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Tennessee Dragster Deaths; New Palestinian Government
Aired June 17, 2007 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
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ROESGEN: "Oh, my God" is right. The driver was performing what is called a burnout, spinning his tires to make them smoke before gunning the gas. Witnesses describe what happened as the car skidded out of control into the crowd.
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CODY WHITEHEAD, WITNESS: He lost control. He started fish tailing and he kind of gained control a little bit, then he lost it again. I guess he got back in it, come around, hit the light pole, slid over, hit the people in the four wheeler. There's bodies everywhere. Flying through the air.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pure chaos of nothing like I've ever seen before. A lot of the emergency units arrived real quickly on the scene. Handled very professionally I would say but just tremendously chaotic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROESGEN: Well, the police have identified the driver of that dragster as Troy Kritchley, he is a professional drag race driver from Australia who is based in Texas. He was not seriously hurt and no criminal charges are expected. Now, Selmer, Tennessee is in shock. A small town, can't believe what happened. This was supposed to be for charity. Reporter Anna Marie Hartman with our CNN affiliate WMC is following the crash and joins us live in Memphis. In I clues yet as to what caused this car to go out of control like this, Anna Marie?
ANNA MARIE HARTMAN, WMC-TV CORRESPONDENT: Well, Susan, the Tennessee Highway Patrol right now is going to reconstruct the crash. They are of course looking into exactly how this would happen. Earlier, not long after the crash, we had received an indication from AMS Pro Modified Series, the group that sanctions the modified race cars used in this event and they had indicate that had somewhere along the road where this car lost control, the road was not level. But they are backing off that statement tonight.
They will not confirm that because they are leaving it now up to the Tennessee Highway Patrol to reconstruct the site to determine exactly just what went wrong. We have had victims coming into five different area hospitals, three of them went to the regional medical center here in Memphis. This is an excellent trauma center where many injured patients go particularly after car accidents when the minutes really, really count in this lifesaving matter.
Today doctors were unable to save at least one of them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARTMAN (voice-over): Highway 45 was lined with hundreds of spectators when a dragster plowed into a crowd of people Saturday night in Selmer, Tennessee. Joshua Harper's (ph) two nieces were in that crowd.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We called everywhere trying to find them and we finally found them about 8:00 last night.
HARTMAN: In the chaos that followed the tragic mishap, injured spectators were rushed to five area hospitals. Doctors couldn't save Harper's 15-year-old niece, Raven Griswell (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She died either on the way to Savannah or she died at Savannah and the only thing I know about that is it messed her up pretty bad.
HARTMAN: Already mourning the death of one child, relatives of 19- year-old Nicole Griswell gathered at the Regional Medical Center in Memphis where she was in extremely critical condition.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They had to amputate one of her legs. Her liver is not doing good. Her blood is not clotting up. So they keep getting her blood and the doctor said to prepare for the worst.
HARTMAN: Moments later, Nicole Griswell took a turn for the worst. Relatives say doctors kept her alive long enough for her parent to arrive at the hospital.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARTMAN (on camera): Now Nicole Griswell's death brought the death toll to six people. There are more than a dozen others injured and still hospitalized. This is an annual tradition in Selmer, Tennessee, it's been going on for 18 years now. But there has been some concern about the safety of the event. The cars travel down the road with very little barricade. And at some points none at all between the spectators and the high-speed cars traveling down the road. Susan, back to you.
ROESGEN: Yeah, Anna Marie, that's the one thing that caught me, how close the crowd is to the side of the road and these are speeding cars. I mean, that's why you go to watch dragsters.
HARTMAN: Exactly. And we're told they get up to 70 miles an hour. Of course they stay in place until the wheels can turn just enough to generate a lot of smoke. It's that kind of a visual scene for people. They typically enjoy it. There's a parade, a carnival, and this is how the drivers show off for the crowd. I am certain that from this point forward this type of event will be questioned and heavily monitored as to whether something like this should continue in light of the tragic deaths that occurred afterwards.
ROESGEN: It really sounds like it. Thank you, Anna Marie Hartman reporting live for us in Memphis.
On the international front the growing split in the Palestinians sending shock waves through the Middle East. The fight is over for now but the Palestinian movement is basically split in half. Militants in charge in the Gaza Strip and moderates retreating and shoring up their base on the west bank. With the story in Jerusalem is CNN's Atika Shubert.
