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A Desperate Search; Is America About to Go Broke?

Aired March 18, 2007 - 22:00   ET

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

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: He's only 12-years old, a Boy Scout. He's lost and it's 20 degrees.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's not necessarily a lot of things just the same. And he - the concern was that he may be disoriented and walking around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: We'll take you live to the scene of a desperate search.

Hundreds of billions has been spent in Iraq and hundreds of billions more that will be. Are we overborrowing and spending money we don't have? Is America about to go broke?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very close to becoming a reality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: And that's America's top accountant.

Also, what would Jesus say about this display. The teen who wrote it isn't laughing now. We'll tell you why from the CNN NEWSROOM.

And hello again, everybody, I'm Rick Sanchez. Tonight somewhere in the rugged foothills of North Carolina mountains, a 12-year old Boy Scout is lost. And there's a massive search. It's underway at this hour to try and find him.

Let me try and put this picture up for you so you can see what he looks like. He's Michael Aubery. He was on a trip with his Boy Scouts camping. And he's been missing now for 36 hours.

Let's do this also. Let's take a look at the area where police are searching, because it's the type of area that's extremely rugged. It's in the Blue Ridge Parkway, close to where North Carolina meets Virginia. There's the park in and of itself. And we're told that it's a very rugged area, which is you know, a problem for officials there. It's a mountain state park, about 14,000 acres in all. It's around granite and mountain streams.

Search crews did find some footprints and some of his belongings earlier today. And that's good, because it helps them try and trace his steps.

The problem is it's going to be in the 20s tonight. Rescuers say they're in this now for the long haul if need be.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVD WELDON, SEARCH COMMANDER: The point is still continue the search with the crews available that we have now. We're going to continue to be in the field, searching the patterns that we've been doing in the afternoon.

Of course at night, we're going to have to scale back, try to keep the searchers on the trails that are marked clearly, and will continue operations through the night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: And we're going to stand there, hold them true to their word, because we've been checking with them throughout the night.

Let's do this now. Let's check in with an affiliate reporter. Stephanie Stilwell's been following the story. And she's joining us now.

Tell us first how this young man got lost, Stephanie?

STEPHANIE STILWELL, WILKES COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA: Well, apparently he wandered away. The cub scout group came back from a hike, had lunch, and then he just simply - something caught his attention, they believe, and he wandered away.

And then, they think that he was not able to find his way back to where the camp site was.

SANCHEZ: Somehow when he got into the thick of the woods, Stephanie, I understand you couldn't hear me, he got what, like a little disoriented?

STILWELL: That's what they believe happened at this point. They believe that, you know, he went up and - what they're telling us is a lot of stuff in that area looks exactly the same.

SANCHEZ: Right.

STILWELL: And so, it's very easy to lose your way and get kind of turned around and not exactly sure where you're at.

SANCHEZ: Yes, no, I get it. And so certainly does anybody else who's ever been out in the woods. What's the strategy that searchers are using now? What are they doing to try and find him?

STILWELL: Well, they're using sort of a grid map. They're - while it was daylight actually, they were using that grid map that they were going every so often. There would be a person. And they'd be searching through that area, trying to see if there were any signs that the boy was - had been there or some signs that he was in that area.

Now as night has fallen, they are staying more on the trail throughout this evening and doing that until the daylight comes. They're saying a lot of that off the trail can be kind of treacherous.

SANCHEZ: Well, speaking of trails, as a matter of fact, we've got a map that we have put together of this park. I think go ahead, Roger if you've got it, let's go ahead and put it up while we have this conversation. This is not just like a vast wilderness. You can see, and I'll follow them as I draw them there for you, there are plenty of trails through this park, which means there are likely other hikers who've been in the area.

The reason I wanted to show you that was to show you some of the people now. Go back to the picture, if you would Roger, that we've been showing of some of the people who've been gathering there.

These are people in the area, people who've been to the park, volunteers. They've all been in this area, trying to find what's going on. So Stephanie, back to you. What reaction are you getting from the people who are out there doing this volunteer work and trying to find this young man?

STILWELL: Well, you know, we had a chance to talk with one of the volunteers earlier this evening. And they're still very hopeful that this is going to turn out all right.

