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California Authorities Investigate Suspected Arson; Injured Firefighter Struggles to Survive; Michael J. Fox Fights For Stem Cell Research

Aired October 27, 2006 - 15:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Don Lemon and Kyra Phillips.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Southern California's deadly wildfire out of control, and spreading fast.

We're awaiting a news conference to find out the condition of a fifth firefighter who was trapped in that fire. Four of his colleagues, his buddies, died while trying to fight these fires that have been raging out of control.

There's a live shot we have of a press conference that's going to happen there at Arrowhead Medical Center. It's in Colton, California. Reporters and producers and camera people are preparing for that. We're hearing that it's going to start very shortly. And, as soon as that happens, find out the condition on this fifth firefighter, we're going to bring that to you live.

Let me tell you what investigators are saying. They are calling this arson. And they're talking murder charges, after four firefighters were killed in this. In fact, the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, says a $100,000 reward is going to be set up for the information leading to the suspect's arrest.

Now, let's get the very latest from CNN's Thelma Gutierrez. And, right now, she's in the middle of all this fire.

Thelma, any progress on this?

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, I can tell you, I'm about three miles from the fire line right now. And, unless you're here, it's really difficult to tell just how tough the conditions are on the ground.

If take a look right behind me, you can see that the flag is whipping in the wind. The trees are whipping around out here. That just gives you an idea of what the firefighters on the ground are facing, as those winds come racing through the canyons, and picking up the flames, and carrying it in their way.

Winds out here, about 25 miles an hour, gusts, 40 miles an hour, making this a very dangerous, volatile situation. One firefighter told me a short time ago that you see flames off in the distance, and, then, the next minute, the flames are right on your back. So far, 24,000 acres have been charred in less than 24 hours. And one of the fire captains said, this is an absolutely explosive situation out here. You have 1,700 firefighters on the ground, working under extremely dangerous conditions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM WALTON, PHOTOJOURNALIST: On the ridgetops, where you see flames, they -- they vary anywhere from 35 to probably 150 feet in the air. And, as they build with intensity, and the wind drives them, they also create a little bit of weather of their own, and a life of her own. And they -- and you imagine that that is almost a living creature, you know? It's almost -- it's -- it's alive. It's -- you know, fire is a very mysterious thing. And -- and it will do whatever it wants.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTIERREZ: Now, some of the firefighters have talked about being out there on the fire line, and actually seeing those flames whip up to 150 feet.

And that is just how scary it is out there for some of them working within these Santa Ana conditions.

Now, the Esperanza fire began shortly after 1:00 a.m. yesterday. Officials say this is absolutely a case of arson, now a case of murder. Four firefighters were killed trying to protect a structure. There was an engine of five out in front of a home. A wall of flames came, overtook them, and they were unable to escape -- Kyra, back to you.

LEMON: All right. I will take it back.

Thelma Gutierrez, thank you very much, Beaumont, California.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get straight to the newsroom -- Carol Lin working details on a developing story -- Carol.

CAROL LIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, we're working on this story about a possible bomb in Boise, Idaho.

So, let's talk with Lynn Hightower. She's with the Boise Police Department.

Lynn, first off, is -- is this a bomb that you're dealing with?

LYNN HIGHTOWER, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, BOISE, IDAHO, POLICE DEPARTMENT: Right now, Carol, it looks like it was a look-alike device.

The freeway, I -- I -- Interstate 84, on the east side of Boise was closed down in both directions about 11:50 -- about 11:30 and 12:50 Mountain Time. But bomb technicians got. They in disrupted the -- the device. They rendered it safe. And they were able to get close enough to take a closer look. It looks like it was a look-alike device at this time.

LIN: As in somebody went to a lot of trouble to make it look like an explosive device; they wanted people to think that it might go off?

HIGHTOWER: You know, at this time, that's what it looks like, yes.

LIN: Where did they put it? What kind of an area was it? Was it heavily populated?

HIGHTOWER: No. It's -- it's an area just on the east outskirts of the city, but it is within the city limits. It's an industrial area out there. There are homes and businesses nearby, but nothing that was directly threatened in -- in the blast zone, except the freeway, except the interstate. So, that's what was shut down.

LIN: All right, Lynn, we're going to show viewers what the scene looks like. A pretty remote area, it appears. This, it looks like a stretch of Interstate 84 there, which was shut down while you were trying to disable this device, or at least figure out what it -- what it was. So, it doesn't look like much harm would have come to anybody.

