- [Joleene] Tonight on "WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories," underwater shipwrecks in our region could soon bring new life to tourism and recreation in the north country.

We'll tell you how.

And local radio personality Johnny Spezzano heats things up in the kitchen.

Stay with us for our first installment of "Johnny on Fire."

Also, we share the music of Twin Flames out of Ottawa.

Their folk-pop music is truly one of a kind.

Your stories, your region, coming up right now on "WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories."

(uplifting music) - [Presenter] "WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories" is brought to you by the Daisy Marquis Jones Foundation, the Watertown Oswego Small Business Development Center, Carthage Savings, CSX, the Oswego County Community Foundation at the Central New York Community Foundation, the Richard S Shineman Foundation, and the Badenhausen Legacy Fund at the Northern New York Community Foundation.

- Good Tuesday evening, everyone.

And welcome to this edition of "WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories."

I'm Joleene DesRosiers.

Jefferson and Oswego counties could soon be part of a four-county Marine Sanctuary.

Wayne and Cayuga counties are also part of the proposed underwater park.

Shipwrecks underwater have extreme historical significance.

And with hundreds of unidentified wrecks below the surface, tourism and recreation could see a boon.

We stepped inside the story to learn more on the proposed Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary.

(gentle music) (birds chirping) Below the surface is a world that is mystifying, sunken ships, even aircraft in some regions, share some of the most intriguing pieces of visual history in the world.

Each shipwreck has a story, and thanks to a proposal being considered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA for short, the sunken treasures below the waters of Lake Ontario may soon be recognized as part of a new National Marine Sanctuary.

(upbeat music) Oswego County administrator, Philip Church, has been leading the charge of nominating Lake Ontario since it was brought to his attention in 2017.

- We were interested in a shipwreck sanctuary, not an environmental one, largely because one of our goals was not to disrupt the current recreational use of this area, which is largely sports fishing.

We wanted to augment it by increasing visitation and awareness worldwide of this area.

We have an opportunity and unique resources here to really put this region on the map, because at that time there are only 14 marine sanctuaries in the world, and we could be one of them.

- [Joleene] Dave White, recreation specialist for the New York Sea Grant, is in full agreement, not only will the prospect of a sanctuary increase visitation and boost the local economy, it will bring to life deep maritime history that may have otherwise been forgotten.

- We have some of the most pristine wrecks in the world.

A lot of these resources are in deep water that even a recreational diver can't get to.

And we probably have, to me, the top five intact war vessels in the world are right here in New York state.

So when we begin to talk about maritime history and shipwrecks, this is the place to be, whether you are a diver, whether you're a historian or a local community member that just wants to learn about that deep history.

It's preserved in the deep waters of Lake Ontario, and all of our great lakes throughout the state of New York.

- [Joleene] A National Marine Sanctuary is part of a network of NOAA's underwater parks, which covers 620,000 square miles of ocean and great lakes.

The purpose of any marine sanctuary program is to promote responsible access to wrecks while preventing looting damage and negative behavior.

The cold, deep waters of Lake Ontario benefit these maritime treasures because they preserve them so well.

This makes these ships more intriguing to learn about, bringing yet another valuable aspect to acknowledging Lake Ontario as an official marine sanctuary.

Katie Malinowski has been leading the charge with community feedback and involvement, and anticipates academic interest to be high.

- You have the State University of New York in Oswego.

You could even get to Syracuse University, some of the larger institutions a little farther abroad, that could bring their research dollars, their research experts here to do cutting-edge type of work looking at the ship wrecks, looking at the history.

- There are a number of wrecks that have yet to be discovered.

So we will be doing some inventory of Lake Ontario.

We need to document the wrecks, gathering video, photographs, doing 3D models, all of which can contribute to our education and outreach programs.

- Economic impact is one of the goals we set.

Other goals we set that are equally important, is augmenting educational opportunities here.

NOAA creates curriculum and lesson plans around shipwrecks to teach certain subjects.

You can teach almost any subject to a child using the exciting topic of a shipwreck.

- [Joleene] Their proposed area is a boundary that moves through Wayne, Cayuga, Jefferson, and Oswego counties.

It covers approximately 1,724 square miles.

At least 43 shipwrecks are known to be under these waters, but once designated, many more will be revealed.

One aircraft has also been identified below the surface, but again, many more may soon be revealed.

