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CNN Live Saturday

Corby Sentenced for Drug Smuggling in Indonesia; Housing Forecast Looks Stormy; A School Bus Tragedy Remembered; Memorial Day Tribute; Ethics Guy Answers Questions

Aired May 28, 2005 - 12:00   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.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: It is 12:00 p.m. in Atlanta, where a two-day standoff, high above the city, has finally ended. Eight p.m. in Baghdad, where there is no holiday for troops this Memorial Day weekend. Hello everyone, I'm Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta. Ahead this hour:
A family's outrage after sentencing in an Indonesian court, but was the sentence too harsh for the crime of drug smuggling?

Homeowners, listen up. If housing prices drop, what potential dangers do you face? And what can you do to protect yourself? One of the country's best-known experts has some advice for you.

Also, this hour:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VIRGINIA FLORES, SCHOOL BUS SURVIVOR: I member every second of it as if it was just yesterday. I see it, frame by frame.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: She survived one of America's deadliest school bus tragedies. A compelling story of luck, fate, and how lives were changed forever, but first, a look at the top stories.

Americans are paying tribute, this weekend, to the men and women would have given their lives for their country. And on this Memorial Day weekend, flags and flowers are being placed at military cemeteries across the nation.

In Washington, "Rolling Thunder" is underway. The motorcycle rally honors Vietnam veterans and pays tribute to American troops now serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Former president, Bill Clinton, is pressing Sri Lankan government and rebel forces to join hands in distributing aid to tsunami victims. He says the deal could lead to a lasting peace. Clinton is part of the United Nation's special envoy for tsunami recovery. After his trip to Sri Lanka, Clinton heads to the Maldives and then Indonesia.

A missing 3-year-old Missouri boy has been found safe. Holden Modlin and his dog were found a short time ago a few miles from his grandmother's house in St. Joseph. Authorities issued a (SIC) Amber Alert after the boy disappeared last night. The gripping spectacle on Atlanta's Peachtree Road is over, in the heart of the city's trendy district. A murder suspect perched atop an 18-story crane for nearly 57 hours has finally been forced down and taken into custody. CNN's Catherine Callaway is at the scene -- Katherine.

CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello Fredricka, you're right, things are back to normal here in this busy buckhead district of Atlanta. Fifty-seven hours after this crane ordeal began; it has ended with no injury to the police officers, to the rescue workers, or to Carl Roland.

Forty-year-old Roland apparently agreed to take a drink of water about 12:30 a.m. Eastern time this morning, offered from a negotiator, perched atop that crane, named Vincent Velazquez, and at that moment he was tackled by officers and then tasered once by members of the swat team. But it was a long process, Fredricka, to get him down from that crane. It took another two hours to get from the arm of the crane all the way down the 350 feet to the ground. He was wrapped in a blanket; he was then strapped into an orange backboard that you can see in the video, and he was hoisted vertically down the side of this crane, a long process. Officers stationed inside that crane and the ladders, in there, along the 25 story it took to get him down making sure that he did make it safely.

He was taken to Grady Hospital where he's being treated for dehydration, exhaustion from being on top of that crane so long. He will be transfer today the Fulton County Jail.

Now, in the middle of the night, we heard from the police department, here in Atlanta, talking about the importance of the negotiator, Velazquez, in bringing this ordeal to a safe end.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF ALAN DREHER, ATLANTA POLICE OPERATIONS: Well, I was just through negotiations with investigator Velazquez. They developed a rapport and over a period of time, without food and water his physical condition deteriorated and so through his negotiations, he was able to entice Mr. Roland into a position where we could affect a tactical solution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLAWAY: Of course, Roland is wanted by Pinellas County, Florida authorities in connection with the death of his ex-girlfriend, 36-year-old Jennifer Gonzalez. She was found beaten and strangled to death, floating in a retention pond behind her home, there in Pinellas County, Florida. Florida authorities, actually in Atlanta, do expect to extradite him back to Florida -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Catherine Callaway thanks so much, in Atlanta.

Turning now to Iraq: Several cities are dealing with the aftermath of new insurgent attacks today. Gunmen ambushed and killed eight people in incidents south of Baghdad. And at a coalition military base along the Syrian border, about 70 miles west of Mosul, a car bomb and grenade attack killed Iraq civilian workers and wounded dozens. Also along the border, the bodies of 10 kidnapped Shia pilgrims.

Meanwhile, a double car bomb outside a telecommunications building in Tikrit killed nine people and wounded 37 others. Iraqi authorities say that second bomb apparently targeted emergency workers.

And tragically, a Japanese hostage kidnapped earlier this month in the Anbar Province, has been confirmed dead. He was ambushed along with four other foreign workers. None of them survived.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was forced to demonstrate her diplomatic skills Friday during a foreign policy speech in San Francisco a couple of hooded anti-war protesters took the opportunity to make themselves heard. Here's what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Ladies and gentlemen. Ladies and gentlemen, it is a wonderful thing that people can speak their minds, and it is a good thing that they can now do so in Baghdad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The protesters were dressed in robes similar to those seen in the photographs coming out of the Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq.

In central Indonesia, authorities say terrorists are to blame for twin bombings that rocked a crowded market earlier today. The two bombs exploded just 15 minutes apart, killing at least 20 people, dozens more were injured. The region has been torn by years of conflict between Muslims and Christians, but authorities say the blast was not related to the sectarian violence.

Many Austrians are outraged over the 20-year sentence given to the Australian woman convicted in Indonesia of smuggling marijuana. But the defendant's sentence could have been much worse, she have gotten the death penalty. In many countries, if you're convicted of drug charges, your fate often depends on where you're from. The story now from CNN's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You took the word of a liar and he's one of your people.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Schapelle Corby's 20-year sentence may seem harsh, but experts say her claim that she didn't know she was carrying marijuana into Indonesia carried little weight with the judges.

DICK ATKINS, INTERNATIONAL ATTORNEY: In most countries, if you have drugs in your possession, in your suitcase or on you, the fact that you don't know about it or you were set up or you're carrying someone else's bag, that is no excuse whatsoever and you're going to be sentenced to the full extent of the law.

TODD: Dick: Atkins in an international attorney who's worked with hundreds of clients accused of drug possession or trafficking, while traveling abroad. Combing Atkins' expertise with information on the U.S. State Department's website, we found countries where foreign nationals are most likely to actually be executed for possession or trafficking in drugs, China, Iran, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore. On occasion, in Saudi Arabia and Singapore, possession of narcotics can result in a sentence of beating, then deportation or prison.

Corby could have gotten the death penalty in Indonesia, but it's rare for a foreign national to be executed there. Dick Atkins says the same is true in Thailand. But, he says, in many of these countries, your fate depends on your nationality.

TODD: There is a double standard and quite often if you're from Africa, if you're from a developing country, you'll be executed. There aren't that many people protesting or making a big fuss, but our state department and the media, if you're a Westerner, will make a big fuss.

TODD: But escaping the death penalty doesn't always mean escaping death. Atkins says in so many developing nations, especially in Africa and South America, where they don't have the death penalty, prison conditions are so bad, you're just as likely to die inside.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia's King Fahd is said to be in stable condition in a Riyadh hospital. The 82-year-old monarch was admitted yesterday for pneumonia-like symptoms. Fahd yielded day-to-day control of the kingdom 10 years ago after suffering a stroke. Crown Prince Abdullah has served as de facto ever since.

Coming up: Will the housing boom be followed by a bust? We'll talk to an expert about whether your home could lose its value. Also, exploring what you can do to protect your asset ahead on CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN Weather Center. If you're having a problem with pollen, here's your allergy forecast for this weekend. High category across much of the South and heading into the central plains. Very high category has gone away, that's good news, but the colors are beginning -- the brighter colors are beginning to creep farther to the north, Northern latitudes getting into the act with some hardwoods and the grasses, now kicking in as we head towards the end of May. Hope you're feeling well today and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, news this week of rising home prices has some analysts wondering if there is a housing bubble and will it burst, if so? Will the prices suddenly start to fall, leaving homeowners in the financial lurch? Take San Diego, for instance. Prices over the last five years are up a whopping 138 percent. What can you do to protect yourself from sudden changes in the housing market? Vera Gibbons is a reporter for "Kiplinger's Personal Finance," she joins us today from the Time Warner Center in New York.

Good to see you.

Nice to see you.

VERA GIBBONS, "KIPLINGER'S": Nice to see you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, well let's talk about San Diego. Is that an anomaly, 138 percent increase or are other markets experiencing that kind of rise in prices?

