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Large-scale manhunt underway for Chester Arthur Stiles for porno charges. Navy Admiral Mike Mullen takes the helm as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff tomorrow. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is a key figure in Myanmar's fight for freedom. A controversial child rape scene in "Kite Runner" has a 12-year-old actor in the movie worried. The emergence of Tiger Woods was supposed to open doors for minorities, but it hasn't.
Aired September 30, 2007 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: They've been looking for him. He was underground and today just a short while ago he turned himself into authorities. They do hope that he may have information that could help lead them to the chief suspect in this case and that is a man by the name of Chester Stiles.
Now we've been learning some new information about Chester Stiles as this massive manhunt came on, we actually were able to speak to someone who has known Chester Stiles for about 10 years and says he saw him just last week shortly before news of this videotape became public.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FINNSTROM (voice-over): Police say this three-year-old girl was repeatedly and brutally raped on videotape. Now investigators think the attacker may have been this man, 34-year-old Chester Stiles.
SHERIFF TONY DE MEO, NYE COUNTY, NEVADA: Chester Arthur Stiles turn yourself in to your local law enforcement agency.
FINNSTROM: Across the country, authorities are searching for the longtime criminal they say bragged he would never be arrested alive.
TODD ALLEN, DATED VICTIM'S MOTHER: Knowing him and his survival skills, he could be sleeping in the back of his truck on the side of the highway somewhere for all I know.
FINNSTROM: Las Vegas resident Todd Allen told CNN's Dan Simon he is smack in the middle of a complicated connection between Stiles and the little girl who was attacked. Allen says for a while he lived with the girl, her mother and his sister and that he recognizes the place where the assault took place as their apartment. His connection to Stiles? Allen says his mother dated him and the two sometimes hung out at his apartment.
ALLEN: What we're trying to figure out amongst our family is how it actually happened. The only thing I could think of is that he was there while somebody was baby-sitting the children and he managed to -- either that person fell asleep, took a nap or stepped out and managed to get time alone with her, but I don't see how that would happen. I can't see anyone allowing that to happen.
FINNSTROM: Allen says nobody realized the child had been abused.
ALLEN: She is what you would expect a little girl in elementary school to be like. Everything you would expect one to be like. You would never know something like this happened.
FINNSTROM: Police say Stiles has a rap sheet that includes convictions for carrying a concealed weapon and conspiracy to commit grand larceny. Authorities say he's a dangerous man who is known to carry a weapon and needs to be brought in.
ALLEN: I've never seen him physically assault anybody, but I have seen him mentally and verbally assault many people and he's good with mind games. He's good with twisting -- twisting people's realities and manipulating people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FINNSTROM (on camera): And in addition to that rap sheet that we shared with you, detectives tell us that the FBI was already looking for Stiles. He was wanted on charges of lewd conduct with a minor in a case totally unrelated to this one.
Fredericka, one other final note here, Todd Allen told us that the pictures that we've been airing showing Stiles, actually he may look a little different than that. He says when he saw him just a little over a week ago he had much longer hair.
WHITFIELD: All right. And now that had has been so publicized, his image and the images of the three-year-old girl, what kind of tips are authorities getting now that they've launched this nationwide manhunt of him?
FINNSTROM: Well, that has been the really good part of all of this. The public has had an outpouring of support. They had gotten at last count over 5,000 tips from the public. And those are continuing to pour in so I'm sure the count is higher even by now, but they say those tips are crucial, that anyone who has seen this man or thinks they have any information about where he may be should contact them.
WHITFIELD: All right. Kara Finnstrom, thanks so much from Las Vegas and that update.
Well, now an update on the food that you eat. The USDA is still trying to figure out what's behind a meat scare that has triggered a massive recall. Topps Meat Company has recalled nearly 22 million pounds of frozen hamburger patties because they might be contaminated with a dangerous bacteria. The government is looking into 25 possible case of e. coli sicknesses in eight states. The meat has a sell by date between September 2007 and September 2008. CNN's Jim Acosta has more on this recall.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Federal and state authorities still don't know the source of the e. coli contamination that prompted the recall of nearly 22 million pounds of ground beef, but the USDA has suspended operations at the Topps Meat Company in New Jersey citing, quote, "inadequate raw ground process controls."
