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Rescue Workers, Volunteers Working to Keep Nearly 50 Dolphins Alive After They Beached Themselves; 'Blood Brother'

Aired March 08, 2005 - 09:30   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look at the other stories making headlines this morning. Carol Costello in for us.
Hello. Good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Good morning to all of you.

Now in the news, thousand of pro-Syrian supporters flooding the streets of Beirut right now. The rally is sponsored by the Islamic militant group Hezbollah. The demonstration coming after Syria pledged to pull back its forces in Lebanon to the eastern border by the end of the month. President Bush calling the situation in Lebanon a critical test for reform in the Middle East. Within the hour, the president will address the war on terrorism. Aides say the president will also reiterate U.S. demands that Iran give up its nuclear weapons program. CNN will have live coverage of the president's address at 10:15 Eastern.

The minimum wage will stay at $5.15. The Senate defeating two dueling measures to raise it. Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy was arguing for the Democratic proposal to increase the minimum by $2.10. The last time it was raised was way back in 1997.

And new developments out of Rome this hour concerning Pope John Paul II. The Vatican confirming to CNN the pope has delegated his Easter week duties to cardinals. But the pontiff will give a blessing at the end of Easter Sunday mass on March 27th. Despite the changes to the schedule, the Vatican says the pope's health is continuing to improve.

Back to you.

O'BRIEN: That's good news to hear, finally.

All right, Carol, thanks.

Rescue workers and volunteers are working to keep nearly 50 dolphins alive after they beached themselves off the Florida Keys. Almost Two dozen others have died since last week. Investigators are trying to find out just what caused their deaths. Lloyd Brown is the vice president head of the Marine Mammal Conservancy. Carrie Mackey is a volunteer helping with the rehabilitation of the dolphins. They both join us from Key Largo in Florida.

Welcome back. Thanks for talking with us. Carrie, I'm going to begin with you, if I may. You're 21 years old. You're on spring break from school. Give me a sense of how you happened to volunteer for this massive undertaking?

CARRIE MACKEY, VOLUNTEER: Actually, I had heard about it before we came down here, and we knew some people down in Key Largo. So we came and stayed with them and met a guy that had been doing it. So he told us about it, and he didn't think we'd come. And we came, and it's been awesome.

O'BRIEN: What exactly are you doing, Carrie?

MACKEY: Well, I've number the pool with the dolphins. There's two moms and a little baby in there, and just kind of keeping them wet, just checking their heartbeat and keeping them company in there.

O'BRIEN: Lloyd, as we mentioned, there's a number of volunteers who are helping out, many who don't have any experience. How are you training some of these volunteers who have really maybe never even been in a tank before with dolphins?

LLOYD BROWN, V.P. MARINE MAMMAL CONSERVANCY: Well, each person that comes in right off the street, we give them the basic training of how to stay safe around the animal and how not to hurt the animal. If they wish to continue working with us, we'll go ahead and give them more training in how to actually respond to strandings.

But what these people are having here right now, the initial briefing is just that minimal amount of information that they need to know to be safe.

O'BRIEN: How many volunteers do you have right now, Lloyd?

BROWN: We're trying to maintain at least 30 volunteers per shift for eight shifts a day. So we just had our first shift that we actually couldn't staff enough people. And we're only a week into it. So the novelty is kind of wearing off.

O'BRIEN: How concerned are you about that, that even a week in and still getting media coverage, frankly, and you're still losing some folks who maybe were coming out at the beginning of the week?

BROWN: It's pretty alarming. In past strandings that we've had, we go two to three weeks into a stranding before we actually start having trouble filling shifts, and this is only a week into it. And to be only a week into it and not be able to fill a shift indicates we might be having a problem here. We need more volunteers.

O'BRIEN: Some 25 dolphins, as we mentioned, have not been able to survive. How optimistic are you both that you're going to be able to save the remaining several dozen of them?

BROWN: Well, there's still a few in here that are not as stable as we'd like. There are still some that may not make it. We're going to do everything we can to insure that all of those who can make it do. But then I would say, easily two-thirds of them are in good enough shape that we're hopeful about releasing them back into the wild.

O'BRIEN: We're certainly hopeful, along with you. Good luck to you. Thanks for being with us this morning.

And good work, Carrie. It's nice to have you out there volunteering.

MACKEY: Thank you -- Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: About 25 now minutes before the hour. Scott Peterson's half-sister is speaking out now for the first time. She's written a book. It's called "Blood Brother." Anne Bird reveals her own version of events, and she's my guest now here in New York, along with her attorney, Gloria Allred.

Good morning to both of you.

Anne, you believe Scott's guilty.

ANNE BIRD, AUTHOR, "BLOOD BROTHER": I do.