HIGHTOWER: Well, of course, it was found just about 10 or 12 inches off the interstate.

There is a major industrial area north of the interstate there and more homes north of the interstate.

LIN: Mmm-hmm.

HIGHTOWER: If the view your -- you have is looking south, that's pretty much just desert. But most of the population, most of the building, is north of the interstate.

LIN: OK.

HIGHTOWER: And I -- at this time, I don't have the information on exactly how large a device it was. But I'm being told it was some sort of can...

LIN: Uh-huh.

HIGHTOWER: ... that had wires coming out of it.

LIN: How did anybody find it?

HIGHTOWER: It was somebody driving down the -- driving down the freeway that noticed it. There's a National Guard base very near there.

And I'm told it was a National Guardsman who was driving by, noticed this device, thought it looked very, very suspicious, and called it in.

LIN: Sharp eyes.

Lynn Hightower, good to know that both the interstate has been reopened in both directions, right, and that...

HIGHTOWER: I believe the eastbound lanes are still closed, but they should reopen momentarily.

LIN: All right.

HIGHTOWER: Westbound is over.

LIN: For all intents and purposes, this event is over.

Lynn Hightower, Boise, Idaho, Police, thank you very much.

HIGHTOWER: Mmm-hmm.

LIN: All right, good news to report, Don, but, boy, pretty scary that somebody would go to all that trouble.

LEMON: Thank you very much, Carol.

It was a shocking crime: four members of a family, including two young children, found shot to death along the Florida Turnpike. Two weeks later, there may be a break in this case.

CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti joins us from West Palm Beach with the very latest on this.

Susan, what can you tell us?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Don.

On a very blustery afternoon here in Palm Beach County, the question that has been raised since day one in this matter is that why two young children had to pay the ultimate price for whatever was behind these turnpike murders.

Now police are saying they have in custody four people, and they are looking for a fifth. They are calling these people persons of interest in this case. The four of the five who are in custody have been arrested on unrelated federal drug charges by the DEA. Yet, the sheriff's spokesman says: We feel comfortable the shooter or shooters is one of the five.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN MASCARA, SAINT LUCIE COUNTY, FLORIDA, SHERIFF: These people all do know each other. We do not feel it was a revenge killing. We think it was related to either the theft of drugs and money, or both.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Some of the evidence they are going over includes a Dodge Conversion van, 1999, red. Police recovered it overnight. It is registered to the fifth person they are looking for. They don't know where he is yet. His name is Michael Naujalis, 24 years old, from Lake Worth, Florida.

And, according to court documents, so far, they have seized a lot of evidence from the home or homes where the four people who are in custody on drug charges were living in Palm Beach County -- some of the things they have seized, cocaine, ecstasy pills, as well as a cache of weapons, more than a dozen guns, including an AK-47 that was recovered from the master bedroom.

Also, according to court documents, police has -- police have seized from the Escobedo family's home -- that's the family that was murdered -- a drug ledger and some materials that appear to be used to package drugs, including a note that said that Mr. Escobedo owed someone by the name of D.V. Money (ph). And D.V. is the initials and nickname of one of the people that is in custody on drug charges.

So, once again, to wind things up for you, Don, no one has been charged with murder in this case as yet. We still don't know whether they have recovered a murder weapon. We still don't know why that murder scene might have been selected by the killer or killers, and, finally, why the children also had to be shot -- back to you.

LEMON: Yes. And you mentioned the court documents. What, if any, information are we getting from the search warrants in all of this?

CANDIOTTI: From the -- the person involving the fifth person? That's the one who -- to whom the -- the van is registered.

The four people who are in custody already made a brief court appearance in Fort Pierce, Florida. They're being held without bond on those drug charges.

LEMON: Susan Candiotti, thank you very much for your report.

PHILLIPS: Confessed murderer Danny Rolling was executed Wednesday for five brutal killings in Florida, but not before he cleared his conscientious of an earlier crime. Before Rolling went to his death by lethal injection, he gave a written confession to his spiritual adviser about a brutal crime in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Louisiana authorities say they have long suspected Rolling in the 1989 triple playing of a Shreveport family, but they decided not to go through a trial, because Rolling had already pleaded guilty to 1990's Gainesville murders, and was expected to be executed.

LEMON: And let's go back to our top story: hundreds of firefighters on the front lines right now giving it all they have got. A wildfire is still burning out of control. It has swept across 24,000 acres in Riverside County, California. That's about 38 square miles.

