Conacher is the founder of Democracy Watch. We reached him in Ottawa. CBC reached out to Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc's office for comment, but was referred to the Minister of Justice. In a statement, the Minister's office said, quote, "All judicial appointments are made on the basis of merit. Candidates are first evaluated by independent Judicial Advisory Committees, who thoroughly review the applications and provide recommendations to the Minister. The minister considers a number of factors, including the needs of the court, the diversity of the bench, each candidate's area of expertise, and the strength of their application, in determining who to recommend to cabinet." Unquote.

[Music: Ambient]

Mad Magazine

Guest: Peter Kuper

KG: The good news is that Alfred E. Neuman still isn't worried. The bad news is that, after 67 years, it seems like the gap-toothed mascot of "Mad Magazine" should be. Because today, there are reports that DC — which publishes the satirical magazine — won't be putting out any more issues of Mad featuring new material, as of this fall. For more than two decades, Peter Kuper has drawn and written the "Spy Vs. Spy" comics for Mad Magazine. We reached Mr. Kuper in New York.

SB: Mr. Kuper, how are you feeling about these reports that Mad Magazine is, for the most part, calling it quits?

PETER KUPER: Well, I'm still waiting to see if that's wholly true. So I'm still in a holding pattern. And based on the fact that I have done a number of new comics in the last few months, and I'm expecting to see them printed, and I'm still working, haven't done the eulogy just yet.

SB: I see. So can I quote you as what? Me worry? To paraphrase.

PK: [slight laught] I think Dali Lama said that, or was it Gandhi? No, you can quote me as “Spy Vs. Spy” would [silence]. That's the quote because they don't actually speak.

SB: [laughs] You've drawn this “Spy Vs. Spy” comic, which is synonymous with Mad Magazine, for 23 years. Have you been hearing from folks at the magazine? What are they telling you?

PK: Well, actually, I haven't been. And that I mostly saw the same news you probably saw. So I'm still waiting to hear. And the way I look at it is Mad has survived many things over the years — including there was the Un-American Activities Committee and in 1954, which killed all of the company that was producing Mad. And the only thing left standing was Mad. And then in 2008, and during my run, after the crash, the magazine went quarterly.

SB: After the economic crash?

PK: Yes. And so we came back from that. And considering that you know the circulation of Mad now is I think it's double that from Time and Newsweek combined, which is totally not true. But you know, I live in the United States where we just say wherever we want and you sort it out.

SB: You must work for Mad Magazine?

PK: [laughs] Correct. But you know, the circulation is still actually it's like 140,000 copies — that doesn't sound like a death sentence just yet. But you know we'll see.

SB: It's interesting that so many people today are speaking out about how important this magazine has been to them. One of those people: Weird Al Yankovic. I guess he was once a guest editor for Mad.

PK: Yes, yes, right.

SB: And today he tweeted I can't begin to describe the impact it had on me as a young kid. It's pretty much the reason I turned out weird. Goodbye to one of the all-time greatest American institutions.

PK: I would follow him on all that except for the goodbye part. Because discovering that humour and politics could coexist, the whole idea of laughing at everything and not taking yourself too seriously, the Simpsons, Saturday Night Live, The Onion, The Daily Show, all of those are the result in one way or another of Harvey Kurtzman’s, the creator of Mad’s, genius. And so it has embedded itself in our culture in a way that will never go away because you're basically looking at the children of Mad Magazine in all these different art forms of humour, politics, and generally not worrying.

SB: Well, if it lives on through all of those forums, why do we still need a Mad Magazine?

PK: Oh, you know, I'm so pleased that there are still forums like this around where cartoonists like myself can do the same kind of lunacy and talk about these things in an old school form, which still I think is very viable. And you know I guess I'm part dinosaur because I still love to read Mad Magazine in the bathroom. And it doesn't work as well on my phone.

SB: You talk about the rich history of political and social commentary. What stands out for you?

