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Meat Recall; Video Abuse Case Manhunt; Cuban Child Case; Myanmar Situation
Aired September 30, 2007 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN, ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Right now in the NEWSROOM, a manhunt for a possible molester. Police says he videotaped himself raping a little girl. How close are authorities to catching this man? We're live with the latest.
Also, fighting for freedom, but a prisoner in her own home. We'll take a look at the woman behind Myanmar's push for democracy.
And echoes of Elian Gonzalez. Remember that name? A father in Cuba, foster parents of Florida. This is a new case. Another child caught up in an international tug-of-war.
Well, first this hour. New details about a case that's nearly as puzzling as it is disturbing. CNN has found a man among the web of adults linked to a 3-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted on videotape. The circle included suspect Chester Arthur Stiles who vanished last week as the case went public. Stiles is the subject of a multi-state search and a report says he vows he won't be taken alive. With the story live from Las Vegas, CNN's Kara Finnstrom. Kara, what is the latest?
KARA FINNSTROM, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Well, this massive manhunt for Chester Stiles continues. We are getting new information about Stiles from a man who said he had a personal relationship with Stiles for about ten years, knew him well and actually saw him just about a week ago shortly before news of this videotape went public. Police say this 3-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.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Knowing him and his survival skills, he could be sleeping in the back of his truck on the side of a highway 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.
TODD 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 anybody 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 for 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.
FINNSTROM: Now in addition to that rap sheet we just mentioned, the FBI was also already looking for Stiles on charges of lewd conduct with a 14-year-old, charges that were related to another incident completely unconnected to this case. Now, the FBI, local police have been putting out pictures of Stiles in the hopes that someone out there may recognize him and be able to give them a tip. One note on those, Todd Allen says when he saw Stiles about a week ago his hair was actually longer than we're seeing in these pictures. Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: So, Kara, did Todd Allen give in any detail where he last saw Stiles and what the situation was that they had this last conversation?
FINNSTROM: He said it was just a brief hello, but he did say it was here in the Las Vegas area. We also know that he's spoken with police. So this is information that has been passed along to police who were, of course, trying to get every last bit of information they can.
WHITFIELD: All right. Kara Finnstrom, thanks so much for that update from Las Vegas.
WHITFIELD: Now a small town with a pretty big problem. The police department in Hempstead, New York, is rivened by racial turmoil. It burst into view Friday when a noose turned up at a station in a room used only by officers. The story now from Jill Conway of News 12 Long Island.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL DIXON, DEPUTY POLICE CHIEF, HEMPSTEAD, NEW YORK: What happened yesterday not only is an insult, but it hurt me deeply. JILL CONWAY, NEWS 12 (voice-over): Bill Dixon, deputy police chief in the village of Hempstead, allegedly targeted by a fellow cop. A cop who wanted to send a clear, hate-filled message by allegedly leaving a noose inside the precinct for all to see.
DIXON: I'm appalled that anyone would even have the audacity to do such a hateful thing in 2007.
CONWAY: The noose was hanging here in the men's locker room at the village police station in the basement, hanging for at least 24 hours, say officials, before it was reported. Dixon, a 27-year veteran of the force didn't say why he was targeted, but during a press conference outside police headquarters, local members of the group Noble, national organization of black law enforcement executives says racial tensions have been running high here in recent months.
CORY PEGUES, BLACK LAW ENFORCEMENT EXECUTIVES: Despairing remarks in the bathroom stalls relating to Chief Bill Dixon. There were press clippings from a case that he was involved in 1991 plastered on the walls of the Hempstead Police Department. So, yes, we believe that this definitely was directed at Chief Bill Dixon and it offends me as a black man.
CONWAY: In 1991, Dixon was accused of running down a woman with his off-duty car and threatening her with a gun, but he was never charged. Now, Pegues is just one in the chorus of voices who are demanding that a special investigator from the Justice Department be called in to assist Nassau detectives and the district attorney in this case and to quickly find and fire the cop who did this.
PEGUES: The bottom line is that I will not tolerate this in the village of Hempstead. We're not just going to stand by because today it's a noose and tomorrow they're trying to put somebody's head in it.
CONWAY: In Hempstead, Jill Conway, News 12, Long Island.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Free the Jena Six! Free the Jena Six!
