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Where in the World is Wilma Going?; Were Three Children Dumped into San Francisco Bay?

Aired October 20, 2005 - 07:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Where in the world is Wilma going, and when will it hit? A cat-four monster headed for Florida, and then maybe on to New England? The latest forecast straight ahead.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Soledad O'Brien. A developing story out of California, where were three children dumped into the San Francisco Bay? An eyewitness said he saw it happen. There are reports the mother is in custody. One body has been found. We'll have a live report just ahead.

M. O'BRIEN: And book him. A Tom DeLay mugshot would not be a pretty picture for Republicans, on this AMERICAN MORNING.

S. O'BRIEN: Good morning. Welcome, everybody. We're following Hurricane Wilma because even though she's been -- it's been downgraded from a category five to a category four, was a category 5 yesterday, still a big storm. No one's really clear are where it's headed.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, let's remember, category four is a big deal. It was after all a category four, maybe even a category three, when Katrina and Rita rolled through the Gulf shores, so these are big storms, storms to reckon with, storms to follow, which we're doing.

S. O'BRIEN: Absolutely. It looks as if it's going to be a big threat to Florida, but when and where obviously still a very big mystery.

(WEATHER REPORT)

S. O'BRIEN: Florida, of course, they're watching Wilma too. CNN's Allan Chernoff, he's live in Punta Gorda, Florida. You'll recall it was a year ago that Hurricane Charlie slammed into Punta Gorda.

Allan, psychologically, and I guess, literally, how are people preparing for there?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, certainly people remember the hurricane from last year, Charlie, very well. So that has a lot of people on edge if they weren't already on edge from having seen all the pictures of Rita and Katrina.

But this morning, as you can see, it's just a beautiful morning here in Punta Gorda, but people are preparing right now by shopping, lots of shopping all over the state, but especially in this region. People have been getting bottled water, canned food, propane, gasoline as well. And the gas stations have been certainly seeing a tremendous amount of demand. Some gas stations, in fact, have been running out of gas. People, of course, seeing and having remembered all those pictures of Houston, people trying to get out over there. The evacuations haven't really begun over here. Lots of people thinking, well, do I need to go? They're still tracking the storm, trying to decide.

Of course, Charlie last year did pound this area very hard. In fact, just across from where I'm standing, there used to be a holiday inn. Still too dark to see it. The Holiday Inn is completely gone. There's a condo right behind it that's still boarded up. They're trying to rebuild over there, and that is an issue around here. Lots of rebuilding still under way. So now the contractors have to make sure that debris doesn't go flying all over the place. So that's another way that people are preparing.

Some other folks very unfortunate, still living in trailers after Charlie of last year. It's a FEMA trailer park, about 500 families just outside of Punta Gorda. One of the families quoted in this morning's newspaper, saying they are going to get out because they feel sitting in the trailer, they'd be essentially sitting in a cardboard box. So we certainly will see an outflow of people in the coming days, and the schools are planning to be closed tomorrow so that people can get out.

S. O'BRIEN: Tough for the people there.

Allan Chernoff, thanks for the update. Of course we'll continue check in with you, and we'll continue to update everybody on Hurricane Wilma's path all morning.

CNN, of course, is your hurricane headquarters.

M. O'BRIEN: In San Francisco this morning, a mother is under arrest after authorities say she tossed her three children into the Bay.

Rusty Dornin live in San Francisco with more on that. Rusty, what's the latest on the search for the children?

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we just saw one of the Coast Guard boats go by. We're not sure, Miles, whether it was actually returning to base, because they have been searching in a different area. Just to give you an idea of where we are, we're along the Embarcadero, near the San Francisco ferry building. You're looking out actually over towards Treasure Island, near La Buena Island, toward Oakland.

Now from what we understand, a woman came out with her three children on to this pedestrian pier that's very popular with tourists. I just spoke a little while with a "San Francisco Chronicle" reporter who got here just 10 minutes after it happened. Apparently according to witnesses, she took the children's clothes off and dropped them one by one into the Bay.

Kevin Fagan, the reporter, said he did see a stroller and some clothes lying midway down this pier.

