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American Morning
Interview with Author Raymond Chandler; Storm Related Stress; "Minding Your Business"
Aired September 13, 2004 - 08:30 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: It's just about half past the hour now -- the 8:00 hour, that is, if you're keeping track -- on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Hurricane Ivan is now a Category 5 storm with winds of 160 miles an hour, and it's moving closer to the western tip of Cuba. It's expected to arrive there sometime tonight.
So far, at least 42 people across the Caribbean have been killed by Ivan. That number could go up as officials have more time to assess the damage in Jamaica and on Grand Cayman Island.
We're going to have the very latest forecast for Ivan coming up in just a few minutes.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Also, before the current charges against Michael Jackson, there were similar accusations of child molestation made in '93. We'll get an inside look at that case from the uncle of the boy involved.
COLLINS: All right, we are going to check on the stories now in other news now first with Daryn Kagan at the CNN Center. Daryn, good morning.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Heidi, good morning to you. This morning, the Food and Drug Administration holds special hearings on the safety of antidepressants.
They are preparing stronger warnings for some antidepressants used by kids. It has not been decided what those warnings will say, or which drugs will be effected.
This comes after some drug companies withheld a link between antidepressants and suicidal thoughts in children.
To Louisiana now. Jury selection begins within the hour for suspected serial killer Derrick Todd Lee. Officials arrested Lee in May of last year. They say DNA evidence links him to the murders of seven women and the assault of an eight. Lee is already serving a life sentence for one of the killings. If he is convicted again, he could face the death penalty.
Today, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice meets with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's top aide. They are going to talk about the controversial West Bank separation barrier. Sharon was given plans for a new route for parts of the barrier after the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the fundamental rights of Palestinians had been violated in the earlier plans.
Back here in the States, in Ohio, more than a dozen exotic pets have been confiscated from a woman's home in Cincinnati. Police say the woman was fatally bitten by a viper. When officials entered her home, they found at least nine other poisonous snakes and dozens of lizards and alligators.
I think they're looking for a home for those snakes right now -- Heidi. You know, the Collins home, perhaps? You have a menagerie, why not?
COLLINS: Yes, the brand new home that we're moving into today, perfect addition.
KAGAN: Need some snakes and vipers.
COLLINS: Love that. All right, Daryn, thanks so much.
Want to talk about Michael Jackson now and the child molestation trial. It was delayed until January. Meanwhile, there's a new book about the first abuse allegation against Jackson. It happened 11 years ago.
It's written by the uncle of Jackson's alleged victim, who was 12 at the time, and it is titled, "All That Glitters: The Crime and the Cover-up."
It's author, Raymond Chandler, is joining us now. Mr. Chandler, thanks for being here.
RAYMOND CHANDLER, AUTHOR: "ALL THAT GLITTERS": Thanks for having me here.
COLLINS: You know, a long time ago when all this first started happening, the family knew that Michael Jackson had gone over to your sister-in-law's house and slept in the same bed as your nephew. Happened again at your brother's house.
Didn't they think that was strange?
CHANDLER: Well, at the time he slept at my brother's house, my brother didn't know what was going on in terms of all the places he was sleeping when he was with his mother.
His mother had custody.
COLLINS: When did they find out that was happening or did happen?
CHANDLER: My brother discovered it after Michael slept at his house, and then he saw a very strange behavior originally from his son. It wasn't even a sexual thing he was thinking about, it was the behavior between him and Michael that made him feel that this was unhealthy.
COLLINS: What was that behavior? I mean, there was more than knowing that he had slept in the same bed as the nephew.
CHANDLER: Well, at first, it was seeing the boy's behavior change, seeing him actually become a clone of Michael.
Not playing with his friends any more. Not having any contacts other than Michael. Dressing like Michael, talking like Michael. It began to appear unhealthy.
And that was -- and that weekend also when Michael slept over at my brother's house in a separate bed with a younger brother also in a bunk bed, there -- they all three slept in the same room, my brother walked in the room in the middle of the night, because Michael had been sick earlier to check on them, and found that his son had moved over into Michael's bed. Now they were fully clothed...
COLLINS: But just the fact that they were in the same room, a 35-year-old guy...
CHANDLER: I agree with you. I agree with you.
COLLINS: All right, now we should say that you have not spoken with the family. Your brother and your nephew...
CHANDLER: In about four years now.
COLLINS: In about four years now. We should also say that we did try to get a comment from Jackson's personal assistant, a person by the name of Brandon Baine (ph). They are not commenting on the case. That being said, there's a portion of a letter that you have in your book that you say was actually written by Michael Jackson to your nephew.