GIBBONS: Other markets have been experiencing that kind of rise in prices, predominately on the East coast, on the West coast. San Diego is perhaps one the highest with that 138 percent increase over the past five years, but the Miami market, Boston, New York market, those types of markets have also had very, very strong years for the past five years running.

WHITFIELD: So, does that mean if there is, indeed, a bubble, if that constitutes a bubble for those areas and if it were to burst and people in those areas that you just described are most vulnerable?

GIBBONS: Perhaps. One type of person who might be vulnerable in an area like California, you mentioned San Diego, would be someone who has taken out an interest-only loan, which has been the way to go, particularly in the California markets, because it's made those unaffordable homes affordable to some people. In fact, 61 percent of mortgages taken out to buy homes in the first two months of the year, in California, were interest-only and this is up from less than 2 percent in 2002.

WHITFIELD: So, how you financed your home, whether be it a McMansion (SIC) or otherwise, is really what puts in a vulnerable position. Piggyback loans, what is that?

GIBBONS: Piggyback loans, those types of people could be at risk, as could other people who have bother owed too much against the value of their home. Americans took out $400 billion in cash out of their homes last year, that's twice as much as 2001, and they're doing any number of things with this money. Many people have borrowed over the standard. Eighty percent would be what is, quote unquote, the rule of thumb. Some people have borrowed 100 percent, and again, those would predominantly be the interest-only people.

WHITFIELD: So, if you have a piggyback or interest-only loan, at this point or what kind of red flags should you be looking for, it it's time to, perhaps, refinance, get a different kind of loan? Is that what you would advise?

GIBBONS: Right I would go to your bank and try to renegotiate the terms as soon as possible. We are in a rising interest rate environment, as you very well know, so the sooner you get on this the better. The other option, of course, if you do live in one of these hyper inflated markets, would be to sell. We are seeing some activity in an area like Las Vegas, for example, where a lot of people have bought on spec. Some people there have now started to sell, because they do see a little bit of the writing on the wall and in Las Vegas, you know, just like San Diego, home prices have appreciated again over 100 percent over the past five years. So, a little bit of movement there. Some speculators have started to move out of these markets.

WHITFIELD: So, that's great advice if you have the home and perhaps you have that interest-only or piggyback-type loan, right now, what to do next. But, what if you are in the market for buying right now? What might be the best route to take when you think about trying to finance and try to hold on to this property for the long term?

GIBBONS: Well, the interest-only is appropriate for some people, particularly if you're planning to see your income rise over the next several years and if you're not -- if you're actually planning to sell the home in a short period of time. So, for some people, it does make sense, but unfortunately, too many people have jumped into the game and this has been their way to afford a home they wouldn't otherwise be able to afford. For most people, the 30-year fixed is still the great way to go. Rates are under six percent and there's no sign of them going up beyond, you know, 6.75 percent toward the end of the year.

WHITFIELD: If the stats are correct that one in four homes purchased these days seem to be for investment purposes. Do you see that that might likely change in the next couple of, you know, months or years?

GIBBONS: Well, I don't really. I don't really because I think some investors still feel that real estate is the way to go. Home prices don't fall the way the stock market does, as you very well know. People can loods their shirt overnight with the stock market. Home prices don't take a tumble like that because people don't actually sell until things get a little bit better. So, investors are still thinking for the most part that real estate is the way to go. Unfortunately, a lot of people have made the gamble that prices will continue to appreciate to the kind of levels we have seen, in large part, because the demand is there. You've got all these boomers out there buying, immigrants buying, so the demographic trends are, in fact, favorable, but again too many people are banking on a huge rise in home values and these are the type of people who could be at risk.

WHITFIELD: Wow! All right. Vera Gibbons the "Kiplinger's Personal Finance." Thanks so much for joining us this afternoon from New York this afternoon.

GIBBONS: Thanks, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And at 4:00, I'll speak to the director of the Center for Economic Forecasting Center at Georgia State University for more insight unto the housing market.

Well, it remains one of the worst school bus accidents in the nation's history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: I learned to appreciate my life, because I didn't appreciate my life, I wanted to die. And at that moment, I realized how much I wanted to live.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: We'll have this survivor's story and her struggle to deal with the pain.

And Memorial Day weekend is a time of reflection. We'll share the stories of some U.S. troops who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of many.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Back in 18 -- 1989, a horrible bus accident occurred and 21 lives were lost and others were changed forever. All this week, we've been telling you survivor stories, here on CNN, and today, Ed Lavendera takes us back.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVENDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On an early September morning in 1989, a day like any other day in Alton, Texas, 81 students boarded their school bus. Seventh grader Virginia Flores was near the back.

VIRGINIA FLORES, SCHOOL BUS SURVIVOR: Everybody in the morning were chitchatting and looking out the windows and looking around.

LAVENDERA: Wide-eyed and young, they had no idea of what was to come.

FLORES: I saw it coming, approaching us and realizing that it wasn't going to stop, because it was coming pretty fast.

LAVENDERA: It was a truck, barreling through a stop sign, crashing into the bus.

FLORES: I member every second of it as if it was just yesterday. I see it, frame by frame.

LAVENDERA: The impact forced the school bus off the road, 16 years ago, right here.

FLORES: It was kind of like a big old -- like a hill. That's why the bus went up that way, because it was like a hill right here in this end.

LAVENDERA (on camera): Did you know what was on the other side? FLORES: I knew what was on the other side.

LAVENDERA: The hill led to a steep drop into a watery gravel pit.

FLORES: When the bus flew up, yes, I flew up and hit the back of my head on the roof of the bus. I was flying in there like a rag doll. It seemed like in slow motion, like I saw the sky, I saw the wall, and then I saw the water, you know, and then it was like, boom, it went just like that.

LAVENDERA (voice-over): The bus plunged into 20 feet of water and started to sink.

FLORES: I didn't see anything or hear anything for a little while, I'm guessing. I don't know how long it was and then I heard a voice calling me by my nickname.

LAVENDERA: Virginia's brother was one of the first to get out.

ALEX DE LEON, VIRGINIA'S BROTHER: I thought for sure, you know, we was going die, because we were going straight down.

FLORES: Alex De Leon immediately reached back for his sister.

FLORES: He was calling me, "Gorda! Gorda!" And I thought I was dreaming and then finally, I opened my eyes and I looked and it was a hand like this. I said, "Well, I guess I'm going to heaven."

LAVENDERA: Instead, Alex grabbed her hair and pulled her out to safety. For the next hour, rescuers worked to reach the drowning students.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had to break the glass of the windows to get in.

LAVENDERA: Students tried to save their friends.

DE LEON: Everybody was screaming at the time that it was going down and nobody could believe it. When we came out, everybody was crying and everybody was like, no help me get my sister out, let me get my brother out, but there was nothing you could do.

LAVENDERA: As school notebooks float today the surface, 21 students were trapped inside and drowned.

FLORES: Seeing your friends dead on top of a bus, it's nothing that you wish on anybody. It was something that was very hard.

LAVENDERA (on camera): If you spend a lot of time driving around this part of South Texas, you'll find it's incredibly flat and that one of the things I'm struck by the most as we stand here at the bottom of this pit. The accident happened just at the top of that cliff and of all the places where this accident could have happened, this was the worst possible location, just feet from the intersection is this 50-foot drop into a body of water. FLORES: Was he in the bus accident too?

LAVENDERA (voice-over): Sixteen years after the accident, Virginia Flores still struggles with the haunting memories. As Virginia and her mother thumb through snapshots for those days for us, her mother pulled out a surprise.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Alex's clothes that he wore at the bus accident.

LAVENDERA (on camera): Yyou kept it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah. I don't know why.

LAVENDERA (voice-over): For reasons only a mother can really understand, Virginia Flores never threw away the clothes the day Alex rescued his sister: White pants muddied with the stains of the gravel pit.

LAVENDERA: He doesn't know you have them?

FLORES: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, he doesn't know I have them. And I was going to throw it away one time when I was cleaning up and I just threw it like that. I said, no, I think I better keep it, as long as nobody sees it, you know.

LAVENDERA: The accident took its toll on the family. Months of depression, visits to therapists, then Alex moved away.

FLORES: My brother is -- I hold him dear to me, although I never see him anyway, you know. I don't see him, but he's still my brother, no matter what even though we don't see each other.

LAVENDERA: Virginia Flores says the accident changed her forever.

