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Tracking Hurricane Dean; Memorial Service Held for Utah Miner Who Took Part in Rescue Operation; Space Shuttle Endeavour Back on Earth

Aired August 21, 2007 - 14:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: It is a shadow of its former self, but Dean isn't dead by a long shot.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The first Category 5 hurricane to hit land in 15 years due to hit land gain, category unknown, tomorrow morning.

Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips, in the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon. You're in the NEWSROOM.

Let's get straight to CNN's Jacqui Jeras. She's tracking every move Dean makes.

Right, Jacqui?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right. The 2:00 Eastern Time advisory is in, and Dean has been downgraded to a Category 1 storm, with maximum sustained winds at 85 miles per hour.

It's closing in at this hour in Campeche, and it's about 43 miles to the south-southeast of that city. The hurricane-force winds extend out about 50 miles from the center of the storm. So they very well may be seen, a few of those sustained hurricane-force winds and certainly gusts beyond 74 miles per hour.

So, really battening down the hatches here and there, experiencing the worst of this storm. And we think two hours from now it will be passing just to their south and to the west and then emerging into open waters once again, into the Bay of Campeche.

Look at the size of this storm, still. This is how far out the tropical storm force-winds extend. And you can see that really covers the entire Yucatan Peninsula.

Well, advance in time. You can see that it stays quite large, but look at the move over the water again. The red in there indicates major hurricane status winds once again.

So, these are the tropical storm-force winds in yellow. In orange, these are hurricane-force winds, a minimum of 74 miles per hour, and then Category 3, right here, that's 111 or more, as it makes its second landfall across the Mexican mainland. It will weaken very rapidly then as it moves inland. However, even though it's going to be weakening, it's still going to be a very large rain producer. Five to 10 inches of rainfall, with maximum amounts up to 20 inches. And the terrain in this area, very mountainous, so we're expecting flooding and landslides and mudslides to be a very big problem. We're also watching what's going to be happening here as it moves through the Bay of Campeche because some of the oil rigs and platforms located here.

It's staying on a westerly track, moving about 18 miles per hour now, so it's slowed down just a smidgen in forward speed. It was 20 before, now it's down to 18, so our timing still about the same. We're expecting that second landfall to be coming in sometime midday on Wednesday.

And coming up, we're going to have some more team coverage, guys. Dave Hennen will be back with me and we'll talk more about how this is going to be different for the Mexican mainland.

LEMON: Jacqui Jeras, thank you for that report.

PHILLIPS: Well, you heard how Jacqui was saying Hurricane Dean soon may be a tropical storm, but don't expect it to fizzle out anytime soon. It's headed for the Bay of Campeche and then central Mexico.

CNN's Chris Lawrence is waiting for Dean. He's just south of Campeche. We're able to connect with him now.

Chris, what's it like?

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pretty miserable, Kyra. We're right here on the Gulf of Mexico.

I don't know if you can see behind me, but you can see what this storm is really doing to the waves here right on the Gulf. This is Chomaton (ph). We're a little bit south of Campeche.

Took a drive all the way here from Mexico City, and along the way we could just see the storm getting progressively worse. Maybe a couple hundred miles back, there were still school kids waiting on the side of the road to go to class today. And as we get further and further here, just about every place is boarded up.

We saw people trying to get their boats out of the water at the last minute. And again, it is just bringing so much rain right here off the Gulf that these waves are really whipping up out here now -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Now, Chris, this is actually the first chance since we came on the air this afternoon that we've had a live picture and be able to talk to a reporter. A lot of this has been by phone. So we're seeing the first-hand effects here.

Can you give us a sense for -- you talked about the locals, but is this a tourist area? I mean, if you, where exactly you are, is this a popular place for tourists to come into, in addition mingling with the locals?

LAWRENCE: Just a little bit north of us in Campeche, they do have more tourists. This is more of a local neighborhood.