Now again, you are going into a second night with 20 degree temperatures and a little boy who has been out there for, you know, going on 36 hours now. But at this point, they are hopeful.

SANCHEZ: Stephanie, one more thing, as parents, have you heard from them? I imagine they must be really troubled by this.

STILWELL: I had a chance to talk to his parents earlier this afternoon. And you know, they are staying so positive. And you know, they...

SANCHEZ: Yes.

STILWELL: ...describe him as a curious, smart little boy. So they're very hopeful that those s Smarts will help get him through this evening.

SANCHEZ: Stephanie Stilwell, thanks so much for catching us up. Boy, we really got our fingers crossed on this one. We hope that they find them soon.

We'll be checking back with you throughout the newscast. And by the way, Stephanie, if you hear anything, let us know right away and we'll just get you on the air right away, hopefully within this hour it'll be resolved and we'll see this boy reunited with those parents that you just described. Stephanie Stilwell, reporting for us.

While police and volunteers are out there right now, few people realize that the U.S. military is also ready to respond in situations like this. Did you know that there are actual teams that have put together to go in and try and do rescues like this one?

So coming up in this hour, something you're going to see only on CNN. People being trained to step in the most dire situations, even more dire than this, and come out with life saving results. We're going to show you how they do it. It's up close video.

And then tonight, a St. Patricks Day shooting to tell you about, that's led police in Tulsa, Oklahoma to a desperate search. They're looking for whoever drove through a park at dusk last night, and just peppered the area with bullets. More than a dozen people were reportedly hurt. There was a huge crowd out there, celebrating St. Pattys.

Helicopters and canine units have been searching for clues on the ground and by air. But somehow, the shooters have been staying one step ahead of the police officers.

We've also been following this story tonight. This is an armed standoff. It's in Syracuse, New York. This has been going on all day. That's the children who were inside that home being rescued. You see them being carried away there by police. Police now say it ended about an hour ago, but we're trying to work to confirm exactly what happened when this 62-year old suspect, who was in the home, started shooting. Police say he was up - holed up in his home for more than 24 hours.

It started after he allegedly first shot his wife in the abdomen after an argument. They got her out of there. She's hospitalized tonight, but her wounds at this point don't appear to be life threatening.

Then he was in there for a long time. And certainly, if there's an update, we'll bring you the very latest on that one.

Coming up, a love triangle leads to a stunning tragedy. This one's in Tennessee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know anything about this man, except that he shot my son in the face.

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SANCHEZ: The more we learn about this story, the more alarming it becomes. Details just ahead.

And then this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Either I kill myself or I do something about it.

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SANCHEZ: This mother's desperate life, death battle against a powerful drug. Choosing between a high or her kids.

Also, a Vietnam Vet caught up in another war. This time, he's fighting to be president.

And then take a look at this. Slipping and sliding backward on a major highway. More of this unbelievable video as it was happening. Many vehicles, we should say. It's all here, coming up next in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TIME STAMP: 2212:02

SANCHEZ: All right, welcome back. Here's what's making news across America right now. A lesson for aspiring burglars. Take your digital camera with you when you leave a crime scene. These folks ignored that little bit of advice. Police say that they broke into a private property in Austin, Texas, and stole $5,000 worth of expensive alcohol and photographed the whole thing, and then left the camera.

Here's what the property owner had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD GARRIOT, PROPERTY OWNER: We debated whether we'd report this to the police until we discovered the digital camera that was sitting on the porch of one of the cabin's that had been broken into.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Austin police say they now need some help identifying some of the people in these shots.

Call them, by the way, if you can help identify these three smart guys.

Remember these pictures? No, it wasn't last weekend, but last October, the Esperanza fire destroyed property and killed five firefighters. A preliminary hearing happens tomorrow for the man suspected of setting this fire in southern California.

But authorities say that Raymond Lee Oiler (ph) now faces additional charges that link him to 13 other fires. He pleaded not guilty in the original arson and the murder charges.

Tense moments today in Pennsylvania, as a baby is taken right along for a ride in a car, and you're watching there as the mom is reunited with her one-year old daughter, thank goodness, who was not hurt. Police chased the suspect into a neighboring Delaware, before he crashed the car. He was slightly injured, by the way. The mom never realized that the thief was right there, ready and waiting when she went to pay for gas and left her baby in the car.

