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CNN Live At Daybreak

Haiti in Crisis; Suspect Sought in Ohio Highway Shootings

Aired March 16, 2004 - 06:30   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: On to Haiti now. This is Jean- Bertrand Aristide's first morning back in the Caribbean since fleeing Haiti two weeks ago. The former president and his wife are in Jamaica for temporary asylum, and that's prompted Haiti's interim prime minister to pull his ambassador from Jamaica and suspend relations with the 15-member Caribbean Economic Block.
To talk more about Haiti now and what life is like there now, only on DAYBREAK all this week we're talking with Father Paul Carrier from Fairfield University in Connecticut. Fairfield runs a school for kids in Haiti. Father Carrier is in Cap Haitien this morning.

Good morning.

PAUL CARRIER, S.J., FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: I heard you had a rough drive -- you had kind of a rough day yesterday driving across the country to pick up one of the kids' moms. What did you see?

CARRIER: Well, Carol, it was incredible. It was a two-hour trip each way into the countryside to pick up the mother of one of the kids. And, you know, driving through the countryside, again, just struck by incredible poverty -- over and over again and from village to village, the poverty and the destitution and the misery of the people and there is no respite. I mean, there is nothing -- there was no break in any of the trip.

And then we brought her back on a mattress in the back of the truck, and we got to the city hospital here in Cap Haitien. I mean, Carol, the city hospital has two hours of electricity a day on a generator. It doesn't have any city power, because there is no city power in Cap Haitien. So, for a city of 500,000 people, no electricity. So, you can imagine what the hospital services are like. So, they admitted this woman, who is very sick. No bed, so she slept on a bench last night.

Again, it's overwhelming to see the effects of what's going on in here in Haiti.

COSTELLO: What's wrong with the mother?

CARRIER: Well, she seems to be malnourished. I mean, very, very thin and very gaunt. And we're hoping that the doctor is available to make some sort of diagnosis. But again, with the equipment and the resources they have, Carol, it's a very difficult situation to, in a sense, give any type of good medical assistance or medical care to the people who come to the hospital.

COSTELLO: The children, her children, are you responsible for them now?

CARRIER: Pretty much. I mean, one of the young boys -- actually, the oldest son has been in the program for the past seven years. He was the first one actually. He met the fellow -- the director of the program at the very beginning, and he said, you know, I'm going to be embarrassed later on in life because I can't write my name. He said, would you start a school? And that's really what was the inspiration for the project and the program. And he's been with us for seven years.

And, I mean, this young man is 16 years old, and in that time he's seen a little brother die right after birth, and he's seen another brother die at 3 years old. It's an incredible tragedy in just this young boy's life.

COSTELLO: Father Carrier, how many Americans are in Haiti helping out the population there?

CARRIER: You know, again, it's hard to say. They say there are 20,000 Americans here in Haiti. Some of them may be Haitian-Americans at this point. But as far as missionaries and teachers, there are a good number. A lot of them left. You know, our people have stayed, and they've been with the kids throughout this crisis.

COSTELLO: And I...

CARRIER: And, again, what these -- go ahead.

COSTELLO: I know that there is some fear among the workers there, especially the ones affiliated with your program. They don't want their name mentioned. They don't want their faces on television. Tell us why.

CARRIER: Well, again, right now, Carol, the situation is so fluid. You don't know who you're talking to when you're talking to anyone in town, who they support, what they are backing. And, again, the violence that occurs under the surface right now, it's not, you know, visible during the day, but at night there is violence.

And, again, it's the type of thing where the good work that we're doing, we want to preserve it, and we want to make sure that it can continue. But right now, the situation is fluid with the people here in the city.

COSTELLO: But there's no sense right now that Americans are being targeted by any one group.

CARRIER: Oh, no.

COSTELLO: OK.

CARRIER: No, no, not at all. In the sense that I think -- you know, I feel safe myself. I walked the streets yesterday, and, again, I feel safe and comfortable. But missionaries who have been here a long time -- 20-30 years -- have said that you just have to be careful. You have to keep a low profile. Keep doing the good work you're doing.

