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American Morning
Deadbeat Donor; Painful Memories in Kansas; 'Minding Your Business'
Aired March 03, 2006 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is back in New Delhi. He is ready to make what the White House is calling an important speech on terrorism. We will bring it to you live here on AMERICAN MORNING.
Criticism of the president leads to a student walk-out in Colorado. The protests may not be what you think.
And new information on a fugitive father as his son desperately waits for the medical help he promised him.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello. Soledad has a few days off.
Happy Friday.
O'BRIEN: Good to have you with us this morning.
Kelly Wallace back in the newsroom for us. She ran down after that segment.
Kelly, good morning.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: ... President Bush, who is getting ready to give what is being billed as a major speech during his South Asian trip. He just arrived back in New Delhi, and we're showing you some of the most recent pictures we have of the president and the first lady arriving back in New Delhi there.
Earlier, the president was meeting with farm workers and entrepreneurs in another part of India today. This is all just one day after agreeing to a nuclear deal with India's prime minister. After today's speech in New Delhi, President Bush heads off to Pakistan.
A growing controversy to tell you about in a Colorado classroom after a teacher compared President Bush to Adolph Hitler. He also criticized U.S. foreign policy. The teacher, Jay Benish (ph), says he was just trying to stimulate some debate. He's now been placed on administrative leave. Some students walked out to protest his suspension, others said they were opposed to the teacher's remarks.
Eleven consecutive life terms for so-called killer nurse Charles Cullen. A judge handed down that sentence Thursday for the killings of 22 people. It was a very tense day as family members of the victims faced Cullen in court and vented their anger. He also faces sentencing in Pennsylvania.
Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco just can't catch a break. In some newly released transcripts, Governor Blanco is heard saying that the New Orleans levees were intact when really they had already been breached.
Meantime, former FEMA chief Michael Brown is now slamming Homeland security Secretary Michael Chertoff over the reaction to the disaster. Brown says Chertoff should step down.
And who will take the stage on Oscar night if the film "Crash" picks up an award? A lawsuit was filed against the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences by a man claiming to be one of the producers of the film. He says his title was changed which means he's not eligible to take the stage if the movie wins. The Academy declined to comment on the suit on Thursday.
Of course, the Oscars are set for Sunday night.
That gets you caught up. Now to Miles and Carol.
O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Kelly.
Time for a check of the forecast now. Chad Myers at the weather center.
Good morning, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Miles.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COSTELLO: Thank you, Chad.
MYERS: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: A new lead in the case we told you about Thursday. It's about a young man who desperately needs a kidney transplant. His father, a career criminal, was let out of jail to make the donation, but the father ran for it instead.
Susan Candiotti has the new lead in the case this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From an ailing son to his fugitive father...
DESTIN PERKINS, SON: Do the smart thing and turn yourself in.
CANDIOTTI: ... Destin Perkins, whose career criminal dad ditched him, instead of donating a life-saving kidney, might have some new hope.
DAWN IZGARJAN, U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE: What did he say they were doing down there? CANDIOTTI: A tip from a Washington state couple vacationing in Mexico, is convinced they spent time with Byron Perkins and his fugitive girlfriend, Lee Ann Howard. The man and woman used the name Perkins.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, she is 100 percent as to who it was.
CHUCK GILBERT, DEPUTY U.S. MARSHAL: OK.
CANDIOTTI: A deputy sheriff in Washington calls investigators leading the manhunt in Kentucky. Tourists called the cops after seeing Destin's story on CNN last night.
IZGARJAN: The couple who called in had left, landed at the Phoenix Airport. CNN, the -- the segment was on CNN. And they just thought, man...
(LAUGHTER)
IZGARJAN: ... this is who we were vacationing with.
CANDIOTTI: According to the tipsters, the man and woman said they were vacationing in a small fishing village near Puerto Vallarta earlier this week. The couples' physical description appears a match.
GILBERT: They described a tattoo that was on the gentleman's chest. It is identified with Byron Perkins as being an identifying mark.
CANDIOTTI: The same caller said the man went by Eric (ph), the woman used insulin. And Perkins' girlfriend is a diabetic.
