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American Morning
Runaway Bride Charges?; Friendly Fire Dispute; Mom's Price Tag
Aired May 03, 2005 - 07:30 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: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. It's just exactly half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.
As the D.A. in Georgia decides whether to file charges against the woman who ducked out on her wedding, her fiance says he is standing by his runaway bide. We're going to talk to the groom's father -- or maybe we should say the groom-to-be's father to see how the family is doing in all of this.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The wedding is still on, right?
O'BRIEN: Apparently so. We'll find out.
HEMMER: Mother's Day is on the way. We're going to find out how much a stay-at-home mother is worth. When you add up the cooking and the cleaning and the nursing and the driving plus the OT, it goes well into, some say, the six-figure range.
O'BRIEN: No surprise. I'm surprised it doesn't go into the seven-figure range.
HEMMER: Soledad would like it to go into the seven-figure range. We'll get to that in a moment here.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I don't know. If it would go into the seven-figure range, I might decide to have a child.
HEMMER: You'd retire.
O'BRIEN: Out of here.
Let's get right to Carol with the headlines.
Good morning.
COSTELLO: All right. Good morning. Good morning, everyone.
A search under way right now for one of two U.S. Marine Corps pilots missing in Iraq. Navy officials tell CNN two FA-18 jets, like the ones you're going to see here, collided in bad weather during a routine mission. The body of one of the pilots was found earlier today. There is no indication of any hostile fire in the area at the time.
In Wichita, Kansas, an agreement hearing for the BTK suspect Dennis Rader. Rader was arrested earlier this year in connection with a killing spree spanning more than 20 years. BTK stands for bind, torture and kill. That hearing is set to get under way in about three hours.
A North Carolina man says he's planning to contact a lawyer. It seems what he thought was a piece of candy in his frozen custard turned out to be a finger. I know what you're thinking. But unlike a recent hoax involving a cup of Wendy's chili, this story seems legit. State authorities say they have confirmed an employee did, indeed, lose part of a finger during a food processing machine accident. And they think that was his finger. In fact, they're trying to get the finger back to him right now.
O'BRIEN: Really?
COSTELLO: Really.
Check out this catch. It was the top of the seventh inning. Garret Anderson hits what appears to be a two-run homer to right. But Ichiro Suzuki -- isn't that amazing? That was one amazing catch. Wow! Ichiro actually said he is not sure if this was his best catch ever, but he said the fans enjoyed it, and that's all that matters.
HEMMER: Oh, he can do better, right?
O'BRIEN: Right.
COSTELLO: That's what he said.
HEMMER: I'm just showing off out here. That was easy.
COSTELLO: It was just amazing. Still, though, the Mariners lost. But who cares after that catch? That was enough.
Let's head to Atlanta to check out the weather.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Well, her fiance is ready to reconcile, but authorities in Georgia appear to be less forgiving of the runaway bride-to-be. Jennifer Wilbanks could face civil and criminal charges for falsely claiming she had been kidnapped.
Claude Mason is the father of the jilted groom, John Mason. He's in Duluth, Georgia.
Nice to see you, Mr. Mason. Thank you for talking with us.
CLAUDE MASON, FATHER OF RUNAWAY BRIDE'S FIANCE: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: There are reports that Jennifer may have bought a ticket on the Greyhound bus a week in advance of the wedding. Any indications in your mind that, in fact, well before the wedding she was having some serious second thoughts?
MASON: No. I haven't really thought about it that much. I just have gotten all of those details recently, myself. So, I can't assess it one way or the other as to what was in her mind. I can only guess that she might have thought about it, whether she actually was going to go through with it or not. At the time she bought the ticket, it may have been different.
O'BRIEN: There are reports this is not the first engagement, in fact, that she's bolted on. Is it correct that she's been engaged before?
MASON: I do not know that. I've heard...
O'BRIEN: Is the wedding...
MASON: I heard a little bit that she may have been, but I don't know for sure.
O'BRIEN: Is the wedding still on right now, as it stands?
MASON: According to John, it is. As far as a date, that's not been determined yet. But he's committed to her. And as it stands now, he thinks there will be a wedding.
O'BRIEN: Has she apologized, not only to your son, but to you and your family as well?
MASON: We have not spoken with Jennifer since her return.
O'BRIEN: The D.A. says that she has not apologized to him. In fact, here's how he describes her. Self-centered, self-absorbed, no sense what was she put people through. Why would your son want to marry a girl who clearly doesn't want to be married to him, or at least at that time did not?
MASON: I don't know whether it was a fact that she did not want to be married to him. I think it was just all of the rush of the moment, so to speak, got to her as far as what I can tell from this point in my discussions with John. I don't think it's a matter of her not wanting to marry him. I think it was just all of the stuff leading up to it got to her.
O'BRIEN: In fact, in an interview, your son talked a little bit about some of the problems that Jennifer has been having leading up to the wedding date. Can you be more specific? What kind of issues is he talking about that she may have had?