Here's what it looks like. It says, "You're not my -- not only my cousin, but also my best friend. I can't stop loving your mother and sister. I have found true love in all of you. You are my new inspiration. I love you. Doo Doo Head. Applehead. Disneyland soon. Love, Doo Doo. Call soon. Bye, Doo Doo Head. Tell Mom I love her."
Do you have this letter?
CHANDLER: No, it was shown -- in the context of my book, why I present the letter, it was shown to me by the boy's mother after the allegations came out and she agreed to the -- she told the Department of Children's Services that she believed the boy had been molested by Jackson, all the places they had been.
She was showing me the letter in the context of telling me how she was fooled, and telling me, "Look what he did. He told us it was all about love and trust. Here, look at a letter; let me show you the letter he wrote to my son."
COLLINS: With a letter like that -- I mean, you're a parent, I'm a parent, don't you go to the police or don't you seek some sort of help? When you have a letter like that?
CHANDLER: I believe that it never should have occurred in the first place. I believe that the mother should have never allowed her son to sleep in a bed alone with Michael Jackson at all. At that point in time, the police were already involved when she showed me the letter.
COLLINS: Now as we've said, you are estranged from your brother and his family. What do you hope to accomplish here? I mean, you're obviously going to make some money from this book.
CHANDLER: I don't know about that.
COLLINS: Well, when people write books, I mean they sell them for money. So, what is your motivation?
CHANDLER: Oh, in 2003 when I saw Michael Jackson on that Martin Bashir piece with this current little accuser with his head against Michael's shoulder holding hands and Michael talking about how you know oh it's good to sleep in beds -- there's nothing wrong with sharing a bed.
I thought by 19 -- after 1993, no parent would allow their children to be alone with Michael Jackson again. And I hope that if there's anything this book accomplishes it's that. That every parent out there will say OK, I'm not leaving my kid with this guy.
COLLINS: Do you have any idea what the family thinks of you writing this book? Or what do you imagine they would think?
CHANDLER: Well, I imagine they would have mixed emotions about it. You know. From -- I know they don't like being in the media's spotlight, but '93 is going to be talked about; it's been talked about.
It's going to continue to be talked about, whether I talk about it or not. I think the only thing that my book brings to the story is the facts. You know, the facts had never come out, and I think people have been basing their opinion on speculation and innuendo, a piece here, a piece there. They need to know the whole complete story.
COLLINS: All right, Raymond Chandler, we appreciate your time this morning. Thanks for being here.
CHANDLER: Thank you very much.
COLLINS: Miles.
O'BRIEN: As we've been telling you this morning, Hurricane Ivan is once again a Category 5 storm. Winds of 160 miles an hour moving closer to the western tip of Cuba right now.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: The Federal Emergency Management Agency says it is ready and waiting for Hurricane Ivan. Thousands of FEMA workers and tons of supplies already have been dispatched to Florida for victims of Hurricanes Charley and Frances.
Michael Brown is the agency's director.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Michael, we know you sent about 3,000 people down to South Florida to the panhandle area. What are you going to do with all those people there? Are you going to need to reorganize a bit?
MICHAEL BROWN, FEMA DIRECTOR: Well, remember we're still responding to Frances and Charley. Those two earlier hurricanes. So, these people are pre-positioned to take care of the Florida panhandle and perhaps Alabama and Georgia and then the other people if Ivan stays on this track will resume all of their operations to take care of Charley and Frances victims.
COLLINS: Are you concerned about resources, though? I mean, that's a heck of a lot of people to be moving around. Are there more; are there backups? Are you going to have enough?
BROWN: There are backups. We will have more than we need. The only thing I'm concerned about is the people in Florida.
They have just gotten battered and battered and I know they're tired; they're frustrated. So, our people have to be even more vigilant to make certain that they're taking care of these people, understanding their problems and reaching out to them as effectively as possible.
COLLINS: What more advice do you have, though, for those people? I mean, this has been insane. Three hurricanes less than a month. How do they keep their spirits up in order to stick this out?
BROWN: Well the people -- our people -- are just motivated. But what we really need to ask Floridians to do and others in the path of this hurricane is to help us help them. I mean, this is a huge storm, Category 4, Category 5; it keeps going back and forth. Those are very destructive winds. People need to expect to be without power for at least several days maybe up to a week or longer. They need to stockpile their water, their medicines.
They need to have a battery-powered flashlight. They need to have all of those things to sustain themselves for maybe several days or a week while we do our lifesaving and life-sustaining efforts.
COLLINS: In fact, we know that there are still hundreds of thousands of people without power and now they're even having to deal with other complications like over flowing sewers. I mean, the situation is pretty grim and tough. When do you think people will start to feel like things are getting back to normal down there?