HEMMER: And that's basically the premise of the entire book. At what point were you convinced of his guilt?

BIRD: It was when the bodies of Laci and Conner washed ashore, and I was the first person to call him. And I told him that they had found the body of a woman. And he said, well, they'll find out it's not Laci and they'll keep looking. And I said, you know, they found a body of a baby the day before. And he got really upset, and he said who would do such a thing? And he yelled it. And it made me stop and think. And he was about 45 minutes away from me in Berkeley at that time. Seven hours later he was in San Diego. And instead of going directly to the bodies to find out if this is his missing wife and child, he went in the opposite direction.

HEMMER: But his initial reaction was anger.

BIRD: Right.

HEMMER: But you didn't think anything at that point that he would be guilty. It was the reaction that he had with traveling down the coast of California?

BIRD: No. He was angry at the discovery of a baby, but not about the discovery of a woman's body.

HEMMER: But why would that lead to you think that he would be guilty, though, at that point? Where's the logic in that that you see?

BIRD: You know, everyone's looking for Laci and Conner. People had been looking in the Bay. And to go in the opposite direction of that, I mean, you would think you would want to find your wife and child.

HEMMER: You also wrote about a babysitter incident. What happened there inside your house?

BIRD: Right, we had a baby-sitter that Scott plied with flirtinis.

HEMMER: Which is a version of a martini?

GLORIDA ALLRED, DEFENSE ATTY.: Yes, Sex in the City. It's a drink that sometimes they drink.

HEMMER: What was he doing? What stuck you?

BIRD: He was flirting with her, you know, giving her these flirtinis, and she actually felt so uncomfortable that she left our house.

HEMMER: But again, I just want to be convinced of your argument. How does that then lead you to conclude that your half-brother is responsible for the murder of his wife and unborn son?

BIRD: You know, it was a compilation of 33 reasons. You know, another example is that during the time that Laci was missing, he continued to go back to his house to clean his swimming pool when there seemed to be far more important things to be working on.

HEMMER: When you put all this behavior and action together, that's how you reached your conclusion?

BIRD: Right, right.

HEMMER: Why write a book about it?

BIRD: You know, this book was very important for me. You know, I had a lot of really tough feelings throughout all of this. This was my piece of the puzzle. And I was not able to testify. And you know, as far as people in the courtroom were concerned, you know, they assumed that I thought he was innocent, and that's wrong.

ALLRED: She made a courageous choice, Bill, because after she decided that, in fact, she had observations that could be important to the police and might help the prosecution, she came to me and we went to the police and we went to the prosecution, and I believe that they were seriously considering calling her as a rebuttal witness...

HEMMER: But why not testify then?

ALLRED: Well, it was up to the prosecution tore defense to call her. By that time I think the defense was hearing that maybe she was thinking he was guilty. So the defense wasn't going to call her. The prosecution considered calling her as a rebuttal witness. But then the defense case was so weak, I think they made a tactical decision that they didn't need to call any rebuttal witnesses whatsoever, and they didn't call her. HEMMER: There's one other thing I'm curious about. Your mother Jackie Peterson found you in 1997. You were then put up for adoption. You were then reunited with her. At one point in the book, your husband asks you, do you wish they had never found you? Is there a part of you that does wish that?

BIRD: No, because I wouldn't have met Laci, and Laci meant a lot to me. You know, I was lucky to have known her for eight years, and that's a special part of my life. Amber, the book is called "Blood Brother." Thanks for your time.

Gloria Allred, thanks for your time as well.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HEMMER: Think your bosses are rough? Try schlepping 60 pounds of office supplies to work. Andy has that story in a moment, "Minding Your Business."

O'BRIEN: Plus, five people, five happy endings. What's the secret to their success? Our friends from the "New You Revolution" answer your e-mail questions live. That's next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: We have come to the finale, the final installment of the "New You Revolution."

O'BRIEN: I've been doing that the whole eight weeks. It's been eight weeks and I've said resolution, but it was revolution. Because eight weeks ago, these folks set out to break their bad habits. Now they're here to share some of what they learned, along with our Dr. Sanjay Gupta. In the break, though, before, I told people I have a little surprise for us.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we got to do surprises.

O'BRIEN: So let's bring them on out. Bring these guys out.

HEMMER: A surprise for everybody.

O'BRIEN: These are my boys. Hey Denise -- who is our wonderful babysitter. I'm going to take -- which one do you want, Jackson or Charlie?

GUPTA: The one that doesn't talk.

O'BRIEN: I'm hoping they won't spit up on you. I'll take this guy. Thanks, Denise, appreciate it. Now. How does that feel, all right? She looks nervous, doesn't she? You've got an e-mail question for Thekla so might as well begin with her.