Now apparently firefighters and rescue crews were able to get here because they have stations nearby, about four minutes after this happened, because a man did see the woman do this. He ran to a nearby restaurant and called 911. They have recovered one of the bodies. It took about five hours for them to discover the body, and that was located far around the other side of the Bay. The tides here, of course, are very strong and rescue teams say there's not much chance for the other two to survive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA OROPEZA, SAN FRANCISCO FIRE DEPT.: The temperature of the water is rather cold. It's windy. I'm understanding there's a strong northerly ebb tide. So it would make for a rescue mission very difficult.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DORNIN: Now what you're seeing here is the woman who -- identified by local media outfits as Lashaun Harris, 23, of Oakland. She's getting into a police car and has reportedly been charged with three counts of homicide. Also, according to "The San Francisco Chronicle," she was living in a shelter with the children in Oakland before this happened and was having some kind of mental problems. This morning, Mayor Gavin Newsom is going to have a news conference about this incident in a couple of hours here, right here at the Embarcadero -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Gosh, Rusty. What a story. Thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: And the amazing thing is where Rusty is, the Embarcadero is this massive tourists, I mean, tons people are walking around there. To do something like this at the end of the afternoon, you would have so many eyewitnesses. It's very popular. It's just...

M. O'BRIEN: Well, of course, if you saw it, what could you do, though? That's the thing.

S. O'BRIEN: Absolutely nothing, as Rusty mentioned. The water is so cold and the tides are so strong, and the children by some reports, age one, and three and six, so little that nothing could be done. What a terrible story.

M. O'BRIEN: And you'll have more on this in a little bit, right?

S. O'BRIEN: Terrible, terrible.

M. O'BRIEN: All right, let's stay in Northern California there. A surfer lucky to be alive this morning after being attacked by a big shark. Megan Halavais, 20 years old, surfing near Bodega Bay Wednesday, and there you see the teeth marks, 14 foot great white tried to pull her under water. She actually fought off the shark as her friends rushed to her help. Here's what one of them said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DAVID BRYANT, FRIEND OF SHARK VICTIM: We were charging in, and every paddle we were both slapping the water and screaming at the shark. Hey, no, no, no! You know, trying to drive him away and right when we were getting to her, she disappeared under water board and all. I mean, I get a chill down my spine just saying that to you, because that's when we thought we lost her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. O'BRIEN: Wow. We're going to hear from him in just a moment. I'm anxious to hear the rest of that story. Megan, by the way, that's her photo from her college water polo team picture, and that means she's a really good swimmer. If you can play water polo, you know, that. She had surgery to repair wounds to her leg. She has a gash that goes the full length of her leg. Coming up at the bottom of the hour, we'll talk to David and I think the doctor as well, right? Anxious to hear that story.

S. O'BRIEN: And apparently, the bites were so close, if they had been a little bit further one way or the other, she would have hit a artery, which of course would have been just utterly devastating.

Let's turn to Texas now. It could be a very rough day for Congressman Tom DeLay. Prosecutors there are taking his indictment one step further. A warrant is out for his arrest. Fingerprinting and a mug shot could follow.

Sean Callebs live outside the county jail in Richmond, Texas this morning, which is where DeLay is expected to turn himself in today.

Sean, good morning.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.

Exactly, the big question, when exactly will the former majority leader show up here to go through this process of being booked. We mentioned he will have his mugshot taken, and also be fingerprinted. The fact that this case has even gotten this far, many observers say, simply shows the animosity between DeLay and the Austin-based prosecutor Ronnie Earle, because in many white-collar crimes here in Texas and throughout the United States, when something like this happens, usually the two sides just make an agreement to surrender.

Now Earle's side has been maintaining all along that this is simply a matter of procedure. The accusations stem from an alleged violation of the Texas election code, and go back to a pact that was started by DeLay and two of his associates back in 2002, with the expressed goal of trying to win a majority of seats in the Texas legislature.

Now a 102-year-old Texas law maintains that corporation money can't be used in state elections. And what Earle is alleging is that this pact got $190,000 from corporations, funneled it to the Republican National Committee, which in turn spent the money on a number of races that DeLay's pact considered important here in Texas. DeLay has hired a very powerful attorney in this state, Dick Deguerin, and the defense has not only maintained this is simply partisan politics, but has gone on to even suggest that Earle basically bullied members of the grand jury in an effort to bring these charges against the former majority leader.

Now we do know that DeLay will be in court tomorrow in Austin, scheduled time at 9:00 in the morning, and basically that is just going to be a formality where he will say who his attorneys will to be for the record. But also, at the same time, Soledad, This judge could rule on a couple of important motions from the defense -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: A lot could happen. Sean Callebs for us this morning Sean, thanks.

M. O'BRIEN: Now let's talk about that CIA leak case. More grist for the mill this morning. The AP, "The Washington Post," reporting Bush aide Karl Rove and Scooter Libby, the vice president's chief of staff, had a conversation about this whole thing before the identity of Valerie Plame came out in the press. Suzanne Malveaux live at the White House with more on this.

