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Lake Tahoe Wildfire; Pro Wrestler's Death; Steroids and Violence

Aired June 27, 2007 - 08:59   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm Tony Harris.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, everybody.

I'm Heidi Collins.

Watch events come into the NEWSROOM live on Wednesday morning. It's June 27th and here's what's on the rundown.

Lake Tahoe air war. A wildfire jumps a fire line, putting hundreds more homes in danger today.

HARRIS: Devastating floods for parts of Texas and Oklahoma. The Austin area walloped with water so high, people head for their rooftops.

Roid rage. Did steroids cause wrestler Chris Benoit to kill his family and then himself?

Dr. Gupta is here live.

COLLINS: Why is this man smiling? Poll momentum, and he's not even in the presidential race yet.

Fred Thompson surge live in the NEWSROOM.

HARRIS: Unfolding this hour, a dangerous weather situation breaking right now in the plains. First to Texas, where an already drenched Lone Star state is again in the eye of the storm today.

Take a look at this scene this morning in the Austin area. Fast- moving water. And The Associated Press reporting that people are trapped on roofs, in tree tops, and on top of their vehicles.

Helicopters and boats are being called in. In Oklahoma City, heavy rains prompted this dramatic rescue. Cameras rolled as firefighters used a raft to free 16-year-old twin sisters from their flooded car. More rain expected there today.

Heavy rains flooded roads, creeks and rivers in the Dallas area. High water forced evacuations of at least 50 homes southwest of the city. And in the town of Garland, a 13-year-old boy died after being washed down a flooded creek. Let's go now to Chad Myers in the severe weather center for more on what is happening in Austin, Texas.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COLLINS: Meanwhile, out West, high winds breathing life into a raging inferno. Right now, the big wildfire just south of Lake Tahoe in California threatens more homes.

The flames jumped a fire line. Mandatory evacuation orders now for several more neighborhoods.

CNN's Chris Lawrence is on the scene in Meyers, California, this morning.

Chris, tell us about the cause of this fire.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, they haven't pinpointed exactly who may have started it, but they know that since there were no lightning strikes on Sunday; it was a human being that did it. And they say it has been so dry here, it could have been something as simple as a match or a cigarette butt.

You know, this gives you some idea of just how hot it gets when that fire starts to push in and get close to these homes and why some of the families only have a few minutes to literally get out of their neighborhood once that fire gets there. That is one reason thousands of people have seen what happened to these folks here, seen what happened to their neighbors a few days ago, and already evacuated again.

The story is not so much what is happening right now, but what the fire did yesterday and what it could do later today. Yesterday, it did jump the fire line. It crossed the highway. It burned one house and threatened hundreds more. That's why those 2,000 people evacuated their homes yesterday.

Firefighters battled well into the afternoon and the evening, trying to get a handle on that fire. And they kept saying all along they wanted to do as much as they could because they knew as bad as those winds kind of kicked up late afternoon yesterday, they were nothing compared to what they're expected to do today. And this could be a very big indicator, depending on how the winds blow, on whether they have already got -- already seen the worst of this fire or whether the worst might yet to be -- is still yet to come -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Chris, any idea at this point how many people have evacuated? You mentioned 2,000. Is that the number now that authorities have gotten a hold of?

LAWRENCE: As I understand it from what they were telling us yesterday, this was an additional 2,000. This was after -- this was the 2,000 that evacuated yesterday because of the way the fire was changing.

COLLINS: Wow. All right. That's certainly a lot of people. Chris Lawrence, live from Meyers, California.

Thank you.

HARRIS: From Ohio there is new information to report in the case of Bobby Cutts Jr. He is the former police officer charged with killing his girlfriend and their unborn child.

Earlier this year, a California court barred him from contacting his daughter born to another former girlfriend. The judge cited evidence that Cutts was physically and verbally abusive to the 9-year- old.

Disturbing new details this morning on the death of popular pro wrestler Chris Benoit and his family. Investigators say he killed his wife and son before taking his own life.

Here's CNN's Rusty Dornin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fayette County officials revealed some of the circumstances surrounding the death of the Benoit family and why they called them bizarre.

Investigators say that they believe Chris Benoit sometime Friday night strangled his wife and then early Saturday morning asphyxiated his young son, and then perhaps late Saturday night went into the basement where his weight room was and hung himself. Investigators say it was the way the bodies were found that was strange.