So far there are only three confirmed cases of illnesses related to the tainted beef sold in the form of the popular frozen beef patties found in supermarkets across the country, but one Florida teenager says she nearly died from kidney failure after eating a Topps frozen patty her family bought at a Wal-Mart near Fort Lauderdale.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Went through a lot and it was really painful and in the back of my mind I had that question if I was going make it.
ACOSTA: Samantha Sopranik's (ph) family is now suing Wal-Mart which pulled the frozen patties from their shelves on August 30th, three weeks before Topps announced its voluntary recall. The family's attorneys says that recall came too late to protect the public. Topps and Wal-Mart have both issued press releases saying they're committed to protecting consumers.
(on camera): Jim Acosta, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And getting a chance to express her views on the pro- democracy uprising in Myanmar, the country's detained dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi, well, she was briefly released from house arrest today to visit with UN Envoy Ibrahim Gambari. Gambari was sent to Myanmar to urge the military junta to stop its crackdown on protestors, but he was not allowed to meet junta leaders today.
The government reportedly has boosted troop levels on the streets of Yangon to discourage further protests. At least 10 people were reportedly killed during last week's demonstrations.
And a protestor who says he witnessed one of those killings has managed to escape Myanmar after being chased by police. The man still visibly shaken described his harrowing ordeal to CNN's Dan Rivers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A volley of shots echoes across the street. This was the first day of the crackdown in central Yangon last Wednesday. An injured protestor is carried away, but the troops keep firing. This was the same incident in which a Japanese photojournalist was shot dead.
Now, for the first time, an eyewitness of the shooting has managed to escape the country to explain what he saw.
(on camera): And you saw the man being shot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah. He down. RIVERS: He fell down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He fell down.
RIVERS: Aung ran for his life and has just arrived in neighboring Thailand. He's been wandering the streets of Bangkok homeless, the only possessions he could bring are clutched under his arm in a plastic bag.
As we walk, he tells me how he lost his I.D. while scrambling to avoid the bullets. The police later found it.
(on camera): What did they do?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then they follow me.
RIVERS: They followed you to your house?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To my house.
RIVERS (voice-over): Over 36 terrifying hours Aung traveled to the Thai border and then waded across a river to safety, but when the Thai police caught him they stole all his money. He spent his first night of freedom sleeping in a railway station in Bangkok.
I lent him my phone so he could call his parents. They're OK, but say the police have been around several times looking for him. Now he's alone in this big city, a refugee without money, I.D. or shelter.
He visits the local Buddhist temple. All he has now is his faith. It helps him to cope with the awful images of bloodshed in Yangon still swimming around in his head. He prays he'll be able to go home soon, but unless the regime there falls, it's likely he'll have to remain a refugee for the rest of his life. Dan Rivers, CNN, Bangkok.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Pretty powerful images and thoughts there. In about 20 minutes we'll hear from a man who is a vital part of Myanmar's pro- democracy movement, exiled politician Uhu La Thint (ph), well, he talks about the significance of this uprising and why Americans need to care.
Well, when Tiger Woods first came to the scene a decade ago, you could hear cheers that golf's doors were wide open for all races. Well, not so fast.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIGER WOODS, GOLFER: You want more minorities you have to have a bigger base.
(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: Still ahead in the NEWSROOM, whatever happened to all that optimism of integration on the golf course? But up next, an apology some feel comes far too late at Duke University and it's happened again, this time in an unlikely place. A noose found hanging inside a police station? You're watching CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Community leaders in New York condemning the discovery of a noose found in a Long Island police station. One of the Hempstead Police Department's cleaning staff found the noose Friday morning. It was hanging in the men's locker room. Only police officers and cleaning personnel have access to that room, meantime community leaders are calling for a full, fair and impartial investigation into this incident.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COREY PEGUES, BLACK LAW ENFORCEMENT EXECUTIVES: In this day and time, 2007, we're not going just stand by because today it's a noose and tomorrow they're trying to put somebody's head in it.
