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American Morning

The Pressures of Prom Night; 'Paging Dr. Gupta'

Aired May 13, 2005 - 08:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Staying in Iraq, near Baqubah, at least two Iraqi soldiers were killed and five others wounded in a bus bombing. It happened just as an Iraqi military convoy was passing through that area.
Some encouraging news to tell you about concerning breast-cancer treatments. Researchers now say wider use of chemotherapy and hormonal therapy can cut the death rate by half. Details appear in this week's British medical journal, "The Lancet."

In California now, Michael Jackson's former lawyer Mark Geragos expected in court this morning. Geragos has been subpoenaed by the defense and could face arrest if he is a no-show. Meanwhile, another former Jackson attorney has testified that Michael Jackson's aides diverted nearly a million dollars of the pop star's money. The defense is trying to show Jackson was exploited by some of his associates.

And a very big night for some diehard "Star Wars" fans. They got a sneak peek at the latest installment. Theaters in select cities showed "Episode Three: Revenge of the Sith." But forget the regular $8 admission, these tickets were $500 to $2,500 each. But that's all for a good cause. Those ticket proceeds going to charity.

Bill, back to you.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Just a week away. Thank you, Kelly.

The possibility of catching Osama Bin Laden suddenly seems closer with the capture of Abu Farraj Al Libbi. He's believed to be Al Qaeda's number-three man, arrested earlier this month in Pakistan. Former CIA officer Gary Schroen has just written a book about the war on terror. It's called "First In: An Insider's Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the war on Terror in Afghanistan."

Gary Schroen is with me this morning. A pleasure meeting you.

GARY SCHROEN, AUTHOR, "FIRST IN": Good morning.

HEMMER: And an excellent book, too, to recount the events after September 11th.

SCHROEN: Well, thank you very much.

HEMMER: Back in September, 2001, Culfer (ph) Black was head of the counter-terrorism for the CIA. He came to you and you orders about Osama Bin Laden. He gave you specific instructions for Osama Bin Laden's head. What did he say?

SCHROEN: Well, we were to go to Afghanistan, and once we had gotten The Northern alliance's cooperation, our job was to find Bin Laden and his lieutenants, kill them, and with Bin Laden bring his head back to the United States in a cardboard box on dry ice so he could show it to the president.

HEMMER: And those were the words out of his mouth?

SCHROEN: Out of his mouth.

HEMMER: How did you react when you heard that?

SCHROEN: Well, it was an impressive, kind of inspiring conversation. I knew what he was trying to do, which was to impress us, the team, going in to harm's way, the first Americans to enter Afghanistan, that this was really serious business, the gloves were off, we were at war and we were going to get Bin Laden.

HEMMER: But the issue of dry ice brought out an interesting response from you too, did it not?

SCHROEN: Well, he also mentioned the lieutenant's head should be placed on pikes and photographed. And my response to keeping in the same vain was I can certainly improvise pikes in the field, but I don't know about dry ice, we'll have to see.

HEMMER: How close was the U.S. in getting Osama Bin Laden?

SCHROEN: I think the closest we came in Afghanistan was during the battle of Tora Bora at the end of 2001.

HEMMER: Was he there, do you believe?

SCHROEN: I'm absolutely convinced that he was there.

HEMMER: Why?

SCHROEN: All of the information that we were obtaining from the battlefield and the way troops were fighting, the way the Afghans were -- Taliban were fighting to protect people, it was very clear to us that Bin Laden was there, and in the aftermath, the first videotape that he released with me and -- it shows that his left side was injured. Clearly, we believe he was there.

HEMMER: You mentioned the videotape. Why do you think it's been so long since we've seen him in a videotape now?

SCHROEN: That I'm not sure. He certainly is alive and well, hiding in northern Pakistan.

HEMMER: You say he's alive?

SCHROEN: Um-hmm.

HEMMER: And well? SCHROEN: And well.

HEMMER: How do you know that?

SCHROEN: Well, I think if there was any problem, we would be able to determine that. I think he's very comfortable in some location in the northern areas of Pakistan.

HEMMER: Let's turn our attention, if I could, to Abu Faraj Al Libbi. How significant was this apprehension?

SCHROEN: It was significant in two ways. First, he had become the number three, if all our information is correct. And taking him down will damage what's the remaining elements of the Al Qaeda organization, which has been damaged. Bin Laden is isolated.

But the -- more significantly, it was the Pakistani military and intelligence service that arrested him in an area that they had been very reluctant to move into. These northern tribal areas of Pakistan are very dangerous and very hostile to the Pakistani government.

HEMMER: But the government had to have a desire to get this guy, right?

SCHROEN: And they did have a desire. He is credited with planning two assassination attempts against President Musharraf. But it was U.S. information, I'm convinced, that identified the location where this gentleman was hiding.

