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CNN Live At Daybreak

'Talk of CNN'

Aired October 17, 2002 - 05:37   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, we're going to talk, we're going to do the Talk of CNN right now.
CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yea, all right.

COSTELLO: Jimmy Barrett from WRVA in Richmond, Virginia.

Jimmy, are you with us?

MYERS: Oh, yes.

JIMMY BARRETT, WRVA RADIO CORRESPONDENT: Upper most on our minds, first and foremost on the minds of the nation here this morning.

Hi, guys.

COSTELLO: Hello.

MYERS: Good morning, Jimmy.

BARRETT: Good morning.

Well, we've got a little hoax to talk about this morning as it relates to the sniper.

MYERS: That's what I hear.

COSTELLO: Oh, you're kidding?

BARRETT: A Web, somebody was passing along an e-mail yesterday. You know how this goes. Who knows where it began or with whom it began or how many copies went out, but these things just seem to proliferate themselves on the World Wide Web. And the hoax was that the sniper had been spotted on Route 1, which is right out by the Virginia Center Commons Mall in Hanover, which is just north of Richmond. And it didn't take long for hundreds of people to start calling the local police and to start calling the malls. And I'm here to tell you this morning it is nothing more than a hoax.

COSTELLO: Oh, my goodness. And you know everybody in the Washington area has a computer.

BARRETT: Well, of course.

COSTELLO: It's computer rich.

BARRETT: There's just...

COSTELLO: Of course everybody in America seems to have a computer now.

BARRETT: There is just no way to know for sure how this began. I don't know if we'll ever be able to track back the source of this particular e-mail. But here's a question. If we can, what should we do with this person?

COSTELLO: I don't know. That's a great question.

MYERS: It's like yelling fire in the movie theater.

BARRETT: Right. That's exactly what it is.

COSTELLO: Yes.

BARRETT: It's yelling fire in a movie theater.

COSTELLO: Yes, and, you know, the police have so much else on their hands, they don't have time to track this person down.

BARRETT: Well, of course not. Here's the other thing I'm wondering about this morning. The "Washington Post," have any of you seen the "Washington Post" this morning?

COSTELLO: I did online.

BARRETT: Running an article, you may have seen the story online, running an article about tips for staying safe. You know, it's a virtual stop, drop and roll type of scenario here, where they're urging people that a moving target is more difficult to hit than one standing still, so they're showing you how to zig, zag and weave when you go out in public. And I don't know about you, but I'm watching -- well, you see them every day -- watching all sorts of stories about people who are just upset, they're concerned, they're house bound, they're not willing to go out anymore, they're completely paranoid.

And I'm just wondering if articles like that are helping or hurting. What do you two think?

COSTELLO: I think that you bring up a good question. You know...

MYERS: I don't know, it just scares you.

COSTELLO: ... because no matter what you do, I mean let's just be honest about it, a horrible thing could happen to you, and not just from this sniper running around, but from something else. So what do you do? Do you live your life in a constant state of fear? Or do you still try to live as normal, taking common sense precautions?

BARRETT: Well, and you're exactly right about that. There's virtually nothing you can do to save yourself, I think, from somebody who has, you know, some sort of AK-47, AK-47, whatever sort of an assault rifle this person may be using. How are you going to protect yourself from that when he can shoot an accurate shot from 500 yards away?

COSTELLO: Yes, and it seems...

BARRETT: Virtually nothing.

COSTELLO: And it seems like he sits out and waits for the perfect target, too.

BARRETT: Well, and he goes to places where he has ample opportunity. So we, you know, certainly we've got that on our minds here in Richmond this morning because we aren't, again, we aren't all that far away. We've been very blessed so far. We haven't had any problems here. And we're going to hope that that remains the case.

MYERS: Yes, sir.

COSTELLO: Oh, we hope so, too.

Hey, Jimmy?

BARRETT: Yes?

COSTELLO: You stay safe. We've got to go.

BARRETT: All right, guys. You take care.

COSTELLO: Good-bye, Jimmy.

MYERS: Thanks, my friend.

COSTELLO: Well, you call him every day and check on him, don't you?

MYERS: He called me yesterday about something. I'm not sure what it was.