NOEL LEADER, BLACKS IN LAW ENFORCEMENT WHO CARE: We want that person punished. They should no longer be a member of this agency. Their employment and their connection to this agency should be terminated immediately in order to send the proper signal, that we will not tolerate a noose nowhere, no way, at no time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: About half the officers in the department are minorities and recently an African American was promoted to deputy chief.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROWD: Free the Jena 6! Free the Jena 6.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: The echoes of the Jena 6 case there in New York and in Connecticut as well. Protestors marched yesterday in Hartford to support the Jena 6. They're the six African American students accused of beating a white classmate in Louisiana. None of the young men are in jail anymore, but they still face charges.
The Jena 6 case is causing controversy at Grambling State University, it is also in Louisiana and this is how. The president is looking into a case where adults -- it's hard to imagine this photograph we're seeing where adults are actually at an elementary school which is on the campus of Grambling putting a noose on at least one child. To kind of show as a lesson? They say it was part of a civics lesson about the Jena 6 and how nooses are a potent symbol of racism.
Grambling's president says he wants a face-to-face meeting with everyone involved.
And more than a year and a half after the false accusations of rape, Duke University's president has apologized to the men's lacrosse team and their families. The apology came yesterday at a school- sponsored function. Dr. Richard Brodhead says while many mistakes were made, the school's failure to reach out might be what he regrets the most.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD BRODHEAD, DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT: Given the complexities of this case, getting the communication right would never have been easy, but the fact is that we did not get it right, causing the families to feel abandoned when they were most in need of support. This was a mistake. I take responsibility for it and I apologize for it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: The three players charged were ultimately exonerated and the district attorney was jailed and disbarred for handling that case.
Our news "Across America" now begins at the Phoenix International Airport in a possible case of accidental suicide. Police say they found 45-year-old Carol Ann Godbaum (ph) dead in a holding cell Friday after arresting her for disorderly conduct at the airport. Authorities speculate that Godbaum may have choked trying to escape her handcuffs. An autopsy is now in the works.
And police in Lakeland, Florida, responding to a possible armed robbery find something much more. An elaborate pot-growing operation. Pope County deputies call it one of their biggest busts ever. More than 300 mature, high-grade plants with a street value of nearly a million dollars. The homeowners were arrested and the two robbery suspects, well, they remain on the run.
The president's daughter turns a new page. Twenty-five year-old Jenna Bush, the author, began her first book tour yesterday in suburban Washington, DC, her new book is called "Anna's Story, a Journey of Hope" which Bush says is an inspiring story about a teen- age mother who is stricken with HIV. She says she met the young woman while interning with UNICEF.
And time grows short for Michigan lawmakers who are working to balance a billion dollar budget deficit. If they're not successful some 35,000 state employees may be locked out from their jobs tomorrow. A partial government shutdown looms just after midnight.
And the budget battle not only impacts workers, but state residents as well and time is of the essence. We're now some six and a half hours away from the budget deadline and Kori Chambers from CNN's Detroit affiliate WDIV is live in Lansing with the very latest and so are people pretty hopeful that they'll have jobs to go to tomorrow? That everything will be up and running? KORI CHAMBERS, WDIV CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think a lot of people are hopeful but hopeful doesn't necessarily get us where we need to be tomorrow. The situation right now, it is pretty remarkable, if you think about it but also pretty troubling for folks who live here in Michigan, if we do not get a budget by 12:01, as we mentioned, 35,000 state employee, that's two-thirds of folks that work for the State of Michigan will be temporarily laid off just like that.
Also, a number of state services will stop just like that. So how did we get here? Well, there's a $1.75 billion deficit and, well it comes down to money and politics. Nobody really knows how to solve the problem or at least they know how to solve it, but they can't agree on how to solve it. It's how much do you raise taxes, where do you raise taxes, what services do you cut? Where do you cut the services and how many services do you cut?
