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American Morning

Scout Home Safe; The Brother Trap; 'Surviving the Game'

Aired June 22, 2005 - 08:59   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: He is alive and well, and now we are learning more about what happened to little Brennan Hawkins, lost for four days in the Utah wilderness.
But still missing in Aruba. Natalee Holloway's mother is pushing for answers in her daughter's disappearance. She met face to face with the parents of the man who's being held in the case.

And California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger nearly two years on the job. But the landslide of support that got him there is quickly slipping away.

Those stories and much more on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Also ahead, this is a story -- this is going to be fun.

S. O'BRIEN: This is a great story.

M. O'BRIEN: There they are right there. Bring up the live picture. There they are. They look like they're twins. Two brothers whose stories we've been following for several weeks now.

S. O'BRIEN: They were looking at a life of separation and regret. They planned to escape to Cuba, it went terribly wrong. Governments got involved, jail happened. It could have really had a tragic ending, and instead, thought, a happy ending. And we're happy to share that story with you this morning.

M. O'BRIEN: They're happy together and in Las Vegas. What more could you ask for, right?

Carol Costello with headlines.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you, Miles.

Good morning, everyone.

"Now in the News," new developments in the crash of an American spy plane. The U.S. military now saying the pilot has died in that crash. Still no word on what caused the U.S. -- the U-2 spy plane to go down Tuesday night in southwest Asia. The Air Force has not disclosed the exact location or anymore details of the crash A scaled-down Social Security overhaul bill is apparently in the works. The proposal does away with President Bush's push for private investment accounts for younger workers. We are expecting to learn more details from White House Republicans sometime today.

Former Ku Klux Klan member and preacher Edgar Ray Killen could face up to 60 years in prison. Killen was convicted of manslaughter in the 1964 killings of three civil rights workers. The murders were dramatized in the film "Mississippi Burning."

Sentencing is set for tomorrow. Killen's lawyers say they're planning to appeal.

A California father and son accused of involvement with al Qaeda have pleaded not guilty. The two men appeared Tuesday in federal court in Sacramento. They're accused of lying to federal authorities about alleged involvement with an al Qaeda terror training camp in Pakistan. A judge is set to rule later this week on evidence of the case.

And more details this morning about the so-called runaway bride. Jennifer Wilbanks was apparently suicidal and clutched a bottle of pills as she boarded a bus for New Mexico. According to reports by the FBI and Georgia Bureau of Investigations, she wanted to disappear because she was worried she could not be the perfect wife.

Wilbanks pleaded no contest to telling police her phony story. She also paid Duluth city officials more than $13,000 toward their search efforts. And, of course, she has a book and movie deal now supposedly worth $500,000.

Remember, you can view more CNN reports online. Just visit CNN.com, click on to "Watch" to check out the most popular stories.

M. O'BRIEN: So, I gather you're not buying the book, is that right? Or seeing the movie?

COSTELLO: But they say she'll make most of the money from the movie, not the book. So we'll see.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: Did they ask...

COSTELLO: But, supposedly $500,000.

S. O'BRIEN: Why didn't she just say sorry when it all ended? Remember we all -- everybody was just waiting for her to say, "I'm sorry?" For all you people who were searching for me, I'm sorry for you guys who spent $50,000 looking for me, so sorry, I'm sorry?

COSTELLO: She had problems, Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Hey, girl, we've all got problems.

COSTELLO: I know. S. O'BRIEN: But ---- and I say that in a very sensitive and understanding and compassionate way.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

COSTELLO: Absolutely.

S. O'BRIEN: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Sure.

S. O'BRIEN: Appreciate it.

M. O'BRIEN: Eleven-year-old Brennan Hawkins is waking up in his own bed this morning after four days and nights -- cold ones, but not too cold, fortunately -- in the Utah wilderness. The 100-hour-long search for Brennan ended on Tuesday.

Volunteers just kind of stumbled on him. And it is not where they suspected he would be.

The boy was taken to the hospital hungry, cold, tired, maybe a little grumpy, treated for dehydration, but released just after midnight local time. His survival in generally good condition. It sort of defies the odds.