But, like I said yesterday, people are not talking about politics. They're looking over their shoulders. They don't know who to trust, and it's the type of feeling that existed here maybe 10 years ago after the first coup.

COSTELLO: Well, Father Carrier, you may feel safe walking the streets, but you be careful down there. And we appreciate you calling DAYBREAK.

Tomorrow, Father Carrier will talk about the challenging task of finding food in Haiti and a program that feeds children in search of meals.

COSTELLO: Well, the economy in our own country is a concern for many of us. We have new numbers for you this morning from our friends at Gallup. So we take you live to Princeton, New Jersey, and Gallup Poll editor-in-chief Frank Newport.

Good morning, Frank.

FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Good morning, Carol.

Indeed, we have just asked, as we do every month: What's the most important problem facing the country? This is a real key indicator. The answer, as you mentioned: the economy is No. 1. It has been No. 1. It's No. 1 again this month.

Notice that 21 percent of Americans spontaneously answered that question by saying something general about the economy. Almost as many, another 19 percent specifically mentioned jobs and unemployment, and that's up. So, you put those together. That's a big number. Then, of course, international affairs, Iraq, terrorism and national security come in as the second group of problems, but it's the economy first.

We do have indications that consumer confidence, at least expectations about the future, continues to go unfortunately down, not up. Look at the trend. Early January, we were right here on this show saying look at how positive Americans are. Sixty-six percent of Americans -- that's that green line up there -- are saying the economy is getting better. It started the New Year with a real positive upbeat attitude, and, boy, that's dissipated. Notice how it's come down now, Carol.

And we actually have slightly more, 47 percent of Americans are saying the economy is getting worse than the 44 percent who say it's getting better -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Oh, what about satisfaction rates? Can you go over those?

NEWPORT: Yes. Several polls -- "The New York Times"/CBS Poll is out this morning showing this, our poll is showing this -- overall satisfaction with the way things are going is down. We now have only 39 percent of Americans who say they're satisfied with the way things are going.

Notice it was 60 percent last year at this time after the war with Iraq started. We had a rally effect. It's kind of been up and down since then, but only about 4 out of 10 Americans now are willing to say they're satisfied with the way things are going. That's not a great positive indicator, I don't think.

COSTELLO: No, no. One of the disappointments is gas prices. They're so high. So, I know you have numbers about what Americans feel we should do about it.

NEWPORT: Well, we've been tracking this for a number of years. We basically give them a trade-off when it comes to energy. Produce more, find ways to get more out of the ground and produce it, or conserve on the other hand. This is quite interesting. Americans, even in the midst of this economic problem, as I just showed you, still remain quite environmentistly (ph) -- or environmentally- oriented. Some changes over the years.

But notice that top line is still at 59 percent in our recent update saying conserve, conservation. That's the way to help our energy situation. Just 31 percent say focus more on production -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Interesting. All right, Frank Newport reporting live for us from Princeton, New Jersey.

(WEATHER BREAK)

COSTELLO: Still to come on DAYBREAK this morning, he leaves the race but not the campaigning. We're talking about Al Sharpton's political future coming up.

And, we'll have a live report for you from Ohio's capital city, where police have a warrant out. But how close are they to a suspect -- to the suspects, I should say, in the highway shootings?

And, this cover band still in demand 40 years after they played their first gig.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Armed, dangerous and allegedly responsible for terrorizing Ohio drivers. Authorities have a suspect in a series of highway shootings in and around Columbus.

Live to Columbus, Ohio, now and Tino Ramos from CNN affiliate WBNS.

Good morning.

TINO RAMOS, CNN AFFILIATE WBNS REPORTER: Good morning. And a nationwide hunt is under way this morning. Just in a surprising announcement late from yesterday, they have indicated that they now do have a suspect. They have pinpointed a suspect they believe is involved with the 24 incidents that were involved in shootings here around the highways in and around the Columbus area.