SCOTT BALLARD, FAYETTE COUNTY, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Well, I will tell you that the wife was bound on her feet, and I think also on her wrists. There was some blood under her head. As far as I know, those were the only signs of a struggle.

DORNIN: The Fayette County district attorney says that legal prescriptions of anabolic steroids were discovered in the home, but he would not say where. One piece of disturbing news, apparently the young son was found with needle marks in his arm, and investigators do believe perhaps that Chris Benoit was giving his son who suffered from some kind of dwarfism human growth hormone.

Toxicology reports on just what drugs were found in Chris Benoit's system will probably not be released for at least another week or two.

Rusty Dornin, CNN, Fayetteville, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Listen to this next story now.

A 9-year-old boy gunned down after neighborhood children threw rocks at a home. Police say 50-year-old Jonathan Watts will appear in court today in El Dorado, Arkansas. He allegedly opened fire, hitting Demontric Moore (ph) -- pardon me -- in the neck. A neighbor says it happened after three older boys through a brick at Watts' house and took off running. Police report previous problems at the house.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CPT. DAVID SMITH, EL DORADO POLICE: During the course of our investigation we found that there had been some rock-throwing at the residence from some of the juveniles in the area and that the man had responded. Of course this time he didn't use a BB gun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Police say when Watts was arrested, he told officers, "I've had it with these kids and the rock-throwing." He also told them he had thrown the shotgun away.

HARRIS: Public support for the Iraq war slips to an all-time low. That's according to a new CNN-Opinion Research poll.

Only 30 percent of Americans say they favor the war, 67 percent say they're opposed. Support for the war has declined from 72 percent in March 2003 to 47 percent in 2005, down to 30 percent now. And for the first time most Americans say there is no moral justification for the Iraq war. Forty-two percent say it is morally justified, 54 percent say it is not.

COLLINS: Still ahead, from Downing street to the Middle East, Britain's Tony Blair bows out as prime minister. New challenges ahead.

HARRIS: Also, investigators say steroids were found in the home, but could those drugs be a factor in the case of a dead pro wrestler, his wife and son?

Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is on the case.

COLLINS: Plus, coming out of the closet and on the streets. Kids kicked out of their homes for being gay.

You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

HARRIS: And a star on the silver screen and a major player on the political stage. Fred Thompson shaping the presidential race without even being a candidate.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Floodwaters are rising fast this morning in parts of central Texas. Helicopter crews are being called in to rescue people trapped in their homes and cars.

Connie Watson, public information officer for hard-hit Williamson County, joins us on the phone.

Connie, thanks for your time this morning.

CONNIE WATSON, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, WILLIAMSON COUNTY: Not a problem. Good morning.

HARRIS: And Connie, if you would, just sort of -- we've described it a bit here, of the seen in your county. Give us a better picture, a better handle of what you're receiving in terms of calls and the kinds of needs the people have in your county.

WATSON: Well, with all the rain that we've had, the San Gabriel River has been overflowing. Brushy Creek also is high. So any of the low water crossings, as well as the major roadways, have been affected by flooding.

We've had about double the regular number of 911 calls since 6:00 p.m. last night, although we've had no serious injuries due to the flooding. So that's good news.

HARRIS: So you say double the calls. What kinds of 911 calls have you been receiving? What are people calling and complaining about and asking for help with?

WATSON: A lot of the calls have to do with water assistance. Just a small portion of them actually were regular water rescues. And many of them just need assistance getting out and are looking for information about, you know, if they need to get out, if they need to evacuate.

There have been some RV parks that -- an RV park here that has evacuated that's on the San Gabriel River. There are a number of county roads that are closed. And so folks are just trying to get some information, and we're letting people know that it's better to stay home than to try to get out on the roads.

HARRIS: But has the county -- you mentioned the trailer park. Have -- has the county ordered any evacuations?

WATSON: The trailer park was an evacuation, yes, that we went through.

HARRIS: But beyond that?

WATSON: Yes. And people are more than happy to -- you know, to agree to that.

HARRIS: OK. Yes. Yes.

But beyond that, no other evacuations ordered?

WATSON: Not ordered, no. People are voluntarily leaving. We have had calls about people who have had water in their homes, flooding in their homes. And so those people are voluntarily leaving.

