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Woman Trapped in Car for Eight Days Fighting for Life; Health Care Reality Check; Nevada Authorities Seek Help Identifying Girl, Suspect on Videotape
Aired September 28, 2007 - 11:00 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 again, everyone. You're with CNN. You're informed.
I'm Tony Harris.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, everybody.
I'm Heidi Collins.
Developments keep coming in to the CNN NEWSROOM on this Friday, the 28th of September.
Here's what's on the rundown.
Trapped for eight days in a ravine, a woman fighting for her life this morning.
HARRIS: A girl sexually abused on video. Live this hour, the sheriff who is trying desperately to figure out her identity.
COLLINS: And the crew of the Joe Cool presumably forced overboard. This morning, two suspects in court and new information.
Mystery at sea, in the NEWSROOM.
At the top this hour, from Washington State, a survival story to consider the next time you get behind the wheel. The woman's car plunges into a ravine and she is trapped there for more than a week waiting for help.
Mark Miller is a reporter with our Seattle affiliate KOMO.
Mark, good to see you. Good morning to you.
Tanya Rider, how is she doing? What's the update on her?
MARK MILLER, REPORTER, KOMO: Good morning.
Well, I'll tell you what, she is still struggling to make it through this. Everybody here in Seattle overjoyed that this woman was able to survive eight days trapped in an SUV down a ravine off of a mayor freeway here. But she is still in critical condition, she's upstairs in the intensive care unit.
She's on a ventilator, kidney failure. She's got broken bones, severely infected sores. They may have to take a leg. So by no means is her battle over.
But it's amazing the way they even found her. They spotted that car yesterday down this ravine. It was in an area that is so heavily brushed that they had passed this area many, many times over the last nine days. Never saw her until yesterday.
They had to extricate this woman, pull her up by ropes on a gurney. They rushed her to the hospital where her family was waiting, and, you know, they truly believe that this is a miracle.
HARRIS: Wow. And Mark, how did they finally locate the vehicle?
MILLER: Well, they actually decided to go to the cell phone company and try to do something called cell phone pinging. They were able to send out a signal that actually finds the nearest cell phone tower to where her cell phone would be located in the car with her. They were able to narrow down the area where she was within three to five miles, and that proved to be the critical link that got them in contact with her.
HARRIS: And Mark, her husband for a period there was -- was he actually deemed a suspect, or was he just being questioned?
MILLER: They're not exactly saying. But read into it what you will.
HARRIS: Yes.
MILLER: He was actually in the process of taking a lie detector test when he got the news they found his wife. So, yes, they were looking at him. That's rather routine in these cases. But I can tell you, he is a little bit upset that some of the police agencies here didn't get on this case and take it more seriously. He's got some issues with that and he is quite upset.
HARRIS: And if you would, just go through those injuries again. You mentioned -- I believe I heard you say that they may have to, man, take a leg. Run through the list of injuries that this woman is trying to recover from now.
MILLER: Well, listen, she was pinned in wreckage for eight days. So where parts of that wreckage were pressing against, you know, parts of her body...
HARRIS: Yes.
MILLER: ... they may have to remove a leg. She does have some severe infections through -- almost like bed sores you'd get in a hospital or a nursing home.
HARRIS: Sure.
MILLER: A broken collarbone. When they found her she was conscious but she was dealing with hypothermia, kidney failure, so, you know, she's got a host injuries. And again, she's on a ventilator. That's not a good sign, but they say she's strong. HARRIS: Mark Miller with our Seattle affiliate KOMO.
Mark, good to talk to you. Thank you.
COLLINS: Happening this hour in Miami, a bail hearing for two men at the center of a mystery at sea. They chartered a fishing boat. The four-member crew disappeared. A five-day Coast Guard search ended last night.
Kirby Archer and Guillermo Zarabozo were found in a raft 12 miles from the abandoned boat. Zarabozo told investigators pirates killed the crew. But investigators don't believe him.
HARRIS: Sick children and parents who can't afford to take them to a doctor. An expanded insurance program for poor children clears Congress, but the president says he will veto it. He wasn't always against the idea though.
