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American Morning

Blueprints for New Orleans; By The Book?; Toxic Dog Food

Aired January 11, 2006 - 07:30   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It's going to be interesting to see what the author now says about all the holes that have been punched in his true life memoir.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The Oprah seal of approval is worth millions. Maybe she should put it . . .

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Oh, it was worth millions. This is a best- selling nonfiction book and it seems like it's maybe more fiction than non.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes, maybe put an "n" in front of the "o."

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Just cross off that Oprah's book club.

MILES O'BRIEN: Cross that out.

All right. We're also going to tell you -- if you own a dog or a cat, you're going to want to listen up. There's some toxic dog and cat food out there. We'll give you details on all of that. Seventy- six dogs are dead and many others are very ill as a result of this tainted dog food. We're going to talk to the executive of the company and find out what went wrong and what people can do to avoid getting their dog sick.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Oh, that's terrible.

That's ahead this morning. First, though, an update on some of the top stories. Carol's got a look at those.

Good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Good morning to all of you.

Senators preparing to grill Supreme Court Nominee Samuel Alito at his confirmation hearings this morning. Things get underway again in just about two hours. Judge Alito faced the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday for nearly 10 hours. Lawmakers pressed him on his view of Roe v. Wade and abortion rights, but got only a vague, I'll keep an open-mind, answer. Live coverage of the hearings coming your way at 9:30 Eastern. That's with Wolf Blitzer in a special edition of "The Situation Room."

President Bush says the war in Iraq will be a success and he's taking his message once again to the voters. He's hoping to gain support in a city where the war is a big issue and could affect November's congressional elections. The Republican incumbent in Kentucky's third congressional district supports the war. He is being challenged, though, by a Democrat who served in Iraq and calls the war a mistake.

A 73-year-old great grandmother has just wrapped up her second tour in Iraq and says she'd go back. Lena Haddix just got back from a six month stint in Baghdad serving under the Army and Air Force exchange program. She helped run a store at Camp Liberty. Haddix rarely left the camp but one day she says she did talk her way into one of Saddam's palaces. She was honored with an award for her service on Tuesday.

Getting a little more information this morning about what happened in the Sago Mine. The trapped miners reportedly tried to escape. A family member telling the Associated Press the men had tried to bulldoze their way out. And when that failed, they apparently barricaded themselves behind a make-shift curtain. In the meantime, the sole survivor, Randy McCloy, is still in a coma but doctors say tests show his brain is working.

And a question for you this morning. Does a bun in the oven give you the right to drive in the HOV lane? A woman near Phoenix, Arizona, got a ticket back in November for driving in the carpool lane. She fought the charge telling a judge that her unborn child counted as a passenger. She was almost nine months pregnant. The judge didn't buy it though even after she showed pictures of her new baby in court. Didn't sway the judge. She is now facing nearly $400 in fines.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: That has been tried so many times before. Ok, you're only one person. If you're pregnant, you're still only one person. You're pregnant with twins, you're still only one person. That's ridiculous.

COSTELLO: Well, according to this woman, she said, hey, it's a baby. I'm almost nine months pregnant.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Uh-huh, in your stomach. You're carrying the baby, you're one person. That is crazy about the carpool lane.

COSTELLO: Well, the judge agreed.

MILES O'BRIEN: That's pushing it.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Pay the money and move on.

COSTELLO: Now she has to pay court costs.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Good. If I've heard of . . .

MILES O'BRIEN: You are tough. You are tough.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: It has been -- hasn't this been done before? We've heard this story a million times.

MILES O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: If you're pregnant, you're still one person. Is that Kelly Wallace back there? She's pregnant.

COSTELLO: Kelly.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: You're one person.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm listening very closely.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: You're still one person.

MILES O'BRIEN: She took the carpool lane and she's cowering over there.

COSTELLO: Yes, don't try that in Arizona, Kelly.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Until you deliver that baby, you're still one person. Sorry.

Moving on. Kelly, thank you.

COSTELLO: Sure. Any time.