PK: Well, I remember there were covers that were just shocking. In fact, one of them showed a sign in front of the White House, and it said: “out of order.” There was a back cover that completely blew my mind that showed a soldier on his way back from Vietnam in a parade, and he's carrying instead of a gun and a giant syringe implying that he's a heroin addict. And when Johnny comes marching home. And the idea that this humour magazine would have something that was so un humorous as part of the mix along with Al Jaffe's fold-ins and all the other things that were going on in the magazine, gave me the sense that there wasn't a line that had to be drawn between the social commentary and something that was just a gut laugh.

SB: What about the politically correct era that many comedians have been speaking out about. Did that affect Mad?

PK: You know, in various degrees no doubt just because it is all pervasive. But at the same time, I would say that Mad has managed to… well, they’re in a lot of ways responsible for the kind of humour that has moved the line on what you can and can't say. And that they've been so wonderfully subversive over the years that I think that's still part of what they do. But yeah, we’re in a cultural place where you can step off the path and people will be insulted. But then again, that has been the very thing that Mad loves to do. So I'd say it's mostly on the path of stepping off the path.

SB: And so what if this is, in fact, the end of the path, and there is no more new content for Mad?

PK: There will be no more laughter in the world. We'll just all be sad and crying and just sit around, point at something, and go oh, that's too bad. You know, in one form or another as you said because it's been embedded in so many other art forms, it will be there no matter what. And that the artists like myself who have been so influenced by it are gonna continue to do something that is essentially the result of Harvey Kurtzman’s influence and Mad’s influence over the years. So you'll see Mad around no matter what as long as we live in this mad, mad world.

SB: Okay, Mr. Kuper. Thank you so much.

PK: Thank you. Bye.

KG: Peter Kuper is an illustrator, who has written and drawn the "Spy Vs. Spy" comics for Mad Magazine for the past two decades. We reached him in New York. Today's announcement isn't the first big change for the satirical publication. Back in 2001, the magazine's editors made the controversial decision to begin publishing in colour — and to accept advertising. At the time, former As It Happens host Mary Lou Finlay spoke with Mad Magazine's then-co-editor John Ficarra about the move.

SOUNDCLIP

JOHN FICARRA: I'm stating the obvious here when I say we don't live in a black and white world. And the more we thought about it, and the more we thought about all the things we could do with colour, we decided we wanted to do it. And, unfortunately, with economics the way they are, was a choice of either tripling the magazine's cover price or accepting ads.

MARY LOU FINLAY: So you just went just roaring down that slippery road, huh?

JF: [deep laugh] Along with everyone else. I mean Mad was the only magazine other than Consumer Reports that wasn't accepting ads. But I guess it'll have to be a leap of faith to our readers. And we promise it will be as irreverent and dumb and fearless as ever.

MLF: Wouldn’t your founder just be rolling in his grave?

JF: [deep laugh] Well no, because he was cremated.

MLF: [deep laugh] You don’t know that that do you? You Just said that.

JF: Actually, he was cremated. Had his ashes…

[crosstalk]

MLF: But he’d be horrified.

JF: No, he wouldn't.

MLF: No?

JF: No, in fact, very, very early in Mad’s existence, we did accept advertising. So this is a return to a very short-lived policy from the early ‘50s.

MLF: What kind of ads are you going to put in there? Who will advertise in Mad? Who would have the nerve?

JF: [deep laugh] Very bad businessman. No, actually, the first ad we sold was to Altoids.

MLF: What's that?

JF: Altoids is those peppermint breath mints.

MLF: Oh yes. They're white, aren't they?

JF: Yes. And they come in a metal can.

MLF: No problem with a color there.

JF: Yes.

MLF: Okay, now listen, your April issue I've got it right here. It's in colour, but the ads aren't in there yet, right?

JF: That has a few ads in it, but not many. The issue before and the issue after…

[crosstalk]

MLF: They are sort of indistinguishable.

JF: There you go. They’re blurring the line even more and more in real ads. And you know, we have to take the part of the blame or part of the credit for Madison Avenue doing ads like they do now because I think several generations of people grew up reading Mad who are now in advertising and editorial positions. Who are sort of addressing that cynicism that people look at towards ads. And trying to get around to bright cute or being entertaining with the ads.

MLF: Making fun of themselves. Have you got a copy of that that issue?