CNN's Jessica Yellin reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROLYN TAYLOR CHESTER, MOTHER OF KEITH CHESTER: How was your day in school today?
KEITH CHESTER, 11 YEARS OLD: Fine.
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eleven-year old Keith Chester suffers from asthma and terrible allergies. To treat them, he visits a doctor four times a year. Keith's mother, Carolyn, earns $20,000 a year as a nursing assistant, too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not nearly enough to afford health care for her son.
(on camera): Is there some fat in your budget that you could trim, the things that...
(CROSSTALK)
C. CHESTER: There's no fat.
(LAUGHTER)
C. CHESTER: We're barely making it.
YELLIN (voice-over): To pay for Keith's treatment, the Chesters count on federal money from the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP. So do 6.5 million other low-income kids around the nation. With the vote tonight, the Senate joined with the House to increase funding for SCHIP by $35 billion, so that another four million children would have health insurance.
But President Bush vows to veto the additional money. He calls it socialized medicine and says it just costs too much.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe this is a step toward federalization of health care.
YELLIN: "Keeping Them Honest," we did a little rewind.
BUSH: We need to expand the -- the government health insurance program for children.
To expand the children's health insurance programs.
In a new term, we will lead an aggressive effort to enroll millions of poor children who are eligible.
YELLIN: It seems the president was for expanding the program before he was against it. What happened?
For answers, we went to top Republican Senator Chuck Grassley. Usually a Bush booster, this time, he's joined a group of prominent Republicans who side with Democrats to increase this program.
(on camera): Why do you think the president is picking this fight now?
SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY (R), IOWA: I think the president is doing this now. It's catch-up time, because he didn't veto very many spending bills during the years that the Republicans controlled Congress. And -- and he's been criticized for that.
YELLIN (voice-over): In other words, with elections coming, the White House and the GOP feel pressure to show themselves as small- government, fiscal conservatives.
Congressman Roy Blunt, a Bush ally, says, that's not true.
REP. ROY BLUNT (R-MO), HOUSE MINORITY WHIP: I think Democrats are paying politics with this issue. I think this issue is to get somebody like you to ask somebody like me, why are you opposed to insurance for kids?
YELLIN (on camera): It worked.
BLUNT: And it seems to me that it worked.
YELLIN (voice-over): He insists the extra billions would actually go not to low-income families, but to middle-class families.
BLUNT: We ought to have a program that really focuses on poor kids who don't have insurance. That's what I'm for.
YELLIN (on camera): The White House says this is actually helping middle-class kids and that it's government-run health care. Is that fair?
GRASSLEY: It's not fair at all.
YELLIN (voice-over): So, how does Congress propose to pay for it all?
BUSH: The legislation would raise taxes on working people.
YELLIN: Well, that's true, but where would that money come from? More tax on cigarettes, another 61 cents a pack.
Jessica Yellin, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: President Bush this morning standing by his threat to veto expanding the children's health insurance program.
Want to go live to the White House now and our correspondent there, Elaine Quijano.
Elaine, it seems like the pressure is on the White House, but what do they say about who this program really benefits?
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're right, they show no signs of backing down from their position. And they say, look, the president has been supportive of SCHIP all along. He's never been against it. What he is against is the form that it's taking now on Capitol Hill.
They say they want to make sure that this legislation focuses on the poorest children. They don't think that it does.
In their view, they have seen what they call missions creep, meaning, in their view, that states have increased the amount of income a family can have so they can apply for this SCHIP program. The administration just doesn't think that's the right thing to do.
But on top of that, Heidi, if you take a step back and you kind of look at the bigger picture here, this is also a White House that has been blasted recently for being fiscally irresponsible. You'll recall it was not too long ago that the former fed chief, Alan Greenspan, of course a very influential voice when it comes to these matters, actually criticized President Bush in his new book for what Greenspan called out-of-control spending.
Well, now the White House is drawing the line on this particular piece of legislation. The problem politically for the White House of course, as Jessica pointed out, there are some prominent Republican voices speaking out not standing with the president on this.
