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American Morning
Lost to the Flames; Witness to War; The Legacy of Terri Schiavo
Aired December 29, 2005 - 09:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It was going to be a special celebratory service on Sunday, New Year's Day, at the First United Methodist Church in Cross Plains, Texas. The congregation, about a hundred strong, was planning to mark the 120th anniversary of the founding of the church.
Now they face a terrible calamity. The church burned to the ground by those wildfires. There you see it. Joining me now is the pastor of the First United Methodist church, the Reverend Jim Senkel. He also, unfortunately, also lost his home in the fire.
Pastor Senkel, good to have you with us, and the best to all of you there. I know it's a tough morning for you.
Just tell us how people are doing, first of all.
REV. JIM SENKEL, FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH: Well, here at the church, we're looking at our structure and wondering about it, but the church itself is doing quite well. We are still going to go ahead and have a great celebration all year long, ending with October the 1st with our bishop from the Central Texas Conference being here with us, and the congregation is the church, and this is just a structure, and we already have many invitations at different structures to where we can worship until we get something rebuilt that will be as beautiful or more than this one was.
O'BRIEN: You say you already have invitations, so have you already made plans for an alternate site for this service on Sunday, which is an important way to kick of your year of celebration?
SENKEL: Oh, this Sunday it will definitely be right here where I'm standing. We are going to be in our parking lot, doing right here at this facility, and the following Sundays we will be looking at other places, but we're going to be right here, right where I'm standing this Sunday.
O'BRIEN: I imagine it's going to be such an emotional thing for people, because -- and as I'm talking here, we're looking at just kind of the shards of stained-glass windows broken and in some cases almost melted away there.
As you say, the church is about its congregation and not about its structure, but having said that, we as people tie our memories, whether it's baptisms or weddings to that place. It's got to be very hard for people. SENKEL: There are many people that are going through memories and remembering the good times, and yes, some people are sad over the structure, including myself, because this was a beautiful church building. But it's just something that happens while we're here on this Earth. Since we've separated ourselves from Christ, when we sinned, we just have to put up with this type of stuff until the second coming of Christ.
O'BRIEN: Let me ask you this. You just moved to Cross Plains about six months ago. First of all, did you lose most everything in your house?
SENKEL: Everything that was in this house is totally gone, probably 90 percent of our clothes and new furnishings here, because the home that I did live in we kept it, because that's where I will go back to when I retire, there in Graham (ph), where I was born and raised.
O'BRIEN: But you're staying there for now. You're not leaving, are you?
SENKEL: I'm staying. I'm traveling back and forth to Graham right now, probably the rest of this week until we find somewhere for me...
O'BRIEN: But you're not leaving your position. You're staying with this congregation.
SENKEL: No, I'm going to be here in this congregation for a long time. It's a wonderful bunch of people, and we've got a lot of work to do and we're going to grow stronger working together.
O'BRIEN: We wish you well with the task at hand, Pastor Jim Senkel of the Cross Plains Texas First United Methodist Church, 120 years this Sunday. That will be some -- well, it will be an interesting celebration, won't it? Emotional to say the least. Thanks for being with us -- Carol.
SENKEL: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Thank you, sir.
And from one Texas town to another, this one best known as the hometown of President Bush. Dana Bash is live in Crawford right now.
Dana, you're not going talk about the president this morning right?
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No, we're not, Carol. We're going to talk about one of the president's neighbors in this very small town of 700 people. He is a pastor who a year and a half ago got a surprise call that his life would be directly affected by one of the president's policies. That is the war in Iraq. He was called to the war to serve in Iraq, and we've been following his story ever since. Now he's back and trying to readjust to life in Crawford.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Down the road from the president's ranch, Pastor Kent Berry unlocks the door to his Crawford church and turns on the lights.
REV. KENT BERRY, PASTOR IN CRAWFORD, TEXAS: Feels very good to -- yes, indeed. Good to be home.
BASH: He's preparing to preach for the first time since returning last month from Iraq. Being from the president's hometown makes Berry's story unique. Dealing with the tough transition from war does not.
KENT BERRY: First it's kind of a postpartum thing, you know, that you go through. Either part of you is still very much a part of the people and the work and everything that goes on.
BASH: Their ministering to troops meant frequent travel on treacherous Iraqi roads, preparing every day to die.
KENT BERRY: I would do things like clip my nails, you know, my toe nails and make sure I had clean clothes on. If you get killed or if you get hurt, you know, they're going to deal with whatever is left.
