>> toyota ordered north america dealers to top selling six popular models. the material on the heated seats does not meet flammable standards. for more go to our website aljazeera.com. ♪ ♪ on "america tonight." same-sex marriage and the catholic school. a beloved educator forced to choose between his partner and his profession. >> did he ask you if you would a null your marriage. >> she speaks in his first television interview. >> also amanda knox found guilty again. will she be extraditioned. >> we'll fight if. there is no way she's going back over there. >> and star power, celebrities

who lends their name for products when charity and the pitch don't mix. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ good everything, everyone, thanks for joining us, i am adam may in for joie chen. tonight we begin i story that has divided a community. church versus state i'm beloved catholic school administrator forced to resign because he's married, legally to another man. the case raises many questions as local archdiocese across the country struggle to reconcile traditional catholic teachings with pope francis' more modern comments about games. here is "america tonight's" shiia mick vicker. >> they are a couple who say that they are very much in love. they were legally married last july in washington state.

same-sex marriage was legalized there just over a year ago. it was their marriage that simple act, that cost mark his job. >> i don't feel like i have done anything wrong. i married the love of my life. it is legal in the state of washington. >> reporter: and it's very important and i want to be married and still have my faith and still believe in god. i am catholic and i do pray to god every day. >> he worked here at east side catholic school. a suburb east of see at. he was a well-respected vice principal and swim coach. he told school admit x-raysers and colleagues knew he was game and that he lived with his partner. it was a catholic version of don't ask don't tell. >> they asked me not to bring my partner to any of our school events. not to bring up any issues or questions, so he was not invited to anything. so we kept our private life

provprivate. >> reporter: they kept their wedding private too. unknown to the school until last month when a fellow teacher overheard a conversation mark had about wedding flowers. and told administrators. tell me the story of how all of this unfolded. >> from what i understand, a few teachers went to my supervisor and said they had discovered that i was married. and then sister mary, who is the president and head of our school, brought me in to a meeting, asking me some questions about it to see if i actually did get married. and i told her, yes, i was married to the love of my life, dana jef jergens, she said it's unfortunate. >> then he was called in to a meeting with administrators and the school's attorney. >> they told me that unfortunately, because i married a man, it was against catholic social teachings and it was against the church, and that they were unfortunately going to have to let me go. >> it wasn't a decision that the

school made because he was in this very often on december 17th, wherein he resigned. recognizing fully that he was a catholic, practicing catholic, understood the contract that he had signed. >> michael patterson is the attorney for east side catholic school. >> it was difficult from the standpoint that we knew and he knew that he had made a commitment to the school, that he would uphold the catholic teachings and be in accord with the majesty of the church and when he no longer was able to attest and live to that mission, he made the decision to resign. >> reporter: it was then that the head of the school, sister marry tracey made an unusual suggestion. away for him to keep his job. did she ask you if you would a null your marriage? >> she never said the word a null. the only thing she said is would you consider getting a divorce. and she said if you did, you know, we could perform a

commitment ceremony and the school would probably help pay for if. >> they told you that you had violated the teachings of the church by marrying a man. >> yes. >> but they also suggested that you could get a divorce, which is also, as i understand it, against the teachings of the church. >> that's correct. >> what did you think about that? >> well, again, i told them that i was not going to get a divorce. this was just kind of brazen. i just couldn't believe that anybody would ask me to do that. i love my husband. i love being married. it's just very difficult to have somebody say in order to keep your job, will you get a divorce. >> i think there was a hypothetical that was proposed to him, well, what if you got a divorce, once again that was made out of frustration by sister mary tracey without consultation of any church personnel, without consultation with me, without consultation of

the board. it was made out of frustration because he was a valued administrator and that was never pursued and obviously not even on the table. >> reporter: east side catholic school sits on a beautiful campus, as a private school it's not run by the seattle archdiocese, but it does adhere to strict catholic teachings and guidelines. what happened here next took many by surprise. almost immediately after hearing that the popular mr. z, as age known, was being forced to leave, students staged a mass sit-in. >> there was a lot of anger and confusion on why an administrator who has been doing his job well would get fired because of his sexual presence. and then that kind of changed the determination in wanting to change the, not just the catholic church, but people's view on gays and really help them be who are they are. >> initially i was just really