HEMMER: Do you believe the Pakistanis have the will to get Osama Bin Laden?

SCHROEN: I think we're going to have to, if we hope to get Bin Laden, we'll have to provide him with the will. Taking on Bin Laden in their own country, capturing him, would cause a tremendous backlash from the fundamentalist population in Pakistan, and it would shake the Musharraf government to its foundations.

HEMMER: This past weekend, you said something I thought was pretty substantial. You were doing an interview with Tim Russert on NBC and you said, we were only three to four months away. That specific time frame, three to four months away from getting Osama Bin Laden.

SCHROEN: And I will qualify it, because there's not much time, was that if the Pakistanis follow through, if they are willing to commit themselves to helping us and they allow us to operate in there, with the weather changing, it's the best time of the year for operations. Within the next three to four months, we could get him.

HEMMER: We will watch that. Gary Schroen, thank you. The book is called "First In." A pleasure speaking with you.

SCHROEN: A pleasure to speak with you.

HEMMER: A pleasure to speak with you. Thank you. (WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Let's talk about prom night. High school seniors may dream about it, but it certainly is enough to give parents nightmares. This morning, we continue our special series on the pressures of prom night. Kelly Wallace has more.

Good morning. Are we back with Carl (ph) and Kristin again?

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are back with Carl and Kristin. Yesterday, we focused on the preparations. Today, they take us to the prom. But, Soledad, reasons for parents to have nightmares and lots of anxiety, because experts who focus on the issue of drinking and driving consider prom night one of the most dangerous nights for teenagers.

Also, take a look at this number: In 2003, 24 percent of fatal teen crashes involved alcohol. There are other prom night pressures as well, such as will teens engage in sex, will they use drugs? So we wanted to get a firsthand account of the entire experience so we follow that senior from Delaware and her family. Listen and look at Kristin and Carl.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: SGA secretary, Kristin Brinkley, escorted by Carl Binz (ph).

WALLACE: A tradition at Delmar High School in Delaware, the march of seniors and their prom dates. It's already a night to remember for Kristin and Carl.

KRISTIN BRINKLEY: The driver's not here.

WALLACE: Luckily, crisis averted. The limo driver returns and they're off. We check in with mom.

PEGG BRINKLEY, KRISTIN'S MOM: It will be all right. I'll be even more happy when 2:00 gets here, but I'm not used to her being out that late.

WALLACE: No, she won't be drinking. Yes, she hopes her friends who do drink don't get behind the wheel. She lost her friend last summer in a car crash.

K. BRINKELY: So we know that it's a serious matter.

WALLACE: As for S-E-X?

(on camera): N-O. That's what your mom says, N-O.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: D-A-R-N.

WALLACE (voice-over): That would be darn.

No sex, but dancing that might make their parents, even the principal, blush. His bigger concern, though, what happens after prom?

WALLACE (on camera): When are you sort of, like, got through the night?

MARK HOLODICK, DELMAR H.S. PRINCIPAL: Tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning when the cell phone hasn't rung all night.

WALLACE (voice-over): After a little more dancing, we decide to join in. It is time for those after-prom parties. Nearly 11:00 p.m. Now, three hours before Kristin's curfew.

(on camera): When you fall asleep, is it sort of that ear just waiting for that door to open.

P. BRINKELY: Always. That's how it's always going to be there, you know.

WALLACE (voice-over): Kristin hasn't even left for the beach yet. She asked for an extra 30 minutes on her curfew.

BRINKLEY: I'm no boob, I'm not going to try to go all out.

WALLACE: She gets the extra time. The trip to the beach, though, probably not what she hoped for.

We've gotten to the board walk. Nobody here.

They check out a hotel party, but everyone's sleeping, so they call it a night, arriving home 15 minutes before curfew.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had a good time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm glad you did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good night. What was that, a TV kiss?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was a fine kiss!

WALLACE: A rite of passage, the senior prom, now just a memory.

BRINKLEY: I'm hungry, and I have a headache from it.

P. BRINKLEY: And mom is relieved.

BRINKLEY: I'm just glad she's back, safe and certainly hope that all the others get home safe as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And the Delmar high school principal who just gives out his cell phone to students in case of emergency tells us he didn't get any phone calls in the middle of the night. So no problems at all. Everyone made it home safely, and that is great news. Big thanks to the principal, to Kristin and her family and Carl.

O'BRIEN: Poor Carl. My heart breaks for Carl. Nice kiss at the end, Carl. Smoothly done.

WALLACE: Carl's thinking, next time I don't want CNN around, that's for sure.

O'BRIEN: Graduation, obviously, is another one of those times where the kids are very excited, and that actually might increase the risky behavior. The parents very nervous. What's the school doing about that?