The flames, driven by fierce winds, trapped five firefighters yesterday afternoon. Four of them have died. And the lone survivor has burns over 95 percent of his body. We're awaiting a press conference to find out his condition, just moments away. Authorities say that fire was intentionally set. And those responsible will face murder charges if they are caught. They're setting up a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arsonist's arrest.

PHILLIPS: Hot, dry, windy.

Rob Marciano, any relief in sight for those firefighters?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Not today. Maybe tomorrow, more so, it looks like, on Sunday.

You know, no matter who or how this fire was set, this time of year, in this part of the country, probably, 90 percent of -- of forest fires and wildfires that are triggered are triggered by man in some capacity, either accidentally or on purpose, because they typically are dry. It's not the monsoon season anymore, so there's no dry lightning.

It's typically these high-pressure systems that push off these offshore winds, locally known as Santa Ana winds. Some people even call them devil winds, because they're so hot and dry, and they think that the name came from Santana.

Regardless, it's an east wind. It comes from a dry place. It gets forced down mountains. That compresses it even more. That heats it up even more. And, in this particular case, it gets squeezed through a canyon, which, you know, just like a thumb over a garden hose, it shoots that air out even faster.

So, then you have rugged terrain. So, we increase this wind, and we talk about rugged terrain, and just how fast these fires can -- can fly across the landscape. Here's an animation to kind of give you a -- a picture as to how things work here and how fast things go.

This is dry. These are winds at 20, 30 miles an hour. Then, you have got -- you have got this hot air going uphill. And, as that happens, you know, those flames, before they even get there, kind of like preheating an oven. It heats that fuel before the flames even get there. And, then, once the flames hit the trees, boy, they just explode, and sometimes can throw that ash and timber and -- and sparks well ahead of the fire.

And that is what they talk about when they say jumping, of a fire jumping a fire line or roadway or, in this case, maybe even -- maybe even into a neighborhood. So, that, potentially, is bad news.

All right. Kind of give you your bearings here. We're looking southwest towards the coastline. This is I-10 heading towards Palm Springs, I-10 heading back towards L.A. The winds are coming, ripping through this canyon right through here, and hitting the northward- facing slopes here of the San Bernardinos, or, more locally, the San Jacinto Mountains.

These where the -- this is where the firefighters were killed, and this is where that -- that -- that fire continues to spread. That pressure grading we talked about will relax a little bit tomorrow. As a matter of fact, the Storm Prediction Center does not have a fire critical warning area out. That's good news. They have had it for the past two days.

And, then, really, on Sunday, this whole setup may not only relax, but we may get a bit of an on-shore flow off the ocean. That would raise levels of humidity, which right now are single digits, and will also bring in some cooler temperatures. But, today, things aren't getting much better -- tomorrow, a little bit. Hopefully, on Sunday, we will get rid of this scenario altogether, but no rain in the forecast.

So, best they could hope for is, by the end of the weekend, at least starting to get some sort of containment on this fire -- guys.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: You bet.

PHILLIPS: We're also waiting for that live news conference out of Arrowhead Medical Center in Colton, California, waiting to find out how 23-year-old Pablo Cerda is. He's that firefighter clinging on to life right now.

As you know, three firefighters lost their lives in this massive wildfire trying to protect homes from the raging flames. We're hoping to hear good news once doctors step to the mikes.

LEMON: Michael J. Fox has brought news and some say much-needed attention to the battle against Parkinson's disease. Ahead in the NEWSROOM, we will learn firsthand what it's like to live with the disease every day.

PHILLIPS: Plus, a big battle in the big sky country -- we head to the wide open spaces of Montana next. It's a political showdown that could affect the balance of power in Washington.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: And we want to take you live to Arrowhead Medical Center right now. We're hoping to hear any second from doctors. Actually, we're going to go ahead and listen. I'm not sure who is at the podium right now, but we're trying to find out the status of that firefighter who is clinging to his life right now.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And following up Dr. Wong is going to be Bill Postmus, who is the chairman of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors.

And I would just like to emphasize that the statements are going to be very brief.

And, so, we will get started with Dr. David Wong at this time. DR. DAVID WONG, CHIEF OF TRAUMA AND CRITICAL CARE, ARROWHEAD REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: I just want to give an update on Mr. Cerda's condition.

In terms of the overall prognosis, that has not changed. But, in terms of his minute-to-minute condition, he had shown some slight improvement, in terms of option requirements for his inhalational injury.

