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Video of Small Children Smoking Marijuana; Katrina Victims Fighting Back; Politicking in Selma; Ann Coulter's Rhetoric; Tracking Osama bin Laden
Aired March 04, 2007 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICH SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: The outrageousness of giving marijuana to a two-year old and a five-year old. There's new information on this one and we've got it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Forty-eight hours is not enough for us to move.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: New Orleans, post Katrina, gets even uglier when residents are pushed out. They don't take it sitting down.
These two may not be getting along, but these two seem to be hitting it off. We'll take you to a heated political day for all three in the South.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are about 10,000 people bitten each year in the United States by rats and mice.
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SANCHEZ: Rats, mice, biting how many Americans? It's enough to make your skin crawl. Find out in the CNN NEWSROOM.
And hello again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez. And we're going to begin tonight with a piece of video, one of those videotapes that you really have to just see to believe.
Since police sent us this video of little children smoking marijuana, it's really become the talk of Texas. And now it seems well, just about everybody is talking about it all over the country. As a matter of fact, it is now CNN.com's most popular video. Here is Sandra Hernandez from our Dallas affiliate KDAM with a story that will likely make your blood boil.
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SANDRA HERNANDEZ, KDAM NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This home video shows a two-year-old and four-year-old boy smoking pot in the livingroom of their great grandparents in Watauga, while their mother was asleep Shattooria Russell was asleep in a room with a toothache. This is the first time she talks on camera.
SHATTORIA RUSSELL, MOTHER: Yes, I was in the room because my tooth and stuff, it was hurting. I had took my Tylenol. And then when I take them, I sleep.
HERNANDEZ: You didn't know any of this?
RUSSELL: I didn't know what was going on because I was asleep.
HERNANDEZ: You didn't smell anything?
RUSSELL: I was asleep.
HERNANDEZ: Shattoria says she first saw the video on TV and couldn't believe her brother, 17-year old Dmitrius McCoy, and his buddy, 18-year old Vanswan Polte (ph), would teach or force her children to smoke pot.
RUSSELL: I was hurt. I didn't believe that my brother had did that. It was wrong. He shouldn't have gave him whatever he gave him.
HERNANDEZ: Are you angry?
RUSSELL: Yes, I am, but I don't think he should do hard time. I think like he should be on probation or something like that. I don't think he should be - have to stay years and years away.
HERNANDEZ: Shattoria says she's unaware of this ever happening before. But Watauga police chief Bruce Yur says the tape clearly shows that this wasn't the first time the children smoked marijuana.
CHIEF BRUCE URE, WATAUGA POLICE DEPT.: Holding it like he's done it before. He's inhaling. And it's -- this isn't the first time.
HERNANDEZ: McCoy's great grandmother couldn't believe the video she first saw on TV.
SHIRLEY RUSSELL, GREAT GRANDMOTHER: It was really shocking, you know, because I didn't know what to think. And I didn't know what was going through his mind to do that. To teach him a lesson. That's what he needs, a lesson. He needs discipline.
RUSSELL: It wasn't my fault. And I think my kids should be here with me instead of custody.
HERNANDEZ: The boy's great grandfather couldn't agree more.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love him. I want him. I'll do anything I can to provide for those kids.
S. RUSSELL: I'm just hoping that they give them back. That's all I want is to come back.
HERNANDEZ: In Watauga, for CNN, Sandra Hernandez.
(END VIDEOTAPE) SANCHEZ: You know, there's a lot of interest in this story. So here's what we're going to be trying to do for you. We're going to try and touch base with the reporter, Sandra Hernandez.
Now look at this video again. Doesn't it seem to you when you watch this as if these children have done this before? Does that look like a two-year old who's never had a smoke perhaps? It's an interesting question, one we're going to pose.
And we're also going to ask Sandra what the parent, what the grandparents are saying tonight. She's got the information because she's been talking to them.
So we're going to try and nail that down for you. She's going to be with us shortly. We'll have it right here.
Meanwhile, five young children face a different story tonight in Maryland, but one that's just as sad. They've been taken out of this home and put in foster care. Police say that their mother left them alone in a basement apartment strewn with urine and animal feces. The kids range in age from six months to six years. Tonight, mom's facing misdemeanor charges, but police say that they may be upgraded to felonies.
Take you to Michigan now. It's a husband in trouble with the law. Big trouble. Police believe that Stephen Grant killed his wife, then cut up her body and scattered the pieces after a 10 hour chase. Deputies caught up with Grant about 225 miles from his suburban Detroit home in the frozen wilderness state park.