FLORES: I learned to appreciate my life, because I didn't appreciate my life. I wanted to die. And at that moment, I realized how much I wanted to live.

LAVENDERA: Today crosses mark the spot where 21 students died in the worst school bush crash in Texas history, a memorial where many still come, struggling to understand why some lived and some had to die.

Ed Lavendera, CNN, Alton, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And you can learn more about what it takes to survive in extraordinary situations. Read profiles of survivors and take our quick vote at cnn.com/survivors.

Across the country, people remember our war heroes this weekend from flags at Arlington National Cemetery to a motorcycle rally in Washington. In Iraq, soldiers have sacrificed their lives for freedom. We'll bring you the story of soldiers who share a common last name and tragically, common fate.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Here are the latest developments "Now in the News" for this Saturday, May 28th.

Yet another deadly day across Iraq. A roadside bomb goes off in Mosul, killing three Iraqi civilians. The blast went off at a U.S. military checkpoint located on a bridge in the city's center, and in Tikrit, a pair of suicide bombings claims nine lives. The attacks happened within an hour of each other. All told, 28 people have been killed in Iraq since late Friday.

Two bombs ripped through an Indonesian market today, killing at least 20 people. The second explosion took place just as rescuers and onlookers rushed to the scene to help. Police suggest Islamic extremists are behind the blast. It came two days after the U.S. closed its embassy, warning of a possible terrorist strike.

And a murder suspect is jailed in Atlanta today, ending a 57-hour drama atop a construction crane. Police grabbed Carl Roland, then tasered him as he reached for water. He was strapped to an orange stretcher, and lowered 350 feet to the ground. Roland now faces extradition to Florida, where he is accused of killing his ex- girlfriend.

Americans are pausing this Memorial Day weekend to remember the men and women killed in war. The Rolling Thunder motorcycle group honored the dead with vigils and a visit to the tomb of the unknowns. A half million participants showed up last year. Rolling Thunder makes the trip to Washington annually to focus attention on troops still listed as P.O.W.s or M.I.A.s.

In upstate New York, Joint Chiefs Chairman Richard Myers gave the commencement address today at West Point; 912 cadets received diplomas. They entered the academy a month before the 9/11 attacks. Now, many will head to Iraq or Afghanistan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: The preservation of our way of life is absolutely at stake. Many take for granted generations of men and women in uniform have fought so hard to secure. We know these freedoms come at great cost and it takes extraordinary people to keep them alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: With Memorial Day in mind, we'd like to remember those soldiers who have paid the highest price for freedom by laying down their lives.

CNN's Beth Nissen profiles 21 soldiers with ties that bind all, named Smith, killed in the line of duty.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In remembrance, in honor of the U.S. troops who have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom, a list of 1,650 names, familiar American family names: Brown, Johnson, Martinez, Miller, Smith.

Smith, the most common surname in the United States. Twenty-one Smiths have done in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Like most of the American troops killed in this war, most serving in this war, these 21 soldiers and Marines were almost all young: 20, 21, 24. They came from mid-sized cities and small towns across the country: Anaheim, California; Troy, Montana; Rochester, New York; Tampa, Florida. They came from the nation's heartland, mostly blue-collar, steel-toe towns in Ohio and Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri. They came from the South, Arkansas, South Carolina, the back-road parts where single mothers worked their whole lives in fan belt factories, raised whole families in trailer homes.

Orenthial Smith (ph), known as Smitty, grew up here, graduated from high school, enlisted 13 days later to make something of himself.

IRATEAN SMITH, LATE SOLDIER'S MOTHER: I wasn't going to, you know, try to tell him what to do. That was his choice, so I just stood by him.

NISSEN: Many enlisted for college money. Private First Class Jeremiah Smith and Corporal Raleigh Smith both wanted to be history teachers some day. Some enlisted to prove themselves, improve themselves, like Private First Class Brandon Smith who dropped out of high school in Fayetteville, Arkansas, but went back, got his diploma, got into shape, lost 80 pounds so he could join the U.S. Marines.

Specialist Michael J. Smith also transformed himself. After high school, he had had some no-future jobs around suburban Philadelphia, had screamed songs with a local heavy metal band, had an all-black wardrobe and bright red hair that hung to his waist. The Army gave him a buzz cut, a direction, a career.

It gave Brian Smith of McKinney, Texas, a change in career. He was a labor lawyer, had his own practice, quit just before he turned 30 because he thought he could make more of a difference in the world as an Army second lieutenant driving tanks.

A few of the Smiths were were older, most career military, like Chief Foreign (ph) Officer Eric Smith, 41, a 16-year Army veteran from Rochester, New York, who lived to fly helicopters and First Sergeant Edward Smith, 38, a police reserve officer in Anaheim, California, and 20-year veteran of the Marine Corps.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ed Smitty had the qualities to be a very good Marine, an excellent Marine. He was a great cop and a great -- good friend. A good man.

NISSEN: And Sergeant First Class Paul Smith, 33, a 13-year Army veteran who'd served in the first Gulf War in Bosnia and Kosovo.

All three were part of the first wave of U.S. troops marching across the sands of Iraq in March of 2003 to Baghdad. All three were among the war's early casualties. Eric Smith died April 2nd, when his helicopter crashed in an unspecified part of the central Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He grew up and ended up wanting to fly helicopters and did so and fought for our country, and I want them to remember that.

NISSEN: Sergeant Edward Smith was wounded in combat in central Iraq April 4th. He died the next day. Like an unprecedented number of U.S. troops, he was married, had children, three under the age of 12.

Sergeant Paul Smith's unit made it to Baghdad, seized part of the crucially important airport. On April 4th, he and 15 fellow soldiers came under fierce fire from some 100 members of the Republican guard. As his comrades fell around him, Paul Smith took a wounded gunner's place at a machine gun, firing and reloading three times, covering the evacuation of the wounded before he was shot in the neck.

PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH, UNITED STATES: We count ourselves blessed to have soldiers like Sergeant Smith, who put their lives on the line to advance the cause of freedom and protect the American people.

NISSEN: First class Paul Ray Smith was posthumously awarded the nation's highest battlefield honor, the first Medal of Honor awarded in 12 years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has left his family and country a life of great meaning and entrusted us with his faith in America and its mission.

NISSEN: Less than a week after Paul Smith's death, the statue and the regime of Saddam Hussein had fallen.

BUSH: My fellow Americans, major combat operations in Iraq have ended and the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.

NISSEN: On June 21st, Orenthial Smith's mother came home from the fan belt factory to a letter from her son.

SMITH: Even though the president said most combat operation in Iraq is over, the war still continues. There are still soldiers and Marines dying every day. Mom, read this letter to as many people as you can. We are still here, fighting to help Iraq and also defending our great country.

NISSEN: The next day, she came home to an officer in an Army uniform. Only a few of the words he said came through. Convoy, Baghdad, regret to inform.

Of the 21 Smiths, 18 decide after major combat operations were declared at an end. Pockets of resistance turned out to be a lasting and widespread insurgency, attacking U.S. troops as they moved in long convoys, low-flying helicopters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, this is C.W. Fort (ph), Bruce Smith with company F106, the aviation (ph), from West Liberty, Iowa. I'd like to say hello to my family and friends in West Liberty and thank you for your support.

NISSEN: Chief Warren Officer Bruce Smith talked often about the joys and hazards of flying helicopters in a war zone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's not a whole lot of protection per se. It's made of aluminum and stuff, so We try to hide behind this console as much as we can.

NISSEN: On November 2nd, he was co-piloting a Chinook helicopter carrying troops home on leave, when a surface-to-air missile shot the chopper down near Falluja; 15 of the 18 on board died, including Bruce Smith, 41, husband and father of two.

Five days later, another surface-to-air missile, another helicopter, this one a Black Hawk over Tikrit. All six on board were killed, including Captain Benedict Smith, 29.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, we got him.

NISSEN: When Saddam Hussein was captured in mid-December, the total number of U.S. war dead had not yet reached 500. Not all were killed in combat.

Lance Corporal Matthew Smith, a Marine reservist, had survived that first push to Baghdad, still had grains of sand in the pages of his Bible. He and his family were relieved when he was redeployed to Kuwait.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The letter told me that he was going to be back before his birthday, which was in 20 days and we were all very excited.

NISSEN: Matt, almost 21, was killed when the Humvee he was driving hit a parked trailer. More than 100 U.S. troops have died in motor vehicle accidents, in dust storms, at night, on dangerous roads, off road.