WHITFIELD: And if you remember this scene, hanging nooses was the catalyst in the Jena Six case. The six being African-American students accused of beating a white classmate. 1500 miles from Jena, Louisiana, and more than a week after thousands marched there, the shows of support continue. Yesterday protestors marched in Hartford, Connecticut. The one young man who was in jail now out on bond in Louisiana, but still facing charges.
The first Monday in October always signals the start of a new Supreme Court term. The nine justices will tackle an ambitious agenda of issues ranging from child pornography to voter I.D.
Gary Nurenberg has a preview of what's likely to be happening behind those big white columns as the term unfolds or at least as much as we can learn, right. They're awfully secretive. GARY NURENBERG: As much as we can learn, Fred, but we do know this, the court has decided to hear a number of cases dealing with law and order issues, separation of power, the rights of suspected terrorists and the spotlight intensifies on the court because all of those arguments will be made in the year before a presidential election that could eventually determine the composition of the court. So no surprise today that some justices decided to pray.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
Chief Justice John Roberts was among the justices who attended the traditional church service that precedes a new court term, one of his few public appearances since a seizure hospitalized him over the summer. The new term may keep supporters of the conservative Chief Justice by surprise.
DOUGLAS KMIEC, PEPPERONE LAW SCHOOL: The cases look to me as if the liberals might indeed have the edge on the term coming forward.
NURENBERG: On the list, death penalty cases that examine whether lethal injection is constitutional and whether the president can order a state to retry a non-citizen convicted of murder. The court is also expected to decide if the death penalty can apply in the case of child rape. One case would again clarify the rights of suspected terrorists being held by the military at Guantanamo Bay. Another questions the constitutionality of the law requiring federal judges to impose harsher sentences on the users of crack cocaine than on those who are convicted of using powder cocaine. The case has racial overtones because of higher crack use in minority community. The court is also expected to decide if Washington, D.C.'s city ban on firearms is constitutional.
THOMAS GOLDSTEIN, SUPREME COURT LEGAL ANALYST: This term is going illustrate how the court is really three camps. Four on either side and Justice Kennedy in the middle and there are a series of cases this term that will really tempt him to side with the left where he almost never did that insignificant ruling's last term.
NURENBERG: One-third of all cases last term were decided by a 5-4 vote with Anthony Kennedy in the majority all two dozen times. The court has decided to hear whether a voter identification requirement in Indiana is constitutional and an election case in an election year that could have a big impact on the court.
RALPH NEAS, PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY: The future of the American law could be determined for the next 30 or 40 years by the outcome of this election.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NURENBERG: So as the court becomes the focus of political candidates in an election year, it has accepted some important cases, but not, Fredericka, some particularly inflammatory ones.
WHITFIELD: All right, Gary Nuremberg. Thanks so much from the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court. The search for millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett is moving into high gear this weekend. Air Force analysts studying radar and satellite images have spotted what could be clues to his whereabouts. Following those new leads, crews are now scouring the rugged Nevada backcountry by air and foot. Fossett disappeared almost a month ago after taking off in his private plane in western Nevada.
And to the crisis in Myanmar now, where we're seeing mixed signals coming from the military-backed government. The ruling junta has allowed a U.N. peace envoy to meet with the country's democratic opposition leader. Meanwhile, scores of people were reportedly arrested overnight. CNN's John Vause has the latest. He's reporting from nearby Thailand because Myanmar's ban on international media is pretty intense.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: The U.N. Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari met with the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi for about an hour on Sunday. The fact is that this meeting took place at all it seems is a small, but positive development. Earlier, Gambari met with the acting prime minister and said he still hopes to meet with the ruling military general, Than Shwe, before leaving Myanmar, but regardless, Gambari has now had a chance to deliver the world's message, a demand that the military showed restraint and that the time has come to begin talks with pro-democracy groups and that message may now have a little more authority after comments by the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao calling on Myanmar to resolve this conflict peacefully. They're the strongest word so far from China and China is believed to have more influence over Myanmar over any other country. As for the situation today on Sunday inside the country, one source tells CNN there's a very heavy security presence. There are no civilians on the streets and most have stayed indoors all day long. Another source has told CNN that many monasteries appeared to be deserted and that's prompting fears that hundreds even thousands of monks may have been rounded up and arrested. John Vause, CNN, Bangkok, Thailand.
