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September 11, 2002

Host: Michael Grant
Topics:
Psychological, cultural and social impacts of 9/11;
Arizona Primary election results; Arizona search dogs
In-Studio Guests:
Dr. Mark Wellek, past president of the American Society for Adolescent Psychiatry and a practicing psychiatrist for 30 years;
Arizona Republic editorial page editor, Keven Willey

>> Michael: Tonight on "Horizon," 9/11, one year later, what are the psychological, cultural and social impacts of 9/11 here in our state.

>>> We take a look at last night's primary election results and how they will impact the general election.

>>> A year ago, they went to New York City to help with the search. We profile the amazing Arizona search dogs and their handlers.

>>> Good evening, I'm Michael Grant.

>>>Michael Grant: Fittingly, all around us today are reminders of the tragedy of 9/11, recalling the terrible event might bring sadness and anger to some, others might think of national security and fear more attacks. The emotions and cultural and social impressions from 9/11 vary. How are people feeling here in Arizona? Here to try to answer that question, Dr. Mark Wellek, past president of the American Society for Adolescent Psychiatry and a practicing psychiatrist for 30 years. Dr. Wellek, good to see you again.

>> Mark Wellek: Thank you for having me, Michael.

>> Michael: I will admit to being strangely unsettled today, nothing that truly interrupted my day or what I was doing, but just a feeling of being unsettled. Is that common?

>> Mark Wellek: Join the crew. Join probably the rest of the state, including me. This all threw us off, and there are memories of it again today. 2 It threw us off of our balance. Usually we move straight ahead, do things and go about our lives in kind of a blasé, unwatchful fashion, which is perfectly normal for people in the United States, but that got our attention. It heightened our awareness, traumatized a lot of people, so all of us, today, probably remember some discomfort and can think of something. But some other things have happened, too. Even though I don't think most of us in Arizona feel physically threatened by some terrorist event, maybe a few people do, but most don't, I think what has happened here as well as everybody -- everywhere else, is that we've had our psyches threatened, our lifestyle threatened, there is lots of change going on and that is very unsettling. I overheard a conversation, and one person said to another, I'm kind of scared about what's going to happen in Arizona, and the other person said why? They said, The terrorists could bomb the Grand Canyon. And that was a year ago. And I still remember that, and I will never forget that. And I think that kind of gave sense to the fact that people are scared, even though they are not thinking reasonably about it.

>> Michael: I think we're talking most people here. Are there people in Arizona who really remain -- I hesitate the use the word "traumatized" but are at a left above what we're talking about?

>> Mark Wellek: Yes, they are. You didn't need to be in New York at that time to be traumatized. The Journal of the American Medical Association, in a recent study says that 6% of people after six months after the event, are still traumatized. That's around the country. That's everywhere, and part of that had to do with the amount of exposure that people had to the events, and that includes television, and that especially means television, because most people weren't there in New York.

>> Michael: Seeing the images over and over. and what do we mean when we say the word "traumatized"?

>> Mark Wellek: That means you have a lasting feeling of dread, apprehension, hyperalertness, being on guard, maybe nightmares if it gets really bad. Maybe recurring thoughts, maybe inability to concentrate and a feeling of discomfort. Your discomfort is not being traumatized, your discomfort and mine is about a painful memory and all of the changes going on, but if it whips up into a kind of a storm and gets in the way of our functioning, that's traumatic stress.

>> Michael Grant: Okay, now, let's start with that person. How do you handle that? What do you do if it reaches that --

>> Mark Wellek: I try to put my arms around them and help them. If you are a doctor, you ask people who are listening in if you are experiencing that and may not realize that's what it's about, but are feeling especially upset these days or had been thrown really off since this happened, or find yourself mesmerized in front of the television, like you can't take your eyes off the planes going into the buildings, and your wife or your husband is starting to say to you, honey, what's wrong, you can't stop this, you are not going to work, or you're unpleasant, irritable, unhappy, you're not sleeping well, get thee to a doctor. This is not advertising time, because most doctors, I think, are plenty busy, but it's get thee to a doctor if you're going to save your behind and keep it screwed to your body.

>> Michael: For the rest of us, just simply understand that you feel a little unsettled and that's not abnormal.