GUPTA: Yes, and I've got to tell you, and everyone's obviously here. We've been meeting all of you all morning. Again, I'm so proud of you. But Thekla, you obviously made a lot of changes in your life to be healthy and to get ready for pregnancy. Lots of women, as it turns out, sort of commiserated with you.

And we got several e-mails like this one from Lisa in Fayetteville, North Carolina. She writes: "I also am a military wife and a newlywed who's trying to lose some weight and to get fit before we try to get pregnant. It's good to know that there are others out there working towards that same sort of goal. All the best." That's what she writes. Letter of encouragement, if you will.

What does that mean for you? You've obviously been doing this for eight weeks now. You took on something sort of a little bit different than everyone else. How did it go and what did this mean to you?

THEKLA FISCHER, "NEW YOU REVOLUTION": This has been tremendous for me because I think it's such a huge step for Jason and I. It's going to be such a dramatic life change and I think just to feel a little more prepared and to have, you know, our finances under control, to have our nutrition under control and just to get ready and, you know, know that whoever comes into our life is going to be comfortable with us.

HEMMER: Well, this baby looks comfortable.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk after the show. I might be able to work something out. I'm just kidding. But you know, the only piece of advice I'd give you is don't stress about it so much. You know, because it's just a complete chaotic nightmare. And you know, you look pretty comfortable. You look good. I think you're going to be a terrific mom. I know.

HEMMER: If all newborns were this well behaved.

Jonathan, let's talk about your fingernails here for a second. Because you got maybe the most reaction, too. We got an e-mail here. It says it comes from a Nicole in Baltimore, writing: "When I read your story, I thought I was reading about my fiance. He also has a horrible nail-biting habit and I did not know how to help him stop in time for our wedding. He can't control the urge. Could tell me what helped you stop?"

JONATHAN KARP, "NEW YOU REVOLUTION": Well, I guess the first step would be to admit that have you the problem and you want to stop and you got to do whatever it takes. What helped for me the most was, actually, if you want to help anybody out there, make them keep a journal and count the amount of times that you bite your nails every day. And try to reduce that number, ultimately within a week to get to number zero. And you'll be surprised and how quickly you can get to it.

HEMMER: How many times were you biting every day?

KARP: I started out maybe ten, knocked down to five. And then within the first week, I got down to one and zero. And you aim for that magic number, zero.

HEMMER: Good for you. Congratulations. GUPTA: You called your nails filet mignon.

O'BRIEN: Oh, yuck. All right, let's turn to Sandra now. You lost 19 pounds. You don't have to worry anymore, I know, about your son and your daughter-in-law being so far away because that situation has certainly changed. And I think, as we mentioned before, you touched a lot of people when you talked very openly about your depression, which has something that we didn't really start off by talking about.

Here's an e-mail. This is Morgan from Morehead City in South Carolina. "Thank you for speaking out and letting people know that it's OK to be depressed and that there are other ways of handling it besides medication. If exercise works, then that's great. Thank you for being an encouragement. Best of luck." That's got to feel pretty good.

SANDRA GARTH, "NEW YOU REVOLUTION": That's good to hear. It was difficult to talk about at first, but I'm glad I did. And just in hopes that someone would maybe hear it and get some help from it. And the encouragement and support has just been amazing. It's helped me out a lot.

O'BRIEN: Well, good for you.

HEMMER: Harald, you dropped 20 pounds. You got the confidence to run again. But there were times you had to stop because of your knee situation. Your doctors told you to slow down.

Chris in Annapolis sent an e-mail in. He writes and questions, "Can you tell me why you aren't allowed to run every morning? Just curious." What did they say?

HARALD FRICKER, "NEW YOU REVOLUTION": Well, actually, my trainer Joel Weinstein figured this out early on. I had actually done a different program, which was run by a local newspaper. And I dropped 25 pounds there initially. And I mean, I did keep that off, but I couldn't go any further. And the further I ran, I mean, I just totally plateaued out. So Joel figured this out that it was just too much of the same thing. My body adapted. And he changed it up. Now I'm actually working out significantly less and that combined with sleeping more seems to be the key. So that was the secret.

HEMMER: You look great.

FRICKER: The resistance training and everything.

O'BRIEN: And finally the Reverend. You got a lot of support and encouragement, I know, from the folks in your community. One sent an e-mail. Here's a question I never thought you'd get. Somebody was asking you for recipe.

LEIGH ANN RAYNOR, "NEW YOU REVOLUTION": Get out.

O'BRIEN: You know. Are you a pretty good cook? Can you tackle this? Here's the question. Jinna from New York City asks this: "Besides the lean beef tenderloin, what other simple dishes have you learned to cook? I don't know how to cook, but I want to learn how to cook some healthy foods." Look at this. You're going give some cooking advice.

