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American Morning
Search for Missing Teen; Silicone Breast Implant Approved; Rudolph Guilty Pleas
Aired April 14, 2005 - 08:59 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Searching in Florida again today for a missing 13-year-old girl. Police now focused on a sex offender who once dated the young girl's mother.
Accusations of a horrifying crime among boys. One bludgeoned to death apparently over comments about a baseball game.
And millions of dollars of illegal drugs flown into America now a potential scandal for the U.S. military.
All ahead this morning on AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome back, everybody.
We're going to get back to the decision by an FDA panel this morning recommending that certain silicone breast implants are safe in a few minutes. One of the women who helped get silicone breast implants off the market to begin with is going to tell us why she thinks this is a terrible decision.
HEMMER: Also, Eric Robert Rudolph pleading guilty to a string of bombings in the Southeast. We are learning more, a lot more about his motives and his anger. A look inside his mind with the man who wrote the book on his investigation in a few moments here, one of our own here at CNN.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Down there...
O'BRIEN: I was going to say, you know what I was thinking?
CAFFERTY: Yes.
O'BRIEN: I could just skip right by this segment if I wanted to.
Jack, nice to see you as always.
CAFFERTY: Yes. Well, I've been ignored in better joints than this.
(LAUGHTER)
CAFFERTY: "The Question of the Day," -- oh, yes, West Virginia, they adopted English as the official language. Think about it. Do you think other states ought to follow suit? Think about that and write to me. AM@CNN.com.
You were just going to skip right on by me there.
O'BRIEN: No, I thought about it for a moment. I recognized that I might be able to do it.
CAFFERTY: Yes, I could have been emotionally damaged.
O'BRIEN: Yes, I know. And that's why I didn't do it.
CAFFERTY: OK.
O'BRIEN: I'd hate to have that responsibility on my shoulders.
CAFFERTY: I mean, more than I already am.
O'BRIEN: Yes, exactly. Thank you, Jack.
Let's get to Carol. She's got the headlines for us.
Good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: So what do you think about English as the official language, Soledad?
HEMMER: You knew that was coming.
COSTELLO: I had to do it, I'm sorry.
O'BRIEN: I have no opinion because I'm an objective journalist, Carol.
COSTELLO: OK, yes.
O'BRIEN: Moving on.
COSTELLO: "Now in the News" -- good morning to you -- two National Guardsmen are being held without bond this morning, accused of importing millions of dollars worth of the drug ecstasy. Captain Franklin Rodriguez and Sergeant John Fong appeared Wednesday in a federal district court in New York. If convicted, each faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison and $2 million in fines.
A law making it harder to wipe away debt is inching through Congress. The House has voted today on bankruptcy legislation. It would make it harder for people with incomes above a certain level to pay off all of their debts, including credit card and medical bills. President Bush has vowed to sign the bill into law.
In California, the mother of Michael Jackson's accuser testifying she saw the pop star lick her son's head. The woman also said Jackson and his associates got her to go along with their damage control efforts by convincing her that her family was in danger. The boy's mother set to be back on the stand today. And remember that beluga whale we told you about in New Jersey? Well, he or she is still there. It's so bizarre.
The 12 to 15-foot whale has been swimming up and down the Delaware River. A marine expert checked the animal out, says it appears to be in good condition. Some officials say curious boaters are preventing the whale from returning to the ocean, and they're also worried that the whale won't find enough to eat in the Delaware River.
HEMMER: Free Willie.
COSTELLO: Yes.
HEMMER: Free him.
COSTELLO: I think we should name the whale. Let's run a contest.
HEMMER: All right.
O'BRIEN: Good idea.
COSTELLO: That would be fun.
HEMMER: Who is in charge?
COSTELLO: Soledad. She's the mother.
O'BRIEN: I am so way too busy to take on anything else.
HEMMER: She says Soledad, you say Hemmer, and I say Carol.
Jack!
COSTELLO: Jack, right!
HEMMER: See you, Carol.
Three minutes now past the hour. Want to turn our attention this morning to Florida again today. Police and volunteers now back searching for a 13-year-old girl missing since Sunday morning.
Susan Candiotti is Ruskin, Florida, just south of Tampa.
Susan, have police said or hinted today at any possible leads in this case so far?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So far, if they know that they have more leads, they're not saying so publicly. But at this hour, over 200 people, half of them volunteers, are, in fact, beginning their fourth day of the search for Sarah Lunde.
Among those searchers, the father of Jessica Lunsford, the little girl who was killed about a month and a half ago about 100 miles or so from here allegedly by a sex offender. The hope in this case is that Sarah Lunde will return home safely. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): As a small Florida rural community pitches in to help find 13-year-old Sarah Lunde...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm kind of happy we haven't found anything. Finding nothing is good.
CANDIOTTI: ... there's a running theme from those who know the 13- year-old.
DORIS FONTANA, FRIEND'S MOTHER: For her to just run away and not call and not show up is totally out of character.
CANDIOTTI: Last summer, Sarah Lunde did run away, but stayed at her minister's house.