BASH: Now he's reconnecting with the family we followed since before his national guard unit deployed 18 months ago. Watched him try to stay engaged from afar.
KENT BERRY: Are you still going with the same guy that you were going with last week?
BETHANY BERRY, DAUGHTER: Yes.
BASH: And saw daughter Bethany quietly join in when the war debate came to Crawford this summer, holding a sign in her dad's honor to counter Cindy Sheehan's anti-war protests. Now that he's back, she says war left its mark.
BETHANY BERRY: Dad's a little bit different. He's more quiet, more serious.
BASH: Home in Iraq was Camp Caldwell (ph), next to a brick factory. Chemicals spewed into the air and were the source, he believes, of asthma and a constant ringing in his ears.
KENT BERRY: It's like your station on the radio is just a little bit off or it's gone off the air but the, you know, it's just a shh kind of, yes.
BASH: His famous neighbors sent a few letters of encouragement. Being from the Bush's Texas town gave him notoriety.
How about a sense of responsibility?
KENT BERRY: Oh, yes. In the sense that I hopefully will not say anything particularly just stupid, you know.
BASH: Berry left for Iraq feeling matter of fact about his mission but returns supportive and proud.
So your message is going to be, I'm back from Iraq and there's hope?
KENT BERRY: Yes, absolutely.
BASH: But Chaplins are not in the business of justifying war, he says, so he'll find his message in scripture.
KENT BERRY: Ecclesiastes, where there is truly a time for everything. We go through phases and we have our experiences but, at the end of the road, we have every reason to be hopeful.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: We lost Dana Bash's transmission. Couldn't hear. But that was Dana Bash, reporting live from Crawford, Texas this morning.
O'BRIEN: Coming up, some say it is the world's ultimate cold case. The iceman of the Sierra Nevada. We'll look back at one of 2005's great unsolved mysteries.
COSTELLO: That's pretty fascinating. Plus, "Minding Your Business," Barbie's boss gets the boot. The tongues are wagging over his golden parachute. The lavish deal for a former executive at Mattel. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: One of the big mysteries of 2005 got its icy wind-swept start about six decades ago. The frozen airman of the Sierra Nevada is what we're talking about. Remember him? He was found by some climbers a few months ago. We told you about it. Tonight on CNN, "ANDERSON COOPER 360." They'll take a closer look at that story and other unsolved mysteries. Here's a preview with Thelma Gutierrez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It's the ultimate cold case dating back to World War II. Forensic detectives turn to the most advanced scientific methods to solve it.
This mystery began in October. Climbers discovered the body of a young Army airman at the base of a glacier 13,000 feet high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. His uniform and unopened parachute reveal he's been dead for more than a half-century.
After weeks of studying his remains, military scientists narrowed down the possibilities. More than two dozen training flights crashed in the Sierra during World War II. Scientists say this airman was one of four men who died there.
But who was he? Scientists found some clues. He carried 51 cents in his pocket, a plastic hair comb, and three leather-bound address books. Forensic evidence also suggests he had straight teeth with a small gap and was between 5' 9' and 6'1".
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Kind of a mysterious conclusion to that piece. To add to the tension and the mystery, we just cut it off just like that! Because we don't want you to know the full story until you watch "ANDERSON COOPER 360," just one of several unsolved mysteries which we will tantalize you with. Among the things we're looking at, Victor Yuschenko's dioxin poisoning, the Ukraine president. Never been really solved there. There you see him there. Then Natalee Holloway's disappearance, of course, still out there. Then and a couple that were solved, Deep Throat, Mark Felt. That came forward after all those years. And of course, the famous chili finger.
COSTELLO: That was the most bizarre story.
O'BRIEN: We know who to point the finger on that one at least.
COSTELLO: Yes, and we know whose finger it is, too.
O'BRIEN: It's appointment viewing. You really should watch it.
COSTELLO: Yes.
Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, our special series on the newsmakers of the year. It's called "Five in '05." Today, how Terri Schiavo sparked a legal, ethical and political battle across the country. Stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: "CNN LIVE TODAY" is coming up in just about 11 minutes. Daryn Kagan will be taking the helm at that point. What are you working on, Daryn?
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We've got some good ones for you today, Miles. At the top of the hour, did Santa leave something unwanted under your tree. Instead of regifting, some people, and you know who you are, are cashing in their gifts on the web. We'll show you how to do it if you're interested in do that, too.
And a story near and dear to my heart. We'll introduce you to Henry, a cat with courage, but only three legs. His story could teach us all a thing or two about perseverance. And you know, Miles, as a mother of a three-legged cat.