Corporal Darryl Smith drowned when his vehicle overturned, plunged into one of Baghdad's network of rivers and canals. Private First Class Jeremiah Smith was killed when his Humvee ran over unexploded ordinance (ph) near Baghdad. Explosive, mines and IEDs -- improvised explosive devices -- were a constant threat. Private First Class Brandon Smith was killed when his Humvee hit a land mine in al- Kayim (ph) in March of 2004.

Mining roads, setting traps, hiding, that was the way of the enemy that Second Lieutenant Brian Smith described in e-mails home. "The Iraqis prefer to pop out of cover, shoot and run," he wrote. "They are rarely accurate." He was shot and killed by a sniper in July on Habania. Habania, Ramadi, Falluja, hot spots throughout 2004 for U.S. troops, Army units, then the Marines. Lance Corporal Michael J. Smith, Jr., Sergeant Benjamin Smith, Lance Corporal Antoine Smith, were all lost there, killed in the terse language of the Marines, in enemy action in al Anbar province.

It was left to others to give their lives detail. Antoine, 22, played viola in his high school orchestra in Orland, lost his stutter when he joined the Marines. Benjamin, 24, loved country music and rodeos, had a fiance, Carrie, waiting for him in California. Michael, 21, nicknamed "all-purpose Smitty" by his high school football coach because he'd play any position on his football team. His funeral was held in the Lutheran church in Steubenville, Ohio, where he was baptized, confirmed, and married to Alicia, who was expecting their first child when he died.

Najaf, Mosul, Baghdad, U.S. troops here stayed on patrol on edge. As he rode on Humvee on patrol in Baghdad, Arkansas National Guard Sargent Michael Smith was shot in the head. He was Medivaced to a Longstall (ph) Regional Medical Center in Germany, then to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.. His parents and sister kept vigil in the ICU for two weeks, but he never opened his eyes. He died last November 26th, the day after Thanksgiving.

Corporal Raleigh Smith wondered about being a good soldier. He told friends and family back home in Troy, Montana, he had mixed feelings about the war, had nightmares about all the bodies of women and children he had seen in Falluja, a ghost town, he told his mother. He was killed in action there, two days before Christmas.

Lance Corporal Jason Smith also wrote home about seeing dead bodies and dead Marines. In a letter his family opened last New Year's eve, the day Jason died on patrol in the al Anbar province, he wrote, "in some ways, I don't think we should be here, but someone needs to do it. I'm glad to help these innocent Iraqis out. They are so happy that we are here to fix their country."

Because of U.S. troops, U.S. sacrifices, Iraq was to have free elections. On January 30th, millions of Iraqis went to the polls. Specialist Michael Smith had wanted to see election day, the ends of Iraq's dictatorship, he'd said, but a rocket-propelled grenade hit his vehicle in Ramadi, January 11.

The elections were important to Corporal Matthew Smith too. His unit was on its way to secure a polling place in Falluja the weekend before the elections when his helicopter went down in a sand storm, killing him and 30 other U.S. troops. At his funeral back in Utah, Matthew's family agreed, he'd lived his dream. Even as a toddler, he would walk around with a toy gun saying, I'm going to protect you guys.

Since the elections, the war in Iraq has dropped from the front pages, the network newscasts. There have been only two Department of Defense reports on casualties named Smith, Lance Corporal Kevin Smith, 20, killed by a suicide car bomber near the Syrian border on March 21st, who, when he couldn't sleep, would call his fiance, Christy, back in the States at 2:00 am. She told his pastor at his funeral, she still listens for the phone.

And sergeant John Smith, 22, who was on his second tour in Iraq, was training Iraqi national guardsmen in Esconderia (ph) when an IED exploded near his vehicle May 12th.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was the kind of guy that -- we'd take fire, people'd be shooting at us, and he never panicked, always stayed calm, relax, and did his job.

NISSEN: John Smith was buried last weekend in the national cemetery in Wilmington, North Carolina, with military honors, a 21-gun salute, in remembrance, in honor of the 21 soldiers and Marines with the common name Smith who volunteered, who served, who gave their all, in all American's names.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, is it ever a good idea to tell on your boss? How about taking expensive gifts in exchange for influence? It's all a question of ethics and here with some of the answers is the author of "Life Principles: Feeling good by Doing Good," syndicated columnist Bruce Weinstein. Hello to you, Bruce.

BRUCE WEINSTEIN, ETHICS GUY: Hi, Fredricka, how are you?

WHITFIELD: I'm doing pretty good.

All right, our first question comes from a member of the Data Management Association, and it reads, "Each year, the industry honors a company with a "best practice award," which my boss has wanted to win for years. After he submitted an application a few weeks ago, I noticed that he had grossly exaggerated the figures about our company's achievements. Should I ignore the whole situation? Complain to my boss and leave it at that? Send an anonymous e-mail to the judges, perhaps? What is the right thing to do?"

WEINSTEIN: Actually, Fredricka, none of these choices is satisfactory. Doing nothing allows an injustice to continue and talking with the boss and leaving at that might also the injustice to continue. Finally, sending an anonymous e-mail isn't right because, in a democracy, we believe the accused has a right to face his or her accuser.

WHITFIELD: So, what's the best option?

WEINSTEIN: Well, the best option is to talk to with boss, but also to let him or her know that you, as the writer, intend to notify the judges, because obviously we can't leave it with the boss.

WHITFIELD: So, it sounds like you're threatening your boss.

WEINSTEIN: Well, not real -- it's not a threat, it's an ultimatum, because, in fact, you can't trust the boss entirely to right the wrong since he or she has shown poor judgment in essentially cheating the competition and it's ironic, isn't it, that he's trying to win a "best practice award" through unethical practices. So, no one likes to have to blow the whistle, but sometimes ethics requires doing so.

WHITFIELD: Of course, this whistle-blower has to worry about whether confronting or addressing the situation at all means that he might -- or she -- might lose their job.

WEINSTEIN: But, ultimately, at the end of the day, all we have is our integrity. What would it be like if you kept mum and allowed -- and then won the competition unfairly? That -- you know, you probably wouldn't be able to live with yourself either for that.

WHITFIELD: OK, our next question, "I'm an insurance broker and I frequently get offers from insurance companies for expensive presents in exchange for my business. These gifts range from home theater systems to vacations to four-star resorts. Some of my colleagues have no problem accepting these gifts, but the practice troubles me. Is it ethical for me to take the swag?"

WEINSTEIN: It is not ethical to accept gifts like this.

WHITFIELD: Somehow I knew you would say that.

WEINSTEIN: Well, when we give a gift to someone, we create the feeling of obligation in the recipient to return the favor. For example, if I give you a birthday present out of the blue, Fredricka, won't you feel inclined to give one to me? And, the problem with doing that in a professional or business context is that it shifts one loyalty away from where it should be, mainly with the customer, to this third party.

And you see, the ironic thing is that in the long run, customers are more likely to give a business their business if the business truly takes the customer's interest to heart. So, this is a perfect example of why taking the high road isn't just the right thing to do; in the long run, it's good for business. It's the smart thing to do.

WHITFIELD:: In the case of the broadcasting business, we would call that payola and, you know, we are sworn not to accept such gifts, but you're saying this really should be an interest-wide thing or universally industry-wide thing?

WEINSTEIN: Absolutely and it's already happening in the medical community, where there are now guidelines about what pharmaceutical companies can and cannot give physicians.

So, also, the other part of the letter I would like to comment on is the idea everybody is doing it or a lot of the writer's colleagues are doing this or even some colleagues are doing it and that, of course, doesn't justify it, doesn't make it right. The best thing to do is simply to say no.

WHITFIELD: OK. Bruce Weinstein, thanks so much. Always good to see you.

WEINSTEIN: You, too, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Have a good holiday weekend.

WEINSTEIN: You too.

WHITFIELD: Thanks for setting us straight, again.

Well, if you have an ethics question, send your e-mail to ethics@CNN.com. We'll get them on air for you just like that.

Well, it's a scorcher in Seattle. Will the temperature break the record? We'll tell you next on CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, some folks around the country are looking at a very wet holiday weekend. Meteorologist Rob Marciano takes a look at the weekend conditions.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: Still much more ahead on CNN Saturday. In a few moments, "IN THE MONEY" with Jack Cafferty.

At 2:00 Eastern, I'll speak with our legal experts for the latest on Michael Jackson trial and at 3:00, it's "CNN PRESENTS: AUTISM IS A WORLD."