There's a hospital right up the road, and as we were driving in to kind of find a place to set up where we'd have some sort of wall between us and the Gulf of Mexico, we could see these trucks, these pickup trucks rolling up and down the street picking up people, and trying to help them, if they couldn't get out of the way of the storm in time. We passed several families still out, even just about 30 minutes ago, trying to put up boards on their homes, trying to do what they can, you know, to kind of reinforce what they have before these winds really kick up and that rain starts beating down on some of those windows.

PHILLIPS: Is this a tough place, Chris, for the locals to be able to get supplies and sort of try to prepare for what's about to happen?

LAWRENCE: I think they had pretty fair warning, but again, just from driving through and talking to people here, it's not an area where you've got like a lot of people who have got a ton of money. So what we saw was people using some really just -- whatever they had around. Maybe it was a beam, a piece of wood that they were trying to nail over their window, people grabbing tape, trying to tape the window.

As we pan around, you can see some of the water a little bit rushing down this main street here, right off the Gulf. Up until about 30 minutes ago, we were still seeing some people outside, but again, these trucks were going by. We think they were police, and they were trying to pick up people and help people get out of the way of the storm.

We also saw a lot of people actually out in the road, trying to clear some of the debris so some of these trucks and rescue pickup trucks can get through. We saw a group of men, about four or five of them. They live right around here in the neighborhood, and they were just trying to pull these huge trees, tree branches that had fall an cross the road, to get them out of the road so some of the ambulances and vehicles like that could still -- could still make it through.

PHILLIPS: Chris, I don't know if you've had a chance to ask anybody about this, or make your way toward where these oil rigs are in the Bay of Campeche, but we've been talking about it with our Susan Lisovicz, and even the economic effects from an oil perspective, not only there, but here in the U.S.

Do you have a sense for what's being done to try and protect those oil rigs?

LAWRENCE: I can only go by past experience in covering hurricanes in the state of Texas and along the coast there, and along the Gulf Coast as well. Those companies are very well prepared for hurricanes, and when they know the hurricane is coming several days out, they start going through several lockdown-type procedures to make sure that some of their critical infrastructure is not heavily damaged.

Of course, when you get a storm the size of Dean, you know, all bets are off. There's nothing that could totally protect every structure. But my experience has been, most of the oil companies are very well prepared for earthquakes -- or I should say for hurricanes like this.

You know, again, I'm taking what I know from hurricanes in the United States. And you know, sort of transferring that to some of the companies that are based here, right here in the -- on the Mexican side.

PHILLIPS: Got it.

Chris Lawrence, thanks so much.

You're seeing there the first live account. We've been able to get to one of our reporters. We've done a lot of phone interviews, but Chris is able to bring us live pictures there.

He's just south of Campeche. Hurricane Dean soon may be a tropical storm, but as you can see, it's not fizzling out any time soon. We'll keep checking in with our Chris Lawrence.

LEMON: Kyra, the center of the storm hit just south of some of Mexico's most popular tourist spots. It's kind of a sharp contrast to where our Chris Lawrence was, but let's go to Jason Carroll now, who rode it out in Cancun.

And what's it like after the storm there, Jason? I imagine it's a lot calmer than when it went right over.

Apparently, Jason is having some problems there, but it went right over where he is, where Jason Carroll rode that storm out. So we're going to continue to follow this developing story and we're going to also tell you how you can help out as well as we wait to get back to Jason.

If you want to impact your world and help the victims of Hurricane Dean, log on to CNN.com/impact and we can help you to find relief programs right there in your region.

PHILLIPS: Well, Dean is not expected to hit the U.S., but thousands of Americans already feel like it and feel like they've been through a hurricane. They're feeling from two major storms that have swamped the Midwest and the plains, including the remains of Tropical Storm Erin.

You can take a look at our latest video here, flashfloods across southern Wisconsin, where hundreds of people have already fled their homes. And then the same is true in north and central Ohio, where part of a major interstate was shut down. Firefighters using boats to rescue the stranded people there.

