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American Morning
A Deadly Attack on an American in Pakistan; Government's Response to Katrina Questioned Once Again
Aired March 02, 2006 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you.
I'm Miles O'Brien.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Carol Costello in for Soledad today.
O'BRIEN: A deadly attack on an American in Pakistan may be a warning ahead of the president's arrival there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to assure the folks at the state level that we are fully prepared.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Government response in question once again. New information on how our government handled Hurricane Katrina.
COSTELLO: An exodus from the Oklahoma Plains as wildfires threaten homes and lives.
And a father and a fugitive -- the search is on while his son's life hangs in the balance.
O'BRIEN: And the list is out. It shows which cars are the best according to "Consumer Reports." There is nary an American vehicle on it. Oh my gosh, what is going on in Detroit this morning?
That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
We begin with wildfires happening right now in two Western states. Dry conditions, windy conditions have firefighters, certainly homeowners, concerned.
You're looking at pictures from northeastern New Mexico. Residents of the farming and ranching community of Miami, New Mexico spent most of Wednesday in shelters. Firefighters have contained about 20 percent of a 12,000-acre fire there.
In the town of Duncan in southwestern Oklahoma, take a look at these scenes. Wildfires have burned several homes and structures. Five hundred evacuated. They are back in their homes today, however, we're told. At least two firefighters hurt. Arson is thought to be the cause and a suspect is in custody. A spokesman for the Duncan Fire Department told us the last hour the fire is 90 percent contained.
CNN's Christopher King is in Duncan -- good morning, Chris.
CHRISTOPHER KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, good morning, Miles.
And officials say the fires are under control. But even so, there are still some hot spots like this one right here.
take a look over here. As you can see, this fire over here is still burning. And if you look around, there are all sorts of hot spots like this all around here. And if we can take a look down at the ground, you can see the extent of the damage here. This ground is badly charred and it looks like this just all around the place here now.
We spoke with a spokesman from Duncan a little while ago and here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAM DARST: We have an estimation somewhere between 30 and 40 homes have been lost. We know that one church building has been lost and possibly another. And just a lot of timber -- not a lot of timber, but a lot of grassland, approximately 7,000 to 8,000 acres at this point in time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Now, more than 500 people had to be evacuated, like these folks in this home over here. They were worried they wouldn't have a home to come back to. Fortunately they did. Many other people did not. Their homes were badly damaged or destroyed.
Now, officials tell us most of those folks are back in their homes. They also tell us that two firefighters were injured. One had to be medivaced out. That firefighter is in serious but guarded condition. And one, of course, is in good condition right now -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Christopher King in Norman, Oklahoma.
Thank you very much -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Raw emotion expected today in a hearing for the so- called killer nurse. For the first time, just one hour from now, the families of victims will face Charles Cullen. He's set to be sentenced for the murders of 22 former patients in New Jersey. \
Allan Chernoff joins us live from the courthouse in Somerville, New Jersey.
Tell us what's about to happen -- Allan. ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, this hopefully will be a day of closure for families of the victims here in New Jersey, some of whom have waited more than two years to confront the killer of their father or mother and also waited to see him sentenced to life in prison.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
CHERNOFF (voice-over): John Shanager is looking forward to facing his father's killer in court. Former hospital nurse Charles Cullen pled guilty to murdering Jack Shanager with a lethal drug dose at the Somerset Medical Center in Somerville, New Jersey.
JOHN SHANAGER, VICTIM'S SON: I want him to sit in a room and listen to what I have to say, because something's got to sink in. And that's what I want breeding in his brain for the next 30 years.
CHERNOFF: The murder of his father has haunted John and his family as they waited through investigations and legal battles for this day.
SHANAGER: I don't sleep. I mean I go -- I go days where I don't sleep.
CHERNOFF: Worst is when he's brought his elderly mom for treatment to the local hospital, where her husband was murdered.
SHANAGER: I walk into the hospital and I have sweat pouring out of my body and I'm breathing heavily and it's like a panic attack. That's not normal.
CHERNOFF: Cullen plead guilty nearly two years ago to murdering 13 people by giving them lethal doses of medication at hospitals where he worked. He also agreed to cooperate with further investigations and identify more of his victims. In return, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty, only life in prison.
And as the investigations have continued at the nine hospitals and one nursing home that had employed Cullen over 16 years, he has confessed to other murders. The total is now 29 in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, as well as six attempted murders.