sad and upset and kind of overwhelmed that something so unfair could happen, because he's such a great person that i couldn't understand, i couldn't wrap my mind around why it was happening. and then after that it kind of turned to anger at the school. and at the archdiocese for doing this to him. >> reporter: then parents got angry. some even threaten today pull their kids from the school over mr. "z's" departure. >> i like seeing myself trying to help his cause and help our school ultimately turn a page. >> reporter: aan alum my from al over the country threatened to stop donating to the school. >> i don't want my alma mater to have a black eye, have a school let letter, i don't want to be known as the guy from the school with the problems and fire people and it's a big media mess. that's why i am involved here. [ chanting take a stand ] >> reporter: if there are people connected to the school in favor of the departure, so far, they stay silent. in short, it's become a p.r.

nightmare for east side catholic, and the local archdiocese. [ chanting love always wins ] >> reporter: driven by students on social media, there have been protests like this one. >> let's bring the change that we want to this church. >> reporter: with regular updates on twitter, #deepmr. z2013. and honoring page on 13. school swim meets have become statements. and at every protest, students quote the words of pope francis asking who am i to judge. >> to have this kind of love and support it's just incredible. they stood up for me and what they thought was right. >> reporter: the school has held weekly damage control meetings with parents, faculty, administrators and alumni. local news media have covered every development. and as the tale of east side high has gone national other stories have come to light of at least six gay teachers in other cities who also lost their jobs

in catholic schools after getting married. [ chanting love always wins ] >> reporter: at this protest two weeks ago, alumni and activists march today the headquarters of the seattle archdiocese to deliver a petition signed by more than 20,000 people demanding that archbishop reinstate him. >> we beg you to make a positive pastoral statement regarding god's unconditional love for all persons not working in our local catholic institutions. >> reporter: the archbishop's spokesman came to the door to meet the protesters and accept the petition. >> ultimately the school decided that it had to be faithful to its mission as a catholic school. and the archdiocese supports the school board and the administration in its decision. i'll take any questions. >> how does this square up with what the pope says did gays? >> you know, pope francis has

reminded us of the limitless mercy of god. pope francis has also reminded us that as catholics we have a responsibility to live the fullness of catholic teaching and that includes our teaching of traditional marriage. >> reporter: critics point out that the school and the archdiocese are not equally enforcing other catholic teachings. prohibitions against divorce, remarriage or contraception. and this story isn't going away. last week east side's principal sister marry tracey resigned. many say that's not enough to end the controversy. and friday is ---day. supporters of mr. z is urged to one of the school colors, orange and at 1:00 p.m. eastern time to take a moment and stand up for mr. "z." >> if the student voice is strong enough and it can carry, that's what started this and that's what really continues to propel this for the students. >> the kids have just been fantastic. i am just so proud and so honors

of the students there at east side catholic. >> we will be in charge of all of this and he will be able to make this change. right now this is how it starts. >> reporter: high school students challenging the catholic church in the the name of equality. mark won't say if he'll go to court to get his job back, but he has retained legal counsel. in the meantime he's work to go prevents what happened to him from happening to others. through a foundation he set up to help create gender equality. >> mark's first television interview. very fascinate. it's interesting you point out the hypocrisy, the suggestion of getting a divorce, cherry picking which values they are going to adhere to. >> it's clear the explanation is that sister marry tracey was speaking from frustration, but she said to him get a divorce and then the school will

probably pay for a commitment ceremony. it's okay if you are with your partner and have a commitment ceremony, it's not okay if you do what the state of washington and many other sometimes sta*euts in the unitestates in s legal. >> same-sex marriage, were you surprised by the students reactions. we have seen instances where students rally around a attorney. but this has been going on for many days now. >> more than a month. it's survived the christmas break and i think that they are with some hope that over the christmas break the student attention would drift elsewhere. but it has survived that and they are continue to go keep it going. they are impassioned. they feel very strongly, one of the things that they had said repeatedly is that one of the standards that east side catholic prides itself on is teaching values of tolerance and equality and those are things that they are bring to go their protest. and they recognize that they are challenging the status quo of the church. >> let's bring in the