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SHERIFF MARK HACKEL, MACOMB COUNTY, MICHIGAN: Stephen Grant, our number one suspect, the only suspect in this particular case is now in custody for the murder and mutilation of his wife, Tara Lynn Grant. Obviously he has attempted to elude authorities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: The Coast Guard had to airlift Grant out of the woods. Here he is being hauled into a helicopter. You see that right there? It's a little grainy, but you can actually see it as they're doing it. They're putting him on a stretcher.
He wasn't even wearing shoes or a jacket at the time. And he's being treated now for well, as you might imagine, hypothermia tonight.
Police found what they believe is Tara Grant's torso hidden in the garage of the family's Detroit area home. That's the same house where Stephen Grant was taking care of his two young children after his wife first went missing. So were the children in the house when it happened? Well, he's expected to be in court sometime later this week.
OK, here we go again with Ann Coulter. Her cheap shot for cheap laughs and applause, actually. We know you have an opinion about what she said the other day. We're going to tell you in a minute how to get your voice on the air on that.
But first, here's why the beltway is now buzzing about what Ann Coulter did this time.
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SANCHEZ (voice-over): Say what you want about her. She's loud, she's opinionated.
ANN COULTER: I don't know. I think Democrats have hit on the perfect candidate.
SANCHEZ: She seeks attention, calls people childish names, ticks people off. And you know what? She'd agree with you. Nobody is so, well, Ann Coulter, as Ann Coulter.
COULTER: Gore and Hollywood are now telling us...
SANCHEZ: But with her latest anti liberal tirade, she took outrageous, some say down right hateful to a new depth.
COULTER: It turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word 'faggot.' So I'm kind of at an impasse. Can't really talk about Edwards, so I think I'll just conclude here.
SANCHEZ: But it's hardly the word conclusion. More reaction from Congress and from the man insulted, all who think the best comeback is no comeback at all.
JOHN EDWARDS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it's important that we not reward hateful, selfish, childish behavior with attention.
REP. PETE HOEKSTRA (R), MICHIGAN: We really need to stay focused on the issues and not make this personal.
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: Oh, I'm not a fan of that kind of rhetoric. And I really don't want to get into it.
SANCHEZ: But Ann Coulter gets into it all the time. And nobody, it seems, is exempt, not even 9/11 widows. This is from one of her books. "I've never seen people enjoying their husbands' deaths so much."
She goes after former ambassadors.
COULTER: He's literally the man at our embassies who made sure the plumbing was working.
SANCHEZ: Even presidential appointments got your wrath.
COULTER: She's not qualified for the position. This isn't like, you know, best employee of the month.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you didn't make that objection with every other of George Bush's appointments.
COULTER: It never occurred to us that he'd nominate, as you say, the cleaning lady. We thought this was clear.
SANCHEZ: Edwards actually posted Coulter's "f" word diatribe about him on his website uncensored soliciting campaign dollars, so- called Coulter cash, hoping to turn the incident in his favor.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: What we want to do now is hear from you. And here's tonight's last call question. And given who she was talking to, obviously a very conservative audience, what do you think of her comments? But especially, what do you think of the reaction from the crowd, the applause, the laughter? We want to know what you think about this. Give us a call at 1-800-807-2620. Once again, that's 1- 800-807-2620. We're going to air some of your responses right here later this hour.
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SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: Nobody told me that the road would be easy.
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SANCHEZ: Now it's getting good. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama in the same town with the same sound. We're going to show you some thumping, southern style.
Also, talk about stumping. Our Rusty Dornin has been all over the Bahamas tracking new video, new interviews, new people to talk to on our rather old story. She's covering the Anna Nicole saga. You're going to see how she gets it down.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The rodent problem that we had in our nation has taken a back seat.
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SANCHEZ: The problem, well, it's rats and mice in your home, bed, biting kids. This is a story that might make you a little bit queasy, but you've got to see it because it's a serious problem health officials are dealing with it all over the country, especially in big cities. We'll have it here in the NEWSROOM.
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TIME STAMP: 2210:00
SANCHEZ: I want to show you what you're checking out on CNN.com tonight. Going to bring it to you here.
The trip to the bathroom ends in an angry confrontation at a Florida airport. A woman says that she found a man in a wheelchair staring at her as she used the ladies room. Well, police charged him with a misdemeanor voyeurism. The man says he's on medication and he really wasn't peeping. He's just sick.
Well, this is a shipwreck believed to be that of a notorious pirate Blackbeard. This is also big on the web and it keeps human treasures from the deep off of the North Carolina coast.
Only about 15 percent of it has been recovered thus far. Could take three years more to complete this project.
Here's another one. Total lunar eclipse thrilled people around the world last night. It took six hours for the earth's shadow to finally crawl across the moon's surface. The first such celestial show in three years.