Seems former Vice President Al Gore has become the poster child for the fight against global warming. Now you remember his Oscar winning documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," right? Wednesday, he takes his message to the House Energy Committee.

The Democrats have held several hearings on global warming since they assumed power back in January.

And now this, as we join you from B Control. Tonight, another case to tell you about that involves a relationship between a male student and his teacher. Most of them end badly, but this one turned deadly.

And police say that the teacher's husband went after the student.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was full of life. He writing poetry.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): It is yet another case of a female schoolteacher having a sexual affair with a male student. But unlike the Mary Kay Letourneau case, or the Deborah Lefave case, this one police say has ended in murder.

18-year old Sean Powell was having an affair with his teacher, 30-year old Eric McLean. That's according to Sean's mother.

DEBRA FLYNN, VICTIM'S MOTHER: And he said well mom, my counselor at school, I'm going out with her. And I said - Sean - he wouldn't talk about it.

SANCHEZ: Sean Powell was shot outside the couple's home just over a week ago. According to police, the husband, Eric Mclean, called them to report an intruder was at his home. Minutes later, though, his wife also called police and told them that in fact he had shot her alleged teen lover, Sean Powell.

The husband, Jason Eric McLean, is charged with first degree murder, but his father says he's an excellent person, who was under a lot of pressure because of his wife's affair.

NORMAN MCLEAN, SUSPECT'S FATHER: (INAUDIBLE) tried to stop it and save his marriage.

SANCHEZ: McLean is now awaiting a preliminary hearing on his case, scheduled for later this month.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Getting high, taking care of your kids. It may seem like an easy decision, right? But for one woman, it wasn't that cut and dry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For eight years, all I did was escape.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: How did this mom escape meth's deadly grip? We're going to tell you about it when we come back. Also, take a look at this sign. You're not seeing things. It's actually what's written on there by a kid. Is it free speech or does it cross the line?

Here's the real question. Should we give free speech to children? That's what the Supreme Court is trying to decide. It's a great question, isn't it?

Also, America is the world's richest country. So why is one many saying we're going bankrupt. Find out later in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TIME STAMP: 2219:07

SANCHEZ: And we welcome you back. I'm Rick Sanchez.

Now this. Millions of Americans struggle with addiction. It's a struggle that one member of the CNN Headline News team knows all too well. Glenn Beck started drinking and doing drugs when he was only about 13.

Just after his mother, an addict herself, had committed suicide, Beck talked about his ordeal with our Paula Zahn.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: When you were at your absolute rock bottom, walk me through a typical day.

BECK: I would get up, do the show, run the radio stations, come home, by 5:00, not a second after, I would pour myself one tumbler. I would smoke a bong, and take it from there.

ZAHN: Were you doing this with kids in the house?

BECK: Mm-hmm.

ZAHN: Did your kids see you...

BECK: No.

ZAHN: ... get stoned?

How disgusted...

(CROSSTALK)

BECK: You know what, Paula? It's -- I don't know if you can see it with all the makeup on. I still am embarrassed. And I am still -- it's the worst -- it's the worst thing I have ever done.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Courageous to say something like that, isn't it? Beck smoked pot every day between the ages of 13 and 30. His doctor told him he'd die within six months if he didn't change somehow. Beck credits his wife, by the way, with helping him get clean and stay sober. Good for him.

For many other people, the struggle goes on and on. Police say drugs are to blame in a bizarre and heartbreaking case. This one's in Texas. See what we've been telling you about.

Look at the couple in these mug shots. You see them right there? They were spotted walking down a rural road last week virtually naked. Police say they were shooting up meth. When a deputy tried to take them in, the woman started mentioning something about her children, but she couldn't remember where they were.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENE MAYO, SHERIFF, HOOD COUNTY, TEXAS: When she finally said, you know, yes, I think I left my kids somewhere, we asked you know, were they OK? And her comment was we - one of them's breathing. The other one I'm not sure about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: That prompted a desperate search. Police finally found the kids three hours later on a gravel driveway. The kids were cold, but otherwise OK. The couple is charged with abandoning their children and with drug possession.