Also hit by the storms, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Texas and Michigan. At least 20 people are now reported dead. LEMON: All right. Let's get you now to Utah live. You're looking at live pictures from Huntington Canyon, Utah.

And services got under way last hour for Dale Ray Black. He's one of three rescuers killed last week while searching for six missing coal miners. Now, Black would have turned 49 on Friday. His fate is a big reason no more rescuers will be sent underground for now.

But the miners' families are hoping and praying that a fifth bore hole will turn up, well, some sign of life and maybe give new life to manned rescue efforts.

With more on that, CNN's Dan Lothian is in Huntington for us. He's live there.

Hi, Dan.

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Don.

Well, I'll get to the rescue operation in just a moment. But as you mentioned, a somber day here because of the funeral for Dale Black, the 48-year-old miner who took part in that rescue operation that proved fatal for three people last Thursday.

It's taking place at a campground about eight miles away from where I'm standing, eight miles away from the mine where he died. About 1,000 people at that service, including Bob Murray, who is the owner of the mine.

At the service, his brother read a poem, his sister sang a song, and a daughter read a tribute to her father.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHLEY PRUITT, DALE BLACK'S DAUGHTER: From the beginning of this tragic accident, my dad worked as hard as we knew he would to get those miners out of there, and he never gave up hope. There were times when he was up there that he didn't even need to be, but he just wanted to do his part in the rescue efforts.

On August 16, 2007, we lost one of the greatest men ever put on Earth. He will be loved, and he will be missed, but he will never be forgotten.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LOTHIAN: As we take a look at more live pictures of that funeral service that continues down the mountain from where we are, it's also somber in this community because Bob Murray, who had been hopeful throughout this entire ordeal, has now admitted that he doesn't know if the six miners can be ever found, and he's not optimistic that they will ever be found alive. In addition, there have been some experts who have been taking a look at the mountain, taking a look to see whether or not they could continue that underground rescue operation, and they say it is simply too dangerous to resume that underground rescue operation. Now, family members of the trapped miners, what they've been wanting officials to do is to dig a large hole and send down a rescue capsule in order to recover the six miners, but Murray again said that option is simply too dangerous.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB MURRAY, PRESIDENT & CEO, MURRAY ENERGY CORP.: If there is not a live person down there, the risks of sending someone down a 30- inch hole 2,000 feet deep would not justify any rescue effort unless we find someone alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LOTHIAN: Now the family members of those six trapped miners have been critical of the operation and they believe that federal officials and mine officials have simply given up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE ALLRED, BROTHER OF TRAPPED MINER: They're basically giving up, and that's unacceptable. Absolutely unacceptable. I can't live with that, his family can't live with that. We've got to -- one way or the other, we've got to have closure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LOTHIAN: Now, Don, what's taking place at this time up on the mountain behind me, they are working on that fifth bore hole. They hope to go down a little more than 2,000 feet. They expect to punch through sometime this evening, but perhaps we'll have a chance to lower in the microphones and the video cameras until sometime tomorrow. But mine officials say they aren't optimistic about what they'll find -- Don.

LEMON: Yes. Very sad.

Dan Lothian, thank you.

And that memorial service still live now, still going on.

Thanks for that report, Dan.

PHILLIPS: Well, space shuttle Endeavour returns to Earth. We're going to go live to Kennedy Space Center. Our Miles O'Brien covering that nearly two-week orbital drama and also a historical landing. Teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara Morgan comes home with an amazing story.

LEMON: And Hurricane Dean is still whipping up some action. It's been downgraded to a Cat. 1, but it's believed when it hits open water again it's going to restrengthen.

We're going to tell you all about it coming up in CNN NEWSROOM.

You're looking at live radar and live pictures now coming from just south of Campeche as Hurricane Dean ravages the coast there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: 2:17 Eastern Time right now. Here's three of the stories we're working on in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Just minutes ago, Hurricane Dean was downgraded to a Category 1 storm after making landfall in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula as a Cat 5. Dean is now moving across the Yucatan peninsula with 85-mile-an-hour winds, heading for the Gulf of Mexico.