MASON: I'm not real sure what he's referring to. I just know Jennifer was a perfectionist. She wanted everything to be just right. And as far as I know, everything was moving in that direction.
O'BRIEN: The D.A., as you well know, is considering charging her. He says that she needs to face some kind of consequences. Do you agree with that, that she has to face some kind of consequences, maybe jail time, maybe financial consequences for what she pulled off?
MASON: Mr. Porter is just doing the job he was elected to do. I don't have any problems with that. As far as what her punishment should be, I haven't really thought that one through. I don't -- I definitely do not think there should be any jail time. There's no question about in my mind about that. Possibly what I've heard...
O'BRIEN: Do you think she should have to pay back some of the money that the city lost in searching for her, $60,000?
MASON: That's a possibility. That is a possibility also. But right now, I haven't made my mind up as to what would be a -- what would be a good resolution on behalf of her and the city yet.
O'BRIEN: Do you think there will be a time when Jennifer comes forward and apologizes to you and all of the people who were looking for her and all of the people who were concerned that somehow maybe she, you know, had been injured or was killed?
MASON: I hope so. I hope that comes very soon.
O'BRIEN: Are you expecting to sit down and have a chat with your future daughter-in-law anytime soon?
MASON: I'm not -- I don't know. It depends on a lot of things right now. I'd be willing to sit down with her at any time, yes.
O'BRIEN: Are you looking forward to her joining your family as your future daughter-in-law?
MASON: I was looking very much forward to it before this all happened. And if John is still in love with her and still wants to marry her, I would welcome her into the family.
O'BRIEN: Claude Mason is the father of the runaway bride's fiance. Thanks for talking with us, Mr. Mason. I appreciate it.
MASON: You're quite welcome.
O'BRIEN: Bill.
HEMMER: It's about 22 minutes before the hour.
The U.S. and Italy are blaming each other for a shooting in March at a checkpoint back in Iraq. This was west of Baghdad. An Italian journalist was wounded. An agent was killed in that incident. According to the U.S. State Department, a joint investigation by the two countries, the U.S. and Italy, has agreed now on the facts but not agreed on a conclusion.
From the Pentagon this morning, here's Jamie McIntyre.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.S. investigators have concluded an American soldier did nothing wrong when he fired bullets into this Toyota, killing Italian agent Nicola Calipari and wounding both Giuliana Sgrena, an Italian journalist whose release he had just secured, and the car's driver.
The checkpoint shooting occurred the evening of March 4 along Route Irish, the seven-and-a-half mile road between Baghdad and the airport dubbed the deadliest in Iraq.
Among the findings, 15 to 30 vehicles had been safely stopped at the checkpoint earlier that night. The driver admitted going as fast as 50 miles per hour. The U.S. thinks it might have been faster.
The car did not slow down when signaled by a U.S. soldier holding a searchlight and laser pointer. The car didn't respond to a burst of warning fire.
Disabling fire hit the car in the right and front. And the time between the first shot and the car coming to a stop was no more than seven seconds. In addition, an American soldier told investigators the driver said afterward he heard shots from somewhere, and that he panicked and started speeding, trying to get to the airport as quickly as possible.
And finally, the report found no coordination by the Italians with the U.S., stating flatly, "The U.S. military was totally unaware of the recovery and transport of Ms. Sgrena on 4 March, 2005 until after the shooting indent had occurred."
In fact, the only American who even had a hint of what was going on at the time, an Army captain assigned as an aide to an Italian general was told by the Italians, it is best if no one knows.
Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Now, late Monday, Italian officials released their own conclusions.
Jennifer Eccelston live with us in Rome now.
How do these reports differ, Jennifer?
JENNIFER ECCELSTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, the 52-page Italian report offers a detailed rebuttal to the American version of the March 4 U.S. checkpoint shooting in Baghdad, which left, as Jamie mentioned, intelligence agent Nicola Calipari dead and his colleague wounded, as well as an Italian journalist also wounded.
Now, first and foremost, the Italian report stated problems with the rules of engagement for policing checkpoints. Calipari's vehicle, it says, was not speeding. It was moving around 25 to 30 miles per hour. The Americans said it was moving over 50 miles an hour.
Now, additionally, the Italian report said there was no clear warning that a checkpoint was ahead and no clear warning from U.S. soldiers at the checkpoint. The U.S. report said soldiers warned the vehicle to slow down before firing on the vehicle.
Italian investigators also concluded that the shooting was not intentional, but caused by inexperienced and nervous U.S. soldiers manning a poorly-organized checkpoint. It said U.S. forces were indisputably aware of plans to rescue the hostage. The American report said says Italy had not informed U.S. forces of the rescue mission, saying prior coordination might have prevented this tragedy.
Now, Bill, the Italians maintain that because the scene of the shooting was not preserved as a crime scene, evidence was tampered, and as a result it was impossible to make a decisive judgment about just what happened on the night of March 4 -- Bill.