conversation father thomas reese. i want to ask you about this disconnect. where obviously we are seeing play out there in washington state right now. the students and the administrators are totally on opposite end of the spectrum on that. this is not just happening there, we are eying it with a lot of youth right now that are in catholic schools, aren't we? >> there is no question about it. if you look at the polling data of young people, the overwhelming support, like 70% of young millennials are in favor of gay marriage. there is a tsunami of young people coming. and as they age and the older people die, the support for gay marriage is going to be overwhelming in this country. and it's going become de facto. it's going to become law in more and more states. so this is, you know, on the horizon. >> isn't the catholic church very concerned about trying to keep people in the p even ws. a anybody of churches have had problems doing that, the numbers are kind of flat or going down

in some areas as a matter of fact. when you have young people dissolutioned how do you expect to keep them going to the church in the future and raise their families catholic? >> it's clear that this is a big issue with young people. unlike people of my generation, they all have friends who are gay, they know people who are gay, they see television programs on where there are game couples, who they identify with. >> my generation didn't experience that. we now find out that many of our friends were gay. but it was all kept in the closet. when the you know someone who is gay it changes your attitude on a lot of these issues. >> but your generation wrestled with another teaching of the church and that was divorce. and there was a time in the united states where if you were in a catholic school and a teacher and you did get a divorce, you could also lose your job. >> absolutely. that's absolutely the case.

in the '50s, if a catholic teacher got divorced and remarried, he or she could lose their job. the bishops no longer fight over that. the bishops no longer bus push. that and, you know, they are still, you know, against divor divorce. unless people go through a complicated annulment process, you cannot get remarried in the church after a divorce. but we don't fire teachers who get divorced. we don't, you know, we don't necessarily fire teachers if we know they are living with someone. on many of these issues the church's practice is kind of like the u.s. army, don't ask, don't tell. what becomes problematic for bishops is when these things become very visible as they do through a wedding ceremony. >> we have certainly seen pope francis at least make some

suggestion that the catholic church is moving on this issue you a little bit. but there is no policy change yet, correct? >> well, i think what pope francis wants to emphasize is that the first words out of the catholic church when they meet a gay person is god loves you. god loves you. you know. and the second thing is, and we love you. you know, this -- not a judgmental approach. not a list of regulations, not telling the person that you are, you know, innin intrinsically disordered. not using that kind of language, but wanting to embrace the person and tell them that god loves them and god's compassion towards them. now then we can have a conversation maybe on these issues. but if the first words out of our mouths are judgmental, then i think we are lost. >> and still you cannot get married in the catholic church. >> no. you know, i don't think that that is going to happen. >> all right. the national catholic reporter

thomas reese and america tonight's sheila mick vicker with the first nationally tell viced interview, thank you so much. >> thanks. >> tonight we want to follow up on a story that we have reported where there is more to it. last week "america tonight" investigated growing efforts by schools to crack down on parents who seek a better education for their children by hopping the boundaries of school districts. there has been a new development in our story, we told you about the garcia family, charged with a felony accused of stealing an education. for keeping a their five-year-olfive-year-old daughd in a school outside the district where they lived. they were facing a possible seven years in prison. here is part of special correspondent soldado by en's original story. >> we got handcuffed like criminal with his a belt. >> with a leather belt where the handcuffs were to -- >> we went in jail. spent a couple of hours in jail.

>> a cuban immaterial want married a ukrainian immigrant in 1990 i'm in 2011 they were having marital issues and alicia moved out of their home in philadelphia with their daughter, they moved in with alicia's father a home own never nearby montgomery county. she was enrolled in kindergarten at pine road elementary. the garcia's reconciled and they moved back to philadelphia. they decided to let her finish the school year in montgomery county. in the grandfather's school district. that's when the trouble began. >> the school district contacted us in april and said that there is a problem with your residency. so we came in t meet with the principal. >> and what happened? >> she kept insisting that i never lived there and she's turning the -- you know, us to the police. >> superintendent wouldn't talk to us. but she made good on her threat and turned the case over to