Nobody has the answer and nobody could come to a consensus on the answer. So we've seen votes come in this morning and we've seen votes fail and now what's scary is that we're kind of hearing a change in tone from the lawmakers. I've been in there for the past couple of days talking with folks in the Senate and also in the House and over the past couple of days folks have told me, don't worry, Kori, the government will not shut down, we're getting close to a deal, we're getting close to a deal. Don't worry. We're going get it done. Today I'm in there and people are kind of saying, well, maybe it won't get done and that certainly is a scary thing to hear with six and a half hours to go until we start seeing employees laid off and services cut down.
So, cross your fingers for us here in Michigan and stay tuned, as we all will.
WHITFIELD: OK. But fingers are crossed, but like you said this is disconcerting too, because this comes on the heels of yet another big, I guess, impasse involving the United Auto Workers' Union as well as G.M. in your state. So this is a big blow to the overall, I guess, notion of workforce in Michigan now that you're dealing with this as well. How are people feeling about all this?
CHAMBERS: I think everybody agrees from lawmakers to the folks on the street that this would be a huge black eye to the state of Michigan and nobody wants another black eye in the state of Michigan. We have enough and we're trying to change the image. So this isn't what we need back here.
WHITFIELD: So fix it!
CHAMBERS: Yeah. I wish I could.
WHITFIELD: Convince them to get it together.
CHAMBERS: I'll get in there.
WHITFIELD: Folks need their jobs and they need to get to work tomorrow, too.
All right. Kori Chambers, thanks so much, from our affiliate WDIV reporting from Lansing.
So, speaking of work, if it's your first day on the job why not start with some storms in the Midwest? Hillary, that would be you.
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: Also coming up, the Space Shuttle Discovery on the launch pad. You're looking at a live picture right now, really? At the Kennedy Space Center. OK. We lied. That's not really live, it's taped. The mission, next.
And later, who is this man and why should you care? He's the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. military, that's why you should care. A quick look at Admiral Michael Mullen right here in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Take our word for it. The Space Shuttle Discovery now at the launch pad of the Kennedy Space Center. The rollout is in preparation for its scheduled October 23 liftoff. Discovery's two- week assembly mission will increase the size of the international space station and astronauts will deliver and install a new module which will serve as the gateway between the existing U.S. lab and future labs from Europe and Japan.
And I want to say welcome to our new member of the weather team, Hillary Andrews who, you have your hands full, don't you, today?
(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: Well, speaking of new on the job. Tomorrow a new man becomes chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the question on the minds of many, what are his views on the war in Iraq?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADMIRAL MICHAEL MULLEN, INCOMING JOINT CHIEFS CHAIR: I do not take for granted the service of our people and their families and I worry about the toll this pace of operations is taking on them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: So who is Admiral Michael Mullen? Find out next in the NEWSROOM. Also, why the uproar over the problems in Myanmar? We'll talk live with an exiled politician from the troubled nation.
Plus, you need to meet this man right here. He saved 59 grand, one dirty to clean dish at a time and now some think Uncle Sam dealt him a dirty hand by taking all his money. Find out why right here in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: From Nevada, new developments in the horrible child sexual assault that was videotaped. One of the two suspects wanted is now in police custody. Darren Tuck was the man who actually turned the videotape over to authorities. The lawmen were suspect of him and his story and even more so when Tuck vanished.
Then late today, Nye County sheriff deputies confirmed that Tuck had now turned himself in. He faces charges of having and showing child pornography, but still no word on the whereabouts of the little girl's suspected tormentor in the videotape, 37-year-old Chester Arthur Stiles.
This is a large-scale manhunt underway for Stiles. Police consider him dangerous and possibly armed. The son of his former girlfriend can only speculate how Stiles had access to the alleged victim.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD ALLEN, SON OF SUSPECT'S EX-GIRLFRIEND: That's the difficult question that we're all trying to come up with. That's what we're trying to figure out amongst our family, how it actually happened. The only thing I can think of is that he was there while somebody was baby-sitting the children and he managed to -- either that person fell asleep, took a nap or stepped out and managed to get time alone with her, but I don't see how that would happen. I can't see anybody allowing that to happen. If they were awake, it would never have happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right. If you have any information about Chester Arthur Stiles call your local police agency or the Nye County, Nevada, sheriff's office.