RAYNOR: I'm going to have my own cooking show soon. Ann Taylor Pitman (ph) from "Cooking Light," a division of "Southern Living," came to the house and she taught me so many things. I've been cooking a lot of fish, lot of salmon. I've been cooking shrimp, I've been cooking tilapia lot. Flounder. Lots of fish. And I've been amazed at how quickly I can prepare a meal.

O'BRIEN: Salt, pepper, throw it in the pan kind of thing?

RAYNOR: Yes, pretty much.

O'BRIEN: Really? That straightforward?

RAYNOR: Well, I mean, I've actually had church members -- I cooked for the CNN crew that was at my house, people who cooked for me when they first came. And I actually had church members say, come to our house, we're going to walk you through the meal step-by-step. So we actually cooked the meal the day before. I tasted it, I cooked it all under their supervision, then I cooked it again the next night. And I'm amazed at how easy it is.

O'BRIEN: My son's just talking because you're talking about food. And that's all he thinks about all the time. Good for you, I'm proud of you for becoming a good cook. Because I know that was one of the things you said, you know, you couldn't do and you were never going to be able to do. Look at that.

GUPTA: Thekla's seems nice and calm, I guess.

Listen, I want just want to congratulate all of you again. You did such a great job, providing a lot of inspiration, not only to yourselves but to all of our viewers, as well, over the last eight weeks. The "New You Revolution" is by no means over, though, if you didn't know that. We're going to check in with everybody again in six months to see if they're keeping up their new, healthier habits. I want to thank you all again for being a part of the "New You Revolution." Congratulations.

O'BRIEN: Congratulations.

HEMMER: Let's get a break here. Back in a moment with Andy and Jack, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone.

There's a Minnesota company hiking its way to new offices. This is clever, too. Also an update on the markets.

Back to Andy for that, "Minding Your Business." Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: You call it clever; I call it kind of twisted. We'll talk about this in a second.

Let's check the markets out, first of all. Stocks slipping a bit, down eight on the Big Board this morning. One stock headed south is Circuit City. The company has rejected that takeover bid. You may remember a week or so back Highfields (ph), a buyout firm, was looking to buy the large consumer electronics company, and Circuit City said, nyet, we're not going to accept the offer. $17 a shares, stock's trading down now about 16.

The CEO said, you know, look, two years ago someone offered $8 a share for this company. That was when the stock was at four. It's up even more and so on. We shall see.

Whoa, mule. There's a sporting goods company in Minnesota that is moving its offices. The company called Gander Mountain. Happens every day, right. They're moving from Bloomington to St. Paul, 17 1/2 miles no big deal, right? There are about 50 employees. Guess what the manager of the store wants to do. He wants all 50 of these employees to lug the company's equipment, stuff, on their backs, 60- pound packs on their backs like mules, these employees. He said, look, we're an outdoor company, we should practice what we preach. Now, I think that's twisted. What did you say, you thought it was a good idea?

HEMMER: I thought it was clever.

SERWER: You thought it was clever? From whose perspective?

HEMMER: He's going to get all kinds of publicity out of this.

O'BRIEN: And free labor -- moving costs covered.

HEMMER: It's like a big team of sherpas out of there.

SERWER: You think you can handle a 60-pound pack?

HEMMER: I think so.

SERWER: I know Jack and Soledad could.

HEMMER: You know, I'll carry yours, too.

SERWER: All rightm, 120 pounds?

O'BRIEN: Oh, please. Jack, save us.

HEMMER: Save us, Jack.

CAFFERTY: Office romances. The guy at Boeing got fired because he was having an affair of some kind with a female executive, and they tossed him right out. So, we thought we'd take your temperature on whether or not you think it's OK for them to have a little hanky panky in the office.

John in Quebec writes, "Of course they're acceptable. If numbers are any indication most people meet and socialize in the workplace. When political correctness went out looking around for behaviors to grouse about, office romance got on the A-list."

Dee in Texas, on the other hand, writes, "My old CEO and his brother, the CFO, had affairs with, and then married their secretaries. It sent a negative message about integrity and the roles of women in the corporate community. It didn't sit well with me. And that's one of the reasons I don't work there anymore."

And Eric in Maryland writes, "I run my business out of my home office. If it wasn't for office romance, I wouldn't have any at all."

SERWER: Keep it up, Eric.

HEMMER: It's a country tune.

O'BRIEN: A good last word this morning. Thanks, Jack.