HEMMER: Jennifer Eccleston from Rome. Thanks, Jennifer.
O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, Andy is "Minding Your Business" with an unusual perk from a car insurance company. We'll explain.
HEMMER: Also, if you were paying moms to be mom, how much should mom make?
O'BRIEN: If I were paying?
HEMMER: Let's just say right now, they're a bit underpaid. That's next here after a break on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Well, you know, they say a mother's work is never done, and it is so true. According to the folks at salary.com, though, stay-at-home moms would earn more than $131,000 a year if they were paid for the many jobs that they do.
Bill Coleman from salary.com is with us this morning.
Nice to see you.
BILL COLEMAN, SALARY.COM: Good seeing you.
O'BRIEN: Thank you. How did you come up with this number?
COLEMAN: We asked a group of mothers what they did on a daily basis, on a normal basis, and asked them to couch it in terms of jobs that they see in the classifieds or job that they hear about on job boards. And we found that they're looking at jobs like teachers and drivers, maids, et cetera. And...
O'BRIEN: And I'm sure they left a lot off this list.
COLEMAN: Yes.
O'BRIEN: You ended up breaking down, in fact, into sort of seven big categories.
COLEMAN: Correct.
O'BRIEN: And I want to run through them, because you assign those then number figures. For example, teacher/day care center, $26,000. A van driver, $30,000. A housekeeper, 18,000. It sounds low to me. Cook, 31,000. CEO, $612,000. A nurse, 56 grand. Handyman, $29,656. How did you crunch those numbers then to get the annual salary, which you'll see, with base pay and then overtime pay, which you calculate, came to out to a little over $131,000?
COLEMAN: Well, at salary.com, what we do is we determine the market value of all of those jobs and thousands of others. And then, for this particular situation, we looked at how the mothers spent their time. And they told us, when they were telling us what they did, you actually just listed the jobs in the order in which they said they were spending their time.
So that number one answer was teacher and number two was driver. Apparently, we have a lot of soccer moms out there. And so, we weighted it based on the amount of time they spent and what they called the relative importance of each job.
O'BRIEN: Did 131,000 surprise you, that number, you think?
COLEMAN: Yes and no. I mean, I heard you earlier say it should be a seven-figure job.
O'BRIEN: That's just me.
COLEMAN: My mother said the same. It's not particularly surprising when you take into account the number of hours that mothers spend. They were saying about 100 hours per week, which is an awful lot of time. That's investment banker hours.
O'BRIEN: And if you talk about mothers who are working outside the home and then come in from work and then pick up sort of what they call the second shift, you say that should be another $88,000 tacked onto a working outside the home mom's salary.
COLEMAN: Well, it depends upon how you calculate overtime, but somewhere in the $70,000 to $80,000 range, you know. It depends on whether it's a first job or second job.
O'BRIEN: So then, give me a sense of why mothers are so woefully not paid or underpaid or not valued, maybe more relevantly, for their time, when obviously no matter where you're arguing the dollar sign there, it's worth a lot.
COLEMAN: It is worth a lot. And that's part of the reason that salary.com thought it was important to do the study. I think that one of the issues is that motherhood has been around forever and people take it for granted. And even the mothers themselves feel a little self-conscious when they have to say I'm just a working mother. It's not just a working mother. That's a job, and it's a six-figure job.
O'BRIEN: Well, and then, of course, eventually, you reap all of the benefits of love at some point, right?
COLEMAN: Yes, the intangible rewards.
O'BRIEN: Oh, there's that. Bill Coleman from salary.com. Nice to see you. Thanks for coming in to talk to us this morning.
COLEMAN: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, how one major auto insurer is offering a special rewards plan. What would you say to a free accident waiver? Andy is "Minding Your Business." You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone. I like this idea. Insurance premiums that do not go up even if you get into an accident. Almost sounds too good to be true. And also, interest rates are likely to go up again.
Andy Serwer is back with us, "Minding Your Business."
Where do you want to start? Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Well, we're going to talk about this insurance situation. It's not too good to be true. You just pay for it. It's just like everything else in life.
"The Wall Street Journal" is reporting this morning that Allstate is rolling out nationwide a program that allows insurance customers to get perks and pick the rate of the level of insurance that they want. Basically, this is like a credit card company having a green card, a gold card and a platinum card. So, if you pay more for your insurance, say, 15 percent more, it means that your insurance won't go up if you get into an accident. And if you don't get in accidents, your insurance will go down.
Now, there are a lot of caveats. Obviously, if you're drinking and driving, the whole thing's off. OK? So that still holds true. You get, for instance, a hundred dollar reduction in your deductible, all manner of things like that.
And it's an interesting new program. And it will be interesting to see if it takes hold and whether the country...
HEMMER: No free rides, though?
SERWER: No. Well, the company plans on making money doing this, like most companies.
HEMMER: Let's make that clear.