Again, want to know more about these? You can get them where we got them. Visit cnn.com for more details on those stories and more. The NEWSROOM returns in just a minute.
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SANCHEZ: And we welcome you back to the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Rick Sanchez.
Tonight, two of the most followed presidential hopefuls have crossed paths. The place? Historic Selma, Alabama. The occasion, the anniversary of the civil rights milestone. The real mission, well, reaching out to African-American voters.
Here's CNN's Mary Snow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a day of prayers, politics, and a test to loyalty for African-American voters. On one side, Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama. The other, Democratic candidate Senator Hillary Clinton, joined by her husband, former President Bill Clinton. They Democratic rivals didn't walk side by side, but marched together to mark the bloody Sunday anniversary, the civil rights march that led to the Voting Rights Act. And they each noted the symbolic significance.
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SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it is so exciting that if we have a candidate for president like Barack Obama (INAUDIBLE) years ago. The Democratic party is the party of America. I am fully aware that I, too, stand on the shoulders of those who came before.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Senator Hillary Clinton is doing an outstanding job on behalf of this country. I'm glad she's here with us, marching arm in arm.
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SNOW: Earlier in the day, they spoke from separate pulpits just a few hundred yards from one other. Senator Obama seemed to answer critics that he doesn't have roots in the civil rights movement.
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OBAMA: So don't tell me I don't have a claim on Selma, Alabama. Don't tell me I'm not coming home when I come to Selma, Alabama. I'm here because somebody (INAUDIBLE). I'm here because ya'll sacrificed for me. I stand on the shoulders of that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: Senator Clinton stressed her ties to the civil rights movement, saying she met Reverend Martin Luther King when she was young. And she quoted his words for guidance today.
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CLINTON: The people of the Gulf Coast and New Orleans matter. Our soldiers matter. Our standing in the world matters. Our future matters. And it is up to us to take it back. Put it into our hands. Start marching toward a better tomorrow.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: Former President Bill Clinton was inducted into the voting rights hall of fame. His popularity with African-American voters still evident. The question remains whether that loyalty will translate to Senator Clinton. For now, some feel torn between the two Democrats.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: RIght now, I'm undecided. It's a toss-up.
SNOW: What did you think of today?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it's an honor and privilege.
SNOW: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because I was raised up here.
SNOW: So what was your favorite part of this day today?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, to see us come together as a unit, both black and white.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Really, I can't really pick or say which one -- I would rather have one work with the other.
SNOW (on camera): And many here in Selma say the real test will be which candidate can move history forward.
Mary Snow, CNN, Selma, Alabama.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: All right, I know who you want to hear from now. Our senior political analyst Bill Schneider for sure. And he's joining us.
Bill, what do you make of the fact that both are in the same place, same time as they say?
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: What I make of it is a tough competition for that all important African-American vote in the Democratic primaries.
Think of it this way. This was a really marvelous moment. 42 years ago, they talked about eyes on the prize. They marched across that bridge for the right to vote.
And now 42 years later, African-American voters are the prize. They're being competed for by two leading Democratic candidates. And Republicans, too, are trying to get as many African-American votes as possible. This is a very significant moment. And we saw it happening right there in Selma, Alabama on that site.
SANCHEZ: You know what else we saw there? Bill Clinton was there as well. And at one point, he went over to shake hands with Hillary's rival, Barack Obama. And that's big for Obama, right? After all, I mean, among African-Americans, Bill Clinton's kind of a king maker, isn't he?
SCHNEIDER: Well, he's certainly a very influential figure. I remember during the impeachment hearings, I went to the inner-city of Detroit to talk to African-American voters. And many of them came over to me and said very quietly, they said we think this is all about us. And I was mystified. I said what does this impeachment inquiry have to do with African-Americans or race? And they said the people who are out to get Bill Clinton are the same people who are out to get us. They identified overwhelmingly with him. They still do.
Now that's of course him. It's not necessarily his wife, although she has a lot of credibility because of the Clinton name. But they are very excited by the prospect of an African-American candidate who has the serious chance of winning the nomination and even the presidency. That has got to have those voters very excited. And you see it in the polls.
SANCHEZ: As a matter of fact, do that for us. Look at the polls. Crunch the numbers for us and tell us right now how it stands between Hillary and Obama, for instance.
SCHNEIDER: Well, we can see here that Senator Clinton is still leading in the polls, but not as quite by the margin she was in January. January she was 24 points ahead of Barack Obama among Democrats nationwide. Now her lead has been cut to 12 points.