We'll have a check of the headlines right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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


Aired May 28, 2005 - 12:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: It is 12:00 p.m. in Atlanta, where a two-day standoff, high above the city, has finally ended. Eight p.m. in Baghdad, where there is no holiday for troops this Memorial Day weekend. Hello everyone, I'm Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN Global Headquarters in Atlanta. Ahead this hour:
A family's outrage after sentencing in an Indonesian court, but was the sentence too harsh for the crime of drug smuggling?

Homeowners, listen up. If housing prices drop, what potential dangers do you face? And what can you do to protect yourself? One of the country's best-known experts has some advice for you.

Also, this hour:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VIRGINIA FLORES, SCHOOL BUS SURVIVOR: I member every second of it as if it was just yesterday. I see it, frame by frame.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: She survived one of America's deadliest school bus tragedies. A compelling story of luck, fate, and how lives were changed forever, but first, a look at the top stories.

Americans are paying tribute, this weekend, to the men and women would have given their lives for their country. And on this Memorial Day weekend, flags and flowers are being placed at military cemeteries across the nation.

In Washington, "Rolling Thunder" is underway. The motorcycle rally honors Vietnam veterans and pays tribute to American troops now serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Former president, Bill Clinton, is pressing Sri Lankan government and rebel forces to join hands in distributing aid to tsunami victims. He says the deal could lead to a lasting peace. Clinton is part of the United Nation's special envoy for tsunami recovery. After his trip to Sri Lanka, Clinton heads to the Maldives and then Indonesia.

A missing 3-year-old Missouri boy has been found safe. Holden Modlin and his dog were found a short time ago a few miles from his grandmother's house in St. Joseph. Authorities issued a (SIC) Amber Alert after the boy disappeared last night. The gripping spectacle on Atlanta's Peachtree Road is over, in the heart of the city's trendy district. A murder suspect perched atop an 18-story crane for nearly 57 hours has finally been forced down and taken into custody. CNN's Catherine Callaway is at the scene -- Katherine.

CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello Fredricka, you're right, things are back to normal here in this busy buckhead district of Atlanta. Fifty-seven hours after this crane ordeal began; it has ended with no injury to the police officers, to the rescue workers, or to Carl Roland.

Forty-year-old Roland apparently agreed to take a drink of water about 12:30 a.m. Eastern time this morning, offered from a negotiator, perched atop that crane, named Vincent Velazquez, and at that moment he was tackled by officers and then tasered once by members of the swat team. But it was a long process, Fredricka, to get him down from that crane. It took another two hours to get from the arm of the crane all the way down the 350 feet to the ground. He was wrapped in a blanket; he was then strapped into an orange backboard that you can see in the video, and he was hoisted vertically down the side of this crane, a long process. Officers stationed inside that crane and the ladders, in there, along the 25 story it took to get him down making sure that he did make it safely.

He was taken to Grady Hospital where he's being treated for dehydration, exhaustion from being on top of that crane so long. He will be transfer today the Fulton County Jail.

Now, in the middle of the night, we heard from the police department, here in Atlanta, talking about the importance of the negotiator, Velazquez, in bringing this ordeal to a safe end.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF ALAN DREHER, ATLANTA POLICE OPERATIONS: Well, I was just through negotiations with investigator Velazquez. They developed a rapport and over a period of time, without food and water his physical condition deteriorated and so through his negotiations, he was able to entice Mr. Roland into a position where we could affect a tactical solution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLAWAY: Of course, Roland is wanted by Pinellas County, Florida authorities in connection with the death of his ex-girlfriend, 36-year-old Jennifer Gonzalez. She was found beaten and strangled to death, floating in a retention pond behind her home, there in Pinellas County, Florida. Florida authorities, actually in Atlanta, do expect to extradite him back to Florida -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Catherine Callaway thanks so much, in Atlanta.

Turning now to Iraq: Several cities are dealing with the aftermath of new insurgent attacks today. Gunmen ambushed and killed eight people in incidents south of Baghdad. And at a coalition military base along the Syrian border, about 70 miles west of Mosul, a car bomb and grenade attack killed Iraq civilian workers and wounded dozens. Also along the border, the bodies of 10 kidnapped Shia pilgrims.

Meanwhile, a double car bomb outside a telecommunications building in Tikrit killed nine people and wounded 37 others. Iraqi authorities say that second bomb apparently targeted emergency workers.

And tragically, a Japanese hostage kidnapped earlier this month in the Anbar Province, has been confirmed dead. He was ambushed along with four other foreign workers. None of them survived.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was forced to demonstrate her diplomatic skills Friday during a foreign policy speech in San Francisco a couple of hooded anti-war protesters took the opportunity to make themselves heard. Here's what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Ladies and gentlemen. Ladies and gentlemen, it is a wonderful thing that people can speak their minds, and it is a good thing that they can now do so in Baghdad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The protesters were dressed in robes similar to those seen in the photographs coming out of the Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq.

In central Indonesia, authorities say terrorists are to blame for twin bombings that rocked a crowded market earlier today. The two bombs exploded just 15 minutes apart, killing at least 20 people, dozens more were injured. The region has been torn by years of conflict between Muslims and Christians, but authorities say the blast was not related to the sectarian violence.

Many Austrians are outraged over the 20-year sentence given to the Australian woman convicted in Indonesia of smuggling marijuana. But the defendant's sentence could have been much worse, she have gotten the death penalty. In many countries, if you're convicted of drug charges, your fate often depends on where you're from. The story now from CNN's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You took the word of a liar and he's one of your people.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Schapelle Corby's 20-year sentence may seem harsh, but experts say her claim that she didn't know she was carrying marijuana into Indonesia carried little weight with the judges.

DICK ATKINS, INTERNATIONAL ATTORNEY: In most countries, if you have drugs in your possession, in your suitcase or on you, the fact that you don't know about it or you were set up or you're carrying someone else's bag, that is no excuse whatsoever and you're going to be sentenced to the full extent of the law.

TODD: Dick: Atkins in an international attorney who's worked with hundreds of clients accused of drug possession or trafficking, while traveling abroad. Combing Atkins' expertise with information on the U.S. State Department's website, we found countries where foreign nationals are most likely to actually be executed for possession or trafficking in drugs, China, Iran, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore. On occasion, in Saudi Arabia and Singapore, possession of narcotics can result in a sentence of beating, then deportation or prison.

Corby could have gotten the death penalty in Indonesia, but it's rare for a foreign national to be executed there. Dick Atkins says the same is true in Thailand. But, he says, in many of these countries, your fate depends on your nationality.

TODD: There is a double standard and quite often if you're from Africa, if you're from a developing country, you'll be executed. There aren't that many people protesting or making a big fuss, but our state department and the media, if you're a Westerner, will make a big fuss.

TODD: But escaping the death penalty doesn't always mean escaping death. Atkins says in so many developing nations, especially in Africa and South America, where they don't have the death penalty, prison conditions are so bad, you're just as likely to die inside.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia's King Fahd is said to be in stable condition in a Riyadh hospital. The 82-year-old monarch was admitted yesterday for pneumonia-like symptoms. Fahd yielded day-to-day control of the kingdom 10 years ago after suffering a stroke. Crown Prince Abdullah has served as de facto ever since.

Coming up: Will the housing boom be followed by a bust? We'll talk to an expert about whether your home could lose its value. Also, exploring what you can do to protect your asset ahead on CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN Weather Center. If you're having a problem with pollen, here's your allergy forecast for this weekend. High category across much of the South and heading into the central plains. Very high category has gone away, that's good news, but the colors are beginning -- the brighter colors are beginning to creep farther to the north, Northern latitudes getting into the act with some hardwoods and the grasses, now kicking in as we head towards the end of May. Hope you're feeling well today and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, news this week of rising home prices has some analysts wondering if there is a housing bubble and will it burst, if so? Will the prices suddenly start to fall, leaving homeowners in the financial lurch? Take San Diego, for instance. Prices over the last five years are up a whopping 138 percent. What can you do to protect yourself from sudden changes in the housing market? Vera Gibbons is a reporter for "Kiplinger's Personal Finance," she joins us today from the Time Warner Center in New York.

Good to see you.

Nice to see you.

VERA GIBBONS, "KIPLINGER'S": Nice to see you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, well let's talk about San Diego. Is that an anomaly, 138 percent increase or are other markets experiencing that kind of rise in prices?