Methamphetamine addiction seems to find its way into just about every corner of the country. But each state has some unique ways of dealing with the problem.

In Montana, cutting age centers allow moms to recover from their struggle with their children. Well, here's a story now of a 24-year old woman, who for more than a year learned to be a mother at Michelle's House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you're using meth, it has 100 percent priority. If it comes down to leaving your kids with somebody you barely know, so you can go get high or go buy some dope, you'll leave them.

DESTINY: My name is Destiny. And I'm seven.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm four. My name is Faith.

KRISTINA JENNINGS, RECOVERING METH ADDICT: Rock bottom is where you only have two choices. Either you do something about it, or just - you're to the point where you'd rather not be alive.

Like OK, either I kill myself, or I do something about it.

I was in jail for two months. And while I was in there, some of the ladies from the Department of Family Services recommended to Michelle's House. And while I was incarcerated, we did all the paperwork in my induction, so that the day I got out of jail, I could come here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They seem pretty well adjusted.

JENNINGS: Very much so. This is hard. They weren't at first at all. Destiny was resentful and angry. She had some major anger issues. She was (INAUDIBLE), break things, hit people. And Faith has - my parenting instructor would say would fawn to a warm wall.

This was our - each mother shares a room with her kids. Each apartment holds two moms. I got really attached to the ladies, my housemates and their kids.

DESTINY: We met a bunch of kids here.

FAITH: Yes.

JENNINGS: I don't know for eight years, all I did was escape. And while I was in Michelle's House, I was able to become who I wanted to be.

I'm just really thankful that I had the opportunity that I did for them and for me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: By the way, Kristina Jennings now has a job helping other young meth addicts get their lives back together. She's been clean and sober now for two years.

The war and the politics and the people that they affect are all ahead. First, the nation's capitol and then the West coast. Thousands of people there have been sounding off. We're going to let you hear what they have to say about the war.

Then there's John McCain. This presidential candidate and Vietnam Vet is stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to the battle in Iraq.

And then there's this story that we've been following for you throughout the course of the newscast. Gosh, we hope they're able to find this kid. He's only 12-years old. He's a Boy Scout. And the rest of the troops were gone. And then he wandered off by himself. And now they can't find him. And it's going to be 20 degrees here tonight in this wooded area in North Carolina.

A lot of volunteers there, but so far, they haven't been able to find him. It's starting to get a little mysterious, don't you think? We're going to be all over this. Hope we will be able to update you on it. And we'll be right back with this and a lot more here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TIME STAMP: 2228:03

SANCHEZ: All right, here we go back in B Control. And from here, I need to give you some bad medicine. You know, I hate being the one who has to tell you this, but it's the truth. We as a nation are headed for an economic disaster. This is a story that you should not only watch, but you should also make sure the candidates who want your vote watch as well before they bury all of us.

Now not my words. These are words being spoken by someone who's a very high authority on something like this. The reporter in this is CNN's Jeff Greenfield, who introduces us now to one man who's going all over the country trying to keep our nation from going broke.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's the goal of this man, David Walker, the controller general of the United States. That's the government's accountant in chief.

The last few years, he's been going around the country telling anyone who will listen that we're headed for an economic train wreck of catastrophic proportions. It's a message millions of Americans heard a week or so ago on "60 Minutes."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Serious adverse consequences...

GREENFIELD: A message Walker is happy, maybe happy's not quite the right word, to deliver to us as well, that we're spending way more than we're taking in.

DAVID WALKER, U.S. COMPTROLLER GENERAL: Really tough choices are going to have to be made to reform Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, to reform our tax system, and to reengineer spending.

GREENFIELD: The problem is you, if you're one of the 78 million Baby Boomers born between 1946 and 1964. The oldest of you will start hitting the Social Security rolls next year. By 2011, you'll start being eligible for Medicare. And that's when the real trouble begins. There just isn't enough money, Walker says, to cover what the government has promised to do.

Now back in the 1980s, Republican President Reagan and the Democratic House hammered out a fix on Social Security at a time when that system was perilously close to disaster.

WALKER: We were within weeks of the checks not going out on time.

GREENFIELD: And now...

WALKER: Our long range problem is much worse. And it's very close to becoming a reality because boomers retiring next year.