The man that they are calling is Charles A. McCoy, Jr., he is the suspect, 28 years old. He lives in the southern part of Columbus itself, and this is the area that was pinpointed early on in this investigation, where many of the shootings occurred last May.

Now, what they have found, according to sources, that they have indicated that they took a gun from McCoy's father, checked that gun, and at that point they have matched the ballistics to it to other incidents.

Also, another incident that occurred where a bullet went into a home back in December, they've matched that bullet to eight other bullets that were involved linking McCoy itself. This is the search that begins now because of it.

Now, they have charged him with felonious assault in regards to this shooting that occurred into the house back in December, but they say that they haven't really seen him in a little while. Ever since they announced that Charles McCoy is a suspect, the tip line has been receiving phone calls. And as recent as yesterday, he may have been spotted in the Columbus area of the west side of the city itself.

Right now, it's just a big manhunt. This is going to make big news, obviously, here and around the Columbus area. Everyone is definitely on alert, because ever since this thing started, now any call of a window being shattered on the highways has been called into police. But right now, investigators say that they are searching nationwide from airports to the roadways hoping to find McCoy.

Again, they are calling him a suspect in the highway shootings.

COSTELLO: Tino?

RAMOS: At this point, they are not certain where he is -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Tino, any motive?

RAMOS: At this point, investigators really haven't released a whole lot about this. That's why it's kind of surprising that they came out with a name in terms of a suspect itself. So, right now, there is no motive.

We do know, though, according to the mother, that McCoy is mentally ill. So, at this point, we're not certain if it's just unstableness with him that has caused this or what else might be involved with it.

COSTELLO: All right, Tino Ramos reporting live from Columbus, Ohio, this morning.

Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 6:44 Eastern Time. Here are the latest headlines.

Not guilty. That is the plea of a Utah mother accused of homicide for letting her unborn twin die by electing not to get a live-saving C-section.

A popcorn factory worker, seen here in the blue shirt and the red tie, wins a $20 million lawsuit. He claimed his lungs were ruined as the result of mixing flavoring oils used in microwave popcorn. Jurors agreed and said the flavoring -- says the flavoring manufacturer should pay.


Aired March 16, 2004 - 06:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: On to Haiti now. This is Jean- Bertrand Aristide's first morning back in the Caribbean since fleeing Haiti two weeks ago. The former president and his wife are in Jamaica for temporary asylum, and that's prompted Haiti's interim prime minister to pull his ambassador from Jamaica and suspend relations with the 15-member Caribbean Economic Block.
To talk more about Haiti now and what life is like there now, only on DAYBREAK all this week we're talking with Father Paul Carrier from Fairfield University in Connecticut. Fairfield runs a school for kids in Haiti. Father Carrier is in Cap Haitien this morning.

Good morning.

PAUL CARRIER, S.J., FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: I heard you had a rough drive -- you had kind of a rough day yesterday driving across the country to pick up one of the kids' moms. What did you see?

CARRIER: Well, Carol, it was incredible. It was a two-hour trip each way into the countryside to pick up the mother of one of the kids. And, you know, driving through the countryside, again, just struck by incredible poverty -- over and over again and from village to village, the poverty and the destitution and the misery of the people and there is no respite. I mean, there is nothing -- there was no break in any of the trip.

And then we brought her back on a mattress in the back of the truck, and we got to the city hospital here in Cap Haitien. I mean, Carol, the city hospital has two hours of electricity a day on a generator. It doesn't have any city power, because there is no city power in Cap Haitien. So, for a city of 500,000 people, no electricity. So, you can imagine what the hospital services are like. So, they admitted this woman, who is very sick. No bed, so she slept on a bench last night.

Again, it's overwhelming to see the effects of what's going on in here in Haiti.

COSTELLO: What's wrong with the mother?

CARRIER: Well, she seems to be malnourished. I mean, very, very thin and very gaunt. And we're hoping that the doctor is available to make some sort of diagnosis. But again, with the equipment and the resources they have, Carol, it's a very difficult situation to, in a sense, give any type of good medical assistance or medical care to the people who come to the hospital.