police. the garcias say they were cooperating, showing mail, alicia's voter registration and other proof that she was living in montgomery county. >> we haven't heard anything for maybe a month, and then in august he called us and said that we have a choice to turn ourselves in or he putting out a warrant to arrest us. >> what was going through your mind while they were fingerprinting you and processing you? >> disgusting. >> guess gusting. >> yeah, disgusting with the system, disgusting with everything, everything came to my head as disgusting. >> i was just in disbelief that this is happening in america over education aircraft five-year-old child. >> according to court documents the lower moorland school district had identified at least 10 families who had illegally enrolled there the same year. they were ousted too, but so far the only family being prosecuted

is the garcias. >> let's use the garcia family to make an example, to make sure that everybody know in philadelphia, you try to cross the border this, can happen to you. >> it's an interesting phrase you use, to cross the boarder. >> that's the way they treat the philadelphia cities in montgomery county. >> we are talking about philly, we are not talking about canada. >> yeah, was there a line where they don't want people to cross. >> and this week the garcias case was resolved, hamlet garcia and his fatherly pled guilty to a lesser offense of lying to the school district. they were ordered to pay just over $10,000 in restitution. after the ruling, garcia told members of the media that he had done nothing wrong and that he agreed to the deal to avoid a bigger sentence. he sent "america tonight" this statement. saying i would like to thank our sus justice system which is not perfect and can destroy lives by making mistakes by wrongful prosecution of families. but when you live in a

democratic country like the united states of america, you will have the chance to fight. coming up next, raids on the spot. the operation that's aiming to rid the nation of undocumented and unsuspecting immigrants. fault lines investigates the terrifying program next.

♪ ♪ a political storm brewing in new orleans involving immigrant families and a new deportation initiative run by the obama administration. after hurricane katrina did he have straighted new orleans, many immigrant families answered the call to help rebuild the city. but now they say that they are being unjustly targeted. fault lines went to new orleans to investigate what administration officials call honester to deport specific violent criminals and what activists in the city are calling an indiscriminate stop

and traffic program for immigrants. fault lines josh has the story. >> reporter: fault lines traveled to new orleans to examine the impact of deportation on the city's immigrant community. obama has assured critics that ice is using discretion in its deportation efforts. >> we are focusing our limited resource on his violent offenders and people convicted of crimes and as a result we have increased the removal of criminals by 70%. >> reporter: heard that ice has been operating a new program in new orleans called carry. it stands for criminal alien removal initiative. carry, ice says, is focused on immigrants, who, quote, pose a serious threat to the community.

>> it's a small terrifying effect. they'll go in to a grocery store and take three people. >> reporter: she has been piecing together the impact of carcarry on immigrant families. is there a suspicion? this isn't associated with any other crime? >> what we have heard from the testimonies that we have been gathering. literally the ice agents will go in to apartment complexes, bible studies and anyone who looks latino, sometimes they ask questions, sometimes they just handcuff people. fingerprint them if they have any sort the minor criminal record or any previous immigration history they immediately take them in to custody. >> reporter: this time of enforcement represents a shift for new oregon leans. >> after hurricane katrina a lot of day labors and construction

workers came to help rebuild the city. help to roofing work, december n work just really cleaning up the streets and getting people back in their homes. >> reporter: at the workers sent for racial justice immigrants fighting deportation gathered to share stories. >> reporter: the center is collaborating with the national deportation movement called not one more to help plan a response to the carry program. >> what we are starting today is from new orleans, a real live resistence to president obama deportation program. this is how it's playing out, you know in, new orleans. >> what we have been seeing and what people have been living with for the past six months in

new orleans is a different kind of enforcement. it's really a new wave of enforcement in -- that's rooted in community. >> reporter: investigators for the workers center told us that they have documented hundreds of stories of these raids. >> what this program called carry is looking to do is create teams or task force with his local law enforcement. they are approaching people who look latino, they are handcuffing them and then subjecting them to fingerprints. >> reporter: j.j. rosenbaum uncovered the carry program and some case file documents. >> it's not normally given to people, so we think it might have been an accidental release. it talks about how on september -- >> reporter: what she found, she says, appeared to be a blueprint for collaboration between local

law enforcement and ice officials that launched nationwide in 2012. >> when we see ice vehicles driving around predominantly latino areas of town arresting people, and continuing to drive the vans vans around until they fill up. that's racial profiling. not targeted enforcement. >> reporter: in november the immigrant community took their ainge tore the streets in cities across the country. >> reporter: this protest culminated in a blockade of rush hour traffic in one of new orleans busiest intersections for three hours. >> i got a job, get one! [ chanting human rights ] >> just behind me another truck is trying to headache it through