And, in terms of response to resuscitation, he is responding. And we may be taking him to surgery, possibly today.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

WONG: Yes.

QUESTION: Can you say what kind of surgery (OFF-MIKE)

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

WONG: We would be debriding the -- the burned skin, essentially removing as much of the skin as possible.

QUESTION: Have you ever seen someone with burns like this ever survive?

WONG: We -- we have, but his degree of burns is -- is -- is one of the most severe.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

WONG: Ninety percent.

QUESTION: Can you tell us more about the slight improvement? And is it at all encouraging? (OFF-MIKE)

WONG: It's encouraging, but it doesn't change the prognosis much, because the -- the prognosis is dictated by the degree of burns.

In terms of his improvement, his -- his renal failure has shown some improvement. And, in terms of his inhalational injury, that has shown some improvement, in terms of requirement for oxygenation.

QUESTION: So, is he conscious at all?

WONG: No. He is heavily sedated.

QUESTION: What is the prognosis?

WONG: It's poor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will go ahead and turn it over at this point to Chairman Bill Postmus.

BILL POSTMUS, CHAIRMAN, SAN BERNARDINO BOARD OF SUPERVISORS: Good afternoon.

This is an extremely sad day for -- for the residents of the Inland Empire, as we had four firefighters from the National Forest Service passed away yesterday.

One of these firefighters, Jason McKay, was a resident of San Bernardino County and in my High Desert district, up in the -- up in the Feeland (ph) area. And it's a very -- extremely sad day for us here in San Bernardino County.

But we definitely want to ask the people of Southern California to keep this firefighter in their hearts and prayers on a continual basis right now, as -- as the doctors are doing everything they can to keep this individual alive.

The board of supervisors, under my action as chairman, is authorizing immediately an additional $100,000 reward for the suspect or suspects who have committed this heinous crime.

And I believe, this morning, Governor Schwarzenegger authorized $100,000, along, yesterday, with the Riverside County Board of Supervisors, which brings the total reward now, from my understanding, to $300,000.

So, we want to ask that those individuals out there who might know something about who committed this heinous crime to contact either the Riverside County Sheriff's Department or the local law enforcement agency, and notify them who might have committed this heinous act.

But, again, we want to ask the residents of our county and Riverside County to keep this individual, this firefighter, this hero who is here at this fire -- at this medical facility in their prayers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, again, everybody, for coming. That concludes our news conference.

QUESTION: Can we ask the supervisor something?

PHILLIPS: And that hero that they're talking about is 23-year- old firefighter by the name of Pablo Cerda. He is there at the Arrowhead Medical Center -- a little bit of an uncomfortable moment there.

Dr. David Wong, his physician, stepped up to the mikes, and started giving us details about his condition, saying that his oxygen intake has improved. He may be able to go through surgery today. They're going to try to remove as much of the burned skin as possible. It's some of the most severe burns he has seen as a doctor. Ninety percent of his body has been burned.

And, then, when one of the reporters asked, "What is his prognosis?" the doctor said poor. And, at that point, he was asked to leave the mike, basically.

LEMON: Mmm-hmm.

PHILLIPS: That's when we heard one of the members of board of directors come forward and announce that there is now $300,000 out there as a reward to find the arsonist who created this wildfire, a wildfire that went from 800 acres to 24,000 in one day -- investigators now searching for that individual or individuals responsible that they are saying for the deaths of four firefighters, and also the condition of 23-year-old Pablo Cerda, as he is hanging on for his life, literally, there at the Arrowhead Medical Center in Colton, California.

We will stay on top of all the details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Michael J. Fox is speaking out. Fox is answering critics of his appearance in campaign ads. Fox, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, defended himself during an interview on "The CBS Evening News" With Katie Couric." And he had a message for opponents of stem cell research.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, THE CBS EVENING NEWS")

MICHAEL J. FOX, ACTOR: People that -- that are against stem cell research, embryonic or otherwise, whatever, I couldn't respect them more. I -- I -- if they prayed on it and they have thought about it, and they can't get their head around it or their heart around it, then, great. I mean, fantastic. I admire them and I respect them.

All I say to them, respectfully, is if, there's a majority that also, prayerfully and thoughtfully and emotionally and intellectually and in every other way, weighed this and came on the other side, and said, no, I think it's the right thing to do, to very carefully tread these waters to save these lives, then, you have to respect that, too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh suggested Fox was exaggerating his symptoms in that campaign ad.

And that debate over stem cell research has focused new attention on Parkinson's disease and the challenges facing people who live with it every day.

