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CNN CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT
Stepdaughter of Clara Harris Delivers Damaging Testimony; Explosion Rocks North Carolina Factory
Aired January 29, 2003 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CONNIE CHUNG, HOST: Good evening. I'm Connie Chung.
Tonight: The roof flew hundreds of feet in the air, a massive deadly explosion in North Carolina.
ANNOUNCER: A fiery explosion rocks a pharmaceutical plant and sets the countryside ablaze. We'll have the latest from North Carolina.
The latest twist in the trial of the woman accused of running down her husband in a jealous rage. The teenager who was in the car takes the stand. What will she say about her stepmother, Clara Harris?
They enter an department store together and only the man walks out, leaving this little boy in a shopping cart.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you can't take care of him, find somebody else who can. Don't just leave him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Tonight: a child abandoned.
And our "Person of the Day" fighting for life.
This is CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT. Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York: Connie Chung.
CHUNG: Good evening.
We'll get to that deadly North Carolina fire in just a moment.
But in Texas tonight, compelling, damning testimony against Clara Harris, the woman accused of killing her cheating husband by running him over with her Mercedes. Today was the day trial-watchers had been waiting for, the day when the victim's daughter took the stand for the prosecution to tell what she saw; 17-year-old Lindsey Harris was an eyewitness, a front-seat passenger in the Mercedes her stepmother drove over her father.
CNN's Ed Lavandera was in the court today, along with Gail Delaughter, reporter for Houston station KTRH News Radio.
Thank you both for being with us.
Ed, tell us, I understand there was some truly damaging testimony against Clara Harris. What did the daughter say?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Connie, Lindsey Harris, the daughter of David Harris and the stepdaughter of Clara Harris, spent more than five hours on the witness stand. She'll return tomorrow as well.
And the testimony that she gave today essentially broken down into two parts: her life with Clara and her father, David, in the days before what happened on July 24 last year, when Clara Harris drove over David Harris, and also of the description of what happened. And that was, of course, the most emotional testimony.
At one point, Lindsey Harris describing to the jury, as they had gone to the hotel where David Harris and his mistress were inside, as they were waiting for them to come out, Lindsey Harris testified that Clara Harris turned to her and said that, "I could kill him and get away with it for what he's put me through." Then they walked off after that. The fight ensued between Gail Bridges, the mistress, and Clara Harris.
And then Clara Harris walked away. They went over to the car. And that's when they got inside the car. She got behind the wheel. And Lindsey Harris testified that, as she peeled out of the parking space and then headed toward David Harris and Gail Bridges, that she said, "I'm going to hit him," this all as Lindsey Harris described that she was screaming: "No. You're going to kill my father."
So, these words clear to the jury and exactly what the prosecution wanted to get out there today.
CHUNG: Gail, did Lindsey say whether or not her stepmother ran over her fathers one time, two times, three times?
GAIL DELAUGHTER, KTRH REPORTER: Apparently, according to Lindsey's testimony, there was an initial bump and then two run-overs after that.
She said she could feel the car, the Mercedes, going over a median and that she could also tell that the car was going over something else, apparently her father. She said she felt a bump. She felt another bump. After the initial hit, she couldn't see her father. She wondered where he head. And then when she felt those bumps, her worst fears were confirmed.
CHUNG: Oh, my heavens.
What was the most compelling testimony that Lindsey gave?
DELAUGHTER: I think it was just being in the car, the events leading up to what happened. She said her stepmother had an evil look on her face, as she described it. And she also said her stepmother said the words, "I'm going to hit him."
It seemed like a very deliberate process after the fight in the hotel lobby, after they were ushered out. She said Clara just got out her keys, got in the car, had that look on her face, and very deliberately drove around to the back of the hotel, took aim on her husband, slammed on the accelerator. And Lindsey said she was actually jerked back in the car by the force of the acceleration.
CHUNG: Ed, was she nervous?
LAVANDERA: No, not at all.
In fact, you could hear her kind of sniffling at the very beginning of the testimony. But, beyond that, she was very calm, looked over. I saw her look over at Clara Harris just a couple of times. There was one point, when defense questioning started earlier this afternoon, that Clara Harris started to break down. But that didn't cause her to break down.
The jury was actually excused from the courtroom for a little bit. And, again, Clara Harris was admonished to control herself and not to weep openly in front of this jury. It happened twice yesterday, and the judge clearly getting very upset with her and very impatient with Clara Harris' emotional outbursts today.
CHUNG: Gail, would you say that Lindsey was actually composed?
DELAUGHTER: She was very composed.