O'BRIEN: So this is not your cat; we're talking about another three-legged -- in the three-legged cat fraternity.
KAGAN: Yes. No, Henry lives in the San Diego area, and his mother has written a book in his honor, and it is...
O'BRIEN: Wow. KAGAN: Yes, it is drawing three-legged cat lovers from all over the country. Well, there you go. I think there's going to be a huge demo of three-legged cat owners watching that one.
O'BRIEN: All right. Thank you, Daryn.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
COSTELLO: Turning now to our week-long look at five people who captured our attention this year, "The Five in '05." Today, Terri Schiavo. Her tragedy forced us to look at our own lives and how we'd like to die. Millions of Americans riveted to the emotional tug-of- war between Terri's parents and her husband.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO (voice-over): Terri Schiavo became a legal, moral and ethical battle ground. One that would dominate the headlines for weeks in 2005. In February 1990, at the age of 26, Terri suffered massive brain damage after a heart attack. She couldn't swallow, eat or talk. Doctors said she had little or no brain function.
At first, her husband Michael and Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, were united in grief. But by 1993, there was a falling out. And in 1998, Michael Schiavo undertook what would become a marathon legal battle to have Terri's feeding tube removed.
SCOTT SCHIAVO, MICHAEL SCHIAVO'S BROTHER: This was not about money. This was not about hurting anybody. This was about doctors telling Mike, there's nothing left to do.
COSTELLO: Terri's parents vehemently disagreed. They showed pictures to the world touting them as proof that their daughter was aware of her surroundings, that she could still make eye contact and respond to them, and possibly get better.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's very capable of making a recovery.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Their heads are being filled with such false hope.
COSTELLO: The legal fight eventually landed at the office of the Florida governor, Jeb Bush. He supported legislation called Terri's Law which was passed in 2003 and gave him the authority to have her feeding tube reinserted. But a year later, that law was declared unconstitutional by Florida Supreme Court.
By now, the fate of Terri Schiavo had become politically decisive nationwide and it touched on issue for right to life activists. In March this year, it made its way to Washington. President Bush cut short his vacation and declared when he returned to Washington that the court should have a presumption in favor of life.
But the next day, with the appeals process in Florida exhausted, doctors finally removed Terri Schiavo's feeding tube. Even as her life ebbed away, the Republican leadership in Congress looked for new ways to keep her alive.
REP. TOM DELAY, (R) TEXAS: That act of barbarism can be and must be prevented.
CROWD: Give Terri water! Give Terri water!
COSTELLO: Outside the hospice where Terri Schiavo lay, emotions ran high and voices grew louder.
RANDALL TERRY, PRO-LIFE ACTIVIST: The world is watching us. How do we treat the most defenseless among us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please, I'm begging you, have mercy. Have mercy.
FATHER FRANK POVONE, PRIESTS FOR LIFE: She is a living, breathing human being and has as much dignity as the rest of us who are living and breathing.
COSTELLO: Right to Life protesters kept a vigil. There were prayers as last minute legal appeals by Schiavo's parents were rebuffed by federal courts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what you're seeing is a textbook example of judicial tyranny.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Terri Schiavo has died 15 years after she collapsed.
COSTELLO: Michael Schiavo was by her bedside when Terri died 13 days after her tube was removed. She was buried in Florida. The words on her tomb stone read, I kept my promise.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And for months, people were riveted to that story. In fact, there are some reports that cable news ratings went up 14 percent during Terri's saga. And, you know, I guess it really showed all of us, though, how important it is to have a living will.
O'BRIEN: Yes. Do yourself a favor. If you haven't done it, if you didn't do it in the context of that -- a lot of people did -- get yourself -- make your intentions be known to your loved ones. It's very important. It certainly is.
Tomorrow, the final part of our series "Five in '05," we look at the former head of FEMA, Michael Brown. And we're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: It's hard to believe it's been four hours.
COSTELLO: But we must bid you adieu.
O'BRIEN: We must -- we must go on. We must press on and do something with our days.
COSTELLO: We must go to the mother of the three-legged cat, Daryn Kagan.
O'BRIEN: She is the three-legged cat desk.
KAGAN: A four-legged dog.
O'BRIEN: Daryn Kagan, our editor in charge.
KAGAN: There is a four-legged dog at home, as well. I just got to say -- otherwise, you know, I won't hear the end of it when I come home today. I love them both equally.
O'BRIEN: No tail wagging if you don't mention him, is that?
KAGAN: That's it. Starla and Tripod. OK, you guys have a great day in New York City. We're going to get started with our two hours right now.
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