WALLACE: We asked officials, because they do consider prom night and graduation time, again, the most dangerous times, and the principal said, you know what, he's going to talk informally to the students as they're preparing for graduation, go to classrooms.

But he did say, Soledad, you don't want to get too heavy. You don't want to be too repetitive. You don't want to be too repetitive. You don't want to be pounding and pounding away this message. The hope is you've talked about it, you've opened a dialogue, they get message, and that's what he'll try to do.

O'BRIEN: Hope for the best. I guess like you do with all kids all the time. Kelly, thanks a lot. Great spot -- Bill.

HEMMER: In a moment here, health news this morning, seasonal allergies nothing to sneeze at this time of the year. Sanjay has got some spring survival kits, too. We're paging the good doctor in a moment here.

And why Ford's CEO is turning down a multimillion dollar salary. Andy's "Minding Your Business," after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Spring is in the air, and for millions of Americans, so are seasonal allergies. We're "Paging Dr. Gupta" this morning for some tips on how allergy sufferers can make it through the season.

Good morning.

Do you suffer from allergies?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I do, and I'm suffering a little bit right now.

O'BRIEN: Bad day today, isn't it?

GUPTA: It is a bad day, and it's going to be bad through sort of mid-June. This is the worst allergy season in quite some time and this is the worst part of the year as well. About 30 to 40 million allergy sufferers out there. And as I mentioned, a pretty bad season this particular year. Symptoms not to be confused with a cold. These are very different symptoms. People who have a cold, the symptoms tend to be much more short-lived. People with allergies recognize these symptoms -- itchiness of the eyes, ears, nose and throat, the palate as well, the hard part of your upper mouth, congestion, the repetitive sneezing, sleeplessness, loss of focus as well. It's a cold when the symptoms can be similar, but last a much shorter time.

I've found this sort of tidbit that I'm giving you now sort of interesting. In cities, they tend to plant a lot more male trees. There are male trees and there are female trees. The male trees are planted because they don't want less procreations. They don't want the trees to be going crazy in the city. But male trees also give of more pollen. That's how they procreate, and that's why you have higher pollen levels as well.

Pollen counts, by the way, considered high right now. Normal levels, high levels considered 12 to eight -- 8.1 to 12 medium. Medium is about four to eight. Low is four. New York right now is about 11. Atlanta, where I'm going later on today, about eight. So high all around.

O'BRIEN: So is pollen the biggest trigger of allergies?

GUPTA: It is. I mean, pollen is going to be your biggest problem. And there are all sorts of tips to try to prevent from suffering from pollen allergies specifically. One thing about the pollen trees, these wind-pollinated trees, they tend to be more prevalent in cities. They don't like as nice, but they do tend to give off more pollen. Again, you can see those male trees have more pollen, the higher pollen counts, not beautiful flowers. They're going to have little aroma as well. Morning is going to be worst time. So all of those things can be possible triggers.

O'BRIEN: So what do you do? I mean, because you know, I can't tell if I have my -- continuing to have my cold, or if I'm getting allergies, because I actually feel worse today than I did yesterday.

GUPTA: Yes, you know, what's sort of interesting as well, about anchors and people on TV, is that when you have a lot of adrenaline flowing...

O'BRIEN: We whine a lot is what you're trying to say.

GUPTA: Always whining, house calls and all that sort of thing. No, but when you're on the set, you probably don't sneeze as much on the set. I don't know if you've noticed that, but the reason is, whenever your adrenaline is flowing, you tend to suppress some of your allergy symptoms, which is why in high pressure situations, you don't actually sneeze as much. But as soon as you relax, you start to sneeze more.

But there are other things you can do besides being a television anchor try and suppress yours symptoms of allergies. You know, try and reduce the pollen around yourself. You can check the pollen levels before you leave for the day. There's a Web site, the AAAI allegy site. I think we have -- yes, the name's up there. Go outdoors in the late afternoon and the evening as well, because mornings tend to be worse. Wash your hair at night, wipe off your glasses as well. Change your clothing. Take off your shoes before you go into the bedroom. Shoes tend to track a lot of pollen in. Also, air-conditioning in the cars and homes. I mean, HEPA filters help as well, all sort of common sense... O'BRIEN: All right, some really good advice. All right, Sanjay, thanks very much. Good advice. I'm going to try to some of that, see if I feel any better. Appreciate it.

GUPTA: All right, don't whine.

O'BRIEN: I'll try that too, Sanjay. Thanks for your compassion. As a doctor, I'm very impressed.

Coming up this morning, the head of Ford is giving up his hefty salary. Andy is "Minding Your Business," up next. Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Welcome back. Here's Jack.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: A CEO turning down a paycheck. Hank goes back to the office to get his shorts. With that and a preview of the day's market action, here's Andy Serwer, "Minding Your Business."