Still, the sentencing has been delayed several times.
First, Cullen argued he had the right not to appear at his sentencing. Then Cullen insisted he be permitted to donate a kidney to a relative of his former girlfriend before his sentencing.
Cullen's defense attorney says his client, a serial killer, just wants to do a good deed.
JOHNNIE MASK, CULLEN DEFENSE ATTORNEY: He's not getting anything except the gratification of trying to help somebody who is in desperate need of a kidney.
CHERNOFF: Prosecutors fought and won the right to have Cullen sentenced first so that victims' families would be able to face the confessed killer before he undergoes the risk of kidney donation surgery.
Peter Harvey, who stepped down as the New Jersey attorney general just over a month ago, oversaw the case.
PETER HARVEY, FORMER NEW JERSEY ATTORNEY GENERAL: The victims' families deserve finality. They have been waiting for finality. They're entitled to it and they're going to get it.
CHERNOFF: John Shanager hopes life will return to something approaching normal after the sentencing.
SHANAGER: Our lives have been kind of like on hold for two years and all because of this man. And we want this to stop. And I really believe after the sentencing it will.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
CHERNOFF: Today's sentencing covers only the 22 murders to which Cullen confessed to in New Jersey. He is to be sentenced to another life term in Pennsylvania for the seven murders that he committed there. And that sentencing is scheduled for later this month -- Carol.
O'BRIEN: Allan Chernoff reporting live for us from New Jersey.
Thanks.
More news of the day.
Let's head to the newsroom now to check in with Kelly Wallace -- good morning.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
A U.S. diplomat among the dead following an attack at a hotel near the U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan. A pair of explosions ripped through the Marriott Hotel parking lot. Pakistan's interior minister telling CNN it appears a suicide bomber rammed into the diplomat's car as it approached the entrance and then exploded. At least three others were killed.
President Bush says the attacks in Pakistan will not deter him from traveling there Saturday. He is in India today, meeting with that country's prime minister. Earlier, India agreed to a landmark nuclear deal to separate its civilian and military nuclear programs. In return, the U.S. will share know-how and fuel. Critics are saying the deal rewards India's bad behavior.
That controversial ports deal is back under the spotlight on Capitol Hill. A chief officer with the company Dubai Ports World will try to convince Congress the deal doesn't jeopardize U.S. national security.
Meanwhile, the House Homeland Security chairman says he wants to know why the Bush administration didn't check to see if the company had any ties to terrorists.
And no direct comment yet from President Bush regarding those FEMA videotapes. The tapes, which have reemerged, show the president and top officials were warned about possible levee breaches in New Orleans, as well as about concerns regarding the Super Dome.
The city's mayor, Ray Nagin, says he's surprised there was that kind of awareness.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR RAY NAGIN, NEW ORLEANS: I was listening to what people were saying. I was believing them, that they didn't know. So therefore it was an issue of a learning curve, you know? And, you know, from this tape, it looks like everybody was fully aware.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: And the White House says the president was "completely engaged at all times."
Miles -- we certainly haven't heard the last of this one.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Kelly Wallace.
Let's check back on the weather.
Chad Myers at the Weather Center with that -- good morning, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Miles.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, we've got tips on protecting your hearing as you get older. It's part of our health series for people in their 30s, 40s and 50s.
O'BRIEN: Also, a career criminal is set free to save his son's life. But what he did next is pretty high up there on the despicable scale. We'll tell you about it.
COSTELLO: And later, a murder for hire case that's taking on the seedy feel of a soap opera.
Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Well, if there ever was an example of a despicable act, you are about to see it. Somewhere out there, there is a father who knows what he's done and what he should be doing. And while his son's life hangs in the balance -- it's a story first seen on "ANDERSON COOPER 360."
Susan Candiotti brings it to us.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Destin Perkins has never been able to count on his father. That was about to change. Destin's life depended on it.
DESTIN PERKINS: I thought that I'd soon be off dialysis and things would be better.
CANDIOTTI: Destin needs a kidney transplant. His dad Byron is a perfect match. Dad promised to help. Instead, he's done something that's led his own mother to call him a scoundrel.
BARBARA BARR, FUGITIVE'S MOTHER: I thought he loved his children and I thought he loved me more than anything.
How can he do this to him and to me, putting us through this?
Please come home and turn yourself in.
DAWN IZGARJAN, DEPUTY U.S. MARSHAL: We consider him to be armed and dangerous.