BROWN: Oh, unfortunately it's going to be a long time. When you think about your lives -- you life has been disrupted, your home, your belongings, just the ability to go to and from work, to and from school, that's disrupted. That's just going to take a long time to fix. That's why everyone just needs to be patient; they need to have a lot of just willpower to get through this and we're going to be there to help them.
COLLINS: And what about emergency supplies in order to help with all that? I'm sure you're needing trucks, blankets, lots of food. Everything OK as far as that all goes?
BROWN: We have an incredible stockpile of materials coming -- our supply line runs as far back as Kentucky and Chicago. We have 500 trucks of ice, 300 trucks of water. We literally have millions of pounds of commodities coming in to those effected areas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Again, that was FEMA Director Michael Brown giving us an up to date assessment of Hurricane Ivan.
O'BRIEN: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING if the Hummer H2 is your idea of a compact vehicle, we've got a truck for you. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business".
COLLINS: Also ahead, people in Florida are coping with the damage done by Charley and Frances, but how do they deal with the emotional damage done before a hurricane hits? We're "Paging Dr. Gupta."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Floridians are bracing for another dose of deja vu courtesy of Hurricane Ivan. Dr. Sanjay Gupta at the CNN Center now with a look at how families have been dealing with all the storm related stress. Good morning, Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles. Yes, I mean take your life right now -- the way it is -- busy as it is. And imagine having to board up your home and leave for a while, or even worse, coming back and finding that your entire home is now a pile of rubble.
As Floridians gear up for a third hurricane, the physical and mental toll starts to escalate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're exhausted. We're just -- I don't -- I just don't -- I just don't want to go through it again. And I don't want to put my kids through it again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: And as you can see there, there are two major stressors that really effect both adults and children alike. Stress and fatigue. It can lead to all sorts of different symptoms and they sort of come in a sequential like fashion. First you get sort of an emotional numbing to things. Then agitation. Finally depression. And Miles the concerning thing about this again for both adults and children is that left unchecked it can lead to long-term consequences even though the hurricane may be a short-term one, Miles.
O'BRIEN: It's got to be particularly hard on children. What should parents do, what should they be watching for?
GUPTA: Well, children are going to respond differently than adults. First of all, you know, just displacing them from their homes, putting them in a shelter, they have the loss of favorite things such as a stuffed animal. All that sort of stuff can have consequences on children both in the short and long term.
Things to look for specifically, the symptoms you should watch out for -- children starting to act out for example, they're starting to act out more than normally. That's a concern.
Disrupted sleep. They're having nightmares. Appetite changes, not eating their meals -- they're eating too much. Flashbacks and social withdrawal.
The ways to try and combat some of these things as an adult if you're talking to your child about it. Really focus on including them in the planning. Include them in the planning of, you know, if you're going to board up your home and leave, then talk to them about that. Also plan activities have calm discussions and ask and listen.
It's important as young as the children may be it's important to ask and listen to their fears, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Of course parents focusing on their children that much should not overlook themselves and the impact of stress that it has on them.
GUPTA: Adults are going to be much more pragmatic, they're going to look at the here and now, how do we get through this event right now. Of course, keeping in mind that they need to pay attention, they could have long-term consequences in terms of stress and fatigue.
But what adults are most concerned about: examining, sharing the stress, forming a strategy, sharing the burden as well. They're going to talk to insurance companies about, you know, are they going to get the money back for the home, things like that that are much more the here and now, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Sanjay Gupta in Atlanta, thanks you very much, appreciate it -- Heidi.
COLLINS: While the professionals try to figure out where Hurricane Ivan is going, the amateurs have some ideas for how to keep Ivan from coming here.
Among their suggestions: blowing it away with giant fans; spreading oil on the water; towing an iceberg near Florida to cool the ocean -- yes, that will work; and the frighteningly popular suggestion of dropping a nuclear bomb on Ivan.
One expert who reviewed that idea said hurricanes are bad enough without being radioactive. I think I like the way that guy thinks.
All right, still to come this morning, when you're out to eat you better leave a good tip. You never know when a bad one will get you arrested. "The Cafferty File" is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Serwer joins us now with word of a massive new truck which will really trouble Hummer owners everywhere cause we all know what that's about, don't we? He's here "Minding Your Business."
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: You bet. Yes, I mean, Jack for those of you who think that a Hummer is just too small and too effete, get a load of this baby. This a new truck being made by International. You know, they make heavy trucks.
The International CXT, they're going to start marketing this thing. The largest production pickup truck in the history of the world.
CAFFERTY: How much is this thing going to cost?
SERWER: It do cost between $93 and $115K...
CAFFERTY: Wow.
SERWER: ... depending on some of the features. Here are a couple of the specs, Jack. Twenty-one and a half feet long. Nine feet tall, eight feet wide. Tows 20 tons. Miles per gallon? I thought you were going to ask that: six to 10.