JF: You know what? I don't. Wait a minute, I think I do. Here it is.

MLF: Because what I love was the ballad “Hymn of the Republic.”

JF: Yeah, that's what we called the money piece of the issue. I like that piece too.

MLF: You want to sing the last verse? Because it's quite funny.

JF: The last verse?

MLF: Yeah.

JF: So congratulations, George. You somehow found a way to win. You have squeaked into the White House by a margin rages a thin. You will serve a single term then lose when Hillary gets in. Four years and you'll be gone. Glory, glory, no more waiting. No more endless tabulating. No more talking heads debating. Somehow we’ll stagger on.

MLF: Right on. Good to talk to you.

JF: Thank you very much.

MLF: Many more years. Thanks, Mr. Ficarra.

JF: Bye-bye.

MLF: Bye.

KG: From our archives, that's Mad Magazine's former co-editor John Ficarra, speaking with former As It Happens host Mary Lou Finlay back in 2001, when the magazine began accepting ads and printing in colour.

[Music: Percussive jazz]

Tooth in foot

Guest: Gavin Naylor

KG: When Jeff Weakley of Florida found what looked like a blister on his foot, he didn't think much of it. He certainly didn't think something would come out of his foot. And that that something would be an old piece of a tooth. Regardless, that's what happened. Mr. Weakley figured that unpredictable object had been in his foot for more than twenty years. But, naturally, he still had questions. So Mr. Weakley gave the piece of tooth to the Florida Museum of Natural History. That's where Gavin Naylor works as an evolutionary biologist. We reached Mr. Naylor in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

SB: Mr. Naylor, what did Mr. Weakley say when he called your museum and asked for your help?

GAVIN NAYLOR: So he had heard that we were able to determine what species of shark might be involved in a shark bite by looking at the DNA. So he had a tooth that had emerged from a blister in his toe, and he wondered if we might also be able to apply the techniques that we've used previously to determine what species of shark and bitten him.

SB: So what did he tell you about how this tooth or this tooth fragment might have ended up in his foot?

GN: Well, he is currently an editor of a magazine, and he is in his 40s. But about 24 years previously, he'd been a keen surfer. And he was surfing off the east coast of Florida. And had been bitten by something that he presumed was a shark. And he had several stitches and got stitched up. And his friends thought they saw a shark fin, but they never knew what it was. And these are fairly common occurrences in Florida waters. And so he thought very little of it, went back out surfing a couple of weeks later, and presumed that all of the pieces of detritus had actually been removed from the injury on his foot. And then thought nothing of it. And then 24 years later, these little shards of enamel of the tooth came out. And he'd seen the report that we've been able to get DNA out of sharks teeth, and so he was interested to see if we might be able to do the same thing for him.

SB: What does this tooth look? What you found — what he brought to you — what does it look like?

GN: Well, it was probably about two millimeters long, about half-a-millimetre wide, with a little bit of pulp inside it. So just a very thin sliver of enamel. It was very, very tiny. It wasn't you know like a cartoon-looking triangular tooth — just a little sliver. It looked more like a splinter than anything else.

SB: And how did you investigate what this sliver of a tooth?

GN: Well, we investigated like we do all samples that we receive. In order to determine what shark had bitten Mr. Weakly, we had to remove any extraneous DNA, which was probably from his body or anybody that had handled the tooth. And so we soaked it with a little bit of bleach essentially as an oxidizing agent, which destroys superficial DNA. And then we'd grind it out. And then we drilled down with a sterile scalpel into that the tiny little bit of the tooth that was still protected by the enamel, and got out an imperceptible amount of tissue. And then subsequently went on to extract the DNA from that and make the library.

SB: What did you figure out through this analysis?

GN: So we then got the DNA sequence from the tissue that was inside the tooth. And then just simply compared it to a reference database, which we maintain of all the different species of sharks in the world that we've been able to sample. And we found out that it was unambiguously from a Blacktip shark.

SB: And how confident were you at the outset that you would actually find the DNA you needed to discover the source?