GIBBONS: Other markets have been experiencing that kind of rise in prices, predominately on the East coast, on the West coast. San Diego is perhaps one the highest with that 138 percent increase over the past five years, but the Miami market, Boston, New York market, those types of markets have also had very, very strong years for the past five years running.

WHITFIELD: So, does that mean if there is, indeed, a bubble, if that constitutes a bubble for those areas and if it were to burst and people in those areas that you just described are most vulnerable?

GIBBONS: Perhaps. One type of person who might be vulnerable in an area like California, you mentioned San Diego, would be someone who has taken out an interest-only loan, which has been the way to go, particularly in the California markets, because it's made those unaffordable homes affordable to some people. In fact, 61 percent of mortgages taken out to buy homes in the first two months of the year, in California, were interest-only and this is up from less than 2 percent in 2002.

WHITFIELD: So, how you financed your home, whether be it a McMansion (SIC) or otherwise, is really what puts in a vulnerable position. Piggyback loans, what is that?

GIBBONS: Piggyback loans, those types of people could be at risk, as could other people who have bother owed too much against the value of their home. Americans took out $400 billion in cash out of their homes last year, that's twice as much as 2001, and they're doing any number of things with this money. Many people have borrowed over the standard. Eighty percent would be what is, quote unquote, the rule of thumb. Some people have borrowed 100 percent, and again, those would predominantly be the interest-only people.

WHITFIELD: So, if you have a piggyback or interest-only loan, at this point or what kind of red flags should you be looking for, it it's time to, perhaps, refinance, get a different kind of loan? Is that what you would advise?

GIBBONS: Right I would go to your bank and try to renegotiate the terms as soon as possible. We are in a rising interest rate environment, as you very well know, so the sooner you get on this the better. The other option, of course, if you do live in one of these hyper inflated markets, would be to sell. We are seeing some activity in an area like Las Vegas, for example, where a lot of people have bought on spec. Some people there have now started to sell, because they do see a little bit of the writing on the wall and in Las Vegas, you know, just like San Diego, home prices have appreciated again over 100 percent over the past five years. So, a little bit of movement there. Some speculators have started to move out of these markets.

WHITFIELD: So, that's great advice if you have the home and perhaps you have that interest-only or piggyback-type loan, right now, what to do next. But, what if you are in the market for buying right now? What might be the best route to take when you think about trying to finance and try to hold on to this property for the long term?

GIBBONS: Well, the interest-only is appropriate for some people, particularly if you're planning to see your income rise over the next several years and if you're not -- if you're actually planning to sell the home in a short period of time. So, for some people, it does make sense, but unfortunately, too many people have jumped into the game and this has been their way to afford a home they wouldn't otherwise be able to afford. For most people, the 30-year fixed is still the great way to go. Rates are under six percent and there's no sign of them going up beyond, you know, 6.75 percent toward the end of the year.

WHITFIELD: If the stats are correct that one in four homes purchased these days seem to be for investment purposes. Do you see that that might likely change in the next couple of, you know, months or years?

GIBBONS: Well, I don't really. I don't really because I think some investors still feel that real estate is the way to go. Home prices don't fall the way the stock market does, as you very well know. People can loods their shirt overnight with the stock market. Home prices don't take a tumble like that because people don't actually sell until things get a little bit better. So, investors are still thinking for the most part that real estate is the way to go. Unfortunately, a lot of people have made the gamble that prices will continue to appreciate to the kind of levels we have seen, in large part, because the demand is there. You've got all these boomers out there buying, immigrants buying, so the demographic trends are, in fact, favorable, but again too many people are banking on a huge rise in home values and these are the type of people who could be at risk.

WHITFIELD: Wow! All right. Vera Gibbons the "Kiplinger's Personal Finance." Thanks so much for joining us this afternoon from New York this afternoon.

GIBBONS: Thanks, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And at 4:00, I'll speak to the director of the Center for Economic Forecasting Center at Georgia State University for more insight unto the housing market.

Well, it remains one of the worst school bus accidents in the nation's history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: I learned to appreciate my life, because I didn't appreciate my life, I wanted to die. And at that moment, I realized how much I wanted to live.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: We'll have this survivor's story and her struggle to deal with the pain.

And Memorial Day weekend is a time of reflection. We'll share the stories of some U.S. troops who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of many.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Back in 18 -- 1989, a horrible bus accident occurred and 21 lives were lost and others were changed forever. All this week, we've been telling you survivor stories, here on CNN, and today, Ed Lavendera takes us back.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVENDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On an early September morning in 1989, a day like any other day in Alton, Texas, 81 students boarded their school bus. Seventh grader Virginia Flores was near the back.

VIRGINIA FLORES, SCHOOL BUS SURVIVOR: Everybody in the morning were chitchatting and looking out the windows and looking around.

LAVENDERA: Wide-eyed and young, they had no idea of what was to come.

FLORES: I saw it coming, approaching us and realizing that it wasn't going to stop, because it was coming pretty fast.

LAVENDERA: It was a truck, barreling through a stop sign, crashing into the bus.

FLORES: I member every second of it as if it was just yesterday. I see it, frame by frame.

LAVENDERA: The impact forced the school bus off the road, 16 years ago, right here.

FLORES: It was kind of like a big old -- like a hill. That's why the bus went up that way, because it was like a hill right here in this end.

LAVENDERA (on camera): Did you know what was on the other side? FLORES: I knew what was on the other side.

LAVENDERA: The hill led to a steep drop into a watery gravel pit.

FLORES: When the bus flew up, yes, I flew up and hit the back of my head on the roof of the bus. I was flying in there like a rag doll. It seemed like in slow motion, like I saw the sky, I saw the wall, and then I saw the water, you know, and then it was like, boom, it went just like that.

LAVENDERA (voice-over): The bus plunged into 20 feet of water and started to sink.

FLORES: I didn't see anything or hear anything for a little while, I'm guessing. I don't know how long it was and then I heard a voice calling me by my nickname.

LAVENDERA: Virginia's brother was one of the first to get out.

ALEX DE LEON, VIRGINIA'S BROTHER: I thought for sure, you know, we was going die, because we were going straight down.

FLORES: Alex De Leon immediately reached back for his sister.

FLORES: He was calling me, "Gorda! Gorda!" And I thought I was dreaming and then finally, I opened my eyes and I looked and it was a hand like this. I said, "Well, I guess I'm going to heaven."

LAVENDERA: Instead, Alex grabbed her hair and pulled her out to safety. For the next hour, rescuers worked to reach the drowning students.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had to break the glass of the windows to get in.

LAVENDERA: Students tried to save their friends.

DE LEON: Everybody was screaming at the time that it was going down and nobody could believe it. When we came out, everybody was crying and everybody was like, no help me get my sister out, let me get my brother out, but there was nothing you could do.

LAVENDERA: As school notebooks float today the surface, 21 students were trapped inside and drowned.

FLORES: Seeing your friends dead on top of a bus, it's nothing that you wish on anybody. It was something that was very hard.

LAVENDERA (on camera): If you spend a lot of time driving around this part of South Texas, you'll find it's incredibly flat and that one of the things I'm struck by the most as we stand here at the bottom of this pit. The accident happened just at the top of that cliff and of all the places where this accident could have happened, this was the worst possible location, just feet from the intersection is this 50-foot drop into a body of water. FLORES: Was he in the bus accident too?

LAVENDERA (voice-over): Sixteen years after the accident, Virginia Flores still struggles with the haunting memories. As Virginia and her mother thumb through snapshots for those days for us, her mother pulled out a surprise.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Alex's clothes that he wore at the bus accident.

LAVENDERA (on camera): Yyou kept it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah. I don't know why.

LAVENDERA (voice-over): For reasons only a mother can really understand, Virginia Flores never threw away the clothes the day Alex rescued his sister: White pants muddied with the stains of the gravel pit.

LAVENDERA: He doesn't know you have them?

FLORES: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, he doesn't know I have them. And I was going to throw it away one time when I was cleaning up and I just threw it like that. I said, no, I think I better keep it, as long as nobody sees it, you know.

LAVENDERA: The accident took its toll on the family. Months of depression, visits to therapists, then Alex moved away.

FLORES: My brother is -- I hold him dear to me, although I never see him anyway, you know. I don't see him, but he's still my brother, no matter what even though we don't see each other.

LAVENDERA: Virginia Flores says the accident changed her forever.

FLORES: I learned to appreciate my life, because I didn't appreciate my life. I wanted to die. And at that moment, I realized how much I wanted to live.