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ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas used his emergency powers to override parliament and swear in a new government under the leadership of the Prime Minister Salam Fayad, approving a Cabinet stacked with political independents neither Hamas nor Fatah, Abbas expressed his hope to reunite Gaza and the West Bank under one rule.
"This government will fully shoulder its responsibilities," he says. "Not only in the West Bank but in all the homelands including wounded Gaza."
But Hamas leaders in Gaza immediately rejected the new government.
AHMED YOUSEF, HAMAS SPOKESMAN: The emergency government, it is illegal so we are still standing on the right side based on the Constitution. What has been taken is out of the jurisdiction of President Abbas. It is beyond his authority.
SHUBERT: In Gaza residents rushed to stores to stock up on food and basic necessities, fearful supplies would be cut off as political pressure intensifies on Hamas. That may depend on Israel, controlling the gateways in and out of Gaza. A private Israeli company has already cut off the fuel supply to the isolated coastal strip. That could bring Gaza to a standstill stopping not only traffic but the fuel generators that many residents and hospitals rely on for electricity.
Both the U.S. and Israel have indicated they would support the new Palestinian government with desperately needed cash while isolating Hamas. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet with U.S. President George Bush this week to discuss what he describes as a new opportunity in the Palestinian political divide.
Complicating matters, Katyusha rockets launched from inside Lebanon, two landed in an industrial area of northern Israel on Sunday causing light damage and no injuries. The third landed inside Lebanon near a UN forces observation post. Hezbollah has denied responsibility. Israel suspects Palestinian militants in Lebanon. With the region already a powder keg, Palestinians now fear the worst.
SAEB ERAKAT, PALESTINIAN LEGISLATOR: I see a catastrophe. I see this operation of Gaza and the West Bank. We haven't (inaudible) of complexities (ph) and I believe there are some in this bigger region here who are exploiting the Palestinian situation.
SHUBERT (on camera): The new Palestinian government is faced with a dilemma -- how to get aid to the 1.5 million residents in Gaza while still keeping the pressure on Hamas, all without appearing to do the bidding of the U.S. and Israel. Atika Shubert, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROESGEN: Meanwhile, a British journalist kidnapped in Gaza is facing a death threat. The group holding Alan Johnston told al Jazeera that it would kill him if its demands are not met. And that came after reports from Hamas officials that Hamas had intervened to try to win Johnston's freedom, probably today. Johnston was kidnapped in mid March and his abductors are demanding the release of a Jordanian-born suspected terrorist being held in Britain.
We have now learned the U.S. raid on an insurgent safe house in Samarra, Iraq, turned up more personal items from the two missing U.S. soldiers. But there is still no sign of the soldiers themselves, more than a month after they disappeared. The latest on that now from CNN's Karl Penhaul.
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KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are the fields and orange groves south of Samarra. In an isolated village like this U.S. paratroopers have turned up fresh clues about two missing American soldiers. Specialist Alex Jimenez and Private Byron Fouty captured by al Qaeda insurgents. Captain Adisa King led the raid just before dawn on June 9th. The target -- an al Qaeda bomb maker's safe house.
CAPTAIN ADISA KING, U.S. ARMY: I said, OK, this is a setup that's unbelievable. I said take everything you've got.
PENHAUL: They seized a bounty of information, at least five computers, hard drives, video making equipment, and documents. Back at base amid the bundle of papers, they found some of Jimenez and Fouty's belongings.
KING: Imagine a light brown paper like an envelope type but it was wrapped up pretty tightly and also has some tape wrapped around it and they had some Arabic writing on it. You had their military I.D. cards and then you have the -- you have their driver's license. You have their bank card, it was one card there, and this was I think of a parent or a grandmother that had passed away.
PENHAUL: That find triggered a 72-hour search for the missing soldiers. Paratroopers, forensic teams and sniffing dogs combed farmhouses, fields, and wheat beds. But the battalion commander, says there was no trace of the men themselves.
LT. COLONEL VIET LUONG, U.S. ARMY: We have scoured every corner of that area and had we found any evidence of the soldiers being there, we would still be out there. PENHAUL: Fouty and Jimenez were taken after a gunfight with insurgents on May 12, that was in the Triangle of Death, a lawless region 100 miles south of here. On an Internet Web site the insurgents later posted pictures purportedly of the men's documents. The U.S. military said they appeared to be authentic. Even though there's no indication Fouty and Jimenez were ever taken to the area around Samarra, Captain King is refusing to give up the search.
