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CNN Talkback Live
Will New Laws Make the Country Safer?; Carter Butts Heads With Bush Administration
Aired May 14, 2002 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ARTHEL NEVILLE, HOST: Hello everybody. Welcome to TALKBACK LIVE. I'm Arthel Neville.
Today, did an alleged victim of priest abuse resort to violence? A 26-year-old man confesses to shooting the priest he says molested him. We'll have the latest from Baltimore. And, of course, I want to hear from you, so get ready to pick up those telephones. Give me a call at 1-800-310-4CNN. Or, of course, you can e-mail me at cnn.com.
Here's what else we're talking about today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): Jimmy Carter butts heads with the White House over accusations about biological weapons.
JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I asked them specifically, on more than one occasion, "Is there any evidence that Cuba has been involved?" And the answer from our experts on (UNINTELLIGIBLE) was "No."
NEVILLE: Is the former president's mission to Cuba undermining President Bush or vice versa?
Protecting America by tightening its borders. Will new laws to track immigrants and student visas make you feel safer?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEVILLE: OK. We're going to start in Baltimore, where a priest is in serious condition today after he was shot outside his own home. Joining us with the latest, CNN's Jeanne Meserve -- Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: Arthel, I'm outside St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore. Cardinal William Keeler (ph) is inside at this hour meeting with about 165 priests from this archdiocese to discuss the recent sexual abuse allegations that have been hurled against the Catholic Church. This meeting was scheduled before the events of last night -- let me tell you about those.
Today, 26-year-old Dante Stokes (ph) is in police custody. He is charged with attempted murder, assault and handgun charges, in connection with the shooting of Father Maurice Blackwell, who Stokes (ph) alleged molested him back in 1993. Last evening, police say stokes pulled up in front of the home where Backwell lived, engaged him in a brief conversation and then shot him several times.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The person that got shot was standing in front of his car like he was going to get in his car. And they exchanged words, and the next thing you know, he pulled out his gun and he shot him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I looked over and I saw Father Blackwell laying down in the back of his Tracker. And, like I said, when we saw it was Father Blackwell, it completely freaked us out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MESERVE: Father Blackwell remains in the hospital. He is in serious but stable condition. Dante Stokes (ph) turned himself into police very late last night and has been cooperating with authorities. A handgun has been recovered that police believe was used in the crime.
Let me tell you that Father Blackwell is well known to authorities with the archdiocese here. The first allegations of improper sexual activity agains him were made back in 1993. At the time, he was a pastor at St. Edwards. He was removed from that position temporarily and put into a treatment program.
The charges were investigated by the police and the archdiocese; they were not substantiated. And so he was put back into that position. Then in 1998, separate and distinct and different allegations were made against this same priest. They were investigated by the archdiocese, found to have some credibility. And so at that time, he was removed from that position. He has not had any pastoral duties since then.
And that is what we know at this point. We are expecting the cardinal to come out and speak to us in about a half-hour's time. We're hoping that he will give us some more detail -- Arthel.
NEVILLE: Jeanne, let me clarify something here. Those past instances you were talking about, one that was substantiated and one that was -- the charges were dropped in, were either of those cases involving this Stokes (ph) suspect?
MESERVE: Well, looking at the time frame, I don't -- it is unclear at this point. The previous allegations were made in 1993 and 1998. This young man, as I understand it, is alleging that he was molested in 1993. But the archdiocese is not revealing the names of any victims. They are not connecting the lines. They're connecting the dots for us (UNINTELLIGIBLE), so we don't know whether these specific allegations that were investigated related to this particular young man.
NEVILLE: And Father Blackwell was working with addicts and pretty popular in the community, right? Have you heard any response from the people there?
MESERVE: Arthel, I have not. I'm sorry. But we came up to Baltimore a short time ago. We've been positioned here trying to get the latest from the archdiocese. We have not yet had an opportunity to speak with any of his parishioners, former parishioners, or people who might have dealt with him in his most recent job -- Arthel.
NEVILLE: All right. Jeanne, I know you're covering two stories up there. Thank you very much for trying to be in so many places at one time. And, of course, as the details develop, we will come back to you. Thank you very much, Jeanne Meserve.
OK, in the meantime, former President Jimmy Carter is in Cuba to improve relations. But is his trip causing too much friction here at home? The Bush administration has accused Cuba of trying to make biological weapons and giving the research to other hostile nations. But during his tour of a Havana biotechnology lab yesterday, Carter said the administration has no evidence to back up those claims.
And with us today to talk about that is Mike Gallagher, he's a talk show host on the Salem Radio Network. And Peter Noel, he's a columnist and radio talk show host at WRKS in New York -- welcome gentlemen.
MIKE GALLAGHER, SALEM RADIO NETWORK: Hi Arthel.
PETER NOEL, COLUMNIST: Hi Arthel.
NEVILLE: OK.
Mike, you're up first today. Now right or wrong, should Carter be making his statements in public?
GALLAGHER: Well, if it's between Jimmy Carter, who is on this ill-faded attempt to try to cozy up to a communist dictatorship like Fidel Castro, or President Bush and the United States intelligence sources, I prefer to go with the latter. I believe that we know that Cuba is up to no good. We know that this is an oppressive dictatorship and the people there live terribly.
NEVILLE: OK, hang on, Mike. The Bush administration has come back saying that they are not saying indeed that Cuba is developing biological weapons, but there would be the possibility or potential for that.
GALLAGHER: That's right. Colin Powell has said that we know what they're capable of doing. And while it's not perhaps a flat out reversal or a denial, the bottom line is we know what Castro has done to his own people.
And, yes, Jimmy Carter is disgraceful in this trip to Cuba. It does undermine President Bush. It makes President Bush look weak and ineffective. And I think, frankly, President Carter, while maybe having his heart in the right place, is a sap for believing that Cuba is anything other than not one of our allies. That we're not on the same page. NEVILLE: Mike, slow down for me for a second. Now how are you saying that Carter's trip is undermining Bush?
GALLAGHER: Oh, President Bush is livid. You don't think behind the scenes President Bush and his administration is livid at this trip? We are stepping up efforts to heighten the embargo against Cuba. This has come in at a preposterous time. We're at war with Afghanistan. And Jimmy Carter is over there gallivanting with a brutal dictator who, again, has oppressed his people.
When Castro says he'll take Jimmy Carter anywhere he wants to go, I wonder why the light doesn't go on in Jimmy Carter's head, well why doesn't he let his own people go wherever they want to go here in Cuba? It's disgraceful.
NEVILLE: Now do you think Jimmy Carter just decided one day that he's going to go to Cuba and he can't -- he didn't have to discuss that at all with the White House?