Nevertheless, this morning, just a few moments ago, in fact, White House spokesman Tony Fratto indicating again no backing down on this front, saying, "We must not be very isolated because his veto is going to be sustained."
Heidi.
COLLINS: All right. So explain the process. What exactly happens next with this program?
QUIJANO: Well, right now Democrats are going to be putting on the pressure. In fact, at this hour, they're holding what they call an "enrollment ceremony". And what this is, an opportunity for them to essentially focus attention on this and try to apply more political pressure on the White House.
What are we going to see? Of course, top Democratic leaders up there. Also, though, in an effort again to put a face on this problem, Democrats are also bringing in a 12-year-old boy by the name of Graham Frost (ph). He was injured in a car accident and he's actually going to be delivering the Democratic radio response this weekend, talking about this very issue, urging President Bush to sign this bill.
You know, the strategy here, really, on the part of the Democrats is to focus attention on this, to draw this out, continue putting the pressure on until they deliver this measure to the president. That's likely next week. But the White House, in response to this particular even that's taking place right now, again, White House spokesman Tony Fratto saying that there's no question the Democrats are, in his words, "... exploiting the image of children to try to get support for this bill." He says though it doesn't change the fact that it turns its back on the poorest children -- Heidi.
COLLINS: When you see the kids in the shot, it does kind of beg the question, do they know what this insurance program is about? Probably not.
All right. Elaine Quijano, thanks so much, live from the White House this morning.
QUIJANO: Sure.
(WEATHER REPORT)
COLLINS: A family hoping and praying that this missing woman is still alive. Forensics experts try to figure out the identity of a body found outside of Chicago.
HARRIS: And authorities looking for this child. Sex tape pictures released in an urgent move to find her.
Coming up live, a Nevada sheriff and the latest on his investigation.
COLLINS: The monks of Myanmar -- what motivates men of peace to take to the streets in protest?
HARRIS: And think of it as a Google Earth inkblot test.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's four L-shaped buildings. When you look at the ground and you look at the air, it still is.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Nazi sign.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It looks like a swastika.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: What is that, whoa? What are we talking about here?
Jeanne Moos has a bird's eye view of the controversy coming up for you in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: A young child in danger. Authorities urgently need your help.
Tips have been coming in since the Nye County, Nevada, sheriff's office released these images, disturbing. A videotape shows a man performing sex acts on a girl. She is believed to be 4 or 5 years old.
And new this morning, an enhanced photo of the suspect. That gives you a better view of him.
For the latest on the investigation, let's go straight to the source, Nye County sheriff Anthony De Meo.
Sheriff, good to see you. Thanks for your time this morning.
SHERIFF ANTHONY DE MEO, NYE COUNTY, NEVADA: Thank you so much, Tony. I do appreciate it.
HARRIS: Yes. We're going to try to get you some help. A lot of eyeballs on the network, as you know. So let's see if we can do some good here and get you some help.
And I want you, if you would, to describe in details -- we understand that this is a shocking video. And sometimes it takes a little bit of shock to get folks motivated to do what is necessary to help.
How are you describing this video to the people who are helping you solve this case?
DE MEO: Well, it's very disturbing. I only watched a short portion of this. I've been involved in law enforcement over 32 years. I come from a large department back on the East Coast, so you can tell from my accent.
HARRIS: Yes.
DE MEO: This is very disturbing. We are never prepared to investigate these crimes and look at and view evidence such as this. And you know, Tony, that a lot of these victims of child pornography are unknown people.
HARRIS: Yes.
DE MEO: We never see their pictures and their faces. And this is the face of a female, a young female, who is not showing any emotion in the tape whatsoever from those who viewed it. And apparently this is not the first circumstance where she's been exposed to this type -- this type of brutality.
The upside, we actually narrowed a timeline down to at least January 2005 until May of 2007. We believe that the suspect we arrested, Darren Tucker, was in possession of this video, and we arrested for possession and exhibiting that video, had that video since May 2007. So the timeline's getting a little closer, where -- where the enhanced photo that we got from the FBI -- and the FBI is still working diligently to get as much information from that video as possible, along with Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, who has been fantastically, you know, assisting us in this investigation.
