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American Morning

Teenage Boy in Critical Condition After Being Attacked by Shark; Heir to Wal-Mart Fortune Dies in Plane Crash

Aired June 28, 2005 - 08:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A teenage boy in critical condition after being attacked by a shark in shallow water. It's the second attack in three days. We're live in Florida on that story.
One of America's wealthiest men, an heir to the Wal-Mart fortune, killed when his small plane goes down in Wyoming. We'll have a live report on that, as well.

The president prepares to address the nation. The topic? Iraq. What he needs to do without regain America's support 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.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.

Welcome back, everybody.

Also ahead this morning, we'll take you back to Aruba. Questions now about whether this police investigation into Natalee's disappearance is making any progress at all.

M. O'BRIEN: Natalee's mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, spoke to Soledad about what she's being told and what she's not being told, perhaps more importantly.

S. O'BRIEN: She's so frustrated, as you can imagine, as we sort of lay out the releases and who's being arrested and then who's being released.

M. O'BRIEN: With no apparent sign of progress. So we'll get her reaction on all of that.

S. O'BRIEN: Oh, it's so tough on her and the whole family, too.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

S. O'BRIEN: And that's ahead this morning.

First, though, a look at the headlines with Carol Costello once again -- hey, Carol, good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.

Good morning to all of you. Now in the news, a major address from President Bush. It comes on the one year anniversary of the hand over of sovereignty in Iraq. The president is expected to urge patience from Americans and defend his Iraq policy.

CNN will have live coverage of the president's prime time address from Fort Bragg in North Carolina. That starts at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Special coverage begins at 7:00.

The Senate is expected to approve its version of the energy bill today, but it's not exactly what the House had in mind. The Senate version is apparently more environmentally friendly and more expensive, $16 billion, as compared to $8 billion for the House version.

Friends and neighbors Camden, New Jersey are remembering three boys who suffocated in the trunk of a car. Their bodies were found on Friday, not far from where they disappeared two days earlier. Authorities have promised to review the case. The prayer service for the boys will be held tonight.

NASA may push ahead with plans to resume shuttle flights next month despite a security warning. A panel set up to oversee the space agency's progress said several safety requirements still need to be met. Senior NASA officials are expected to meet tomorrow to resolve any final issues. NASA's administrator will apparently have the last word on the shuttle's return to flight.

And guess what? The former "American Idol" contestant, you know, the one that claims he had an affair with Paula Abdul? Well, he is apparently in trouble over a food fight. Police say Corey Clark and his record company manager got into a disagreement on Saturday. Things got a little bit heated and the two apparently threw dishes and food at each other. Clark has been charged with battery, which is a misdemeanor, and he will have to face the music before a judge next month.

So more trouble for Corey Clark.

S. O'BRIEN: Isn't dishes his...

COSTELLO: And food. Can you believe it?

M. O'BRIEN: Jell-O to the face. I don't know, jeez. Whatever.

S. O'BRIEN: It sounds a little cad juvenile, but OK.

M. O'BRIEN: You think?

S. O'BRIEN: Did it work? Come on. I guess that's the most important point.

COSTELLO: I guess Corey Clark lost because he's the one that's facing the misdemeanor.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. M. O'BRIEN: Well, I don't know, if Corey Clark is being talked about here, maybe he thinks he won.

S. O'BRIEN: Ah, that's right.

M. O'BRIEN: I don't know. What do you think?

S. O'BRIEN: Right.

M. O'BRIEN: I'll just submit that for your approval.

S. O'BRIEN: Carol, thanks.

COSTELLO: Sure.

S. O'BRIEN: Well, that plane crash that killed billionaire John Walton will be investigated. John Walton one of the five heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune. He crashed last night right after taking off in an ultra light plane in Jackson, Wyoming.

Sean Callebs live in front of Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas for us this morning -- Sean, good morning to you.

Wow! What a shock in that community, I have to imagine.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, what a shock. Certainly, the ripple being felt throughout this area today. And anytime any of the Waltons or the Wal-Mart Corporation are in the headlines, it's certainly huge news here in Arkansas, where this empire is based. And to give you an idea, here's the way it is being played out in the "Arkansas Democrat Gazette" today -- flush right: "John Walton Dies In Crash of Ultra Light." It is a story that spills over onto the back. And also look at "The Morning News" of Springdale, really a banner headline just screaming the story that John Walton is dead at the age of 58, a very large color photograph of the wreckage of that small ultra light plane.

He died yesterday in Jackson, Wyoming shortly after takeoff. Witnesses apparently ran up to the scene and found him dead in the wreckage right after that.