MILES O'BRIEN: She is blushing.

All right. Let's move on now to the city of New Orleans. How can that city possibly come back? Well today, city leaders will unveil the first draft of the first plan. The recommendations are non- binding but they are framing a raging debate on what lies ahead for the city of New Orleans. Gulf Coast Correspondent Susan Roesgen is live now in New Orleans with more on this and with a preview.

Good morning, Susan.

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Miles.

People here in New Orleans have been waiting for this first report, the blueprint. They've been worried about it. They want to find out if the city will help them come back.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROESGEN, (voice over): Gillan Nunnery is trying to make a go of it again on his flooded home on the eastern edge of New Orleans, but his neighborhood is one the city might eventually abandon. After Hurricane Katrina, 80 percent of New Orleans was flooded. Now that the water has gone down, the city must decide which areas should be repopulated. A commission appointed by the mayor is considering factors like the potential for future flooding in certain areas and how much the cash-strapped city can afford to extend services to places where few people may return.

Janet Howard, the head of a local government watchdog group, says the city has to make tough choices. JANET HOWARD, GOVERNMENTAL RESEARCH BUREAU: It's a time when we really need strong leaders to step forth and, you know, to help provide direction for where people really can go, instead of letting the chips fall where they may.

ROESGEN: But people like Gillan Nunnery aren't waiting for the city to decide whether he should come back or not. He's already here.

GILLAN NUNNERY, NEW ORLEANS HOMEOWNER: We not ask for a whole lot. Just give us one foot in the door and we get the rest ourselves. Just like I'm doing, you know?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROESGEN: Now one thing the city is considering, Miles, is to really do nothing for a few months. To wait and see where people start to resettle on their own before committing any city resources to any particular neighborhood.

MILES O'BRIEN: Well, Susan, what about those who have already, you know, put some hard-earned money and rebuilt? Are they facing the prospect that their neighborhoods won't be reinvigorated?

ROESGEN: Yes, that's true, Miles. They could be out of luck. If a certain person in a certain neighborhood is rebuilding now and he can't persuade enough of his neighbors to come back, the city may say it's not worth it to us, we just don't have the necessary revenues to commit to helping people come back in that neighborhood. So that neighborhood may not be redeveloped. So a lot of touchy issues here for the mayor and for the state also when they talk about how to commit federal money to certain neighborhoods.

MILES O'BRIEN: Susan Roesgen in New Orleans, thank you very much.

Soledad.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: An explosive new controversy involves one of the most talked about books in the country. It's called "A Million Little Pieces" and the author is James Frey. It was a top-telling book last year and Oprah Winfrey chose it for her book club, which, of course, is incredibly powerful. Well, now there are some charges the memoir, in fact, is fiction, not fact. AMERICAN MORNING's Kelly Wallace has more on this.

It's a great read because you think it's true.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's what people -- I haven't read it. Did you read it?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes, it's a great read.

WALLACE: Because people say, who are reading it, say that's exactly it. That it's so raw and so real they can't put it down. Questions were raised when it came out in 2003. Could this incredibly graphic account, substance abuse, being wanted in three states be true? Well now, as The Smoking Gun Web site, which is known for posting mug shots and documents of people in public life, as it started investigating James Frey and his best-selling novel coming under fire like never before.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE, (voice over): Greater scrutiny of the best-selling memoir started last year after Oprah Winfrey selected it for her highly coveted book club.

OPRAH WINFREY: Our next book is "A Million Little Pieces."

WALLACE: After the author James Frey was on Oprah's shows talking about his days of substance abuse, crime and rehab, editors at The Smoking Gun investigative Web site said they got a e-mail from a Oprah viewer asking that they post a mug shot of Frey. They couldn't find one.

ANDREW GOLDBERG, THESMOKINGGUN.COM: For a guy who talks about getting arrested as much as he did or says he did, this should have been something that should have taken me, I think, an hour max. So that raised questions for us.