WHIFIELD: So at the center of these demonstrations, who is Aung San Suu Kyi? Here are the fast facts. She's the daughter of the first prime minister of Burma, and now an activist fighting for human rights and democracy in Myanmar. Military rulers put her under house arrest back in 1989 and since then her plight has attracted worldwide attention, highlighted when Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace prize in 1991.
The rock band U2 even wrote a song about her called "Walk On." And we'll have a guest a little bit later to explain more about who she is and why she's fighting so hard for democracy.
Meantime, meat lovers beware. Coming up, a dangerous bacteria that might have contaminated nearly 22 million pounds of hamburger patties and prompted one of the biggest meat recalls ever.
Also ahead, how a woman might have accidentally killed herself after she was arrested at an Arizona airport.
And Uncle Sam eased passport restrictions after he got swamped with applications, but starting tomorrow, no more Mr. Nice guy. Important information if you travel outside the U.S. next in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Well, if you are a U.S. citizen and traveling to the Caribbean, Mexico and Canada tomorrow. You'll need more than your driver's license from this point forward. Tighter passport requirements are going go into effect, but as Allan Chernoff reports some people are still having trouble getting all that important document.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you for calling the National Passport Information Center.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN, CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Texan Sandra Vasquez calls the Passport Information Center to check on the application she filed back in April.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not telling you to call back. I'm saying that it might make sense to because if the computer is just not -- it's just not working.
CHERNOFF: Only to learn that the center's computer system is down. Already she's had to cancel a summer trip to Costa Rica and now fears she won't be able to go in October.
SANDRA VASQUEZ, PASSPORT DELAYED: I feel frustrated because I want my passport. I don't have it and I can't travel. I can't go nowhere without my passport.
CHERNOFF: Earlier this year, Sandra's situation was common. Tens of thousands of passport applicants were frustrated by unprecedented delays, waits of three months or even longer to get their documents. The State Department was overwhelmed with a record number of applications.
Today, the State Department says Sandra's case is an exception. The department maintains it has caught up with all its applications, partly as a result of hiring 400 extra workers since the end of May, calling retirees back to work and even pressing foreign service staffers into passport duty.
The department also opened a new processing center in Arkansas and suspended a rule introduced in January requiring passports for air travel to the Caribbean, Canada and Mexico.
COLLIN WALLE, PRESIDENT NFFE LOCAL 1998: It truly has been a mountain of applications, carts of applications, that has taken over some of our break rooms, teetering over employees. So just the sheer volume of work itself has been grossly intimidating.
CHERNOFF: Passport officials say the normal waiting times are back, six to eight weeks for a standard application, three weeks for expedited service, which costs an extra $60. So as of Monday morning, the tighter security regulations are back on. Americans need passports to fly to the Caribbean, Canada and Mexico.
Next summer security for American travelers will get even tighter. Passports will be required for driving back into the country. Anticipating another onslaught of passport requests, the State Department is continuing to add more employees, so people like Sandra Vasquez won't have to cancel overseas trips.
Allan Chernoff, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And slowly, but surely, the operative words of NASA very slow rollout of the Space Shuttle Discovery, which is now on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center. So how slow are we talking? It took approximately six hours to go less than three and a half miles. And you thought your rush hour commute was bad? Well, Discovery is set for an October 23rd liftoff bound for the International Space Station.
And speaking of Florida, it won't be the ideal vacation spot this week. Let's check in with Hillary Andrews making her debut here this weekend in the NEWSROOM. Good to see you, Hillary and welcome aboard.
HILLARY ANDREWS, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: Thank you very much, Fredericka. Well, one of the reasons why we saw Discovery moving so slowly was the wind. You saw the sunshine in the picture. We have a very strong onshore wind with Cape Canaveral right over here and we're talking about 10 to 20 miles per hour winds.
We will see more rain in the picture. You see some of that rain making its way south of Miami, but not until Tuesday or Wednesday. The big weather picture right now is definitely in the midwest. Just check out this, it's that red box. That's a tornado watch box meaning the area is primed for tornados. We haven't seen any tornados yet, but we have seen a few hit and miss scattered thunderstorms. Mainly just shy of Kansas City, but right along that i-70 corridor. You can just imagine it's not going to be a fun ride out there. So luckily, it's happening overnight and not necessarily during your rush hour. We'll continue to see these watch boxes until 8:00, 9:00 local time. St. Louis, you know what that means. That's going to mean a wet commute for you.