>> Mark Wellek: If you know about it, that means people who are watching this show, I hope, get some comfort from it. I hope I don't stir them up or make them feel worse or you don't do that, maybe some information would be helpful to them, maybe you and I talking together, which is helpful to you and I, we're processing. Other people need to process, too. Today, there was a lot of remembrance, and if you didn't watch too much of it, if you got the right dose of it and didn't overdo it or underdo it, I think that it was soothing and helpful to people. Human beings can symbolize and they can philosophize and can attribute meaning to things, American flags are meaningful, girders, small girders from the World Trade Center are appearing in parks now, those are 5 meaningful. Symbols are appearing all over the place, and only the human being can comfort themselves that way, and I think that's helpful.

>> Michael: Dr. Mark Wellek, thank you very much. I'm sure the advice is helpful as well.

>> Mark Wellek: Thank you.

>> Michael: Because of the emotions being felt today, most of the winners of last night's primary election did not spend the day campaigning, but yesterday Arizona voters did decide who will be facing off on the ballot in November. Primary election held a few surprises. In a moment we'll take a closer look at the candidates and races ahead. First a look at some of last night's primary election highlights.

>> Reporter: Primary election night, the numbers roll in at the Phoenix Civic Plaza, and political enthusiasts anticipate results. Numbers are watched at the state Democratic party headquarters where Arizona's political underdogs are vowing to take back the state. [ APPLAUSE ] In the Democratic gubernatorial race, Janet Napolitano bounced to a victory with 57% of the votes, the comparisons soon followed.

>> Janet Napolitano: I sued QWest for deceptive billing practices. You know our favorite local phone company? My opponent drew a paycheck from them as a lobbyist. There are real differences 6 between us and they will come out in this campaign.

>> Reporter: GOP victor Matt Salmon had 56% of the Republican vote. His barbs were ready as well.

>> Matt Salmon: We can boil the difference down to a simple truth. In my public service, I've stood with leaders like Ronald Reagan, John McCain, Jon Kyl, George W. Bush. Somebody else in this race owes her political career to Bill Clinton, Janet Reno and Al Gore.

>> Reporter: Salmon's closest competitor, Betsey Bayless, came in with 30% of the vote, will she throw her support behind Matt Salmon?

>>Betsey Bayless: I spoke with Matt Salmon this evening, and I told him I wanted to get together with him later this week and I'm going to talk about the issues of concern to me, the education, economic expansion, and fixing the state budget, as well as the guest worker program and numerous other things. So I'm going to be talking to him about those things, and we'll see where that goes.

>> Reporter: Napolitano's closest contender, Alfredo Gutierrez, had 22% of the vote. Gutierrez does not share the supportive sentiment with his party colleague.

>>Alfredo Gutierrez: I'm going to support Democrats that I believe in, who share my values, Democrats and Independents who share those values, and I'll work with them. That doesn't include her, but it includes a lot of Democrats. I'm going to continue to be involved and to struggle for the issues, for the values that I consider to be traditional to the Democratic party.

>> Reporter: In the race for attorney general, Democrat Terry Goddard will face last night's Republican winner, Andrew Thomas.

>> Andrew Thomas: I think in the end there was a very full airing of differences of views and philosophies and qualifications and I'm just gratified by the results, and I'm look forward to the general election and discussing our differences of opinion between Terry Goddard and me.

>> Michael: Here to talk about the outcome of the primary election, Arizona editorial page editor of the Republic, Keven Willey. That was a weird way to say it, but I thought I would say it that way. Hi Keven.

>> Keven Willey: Hello.

>> Michael: There is a ton of ways to start, but why don't we start with breaking news. There is about 30,000 ballots or so that have not been counted, and there are some races close enough that they may be impacted.

>> Keven Willey: Absolutely, there are a couple of legislative races in particular, I'm thinking of central northeast Phoenix, central northeast Phoenix, District 11, where you have something like 27 votes separating Barbara Leff who is challenging Susan Gerrard, and in that same district, the House race, three candidates clustered around two seats. I think number 2 and 3, Steve May and Deb Gullet are 13 votes apart. It's possible that these 8 ballots, depending on the number and how they are dispersed throughout the county could also affect other races, perhaps Congressional District 2, although there are nearly 700 votes separating Trent Franks, I believe, from Lisa Atkins. That's going to be a tougher margin to close, but not out of the question.

>> Michael: If I recall correctly, Lisa Atkins was leading that race early last night, of course, most of those returns made up of early ballots, because those are the ones that get counted prior, and they dump that in early. I don't know if you can draw any conclusions from that or not.