In Baghdad today a military spokesman says September's death toll for U.S. troops was the lowest monthly total in more than a year. He said at least 62 troops were killed in September, the lowest number since August of last year when 65 died. He said the number of troop deaths is still too high, but the trend is in the right direction.
Tomorrow, the nation gets a new top military commander. Navy Admiral Mike Mullen takes the helm as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Admiral Mullen assumes office with a long to-do list.
More now from CNN's Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): CNN has learned that one of the first things Admiral Michael Mullen plans to do after he takes office October 1st is to make a trip to the military academy at West Point. He wants to tell Army cadets he's worried.
ADM. MICHAEL MULLEN, NEW CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: There is strain. We are stretched.
STARR: Sources close to Mullen say, as the incoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and senior military adviser to the president, the admiral thinks it's time to tell the troops the top guys know there are problems.
Mullen hinted at it during his confirmation hearing.
MULLEN: I do not take for granted the service of our people or their families. And I worry about the toll this pace of operations is taking on them.
STARR: Aides say Mullen wants to use the troops at West Point to send a message to senior commanders they must own up to decisions they made about the war.
Mullen's predecessor, General Peter Pace says he, too, made bad calls.
GEN. PETER PACE, OUTGOING CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: It's one of the mistakes I made in my assumptions going in was that the Iraqi people and the Iraqi army would welcome liberation, that the Iraqi army, given the opportunity would stand together.
STARR: In a recent interview with CNN, the top commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus acknowledged more recent miscalculations.
GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, COMMANDER, MULTI-NATIONAL TROOPS, IRAQ: I did not pick up on some indicators on telltale signs at the start of the insurgency, if you will, of the establishment, the roots being put down by what became al Qaeda, Iraq, by some of these other threats that have emerged.
STARR: But younger officers say after years of war, the problem is now much deeper than the reluctance to discuss past mistakes.
COL. JOHN NAGI, U.S. ARMY: Young men and women I taught at West Point ten years ago, who have now served in combat two and three times, are making the decision whether to stay in the Army for the long haul.
STARR (on camera): And whether the troops think it's is worth it is one of Mullen's worries. Aides say he's concerned, if combat- experienced troops start leaving, the U.S. military could lose one of its greatest advantages.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And in overseas, something else getting a lot of attention. Briefly released from house arrest today, Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. She was allowed to visit with U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari for over an hour in a state guest house in Yangon. Gambari was sent to Myanmar to urge the military junta to stop the crackdown on pro-democracy protestors. At least 10 people were reportedly killed during last week's demonstrations.
So Aung San Suu Kyi is a key figure in Myanmar's fight for freedom, but who exactly is she? Here's some of the fast facts. She's the daughter of the first prime minister of Burma, now an activist fighting for human rights and democracy in Myanmar. Military rulers put her under house arrest in 1989.
Since then, her plight has attracted worldwide attention, highlighted when Suu Kyi won the noble Peace Prize in 1991. And the rock band, U2, even wrote about a song about her called "Walk On."
Joining us now from Washington, the Democratic activist exiled from Myanmar. He is Bo Hla-Tint, Aung San Suu Kyi's national league for democracy.
Good to see you.
Help us understand exactly what is going here and particularly why Suu Kyi is kind of at the heart of all of this. All of this, the clash was to have begun because of a rise in gas prices, but is it really more than that?
BO HLA-TINT, EXILED MYANMAR DEMOCRATIC ACTIVIST: Absolutely, because she is the Democratic leaders of the 54 million Burmese people. She is not only the daughter of the independence hero, but she herself is the charismatic leader and the hope of the Burmese people to bring to democratic nation.
WHITFIELD: And so, she is trying to bring about this democracy, has been for years. That's why she's been under house arrest. But now if you fast forward to the clashes that we've seen in the past couple of week, you've got on one side, monks, who are not armed, and then you've got military junta, who these personnel are armed, and you're seeing violent clashes between the two.