Obviously, this is some testimony that she's been through before. She knew what she was going to say on the stand. She knew what to expect from the prosecution and probably from the defense as well. But we were all very surprised, because she was very calm, no tears, very firm in her speech. So, she was very composed when she went before the jury.
CHUNG: Ed, I think one of the most fascinating parts of the testimony had to do with a list that apparently David Harris had put together regarding Gail, the supposed mistress, and his wife.
DELAUGHTER: They really didn't get into that list.
George Parnham, the defense attorney, asked Lindsey if she knew about the list. And he just talked about it a little bit. We didn't see it or anything. But, apparently, he was trying to build up to something whereby David Harris gave his wife a list of things she had to do, so he would basically like her as much as he liked Gail Bridges, the receptionist.
CHUNG: And what were those things, Ed?
DELAUGHTER: Um...
CHUNG: I'll go over to Ed, Gail.
LAVANDERA: Well, they haven't brought up much of the specifics of that letter.
But the big picture here is that the defense attorney is trying to paint this portrait of Clara Harris as a woman who is trying everything she can to keep her marriage intact. In fact, there was some testimony yesterday of the checkbook that was found in her car, where she had spent hundred of dollars at salons, at a spa, in fact going to see a doctor about a breast augmentation and liposuction.
And I think this is going to come out. This list, we're going to hear more from it later. This is the picture that they want to paint, a woman who was trying everything she could to keep her marriage intact.
CHUNG: Was this list, Gail, did it have to do with why he thought his girlfriend was better than his wife?
DELAUGHTER: Well, we really didn't get into the list itself.
But you can tell by the things Clara Harris did and what she was spending her money on, apparently, she felt some inadequacies about her appearance, like Ed said, the breast augmentation surgery and what have you.
Lindsey Harris described Gail Bridges as perky, very upbeat, very perky, hair always perfect, makeup always perfect, nails always done. And so maybe Clara Harris felt some inadequacies looking at Gail Bridges as her rival and feeling that she had to live up to that.
CHUNG: All right, Ed Lavandera, do you think that the prosecution had a better day or the defense?
LAVANDERA: Oh, I think the prosecution clearly had a strong day.
There was the one point that -- the line about that Lindsey said that, as Clara Harris was waiting for David Harris and Gail Bridges to come out, where she said that she could kill him and get away with it for what's he put her through, under cross-examination this afternoon, defense attorneys trying to hammer away at that, trying to chip away at that a little bit, if you will, saying that, at the time, Lindsey Harris said: Oh, you know what? She didn't really think much of that statement at that very moment, and that she again told that to the grand jury that was questioning her six days later.
But the other statements, the description of an evil look in Clara Harris' face and the fact that she accelerated and said, "I'm going to hit them," very damaging testimony.
CHUNG: Ed Lavandera, is she coming back tomorrow? Does she have more testimony?
LAVANDERA: Yes.
Apparently, they've been kind of going back and forth this afternoon with some of the final bits of questioning. So, we're told that she will return to the witness stand tomorrow. I don't anticipate it will be very long. She's already been on the witness stand for more than five hours today.
CHUNG: All right, Ed Lavandera, Gail Delaughter, thank you both.
Now to the fire story: tonight, in North Carolina, the aftermath of the deadly, terrifying explosion that blew apart a pharmaceutical facility, setting off an inferno that burned for hours, trapping people inside. Firefighters have been on the scene since early this afternoon. And the blaze actually spread to the forest adjacent to the factory, as thick black smoke filled the sky, forcing the evacuation of a nearby school. Officials urged anyone within a mile of the factory to evacuate, fearing the effect of the fumes from burning plastic.
Joining us now from near the scene of the West Pharmaceuticals services company in Kinston, North Carolina, is CNN's Brian Cabell.
Brian, do you know how many people might still be trapped?
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, we don't know how many people might be trapped still, Connie.
The word is, there may be seven people unaccounted for, but those figures are fluctuating throughout the evening. The latest word we have on fatalities is that four confirmed dead. We've heard as many as eight. AP was reporting that earlier. But the latest word we've gotten is that four have now been confirmed dead and there may be more as well.
About two dozen so far have been injured. That's the latest figure we have. And seven of those are critically injured. The scene right now, let me just tell you where we are. We're about a half mile away from the plant. We are in the process of moving the staging area closer to the plant. We were up there just about 45 minutes ago. There are still some flames, not very big flames, but we've been told that fire crews are no longer going into the building to search for people because it is simply too dangerous.
They are afraid that the structure may collapse on them. So, right now, they're not going into the building to search for anybody unless they get definite word that somebody is inside, perhaps if they hear a voice. But, right now, they are not actually searching. The ATF is out there. The FBI is out there.
