- [Eric] Tonight on WPBS Weekly, Inside The Stories.

Pride month events are on tap.

We'll tell you what's happening in person this June.

And, more on fishing tournaments coming up this year in Massena, New York.

Also, a true hometown hero in one Northern New York village.

Learn more about the cat man and his pet saving efforts.

All of this and more coming up right now on WPBS Weekly, Inside The Stories.

(bright music) - WPBS Weekly, Inside The Stories, is brought to you by The Watertown Oswego, Small Business Development Center And Carthage Savings, mortgage solutions since 1888.

- Good Tuesday evening, everyone, and happy mid-June to all of you.

We kick off this evening with a fish tail.

Annual fishing tournaments in Massena, New York, are a boon to the local economy.

It also makes for an exciting spectator sport.

WPBS producer, Eric Cleary, lures us in with more info.

- Every year the tone of Massena plays host to a number of fishing tournaments throughout the season.

These tournaments not only bring an exciting spectator sport to the region, but a number of anglers and their families which provides an economic boom for the town.

Don Meisner, of fishing behind the lines, says these tournaments have a tremendous effect on the area.

- This is the Massena intake.

It's under construction right now to expand it more than it has been.

And this will be, sort of, our focal point.

This is where everything will start.

And then the boats will leave here and fish wherever they want on the St. Lawrence River.

For every tournament we hold, no matter whether it's the biggest one or the smallest one, you do have to have a New York state fishing license.

And since the St Lawrence River goes through both countries, it's best to have a Canadian license because if you get caught fishing in Canada, you certainly want to have a license.

These tournaments are, most of them, the biggest ones, are basically already set on a national level.

In other words, people here, if they don't qualify, if they haven't qualified by winning certain other tournaments, they won't be part of this.

But, as we go down the line, we will have tournaments that are designed just for the everyday angler.

Each tournament has, different regulations, different standards that have to be lived up to.

In most cases, the tournament's are either one person, the boater, or, in some cases, two people, which will be a non-boater.

All the tournaments, they're held, whether they're the big national tournaments or the local or area tournaments, all are based on weight totals of the fish caught.

In most cases, it's the five biggest fish that you can catch in a day.

You have to keep them alive.

They're kept in live wells.

They have to be aerated, and they have to be alive when they're weighed in.

It normally is the top weight for that day, of the five fish, combined with the top weight for the next day of the five fish.

And if it's a three-day tournament the third day, and that determines the ultimate winner.

- For spectators new to the sport, they don't have to worry about fish not making it back to the water.

Catch and release is part of the rules and regulations.

- [Don] A lot of people have expressed concern because they know that the best anglers in the world are coming here to this river to catch our fish in the river.

And one of the questions people ask me all the time is, what effect does this have on the fish?

What effect does it have on the ecosystem?

And you can look at this in a couple of way.

These fish are stressed in that they're fighting against the top anglers in the world, but, also, every tournament trail employs the greatest means of science, and different aspects to try to keep these fish alive from, they have what's called fizzing where they release the pressure in the fish that had been caught but brought up from deep water there are aerators and live wells...

So, I think one of the things the tournament has brought us is an awareness that catch and release is the future of fishing.

- [Eric] This future is made brighter as the economy booms because of the number of anglers and spectators that visit the region.

- One of greatest benefits of having a tournament in the area, and it's actually two-fold.

There's a short-term benefit and there's a long-term benefit.

Short term, these tournaments bring in 100 of anglers from other parts of the country.

When they get here, they've got to buy gasoline, they've got to have food, they've got to stay someplace.

If their families come, their families visit the area and spend money for all the same things.

And so, it really increases the short-term money flow in an area.

Long-term, if the people are treated right here, if they have a great time, they're going to tell their families and hopefully start coming here on vacation and maybe even buying a home someday.

People ask me all the time, so what's your role in making these tournaments happen?

And all I can tell you is, I love this area.

I believe the fishing here is the best that I've ever seen in all over the continent that I've traveled.

And so my role is really spreading that message.

I'm sort of the ambassador for the towns and and for Massena in particular.

So when the anglers come here, I greet them, and I try to make sure that all the volunteers that make an event like this possible are ready to do the thing that we do best here in the North Country.

- [Eric] It's a message that Meisner hopes resonates with those who show up to watch the action.

- [Ron] I think the reason that these tournaments are, have come here, and are going to be so successful is what we've done before.

And I've got to tell you, I think that's biggest part of all of this.

If you treat people right, if you make them feel welcome, and of course they're going to get fantastic fishing 'cause we have the best fishing in the world.

But our motive right now is establishing a future, establishing a reputation and a partnership, with these nation organizations.

Because as the years go on, it's going to be automatic.

They're going to keep coming back to the best fishing destination in the world.

- [Eric] For more information on these tournaments, visit fishmassena.com.