Now, behind me, you can see perhaps some of the parking lot of the headquarters here. It's 7:00 in the morning Central Time. This parking lot has been jammed for more than an hour. We went in and asked the corporate headquarters if this was something special because of the passing of John Walton. They said no, it's always this busy. It's a legacy from Sam Walton. He really wanted to start the day early.

Well, Sam Walton appropriately also wanted his son to join this company after he got out of the service in Vietnam. But John Walton went his own way. He pursued his love of flying. At one time he even became a crop duster.

He didn't join the board here until 1992 and really kept a very low profile. He was involved in the philanthropic arm, the charitable arm, of the family, really focusing a lot of money on education.

And behind me, too, Soledad, you can see a giant American flag. We were all struck as we pulled up here this morning that this huge flag hasn't been lowered to half staff. But look at the size of it, as well. If, indeed, it was lowered, it looks as though it would drag the ground.

But certainly a very, very somber, sobering day for the Walton family here in Bentonville, Arkansas -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: As you say, a big shock not only there, but really across the nation, and I can imagine in some places across the world, as well.

Sean Callebs for us this morning. Thanks -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: A 16-year-old boy scheduled for some follow-up surgery this morning, a day after his leg was amputated following a shark attack in Florida. It happened off of Cape San Blas, about 95 miles east of Miramar, where a girl was killed by a shark Saturday.

Craig Hutto and his brother were fishing in waist high water about 60 yards offshore when a shark grabbed his right thigh. Witnesses say they initially thought the boys were playing around.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KANDY PETERSON, WITNESS TO SHARK ATTACK: We saw two gentlemen fishing just out no further than we were swimming yesterday, out on a sandbar. And we heard a lot of commotion and we thought at first that they were playing in the water. We realized after seeing a spray of red in the water that we were not dealing with any kind of prank, that it was real.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: Hutto's brother pulled him from the water. A doctor who happened to be on the beach immediately administered first aid. A good thing he was there. Doctors say their quick attention probably saved the boy's life.

Meanwhile, an autopsy reveals a six foot bull shark was responsible for the death of a 14-year-old off of Miramar Beach, Florida. Jamie Marie Daigle died Saturday after a shark attacked her while she was swimming about 200 yards offshore.

Shark behaviorist Erich Ritter is with the Shark Research Institute.

He saw the girl's body shortly before the medical examiner did.

He joins us from Pensacola, Florida.

Erich, good to have you with us.

ERICH RITTER, SHARK RESEARCH INSTITUTE: Good morning. M. O'BRIEN: First of all, a lot of people whose only knowledge about shark attacks is the movie "Jaws" might think that these two attacks would be connected, in other words, the same shark.

That's highly unlikely, isn't it?

RITTER: Yes, that's very unlikely. And for the second bite, we don't even know if it's a bull shark or not. So we have -- I've not seen this wound yet.

So, yes, nevertheless, it's very unlikely.

M. O'BRIEN: All right. Tell us how we know that it was a six foot bull shark, based on that autopsy.

RITTER: What we do is when we look at wounds, we do like the same forensic approach. We look for bite radius and then we compare it with other bites. And we use jaws and in a way like we use dummies. So it's very accurate measurements taken. And then we can say it was a bull shark, it was a tiger, a white shark, and then we can go to size.

M. O'BRIEN: This attack, a lot of people are saying, was unusual.

Why?

RITTER: It was unusual because normally if you a bull bite, you have one or two bites max. Most of the time very superficial. But In this case, Jamie had several massive, massive bites at one point we couldn't even tell where one bite ends, another one starts. So it was very unusual.

M. O'BRIEN: And because of the repeated bites, in other words.

What does that tell you about, you know, we try to get into what motivates a shark here. But what do you think the shark, based on what behaviorists would look at, what do you think the shark was thinking?

RITTER: In this case, some of the bites were competition. The animal must have been interrupted or seen her as a competitor. But there was also other bites where I would think, oh, I'm thinking that he changed its motivation, meaning going into stress bite then back to curiosity. So this animal was very, very unusual in what he did.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, let's talk about the more recent attack for just a moment. Waist high water. The young lad was swim -- fishing, I should say, using some bait fish.

Is that unusual?

RITTER: Let me put it this way, if you get bitten while you're fishing that is definitely not unusual. But the scenario itself is a little unusual because it just happened again three days after Jamie was killed. M. O'BRIEN: Now, you -- in the world of shark bites and shark attacks, there are provoked attacks and unprovoked attacks.

RITTER: I'm...

M. O'BRIEN: Would you consider both of these provoked or unprovoked? How would you classify them?

RITTER: Actually, I do not believe in the so-called unprovoked attacks. Everything is provoking an animal to come in. So we do it consciously or unconsciously. A third party may trigger the action. But a shark does not just bite because of well, let's see what that thing can be. There is definitely always a factor involved. So both of them have been provoked.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, whenever something like this happens -- we have two events like this, a short order of time -- we try to connect the dots.