the intersection and protesters have put themselves in front of it. >> reporter: the protesters believe that obama turned on what they call an immigration dragnet and he can turn it off. >> police circled around they just started their first arrests. the crowd is chanting for obama to listen. >> reporter: they say the immigration system is broke again that there should be a moratorium on deportations until it's fixed. for an undocumented immigrant being arrested, even for a misdemeanor, is a dangerous act. especially considering obama's focus deporting criminals. ice refused an on-camera interview with fault lines. but the day after the protest. they agreed to talk to us on the

phone. the ice official asked for his name not to be use used if someone gets arrested with no other criminal record gets arrested for civil disobedience, does that move them for to a priority category now that they have been arrested for somethi something? >> in an e-mail ice officials stated that they target specific violent criminals. but we wanted do to ask them about allegations that his latino communities are being profiled in the process. what tells them that an individual is -- who would that check out?

>> reporter: just to be clear, my scan, he means handcuff and fingerprint. >> the people have been out in the parking lot this grocery store as they are walking out of the grocery store handcuffed and fingerprinted. there is a land row maatt launde corner. the problem with that is ice law enforcement officers are not permitted constitutionally to create a latina dragnet and arrest everyone and fingerprint them and decide who they want to premove. that's exactly what the constitution prohibits. >> i want to follow-up on the last part that have segment, what happens if a parent is at that grocery store with their children? are they being put in the back of these vans and fingerprinted?

>> absolutely. in fact, we have a story today a print store out website about a guy who was picked up and he was put in the back of a van and driven around for six hours while they found other people and other people they stopped for snacks, according to him. so, you know, he's shackled in three different places in the back of the fan, six hours waiting to get to the station and he was supposed to be picking up his kid and couldn't tell his wife that he couldn't go pick up the kid. >> how is that not racial profiling? people have to be raise that go question. >> absolutely. particularly the people there. because it's only really happening in latino neighborhoods. if they -- and i did ask ice that. if they go if in to a hispanic grocery story and am standing there and they decide to scan, they say, the other people, will i be detained and handcuffed and made to be fingerprinted. and the answer was, oh, no, not you. he couldn't tell me why i wouldn't fit in and others would. when they say they scan them they say they are doing them a favor it's convenient because they don't have to take them downtown to fingerprint them

they can do it right there. but what it really means if they have intelligence on one person in that grocery store they can get everyone else there who looks hispanic being handcuff them and take them to the van and keep them there until they run their fingerprints on these mobile machines and wait for that to come back. if anything pops, if they gotta rested for civil disowe bead cents protest, a traffic ticket, even if they have civil stuff like a prior deportation, then they are detained and take wayne immediately. >> how forthcoming has the government been about this program? it's funded with u.s. taxpayer dollars. are you getting all of the information? do we know everything about it yet. >> absolutely not. we only found about this in october. from the very same individual i was speaking about before that got picked up on september 11 and this was driven around for six hours, he was released in october released with bond paperwork in that paperwork it said that he was picked up on the c.a.r.i. initiative, but nobody knew what it was. so we have been in the process of trying to find out more

information about it from ice. the iclu in georgia also had asked ice back in may of 2012. outlining the initiative. these e-mails are telling the georgia station you are not making your numbers from the year before. you are not making your quota redirect all your assets to doing this and here is the strategy to do it with. we believe that that was cari program. >> that's always a sticky situation that gets last people in trouble when you start talking about quotas and numbers on programs like this. that's fault lines' soundser josh rushing. thank you so much. >> thank you. his phone report, the deported, america's immigration battle will air fry at 9:30 eastern right here on al jazerra america. ♪ ♪

experienced, up to nevada. it's a dire situation, and up

♪ ♪ a dramatic development tonight in a case that garnered international attention. an italian appeals court has upheld the guilty verdicts against amanda knox and her former boyfriend rafael sole zito for the 2007 murder of