SERWER: Yes, let's make that clear.
HEMMER: Interest rates, are you watching it right now?
SERWER: Yes indeed, 2:15 will be the announcement from the Federal Reserve, widely expected that the fed will raise rates by a quarter-point, the eighth time since last June. The fed funds rate is going to 3 percent.
And, of course, the statement by the Federal Reserve will be very important to see how they are gauging the economy right now. The markets up nicely yesterday, as you can see here. But this morning, futures are down a little bit. A little bit trying to figure out what the fed is going to do.
HEMMER: 2:15 it is.
SERWER: Yes, sir.
HEMMER: Thank you, Andy.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: You know, if the fed even so much as suggests that they might be finished raising rates or that they're going to take a break from raising rates, Wall Street will go nuts. That will be a big rally in stocks today.
SERWER: You're right. I hadn't even thought about that.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
SERWER: But you're dead on there.
CAFFERTY: Yes. But they may not do that.
SERWER: He's always thinking, Jack is, isn't he?
O'BRIEN: Always.
CAFFERTY: Well, some days, just until 10:00.
O'BRIEN: And then forget it.
SERWER: Then forget it.
O'BRIEN: But that's not the "Question of the Day."
CAFFERTY: At 10:01, turn it off.
SERWER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: You're not getting paid for it, forget it.
CAFFERTY: Yes, that's exactly right.
All right, other things. Congress is set to approve legislation that would for the first time set national standards for state driver's licenses. It's known as the Real I.D. Measure. It's being included in a supplemental appropriations bill for Iraq, which means it will probably pass.
This was actually held over from the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission last fall. It was left out of that bill with the promise that they would take it up this year. So that's what they're doing.
This provision requires states to verify applicants for driver's licenses as legal residents of this country. Eleven states now issue driver's licenses to non-citizens, be they legal or illegal. This bill would put a stop to that. You'd have to prove that you're a citizen.
The question is: Will standardizing driver's licenses improve our security?
Elaine in New York writes: "Maybe strengthening our borders, airport security, nuclear and chemical facilities, seaports and a host of other areas would be good start in securing America. We all have Social Security cards with numbers. Why not just use those? This is just another pork belly idea."
Patricia in California: "It may help. It depends on whether you can get the terrorists to sign up for the licenses or not."
Leslie in Ohio: "We need a national I.D. card with a smart chip and computer control. It could also be used for ATMs and for identification."
Jerry in Georgia writes: "The first line of Senator Joseph McCarthy's censure reads -- quote -- 'Periodically, American society has been gripped by fear, and its responses have not done credit to its democratic nature' -- unquote. Is the past prologue?"
And Gene in North Carolina: "Maybe standardizing driver's licenses will give rise to a federalized color alert system at the DMV. Green for a one-hour wait, yellow for a two-hour wait, and orange means give up and come back tomorrow."
HEMMER: A lot of orange out there, huh?
CAFFERTY: Yes.
HEMMER: Eleven states you can get a driver's license and you don't have to declare that you're a legal citizen?
CAFFERTY: Apparently, that's true. And...
HEMMER: What 11 states are these?
O'BRIEN: But people who are not citizens sometimes need to drive.
SERWER: Right.
O'BRIEN: I mean, there are people on visas who are students.
CAFFERTY: That's another issue.
SERWER: But I think it's too easy to get a fake one.
CAFFERTY: Huh?
SERWER: I mean, it's too easy to get a fake license.
O'BRIEN: Yes, you want to figure out how to keep a terrorist...
SERWER: A fake I.D.
CAFFERTY: In New Jersey, I went and renewed my license, I think it was last year. And they've tightened this thing up. You've got to show up at the DMV with, like, five or six pieces of I.D.
O'BRIEN: Oh, right. HEMMER: Oh, yes.
SERWER: That's the way it should be.
CAFFERTY: You've got a passport and a birth certificate and, like, a utility bill verifying your address with your name on it. That's a lot of stuff.
HEMMER: Hey, when I moved to New York, do you know how long it took me to get a driver's license?
CAFFERTY: Well...
HEMMER: Six months.
SERWER: That's how it should be.
O'BRIEN: You're right.
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: Aren't you a bad driver?
HEMMER: The word was out and it still is.
HEMMER: Thanks, Jack.
CAFFERTY: What did you say, Ted?
O'BRIEN: Wrap hard is what he said.
CAFFERTY: When you failed a driver's test? Did you fail a driver's test?
HEMMER: Actually, I have a pretty good record in the past couple years.
SERWER: Pretty good, huh?
HEMMER: Pretty good.
SERWER: Maybe you need some of that Allstate insurance we were talking about earlier.
HEMMER: Just the last couple of years, Andy.
SERWER: Yes, OK.
O'BRIEN: Because you live in the city and you don't drive. But whatever.
Anyway, some would call them strange bedfellows. Renowned diet expert Dean Ornish tells us why he's teaming up with McDonald's. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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Aired May 3, 2005 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. It's just exactly half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.
