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Pope John Paul II Back at Vatican After Being Released From Hospital; A Lot of Questions Being Asked Today in Downtown Atlanta

Aired March 14, 2005 - 10:30   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Ricky Wassener (ph) is one of two inmates who held a pair of prison guards hostage for 15 days last year. Charges against him include kidnapping, attempted murder and sexual assault. The female guard who was held hostage said both of the inmates raped her.
We may learn more about the investigation into the Wisconsin church shootings this afternoon. Police are planning a news conference. Authorities say that Terry Ratzmann opened fire on his fellow parishioners on Saturday. When the shooting ended, eight people, including Ratzmann, were dead. Churchgoers said Ratzmann was on the verge of losing a job, but they also say he'd been depressed for years.

And on a much, much lighter note, it is bracket Monday. In homes and office as cross America today, people are pouring over the pairings. The NCAA Division I men's basketball championship tips off tomorrow. Get those things done before them. The tourneys top seeds are Illinois, North Carolina, Duke and Washington.

Pope John Paul II is back at the Vatican after being released from the hospital. He has been there the last 17 days. Now many are looking ahead to the pontiff's recovery on whether he'll be able to resume his earlier duties.

CNN's Alessio Vinci takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Flanked by his private security guards, Pope John Paul II left the Gemelli Hospital in the front seat of a silver minivan, rather than his popular glass- paneled pope-mobile.

On this chilly evening, patients in their pajamas ventured to get a glimpse of the ailing pontiff.

A television camera inside the pope's van offered a rare perspective of the journey back to the Vatican. His motorcade drove through a delighted crowd of well-wishers, many with their own stories of pain and suffering.

"When he drove by, I was very moved," says Tina. "I also have been very sick. And to see him feeling this well, I do not mind the three hours I had to wait out here."

"I have a relative who is not well," says Johnny. "I believe in his faith, and I came here to pray for my mother."

Hundreds more lined the streets of Rome as the pope arrived in St. Peters Square. They, too were rewarded by a papal blessing. Earlier in the day, the pope appeared from his hospital window. While clearly still weak, he managed to speak publicly for the first time in weeks, alleviating concerns about his ability to speak again following his throat surgery.

"Thank you for your visit," he told the crowd of pilgrims gathered underneath his window, adding, "Have a nice Sunday." His message was beamed live to St. Peter's Square, where tourists and pilgrims alike watched his appearance on giant television screens.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had an opportunity to listen to him, yes, and he sounded a little weak, but we're all praying for him, and we hope for a quick recovery.

VINCI: Others clearly unaffected by his inability to speak much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are different ways in which to communicate. And I think it's cheer that his mind is still engaging and very much at work, and that's the most important part right now.

VINCI: Even if the pope is now back at the Vatican, he still needs time to fully recover. So for the first time in his 26-year papacy, the pope delegated senior church officials to preside over nearly all of the events planned for the Easter week, which begins this coming Sunday.

Alessio Vinci, CNN, Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: The pope's fail health is just one issue facing Catholics. Archbishop Wilton Gregory was recently installed as the sixth archbishop of Atlanta, and he joins me now to discuss the state of the Catholic faith.

Your excellency, good morning. Thanks for being here with us.

ARCHBISHOP WILTON GREGORY, ATLANTA ARCHDIOCESE: Thank you, Daryn.

KAGAN: Welcome to Atlanta, Georgia.

GREGORY: Thank you very much.

KAGAN: I'd actually like to start on the recent events of the last weekend. And your new community of Atlanta facing the terror and the incredible grief that these families must be going through in light of the shootings that took place. How do you counsel a community and families after an incident like this?

GREGORY: Well, the kind of direct attention that's needed, certainly for those families that have suffered the loss or the injury to a loved one is personal. So their pastors and religious leaders, I am sure, are already paying attention to their needs.

But as a community, we need to talk about the presence and the impact of violence on all of us. It just so happened that this past Saturday at the very hour that Mr. Nichols was being apprehended I was in the cathedral Church of Christ the King with a celebration of mass with young people. And we prayed for the healing of this community, and thanks be to God for the peaceful apprehension of the perpetrator.

KAGAN: Well, and you have the impact of violence, but you also have the impact of faith, because it did come to a peaceful resolution, a young woman talking to this accused killer about God.

GREGORY: Wasn't that wonderful.

KAGAN: And he believed that he was seeing an angel.