Suzanne, tell us what the implications are for the administration and for the grand jury investigation.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, two things. Of course it could mean nothing, or it could be significant. If the prosecutor, of course, nothing if the prosecutor sees this as, of course, simply a discussion between the president's top political adviser Karl Rove, as well as Deputy Chief of Staff Scooter Libby, simply discussing trading information about what it is that they're telling reporters. This type of thing happens in Washington all the time. Now it could be considered significant, however, if the prosecutor sees this as a demonstration of some sort of conspiracy, that there was a plan to out Valerie Plame, or that they were plotting or talking about this to discredit her husband, Joe Wilson, the war critic.

We just don't have enough information to know what the implications are going to be. What we know, Miles, however is that these are two central figures in the investigation who are linked -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Suzanne, thank you very much. Appreciate that.

Suzanne Malveaux at the White House.

We'll hear from the president later today when he holds a new conference with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. CNN will have live coverage at 10:50 Eastern Time -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: So sad to see you at work today. Because the fact that you were here, and the fact that I was here and the fact that we were all here meant we did not win Powerball.

M. O'BRIEN: We lost.

S. O'BRIEN: We lost in a big way. We were not going to come in. Ted was nice enough to go ahead and buy the tickets for us.

M. O'BRIEN: Ted Fine, our Powerball guy, I think truly thought he was going to win.

S. O'BRIEN: You know what, this time around, I thought I was going to win, honestly.

M. O'BRIEN: You really felt it.

S. O'BRIEN: My husband and I had a long discussion about how we would spend the money last night. The ticket, as I'm sure you all know, and certainly everybody who was in it to win it and didn't knows, now is $340 million jackpot. The odds, of course, of matching all six numbers in the drawing, one in 146 million, which is why we did not win. The numbers were this 7, 21, 43, 44, 49, and the Powerball, which was 29.

Are we sure those weren't our numbers?

M. O'BRIEN: Were we close, Ted, at all?

We got one. We got one. Which means what do we get?

S. O'BRIEN: It was like this. It is the biggest jackpot ever.

You know, that if you, if you took the money, they say if you took the money, took the cash, after taxes it's like 110.

M. O'BRIEN: I'd get by on that. And only one ticket, by the way, only one winner, which is...

S. O'BRIEN: In Oregon, somebody in Oregon.

M. O'BRIEN: Somebody in Oregon, who's on the phone with his accountant this morning.

Wake up, man. I got news.

S. O'BRIEN: Going to be hearing from several of his friends later.

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come, we are tracking Hurricane Wilma for you, expected to make a hard right toward Florida still, and then who knows, move on up the East Coast. Now some towns crushed by hurricanes last year, remember Punta Gorda. Well, they could be put to the test again.

S. O'BRIEN: And Tom DeLay, a warrant's now been issued for his arrest. As we mentioned, we're going to talk with a Republican strategist about how the ongoing investigation affects not only the GOP, but the White House too.

M. O'BRIEN: And a frozen find in California. After six decades hidden in a glacier, hikers discover an iceman. But who is he? How did he get there? We'll have some answers for you in just a moment on AMERICAN MORNING. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Around the nation, but maybe in Florida specifically, they are watching, and waiting and looking at this, Hurricane Wilma on its way to Florida. That state still reeling from some devastating damage last year. The Punta Gorda police chief is Chuck Rineheart, and he joins us this morning to talk a little bit more about what they're doing there.

I know you were thinking about evacuating people. What are you thinking about that now?

CHIEF CHUCK RINEHART, PUNTA GORDA, FLORIDA POLICE: Well, we're currently just monitoring the storm, and we're going to meet this afternoon with the county emergency management director, and we're mainly in a monitoring phase now to determine as the direction that the storm's going to take, and that call will be made later on this afternoon, or possibly tomorrow, depending on the direction.

S. O'BRIEN: It certainly is hard to tell. Every time we check in with the meteorologists, they say there are a lot of different options. It looks, though, like Florida is in the path. What kind of preparations are you making right now?

RINEHART: Well, currently all of our government buildings are being secured. We're lining up our supplies for post-storm. We have contractor services for everything that we need post-storm to be delivered from outside the area. We are getting ahold of our contractors. We have a lot of new construction from last year going on, trying to get them to batten down their construction sites, so we have less flying debris should the storm come in.