Even areas that are not accessible by divers can be explored with remotely operated vehicles, or ROV.

- When you look at a shipwreck map of the great lakes, of Lake Ontario, it's just dotted all over the eastern shore, because this was also a major route of commerce.

So not only we are talking about war, but we're now talking about commerce between the southern shore of Lake Ontario to the northern shore of Lake Ontario.

They can be in 600 feet of water, and we can go out and find them, send an ROV down, and they're gonna be completely intact in cold water today, just like the day they went down.

- [Joleene] Many of these ships went down with crew on board.

Hundreds if not thousands of lives were lost.

So when divers or vehicles go under to explore, the wreck won't be the only find they come across.

- You could actually have the remains of soldiers on the bottom.

And so we need to talk with our military friends, folks within all of our militaries to say, "Okay, this was naval vessel that was carrying marines at the time, or army soldiers at the time."

Sacred ground has to be recognized as well.

And in some cases they may be Native American sites that we have, and we need to be and already are communicating the National Marine Sanctuary Office with all of our Native American partners and tribes along the great lakes.

And in some cases, they talk about then raising them and having them on display.

Again, some of these really historic vessels, there may be a reason to actually go through the whole conservation process to raise them and put them on museums, as we currently have both in Washington and here in New York with some extremely historic vessels.

We have vessels that are currently owned by England.

They were a British vessel.

And unless the British government has given up rights to that vessel, it is still their vessel.

- [Joleene] The designation process for the Lake Ontario national Marine Sanctuary is still ongoing as NOAA continues to review the proposal.

There will also be additional public meetings and comments.

NOAA will take those comments into consideration as they finalize their sanctuary documents.

And if all goes well, the sanctuary would become official by the Spring of 2023.

And then the process of creating the next National Marine Sanctuary begins in all four counties.

- Although there's a Marine Sanctuary in Thunder Bay out in Michigan, our wrecks are older, and many are very intact because of their depth.

So they're historic.

And that is something that would make us different from Thunder Bay, but similar at the same time.

So we fit into the criteria that NOAA was looking for in a marine sanctuary nomination.

- It's very important that we have some early accomplishments and tangible projects to show what it means to be a sanctuary.

That said, it does take time for us to develop, to hire staff, to develop programs.

I know one thing that people are very interested in is a visitor center, and it's very important to us that we do have a place for people to visit, to have an experience with the sanctuary without necessarily having to be there.

- [Joleene] For more information on the proposed Lake Ontario National Marine Sanctuary, visit sanctuaries.noaa.gov/lake-ontario.

In Oswego County for "WPBS Weekly," I'm Joleene DesRosiers.

We are so excited to share a new segment with you tonight.

It's called "Johnny on Fire," and features Johnny's Spezzano of The Border.

He may be the voice of the north country, but he's also a foodie at heart.

In this brand new cooking segment, Johnny takes us into his kitchen with special guest Ted Silverhand for his brick oven take on street corn.

(ambient music) (upbeat rock music) - Hey.

Come on.

- Well, hello.

Welcome to "Johnny on Fire."

I'm Johnny Spezzano.

I've got my guest, Ted Silverhand.

He's a Native American Tuscarora seer.

And we're gonna cook some corn.

You know what I'm saying?

We're gonna see what we can cook on fire.

- Definitely.

- You ready?

And hopefully not burn ourselves.

All right, so this is what I want to do, Ted.

I mean, I do understand that corn is important and has always been important in Native American culture, right?

- Corn is one of the three sisters.

- One of the three sisters?

- Yeah, the three sisters, which is corn, beans, and squash.

- Outstanding, which is a staple, right?

So we've got some corn.

We're gonna do some shucking.

But we're gonna make two kinds of street corn today.

We're going to make the traditional street corn, and we're going to make a jerk, a Jamaican jerk street corn.

He's got an awesome story about Johnny Cash in Jamaica.

Okay.

We're gonna tell you about it in just a little bit.

So let's get started.

First I want to roast the coconut.

So I'm gonna grab our pan here.

Step back.

It's a little hot.

Okay.

Gonna set it down right here.

I've been heating it up.

Okay?

And we're gonna add just some nice coconut.

You can get it in your baking supply section.

And this is what we're gonna roast here.

We're gonna get it to be a nice golden brown in color.

All right.

We're gonna put it right in the fire.