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" COLUMNIST: Thank you. Yes, in fact, the CEO, Hank Greenberg, the guy who ran AIG, did go back and get his skivvies, from the office. Here's the story. Hank Greenberg, the CEO of insurance giant AIG was removed from his post a couple weeks ago and it was rather hasty. He was told to just get out, leave. 80 years old, ran this company for decades. In the process, all of his personal effects stayed behind. Obviously, he wanted them back. The company resisted.

Finally, according to the "Wall Street Journal," he has been allowed to retrieve some of the items. Let's go through. A George III desk. Very nice. Monogrammed towels. Very nice. Letters from his mom. This is when he was in military service in World War II and Korea. You know, thank you for letting him have these back. Here's where it gets a little more personal. Underwear. What did the company want -- the water pik. Now, the dog's health records. It was a Maltese named Snowball. Reminds me FDR and his little dog Paula.

CAFFERTY: What sort of diseases did the dog have?

SERWER: I didn't get a chance to look through it. And he was not allowed to retrieve his Van Gogh. The painting by the...

HEMMER: He has a Van Gogh?

SERWER: The Van Gogh. Called "The Little Stream." Apparently it's owned by companies that Greenberg heads that have ties to AIG. So the lawyers are going -- there's "The Little Stream."

CAFFERTY: What do you suppose that thing is worth?

SERWER: Millions, I'd guess. They're all worth -- Van Gogh's are all worth millions.

Let's talk about the CEO who gave back. Bill Ford, family member and CEO of Ford Motor, has announced that he will forego compensation until the company returns to a sustainable level of profitability. That's great, nice gesture.

There are a couple wrinkles here. First all, Bill is not paid. He's already foregone cash compensation. So he was never taking any cash. He was getting a bonus and options and that sort of thing. But he was giving that to charity, you see. So what's happening now is the charity is not getting any of his money. And the Ford people noted that and they said, well, we're going to have to figure something out there.

CAFFERTY: Well, yes!

HEMMER: Call the foundation.

SERWER: Yes. Let's talk a little bit about the markets yesterday, Jack. Kind of a down day. And investors not liking this at all. Wal-Mart kind of pulling stocks down. They kind of had a weak quarter. Today's Friday the 13th, right?

CAFFERTY: Yes, all day.

SERWER: And someone produced a study that showed that, actually, the market does pretty well on Friday the 13th.

CAFFERTY: Is that right?

SERWER: Yes. Counterintuitive.

CAFFERTY: Well, good. One day this month would be nice. Thanks, Andy.

SERWER: It's time for "The File." I hope this isn't true. U.S. border patrol agents have been told not to arrest illegal aliens along the section of the Arizona border where the Minuteman volunteers were patrolling last month. "Washington Times" has a story that more than a dozen agents were told that arrests were quote, "not to go up" along the 23-mile section of border patrolled by the Minutemen. The agency apparently does not want to underscore the effectiveness of the Minuteman operation. When the Minutemen were on the border, daily arrests dropped from 500 to 15. The U.S. border patrol denies the story.

Japan's sumo wrestlers being told to cover up. Sports Amateur Federation has voted to allow sumos to wear more modest sumo pants under their traditional loin cloth. Officials hope the more modest clothing will increase participation among children, who have been avoiding the sport because the loin cloth's worn with nothing underneath. Sometimes the loin cloths come off during the bouts. In 2005, only 70 new professional sumo wrestlers were admitted to the sport -- not to the support, Freudian slip there -- compared to twice that number in the early 1990s.

SERWER: They look like big diapers, those things.

CAFFERTY: Yes, they do. It's a long week. More hope for an endangered species. Check these pictures out. Nine panda cubs on display for the first time Thursday in southwest China. They're less than a year old. They just recently stopped nursing. There are only 1,600 of these guys left in the mountain forests of central China, another 120 in Chinese breeding facilities and zoos. And they're about 20 that live outside China in zoos. They exist almost entirely on bamboo. They can live to be 30 years old. And these little guys will eventually get much bigger. They'll grow to be four to six feet in length and will eventually weigh up to 250 pounds. I would like to have one.

SERWER: Very cute.

O'BRIEN: Really?

CAFFERTY: Oh, aren't they cool?

O'BRIEN: But do they have a nice personality? Because koalas look cute, too, but they're kind of mean.

CAFFERTY: Are they? I don't know about...

SERWER: I think these guys are just sleepy.

CAFFERTY: They are cute.

O'BRIEN: They do, they always look sleepy, don't they?

HEMMER: You can't really pick up a panda at the shelter, can you?

SERWER: No.

HEMMER: Not too often.

O'BRIEN: More like a cat or a dog. All right, Jack, thanks.

CAFFERTY: I like the critters.

O'BRIEN: I know you do.