>> Keven Willey: It is -- it's tempting to want to do so. It's a little risky, because we don't know where they are disbursed, but it is true that the early ballots received prior to Tuesday, I believe, were counted and in those returns that we saw, early returns in the returns that are out today that have already been counted. Missing from that are any early ballots which were taken physically to the polling booths on Tuesday or which came to the county in the mail on Tuesday. Those ballots, and there's a good chunk of them, have not been counted yet. So we haven't seen the end of this primary yet.

>> Michael: What was the biggest surprise for Keven?

>> Keven Willey: Oh, I don't know. I suppose the biggest surprise for me has got to be the fact that the Congressional District 1, which lobbied so hard for so long for an all rural congressional district, this is that kind C-shaped one from Flagstaff all the way down to Casa Grande and much of the northeastern part of the state. They wanted an all-rural district and last night, the election night, the Republicans nominated a carpet bagger and the Democrats did the same thing. It's just amazing to me, both nominees have moved back to the district like yesterday or something, and so that kind of surprised me. Arizona has changed when there is a Udall, a Tenney, and a Whiting on the ballot and none of them can win their own nomination.

>> Michael: You know, We tend to focus on the statewide races, congressional districts and those kinds of things, and understandably so, and we'll do that in just a minute, but a lot of legislative incumbents defeated.

>>Keven Willey: Yeah, about a dozen, I believe, bit the dust Tuesday night. On the one hand, that seems like a large number. On the other hand, this is the first election after redistricting, and you almost always have a larger number of incumbents bite the dust after a redistricting exercise. I can remember in years past writing the news stories where on a primary night, 6 or 8 incumbents would have lost their bids. I think the fact that we've got nearly a dozen is a little higher than usual. Some of them were surprises. Lori Daniels was well entrenched and she got beat rather easily. Senator Cirillo on the West Valley was a surprise to some of us. Maybe he was a lackadaisical campaigner, but there were a number of defeats.

>> Michael: Is there a big think editorial headline here, "right ring retakes GOP"? Is that the message?

>> Keven Willey: It does seem as though in a number of these races that when you had a hard right republican facing off against a more moderate Republican, more often than not, the hard right person won, and that bodes well for people who are more conservative within the Republican party. There are a lot of moderate Republicans for whom that is a disappointment. You have to wonder how that will play out in the general election when you then -- I guess the good news for voters, is you have clearer contrasts. When you have an Andy Thomas versus a Terry Goddard, there's a pretty clear contrast there, but the downside is for some of those people who were hoping for a more moderate legislature, one less torn apart at the extremes, this is a big disappointment.

>> Michael: Now, let's talk about some of the races starting obviously with the Governor. You've got Matt Salmon, Janet Napolitano and the joker in the stack, Dick Mahoney. First question, do you think Alfredo will endorse Richard Mahoney?

>> Keven Willey: I don't think so. He certainly has said that he has no intention to, and there is bad personal blood between them at this point. 11 He certainly can change his mind. He'll be under increasing pressure from his party to do the party thing and endorse her. I wouldn't be surprised if he goes through the election and refuses to do so. There is considerable ill will right now between the two of them. I don't think they are going to kiss and make up any time soon.

>> Michael: There is a theory circulating that Mahoney draws equally from Napolitano and Matt Salmon. Do you buy it?

>> Keven Willey: I don't. I know that it's a theory. I understand the logic, but I don't agree with the logic. Few conservatives will be motivated to vote for Dick Mahoney. The only ones who would, would be the ones who know that he did lead a charge a while ago to repeal the state income tax. That is the only conservative thing that he's done. Not that many people remember that or are aware of it. I think on most other issues, certainly on social issues, he appeals much more to a liberal audience, so I think that -- and the name Mahoney is well known, it's like a Udall or Babbit name. He will hurt the Democratic nominee more than the Republican nominee.

>> Michael: Getting to your point on presenting sharp contrasts and certainly Matt Salmon and Janet Napolitano will do that, it does occur to me, though, you are a veteran of the process, oftentimes in primaries, party candidates have great difficulty, you know, they have to go so far right, so far left, depending on where they are at, it's tough to scramble back to the middle in time for the general election. I don't think Matt Salmon scrambled that far out. I think he stayed in his box, and that box is clearly a conservative box, but I don't think he scrambled that far right, what do you think?