But the common denominator here is all of them are Buddhist, right? So, you know, how do you have these two sides clashing when they're -- at one time was that common goal, but now we're seeing enemies?
HLA-TINT: Well, you know, it is quite difficult to say what you are, you know because, you know, Buddhist mean you have to completely follow what Buddha said. So now the military junta is totally against the Buddhist principle and Buddhist teaching. It is very sad that all of the time since Suu Kyi, we, ourselves, the people, the monks are asking to talk and to stop and be real Buddhists to go along with.
WHITFIELD: I guess in part two, what I'm asking is it would seem that there would be a real conflicted feeling between these two sides because -- correct me if I'm wrong -- while you have 400,000 of each side, monks and military personnel, there's been this long-held tradition of many of the monks helping to serve, helping to even feed a lot of these soldiers. And now you've got them being pitted against one another in this very violent way, most of the violence coming, of course, from the military side.
So are people feeling very conflicted and confused about all of this and what they're really fighting for in the first place? HLA-TINT: Actually, the people are not very confused, but maybe the soldiers because of the military junta brain washed them. These are not Buddhist monks. They're communists taking place in the monastery. They've been very isolated. And the soldiers doing for that instruction so that we believe that if they are well educated soldiers, they may not do that.
At the same time people have said it is very clear they want freedom. They want dignity. They want democracy and that since 1988 they are fighting for it.
WHITFIELD: So, will Suu Kyi's relief symbolize a freedom for everyone, if it comes to that?
HLA-TINT: Absolutely. People believe that if she's released and if she can walk hand to hand with the military leadership, Burma will be into a prosperity.
WHITFIELD: Bo Hla-Tint, thank you very much for your time joining us from Washington.
HLA-TINT: Thank you very much for time to have me.
WHITFIELD: Coming up, we say good-bye to a James Bond legend next in the "NEWSROOM".
Plus, a new move about an Afghanistan experience is drawing fire from critics today. It has nothing to do with the war or politics. That story next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: The Taliban is rejecting an offer of peace from Afghan President Hamid Karzai. A spokesman tells the Associated Press the Taliban will never negotiate with Afghan authorities until the U.S. and other NATO force get out of Afghanistan.
Yesterday, Karzai said he'd be willing to meet personally with Taliban leader Mullah Omar and give militants a place in the government in exchange for peace.
Well, a film version of the best-sell selling novel "Kite Runner" hits theaters in November, but a controversial child rape scene has a 12-year-old actor in the movie worried. Even though it's just acting, the scene could have unpleasant, even dangerous implications for his family.
Kareen Wynter has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: What happened to the boy?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: The Taliban took him. (END VIDEO CLIP)
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "The Kite Runner" hasn't been into theaters yet and already it's full of controversy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: I dream that flowers will bloom in the streets again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WYNTER: The movie, set in Kabul, Afghanistan, is based on a best-selling novel about two boys and their unbreakable bond from the final days of Afghanistan's monarchy to the days of the Taliban reign.
But far from the flashes of Hollywood comes another plot and this one isn't scripted. It involves the movie's lead character, 12-year- old Ahmad and a brief, but graphic rape scene he was cast to play.
We tracked down the movie's lead character thousand of miles away in the rolling hillsides of Afghanistan. Ahmad and his father were reluctant to speak with us at first, saying the studio instructed them not to talk to the media.
(on camera): What went through your mind as you were filming this scene, the rape scene?
AHMED (through translation): I was just scared for a few minutes.
WYNTER (voice-over): Ahmad's father, who says he wasn't on the set at the time, said had he known about the scene, he would have pulled his son from the film.
The cultural implications of a boy from Afghanistan being raped even if it's just acting is viewed as dishonorable and could make the family a target of violence.
(on camera): Has the film company offered to move you out of Kabul?
AHMED'S FATHER (through translation): They said if there is ever a time where you guys don't feel safe or there's ever a problem, we will provide a safe place for you.
WYNTER (voice-over): The film company and movie producers declined an on-camera request, but released this statement: "The families addressed their concerns directly with us and said they were fine with the content of the scene, as long as we portrayed it in a sensitive manner. We made this a priority and followed their specific instructions."