And Mexico's president, meantime, is rushing back home. He's cutting short a summit in Canada with President Bush and the Canadian prime minister. The meeting's partly aimed at boosting North American trade.

And another court appearance today in those brutal shooting in a Newark, New Jersey, schoolyard. A sixth suspect arrested. An 18- year-old has pleaded not guilty. Four people were shot execution style August 4th. Three of them died.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Touchdown.

LEMON: A safe landing always nice to see. After a shortened mission, though. Space shuttle Endeavour is back on solid ground, landing in Florida a little less than two hours ago.

And of course CNN Space Correspondent Miles O'Brien is at the Kennedy Space Center.

Hello, Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Don, it was picture- perfect landing. A lot of concern about the belly of the space shuttle Endeavour.

We just got our first look at the gouge after the heat of reentry. First, let's talk about that landing -- 5.25 million miles on the odometer for the space shuttle Endeavour as she came in, her 20th flight, 22nd construction mission to the International Space Station.

All the primary goals of this mission accomplished -- attached a big piece of truss to the backbone of the space station. And, of course, Barbara Morgan, the teacher in space, fulfilling the legacy of Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher in space who, of course, perished along with the Challenger crew back in January of 1986.

Let's take a look at that gouge.

We got a shot from the runway just a little while ago. There's Barbara Morgan in space, but we'll show you that gouge if we could. It was a three and a half foot chunk of the pieces of tile that was taken out by foam which fell off the external fuel tank. There you see it after its trip back home. Now, I want you to pay close attention to it, make a mental note of that right now. Look at the size of the portion which goes right down to the skin there.

Now, I want to show you images which were captured in space of the same gouge, and you make the comparison. My eyes see that this is worse than it was in space.

That's probably -- there you go. It looks like a bigger gap down by the skin of the orbiter.

The question is, is it worse such that it caused damage to the aluminum skin of the space shuttle? The engineers tested it several times in advance. It was their conclusion that there would not be enough heat on the aluminum skin to cause any sort of damage at all to the skin of the orbiter.

This all remains to be seen. It looks like clearly the heat of re-entry caused additional damage to that gouge.

Stay tuned for more information on that.

We've got to remember what this was all about. This was 58 seconds after launch. A small piece of foam about the size of a softball came off one of the struts, one of the fittings on that external fuel tank, that big external -- orange external fuel tank, and bashed into it. And now NASA has got to come up with a way of reducing the risk of this happening again.

They're looking at ways of perhaps coating the foam with an oily substance so ice doesn't build up on it. Perhaps using less foam, perhaps changing some of these brackets from foam-covered aluminum to titanium.

A lot of things are going to be discussed between now and the next shuttle mission, which is October 23rd. Potential delays in the mix here.

Finally, Don, we saw six of the seven crew members as they walked out on the tarmac just a little while ago. Barbara Morgan was unable to join them. She was -- remained in a crew transport vehicle. We're not sure what that was all about.

We do know this, that astronauts, after a two-week stint in space, can experience, well, shall we say mal de space. And we'll track that for you.

Certainly a successful mission for her. And I'm sure she'll be back on her feet very shortly, regardless of what she's enduring right now -- Don.

LEMON: Absolutely. It sounds a bit windy where you are, too.

Just real quick, too, and I hope this doesn't sound like a silly question, but the pictures that they took after, was that -- they take the goo out that you were mentioning, or do they take the picture with the goo and just sort of compensate for it?

O'BRIEN: Well, remember, they never used the goo. They decided not to repair it.

LEMON: Right, OK.

O'BRIEN: There was a lot of talk about putting the goo in and they never did it. So maybe this -- maybe the information they get on this gouge, if they have something like this next time, they might decide to go and do that. We'll keep you posted.

LEMON: Wow. There you go. All right.

Miles O'Brien, thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well, straight ahead, it's a done deal. NFL quarterback Michael Vick set to plead guilty in the dogfighting case. Hear what some of Vick's teammates and the Atlanta Falcons owner have to say, straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The latest report on mortgage defaults shows a huge surge, and there doesn't seem to be any relief in sight.