I'm Eric Cleary, in Massena, New York, for WPBS Weekly.

(guitar strumming) - Our next story highlights a true hometown hero who goes above and beyond when it comes to rescuing and caring for animals.

His name is Tom Jones.

And if you ask anyone, in the village of Pulaski, if they know him, they'll tell you they do.

Our Joleene DesRosiers joins us from the village to tell us about Tom Jones.

Joleene, rumor has it that everybody knows Tom, is that true?

- Is It true?

Of course it's true!

Here in the village of Pulaski everybody knows Tom.

He's a local hero.

He rescues cats, all nine of their lives.

and he's a friend to dogs too!

So in the village of Pulaski, everybody knows Tom.

- Take care!

- Take care, buddy!

- Everybody knows Tom.

- Everybody knows Tom!

- Everybody knows, Tom.

- Everybody knows Tom, the cat man!

- [Joleene] Tom, the cat man, is a legend in the village of Pulaski.

Actually, he's a legend throughout most Oswego County.

He is Tom Jones and it's not unusual to see him walking dogs, saving cats, and serving the people of his community.

He is a true humanitarian and cat-tarian, or, whatever.

- One day I was walking by myself and I saw this cat had a ripped ear.

So I asked the neighbor if I could get a cage and catch it and I took it to the vet's and got him fixed, and that's how I started.

And I started rescuing cats ever since.

- [Joleene] Cats have always been a part of Tom's life just one glance in this book and you'll discover all of the cats he's owned over a lifetime.

- There's one, Tinkerbell, when I was 16.

- [Joleene] His living room walls continue the story.

One of faith, rescue, and friendship.

While he's only owned about 16 cats in his lifetime he's rescued far more, somewhere close to 50.

And with each one a story.

- Oh yeah!

I got a call from a lady in Ellisburg.

Gosh knows how she found out who I was, but, they had this cat they couldn't keep in the house.

And it was a cold winter day.

- A very brutally cold, snowy, wintery day.

And I had a feral cat out here, your cat, Joleene a teddy bear who had been very friendly all summer and kept hanging around here.

I had no place to take them indoors.

I called Tom, sort of out of desperation, and, he came out from Polaski, drove all the way up here.

- That was a horrible day.

So I went over to Ellsberg and picked him up and I kept him until I, 'til I met you.

- [Joleene] Yes, me, the voice of this here story.

I met Tom volunteering at a local food pantry and of course we started talking about cats.

- You told me how you were hunting for a cat and I said, I got the perfect cat for you.

And I said, when you see him, you're going to want him immediately.

I don't think you believed me, but guess what?

He went home with you.

(laughing) - Yes, yes he did!

Teddy Bear, or Chunk for short, is officially our cat.

But the story isn't about Teddy it's about Tom and how the community at large thinks the world of him.

- He does a lot for it.

Give you an example.

We have a new pastor in our church and I don't know how our pastor found out, but he found out about Tom being the cat man and he called on Tom to clip his cats' cat toenails.

And Tom went over there and did it, the cat bit him, but he did it anyway.

So, I mean, he's known in the community for his caring for animals and people.

- You see him walking around town, walking the dogs, He'll stop, have a nice conversation with you.

He's truly a class guy legend around here.

- Even that day on the phone when I talked to him about Teddy bear and coming to get him, he was very patient with me.

And the willingness and generosity of the man just blows me away.

- It blows me away.

I really does.

I never expected this at all.

I can't believe how it's grown to this length.

I just enjoy rescue and animals.

And I love people!

I love being around people.

So, anywhere someone will come up to me and say, you remember me?

You gave me a cat.

And I don't remember him, but that's how it goes.

- [Joleene] It is how it goes.

He's helped so many people some escape his memory but not all of them.

- Well, there was an old lady.

This is van pat, God rest her soul.

She's gone now, but, I met her through cats.

She loved animals too.

She took care of every stray in town.

So I went down and trapped them all and took them to the shelter and she had three cats of her own but she couldn't... One of them had an ear infection, so I used to have to come down and put ear drops in his ears.

And I used to take her to wherever she had to go.

She lived by herself, and her and I just connected then, I visited her until she passed away.

So, that's my passion.

That's time to give back, so why not?

You know, some people go away and ask me to take care of their dogs and cats, so I do.

Over the years maybe 10, 15, people.

I take care of their animals for them, when they go away.

I just enjoy doing it, and I don't want any money.

If they want to give me something, fine, it goes to the shelter.

So, I'll do it until I can't do it anymore.

- [Joleene] And when that happens, Tom, the people you've helped will be there for you.

In the village of Pulaski for WPBS Weekly, I'm Joleene DesRosiers.

- Supporting people, causes, and community is key to creating healthy world views in social environments which is why the LGBTQ community is proud to present Pride Month each June.