GREENFIELD: And that means some very tough choices like trimming benefits or having seniors pay more of their health costs or raising taxes. But most Democrats want more benefits and for most Republicans, tax cuts, not tax hikes are the first, second, third and fourth commandments. Which is why Walker is in effect campaigning with experts from the left, right and center. His purpose?

WALKER: Try to make sure any serious candidate for the president and most importantly, the two nominees for the major parties, that they make fiscal responsibility one of their top three priorities. If they don't, they don't deserve to be president. And if they don't, we're in trouble.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Let's see if they listen. Jeff Greenfield filing that report for us.

Well, the 2008 presidential race has started already, earlier than ever before, as a matter of fact.

Let's hope the candidates are in fact listening to David Walker's warnings. We'll certainly be watching. Among the candidates that we're watching tonight are three Democratic hopefuls. Hillary Clinton spent the weekend in Bush country, making Texas campaign stops in Houston, San Antonio and the border town of McAllen.

Dark horse Christopher Dodd made the runs in New Hampshire, home to the nation's first primary. At one stop, he told reporters that he'd like to see the don't ask don't tell policy on gays in the military be abolished.

And today in Denver, Barack Obama acknowledged that he doesn't have much experience in Washington but he said that he's seen enough to know that Washington needs to change. Be sure to watch LARRY KING LIVE tomorrow when Obama joins Larry to talk about his White House campaign. As always, that's at 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

Well, Republican hopefully John McCain today once again defended his outspoken support for the war in Iraq. Now his Vietnam background gives him impeachable (sic) credentials. Most would agree, right?

But America's current war is posing a huge threat to his political ambitions. Here's our senior political correspondent Candy Crowley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Observe a moment of silence in the memory of this brave young man.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Whether it is the death of a local soldier or question from the audience, presidential candidate John McCain cannot avoid the subject even if he wanted to.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will it be there possibly as long as our troops have been in Korea and Germany?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What you do as our commander in chief to protect our troops.

CROWLEY: Traveling through Iowa aboard his bus, the Arizona senator ponders whether his fierce support of the war will hurt his presidential ambitions. MCCAIN: I just have to do what I know is right and articulate what I think is right and best for the country. This is not a minor issue, it's a huge issue.

CROWLEY: Which is to say McCain believes the Iraq War has now become part of the broader war on terror.

MCCAIN: The consequences of failure are chaos, genocide, and sooner or later we'll come back and most importantly they'll follow us home.

CROWLEY: McCain is the war's most visible support at a time when only a third of voters think it was worth the price.

Because of his years as a Vietnam POW and his staunch support of the military, McCain strategists believe voters will give him leeway on Iraq. Regardless, he where is he is.

In the community centers and town halls of Iowa and New Hampshire, John McCain generally enters the room to Tom Petty's, "I won't back down."

MCCAIN: This conflict we are in between good and evil, between the forces of radical Islamic extremism that are trying to destroy America and everything we believe in. I'm qualified, I know the face of war and I know the face of evil . I will win. We will win and we will never surrender.

CROWLEY: Candy Crowley, CNN, Mason City, Iowa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: And Candy, as I'm sure you know, is part of the best political team on television, we're happy to say.

All right. Tonight marks the end of a protest filled weekend in several major cities around the country. On the eve of the fourth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, crowds gathered in several West Coast cities including San Francisco. Several thousand also filled the streets back east. Our Jim Acosta caught up with some of the people marching in Manhattan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The people want the president to know, they want Congress to know, that we want an end to this war.

REV. REV. STEPHEN CHINLUND, EPISCOPALIAN MINISTER: I hope Congress would be moved and realize that that's how some of them got elected and some more of them are not going to get elected if they don't listen to the hundreds of thousands that have been involved all over the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Some of the marchers said they were disappointed at the crowds weren't larger. But one marcher said that she hoped that the movement was starting to finally gain some momentum.

Overseas now, tonight all types of fallout over Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's reported confession that he killed American Daniel Pearl. It could mean that there's new hope for the man already convicted of Pearl's death. The lawyer for a British militant convicted in Pakistan of killing Pearl says he plans to file an appeal and he plans to use Mohammed's confession to make his case.