(on camera): We asked Paramount Vantage if "The Kite Runner" would still be released on November 2nd. A spokesman would not confirm whether or not that day would be pushed back because of the controversy.
(voice-over): The author of the best-selling novel from which this movie is based also told CNN: "The safety of the children in "The Kite Runner" film is of the utmost importance. I believe the filmmakers are doing everything within their means to ensure that the boys are safe and cared for."
(voice-over): For now Ahmad and his father says they will continue to live their life, just a bit more under the radar, hoping their brief brush with fame doesn't come at a cost.
Kareen Wynter, CNN, Hollywood.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Still on the subject of movies, she is one of the first and one of the few women who could flirt with .007, but was never really a true Bond girl. The actress who played Miss Moneypenny has died. Lois Maxwell appeared in 14 James Bonds moves. The Canadian-born actress portrayed the secretary for the head of the British Secret Service in the spy thriller franchise. And Maxwell also did TV appearing with Bond co-star Roger Moore in "The Saint." Moore says Maxwell was suffering from cancer. She died yesterday in Australia. Lois Maxwell was 80 years old.
The rise of Tiger Woods brought the promise of more African- Americans on the professional golf tour, but that just didn't happen. Why?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIGER WOODS, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: If you want more minorities you've got to have to have a bigger base.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: So what happened to that unfulfilled promise? The story is still ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PEDRO ZAPETO, DISHWASHER: They should be ashamed. They are poorer than me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Plus, this dishwasher saved $59,000 over the last decade for his poor family in Guatemala, and his savings went down the drain when he ran into the U.S. government. The outrage, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: He came to America to build a better life, but the U.S. government says this immigrant did it the wrong way and now he's paying, quite literally.
Here's John Zarrella and our ongoing CNN series "Uncovering America."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are the people Pedro Zapeta says need his help when he came to America illegally looking for work. His elderly mother and sisters living in this tiny house behind a cornfield in the mountains of Guatemala.
Now, the money he made to buy land and build a new life for them is gone.
CANDELAIRA ZAPETA, BROTHER OF PEDRO (through translation): My brother is very humble. We feel so badly for him. He's gone through so much work and poverty and lose it all.
ZARRELLA: Thirteen years ago. Pedro crossed the border here in Brownsville, Texas. He made his way to Stuart, Florida, where a friend took him in.
For the next 11 years he worked as a dishwasher, most of the time making no more than $5.50 an hour. He rode a bicycle to his job. He saved every nickel he could and he hid the money, all cash, in the apartment he shared with three others.
ZAPETA: (SPEAKING SPANISH)
ZARRELLA: Two years ago, Zepeda decided to go home to Guatemala, he was tired. In his duffel bag, $59,000 in cash, his entire American savings.
But as Pedro's bag went through security at Fort Lauderdale airport, screeners spotted the money. U.S. Customs was called. The cash seized.
Pedro had broken the law. He had not filled out the required document declaring he was leaving the country with more than $10,000 in cash.
ZAPETA (through translation): Truthfully, I didn't know I had to declare the money. There was nothing bad about that money.
ZARRELLA: We first told Pedro's story last month March and so did other news organization. Since then, nearly $10,000 in donations has poured in.
At one point, federal prosecutors offered Pedro a deal, leave with the donations, plus $10,000 from the original cash seized. He said no, he wanted it all.
After two years, the government is still holding every penny of Pedro's $59,000. We've tried getting answers, multiple times from officials to explain what seems like excessively harsh punishment.
(on camera): Voice mail. I'll leave a message.
(voice-over): We did not hear back from the assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case.
Through his court check, the judge who preside said he appreciated the opportunity to comment, but would continue his policy of not talking with the media.
Congressman Tim Mahoney who represents the district where Pedro lives respectfully declined to comment.
The U.S. attorney's office in Miami told us they will not comment while the case is on appeal.