HEMMER: In about 20 minutes, we'll hear from the President. Major speech coming out of Washington on the war on terror. That's the topic. Mr. Bush expected to talk about the rising tension in Beirut and also talk about Iran. We'll have it live for you, 10:15 am Eastern Time. We're back in a moment, after this on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired March 8, 2005 - 09:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look at the other stories making headlines this morning. Carol Costello in for us.
Hello. Good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Good morning to all of you.

Now in the news, thousand of pro-Syrian supporters flooding the streets of Beirut right now. The rally is sponsored by the Islamic militant group Hezbollah. The demonstration coming after Syria pledged to pull back its forces in Lebanon to the eastern border by the end of the month. President Bush calling the situation in Lebanon a critical test for reform in the Middle East. Within the hour, the president will address the war on terrorism. Aides say the president will also reiterate U.S. demands that Iran give up its nuclear weapons program. CNN will have live coverage of the president's address at 10:15 Eastern.

The minimum wage will stay at $5.15. The Senate defeating two dueling measures to raise it. Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy was arguing for the Democratic proposal to increase the minimum by $2.10. The last time it was raised was way back in 1997.

And new developments out of Rome this hour concerning Pope John Paul II. The Vatican confirming to CNN the pope has delegated his Easter week duties to cardinals. But the pontiff will give a blessing at the end of Easter Sunday mass on March 27th. Despite the changes to the schedule, the Vatican says the pope's health is continuing to improve.

Back to you.

O'BRIEN: That's good news to hear, finally.

All right, Carol, thanks.

Rescue workers and volunteers are working to keep nearly 50 dolphins alive after they beached themselves off the Florida Keys. Almost Two dozen others have died since last week. Investigators are trying to find out just what caused their deaths. Lloyd Brown is the vice president head of the Marine Mammal Conservancy. Carrie Mackey is a volunteer helping with the rehabilitation of the dolphins. They both join us from Key Largo in Florida.

Welcome back. Thanks for talking with us. Carrie, I'm going to begin with you, if I may. You're 21 years old. You're on spring break from school. Give me a sense of how you happened to volunteer for this massive undertaking?

CARRIE MACKEY, VOLUNTEER: Actually, I had heard about it before we came down here, and we knew some people down in Key Largo. So we came and stayed with them and met a guy that had been doing it. So he told us about it, and he didn't think we'd come. And we came, and it's been awesome.

O'BRIEN: What exactly are you doing, Carrie?

MACKEY: Well, I've number the pool with the dolphins. There's two moms and a little baby in there, and just kind of keeping them wet, just checking their heartbeat and keeping them company in there.

O'BRIEN: Lloyd, as we mentioned, there's a number of volunteers who are helping out, many who don't have any experience. How are you training some of these volunteers who have really maybe never even been in a tank before with dolphins?

LLOYD BROWN, V.P. MARINE MAMMAL CONSERVANCY: Well, each person that comes in right off the street, we give them the basic training of how to stay safe around the animal and how not to hurt the animal. If they wish to continue working with us, we'll go ahead and give them more training in how to actually respond to strandings.

But what these people are having here right now, the initial briefing is just that minimal amount of information that they need to know to be safe.

O'BRIEN: How many volunteers do you have right now, Lloyd?

BROWN: We're trying to maintain at least 30 volunteers per shift for eight shifts a day. So we just had our first shift that we actually couldn't staff enough people. And we're only a week into it. So the novelty is kind of wearing off.

O'BRIEN: How concerned are you about that, that even a week in and still getting media coverage, frankly, and you're still losing some folks who maybe were coming out at the beginning of the week?

BROWN: It's pretty alarming. In past strandings that we've had, we go two to three weeks into a stranding before we actually start having trouble filling shifts, and this is only a week into it. And to be only a week into it and not be able to fill a shift indicates we might be having a problem here. We need more volunteers.

O'BRIEN: Some 25 dolphins, as we mentioned, have not been able to survive. How optimistic are you both that you're going to be able to save the remaining several dozen of them?

BROWN: Well, there's still a few in here that are not as stable as we'd like. There are still some that may not make it. We're going to do everything we can to insure that all of those who can make it do. But then I would say, easily two-thirds of them are in good enough shape that we're hopeful about releasing them back into the wild.

O'BRIEN: We're certainly hopeful, along with you. Good luck to you. Thanks for being with us this morning.

And good work, Carrie. It's nice to have you out there volunteering.

MACKEY: Thank you -- Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: About 25 now minutes before the hour. Scott Peterson's half-sister is speaking out now for the first time. She's written a book. It's called "Blood Brother." Anne Bird reveals her own version of events, and she's my guest now here in New York, along with her attorney, Gloria Allred.

Good morning to both of you.

Anne, you believe Scott's guilty.

ANNE BIRD, AUTHOR, "BLOOD BROTHER": I do.

HEMMER: And that's basically the premise of the entire book. At what point were you convinced of his guilt?