There's a shelter that's been set up in Liberty Hill, which is one of the cities that's been harder hit in our area. The Liberty Hill, (INAUDIBLE), Florence area, and sort of the northwest portion of Williamson County.

HARRIS: How about Georgetown, Marble Falls, Florence? What about those areas?

WATSON: Marble Falls is farther west of us. That's not in our particular county. That one has been very hard hit, so it's more of the western portion of the county.

HARRIS: Yes.

WATSON: Georgetown, where our county seat is, has not been as hard hit. We do have roads closed here in Georgetown, but it's -- anything that has -- that's over a river, does have flooding right now. That's crossing over the river.

HARRIS: And before I let you go, what is your best advice to people this morning?

WATSON: Best advice is, if you come up to a road and it has water covering the road, you're better turning around, don't drown.

HARRIS: And Connie Watson is the public information officer for Williamson County in Texas.

Connie, thanks for your time this morning.

COLLINS: Disturbing details in the deaths of pro wrestler Chris Benoit and his family. The district attorney says Benoit bound and strangled his wife, their young son suffocated the next day. Benoit later hanged himself.

Investigators say they found prescription drugs in the house, including anabolic steroids.

Toxicology reports won't be completed for a week or more. Still, some wonder if steroids can lead to violence like this.

CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta here now.

Could there be a link, Sanjay?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, possibly. And I think it's one of those things where we don't know and we may never know. Even if these toxicology reports come back and say there was some anabolic steroids, to draw that cause and effect I think is very difficult.

There has been a long-known relationship between steroids and behavior. I mean, people take it, take the steroids to gain muscle mass, to reduce body fat, to give them that look, that physique. But the relationship between behavior and steroids is well known, causing the rage, causing the aggression, a delusion sometimes, a psychosis type of delusions.

And I think loss of impulse control is probably one of the most cardinal symptoms of steroids and the roid rage, as they call it. Also, it seems to be most profound with you take high doses or a cycle. You sort of go on and off. People have those wild mood swings and they come down to a depression. Someone best described it to me as if someone cuts you off in traffic, well, you may honk at them. Someone who has roid rage may actually chase the person down and desire a confrontation.

COLLINS: Wow. And I imagine it's just very hard on your body when you do that on-off thing. But what part of the brain exactly are we talking about that could produce this type of violent rage?

GUPTA: Yes, you're right about the body. It affects lots of different things in the body. So no surprise it affects the brain, as well.

There's a part of the brain called the limbic system. The limbic system is sort of a more general area of the brain that's responsible for your emotions, your overall judgment, as well, to some extent.

Steroids seem to affect this part of the brain here. You see the brain circulating there. It sort of cuts down to that particular limbic system.

What's sort of interesting here, Heidi, is that when you have the steroids, sometimes it causes an uncontrollable rage. Not sort of methodical rage. You know, someone who might actually think something through. It's usually just, they're angry at the time, they act, and then it's done and they move on.

COLLINS: Well, we understand at least from some of the reports that Benoit was actually prescribed some of these steroids. I have never really heard of that before. In what cases would you be prescribed steroids?

GUPTA: Yes. You know, I don't think there are very many legitimate reasons for it. We looked into the same question that you're asking, Heidi, and they talk about people have a deficiency, for example. You have a deficiency of testosterone or some sort of steroid, you might bet a prescription for it.

Or if you have certain wasting diseases associated with chronic illnesses. For example, sometimes they'll give you that to build up your muscle mass again. But in a healthy adult male, very unusual to have it prescribed for any legitimate reason.

COLLINS: But what other kind of side-effects can there be, I mean, from these anabolics? I mean, I've never really heard anything good about them, to be honest, other than turning into, you know, this big muscle person, which is what he was after.

GUPTA: Yes. And you're right. And the side-effects, the downsides can be pretty significant.

It can reduce your immune system, for example, make you more vulnerable to illness. It can also stunt your growth overall. It can cause liver problems. People have talked about tumors growing as well possibly as a result of this.

There are a lot of potential negative side-effects. One of the most interesting things I read when I was doing the homework on this is that female high school athletes -- female high school athletes are now the fastest-growing group of people using anabolic steroids.

COLLINS: Really?

GUPTA: Yes.

COLLINS: You're kidding me?

GUPTA: So it's becoming a problem not only at the adult level, but also all the way down to high schools.