As the D.A. in Georgia decides whether to file charges against the woman who ducked out on her wedding, her fiance says he is standing by his runaway bide. We're going to talk to the groom's father -- or maybe we should say the groom-to-be's father to see how the family is doing in all of this.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The wedding is still on, right?
O'BRIEN: Apparently so. We'll find out.
HEMMER: Mother's Day is on the way. We're going to find out how much a stay-at-home mother is worth. When you add up the cooking and the cleaning and the nursing and the driving plus the OT, it goes well into, some say, the six-figure range.
O'BRIEN: No surprise. I'm surprised it doesn't go into the seven-figure range.
HEMMER: Soledad would like it to go into the seven-figure range. We'll get to that in a moment here.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I don't know. If it would go into the seven-figure range, I might decide to have a child.
HEMMER: You'd retire.
O'BRIEN: Out of here.
Let's get right to Carol with the headlines.
Good morning.
COSTELLO: All right. Good morning. Good morning, everyone.
A search under way right now for one of two U.S. Marine Corps pilots missing in Iraq. Navy officials tell CNN two FA-18 jets, like the ones you're going to see here, collided in bad weather during a routine mission. The body of one of the pilots was found earlier today. There is no indication of any hostile fire in the area at the time.
In Wichita, Kansas, an agreement hearing for the BTK suspect Dennis Rader. Rader was arrested earlier this year in connection with a killing spree spanning more than 20 years. BTK stands for bind, torture and kill. That hearing is set to get under way in about three hours.
A North Carolina man says he's planning to contact a lawyer. It seems what he thought was a piece of candy in his frozen custard turned out to be a finger. I know what you're thinking. But unlike a recent hoax involving a cup of Wendy's chili, this story seems legit. State authorities say they have confirmed an employee did, indeed, lose part of a finger during a food processing machine accident. And they think that was his finger. In fact, they're trying to get the finger back to him right now.
O'BRIEN: Really?
COSTELLO: Really.
Check out this catch. It was the top of the seventh inning. Garret Anderson hits what appears to be a two-run homer to right. But Ichiro Suzuki -- isn't that amazing? That was one amazing catch. Wow! Ichiro actually said he is not sure if this was his best catch ever, but he said the fans enjoyed it, and that's all that matters.
HEMMER: Oh, he can do better, right?
O'BRIEN: Right.
COSTELLO: That's what he said.
HEMMER: I'm just showing off out here. That was easy.
COSTELLO: It was just amazing. Still, though, the Mariners lost. But who cares after that catch? That was enough.
Let's head to Atlanta to check out the weather.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Well, her fiance is ready to reconcile, but authorities in Georgia appear to be less forgiving of the runaway bride-to-be. Jennifer Wilbanks could face civil and criminal charges for falsely claiming she had been kidnapped.
Claude Mason is the father of the jilted groom, John Mason. He's in Duluth, Georgia.
Nice to see you, Mr. Mason. Thank you for talking with us.
CLAUDE MASON, FATHER OF RUNAWAY BRIDE'S FIANCE: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: There are reports that Jennifer may have bought a ticket on the Greyhound bus a week in advance of the wedding. Any indications in your mind that, in fact, well before the wedding she was having some serious second thoughts?
MASON: No. I haven't really thought about it that much. I just have gotten all of those details recently, myself. So, I can't assess it one way or the other as to what was in her mind. I can only guess that she might have thought about it, whether she actually was going to go through with it or not. At the time she bought the ticket, it may have been different.
O'BRIEN: There are reports this is not the first engagement, in fact, that she's bolted on. Is it correct that she's been engaged before?
MASON: I do not know that. I've heard...
O'BRIEN: Is the wedding...
MASON: I heard a little bit that she may have been, but I don't know for sure.
O'BRIEN: Is the wedding still on right now, as it stands?
MASON: According to John, it is. As far as a date, that's not been determined yet. But he's committed to her. And as it stands now, he thinks there will be a wedding.
O'BRIEN: Has she apologized, not only to your son, but to you and your family as well?
MASON: We have not spoken with Jennifer since her return.
O'BRIEN: The D.A. says that she has not apologized to him. In fact, here's how he describes her. Self-centered, self-absorbed, no sense what was she put people through. Why would your son want to marry a girl who clearly doesn't want to be married to him, or at least at that time did not?
MASON: I don't know whether it was a fact that she did not want to be married to him. I think it was just all of the rush of the moment, so to speak, got to her as far as what I can tell from this point in my discussions with John. I don't think it's a matter of her not wanting to marry him. I think it was just all of the stuff leading up to it got to her.
O'BRIEN: In fact, in an interview, your son talked a little bit about some of the problems that Jennifer has been having leading up to the wedding date. Can you be more specific? What kind of issues is he talking about that she may have had?
MASON: I'm not real sure what he's referring to. I just know Jennifer was a perfectionist. She wanted everything to be just right. And as far as I know, everything was moving in that direction.