GREGORY: Yes.

KAGAN: Let's talk about this pope now. And as we saw the pope leaving the hospital, this is I man who keeps going, and yet seems to suffer, too, in his physical ailments.

I think a lot of people, especially non-Catholics, don't understand the symbolism and the important importance of suffering with this pope and how much meaning that has to him and his service.

GREGORY: Well, it's not the people don't understand suffering. I think...

KAGAN: People do understand suffering too well. But they don't understand how this man keeps going, and how he almost seems to embraces the suffering as part of what his calling is.

GREGORY: Because of his understanding, because of our understanding of the dignity of the human person, we are never reduced to our weaknesses, we never lose our human capacity for doing good, for accomplishing good and for serving as an instrument of god.

And I think what he is doing so brilliantly and so genuinely is serving as a model of the importance of maintaining one's faith and one's direction under the most trying circumstances.

KAGAN: You can be a model and you can be a symbol. Do you get questions amongst Catholics, can you still be a leader? do you have the strength and the power to be a leader?

GREGORY: You know, certainly the challenges that the holy father faces with his health will modify the abilities that he has to do the things that he did in past, when he was elected at the age of 58. Certainly there have been changes. But his desire and his determination to serve the church, under whatever circumstances God places before him, have never failed.

KAGAN: You have had your own unique circumstances and challenges in being a leader in this church, and certainly leading the U.S. Catholic bishops, especially as they were facing the sex-abuse scandal with this church. In going through that, we followed it so closely with the church, we're wondering from a personal standpoint, what did you get out of that experience? And how did you grow? What did you learn?

GREGORY: Well, one of the things that I certainly take with me was the determination of the body of bishops to do the right thing, to take a clear position and to work together. Even though there obviously were conversations about what should be done, and the order it should be done and how it should be achieved. But we were together.

I also think that it gave the Catholic community -- it is giving the catholic community in the United States an insight into a very sad chapter in our history, but also an insight into a public concern, that is, the protection of children. And if we were embarrassed, and indeed we were, but if we were also able to point a direction, that's a grace. Being able to make a contribution even under difficult circumstances is a grace. It does go back to the kind of witness that the holy father is giving, that you can accomplish a great deal of good even under trying circumstances.

KAGAN: Well, we wish you well accomplishing great good here in Atlanta. Archbishop Wilton Gregory, thank you for your time today, sir.

Good luck adjusting those Midwestern roots here to Atlanta, Georgia.

GREGORY: Thank you.

KAGAN: Thank you, sir.

GREGORY: Thank you.

KAGAN: Well, three years ago, it was closed by the anthrax-laced letters. A post office come back to life. New procedures aimed at keeping your mail safe. The story is straight ahead.

Plus, another airline is raising fares because of costly fuel prices. We're going to tell you who is doing that, and we're going to check the financial markets. That's coming up next on CNN LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: This just in to CNN, a Virginia man accused of joining al Qaeda and plotting to assassinate President Bush has pleaded not guilty in federal court; 23-year-old Ahmed Abu Omar Ali is now set for a jury trial in August. Federal authorities say Ali confessed several times after being detained for two years in Saudi Arabia. Attorneys for Abu Ali say he was tortured into making those confessions.

We have a lot more news, plus your weather, straight ahead after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: In today's CNN "Security Watch," a government report offering a disconcerting assessment of aviation security. According to "The New York Times," a confidential report says that U.S. skies are still vulnerable to attacks from al Qaeda and other groups -- and other terrorist groups. It says that noncommercial planes and helicopters are less guarded and especially inviting. In fact, the 24-page assessment cites intelligence that al Qaeda may have considered hijacking chartered aircraft.

Today the grand opening of the Hamilton Township Mail Processing Center in New Jersey. Well, you say why are we talking about a post office opening? Well, it's remarkable because that was where four letters that were contaminated with anthrax were handled in 2001. Gerri Willis takes a look at new safety measures now in place.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The sun is not up yet. But Joan Van Wagner is already at work in the vast New Jersey warehouse currently serving the Trenton mail processing center.

JOAN VAN WAGNER: You've got Princeton, you've got Plains Bureau, you have all of the city zones that we deal with.

WILLIS: As for her husband --

J. VAN WAGNER: My husband, his mail over there. He'll end up with this mail and he'll sort it out and out he goes out onto the street.