COLLINS: Wow. That's very scary.

All right. Sanjay, thanks for doing your homework on this one.

GUPTA: Thank you. No problem.

COLLINS: CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Fred Thompson, a major player in the presidential race, even though he's not officially a candidate. In fact, here's how he stacks up in a CNN-Opinion Research Corporation poll conducted over the weekend.

Registered Republicans have Thompson running a strong second among the declared candidates. Both Thompson and frontrunner Rudy Giuliani have gained support since April.

John McCain and Mitt Romney are basically flat, given the sampling error. Today, Thompson's talking to Republicans in South Carolina, a critical primary state.

Here to set the stage, CNN Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley.

And Candy, since we are talking about polling, how is Fred Thompson doing there in South Carolina? Do we know?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes. Very well.

In fact, we had a Mason-Dixon poll not too long ago which showed him in first place here in South Carolina. As you mentioned, it's a hugely important state, and it's obviously why he's come here, to address basically the party faithful here for a fund-raiser. But nonetheless, he's doing very, very well here, especially for a guy who, as you mentioned, isn't even in the race.

HARRIS: And Candy, if you could, can you tell us what's keeping him out of the race to this point? Is his announcement of his candidacy, is it imminent?

CROWLEY: Well, it depends on what you mean by imminent, Tony. But I'm -- we are now told mid to late July. Probably closer to mid- July.

Part of why he isn't doing it now is the expectations are so hard at this point that they really need to get together a pretty tight organization, not to mention they need to raise some money and have it be an impressive amount, because the expectations again are so high that if he comes in and his organization is sort of not quite there, if the money seems like not enough of an amount for him to have raised over the month of June, then that's not good, because then you come in looking like less than you did when you were outside the race.

There's also an issue with reporting to the Federal Election Commission on how much money you raised. If he were to get into the race right now, he would have to report at the end of June how much money he raised. So they want to kind of get beyond that deadline and then announce sometime next month.

HARRIS: CNN's Candy Crowley with us this morning.

Candy, appreciate it. Thank you. Good to see you.

And coming up on the bottom of the hour.

Good morning, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm Tony Harris.

COLLINS: Hi, everybody.

I'm Heidi Collins.

As we have been reporting this hour, a dangerous weather situation bearing down on the southern plains. Central Texas feeling the worst of it.

Take a look now at the scene this morning in the Austin area. Very fast-moving water and people trapped on roofs, in treetops and on top of their cars. Helicopters and boats are on the job.

And in Oklahoma City, heavy rains prompted this dramatic rescue. Cameras rolled as firefighters used a raft to free 16-year-old twin sisters from their flooded car. More rain is expected there today. You wonder where it will go.

And heavy rains, flooded roads, creeks and rivers in the Dallas area. High water also forced the evacuations of at least 50 homes southwest of the city.

And in the town of Garland, a 13-year-old boy died after being washed down a flooded creek.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And a big setback for firefighters. They're trying to tame that raging inferno south of Lake Tahoe in California. Gusty winds pushed the flames over a fire break. That forced more people to flee their homes. Evacuation orders now in place in several more neighborhoods. Right now, the number of destroyed homes and other buildings is approaching 300. The number of firefighters on the front lines, almost 1,900. And this morning, we may find out whether the blaze was intentionally set.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Texas communities were hit hard this morning by high water. A new round of flooding. A developing story. We're on top of it for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

COLLINS: Meanwhile, gay teens kicked out of the house by their own parents, many forced into a sordid life style to survive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK UPGRAND, KOCO CORRESPONDENT: How many different men would you be with in a night?

TONY AGUILAR: Probably about 20.

UPGRAND: Twenty different men in one night?

AGUILAR: Yes. Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Uncovering America -- our day long focus in THE CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And let's get you quickly to Chad Myers now -- and, Chad, why don't you give us the very latest?

Look at that -- look at that map.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

HARRIS: What is happening, what is going on in Texas right now?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We had a complex of storms roll out of Texas last night. It rolled through Amarillo around 4:00. And the e-mail that I got said that all underpasses in Amarillo were underwater, literally, because it rained so hard so fast.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MYERS: This is an amazing statistic -- Georgetown's flood stage is nine feet. The flood is going to go to 29 feet. This is 20 feet over what they consider to be a flood in Georgetown. And it is still coming down now this morning.