They are not saying this was an accident. They are not saying it was foul play. They simply don't know at this point. They are investigating. The word we had, of course, all day was that this was an internal explosion. About 115 people were inside this pharmaceutical plant at the time. Presumably something with the pharmaceuticals exploded, but, again, that's all under investigation. We'll probably get a better word on that later on tomorrow morning -- Connie.
CHUNG: And, Brian, they do not have a determination on how many people are unaccounted for?
CABELL: The latest word we have is seven. But, again, these figures have been fluctuating throughout the evening. But the latest confirmed figures dead, four; latest unaccounted for, seven.
But you have to take those with a grain of salt, because we have been hearing conflicting figures throughout the evening. So, the latest is seven unaccounted for. But that could go up. That could go down throughout the evening.
CHUNG: Also, Brian, I know you said that a cause of this explosion has not been found, but have any causes been eliminated as possibilities?
CABELL: No. We just talked to an official a little while ago. He said absolutely not. It could have been an accident. It could have been foul play. They simply don't know.
That's why the ATF is out here. That's why fire investigators are out here. That's why the FBI is out here. There have been dozens of fire teams on the scene since 1:30 this afternoon when this explosion took place. They'll be out here all night. They'll be out here all day tomorrow as well.
CHUNG: All right, Brian Cabell in Kinston, thank you so much.
And with us now on the phone from the hospital in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, about 100 miles away from the explosion site, is Dr. Cherri Hobgood.
Dr. Cherri, thank you so much for being with us -- Dr. Hobgood, I should say.
Dr. Hobgood, you have seen a number of victims. How many have you seen and what was their condition?
DR. CHERRI HOBGOOD, UNC HOSPITALS: Current, UNC Hospitals has received six victims. And all of them are listed in critical condition. They have extensive injuries, ranging from significant burn injuries to also the effects of the explosion, which are major, traumatic injuries.
CHUNG: Have any of them been able to talk to you and tell you what happened?
HOBGOOD: Because the patients are in such tremendous amount of pain and many of them are suffering the results of the explosion, in other words, inhalational injuries as a result of the explosion, communication with the patients has been very limited.
CHUNG: Now, is there anything about these specific injuries that would cause you to understand or believe that you know what might have caused the explosion?
HOBGOOD: The injury patterns that we're seeing are representative of an explosive injury pattern. There's nothing specific about the injury pattern that we're observing that would key us in to a specific reason why the explosion occurred.
CHUNG: Will you be getting any more patients, Dr. Hobgood? HOBGOOD: We do anticipate a total of 10 patients to arrive at UNC Hospitals throughout the evening. So, that is our current expectation.
But, as you know as the numbers from the same may change. So we are expecting four additional patients who will be transported to the UNC Hospitals emergency department and burn unit from Eastern Carolina University School of Medicine.
CHUNG: All right, Dr. Cherri Hobgood in Chapel Hill, we thank you so much for being with us.
HOBGOOD: Thank you, Connie.
CHUNG: Witnesses reported that the factory roof was blown hundreds of feet in the air by the blast. Doors were blown open more than a mile away. And as people do in these situations, they ran to help.
And one of those was Jack Lambert, who joins us now, along with Kinston Mayor Johnnie Mosley.
Thank you so much for being with us, both of you.
Jack, I know you arrived on the scene very quickly. What at that time did you think happened?
JACK LAMBERT, EYEWITNESS: Well, at the initial moment, I thought it was an airplane crash, obviously, being close to the airport, but still was unsure of really what was going on. The blast was just amazing. And a blast like that would not have come from an airplane crash.
CHUNG: I understand the roof blew up maybe 400 feet in the air. That's accurate?
LAMBERT: At least.
When I arrived on the scene, I arrived at the back part of the building. And the roof -- actually, some parts of the roof were still in the air. And then, when I arrived and got out of my car, I actually parked my car right next to a part of the roof. And that was approximately -- at least 500 feet away.
CHUNG: Was there a lot of panic?
LAMBERT: It was pandemonium. You could feel it in the air, black smoke, people running out. It was just -- it was unbelievable.
CHUNG: What could you tell from the injuries of the individuals that you saw?
LAMBERT: Well, obviously, I saw some burn marks. People were obviously holding themselves, looking down, really unsure of where they were, unclear of the circumstances. You could hear them yelling: "People inside. Get them out." And we just tried to do what we could to get the people out of there and get them safe.
CHUNG: Mr. Mayor, this must be so devastating for your town. You're kind of a small town. Isn't it something like 25,000 people?