For folks in Northern New York, Watertown Pride is ready to raise the flag at City Hall once again.

But with safe social distancing measures in place.

Down the road in Kingston events will take place in September because of the slow rollout of the vaccine and to keep everyone safe.

But no matter where or when Pride takes place, one thing is for sure, upholding the dignity in the LGBTQ community and defending human rights should be supported every day.

- I think it's just important to recognize that Pride is a celebration of who we are.

It's also a protest for us to be able to gain the things that we don't already have and people should be raising their voice all year long.

People should be raising their voice and fighting for their rights, in June but also throughout the entire summer and the coming year.

- Watertown Pride events start on Friday June 18th with the kickoff at the Paddock Arcade.

Saturday is packed with lots of great events including the Flag Raising at City Hall at 9:00 am, the Color Blast Fun Run at noon, and other events including Fireworks, at the Fairgrounds at 10:00 pm.

The weekend wraps up with brunch at Garland City Beer Works at 11:00 am, and a Tea Dance at the same location following brunch.

In Kingston, again all events are in September this year from the 20th through the 26th, including a Boat Cruise on the 24th.

The Kingston Pride Community Fair will happen on the 25th and 26th.

All events are subject to change from the date of this broadcast.

So please visit the event websites for a complete list of events happening in Watertown and Kingston.

In Kingston tonight, and across all of Canada, the opioid addiction crisis rages on.

With various organizations doing what they can to help stop it.

Such as the case with one Kingston technology company, working hard to create rapid testing devices that could save lives.

Mark Van Dusen, of the Ottawa business journal, introduces us to the creator of the device who tells us exactly what it does.

(robotic music) - Hi, Mark Van Dusen for LBJ regional.

From our small communities to our big cities, the opioid crisis continues to kill Canadians, but now a Kingston company has developed an innovative way of identifying the lethal danger, in advance, to save lives.

Malcolm Eade, of Spectra Plasmonics, tells us more.

What is it exactly you've developed and how is it going to save lives?

- [Malcolm] Yeah, so, us, Spectra as a company, is focused on making technology that brings rapid lifesaving results for unknown samples in devices that can be deployed in the field.

And so our first product, what we built around, is a drug analysis system, which tells you the composition breakdown of a drug sample including if there's dangerous amounts of things like fentanyl inside of this.

So, it can be used in a variety of field scenarios and right now we're piloting it in a supervised consumption site in Kingston.

And this is to alert people of the dangerous contaminants that are found within drugs, and also give public health that information to track the own unregulated drug supply.

- Okay, let's back up a little bit here.

Fentanyl is the one, I guess everyone knows as the lethal drug of the habit these days.

What else can your product detect?

- Right, so, there's fentanyl, but fentanyl is in a family of compounds.

They call them fentanyl analogs in this field.

And so, in that family is another chemical compound called carfentanil and that's a hundred times more potent and more deadly than normal fentanyl is.

So, knowing if that's in a substance is of significant value for that, for that reason.

There's also another group of substances called benzodiazepine, sometimes shortened to benzos, and this is a class of anti-anxiety drugs.

When you mix that and fentanyl together that can give some pretty dangerous outcomes and adverse effects when it comes overdoses.

In Ontario we call them consumption treatment centers.

And the rest of Canada, believe that (indistinct) is still a supervised consumption site.

And so, right now, in our pilot in Kingston, it's right in the consumption center where substances are used.

And so, the device and system is there on a table, and so if someone needs to analyze a substance it can be done right there in a matter of minutes.

The idea is to encourage more harm reduction type behavior.

So, if there was something unexpected, say you weren't expecting a benzo in a sample, then at that point, you know, it's up to the user to either reduce the dose, maybe not take the dose at all, so that it, exactly like you mentioned Mark, so that we can prevent an adverse outcome.

- Why did you and your colleagues embrace this idea?

- Another great question.

So, like many things, it was kind of serendipitous in entrepreneurship, but at the time, when we started the company first off, I remember this was a year when fentanyl overdoses and fentanyl headlines were becoming really big in the media, and we knew that our technology could address this.

We just didn't know what exactly the use case was going to be.

A year or so later, we had this call for proposals from Health Canada to make these accurate drug checking prototypes.

And, we were looking at the specs of that and what they were asking for and we said, "Hey, this looks like something that we could do very very well."

We want this to be in the hands of everybody, everybody whose job it is to save lives in this crisis.

Whether that be every consumption site, every first responder, every public health group, you name it.

We want this to be ubiquitous everywhere.

- Yeah.

You're saving lives.

How does that feel?

- It's, you know, it... On one vein it's a big responsibility, but also, making an impact in a crisis that's very close to home and affects North America and Canada.

Us as founders and as a company, we're very proud to be doing that.

And we're very proud to be making a solution around such a big health crisis.

- Now, Malcolm, thanks for sharing these developments with us today at Spectra Plasmonics.

