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CNN Live Sunday
Interview with Cynthia Willard-Lewis; 21 Confirmed Dead In Dinner Cruise Accident
Aired October 02, 2005 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: And now straight ahead on CNN LIVE SUNDAY, a cruise turns deadly for a group of seniors on Lake George in New York. I'm going to take you to the scene. And terror caught on tape, incredible new pictures tonight of the bombing attack in Bali. We may have a picture of one of the bombers.
And, rebuilding New Orleans: tonight, the federal housing secretary says one of the poorest black neighborhoods in New Orleans should not be rebuilt. My guest, the councilwoman from the Ninth Ward differs.
It is October 2. And you're watching CNN LIVE SUNDAY.
From the CNN center in Atlanta, I'm Carol Lin.
We are beginning with a developing story out of upstate New York today. A cruise boat on Lake George has flipped over with about 50 people on board. The Associated Press and Reuters are quoting police reports that 19 people were killed.
The 40-foot Ethan Allen boat is operated by Shoreline Cruises and said to be popular with seniors. The Associated Press is quoting the Warren County Sheriff, Larry Cleveland, about how the incident happened.
Cleveland told a local newspaper the "Glen Falls Post Star" that the boat capsized after another tour boat passed near it. Now, many of the fatalities are reported to be senior citizens.
We're going to have much more throughout the hour. We're getting live elements as well as guests coming in as soon as possible on this developing story.
In the meantime, we want to go now for the hunt of the masterminds of the tourist bombings in Bali, Indonesia. Three suicide bombers blew themselves up and killed 19 people at crowded restaurants last year. Police say this amateur video shows one of the attackers wearing a backpack just before this calm scene turns into chaos. Paul Kadik from Australia's channel 7 reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL KADIK, AUSTRALIAN CHANNEL 7 (voice-over): An Australian family in Kuta videoing their holiday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was coming out of KFC (INAUDIBLE) bombs.
KADIK: Seconds later, their lives and so many others are changed forever.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm actually (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mom, Andrew's here. Hurry up!
KADIK: Brothers Andrew and Daniel were thrown into the air and feared the worst.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought he was dead. I was like -- I just got up.
KADIK: They all made it out alive, but bear the scars.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I looked inside. It's just bodies all over the ground...
KADIK: The explosion tore apart the Raja Restaurant in Kuta's busy shopping district, and rocked neighboring businesses. Glass shattered, spraying everywhere.
A minute later a second bomb exploded Jim Baran Beach, then another. Mobile phone cameras captured panic tourists running for their lives.
Two sea food restaurants packed with tourists were targeted. All around lay the dead and injured. Those who could were desperate to help.
It's believed the suicide bombers sets off the devices packed with ball bearings and shrapnel, designed for maximum carnage. Hospital staff struggleled to cope with the wounded, who included young children, tourists from Australia, the UK, Korea and United States, as well as local people. Tony Bacchus (ph) was among the Australians brought in with horrific burns. Chappelle Corby sister Mercedes spent all night helping the injured and searching for survivers.
UNIDNETIFIED FEMALE: Two Australians, Eric Tiller and Jennifer Tiller (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) Where they belonging to (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah. Where are they?
KADIK: Hospitals list Australians killed, including 16-year-old Brendan Fitzgerald from Bustleton (ph), Western Australia.
MARK WARREN, UNCLE OF BOMBING VICTIM: He was a beautiful boy. And he's 16. He was gentle, caring, loving, intelligent.
KADIK: Jenny Williamson died from horrific injuries. The Newcastle mother and her husband Bruce were part of the group of friends who holiday together.
Australian photographer, Jason Childs, who lives near Jim Baran Beach (ph) had run to help the Williamsons.
JASON CHILDS, AUSTRALIAN PHOTOGRAPHER: He couldn't see. He was blinded by the bombing. She had a massive wound to her leg.
KADIK: The bomb sites are now sealed off with Indonesian forensic police searching for evidence. The finger of blame is already pointing to Jama Islamia, responsible for the 2002 bombings.
The Australian home video of the blas will be examined for clues. It appears to show a man carrying a backpack walking into the Kuta restaurant just moments before the bomb was detonated.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Our thanks to Paul Kadik from Australia's Channel 7 News.
Turning now to Iraq, U.S. troops are pressing on with their mission to tame the country's wild west. It's the second day of Operation Iron Fist in the vast and dangerous Anbar Province on the Syrian border. The target: insurgents and foreign fighters operating in the region. Well today, U.S. troops focused on Karabila. They bombed a compound suspected to be an insurgent stronghold and fired missiles into the suspected militant hideouts.