SHERRY COOK, MINISTER'S WIFE: She was just in teenage turmoil. There was some problems in her home, but hopefully they had gotten beyond that.
CANDIOTTI: Sarah is from a broken home. At age 9, while in foster care, authorities ordered her hospitalized to protect her from possibly hurting herself. Her divorced parents have both had trouble with the law, Sarah's father for domestic violence.
Friends say the young teen was sometimes unhappy at home, but was active at church and had a ball over the weekend at a religious retreat for teens.
LESLIE FONTANA, FRIEND: We played volleyball, we sang, had fun.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): What kind of mood was she in?
L. FONTANA: She's in a really good mood.
CANDIOTTI: And when you left her?
FONTANA: She was in a really good mood. We had fun. She was laughing.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Her best friend's mother says in a way she blames herself for not letting Sarah spend Saturday night with her daughter.
D. FONTANA: If only I had said OK, you know, forget my tiredness, you know, and just OK, you know, we wouldn't be here, you know. So that eats at you.
CANDIOTTI: When Sarah Lunde was reported missing Monday, investigators located all but one of 24 registered sex offenders in the area, a town of 8,000. The other left town before Sarah disappeared.
One of the ex-cons, David Onstott. Police say he broke off a relationship with Sarah's mother a few months ago. Tuesday night, he was arrested for threatening someone with a screwdriver. Police say Onstott is being held on an outstanding DUI warrant from Michigan.
SHERIFF DAVID GEE, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA: I'm not going to label him at this time. So far we have had cooperation with him, most of the people.
CANDIOTTI: Sarah Lunde's mother pleading for help.
KELLY MAY, SARAH'S MOTHER: If anybody knows anything, has seen or heard anything regarding Sarah's disappearance, that they do call the sheriff's department immediately.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI: Privately, law enforcement sources say they're very interested in that David Onstott, but publicly they refuse to call him a person of interest or label him in any other way.
Now, at this hour, he is scheduled to have been arraigned in court for failing to register as a sex offender, at least once a year, as required by Florida law. And Bill, it appears, unfortunately, that there has to be a problem before sometimes situations like that are found out.
Back to you.
HEMMER: The mystery continues. Susan Candiotti, thanks, in Florida this morning.
There's a 13-year-old boy under arrest in Palmdale, California. He's charged with killing a teenage friend with a baseball bat. Fifteen-year-old Jeremy Rourke was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, after he got into a fight after a baseball game on Tuesday night. The suspect is the pitcher for the losing team.
Witnesses say it all started with a comment at a snack bar.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The boy pulled out a bat, and he like kind of hit him once in the side, and once up around the neck, and then he just hit him really with tremendous force to the head. And I just -- I saw his head just -- it sounded like a pumpkin getting hit with a bat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: The town's pony league's canceling all games for now while the community comes to grips with the tragedy and trying again to understand it. Palmdale, California. Wow -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Medical news now. One brand of silicone breast implants has won the approval of an FDA panel.
Mentor Corporation convinced regulators that its newer silicone implants are reasonably safe and more durable than the banned versions. That decision on Wednesday was an about-face from the day before when the same panel rejected lifting a ban on silicone implants made by a rival company.
Sybil Goldrich is the founder of the Command Trust Network, which fought to ban silicone breast implants 13 years ago. She's in Washington this morning.
It's nice to see you. Thank you for talking with us.
What's your reaction to this latest news by this advisory panel?
SYBIL GOLDRICH, BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR: I'm a little disheartened by the fact that the panel decided not to listen to the FDA scientists. The FDA scientists said at the meeting yesterday that the product is not safe. It hasn't been studied long enough.
O'BRIEN: Do you see the same problem with the saline implants, or do you think it's specific to the silicone implants?
GOLDRICH: I don't think any of the implants that are currently available are truly safe. They require a lot of care on the part of the woman. She's going to have to have MRIs every year or two to make sure that there isn't a silent rupture or a large rupture.
Nobody can answer where the silicone goes and what it does to you when it gets there. We really have a problem here of commerce over science. It's a very serious issue.
O'BRIEN: When you take a look, though, at the recommended conditions -- and some have called these pretty stringent conditions -- I'll read through them for you. Educational program for the doctors and the patients, conditioned study, a five-year data review by the FDA, independent data monitoring, in-depth patient tracking, and as you mentioned, those MRIs to detect if there's any kind of silent leaking.
Do you feel any of these conditions go at least some way in making the products safer for women?
GOLDRICH: I don't think that they go any way to make the product safer for women, but I do think it does do a great deal for the business of the plastic surgeons. You notice that only board certified or board eligible plastic surgeons can put breast implants in now. So they've taken away a lot of the competition.
This is big business. This is not science. And I am very concerned that if you don't listen to the FDA scientists who say that this is not enough long -- there's not enough long-term data on this product, we're in big trouble.
I think that it's -- Dr. Crawford is going to have to ultimately make the final decision. And I strongly hope that he will make the decision to make these companies do a much longer-term study, both of them.
O'BRIEN: I'm curious to know what you think about the folks who have said, you know, to some degree, the panel is saying to women, you've got to make your own decision. Why shouldn't women make their own decision? And aren't women who hear all of this bad news going to say, you know what, this is not for me?