KING: I'm hoping that I can find something out there because I know if that was me, whether I'm alive or dead, I would hope someone would keep looking no matter what because that's what I would want someone to do for me, to bring that closure to my family.
PENHAUL (on camera): U.S. commanders say it may take months to analyze the significance of the computer files seized in that raid. The soldiers, meanwhile, are vowing to find their missing comrades however long it takes. Karl Penhaul, CNN, Samarra, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROESGEN: And Karl will be back with a Father's Day story from the troops, "Dads at War." That's coming up in about 45 minutes.
On the National Mall in Washington today an emotional service for a special group of dads who were lost but not forgotten on this Father's Day. Sons and daughters and even granddaughters and grandsons are paying tribute to fathers killed in the Vietnam War. Remembrances in roses, 1,500 yellow and red roses at the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial.
A frantic search under way in Ohio right now for a mother who is nine months pregnant. She disappeared just days before she was due leaving another child at home. We'll have that story next in the NEWSROOM.
Plus, the astronauts are at it again. This is your live look from space. What are they doing up there? We'll find out from CNN's Miles O'Brien coming up.
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ROESGEN: And the little girl with a big voice and no front teeth. Will she win the British version of "American Idol"?
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My name is Sergeant First Class Tracy Bissette (ph). I am stationed here at Taji Camp, Iraq. I'd like to say Happy Father's Day to my dad Stephen Bissette (ph) back in Auburn, Washington. Tell my family that I love them. I'm taking care of myself and I expect you to do the same, dad. I love you. Happy Father's Day.
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ROESGEN: The police in Ohio are searching for a missing pregnant woman who disappeared last week just days before her due date and her two-year-old son was left home alone. Reporter Bob Jones of our CNN affiliate WEWS in Cleveland has the story. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PATTY PORTER, MISSING WOMAN'S MOTHER: We don't know what's happened and I -- I just want my daughter back.
BOB JONES, WEWS-TV CORRESPONDENT: Patti Porter agonizes as she waits for answers. Her 26-year-old daughter, Jessie Davis, who is nine months pregnant with a baby girl, vanished at least two days ago. Investigators returned to Jessie's North Canton home looking for any clues in her disappearance.
CPT. GARY SHANKLE, STARK CO., OHIO SHERIFF'S OFFICE: We've canvassed the neighborhood. We've had K-9s involved in canvassing the neighborhood and we're just following up any leads we get.
JONES: Concerned for her daughter's safety Patti went to Jessie's home on Friday morning. Patti found her daughter's mattress half off the frame, a night stand and a lamp knocked over, but there was no sign of Jessie and her bed spread also missing. Deputies did not find any blood but someone did spill bleach on the floor.
PORTER: They don't know if someone tried to throw bleach on her -- they don't know what -- where the bleach came from.
JONES: Equally alarming Jessie's two-year-old son, Blake, was found in the home and he may have been alone for most of the day.
PORTER: She would have never left my grandson ever. Unless she was forced out of there with somebody threatening him.
JONES: Investigators say a Canton police officer is Blake's father and he's likely the father of the baby Jessie is now carrying and he's also married to another woman. Police are not calling either one of them a suspect.
Is there anything to suggest he's involved in her disappearance?
SHANKLE: None at all.
JONES: Is there anything to suggest his wife is involved in her disappearance?
SHANKLE: None at all.
JONES: In the meantime a desperate mother makes a plea.
PORTER: Just ask people to pray for my daughter and my grandson. And his dad and his family and our family. It's devastating for everyone.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROESGEN: And we'll keep you posted on what happens in that search.
Meanwhile, a murder suspect who is just 16 years old is locked up in Pennsylvania. Alex Kreider was arrested yesterday. Here he is. His father told police that Alex confessed to killing three people, the victims were Thomas and Lisa Haines (ph) and their son, Kevin, killed at their home in Mannheim Township on May 12th. Police say Kreider knew the teenaged victim but they won't comment on a possible motive.