Both of those agencies, you know, are really helping us...
HARRIS: Great.
DE MEO: ... to identify this victim, identify the suspect. That suspect -- that suspect -- that picture of that suspect will bring us to some type of a resolution to this case, along with the female.
We are -- we have a press conference scheduled for 11:00 our time on the West Coast...
HARRIS: 2:00 p.m. Eastern, sure.
DE MEO: Exactly, on the East Coast. And we believe that by releasing additional information, this additional information, that will bring us closer to identifying this female and possibly identifying this male as well.
HARRIS: Outstanding.
A summary of where we are right now, I want to drill down on this Tuck guy, this Darren Tuck guy who you guys have charged. I want you to hear the comments from his attorney last night on Nancy Grace's show on CNN Headline News and then let me follow up with a question.
DE MEO: Sure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRY KUEHN, ATTORNEY FOR DARREN TUCK: You have to consider, too, what kind of concerns my client had. He's previously dealt with the sheriff's office in Nye County. It was previously unsatisfactory.
I mean, in fact, as soon as I told the sheriff's office that he wouldn't take their phony computer voice stress analyzer test, they went out and arrested him. That's the way he's been treated by Nye County. It seems to me that any intelligent person would be reluctant to go to someone who is going to treat them in that manner.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: It seems -- go ahead, Sheriff. DE MEO: It's just interesting. The contact he had with the Nye County Sheriff's Office, in 2006, he was a suspect in domestic battery. And as early as -- oh, as recently as 2007, in July 2007, we stopped him for traffic violation, he was issued a ticket for suspended license.
That's his contact with the Nye County Sheriff's Office. For his attorney, who may be uninformed in reference to the technology behind the computer voice stress analysis machine -- which we use for our background checks for our hirees -- it -- you know, it speaks for his lack of information.
HARRIS: Yes. I just want you to get every bit of information out of him, I guess, is why I played that and why I mention him again.
We know you have a news conference coming up. You just mentioned it at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
Once again, for folks who are watching this, we're going to put the pictures of the little girl and the suspect up again as you describe for us or tell us where we can contact your office and -- with information that might help you in getting the information you need to find this little girl and to get this suspect.
DE MEO: Well, Tony, I appreciate it.
The sheriff's cell phone number is 775-751-7000. That's our dispatch center. They will take your information, we'll get back to you. You know, and it actually has a matrix now that actually has ways of dealing with this information we're getting.
And the other is findchild@nyesheriff.net. And that is our e- mail that we place for that information only. That's a -- that's off another server, because the problem we had with our county server is that it will not accept e-mails from certain -- from certain addresses. So we actually set up our own e-mail account on the server outside of our -- outside of our county e-mail server to protect it because we have a lot of firewalls in place.
HARRIS: Yes.
DE MEO: So we set that up. That's given us a lot of hope as well, these 24/7 e-mails. And we check the e-mails pretty much on a -- every hourly basis, even early in the mornings.
And the media -- and Tony, I'd just like to say, the media has been outstanding in this. I know they want to capture this suspect, want to rescue this child.
HARRIS: Absolutely.
DE MEO: And this is something that -- you know, that has been -- you know, that we've been together on, law enforcement agencies as well, looking to get this suspect.
But the most important thing right now is to rescue this child from the situation she is in. And we believe that this situation was going on for quite a while based upon the detectives looking at the video and seeing the lack of emotion and the lack of -- you know, of separation she seems to have...
HARRIS: Sure.
DE MEO: ... from any type of a childhood and any type of connection with the acts that are going on. So...
HARRIS: Well, Sheriff, let's get you...
DE MEO: Thank you so much.
HARRIS: We're going to continue to work this for you. And anything that we can do to help you, let us know.
Sheriff De Meo, Nye County, Nevada.
And we will of course bring your news conference to everyone here live in the NEWSROOM.
Sheriff, good to talk to you.
DE MEO: Tony, the same.