GOLDRICH: There is no informed consent when there is no safety. Unless you can assure safety, a woman is not really making her own decision. It's kind of the prisoner's (ph) dilemma.
I think that there will be lots of women who will go ahead with it. They will find that they will be economically crippled by the product.
MRIs cost $1,700, according to Blue Cross/Blue Shield, every two years. A young woman who gets an implant at 22 is going to have them replaced six or seven times minimally during the course of her lifetime, plus the MRIs to make sure they're OK.
I think that all of these conditions that were put on the implants means that this is not a safe product. It just means that, OK, we'll let you have them, but you've got to do this.
It's alarming to me that, after this many years, 40 years on the market, they're just going to tell doctors, now you have to take a class and get certified? The whole thing is just way out of balance.
O'BRIEN: Sybil Goldrich was a breast cancer survivor with the Command Trust Network.
Nice to see you. Thanks for talking with us this morning.
GOLDRICH: Thank you, Soledad.
HEMMER: Eleven minutes past the hour. Not quite sure what we're doing right here in New York, but we've got another great one outside. Here's Chad.
What's happening? Thank you, by the way.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You're welcome.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: We'll take it while we can get it.
O'BRIEN: That's right. A week maybe. That would be nice.
All right, Chad. Thanks.
Well, the weather might be nice where you live, but springtime also means allergies for much of the country. In today's "House Call," we've got tips on how you can keep your symptoms in check.
HEMMER: Also, a question this morning. Does the age limit on alcohol actually encourage binge drinking? One lawmaker says lowering the age would actually keep kids safer. We'll talk to him about it.
O'BRIEN: And Eric Rudolph's justification for a string of deadly bombings. The outrage of victims and the venom he spewed at one of CNN's own producers up next on AMERICAN MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: From Iraq today, 14 are dead after attacks in that country. Simultaneous suicide car bombings killed 11 and wounded 37 in southern Baghdad. An Iraqi police convoy the target there.
Iraqi police also the target in Kirkuk. Three are dead, four wounded by gunmen in that town.
Also, this videotape played on Arab TV network on Wednesday showing an American hostage. Jeffrey Ake is his name. He's from northern Indiana. He's a businessman, has a wife and three kids.
He was seen begging the U.S. government to negotiate with Iraqi terrorists to save his life. He was kidnapped on Monday in northern Baghdad, and the mayor in his hometown in LaPorte, Indiana, says he was trying to do some good in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR LEIGH MORRIS, LAPORTE, INDIANA: There's a humanitarian side to Jeff as well. I know recently he was in Nigeria, for example, working to improve the availability of clean drinking water there. And I'm sure that's what took him to Iraq as well.
I can imagine there would be many other things that he could have done that may have been more profitable to him, but I think Jeff had this desire to help people. And that's probably what took him to Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also said the U.S. is "thoroughly engaged" with the Iraqis and with others to free Mr. Ake, adding, "We do not negotiate with terrorists."
O'BRIEN: Well, guilty pleas from the man who carried out a string of bombings that killed two people, wounded more than 100 others. Eric Rudolph admits he bombed an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1998. He also confessed to the bombing of the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta.
His admissions are part of a plea deal that will spare him the death penalty. Instead, he's going to go to prison for life without parole.
CNN senior investigative producer Henry Schuster co-authored the new book. It's called "Hunting Eric Rudolph." And he's our guest this morning from Atlanta.
Nice to see you, Henry. Thanks for talking with us.
HENRY SCHUSTER, CNN SR. INVESTIGATIVE PRODUCER: Good morning, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Here how he's been described. He's been described as cocky, unrepentant, hostile in court.
You were there. Does that seem accurate?
SCHUSTER: That seems like an understatement, Soledad. He took great pride yesterday morning in Birmingham when Judge Smith asked him, "Did you, in fact, detonate the bomb?" And he said, "I certainly did, your honor." There seemed to be a great deal of boastfulness in that response yesterday.
He was more muted when he got to Atlanta later in the day. But he winked when he came into court in Birmingham.
He winked. It was either at the prosecutors or at a group of federal agents who were sitting in the jury box. But it was striking, and it was especially striking to the people who were sitting right behind the prosecutors who were the families of some of the victims there.
O'BRIEN: At one point the judge asked about the specifics of the guilty plea, and the lawyer's answer seemed to indicate, well, we admit that the prosecution might be able to prove their case, but we're not necessarily admitting guilt. The judge was having none of it.
What did Eric Robert Rudolph say then?
SCHUSTER: Well, that's when -- you know, that's when Rudolph said, "I certainly did." You know, he was -- he seemed eager to take credit.
But it's funny, because this happened in Birmingham. And then in Atlanta, when the same thing came up, his attorneys jumped in there at that point. But even then the judge returned to it and Rudolph basically said that he was -- that he was guilty. There was no expression of remorse in either case, and then he releases this statement afterward.
O'BRIEN: Yes, I was going to ask you about the statement, 11 pages long. Let's go through some of the details.