Under an agreement with immigration, Pedro must leave the United States by the end of January. More than likely without any of the money he earned. He knows he was wrong. He didn't pay taxes. He was here illegally, but Pedro believes in all of this, he is the noble figure.
ZAPETA (through translation): They should be ashamed. They are poorer than me.
ZARRELLA: The punishment, he says, does not fit the crime.
John Zarrella a CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And we will continue our "Uncovering America" series through Wednesday of next week.
Check out cnn.com special online report, "The Hispanic Experience Today." You can read about the real issues facing the Latino community and significant moments in Hispanic history. Logon to cnn.com/hispanicheritage.
Up next, remember the first time the world saw the golf swing that changed the game? Ten years ago, the emergence of Tiger Woods was supposed to open doors for minorities, but a decade later, some ask, where are they?
That story is coming, but first today's "News Quiz." How many times has Tiger Woods won golf's most coveted tournament, The Masters? The answer when we come right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, before the break we asked this question, how many times has Tiger Woods won The Masters? The answer, four. And to push it even further, it was 1997, 2001, 2002 and 2005. Only Jack Nicklaus has won more with six.
The U.S. team has clinched victory in golf's prestigious President's Cup again dominating today's final matches. World number one, Tiger Woods, played on the U.S. team.
Woods has brought a lot of excitement to the greens for a decade now, but his presence hasn't yet necessarily clinched other black golfers in the pro tour.
Here's Terry Baddoo with some answers why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TERRY BADDOO, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the face of golf in the 21st century. Since winning his first major at '97 masters, Tiger Woods has become the most dominant force in the game. With 13 majors in ten years, he lags just five behind the all- time record of the legendary Jack Nicklaus and has amassed more than $85 million in prize money. Nicklaus has had $95 million in prize money. And add to that, endorsements and you have a man of iconic status in the game.
TIM FINCHEM, PGA TOUR COMMISSIONER: I have a hard time other than the president of the United States, honestly, who has more of a global impact as a personality.
BADDOO: Tiger's first major victory was described at the time as a watershed in golf. Despite being of mixed-race heritage, Woods is regarded as the first black golf to win a major. And like baseball's Jackie Robinson in the 1940s, his success was expected to be the catalyst for other black sportsmen to enter the game at the highest level.
However, while other sports have a proliferation of elite black athletes, golf still has just one.
WOODS: If you want more minorities you've got have a bigger base and, that's, as my dad would say, it would take at least 20 years before you start seeing any of it because you can't just have ten players and expect that -- one of the ten to make it to the elite level. You have to have hundreds.
SALLY JENKINS, "WASHINGTON POST": You can't forget, he's not just African-American, he's also Asian. And certainly, we've seen all kinds of participation numbers going up all over the world. So I think he has had an effect. I think if you concentrate on the African-American thing, I think you short change him and everybody else.
BADDOO (on camera): In an effort to appeal to a wide range of socioeconomic groups, golf has increased a number of programs and initiatives ranged at youth.
WOODS: I grew up with that golf was not a sport that you wanted to play. You wanted to play basketball, football and baseball. Golf was certainly not looked at as a cool, hip sport, but I think that's changed.
BADDOO (voice-over): While increased participation would increase the chance of flushing out another Tiger, quantity doesn't always equal quality. And the fact remains that there are still barriers to moving beyond the grassroots level.
DARYL BATEY, CHARLIE YATES GOLF CLUB PRO: Course accessibility, expense -- golf is not a cheap sport. You have equipment that has to be purchased and lessons that have to be taken. A lot of times that in itself will keep kids -- their parents just simply can't afford to get them into the game.
RENNY ROKER, TEENS ON THE GREEN PROGRAM: I see a few kids on the horizon that might have that opportunity, whose parents do have the wherewithal to provide them with the necessary additional dollars that it takes to make it. But I think it's going to be in the onesy, twosy. It's not going to be an onslaught at this point.
BADDOO (on camera): So for now, it appears the predictions of '97 were a bit premature, leaving Tiger to continue his hunt alone.
Terry Baddoo, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: "Lou Dobbs This Week" starts right now. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Tony Harris will bring you live updates throughout the evening.
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