GN: Well, we were quite surprised when Mr. Weakley came up to us. We get a lot of inquiries from the general public. And we always tried to help them as best we can. But behind the scenes, we thought well, there's absolutely no way this is going to work because this little piece of enamel being in his body for 24 years, all of the enzymes in his body have been trying to get rid of foreign objects and break things down. The immune system would have taken care of everything. So we thought there was very little chance that this would work. And my postdoc that actually did all the lab work, Dr. Yang, said Gavin, why we're doing this? It’s not going to work at all. And I said I know it probably won't, but let's give it a college try. We'll see what happens. And then he the person that came back to me and said you're not going to believe it, but I think this worked. And I said yeah, it can't possibly work. And he then said no, I think so. And I said well, are you sure it's not contamination? Because you know we work with a lot of sharks in the lab. He said no, it's not contamination. So I had a look at it, and indeed, he was absolutely right. It wasn't a contaminant. And the sequence matched perfectly with these Blacktip sharks, which were in the area. So everything lined up. And we were forced to conclude that the data that we had was actually a reflection of what had happened. So it was fortuitous and lucky break.

SB: How does a tooth or a piece of a tooth stay in someone's foot for so long?

GN: I think if you were to survey people extensively, you'd probably find that it was far more common than you might otherwise anticipate.

SB: Really?!

GN: Yeah! They have a splinter that goes in, and you remove most of it, and then a couple of years later or six months later, there's an itchy part of your finger, and something emerges from a blister. For any individual, it's probably only happened perhaps once or half a time in a lifetime. But collectively, when you look at the general population, you see that there are a lot of foreign objects that get sequestered in people's bodies. So there's examples of needles, splinters, little bits of bone fragment, bits of pottery. So it's not so unusual. But what we thought was particularly unusual is that there’d be any DNA left because that was a huge surprise to us.

SB: And how about Mr. Weakley? How did he feel about what you discovered?

GN: Well, you'd have to talk to Mr. Weakley. I think he was pleased that we've been able to resolve the question. He admitted to us that he was a bit concerned that it was probably not a shark. And he felt a bit embarrassed if it was going to be something like a barracuda or a just a bony fish that had bitten him. And it would have diminished the mystique of actually being bitten by a shark.

SB: All right. You're breaking up a little bit. But thanks so much, Mr. Naylor.

GN: You're very welcome.

SB: Bye.

GN: Bye.

KG: Gavin Naylor is the director of the Florida Program for Shark Research at the Florida Museum of Natural History. We reached him in Cape Canaveral. The research was published in Wilderness & Environmental Medicine. And if you'd like to see a picture of what came out of Jeff Weakley's foot, visit our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[Music: Indie rock]

Part two: WW2 bodies repatriated, front yard garden

WW2 bodies repatriated

Guest: Justin LeHew

KG: For 75 years, the bodies of scores of American service members have lain in makeshift graves, on a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. They were killed during the Second World War, in a three-day battle with Japanese forces. They were buried hastily by their comrades in the wet island soil. After the war, the U.S. Army searched for their remains -- but eventually declared them, quote, "unrecoverable." Now — after a long search and a complicated dig — a non-profit group working with the U.S. Defence Department has found the graves of more than 30 marines and sailors on the island of Betio. Justin LeHew is the Chief Operating Officer for that group, History Flight. We reached him in Fredricksburg, Virginia. Mr.

SB: Mr. LeHew, what was the challenge finding the graves of these particular troops?

JUSTIN LEHEW: The challenge was that after the Battle of Tarawa, this was a fast-moving operation. The majority of the battle took 76 hours. And the United States was moving through what was called a Pacific island hopping campaign. And they were moving from island to island at such a rapid pace that the casualties were buried in the best manner that they possibly could in the soils that were there on a very small island that is only approximately 800 metres wide by less than a mile long. And they buried them the best they could at the time, and they marked them the best they could at that time. And after, some of the graves started getting mixed up, moved around, covered up. And then right after the war, when the population started moving back into those islands, they started building on top of those places.

SB: And I understand that you had to move an abandoned building and dig into a water table to locate this row of graves — pumping out the water as you went?