their british roommate. following more than 10 hours of deliberations the two judges and six jurors returned to the courtroom to announce their verdict, knox and sole zito were noticeably absence. some legal experts believe knox decision to boycott the appeal and follow the case from her hometown in seattle may have heard her standing with the judges. members from the victim's family were present in the courtroom hoping that just would finally be served. >> there is nothing more than that we can do about that really. there are extradition laws in place that they can get around, again that's stuff that's out of our control. >> amanda is upset. we were all just shocked and i think upset, but we are all ready to fight, too. >> 90 days from now the judges will submit a report detailing how they came to this verdict. additionally, they will have to explain how the evidence weighed in on their decision. knox's lawyers say they will now appeal to the italian supreme court and yet another appeal trial is likely putting this in

soared of a judicial ping upon if you will. so what exactly does this guilty verdict mean for amanda knox, we turn to marry fan associate professor of university washington school of law also a former federal prosecutor. mary, what is next in this case? >> well, amanda's lawyers in italy are certainly going to try to -- going to appeal as you have indicated. and the italians will have to consider whether or not to request extradition now or wait until the outcome of the appeal. >> based on what you have seen happening in this case so far, will they extradition her now and will the u.s. go along with that request? >> well, one hopes that that there will be diplomacy in this decision and i think the diplomatic thing given the ups and downs of this case, the twists and the turns, the good

thing the wise thing would be to wait. >> i think it's very confusing for people observing this at home watching this drama unplay on their televisions, it seems like there is another trial all the time. is this typical for the italian justice system? >> the justice system is certainly more complicated and a longer road than many certainly in the u.s. are familiar with. and many other parts of the world as well. >> you teach a class actually cross boarder criminal law. here in this country we have a very strong notion about double jeopardy. does that apply in italy? is it extremely different than what it is like here in the u.s. >> he's a good question. the u.s. has very strong notion of double jeopardy enshrined in our contusion as well as our national culture. this is not the notion that we see in many other systems in the world. so, for example, it's quite

astonishing to americans that the prosecution can appeal an acquittal and put a he defendant through the trauma, the stress of another retrial after an acquittal. but the prosecution can appeal acquittalacquittals in many othr jurisdiction in the world. >> if there is an actual appeal that goes to the italian supreme court, will there be a whole other trial or will they tackle individual aspects of the case? >> with respect, i wouldn't be able to predict what will ham when it comes to the appeal. will it be sent to another court for retrial or not. we'll have to wait and see. >> because this case has been so unpredictable to begin with, university of washington law prefors or marry fan also a ex-federal prosecutor.

up next, life's most basic thanecessity, water, why many wt virginians still can't drink it three weeks later. >> i think a person has the right to know where the hell they come from. >> your house is the same size as my closet. >> the shows that get people talking. >> sundays, only on al jazeera america.

coming up on "consider this." amanda knox being convicted

again despite being found inset two years ago, also why marijuana's legal sayings has a bumper crop of critics. is there really a war on the 1%, why the empires most wealthy are striking back, a truly underground artist. the director of the oscar nominated documentary. we'll see you at the top of the hour. ♪ ♪ it's been three weeks since the chemical leak in west virginia and many residents are still afraid to use their tap without fore drinking, cooking and bathing of the lat night more than 100 people garth ford a town hall in charleston to voice their concerns and try to get answers about the safety of their water what they got were a lot of new concerns. >> the longer the water stays in the distribution system the more conversion there is. and the more dangerous compounds. so if you are out in the outlying areas or you are on a

tank that the water stays in for a longer period of time, you are going to be exposed to more of those formaldehyde like chemicals. >> yep, they are taking about more exposure after i do-not use inform order was used they recommended a flushing technique to clean out dirty pipes, some are still reporting health concerns or after drink organize bathing with it. now experts are concerned that the chemicals might be breaking down in to other tax intelligencer. this week an environment the engineer testified that he found cancer-causing formaldehyde in a local water sample. the state department called it totally unfoundedded and other experts are questioning his methodology. whether or not his findings are valid. resident are still concerned that the short and long-term consequences of this spill have simply not been addressed. president obama didn't mention the west virginia water crisis in his state of the union speech

on tuesday. a sign that the rest of the country may be moving o but my next guest does not have that luxury. joining me tonight via skype is kirk lundgren a residents of charles town who is still waiting. i understand your wife is pregnant and you must be extremely concerned? >> yes, i am. it's not that we are stared to use the water we are still told by the cdc and my wife's doctors that pregnant woman should not be using this water at all. >> is she using it at all? is she using it to bathe or stay clean? >> she takes a bath with bottled water kind of just rinses off a little bit and about once or every four or five days we drive 30 miles way so that we can take a shower at the ymca over in hurricane west virginia. >> it's my understanding you are working two jobs, how much has this crisis cost you? i can imagine how much you are spend on the ground bottled water.