Dr. David Eger joins me from New York. He's a clinical psychologist. He also has Parkinson's disease.

Some say, Dr. Eger, that this is much needed attention as well. Do you agree?

First of all, how you doing?

DAVID EGER, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Well, my -- my Parkinson's is advancing fairly slowly and fairly mildly. You can see, I have a tremor.

LEMON: Mmm-hmm.

EGER: Often, that doesn't occur. But I have the classical symptoms of Parkinson's, which include a rigidity and slowness of movement, and poor balance, and a tremor.

LEMON: Since you're talking about this, Rush Limbaugh said, you know, that he may have adjusted his medication, or may have been exaggerating.

And, according to Michael J. Fox in that interview last night, he said, the thing about symptomatic is that it's not comfortable. Nobody wants to be symptomatic. It's like hitting yourself with a hammer. So, not to take your medication would -- it's just really out of the question. Do you agree with that?

EGER: I think it's out of the question for a number of reasons.

One of them is what Michael says. Nobody wants to have their symptoms be present. But I think, also, it's out of the reason -- out of possibility because Michael is a man of great integrity, and he would not do anything that would deceive people.

LEMON: Did you get a chance to see that interview last night, or see any portion of it?

EGER: I -- I saw portions of it online this morning.

LEMON: What did you think of it?

EGER: I thought Michael was being honest and direct, and made a forceful presentation.

LEMON: Tell us about your plight with that. And we're -- we're looking at pictures now from that interview. And Michael did admit that he was having, during the interview, that he was having tremors.

EGER: Uh-huh.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: ... he has them, they're more severe at certain points in the day.

But he -- he thought that, if there was any moment, this was the moment now, because this has received so much attention. And, so, he felt that this was his time to step up to the plate and really bring focus to this.

Do you -- what do you think of that?

EGER: I think Michael is absolutely accurate.

I think that this is the time to bring the issue forward. I think there have been -- there are over a million people who suffer with Parkinson's. And, when you consider not only that there are a million of people who suffer with it, but, also, two to three million other people who are affected by it, because they're family members, it's a disease that needs to be addressed.

And I think this election time is a time to address that by supporting candidates who are in favor of stem cell research.

LEMON: I'm going to ask you about that in a minute. But, if you don't -- you never ask a lady her age, but I will ask you. How old are you?

EGER: I'm 61.

LEMON: You're 61 years old. When did you first started -- start to notice the symptoms? And tell us your story and how it progressed.

EGER: What I first noticed was that I had a rigidity in my left arm. And that made it awkward for me to move my arm beyond a certain height, and that I would hold my hand in a particularly rigid and awkward way.

I thought I probably had somehow injured a muscle or a nerve. So, I went to a psychiatrist who said that that was not the problem, and sent me to a neurologist, who made the diagnosis of Parkinson's, based partly on the rigidity, but also on the other clinical symptoms that were diagnosed.

LEMON: What was your reaction, sir?

EGER: I must say, at first, I was dumb-founded. I had no experience with Parkinson's. I knew nothing about it. But the look on my neurologist's face told me that it was a serious problem.

LEMON: And you have since educated yourself. Tell us how you're involved now.

EGER: I have educated myself by reading and by going to research workshops and congresses.

I have also become involved by becoming a member of the Parkinson's Disease Foundation, Parkinson's Patient Advisory Committee. I have become a patient consultant for the federal Food and Drug Administration.

LEMON: So, you're actively involved...

(CROSSTALK)

EGER: I'm very actively involved. And I -- I believe it's very important for patients to be as actively involved as possible.

LEMON: OK. Dr. David Eger, we really appreciate you joining us today in the CNN NEWSROOM. We wish you well. Thank you very much, sir.

EGER: Thank you very much.

LEMON: All right.

And another public figure living with Parkinson's disease, former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, she will join us live in the NEWSROOM on Monday to talk about her experiences with that disease, a disease that afflicts about thousands of -- of people in the United States. And make sure you tune into the CNN NEWSROOM on Monday.

PHILLIPS: It was a journey that should have taken decades, but Kelly France (ph) went from young bride to young widow in just two years -- coming up from the NEWSROOM, paying a different kind of price for the war in Iraq.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, there's an auction going on today for an Internet domain name that is really hot -- literally.

Susan Lisovicz joins us live from the New York Stock Exchange to tell us all about it -- Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

Just in time for Halloween, the online address of the underworld is on the auction block. That is hell.com. The domain name is expected to generate bids of more than $1 million, maybe as much as $5 million, drawing comparisons to the days of the dot-com boom.