COSTELLO: Yes, I always call my friends who live there just to see if they're OK.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired October 17, 2002 - 05:37   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, we're going to talk, we're going to do the Talk of CNN right now.
CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yea, all right.

COSTELLO: Jimmy Barrett from WRVA in Richmond, Virginia.

Jimmy, are you with us?

MYERS: Oh, yes.

JIMMY BARRETT, WRVA RADIO CORRESPONDENT: Upper most on our minds, first and foremost on the minds of the nation here this morning.

Hi, guys.

COSTELLO: Hello.

MYERS: Good morning, Jimmy.

BARRETT: Good morning.

Well, we've got a little hoax to talk about this morning as it relates to the sniper.

MYERS: That's what I hear.

COSTELLO: Oh, you're kidding?

BARRETT: A Web, somebody was passing along an e-mail yesterday. You know how this goes. Who knows where it began or with whom it began or how many copies went out, but these things just seem to proliferate themselves on the World Wide Web. And the hoax was that the sniper had been spotted on Route 1, which is right out by the Virginia Center Commons Mall in Hanover, which is just north of Richmond. And it didn't take long for hundreds of people to start calling the local police and to start calling the malls. And I'm here to tell you this morning it is nothing more than a hoax.

COSTELLO: Oh, my goodness. And you know everybody in the Washington area has a computer.

BARRETT: Well, of course.

COSTELLO: It's computer rich.

BARRETT: There's just...

COSTELLO: Of course everybody in America seems to have a computer now.

BARRETT: There is just no way to know for sure how this began. I don't know if we'll ever be able to track back the source of this particular e-mail. But here's a question. If we can, what should we do with this person?

COSTELLO: I don't know. That's a great question.

MYERS: It's like yelling fire in the movie theater.

BARRETT: Right. That's exactly what it is.

COSTELLO: Yes.

BARRETT: It's yelling fire in a movie theater.

COSTELLO: Yes, and, you know, the police have so much else on their hands, they don't have time to track this person down.

BARRETT: Well, of course not. Here's the other thing I'm wondering about this morning. The "Washington Post," have any of you seen the "Washington Post" this morning?

COSTELLO: I did online.

BARRETT: Running an article, you may have seen the story online, running an article about tips for staying safe. You know, it's a virtual stop, drop and roll type of scenario here, where they're urging people that a moving target is more difficult to hit than one standing still, so they're showing you how to zig, zag and weave when you go out in public. And I don't know about you, but I'm watching -- well, you see them every day -- watching all sorts of stories about people who are just upset, they're concerned, they're house bound, they're not willing to go out anymore, they're completely paranoid.

And I'm just wondering if articles like that are helping or hurting. What do you two think?

COSTELLO: I think that you bring up a good question. You know...

MYERS: I don't know, it just scares you.

COSTELLO: ... because no matter what you do, I mean let's just be honest about it, a horrible thing could happen to you, and not just from this sniper running around, but from something else. So what do you do? Do you live your life in a constant state of fear? Or do you still try to live as normal, taking common sense precautions?

BARRETT: Well, and you're exactly right about that. There's virtually nothing you can do to save yourself, I think, from somebody who has, you know, some sort of AK-47, AK-47, whatever sort of an assault rifle this person may be using. How are you going to protect yourself from that when he can shoot an accurate shot from 500 yards away?

COSTELLO: Yes, and it seems...

BARRETT: Virtually nothing.

COSTELLO: And it seems like he sits out and waits for the perfect target, too.

BARRETT: Well, and he goes to places where he has ample opportunity. So we, you know, certainly we've got that on our minds here in Richmond this morning because we aren't, again, we aren't all that far away. We've been very blessed so far. We haven't had any problems here. And we're going to hope that that remains the case.

MYERS: Yes, sir.

COSTELLO: Oh, we hope so, too.

Hey, Jimmy?

BARRETT: Yes?

COSTELLO: You stay safe. We've got to go.

BARRETT: All right, guys. You take care.

COSTELLO: Good-bye, Jimmy.

MYERS: Thanks, my friend.

COSTELLO: Well, you call him every day and check on him, don't you?

MYERS: He called me yesterday about something. I'm not sure what it was.

COSTELLO: Yes, I always call my friends who live there just to see if they're OK.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com