JOHNNIE MOSLEY, MAYOR OF KINSTON: Yes. We have 23,600 people in the city of Kinston, and approximately 60,000 in our county.
CHUNG: Has anything like this ever happened before?
(CROSSTALK)
MOSLEY: We have not had any disaster in this area of this magnitude. This is devastating for our community. But I would like to say that our first-responders have done an outstanding job in responding to this disaster.
CHUNG: Mr. Mayor...
MOSLEY: Yes.
CHUNG: Mr. Mayor, have you been able to talk to investigators? And have they indicated to you what might have caused this explosion?
MOSLEY: No. At the present time, we have -- the ATF is here. And as they investigate, along with the other law enforcement that's located at the scene, they would make that determination on what the cause and what type of chemical was involved in it.
CHUNG: Mr. Mayor, have there been any preliminary estimates of damage?
MOSLEY: No preliminary, but the damage is major. I have viewed the site, when we had daylight. And the damage has been extensive. And I, as the mayor of the city of Kinston, am very pleased that we have as few casualties and fatalities and injuries as we do, with the extensive damage that has taken place.
CHUNG: Jack, what were you able to do to help those who were running out of the burning building?
LAMBERT: Well, basically, what we tried to do is just kind of be calm and help in the rescue effort, get these people out of the burning building, get them away from harm's way, out of harm's way, and get them to a place where they could feel comfort and they could be helped.
Being so close to the fire, you could not get close enough to the building in order to get these people out of there. So, you really just had to kind of show them the way and get them out of there.
CHUNG: I was told that emergency crews were there really quickly. Did you see them arrive fairly quickly?
LAMBERT: Absolutely.
Along with the emergency crews, we had the National Guard. The helicopters were there. They showed up on site. We had planes land within the hour, just a lot of help from the local authorities. Local agencies were here and assisted in the rescue effort. And it was very pleasing to know they got here real quick.
CHUNG: Absolutely.
Mayor Mosley, we thank you so much for being with us, Jack Lambert as well. And thank you for your good samaritan effort.
MOSLEY: Thank you.
LAMBERT: Thank you.
CHUNG: We appreciate it. Still ahead: He was thrown from his car in an accident. He was pitched into the air, but he didn't hit the ground until more than 20 minutes later. What happened in the interim? You are not going to believe this man's story. It's really quite extraordinary. He's a very young man as well and thankful that he's alive.
Stay with us.
ANNOUNCER: Still ahead: caught on tape. A mystery man abandoned a toddler in a department store. How will police crack the case?
CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT continues in a moment
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: Tonight: a rare and heartbreaking story. And the question: Why on earth would anyone with a bright, healthy 3-year-old boy simply abandon him?
As CNN's Rusty Dornin reports, it's a question many people are asking, including the boy who was left behind.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It looks like your average Saturday shopping trip. A man leads a little boy into the ShopKo in Salt Lake City. But police believe that man, who they now identify as Lyle Montgomery of Reno, Nevada, left his stepson Jacob sitting in a shopping cart.
RICK DINSE, SALT LAKE CITY POLICE CHIEF: Mr. Montgomery is described as a male white with a date of birth as 12/15/1960, 5 feet, 10 inches, and 210 pounds, brown hairs, blue eyes.
DORNIN (on camera): This is the camera that caught the man bringing the boy into the store that day. Police believe then Jacob's stepfather went over to grab a shopping cart, but he left the little boy standing over here. He then came, picked up a plush toy, handed it to the boy, and headed to the back of the store.
(voice-over): Employees say the boy was taken to the cart to this aisle in the toy department and left there. For an hour, Jacob sits quietly until customers alert store employees, who then take Jacob back to the store's surveillance room. They give him some candy while they try to page his mother and chat with him while one employee checks the surveillance tape.
When they spot the part on the tape where the little boy comes in with Montgomery, they ask Jacob, who is that man? Employees say the boy said, it's my friend Lyle. Police say Jacob's mother, who has not been publicly identified, is also missing.
Many questions remain unanswered. Why was the boy brought here? Was he kidnapped? What happened to his mother? And where is Lyle Montgomery? Montgomery could be charged with child abandonment. Meantime, Jacob's biological father has been located and the boy could be released to him. That news was at least of some relief here to employees here at ShopKo.
JEFF BRUCE, SHOPKO: We're really excited that maybe there's some information out there about his family. We're really concerned about the boy. So, our ultimate goal is to hopefully find some kind of resolution to this and get him where he really needs to be. And, hopefully, that's with people that will take care of him.
DORNIN: Police say Jacob has been temporarily placed with a loving foster family. He appears happy and healthy, although a long way from home.