S. O'BRIEN: A little like deja vu all over again, isn't it? Because I know last year Hurricane Charlie didn't look like it was heading for Punta Gorda. And you can see the damage here. I mean, you guys just got absolutely walloped. How bad was the damage last year?

RINEHART: The damage was devastating to our area. Of course, after you've seen what happened in Mississippi and Louisiana, it wasn't nearly as bad because of the tidal surge, but it was devastating, power lines, power poles, trees snapped off, something I hadn't seen my entire life living here, but we're coming back, and that's the main thing. We got a good community, strong community, and we learned a lot of lessons last year. And I think it's going to help us prepare more for this year.

S. O'BRIEN: What kind of lessons did you learn last year?

RINEHART: I think we learned -- the public I think actually learned that you got to expect the unexpected. Nobody expected Charlie to come here. We may have dropped our guard a little bit. And I think this year, as every storm has been called out, you've seen the community be more aware, getting more prepared. They've got family plans. The city itself, we actually revisited our emergency-operations plan and found that all employees are essential, and so they all have post-storm assignments they will be given so they know what job they need to report to immediately after the storm.

S. O'BRIEN: How much of Punta Gorda was rebuilt and has been rebuilt in the year since Charlie really took out a lot of the city?

RINEHART: Our residential is coming back pretty good. A lot of new condos being built. The commercial side of it is a little slower on the comeback. But we are seeing progress. We're seeing a lot of people come in with plans to rebuild and to build new. So it just takes time. When you're hit that hard, you can't rebuild in a year or two years. It takes time. We just have to be patient.

S. O'BRIEN: It's got to be tough, though, do all that rebuilding and now you're vulnerable once again with Wilma on its way.

RINEHART: Well, yes, it is, but, you know, as an old-timer told me, that's the price we pay to live in paradise.

S. O'BRIEN: Hopefully the storm will miss you, swing right by you, and then there will no price to pay there.

Chief Chuck Rinehart of the Punta Gorda, Florida Police, thanks for talking with us this morning. I know you're busy.

RINEHART: OK, thank you.

S. O'BRIEN: You'll want to stay with CNN for complete coverage of Hurricane Wilma. CNN's your hurricane headquarters -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Still to come, Congress passes the cheeseburger bill. We'll explain what that's all about with Andy Serwer, as he minds your business, next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Here's a story about some creative financing. The whole thing is kind of creative when you think about it. Congress is planning to help pay for Katrina recovery with Viagra legislation, a bill that ends federal subsidies for Viagra, federal subsidies for Viagra, Andy, and other sexual performance drugs, headed to the president's desk. We ask why? Why are we subsidizing this? It could save the government $700 million. Money will go to the people out of work after Katrina. If the president signs it, Medicaid will stop paying for Viagra on January 1st, 2006. Medicare payments end on January 1st, 2007.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: They're not giving it to felons, though, anymore.

M. O'BRIEN: Oh, well, that's good. That's so much better.

SERWER: Remember that, yes.

M. O'BRIEN: I'm so glad that -- all right, and speaking of absurdity, the cheeseburger bill.

SERWER: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: I eat a cheeseburger, I get fat, I sue, right? What's wrong with that? That's the American way.

SERWER: Well, yes, I mean, Congress previously has given us civil rights legislation and the New Deal, but this, the 109th Congress, has decided to pass the cheeseburger bill. This, of course, is a law that would prevent individuals from suing fast-food companies for causing obesity. It's called the Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act. And critics say the bill has nothing to do with personal responsibility, and everything to do with kowtowing to a powerful lobby.

Yes, you got it.

Now, my take on this, the only thing sillier than suing McDonald's for being fat is passing a law preventing people from suing McDonald's for being fat. Here are the people -- I know of went through this. Here are some people who are acting foolishly in this: class-action lawyers, fast-food executives, litigious obese people and Congress. Will you all just stop this stuff? I mean, this is crazy, it really is. It's crazy.

M. O'BRIEN: Well, than, what would you talk about, Andy.

SERWER: Well, there is a war going on. You know, we do have a federal budget deficit. There are a huge efforts under way in the Gulf Coast to clean up after Katrina, and it's just mind boggling to me.

M. O'BRIEN: It is.

SERWER: The cheeseburger bill.

M. O'BRIEN: And $700 million on Viagra, what can I tell you. This country is going somewhere in a handbasket -- Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: And also you forget to mention Wilma.

SERWER: Wilma is coming.

S. O'BRIEN: Wilma is coming, and we're watching it. It's a dangerous storm, hard to predict, category four now, heading toward South Florida. We're going to update you on the storm's whereabouts as we continue right here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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