Now, you don't see Iraqi forces in this mission. But the top U.S. commander in Iraq says the goal is for them to take the lead in these kind of missions. That's when General George Casey told our Wolf Blitzer earlier today on CNN's "LATE EDITION."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. GEORGE CASEY, CMDR, MULTINATIONAL FORCES IN IRAQ: The progress that we're making with the Iraqi security forces is significant. And the transition teams that we have placed with the Iraqi army and special police battalions are having a great impact, one, on our insights into their readiness and, two, on their capabilities of operating with us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Now the general is also downplaying down reports that Iraq is headed for civil war.
Can you believe it? It's been more than a month since Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans, yet time could not prepare people for the destruction they saw for the first time today. CNN's Chris Lawrence is live in New Orleans, where many people spent their first morning home at church -- Chris.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, right now the city is almost completely dry. But there's mold and trash everywhere. No clean water.
People lost a lot of what makes life normal. Today, they got a bit of it back.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE (voice-over): Parts of new orleans are still devastated. Most of the city still without power.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not going to be able to get back to my home.
LAWRENCE: Hurricane Katrina left Sheryl Koehler living in a hotel.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like I said, it's too bad at my house. I have to find something new.
LAWRENCE: But look for hope, Sheryl and her daughter made their way back into the French Quarter on Sunday.
SHERRAL KOEHLER, HURRICANE VICTIM: I was baptized here.
LAWRENCE: Nicole admits she's barely been here since then, but like hundreds of others, she came back for a reason.
KOEHLER: I wanted the people to know that Katrina didn't take us away, you know? Katrina left some of us behind.
LAWRENCE: There's been a church sitting on this site for nearly 300 years. St. Louis Cathedral is as much part of New Orleans as Mardi Gras.
ARCHBISHOP ALRED HUGHES, NEW ORLEANS: How do we approach such a human catastrophe within the context of faith?
LAWRENCE: The people here have lost jobs. They've lost homes. They've lost lives. For the first time since the storm, Archbishop Alfred Hughes opened the cathedral for mass.
HUGHES: The structure which hovers the soul of our city has come back to life. Thanks be to God.
LAWRENCE: Outside, after mass, it was time to catch up with old friends and thank new ones for their help.
KOEHLER: It makes you feel different when you walk out. It makes you feel that you should be proud of yourself to walk into a church. I mean, that have somebody to tell you that life isn't going to be hard always.
LAWRENCE: Nicole and her mom left the cathedral feeling a little better about the future.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I still -- I still have people that I love dearly they haven't even heard from like in Mississippi. And you know, I -- I have a lot more hope after I've been in church that I'm going to hear from these people again, you know? Soon!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: For the past few week, we've been telling you a lot about the physical reconstruction of New Orleans. This may have been the first step in this city's spiritual rebirth -- Carol.
LIN: Chris, and great to get those perspective shots in your piece to show from the serene background behind you and blown out storefronts still so close by. So much damage there. Chris Lawrence, thank you very much.
Well, right now, we want to get back to our top story. Lake George, a boat overturned. And from what we understand from local reports, as many as 19 people, perhaps most if not all senior citizens killed. Let's go to Sean O'Grady. He is with Capital News 9. He's on the scene right now. Sean, do you have a better idea of exactly what happened?
SEAN O'GRADY, CAPITAL NEWS 9: Well, what I can confirm for you right now, Carol, that Warren County sheriffs are telling me, is at around 2:30 today, the Ethan Allen -- which is a small tour ship -- was about 300 feet out of its port heading into the northern site of the lake when it capsized.
They have confirmed that 46 senior citizens were aboard that ship at the time. They have not said where those senior citizens were from.
What I have also been told is now they have moved from a rescue effort to a recovery effort. The number 19 has been thrown around as the amount of people who in fact may be dead. I can tell you that they are currently bringing people out onto the staging area here. They're bringing bodies out of the water, setting them up on the coastline. However, the sheriff's department will not comment on exactly how many people are there, nor will they comment on exactly how many victims were taken to local hospitals.
But once again, the Warren County sheriffs have said that it has gone from a rescue to a recovery operation -- Carol.
LIN: All right. Right now, Sean, just as you were talking to me, I'm getting word now from the Associated Press that a county sheriff has told the AP that 20 people killed now when a tour boat overturned on the lake in upstate New York. Do you have any idea, Sean, what the record of this tour boat company?
O'GRADY: As far as we know here in the Capital District of New York, this is a first that has happened for this tour boat company. Like I say, it's just a small tour boat operation. There are several tour boats that operate here on Lake George. This is the first time we have seen anything quite like this.
LIN: And the pictures that we are look right now of the lake. I don't know if this is file tape or recent videotape that you took. The water seemed very calm. It looks like a sunny, beautiful day.