LAVENDERA: Today crosses mark the spot where 21 students died in the worst school bush crash in Texas history, a memorial where many still come, struggling to understand why some lived and some had to die.

Ed Lavendera, CNN, Alton, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And you can learn more about what it takes to survive in extraordinary situations. Read profiles of survivors and take our quick vote at cnn.com/survivors.

Across the country, people remember our war heroes this weekend from flags at Arlington National Cemetery to a motorcycle rally in Washington. In Iraq, soldiers have sacrificed their lives for freedom. We'll bring you the story of soldiers who share a common last name and tragically, common fate.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Here are the latest developments "Now in the News" for this Saturday, May 28th.

Yet another deadly day across Iraq. A roadside bomb goes off in Mosul, killing three Iraqi civilians. The blast went off at a U.S. military checkpoint located on a bridge in the city's center, and in Tikrit, a pair of suicide bombings claims nine lives. The attacks happened within an hour of each other. All told, 28 people have been killed in Iraq since late Friday.

Two bombs ripped through an Indonesian market today, killing at least 20 people. The second explosion took place just as rescuers and onlookers rushed to the scene to help. Police suggest Islamic extremists are behind the blast. It came two days after the U.S. closed its embassy, warning of a possible terrorist strike.

And a murder suspect is jailed in Atlanta today, ending a 57-hour drama atop a construction crane. Police grabbed Carl Roland, then tasered him as he reached for water. He was strapped to an orange stretcher, and lowered 350 feet to the ground. Roland now faces extradition to Florida, where he is accused of killing his ex- girlfriend.

Americans are pausing this Memorial Day weekend to remember the men and women killed in war. The Rolling Thunder motorcycle group honored the dead with vigils and a visit to the tomb of the unknowns. A half million participants showed up last year. Rolling Thunder makes the trip to Washington annually to focus attention on troops still listed as P.O.W.s or M.I.A.s.

In upstate New York, Joint Chiefs Chairman Richard Myers gave the commencement address today at West Point; 912 cadets received diplomas. They entered the academy a month before the 9/11 attacks. Now, many will head to Iraq or Afghanistan.

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GEN. RICHARD MYERS, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: The preservation of our way of life is absolutely at stake. Many take for granted generations of men and women in uniform have fought so hard to secure. We know these freedoms come at great cost and it takes extraordinary people to keep them alive.

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WHITFIELD: With Memorial Day in mind, we'd like to remember those soldiers who have paid the highest price for freedom by laying down their lives.

CNN's Beth Nissen profiles 21 soldiers with ties that bind all, named Smith, killed in the line of duty.

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BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In remembrance, in honor of the U.S. troops who have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom, a list of 1,650 names, familiar American family names: Brown, Johnson, Martinez, Miller, Smith.

Smith, the most common surname in the United States. Twenty-one Smiths have done in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Like most of the American troops killed in this war, most serving in this war, these 21 soldiers and Marines were almost all young: 20, 21, 24. They came from mid-sized cities and small towns across the country: Anaheim, California; Troy, Montana; Rochester, New York; Tampa, Florida. They came from the nation's heartland, mostly blue-collar, steel-toe towns in Ohio and Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri. They came from the South, Arkansas, South Carolina, the back-road parts where single mothers worked their whole lives in fan belt factories, raised whole families in trailer homes.

Orenthial Smith (ph), known as Smitty, grew up here, graduated from high school, enlisted 13 days later to make something of himself.

IRATEAN SMITH, LATE SOLDIER'S MOTHER: I wasn't going to, you know, try to tell him what to do. That was his choice, so I just stood by him.

NISSEN: Many enlisted for college money. Private First Class Jeremiah Smith and Corporal Raleigh Smith both wanted to be history teachers some day. Some enlisted to prove themselves, improve themselves, like Private First Class Brandon Smith who dropped out of high school in Fayetteville, Arkansas, but went back, got his diploma, got into shape, lost 80 pounds so he could join the U.S. Marines.

Specialist Michael J. Smith also transformed himself. After high school, he had had some no-future jobs around suburban Philadelphia, had screamed songs with a local heavy metal band, had an all-black wardrobe and bright red hair that hung to his waist. The Army gave him a buzz cut, a direction, a career.

It gave Brian Smith of McKinney, Texas, a change in career. He was a labor lawyer, had his own practice, quit just before he turned 30 because he thought he could make more of a difference in the world as an Army second lieutenant driving tanks.

A few of the Smiths were were older, most career military, like Chief Foreign (ph) Officer Eric Smith, 41, a 16-year Army veteran from Rochester, New York, who lived to fly helicopters and First Sergeant Edward Smith, 38, a police reserve officer in Anaheim, California, and 20-year veteran of the Marine Corps.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ed Smitty had the qualities to be a very good Marine, an excellent Marine. He was a great cop and a great -- good friend. A good man.

NISSEN: And Sergeant First Class Paul Smith, 33, a 13-year Army veteran who'd served in the first Gulf War in Bosnia and Kosovo.

All three were part of the first wave of U.S. troops marching across the sands of Iraq in March of 2003 to Baghdad. All three were among the war's early casualties. Eric Smith died April 2nd, when his helicopter crashed in an unspecified part of the central Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He grew up and ended up wanting to fly helicopters and did so and fought for our country, and I want them to remember that.

NISSEN: Sergeant Edward Smith was wounded in combat in central Iraq April 4th. He died the next day. Like an unprecedented number of U.S. troops, he was married, had children, three under the age of 12.

Sergeant Paul Smith's unit made it to Baghdad, seized part of the crucially important airport. On April 4th, he and 15 fellow soldiers came under fierce fire from some 100 members of the Republican guard. As his comrades fell around him, Paul Smith took a wounded gunner's place at a machine gun, firing and reloading three times, covering the evacuation of the wounded before he was shot in the neck.

PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH, UNITED STATES: We count ourselves blessed to have soldiers like Sergeant Smith, who put their lives on the line to advance the cause of freedom and protect the American people.

NISSEN: First class Paul Ray Smith was posthumously awarded the nation's highest battlefield honor, the first Medal of Honor awarded in 12 years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has left his family and country a life of great meaning and entrusted us with his faith in America and its mission.

NISSEN: Less than a week after Paul Smith's death, the statue and the regime of Saddam Hussein had fallen.

BUSH: My fellow Americans, major combat operations in Iraq have ended and the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.

NISSEN: On June 21st, Orenthial Smith's mother came home from the fan belt factory to a letter from her son.

SMITH: Even though the president said most combat operation in Iraq is over, the war still continues. There are still soldiers and Marines dying every day. Mom, read this letter to as many people as you can. We are still here, fighting to help Iraq and also defending our great country.

NISSEN: The next day, she came home to an officer in an Army uniform. Only a few of the words he said came through. Convoy, Baghdad, regret to inform.

Of the 21 Smiths, 18 decide after major combat operations were declared at an end. Pockets of resistance turned out to be a lasting and widespread insurgency, attacking U.S. troops as they moved in long convoys, low-flying helicopters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, this is C.W. Fort (ph), Bruce Smith with company F106, the aviation (ph), from West Liberty, Iowa. I'd like to say hello to my family and friends in West Liberty and thank you for your support.

NISSEN: Chief Warren Officer Bruce Smith talked often about the joys and hazards of flying helicopters in a war zone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's not a whole lot of protection per se. It's made of aluminum and stuff, so We try to hide behind this console as much as we can.

NISSEN: On November 2nd, he was co-piloting a Chinook helicopter carrying troops home on leave, when a surface-to-air missile shot the chopper down near Falluja; 15 of the 18 on board died, including Bruce Smith, 41, husband and father of two.

Five days later, another surface-to-air missile, another helicopter, this one a Black Hawk over Tikrit. All six on board were killed, including Captain Benedict Smith, 29.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, we got him.

NISSEN: When Saddam Hussein was captured in mid-December, the total number of U.S. war dead had not yet reached 500. Not all were killed in combat.

Lance Corporal Matthew Smith, a Marine reservist, had survived that first push to Baghdad, still had grains of sand in the pages of his Bible. He and his family were relieved when he was redeployed to Kuwait.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The letter told me that he was going to be back before his birthday, which was in 20 days and we were all very excited.

NISSEN: Matt, almost 21, was killed when the Humvee he was driving hit a parked trailer. More than 100 U.S. troops have died in motor vehicle accidents, in dust storms, at night, on dangerous roads, off road.