Ted Rowlands takes a look back at the search from the moment it began.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Brennan Hawkins disappeared Friday evening from a mountainside campsite; his parents rushed to join the search, every minute of every day.

JODY HAWKINS, MOTHER: (INAUDIBLE) the days just turn into eternity, and all of a sudden, it's night fall. You learn to hate the moon. And when the moon comes up, you just don't (INAUDIBLE).

TOBY HAWKINS, FATHER: A greatest plea at this time, and the way we can find my boy is for anybody and everybody to come up and help.

ROWLANDS: Thousands answered the call and made the difference.

DONIS MINOR, GRANDFATHER: You guys got the word out, and the volunteers came. I mean, they came. It was -- it was incredible. And we appreciate the so many people who have helped, given their time, their effort, and their horses and mules and four-wheelers. And, you know, it's just overwhelming.

ROWLANDS: Relatives, friends and strangers came from as far away as Hawaii, an army of searchers, up to 3,000 strong.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was like he was our neighbor, and it was only the neighborly thing to do, to come up and search for somebody. If our daughter was lost, we'd hope that people would come out and look for her, too.

ROWLANDS: They combed the mountain on foot, on horseback, on all-terrain vehicles and by helicopter for nearly 100 hours. Hopes ebbed as each day passed. But no one gave up.

J. HAWKINS: It really is important, even though I know they were feeling the failure last night. What they did was so crucial, so important. Even though he wasn't found yesterday, we got that much closer, just because of those people that we're not -- the four of us aren't out trying to do five miles by ourselves.

ROWLANDS: Then, just before noon in Utah Tuesday...

BOB HAWKINS, UNCLE: Brennan has been found.

ROWLANDS: Forty-three-year-old Forest Nunly (ph) found Brennan in the woods five miles from the Boy Scout camp.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I turned a little corner, really going slow, looked up there, and there was a kid standing in the middle of the trail. And it was -- I didn't know it was him. I was just like, is it real? And so I drove up to him and asked him his name. He said, yeah, my name is Brennan, and he was all muddy and cold, wet clothes. I took all of his clothes off, his shirt and stuff. Put a shirt on him and a blanket. Gave him some food and water, and ran up and called 911.

ROWLANDS: For the rescuers, a moment of joy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think I could...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can't express it. There's no words...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can't. I have four daughters of my own, and I wouldn't be here anywhere else. I tried to explain it to him last night, and it's just impossible to try to describe your feelings at this moment.

ROWLANDS: For Brennan's mother, prayers answered.

J. HAWKINS: People say that the heavens are closed and god no longer answers prayers. We're here to unequivocally tell you that the heavens are not closed, prayers are answered, and children come home. We love you. We thank you.

ROWLANDS: A boy returned to his parents, alive and well.

(on camera): Brennan has been released from a Salt Lake City hospital after being treated for dehydration. This morning he is back home with his family.

Tedd Rowlands, CNN, Summit County, Utah.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN: The Hawkins' neighborhood in suburban Salt Lake City was covered in yellow ribbons when the news was announced Tuesday. More celebrations, of course, expected today. We'll keep you posted -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Such a good news story.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: And another one to tell you about, as well. A Cuban-born U.S. resident back at home in Las Vegas after he was trapped for months in his former homeland, Cuba. Bernardo Heredia fled communist Cuba 11 years ago, and then earlier this year tried to help his brother do the same thing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN (voice-over): It all began in March. That is when Bernardo Heredia returned to Cuba for a family visit.

BERNARDO HEREDIA, TRAPPED IN CUBA FOR MONTHS: I come to visit my family. And talking to my brother, he was desperate to leave this country.

S. O'BRIEN: Recalling his own harrowing escape from Cuba to freedom by raft in 1994, Bernardo devised what he thought was a full- proof plan for his brother's escape. Fidel Heredia, who looks just like his older brother, used Bernardo's passport and U.S. residency papers to fly to Mexico. Then he mailed the documents back to Bernardo in Cuba.

Then, using his own passport, he crossed the border into the United States. But when Bernardo tried to fly to his home in Las Vegas just three days later, he was arrested. Cuban immigration officials realized that passport had just been used.