BIRD: It was when the bodies of Laci and Conner washed ashore, and I was the first person to call him. And I told him that they had found the body of a woman. And he said, well, they'll find out it's not Laci and they'll keep looking. And I said, you know, they found a body of a baby the day before. And he got really upset, and he said who would do such a thing? And he yelled it. And it made me stop and think. And he was about 45 minutes away from me in Berkeley at that time. Seven hours later he was in San Diego. And instead of going directly to the bodies to find out if this is his missing wife and child, he went in the opposite direction.

HEMMER: But his initial reaction was anger.

BIRD: Right.

HEMMER: But you didn't think anything at that point that he would be guilty. It was the reaction that he had with traveling down the coast of California?

BIRD: No. He was angry at the discovery of a baby, but not about the discovery of a woman's body.

HEMMER: But why would that lead to you think that he would be guilty, though, at that point? Where's the logic in that that you see?

BIRD: You know, everyone's looking for Laci and Conner. People had been looking in the Bay. And to go in the opposite direction of that, I mean, you would think you would want to find your wife and child.

HEMMER: You also wrote about a babysitter incident. What happened there inside your house?

BIRD: Right, we had a baby-sitter that Scott plied with flirtinis.

HEMMER: Which is a version of a martini?

GLORIDA ALLRED, DEFENSE ATTY.: Yes, Sex in the City. It's a drink that sometimes they drink.

HEMMER: What was he doing? What stuck you?

BIRD: He was flirting with her, you know, giving her these flirtinis, and she actually felt so uncomfortable that she left our house.

HEMMER: But again, I just want to be convinced of your argument. How does that then lead you to conclude that your half-brother is responsible for the murder of his wife and unborn son?

BIRD: You know, it was a compilation of 33 reasons. You know, another example is that during the time that Laci was missing, he continued to go back to his house to clean his swimming pool when there seemed to be far more important things to be working on.

HEMMER: When you put all this behavior and action together, that's how you reached your conclusion?

BIRD: Right, right.

HEMMER: Why write a book about it?

BIRD: You know, this book was very important for me. You know, I had a lot of really tough feelings throughout all of this. This was my piece of the puzzle. And I was not able to testify. And you know, as far as people in the courtroom were concerned, you know, they assumed that I thought he was innocent, and that's wrong.

ALLRED: She made a courageous choice, Bill, because after she decided that, in fact, she had observations that could be important to the police and might help the prosecution, she came to me and we went to the police and we went to the prosecution, and I believe that they were seriously considering calling her as a rebuttal witness...

HEMMER: But why not testify then?

ALLRED: Well, it was up to the prosecution tore defense to call her. By that time I think the defense was hearing that maybe she was thinking he was guilty. So the defense wasn't going to call her. The prosecution considered calling her as a rebuttal witness. But then the defense case was so weak, I think they made a tactical decision that they didn't need to call any rebuttal witnesses whatsoever, and they didn't call her. HEMMER: There's one other thing I'm curious about. Your mother Jackie Peterson found you in 1997. You were then put up for adoption. You were then reunited with her. At one point in the book, your husband asks you, do you wish they had never found you? Is there a part of you that does wish that?

BIRD: No, because I wouldn't have met Laci, and Laci meant a lot to me. You know, I was lucky to have known her for eight years, and that's a special part of my life. Amber, the book is called "Blood Brother." Thanks for your time.

Gloria Allred, thanks for your time as well.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HEMMER: Think your bosses are rough? Try schlepping 60 pounds of office supplies to work. Andy has that story in a moment, "Minding Your Business."

O'BRIEN: Plus, five people, five happy endings. What's the secret to their success? Our friends from the "New You Revolution" answer your e-mail questions live. That's next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: We have come to the finale, the final installment of the "New You Revolution."

O'BRIEN: I've been doing that the whole eight weeks. It's been eight weeks and I've said resolution, but it was revolution. Because eight weeks ago, these folks set out to break their bad habits. Now they're here to share some of what they learned, along with our Dr. Sanjay Gupta. In the break, though, before, I told people I have a little surprise for us.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we got to do surprises.

O'BRIEN: So let's bring them on out. Bring these guys out.

HEMMER: A surprise for everybody.

O'BRIEN: These are my boys. Hey Denise -- who is our wonderful babysitter. I'm going to take -- which one do you want, Jackson or Charlie?

GUPTA: The one that doesn't talk.

O'BRIEN: I'm hoping they won't spit up on you. I'll take this guy. Thanks, Denise, appreciate it. Now. How does that feel, all right? She looks nervous, doesn't she? You've got an e-mail question for Thekla so might as well begin with her.