The Pentagon this week released transcripts of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed claiming responsibility for killing Pearl. He also claims that he planned 9/11.

You've seen the dramatic pictures of combat troops parachuting into battle zones to pull out wounded soldiers, right? We're working on something special for you on this.

Next in the NEWSROOM, the other jobs performed by military search and rescue teams.

Also, you remember former independent council Ken Starr. What's he up to today? He's gone from Monica Lewinsky to marijuana. We'll explain.

Also this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I'm right here - we're right - I'm a UMass student. We just got involved in this very terrible accident. Fortunately, nobody died and I'm right here with this UMass student.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: We didn't hire this guy. He certainly is doing the job. Talk about throwing yourself into a story. Not even a scary accident can keep this I-Reporter from doing his job for us. You've been going crazy with this video since you first saw it so we'll show it to you again.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back now. We're in the epic-center (ph), as you probably know from watching this, it's where we bring videos in on CNN from all over the world. We've got a couple of them lined up for you.

First of all, look at this, Charleston, West Virginia. This is some bridge that gets real icy. It's called the Oakwood Bridge, it's on I-64, it's got a reputation for this. So a photographer sets up his camera right above the bridge and he watches case after case after case of drivers who are just not able to maneuver this, certainly not in icy conditions.

The weather was bad there. It as also bad in Massachusetts. I want to show you something now. This is a video that was taken of a driver who had just been involved in a very bad accident, it was with a couple of 18 wheelers incidentally, so he gets out of his car, takes out his camera and does an I-Report, a real I-Report by interviewing some of the people that were affected by the accident. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am Ryan Flanagan (ph). I was the driver of the completely totaled Saturn over there, as you can see. A '97 Saturn VOS. We got hit by two Mack trucks and none of us are even hurt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Ryan Flanagan is not hurt but he has a story to tell, in fact, he just told it, didn't he. And then, this. This is in Delray Beach, Florida. You go out, catch about a three or four foot shark. And that hook costs a lot of money. So you want to get that hook out before you put the shark back in the water. But you have got to make sure the shark is dead or you've got to make sure you're doing it with pliers because this could happen. Let's watch it again. Ouch!

Yeah, he holds on for a while. Some of his friends had to come and pry the shark's mouth open so he could get his hand out. And then he did, he realized he was going to need some stitches.

We understand he's no worse for the wear other than realizing that that probably was not a real smart thing to do.

Here's a question for you. Should children have freedom of expression granted to them? Children now. How about a child that holds up a banner that says "Bong hits 4 Jesus"? Have we got it? That's what it looks like.

Imagine that. This is a Supreme Court case, folks. We're going to tell you about it live right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Stay with us. We're coming back with that and a whole lot more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: And we welcome you back. You've all heard some of the reports that we've been following for you. It's about a search and rescue that is taking place out in Tennessee. And we're certainly going to have a lot more on that for you in just a little bit.

But first, we've heard these reports as well. Hostile fire, an aircraft down, U.S. troops unaccounted for. What happens next?

Some very brave and some very well trained members of the armed forces suddenly spring into action. Our Alex Quade is going to give us an inside look, it's the first of a series of reports she is going to air all this week on CNN's SITUATION ROOM and Glen Beck on Headline News.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX QUADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When this happens. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A U.S. helicopter is down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A military helicopter has crashed in the country's southeast side.

QUADE: These U.S. troops are the first to go in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is a recovery operation going on.

QUADE: They face the same hostile threat which brought the aircrafts down. They are combat search and rescuemen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of this is geared toward getting back one person.

QUADE: Under fire, ready for any situation, like these.

Urban rescue.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm right in the middle of an urban area, where there's obviously enemy ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whizzo (ph), a back-seater in an F-15 will soon deploy. Tonight, he played survivor, shot down onto a building.

QUADE (on camera): Does it bring it any closer to home to think you're going over there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Makes me think long and hard about it.

QUADE (voice-over): Jolly arrives. That's a helicopter team, and the P.J.s, or pararescuemen like Mark (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it were easy, everybody would be doing it. When you're looking at a 22,000 pound aircraft hovering within six inches of its position ...