COSTELLO: The children, her children, are you responsible for them now?

CARRIER: Pretty much. I mean, one of the young boys -- actually, the oldest son has been in the program for the past seven years. He was the first one actually. He met the fellow -- the director of the program at the very beginning, and he said, you know, I'm going to be embarrassed later on in life because I can't write my name. He said, would you start a school? And that's really what was the inspiration for the project and the program. And he's been with us for seven years.

And, I mean, this young man is 16 years old, and in that time he's seen a little brother die right after birth, and he's seen another brother die at 3 years old. It's an incredible tragedy in just this young boy's life.

COSTELLO: Father Carrier, how many Americans are in Haiti helping out the population there?

CARRIER: You know, again, it's hard to say. They say there are 20,000 Americans here in Haiti. Some of them may be Haitian-Americans at this point. But as far as missionaries and teachers, there are a good number. A lot of them left. You know, our people have stayed, and they've been with the kids throughout this crisis.

COSTELLO: And I...

CARRIER: And, again, what these -- go ahead.

COSTELLO: I know that there is some fear among the workers there, especially the ones affiliated with your program. They don't want their name mentioned. They don't want their faces on television. Tell us why.

CARRIER: Well, again, right now, Carol, the situation is so fluid. You don't know who you're talking to when you're talking to anyone in town, who they support, what they are backing. And, again, the violence that occurs under the surface right now, it's not, you know, visible during the day, but at night there is violence.

And, again, it's the type of thing where the good work that we're doing, we want to preserve it, and we want to make sure that it can continue. But right now, the situation is fluid with the people here in the city.

COSTELLO: But there's no sense right now that Americans are being targeted by any one group.

CARRIER: Oh, no.

COSTELLO: OK.

CARRIER: No, no, not at all. In the sense that I think -- you know, I feel safe myself. I walked the streets yesterday, and, again, I feel safe and comfortable. But missionaries who have been here a long time -- 20-30 years -- have said that you just have to be careful. You have to keep a low profile. Keep doing the good work you're doing.

But, like I said yesterday, people are not talking about politics. They're looking over their shoulders. They don't know who to trust, and it's the type of feeling that existed here maybe 10 years ago after the first coup.

COSTELLO: Well, Father Carrier, you may feel safe walking the streets, but you be careful down there. And we appreciate you calling DAYBREAK.

Tomorrow, Father Carrier will talk about the challenging task of finding food in Haiti and a program that feeds children in search of meals.

COSTELLO: Well, the economy in our own country is a concern for many of us. We have new numbers for you this morning from our friends at Gallup. So we take you live to Princeton, New Jersey, and Gallup Poll editor-in-chief Frank Newport.

Good morning, Frank.

FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Good morning, Carol.

Indeed, we have just asked, as we do every month: What's the most important problem facing the country? This is a real key indicator. The answer, as you mentioned: the economy is No. 1. It has been No. 1. It's No. 1 again this month.

Notice that 21 percent of Americans spontaneously answered that question by saying something general about the economy. Almost as many, another 19 percent specifically mentioned jobs and unemployment, and that's up. So, you put those together. That's a big number. Then, of course, international affairs, Iraq, terrorism and national security come in as the second group of problems, but it's the economy first.

We do have indications that consumer confidence, at least expectations about the future, continues to go unfortunately down, not up. Look at the trend. Early January, we were right here on this show saying look at how positive Americans are. Sixty-six percent of Americans -- that's that green line up there -- are saying the economy is getting better. It started the New Year with a real positive upbeat attitude, and, boy, that's dissipated. Notice how it's come down now, Carol.

And we actually have slightly more, 47 percent of Americans are saying the economy is getting worse than the 44 percent who say it's getting better -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Oh, what about satisfaction rates? Can you go over those?

NEWPORT: Yes. Several polls -- "The New York Times"/CBS Poll is out this morning showing this, our poll is showing this -- overall satisfaction with the way things are going is down. We now have only 39 percent of Americans who say they're satisfied with the way things are going.