O'GRADY: That's precisely what residents here of Lake George have been telling me. Ther was actually a gentleman who was out on a canoe, he lives right here on the coastline where the boat capsized. He said he was there and witnessed the boat turn over, as it was turning out into the lake. He said he could not understand why, because it was so calm out there.
We did hear mixed reports that another tour boat, called the Mohigan (ph) operated by a separate company, had just gone by and there might have been a large wake out there that might have added to the capsizing of the Ethan Allen, but that of course right now is just speculation. One resident saying against another.
But once again from what you've seen the videos that we've sent you and from what I have heard from the residents on the water at time the Ethan Allen went down, they said it was very bright and sunny and a good day to be out on the water.
LIN: And I'm just curious. The number reported dead -- and we don't have complete official confirmation of that -- but if the Associated Press is correct, 20 people were killed. It sounds like something catastrophic happened. That it wouldn't just simply have been a second boat coming up and creating a wake large enough to disturb the original boat.
O'GRADY: It's definitely catastrophic. That's the word everyone here has been using to describe it. What a resident told me, a resident who witnessed the entire incident, said the boat was turning out. There were a number of senior citizens on the upper deck. As it was turning, it had started it lean to its left and at that time, people on top of the boat were moving towards the left side of the boat. It then went down on its left side, capsized and several people were thrown in the water.
That same resident told me about 20 of the senior citizens who were on boat were able to climb on to the side of the boat. And using the residents words, he said that the Ethan Allen, the ship bobbed like a cork, up and down in the lake for about 10 minutes.
They said, then a small cloud of smoke came up from the boat in rear the of the ship, then went down and it took the whole ship down with it. The 20 people who were lying on top of it were back in the water. But at that time, like I say, it had been bobbing for about ten minutes.
Residents, as well as members of the local fire department, were able to get there, paddle out and start to rescue the victims who were lying on top.
Once again, they say right now it's gone from a rescue to a recovery operation. Those victims who were initially rescued have been taken to local hospitals. Right now it looks like they'll be taking bodies out of the water.
LIN: All right. Sean, Sean O'Grady, thank you very much for the latest. Sean O'Grady from Capital News 9 reporting there there the scene as we're look at these dramatic pictures, videotape that we just got into the CNN center. As Sean dramatically described how this boat, the Ethan Allen, may have tipped over. As many as 46 seniors on board. That there were senior citizens on the top deck.
As apparently the boat was making a turn and lifted. Some of those passengers falling into the water. The situation perhaps made more complicated when another boat came nearby, creating a wake that further contributed to the capsizing of that boat.
Heart-breaking pictures as you saw there of senior citizens being treated. So far right now the Associated Press quoting local officials saying as many 20 people may have died in this boating incident. We don't even know if is an accident or not. We are going to get much more information in a matter of minutes.
About 15 minutes, we're expecting to hear from the sheriff's department. The sheriff's department having a news conference. And we are going to be carrying that live, right here on CNN.
We are going to take a quick break, much more straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Welcome back, as we're showing you the latest pictures. Pictures just into the CNN center, of senior citizens getting off a boat, part of a rescue operation after a dinner boat cruise capsized on Lake George, up in New York. As many as 46 seniors were on board that boat, the Ethan Allen.
We are waiting for a news conference by the Warren County Sheriff's Department to give us the latest, but so far we're hearing as many as 19 people, according to the -- or actually now 20 people according to the Associated Press, quoting local officials on the scene, as many as 20 people may have died in whatever happened on that boat as it capsized into Lake George.
Please, stay tuned, as we're waiting for any moment, a news conference by the Warren County Sheriff's Department.
In the meantime, back to our continuing coverage of the aftermath of the hurricanes. It could be years before all of the half million people who once lived in New Orleans before Katrina ever return home. And there's no guarantee that the city will remain predominantly black.
In fact, the national secretary of Housing and Urban Development is even questioning whether the Ninth Ward of poor black neighborhoods should ever be rebuilt at all? Cynthia Willard Lewis is the councilwoman representing the Ninth Ward and she joins me right now.
Councilwoman, what is your reaction to those comments? The possibility that the Ninth Ward should not be rebuilt?
CYNTHIA WILLARD-LEWIS, NINTH WARD REPRESENTATIVE: I would say, Carol, that those comments did not address the history and the plan that is being fashioned today, which looks at the right of every New Orleanian to return and looks at the assets of that community, such as its strong senior population that were anchored in homeownership and other innovative concepts that build a diverse community. LIN: But councilwoman, this is an area that should another hurricane of these magnitudes ever come back, do you feel that you are dooming your constituents to yet another flood, another set of serious dangers if the Ninth Ward is rebuilt where it is right now?
WILLARD-LEWIS: The question of the integrity and the safety of parts of the city is a universal and global discussions. The Lower Ninth Ward is connected to St. Bernard and the same level of ravaged devastation occurred region as well as in Mississippi.