In just a moment, today's top stories, including a Colorado clinic that's coming to the aid of families without health insurance. How are they doing it? It's our weekly "Extra Effort" tribute, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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9


Aired May 13, 2005 - 08:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Staying in Iraq, near Baqubah, at least two Iraqi soldiers were killed and five others wounded in a bus bombing. It happened just as an Iraqi military convoy was passing through that area.
Some encouraging news to tell you about concerning breast-cancer treatments. Researchers now say wider use of chemotherapy and hormonal therapy can cut the death rate by half. Details appear in this week's British medical journal, "The Lancet."

In California now, Michael Jackson's former lawyer Mark Geragos expected in court this morning. Geragos has been subpoenaed by the defense and could face arrest if he is a no-show. Meanwhile, another former Jackson attorney has testified that Michael Jackson's aides diverted nearly a million dollars of the pop star's money. The defense is trying to show Jackson was exploited by some of his associates.

And a very big night for some diehard "Star Wars" fans. They got a sneak peek at the latest installment. Theaters in select cities showed "Episode Three: Revenge of the Sith." But forget the regular $8 admission, these tickets were $500 to $2,500 each. But that's all for a good cause. Those ticket proceeds going to charity.

Bill, back to you.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Just a week away. Thank you, Kelly.

The possibility of catching Osama Bin Laden suddenly seems closer with the capture of Abu Farraj Al Libbi. He's believed to be Al Qaeda's number-three man, arrested earlier this month in Pakistan. Former CIA officer Gary Schroen has just written a book about the war on terror. It's called "First In: An Insider's Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the war on Terror in Afghanistan."

Gary Schroen is with me this morning. A pleasure meeting you.

GARY SCHROEN, AUTHOR, "FIRST IN": Good morning.

HEMMER: And an excellent book, too, to recount the events after September 11th.

SCHROEN: Well, thank you very much.

HEMMER: Back in September, 2001, Culfer (ph) Black was head of the counter-terrorism for the CIA. He came to you and you orders about Osama Bin Laden. He gave you specific instructions for Osama Bin Laden's head. What did he say?

SCHROEN: Well, we were to go to Afghanistan, and once we had gotten The Northern alliance's cooperation, our job was to find Bin Laden and his lieutenants, kill them, and with Bin Laden bring his head back to the United States in a cardboard box on dry ice so he could show it to the president.

HEMMER: And those were the words out of his mouth?

SCHROEN: Out of his mouth.

HEMMER: How did you react when you heard that?

SCHROEN: Well, it was an impressive, kind of inspiring conversation. I knew what he was trying to do, which was to impress us, the team, going in to harm's way, the first Americans to enter Afghanistan, that this was really serious business, the gloves were off, we were at war and we were going to get Bin Laden.

HEMMER: But the issue of dry ice brought out an interesting response from you too, did it not?

SCHROEN: Well, he also mentioned the lieutenant's head should be placed on pikes and photographed. And my response to keeping in the same vain was I can certainly improvise pikes in the field, but I don't know about dry ice, we'll have to see.

HEMMER: How close was the U.S. in getting Osama Bin Laden?

SCHROEN: I think the closest we came in Afghanistan was during the battle of Tora Bora at the end of 2001.

HEMMER: Was he there, do you believe?

SCHROEN: I'm absolutely convinced that he was there.

HEMMER: Why?

SCHROEN: All of the information that we were obtaining from the battlefield and the way troops were fighting, the way the Afghans were -- Taliban were fighting to protect people, it was very clear to us that Bin Laden was there, and in the aftermath, the first videotape that he released with me and -- it shows that his left side was injured. Clearly, we believe he was there.

HEMMER: You mentioned the videotape. Why do you think it's been so long since we've seen him in a videotape now?

SCHROEN: That I'm not sure. He certainly is alive and well, hiding in northern Pakistan.

HEMMER: You say he's alive?

SCHROEN: Um-hmm.

HEMMER: And well? SCHROEN: And well.

HEMMER: How do you know that?

SCHROEN: Well, I think if there was any problem, we would be able to determine that. I think he's very comfortable in some location in the northern areas of Pakistan.

HEMMER: Let's turn our attention, if I could, to Abu Faraj Al Libbi. How significant was this apprehension?

SCHROEN: It was significant in two ways. First, he had become the number three, if all our information is correct. And taking him down will damage what's the remaining elements of the Al Qaeda organization, which has been damaged. Bin Laden is isolated.

But the -- more significantly, it was the Pakistani military and intelligence service that arrested him in an area that they had been very reluctant to move into. These northern tribal areas of Pakistan are very dangerous and very hostile to the Pakistani government.

HEMMER: But the government had to have a desire to get this guy, right?

SCHROEN: And they did have a desire. He is credited with planning two assassination attempts against President Musharraf. But it was U.S. information, I'm convinced, that identified the location where this gentleman was hiding.

HEMMER: Do you believe the Pakistanis have the will to get Osama Bin Laden?