WALLACE: After a six-week investigation, The Smoking Gun published a story accusing Frey of fabricating many of his run-ins with the law. Frey, who declined our request for comment, rejected the charges on his Web site, saying, "so let the haters hate, let the doubters doubt. I stand by my book and my life." In an interview with CNN back in December, before this controversy erupted, Frey was asked about the details of his life.

JAMES FREY, AUTHOR: Yes, some of it's shocking. Some of it's absurd and ridiculous. I think I needed a certain objectivity and distance to the events that are portrayed in it before I could sort of accurately and honestly write about them.

WALLACE: In his memoir, Frey claims to have spent three months in an Ohio jail after hitting a police officer with his car during a night of boozing and crack smoking. When other officers arrived, he says he started swinging and they beat him with billy clubs. Frey never specifies an exact location but indicates it happened where he went to college, which was Denison University in Granville, Ohio. The Granville Police Department tell a very different story. It found only one record involving Frey which it gave to CNN.

SGT. DAVID DUDGEON, GRANVILLE, OHIO, POLICE: His right front tire pulled up onto the curb.

WALLACE: Granville Police Sargent David Dudgeon says he pulled Frey over and describes it as simply a case of driving under the influence.

DUDGEON: As far as I can remember back and from reviewing the report, he was polite and cooperative. There's nothing in the report that, you know, indicates he was combative, argumentative or anything like that. WALLACE: The local sheriff also tells CNN there is no record of Frey ever being incarcerated at the county jail. Editors at The Smoking Gun said they've spoke to Frey three times and that he admitted embellishing some details in his book.

GOLDBERG: When we question about a number of things, you know, he sort of minimized them and said, yeah, you know, I mean, you do things for the book.

WALLACE: Reaction from readers was mixed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's upsetting. I think that the book was that much more powerful because I thought it was real.

WALLACE: Would you feel lied to if you found out that it was?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, it's a book. It's a book.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: And we just got in a new statement from Frey's publisher, Doubleday and Anchor Books. A spokeswoman telling us, Soledad, "in the case of Mr. Frey, we decided "A Million Little Pieces" was his story told his own way and he represented to us that his version of events was true to his recollections." The spokeswoman going on to say, "recent accusations against him notwithstanding, the power of the overall reading experience is such that the book remains a deeply inspiring and redemptive story for millions of readers."

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: And it may just be a story and not a true story. I wonder what happens now when Oprah essentially, you know, puts her stamp on it and gets you millions of readers, which means, frankly, millions of dollars. Apparently got a $50,000 advance for this book and he's become a gajillionaire because of it. What happens next?

WALLACE: Well, you know, we're all waiting to hear what Oprah Winfrey, of course, has to say. She hasn't commented yet. But it raises big questions about the publishing industry also. If publishers are marketing a book as a piece of nonfiction, what responsibility do they have to verify that it's true? That is the big issue here. We understand in the beginning that James Frey was initially sending this book around as a piece of fiction.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: And it was rejected by 17 publishers.

WALLACE: It was rejected. Exactly. And then ultimately it was, you know, pushed out as nonfiction. Apparently it was changed because it was nonfiction, so pieces were changed.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: It wouldn't have been on Oprah if it had been nonfiction, probably.

WALLACE: You know, many people like yourself say, the fact that it was so gripping and kept you up at night was the fact that you thought it was real. SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes, kept looking over on the back cover to see, hey, the guy lived to tell the tale.

WALLACE: And we're still waiting to hear from James Frey himself.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: It's a great read but maybe not true.

Kelly Wallace, thank you for that.

WALLACE: Sure.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: The Smoking Gun is owned -- the Web site is owned by Time Warner which, of course, is CNN's parent company. Tonight, Larry King has an exclusive interview with the author, James Frey. His mother, Lynn Frey, joins him as well. That is a must-see if you bought this book or are thinking about buying this book and want to know if it's true or not. That's ahead.

Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: We'll get the straight story there.

Let's check the weather. Chad Myers with a nonfiction weather forecast.