WILLIS: Mark Van Wagner a mail carrier and local union leader is prepping his mail before starting on his route.

MARK VAN WAGNER: I love postal work. I love delivering mail. I have been on this route about 15 years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, John. Good thanks. How about you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

M. VAN WAGNER: I know customers. I know the customer's kids. I know the customer's pets. I can tell who is home by what car is in the driveway and I feel more connected to the route that I serve than the neighborhood I live in.

WILLIS: He lives here in Hamilton Township. It's this postal plant that Joan worked at in the fall of 2001. It's here those anthrax laced letters were processed and here where the investigation in the nation's attention focused. Four of Joan's coworkers were infected. Two postal workers in Washington, D.C. died.

M. VAN WAGNER: The whole building was a hot zone. You couldn't work in that build building without being exposed. The new systems in place should prevent that. WILLIS: That's the biohazard detection system or BDS. The postal service is installing it in mail processing centers nationwide at a cost of $779 million.

JOANNE KORKER, DIST. MGR. U.S. POSTAL SERVICE: There are 283 facilities, and all will have these by the end, but we've got a ways to go.

WILLIS: District manager Joanne Korker explained the system to us at a plant in Belmar, New Jersey.

The basic idea? Test the contents of each piece of mail as it's bean sorted for anthrax and other biohazards.

KORKER: This is Barney! This is where mail actually gets entered into and after the mail is dumped on to a conveyor belt it comes along this into this contained area here. As it travels through the system here we have vacuum tubes that are connected that will suck up the particles of mail as these letters go through a pinch point. The pinch point will make anything in the envelope come out into the air and it goes into the cabinet to be tested. And we have the results of those tests in 30 minutes.

WILLIS: And if the alarm goes off...

KORKER: Lights go flashing. Everything stops. Every person in this building is evacuated. First responders take over. Managers, throughout country, are automatically alerted with an electronic system that we carry with us -- in fact at all times. And I don't even want to go to what happens next.

WILLIS: The thought that Joan echoes.

J. VAN WAGNER: It won't be as wide spread as it was because it will be detected with the new system they have, but it'll still disrupt everything. You still probably have to go on medication and all of that.

M. VAN WAGNER: It won't stop it from being brought into the system but it will stop it from the intake. Which means tremendous amount of safety for everybody and of course the American public who won't have that contaminating mail coming out to them.

KORKER: This is detection and isolation. Once anything is identified, the potential for it to spread is almost negligible.

WILLIS: For security reason we're not revealing which bio threats the system currently test for or which centers currently have them.

KORKER: These machines didn't come out until April 2004. Ours was installed in July. The first ones started in July of 2004.

WILLIS: So more than three years after the anthrax attacks, is there still reason for concern?

KORKER: I don't think so. I say that because our postal employees really work as a first line of defense.

WILLIS: As for as which mail gets tested.

KORKER: Basically anything that comes through a collection box, comes in through a post office that a mail carrier might pick up, that goes through here.

WILLIS: The phrase I have seen you use citizen soldier for mail carriers. What do you mean by that?

M. VAN WAGNER: We were drafted into this battle so to speak, because they attacked us and so we fought against it. You could have just walked away. I don't know anybody that did. Upon reviewing what I've got here, I will add business mailings with trackable return addresses to known customers, no red flag here at all.

WILLIS: Those red flags?

M. VAN WAGNER: Size or awkward weight. If it had no address to it. First of all not a specific personal. The look of the mail. The ones they put on TV that were handwritten in kind of a scrolled handwriting.

WILLIS: At the end of the day on the front lines, Joan heads for home.

J. VAN WAGNER: I come out here, have my tea and relax. And I love it.

WILLIS: Do you worry that it could happen again?

J. VAN WAGNER: Oh, yes. Not all of the time. But yes. And if it does -- I have thought about it -- and if it happens to that extent and do I really want to work for the postal service anymore.

WILLIS: What did your kids say?

J. VAN WAGNER: They were scared, 9/11 and then this hit us and it hit us personally. And the world just changed. It's different than what it was.

M. VAN WAGNER: The postal service since this event and all of the external agencies and the Homeland Security and everything had focused on trying to look ahead and say what could happen? And what can we do to be aware of it and stop it?

WILLIS: Does it make you angry they haven't figured this out? I mean it has been a long time.