HARRIS: And deal with that Tuck character, too. We don't like the fact that he held on to the tape for so long.
DE MEO: Well, we're -- I'm going to make sure that his prosecution is to the fullest extent. I'm making that -- you know, I'm going to be there during his -- during his trial as well.
HARRIS: Right.
All right, Sheriff. Appreciate it. Thanks for your time.
DE MEO: Thank you so much. Thank you.
COLLINS: Crackdown on protesters in Myanmar on the streets and in cyber space. Military rulers apparently pulling the plug on the Internet.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A pretty startling new study suggests certain kinds of cancer might kill your marriage.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta with your "Daily Dose," tracking a surprising link between disease and divorce.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: After following over 200,000 cancer survivors for 17 years, a couple of interesting things did emerge. And that is there are two types of cancers specifically which are linked to higher divorce rates. They are cervical cancer for women and testicular cancer for men.
Take a look at the numbers. There's cervical cancer. Divorce is 40 percent more likely. So that's pretty significant. With testicular cancer, about 20 percent more likely.
Now, remember, both of these cancers, Heidi, as you know, can have very high cure rates if caught early. Over 90 percent if they're caught in the early stages.
Why this happens harder to say. They say these cancers might affect intimacy. It could also be that these cancers tend to affect younger people earlier in their marriages. That might have something to do with it as well.
COLLINS: Yes, it seems like it would be fair to say, though, that any type of cancer could probably stress out and maybe even end a marriage.
GUPTA: Yes. You know, and sort of looking at the possible good news out of this study, in fact, just the opposite was shown there, except for those two types of cancers.
They looked at lung cancer, they looked at colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, and breast cancer, and they found that, in fact, the divorce rates were actually lower among this population of people, as compared to the general population. So, I'm not sure if it's the additional bonding that takes place...
COLLINS: Yes.
GUPTA: ... or the support for one spouse for another, but something's sort of driving that. But besides cervical and testicular cancer, marriage is actually more likely to stay together.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Cancer-stressed couples can find help from the American Cancer Society at cancer.org.
To get your "Daily Dose" of health news online, log on to our Web site. You'll find the latest medical news, a health library, and information on diet and fitness. That address is CNN.com/health.
ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN NEWSROOM, Heidi Collins and Tony Harris.
COLLINS: Good morning once again, 11:30 Eastern Time now on a Friday.
HARRIS: Hey.
COLLINS: I'm Heidi Collins.
HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris.
Welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM. An autopsy today could tell whether a badly decomposed body is that of a missing Illinois woman. Nailah Franklin missing since September 19th.
More now from Sean Lewis of affiliate CLTV.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN LEWIS, CLTV REPORTER (voice-over): The naked and badly decomposed body was discovered in the woods behind vacant businesses in Calumet City. Officers on patrol saw something that led them to the scene Thursday morning.
CHIEF RUSSELL LARSON, CALUMET CITY POLICE: I think they did an excellent job. I think they paid attention to a very minute detail that most people would have walked past.
LEWIS: As news spread those who knew about the search for Nailah Franklin came to the scene.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just can't imagine something like this happening. It could happen to any family member.
LEWIS: The search for the 28-year-old pharmaceutical rep who lived in University Village began a week ago when Franklin did not show up for a business meeting. Some personal belongings were found at a Calumet City golf course. Her car found Saturday in Hammond, Indiana. She was last heard from September 18th when she text massaged her boyfriend in Milwaukee that she would call after dinner.
JON MERRILL, FRANKLIN'S UNCLE: Well, this is the worst-case scenario.
LEWIS: Family also at the scene Thursday sought more information about the body throughout the day.
MERRILL: She is a very beautiful person inside and out, A very soft spoken and sweet young lady that was really handling her business.
LEWIS: Franklin had filed a police report about threatening phone calls she'd received from a man she briefly dated before her current relationship.