JL: Yeah, Susan, we have numerous times. Betio Island is out in the middle of nowhere. And the water table is roughly at about 120 centimeters. And that presents the issue is they were buried mostly right at the waterline. And the population that built up on top of there also presents the challenge of not only do you have to locate the graves, and a lot of them are underneath permanent structures that are there. We've had to move structures. We’ve had to rebuild families’ homes. The locals have been great. They've given great permission — the Kiribati government. When we locate individuals, and we talk with the families, and we tell them what's going on and what we would like to do, they've been very cordial. A lot of them love to assist. And we employ a lot of the local workers there to help.

SB: Can you describe for me what it's like when you actually find the graves?

JL: There's a feeling of silence, of reverence, when you actually do discover that all the time, the research, and effort has actually produced a set of missing U.S. servicemen's remains. And they’re really near and dear to my heart having served 31 years in the United States Marine Corps. And my wife served 22 years as a corpsman as a medic in the United States Navy. So the people that we deployed with in combat, these are like our kin. And these are America's sons. And the people who we employ to do this line of work, who are phenomenal scientists, explosive ordnance disposal experts, military team leaders, medics, and the local population, all come together. And the reverence that you have is the Pacific Islanders know what happened on that island. And there was a reverence of what the American Marines and the military had to go through to free their island from the Japanese-held invasion force that was there.

SB: Can you tell me about that? Can you tell me about what happened on this island, and how a thousand troops — U.S. troops — came to die?

JL: On this island, the Tarawa atoll, and the 20 November, 1943 time period, had 4,000 of the Imperial Japanese Marines, so they were the best Japanese soldiers and marines and naval forces that Japan could put on the field of battle. And they sent them out on these islands. And they had dug in to the island. The island is not like the world-famous Iwo Jima that was a network of caves with the water table being so low and it being so flat. But the Japanese commander, who is Admiral Shibasaki, actually made a statement that said it would take a million men a hundred years to still not be able to take the island of Tarawa. And he believed that much in his force and in his Garrison. And the ferocity of movement, along with coordinated airstrikes from the U.S. Navy and the United States Army Air Forces, and along with the 2nd Marine Division, pressed across that island. Over 2,000 Marines had given their lives that were on that island. And in that 72 hours, the United States Marine Corps secured one of the first footholds in the Pacific that started the launching campaign that eventually led to the fall of Iwo Jima, and eventually the fall of Japan. So this was a very important island. And in all the aspect of the fighting in the Pacific, the most ferocious fighting in a 72 hour period happened on the Island of Tarawa.

SB: So you'll bring these remains home for identification, and then later, reburial. What does that mean to the families?

JL: I had talked to somebody earlier, Susan. And the best way that I can say to the families that are that is when I wore the uniform of the United States Marine, the ugliest thing aside from actual combat. And the hardest thing that you really had to do was the day that you were told that you were going to be the one that had to go to someone's house and tell them that their son or their daughter or their husband or the wife wasn't coming home. It was the hardest duty, and it still is today in the U.S. military to be the person that has to deliver that news because there is nothing but sadness that is usually on the other end of that door. When I took off the uniform, and I became the Chief Operating Officer of this organization, after the defense POW MIA Accounting Agency let us know that they have positively identified an individual, and the families have been notified, I now get to be — and my organization gets to be in a place — to where you now go to their door, and you open the door, and you knock, and you get to tell them that we just found your grandfather or we just found your son if they're still alive. And there is absolutely just an overwhelming feeling of gratitude. I have never been in a single instant on this side were there wasn’t a feeling of gratitude, a feeling a closure, a feeling of relief. It wasn't a feeling of sorrow. It was a feeling a joy. And that's an incredible feeling.

SB: I imagine it is. How long do you plan to continue searching on the island?

JL: We plan to continue searching until we can find every single one that we possibly can find.

SB: Mr. LeHew, good to talk to you. Thank you very much.

JL: Susan, it was great to talk to you as well. And thank you for the interview.

SB: Goodbye.

JL: Goodbye.

KG: Justin LeHew is with History Flight, a non-profit group that works to recover the remains of American service members. He was in Fredricksburg, Virginia.