Just too much rain in Texas, apparently way too much rain. Jacqui Jeras is here with a look at the flooding there, Jacqui?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: How about five to six inches in less than 24 hours, Susan that brought very fast, rapid flash flood events across parts of Texas. We have got video to show you out of Crawford. Look at the power of water. You drive through that, you're not going to make it out and, unfortunately, that happened in one Texas town. We'll have the details on that and tell you how much more rain you can expect in your forecast. Hat's coming up.
ROESGEN: I don't think I want to be on that bridge either, Jacqui. That looks pretty bad.
JERAS: I would not recommend it.
ROESGEN: OK. Also ahead, more on the live video stream from the Shuttle Atlantis" astronauts making a space walk. We'll check in with our space guy, Miles O'Brien, to find out what they're doing today straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi. My name is Sergeant William Lamb (ph). I'm from Miami, Florida. I'm stationed here in Taji, Iraq and I would like to say happy Father's Day to my father, Kelvin, from Miami, Florida. I love you. I'll be home soon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROESGEN: And right now a delicate orbital ballet is going on 200 miles over our heads. This is live video now of two astronauts from the Shuttle Atlantis on their fourth space walk. And our Miles O'Brien is watching every move. Miles, what are they doing up there now? Looks like razor wiring or something.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it sort of does. These cable in space, they can be -- almost develop a life of their own. We're looking at Steve Swanson's helmet cam, exactly what he's seeing on Father's Day. How appropriate for a father on Father's Day to have a honey-do list?
ROESGEN: NASA's honey-do list.
O'BRIEN: NASA's honey-do list and they're actually doing so well on this space walk that they've really done everything they were supposed to do and are pretty much working on get ahead tasks, making it easier for future spacewalkers as they go out there.
Big task on their agenda was to remove pins, restraint, essentially the packing and shipping material on a sort of giant paddle wheel device. You see how this thing goes as it - as the space station goes across, these rotating solar arrays, are designed to soak up the sun in the perfect manner as it goes across. In other words generating the most electricity possible which is, of course, the goal here.
And so far that has gone well. Those pins and restraints have been removed. Now spirits onboard are looking good because these Russian computers, one, two, three, four, five, six of them, you only need two of them. The rest are redundant to work but they all crashed the first part of last week. We spent four tense days, there was talk even of abandoning ship at one point because they control just about everything. The trouble shooting went on in great earnest and the Russian cosmonauts onboard finally figured it out using jumper cables to get everything together and those computers are running.
Now the question is, how do you make a taco in space? And the answer of course, Susan, is what?
ROESGEN: Get all the little bits of filling to stay in the tortilla shell?
O'BRIEN: I was going to say very carefully but, yes, that's correct. You want to make it stick. This is astronaut Danny Olivas, he is a space rookie. Looks like he's been there all his life enjoying his taco and thumbs up because everybody is concerned about those computers.
Speaking of computers, all throughout the mission the crew members have an opportunity to e-mail back and forth with their family members and send e-mails like, hey, I'm in space. Wow.
And when you're in space and you're a marine, you still don't miss a workout, do you? This is C.J. Sturko (ph), commander of the shuttle getting his time in on the exercycle and of course if you want to do some isometric exercises, weightlifting, what do you do in space? Bungee cords.
Remember I was talking about Danny Olivas. He has good hands, obviously, he is good with the taco and he is also very good at repairing a piece of the shuttle's thermal blanket which had turned up in the course of launch. He successfully in the last spacewalk a couple days ago he pushed that thing in, stapled it on and now the shuttle heat shield is go for re-entry. There will be one more inspection, however, just to double-check before they come back home.
Susan?
ROESGEN: All that super technology, Miles, and in the end you just kind of tap that stuff back.
O'BRIEN: Tap it in and staple it. Something high tech and something low tech all in the mix.
ROESGEN: OK. Thanks, Miles. Appreciate it.
O'BRIEN: You're welcome. Bye. ROESGEN: Coming up next here in the NEWSROOM, caught on camera. A principal busted for buying cocaine in his office. He you might have seen the story earlier. Now he is moving from middle school to jail. Also ...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is already crawling, getting her first teeth in. She's already saying her first words and I'm missing them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROESGEN: Dads at war. American soldiers who are spending Father's Day in Iraq. That's still ahead in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROESGEN: We have the latest information now on a Palestinian power struggle. Today Palestinian president and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas swore in a temporary Cabinet for what he's calling an emergency government. He also outlawed Hamas, accusing them of staging a military coup in Gaza. Hamas officials call Abbas' moves illegal and they are reject being the new government. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is in the United States now for talks with President Bush on Tuesday.