Calumet City residents simply cannot understand how any of this could happen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A 28-year-old professional woman. You know, she had her whole life ahead of her. And for something like this to happen, I'm really sad and my prayers go out to the family.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: And of course we will bring you the autopsy results as soon as we get any word. COLLINS: President Bush laying out his plans to fight climate change. The president speaking at an international conference in Washington today, acknowledging global warming is a real problem. He says the U.S. and other nations need to set clear goals to curb greenhouse gases. But the president also making clear he will not support mandatory caps on emissions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRES. OF THE UNITED STATES: Our guiding principle is clear. We must lead the world to produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and we must do it in a way that does not undermine economic growth or prevent nations from delivering greater prosperity for their people. We know this can be done.
COLLINS: European nations believe mandatory caps are the way to go. Britain's top envoy saying non-binding measures are about as effective as voluntary speed-limit signs.
HARRIS: A hiker makes record time to save the woman he loves.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Forty miles on foot in rough terrain. It took him about a day and a half to get there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Rescue mission -- accomplished.
COLLINS: And Google Earth reveals a design defect by the U.S. Navy. Now comes the big cover-up.
You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Scorching sound bite. Brazil's women's soccer team has the firepower and a 4-0 win over the U.S. team. The U.S. fireworks came in a post-game interview, though. Starting goalie, Hope Solo, sounded off about being replaced before the World Cup semifinals.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOPE SOLO, U.S. GOALKEEPER: It was the wrong decision. And I think anybody that knows anything about the game knows that. There is no doubt in my mind I would have made those plays. And the fact of the matter is, it's not 2004 anymore. It's not 2004. And it's 2007, and I think you have to live in the present and you can't live by big names; you can't live in the past. It doesn't matter what somebody did in an Olympic gold medal game in the Olympics three years ago. Now is what matters, and that's what I think.
I am extremely disappointed in his decision. I have no understanding for it. It doesn't make any sense to me. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to many people. But it is what it is. And I have to move on. I've been through a lot worse than this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Coach Greg Ryan plans to reach out to Solo, but he says she broke an unwritten code by speaking out openly.
HARRIS: Well, the coast isn't clear for the U.S. Navy.
CNN's Jeanne Moos reports on an embarrassing design flaw.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sometimes a bird's eye view flies in the face of reality. How is it possible that A U.S. Navy barracks IN San Diego could look like --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Nazi sign.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Looks like a swastika.
MOOS: But it's not just the site that's shocking, it's how much taxpayer money is going to be spent to hide that swastika.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a waste of $600,000 because how many people are looking at it from the air?
MOOS: If it weren't for Google Earth, very few. This image has been floating around the Internet for years, gradually attracting more and more attention. The architect who designed the barracks back in the 1960s calls it --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ridiculous.
MOOS: To architect John Mauk (ph), it's no swastika.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's four L-shaped buildings. When you look at the ground -- when you from the air, it still is.
MOOS: From the ground they look like nothing. But the Jewish- based Anti-Defamation League kept nudging the Navy about the swastika image. And now "Naval Base Coronado recognizes the need to disassociate themselves from such an offensive symbol, like that of a swastika." But it's going to cost up to $600,000 to make landscaping changes and perhaps add solar panels to camouflage the barracks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's ridiculous, totally ridiculous. The era of political correctness is going crazy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many people flying above will look down and say, oh, look, the Nazi sign, the swastika.
MOOS: $600,000 is a lot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Haven't they spent that toilets?
MOOS: Sure, the government overpays. Should they spend $600,000 to hide the swastika?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely not. They should tear it down.
MOOS: Would have reminded us of what they did in Germany. North of Berlin back in the 1930s, Germans showed their loyalty to Hitler by planting trees in the form of a swastika, trees that would change their leaf color in the fall so they'd show up in the middle of an evergreen forest. In the year 2000, they were finally chopped down. The barrack swastika has led to conspiracy theories on the Internet. For instance, the suggestion that these buildings look like bombers attacking the swastika. But most folks rolled their eyes at that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know the shape of this building from above?
MOOS: Can't say that we do. His point is you can find any shape, anywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there any phallic buildings in the area?
MOOS: Nope. That's in Washington, D.C. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Oh, come on, you've thought of that before yourself.