CAFFERTY: That's a lot.
SERWER: The optional -- this is my favorite. It has an optional tilting dump box...
CAFFERTY: There you go.
SERWER: Imagine if you're stuck in traffic.
CAFFERTY: You can put the kids back there and if they act up on vacation, you push a button and...
O'BRIEN: You're gone.
COLLINS: Eject, eject.
SERWER: Here's a news flash of Governor Schwarzenegger. Governor, you don't have the baddest set of wheels on the road anymore, and I'm going to be interested to see if Arnold picks up one of these babies...
CAFFERTY: All these Hummer owners are going to go nuts now.
SERWER: They've been trumped.
CAFFERTY: Right.
O'BRIEN: What's the model name on that? Freud?
SERWER: Very good. CXT. The CXT see is for Commercial Extreme Truck, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Oh, I got it.
SERWER: There you go. I might need to get one, don't you think, Miles?
O'BRIEN: Absolutely.
SERWER: And the markets, yes, very quickly, the markets are looking very robusto this morning. Looks like we're in -- this is from last week, by the way. We had...
CAFFERTY: Why wasn't tech...
SERWER: Techs were up while you were out, Jack. That's what happened. While you were out, techs were on the move. And this morning the markets are looking good. Futures are up. Advertising merger in the works. Looks like WPP is buying Grey Global.
CAFFERTY: I was wondering when that was going to happen.
SERWER: You thought that. Edge of your seat with that.
CAFFERTY: Thank you, Andy. Time for the "File." There's a woman in San Anselmo, California went into the hospital in January with a couple of broken knees. She's still there. She refuses to leave.
Thirty-two hundred bucks a day her hospital bill is now $350,000. She claims she can't walk so therefore she shouldn't have to leave the hospital. And because it's in California, apparently, there's no law that allows for her to be bodily removed from the institution so I guess she can just lie there until she dies and then they'll figure out what to do with her after that.
(LAUGHTER)
In Amsterdam...
O'BRIEN: Did she get the baseball bat treatment?
CAFFERTY: Is that totally offensive? That's not funny that woman dying in that hospital. I mean, that's no laughing matter.
SERWER: You weren't supposed to laugh at that, Miles.
CAFFERTY: In Amsterdam, the mayor has a problem. People are going to a nature preserve on the edge of town and conducting, quote, brazen behavior of amorous outdoor nature. Translation: people are having sex in the park there in Amsterdam.
SERWER: Oh!
CAFFERTY: And the town has come up with what it thinks is a solution to this. They're going to put cows in the park and allow them to graze, which for obvious reasons may cut down on people having sex, but it's also going to drastically reduce the number of picnics that people are willing to have in the park there for the same reason.
There's a guy named Humberto Taveras, a...
O'BRIEN: It's the cow pies, right? Isn't that it?
CAFFERTY: That would be my guess.
O'BRIEN: That would be my guess; I'm just guessing. What kind of...
SERWER: You know that -- because -- yes.
O'BRIEN: OK.
CAFFERTY: If you go to a restaurant and there's six or more of you, the restaurant is allowed to arbitrarily make you pay a tip.
A guy named Humberto Taveras went to dinner with eight friends up in Lake George at a joint called Sopranos Italian and American Grill. He said the food wasn't very good and neither was the service. Still, they left a 10 percent tip. But there's a mandatory 18 percent gratuity if there's six or more in the party.
Taveras says they weren't informed of this, and he was arrested. He now faces a misdemeanor charge of theft. The restaurant owner, Joe Soprano, says he...
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: He broke his knees.
CAFFERTY: He'll be in the hospital in San Anselmo, California. He said he pursued the charges against Taveras because the group was obnoxious. I don't understand how a restaurant can require -- force you -- to pay an 18 percent gratuity.
SERWER: Yes, Mr. Soprano is forcing him to pay. Mr. Soprano is forcing.
COLLINS: It's really a law, though. It's really a law.
CAFFERTY: No, I mean it's apparently it is.
COLLINS: I didn't know that.
CAFFERTY: And I think its unconstitutional and there should be a revolution in the streets to protest this. If the service is no good and the food's no good, why should you have to leave anything?
COLLINS: You don't have to leave any tip in Europe, correct?
O'BRIEN: Just split up into two parties of three.
CAFFERTY: There you go.
SERWER: Oh, very clever.
CAFFERTY: Smart Miles.
SERWER: I like that, Miles.
CAFFERTY: Let's go to dinner with you.
SERWER: He's going to pay, anyway.