>> Keven Willey: I agree. I think neither of these nominees, Matt Salmon on the Republican side resisted moving too far to the right, and I think Janet Napolitano, for all of the criticism she has gotten for being fuzzy on the issues, that was a deliberate move on her part to not move so far to the left as to become unelectable in the general. They were both mindful and were looking forward to a general election, and they have protected themselves a bit. I think it's an open race at this point. I think they start at an even starting place and anything can happen in this Governor's race.

>> Michael: You've already mentioned the attorney general race, so let me go to the superintendent of public instruction race. Jay Blanchard, Tom Horne, that'll be a sharp contrast. Tom Horne, though, if he dumps the kind of money into the general that he did in the primary, what do you think?

>>Keven Willey: You've got to give Jay Blanchard credit for being a giant killer. He did knock off Speaker Groscost not so long ago.

>> Michael: With a little help from his friends.

>> Keven Willey: He had help, granted. He will be up against a challenge. If Tom Horne can pour the kind of personal money into the general election, Jay Blanchard has a real fight on his hands. That's another one that could go either way.

>> Michael: Keven, appreciate your joining us, we will pace this thing over the next 6, 7 weeks. In fact, I think you'll be on the Friday edition. Thanks.

>>> Michael Grant: The massive effort to find survivors at ground zero demonstrated how far the science of search and rescue has come in recent years. High tech equipment like cameras and listening devices have proven to be valuable tools for locating live victims. When disaster strikes, sometimes the best hope for finding survivors can be as low tech as the relationship between a man and his dog.

>> Reporter: She is driven by a love of play. Her focus is unwavering. Her determination is absolute. Because of these qualities, she may one day very well save a human life. Kona and Steve Rochford are members of Arizona Search Dogs, a group of five valley firefighters and their dogs trained to perform search and rescue missions throughout the country. This volunteer nonprofit organization is part of Arizona taskforce one, which is one of 14 28 federally authorized urban search and rescue teams nationwide. The taskforce is administered by the Phoenix FIre Department and the search dogs and their handlers make a unique contribution to their team's efforts.

>> Steve Rochford: It's amazing what type of work these dogs can do. You think of them as a house pet, but their ability, their sense of smell is so phenomenal, to think that you can bury somebody, let's say in a two football sizes of rubble, and bury one victim, and they can have that person located in five or ten minutes, it's -- you know, it's overwhelming to see them work and how they do it.

>> Reporter: Rochford and his fellow handlers are able to conduct realistic training sessions at salvage yards. These sessions are based on the dogs' natural love of play and develop a finally honed ability for finding live disaster victims.

>> Steve Rochford: The main thing is the toy drive. Go search. That's the reward that the dog gets when they find a victim buried in rubble. That dog wants to have that toy more than anything, more than life itself, and that's what makes a good search dog, a dog willing to work and to search and search for that toy, so if you can find a dog that wants to play and is full of energy and has a really good disposition --

>> Good girl!

>> -- that's what's going to make a good search and rescue dog. 15

>> Reporter: Certain breeds have a natural affinity for this kind of work. Kona is a Belgian Malenwau (phonetic), a dog that is popular with police departments. Her fellow canines are Labrador Retrievers, like Chance, who himself was rescued from a shelter just one day before his scheduled euthanasia.

>>> Luck and native ability can take a search dog only so far.

>> Steve Rochford: We train three times a week at rubble sites throughout the valley. We work on obedience constantly. There is ability that you have to work on. There is a difference between having a good search and rescue dog and a really, really great search and rescue dog, and it comes down to hours.

>> Reporter: It also comes down to teamwork. During training sessions, members of the group take turns hiding from the dogs. Inexperienced animals are asked initially to find the victim in a practice barrel. They soon learn that success is rewarded with an opportunity to play. And as the dog's abilities develop, handlers move the game to a more realistic setting.

>>John Dean: Our dogs air scent on live victims. There's only one way you're going to do that and that's put each other in a hole and bury them with concrete and leave them there for a couple of hours while the rest of us train. You're not going to get many people to do that five years in a row every third day. I think we have an advantage in that we're all valley firefighters. We've all known each other for a while and it just tends to make our group work better in that way.