IZGARJAN: He told them he was in Harley accident, waiting for some money to come in, and money was going to be I guess wired. He really didn't say how he was going to get the money, but he -- he kept going into the town to see if the money was in.
CANDIOTTI: Perkins and his girlfriend talked about getting money in recorded jailhouse phone calls before Perkins was released for a court-ordered kidney donor test, and never came back. The calls were obtained by CNN.
LEE ANN HOWARD, GIRLFRIEND OF BYRON PERKINS: Do you want me to get my mom to write me a $100 check?
BYRON PERKINS, FUGITIVE: If you want to.
HOWARD: Do you think you can get it cashed?
PERKINS: Some way.
CANDIOTTI: Perkins, with a string of convictions for bank robbery, drugs and guns, even left behind a letter promising he would -- quote -- "come through for his son Destin."
ANGELA HAMMOND, MOTHER OF DESTIN PERKINS: You know, he -- he ran. It doesn't say much about his feelings for Destin.
CANDIOTTI: Perkins' deal for temporary freedom that backfired so badly raises troubling questions: Why did authorities, the judge, prosecutors, U.S. marshals, public offender, allow Perkins to leave jail, trusting his word that he would return? And a $10,000 unsecured bond, that means he didn't have to put up any money for it.
Remember, one month later, Perkins faced a minimum 25-year prison sentence on a gun and drug conviction. Those in charge now say, some policies will be reviewed. U.S. Marshals Service policy states, taxpayers won't pay for elective or preventive medical interventions and procedures unless ordered by the court. As CNN reported Wednesday, authorities said Perkins successfully duped him, literally in tears, that he would be true to his word.
Doctors told the court, an ankle bracelet would have interfered with medical tests. Bottom line: Those in charge told CNN a good- faith humanitarian decision was compromised.
RONALD MCCUBBIN, U.S. MARSHAL: It's starting a new -- what will happen tomorrow certainly is not going to be a repeat of what happened yesterday, so to speak. So, and changes obviously are going to have to be made.
CANDIOTTI: For now, the authorities' focus is on finding a fugitive dad, and making him keep his promise to donate what may be the key to saving his son's life.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, Louisville, Kentucky.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And if you have any information about Byron Perkins and Lee Ann Howard, please call the U.S. Marshal Service at 877- WANTED2.
This story first ran on "ANDERSON COOPER 360." Of course that program airs every weeknight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.
O'BRIEN: Good job, Susan Candiotti.
Coming up, former FEMA director Michael Brown will join us live. Those new FEMA transcripts may offer him some redemption. We'll see what he has to say about them.
COSTELLO: Also, Wal-Mart's solution for some of its image problems? Well, hiring somebody to teach the company from right and wrong. Andy's "Minding Your Business."
O'BRIEN: And a quiet little town that lost its innocence almost 50 years ago. How a movie brought back memories of a shocking crime that was already a celebrated one.
That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) O'BRIEN: Oh, I'm supposed to read now.
Philip Seymour Hoffman is a good bet to win best actor for the old Oscars there for his portrayal of author Truman Capote in the film "Capote." It's up for five Academy Awards, including best picture. But the movie goes far beyond Hollywood to a Kansas town that was changed forever almost 50 years ago.
Here is CNN's Brooke Anderson.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Kansas, a small, quiet farming community 70 miles from the Colorado border. Quiet until four shotgun blasts shook this humble town to its core.
(GUNSHOTS)
(on camera): It was here on November 15, 1959, when two petty criminals drove down this tree-lined lane to the farmhouse you see in the distance. They entered through an unlocked door. That is when one of Holcomb's most prominent families was brutally murdered.
SHERIFF KEVIN BASCUE, FINNEY COUNTY: Home, of course.
ANDERSON (voice over): Finney County sheriff Kevin Bascue wasn't even born at the time four members of the Clutter family were murdered, yet he's become the town's unofficial expert on the case.
BASCUE: My guess is, is that changed everybody forever.
ANDERSON: Although 46 years have passed, friends and neighbors remember it like it was yesterday.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was even afraid to go out by myself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People got guns out they hadn't looked at for years.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After this happened you can believe the doors were locked all night.