COLLINS: Still to come this morning, its full speed ahead for Hurricane Ivan. One Florida town dodged the bullet a few weeks ago but it may not be so lucky this time around. We'll take you there ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired September 13, 2004 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: It's just about half past the hour now -- the 8:00 hour, that is, if you're keeping track -- on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Hurricane Ivan is now a Category 5 storm with winds of 160 miles an hour, and it's moving closer to the western tip of Cuba. It's expected to arrive there sometime tonight.
So far, at least 42 people across the Caribbean have been killed by Ivan. That number could go up as officials have more time to assess the damage in Jamaica and on Grand Cayman Island.
We're going to have the very latest forecast for Ivan coming up in just a few minutes.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Also, before the current charges against Michael Jackson, there were similar accusations of child molestation made in '93. We'll get an inside look at that case from the uncle of the boy involved.
COLLINS: All right, we are going to check on the stories now in other news now first with Daryn Kagan at the CNN Center. Daryn, good morning.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Heidi, good morning to you. This morning, the Food and Drug Administration holds special hearings on the safety of antidepressants.
They are preparing stronger warnings for some antidepressants used by kids. It has not been decided what those warnings will say, or which drugs will be effected.
This comes after some drug companies withheld a link between antidepressants and suicidal thoughts in children.
To Louisiana now. Jury selection begins within the hour for suspected serial killer Derrick Todd Lee. Officials arrested Lee in May of last year. They say DNA evidence links him to the murders of seven women and the assault of an eight. Lee is already serving a life sentence for one of the killings. If he is convicted again, he could face the death penalty.
Today, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice meets with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's top aide. They are going to talk about the controversial West Bank separation barrier. Sharon was given plans for a new route for parts of the barrier after the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the fundamental rights of Palestinians had been violated in the earlier plans.
Back here in the States, in Ohio, more than a dozen exotic pets have been confiscated from a woman's home in Cincinnati. Police say the woman was fatally bitten by a viper. When officials entered her home, they found at least nine other poisonous snakes and dozens of lizards and alligators.
I think they're looking for a home for those snakes right now -- Heidi. You know, the Collins home, perhaps? You have a menagerie, why not?
COLLINS: Yes, the brand new home that we're moving into today, perfect addition.
KAGAN: Need some snakes and vipers.
COLLINS: Love that. All right, Daryn, thanks so much.
Want to talk about Michael Jackson now and the child molestation trial. It was delayed until January. Meanwhile, there's a new book about the first abuse allegation against Jackson. It happened 11 years ago.
It's written by the uncle of Jackson's alleged victim, who was 12 at the time, and it is titled, "All That Glitters: The Crime and the Cover-up."
It's author, Raymond Chandler, is joining us now. Mr. Chandler, thanks for being here.
RAYMOND CHANDLER, AUTHOR: "ALL THAT GLITTERS": Thanks for having me here.
COLLINS: You know, a long time ago when all this first started happening, the family knew that Michael Jackson had gone over to your sister-in-law's house and slept in the same bed as your nephew. Happened again at your brother's house.
Didn't they think that was strange?
CHANDLER: Well, at the time he slept at my brother's house, my brother didn't know what was going on in terms of all the places he was sleeping when he was with his mother.
His mother had custody.
COLLINS: When did they find out that was happening or did happen?
CHANDLER: My brother discovered it after Michael slept at his house, and then he saw a very strange behavior originally from his son. It wasn't even a sexual thing he was thinking about, it was the behavior between him and Michael that made him feel that this was unhealthy.
COLLINS: What was that behavior? I mean, there was more than knowing that he had slept in the same bed as the nephew.
CHANDLER: Well, at first, it was seeing the boy's behavior change, seeing him actually become a clone of Michael.
Not playing with his friends any more. Not having any contacts other than Michael. Dressing like Michael, talking like Michael. It began to appear unhealthy.
And that was -- and that weekend also when Michael slept over at my brother's house in a separate bed with a younger brother also in a bunk bed, there -- they all three slept in the same room, my brother walked in the room in the middle of the night, because Michael had been sick earlier to check on them, and found that his son had moved over into Michael's bed. Now they were fully clothed...
COLLINS: But just the fact that they were in the same room, a 35-year-old guy...
CHANDLER: I agree with you. I agree with you.
COLLINS: All right, now we should say that you have not spoken with the family. Your brother and your nephew...
CHANDLER: In about four years now.
COLLINS: In about four years now. We should also say that we did try to get a comment from Jackson's personal assistant, a person by the name of Brandon Baine (ph). They are not commenting on the case. That being said, there's a portion of a letter that you have in your book that you say was actually written by Michael Jackson to your nephew.
Here's what it looks like. It says, "You're not my -- not only my cousin, but also my best friend. I can't stop loving your mother and sister. I have found true love in all of you. You are my new inspiration. I love you. Doo Doo Head. Applehead. Disneyland soon. Love, Doo Doo. Call soon. Bye, Doo Doo Head. Tell Mom I love her."