Hell.com is part of a live auction of 300 domain names, taking place right now. Other names that the auction organizers expect to fetch seven figures include Iran.com, Auction.com, and another timely offering, Elections.com.

Right now, hell.com is home to a secretive online community that's not accessible from a Web browser. Its owner says he won't sell for less than several million dollars. That would put it in the same league as sex.com, which sold for $12 million earlier this year, and diamond.com, which went for $7.5 million -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, it looks like a bit of an evil day for stocks on Wall Street, yes?

(LAUGHTER)

LISOVICZ: Yes. And it's getting worse, I'm afraid, Kyra.

(MARKET REPORT)

LISOVICZ: Finally, it's Friday. Time to take a look at "Life After Work." Today, it took Charlie Staytohn 14 years to answer her true calling.

Valerie Morris has the story on a cancer survivor going full speed ahead with her mission to educate African-American women about breast and cervical cancer. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALERIE MORRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In 1998 Charlie Stayton retired, from her job as a librarian to fulfill her life's mission.

CHARLIE STAYTON, EXEC. DIR., THE WITNESS PROJECT: I don't think that I would have been this busy at the age of retirement because now my family is telling me, mama, when you going to come home?

MORRIS: At 63, Stayton is the director of The Witness Project. Located on the campus of the University of Arkansas, the non-profit organization educates women, mostly African-American, about breast cancer and cervical cancer.

STAYTON: We want to reach all the women in the State of Arkansas that are not covered with medical insurance. We go out into the communities, and we present educational programs, and through these educational programs, we teach them the benefits of early detection.

MORRIS: Stayton knows the importance of treating cancer early. And even though her battle with cervical cancer was more than 20 years ago, she draws on that life experience to help others today.

STAYTON: The most rewarding part of my work is helping the ladies, because when I went through my ordeal in 1984, no ladies stepped to the plate and said "I've had cancer". So, when you can give the ladies consolation and let you know you'll be there and walk them through regardless, it makes me feel like I have done something worthwhile.

MORRIS: Valerie Morris, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: And we have this just from Iraq, a joint statement issued in the name of the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. There's some recent history here, chiefly the ambassador's claim that al-Maliki had agreed to accomplish certain goals within timelines. Now, and al-Maliki's response, that Iraq won't bend to United States pressure.

Now, here's part of the joint statement. "The Iraqi government has made clear the issues that must be resolved, and here are the two key words with timelines for them to take positive positive steps forward on behalf of the Iraqi people. The United States fully supports their goals and will help make them a success."

One of those issues would certainly be the sectarian militias which the U.S. wants al-Maliki to disband.

PHILLIPS: Now, the frustrating task of relying Iraqis to provide their own security. Training and equipping the Iraqi armed forces has cost them $11 billion already, but the job is far from finished, so U.S. hopes to withdraw from Iraq remain on indefinite hold.

We get more now from Baghdad, and CNN's Arwa Damon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is where we got attacked the other night, Friday night, attacked twice.

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Task Force 126 was called back to Iraq a month early to the Baghdad neighborhood of Adamiyah (ph), because the Iraqi troops were not getting the job done. These battle-scarred streets were once a favorite hangout for Baghdad's youth.

(GUNFIRE)

DAMON: That's outgoing gunfire from an Iraqi army checkpoint a few meters away. It just came under attack, so the soldiers are jumpier than usual.

Down the street, U.S. troops are conducting what they call a soft-knock search. No kicking down doors. They don't want to make new enemies as they look for a suspected bomb maker. But there is nothing in this house, just a frightened family and a distraught father who doesn't know how to keep them safe.

"No one knows how to protect themselves anymore," he says. Even the Americans struggle with that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we get our mission, scan the rooftops and scan out into the fields.

DAMON: The Americans handed this neighborhood over to the Iraqi army 10 months ago. Soon afterwards, security crumbled and sectarian killings spiked. Hundreds of people who live in this predominantly Sunni neighborhood were abducted and killed by what are believed to be Shia death squads who live a short drive away.

LT. ALAN ETIENNE, U.S. ARMY: We haven't had too many people getting -- too many civilians being killed, too many IDs going off, mortars coming into the neighborhood. And so -- and they actually asked for the help of the Americans, to help, I guess, quell the situation there.