The violent takeover by Hamas in Gaza has been answered by an equally violent Fatah response in the West Bank. Really dramatic report here from CNN's Ben Wedeman reporting from Nablus on the escalating cycle of violence.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fatah gunmen ransack Hamas' media office in Nablus, destruction the theme of the day. Fatah answers Hamas' rampage in Gaza with its own. In the streets below Fatah fighters warn this is only the beginning.
"We'll continue to do this until Hamas has been destroyed," says gunman Abu Skandar (ph). "This is the law here delivered through the barrel of a gun."
Blind rage smashing everything associated with Hamas.
(on camera): This is a taste of the mayhem to come, Fatah is now taking revenge on Hamas, destroying everything it can, burning their offices, killing their members.
(voice-over): This was the first Hamas supporter Nablus to be killed, 31-year-old Anees Salous (ph). Relatives say he was grabbed after he left a mosque Thursday, bundled into a car and driven away. Mourners accuse Fatah of being behind the killing, specifically they blame Mohammed Gahlan, who was Fatah's strongman in Gaza before it was overrun by Hamas.
"No one is investigating how he was killed," Anees' father tells me. "No one is investigating anything."
A few hope the carnage will end soon. "God willing this was the last killing," says Nablus resident Abu Mohammad al Halabi (ph) at the funeral, "and we'll be brothers again."
With anger on both sides, it doesn't look like the bloody conflict between Hamas and Fatah will be so easily buried. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Nablus, on the West Bank.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROESGEN: And a criminal case in Georgia is stirring up a lot of debate both in the courtroom and in the court of public opinion. Genarlow Wilson is serving a 10-year prison term for having consensual sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17. And even though a state judge ordered Wilson to be released last week, he remains in jail.
CNN's Rick Sanchez talked to him there behind bars.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: He has said it all along to me, in jail. At no time did you tell that young lady that she had to give you oral sex?
GENARLOW WILSON: No, sir.
SANCHEZ: Then, the attorney who prosecuted him confirmed it to me.
EDDIE BARKER, ASST. DISTRICT ATTORNEY: From what we've seen on the videotape and heard from the victim herself, we do not believe there was any physical force used.
SANCHEZ: Genarlow Wilson, convicted of aggravated child molestation under an antiquated law that since been changed, is now getting support from somebody else. The mother of that other teenager.
"Girl's mother defends Wilson, says penalty too severe," was the way the headline in "The Atlanta Journal Constitution" put it. But the article goes on to say that after making the comment, the girl's mother was paid a visit by state prosecutors and investigators.
B.J. BERNSTEIN, WILSON'S ATTORNEY: It was extremely shocking to believe and read something that almost reminds us of what happens in a Communist country, that when you speak out about something to the media, you get a visit from the government.
SANCHEZ: The girl's mother is quoted in the article as saying she testified against Genarlow Wilson, because prosecutors told her she could face legal trouble for neglect as a parent if she didn't.
But prosecutors deny they threatened her. B.J. Bernstein says the prosecutors are out of control, and is questioning the Georgia attorney general's support of them.
BERNSTEIN: I know that you need to support your prosecutors, but you don't support prosecutors who are out of control. You don't support prosecutors that intimidate.
SANCHEZ: We spoke with Prosecutor David McDade by phone, who says the accusation that anyone from his office threatened or intimidated the teen's mother is, "absolutely, categorically, untrue." And he calls the newspaper article "grossly inaccurate."
Attorney General Thurberg Baker, who is appealing the Superior Court judge's decision to throw out Wilson's conviction, called a news conference late this week.
THURBERT BAKER, GEORGIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: There are over 1300 inmates in the Georgia prison system currently serving time for aggravated child molestation. And this ruling, if it stands, would have the potential to reduce or set aside the sentences of a significant number of those convicted felons.
SANCHEZ: Of the 1,300 other convicted felons, we checked, and found that only seven like Wilson were teenagers when they were found guilty.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROESGEN: But Rick also says it's important to note that those seven cases may not be the same as Wilson's case because it's not clear whether the acts in those cases were consensual.