Do you have this letter?
CHANDLER: No, it was shown -- in the context of my book, why I present the letter, it was shown to me by the boy's mother after the allegations came out and she agreed to the -- she told the Department of Children's Services that she believed the boy had been molested by Jackson, all the places they had been.
She was showing me the letter in the context of telling me how she was fooled, and telling me, "Look what he did. He told us it was all about love and trust. Here, look at a letter; let me show you the letter he wrote to my son."
COLLINS: With a letter like that -- I mean, you're a parent, I'm a parent, don't you go to the police or don't you seek some sort of help? When you have a letter like that?
CHANDLER: I believe that it never should have occurred in the first place. I believe that the mother should have never allowed her son to sleep in a bed alone with Michael Jackson at all. At that point in time, the police were already involved when she showed me the letter.
COLLINS: Now as we've said, you are estranged from your brother and his family. What do you hope to accomplish here? I mean, you're obviously going to make some money from this book.
CHANDLER: I don't know about that.
COLLINS: Well, when people write books, I mean they sell them for money. So, what is your motivation?
CHANDLER: Oh, in 2003 when I saw Michael Jackson on that Martin Bashir piece with this current little accuser with his head against Michael's shoulder holding hands and Michael talking about how you know oh it's good to sleep in beds -- there's nothing wrong with sharing a bed.
I thought by 19 -- after 1993, no parent would allow their children to be alone with Michael Jackson again. And I hope that if there's anything this book accomplishes it's that. That every parent out there will say OK, I'm not leaving my kid with this guy.
COLLINS: Do you have any idea what the family thinks of you writing this book? Or what do you imagine they would think?
CHANDLER: Well, I imagine they would have mixed emotions about it. You know. From -- I know they don't like being in the media's spotlight, but '93 is going to be talked about; it's been talked about.
It's going to continue to be talked about, whether I talk about it or not. I think the only thing that my book brings to the story is the facts. You know, the facts had never come out, and I think people have been basing their opinion on speculation and innuendo, a piece here, a piece there. They need to know the whole complete story.
COLLINS: All right, Raymond Chandler, we appreciate your time this morning. Thanks for being here.
CHANDLER: Thank you very much.
COLLINS: Miles.
O'BRIEN: As we've been telling you this morning, Hurricane Ivan is once again a Category 5 storm. Winds of 160 miles an hour moving closer to the western tip of Cuba right now.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: The Federal Emergency Management Agency says it is ready and waiting for Hurricane Ivan. Thousands of FEMA workers and tons of supplies already have been dispatched to Florida for victims of Hurricanes Charley and Frances.
Michael Brown is the agency's director.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Michael, we know you sent about 3,000 people down to South Florida to the panhandle area. What are you going to do with all those people there? Are you going to need to reorganize a bit?
MICHAEL BROWN, FEMA DIRECTOR: Well, remember we're still responding to Frances and Charley. Those two earlier hurricanes. So, these people are pre-positioned to take care of the Florida panhandle and perhaps Alabama and Georgia and then the other people if Ivan stays on this track will resume all of their operations to take care of Charley and Frances victims.
COLLINS: Are you concerned about resources, though? I mean, that's a heck of a lot of people to be moving around. Are there more; are there backups? Are you going to have enough?
BROWN: There are backups. We will have more than we need. The only thing I'm concerned about is the people in Florida.
They have just gotten battered and battered and I know they're tired; they're frustrated. So, our people have to be even more vigilant to make certain that they're taking care of these people, understanding their problems and reaching out to them as effectively as possible.
COLLINS: What more advice do you have, though, for those people? I mean, this has been insane. Three hurricanes less than a month. How do they keep their spirits up in order to stick this out?
BROWN: Well the people -- our people -- are just motivated. But what we really need to ask Floridians to do and others in the path of this hurricane is to help us help them. I mean, this is a huge storm, Category 4, Category 5; it keeps going back and forth. Those are very destructive winds. People need to expect to be without power for at least several days maybe up to a week or longer. They need to stockpile their water, their medicines.
They need to have a battery-powered flashlight. They need to have all of those things to sustain themselves for maybe several days or a week while we do our lifesaving and life-sustaining efforts.
COLLINS: In fact, we know that there are still hundreds of thousands of people without power and now they're even having to deal with other complications like over flowing sewers. I mean, the situation is pretty grim and tough. When do you think people will start to feel like things are getting back to normal down there?
BROWN: Oh, unfortunately it's going to be a long time. When you think about your lives -- you life has been disrupted, your home, your belongings, just the ability to go to and from work, to and from school, that's disrupted. That's just going to take a long time to fix. That's why everyone just needs to be patient; they need to have a lot of just willpower to get through this and we're going to be there to help them.