HARRIS Drive-through banking. Don't miss this cash withdrawal. An ATM is MIA. We're spell it out for you, in the NEWSROOM.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange. What credit crunch? When NEWSROOM returns, I'll tell you why consumers are complaining about credit cards they never requested. You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARRIS: To business news now, a credit card that you never asked for and might not want may be sitting in your mailbox. Well, that's where it will sit.
Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tight fist.
HARRIS: What is it -- yes! I just ...
LISOVICZ: For actual (ph) resources (INAUDIBLE) like that.
HARRIS: Well, you know how I feel about credit cards. They're just the bane of my existence. But, you've got to ...
LISOVICZ: It'd be (ph) crack (ph) if it's in the wrong hands. HARRIS: There you go, good to see you, Susan.
LISOVICZ: Good to see you, Tony.
(BUSINESS HEADLINES)
COLLINS: Military crackdown in Myanmar. Day three in the words of a top U.S. official: the military has all the weapons, the people have their anger.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. military claims it's killed a big fish in Iraq.
I'm Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon. I'll have that coming up in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Word just coming in from the U.S. military this morning about the death of an al Qaeda leader in Iraq. We want to go straight to senior Pentagon correspondent, Jamie McIntyre.
Jamie, tell us what we know at this point.
MCINTYRE: Well, Heidi, Brigadier General Joseph Anderson briefing reporters from Iraq here at the Pentagon announced today that the U.S. military has killed, what they say, is a very significant al Qaeda leader in Iraq. In fact, they say they may have been -- he may have been in line to become the head of al Qaeda in Iraq if the head -- bin Laden didn't become the head.
Here's the man that the U.S. military is talking about, Abu Usama al-Tunisi. And here's what General Anderson had to say about him.
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BRIG. GEN. JOSEPH ANDERSON, MULTINATIONAL CORPS-IRAQ: Today, I'd like to give you an update on a high-level al Qaeda interact terrorist cell leader who was killed near Musajib (ph) on 25 September by coalition forces. If you'll put the first slide up, please. Coalition force operations led to the death of a senior foreign al Qaeda terrorist, Abu Usama al-Tunisi, a close associate and part of the inner circle of close advisors to Abu Ayyub al-Masri, or, otherwise known as AAM, the overall leader of al Qaeda in Iraq and his likely successor.
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MCINTYRE: Now, General Anderson laid out the way they were able to zero in on this al Qaeda leader in a series of operations that began in early September, and it's really a textbook of how the U.S. military is operating.
Each operation, they capture somebody who is a little bit closer to the guy they're looking for, and it culminates in an air strike on September 25th where an F-16 drops a bomb on a building where he's believed to be meeting. They go in afterwards and determine in fact he's killed, along with several other people in that meeting and they collect intelligence to confirm that he was there, including they say a hand-written note in which he says he's surrounded and desperate for help.
The main thing here, the U.S. military insists that this is a dangerous terrorist who was part of -- no longer part of al Qaeda in Iraq and the U.S. military claims that this deals a serious blow to the al Qaeda leadership in Iraq -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, CNN's senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre. Jamie, thank you.
HARRIS: A military crackdown intensifying on marchers in Myanmar, the secretive Asian nation once known as Burma. More reports today of soldiers firing shots and clubbing activists gathering for demonstrations. It is the third straight day of violence.
The top U.S. official in Yangon tells CNN the military is out with guns, trucks and barricades. Another diplomat tells CNN a witness reports seeing about 35 bodies lying in rows in Yangon, but CNN cannot independently confirm that report. Pretty disturbing video shows troops shooting randomly at a crowd. A man reportedly killed in the streets. Boy, he is said to be a Japanese journalist.
In addition to the violence, the government reportedly sealed monasteries to clear the streets of monks who have led the protest and media and blog reports say Internet service has been cut, slowing news from this reclusive country.
COLLINS: A hiker makes record time to save the woman he loves.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Forty miles on foot in rough terrain. It took him about a day and a half to get there.