>> Reporter: Arizona search dog members train from 800 to 1,000 hours a year to achieve the level of skill their job demands. In order to qualify for urban search and rescue missions, they must meet the standards set by FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which evaluates the dogs through a rigorous testing process. Because the conditions at disaster sites can pose a number of unknown risks for human members of the team, the dogs must be trained to search independently of their handlers.

>> John Dean: There may be a structure that's untenable for us, whether collapse or we're just unsure. We can send them into that structure because they are lighter and more agile. They spread their weight over four paws. They do a lot better job getting in and out of those areas.

>> Kevin Kalkbrenner: We need to cover a very hazardous area, treacherous in terms of footing and things like that. The canines can do that faster than anything I've ever seen, and that's real important because when you have 40 members of a team waiting with specialized digging equipment, specialized cutting torches, ready to go, they want to dig, they want to rescue somebody, I've got to be able to tell them with a high probability this is where you need to spend your time, and this is where you don't need to spend your time. I would not want to go out and try to clear three to five blocks with cameras and listening equipment. It would be slow. It would be frustrating, and it wouldn't be very accurate. I would not want to go out and do a search without the canines.

>> Reporter: The Arizona Search Dogs and Arizona Taskforce 1 were deployed to New York following the disaster of 9/11 in support of search and rescue efforts at Ground Zero. While they were unable to find any live survivors, the dogs provided a valuable service nonetheless.

>> John Dean: Well, the dog's main goal is to find anybody that's trapped that we can't see that's alive. In the event there isn't anyone there to find, whether there is no one there, no one is still alive, the dogs will go in and clear the area, and the comfort, the nice thing it does for us is when we pack up and leave and go to the next area, it's nice to know with a relative high degree of certainty that we haven't left anyone behind either.

>> Reporter: As the Arizona Search Dogs wait and train for their next deployment, the group remains busy with another kind of mission, one that's having a significant impact here at home. At the Phoenix Advantaged Charter School, it's search dog appreciation day. On a previous visit, students learned about their dogs, their work and how Chance, the Black Lab, was given a new life and occupation. The children were so impressed that one group of fourth graders decided to help.

>> Stephanie Walsh: They collected food, dry food and canned food. They collected toys. Actually, they had asked Captain Dean what they needed, and one of the things that the rescue dogs do work for is for toys, and so the children were kind of adamant about getting toys so that they could be properly trained, and they also collected money donations, and that worked out quite well.

>> Reporter: In appreciation of the student's generosity, dogs and handlers hosted a pizza party at the school where the donations were presented to another kind of rescue organization, the Desert Labrador Retriever Rescue, the group that saved Chance.

>> Patricia Wallace: Captain Dean explained that he was working with the school and that they were very impressed with Chance, and he had told Chance's story about how he was almost put to death and been resurrected as a working dog and an awesome working dog, and he said because you've given Chance to me and given us that opportunity, we'd like to designate you as the group to receive this donation. I had no idea that it was going to be to the degree that it is. The kids are awesome. It's just wonderful to see them involved and so excited over the animals. It's a really positive experience, and I think it's great for every kid to have that.

>> Reporter: There are many things for which dogs are uniquely gifted, from finding the lost to touching a child's heart. As the Arizona Search Dogs continue to work hard preparing for the unthinkable, they also easily inspire affection and generosity of spirit wherever they go, doing more than most dogs to prove what's possible when humans and canines get together.

>> John Dean: After you work with the dog for a while, you have a relationship that you can't put into words. You just can't. If you're a dog lover, if you like that sort of thing and have a relationship with an animal, that's probably as good as it's going to get.

>>Rescue Worker: It's overwhelming to see them work and the trust that's there. One more time because you have a little problem. I would never put her in a situation or an environment that would be dangerous or an environment that she couldn't handle. There is that bond, and I just enjoy watching her work and giving her the opportunity to try to save people. There is just a lot of satisfaction.

>> Michael: With the primary behind us, it's time to look ahead to the general election an the "Horizon" Web site is a great place to start, go to www.kaet.asu.edu., click on "Horizon." Now we have added summaries of the propositions you will find on the ballot in November.

>>>Michael Grant: Tomorrow on "Horizon," a hockey arena going up in a field in Glendale, and soon a football stadium will join it. 20 What is in the deal made by the City of Glendale? We'll take a look at the long and winding stadium saga, tomorrow night, on "Horizon."

>>> Thanks for joining us on this Wednesday evening. I'm Michael Grant. Have a great one, good night