(BUSINESS REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Well, straight ahead, just along for the ride or cruising for trouble? The feds want to know why these guys are taking so many rides on Washington State ferries.

LEMON: And a teammate in trouble. What are other Atlanta Falcons saying about Michael Vick and his legal woes?

PHILLIPS: A monstrous storm on the move. Tracking Hurricane Dean. We're live along the storm's path.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips, live at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon. They've stood for centuries, but how did some of Mexico's most treasured and historic sites stand up to a Category 5 hurricane?

PHILLIPS: We're just starting to get some post-Dean damage reports. And you're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Well, all eyes are on Dean as the one-time Category 5 super storm churns across the Yucatan Peninsula. It's now a Cat. 1 with top sustained winds of 85 miles an hour but it will cross more water and regain power before it slams the coast of Mexico a second time.

We've seen damaged buildings, flooded streets but so far we've heard of no one hurt in Mexico. CNN has reporters and crews all over the region and we're going to be calling on all of them this afternoon right here in the NEWSROOM.

LEMON: Well, you know, when Dean roared ashore, ancient Mayan ruins were right in its path. How did they fare? CNN's Gary Tuchman is in Felipe Carillo Puerto, southwest of Tulum -- Gary.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Don. Yesterday when we talked to you, we were in Tulum where a tourist might note it is the city that have these magnificent ancient Mayan ruins. Many of the buildings are over 1,000 years old that stand right on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico.

There was a lot of concern. These buildings, which have survived for centuries, could be imperiled by the impending Category 5 hurricane, but all seems well. We haven't been able to go there firsthand yet. They've kept it closed for security reasons right now. But police officials in Tulum are telling us the buildings did fine.

The main reason for that, the eye of the hurricane passed about 80 or 90 miles to the south, the damage in Tulum, while there was some, was not significant, was certainly not catastrophic. And most of the homes for the 10,000 people who live there are fine, too. So that's the good news.

Right now we're traveling south though on one of the loneliest roads in the Americas, Mexico Route 307, kind of the only north/south highway along the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. And we are in the town of Felipe Carille Puerto. And there's some more damage here as we head south. There are lots of trees down. There is a little more significant damage to the homes, but nothing catastrophic that we've seen just yet.

Most businesses are closed, all the gasoline stations are closed, which raises some concerns among us as we are trying to tool around the country a little bit to get -- this part of the country a little bit to get an idea of what's going on. We're running a little low on petroleum right now, but that's a whole 'nother story, Don.

Either way, though, as far as we can see right now, the damage is not catastrophic. That is good news. But we're continuing to work our way south towards exactly where the eye crossed in a very -- relatively good spot. And it's called the Reserva de la Biosfera, and that is the Biosphere Reserve. It's a wildlife sanctuary.

Very few people live there. But there are some resort communities along the beach that we want to check out and make sure that the damage there wasn't catastrophic like it could have been from a Category 5 hurricane -- Don.

LEMON: CNN's Gary Tuchman reporting, stay safe. Thank you, Gary.

PHILLIPS: We also had a chance to catch up with our Chris Lawrence, you might have seen him live about 45 minutes ago. He is just south of the Bay of Campeche. He filed another report for us as he's moving along the waterline.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a residential area. Campeche, a little bit to our north, is a little bit more of a tourist area. This is an area where people live, and right up until about maybe an hour ago we saw people along the street grabbing whatever they could. We saw a man grabbing some beams to try to put over his windows, put some tape up.

But in the last hour, I mean, since these winds have kicked up, I haven't seen anybody on the street. But I do know that a lot of the critical infrastructure is still functioning here, because we were seeing police in pickup trucks putting people in the flatbed of the pickup truck who weren't able to get out of the way of the storm in time.