He's picking up support mostly because he has been gaining significantly among African-American voters. Among those voters, he has gone into the lead, 44 to 33 percent over Senator Clinton. She was in the lead earlier.
This was expected to happen that he would pick up support, but he's done it very, very quickly. It's not that African-Americans have turned sour on Senator Clinton.
When the poll asks people do you have a favorable impression, African-Americans were just as favorable to her in February as they were in January. They had not turned against her. But they were very excited over the prospect of an African-American candidate with a serious chance to win.
SANCHEZ: All right, next time we get together we'll talk about the Republicans. Giuliani, McCain, Mitt Romney, certainly some interesting challenges there as well.
SCHNEIDER: OK.
SANCHEZ: Bill Schneider, thanks so much for being with us, as usual.
SCHNEIDER: OK.
SANCHEZ: Bill, of course, who is a part of our best political team on television.
He spent just 18 days as a vice presidential nominee in 1972 before he was forced out. Tonight, friends and family of the former senator Thomas Eagleton are mourning his death. Eagleton resigned as George Mcgovern's running mate after revealing he had been treated for depression. Mcgovern went on to lose the election to Richard Nixon. Eagleton died today in his native Missouri. He was 77-years old.
A child with a toothache, it's a common problem, right? But for one little boy, it turned into a death sentence. The story and what it means about our nation, that's next.
And later, getting the people and the pictures you want on video. It's our game. A run and gun affair, especially in the Bahamas, where friends and family bid Anna Nicole Smith goodbye. We're going to take you behind the scenes. That's next from the NEWSROOM.
And then, don't forget tonight's last call question. It's what do you think of not only Ann Coulter's slur against John Edwards, but also the applause and the laughter that followed at this very conservative conference where she spoke? Give us a call at 1-800-807- 2620. Your responses, we'll air them later this hour.
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SANCHEZ: They are packing up and they are moving out with no choice in the matter. Hurricane Katrina survivors being relocated again tonight in Hammond, Louisiana. 58 families have been given two- day's notice to evacuate a FEMA trailer park. Imagine that after all they've been through. The reason, well, FEMA says it's unsanitary and unlivable, but residents are crying foul.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Forty-eight hours is not enough for us to move.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been here since October 16th and I've put in several, several complaints.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anything that's ever happened at the park, I've taken care of immediately.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just unhealthy. It's not safe. And we won't put people in that kind of situation.
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SANCHEZ: Twelve-year-old boy is dead tonight and should not be. It was an infection in his teeth that went untreated because his family, they couldn't afford a dentist. Healthcare officials call it a lack of access to dental care. And they say it's an epidemic.
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LAURIE NORRIS, PUBLIC JUSTICE CENTER: They thought it was a sinus infection. Three days later, he started vomiting. And they did -- at that point, they did a CAT scan and spinal tap. Then they found the raging infection.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAY RAWSON, DR., DENTIST: It's an epidemic disease and it is preventable. And we know how to prevent it if we can just get those kids in the office.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: You know what I always like to do with this news cast as I bring it to you every weekend is I like to give you a behind the scenes glimpse of what we do. This is B control. This is a control room. That's what we call it in television. It's where we bring you the news.
This is a director over here to my right. This is a producer over here to my left. As we bring you this, we're looking at the monitors and bringing the information in from really all over the country and all over the world.
So tonight, we're going to go an extra step. We're going to show you something you seldom see. We call it run and gun, not just here, but outside as well with our correspondents.
So we're taking you on assignment and behind the scenes as the big stories break, stories like the death of Anna Nicole Smith, which set off, as you know, an international media frenzy. Here's our very own Rusty Dornin. She was in the middle of it.
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RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We arrived at the Bahamas one day after Anna Nicole Smith died. Our task was to find Dannielynn, her five-month-old baby, who someday might be worth millions. But here we are in a country where they drive on the other side of the road. We're in unfamiliar territory. So we hired a driver, Mark (INAUDIBLE). And the hunt was on to find the baby.
How do you know where the house is?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I got some information.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get Shortly back over here. Let's talk it through.
DORNIN: Let's get Shorty back over here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shorty, come on, you said you knew.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right -- first left. That's the first left. And that's the first right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jumping the gun. All right, Shorty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, Shorty. All right, come on, you got to show us where, now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Orange and white?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
DORNIN: Right there. See it? Right there. You can sit over there. It's orange and white.
Some sources we developed on that night, we found the house where the baby is. It became an immediate encampment overnight with people staking it out 24 hours a day.
The story moved from where's the baby to who will have custody of the baby? And the issue came to the Bahamian court and an international mob of media.