The integrity of the levee system is a dialogue for all parts of New Orleans not just the historic Lower Ninth Ward because the breaches in the levee system were in many neighborhoods.
LIN: All right. So why do you think -- why do you think the HUD secretary specifically targeted, then, the Ninth Ward to say, look, it keeps getting flooded. Let's not rebuild. It's silly.
WILLARD-LEWIS: I am not sure that is what he said. And certainly I think that we have to talk about the assets of a community and talk about a plan that perhaps people have not considered rather than a knee-jerk reaction to the devastation.
It is an area of great courage. It survived Betsy. And people came back and rebuilt. And so we are confident that with Katrina -- because the families have called. The families are interested in returning. And they should be allowed to return.
LIN: The commission that New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin has put together was carefully crafted. It's 50 percent white, 50 percent black. Are you satisfied with the membership of this commission? Do you think that consideration for poor black residents and their ability to rebuild, do you think it would be seriously addressed by the commission as it stands?
WILLARD-LEWIS: I think the commission is a very good start. And there will be other aspects to the commission, such as the subcommittees that will look at critical tasks, questions of education, questions of housing, questions of access to capital.
And so we are committed to working with the commission and ensuring that a full scope of dialogue and of remedies addressing all of the needs of all of our citizens are fashioned and formulateed.
LIN: All right, so councilwoman, straight to the point. Do you think race is going to be a factor in the rebuilding process?
WILLARD-LEWIS: In every situation, race is a consideration because we are who we are. However, in the city of New Orleans, race is what makes our city great because it is a diversity of the races. The great mixture of people and the fact that we can work together and we can build our cities together and we look forward to that inclusive, comprehensive dialogue of all people, of all faiths and of all coaches rebuilding New Orleans, not just race, but the question of differences.
LIN: Councilwoman, Cynthia Willard-Lewis, thank you very much for your time.
WILLARD-LEWIS: Thank you.
LIN: As we focused on the recovery and rebuilding of New Orleans, CNN is asking you, what should be done with the city? Log on to CNN.com/stories to share your thoughts and ideas.
All right, straight ahead, also CNN's Anderson Cooper introduces us to some of the people he's meant in New Orleans following the devastating arrival of Hurricane Katrina.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: All right, once again, fresh video as it's coming into the CNN center of the scene out at Lake George, New York, where a boat, a dinner cruise boat capsized on lake. From what we understand, 46 senior citizens may have been on board. The Associated Press reporting now that 20 people died in some kind of boating accident. We're waiting to hear any moment now from the Warren County Sheriff's Department who's going to give a news conference but we have learned that this is now a recovery operation. They do not expect to find anyone else alive and that a temporary morgue has now been set up at Hearthstone Point Campground.
It looked very serene out there today. They don't think weather was a factor. But more on the story, as we wait to hear from the sheriff's department about this horrible tragic accident.
In the meantime, in the weeks since Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast region, CNN's Anderson Cooper was there, talking with survivors, returning ve met along the way, over the course of the past month. s like to be here, what these people are going through.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: For me, the story is really all about people, and there have been so many people that I've met along the way, over the course of the past month.
When I first got to Waveland, Mississippi, it was about 48 hours after the storm. I hooked up with an urban search-and-rescue task force from Virginia, and you know, these guys were on the ground and going house to house. They would go to reports of where there were bodies and break into the homes.
(INAUDIBLE.)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) victims here, four dead.
COOPER: There weren't any refrigerator trucks to take the people who had died in search of to, you know, bring them back to their families or do autopsies on them. They just photographed these bodies and they left them in their homes.
Some of the people I met -- I mean, I met -- there was a woman -- I'll never forget her sobs as she was walking down the street. Her name was Pauline Conaway (ph), going to her house for the first time. She just collapsed in a heap of sobs. I've never -- I'll never forget that sound.
And so many of the people -- I mean, Dr. Greg Henderson (ph) in New Orleans, who, you know, didn't have to do anything, he wasn't being paid to be a first responder. But he went there and he was helping out the New Orleans police. He was trying to help out people at the Convention Center. This is a story about heroes, and there have been heroes that we have met every day.
At this convention center, you saw children, infants died, you saw old people from nursing homes just dumped there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yeah. I mean, there was just -- they was all walks of life.
Whereas I saw the devils here, I also saw angels, because you know, you see people forming little communities here to take care of the sickest among them. And they're not doctors.
How frustrating is it for you to hear, you know, the people in Washington now, from the federal government, criticizing, or in Congress, criticizing state and local officials?
GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO (D), LOUISIANA: They know not of what they speak.