We also saw an ambulance roll by down the street once or twice, because I believe there's a hospital just up the road there. So it does seem that some of the critical infrastructure is still there if some of people here -- who live here need it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, Jacqui Jeras is tracking every move that Dean makes as well.

What's the latest, Jacqui?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Chris Lawrence is right in the heart of the storm. As we speak, the center of circulation is just about over in the -- here is Campeche. Here's Champoton. And the center of the storm is right about there. So they're experiencing hurricane-force winds.

The sustained could be up to 85 miles per hour, that's the maximum the storm has in it right now. This is a visible satellite image. And it starts out dark here because you can't see it when the sun is down. But it kind of gives you a better idea of where the center of circulation is, right about here.

So it's about half and half, I think. Half onshore, half offshore. So it's making that emerging right into the Bay of Campeche. And so as that full eye gets over the water again, we'll start to watch those winds begin to pick up.

The other thing to keep in mind, too, is that as storms rotate counterclockwise, this is going to be bringing in some kind of a storm surge, maybe six to eight feet. So they're still dealing with a lot of impact. Even though this is a Category 1 storm, it can still cause quite a bit of damage.

We're going to probably get some roof damage there where Chris Lawrence is. And also a lot of trees snapping down a little bit, too. It is staying on the westerly track. We haven't seen any deviation from that.

So we're expected to take overnight to head into the western parts of the bay and then maybe midday tomorrow we'll watch for a second landfall. And we think it could ramp up enough to get back to major Category 3 storm status. And that's winds of 111-plus miles per hour.

Here you can see before it reaches the shore at 1:10, so we think there's enough time in here that it will be a major hurricane at landfall. The biggest concern outside of the winds and the surge at the immediate impact point, we'll be worried about some major flooding and landslides and mudslides as it continues to move inland. Back to you.

PHILLIPS: OK, Jacqui Jeras, we'll keep talking to you throughout the day.

LEMON: And CNN I-Reporters also weighing in on Hurricane Dean and tracking it for us. One of them is Edward Linsmier. He is on the phone. He is from Portland Cottage, Jamaica.

It roared through how long ago for you?

EDWARD LINSMIER, I-REPORTER: I'm sorry, didn't catch that? What was that?

LEMON: How long ago did the storm roar through and when did you take these pictures?

LINSMIER: I guess the storm came through kind of intermittently on Sunday. And as soon as the storm was over, and we headed out early Monday morning at about 7:00 or 7:30 and some of the roads were kind of bad, so we had to wait for some of those to be cleared.

But since then we haven't had any problems getting around. So that's about when we started.

LEMON: Yes. So...

LINSMIER: And since then we've just kind have been -- I'm sorry?

LEMON: Yes. So, Edward, we're looking at pictures, there's one where it looks like a roof is half torn off, half torn off, and then now some papers and a woman standing. Tell us about this neighborhood. Is it near where you live and what kind of neighborhood is it?

LINSMIER: It's actually on the south coast, and it's called Portland Cottage. And in that area, about 80 percent of the homes are in similar conditions, with roofs -- there's a lot of roofs gone from the homes, like that one is actually -- are actually some are completely gone.

I'm not sure exactly which image you're looking at. But...

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Someone is carrying a mattress it looks like. LINSMIER: OK. Yes, there were some homes where literally it just looked like the structure itself was wiped from the foundation. And it's just these -- a lot of extreme need down here, housing, food, you know, things like this.

LEMON: Yes. What -- are folks taking shelter and where? Have you witnessed any of that, Edward?

LINSMIER: Yes, they've been taking shelter in shelters throughout the region. We haven't been specifically to any shelters yet. I mean, there's a lot going around. What we're trying to do is head out and sort of scout to see -- you know, see the areas that are the worst hit and then, you know, see the need from there and then report that back to our offices, and so they can get the appropriate supplies to the area.

LEMON: When you say report that back to your offices, what do you mean? Who do you work for?

LINSMIER: I'm with Food for the Poor.

LEMON: Food for the Poor. So are you down there doing missionary work?