COLLINS: And what about emergency supplies in order to help with all that? I'm sure you're needing trucks, blankets, lots of food. Everything OK as far as that all goes?
BROWN: We have an incredible stockpile of materials coming -- our supply line runs as far back as Kentucky and Chicago. We have 500 trucks of ice, 300 trucks of water. We literally have millions of pounds of commodities coming in to those effected areas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Again, that was FEMA Director Michael Brown giving us an up to date assessment of Hurricane Ivan.
O'BRIEN: Still to come on AMERICAN MORNING if the Hummer H2 is your idea of a compact vehicle, we've got a truck for you. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business".
COLLINS: Also ahead, people in Florida are coping with the damage done by Charley and Frances, but how do they deal with the emotional damage done before a hurricane hits? We're "Paging Dr. Gupta."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Floridians are bracing for another dose of deja vu courtesy of Hurricane Ivan. Dr. Sanjay Gupta at the CNN Center now with a look at how families have been dealing with all the storm related stress. Good morning, Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles. Yes, I mean take your life right now -- the way it is -- busy as it is. And imagine having to board up your home and leave for a while, or even worse, coming back and finding that your entire home is now a pile of rubble.
As Floridians gear up for a third hurricane, the physical and mental toll starts to escalate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're exhausted. We're just -- I don't -- I just don't -- I just don't want to go through it again. And I don't want to put my kids through it again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: And as you can see there, there are two major stressors that really effect both adults and children alike. Stress and fatigue. It can lead to all sorts of different symptoms and they sort of come in a sequential like fashion. First you get sort of an emotional numbing to things. Then agitation. Finally depression. And Miles the concerning thing about this again for both adults and children is that left unchecked it can lead to long-term consequences even though the hurricane may be a short-term one, Miles.
O'BRIEN: It's got to be particularly hard on children. What should parents do, what should they be watching for?
GUPTA: Well, children are going to respond differently than adults. First of all, you know, just displacing them from their homes, putting them in a shelter, they have the loss of favorite things such as a stuffed animal. All that sort of stuff can have consequences on children both in the short and long term.
Things to look for specifically, the symptoms you should watch out for -- children starting to act out for example, they're starting to act out more than normally. That's a concern.
Disrupted sleep. They're having nightmares. Appetite changes, not eating their meals -- they're eating too much. Flashbacks and social withdrawal.
The ways to try and combat some of these things as an adult if you're talking to your child about it. Really focus on including them in the planning. Include them in the planning of, you know, if you're going to board up your home and leave, then talk to them about that. Also plan activities have calm discussions and ask and listen.
It's important as young as the children may be it's important to ask and listen to their fears, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Of course parents focusing on their children that much should not overlook themselves and the impact of stress that it has on them.
GUPTA: Adults are going to be much more pragmatic, they're going to look at the here and now, how do we get through this event right now. Of course, keeping in mind that they need to pay attention, they could have long-term consequences in terms of stress and fatigue.
But what adults are most concerned about: examining, sharing the stress, forming a strategy, sharing the burden as well. They're going to talk to insurance companies about, you know, are they going to get the money back for the home, things like that that are much more the here and now, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Sanjay Gupta in Atlanta, thanks you very much, appreciate it -- Heidi.
COLLINS: While the professionals try to figure out where Hurricane Ivan is going, the amateurs have some ideas for how to keep Ivan from coming here.
Among their suggestions: blowing it away with giant fans; spreading oil on the water; towing an iceberg near Florida to cool the ocean -- yes, that will work; and the frighteningly popular suggestion of dropping a nuclear bomb on Ivan.
One expert who reviewed that idea said hurricanes are bad enough without being radioactive. I think I like the way that guy thinks.
All right, still to come this morning, when you're out to eat you better leave a good tip. You never know when a bad one will get you arrested. "The Cafferty File" is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Serwer joins us now with word of a massive new truck which will really trouble Hummer owners everywhere cause we all know what that's about, don't we? He's here "Minding Your Business."
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: You bet. Yes, I mean, Jack for those of you who think that a Hummer is just too small and too effete, get a load of this baby. This a new truck being made by International. You know, they make heavy trucks.
The International CXT, they're going to start marketing this thing. The largest production pickup truck in the history of the world.
CAFFERTY: How much is this thing going to cost?
SERWER: It do cost between $93 and $115K...
CAFFERTY: Wow.
SERWER: ... depending on some of the features. Here are a couple of the specs, Jack. Twenty-one and a half feet long. Nine feet tall, eight feet wide. Tows 20 tons. Miles per gallon? I thought you were going to ask that: six to 10.