[Music: Ambient]

California earthquake

KG: Californians are watching for aftershocks from today's earthquake. The 6-point-4 magnitude quake was the biggest to hit the state in nearly 2 decades. Then came the aftershocks. Carolyn Storruste was near the epicentre, working at an assisted-care facility for the elderly. She spoke with CNN's Brooke Baldwin shortly after.

SOUNDCLIP

CAROLYN STORRUSTE: You could hear a rumble. The ground started shaking. We thought oh, it’s just a little earthquake. And then it hit hard. And then everything really started shaking. And I thought well, this might be it. So I’m glad I managed to get out of the room. I’m in assisted living, so we had you know people coming out of the room.

BROOKE BALDWIN: And the power's out, Carolyn. I hear the power is out.

CS: Yes, the power went out. And then the backup lights came on. And then we had another aftershock. And then it all went out. So right now, our goal is to keep everybody hydrated, you know? And cool. And away from any more windows.

BB: So it was that strong?

CS: Yeah, we had dressers, pictures, TVs. You can see smoke out, where there’s probably been accidents and fires. It was scary. It was scary. Yeah, we're having another one right now. Hang on!

BB: Right now?

CS: Yeah.

BB: Hang with me. Hang with me, Carolyn.

CS: I'm a little out of breath because all I could care about at the moment was my babies or my children. So you’re stuck at work, and you got to pull it together, and focus on everybody else.

BB: No, take a breath with me. Take a breath, and then, first, are your kids okay?

CS: All my kids are okay. Or accounted for, so.

BB: Are you okay?

CS: Yeah, I am.

KG: That was Carolyn Storruste, speaking with CNN's Brooke Baldwin this afternoon from the High Desert Haven assisted-living facility in Ridgecrest, California. That's close to the epicentre of the 6-point-4 magnitude earthquake that hit the area today. You can find more on the earthquake at the CBC News website. That's: www.cbc.ca/news.

[Music: Piano]

Manitoba air ambulance

Front yard garden

Guest: Hermine Ricketts

KG: Hermine Ricketts has never been so excited to see a tomato in her garden. For the past six years, she and her husband, Tom Caroll, have been fighting the village of Miami Shores in Florida for the right to grow vegetables in their front yard. A new state law finally allows them to do. It just went into effect this week. We reached Ms. Ricketts in Miami Shores, Florida.

SB: Ms. Ricketts, how did it feel to be out in the garden?

HERMINE RICKETTS: Well, being out in the sunshine always feels good. But I really wasn't working, per se. My neighbours were doing the lifting and the planting for me. And people from the attorney's office were helping.

SB: So you had quite a crowd come out for the inauguration of the new garden?

HR: A fair number of people came out.

SB: What does this day mean to you?

HR: It's a relief that it’s over. Six years of uncertainty and stress is over.

SB: Your battle started in 2013, when the village of Miami Shores issued a ban against vegetable gardens in front yards. What was the reason behind this?

HR: Well, sense of property value. They believe that you should be able to come in, buy a house, lay down some grass, flip it, and sell it for more money. That's what they consider property value.

SB: Why did the village council think it was bad for property values to put vegetables in the front yard?

HR: Because they're short-sighted and moronic. Because they do not understand what value is. To them, value is money — not a lifestyle. Not preserving butterflies, bees, insects. Their legacy of their children and grandchildren, they don't consider that of any value.

SB: Why couldn't you grow vegetables in the back of your home — in your back garden?

HR: My backyard is to the north. So most of the backyard is shaded, so I have no way of growing these things in the backyard, and that's why I plant in the front yard.

SB: How did this multi-year fight against this ruling how did it affect you personally?

HR: Personally, I became stressed and ill — very ill — to the point where I couldn't be in the garden anymore. I spent most of the time in the hospital with surgeries. Just dealing with major health issues, you know? So it took away the fun and the healing that I would get for my garden.

SB: So the Miami Shores ban was upheld through multiple appeals that you made. Why didn't you just give up? It was making you sick. It was so hard.