Cuban authorities threw Bernardo in jail for 30 days. When he was released, they told him he would never leave the country.

Bernardo, desperate, tried to escape Cuba once again, but his attempt last month to make it to Florida on a jet ski failed. Finally, after a flurry of international news stories about his predicament, Cuban authorities let him leave.

Now the Heredia family is together again in Las Vegas. A tale of two brothers that came to a happy end on Father's Day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: Joining us this morning from Las Vegas is Bernardo Heredia, along with his brother, Fidel.

Gentlemen, good morning to you. Nice to talk to you.

I know, Bernardo, that your brother does not speak a lot of English. So I'm going to start with you.

Did you know when you came up with this plan to give the passport to your brother that you were taking a pretty big risk?

HEREDIA: Yes, I knew about it.

S. O'BRIEN: And you went ahead with it anyway. When did you realize that things had gone horribly wrong?

HEREDIA: Well, when my brother sent the passport back to me, there was this little document inside the passport that was missing. So I called him back in the United States and I asked him about the document, and he said, "Oh, they keep it at the airport."

S. O'BRIEN: So the immigration was a problem then, they're going to hang on to the document. Therefore, you couldn't use the passport in the same way. You were hauled off to prison. What was that like?

HEREDIA: Well, like a prison, you know. The food was bad. They treat me all right. I can -- I can make no comments about the treatment, because it was all right. But it's a prison, you know. They don't let you know anything.

S. O'BRIEN: What about afterwards? What was the treatment like after you got out?

HEREDIA: The ran the rumor that I was working for the government, for the political police. So nobody wanted to help me. Nobody wanted to talk to me.

And that was pretty sad, because I was desperate to leave Cuba, to try to make another attempt. And nobody wanted to talk to me. And then some friends, they let me know, you know, this is what's going on. They heard this rumor on the streets. "So you need to fight back, because nobody is going to help you."

S. O'BRIEN: You had a wife and a family, a little daughter who just started walking, back in Nevada. It was a big part of the problem. You tried to escape on a jet ski. I know that that didn't work. And then on Sunday you were finally allowed by Cuban authorities to leave the country and you got on a plane and headed to Mexico. Why didn't you call your wife and tell her you were coming home?

HEREDIA: Because they used to do that to people inside the jail. They told them, "You're going to leave today," and then they took them to the airport. And after a couple hours, they're back in jail.

So, I thought they were playing a trick on me and it was pretty cruel to call my family and tell them, you know, I'm going to be back and I won't. So, I said, OK, let's wait to the last minute.

S. O'BRIEN: You got to Mexico -- forgive me for jumping in there. You got to Mexico, I know you walked across the border and went to McDonald's to have a big old American meal, and you went home and surprised your wife and your family. And now you've had a chance to be reunited with them.

Before we let you go, I want to ask your brother a question in Spanish because Fidel doesn't speak a lot of English.

Fidel, como le gusta America?

I'm asking him what he thinks of our country.

FIDEL HEREDIA, BERNARDO'S BROTHER: America?

S. O'BRIEN: Si. Le gusta?

F. HEREDIA: Si. Si. Wonderful.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, he speaks just enough English to let us know how much he likes it.

Looking back, Bernardo and Fidel, would you do anything differently?

B. HEREDIA: Yes. Well, we'd have to do things better, of course. But, I mean, freedom has no price. So we would take any risk to become free.

S. O'BRIEN: Fidel's family is still in Cuba. Do you have more family members you would like to try to get out?

B. HEREDIA: Yes. His son and his wife. As soon as he gets the U.S. residence, he's going to try to make a plea to bring them into this country.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, maybe the story is not over yet. Bernardo Heredia and his brother, Fidel. Thank you, both of you, for sharing your story with us.

B. HEREDIA: Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: Our pleasure.

M. O'BRIEN: Now, I don't speak much Spanish, but I think he said wonderful.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes, he did.