First of all, he seemed to indicate that he was not a white supremacist, that, instead, what was behind the attacks was the fact that he's a Catholic. Explain that to me.
SCHUSTER: Well, you know, there seems to be some revisionism here. Because when we interviewed people, and even the government said afterwards, when they were asked about the statement, all the people that we interviewed said that Eric Rudolph, even when he came out of hiding after five years, was still talking about the bible being the basis for his belief that whites were superior. Yet now he says that it was all about abortion.
He says, "Abortion is murder." And the very first paragraph of this statement, he says, "I have deprived the government of its goal of sentencing me to death." You know, this is a man who, arrogant from start to finish in these 11 pages. O'BRIEN: Did he mention you, as well, in the statement? As we mentioned, you've got a new book that talks about the hunt for Eric Robert Rudolph.
SCHUSTER: Absolutely. I mean, he took issue, as you said before, with our portrayal of him as a white supremacist, his seeming love for all things relating to the Nazis, of his belief in Christian identity. He said -- that's where he said, "I was born a Catholic."
It's interesting to note that even his mother said that she never had him confirmed as a Catholic, he never had communion. Because by that time his mother left the Catholic Church. He says he hopes to die in that faith.
He took issue with our portrayal of him. He says, yes, he did smoke and sell marijuana, but not to the extent. Now, we interviewed almost a dozen people who talked about that.
It's interesting -- you know, an interesting thing, Soledad, to be called "unscrupulous" by a man just admitted to cold-blooded -- to being a cold-blooded murderer and a serial bomber.
O'BRIEN: Yes, sort of the definition of unscrupulous calling you. Ridiculous.
Henry Schuster, the co-author of the book "Hunting for Eric Rudolph," joining us this morning with some insight.
And they go back to trial, because, of course, there's still -- back to court, rather -- forgive me -- because, of course, there's still some victims who want to have their word heard in court as well. Henry, thanks.
SCHUSTER: You're welcome.
O'BRIEN: Bill.
HEMMER: In a moment here, Soledad, a growing problem on college campuses across the country. How do you stop binge drinking? One lawmaker has a proposal that is outraging others. He's our guest in a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: If you went to bed early last night you missed Conan O'Brien and you Anderson Cooper, too. Here's part of that conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONAN O'BRIEN, TALK SHOW HOST: Congratulations are in order. "Playgirl" magazine named you the second hottest anchor.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: A, how do you know that?
O'BRIEN: A big fan of the magazine. COOPER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: I've been in it so many times I thought I'd check it out.
COOPER: Yes. Yes, the competition -- I beat Larry King. Woo! Woo!
O'BRIEN: Yes. And narrowly edged out Sam Donaldson. I think we have his -- there he is.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Nice stuff from last night, Anderson. I finished fifth in that poll, by the way, tied with Andy Rooney. Yes, way down the line.
O'BRIEN: You did? Tied with Andy Rooney?
HEMMER: Yes, I'm proud of that.
O'BRIEN: OK.
HEMMER: Come on.
O'BRIEN: Congratulations!
HEMMER: Thank you.
What's happening?
CAFFERTY: The honors just keep piling up around here, don't they? I mean, it's amazing.
HEMMER: Yes. Hand me that medal.
CAFFERTY: The question du jour, English has been made the official language in West Virginia. Legislators there passed the amendment over the weekend. It was quietly inserted into a bill; a totally different subject.
Congress has debated making English our official language since 1981, but it's never happened. The question this morning is, should the rest of the country follow West Virginia's lead and make English the official language?
This woman understandably wanted to remain anonymous. She says, "I teach school. We spend millions and millions of dollars trying to teach English to people who don't want to learn it. English should be the official language and English language teaching programs won't work until it is the official language. There is no incentive."
Lloyd in Houston, Texas, writes, "It's especially annoying to have a multilingual ballot. If you want to take part in this very special privilege of voting, you need to learn the language of the land."
Katherine in Kennesaw, Georgia, "The first people who need to learn English are the idiots that failed to read the bill before they voted on it. How many other laws have been passed that no one bothered to read?"
HEMMER: Amen.
O'BRIEN: Best e-mail of the day.
CAFFERTY: And Jay, who's a college student in Monroe, Louisiana, "I'm having so much fun watching the banter between Jack and Soledad, I'm going to be late for my 8:00 class, English 101."
(LAUGHTER)
HEMMER: Study hard, Jack.
O'BRIEN: Don't be late just because I'm beating Jack in his argument.
Moving on.
Got the sniffles? It could be more than just a cold. Allergy season is here, but you don't have to suffer without relief. We've got some tips in today's "House Call." That's just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Half passed the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. Welcome back.
In a moment here, at a time when so many states are trying to stop underage drinking, one is considering lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18. We'll talk to the lawmaker pushing his idea, what he's trying to do with that. And we'll also talk to the president of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers as well coming up.
O'BRIEN: Also, no surprise with this news. With spring comes pollen. And, of course, pollen means allergies.
It's excruciating for some people. But perhaps there is a solution. And this morning we talk with a specialist with some new answers to end allergy misery.