HR: Because they had no right. And it was folly. It was folly. It was folly. It was nonsense. To say something as stupid as you cannot have the female plant up front. You can only have the male of the plant that bares no food and the front. You know, it's like having a Saudi Arabia for a garden, where the woman, the female, the bearer of the food stays in the back. It’s just folly. I don't like stupidity.

SB: You were actually told you can't plant any plants that are considered female in the front of your home?

HR: Well, that's one of the statements that were made in a deposition by the code inspector. The male of the plant — if the plant did not transport fruit — it could stay. As long as you can eat something from the garden, you cannot have it in the front yard.

SB: But you won, eventually, by helping to get the state law changed.

HR: Yeah, because someone at a higher level realized that it is utter nonsense to prevent someone from growing vegetables in their front yard. Someone was wise enough to see the folly of the arguments both by the lower courts and the village. And I'm very grateful for that. So it was just you know patience — stressful patience, but still patience.

SB: I hope you can get out and enjoy here your garden, and share it with all the creatures that you tell us about.

HR: I’m hoping so too because that's where I did all my healing. And it is very healing to be touching the ground, watching the butterflies, watching the lizards, watching the bees, you know? It's very healing. And I wish more people would take the time to do that.

SB: Well, thanks to you, now maybe more people can.

HR: Yes, hopefully. And maybe people will get rid of their grass and grow their own vegetarian food. Stop waste. It doesn’t get shipped in from California. It doesn’t get shipped in from anywhere. It's right a few steps out your front door.

SB: You make it sound very good. And I'm glad you get to enjoy your garden.

HR: Okay, thank you.

SB: Thank you. Bye.

HR: Bye.

KG: Hermine Ricketts and her husband have been fighting a ban on front-yard vegetable gardens in the village of Miami Shores for six years. Now, a new Florida law has come into effect that protects gardeners from those local bans. We reached Ms. Ricketts in Miami Shores, Florida.

[Music: Indie rock]

Brexit MEP

KG: Ann Widdecombe says the UK's efforts to leave the E-U are akin to...the emancipation of enslaved people. The former Conservative minister-turned-Brexit-Party-member of European Parliament made the remarks earlier today, during her maiden speech in Brussels. She began the speech by attacking the EU for the way it appoints its leaders — and segued into some seriously-eyebrow raising use of metaphor.

SOUNDCLIP

ANN WIDDECOMBE: It's a great honour to speak on behalf of the largest single party in this place. And may I say that if I needed any convincing at all that the best thing for Britain is to leave here as soon as possible, it was the way that those elections were conducted yesterday. Because if that is this place’s idea of democracy, then that is a serious betrayal of every country that is represented here — because it is not democratic at all. And that is just one of many reasons why Britain is right to be leaving this place, hopefully, on Halloween. And it is right because there is a pattern consistent throughout history of oppressed people turning on the oppressors. Slaves against their owners, the peasantry against the feudal barons, colonies, Mr Verhofstadt, again their empires, and that is why Britain is leaving. And it doesn't matter which language you use, we are going, and we are glad to be going.

KG: Ann Widdecombe is one of 29 Brexit candidates elected to European Parliament in May. In the video of her speech, many of her fellow party members can be seen smiling and nodding in agreement. The European Parliament's chief representative in Brexit negotiations says Ms. Widdecombe is giving her party leader Nigel Farage, quote: "stiff competition as chief clown." Unquote.

[Music: Folk]

Yankees announcer

KG: For John Sterling, diamonds probably seem like forever. For thirty years, Mr. Sterling has called every single New York Yankees game on the radio. In all that time, he hasn't missed a single pitch. And he hasn't missed a single pun. But today, Mr. Sterling is on the bench. He's been feeling under the weather this week, so he'll be sitting out tonight's game against the Tampa Bay Rays. Depending who you ask, that means fans will either be missing out on — or relieved to get a break from — his famously outrageous homerun calls.

SOUNDCLIP

[Sound: A montage of John Sterling making puns based on player’s names]

KG: Just a small taste of John Sterling's swing-for-the-fences commentary in New York Yankees games over the years. Tonight, the radio announcer is sitting out his first game in three decades.

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July 5, 2019 episode transcript

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