(pan clanks) Just like that.

Ooh, it's hot, Ted.

It's hot.

Now we got some corn to shuck.

Got a couple ears.

Not that kind of ear.

- Okay.

- All right.

For you.

All right.

So let's talk about you.

You are a seer, someone that through the years, people would go to to talk to if they had questions about life, about death.

Tell me a little bit about it.

- A seer's like a life consultant, is the council of elders that's stated.

And people come to see me for this or that.

The fact, the things of life, the problems of life.

- Dreams, things of that.

Yeah.

- And this is something that your elders, your family members, your mother and your father, had these same gifts, right?

- Same gifts.

And we've been doing it since the 1500s.

- You've been doing it since the 1500s?

- Yeah.

- Wow.

- Someone in my family was always a person that you could go to to talk to about these things.

- All right.

So I have many questions for you, my friend.

- Great.

- First of all, you were telling me about corn and the fact that silt was-- this was the delicacy of the corn?

- Silk is a diuretic, yeah.

And when you would, Tuscarora style, is that when you would take the shucks all the way down to the last shuck that hold skin, the corn, the whole's into silk.

Then you would put it into the water and it works for three minutes.

And then when you take it out, you take the last shuck that holds the silk and you put the butter on it, and then eat it with the silk with the butter.

The silk is a diuretic, and it's very good for you.

- [Johnny] It's healthy.

- It's very healthy.

- It's healthy.

- Yeah.

- All right, so we are making Jamaican jerk style street corn.

- Okay.

Just the jerk.

- You had the opportunity to go to Jamaica.

What year would this have been?

- About 1970.

- [Johnny] And meet with... - Johnny Cash.

- [Johnny] Johnny Cash, the legend.

- The legend.

- And how did that go?

- It went a little bit strange, but it ended up being very good.

But it was good.

I met him, his wife, and friends of theirs.

I think it was called Turkey Hill or whatever, the place is there in Jamaica.

And I was there for that evening.

- You told Johnny the truth, and you said something to him, and what happened?

- He didn't take it too well.

- He didn't take it too well.

What'd you say to Johnny Cash?

- Oh, I just said that there would be problems that would be coming into his house, and it's gonna be a lot of problems that would be taking place, and he had to very careful about that.

- He didn't like hearing that.

- He didn't like hearing that.

- So he sent you away.

(chuckles) - Yep.

Well, I did the party for everyone, but he was not pleased.

- Okay.

So, months later you get a phone call.

- [Ted] Right?

- Who is it?

- From Johnny.

And I think it was the 1st of January of 71 or something.

And he says, "Why didn't you tell me the rest of the story?"

And I said, "What story?"

He says, "Well, I'll tell you the story.

You said I would be leaving my furniture behind and I will be leaving with nothing but suitcases."

And this is what happened.

- If you look it up on the internet, Johnny Cash, his home was invaded.

And they held him and his family hostage.

- Hostage, for about four, three hours.

- And eventually let him go.

- Yeah.

- But so anyway, that's the-- I knew Ted's Johnny Cash story.

All right.

We got our corn, Ted.

We're gonna put that in the oven next.

Okay?

Gotta put a little olive oil over it 'cause little fat is good, okay?

And then that is headed in the oven too.

Oh.

And look at our coconut, is ready to come out here.

Oh, let's throw this in.

(funky music) So Ted, while that's on fire in there, let's talk a little bit more.

I know you've done readings for Johnny Cash.

Anybody else famous?

- Elvis.

- [Johnny] Elvis Presley?

- Yes.

- Waylon Jennings?

- Yeah.

- Amazing.

You've had an amazing life.

- It has been.

- [Johnny] Yeah.

- Very unpredictable.

- Yeah.

That's for sure.

And you're well known and you're well respected, especially amongst members of the Tuscarora tribe.

- Yeah, and others.

Yeah.

- Yeah.

Now, what advice do you give to people on living their life?

What's the best way for people to live their lives?

- Always walk in beauty, understand one another.

But we are all students on this earth.

There are no graduates here.

Is I your teacher?

So you are mine.

- So what you're saying is life's a lesson, and we're learning as we go.

- Life is a very strong lesson.

- We're learning how to cook some amazing food here today too, aren't we?

- It sounds good?

- Are you ready for some street corn?

- I am ready for the corn.