when you factor in the bottle watered and the traveling expense to his get water or go find clean foods. the fact that you can't really cook at home, as conveniently as you used to be able to you have to go out to restaurants that are using safe water a lot more. the expense ises really add up overtime, any, they do. >> tell me about the letter that you wrote to president obama. >> the letter i wrote to president obama was just out of frustration and it was an attempt to get this back in to a discussion because a lot of country has heard our water has been deemed safe. it's not the population of pregnant well, people with young chirp, elder determine, people with compromised immune systems are not allowed to use this water. because of that it's still very much a real part of our lives. and a lot of people don't realize that. justin bieber gets arrested and there is a traffic jam and new jersey and we we quickly fall out of the national spotlight. >> if they are telling people that are pregnant or with

compromised immune system to not drink the water if you are a healthy individual you must be extremely reluctant to do so? >> i am pretty healthy, i try, and i don't want to use it. it's -- it scares you when you don't know what the long-term effects are, you don't know any studies that have been done and the only study that i do know from east man chemicals msds sheet shows that there are saito genic changes on the white blood cells which is actually a scary fact. when that's the only thing that we know that has been shown as a human effect. >> kirk, let me ask you this. if this had happened in a major metropolitan area like no, city or los angeles, do you think the attention would still be on this issue you versus it being in west virginia? >> of course. it's a very -- the problems that we have down here in west virginia with regulation and epa standards go back through the history of west virginia for a long, long time.

and it's a double-edged sword down here where more regulation equals less jobs and less jobs equals less money. and in a state that is already at the bottom of the list when it comes to the wealthiest states, that becomes a real problem when you start discussing these kind of things. >> kirk, i can tell you "america tonight" is going to stay on top of the story, thank you so much for sharing the very latest for us from west virginia tonight. >> thank you very much, sir, you have a great evening. after the break, from the fight to end poverty, to the face of pop. the celebrity endorsement dilemma that's putting hollywood in hot water. more. answers to the questions no one else will ask. >> it seems like they can't agree to anything in washington no matter what.

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a different kind of buzz. "america tonight" takes a look at the clash between celebrity endorsements and their humanitarian work. >> like most actors my real nobody is saving the world. >> it may look like any number of advertisements featuring a hollywood celebrity. it has a little pop and physician, a little glamor, but also a whole lot of continues verse i. soon after this ad for soda stream hit the airwaves, scarlet johansson ended her eight-year ambassador ship with the international aid group oxfamiliar sight a fundamental difference of opinion, soda stream a company whose primary production is in as is he'llly settlement has come under criticism in pro palestinian activists say it only serves to support the occupation in, a statement oxfamiliar said while it respected johansson's independence, oxfamiliar

believes that businesses such as soda stream that operate in settlements further the ongoing poverty and denial of rights of the palestinian community that his we work to support. oxfam is opposed to all trade from israeli settlements which are illegal under international law. society a stream's ceo says that the company's mixed staff of more than 1200 is reeling and i palestinian employs, represent the possibility for peace in the region. >> this factory is a dream for activists and politician on both sides of this dilemma. because this factory is the model for peace. soda stream is showing every day what peace will look like. and proving every day that there can be and will be peace among our peoples. >> but palestinian officials don't see it that way. >> translator: this factory is located on annexed and occupied palestinian land. this is a settlement. and settlements are in violation of international law and

legitimacy. this factory is set up on land stolen by force. if they want to set up bridges for peace, why don't they establish this factory in israel and then employ palestinian workers. >> johansson joins a long list of celebrities whose paid appearances and endorsement deals have stirred controversy. ♪ >> from jennifer lopez's controversial concert which has a poor human rights record, to beyonce giving a private performance for members of muammar qaddafi's entourage, celebrities have offense crossed the line. actor george clooney has done a string of endorsement for necessary press so which is under fire for its labor practices. clooney says the ads are part of a larger strategy to finance his humanitarian work. in a statement he said most of the mom i make on the commercials i spend keeping a satellite over the border of north and south sudan to keep an eye on omar alba cheer, i want