Good morning, Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MILES O'BRIEN: Coming up in the program, some really frightening news for dog owners. Dozens of dogs die after eating toxic food. Is any of the contaminated food still on store shelves or, for that matter, in your pantry at home?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: And later this morning, some new details on exactly what happened at the very first meetings of al Qaeda. A revealing new book exposes that and how Osama bin Laden became the world's most wanted terrorist. We talk to the author just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MILES O'BRIEN: It is just about the worst news a dog owner could hear. The dog food trusted to keep a pet alive actually kills a beloved friend. That's exactly what has happened in 23 states so far. The pet food has been recalled but the danger remains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A little bit more. A little bit more. I know. I know you don't like it.

MILES O'BRIEN, (voice over): Shanika Stewart is desperately trying to keep Cocoa alive while grieving the loss of another dog. Both got sick from tainted dog food. At least 76 dogs across 23 states are dead, many others sick, after eating meals manufactured by Diamond Pet Foods. The food was contaminated with high levels of aflatoxin, a mold found in corn products that can cause fatal liver disease in animals. The company has recalled 19 varieties of dog and cat food sold under the Diamond Country Value and Professional brand names. Shanika's other dog, a pit bull, died last month just hours after being diagnosed with liver failure. Now Cocoa must be forced- fed with a syringe in order to survive.

SGT. JUBILE JONES, SHANIKA'S FATHER: I know they're saying that she will probably not recover 100 percent. She's going to have long- term problems with her liver.

MILES O'BRIEN: The company says it's reaching out to pet owners posting information about the tainted food on its Web site and offering to pay veterinary costs. But officials are concerned not enough dog owners have heard the warning.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN: Mark Brinkmann is the chief operating officer for Diamond Pet Foods. He joins us now from St. Louis, Missouri.

Mr. Brinkmann, how did this happen?

MARK BRINKMANN, DIAMOND PET FOOD: Well, Miles, this year's corn crop had presence of a alpha toxin. And aflatoxin

MILES O'BRIEN: You knew that? Did you know that prior, by the way? Was that well-known?

BRINKMANN: Well, we started figuring it out after the new corn crop began delivering, that we were having more loads that were testing with toxic levels. It's a colorless, odorless, tasteless fungus that's in the corn. You can't see it, taste it, or smell it. So the only way you can really find it is through aggressive procedures to statistically sample the corn.

MILES O'BRIEN: And so, presumably, you were doing some testing, especially once you realized that was occurring. How did this aflatoxin slip through into the manufacturing?

BRINKMANN: You know, Miles, we're working really closely with the FDA to see why that happened. In the meantime, because it did happen and it did get through, we've re-evaluated all of our testing procedures and we've instituted tests on the backside of our process now to where we're working with our testing vendors and we have kits available now to where we can test finished product. So we've really stepped up the enforcement of the statistical sampling.

MILES O'BRIEN: Do you feel as if you've pretty much isolated which production run it was, which plant?

BRINKMANN: Yes. First of all, anyone that's living west of the state of Ohio is not affected. Within the affected states, the 23 states that you talked about, through our internal testing, we've identified only two products, Diamond Premium Adult and Diamond Maintenance Dog. And only four date codes within those two products, best buy April 3rd, 4th, 5th and April 11th, are the only date codes out of the 102 production days that we recalled that actually have tested toxic.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right. So can we just clarify one point, because we had a couple of other brand names that supposedly might have been susceptible to this. You're just saying only Diamond brand pet food?

BRINKMANN: Only Diamond Premium Adult and only Diamond Maintenance Dog and only four date codes within those two brands. Those other -- what we did, Miles, we didn't have much information when this thing started and we wanted to be cautious. It's the first time our company's ever suffered through a recall. We're a family- owned business. So we threw out a wide net of six weeks on each side of a line that was based on some anecdotal information from one of the clients in upstate New York that had dogs that were suffering. After three weeks of going through this, we've been able to narrow is down to two products, Diamond Premium Adult and Diamond Maintenance Dog and four date codes, April 3rd, 4th, 5th, and April 11th best buy 2007.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right. The symptoms, should your dog have been exposed to this fungus, are the following: loss of appetite, yellow in the whites of their eyes, yellow gums and belly, severe vomiting and diarrhea. Obviously, if you're a dog owner and you saw those symptoms, you'd be concerned under any circumstances. But in this case, Mr. Brinkmann, what should a dog owner do?