J. VAN WAGNER: Yes. I'm very skeptical. I used to be oh the FBI, the CDC I use to think wow. Now I don't believe what anyone tells me anymore. I have changed my way of thinking. The two postal employees in Washington, they did not have to die. They said it is possible it is anthrax, lets shut it down. Those letters would have not gone out to them.

WILLIS: Gerri Willis, CNN, Hamilton Township, New Jersey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: A lot of questions being asked today also in downtown Atlanta. The Fulton County Superior Courthouse where the shooting took place, where a 26-hour nightmare began for the community of Atlanta. It's back to business today. And court business taking place, but under what kind of security?

Well, it turns out that our own president of Turner Properties, Alec Fraser, called to jury duty today. They're not allowing reporters in there, but we have our Alec Frazier in there. Alec joining us on the phone right now. Hello.

ALEC FRASER, PRESIDENT, TURNER PROPERTIES: Good morning. Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: What can you tell us about the mood and how things look inside the courthouse today?

FRASER: A couple of things. One is that Friday afternoon when you call in for jury on Monday, the recording had been updated. And it looks to me like everybody reported today. There's a little murmur going around whether security would be good enough. But in coming into the building, the metal detectors and the X-ray machines were working. They had a number of deputies doing that. The only thing I really noticed of interest is around the jury room floors, the deputies that are moving around the halls do not have weapons in their holsters.

KAGAN: All right. Of course we wouldn't know, having enough experience, to know whether they would usually have weapons in their holster, if this is something unusual, if this is a change that was made since Friday.

FRASER: That is correct.

KAGAN: All right. Have you gotten picked yet?

FRASER: No, I haven't gotten picked yet. I'm still in the holding area here.

KAGAN: All right. Well you hang in there. Alec Fraser, president of Turner Properties, calling in from inside the Fulton County Superior Courthouse. And that is where those shootings took place -- the first shootings, took place on Friday. Brian Nichols, of course, in custody.

Stay tuned to CNN day and night. Reliable news about your security. We have a lot more news ahead. We are back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: We have a lot more to get to in the next hour, including more from the woman who survived a hostage situation and called police, leading to the capture of suspected killer Brian Nichols just outside of Atlanta. Also next hour, how you can turn flying coach into a first-class experience. Well, maybe not that, but we are going to make it a little bit better. We have someone who has some tips to help you do that, as the second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins right now.

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


Aired March 14, 2005 - 10:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Ricky Wassener (ph) is one of two inmates who held a pair of prison guards hostage for 15 days last year. Charges against him include kidnapping, attempted murder and sexual assault. The female guard who was held hostage said both of the inmates raped her.
We may learn more about the investigation into the Wisconsin church shootings this afternoon. Police are planning a news conference. Authorities say that Terry Ratzmann opened fire on his fellow parishioners on Saturday. When the shooting ended, eight people, including Ratzmann, were dead. Churchgoers said Ratzmann was on the verge of losing a job, but they also say he'd been depressed for years.

And on a much, much lighter note, it is bracket Monday. In homes and office as cross America today, people are pouring over the pairings. The NCAA Division I men's basketball championship tips off tomorrow. Get those things done before them. The tourneys top seeds are Illinois, North Carolina, Duke and Washington.

Pope John Paul II is back at the Vatican after being released from the hospital. He has been there the last 17 days. Now many are looking ahead to the pontiff's recovery on whether he'll be able to resume his earlier duties.

CNN's Alessio Vinci takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Flanked by his private security guards, Pope John Paul II left the Gemelli Hospital in the front seat of a silver minivan, rather than his popular glass- paneled pope-mobile.

On this chilly evening, patients in their pajamas ventured to get a glimpse of the ailing pontiff.

A television camera inside the pope's van offered a rare perspective of the journey back to the Vatican. His motorcade drove through a delighted crowd of well-wishers, many with their own stories of pain and suffering.

"When he drove by, I was very moved," says Tina. "I also have been very sick. And to see him feeling this well, I do not mind the three hours I had to wait out here."

"I have a relative who is not well," says Johnny. "I believe in his faith, and I came here to pray for my mother."

Hundreds more lined the streets of Rome as the pope arrived in St. Peters Square. They, too were rewarded by a papal blessing. Earlier in the day, the pope appeared from his hospital window. While clearly still weak, he managed to speak publicly for the first time in weeks, alleviating concerns about his ability to speak again following his throat surgery.