QUADE: They could be blown off the roof or, P.J. Kyle says, get shot at.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very vulnerable. Everybody and their mom is going to come out and they're going to want to take pot shots at you. You have got to be fast and you have to be quick and you've got to be -- know what you're doing.

QUADE: The same for water rescue.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who would have thought when we left for the war, that we'd be doing water rescues in the desert, but the P.J.s train for that stuff.

QUADE: In a C-130, the P.J.S tell me they train constantly based on these war realities.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're good. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to make sure that no matter what the winds are you are going to be able to get to the target or to the survivor that you're going after.

QUADE: P.J. Nate explains.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Errors as little as five, 10, 15 degrees means that we don't make it. Especially in water, if we don't make it to a survivor, we could be one, two, 300 meters apart, and in the middle of a raging storm you're never going to get to them, that will be the last time you saw them was when you got out of the airplane.

QUADE: So the next time you see this ...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: we are just getting word in to CNN.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another marine helicopter, a CH-46 made an emergency landing ...

QUADE: You'll know why they trained for everything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone's having their worst day, we need to be having our best day.

QUADE: Combat search and rescuemen, so that others may live.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bottom line is they're coming home.

QUADE: Alex Quade, CNN, Moody Air Force Vase, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Well done piece, isn't it? Let's do this now. Let's turn it over to Jacqui Jeras, she is going to pick up the weather for us and first of all she has to get over watching that video a little while ago of the - of the guy with the shark.

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I know. I couldn't believe it.

SANCHEZ: You should have seen. She just suddenly runs over ...

JERAS: What part of you decides you should put your hand in there.

SANCHEZ: Well, he wasn't thinking.

JERAS: Apparently not.

SANCHEZ: That's an expensive hook, by the way.

JERAS: I would think so.

SANCHEZ: So the weather's cleared up but the problems with some of the people stuck in airports is still there. This thing has really had a deep effect, hasn't it?

(WEATHER REPORT)

SANCHEZ: All right. Thanks very much. Sorry to shake you up with the shark, by the way. We won't do that to you again.

Here's the big story that we're going to be following for you and this one is the one in North Carolina, Boy Scout missing. Nobody seems to be able to find him. Hopefully he is going to be fine. After all, he is a Boy Scout and he understands survival skills, right? We hope, we pray, we'll be checking back and talking to rescuers there, in fact, we have got a live signal now where we are going to check that in just a minute.

And then this, bong hits for Jesus, not really a responsible thing to write if you're a student, right, if you're a minor. Then you say, hey, freedom of speech, I can say whatever I want to. Should you be able to say whatever you want to if you're just a kid? Do those rights extend to you as well? Supreme Court is weighing in. We will too. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez in the CNN NEWSROOM. We told you we'd be checking back in on that situation in North Carolina where that 12-year-old Boy Scout has been missing.

And we are able to do that now by talking to one of the rescuers, it's Dave Bauer, he is one of the park rangers out there. In fact you joined us earlier and you and I had a pretty good and thorough conversation about this, Dave. How has this story moved? Please tell me that there's some signs of promise that you are going to be able to find this young man.

DAVE BAUER, BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY NATIONAL PARK SERVICES (on phone): Unfortunately, we haven't had any new news since about late last night. No additional clues have been found. We've scaled back the operation for the evening, due to darkness, we're ready to hit it again at first light tomorrow morning.

SANCHEZ: Man, this is a 12-year-old kid lost in the woods. It's starting to seem a little mysterious, isn't it?

BAUER: Yeah, it can be. When you get out in the woods sometimes, it's just tough to find your way back.

SANCHEZ: You mentioned earlier, you were using a strategy, where you would try and make a lot of noise so he would be able to follow his hearing to that noise, right? Explain how that works.

BAUER: We do that only in the daytime. It's obviously kind of dangerous at night for him to be trying to, you know, run towards a rescuer or something like that. But during the day, people will be walking along, and they'll be either using whistles or shouting his name, trying to attract him, or so that maybe he can make voice contact with them.

SANCHEZ: It almost seems like -- you almost wish that once he decided he was lost or disoriented, he would have just stayed there, right? Usually, what, people in cases like this keep walking thinking they're going in the right direction and in actuality they're going in the wrong direction?