LINSMIER: No, I'm actually a staff photographer, and we have teams in the field that report on the need of the people out here. And we are actually based out of Florida, and we have an office here in Jamaica as well.

LEMON: OK. Good for you. So you -- and when you're out there helping folks -- which is much needed and we're glad you're doing it, if you do have an opportunity to take some more pictures, just so we can give the world a sense of what's happening there, and just the devastation of what is Hurricane Dean, we would really appreciate it. Appreciate the work you're doing and we also thank you for being a CNN I-Reporter.

LINSMIER: All right. Thanks a lot. Have a great day.

LEMON: You too. Edward Linsmier, down there helping out.

We want to tell you, I-Reporters always helping out here. And of course, we encourage to you send in your pictures as well and your video. But also be safe. Just go to our Web site cnn.com/ireport.

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, it's a done deal. NFL quarterback Michael Vick set to plead guilty in a dogfighting case. Hear what the Atlanta Falcons team owner has to say, straight ahead in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: A day after word of Michael Vick's dogfighting plea deal, we're hearing from some of his fellow Atlanta Falcons as well as his boss. Asked to describe his relationship right now with the star quarterback, team owner Arthur Blank told the NFL Network: "Obviously it's not good." Blank had this to say about the pending plea deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARTHUR BLANK, OWNER, ATLANTA FALCONS: From a personal standpoint, I think he's doing the right thing. And that has been my counsel to him quite some while ago, and publicly as well, to, you know, get this behind him as quickly as he can and take responsibility for whatever he did. And that whatever he did leads to the professional side, we have not seen the statement of facts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Blank said that one of the main lessons that he has learned from all of this is the team needs to dig into all incoming players' backgrounds.

Vick's co-defendants may have blitzed him but many of his teammates are still holding the line. Less than a week before the Atlanta Falcons quarterback is expected to enter a guilty plea in his dogfighting case, some of his colleagues faced reporters today.

They admit this is a tough time, but refused to write Vick off.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARRICK DUNN, ATLANTA FALCONS: Well, I think overall as a friend of Mike, it's disturbing obviously that some of the charges that he's up against are definitely inappropriate. And myself, nor other players, we condone any of that stuff, violence on animals. So it's tough, but as a teammate, you have to support him.

And like I always say, it's like we have a family member or a brother who has done something wrong. You chastise him but you still have to support him at the same time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Vick's punishment, not to mention his future in pro sports, are still up in the air right now.

LEMON: An eyewitness to panic. Today for the first time we're hearing from a U.S. Marine who was on that China airlines jet that blew up after landing in Japan yesterday. All 165 people on board survived with no serious injuries. Sergeant Shane Bertrand, a Marine stationed in Okinawa, described the intensity inside the plane to Rick Sanchez on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. SHANE BERTRAND, USMC, SURVIVED EXPLOSION: People from behind were actually pushing on us, trying to jump over seats. They were screaming, yelling, obviously some in Chinese, some in Japanese, and a couple actually in English.

But for the most part, none of the Americans were yelling, that I noticed, of the 13 Americans that were there. And finally when we actually got the opportunity to start stepping forward, that's when you could see the smoke coming in, you know, obviously we've already been smelling it. The windows were melting.

We made our way as calmly as possible especially because of all the military that we had right there: the four Marines that were traveling right next to me, an Army individual, and a Navy individual and his family, wife and two small children, and were as calm as humanly possible, just walking forward real slowly and finally got our opportunity to jump off.

And I was off the plane in less than 25 seconds when the first explosion went.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Man, amazing no one was killed in that. Bertrand survived three tours of combat duty in Iraq. But when he saw the flames on the plane's wings, he says he feared his life might be over.

PHILLIPS: Well, we've been talking about Dean. But what was Tropical Storm Erin continues to ravage the Midwest. Rescues under way in Ohio this afternoon. We'll have more on that coming up. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: And I'm Sibila Vargas in Hollywood. Elvis Presley's stolen gun has been recovered. But you're not going to believe where they found it. Stick around, that's coming up next in the NEWSROOM.