HEMMER: Oh, and we could use it, too.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
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Aired April 14, 2005 - 08:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Searching in Florida again today for a missing 13-year-old girl. Police now focused on a sex offender who once dated the young girl's mother.
Accusations of a horrifying crime among boys. One bludgeoned to death apparently over comments about a baseball game.
And millions of dollars of illegal drugs flown into America now a potential scandal for the U.S. military.
All ahead this morning on AMERICAN MORNING.
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome back, everybody.
We're going to get back to the decision by an FDA panel this morning recommending that certain silicone breast implants are safe in a few minutes. One of the women who helped get silicone breast implants off the market to begin with is going to tell us why she thinks this is a terrible decision.
HEMMER: Also, Eric Robert Rudolph pleading guilty to a string of bombings in the Southeast. We are learning more, a lot more about his motives and his anger. A look inside his mind with the man who wrote the book on his investigation in a few moments here, one of our own here at CNN.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Down there...
O'BRIEN: I was going to say, you know what I was thinking?
CAFFERTY: Yes.
O'BRIEN: I could just skip right by this segment if I wanted to.
Jack, nice to see you as always.
CAFFERTY: Yes. Well, I've been ignored in better joints than this.
(LAUGHTER)
CAFFERTY: "The Question of the Day," -- oh, yes, West Virginia, they adopted English as the official language. Think about it. Do you think other states ought to follow suit? Think about that and write to me. AM@CNN.com.
You were just going to skip right on by me there.
O'BRIEN: No, I thought about it for a moment. I recognized that I might be able to do it.
CAFFERTY: Yes, I could have been emotionally damaged.
O'BRIEN: Yes, I know. And that's why I didn't do it.
CAFFERTY: OK.
O'BRIEN: I'd hate to have that responsibility on my shoulders.
CAFFERTY: I mean, more than I already am.
O'BRIEN: Yes, exactly. Thank you, Jack.
Let's get to Carol. She's got the headlines for us.
Good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: So what do you think about English as the official language, Soledad?
HEMMER: You knew that was coming.
COSTELLO: I had to do it, I'm sorry.
O'BRIEN: I have no opinion because I'm an objective journalist, Carol.
COSTELLO: OK, yes.
O'BRIEN: Moving on.
COSTELLO: "Now in the News" -- good morning to you -- two National Guardsmen are being held without bond this morning, accused of importing millions of dollars worth of the drug ecstasy. Captain Franklin Rodriguez and Sergeant John Fong appeared Wednesday in a federal district court in New York. If convicted, each faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison and $2 million in fines.
A law making it harder to wipe away debt is inching through Congress. The House has voted today on bankruptcy legislation. It would make it harder for people with incomes above a certain level to pay off all of their debts, including credit card and medical bills. President Bush has vowed to sign the bill into law.
In California, the mother of Michael Jackson's accuser testifying she saw the pop star lick her son's head. The woman also said Jackson and his associates got her to go along with their damage control efforts by convincing her that her family was in danger. The boy's mother set to be back on the stand today. And remember that beluga whale we told you about in New Jersey? Well, he or she is still there. It's so bizarre.
The 12 to 15-foot whale has been swimming up and down the Delaware River. A marine expert checked the animal out, says it appears to be in good condition. Some officials say curious boaters are preventing the whale from returning to the ocean, and they're also worried that the whale won't find enough to eat in the Delaware River.
HEMMER: Free Willie.
COSTELLO: Yes.
HEMMER: Free him.
COSTELLO: I think we should name the whale. Let's run a contest.
HEMMER: All right.
O'BRIEN: Good idea.
COSTELLO: That would be fun.
HEMMER: Who is in charge?
COSTELLO: Soledad. She's the mother.
O'BRIEN: I am so way too busy to take on anything else.
HEMMER: She says Soledad, you say Hemmer, and I say Carol.
Jack!
COSTELLO: Jack, right!
HEMMER: See you, Carol.
Three minutes now past the hour. Want to turn our attention this morning to Florida again today. Police and volunteers now back searching for a 13-year-old girl missing since Sunday morning.
Susan Candiotti is Ruskin, Florida, just south of Tampa.
Susan, have police said or hinted today at any possible leads in this case so far?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So far, if they know that they have more leads, they're not saying so publicly. But at this hour, over 200 people, half of them volunteers, are, in fact, beginning their fourth day of the search for Sarah Lunde.
Among those searchers, the father of Jessica Lunsford, the little girl who was killed about a month and a half ago about 100 miles or so from here allegedly by a sex offender. The hope in this case is that Sarah Lunde will return home safely. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): As a small Florida rural community pitches in to help find 13-year-old Sarah Lunde...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm kind of happy we haven't found anything. Finding nothing is good.
CANDIOTTI: ... there's a running theme from those who know the 13- year-old.
DORIS FONTANA, FRIEND'S MOTHER: For her to just run away and not call and not show up is totally out of character.
CANDIOTTI: Last summer, Sarah Lunde did run away, but stayed at her minister's house.
SHERRY COOK, MINISTER'S WIFE: She was just in teenage turmoil. There was some problems in her home, but hopefully they had gotten beyond that.