Should we be or is this some kind of strange coincidence?

RITTER: It's a strange coincidence.

M. O'BRIEN: That's it? There's nothing else going on out there on the Gulf shores?

RITTER: No, definitely not. Sometimes you have a Rat Constellation that would bring in, on a larger scale, a lot of bait fish. And, of course, that brings in a lot of sharks. So you can have hundreds, Miles, where you just have the same scenario, basically, whereas meteorological factors. And then you have similar incidents. But it's a coincidence

M. O'BRIEN: A final thought here. You got attacked by a shark filming a documentary at one point.

Were you provoking?

RITTER: I would say we were provoking because we needed the animals close by. We had food in the water. It was controlled, though, because I always have spotters. But one of my spotters didn't do his job and I ended up getting bitten.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, Erich Ritter, thank you very much.

RITTER: Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: I'm glad you live to tell that tale and help us understand what's going on in the Gulf of Mexico.

He's with the Shark Research Institute.

RITTER: Thank you.

M. O'BRIEN: Thanks for being with us this morning -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Twelve minutes past the hour.

That gets us right to the weather.

And Chad Myers is at the CNN Center -- hey, Chad, what are you looking at this morning?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, our amazing Titan computer here can actually tell us how far away these bites were. Sixty-eight miles from Destin or offshore of Miramar Beach to Cape San Blas. So if a shark can swim that far, he's pretty good.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: President Bush will take his case for Iraq and his strategy for Iraq to the American people tonight. But can he turn around his plummeting approval ratings? Jeff Greenfield is here with some answers.

S. O'BRIEN: Also ahead this morning, an ultra-violent video game lets players score points for killing cops. We're going to take a look at the outrage over this game that is anything, really, but kids stuff.

M. O'BRIEN: And the NAACP turns to a retired businessman for some new leadership. We'll talk to the group's president-elect about the challenges ahead.

All that ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: President Bush addresses the nation tonight on Iraq and he does so at a time when the political winds seem to have shifted against him. The latest CNN poll gives him a job approval rating of only 45 percent. Fifty-three percent of Americans disapprove of the job he's doing, with negatives on everything from the war, the economy to energy policy.

Senior analyst Jeff Greenfield is here with a look at the speech and the president's political fortunes, a little preview for us -- Jeff, good to have you with us.

How bad a patch is it for the president?

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think the numbers have to give the White House some pause. The approval numbers are worse than any recent second term president at this point in the term, except for Richard Nixon, and by June of 1973, Nixon was up to his neck in Watergate.

But beyond that number, the disapproval, as you mentioned, extends broadly across the terrain, to the economy, which is always a concern for presidents, even to the war on terror in general. Bush still gets positive marks on terror, but even those numbers are down from January. A majority now think it was a mistake to send troops in the first place. So there's a problem here.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, how much trouble is this, then?

GREENFIELD: Well, look, I don't think it's at all comparable to say Lyndon Johnson, who just after his return to office in '65, saw a big escalation in the Vietnam War and an explosion of racial violence across America, or think of Nixon, who, as I mentioned, was hit by Watergate just about two months into his second term.

A year into his second term, Clinton was hit with the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Even Reagan's second term was clouded over by the Iran-Contra story. And besides, Bush has one huge advantage no recent second term president has had, and that is his party controls both houses of Congress, which means much less chance, Miles, of, say, an embarrassing hearing or legislative roadblocks. To me, this is a critical asset he has.

M. O'BRIEN: That's a key point.

All right, things are turning bad.

What are the talking points? What can he say tonight?

GREENFIELD: Well, you know, I don't know that there's that much you can say because, to use the cliche, it's events on the ground, or, in the White House view, the coverage of those events, that's hurting him. It's generals saying, you know, this insurgency is going to be around for years. And some Republicans are calling for a change in policy.

Two things occur to me, other than laying out the case that the news is better than the press says it is; one directly related to the speech and one not. One, he could try to do, I guess, what Richard Nixon did in his silent majority speech in 1969 and rally his base against who are "misrepresenting" the war. I guess independent of the speech, Miles, he could really hope for a Supreme Court resignation, which may sound irrelevant, but any all out battle that involves conservatives versus liberals, which is what a Supreme Court battle would be, would fuse conservatives to his side once again.

And what he most has to worry about is disaffection from his natural allies on an issue like Iraq.

M. O'BRIEN: So they really do need a rallying cry. And this goes back to a theme we discovered on the night of the election, that these -- those sorts of issues, those issues which involve social kind of debate, are really important issues for this White House.