the war criminal to have the same amount of attention that i get i think that's fair. johansson's feud highlights a modern day dilemma. when celebrity endorsement deals and celebrity activism clash. celebrities typically dominate headlines for stories like this, but what about the bigger picture. joining me from the world peace foundation is executive director alex, thanks for joining us, first off, what do you make of this situation involving scarlet johansson? >> what it does is it illustrates the limb stations, start comings of the base being contributions in enlisting celebrities in the service of political causes and philanthropic causes. it's not as simple as these celebrities would like us to believe. >> give us an example of some of the shortcomings that we have seen in the past and what kind of problems has it created? >> well, what tends to happen when you get a celebrity moving

in to a crisis, is that the celebrity becomes the story and the celebrity simplifies the story, describes the story in very simple, compelling, human terms us, that glosses over the deep complexities of that problem. we saw it almost 30 years ago when bob geld off and band-aid, the response to the ethiopian famine of 1984. and bob geldoff himself began to recognize in and a few years later he admitted that the band-aid style of don't ask difficult questions, justify give us the money humanitarianism was going to solve the problems of poverty and hunger. >> but alex -- >> reengaged -- >> wouldn't you admit without celebrities attached to in of the causes the causes may go unknown, people may not hear about it. people are attract today certain celebrities and want to hear what they have to say? >> it certainly is the case that the involvement of celebrities

in charity work and certain causes gives them an enormous profile. but the think the balance has been lost. we have lost a lot of the deeper issues, the deeper political issues that need to be address if these problems are to be involved, get swept under the carpet and many celebrities who get involved. get involved not ready to address the fact that actually there is some difficult and unpleasant questions, moral questions, political questions which they have to address if they are to solve these problems, with see this for example, with the role of celebrities in sudan. the celebrity are really shocked in to silence when the people that they have been supporting, the good guys, as it were, start fighting themselves in south sudan and committing atrocities. they really don't know what to do. they have been succumbed by this ferrfairy stale script of good s and bad guys and the world is not that simple. >> we are seeing that plate on

you there right now. what about the organizations themselves, they are eying he should many of them, to go ahead and sign celebrities do they bare some responsibility here? sure, maybe you should say the celebrity should know more about their causes but shouldn't the organizations also be informing the celebrities? >> i think so. i think the organizations themselves have the fundamental responsibility for this. because they enlist celebrities i think often without looking in to the deeper issues that will confront them. and quite offense, they allow the issue -- the fundraising and the profile to become the issue to become the story. >> you are the money it's really about trying to get the money sometimes with some of these organizations by getting that big hollywood star? >> exactly. it becomes a marketplace. it becomes a marketplace for our attention, for our dollars. and often at the cost of actually solving the problem that they are trying to address. >> all right, that's alex from the world peace foundation.

thank you so much for joining is here. >> you are very welcome. and that is it for us here on "america tonight." remember if you would like to comments on any of the story that his you have seen tonight, just log onto our website aljazerra.com/americatonight, you can also join the conversation on twitter or our facebook page. have a great night. >> welcome to al jazeera america, these are the stories -

dozens have been injured in the ukraine protests. human rights watch saw medical personnel and journalists targeted. >> 20-year-old the bovt born marathon bomber faces 30 life sentences. >> a settlement on the stop and frisk laws. hundreds of thousands of new yorkers have been targeted by the practice which critics say unfair unfairly targeted ninorities. >> toyota recalled many of its cars, fabric used on the heated seats were not flammable. >> stocks are up after positive news about the reality.

2013 saw the strongest growth. those are the headlines. i'm trial date in new york. "consider this" is up next. remember, you can get the latest news online at aljazeera.com. >> amanda knox reconvicted - her attorney joins us. >> is the american high achievers under attack because of their wealth. >> medical marijuana - growing discontent. >> a look at an underground artist getting recognise >> i'm antonio mora, welcome to "consider this," here is