Rusty Dornin, CNN, Salt Lake City, Utah.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHUNG: With me now are police spokesperson Detective Dwayne Baird and Carol Sisco, spokesperson for the Utah Department of Human Services.
Thank you both for being with us.
Detective Baird, can you start us off? You have been able to identify this man as Lyle Montgomery. How were the police able to find out who he was?
DWAYNE BAIRD, SALT LAKE CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT: Well, it was through the help of the media recently, and as recently as last night.
And I want to make mention of the national media coverage here, because someone in Reno, Nevada, knew this little boy, had been a day care provider for him, and recognized who he was. And so they contacted Salt Lake City police, as well as the local police in Reno, to start that process forward for us.
CHUNG: Have you been able to find Lyle Montgomery?
BAIRD: We have not located him yet, but we have been able to identify him as the man who brought Jonathan Jacob into the local department store here and abandoned him there.
CHUNG: Is he related to the boy?
BAIRD: He is. We understand that he's a stepfather. Jonathan Jacob's mother married this Lyle Montgomery within a month. So, it was at the end of December, just a month ago.
CHUNG: And do you know where she is?
BAIRD: We do not know where she is either. They were last seen together about two weeks ago in the Reno, Nevada, area. And that's all we know of their whereabouts.
CHUNG: You mean the mother and the stepfather?
BAIRD: Exactly, yes.
CHUNG: And the child?
BAIRD: And the child, yes.
CHUNG: Do you have any idea if she knows about what's happened to her son?
BAIRD: We don't know that, because no one has made contact with her. No one knows where she is or has had any contact or heard from her at all. So, we're not certain that she knows where Jonathan Jacob is or that he is safe.
CHUNG: Carol Sisco, I understand this little boy is really quite bright and that he had a lot of composure.
CAROL SISCO, UTAH DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES: He really does, Connie.
He's doing all kinds of things for us. He can count. And he knows his colors. And he's been talking to us, insisting that his name is Jonathan Jacob, that he has a grandpa Pedro (ph), that his mommy's name is Janet (ph). He's doing well, but it's getting harder and harder for him every day not knowing where his mom is.
CHUNG: Did he cry, Carol?
SISCO: He has cried some. And what I'm finding is, he's really getting close to his foster mom. And if she tries to even walk out the door, he starts crying. And so what she's done is, she's actually put a mattress on the floor in her bedroom so he can sleep in her room.
CHUNG: And does he have anyone to play with at the foster home?
SISCO: Oh, yes, Connie. The foster mom happens to have a little adoptive boy who is just barely 3 years old. And so Jacob's playing with him.
CHUNG: Now, how was he able to reveal all this information? Were people questioning him and he was just answering the questions?
SISCO: Well, kind of.
Two things have been going on. A female police detective questioned him and then we've had social workers talking to him. And it's: Well, hi, what's your name? Well, my name's Jacob. Well, is that your whole name? Where are you from? Well, I live at home with mommy.
And we keep talking to him and he tells us everything he knows. He just didn't know things like his last name or where he lived.
CHUNG: Detective, if indeed this is a case of deliberate abandonment, what could this stepfather be charged with?
BAIRD: Well, certainly child endangerment here in the state of Utah would be a primary thing that we would look at. But we would also look at the circumstances surrounding that. Was Jacob's mother with Lyle Montgomery when he was dropped off here? We don't know the circumstances surrounding the event here. And that's something that concerns all of us.
CHUNG: Carol Sisco and Detective Dwayne Baird, thank you so much.
And tonight, reaction to last night's State of the Union's speech tops our look at "The World in: 60."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): Iraq denounced President Bush's State of the Union message, saying the U.S. has failed to provide any evidence of Baghdad's alleged weapons of mass destruction or links to terrorist groups.
The U.N. Security Council met behind closed doors to question top weapons inspectors and discuss the situation in Iraq. President Bush says Secretary of State Colin Powell will present the council with new evidence of Baghdad's weapons programs next week.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said Palestinians are ready for peace negotiations with Israel's new government. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his Likud Party won a resounding victory at the polls in Tuesday's elections.
Thailand is downgrading diplomatic relations with Cambodia following the torching of its embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital. Riots broke out after a Thai actress allegedly said Cambodia's ancient temple city of Angkor Wat really belonged to Thailand.
President Bush was in Michigan to rally support for his domestic initiatives, including a 10-year, $400 billion plan to reform Medicare and provide prescription drug benefits for the elderly.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Still ahead: A 13-year-old student's science project gets banned, why school authorities just said no to a project on medical marijuana -- when CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: Chances are, if your teenage daughter came home one day and said, I want to do a science project about marijuana, you'd hit the roof, right?