COOPER: Reporting is about what it should have always been about, which is about asking questions, being relentlessly fair, being nonpartisan, but trying to separate fact from fiction, and demanding answers, not just responses to questions. Often in television especially, it's very easy to ask a question, and a politician just responds, but they don't really answer the question. And because there's often so many time limits, you kind of just move on to the next question. Well, there is no point in moving on to the next question if the first question hasn't been answered.
I don't think any reporter who's, you know, who's worth a dime can come to a story like this and not be changed.
It's devastating. I mean, actually.
I think, you know, part of our job is to be changed by any story we do, and you know, your job is to open your eyes and open your mind and open your ears, but it's also to open your heart. And to allow yourself to be changed by a story I think is essential if you're going to report that story, especially a story like this, if you're going to report it accurately and really convey a sense of what it's like to be here, what these people are going through.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Anderson is going to continue his powerful reports from the region as the recovery proceeds. So tune into "ANDERSON COOPER 360" weeknights at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Well, the Supreme Court is about to begin a new term. So how will the decisions made by the new court change our lives? Stay tuned for a preview of the issues likely to come up. And they are hot!
And later, meet a U.S. soldier doing heroic work in a very dangerous series of conditions on the front lines of the war in Iraq. You're watching CNN LIVE SUNDAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: Welcome back. I'm Carol Lin. This is what's happening right now in the news. We are following a developing story. A recovery operation is going on right now on Lake George in upstate New York, after a tour boat capsized. The Associated Press says a county sheriff puts the death toll at 20.
The Ethan Allen overturned on the lake's western shore. And the Associated Press quotes the sheriff as saying the wake from another boat may have caused the Ethan Allen to capsize.
We understand that most of the victims are senior citizens. On the telephone with me right now is Frank Sause. Frank, you were in the area. Give me an idea of what you saw.
FRANK SAUSE, EYEWITNESS: I just got back from a church function, and I went -- a lot of emergency vehicles were heading down the street here, which is a pretty quiet street. So I got in my golf cart with my daughter an we went down there.
I saw about 20, 30, 40 boats out on the lake. All rallying around in one area. There was a number of rescue boats and a number of rescue personnel on shore. And they were, you know, bringing people to the shore, lifting a number of bodies out of the boats and putting them on stretchers.
And that went on for a while. And then another boat was coming in. And it is just a local person's boat and asked if I can help dock and help off some elderly people from the boat.
LIN: Were they mostly senior citizens or all senior citizens?
SAUSE: They were all senior citizens that I could tell. At one point one of the boats that I helped unload was -- the captain was on the boat but he was visibly shaken up. And he was -- he didn't really want to come off of the boat. He said he's going stay on it.
LIN: So, at least we know the captain is still alive and can answer questions by police and investigators.
SAUSE: That's correct.
LIN: What about the senior citizens, what did they tell you about what happened?
SAUSE: They weren't even sure the name of the boat company at first. And I said the Shoreline? And they said yes, yes. That's it. They didn't know the name of the boat itself, but they said they were just making a turn. And next thing you know, the boat just overturned. And they were in the water. And a lot of them were very elderly and had a hard time, I'm sure treading water. So, they lost a number of them.
LIN: Oh gosh, it must have been a tough scene to witness with your daughter. I'm wondering whether you know what reputation of this boat company is?
SAUSE: They're a good company. They've been around a long time. And I hate it see something like this happen, too, because not good for them. But it's been a good company. It's been around here for a long time.
LIN: All right, we're looking at some fresh video that's just come into the CNN center, Frank. We see body bags lying on, I don't know whether that's the shoreline or the campground nearby where they've set up a temporary morgue. Did these senior citizens tell you anything more about what happened?
SAUSE: They were just very shook up. One guy looked over his shoulder and he said, that's my wife. She's dead. And he was very distraught. He said -- I don't jump to any conclusions, but he was pretty convinced she is dead. It was tough on him. Another lady got out and she was complaining of chest pains.
LIN: It's a sad situation. Frank, thanks very much for givings a firsthand eyewitness account. We're going to go to a news conference now by the Warren County Sheriff's Department, I believe.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
SHERIFF LARRY CLEVELAND, WARREN CO. SHERIFF'S DEPT: Shoreline Cruises in the village of Lake George. We believe and we have not confirmed that they hit the lake of one of the larger cruise boats and it overturned and upset the boat and threw the passengers into the water. The unofficial number right now that we have on board is 49 people. Of those 49 people, we do know that 21 people have parished and 29 people have been accounted for. We have no reason to think the numbers are not correct but I'm going to hold you to revisions if we find out something differently as we've just the 49th victim about five minutes ago and we'll be bringing that person to shore.
QUESTION: How many victim, sir?
CLEVELAND: There will be a total of 49 people on the vessel. We have 21 people that have parished.
QUESTION: 21?
CLEVELAND: We will of course conduct an investigation into this.