Chicago, luckily looks like you'll start to see some of the wet weather right after the morning commute. So grab the umbrella, but you won't need to use those windshield wipers. We have the low setting up right over the Great Lakes. So Chicago, we're looking for more afternoon thunderstorms for you and also St. Louis, another rough afternoon flying day or driving day.
Temperatures right behind that front, cooling down markedly. Just the past couple of days, Chicago in the 80s, 68 as we head through Monday, Fredericka.
WHITFIELD: Boy, that's a big difference. Pull out those sweaters and shawls and all that good stuff.
All right. Thanks a lot, Hillary.
All right. How about this? An international custody battle? One that sounds kind of familiar. A Cuban father fighting to reclaim his daughter from a Cuban-American foster family. Kind of sounds reminiscent of the whole Elan Gonzalez case, remember that all over again? There's a slight difference here and there on this one. Details on that straight ahead.
Plus, Florida police go to a home and hit the jackpot. Emphasis on pot. A whole lot there coming up in a moment right here in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: In our news across America, the Phoenix International Airport is the focus on a (ph) case of accidental suicide? Police say they found 45-year-old Carol Ann Gotbaum dead in a holding cell Friday after arresting her for disorderly conduct at the airport. Authorities speculate that Gotbaum may have choked trying to escape her handcuffs. An autopsy is in the works.
And police in Lakeland, Florida, responding to a possible armed robbery find something more, an elaborate pot-growing operation. Polk county deputies call it one of the 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 remain on the run.
Time grow short for Michigan lawmakers who are working to balance a 1 3/4 billion 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. The 2008 fiscal year begins tomorrow.
And a massive recall. Millions of pounds of meat may be better suited for the trash than your plate. We'll tell you what you need to know before you sit down for dinner coming up in the NEWSROOM.
Plus taco truck, fast food on wheels. You've seen this, right? Well they're a common site in New Orleans as well, but maybe not for much longer. A controversial law could drive taco trucks out.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Before you fire up that grill, take a close look at what's in your freezer. The major ground beef recall, well apparently it's gotten bigger today. Topps Meat Company has recalled nearly 22 million pounds of frozen hamburger patties because they might be contaminated with dangerous bacteria. The government is looking into 25 now possible cases of E. coli sickness in eight states. The meat has a sell-by date between September 2007 and September 2008.
CNN's Jim Acosta is live in New York with a closer look at this recall.
Jim. JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi Fredricka. Well 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 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 those 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE): I've never been in so much pain before. It was just -- I've never experienced anything like it and just the doctors coming in and they were just freaking out and I had nurses crying, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Samantha's family is now suing Wal-Mart which pulled the frozen patties from their shelves on August 30, three weeks before Topps announced its voluntary recall. The family's attorneys say that recall came too late to protect the public. Topps and Wal-Mart have both issued press releases saying they are committed to protecting consumers.
Fredericka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Jim Acosta thank you so much.
ACOSTA: You bet.
WHITFIELD: In the meantime we want to give you the update of that videotaped rape of a 3-year-old. Our Kara Finnstrom is in Las Vegas. Kara this has to do with the arrest of one participant, at least a so- called person of interest that authorities have been looking for?
KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm sorry. I didn't hear the first part of that Fredericka, but I do know that sheriff's deputies in Nye County have arrested Darren Tuck. Darren Tuck, not, we want to clarify, not the suspect in this case. That is someone else that police are looking for. Darren Tuck, this is the guy that actually found this videotape in the desert back on September 8th and police have wanted to talk with him more because they don't feel that his story has been completely up front.
He was arrested initially on charges by police of possessing and distributing child pornography because they say he held on to the tape for five months, they also say he showed it to at least one person. They feel they have more pieces of information that could help lead them to the suspect in this case which is Chester Stiles. So they've been looking for him. He was on the run. We do understand now it's been confirmed by Nye County Sheriff's authorities that he's voluntarily turned himself in.
Fredericka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much. Kara, their hope is perhaps that he may have a little bit more information about their prime suspect?
FINNSTROM: Exactly. They gave him a lie detector test because they say there were so many things in his story that just didn't add up. So they gave him a lie detector test. It showed that he wasn't being truthful with them. They wanted to bring him in for further questioning and then he disappeared, but now they have arrested him and they'll be trying to question him further.
WHITFIELD: All right. Just so folks are not confused it's Darren Tuck who has been arrested. He is the person who originally possessed this videotape and but an all-out search, in fact a nationwide search is still ongoing for Chester Stiles who is the man accused of actually molesting this 3-year-old who is now seven.