SCHROEN: I think we're going to have to, if we hope to get Bin Laden, we'll have to provide him with the will. Taking on Bin Laden in their own country, capturing him, would cause a tremendous backlash from the fundamentalist population in Pakistan, and it would shake the Musharraf government to its foundations.

HEMMER: This past weekend, you said something I thought was pretty substantial. You were doing an interview with Tim Russert on NBC and you said, we were only three to four months away. That specific time frame, three to four months away from getting Osama Bin Laden.

SCHROEN: And I will qualify it, because there's not much time, was that if the Pakistanis follow through, if they are willing to commit themselves to helping us and they allow us to operate in there, with the weather changing, it's the best time of the year for operations. Within the next three to four months, we could get him.

HEMMER: We will watch that. Gary Schroen, thank you. The book is called "First In." A pleasure speaking with you.

SCHROEN: A pleasure to speak with you.

HEMMER: A pleasure to speak with you. Thank you. (WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Let's talk about prom night. High school seniors may dream about it, but it certainly is enough to give parents nightmares. This morning, we continue our special series on the pressures of prom night. Kelly Wallace has more.

Good morning. Are we back with Carl (ph) and Kristin again?

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are back with Carl and Kristin. Yesterday, we focused on the preparations. Today, they take us to the prom. But, Soledad, reasons for parents to have nightmares and lots of anxiety, because experts who focus on the issue of drinking and driving consider prom night one of the most dangerous nights for teenagers.

Also, take a look at this number: In 2003, 24 percent of fatal teen crashes involved alcohol. There are other prom night pressures as well, such as will teens engage in sex, will they use drugs? So we wanted to get a firsthand account of the entire experience so we follow that senior from Delaware and her family. Listen and look at Kristin and Carl.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: SGA secretary, Kristin Brinkley, escorted by Carl Binz (ph).

WALLACE: A tradition at Delmar High School in Delaware, the march of seniors and their prom dates. It's already a night to remember for Kristin and Carl.

KRISTIN BRINKLEY: The driver's not here.

WALLACE: Luckily, crisis averted. The limo driver returns and they're off. We check in with mom.

PEGG BRINKLEY, KRISTIN'S MOM: It will be all right. I'll be even more happy when 2:00 gets here, but I'm not used to her being out that late.

WALLACE: No, she won't be drinking. Yes, she hopes her friends who do drink don't get behind the wheel. She lost her friend last summer in a car crash.

K. BRINKELY: So we know that it's a serious matter.

WALLACE: As for S-E-X?

(on camera): N-O. That's what your mom says, N-O.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: D-A-R-N.

WALLACE (voice-over): That would be darn.

No sex, but dancing that might make their parents, even the principal, blush. His bigger concern, though, what happens after prom?

WALLACE (on camera): When are you sort of, like, got through the night?

MARK HOLODICK, DELMAR H.S. PRINCIPAL: Tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning when the cell phone hasn't rung all night.

WALLACE (voice-over): After a little more dancing, we decide to join in. It is time for those after-prom parties. Nearly 11:00 p.m. Now, three hours before Kristin's curfew.

(on camera): When you fall asleep, is it sort of that ear just waiting for that door to open.

P. BRINKELY: Always. That's how it's always going to be there, you know.

WALLACE (voice-over): Kristin hasn't even left for the beach yet. She asked for an extra 30 minutes on her curfew.

BRINKLEY: I'm no boob, I'm not going to try to go all out.

WALLACE: She gets the extra time. The trip to the beach, though, probably not what she hoped for.

We've gotten to the board walk. Nobody here.

They check out a hotel party, but everyone's sleeping, so they call it a night, arriving home 15 minutes before curfew.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had a good time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm glad you did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good night. What was that, a TV kiss?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That was a fine kiss!

WALLACE: A rite of passage, the senior prom, now just a memory.

BRINKLEY: I'm hungry, and I have a headache from it.

P. BRINKLEY: And mom is relieved.

BRINKLEY: I'm just glad she's back, safe and certainly hope that all the others get home safe as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And the Delmar high school principal who just gives out his cell phone to students in case of emergency tells us he didn't get any phone calls in the middle of the night. So no problems at all. Everyone made it home safely, and that is great news. Big thanks to the principal, to Kristin and her family and Carl.

O'BRIEN: Poor Carl. My heart breaks for Carl. Nice kiss at the end, Carl. Smoothly done.

WALLACE: Carl's thinking, next time I don't want CNN around, that's for sure.

O'BRIEN: Graduation, obviously, is another one of those times where the kids are very excited, and that actually might increase the risky behavior. The parents very nervous. What's the school doing about that?

WALLACE: We asked officials, because they do consider prom night and graduation time, again, the most dangerous times, and the principal said, you know what, he's going to talk informally to the students as they're preparing for graduation, go to classrooms.