LIN: All right, you were just hearing the latest from -- taped turn around. It's fresh tape that just came into the CNN center of the sheriffs of Warren County, Larry Cleveland, who has confirmed some numbers for us that 49 people were on board. Eyewitnesses are tellings us that all of them were senior citizens.
21 people died after their dinner cruise boat, the wake from a larger boat hit the smaller cruise boat, and it capsized. These seniors were falling into the water. Eyewitnesses say that the boat actually tipped over, and some of the senior citizens who were on the upper deck fell into the water. 21 seniors dead.
This is a developing story. They've set up a temporary morgue at a campground nearby. And we are are going to following this story throughout the night. Stay right there. We are going to take a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: And now to the U.S. Supreme Court, which begins a new term tomorrow morning with a new chief justice. Chief Justice John Roberts and his colleagues face a docket filled with controversial cases. CNN's Gary Nuremberg has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY NUREMBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush joins a new chief justice and fellow members of the court Sunday for the yearly red mass named for the historic color of judicial robes and performed just before a new term of the high court begins.
EDWARD LAZARUS, LEGAL ANALYST: He is going to walk into a real maelstrom up at the court.
NUREMBERG: Roberts jumps into one of the court's most controversial cases Wednesday: assisted suicide and whether the federal government can stop the state of Oregon from allowing doctors to prescribe medicines so patients can kill themselves.
LAZARUS: This is one of those hot botton issues that goes to the feelings of the Republican base. The issue of physician-assisted suicide is tied in to what President Bush frequently calls his culture of life.
CROWD: Row V. Wade has got to go.
NUREMBERG: As is abortion. The court will decide whether racketeering laws can be used against those who organize demonstrations outside clinics and could set a new standard for review of abortion cases when it decides whether a New Hampshire law requiring parental notification is too strict.
LAZARUS: It's one of the cases that could actually turn on John Roberts' vote.
NUREMBERG: The court will decide whether colleges can ban military recruiters from campus because of the military's policy of don't ask, don't tell for homosexuals. Whether a church can use a hallucenogenic tea as a sacrament. And we'll hear criminal cases about the rights of defendant's in death penalty cases and limits on police procedures. LAZARUS: This is a situation where from the very moment the justices start back in October, they're going to be, first of all, very divided. It's going to be a lot of friction inside the building.
NUREMBERG (on camera): Critics of Roberts' performance in his confirmation hearings complained they ended with little sense of his judicial philosophy or how he would rule on controversial cases. With the cases on this year's docket, they'll have some answers by the time the court concludes its term next summer.
Gary Nuremberg, CNN, the Supreme Court.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Tonight, "CNN PRESENTS" takes a hard look at the new Supreme Court and how its decision will effect your daily lives. "What's At Stake" aires tonight at 8:00 Eastern.
The outcome of one case before the Supreme Court could determine when prisoners can use DNA science to get a new trial. And for one man, the court's ruling could mean the difference between life and death.
CNN's Randi Kaye has that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Riverbend Maximum Security Prison in Nashville, Tennessee, is what Paul Gregory House calls home.
For 20 years he has lived here, on Death Row. House has multiple sclerosis and is confined to a wheelchair.
(on camera): Did you kill Carolyn Muncey?
PAUL GREGORY HOUSE, DEATH ROW INMATE: No.
KAYE: Did you rape Carolyn Muncey?
HOUSE: No.
KAYE: But if you didn't kill her and you didn't rape her, how did you end up here 20 years ago?
HOUSE: I guess that's the million dollar question.
KAYE (voice-over): It was July 13th, 1985, when Paul House's life took a giant leap toward death. That day his neighbor, Carolyn Muncey, disappeared from this tiny shack she and her family called home.
Her body was found the next day less than 100 yards from her home in Luttrell, Tennessee. The mother of two had been badly beaten. There were signs of a vicious struggle.
Paul House was a friend of Muncey's husband, he was also a convicted rapist out on parole.
PAUL PHILLIPS, DISTRICT ATTORNEY GENERAL: I think that he knew that he could trick her to leave the house and get her down by that creek. And I think his intentions were a sexual assault. The reason she was killed is because she fought back.
KAYE: When police questioned House about the murder, he told them he had been home all evening. But his live-in girlfriend admitted House had gone out for about an hour.
(on camera): Not telling them that you had left the house that night turned into a fatal mistake for you.
HOUSE: Pretty much.
KAYE (voice-over): House had no idea how bad things were going to get. He told police he was jumped while out walking. He escaped through the woods, arrived home with cuts and bruises.
PHILLIPS: I don't buy it at all, no. That would be called hogwash in Luttrell, Tennessee.