- All right, so we're going to go through the ingredients of what you're gonna need to make this at home.

- Fantastic.

- Okay.

Of course, we've got our corn.

And what we're gonna do is we're going to combine various ingredients with mayo, mayonnaise, okay?

So we've got a jerk seasoning here, authentic jerk.

And we have a adobo, which is more of a Southwest Mexican flavoring, okay?

We're going to add our mayonnaise to that.

Just like this.

Okay?

Just like this.

All right.

Here, I'll let you stir.

Go ahead.

- [Ted] Okay.

- Yeah, you gotta work if you want to eat, Ted.

- Oh yes.

Definitely.

- Gotta work.

So what we're gonna do is we're gonna mix these ingredients together.

Then we're going to douse our corn on the cob with these ingredients.

Yeah.

Let's see.

This looks pretty good.

Set it right down there.

- Sit right here?

Okay.

- Okay.

All right.

Let's check and see how our corn's doing.

(rock music) Well, the corn is out of the fire.

You ready?

We're gonna top it.

Okay, so this is the best part about street corn.

It's so good.

Here's your piece.

- [Ted] Great.

- [Johnny] Here's my piece.

We've got two kinds that we're making.

We've got Jamaican jerk and Southwest.

You're going for the Southwest?

- [Ted] I want to Southwest.

- [Johnny] Going Southwest?

- [Ted] Yes.

- All right.

All right.

Now, you do much cooking around the house or not?

- Not that much.

I'm always on the road.

- Well, you can always come into my house, Ted.

- Oh, yes.

- Yeah.

- This is where the stove begins here.

- All right.

So what we want, we've got our mayo, we've got our jerk mayo with the Jamaican jerk, and we have our Southwest with the adobo.

Okay.

You want to cover it?

Good, 'cause we're about to roll it.

In two different toppings.

We have a queso cheese, authentic Mexican queso cheese.

And we have the toasted coconut that we put in the fire earlier.

All right.

You covered it all the way around?

- [Ted] All the way around.

- [Johnny] Okay.

That's so good.

Okay.

Here's your cheese.

If you wanna sprinkle, you can.

You can roll.

All right, and here's the coconut.

And I'm just gonna go like that.

And my cilantro is here because you can't get enough of this stuff.

Look at how good this is.

You ready?

- And then I will put cilantro in here.

- [Johnny] Oh yeah, we have some cilantro.

- [Ted] Yes, yes, yes.

- So I want you to make sure you tune in for more fresh ideas, right here, "Johnny on Fire."

You ready to take a test?

- All ready.

- Okay.

Here we go.

(Johnny and Ted exclaim in satisfaction) - Oh, so good.

- [Johnny] All right.

Try this one.

(Johnny and Ted chuckle) Food's about having fun.

Ted Silverhand, my guest.

Thank you so much for watching.

There'll be more episodes coming soon.

And make sure you check out the "Dinner at Johnny's" podcast wherever you get your podcast.

Good stuff?

- Very good.

Love it.

- I'll take another bite.

(indistinct) Which one do you like better?

- All of it.

- All of it?

You're not supposed to take big bites when you're on TV.

(Ted laughs) (indistinct) - No, no, not that.

It is funny.

(Johnny laughs) - Out of Ottawa tonight, we share the music of Twin Flames, a husband and wife duo.

Their folk-pop style of music is a mix of English, French, and Inuit at it.

Their cultural backgrounds span Canada's geography, and their songs have moved them to a unique place among contemporary music makers.

Here they are tonight with one of their original tunes, titled "Porchlight."

- You know, what you're seeing here today is our duo show.

We also perform with amazing musicians, full band as well.

And the next song we're gonna sing is a song that's always quite difficult for us to sing.

We were never gonna actually release this song.

In 2015, we were at the Indigenous Music Awards in Winnipeg.

And after we won, a man came up to us and he said, "Can I take a selfie with you and my little sister?"

And so of course, Jaaji and I were honored.

But when he came back, he handed us a photograph, and he explained that his sister had been missing for over 20 years and they never had any answers.

And so in that moment, we didn't know how to smile.

How do you smile in a photograph like that?

But we did, in honor of his sister.

So we kept in contact with that wonderful man, once we were back in Ottawa.

And that year we were asked to attend so many events because we live in the big capital.

And many times it was to perform during lunch hour meetings during the national inquiry into our missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.