This is an example of the madness surrounding the courthouse for the guardianship hearing for Anna Nicole Smith's baby daughter and also the hearing to see who really owns the house. You can get a look at the crowd, although there's a lot of people who are tourists here. They're just hearing about it on the news and want to see what happens.
The media crunch here unlike anything really that I've seen even during Michael Jackson and Scott Peterson. When Virgie Arthur left this afternoon, there were a crush of photographers. And tourists were jumping on top of the limousine. It was just really something. There have been a lot of people approaching us for all sorts of things. Pictures - they're showing us pictures of Anna Nicole when that she was pregnant. We've had somebody come up and claim that he was a tattoo artist for both Howard Stern and Anna Nicole.
And we have this gentleman over here who's talking to our producer Mike Falin. Now he's from Germany. And he claims that he married Anna Nicole. He bought her the house. It's this house that's in question. And he paid $900,000 for it. And then he gave it to her. And he also says he's the father of the baby.
But he doesn't want to do an interview here now with us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Rusty Dornin showing us how she does her work. Well, we showed you the unbelievable video of the little boy smoking pot. It made us think as we looked like this, maybe you too, it almost looked like these kids were familiar with the marijuana, even the two- year-old.
So we're going back with this story. We're going to be talking to one of the reporters on this case to ask her about that and what her family told her as well, the family of those who have been accused tonight.
But first, he's the most wanted man in the world. And we just can't seem to get him. Well, U.S. officials are now saying they know where he is. It's a certain remote mountainous area. We're going to talk to one of the men, in fact, who has led the hunt for Osama bin Laden.
Also, fire bombs hurled at police, musicians, and artists. They're not playing or painting this time. They are protesting and they're doing it in a big way. We're going to be all over that story.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: We welcome you back. Take a look at this video. You can almost the anger from these Afghan civilians. Their outrage follows a suicide attack on U.S. Marines near Jalalabad. But it's the Marines they're angry with. U.S. forces returned fire on the militants in an area flooded with civilians. In the end, 16 Afghan civilians were killed, more than two dozen were hurt. Afghan officials say there were no U.S. casualties. The U.S. military blames Taliban fighters for putting civilians in the line of fire.
Well, it is a story that got a lot of attention in the NEWSROOM this past week. U.S. intelligence director says that Osama bin Laden is not only alive but that U.S. officials know exactly where he is right now. It's Mike McConnell, he told the Senate Armed Services Committee that bin Laden and his chief deputy are in northwest Pakistan, setting up some training camps there. Pakistan rejects that claim, by the way. They are saying, no way, it is true. It is not the first time that they have heard that. Vice President Cheney met with Pakistan's president last week. The U.S. wants Pakistan to help stop an unanticipated spring offensive by the Taliban and al Qaeda against coalition forces in Afghanistan.
But the real story is, is it possible that Osama bin Laden is actually there? OK. We put this map together for you just to show you the area, because it is really an area that most people don't know. Now you see that area right there? All right. I'm going to draw you the line right there. That's basically the line of demarcation. Over there is Afghanistan. Over here is Pakistan. This is the region right here. I'll clear it once again. This is the region right here they're talking about. It is basically a region called Waziristan.
Waziristan is where they say that, indeed, this -- Osama bin Laden is right now. Let's go to somebody who knows a lot about this. His name is Michael Scheuer. He is a former CIA operative. He headed up the unit in charge of finding bin Laden.
So how about it, Michael? Is Osama bin Laden there in Waziristan as they say?
MICHAEL SCHEUER, FMR. CHIEF, CIA BIN LADEN UNIT: He may be, sir. He is somewhere along that border. That border is 1,100 kilometers long. And neither Kabul nor Islamabad has any power in that area.
SANCHEZ: What makes it such a precarious perch?
SCHEUER: Well, it's a pretty safe perch for Osama bin Laden. It's among the highest mountains on Earth. He lives among tribes that think of him as a hero and as a guest. It's very precarious for us to go in there, but for him it's pretty safe.
SANCHEZ: Is it true? And I've heard or read this week that there is a lot of cloud cover there which would make it, I imagine, very difficult to pinpoint him or to use satellite technology to get him.
SCHEUER: It would, sir. But even on a perfectly brilliant day, without any clouds, it's very hard to look for one person from outer space, even if he happens to be a 6'5" Saudi. It's very unlikely you can identify someone from space.
SANCHEZ: Well, you know, the obvious question, viewers are watching us right now from all over the country and all over the world and they are thinking, OK, you know where he is, go get him.
SCHEUER: Yes. I wonder if the director of national intelligence didn't over-speak a bit. I can't imagine that at this late date that they're not going after him if they know where he is. They're losing the war in Afghanistan. They don't have a lot of time left. And so they had better -- if they know where he is, one would think they would saddle up and go get him.