"Thank you for your visit," he told the crowd of pilgrims gathered underneath his window, adding, "Have a nice Sunday." His message was beamed live to St. Peter's Square, where tourists and pilgrims alike watched his appearance on giant television screens.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had an opportunity to listen to him, yes, and he sounded a little weak, but we're all praying for him, and we hope for a quick recovery.

VINCI: Others clearly unaffected by his inability to speak much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are different ways in which to communicate. And I think it's cheer that his mind is still engaging and very much at work, and that's the most important part right now.

VINCI: Even if the pope is now back at the Vatican, he still needs time to fully recover. So for the first time in his 26-year papacy, the pope delegated senior church officials to preside over nearly all of the events planned for the Easter week, which begins this coming Sunday.

Alessio Vinci, CNN, Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: The pope's fail health is just one issue facing Catholics. Archbishop Wilton Gregory was recently installed as the sixth archbishop of Atlanta, and he joins me now to discuss the state of the Catholic faith.

Your excellency, good morning. Thanks for being here with us.

ARCHBISHOP WILTON GREGORY, ATLANTA ARCHDIOCESE: Thank you, Daryn.

KAGAN: Welcome to Atlanta, Georgia.

GREGORY: Thank you very much.

KAGAN: I'd actually like to start on the recent events of the last weekend. And your new community of Atlanta facing the terror and the incredible grief that these families must be going through in light of the shootings that took place. How do you counsel a community and families after an incident like this?

GREGORY: Well, the kind of direct attention that's needed, certainly for those families that have suffered the loss or the injury to a loved one is personal. So their pastors and religious leaders, I am sure, are already paying attention to their needs.

But as a community, we need to talk about the presence and the impact of violence on all of us. It just so happened that this past Saturday at the very hour that Mr. Nichols was being apprehended I was in the cathedral Church of Christ the King with a celebration of mass with young people. And we prayed for the healing of this community, and thanks be to God for the peaceful apprehension of the perpetrator.

KAGAN: Well, and you have the impact of violence, but you also have the impact of faith, because it did come to a peaceful resolution, a young woman talking to this accused killer about God.

GREGORY: Wasn't that wonderful.

KAGAN: And he believed that he was seeing an angel.

GREGORY: Yes.

KAGAN: Let's talk about this pope now. And as we saw the pope leaving the hospital, this is I man who keeps going, and yet seems to suffer, too, in his physical ailments.

I think a lot of people, especially non-Catholics, don't understand the symbolism and the important importance of suffering with this pope and how much meaning that has to him and his service.

GREGORY: Well, it's not the people don't understand suffering. I think...

KAGAN: People do understand suffering too well. But they don't understand how this man keeps going, and how he almost seems to embraces the suffering as part of what his calling is.

GREGORY: Because of his understanding, because of our understanding of the dignity of the human person, we are never reduced to our weaknesses, we never lose our human capacity for doing good, for accomplishing good and for serving as an instrument of god.

And I think what he is doing so brilliantly and so genuinely is serving as a model of the importance of maintaining one's faith and one's direction under the most trying circumstances.

KAGAN: You can be a model and you can be a symbol. Do you get questions amongst Catholics, can you still be a leader? do you have the strength and the power to be a leader?

GREGORY: You know, certainly the challenges that the holy father faces with his health will modify the abilities that he has to do the things that he did in past, when he was elected at the age of 58. Certainly there have been changes. But his desire and his determination to serve the church, under whatever circumstances God places before him, have never failed.

KAGAN: You have had your own unique circumstances and challenges in being a leader in this church, and certainly leading the U.S. Catholic bishops, especially as they were facing the sex-abuse scandal with this church. In going through that, we followed it so closely with the church, we're wondering from a personal standpoint, what did you get out of that experience? And how did you grow? What did you learn?

GREGORY: Well, one of the things that I certainly take with me was the determination of the body of bishops to do the right thing, to take a clear position and to work together. Even though there obviously were conversations about what should be done, and the order it should be done and how it should be achieved. But we were together.

I also think that it gave the Catholic community -- it is giving the catholic community in the United States an insight into a very sad chapter in our history, but also an insight into a public concern, that is, the protection of children. And if we were embarrassed, and indeed we were, but if we were also able to point a direction, that's a grace. Being able to make a contribution even under difficult circumstances is a grace. It does go back to the kind of witness that the holy father is giving, that you can accomplish a great deal of good even under trying circumstances.