Notice it was 60 percent last year at this time after the war with Iraq started. We had a rally effect. It's kind of been up and down since then, but only about 4 out of 10 Americans now are willing to say they're satisfied with the way things are going. That's not a great positive indicator, I don't think.

COSTELLO: No, no. One of the disappointments is gas prices. They're so high. So, I know you have numbers about what Americans feel we should do about it.

NEWPORT: Well, we've been tracking this for a number of years. We basically give them a trade-off when it comes to energy. Produce more, find ways to get more out of the ground and produce it, or conserve on the other hand. This is quite interesting. Americans, even in the midst of this economic problem, as I just showed you, still remain quite environmentistly (ph) -- or environmentally- oriented. Some changes over the years.

But notice that top line is still at 59 percent in our recent update saying conserve, conservation. That's the way to help our energy situation. Just 31 percent say focus more on production -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Interesting. All right, Frank Newport reporting live for us from Princeton, New Jersey.

(WEATHER BREAK)

COSTELLO: Still to come on DAYBREAK this morning, he leaves the race but not the campaigning. We're talking about Al Sharpton's political future coming up.

And, we'll have a live report for you from Ohio's capital city, where police have a warrant out. But how close are they to a suspect -- to the suspects, I should say, in the highway shootings?

And, this cover band still in demand 40 years after they played their first gig.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Armed, dangerous and allegedly responsible for terrorizing Ohio drivers. Authorities have a suspect in a series of highway shootings in and around Columbus.

Live to Columbus, Ohio, now and Tino Ramos from CNN affiliate WBNS.

Good morning.

TINO RAMOS, CNN AFFILIATE WBNS REPORTER: Good morning. And a nationwide hunt is under way this morning. Just in a surprising announcement late from yesterday, they have indicated that they now do have a suspect. They have pinpointed a suspect they believe is involved with the 24 incidents that were involved in shootings here around the highways in and around the Columbus area.

The man that they are calling is Charles A. McCoy, Jr., he is the suspect, 28 years old. He lives in the southern part of Columbus itself, and this is the area that was pinpointed early on in this investigation, where many of the shootings occurred last May.

Now, what they have found, according to sources, that they have indicated that they took a gun from McCoy's father, checked that gun, and at that point they have matched the ballistics to it to other incidents.

Also, another incident that occurred where a bullet went into a home back in December, they've matched that bullet to eight other bullets that were involved linking McCoy itself. This is the search that begins now because of it.

Now, they have charged him with felonious assault in regards to this shooting that occurred into the house back in December, but they say that they haven't really seen him in a little while. Ever since they announced that Charles McCoy is a suspect, the tip line has been receiving phone calls. And as recent as yesterday, he may have been spotted in the Columbus area of the west side of the city itself.

Right now, it's just a big manhunt. This is going to make big news, obviously, here and around the Columbus area. Everyone is definitely on alert, because ever since this thing started, now any call of a window being shattered on the highways has been called into police. But right now, investigators say that they are searching nationwide from airports to the roadways hoping to find McCoy.

Again, they are calling him a suspect in the highway shootings.

COSTELLO: Tino?

RAMOS: At this point, they are not certain where he is -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Tino, any motive?

RAMOS: At this point, investigators really haven't released a whole lot about this. That's why it's kind of surprising that they came out with a name in terms of a suspect itself. So, right now, there is no motive.

We do know, though, according to the mother, that McCoy is mentally ill. So, at this point, we're not certain if it's just unstableness with him that has caused this or what else might be involved with it.

COSTELLO: All right, Tino Ramos reporting live from Columbus, Ohio, this morning.

Your news, money, weather and sports. It is 6:44 Eastern Time. Here are the latest headlines.

Not guilty. That is the plea of a Utah mother accused of homicide for letting her unborn twin die by electing not to get a live-saving C-section.

A popcorn factory worker, seen here in the blue shirt and the red tie, wins a $20 million lawsuit. He claimed his lungs were ruined as the result of mixing flavoring oils used in microwave popcorn. Jurors agreed and said the flavoring -- says the flavoring manufacturer should pay.