ANDERSON: The true story of the Clutter murders was immortalized by author Truman Capote's best-seller "In Cold Blood," the 1967 film of the same name, and the current Oscar-nominated movie, "Capote."
CLIFTON COLLINS JR., ACTOR, "CAPOTE": What's the name of your book?
JEAN HANDS, CLUTTER FAMILY FRIEND: You told the story once in your way, Capote. We don't need another way.
ANDERSON: Jean Hands sang at the Clutters' funeral in neighboring Garden City, where Herb Clutter was a key benefactor at the First United Methodist Church. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was the kind of person that we really all wanted to become.
ANDERSON: Delores (ph) and Cliff Hope (ph) befriended Capote. They, as well as others, say the author at times embellished the story.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Truman called it a nonfiction novel, which, you know, that really can cover whatever he wants to say it is.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was interested in making a little money. Sell a book.
BASCUE: After every release of a documentary, whether it's on A&E or the release of the current movie "Capote," you're going to have that interest around the country stirred up again.
ANDERSON: But Capote hasn't even played at the local cineplex.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, "Brokeback" hasn't been here either, so...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, that's true. That's true.
ANDERSON: Many who knew the Clutters don't need movies for their memories to live on.
(on camera): I notice there's some flowers.
BASCUE: There's always flowers here. And I've heard some comments around that nobody -- that they get placed here, but nobody seems to know by who.
ANDERSON: Roses at the grave site and a rose-shaped stained glass window at the church memorializing the slain family's legacy by the people who knew them best.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every Sunday when I look at the rose window in the church, I think of the Clutters.
ANDERSON: Brooke Anderson, CNN, Holcomb, Kansas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: A little later on AMERICAN MORNING, Oscar predictions with "US" magazine's Bradley Jacobs. He has a pretty good record to defend. I think he was -- I think he batted a thousand for -- either it was the Grammys or the Tonys or the Emmys or the -- what was it? Golden Globes.
He batted a thousand for the Golden Globes. So we're going to see how well he does.
Sunday night, CNN is live on the red carpet in Hollywood. Sibila Vargas, A.J. Hammer and Brooke Anderson, who you just saw there, with a special Oscar edition of "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT," beginning 5:30 Eastern Time on "Headline News.
And then at 6:00, live coverage moves to CNN with the "Hollywood's Gold Rush" on CNN. So it's -- you know, it's a multi- channel kind of synergistic affair.
COSTELLO: I love that Brooke Anderson story about Holcomb, Kansas.
O'BRIEN: Very interesting, yes.
COSTELLO: Wasn't that fascinating?
ANDY SERWER, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, "FORTUNE": That was interesting.
O'BRIEN: If you haven't read that book, go read that book.
SERWER: Yes, a good book.
O'BRIEN: It's just unbelievable. It really started a whole genre of...
COSTELLO: Well, it's interesting. It's on "The New York Times" bestseller list now.
O'BRIEN: Good.
COSTELLO: So a lot of people are reading it. So read it before you see the movie. It's cool.
O'BRIEN: Yes, that's probably a good idea.
COSTELLO: But Andy's "Minding Your Business" this morning as well.
SERWER: I am. Shifting gears a little bit, how is Wal-Mart getting ethical?
Plus, if "Desperate" was a perfume, what would it smell like? We'll tell you all about that coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
Stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Andy is "Minding Your Business" in just a minute, but first let's head out to the newsroom to check in with Kelly.
Good morning.
WALLACE: Good morning again, Carol.
President Bush poised to deliver what the White House is calling the biggest speech of his trip to South Asia. He's set to take the podium in less than two hours in New Delhi, India. The speech will be focused on the war on terrorism. The president also expected to touch on international trade and India's growing economy. Live coverage of the president's speech right here on AMERICAN MORNING beginning at 8:00 a.m. Eastern.
The Patriot Act is a step closer to renewal. The Senate voted to approve the terror-fighting law. The House now expected to approve the measure next week. It then heads to President Bush for his signature.
British glam rocker Gary Glitter has been sentenced to three years in jail for indecent acts with two girls. The verdict was read earlier in Vietnam.