Corporal Darryl Smith drowned when his vehicle overturned, plunged into one of Baghdad's network of rivers and canals. Private First Class Jeremiah Smith was killed when his Humvee ran over unexploded ordinance (ph) near Baghdad. Explosive, mines and IEDs -- improvised explosive devices -- were a constant threat. Private First Class Brandon Smith was killed when his Humvee hit a land mine in al- Kayim (ph) in March of 2004.

Mining roads, setting traps, hiding, that was the way of the enemy that Second Lieutenant Brian Smith described in e-mails home. "The Iraqis prefer to pop out of cover, shoot and run," he wrote. "They are rarely accurate." He was shot and killed by a sniper in July on Habania. Habania, Ramadi, Falluja, hot spots throughout 2004 for U.S. troops, Army units, then the Marines. Lance Corporal Michael J. Smith, Jr., Sergeant Benjamin Smith, Lance Corporal Antoine Smith, were all lost there, killed in the terse language of the Marines, in enemy action in al Anbar province.

It was left to others to give their lives detail. Antoine, 22, played viola in his high school orchestra in Orland, lost his stutter when he joined the Marines. Benjamin, 24, loved country music and rodeos, had a fiance, Carrie, waiting for him in California. Michael, 21, nicknamed "all-purpose Smitty" by his high school football coach because he'd play any position on his football team. His funeral was held in the Lutheran church in Steubenville, Ohio, where he was baptized, confirmed, and married to Alicia, who was expecting their first child when he died.

Najaf, Mosul, Baghdad, U.S. troops here stayed on patrol on edge. As he rode on Humvee on patrol in Baghdad, Arkansas National Guard Sargent Michael Smith was shot in the head. He was Medivaced to a Longstall (ph) Regional Medical Center in Germany, then to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.. His parents and sister kept vigil in the ICU for two weeks, but he never opened his eyes. He died last November 26th, the day after Thanksgiving.

Corporal Raleigh Smith wondered about being a good soldier. He told friends and family back home in Troy, Montana, he had mixed feelings about the war, had nightmares about all the bodies of women and children he had seen in Falluja, a ghost town, he told his mother. He was killed in action there, two days before Christmas.

Lance Corporal Jason Smith also wrote home about seeing dead bodies and dead Marines. In a letter his family opened last New Year's eve, the day Jason died on patrol in the al Anbar province, he wrote, "in some ways, I don't think we should be here, but someone needs to do it. I'm glad to help these innocent Iraqis out. They are so happy that we are here to fix their country."

Because of U.S. troops, U.S. sacrifices, Iraq was to have free elections. On January 30th, millions of Iraqis went to the polls. Specialist Michael Smith had wanted to see election day, the ends of Iraq's dictatorship, he'd said, but a rocket-propelled grenade hit his vehicle in Ramadi, January 11.

The elections were important to Corporal Matthew Smith too. His unit was on its way to secure a polling place in Falluja the weekend before the elections when his helicopter went down in a sand storm, killing him and 30 other U.S. troops. At his funeral back in Utah, Matthew's family agreed, he'd lived his dream. Even as a toddler, he would walk around with a toy gun saying, I'm going to protect you guys.

Since the elections, the war in Iraq has dropped from the front pages, the network newscasts. There have been only two Department of Defense reports on casualties named Smith, Lance Corporal Kevin Smith, 20, killed by a suicide car bomber near the Syrian border on March 21st, who, when he couldn't sleep, would call his fiance, Christy, back in the States at 2:00 am. She told his pastor at his funeral, she still listens for the phone.

And sergeant John Smith, 22, who was on his second tour in Iraq, was training Iraqi national guardsmen in Esconderia (ph) when an IED exploded near his vehicle May 12th.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was the kind of guy that -- we'd take fire, people'd be shooting at us, and he never panicked, always stayed calm, relax, and did his job.

NISSEN: John Smith was buried last weekend in the national cemetery in Wilmington, North Carolina, with military honors, a 21-gun salute, in remembrance, in honor of the 21 soldiers and Marines with the common name Smith who volunteered, who served, who gave their all, in all American's names.

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WHITFIELD: Well, is it ever a good idea to tell on your boss? How about taking expensive gifts in exchange for influence? It's all a question of ethics and here with some of the answers is the author of "Life Principles: Feeling good by Doing Good," syndicated columnist Bruce Weinstein. Hello to you, Bruce.

BRUCE WEINSTEIN, ETHICS GUY: Hi, Fredricka, how are you?

WHITFIELD: I'm doing pretty good.

All right, our first question comes from a member of the Data Management Association, and it reads, "Each year, the industry honors a company with a "best practice award," which my boss has wanted to win for years. After he submitted an application a few weeks ago, I noticed that he had grossly exaggerated the figures about our company's achievements. Should I ignore the whole situation? Complain to my boss and leave it at that? Send an anonymous e-mail to the judges, perhaps? What is the right thing to do?"

WEINSTEIN: Actually, Fredricka, none of these choices is satisfactory. Doing nothing allows an injustice to continue and talking with the boss and leaving at that might also the injustice to continue. Finally, sending an anonymous e-mail isn't right because, in a democracy, we believe the accused has a right to face his or her accuser.

WHITFIELD: So, what's the best option?

WEINSTEIN: Well, the best option is to talk to with boss, but also to let him or her know that you, as the writer, intend to notify the judges, because obviously we can't leave it with the boss.

WHITFIELD: So, it sounds like you're threatening your boss.

WEINSTEIN: Well, not real -- it's not a threat, it's an ultimatum, because, in fact, you can't trust the boss entirely to right the wrong since he or she has shown poor judgment in essentially cheating the competition and it's ironic, isn't it, that he's trying to win a "best practice award" through unethical practices. So, no one likes to have to blow the whistle, but sometimes ethics requires doing so.

WHITFIELD: Of course, this whistle-blower has to worry about whether confronting or addressing the situation at all means that he might -- or she -- might lose their job.

WEINSTEIN: But, ultimately, at the end of the day, all we have is our integrity. What would it be like if you kept mum and allowed -- and then won the competition unfairly? That -- you know, you probably wouldn't be able to live with yourself either for that.

WHITFIELD: OK, our next question, "I'm an insurance broker and I frequently get offers from insurance companies for expensive presents in exchange for my business. These gifts range from home theater systems to vacations to four-star resorts. Some of my colleagues have no problem accepting these gifts, but the practice troubles me. Is it ethical for me to take the swag?"

WEINSTEIN: It is not ethical to accept gifts like this.

WHITFIELD: Somehow I knew you would say that.

WEINSTEIN: Well, when we give a gift to someone, we create the feeling of obligation in the recipient to return the favor. For example, if I give you a birthday present out of the blue, Fredricka, won't you feel inclined to give one to me? And, the problem with doing that in a professional or business context is that it shifts one loyalty away from where it should be, mainly with the customer, to this third party.

And you see, the ironic thing is that in the long run, customers are more likely to give a business their business if the business truly takes the customer's interest to heart. So, this is a perfect example of why taking the high road isn't just the right thing to do; in the long run, it's good for business. It's the smart thing to do.

WHITFIELD:: In the case of the broadcasting business, we would call that payola and, you know, we are sworn not to accept such gifts, but you're saying this really should be an interest-wide thing or universally industry-wide thing?

WEINSTEIN: Absolutely and it's already happening in the medical community, where there are now guidelines about what pharmaceutical companies can and cannot give physicians.

So, also, the other part of the letter I would like to comment on is the idea everybody is doing it or a lot of the writer's colleagues are doing this or even some colleagues are doing it and that, of course, doesn't justify it, doesn't make it right. The best thing to do is simply to say no.

WHITFIELD: OK. Bruce Weinstein, thanks so much. Always good to see you.

WEINSTEIN: You, too, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Have a good holiday weekend.

WEINSTEIN: You too.

WHITFIELD: Thanks for setting us straight, again.

Well, if you have an ethics question, send your e-mail to ethics@CNN.com. We'll get them on air for you just like that.

Well, it's a scorcher in Seattle. Will the temperature break the record? We'll tell you next on CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

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WHITFIELD: Well, some folks around the country are looking at a very wet holiday weekend. Meteorologist Rob Marciano takes a look at the weekend conditions.

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WHITFIELD: Still much more ahead on CNN Saturday. In a few moments, "IN THE MONEY" with Jack Cafferty.

At 2:00 Eastern, I'll speak with our legal experts for the latest on Michael Jackson trial and at 3:00, it's "CNN PRESENTS: AUTISM IS A WORLD."

We'll have a check of the headlines right after this.

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