CAFFERTY: That's a lot.
SERWER: The optional -- this is my favorite. It has an optional tilting dump box...
CAFFERTY: There you go.
SERWER: Imagine if you're stuck in traffic.
CAFFERTY: You can put the kids back there and if they act up on vacation, you push a button and...
O'BRIEN: You're gone.
COLLINS: Eject, eject.
SERWER: Here's a news flash of Governor Schwarzenegger. Governor, you don't have the baddest set of wheels on the road anymore, and I'm going to be interested to see if Arnold picks up one of these babies...
CAFFERTY: All these Hummer owners are going to go nuts now.
SERWER: They've been trumped.
CAFFERTY: Right.
O'BRIEN: What's the model name on that? Freud?
SERWER: Very good. CXT. The CXT see is for Commercial Extreme Truck, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Oh, I got it.
SERWER: There you go. I might need to get one, don't you think, Miles?
O'BRIEN: Absolutely.
SERWER: And the markets, yes, very quickly, the markets are looking very robusto this morning. Looks like we're in -- this is from last week, by the way. We had...
CAFFERTY: Why wasn't tech...
SERWER: Techs were up while you were out, Jack. That's what happened. While you were out, techs were on the move. And this morning the markets are looking good. Futures are up. Advertising merger in the works. Looks like WPP is buying Grey Global.
CAFFERTY: I was wondering when that was going to happen.
SERWER: You thought that. Edge of your seat with that.
CAFFERTY: Thank you, Andy. Time for the "File." There's a woman in San Anselmo, California went into the hospital in January with a couple of broken knees. She's still there. She refuses to leave.
Thirty-two hundred bucks a day her hospital bill is now $350,000. She claims she can't walk so therefore she shouldn't have to leave the hospital. And because it's in California, apparently, there's no law that allows for her to be bodily removed from the institution so I guess she can just lie there until she dies and then they'll figure out what to do with her after that.
(LAUGHTER)
In Amsterdam...
O'BRIEN: Did she get the baseball bat treatment?
CAFFERTY: Is that totally offensive? That's not funny that woman dying in that hospital. I mean, that's no laughing matter.
SERWER: You weren't supposed to laugh at that, Miles.
CAFFERTY: In Amsterdam, the mayor has a problem. People are going to a nature preserve on the edge of town and conducting, quote, brazen behavior of amorous outdoor nature. Translation: people are having sex in the park there in Amsterdam.
SERWER: Oh!
CAFFERTY: And the town has come up with what it thinks is a solution to this. They're going to put cows in the park and allow them to graze, which for obvious reasons may cut down on people having sex, but it's also going to drastically reduce the number of picnics that people are willing to have in the park there for the same reason.
There's a guy named Humberto Taveras, a...
O'BRIEN: It's the cow pies, right? Isn't that it?
CAFFERTY: That would be my guess.
O'BRIEN: That would be my guess; I'm just guessing. What kind of...
SERWER: You know that -- because -- yes.
O'BRIEN: OK.
CAFFERTY: If you go to a restaurant and there's six or more of you, the restaurant is allowed to arbitrarily make you pay a tip.
A guy named Humberto Taveras went to dinner with eight friends up in Lake George at a joint called Sopranos Italian and American Grill. He said the food wasn't very good and neither was the service. Still, they left a 10 percent tip. But there's a mandatory 18 percent gratuity if there's six or more in the party.
Taveras says they weren't informed of this, and he was arrested. He now faces a misdemeanor charge of theft. The restaurant owner, Joe Soprano, says he...
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: He broke his knees.
CAFFERTY: He'll be in the hospital in San Anselmo, California. He said he pursued the charges against Taveras because the group was obnoxious. I don't understand how a restaurant can require -- force you -- to pay an 18 percent gratuity.
SERWER: Yes, Mr. Soprano is forcing him to pay. Mr. Soprano is forcing.
COLLINS: It's really a law, though. It's really a law.
CAFFERTY: No, I mean it's apparently it is.
COLLINS: I didn't know that.
CAFFERTY: And I think its unconstitutional and there should be a revolution in the streets to protest this. If the service is no good and the food's no good, why should you have to leave anything?
COLLINS: You don't have to leave any tip in Europe, correct?
O'BRIEN: Just split up into two parties of three.
CAFFERTY: There you go.
SERWER: Oh, very clever.
CAFFERTY: Smart Miles.
SERWER: I like that, Miles.
CAFFERTY: Let's go to dinner with you.
SERWER: He's going to pay, anyway.
COLLINS: Still to come this morning, its full speed ahead for Hurricane Ivan. One Florida town dodged the bullet a few weeks ago but it may not be so lucky this time around. We'll take you there ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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