KAYE (on camera): House says he left home the night of the murder about 10:45, and returned an hour later. That would give him about 60 minutes to find, rape, and kill Carolyn Muncey, then drag her body about 100 yards and hide it.
In order to do all of that in such a short time, the defense figures House had to run there and back, four seven-minute miles, leaving just a half hour for everything else.
HOUSE: I've been smoking since I was like 12 or 13, a long, long time.
KAYE: So were you capable of running four miles that night?
HOUSE: Hell, no!
KAYE: House also raised eyebrows when someone said they spotted him at the crime scene, just hours before the body was discovered. But House's biggest problem, forensic evidence.
His jeans, transferred to the FBI lab for analysis, had Carolyn Muncey's blood on them. The chief medical examiner for the state of Tennessee testified the blood found on House's jeans did not come directly from Carolyn Muncey's veins, but likely spilled from the samples en route to the lab.
PHILLIPS: I actually saw the evidence being prepared to be transported to the FBI laboratory. It was packaged properly.
KAYE: In the end the jury convicted House of first degree murder and sentenced him to die.
You're angry.
P. HOUSE: Yes, you could say that.
KAYE: Bitter?
P. HOUSE: Yes. But I believe they're going to take care of that in the end. Stick a needle in me.
KAYE (on camera): Inmates on death row in Tennessee who committed their crimes after 1999 can only die by lethal injection, but if the crime was committed before that, as is the case with Paul House, the inmate has a choice. Lethal injection or the electric chair. House says if it comes down to it, he will chose lethal injection.
(voice-over): But House may not have to make any decision at all because of DNA. House pushed his new lawyer, Stephen Kissinger, to order state of the art DNA testing on fluids from the scene, something not available during his trial 20 years ago.
Persistence paid off. The semen discovered on her nightgown belonged to her husband, so there is no proof House raped Carolyn Muncey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Yes, a lot is at stake when the new chief justice takes on the job. He is going to make history one way or another. But another very different nomination will hit us closer to home and much sooner. And perhaps in much more profound ways. That is why we have Carlos Watson's "Fresh Take" every Sunday to make sure we see what the next story's going to be and here he is at the CNN center.
CARLOS WATSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Carol Lin, good to be here in Atlanta.
LIN: Yes, it's great to have you. So what could be more important than the issues of abortion or right to privacy.
WATSON: Believe it or not, arguably the job of who will be the next Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Now, you hear that and you yawn and you lean back.
LIN: A little dry.
WATSON: Usually just for political types. But who controls that job can determine everything from what kind of house you buy if interest rates of too high. YOu may end up with a two bedroom instead of a three bedroom. It can determine whether or not your kids ultimately goes to a public college or a private college. Can I afford UCLA?
LIN: Right. And we're looking at the man in the job right now.
WATSON: Alan Greenspan right now. And so his 18 years at the head of the Federal Reserve are coming to an end this Febr -- actually January 31. And right now, while everyone is focusing on the Supreme Court, guess what Vice President Cheney and many of the president's aide are looking at.
LIN: Right now.
WATSON: Right now as we speak. And so may hear an announcement which may even be a more impactful announcement, because it impacts all of the economy over the next six to eight weeks.
LIN: Do the names matter to you?
WATSON: I think the names do matter. And again, you won't know these names. Again, these are people who may determine whether or not your sister-in-law has a job next year.
So, you want to hear a couple of the names?
LIN: Well, one of them is your old professor at Harvard.
WATSON: My old economics professor Marty Feldstein who distinguished professor at Harvard, former chairman of the council of economic advisers under Ronald Reagan. He's probably the leading the favorite. You might call him the veteran if you will.
LIN: OK.
WATSON: No. 2 the hot candidate of the moment, is a former Princeton professor who right now is chairman of the council of economic advisers, at one point served on the fed as one of the governors of the fed. A guy named Ben Bernaki. And then the third candidate -- and there's really kind of a...
LIN: Surprise choice.
WATSON: Well, not yet a surprised choice. This guy is Glenn Hubbard. He's the youngest and maybe the most political connected. Remember those tax cuts early in President Bush's term? He really kind of shepherded those through as the chairman of the council of economic advisers. Now is the dean of Colombia's business school.
So, all three of those guys.
Now, if you ask me for a long b all, a hail mary, it's Sunday, it's football day, so you got to ask me for one. President's known for surprise, right, no one expected Dick Cheney, no one expected Don Rumsfeld. The president went for a Democrat, you'd be surprised. Roger Ferguson, currently the No. 2, the vice chair, at the federal reserve is highly unlikely, super unlikely, probably won't happen. But if you ask me to throw a long ball, the president, we're going to look outside of natural three choices, might be the one to consider.
LIN: But the president is not look for change in terms of -- I mean, the country like the vein of Alan Greenspan, because He has allowed homeowners to buy bigger houses. The stock market rallied to record highs during his administration. You know, Joe and Mary six pack out there want to keep interest rates low so they can afford to send their kids to college.