SANCHEZ: You know this guy because you have tracked him for a while -- or you know him certainly better than we do. How is a guy as tall as he is, as old as he is, with apparently with a kidney program, on dialysis, live in a mountainous, rugged terrain. SCHEUER: Well, I think the dialysis business is more disinformation than anything else. He is tough character. You know, he came from a very wealthy, luxurious family in Saudi Arabia, but he has lived in Afghanistan now for the better part of 30 years. He's talented insurgent fighter. He has been wounded four times. He's a tough bird.
SANCHEZ: Final question, apparently these tribal leaders in that area around Waziristan had signed a pact with Musharraf saying that they would not be loyal to al Qaeda, they were going to mind their own business and stay out of it. But recently they're saying now they're joining up with al Qaeda, that they're actually forming training areas in that area. What do you make of that?
SCHEUER: Musharraf signed a deal with those tribes because he had sent his military up there three different times and each time his military got beat by the tribes. So what he did was try to save face by concluding an agreement with the tribes. But the tribes will always support the Taliban and al Qaeda.
SANCHEZ: So it's really written with bad ink?
SCHEUER: Yes. It was a face-saving device for President Musharraf.
Unbelievable. That's good stuff. We appreciate you, Mr. Scheuer, for being with us tonight to explain really what you know about this. It has really been insightful.
SCHEUER: Thank you, sir.
SANCHEZ: Stolen puppies back home. It was a case of puppy- napping caught on tape. It has been a big talker. So tonight we pulled the video together to bring you the ending to this story.
And then later, more on this video. Teenagers teaching young kids how to smoke pot. We're getting some new information from the reporter on the scene. She's going to be joining us in just a little bit to update the story. Keep it right here. This is the CNN NEWSROOM.
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SANCHEZ: Welcome back. We always try to bring you the hot videos. So that's what we're going to do here. This is the epicenter, this is where we get videos in from all over the country, all over the world. And we're going to being in Copenhagen, Denmark. These are riots that have been going on for several days now and they really finally seem to have them under control. Although they are still thinking that they could erupt once again. There you see some of the officers out there.
These are basically bohemians, as they're described, punk rockers, leftist organizations. And they're angry that a building where many of these people live is being taken away by the government. They want it back, they want to live there for free. So they've been fighting the police and doing a real good job of it, apparently, 650 people have been arrested so far in Copenhagen.
And now we're going to take you here. This is a puppy-napping, at least that's the way it's being described to us. Look at the guys as they come in. This one has a gun in his hand. You see him right there at the door. While the other one is taking the loot. You know what the loot is? Basically Yorkshire terriers that he is stealing. And he is doing it because apparently they go for like $2,500 a pop.
He was able to do that. But now we have got new video to show you. We're going to show you how this story has changed. The Yorkshire terriers have been returned. One of the suspects has turned himself in. And police say they're hot on the tail of the next suspect, that they hope to be able to get as well.
Now to Arkansas where not far from Little Rock you're going to see this MySpace ad. Now you see the man there in that MySpace ad, and he has even got a message saying, "I'm around 60 years old and I rob banks"? Well, he did actually rob a bank according to police. Except he didn't put this MySpace ad up himself. No, police did. They're hoping somebody in MySpace recognizes him. Calls them so they can catch them. They say that he robbed a bank in Alma, Arkansas, that was back on February 22nd.
When we come back, rats, you say? We say it's a problem all over America. And the personal story of one family whose child was affected by this. We'll bring it to you. Stay with us. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
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SANCHEZ: Remember we told you that we're going to be going back to that story around Dallas, Texas, about the little boys who are seen smoking marijuana? Well, there's the reporter, Sandra Hernandez. You can see her right there. Sorry about that. We're going to be catching up with her in just a little bit. And she's going to brief us what's going on. Thanks, Sandra. Hang in there for us. I know they're trying to get the audio squared away so we can talk to her.
Also, not a picture that New York City wants to be known for. Rats running wild through one of its restaurants. The group that owns this KFC/Taco Bell where the rats were caught on tape is now hiring an expert to help them combat their problems. The company temporarily closing 10 of its New York restaurants to review its standards. Meantime, the city inspector who gave the store a clean bill of health has been suspended.
So now we want to warn you about another rat story that's probably even more disturbing than that, in fact, much more so. This is a baby that's attacked by a rat in the dead of night. It's a nightmare come true for a Kansas City couple. Their child is hospitalized tonight in serious condition. And experts say this is a rare incident, but they also tell CNN it's part of a frightening trend.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SANCHEZ (voice-over): What happened inside this Kansas City house is almost too horrible to describe. In the middle of the night, parents hear their baby's monitor go off in her crib. They wake up to find the baby lying in a pool of blood, her face disfigured and rat droppings left behind.