It's very, very interesting and promising technology.

All the best on that front.

And, again, thanks for coming.

- Thank you for having me again, Mark.

- Finally, tonight, we highlight the talent of regional rock band, Annie in the Water.

Working with the combo of rock, reggae, funk, and blues, this creative group, with some members' roots in Northern New York, is making waves all over the East Coast.

Here they are with their original tune, Carry the Music, recorded in Burlington Vermont early 2020.

(jazzy music) ♪ Yeah, I took it all for granted one time, ♪ ♪ But when I sit back, kick it relax and unwind ♪ ♪ It's all good ♪ ♪ 'Cause preparation led us to a moment of truth ♪ ♪ And if we do what we do better every time ♪ ♪ That's what we'll do, ♪ ♪ We'll pull through, I promise you, ♪ ♪ I'll let nobody bother you ♪ ♪ So we can be the dream that we had in the past ♪ ♪ So we can live the dream that we have in our hands ♪ ♪ Damn I'd love to do that.

♪ ♪ Now, hey now reality, back to the moment we feel, ♪ ♪ 'Cause now is all we really have for real.

♪ ♪ Get some grease for the wheels, ♪ ♪ And kick it in gear, lose the fear ♪ ♪ We've got the fire, they say it burns ♪ ♪ And It'll take us higher, though it hurts ♪ ♪ You say you've got my back and I know it's true ♪ ♪ Yeah, it's true ♪ ♪ And if we carry the music then we'll never lose ♪ ♪ Satisfaction will come ♪ ♪ When I look myself in my own face ♪ ♪ And I understand that I didn't waste a second ♪ ♪ No second guesses, my moon is crescent, ♪ ♪ I see the crest, ♪ ♪ Can't you see my heart, it beats out of my chest ♪ ♪ And I've invested so much time and energy in this quest ♪ ♪ Believe me when I say it's for the best ♪ ♪ Little rest for me, this recipe omits the word quit ♪ ♪ Just analyze it and you'll see that ♪ ♪ We need love, we need, we need love, ♪ ♪ Send it on down to us from above ♪ ♪ Said we need, we need, we need, we need love ♪ ♪ We've got the fire, they say it burns ♪ ♪ It'll take us higher, though it hurts ♪ ♪ You say you've got my back and I know it's true ♪ ♪ Yeah, it's true ♪ ♪ And if we carry the music then we'll never lose ♪ ♪ To say I've learned lessons is to understate ♪ ♪ Appreciating the miles I've spent down the interstate ♪ ♪ We've been 'round to some stages ♪ ♪ Round and round to place after places ♪ ♪ So many faces and steps I'm gratefully retracing ♪ ♪ These memories thrive, ain't no way I'd replace 'em ♪ ♪ On this canvas I paint over all the mistakes ♪ ♪ Were they really mistakes or was I just being saved?

♪ ♪ In this space ♪ ♪ I alleviate the expectation of a perfect picture ♪ ♪ Pain is unavoidable ♪ ♪ Change is unavoidable ♪ ♪ The plan is to perform to a standard, a norm, ♪ ♪ A level of success ♪ ♪ More can be expressed with this ♪ ♪ We've been blessed with this perfect opportunity ♪ ♪ To heal, and love, ♪ ♪ Love we create, we feel and it's real, ♪ ♪ And magic happens ♪ ♪ Let's care for each other now ♪ ♪ We've got the fire, they say it burns ♪ ♪ It'll take us higher, though it hurts ♪ ♪ You say you've got my back and I know it's true ♪ ♪ Yeah, it's true ♪ ♪ And if we carry the music then we'll never lose ♪ ♪ And if we carry the music then we'll never lose ♪ (crowd cheering) - That does it for us this Tuesday evening.

Join us next week for a fresh look Inside The Stories.

With Father's Day this month, we're ready to show you some creative ways to become a master griller.

And, do you use Pet Health Insurance?

We'll tell you how it can benefit your pets.

Meantime, if you have a story idea that you'd like to see us explore, or you're a musician or poet that would like to be featured, email us at wpbsweekly@wpbstv.org Wishing all our fathers out there a very happy Father's Day this coming Sunday.

We do hope you enjoy it.

Until then, Good night, everyone.

(techno music) - WPBS Weekly, Inside The Stories, is brought to you by the Watertown Oswego, Small Business Development Center, offers confidential business advice for those interested in starting, or expanding, their small business.

A public resource serving Jefferson, Lewis, and Oswego counties since 1986.

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They're proud to support WPBS TV online at carthagesavings.com Carthage Savings, mortgage solutions since 1888.

♪ You say you've got my back and I know it's true ♪ ♪ Yeah, it's true ♪ ♪ And if we carry the music then we'll never lose ♪ ♪ And if we carry the music then we'll never lose ♪ (guitar strumming music)