But he did say, Soledad, you don't want to get too heavy. You don't want to be too repetitive. You don't want to be too repetitive. You don't want to be pounding and pounding away this message. The hope is you've talked about it, you've opened a dialogue, they get message, and that's what he'll try to do.

O'BRIEN: Hope for the best. I guess like you do with all kids all the time. Kelly, thanks a lot. Great spot -- Bill.

HEMMER: In a moment here, health news this morning, seasonal allergies nothing to sneeze at this time of the year. Sanjay has got some spring survival kits, too. We're paging the good doctor in a moment here.

And why Ford's CEO is turning down a multimillion dollar salary. Andy's "Minding Your Business," after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Spring is in the air, and for millions of Americans, so are seasonal allergies. We're "Paging Dr. Gupta" this morning for some tips on how allergy sufferers can make it through the season.

Good morning.

Do you suffer from allergies?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I do, and I'm suffering a little bit right now.

O'BRIEN: Bad day today, isn't it?

GUPTA: It is a bad day, and it's going to be bad through sort of mid-June. This is the worst allergy season in quite some time and this is the worst part of the year as well. About 30 to 40 million allergy sufferers out there. And as I mentioned, a pretty bad season this particular year. Symptoms not to be confused with a cold. These are very different symptoms. People who have a cold, the symptoms tend to be much more short-lived. People with allergies recognize these symptoms -- itchiness of the eyes, ears, nose and throat, the palate as well, the hard part of your upper mouth, congestion, the repetitive sneezing, sleeplessness, loss of focus as well. It's a cold when the symptoms can be similar, but last a much shorter time.

I've found this sort of tidbit that I'm giving you now sort of interesting. In cities, they tend to plant a lot more male trees. There are male trees and there are female trees. The male trees are planted because they don't want less procreations. They don't want the trees to be going crazy in the city. But male trees also give of more pollen. That's how they procreate, and that's why you have higher pollen levels as well.

Pollen counts, by the way, considered high right now. Normal levels, high levels considered 12 to eight -- 8.1 to 12 medium. Medium is about four to eight. Low is four. New York right now is about 11. Atlanta, where I'm going later on today, about eight. So high all around.

O'BRIEN: So is pollen the biggest trigger of allergies?

GUPTA: It is. I mean, pollen is going to be your biggest problem. And there are all sorts of tips to try to prevent from suffering from pollen allergies specifically. One thing about the pollen trees, these wind-pollinated trees, they tend to be more prevalent in cities. They don't like as nice, but they do tend to give off more pollen. Again, you can see those male trees have more pollen, the higher pollen counts, not beautiful flowers. They're going to have little aroma as well. Morning is going to be worst time. So all of those things can be possible triggers.

O'BRIEN: So what do you do? I mean, because you know, I can't tell if I have my -- continuing to have my cold, or if I'm getting allergies, because I actually feel worse today than I did yesterday.

GUPTA: Yes, you know, what's sort of interesting as well, about anchors and people on TV, is that when you have a lot of adrenaline flowing...

O'BRIEN: We whine a lot is what you're trying to say.

GUPTA: Always whining, house calls and all that sort of thing. No, but when you're on the set, you probably don't sneeze as much on the set. I don't know if you've noticed that, but the reason is, whenever your adrenaline is flowing, you tend to suppress some of your allergy symptoms, which is why in high pressure situations, you don't actually sneeze as much. But as soon as you relax, you start to sneeze more.

But there are other things you can do besides being a television anchor try and suppress yours symptoms of allergies. You know, try and reduce the pollen around yourself. You can check the pollen levels before you leave for the day. There's a Web site, the AAAI allegy site. I think we have -- yes, the name's up there. Go outdoors in the late afternoon and the evening as well, because mornings tend to be worse. Wash your hair at night, wipe off your glasses as well. Change your clothing. Take off your shoes before you go into the bedroom. Shoes tend to track a lot of pollen in. Also, air-conditioning in the cars and homes. I mean, HEPA filters help as well, all sort of common sense... O'BRIEN: All right, some really good advice. All right, Sanjay, thanks very much. Good advice. I'm going to try to some of that, see if I feel any better. Appreciate it.

GUPTA: All right, don't whine.

O'BRIEN: I'll try that too, Sanjay. Thanks for your compassion. As a doctor, I'm very impressed.

Coming up this morning, the head of Ford is giving up his hefty salary. Andy is "Minding Your Business," up next. Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Welcome back. Here's Jack.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: A CEO turning down a paycheck. Hank goes back to the office to get his shorts. With that and a preview of the day's market action, here's Andy Serwer, "Minding Your Business."