Kara Finnstrom, thanks so much.
On to an international custody battle that's pitting a Cuban father against his daughter's American foster parents. CNN's Susan Candiotti reports.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Cuban father Rafael Izquierdo came a long way to hear an American judge tell him he is not an unfit dad.
(UNIDENTIFED FEMALE): The court cannot deny Izquierdo custody of his child.
CANDIOTTI: Izquierdo says justice is served. After a month-long custody battle the judge ruled the, quote, unsophisticated father did not abandon his 5-year-old child by failing to stop the girl's mother from bringing her to the U.S. The Judge Jerry Cohen also dismissed claims Izquierdo is promised favorable treatment by Fidel Castro.
A reference to the Elian Gonzalez controversy that consumed Miami. An attempted suicide by the mother prompted the state of Florida to put the child in foster care. She has given up her parental rights and sides with Izquierdo. The child's foster parents, a wealthy Cuban American Joe Cubas said his family who has adopted her half brother don't want to give her up.
JOE CUBAS, FOSTER PARENT: These two children have been together their entire lives. Again, through the best and worst moments of their lives and it is our beliefs as is the wishes of the children that they remain together.
CANDIOTTI: He plans to appeal. Izquierdo's attorney argues the little girl belongs with her father.
IRA KURZBAN, FATHERS ATTORNEY: He deserves to have his child back and we call upon the Cubas family to give it up, to stop keeping a child that's not theirs. They're not family.
CANDIOTTI: They chose to take her in temporarily says Izquierdo. They should know I want her back.
The ruling doesn't mean the Cuban father will automatically get her back. There's another hearing next month to argue whether separating half-brother and sister will cause the little girl irreparable psychological damage.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right. An emotional and controversial case that for certain, let's turn now to someone with unique perspective on all of this, Kendall Coffey a former U.S. attorney who worked on the Elian Gonzalez case. Is this like deja vu all over again for you?
KENDALL COFFEY, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: In human terms the parallels are striking. An international custody battle and the father coming from Cuba to reclaim the child, but the legal landscape is very different and in political terms it's day and night. So far this is not a major political controversy in this country and it's created an uproar in Cuba that Elian Gonzalez did back in 2000.
WHITFIELD: So this was a situation that really could be potentially precedent-setting, right? Because we're talking about now the courts measuring whether this child indeed would be, I guess, happier with the foster family, not because the father is unfit, because the court determined that the biological father is not unfit, but the foster family is arguing that this child is simply used to them, has created a bond and that is argument enough for her to stay where she is.
COFFEY: That's right. This father has already been put on trial in whether he abandoned the child or whether he's unfit and he's passed that phase. Now the focus is on the well-being of the child and whether there would be anything so traumatic in separating her from her half-brother, and I think we can also expect to see some testimony and some analysis on taking a child from a very good life with loving family in this country and removing the child to Cuba where there is a much poorer quality of life, where family institutions and the rights of parents have much less respect and under any scenario is simply it isn't going to have the benefit and the enhancements of life in this country.
WHITFIELD: Now they have to determine if this child is better off in another country verses this country simply because there's material gains or those types of freedoms that may be afforded here as opposed to the argument of her being with her biological parents?
COFFEY: Well, I think you're exactly right. A court isn't going want to premise taking a child away from a natural father because somebody else simply has better living conditions. I think the key has got to be for this family to establish that the bond with a half-brother is so strong and in a way, that's sort of the new area of law to say that the half -- WHITFIELD: But how do you do that? Does that mean putting both of these kids on trial essentially making them testify and talk about their relationship and how they couldn't live without one another?
COFFEY: A judge would want to have psychologists closely examine the children to determine that, may want to hear from the half-brother who is 13 and hard to know if a judge will want to talk to a 5-year-old although that has happened in some cases because as this judge is now getting past the traditional issues of custody and family law, she is now sailing into some uncharted waters.
WHITFIELD: So how much longer might this carry out?
COFFEY: Well, everyone would like to see this resolved sooner than later because it's very much putting a child in limbo and putting a family and loving relatives of futures and feelings up in the air, but our court system is such that there is going to be an appeal, more likely than not as happened in Elian, that the child would be required to stay in this country while the appeal was pending. That could be a matter of weeks, more likely a matter of months, hopefully not a matter of years, but it's suggested this case is not over and certainly won't be resolved during 2007.