GUPTA: Yes, and I've got to tell you, and everyone's obviously here. We've been meeting all of you all morning. Again, I'm so proud of you. But Thekla, you obviously made a lot of changes in your life to be healthy and to get ready for pregnancy. Lots of women, as it turns out, sort of commiserated with you.

And we got several e-mails like this one from Lisa in Fayetteville, North Carolina. She writes: "I also am a military wife and a newlywed who's trying to lose some weight and to get fit before we try to get pregnant. It's good to know that there are others out there working towards that same sort of goal. All the best." That's what she writes. Letter of encouragement, if you will.

What does that mean for you? You've obviously been doing this for eight weeks now. You took on something sort of a little bit different than everyone else. How did it go and what did this mean to you?

THEKLA FISCHER, "NEW YOU REVOLUTION": This has been tremendous for me because I think it's such a huge step for Jason and I. It's going to be such a dramatic life change and I think just to feel a little more prepared and to have, you know, our finances under control, to have our nutrition under control and just to get ready and, you know, know that whoever comes into our life is going to be comfortable with us.

HEMMER: Well, this baby looks comfortable.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk after the show. I might be able to work something out. I'm just kidding. But you know, the only piece of advice I'd give you is don't stress about it so much. You know, because it's just a complete chaotic nightmare. And you know, you look pretty comfortable. You look good. I think you're going to be a terrific mom. I know.

HEMMER: If all newborns were this well behaved.

Jonathan, let's talk about your fingernails here for a second. Because you got maybe the most reaction, too. We got an e-mail here. It says it comes from a Nicole in Baltimore, writing: "When I read your story, I thought I was reading about my fiance. He also has a horrible nail-biting habit and I did not know how to help him stop in time for our wedding. He can't control the urge. Could tell me what helped you stop?"

JONATHAN KARP, "NEW YOU REVOLUTION": Well, I guess the first step would be to admit that have you the problem and you want to stop and you got to do whatever it takes. What helped for me the most was, actually, if you want to help anybody out there, make them keep a journal and count the amount of times that you bite your nails every day. And try to reduce that number, ultimately within a week to get to number zero. And you'll be surprised and how quickly you can get to it.

HEMMER: How many times were you biting every day?

KARP: I started out maybe ten, knocked down to five. And then within the first week, I got down to one and zero. And you aim for that magic number, zero.

HEMMER: Good for you. Congratulations. GUPTA: You called your nails filet mignon.

O'BRIEN: Oh, yuck. All right, let's turn to Sandra now. You lost 19 pounds. You don't have to worry anymore, I know, about your son and your daughter-in-law being so far away because that situation has certainly changed. And I think, as we mentioned before, you touched a lot of people when you talked very openly about your depression, which has something that we didn't really start off by talking about.

Here's an e-mail. This is Morgan from Morehead City in South Carolina. "Thank you for speaking out and letting people know that it's OK to be depressed and that there are other ways of handling it besides medication. If exercise works, then that's great. Thank you for being an encouragement. Best of luck." That's got to feel pretty good.

SANDRA GARTH, "NEW YOU REVOLUTION": That's good to hear. It was difficult to talk about at first, but I'm glad I did. And just in hopes that someone would maybe hear it and get some help from it. And the encouragement and support has just been amazing. It's helped me out a lot.

O'BRIEN: Well, good for you.

HEMMER: Harald, you dropped 20 pounds. You got the confidence to run again. But there were times you had to stop because of your knee situation. Your doctors told you to slow down.

Chris in Annapolis sent an e-mail in. He writes and questions, "Can you tell me why you aren't allowed to run every morning? Just curious." What did they say?

HARALD FRICKER, "NEW YOU REVOLUTION": Well, actually, my trainer Joel Weinstein figured this out early on. I had actually done a different program, which was run by a local newspaper. And I dropped 25 pounds there initially. And I mean, I did keep that off, but I couldn't go any further. And the further I ran, I mean, I just totally plateaued out. So Joel figured this out that it was just too much of the same thing. My body adapted. And he changed it up. Now I'm actually working out significantly less and that combined with sleeping more seems to be the key. So that was the secret.

HEMMER: You look great.

FRICKER: The resistance training and everything.

O'BRIEN: And finally the Reverend. You got a lot of support and encouragement, I know, from the folks in your community. One sent an e-mail. Here's a question I never thought you'd get. Somebody was asking you for recipe.

LEIGH ANN RAYNOR, "NEW YOU REVOLUTION": Get out.

O'BRIEN: You know. Are you a pretty good cook? Can you tackle this? Here's the question. Jinna from New York City asks this: "Besides the lean beef tenderloin, what other simple dishes have you learned to cook? I don't know how to cook, but I want to learn how to cook some healthy foods." Look at this. You're going give some cooking advice.