And so as artists, you show up, you sound check, and then you sit at the back of the room.

But I'll tell you, sitting in that room forever changed Jaaji and I.

We know those stories are happening.

We know these tragedies are happening to our women, but it's another thing to hear them directly from family members.

And so our way of processing life and our emotions is to write songs.

And this was one that came to us.

As I mentioned, we were never gonna release it because we never wanna get any kind of fame off the tragedies that happened to our people.

But we did send it to the man we met in Winnipeg.

And once he heard it, he asked if he could use it in his national campaign to raise awareness for MMIWG.

And so we had to really think on it.

And so we decided to release it in honor of him and all of the families that are affected, and all of our women.

And the song is called "Porchlight" because we leave our porch lights on, hoping that our women will be safe and find their way home.

(soft guitar strumming and flute) ♪ I leave the porch light on just in case ♪ ♪ Hoping that door swings and I see your face ♪ ♪ And I, aulajivungaa ♪ ♪ And I keep you photograph to this day ♪ ♪ Wishing and hoping you're okay ♪ ♪ And I, I'm missing you now ♪ ♪ Aanniavunga pitaqarunnairavi (ooh, ooh) ♪ ♪ Kitsaqunga tillitaulauravi (ooh, ooh) ♪ ♪ Sirnaaqunga aannitaurquuniravi (ooh, ooh) ♪ ♪ Taqavungaa ♪ ♪ Was the same love remains ♪ ♪ All these hurts inside me?

♪ ♪ Call your name to this day ♪ ♪ Wish you were home beside me ♪ ♪ We've left your bedroom in its place ♪ ♪ Posters and memories un-erased ♪ ♪ And I, aulajivungaa ♪ ♪ Standing in the door way, I hold back my tears ♪ ♪ Seems just like yesterday although it's been years ♪ ♪ And I, I'm missing you now ♪ ♪ Aanniavunga pitaqarunnairavi (ooh, ooh) ♪ ♪ Kitsaqunga tillitaulauravi (ooh, ooh) ♪ ♪ Sirnaaqunga aannitaurquuniravi (ooh, ooh) ♪ ♪ Taqavungaa ♪ ♪ Was the same love remains ♪ ♪ All these hurts inside me?

♪ ♪ Call your name to this day ♪ ♪ Wish you were home beside me ♪ ♪ I leave the porch light on just in case ♪ ♪ Hoping that door swings and I see your face ♪ ♪ And I, aulajivungaa ♪ ♪ (Call your name to this day, wish you were home beside me) ♪ ♪ I leave the porch light on just in case ♪ ♪ Hoping that door swings and I see your face ♪ ♪ And I, aulajivungaa ♪ - And that does it for us this Tuesday evening.

Join us next week for a fresh look inside the stories.

If you live in Cape Vincent, you've seen these anchors in the village green.

But how do they get there?

We'll share their journey and invasive species in the North Country are an issue.

But the issue can be resolved with a simple pledge to protect.

Also, we're not pushing fall, but we're ready to share some great comfort food recipes.

Join us for One World Kitchen's beef curry dish.

Meantime, we wanna tell your story.

If you or someone in your community has something meaningful, historic, inspirational, or educational to share, please email us, at wpbsweekly@wpbstv.org, and let's share it with the region.

That's it for now, everyone.

We'll see you again next week.

Goodnight.

- [Presenter] "WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories" is brought to you by the Daisy Marquis Jones Foundation, dedicated to improving the wellbeing of communities by helping disadvantaged children and families.

Online at dmjf.org.

The Watertown Oswego Small Business Development Center, a free resource offering confidential business advice for those interested in starting or expanding their small business.

Serving Jefferson, Lewis, and Oswego counties since 1986.

Online at watertown.nysbdc.org.

Carthage Savings has been here for generations, donating time and resources to this community.

They're proud to support WPBS TV.

Online at carthagesavings.com Carthage Savings, mortgage solutions since 1888.

Additional funding provided by CSX, the Oswego County Community Foundation at the Central New York Community Foundation, the Richard S Shineman Foundation, and the Badenhausen Legacy Fund at the Northern New York Community Foundation.

♪ Standing in the doorway, I hold back my tears ♪ ♪ Seems just like yesterday although it's been years.

♪ ♪ And I, I'm missing you now ♪ (soft ambient music)