MICHAEL SWOYER, KANSAS CITY RAT CONTROL: It's very tragic, but we're doing what we can.
SANCHEZ: Officials believe a Norway rat, like this one, ripped off her nose and part of her lip. She had to be hospitalized. Kansas City's rat control supervisor tells CNN the family's house was neatly kept, but the inner-city neighborhood where they lived was a rat magnet with trash on the street, and five abandoned homes nearby.
Recently retired CDC official Jerry Hershovitz spent years dealing with the rat problems for the federal government.
JERRY HERSHOVITZ, FMR. CDC OFFICIAL: There were about 10,000 people bitten each year in the United States by rats and mice. Unfortunately, many of them -- most of them, are the elderly and the very young. This is, to me, outrageous.
SANCHEZ: He and other rat experts we spoke with say for the past 20 years there has been a resurgence in the number of rodents in this country.
HERSHOVITZ: The worst infestations, from my experience, has been in urban communities. And I think having to live in poverty well equates with having to live in inadequate housing. I have seen mothers and grandmothers with children in their beds sleeping at night in a corner of the bed because the rats have taken over.
SANCHEZ: So what can be done about it? Hershovitz says the solution is simple. You get rid of the rats by getting rid of what is attracting the rats. Most cities just respond to citizen complaints and use poison, which only temporarily keeps rats at bay. Cities, he says, should require rat-proof garbage cans, make sure that they have frequent garbage pick-up, enforcing building codes so that landlords fix older housing, and plug up the holes and the cracks.
HERSHOVITZ: The methods of controlling rats and eliminating them are not new. They go back to antiquity. So what excuse do we have? I don't think a very good one.
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SANCHEZ: Hershovitz, by the way, says that New York City had a good plan to fight rats under former Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Using a federal grant, the city hired inspectors to check out the 1,500 blocks for loose garbage, overgrown lots, and holes. They got properties up to code and within a year, the rat population finally had gone down. That project though ended in December.
All right. Now to our top story. We've been telling you all about this tonight, an unbelievable home video that has surfaced. We've been bringing it to you over the last 24 hours. It shows a 17- year-old teaching his toddler nephews how to smoke marijuana. It is graphic video. And Sandra Hernandez has been covering the story. She was all over it today out in Dallas. She's from our Dallas affiliate KDAF, by the way.
Thanks for being with us, Sandra. Let's start with the very top. And that is what did the parents of this 17-year-old say when you talked to them today about this going on in their house? How could they say they didn't know it, if that's what they said?
SANDRA HERNANDEZ, KDAF REPORTER: Well, Rick, we had the opportunity to talks to the boys' mom. She's 21-year-old Shatoria Russell (ph). She says she was actually inside the home when the children were smoking the marijuana. However, she says she did not know that this kind of activity was going on because she was in the back bedroom taking a nap. She was actually asleep at the time.
She says she actually needs a little bit of dental surgery. She had some tooth pain that evening and she decided to go take some medication -- some over-the-counter medication. And she says she didn't hear anything. She did not smell anything. You know, a lot of the officers that we've talked to and the detectives say that they find that hard to believe because when they were there they could smell some of the marijuana.
But she says that she did not smell anything. She had no idea that any of this kind activity had ever happened at the home. Now the father, he is pretty much out of the picture. He's currently in jail.
SANCHEZ: So we have to take her at her word, if that's what she is saying. Let's move on to something that looks very suspicious to most of us. And, Roger, I think we can show this again as we're looking at the little boy. We look at these pictures and it almost looks like these little boys are comfortable with the cigarette in their hand.
I mean, how many 2-year-olds do you know who would know what to do with a cigarette, how to hold it in their mouth, how to inhale it. It looks suspicious. What did the police say about this?
HERNANDEZ: Well, that is a very interesting observation. When we spoke with chief of police at the Watauga Police Department, Bruce Ure. And he says this is obvious that the children have not done this for the first time. It's obvious that they've been doing this a number of times.
The children know how to hold and how to handle that blunt. They're actually inhaling. And if you see that videotape -- the two minutes of videotape, you can actually hear some of the children coughing. But if it were their first time. they would be doing a lot more coughing. And that's according to the police chief out in Watauga.
SANCHEZ: So right now no adults are taking responsibility for this, right? Nobody knew anything except those that have been charged. HERNANDEZ: Absolutely. No one is taking any responsibility. In fact, Shatoria Russell today says she is not responsible, she is not to blame. She was asleep at the time. She says she wants the children back. The great grandparents are saying the same. They have been for about married 40 years. They say that they can offer them a house where the children can grow up and they can be happy. That's what they're saying.