CANDIOTTI: U.S. Marshals call Perkins a career criminal. Records show he did seven years for bank robbery and has a string of arrests for gun possession, home invasions and drugs. Yet in January, before he was sentenced to a minimum 25 years in federal prison, a judge gave Perkins a chance to, in one way, redeem himself before he was put away -- donate a kidney and save his son's life.
He temporarily would be let out of jail for final testing.
(on camera): During at least four separate hearings before a federal magistrate, Byron Perkins told the court he wanted to help his son, he absolutely would return to jail and he could be trusted.
The court took him at his word.
(voice-over): Perkins was allowed to stay at his mother's house and report to a probation officer. At first, he did the right thing. But on his final day of tests and freedom, Perkins flew the coop, vanished with his girlfriend.
D. PERKINS: I just couldn't believe he had did it.
CANDIOTTI: Those who saw his courtroom performance now admit they've been had.
(on camera): You're saying that he did a good acting job in court?
IZGARJAN: Oh my gosh, I remember that day.
CANDIOTTI: Academy Award time?
IZGARJAN: Oh, I remember that day. I mean he was crying. His defense attorney was almost in tears. And I was sitting there thinking what, you know, what a great thing to do.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): But now, even veteran U.S. Marshals are floored.
IZGARJAN: It's touched all of us. I mean this is horrible. How could he do this?
CANDIOTTI: Perkins and his girlfriend apparently planned the escape. In recorded jailhouse phone calls obtained by CNN, federal agents say the couple compares notes.
LEE ANN HOWARD, PERKINS' GIRLFRIEND: I've got my needle box. I just don't want to forget nothing. I definitely don't need to forget my medicine.
BYRON PERKINS, FUGITIVE: Tell her to go up there and to get my .38s and some socks and stuff from up there, and whatever you got that's up there. All right?
CANDIOTTI: The day he fled, Perkins left his mother a puzzling letter.
(on camera): He says: "I'm not running out on Destin, so please don't think I am. I'll come through for him."
What do you think he meant?
BARR: I don't know, but if he's going to come through, he needs to do it now. Destin needs him now.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): As Destin's mother steels herself for what's to come, this message for her ex.
ANGELA HAMMOND, DESTIN'S MOTHER: He needs to rethink what he's doing, you know? He's -- he has a son that he's let down.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): When you go to bed each night, what do you think about as you put your head down on the pillow?
HAMMOND: God be with us.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): For Destin, disappointment and fear as he waits for his runaway father or another donor.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, Russell Springs, Kentucky.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
O'BRIEN: All right, you have questions, we know. You may be asking, among them, given his long rap sheet, why was he allowed out of jail on just $5,000 bond, no police escort, no ankle bracelet, dealie, any of that stuff, right?
The Marshal Service says its rules forbid a security detail if it's a case of elective surgery. This is -- FEMA apparently runs the Marshal Service, I think. COSTELLO: What?
O'BRIEN: So unless Perkins was willing to pay for the escort himself, the Marshals...
COSTELLO: Which I'm sure he would have like gladly done.
O'BRIEN: Oh, happy, happy to pay for it, right?
The Marshals aren't allowed to foot the bill. I just love that little catch-22 in the law, don't you?
"PAULA ZAHN" is the program where that first aired. It airs 8:00 p.m. Eastern time right here on CNN.
And there's something about Anderson Cooper here.
Did it air there, too?
Oh, it aired on "ANDERSON COOPER," too, "ANDERSON COOPER 360," 10:00 p.m.
It also aired here, which is CNN'S AMERICAN MORNING, which we invite you to watch -- oh, you just saw it, right? So you obviously know when we're on.
So thank you for being with us.
COSTELLO: Oh, you're going to get in trouble.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
COSTELLO: Let's talk about something good now.
Elizabeth Cohen is here with our "30-40-50" series -- what's coming up?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I'm not a fugitive, so it's all...
COSTELLO: No.
COHEN: ... it's all good.
COSTELLO: You don't need a kidney?
COHEN: No, no, no.
COSTELLO: OK.
COHEN: Everything's fine.
However, hearing loss is not good. And so if you're ever in a restaurant and you look across the table and you see the lips moving and you kind of hear some noise but you don't understand what they're saying, you, too, may be suffering from hearing loss. It can happen a lot earlier than you think.
Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: You may want to turn up your TV for this next story, or you may need to. More and more Americans are suffering from hearing loss.