M. O'BRIEN: That was...

S. O'BRIEN: He learned enough English to say he appreciates it. Isn't that great?

M. O'BRIEN: Good job. That was interesting hearing from them.

S. O'BRIEN: That's really nice, yes.

M. O'BRIEN: And I think they just began their plea right then and there. I hope it works out.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes, I hope so, too.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Let's check the weather. Chad Myers in the weather center.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, the queen of all media. And, yes, we are talking about Oprah herself, reportedly turned away by a posh shop in Paris. The "90-Second Poppers" put their spin on the alleged snub.

M. O'BRIEN: Also, Schwarzenegger slide. The governor's approval ratings, well, they're practically at Gray Davis levels, and you know what happened then, right? We'll look at what it all could mean for his political future.

S. O'BRIEN: And our special series on kids and sports called "Surviving the Game." Today we take a look at the right way to motivate a kid who's got some big talent.

Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: All right. So, what do you do if your son or daughter begins to excel in a sport? You know, Tiger Woods kind of thing.

You keep pushing, right? Well, how can you help your kids deal with the pressure to be great? How can you avoid becoming one of those parents who kind of goes a little too far with this?

Parental dilemmas. And that is our focus today in our special series, "Surviving the Game."

Kelly Wallace is here with more. It's been a good series.

I have been taking notes, truly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You have?

M. O'BRIEN: I have.

WALLACE: Because you -- these are issues. You have a great swimmer in the midst, right?

M. O'BRIEN: Exactly. And, you know, do you nudge, do you push, do you let them take a breather?

WALLACE: Well, because you know. You might have seen them yourself, horror stories of a coach or a parent pushing the kid too far so that the kid says, you know what? Even though I'm great, I don't want to do the sport anymore.

Well, that almost happened to the person you are about to meet, a young softball star in New Jersey.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) WALLACE (voice-over): Fourteen-year-old Brittany Perri can throw fast, real fast. Her dream? To pitch in college some day. But that dream was nearly shattered by, of all people, one of her former coaches.

BRITTANY PERRI, 14-YEAR-OLD SOFTBALL PLAYER: It's hard enough when you're making errors and you're trying to do your best, and then you have to come into the dugout and have a coach say, "If you have one more error, I'm going to take you out."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on. Let's go.

WALLACE: She says her coach was not only tough, but never let her pitch. And so, after playing softball since she was a little girl, Brittany thought of giving it all up and might have had it not been for the encouragement of her mom, a high school athletic director and a former softball coach and player herself.

KATHY PERRI, BRITTANY'S MOTHER: You really have a choice to make, you know. Are you going to just deal with it for one summer and teach your kid to get through these hard times, or are you going to have a confrontation every time you go to the field? Or are you going to have your kid quit? And we're not about quitting.

WALLACE: But now Kathy Perri does her homework, checking out the coaches before Brittany joins any team. She says it's something all parents should do.

K. PERRI: If it's all about winning, you know, that kid could be in for a long summer, a negative summer, and may end up, you know, never playing again.

WALLACE: Brittany travels around the country to play, but doesn't have to leave her living room to practice.

B. PERRI: I put this up, I don't know, five, six years ago. It has never come down.

WALLACE: It may seem an extreme step, but it's a delicate balancing act for the parent of a top athlete trying to make sure she has what she needs to excel but doesn't overdo it.

K. PERRI: It's all about balance. So, you know, we don't saturate her with pitching four times a week and really overextending herself so she does burn out.

WALLACE: Child psychologists says parents also should deliver this message to their kids...

ANDREA CORN, CHILD PSYCHOLOGIST: We want you to really enjoy whatever sport you're playing, but it's got to be because you enjoy it, because you want to do it, not because it's going to make me feel proud.

WALLACE: Brittany says her mom is always checking on her to make sure she isn't stressed and that she's playing for the right reasons. And then she turns the tables on her mom.

B. PERRI: I make sure that her as a parent isn't being burned out, because she's the one who has to drive me places and she has to give up stuff in her schedule, too. And I have to respect that.

WALLACE (on camera): And you're aware of the sacrifices your mom is making.

B. PERRI: Yes.

K. PERRI: So I remind her.

WALLACE: You remind her?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: OK. So, here's the question. What should you do if one of your kids is showing signs of greatness?

Number one, talk to your kids. Make sure they are having fun and not playing the sport to please you or a coach.