BAUER: That happens a lot of times. Some people will hunker down and wait and some people will hike down hill towards -- like following a stream and some people will hike uphill trying to find ...

SANCHEZ: What has the right thing to do? What's the right thing to do?

BAUER: If it was me, I'd probably be hiking down a stream because little streams come into big streams which come into rivers which usually lead to some kind of civilization.

SANCHEZ: That's usually the way to go.

BAUER: And it's ...

SANCHEZ: Dave, I got to tell you, it's starting to -- why is it so difficult if you know where he started from, and you've been able to find a few of his items, you've kind of known the trail, why is it so doggone hard to find him?

BAUER: That's a good question. He's a good strong healthy boy. He may have moved quite a distance, and we'll probably be expanding our search area.

SANCHEZ: Well, we wish him the best. We'll pray for him. Thanks, man. We appreciate you, Dave Bauer, for being with us, and if you get any news, let us know, OK?

BAUER: You bet. Thank you very much.

SANCHEZ: You wouldn't think a joke about Jesus and a bong would make it all the way to the Supreme Court. But it has. When it comes to freedom of speech, apparently nothing is a joke. CNN's Gary Nurenberg with this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY NURENBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Reporter: as the symbolic torch was carried through Juneau, Alaska on its way of the 2002 Olympics, Douglas Public High School let students stand on city streets to watch it pass by. When it did, Douglas student Joe Frederick unfurled this banner "Bong hit 4 Jesus."

JOSEPH FREDERICK, HELD "BONG HITS 4 JESUS" SIGN: I find it absurdly funny. I was not promoting drugs. I assumed most people would take it as a joke.

NURENBERG: His school principal didn't. Sheer to down the banner and suspended him. Frederick sued arguing his constitutional rights were violated.

DOUGLAS MERTZ, FREDRICK'S LAWYER: He was a citizen, exercising free speech in a public place, at a public event.

NURENBERG: But school argues ...

KENNETH STARR, DEAN, PEPPERDINE SCHOOL OF LAW: It was a field trip, where the school was able and did exercise its authority.

NURENBERG: In this case, to prevent kids from being exposed to, arguably, pro-drug messages, according to its attorney Kenneth Starr.

STARR: The school should be able to put a stop to these kinds of pro-drug culture messages.

NURENBERG: They disagree. As members of Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, they traveled to Washington to demonstrate for student speech rights.

ADAM KOLTUN, HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT: If they're learning at such young age that freedom of speech is more myth than a fact, then that's sort of a dangerous precedent to set for our country.

NURENBERG: The court has long ruled that schools do have rights to limit student speech but Frederick's lawyer Douglas Mertz says they don't apply in this case.

MERTZ: The test is whether the exercise of free speech creates a substantial disruption of the educational process.

NURENBERG: But what's disruptive enough to limit free speech? These California kids demonstrated against immigration policy last year.

(on camera): Others oppose the war in Iraq. Can school muzzle those views?

(voice-over): Some Christian groups have filed briefs here, saying that too much school power could prevent kids from espousing religious view.

ED LAZARUS, CONSTITUTIONAL SCHOLAR: The legal rule that's established is going to cover lots of different kinds of protests. It may involve student messages that are much more profound and really aimed at some the most important disputes in society.

NURENBERG: Making the fight over "Bong Hits 4 Jesus," a case that could define the limits on free speech for students. Gary Nurenberg, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: All right. Here's one that's a show closer, it's the answer, never happened on the game show, "Jeopardy." Question, what is a three-way tie? That's exactly how the game ended last night. Here's a look now at this historic moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX TREBEK, GAME SHOW HOST: Scott, did you get Bonnie Parker? Aha! Twenty-six hundred -- sixteen thousand.

The first time ever a three way tie. Enjoy the weekend. You'll all be with us on Monday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: He-heh! What was that? "Jeopardy" consultant and expert says an odds of such a three way tie happening are one in 25 million.

And in case you're wondering, all three contestants correctly identified Bonnie Parker of Bonnie and Clyde, who as a waitress once served one of the men who shot her, did you know. Their credits, by the way. Ours real soon. I'm Rick Sanchez.

Thanks so much for being with us.

Our updates come up right in a bit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back.

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