When you get rain to the west, all the rivers run to the east. So if you're down here, you need to pay attention to your river floods, as well...

COLLINS: Yes...

MYERS: ... because that bubble of water has to go somewhere.

COLLINS: Yes. We had an opportunity to ask the question that you were asking me about with our EMS guy, who said that that's right, they have actually opened some of those floodgates on Lake Travis there so.

MYERS: They opened them early to get rid of the water, even though it wasn't in there yet. They lowered Lake Travis and Lake Austin a little bit because they knew the water was going to come in later on.

HARRIS: They could see what's coming ahead.

COLLINS: Yes.

MYERS: That's how they work. That's what the reservoirs are for.

COLLINS: Yes. Yes.

HARRIS: Yes. Yes.

COLLINS: Well, I hope so.

All right, Chad.

Thanks so much.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COLLINS: Meanwhile, trapped in their car on a flooded bridge -- teenaged twin sisters are safe today, rescued by daring firefighters.

Mark Upgrand of CNN affiliate KOCO has the dramatic story.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UPGRAND (voice-over): Twin sisters Lindsey and Lauren Penn say they did not know how high the water was when they tried to drive across Silver Lake Dam.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we only tried to make it, but we couldn't. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We stopped and started floating. It just took our car and it stopped us right there and I kept on trying to start it and (INAUDIBLE).

UPGRAND: With the water rising and rushing into the car, they were stuck. One of the girls immediately called their father.

DAVID PENN, FATHER: It just didn't -- it just didn't register how much (INAUDIBLE) how bad it could be.

UPGRAND: Neighbors called 911 and yelled at the girls to stay inside the car. Firefighters put a boat in the water and with men on each side, maneuvered it to the end of the car. One by one, they pulled the girls out a back window and took them back to shore. An embrace with their father says a thousand words. They were shaken by the ordeal, but safe in dad's arms.

PENN: It's just beautiful to see so many concerned people. I don't know if I'll be able to let them drive again.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

COLLINS: Hmm.

Oklahoma City has had more than its share of rain in recent days. The National Weather Service has recorded rain in the city every day since June 13th.

HARRIS: Troubling new details this morning in the deaths of pro- wrestler Chris Benoit and his family. Authorities now say Benoit tied up and strangled his wife and smothered their 7-year-old son. Bibles were found next to both bodies. Benoit later hanged himself from a weight lifting machine in the basement. This video is from World Wrestling Entertainment.

No suicide note was found. But text messages sent by Benoit led coworkers to call police to check the home. Police say many prescription drugs were found in the home, including anabolic steroids and human growth hormone. Authorities suspect Chris Benoit was injecting his son with the growth hormone. The boy may have had a form of dwarfism. Final results from toxicology tests could take weeks.

COLLINS: The search for a missing mother of three -- now a body found at the bottom of a lake. Find out whether police think it's her.

KEVIN COARI,

And I'm Kevin Coari live on the Oregon coast, where we have breaking developments in the search for a missing fighter pilot. The new information coming up in THE NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: an F-15 down in the Pacific Ocean. This morning, word that the body of the pilot is recovered.

Reporter Kevin Coari from affiliate KP-TV is covering this story from Astoria, Oregon.

And, Kevin, what more can you tell us?

KEVIN COARI, KP-TV CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, good morning.

Coast Guard officials just confirmed to me minutes ago that the body of the pilot was actually recovered around 6:10 last night, Pacific time. We're told a Coast Guard helicopter crew spotted the body while they were searching for the plane wreckage. And the body was actually found somewhat near the wreckage.

At this point, the military, though, not telling us what kind of condition the body was found in or where the pilot was taken.

But the whole effort coordinated out of this base near Astoria, Oregon yesterday. Coast Guard helicopters launched right around 1:30 p.m. Pacific time, right when the call came in.

We're told the F-15 was involved a training mission about 40 miles west of Cannon Beach yesterday with seven other pilots. The military not saying at this point why the plane may have gone down. But I believe you're looking right now at some of that Coast Guard search video.

The Coast Guard launched helicopters all day yesterday and actually used Coast Guard cutters out there, as well.

The weather cooperating for the search yesterday, but there is a lot of jet fuel on the scene and that posed quite a challenge for the crew.