Well, not long ago, 13-year-old California eighth-grader Veronica Mouser did just that. She called her study plan "Mary Jane for Pain" and spent two months documenting the effects of medicinal marijuana. Because of federal laws against marijuana, but despite state laws allowing pot's medicinal use, Veronica's school banned her project from the science fair. But Veronica's dad backed her up. And today, the story took another turn.
Veronica joins us now from Belmont, California, along with district superintendent Anne Campbell.
Thank you both for being with us.
Where did you get this idea of doing your science project on medicinal marijuana?
VERONICA MOUSER, EIGHTH-GRADER: I had a really close family relative that was sick for a really long time. So, he had to use medical marijuana. So, that's how I got my idea.
CHUNG: So, you proceeded with your project. You took three patients. And what did you ask them to do?
MOUSER: I asked them to use medical marijuana for one week and record in a log how they felt and how it helped them, and then not use it for a week and record how they felt then.
CHUNG: And the result was?
MOUSER: All three of them felt better while using the medical marijuana and they had to use less of their other pain medications.
CHUNG: All right.
So, it was you, actually, who went to the principal and tried to get approval as well. You just wanted to make sure that all of this was OK before you submitted it to the science fair. And when you went to the principal, what happened?
MOUSER: I was told that they were going to think about it. So, several times, I was called into the office throughout about a week. And we talked about it. And they asked me questions about my project. And, finally, Friday of last week, they called me in and said no.
CHUNG: Were you upset?
MOUSER: Yes. I was upset. I was really upset, because I had put all this work into my project and then I was told that I couldn't do it. CHUNG: All right, so, ultimately, the superintendent had to get in on this.
And, in fact, Ms. Campbell, what did you decide?
ANNE CAMPBELL, SUPERINTENDENT, BELMONT REDWOOD SCHOOL DISTRICT: Well, this morning, we met with Veronica and her parents and Jeff Keuscher (ph) from our district office and Gary Nakagiri, who is our science consultant from San Mateo County to review the project.
The principal had never actually been able to see the final product. What she was working from was an outline of the project that Veronica had prepared. Veronica did an outstanding job this morning of presenting her data. It was obvious, as she's talked with you about it today, that she had actually performed an experiment, in terms of asking people to not use their medicinal marijuana to study the effects of that.
CHUNG: So, now she is able to submit her project results to the science fair. Why did you feel you should overturn the earlier decision?
CAMPBELL: I think, when we sat down and looked at it, trying to be as fair as possible as we could, when we looked at the guidelines for the science fair that the kids were given at Ralston and looked at the project that Veronica had done, there really was nothing in the guidelines that kids were operating from that would have restricted this type of a proposal.
I think what we've learned from this experience is, we want to be real careful, before students start on their proposals, that the guidelines are very clear. And if there are issues that the school has concerns about, that they express them early on.
CHUNG: Veronica, what have you learned from this experience and what do you think the school system has learned through this experience?
MOUSER: I think the school system has actually learned that some students will stand up for their rights and they won't just back down when somebody says no. And I've learned just, basically, to stand up for what you believe in and don't get pushed down.
CHUNG: Well, good for you, Veronica.
One last question to superintendent Campbell: Do you feel that the rules should be revised in some way, based on this problem that you found yourself in?
CAMPBELL: I think it's a really interesting question, Connie, because, as we're working with middle school kids, we are working very, very hard to help them understand the ill effects that drugs can have. And yet, on the other hand, as Veronica has shown with her project today, there also may be medicinal effects that are positive. And so that's a real question for us, because we don't want to give a mixed message to our kids. CHUNG: Veronica, based on this, do you think you might want to become a doctor?
MOUSER: I actually -- I really want to be a lawyer when I grow up. I love debating things.
(LAUGHTER)
CHUNG: Well, there you go. I think that's excellent.
Thank you, Veronica Mouser and superintendent Campbell. We appreciate your being with us.
MOUSER: Thank you, Connie.
CAMPBELL: Thank you. Goodbye.
CHUNG: Congratulations, Veronica.
And still ahead: Our next guest got really high by accident. Wait until you see how.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: Now, here's one I'll bet you never heard before.
There's a car accident. One car clips another. The clipped car, a jeep, flips over. The driver is catapulted out of his seat -- that's right, no seat belt -- and he's flung into the air, where he grabs on to utility wires overhead that lump on the wires -- you know, that is he -- and hangs there, more than 20 feet off the ground. So, what happens next?