CANDIOTTI: Sarah is from a broken home. At age 9, while in foster care, authorities ordered her hospitalized to protect her from possibly hurting herself. Her divorced parents have both had trouble with the law, Sarah's father for domestic violence.
Friends say the young teen was sometimes unhappy at home, but was active at church and had a ball over the weekend at a religious retreat for teens.
LESLIE FONTANA, FRIEND: We played volleyball, we sang, had fun.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): What kind of mood was she in?
L. FONTANA: She's in a really good mood.
CANDIOTTI: And when you left her?
FONTANA: She was in a really good mood. We had fun. She was laughing.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Her best friend's mother says in a way she blames herself for not letting Sarah spend Saturday night with her daughter.
D. FONTANA: If only I had said OK, you know, forget my tiredness, you know, and just OK, you know, we wouldn't be here, you know. So that eats at you.
CANDIOTTI: When Sarah Lunde was reported missing Monday, investigators located all but one of 24 registered sex offenders in the area, a town of 8,000. The other left town before Sarah disappeared.
One of the ex-cons, David Onstott. Police say he broke off a relationship with Sarah's mother a few months ago. Tuesday night, he was arrested for threatening someone with a screwdriver. Police say Onstott is being held on an outstanding DUI warrant from Michigan.
SHERIFF DAVID GEE, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA: I'm not going to label him at this time. So far we have had cooperation with him, most of the people.
CANDIOTTI: Sarah Lunde's mother pleading for help.
KELLY MAY, SARAH'S MOTHER: If anybody knows anything, has seen or heard anything regarding Sarah's disappearance, that they do call the sheriff's department immediately.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI: Privately, law enforcement sources say they're very interested in that David Onstott, but publicly they refuse to call him a person of interest or label him in any other way.
Now, at this hour, he is scheduled to have been arraigned in court for failing to register as a sex offender, at least once a year, as required by Florida law. And Bill, it appears, unfortunately, that there has to be a problem before sometimes situations like that are found out.
Back to you.
HEMMER: The mystery continues. Susan Candiotti, thanks, in Florida this morning.
There's a 13-year-old boy under arrest in Palmdale, California. He's charged with killing a teenage friend with a baseball bat. Fifteen-year-old Jeremy Rourke was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, after he got into a fight after a baseball game on Tuesday night. The suspect is the pitcher for the losing team.
Witnesses say it all started with a comment at a snack bar.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The boy pulled out a bat, and he like kind of hit him once in the side, and once up around the neck, and then he just hit him really with tremendous force to the head. And I just -- I saw his head just -- it sounded like a pumpkin getting hit with a bat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: The town's pony league's canceling all games for now while the community comes to grips with the tragedy and trying again to understand it. Palmdale, California. Wow -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Medical news now. One brand of silicone breast implants has won the approval of an FDA panel.
Mentor Corporation convinced regulators that its newer silicone implants are reasonably safe and more durable than the banned versions. That decision on Wednesday was an about-face from the day before when the same panel rejected lifting a ban on silicone implants made by a rival company.
Sybil Goldrich is the founder of the Command Trust Network, which fought to ban silicone breast implants 13 years ago. She's in Washington this morning.
It's nice to see you. Thank you for talking with us.
What's your reaction to this latest news by this advisory panel?
SYBIL GOLDRICH, BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR: I'm a little disheartened by the fact that the panel decided not to listen to the FDA scientists. The FDA scientists said at the meeting yesterday that the product is not safe. It hasn't been studied long enough.
O'BRIEN: Do you see the same problem with the saline implants, or do you think it's specific to the silicone implants?
GOLDRICH: I don't think any of the implants that are currently available are truly safe. They require a lot of care on the part of the woman. She's going to have to have MRIs every year or two to make sure that there isn't a silent rupture or a large rupture.
Nobody can answer where the silicone goes and what it does to you when it gets there. We really have a problem here of commerce over science. It's a very serious issue.
O'BRIEN: When you take a look, though, at the recommended conditions -- and some have called these pretty stringent conditions -- I'll read through them for you. Educational program for the doctors and the patients, conditioned study, a five-year data review by the FDA, independent data monitoring, in-depth patient tracking, and as you mentioned, those MRIs to detect if there's any kind of silent leaking.
Do you feel any of these conditions go at least some way in making the products safer for women?
GOLDRICH: I don't think that they go any way to make the product safer for women, but I do think it does do a great deal for the business of the plastic surgeons. You notice that only board certified or board eligible plastic surgeons can put breast implants in now. So they've taken away a lot of the competition.
This is big business. This is not science. And I am very concerned that if you don't listen to the FDA scientists who say that this is not enough long -- there's not enough long-term data on this product, we're in big trouble.
I think that it's -- Dr. Crawford is going to have to ultimately make the final decision. And I strongly hope that he will make the decision to make these companies do a much longer-term study, both of them.
O'BRIEN: I'm curious to know what you think about the folks who have said, you know, to some degree, the panel is saying to women, you've got to make your own decision. Why shouldn't women make their own decision? And aren't women who hear all of this bad news going to say, you know what, this is not for me?