Now, the F-15 is actually based out of the Portland Oregon Air Base. We're told this is the first F15 based out of Portland ever to crash. At this point, the pilot's name is not being confirmed and we are not being told where the pilot has been taken. But that F-15, we're told, was worth about $35 million.

We do expect to hear more from the military, from the Oregon Air National Guard and from the Coast Guard later on this morning.

For now, reporting live near Astoria, Oregon, I'm Kevin Coari -- back to you.

HARRIS: All right, Kevin, appreciate it.

Thank you.

COLLINS: Teens turned out of the house after they reveal they're gay.

CNN's Ted Rowlands has the story, part of the day long focus on Uncovering America.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tony claims he ended up on the streets of New York, thrown out of his home by his mother after telling her he was gay.

Brittany De'Shon says she ended up on the streets of Detroit because of her father's reaction to finding out she was gay. Brittany was only 17.

BRITTANY DE'SHON: I had to sit outside all night. I couldn't -- I couldn't -- I couldn't let myself fall asleep. A lot of things was running through my head like is somebody going to try to kidnap me, they rob me and they don't find nothing, will they get angry enough to kill me?

ROWLANDS: Brittany says she was lucky. Most nights, she could stay with friends.

Tony, on the other hand, entered the dangerous world of prostitution, or, as it's called on the street, survival sex -- homeless teens selling themselves for cash or a place to stay.

AGUILAR: Not this corner, the next corner.

ROWLANDS: Tony took us to an area of New York's Chelsea District to show us the corner where he used to stand.

(on camera): How many different men would you be with in a night?

AGUILAR: Probably about 20.

ROWLANDS: Twenty different men in one night?

AGUILAR: Yes. Yes. It was something that I didn't want to do, but I had no choice but to do it to survive.

ROWLANDS (voice-over): Estimates are that there are between half a million and one-and-a-half million homeless kids. And a study this year by The National Gay And Lesbian Task Force found that up to 40 percent of those are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.

CARL SICILIANO, ALI FORNEY CENTER: The kid comes out and that day he's told to put his belongings in garbage bags and hit the streets.

ROWLANDS: Carl Siciliano runs the Ali Forney Center, named after a New York gay homeless teenager who was murdered.

SICILIANO: But I feel like it's the kid who's being treated like garbage, just thrown out, discarded. Like somehow their being gay wipes out their value as -- as human beings and erases the sense that the parent has responsibility to care for this kid.

DE'SHON (SINGING): We'll live the life of our dreams ROWLANDS: Brittany says she grew up singing and writing songs with her father, who raised her as a single parent. She says they were extremely close until he found out that she was gay and everything changed.

DE'SHON: Totally different. Like -- like I wasn't his child anymore.

ROWLANDS: Brittany says her dad went from best friend to worst enemy.

DE'SHON: Telling me that that's wrong and I'm going to get AIDS and I'm going to die and all this different stuff. Gay people are nasty and they do all types of stuff like this.

What -- what type of support is that to come from a parent that you done grew up with all your life?

ROWLANDS: Why do parents turn their back on their own children after finding out they're gay?

We asked Brittany's dad.

TERRENCE WARD, BRITTANY'S FATHER: I think I -- I was both hurt and upset.

ROWLANDS: Terrence Ward admits to verbally abusing his daughter and says he now regrets saying the things that chased her away.

WARD: I guess she figured I would be more open to it, so maybe she was shocked to hear -- get the reaction I gave her. So we both were shocked.

ROWLANDS: Terrence says he assumed that Brittany had a place to stay and never envisioned her on the streets. But he still says he can't accept that Brittany is really gay, hoping that one day the queen with the beautiful voice will come back.

(on camera): Isn't she the same girl?

WARD: I wouldn't say. I could -- I would say she's not the same girl.

DE'SHON: Parents have kids who have birth defects all the time. You're not going to treat them no different.

So why would you treat a kid that you done knew all of their life and they all a sudden decide that they like the same sex, why would you treat them differently?

That really hurts kids, because that's all that they know. They know their parents and they know if nobody else has their back in this world, their parents are.

ROWLANDS (on camera): If parents see where the kids end up, do you think they would throw them out? SICILIANO: If parents were in my shoes and saw these kids day after day and saw how hurt they were, saw how much violated they've been, saw how they've been degraded, I don't know how anybody with a heart could do that to their child.

ROWLANDS (voice-over): Tony says he no longer sells his body and has reestablished his relationship with his mother.