DAMON: U.S. commanders estimate that since they took over, sectarian violence in Adamiyah (ph) has decreased about 80 percent. But bringing down Iraqi deaths cost the men of Captain William Wade's company five of their own in their first six weeks here.

CAPT. WILLIAM WADE, U.S. ARMY: This is tough, but it's the mission, it's what we're given. And it's tough to lose soldiers. We've lost quite a few already.

DAMON: And the violence here is far from over.

The patrol stops to check on their Iraqi army counterparts and finds them at what is now a familiar sight in Iraq -- a bomb killed two Iraqis outside a shop in a predominantly Sunni residential area. The Iraqi army colonel on site says the attack was only to drive the Shia and Sunni apart.

The Americans here are starting from scratch, getting to know the neighborhood.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about security concerns? Do you guys have any security concerns? Are there any bad elements coming into this area?

DAMON: Mahajawad's (ph) son siphons fuel out of his mother's car to run their generator.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a generator.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you're rich. OK.

DAMON: It's safer than waiting in line at the pump.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For this? You see what I do for generator.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) generator.

DAMON: The Americans have managed to improve security here, at least for now. But it has come at a high cost.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And straight ahead, it was a journey that should have taken decades, but Kelly Frantz went from young bride to young widow in just two years. Coming up in the NEWSROOM, paying a different kind of price for the war in Iraq.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: We'll have much, much more right after a break, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: The poet Tennyson wrote, "'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." Those words almost unbearably poignant when you meet Kelly Frantz, a young bride widowed when her husband was killed in Iraq. Lucas Frantz was only 22 when he died in on patrol in Mosul, a loss made all the harder because it happened on Lucas' birthday.

A year later, Kelly joins me from Topeka, Kansas. Kelly, good to see you. KELLY FRANTZ, WAR WIDOW: Nice to see you.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about Lucas. Let's lift him up. I want you to brag about him. I just understand they retired his jersey at his high school. He was quite the hometown hero, wasn't he?

FRANTZ: Yes, he was. You know, when he was here, he was just a normal guy, but he was a football hero when he was in high school. He loved football and his coach loved him, too. And right after he died, the coach asked me if they could retire his jersey, and it was awesome.

PHILLIPS: Now you met him when he was 16, right?

FRANTZ: When he was 16 years old.

PHILLIPS: Was it love at first sight?

FRANTZ: And I was 18.

PHILLIPS: And you were 18, OK.

FRANTZ: No, no, we started working together at our local grocery store. And I was two years ahead of him in school. He knew who I was, but I had no idea who he was until we started working together. And we became friends and then I kept on asking him when he was going to take me out and finally, he did and we were together ever since.

PHILLIPS: And so I'm looking at pictures of your wedding day. Tell me what that was like.

FRANTZ: It was -- I was very nervous. I wasn't nervous because I was getting married. I knew I wanted to marry Lucas. I knew right from the get-go that I wanted to marry him. It was just a matter of when. I think I was nervous just because of how old we were. I was 21, he was 19. But it was something that we had to do if we wanted to be together. He was getting ready to move to Alaska, so that was the only way that I could go with him.

PHILLIPS: Now, when he joined the army, did that make you nervous?

FRANTZ: You know, he joined the Reserves about a week after we started dating. And, I mean, it was something that he always wanted to do. We talked about it so many times, and he actually took a break from it for a while and then realized that that's really what he wanted to do. And I told him I'd be behind him, no matter what.

PHILLIPS: Why did he want to join the army? Why was it important to him? Why did he feel it gave him a sense of purpose?

FRANTZ: His grandpa was actually in the military, and he looked up to his grandpa quite a bit. It was just something he always wanted to do, and once he actually started it, he loved it.

PHILLIPS: Grandpas are definitely special people, that's for sure!

FRANTZ: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Now, let me tell -- I want to ask you about October 18th, 2005. I know that's Lucas' birthday.

FRANTZ: Yes.

PHILLIPS: But you also got a very troubling call that day?

FRANTZ: Yes, I did. Well, I was actually working with my mom, and my dad came up with the military officials to let me know that Lucas died. I wasn't expecting it at all. You know, it was Lucas' 22nd birthday. I was expecting to go home and get a call from him sometime during the day. I never expected he was -- he would have been killed. Not on his 22nd birthday.

PHILLIPS: No one ever expects something like that to happen. How did you find strength at that point?