Glitter, whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd shouted, "I am innocent!" after the verdict. He claims he was teaching the girls English. Gadd has at least one prior arrest for child pornography.
And actress Jessica Alba is on the cover of this month's "Playboy," but she says she never agreed to be in the magazine and wants the issue pulled. The cover shows her in a bikini next to the headline "25 Sexiest Celebrities." Alba says the picture was a publicity shot from one of her movies and was used without her consent.
And Miles, some of our male colleagues in the newsroom are wondering, what's all the fuss here?
(LAUGHTER)
WALLACE: But I think I know why.
O'BRIEN: I wonder.
WALLACE: I wonder why. What's the big deal?
O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes. It's all...
SERWER: P.R. campaign, right?
O'BRIEN: You know, it's really all about the articles, "Playboy" is.
COSTELLO: Exactly.
O'BRIEN: It's all about the fine writing.
SERWER: Lusting after people in your heart.
O'BRIEN: Yes, Jimmy Carter's famous interview in "Playboy."
SERWER: That was the Jimmy Carter...
COSTELLO: Oh, let's talk about this new angle for advertising.
O'BRIEN: We have completely digressed, haven't we?
SERWER: Yes. Well, sort of. COSTELLO: Take it away, Andy.
SERWER: I will.
The Oscars are going to be like the Super Bowl with the ads. You know, people are really watching them because they crank out all kinds of innovative ways to pitch products.
You know the MasterCard commercials where they say blah, blah, blah, priceless? Well, they've got a new campaign where they're going to be doing that with a blank in it, where you have to the Web site, priceless.com, to fill it in, and then you win prizes. Hey, that's great.
O'BRIEN: I don't get it. Wait a minute. You go there...
SERWER: Well, it's going to say -- you know, it will have a picture of a typewriter, and it will say, blank $90. And you have to go to the Web site, and then you write "typewriter," and then you win money or something like that.
O'BRIEN: Oh, OK.
SERWER: TV advertising has been flat, and Internet advertising going up big time. There's also a new campaign from M. Knight Shyamalan from American Express where he sits at a cafe and things get really creepy, because that's what happens in Knight Shyamalan's movies, which I happen to really like a lot.
COSTELLO: Yes.
SERWER: Now, we were talking about "Desperate" scents. "Desperate Housewives" is going to be coming out with a perfume this fall. I mean, you can't make this stuff up.
And, you know, when you wear it or when your spouse wears it, or your significant other, it's like, oh, honey you smell like adultery and back stabbing.
(LAUGHTER)
SERWER: I mean, right? What is that supposed to conjure up?
O'BRIEN: It's a wonderful thought, isn't it? Yes.
SERWER: You know, I'm just not sure. I guess it works.
COSTELLO: Well, it seems like everybody...
SERWER: It's sort of sexy, right?
COSTELLO: ... everybody has a perfume out. Do people actually buy these perfumes? That's what I wonder.
SERWER: Well, yes, I think, you know, when you attach a celebrity or a famous product to a TV show, it certainly helps sales, at least in the short run.
COSTELLO: I just can't imagine running out and buying some "Desperate Housewives" perfume. I mean, wouldn't...
SERWER: Well, we'll see if we can get some.
COSTELLO: ... you want Chanel No. 5 or some...
SERWER: Well, you know, we'll see.
Listen, last story here. Wal-Mart -- you know what CEO stands for, right? Chief Executive Officer. Well, how about this? Chief Ethics Officer. Wal-Mart says it's going out and they're going to seek a global ethics chief.
O'BRIEN: And where would they look to find one?
SERWER: Right here, Miles, CNN, the most trusted...
O'BRIEN: Right here.
SERWER: ... name in news. They could find one right here. But anyway, obviously they need to address some issues, or they feel they do, so they're going to hire someone.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Andy.
SERWER: You're welcome.
O'BRIEN: Thanks.
COSTELLO: Coming up, our top stories. Gunmen kill at least 18 in Iraq. Pakistan steps up security ahead of President Bush's visit. And we will talk to former FEMA chief Michael Brown about those new Katrina transcripts.
Authorities charge another suspect in that huge British bank heist.
And Hollywood gets ready for the Oscars. We'll break down the favorites.
That's just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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