RAYNOR: I'm going to have my own cooking show soon. Ann Taylor Pitman (ph) from "Cooking Light," a division of "Southern Living," came to the house and she taught me so many things. I've been cooking a lot of fish, lot of salmon. I've been cooking shrimp, I've been cooking tilapia lot. Flounder. Lots of fish. And I've been amazed at how quickly I can prepare a meal.

O'BRIEN: Salt, pepper, throw it in the pan kind of thing?

RAYNOR: Yes, pretty much.

O'BRIEN: Really? That straightforward?

RAYNOR: Well, I mean, I've actually had church members -- I cooked for the CNN crew that was at my house, people who cooked for me when they first came. And I actually had church members say, come to our house, we're going to walk you through the meal step-by-step. So we actually cooked the meal the day before. I tasted it, I cooked it all under their supervision, then I cooked it again the next night. And I'm amazed at how easy it is.

O'BRIEN: My son's just talking because you're talking about food. And that's all he thinks about all the time. Good for you, I'm proud of you for becoming a good cook. Because I know that was one of the things you said, you know, you couldn't do and you were never going to be able to do. Look at that.

GUPTA: Thekla's seems nice and calm, I guess.

Listen, I want just want to congratulate all of you again. You did such a great job, providing a lot of inspiration, not only to yourselves but to all of our viewers, as well, over the last eight weeks. The "New You Revolution" is by no means over, though, if you didn't know that. We're going to check in with everybody again in six months to see if they're keeping up their new, healthier habits. I want to thank you all again for being a part of the "New You Revolution." Congratulations.

O'BRIEN: Congratulations.

HEMMER: Let's get a break here. Back in a moment with Andy and Jack, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone.

There's a Minnesota company hiking its way to new offices. This is clever, too. Also an update on the markets.

Back to Andy for that, "Minding Your Business." Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: You call it clever; I call it kind of twisted. We'll talk about this in a second.

Let's check the markets out, first of all. Stocks slipping a bit, down eight on the Big Board this morning. One stock headed south is Circuit City. The company has rejected that takeover bid. You may remember a week or so back Highfields (ph), a buyout firm, was looking to buy the large consumer electronics company, and Circuit City said, nyet, we're not going to accept the offer. $17 a shares, stock's trading down now about 16.

The CEO said, you know, look, two years ago someone offered $8 a share for this company. That was when the stock was at four. It's up even more and so on. We shall see.

Whoa, mule. There's a sporting goods company in Minnesota that is moving its offices. The company called Gander Mountain. Happens every day, right. They're moving from Bloomington to St. Paul, 17 1/2 miles no big deal, right? There are about 50 employees. Guess what the manager of the store wants to do. He wants all 50 of these employees to lug the company's equipment, stuff, on their backs, 60- pound packs on their backs like mules, these employees. He said, look, we're an outdoor company, we should practice what we preach. Now, I think that's twisted. What did you say, you thought it was a good idea?

HEMMER: I thought it was clever.

SERWER: You thought it was clever? From whose perspective?

HEMMER: He's going to get all kinds of publicity out of this.

O'BRIEN: And free labor -- moving costs covered.

HEMMER: It's like a big team of sherpas out of there.

SERWER: You think you can handle a 60-pound pack?

HEMMER: I think so.

SERWER: I know Jack and Soledad could.

HEMMER: You know, I'll carry yours, too.

SERWER: All rightm, 120 pounds?

O'BRIEN: Oh, please. Jack, save us.

HEMMER: Save us, Jack.

CAFFERTY: Office romances. The guy at Boeing got fired because he was having an affair of some kind with a female executive, and they tossed him right out. So, we thought we'd take your temperature on whether or not you think it's OK for them to have a little hanky panky in the office.

John in Quebec writes, "Of course they're acceptable. If numbers are any indication most people meet and socialize in the workplace. When political correctness went out looking around for behaviors to grouse about, office romance got on the A-list."

Dee in Texas, on the other hand, writes, "My old CEO and his brother, the CFO, had affairs with, and then married their secretaries. It sent a negative message about integrity and the roles of women in the corporate community. It didn't sit well with me. And that's one of the reasons I don't work there anymore."

And Eric in Maryland writes, "I run my business out of my home office. If it wasn't for office romance, I wouldn't have any at all."

SERWER: Keep it up, Eric.

HEMMER: It's a country tune.

O'BRIEN: A good last word this morning. Thanks, Jack.

HEMMER: In about 20 minutes, we'll hear from the President. Major speech coming out of Washington on the war on terror. That's the topic. Mr. Bush expected to talk about the rising tension in Beirut and also talk about Iran. We'll have it live for you, 10:15 am Eastern Time. We're back in a moment, after this on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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