Now in our health series for those in their 30s, 40s and 50s, CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen shows us how we should be taking care of our ears throughout our lives.
COHEN: That's right.
Usually when you think of hearing loss, you think of your grandmother, maybe. But actually hearing loss can start at a relatively young age, something you need to start thinking about even in your 30s.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
COHEN (voice-over): Crank up the music and you may pay later for pressing play now. Having music piped directly into our ears has doctors worried that many of us are headed for hearing problems sooner rather than later in life.
GINA ROELL: Huh? What?
COHEN: Gina Roell began having hearing problems in her early 40s. She doesn't think it was because of music.
ROELL: I think mine comes from my mom. She had hearing loss.
COHEN: She's 50 now and been wearing her hearing aids for about two weeks.
ROELL: You think of somebody much older having hearing aids.
COHEN: Actually, more than 65 percent of people with hearing loss are under age 65, including one in six baby boomers and one in 14 Generation Xers.
In your 30s, your ears have taken nearly a third of a century of abuse. Focus on preventing more damage. Use earplugs around loud noises such as engines and woodworking tools. And audiologists say you should wear them even while using your hairdryer. And turn down that iPod.
DEBORAH WOODWARD, AUDIOLOGIST: A good rule of thumb with the iPod to know that it's too loud is if someone can hear it next to you, it definitely needs to be turned down.
COHEN: In your 40s, significant hearing loss truly begins. You may notice you're asking people to repeat things or leaving your turn signal on in your car because you can't hear the clicking, or turning the volume way up on your TV, or, like Gina, resorting to closed captioning on the screen.
ROELL: Last week we watched a movie and I got to watch it without any of the words on it. And it was -- that was kind of neat.
COHEN: In your 50s, many people notice they have trouble hearing on the phone and get frustrated in crowded situations. Audiologists say everyone should have regular hearing tests starting at age 50.
WOODWARD: After the age of 50, 55, you may want to do it every two to five years.
COHEN: And if you do need a hearing aid, don't worry, it won't be this kind or even this kind. Today, hearing aids are tiny pieces of technology and very difficult to see.
And what did Gina Roell's friends think about her newest accessory?
ROELL: I haven't really shown anyone. I guess it's just that I'd rather really wait for a while.
COHEN: Her friends may not know it, but Gina's finally hearing all the things she's been missing.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
COSTELLO: I don't -- it would be hard to take, to know that I would need a hearing aid. Even if people couldn't see it, I'd feel kind of -- I'd feel embarrassed, really.
COHEN: Well, wouldn't you want to hear?
I mean imagine you're sitting talking to people and you couldn't -- you're not sure what they're saying.
Isn't it better to have this little funny thing in your ear?
COSTELLO: Oh, absolutely.
It's just vanity.
COHEN: Right.
COSTELLO: It's stupid vanity.
You know, we were talking before and you mentioned that you should use earplugs when you're using a hair drier?
COHEN: Isn't that amazing? That was news to us, too. We had no idea. Rock concerts maybe, we didn't know for a hair dryer.
But here they are. These are these little tiny hearing aids, right -- I mean, I'm sorry, hearing aids? Earplugs, rather. And you put them right in your ear. They're available at drugstores. And you're even supposed to use them when you vacuum, believe it or not. It's not that any one vacuuming session or any one hair drying session is going to be an issue. It's that one on top of another year after year, it can start to build up.
COSTELLO: OK, this might seem like a silly question, but at what point do you know that you're beginning to lose some of your hearing?
COHEN: Often the first sign is that you're sitting talking to someone, maybe where there's a lot of background noise, and you can hear them -- you the hear the noise, but you're having trouble making out the words. And maybe you think it's a brain issue, but actually it's probably not a brain issue, it's probably a hearing issue. You can hear the noise, but you can't make out the actual words.
COSTELLO: Interesting.
So go get a hearing aid if you need it.
I will do that, Elizabeth.
Thank you.
COHEN: Only if you're having hearing problems.
COSTELLO: Only, yes, exactly. I wouldn't want it if you could help it.
COHEN: Not randomly.
COSTELLO: Thanks, Elizabeth -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: A commercial with a secret message gets the thumbs down from one television network. Andy is minding your business on that.
Plus, "Consumer Reports" out with its "Top 10" car list. A lot of people wait for this one, because they're independent and they do a good job. We'll talk to a guy who helped compile the list and we'll see why there's nary an American vehicle on it.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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