GOLDRICH: There is no informed consent when there is no safety. Unless you can assure safety, a woman is not really making her own decision. It's kind of the prisoner's (ph) dilemma.
I think that there will be lots of women who will go ahead with it. They will find that they will be economically crippled by the product.
MRIs cost $1,700, according to Blue Cross/Blue Shield, every two years. A young woman who gets an implant at 22 is going to have them replaced six or seven times minimally during the course of her lifetime, plus the MRIs to make sure they're OK.
I think that all of these conditions that were put on the implants means that this is not a safe product. It just means that, OK, we'll let you have them, but you've got to do this.
It's alarming to me that, after this many years, 40 years on the market, they're just going to tell doctors, now you have to take a class and get certified? The whole thing is just way out of balance.
O'BRIEN: Sybil Goldrich was a breast cancer survivor with the Command Trust Network.
Nice to see you. Thanks for talking with us this morning.
GOLDRICH: Thank you, Soledad.
HEMMER: Eleven minutes past the hour. Not quite sure what we're doing right here in New York, but we've got another great one outside. Here's Chad.
What's happening? Thank you, by the way.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You're welcome.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: We'll take it while we can get it.
O'BRIEN: That's right. A week maybe. That would be nice.
All right, Chad. Thanks.
Well, the weather might be nice where you live, but springtime also means allergies for much of the country. In today's "House Call," we've got tips on how you can keep your symptoms in check.
HEMMER: Also, a question this morning. Does the age limit on alcohol actually encourage binge drinking? One lawmaker says lowering the age would actually keep kids safer. We'll talk to him about it.
O'BRIEN: And Eric Rudolph's justification for a string of deadly bombings. The outrage of victims and the venom he spewed at one of CNN's own producers up next on AMERICAN MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: From Iraq today, 14 are dead after attacks in that country. Simultaneous suicide car bombings killed 11 and wounded 37 in southern Baghdad. An Iraqi police convoy the target there.
Iraqi police also the target in Kirkuk. Three are dead, four wounded by gunmen in that town.
Also, this videotape played on Arab TV network on Wednesday showing an American hostage. Jeffrey Ake is his name. He's from northern Indiana. He's a businessman, has a wife and three kids.
He was seen begging the U.S. government to negotiate with Iraqi terrorists to save his life. He was kidnapped on Monday in northern Baghdad, and the mayor in his hometown in LaPorte, Indiana, says he was trying to do some good in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR LEIGH MORRIS, LAPORTE, INDIANA: There's a humanitarian side to Jeff as well. I know recently he was in Nigeria, for example, working to improve the availability of clean drinking water there. And I'm sure that's what took him to Iraq as well.
I can imagine there would be many other things that he could have done that may have been more profitable to him, but I think Jeff had this desire to help people. And that's probably what took him to Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also said the U.S. is "thoroughly engaged" with the Iraqis and with others to free Mr. Ake, adding, "We do not negotiate with terrorists."
O'BRIEN: Well, guilty pleas from the man who carried out a string of bombings that killed two people, wounded more than 100 others. Eric Rudolph admits he bombed an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1998. He also confessed to the bombing of the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta.
His admissions are part of a plea deal that will spare him the death penalty. Instead, he's going to go to prison for life without parole.
CNN senior investigative producer Henry Schuster co-authored the new book. It's called "Hunting Eric Rudolph." And he's our guest this morning from Atlanta.
Nice to see you, Henry. Thanks for talking with us.
HENRY SCHUSTER, CNN SR. INVESTIGATIVE PRODUCER: Good morning, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Here how he's been described. He's been described as cocky, unrepentant, hostile in court.
You were there. Does that seem accurate?
SCHUSTER: That seems like an understatement, Soledad. He took great pride yesterday morning in Birmingham when Judge Smith asked him, "Did you, in fact, detonate the bomb?" And he said, "I certainly did, your honor." There seemed to be a great deal of boastfulness in that response yesterday.
He was more muted when he got to Atlanta later in the day. But he winked when he came into court in Birmingham.
He winked. It was either at the prosecutors or at a group of federal agents who were sitting in the jury box. But it was striking, and it was especially striking to the people who were sitting right behind the prosecutors who were the families of some of the victims there.
O'BRIEN: At one point the judge asked about the specifics of the guilty plea, and the lawyer's answer seemed to indicate, well, we admit that the prosecution might be able to prove their case, but we're not necessarily admitting guilt. The judge was having none of it.
What did Eric Robert Rudolph say then?
SCHUSTER: Well, that's when -- you know, that's when Rudolph said, "I certainly did." You know, he was -- he seemed eager to take credit.
But it's funny, because this happened in Birmingham. And then in Atlanta, when the same thing came up, his attorneys jumped in there at that point. But even then the judge returned to it and Rudolph basically said that he was -- that he was guilty. There was no expression of remorse in either case, and then he releases this statement afterward.
O'BRIEN: Yes, I was going to ask you about the statement, 11 pages long. Let's go through some of the details.