Well, Joe Thompson got down, but we wanted to hear the story from him, so we got him with us from Blue Springs, Missouri.
Thank you so much for being with us. How are you?
JOE THOMPSON III, SURVIVED CAR ACCIDENT: I'm great.
CHUNG: Good.
Joe, how far and how high do you think you were thrown?
THOMPSON: I was probably thrown, I imagine, about 30 feet. I was thrown over the power lines, says the person that witnessed it.
He said that I went over the power lines and bounced off of one the other ones and landed on the bottom one. And that's the one that I grabbed on to.
CHUNG: The amazing thing is, the one you grabbed onto is called a guide wire. And that means that it's insulated, which therefore means what? THOMPSON: Well, the guide wire was the one that was wrapped around my leg. And the one that I was holding onto was a neutral line of the power lines. It doesn't carry any power. The only time it carries power is whenever there's an overload on the circuit. And as long as you touch one power line, you're fine.
CHUNG: I see. And then your other hand was on an insulated wire. And that one, it protects you from being electrocuted, correct?
THOMPSON: Yes. Yes.
CHUNG: All right, so, you're holding on. How -- well, you were holding on for dear life, weren't you?
THOMPSON: Yes, I was.
(LAUGHTER)
CHUNG: So, how did you get help? Didn't you call down to the other guy, the other guy who was in the other car?
THOMPSON: The guy that was in the other car came over to my car and was looking around to my car. And I told him, hey, turn off my jeep, because I didn't want it to blow up. And he looked around and he couldn't find me. He's like, where are you? I said, just turn off my jeep. He looked up and saw me and then he ran over to my car and turned it off.
CHUNG: Oh, my gosh.
Did he have a shocked look on his face?
THOMPSON: I don't know. I couldn't see that close.
(LAUGHTER)
THOMPSON: I was a little bit high.
CHUNG: Were you just scared to death?
THOMPSON: Yes. I was definitely -- when I was up there, I was scared. I was praying to God, "Lord, give me strength," because I couldn't last five minutes up there without -- my own strength, there's no way I could last up there five minutes.
CHUNG: But how long were you up there, in fact?
THOMPSON: I was up there 15 to 20 minutes.
CHUNG: Oh, my gosh.
THOMPSON: And I definitely believe it was God who gave me the strength to do it, because I highly doubt I'd be able to hold on that long.
CHUNG: Joe, did you consider dropping to the ground? THOMPSON: Yes. But then I thought, no, that would be extremely stupid.
(LAUGHTER)
CHUNG: Because you were how far up again?
THOMPSON: I was up high. I'd guess probably 25, 30 feet.
CHUNG: And, finally, when the emergency crews, when the police arrived -- I think your father was there, too.
THOMPSON: Yes, he was there.
CHUNG: And what happened?
THOMPSON: Well, once they finally got me down, my dad looked at me.
And my arms and legs had turned blue because of the circulation being cut off by the power line. And my dad looked at me. And he just looks at me and says, "I love you son." And the look on his face was just horrific. He thought that I had a head injury and that I was going to die. And I mean, I was fine. I was totally fine. They life-flighted me to Research Hospital. And I turned out to be OK, just a few bruises and a scratch.
CHUNG: You're kidding.
THOMPSON: That's it.
(LAUGHTER)
CHUNG: Isn't it amazing?
THOMPSON: It is. God definitely had his hand on me and he was definitely in control of the situation.
CHUNG: I think you're right.
Joe Thompson, I thank you so much for being with us. And you can go on to your 19th birthday now, right?
THOMPSON: Yes. Thank God.
(LAUGHTER)
CHUNG: Thank you so much for being with us.
THOMPSON: No problem.
CHUNG: OK.
Still ahead: what some American soldiers are leaving behind as they prepare for war.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: For as long as nations have gone to war, soldiers have taken something from home with them, some reminder of the lives they've left behind. But this is the 21st century.
And, as CNN's Frank Buckley reports, when American soldiers prepare for the possibility of war with Iraq, some of them are leaving something of themselves behind.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Deploying troops have always squared away their wills and other legal affairs before going into harm's way. But now a small number of soldiers are also doing this: saving their sperm -- among the sperm frozen in this tank in Los Angeles, the potential progeny of Patrick Atwell.
PATRICK ATWELL, SERGEANT, ARMY NATIONAL GUARD: You never use your deposit, but it's always good to have that option there.
BUCKLEY: Sergeant Atwell is an Army National Guardsmen who expects to deploy to the Gulf. His fiance, Angela Cruz, urged Atwell to preserve his sperm after a 1991 Gulf War veteran in his unit told the sergeant he came back from Desert Storm to find he was sterile.