FRANTZ: I didn't find strength that day. The next day I started getting calls from news and newspapers and I realized that's what I was supposed to do. I didn't want Lucas to be another number. There are so many soldiers that have been killed and for awhile, they were put on the third and fourth pages of the newspapers and I didn't want Lucas just to be that. You know?

I didn't want him to be another number. I wanted everybody to know him, you know, know that it's more than just a soldier that was killed. You know, he was a husband, a son, a friend, he was everything. He was just like you and I, you know? And he's over there fighting for us and I wanted people to know that and he died for us.

PHILLIPS: Now, you're moving out of your hometown Sunday, is that right?

FRANTZ: That is correct.

PHILLIPS: Tell me why, Kelly.

FRANTZ: And I've lived in -- pretty much I decided and my family decided, that that would be the best thing for me, you know? I can start over. Not necessarily that I want to forget my past, it's just I want to be able to live a normal life again.

This past year has been a whirlwind, you know? Every few months, something else comes up. It's time for me to just go on with my life, to live my life and be happy. That's what Lucas would want for me.

PHILLIPS: Is it because everybody comes up to you in the hometown and they know you and they always want to talk about it?

FRANTZ: You know, not necessarily that. Everybody knows me and I actually worked in Tonganoxie for quite awhile and left Tonganoxie to work in a different environment just so I could get away a little bit. People don't say things to me as much as they used to. It's just -- it's about a fresh start for me.

PHILLIPS: What do you think some of the challenges are that war widows face that not everybody can understand?

FRANTZ: I think, especially as a 24-year-old, it's so hard when I meet new people to kind of balance who I was and who I am. Again, I'm 24 years old, but, you know, I am a war widow, you know?

I don't want to tell people that's who -- you know, that's -- I don't want people to think that's the only thing that I'm about, you know? I want people to know me and get to know me.

PHILLIPS: You don't want that to define you.

FRANTZ: Exactly. I don't want it to define me.

PHILLIPS: Let me ask you ...

FRANTZ: It's part of me, but I don't want it to define in me.

PHILLIPS: Do you believe in this war?

FRANTZ: Yes, I do. I support those soldiers 100 percent. I totally believed in what my husband was doing and he did, too. He enjoyed every day that he was over there. So I support them 100 percent.

PHILLIPS: I tell you what, Kelly Frantz, you're a strong woman. Thank you for sharing your story with us today.

FRANTZ: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: We lift you up and we lift up your husband Lucas today as we go to break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Let's head straight to the newsroom, a developing story and Carol Lin.

Carol, what do you have?

LIN: Well, Glendale, California -- it's in Southern California, Don.

And you're looking at the scene live there, a bus where a passenger, a young man, got off the bus and as he was getting off the bus he told the driver that there was a bomb on board. That driver then evacuated this bus. It was about half full. so the passengers were able to get away and the L.A. County Sheriff's bomb squad expected to be on the scene if they're -- not on the scene already.

Apparently, the bus was headed from downtown Los Angeles to the financial district of Glendale. What you're looking at is a part of Brand Boulevard. This is like a -- you know, kind of an historic shopping district there. It's not far away from the Glendale Galleria, which is the major shopping center of that town.

So we're keeping an eye on this situation. But so far it looks pretty quiet. They've shut down this portion of Brand Boulevard. It would be very similar to shutting down Main Street in any given town. This is the main thoroughfare through that area. Glendale adjacent to parts of Los Angeles in the Pasadena area, so we'll be watching this for you.

LEMON: All right. Thank you very much, Carol.

PHILLIPS: Well, think back to what you were doing this time about 40 years ago.

LEMON: Waaa!

PHILLIPS: That is, if you're old enough. I guess Don was just born. Here's a clue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINUS VAN PELT: I hear something! It must be the Great Pumpkin! He's coming! He's coming! The Great Pumpkin is coming! Look out!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: I love watching that. Tonight marks 40 years since Linus first sat down in the pumpkin patch. "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." It made generations of trick-or-treaters feel very special, homemade costumes and all, right?

PHILLIPS: It was the third Charlie Brown special created by Charles Schulz, as you know. And just to revisit your childhood, the Web site is snoopy.com, and it's made free e-mail cards available so grown-up Great Pumpkin fans can relive their childhood with the Peanuts gang.

LEMON: Oh, very cool. And sometimes you have your blanket up here like Linus, when it gets a little cold.

PHILLIPS: When it gets a little cold, but I don't such my thumb.

All right. Time now to check in with Susan Lisovicz in New York.

LEMON: Hey, Susan. She is standing by for the "Closing Bell." How are you?

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