O'BRIEN: The D.A., as you well know, is considering charging her. He says that she needs to face some kind of consequences. Do you agree with that, that she has to face some kind of consequences, maybe jail time, maybe financial consequences for what she pulled off?
MASON: Mr. Porter is just doing the job he was elected to do. I don't have any problems with that. As far as what her punishment should be, I haven't really thought that one through. I don't -- I definitely do not think there should be any jail time. There's no question about in my mind about that. Possibly what I've heard...
O'BRIEN: Do you think she should have to pay back some of the money that the city lost in searching for her, $60,000?
MASON: That's a possibility. That is a possibility also. But right now, I haven't made my mind up as to what would be a -- what would be a good resolution on behalf of her and the city yet.
O'BRIEN: Do you think there will be a time when Jennifer comes forward and apologizes to you and all of the people who were looking for her and all of the people who were concerned that somehow maybe she, you know, had been injured or was killed?
MASON: I hope so. I hope that comes very soon.
O'BRIEN: Are you expecting to sit down and have a chat with your future daughter-in-law anytime soon?
MASON: I'm not -- I don't know. It depends on a lot of things right now. I'd be willing to sit down with her at any time, yes.
O'BRIEN: Are you looking forward to her joining your family as your future daughter-in-law?
MASON: I was looking very much forward to it before this all happened. And if John is still in love with her and still wants to marry her, I would welcome her into the family.
O'BRIEN: Claude Mason is the father of the runaway bride's fiance. Thanks for talking with us, Mr. Mason. I appreciate it.
MASON: You're quite welcome.
O'BRIEN: Bill.
HEMMER: It's about 22 minutes before the hour.
The U.S. and Italy are blaming each other for a shooting in March at a checkpoint back in Iraq. This was west of Baghdad. An Italian journalist was wounded. An agent was killed in that incident. According to the U.S. State Department, a joint investigation by the two countries, the U.S. and Italy, has agreed now on the facts but not agreed on a conclusion.
From the Pentagon this morning, here's Jamie McIntyre.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.S. investigators have concluded an American soldier did nothing wrong when he fired bullets into this Toyota, killing Italian agent Nicola Calipari and wounding both Giuliana Sgrena, an Italian journalist whose release he had just secured, and the car's driver.
The checkpoint shooting occurred the evening of March 4 along Route Irish, the seven-and-a-half mile road between Baghdad and the airport dubbed the deadliest in Iraq.
Among the findings, 15 to 30 vehicles had been safely stopped at the checkpoint earlier that night. The driver admitted going as fast as 50 miles per hour. The U.S. thinks it might have been faster.
The car did not slow down when signaled by a U.S. soldier holding a searchlight and laser pointer. The car didn't respond to a burst of warning fire.
Disabling fire hit the car in the right and front. And the time between the first shot and the car coming to a stop was no more than seven seconds. In addition, an American soldier told investigators the driver said afterward he heard shots from somewhere, and that he panicked and started speeding, trying to get to the airport as quickly as possible.
And finally, the report found no coordination by the Italians with the U.S., stating flatly, "The U.S. military was totally unaware of the recovery and transport of Ms. Sgrena on 4 March, 2005 until after the shooting indent had occurred."
In fact, the only American who even had a hint of what was going on at the time, an Army captain assigned as an aide to an Italian general was told by the Italians, it is best if no one knows.
Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEMMER: Now, late Monday, Italian officials released their own conclusions.
Jennifer Eccelston live with us in Rome now.
How do these reports differ, Jennifer?
JENNIFER ECCELSTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, the 52-page Italian report offers a detailed rebuttal to the American version of the March 4 U.S. checkpoint shooting in Baghdad, which left, as Jamie mentioned, intelligence agent Nicola Calipari dead and his colleague wounded, as well as an Italian journalist also wounded.
Now, first and foremost, the Italian report stated problems with the rules of engagement for policing checkpoints. Calipari's vehicle, it says, was not speeding. It was moving around 25 to 30 miles per hour. The Americans said it was moving over 50 miles an hour.
Now, additionally, the Italian report said there was no clear warning that a checkpoint was ahead and no clear warning from U.S. soldiers at the checkpoint. The U.S. report said soldiers warned the vehicle to slow down before firing on the vehicle.
Italian investigators also concluded that the shooting was not intentional, but caused by inexperienced and nervous U.S. soldiers manning a poorly-organized checkpoint. It said U.S. forces were indisputably aware of plans to rescue the hostage. The American report said says Italy had not informed U.S. forces of the rescue mission, saying prior coordination might have prevented this tragedy.
Now, Bill, the Italians maintain that because the scene of the shooting was not preserved as a crime scene, evidence was tampered, and as a result it was impossible to make a decisive judgment about just what happened on the night of March 4 -- Bill.
HEMMER: Jennifer Eccleston from Rome. Thanks, Jennifer.