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LEMON: If they only knew what happened here during the commercial breaks. British musician Peter Doherty gets out of jail and it's all because he didn't get to court on time, sound confusing? Well, our entertainment correspondent Sibila Vargas joins me now to explain everything.

Hi, Sibila. Always good to see you.

VARGAS: Nice to see you too.

LEMON: What's going on with Pete?

VARGAS: Well, you know, a lot of people know him as the on- again, off-again boyfriend to supermodel Kate Moss. But today he is definitely making some news of his own. The British musician was released from jail today without being charged with breaching bail conditions. Now the reason? Well, it seems that authorities failed to get him to court on time.

According to the prosecutor, the law dictates that the suspect be brought to court within 24 hours. The prosecutor also said that the court had no jurisdiction to deal with the matter anymore. Yesterday Doherty was arrested on suspicion of possessing drugs. The 28-year- old Doherty has been undergoing court-ordered rehabilitation treatment. LEMON: OK. Sibila, I don't want to put you on the spot, but does it mean he got off because they couldn't deal with it? They didn't handle it right, so he -- it's a done deal or does he have to...

VARGAS: It's a done deal. I mean, you know, get the guy to the court on time. Usually you want to get to the court on time but in a way it's almost like he's happy he didn't because now he doesn't have to deal with this.

LEMON: Lucky for him.

All right. So, Sibila, Elvis has been in the news a lot lately, you know, the anniversary of his death and all of that. But now I'm hearing something that once belonged to Elvis that has been stolen, also recovered. And we saw the video, I think it was security camera video of it.

VARGAS: Yes, a handgun once owned by Elvis Presley was stolen from a Memphis museum last week but today it has been recovered. Now you might however be surprised to find out where they found it. The black .9 millimeter Smith & Wesson pistol was taken Tuesday from a display case in the Elvis After Dark Museum. You see it right there.

The museum is directly across the street from Graceland. Now fortunately it was caught on tape. In surveillance footage, you can see a man removing the pistol from the display case. Officials say Travis Brookins was cleaning portable toilets behind the exhibit hall last Thursday when he found a gun in the muck. He believes the thief may have accidentally dropped the gun into the toilet after taking it. OK.

Well, tonight on "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT," inside the wild, wacky world of celebrity bloggers. How do they learn all those star secrets and do they sometimes go too far on what they report? An eye-opening special report on TV's most provocative entertainment show. "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT," 11:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific.

Back to you, Don.

LEMON: Found it right there in the you-know-what, right?

VARGAS: Yes, exactly. I tried to make my transition very smooth.

(LAUGHTER)

LEMON: Hope he used gloves, Sibila.

(LAUGHTER)

VARGAS: Well said.

LEMON: Have a good evening. We'll be watching tonight, thanks.

VARGAS: OK. Thanks. PHILLIPS: Well, it's the list that college deans love to hate, and some prospective students love to see. Where is the best place to get Bachelors in brewskies? A Masters in mixology? And a Party Ph.D.? We're pouring out all the details in the NEWSROOM.

LEMON: And powerful Hurricane Dean, it rakes Mexico, fierce wind, high water. We're live from the big storm's path right here in the CNN NEWSROOM, it's your hurricane headquarters.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, do students at West Virginia University in Morgantown think that they live in "Captain Morgantown"? WVU is named the station's top party school by The Princeton Review. School administrators aren't too happy about the ranking, go figure. Ol' Miss second place, followed by Texas, Florida, and Georgia. The most sober school in the annual ranking, Brigham Young, of course, for the 10th straight year. Next hour of CNN NEWSROOM and our own party starts right now.

Well, the winds are down, but the rain is coming down faster. Hurricane Dean may have dwindled to a Category 1, but a foot or more of rain will leave its mark on the Yucatan.

LEMON: Yes. But Dean once again is on the verge of open ocean. After that, another rendezvous with Mexico.

Hello, everyone. I'm Don Lemon, live at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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