KAGAN: Well, we wish you well accomplishing great good here in Atlanta. Archbishop Wilton Gregory, thank you for your time today, sir.

Good luck adjusting those Midwestern roots here to Atlanta, Georgia.

GREGORY: Thank you.

KAGAN: Thank you, sir.

GREGORY: Thank you.

KAGAN: Well, three years ago, it was closed by the anthrax-laced letters. A post office come back to life. New procedures aimed at keeping your mail safe. The story is straight ahead.

Plus, another airline is raising fares because of costly fuel prices. We're going to tell you who is doing that, and we're going to check the financial markets. That's coming up next on CNN LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: This just in to CNN, a Virginia man accused of joining al Qaeda and plotting to assassinate President Bush has pleaded not guilty in federal court; 23-year-old Ahmed Abu Omar Ali is now set for a jury trial in August. Federal authorities say Ali confessed several times after being detained for two years in Saudi Arabia. Attorneys for Abu Ali say he was tortured into making those confessions.

We have a lot more news, plus your weather, straight ahead after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KAGAN: In today's CNN "Security Watch," a government report offering a disconcerting assessment of aviation security. According to "The New York Times," a confidential report says that U.S. skies are still vulnerable to attacks from al Qaeda and other groups -- and other terrorist groups. It says that noncommercial planes and helicopters are less guarded and especially inviting. In fact, the 24-page assessment cites intelligence that al Qaeda may have considered hijacking chartered aircraft.

Today the grand opening of the Hamilton Township Mail Processing Center in New Jersey. Well, you say why are we talking about a post office opening? Well, it's remarkable because that was where four letters that were contaminated with anthrax were handled in 2001. Gerri Willis takes a look at new safety measures now in place.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The sun is not up yet. But Joan Van Wagner is already at work in the vast New Jersey warehouse currently serving the Trenton mail processing center.

JOAN VAN WAGNER: You've got Princeton, you've got Plains Bureau, you have all of the city zones that we deal with.

WILLIS: As for her husband --

J. VAN WAGNER: My husband, his mail over there. He'll end up with this mail and he'll sort it out and out he goes out onto the street.

WILLIS: Mark Van Wagner a mail carrier and local union leader is prepping his mail before starting on his route.

MARK VAN WAGNER: I love postal work. I love delivering mail. I have been on this route about 15 years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, John. Good thanks. How about you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

M. VAN WAGNER: I know customers. I know the customer's kids. I know the customer's pets. I can tell who is home by what car is in the driveway and I feel more connected to the route that I serve than the neighborhood I live in.

WILLIS: He lives here in Hamilton Township. It's this postal plant that Joan worked at in the fall of 2001. It's here those anthrax laced letters were processed and here where the investigation in the nation's attention focused. Four of Joan's coworkers were infected. Two postal workers in Washington, D.C. died.

M. VAN WAGNER: The whole building was a hot zone. You couldn't work in that build building without being exposed. The new systems in place should prevent that. WILLIS: That's the biohazard detection system or BDS. The postal service is installing it in mail processing centers nationwide at a cost of $779 million.

JOANNE KORKER, DIST. MGR. U.S. POSTAL SERVICE: There are 283 facilities, and all will have these by the end, but we've got a ways to go.

WILLIS: District manager Joanne Korker explained the system to us at a plant in Belmar, New Jersey.

The basic idea? Test the contents of each piece of mail as it's bean sorted for anthrax and other biohazards.

KORKER: This is Barney! This is where mail actually gets entered into and after the mail is dumped on to a conveyor belt it comes along this into this contained area here. As it travels through the system here we have vacuum tubes that are connected that will suck up the particles of mail as these letters go through a pinch point. The pinch point will make anything in the envelope come out into the air and it goes into the cabinet to be tested. And we have the results of those tests in 30 minutes.

WILLIS: And if the alarm goes off...

KORKER: Lights go flashing. Everything stops. Every person in this building is evacuated. First responders take over. Managers, throughout country, are automatically alerted with an electronic system that we carry with us -- in fact at all times. And I don't even want to go to what happens next.

WILLIS: The thought that Joan echoes.

J. VAN WAGNER: It won't be as wide spread as it was because it will be detected with the new system they have, but it'll still disrupt everything. You still probably have to go on medication and all of that.

M. VAN WAGNER: It won't stop it from being brought into the system but it will stop it from the intake. Which means tremendous amount of safety for everybody and of course the American public who won't have that contaminating mail coming out to them.