GREENFIELD: Yes, but at the -- that's right. And the Supreme Court would crystallize those. But the other point is to say look, you people who voted for us in 2004, don't be swayed by these stories. Yes, it's messy. Yes, not everything is going great. But the long- term prospect it bright. And, remember, he's fighting for democracy around the world and a safer America.

My guess -- and that's what it is -- is that's the theme you'll hear tonight.

M. O'BRIEN: So he's going after the nattering nabobs of negativism again?

GREENFIELD: You know what? I'm not -- I see you remember your Spiro Agnew line.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

GREENFIELD: You know what? When you make a speech in front of military people, it probably is not a good idea to politicize it. But in some way I think that message of stay the course, the critics are too pessimistic and we're going to prevail and it's going to be a very important thing for us, is the theme, I think.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, no nattering from you ever.

Thank you, Jeff Greenfield.

Always appreciate it.

Our senior analyst joining us, giving us a preview of the speech tonight.

The president's speech will, of course, be live on CNN tonight, 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific.

CNN's special coverage begins at 7:00 Eastern -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, kids killing cops. It is the theme of a new, very graphic video game that some people say encourages real violence.

We'll take at look at that, up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: It is being called the most violent video game for kids ever made. And even though it's not even being sold yet, some lawmakers are already calling for a ban.

CNN's Dan Lothian takes a look at the controversy over the game 25 To Life.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the gritty animated clip promoting 25 To Life, the latest controversial addition of graphic video games. It's just the kind of extreme action that attracts Sid Shuman, who has been reviewing the game and is an assistant editor at "Gamepro" magazine.;

SID SHUMAN, ASSISTANT EDITOR, "GAMEPRO": You take the role of a thug or a police office -- you can play either -- and basically your goal is to sort of climb the ladder, especially for the thugs. You climb the ladder and wipe out your foes and get, you know, better bling and wear, you know, more elaborate outfits and such.

LOTHIAN: But it's the scenario of earning points for killing cops and using civilians as human shields that's now drawing fire.

Even before the game is released...

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: This is not entertainment.

LOTHIAN: ... Senator Chuck Schumer wants stores to keep it off their shelves and says companies that make the hardware to play it, like Microsoft and Sony, shouldn't license it.

SCHUMER: It's atrocious. You know, Johnny should be learning to read, not how to kill cops. And this video game is just -- it's an abomination.

LOTHIAN (on camera): It's the same kind of opposition aimed at other recent video games rated for mature audiences, like Grand Theft Auto, where the action feels real and the play is violent.

(voice-over): But is there any connection between what children play and what gets played out in real life?

Dr. Michael Rich at Children's Hospital in Boston says early research indicates yes.

DR. MICHAEL RICH: Kids who play violent video games, in particular, tend to have elevated hostility traits, increased aggressive behavior.

LOTHIAN: But in a chat room buzzing with talk about 25 To Life, one person said: "It's a video game. It's not like I'm going to go out there and get an M-16 and kill cops. Come on now."

Another adds: "It is incredibly tame by today's standards. It's basically Counter-Strike with gangs instead of terrorists."

SHUMAN: They've been described as murder simulators. I think that's bunk. I think this is just knee jerk stuff by people who don't understand.

LOTHIAN: In a statement, the game's publisher said: "25 To Life, which will be released in the fall, will be rated "M" for mature," and encourages both parents and retailers to enforce the rating system so that software is sold only to the age appropriate.

Dan Lothian, CNN, Boston.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

S. O'BRIEN: 25 To Life is scheduled to be released in September for PlayStation 2, Xbox and PCs, as well.

Still to come this morning, has the Natalee Holloway case gone cold in Aruba? Coming up, we're going to talk to Holloway's mother. She says she's frustrated with the way things are going there. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Coming up, the decision to release two more suspects in the Natalee Holloway investigation raising some new questions about whether this case will ever be solved.

S. O'BRIEN: Natalee's mom, Beth Holloway Twitty, among those most frustrated. She's our guest from Aruba, coming up in just a few moments. She's going to give us her reaction to the latest developments, or maybe the way she'd put it would be lack of developments in this case.

M. O'BRIEN: It's been more than four weeks now. It's got to be an incredibly frustrating, difficult time for them.

Carol Costello is here with some headlines for us -- good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

Good morning to all of you.

Now in the news, President Bush is marking the one year anniversary of the hand over in Iraq. The president heads to Fort Bragg in North Carolina later today. He will deliver a televised prime time address aimed at easing doubts about the war.

CNN will have live coverage of the presidential address beginning at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Special coverage begins at 7:00 Eastern.

In the meantime, American and Iraqi forces are launching a new operation in Iraq aimed at rooting out insurgents. Operation Sword began early this morning in the Anbar Province west of Baghdad. It is the fifth mission in the region in recent weeks. Some 1,000 Marines, soldiers and sailors are taking part.

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