Also, check out the coaches. For a top athlete, this is critical, as we just saw in the case of Brittany Perri. Make sure you know the coach's approach and the philosophy.

And finally, don't overdo it. Miles, the key word here for athletes, for parents, for all of us, right? Finding balance.

M. O'BRIEN: For life in general.

WALLACE: For life in general.

M. O'BRIEN: Finding balance.

WALLACE: It's an endless quest.

M. O'BRIEN: To sum it up. All right. Thank you, Kelly.

WALLACE: Sure.

M. O'BRIEN: I appreciate that.

WALLACE: Sure.

M. O'BRIEN: What's going on tomorrow?

WALLACE: Tomorrow? The last part of the series.

We talk about some of the negatives, overzealous coaches, the win at all costs, the pressure. Tomorrow, what's good about sports? All the good things about sports.

M. O'BRIEN: Good. Good. I'm glad we'll end it on a high note.

WALLACE: A high note, exactly. M. O'BRIEN: We appreciate that.

You can watch Kelly's series and learn more about youth and sports by going to our Web site. That is CNN.com/am -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: All right, Miles. Thanks.

Have you guys seen this new kind of crime? It's called the pump and dash. How the high price of gas is driving some folks to a life of crime. We're minding your business on that story ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. It seems that increasing gas prices are causing an illegal trend. Andy Serwer is "Minding Your Business."

I mean, we talked about this before, people just out and out ripping off gas from stations.

ANDY SERWER, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, FORTUNE MAGAZINE: Stealing, yes. You'd think that gas stations and convenient stores would be making out with higher gas prices, and they are, to an extent. On the other hand, they are facing outright thievery, which is going through the roof, increasing along with gas prices.

Americans are simply pulling away at the pump and not paying for gas. Here's the numbers, costing gas stations $237 million last year. That's up more than double. You can see they're about double from 2003.

Now, a couple things about these numbers. First of all, apparently the reporting has gotten a lot better here. And number two, with the price being higher, the value is higher. So of course it's going to be a lot higher. In other words, if you're stealing gas that's $2 a gallon, as opposed to $1.50, of course it's going to increase a lot.

One out of every 1,100 fill-ups apparently is a theft.

S. O'BRIEN: Wow.

SERWER: This is bad news. Now, states are looking to increase penalties here, as you can imagine, for stealing gasoline. And I think one really bad byproduct also would be if gas stations start to get rid of paying at the pump, that you would have to prepay.

And you're seeing, starting to see more and more gas stations getting rid of that, where you actually have to walk in and put $40 down and then go back and fill up and then go back in the store.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, when you swipe -- you can't pump at those things until you swipe your card, right?

SERWER: Right. Right. But they might get rid of that. M. O'BRIEN: But why?

SERWER: I mean, so -- well, people would be stealing that way, as well. I mean, it's hard to imagine, but they can do that. And they're using someone else's card.

M. O'BRIEN: And jimmy the machine or something.

SERWER: Right. Right. Or use an old card and just go.

S. O'BRIEN: But a lot of places still have you've got to go in and -- you know, you go in after you pump and pay the guy cash.

SERWER: Right. Right, exactly.

M. O'BRIEN: I will drive three blocks to go to a place where you don't have to do that.

SERWER: Right.

M. O'BRIEN: I like just doing that.

SERWER: Oh, no, I agree with you. Absolutely.

S. O'BRIEN: I see why. You know, I filled up my car, it was like $65. $65.

SERWER: Yes, that's a lot of money. So you can see why people are doing it, sadly.

S. O'BRIEN: I have a big family, so I need a big car. But gosh, that's a lot of money.

SERWER: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: All right. Thanks, Andy.

SERWER: You're welcome.

M. O'BRIEN: More to come on AMERICAN MORNING.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

M. O'BRIEN (voice-over): Ahead on "90 Second Pop," friends say the queen of all media is hopping mad. Find out why Oprah Winfrey was reportedly turned away from a Paris boutique.

Plus, music fans dial up a hit. Why a ring tone is the hottest song across the pond.

That's later on AMERICAN MORNING.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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