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COLLINS: Rescue mission accomplished. Tell you about it after a quick break.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Protests in Myanmar, a place where news cameras are not welcome. I-Reporter Benjamin Valk shot this video of people forming a human barrier to protect Buddhist monks as they march side by side in pursuit of change in their authoritarian government.
Ko Min sent us this picture of one of the protesters injured by soldiers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He had just been making the rounds, eating everybody's trash, and they said he's fattening up. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's Adrianna Pope describing the scene outside her home in Bozeman, Montana. Her husband, Will Pope, shot this video of a large black bear up a tree in his neighborhood. Pope says the bear lingered for a few hours, left, and then came back for a snack out in the family's garbage can.
When you see news or features happening in your area, we want you to send us an i-Report. Find out how by going to our Web site at CNN.com.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: ATMs, they sure make it easy to get some cash, fast cash! Don't they? This thief apparently thought so. First, he stole the backhoe from a construction site. Then, turns his attention to the ATM. Look at this. He ripped it out of the ground, made off with it. Inside, about $100,000. Police in Homestead, Florida are on the hunt.
COLLINS: OK, battle over a billboard. Lines drawn over this line: "Life is short, have an affair." A Canadian-based company took out the space in southern California for its Internet dating service. Protesters want the ad down, saying it promotes marital infidelity. The Web site founder says, we're just providing a service for lonely spouses.
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DARREN MORGENSTERN, ASHLEYMADISON.COM: They're leading lives of quiet misery, quiet desperation and they're looking for something outside the relationship. They want to connect with somebody who's like-minded, who is also looking to potentially stray on their spouse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't get no other message out of it besides have an affair. Only way you can have an affair, unless you're married. It's not saying married people, or married this and that. It says have an affair.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For somebody to create a venue to just make it so easy that somebody could just log online and be so cavalier about it. It's very destructive to me.
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COLLINS: The protesters say they've gotten one of the billboards down and hope their pressure will get this one removed, too.
HARRIS: How far would you go to save the person you love? One man, it was 40 miles through wilderness. Kim Holcomb of affiliate KING.
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KIM HOLCOMB, KING REPORTER (voice-over): It's rugged, remote, and for some, irresistible. But last week, a slippery step on Glacier Peak got the vest of Roxanne Tensure (ph). ROXANNE TENSCHER, HIKER: My foot slipped, and my knee buckled.
HOLCOMB: The fall tore the ligaments in her knee. She and husband Max, both avid hikers, were deep in the back country.
R. TENSCHER: We made the decision for Max to continue on all the way out to try to get help.
HOLCOMB: But it wouldn't be easy. The trail is littered with downed trees from winter storms and recent rain had taken a toll on Max.
MAX TENSCHER, HIKER: The real problem was that it was really hard to walk by that time. There were lots of big blisters in a couple areas on my feet, and they were just pretty much done in.
HOLCOMB: But incredibly, he managed to hike on, dozens of miles, in record time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Forty miles on foot in rough terrain. It took him about a day and a half to get there.
HOLCOMB: Forty miles to find help in less than 48 hours, over obstacles like this. Snohomish County Search and Rescue took the call and quickly found Roxanne. Their speedy arrival surprising even her.
R. TENSCHER: So, I was really planning on spending at least another night out there by myself.
HOLCOMB: A few days and doctors visits later, the Tenschers are back home, relaxing. But they say hiking is still in their future and now, they know how far they're willing to go for their love of the back country, and each other.
M. TENSCHER: A lot of you mentioned that.
R. TENSCHER: Yes.
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HARRIS: Well, isn't that cute? Isn't that a great note to end on?
Max Tenscher said he had some doubts about leaving his wife to get help, but search and rescue officials say he made the right decision. They point to the good weather, Max's hiking experience, and his determination.
COLLINS: There's love.
HARRIS: Yes.
COLLINS: CNN NEWSROOM continues just one hour from now.
HARRIS: "YOUR WORLD TODAY" is next, with news happening across the globe and here at home. I'm Tony Harris.
COLLINS: I'm Heidi Collins, have a super weekend, everybody.
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