First of all, he seemed to indicate that he was not a white supremacist, that, instead, what was behind the attacks was the fact that he's a Catholic. Explain that to me.
SCHUSTER: Well, you know, there seems to be some revisionism here. Because when we interviewed people, and even the government said afterwards, when they were asked about the statement, all the people that we interviewed said that Eric Rudolph, even when he came out of hiding after five years, was still talking about the bible being the basis for his belief that whites were superior. Yet now he says that it was all about abortion.
He says, "Abortion is murder." And the very first paragraph of this statement, he says, "I have deprived the government of its goal of sentencing me to death." You know, this is a man who, arrogant from start to finish in these 11 pages. O'BRIEN: Did he mention you, as well, in the statement? As we mentioned, you've got a new book that talks about the hunt for Eric Robert Rudolph.
SCHUSTER: Absolutely. I mean, he took issue, as you said before, with our portrayal of him as a white supremacist, his seeming love for all things relating to the Nazis, of his belief in Christian identity. He said -- that's where he said, "I was born a Catholic."
It's interesting to note that even his mother said that she never had him confirmed as a Catholic, he never had communion. Because by that time his mother left the Catholic Church. He says he hopes to die in that faith.
He took issue with our portrayal of him. He says, yes, he did smoke and sell marijuana, but not to the extent. Now, we interviewed almost a dozen people who talked about that.
It's interesting -- you know, an interesting thing, Soledad, to be called "unscrupulous" by a man just admitted to cold-blooded -- to being a cold-blooded murderer and a serial bomber.
O'BRIEN: Yes, sort of the definition of unscrupulous calling you. Ridiculous.
Henry Schuster, the co-author of the book "Hunting for Eric Rudolph," joining us this morning with some insight.
And they go back to trial, because, of course, there's still -- back to court, rather -- forgive me -- because, of course, there's still some victims who want to have their word heard in court as well. Henry, thanks.
SCHUSTER: You're welcome.
O'BRIEN: Bill.
HEMMER: In a moment here, Soledad, a growing problem on college campuses across the country. How do you stop binge drinking? One lawmaker has a proposal that is outraging others. He's our guest in a moment here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: If you went to bed early last night you missed Conan O'Brien and you Anderson Cooper, too. Here's part of that conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONAN O'BRIEN, TALK SHOW HOST: Congratulations are in order. "Playgirl" magazine named you the second hottest anchor.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: A, how do you know that?
O'BRIEN: A big fan of the magazine. COOPER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: I've been in it so many times I thought I'd check it out.
COOPER: Yes. Yes, the competition -- I beat Larry King. Woo! Woo!
O'BRIEN: Yes. And narrowly edged out Sam Donaldson. I think we have his -- there he is.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: Nice stuff from last night, Anderson. I finished fifth in that poll, by the way, tied with Andy Rooney. Yes, way down the line.
O'BRIEN: You did? Tied with Andy Rooney?
HEMMER: Yes, I'm proud of that.
O'BRIEN: OK.
HEMMER: Come on.
O'BRIEN: Congratulations!
HEMMER: Thank you.
What's happening?
CAFFERTY: The honors just keep piling up around here, don't they? I mean, it's amazing.
HEMMER: Yes. Hand me that medal.
CAFFERTY: The question du jour, English has been made the official language in West Virginia. Legislators there passed the amendment over the weekend. It was quietly inserted into a bill; a totally different subject.
Congress has debated making English our official language since 1981, but it's never happened. The question this morning is, should the rest of the country follow West Virginia's lead and make English the official language?
This woman understandably wanted to remain anonymous. She says, "I teach school. We spend millions and millions of dollars trying to teach English to people who don't want to learn it. English should be the official language and English language teaching programs won't work until it is the official language. There is no incentive."
Lloyd in Houston, Texas, writes, "It's especially annoying to have a multilingual ballot. If you want to take part in this very special privilege of voting, you need to learn the language of the land."
Katherine in Kennesaw, Georgia, "The first people who need to learn English are the idiots that failed to read the bill before they voted on it. How many other laws have been passed that no one bothered to read?"
HEMMER: Amen.
O'BRIEN: Best e-mail of the day.
CAFFERTY: And Jay, who's a college student in Monroe, Louisiana, "I'm having so much fun watching the banter between Jack and Soledad, I'm going to be late for my 8:00 class, English 101."
(LAUGHTER)
HEMMER: Study hard, Jack.
O'BRIEN: Don't be late just because I'm beating Jack in his argument.
Moving on.
Got the sniffles? It could be more than just a cold. Allergy season is here, but you don't have to suffer without relief. We've got some tips in today's "House Call." That's just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Half passed the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. Welcome back.
In a moment here, at a time when so many states are trying to stop underage drinking, one is considering lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18. We'll talk to the lawmaker pushing his idea, what he's trying to do with that. And we'll also talk to the president of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers as well coming up.
O'BRIEN: Also, no surprise with this news. With spring comes pollen. And, of course, pollen means allergies.
It's excruciating for some people. But perhaps there is a solution. And this morning we talk with a specialist with some new answers to end allergy misery.
HEMMER: Oh, and we could use it, too.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
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