ANGELA CRUZ, FIANCE OF ATWELL: I feel more hopeful with our future. And if, God forbid, he doesn't come back, then I'll be able to have a piece of him here still, a little Patrick running around.
BUCKLEY: Atwell believes the military should include information about sperm storage in predeployment preparations.
ATWELL: They prepare for your death, but what they don't prepare for is your life after you've been -- after you've done your service and perhaps you've been exposed.
BUCKLEY: But a Department of Defense official told CNN that, based on what we know from the Gulf War, there are no medical indications that infertility should be a concern of deploying service members. In fact, studies of Gulf War veterans' health have shown that male Gulf War veterans had a higher rate of birth compared to those who did not deploy.
But some Gulf War veterans do blame sexual dysfunction and fertility problems on their service in Desert Storm. And a Duke University Medical Center Study, released just this month, concluded that a combination of insect repellent deet, an insecticide, and an anti-nerve gas agent that was used in Desert Storm caused extensive cell degeneration and cell death in the testes of laboratory rats.
The study's author is saying that the combination in 1991 may have inadvertently damaged testes and sperm production in some soldiers and may explain why some veterans experienced infertility, sexual dysfunction and other symptoms. The medical director of California Cryobank, where Atwell's sperm is stored, says the potential risks involved in any conflict should at least cause soldiers to consider saving their sperm.
DR. CAPPY ROTHMAN, CALIFORNIA CRYOBANK: It's an insurance policy. If anybody could tell these soldiers, honestly, you don't have to store the sperm because there's nothing bad that's going to happen to you, then I'll say OK. But I don't know who could ever say something like that.
BUCKLEY (on camera): A spokesman for the Department of Defense says the Pentagon neither encourages nor discourages soldiers from doing this. And, for now, it appears to be a very small percentage of the tens of thousands of servicemen who are deploying who are taking this option. At California Cryobank, for example, they say 30 men have made deposits.
Frank Buckley, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHUNG: The founder of this network is in the news today. AOL Time Warner, which owns CNN, announced that Ted Turner will be stepping down as vice chairman, effective this May.
Turner, who will be 65 in November, assumed the post as part of AOL's merger with Time Warner, which had earlier bought Turner's properties. And there had been speculation he would succeed Steve Case as head of AOL Time Warner.
And right now, tonight's "Snapshot" begins with word of a possible new enterprise for a very familiar face.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): ABC newsman Sam Donaldson is reportedly talking with MSNBC. Donaldson has been mostly broadcasting on radio since leaving ABC's "This Week."
Singer Billy Joel's former wife, Christie Brinkley. says she's concerned about their teenage daughter's safety when riding in a car with Joel. Joel crashed his Mercedes into a tree on Long Island Saturday. He was in another car accident in June.
"Variety" reports that actor Rob Lowe is finalizing a deal to star in an NBC courtroom drama. Lowe left the network's popular series "West Wing" recently over a salary dispute.
An Alabama woman is home recovering from giving birth to a 13- pound baby. The hospital says it didn't have a diaper big enough for a baby that size.
The granddaughter of the late great shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis must be having a happy birthday today. Athina Roussel turned 18 and inherited a fortune worth as much as $2.5 billion, making her the richest teenager on the Earth. (END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Still ahead, our "Person of the Day" fighting for life.
CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT returns in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: His face was seen around the world because his cause inspired the president. And that makes him tonight's "Person of the Day."
Dr. Peter Mugyenyi was invited to sit with first lady Laura Bush as President Bush proposed a massive increase in the U.S. commitment to fight AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean. More than 25 million Africans suffer from AIDS. And the vast majority die without ever getting any of the life-extending AIDS medicines sometimes taken for granted in developed countries.
Dr. Mugyenyi runs the Joint Clinical Research Center in Kampala, Uganda. And the White House calls him a leader in the battle to combat the AIDS pandemic. Thanks to centers like his and Uganda's aggressive treatment and education policies, Uganda's infection rate has dropped from 12 to 6 percent. The White House estimates its proposed spending could prevent as many as seven million people from getting AIDS, more than reason enough to make Dr. Peter Mugyenyi, a front-line veteran of the battle against AIDS, our "Person of the Day."
And tomorrow: Iraq's man in the U.S., Mohammed Al-Douri, strikes back.
And coming up next on "LARRY KING LIVE": the latest developments in the mystery of missing Laci Peterson and the reporter who talked to Scott Peterson, her husband, today.
Thank you for joining us. And for all of us at CNN, good night and we'll see you tomorrow.
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