Florida police released undercover video of a former school principal making a drug deal. Anthony Giancola pleaded guilty this week to buying crack cocaine in his office while school was in session. We get more on that from reporter Anna Tatteras of CNN affiliate out of Bay News 9 in Tampa, Florida.
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ANNA TATARIS, BAY NEWS 9 CORRESPONDEN (voice-over): This is undercover video, as Tampa police officer entered the middle school.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you doing?
TATARIS: Giancola can be seen on the video as he takes him into the office. Some parts are cut out to protect the identity of the two officers but also released were audio conversations in which the former principal encouraged them to come to his office.
ANTHONY GIANCOLA, MIDDLE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL CONVICTED OF BUYING CRACK: You guys can come over to my office. That's no problem.
TATARIS: In the video you can hear Giancola and the officers joke about what he would do if someone walked in.
GIANCOLA: Let's say I stick it in my pocket. Do something stupid. I'd be like, oh, look what we found here.
UNDERCOVER OFFICER: Put it on some student.
TATARIS: Giancola was sentenced earlier this week and made a public apology for his actions.
GIANCOLA: I made a mistake and it was a huge mistake and it cost me everything.
TATARIS: He will now serve time and hopes to be a drug counselor in the future, but this video shows just how desperate he was before coming clean.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROESGEN: And actually he's not locked up yet. He was given until the end of the month to turn himself in to start serving that one-year sentence.
Got a little hot on the campaign trail today but it had nothing to do with politics. We'll tell you about an apartment building fire for one of the leading contenders coming up next. And later, spending Father's Day on the front lines. Dads at war coming up right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name is Sergeant Andrew Brace (ph), I'm stationed here in Baghdad, Iraq, with the 285th Area Support Medical Company out of Columbus, Ohio. Since I can't be home this year I want to wish my dad, Todd Brace, a happy Father's Day. Love you, pop. Hope you have a wonderful day. See you soon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: According to the Justice Department nearly 800,000 children are reported missing every year, but footwear designer Isaac Daniels hopes to cut that number down with the press of a button.
ISAAC DANIELS, INVENTOR, GPS SNEAKER: A GPS sneaker is a technology that was created for the purpose of being able to find any loved one that is missing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A tiny GPS chip tucked into the bottom of the shoe along with two buttons on the side. One button activates the GPS system that sends a wireless alert to a 24-hour monitoring service. The other button turns the system off. If someone is missing anywhere in the world, a parent, spouse, or guardian can call monitoring service and operators can activate the GPS remotely and alert authorities.
DANIELS: We have peace of mind technology. Once you are in need you press the button. We have technology to make your lifestyle easier.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name is Cpt. Larry Dean, stationed in Taji, Iraq. I'd like to say happy Father's Day to may dad, Larry Sr. Pops, I love you. You've been great encouragement and thanks for teaching me what I know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROESGEN: Senator Barack Obama is a hot ticket for many democratic voters, but his DC digs are even hotter. The building where he rents an apartment in Washington caught fire today. No one was hurt, just minor damage. And Senator Barack Obama wasn't even home at the time, he is spending his Father's Day with his family in Chicago. They say that a faulty ceiling fan is suspected to have caused that fire.
The road to the White House winds through Iowa today. Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards held a town hall meeting in Sioux City where his wife Elizabeth took some questions also from the audience. And Republican Mitt Romney is campaigning in Iowa, too. He hosted a Father's Day brunch in Burlington. Tonight he'll hold an "Ask Mitt Anything You Want" town hall meeting.
CNN's John Roberts caught up with the GOP candidate today in Iowa.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What do you attribute this rise in New Hampshire to? Was it the debates?
MITT ROMNEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think the debates helped. We've been advertising there. The other guys haven't. That gives me a temporary lift. I think my message is connecting, people recognize the country has some real challenges but that we're up to the challenge and if we concentrate our conservative values with a strong military, a strong economy, and strong family values that we can do whatever is needed.
ROBERTS: Are you well enough known in New Hampshire? I was talking to some folks, they said you get up to concord everybody knows about him because of the bleed over from Massachusetts. But you get up in the northern part of the state and they still say "Mitt who?"