WATSON: You do now. You may not like them if the housing bubble bursts, but he'll be gone by then.
But you're right. They're unlikely to do kind a wild choice here.
And what most people know is that over the 18 years that Alan Greenspan's been in office, unemployment on average has been lower, about 5.5 percent, proceeding eight years it was 7 percent. Inflation's been lower. Some people were remember the Jimmy Carter years of 11, 12, 13 percent. Under Alan Greenspan, it's averaged 2 percent. So you're right. Been able it buy more of a house, two latte's at Starbuck instead of one, if that's your thing, more shopping at Wal-Mart. And the American people in general want the economy to continue to be healthy.
LIN: But times are changing.
WATSON: Times are changing. And democrats, may -- you heard the Democratic leader in the Senate Harry Reid do a really harsh attack on Alan Greenspan earlier in the year. Maybe there will be a little fighting during the confirmation battle. We'll see.
LIN: In the meantime, house majority leader resigns. We're going to have much more at 10:00, because since we've snagged you into town, we're going it take advantage of your presence.
WATSON: I love coming back twice.
LIN: Good. Carlos Watson is giong to be joining me once again at 10:00 Eastern in our prime-time show to talk about the consequences of -- boy, that was a big announcemen announcement. This week.
WATSON: Big news both in the House and outside of it.
LIN: Yeah. And a criminal investigation. It doesn't get much more interesting than that.
WATSON: We've got more to talk about.
LIN: See you at 10:00.
All right. In the meantime, he refuses to call himself a hero. Next, meet a U.S. marine serving on the front lines in Iraq who definitely qualify for the title.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: And some sad news to report, the Associated Press reports tony winner playwright August Wilson has died of liver cancer. He was 60.
Now, as you might recall, Wilson wrote such lanmark dramas as "Fences." Just one of his plays that chronicled the African-American experience in the 20th Century America. Wilson made his illness public in August be and said then he had only a few months left to live. Well, every week we like to bring you the more personal stories from the front line. Today, redefing heroes. The war in Iraq has shown us many images of courage and bravery. Our Alex Quade introduces us, though, to a U.S. marine whose actions not only earned him a Silver Star in Iraq, but compels him to take another tour of duty.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEX QUADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chief Warrant Officer David Dunty fought in the battle of Nazaria two years ago. He's now in Al Asad, his second Iraq war deployment.
(on camera): So this is your Silver Star.
(voice-over): Dunty earned it for moving his marines through Nasiriah and dealing with a friendly fire incident.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not any kind of hero. The marines that I was with that day, they're the heroes.
QUADE: 18 marines died that day. We were at their battlefield service.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's grief, yes. It's heart ringing, yes, it's gut wrenching, yes, but you have other marine's lives at stake. I've got to focus on those other guys. The ones that are still walk around. So you learn from it.
QUADE: Learn and live to fight again. Many in his platoon today were with him then.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In combat you kind of just go to what comes natural. You have a job to do and you just don't think about it. There is no way you can prepare mentally for the horrors of combat.
QUADE: His first week back his vehicle hit an improvised explosive device.
UNIDNETIFIED MALE: There was a bang. All I rember is the bang apparently.
QUADE: So, the armor plating on the humvees saved your lives?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Saved our lives. We were injured. But everybody walked away. Welcome to Iraq.
QUADE: He says insurgents are making bombs from stockpiled ordinance like what he showed us two years ago.
UNIDNETIFIED MALE: You cannot fathom the amount of ordinance that was just everywhere. And you can imagine now the things that we're dealing with are those same issues. This whole country was an ammo dump. And we are cleaning those things up as we find them.
QUADE (on camera): What is the most important thing for Americans and families back home to know about Nasiriyah and the lessons learned there?
UNIDNETIFIED MALE: Ask the people who are here doing the fighting and doing the dying and you will hear from them that they feel the mission is sound. They understand why they're here. They understand why casualties happen, because that happens in doing a tough job like this.
QUADE (voice-over): Dunfy (ph) expects a third tour in Iraq next year.
Alex Quade, CNN, Al Asad, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Straight ahead on CNN tonight, coming up next, CNN PRESENTS monster tracking the storm. Well, what lessons have we learned from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita?
And at 8:00 eastern, the premier of a special CNN presents, what's at stake? The new Supreme Court on the eve before the new session opens. What controversial issues will the high court face? And how will the new chief justice affect a dynamics on the courts?
At 9:00 eastern, larry KING WEEKEND. And Larry's special guest tonight, former president Bill Clinton on helping hurricane victims.
And I'll be back at 10:00 eastern for CNN SUNDAY NIGHT.
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