BRINKMANN: Well, the most distinguishing symptom there is the yellowish tint because that's indicative of liver problems. Perhaps liver failure. And we are encouraging all of our customers that have seen that particular symptom to go to the veterinarian and immediately have your dog looked at.

MILES O'BRIEN: Will you pay for those bills?

BRINKMANN: Well, Miles, first thing we needed to do was set up a call center so that we could work through this process. And, yes, to answer your question directly, we are going to pay bills where there's a direct connection between our food and the illness in the animal. And we hired experts that can talk to not only the customers, but also talk to their veterinarians. These are veterinarians themselves that we've put in place at a call center.

The most important thing is that the people that are not affected in the states west of Ohio and the people that didn't feed these foods not to be calling into the call center but maybe going to our Web site as an alternative, diamondpet.com, to get information because we really want to leave our call center open to the people that have the neediest situation.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right. Those are good words of advice. Mark Brinkmann with the Diamond Pet Food Company. Thank you for your time.

If you have questions or believe your pet has been exposed to aflatoxin, there is this toll-free number. But as you just heard Mr. Brinkmann, if you don't have a situation where you have those severe symptoms, you'd be encouraged, if you just have questions about whether your product might be tainted, to go to their Web site at diamondpet.com. If you have a dog that's very sick, go to the vet, first of all. And there's that call center number we were just telling you about, 866-214-6945. But keep that line open for the serious cases.

Back with more in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Some business news now. Wal-Mart critics challenging the company's latest job figures. Andy's "Minding Your Business."

God morning.

ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.

Wal-Mart says it's created a hundred thousand plus jobs and is raising wages. Critics say it's a ruse. Last year the giant retailer said it hired 125,000 new employees. And I don't think anyone's really disputing that number. It's kind of hard to fudge that. It's saying that it also raised pay now 4.4 percent to an average hourly wage of $10.11.

Now, here's where things get a little sticky. Wal-Mart critics say that average pay doesn't include part-time workers and they wonder if it also includes, on the other hand, top executives, which would skew the salary higher.

MILES O'BRIEN: Oh, yes.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Yes, it would, wouldn't it.

SERWER: Yes, it would.

They're also suggesting that pointing out that that's slightly below the average national wage of $10.29 for general merchandising employees. They're also saying, gee, why are they telling Wall Street that they're cutting wage costs at the same time now they're saying they're raising wages. It doesn't make sense. Sometimes I think Wal- Mart can't win, though. That's an interesting point.

Meanwhile, a story in "The Wall Street Journal" this morning suggesting that Wal-Mart's critics are sniping at each other. And the point of contention here is, remember that advertisement, "where would Jesus shop"? We talked about that all the time. That was sponsored by an outfit "Wake-up Wal-Mart," suggesting that people of faith shouldn't shop at Wal-Mart because their business practices are not Christian. Now Wal-Mart and "Wake-up Wal-Mart" are fighting about the ad. One saying that it, in fact, wasn't a Christian thing to do to have the ad. If you follow. So Wal-Mart probably likes that little contention.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: It's kind of hypothetical anyway, "where would Jesus shop."

MILES O'BRIEN: You might say.

SERWER: I would say so.

MILES O'BRIEN: I think he shops online, don't you?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: He might have a (INAUDIBLE) shopper.

SERWER: Yes, right. Yes. That's funny.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: I don't know.

MILES O'BRIEN: Could be.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: It's weird and getting weirder.

SERWER: Yes.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Andy, thank you.

SERWER: You're welcome.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, day three of our "New You Resolution." Today, a military family that runs a pretty tight ship, except when it comes to eating right and getting exercise. Well, Dr. Sanjay Gupta's got a prescription for change. That story is just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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