ROMNEY: Oh I've got a long way to go. Look, in Iowa, I'm not as well known as the other guys. New Hampshire, the same thing. I have to make a real effort to get known all over the state. That's why I'm working it as hard as I am and of course I have got the whole nation to go after.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROESGEN: And you can see that full interview tomorrow on AMERICAN MORNING with John Roberts beginning at 6:00 a.m. Eastern. Right now Rick Sanchez is here with a preview of what he has got ahead on his show at 7:00 tonight.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Happy to be here. How are you doing?
ROESGEN: Doing great.
SANCHEZ: Every time you go out and buy a product you pay 10 to 20 percent more than you should pay for it.
ROESGEN: Because?
SANCHEZ: Because people are stealing them half the time, especially cargo that are on these containers.
Think about it. Every time you go out and you buy a product, somebody has to get it to you, right, or they have to get it to the store so they put them in warehouses, they put them in trucks, they put them in containers, they put them on trains.
There are thieves out there who are specializing in taking that cargo, stealing it, and then selling it on the black market. A lot of this is very Sopranoish a lot of organized crime is involved with this kind of stuff but it's real and the feds are now trying to pass new laws. They're trying to set up task forces to try and beat these guys. Because they're real good at what they do. They can literally drive away with cabins. Look at this undercover video right here that we got of one of the guys who actually did it in one of the yards in a place like Atlanta which his like where all the stuff comes through.
ROESGEN: What kind of stuff? I saw like a stove there and then I saw some smaller items.
SANCHEZ: You name it. Sometimes they don't even know what they're stealing. They just know that if they can somehow jimmy the lock ...
ROESGEN: It must be valuable.
SANCHEZ: And get into it and drive away eventually they'll open it up and they will sometimes pull up next to an interstate and just put the top up and then just put up a sign and start selling TVs or refrigerators or microwaves or whatever they found there.
ROESGEN: So don't buy them.
SANCHEZ: Exactly.
ROESGEN: We'll be watching at 7:00.
SANCHEZ: Some people get deals. So we're going to that at 7:00 and tonight our Sunday spotlight, Jim Gilmore, former governor of the state of Virginia, consistent conservative, he calls himself. Former counterintelligence guy in the army. Interesting interview.
ROESGEN: I bet it will be. All right. Thanks, Rick. We'll see you then. We'll be watching.
Well, it's a busy day for our meteorologist Jacqui Jeras. Thunderstorms flooding and just plain hot in some places. Jacqui? JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, we've got it all. Severe weather right now across the Upper Midwest. Find out where the tornado watches are in effect plus the air quality unhealthy for many tomorrow. Find out if your city will be affected. Susan?
ROESGEN: All right. Thanks, Jacqui. Plus, you can now call her "commander." A special honor from the queen for our own Christiane Amanpour. Next in the NEWSROOM. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
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ROESGEN: And one more thing, did this little girl win the British version of "American Idol"? The answer to that is coming up soon.
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ROESGEN: Just listen to the speed and the strength of that rushing water caused by heavy rain in Crawford, Texas. In fact, the flooding there actually closed the main road into Crawford where President Bush was spending his Father's Day at his ranch there. Also in nearby Laredo some serious flooding and at least one death reported. So, Jacqui Jeras, we always think of Texas as hot and dry but not in some places today.
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JERAS: Susan?
ROESGEN: We'll keep it in mind. Thanks, Jacqui.
And CNN is very proud tonight of our own chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour. You know you're familiar with her excellent work but did you know she was born in London and now the Queen of England is honoring her? Amanpour has been named a commander of the Order of the British Empire, it's an honor that pays tribute to Britons for their outstanding service.
And as you know, Amanpour's assignments have taken her all around the globe. Here is a sample of her work.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTAINE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What they didn't distribute publicly was satellite pictures taken two weeks earlier. These show hundreds of men being held at gunpoint in some of the killing fields.
What will you do if sanctions are imposed?
Before a verdict could be reached, before a sentence could be handed down, before he could face final justice on 66 counts of genocide and other crimes of war, Slobodan Milosevic died in his cell in The Hague.
How do you plan to persuade the world of that given these accusations and suspicions? Opposition politicians point out that in war the aim is to fight the common enemy. Only in peace can you fight the enemy from within. And so now they are calling on outside democracies to help support and supervise Bosnia's next steps.