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" COLUMNIST: Thank you. Yes, in fact, the CEO, Hank Greenberg, the guy who ran AIG, did go back and get his skivvies, from the office. Here's the story. Hank Greenberg, the CEO of insurance giant AIG was removed from his post a couple weeks ago and it was rather hasty. He was told to just get out, leave. 80 years old, ran this company for decades. In the process, all of his personal effects stayed behind. Obviously, he wanted them back. The company resisted.

Finally, according to the "Wall Street Journal," he has been allowed to retrieve some of the items. Let's go through. A George III desk. Very nice. Monogrammed towels. Very nice. Letters from his mom. This is when he was in military service in World War II and Korea. You know, thank you for letting him have these back. Here's where it gets a little more personal. Underwear. What did the company want -- the water pik. Now, the dog's health records. It was a Maltese named Snowball. Reminds me FDR and his little dog Paula.

CAFFERTY: What sort of diseases did the dog have?

SERWER: I didn't get a chance to look through it. And he was not allowed to retrieve his Van Gogh. The painting by the...

HEMMER: He has a Van Gogh?

SERWER: The Van Gogh. Called "The Little Stream." Apparently it's owned by companies that Greenberg heads that have ties to AIG. So the lawyers are going -- there's "The Little Stream."

CAFFERTY: What do you suppose that thing is worth?

SERWER: Millions, I'd guess. They're all worth -- Van Gogh's are all worth millions.

Let's talk about the CEO who gave back. Bill Ford, family member and CEO of Ford Motor, has announced that he will forego compensation until the company returns to a sustainable level of profitability. That's great, nice gesture.

There are a couple wrinkles here. First all, Bill is not paid. He's already foregone cash compensation. So he was never taking any cash. He was getting a bonus and options and that sort of thing. But he was giving that to charity, you see. So what's happening now is the charity is not getting any of his money. And the Ford people noted that and they said, well, we're going to have to figure something out there.

CAFFERTY: Well, yes!

HEMMER: Call the foundation.

SERWER: Yes. Let's talk a little bit about the markets yesterday, Jack. Kind of a down day. And investors not liking this at all. Wal-Mart kind of pulling stocks down. They kind of had a weak quarter. Today's Friday the 13th, right?

CAFFERTY: Yes, all day.

SERWER: And someone produced a study that showed that, actually, the market does pretty well on Friday the 13th.

CAFFERTY: Is that right?

SERWER: Yes. Counterintuitive.

CAFFERTY: Well, good. One day this month would be nice. Thanks, Andy.

SERWER: It's time for "The File." I hope this isn't true. U.S. border patrol agents have been told not to arrest illegal aliens along the section of the Arizona border where the Minuteman volunteers were patrolling last month. "Washington Times" has a story that more than a dozen agents were told that arrests were quote, "not to go up" along the 23-mile section of border patrolled by the Minutemen. The agency apparently does not want to underscore the effectiveness of the Minuteman operation. When the Minutemen were on the border, daily arrests dropped from 500 to 15. The U.S. border patrol denies the story.

Japan's sumo wrestlers being told to cover up. Sports Amateur Federation has voted to allow sumos to wear more modest sumo pants under their traditional loin cloth. Officials hope the more modest clothing will increase participation among children, who have been avoiding the sport because the loin cloth's worn with nothing underneath. Sometimes the loin cloths come off during the bouts. In 2005, only 70 new professional sumo wrestlers were admitted to the sport -- not to the support, Freudian slip there -- compared to twice that number in the early 1990s.

SERWER: They look like big diapers, those things.

CAFFERTY: Yes, they do. It's a long week. More hope for an endangered species. Check these pictures out. Nine panda cubs on display for the first time Thursday in southwest China. They're less than a year old. They just recently stopped nursing. There are only 1,600 of these guys left in the mountain forests of central China, another 120 in Chinese breeding facilities and zoos. And they're about 20 that live outside China in zoos. They exist almost entirely on bamboo. They can live to be 30 years old. And these little guys will eventually get much bigger. They'll grow to be four to six feet in length and will eventually weigh up to 250 pounds. I would like to have one.

SERWER: Very cute.

O'BRIEN: Really?

CAFFERTY: Oh, aren't they cool?

O'BRIEN: But do they have a nice personality? Because koalas look cute, too, but they're kind of mean.

CAFFERTY: Are they? I don't know about...

SERWER: I think these guys are just sleepy.

CAFFERTY: They are cute.

O'BRIEN: They do, they always look sleepy, don't they?

HEMMER: You can't really pick up a panda at the shelter, can you?

SERWER: No.

HEMMER: Not too often.

O'BRIEN: More like a cat or a dog. All right, Jack, thanks.

CAFFERTY: I like the critters.

O'BRIEN: I know you do.

In just a moment, today's top stories, including a Colorado clinic that's coming to the aid of families without health insurance. How are they doing it? It's our weekly "Extra Effort" tribute, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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