AGUILAR: She has told me that she feels bad and that she wishes that she never threw me out.

ROWLANDS: Terrence and Brittany are still estranged. Both say they'd like to be close again, and while Terrence says he still can't fully accept that his daughter is gay, he wishes he had reacted differently.

WARD: I don't think any parent would want to hear that their daughter was walking the streets like that.

DE'SHON (SINGING): Might not happen overnight. But things are turning out all right. Just leave it up to me, baby.

ROWLANDS: Ted Rowlands, CNN, Detroit.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

HARRIS: And still ahead, roadside bomb -- the view inside a Humvee. The cameraman lives to tell his story and you'll hear it.

COLLINS: And you can take this one to the bank.

Can you imagine life with ATMs?

How about without ATMs?

No way.

Celebrating the money machine's birthday straight ahead, right here in THE NEWSROOM.

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COLLINS: You already know to catch us weekday mornings from 9:00 a.m. Until 12:00 p.m. Eastern. But you can take us with you everywhere you go on your iPod, you know, in case you get lonely.

HARRIS: Right.

COLLINS: The CNN NEWSROOM pod cast available 24-7 right on your iPod.

HARRIS: The ATM taken for granted today. But 40 years ago, the introduction of a quick cash machine changed the banking industry forever.

CNN's Jim Boulden reports. (BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

JIM BOULDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was known as a mini bank 40 years ago. Some even dubbed it a robot cashier. The British bank that installed the first one on June 27th, 1967 at this branch in North London just called it Barclay Cash.

It is, of course, the ATM, or cash machine, or, as the British call it, the hole in the wall.

JEMMA SMITH, U.K. PAYMENTS ASSOCIATION:

There's a phenomenal 5,000 pounds a second coming out of U.K. Cash machines. And we're making 87 transactions a second because over two thirds of all the cash we are now carrying around with us is actually from a cash machine.

BOULDEN: The inventor, John Shepherd-Barron, worked for money printer Delaroux (ph). After a frustrating Saturday when he couldn't cash a check, he came up with the ATM while in the bath. He decided on a six digit pass code and then passed the whole idea by his wife.

JOHN SHEPHERD-BARRON, INVENTOR OF THE ATM: And my wife said she couldn't remember more than four, so I changed it down to four. And the word PIN came from my wife's nickname, which was Aunt Pin. And so it matched up with the personal identification number.

BOULDEN: There were no plastic cards then. People first had to buy vouchers from a teller when the bank was open. And, as a sign of the times, the very first cash machine was, indeed, vandalized. That was a hint of what was to come. Theft of money soared despite endless warnings to watch your PIN and your card. Criminals even added false fronts and inserted cameras to get PIN codes. And some of the 9/11 hijackers were caught on an ATM camera the night before.

But few would argue that this particular advancement has not been an improvement.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're just so convenient. They're everywhere. There's even ones now that dispense euros.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I never go into the bank and draw money out. I always use the holes in the wall.

BOULDEN: From fewer than 800 ATMs at the end of the 1960s, Barclays says there are now over 1.6 million around the world.

(on camera): Shepherd-Barron says that his contribution to the modern world may be short-lived. He says we're probably going to use another indispensable tool of the modern age to make all cash transactions, the mobile phone.

Jim Boulden, CNN, London.

COLLINS: Unfolding this hour, Texas communities hit hard by high water. A new round of flooding. A developing story. We're watching it for you.

HARRIS: And take a look at this. Police chase a hard-charging suspect on foot. You have to see the ending of this one. You won't quite believe it.

You are in THE CNN NEWSROOM.

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HARRIS: Tragedy outside the ring. Pro-wrestlers on the edge. Chris Benoit just the latest to die young under extreme circumstances.

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COLLINS: Good morning, everybody.

I'm Heidi Collins.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris.

Stay informed in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Here's what's on the run down for you this hour.

People said to be trapped in treetops and on house tops. Waterlogged Texas gets hit with a new round of flooding. We are updating the dangerous situation all morning.

COLLINS: The Lake Tahoe wildfire pushed over a fire brake by gusting winds. Hundreds more homes in the line of fire, this hour.

HARRIS: He is set to land in the record books this hour. A 23 year old, the youngest pilot to circle the Earth so low.

It is Wednesday, June 27th, and you are in THE CNN NEWSROOM.

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