Are you prepared to help the United States?
BASHAR AL-ASSAD, SYRIAN DICTATOR: You mean in Iraq?
AMANPOUR: Yes.
AL-ASSAD: Definitely.
AMANPOUR: The slowly, slowly approach to opening roads in and out of Sarajevo is aimed at building confidence.
Do you wish to see normal relations with the United States?
The new prime minister quickly set out to make history. In 1998 he and his Irish counterpart Bertie Ahern -
You see behind me a lot of Iraqi security. The Iraqis have been the ones who have taken the lead in securing and making these polling stations safe.
Since stabilizing Iraq for elections and quelling the insurgency is obviously so important is now not a good time, do you think, to add to -- to add more U.S. troops right now?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROESGEN: And that's just a little sample of her terrific work. And again, now, we'll have to call her Commander. Honored now by the Queen of England. Christiane Amanpour, our chief international correspondent.
And we're just now finding out the winner of a wildly popular British variety show that has sparked an Internet phenomenon.
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ROESGEN: And the winner is that guy, Paul Potts, a cell phone salesman who says he spent his entire life struggling against bullies and poor health and cash problems. Not anymore.
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ROESGEN: And this turned out to be the runner-up, the six-year-old Connie Talbot. She became a huge sensation on the Web and logged million of hits on YouTube in just a few days but her hopes and dreams were pinned on basically the opinion of that notoriously gruff Simon Cowell who went with Paul Potts and his Andrew Lloyd Webber singing. So now you know.
This is the day that we say thank you to fathers everywhere, especially to the military fathers who were in harm's way. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don't know exactly what I'm doing but they understand I'm off fighting the bad guys.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROESGEN: Next in the NEWSROOM, we'll take you to Iraq where fathers are on the front lines, not home with their children. You are watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
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ROESGEN: Finally on this Father's Day, you know that fathers all across the country are center stage today. But thousands of American men are spending this day far away from their kids in the war zone. CNN's Karl Penhaul reports their thoughts are always at home with their little ones.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An American infantryman on Iraq's deadly streets. A U.S. paratrooper manning a machine gun. They're two among thousands, dads far from home.
STAFF SGT. DUSTIN WILLIAMS, U.S. ARMY: We watch our children grow up in pictures and that's pretty much what I'm doing.
PENHAUL: Williams is a father of four, first daughter Liberty was born while he was fighting in Iraq in 2004. Second daughter, Morgan, was born two months into his second tour.
WILLIAMS: She's already crawling. She's getting her first teeth in. She's already saying her first words and I'm missing that.
PENHAUL: This cherished trinket, a military dog tag engraved with a photo of his wife Lina (ph) and Morgan, his youngest.
WILLIAMS: My family is most important to me in my life.
PENHAUL: His two girls are too young to understand but Williams says he broke the news to sons Hayden and Austin over ice cream that he was headed to Iraq.
WILLIAMS: They don't know exactly what I'm doing but they understand that I'm off fighting the bad guys.
PENHAUL: Specialist Chris Dech was already feeling the wrench of separation and when he got to Iraq he found out his unborn son may have a fatal deformity.
SPECIALIST CHRIS DECH, U.S. ARMY: We prayed about it and look at it as, hey, whatever happens, we have to deal with it.
PENHAUL: Dech and wife Jessica work through their anxiety via e-mail and Instant messenger. He got emergency leave for the birth, now eight-month-old Nathan is doing fine. Nothing fatal but he's undergone surgery to fix a cleft lip and palate.
DECH: I'd have liked to have been there for surgeries. That's a definite and little things like him first rolling over.
PENHAUL: His two other sons, Peter is seven and Samuel five, keep in touch, mostly with "Spiderman" drawings and notes.
DECH: This is from Peter and it says, "Hi, dad, how are you doing? The whole class went to the gym. We had free play. My favorite thing was to climb the ropes. Bye, I love you."
PENHAUL: Those little details make Dech long for his family.
DECH: You learn not to take things for granted. You go home and then you're with them and you spend quality time. And that's pretty much how I plan on making up for it.
PENHAUL: And his Father's Day message ...
DECH: I'd say I love you and look forward to being home with you soon.
PENHAUL: Echoing the feelings of thousands of military dads in harm's way and far from home. Karl Penhaul, CNN, Samarra, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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