KORKER: This is detection and isolation. Once anything is identified, the potential for it to spread is almost negligible.

WILLIS: For security reason we're not revealing which bio threats the system currently test for or which centers currently have them.

KORKER: These machines didn't come out until April 2004. Ours was installed in July. The first ones started in July of 2004.

WILLIS: So more than three years after the anthrax attacks, is there still reason for concern?

KORKER: I don't think so. I say that because our postal employees really work as a first line of defense.

WILLIS: As for as which mail gets tested.

KORKER: Basically anything that comes through a collection box, comes in through a post office that a mail carrier might pick up, that goes through here.

WILLIS: The phrase I have seen you use citizen soldier for mail carriers. What do you mean by that?

M. VAN WAGNER: We were drafted into this battle so to speak, because they attacked us and so we fought against it. You could have just walked away. I don't know anybody that did. Upon reviewing what I've got here, I will add business mailings with trackable return addresses to known customers, no red flag here at all.

WILLIS: Those red flags?

M. VAN WAGNER: Size or awkward weight. If it had no address to it. First of all not a specific personal. The look of the mail. The ones they put on TV that were handwritten in kind of a scrolled handwriting.

WILLIS: At the end of the day on the front lines, Joan heads for home.

J. VAN WAGNER: I come out here, have my tea and relax. And I love it.

WILLIS: Do you worry that it could happen again?

J. VAN WAGNER: Oh, yes. Not all of the time. But yes. And if it does -- I have thought about it -- and if it happens to that extent and do I really want to work for the postal service anymore.

WILLIS: What did your kids say?

J. VAN WAGNER: They were scared, 9/11 and then this hit us and it hit us personally. And the world just changed. It's different than what it was.

M. VAN WAGNER: The postal service since this event and all of the external agencies and the Homeland Security and everything had focused on trying to look ahead and say what could happen? And what can we do to be aware of it and stop it?

WILLIS: Does it make you angry they haven't figured this out? I mean it has been a long time.

J. VAN WAGNER: Yes. I'm very skeptical. I used to be oh the FBI, the CDC I use to think wow. Now I don't believe what anyone tells me anymore. I have changed my way of thinking. The two postal employees in Washington, they did not have to die. They said it is possible it is anthrax, lets shut it down. Those letters would have not gone out to them.

WILLIS: Gerri Willis, CNN, Hamilton Township, New Jersey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: A lot of questions being asked today also in downtown Atlanta. The Fulton County Superior Courthouse where the shooting took place, where a 26-hour nightmare began for the community of Atlanta. It's back to business today. And court business taking place, but under what kind of security?

Well, it turns out that our own president of Turner Properties, Alec Fraser, called to jury duty today. They're not allowing reporters in there, but we have our Alec Frazier in there. Alec joining us on the phone right now. Hello.

ALEC FRASER, PRESIDENT, TURNER PROPERTIES: Good morning. Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: What can you tell us about the mood and how things look inside the courthouse today?

FRASER: A couple of things. One is that Friday afternoon when you call in for jury on Monday, the recording had been updated. And it looks to me like everybody reported today. There's a little murmur going around whether security would be good enough. But in coming into the building, the metal detectors and the X-ray machines were working. They had a number of deputies doing that. The only thing I really noticed of interest is around the jury room floors, the deputies that are moving around the halls do not have weapons in their holsters.

KAGAN: All right. Of course we wouldn't know, having enough experience, to know whether they would usually have weapons in their holster, if this is something unusual, if this is a change that was made since Friday.

FRASER: That is correct.

KAGAN: All right. Have you gotten picked yet?

FRASER: No, I haven't gotten picked yet. I'm still in the holding area here.

KAGAN: All right. Well you hang in there. Alec Fraser, president of Turner Properties, calling in from inside the Fulton County Superior Courthouse. And that is where those shootings took place -- the first shootings, took place on Friday. Brian Nichols, of course, in custody.

Stay tuned to CNN day and night. Reliable news about your security. We have a lot more news ahead. We are back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: We have a lot more to get to in the next hour, including more from the woman who survived a hostage situation and called police, leading to the capture of suspected killer Brian Nichols just outside of Atlanta. Also next hour, how you can turn flying coach into a first-class experience. Well, maybe not that, but we are going to make it a little bit better. We have someone who has some tips to help you do that, as the second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY begins right now.

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