O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, Andy is "Minding Your Business" with an unusual perk from a car insurance company. We'll explain.
HEMMER: Also, if you were paying moms to be mom, how much should mom make?
O'BRIEN: If I were paying?
HEMMER: Let's just say right now, they're a bit underpaid. That's next here after a break on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Well, you know, they say a mother's work is never done, and it is so true. According to the folks at salary.com, though, stay-at-home moms would earn more than $131,000 a year if they were paid for the many jobs that they do.
Bill Coleman from salary.com is with us this morning.
Nice to see you.
BILL COLEMAN, SALARY.COM: Good seeing you.
O'BRIEN: Thank you. How did you come up with this number?
COLEMAN: We asked a group of mothers what they did on a daily basis, on a normal basis, and asked them to couch it in terms of jobs that they see in the classifieds or job that they hear about on job boards. And we found that they're looking at jobs like teachers and drivers, maids, et cetera. And...
O'BRIEN: And I'm sure they left a lot off this list.
COLEMAN: Yes.
O'BRIEN: You ended up breaking down, in fact, into sort of seven big categories.
COLEMAN: Correct.
O'BRIEN: And I want to run through them, because you assign those then number figures. For example, teacher/day care center, $26,000. A van driver, $30,000. A housekeeper, 18,000. It sounds low to me. Cook, 31,000. CEO, $612,000. A nurse, 56 grand. Handyman, $29,656. How did you crunch those numbers then to get the annual salary, which you'll see, with base pay and then overtime pay, which you calculate, came to out to a little over $131,000?
COLEMAN: Well, at salary.com, what we do is we determine the market value of all of those jobs and thousands of others. And then, for this particular situation, we looked at how the mothers spent their time. And they told us, when they were telling us what they did, you actually just listed the jobs in the order in which they said they were spending their time.
So that number one answer was teacher and number two was driver. Apparently, we have a lot of soccer moms out there. And so, we weighted it based on the amount of time they spent and what they called the relative importance of each job.
O'BRIEN: Did 131,000 surprise you, that number, you think?
COLEMAN: Yes and no. I mean, I heard you earlier say it should be a seven-figure job.
O'BRIEN: That's just me.
COLEMAN: My mother said the same. It's not particularly surprising when you take into account the number of hours that mothers spend. They were saying about 100 hours per week, which is an awful lot of time. That's investment banker hours.
O'BRIEN: And if you talk about mothers who are working outside the home and then come in from work and then pick up sort of what they call the second shift, you say that should be another $88,000 tacked onto a working outside the home mom's salary.
COLEMAN: Well, it depends upon how you calculate overtime, but somewhere in the $70,000 to $80,000 range, you know. It depends on whether it's a first job or second job.
O'BRIEN: So then, give me a sense of why mothers are so woefully not paid or underpaid or not valued, maybe more relevantly, for their time, when obviously no matter where you're arguing the dollar sign there, it's worth a lot.
COLEMAN: It is worth a lot. And that's part of the reason that salary.com thought it was important to do the study. I think that one of the issues is that motherhood has been around forever and people take it for granted. And even the mothers themselves feel a little self-conscious when they have to say I'm just a working mother. It's not just a working mother. That's a job, and it's a six-figure job.
O'BRIEN: Well, and then, of course, eventually, you reap all of the benefits of love at some point, right?
COLEMAN: Yes, the intangible rewards.
O'BRIEN: Oh, there's that. Bill Coleman from salary.com. Nice to see you. Thanks for coming in to talk to us this morning.
COLEMAN: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, how one major auto insurer is offering a special rewards plan. What would you say to a free accident waiver? Andy is "Minding Your Business." You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. We're back in a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: Welcome back, everyone. I like this idea. Insurance premiums that do not go up even if you get into an accident. Almost sounds too good to be true. And also, interest rates are likely to go up again.
Andy Serwer is back with us, "Minding Your Business."
Where do you want to start? Good morning.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Well, we're going to talk about this insurance situation. It's not too good to be true. You just pay for it. It's just like everything else in life.
"The Wall Street Journal" is reporting this morning that Allstate is rolling out nationwide a program that allows insurance customers to get perks and pick the rate of the level of insurance that they want. Basically, this is like a credit card company having a green card, a gold card and a platinum card. So, if you pay more for your insurance, say, 15 percent more, it means that your insurance won't go up if you get into an accident. And if you don't get in accidents, your insurance will go down.
Now, there are a lot of caveats. Obviously, if you're drinking and driving, the whole thing's off. OK? So that still holds true. You get, for instance, a hundred dollar reduction in your deductible, all manner of things like that.
And it's an interesting new program. And it will be interesting to see if it takes hold and whether the country...
HEMMER: No free rides, though?
SERWER: No. Well, the company plans on making money doing this, like most companies.
HEMMER: Let's make that clear.
SERWER: Yes, let's make that clear.
HEMMER: Interest rates, are you watching it right now?