The police department and Child Protective Services out here definitely have a different version of the story. They would like to place the children ideally with a relative outside of that Watauga household, however.
SANCHEZ: Yes. And by the way, the kids now, where are they, the little ones, the 2- and the 5-year-old?
HERNANDEZ: Both of them, the 2-year-old and 4-year-old, we have confirmed that with the mother, the 4-year-old and the 2-year-old are currently in foster care. The mother actually visited them on Friday. She will have another visit with them this coming Friday. They are currently in foster care. Again Child Protective Services is trying to place them with a relative outside of the family.
SANCHEZ: Thanks so much for bringing us that report. I don't think there's anybody who has watched this that hasn't called us or e- mailed us to tell us how horrified they are by looking at it. It's just unbelievable. Thanks again. Appreciate your work.
HERNANDEZ: Thank you, Rick.
SANCHEZ: You know, you are already thinking of tomorrow's commute. So here's our Bonnie Schneider. She's usually putting stuff together for you so you can get a better on these days. She is going to have your Monday forecast next in the CNN NEWSROOM. Stay with us.
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SANCHEZ: And we now welcome you back to the CNN NEWSROOM. There it is, pretty as a picture and certainly very large. A lot of people working throughout the night. What we do now usually on Sunday nights is we want to give you a sense of how to prepare yourself for Monday morning when you go back to work. So let's go over here. We want to show you somebody who has been working diligently on this. I'm looking at your map and what I'm seeing is an awful lot of planes over there, Bonnie Schneider. What have you got for us?
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, a lot of those planes are headed to New York. And New York was the site for many airport delays. Right now things are looking good. But we have 3,500 planes that are in the air right now across the U.S. And you can see, I've zoomed into the New York area. We have light snow falling to the north and east. But really some very big changes are on the way for the Northeast. And this will impact travel on a big way on Monday and Tuesday as well.
(WEATHER REPORT) SCHNEIDER: We're also talking about some other things that have been happening over the weekend. Like the lunar eclipse from last night. If you didn't get to see it, you'll want to check out our iReports, because we've got iReports from all over the world. This first one comes from Nova Scotia, it's a great, great shot. And you can actually see the red there overcast of the moon. It is just an incredible shot, don't you think, Rick?
SANCHEZ: You know what's interesting as I look at that, a lot of people were asking me today after we did these reports yesterday, Bonnie, how many people in the United States were able to see this or do you have to live in a certain area to see it?
SCHNEIDER: That's a great question. You know the eastern part of the country actually saw it best. That's toward the eastern horizon. That's why we're getting such good pictures from Nova Scotia. This one is actually over Manhattan, taken from New Jersey. And it's a pretty good picture as well.
But you know where the best view, Rick, was? Europe. And we've got some terrific pictures. This one is from Scotland. Not a bad shot there. You can see the moon pretty clearly. That's one of the spots. An even better picture comes to us from Madrid as well. And just incredible pictures. That's a beautiful shot there. And this was taken by Sara Starkey, and she did a great job. She said it was a perfectly clear night, with all of the stars in the sky and a lunar eclipse.
But you know, the good news is that if you didn't get to see the lunar eclipse, you will get to see it one more time because we will actually have it back again August 28th of this year, so.
SANCHEZ: Good stuff, as usual. You do a great job with that kind of stuff, you know that?
SCHNEIDER: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Thanks so much, Bonnie. We certainly appreciate it.
We're going to leave you now with one of the things that we've been talking about today, two big stories really that we've been following throughout the course of the day. First of all, that story in Dallas about the little kids smoking marijuana. The other one, of course, Ann Coulter and not just Ann Coulter's comments, but the applause and the laughs she got from that very conservative organization. What do you think of that? You've been calling us tonight. Here's what you thought. I say good night everybody.
((BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I guess if John Kerry can call our military stupid, then Ann Coulter can say what she said.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First of all, I think that Ann Coulter's comment was just ridiculous. And I think that when we hold people accountable for what they say and then we allow something like that to be said without any accountability, it is a poor representation on us as far as the media and as the public.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I say bravo to Ann Coulter. She's right on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought the applause of the comment was appalling. Ann Coulter herself loves controversy, and she should be chastised to the highest degree.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think they were great. It's about time somebody stands up against this political correctness.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think she's sick. I think she needs to get a life. She and her big mouth needs to be stopped.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would just like to say that I believe that is one of the greatest things ever. It's about time that some reality has been brought back to the society that we live in.
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