SERWER: Yes indeed, 2:15 will be the announcement from the Federal Reserve, widely expected that the fed will raise rates by a quarter-point, the eighth time since last June. The fed funds rate is going to 3 percent.
And, of course, the statement by the Federal Reserve will be very important to see how they are gauging the economy right now. The markets up nicely yesterday, as you can see here. But this morning, futures are down a little bit. A little bit trying to figure out what the fed is going to do.
HEMMER: 2:15 it is.
SERWER: Yes, sir.
HEMMER: Thank you, Andy.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: You know, if the fed even so much as suggests that they might be finished raising rates or that they're going to take a break from raising rates, Wall Street will go nuts. That will be a big rally in stocks today.
SERWER: You're right. I hadn't even thought about that.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
SERWER: But you're dead on there.
CAFFERTY: Yes. But they may not do that.
SERWER: He's always thinking, Jack is, isn't he?
O'BRIEN: Always.
CAFFERTY: Well, some days, just until 10:00.
O'BRIEN: And then forget it.
SERWER: Then forget it.
O'BRIEN: But that's not the "Question of the Day."
CAFFERTY: At 10:01, turn it off.
SERWER: Yes.
O'BRIEN: You're not getting paid for it, forget it.
CAFFERTY: Yes, that's exactly right.
All right, other things. Congress is set to approve legislation that would for the first time set national standards for state driver's licenses. It's known as the Real I.D. Measure. It's being included in a supplemental appropriations bill for Iraq, which means it will probably pass.
This was actually held over from the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission last fall. It was left out of that bill with the promise that they would take it up this year. So that's what they're doing.
This provision requires states to verify applicants for driver's licenses as legal residents of this country. Eleven states now issue driver's licenses to non-citizens, be they legal or illegal. This bill would put a stop to that. You'd have to prove that you're a citizen.
The question is: Will standardizing driver's licenses improve our security?
Elaine in New York writes: "Maybe strengthening our borders, airport security, nuclear and chemical facilities, seaports and a host of other areas would be good start in securing America. We all have Social Security cards with numbers. Why not just use those? This is just another pork belly idea."
Patricia in California: "It may help. It depends on whether you can get the terrorists to sign up for the licenses or not."
Leslie in Ohio: "We need a national I.D. card with a smart chip and computer control. It could also be used for ATMs and for identification."
Jerry in Georgia writes: "The first line of Senator Joseph McCarthy's censure reads -- quote -- 'Periodically, American society has been gripped by fear, and its responses have not done credit to its democratic nature' -- unquote. Is the past prologue?"
And Gene in North Carolina: "Maybe standardizing driver's licenses will give rise to a federalized color alert system at the DMV. Green for a one-hour wait, yellow for a two-hour wait, and orange means give up and come back tomorrow."
HEMMER: A lot of orange out there, huh?
CAFFERTY: Yes.
HEMMER: Eleven states you can get a driver's license and you don't have to declare that you're a legal citizen?
CAFFERTY: Apparently, that's true. And...
HEMMER: What 11 states are these?
O'BRIEN: But people who are not citizens sometimes need to drive.
SERWER: Right.
O'BRIEN: I mean, there are people on visas who are students.
CAFFERTY: That's another issue.
SERWER: But I think it's too easy to get a fake one.
CAFFERTY: Huh?
SERWER: I mean, it's too easy to get a fake license.
O'BRIEN: Yes, you want to figure out how to keep a terrorist...
SERWER: A fake I.D.
CAFFERTY: In New Jersey, I went and renewed my license, I think it was last year. And they've tightened this thing up. You've got to show up at the DMV with, like, five or six pieces of I.D.
O'BRIEN: Oh, right. HEMMER: Oh, yes.
SERWER: That's the way it should be.
CAFFERTY: You've got a passport and a birth certificate and, like, a utility bill verifying your address with your name on it. That's a lot of stuff.
HEMMER: Hey, when I moved to New York, do you know how long it took me to get a driver's license?
CAFFERTY: Well...
HEMMER: Six months.
SERWER: That's how it should be.
O'BRIEN: You're right.
(CROSSTALK)
SERWER: Aren't you a bad driver?
HEMMER: The word was out and it still is.
HEMMER: Thanks, Jack.
CAFFERTY: What did you say, Ted?
O'BRIEN: Wrap hard is what he said.
CAFFERTY: When you failed a driver's test? Did you fail a driver's test?
HEMMER: Actually, I have a pretty good record in the past couple years.
SERWER: Pretty good, huh?
HEMMER: Pretty good.
SERWER: Maybe you need some of that Allstate insurance we were talking about earlier.
HEMMER: Just the last couple of years, Andy.
SERWER: Yes, OK.
O'BRIEN: Because you live in the city and you don't drive. But whatever.
Anyway, some would call them strange bedfellows. Renowned diet expert Dean Ornish tells us why he's teaming up with McDonald's. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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