WHITFIELD: And do you think this case could be potentially precedent- setting, that it might influence other jurisdictions and other states in the way they treat the rights of a child when it comes to a biological parent versus a foster parent?
COFFEY: Well, there is a big movement underway to focus on the interest of the child and not give such an overwhelming preference to the rights of a parent. And as we know, even a parent that is highly imperfect has highly respected rights in this country when it comes to the child. If this case goes in the direction that the U.S. family hopes it will, that a half-brother's relationship with their daughter and remember, that this girl has been traumatized already by the separation from her natural mother, given all those circumstances they may be able to establish that a second removal from a family member the half-brother may be sufficiently damaging and that could be a new precedent.
WHITFIELD: Interesting argument all of the way around. Thanks so much, Kendall Coffey, thanks for your time.
COFFEY: Thanks Fredricka. .
WHITFIELD: Would you let your youngster watch an r-rated movie at home. Most parents would not. What do you do when you're on an airplane? Little choice when you're in a tube 35,000 feet up. Straight ahead in THE NEWSROOM the push to make the skies more family friendly.
And taco trucks in New Orleans might have to hit the road. Some people say there's nothing to do with the food either.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: In our "Uncovering America" segment this weekend the influx of Hispanic workers has had a different impact on New Orleans, not only on recovery efforts but on the local cuisine. As our Susan Roesgen explains the new food is bringing a new kind of tension.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Is this Mexico City or Los Angeles or New York, a street corner taco truck would be no big deal, but when this one parked in front of an abandoned gas station after hurricane Katrina, it signals the start of something some people in suburban New Orleans didn't want.
LOUIS CONGEMI, JEFFERSON PARISH COUNCILMAN: They don't want to see a truck, whether it is a taco truck, whether it's a pizza truck or whatever kind of truck.
ROESGEN: Taco trucks were not common in this area until after the storm. The food followed the workers. Tens of thousands of Latino laborers who came to do the dirty work of rebuilding flooded neighborhoods, but while the workers are still here, some property owners they are being told it's time for the taco truck to go.
TAY PEACOCK, PROPERY OWNER: They'd like to see a Neiman-Marcus here or something, but it isn't. We may have a Neiman-Marcus, but not today.
ROESGEN: Ray Peacock rents his abandoned lot to truck owners David Montes De Oca, Montes says he serves ethnic Mexican food so hungry workers who like the familiar taste and language of home.
The parking lot taco stop is a popular place and not just for Latinos pulling sheet rock out of flooded houses. Montes says about a third of his business is local, but the Jefferson Parish Council is telling Montes he has to leave. An ordinance passed in July says the trucks must keep moving and not staying in any one place for more than 30 minutes or have permanent restrooms and utilities plus be properly zoned. Requirements most taco trucks just don't meet and even some of the locals say that's not fair.
(UNIDENTIFED FEMALE): When they needed these people that they were here for us. Now we fall back in our houses and whatever, the past is strictly forgotten and so now leave and I don't think its right.
ROESGEN: Critics say the new law is a not so subtle way of nudging the Latino workers to move along, too, but Jefferson Parish councilman Louis Congemi says nothing could be further from the truth. In fact he asked us to meet him here at the Hispanic Resource Center he founded two years before hurricane Katrina.
CINGEMI: We actually want them to do better in our parish. We encourage them. We want them to open the business. We want them to get out of these trucks and open permanent buildings. It's not just -- it's not trying to run them out. We want them to stay.
ROESGEN: David Montes wants to stay. He'd like to save enough money to open his own Mexican restaurant down the street and with any luck; he thinks his customers will stay, too. Susan Roesgen, CNN, New Orleans.
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WHITFIELD: And our "Uncovering America" series continues through Wednesday. Check out CNN.com special online report the Hispanic experience today. You can read about the real issues facing the Latino community as a significant moment in Hispanic history.
A star-studded event as a former president as host, but this party had a purpose and, next, the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq falls to the lowest level in more than a year, but the military says it still not good enough.
HILLARY ANDREWS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, everyone. I'm meteorologist Hillary Andrews with your CNN allergy report. The winds are whipping up the tree pollen right across the Rockies and more pollen from Wisconsin stretching all of the way into Iowa and struggling summer allergens still hanging on right through Georgia. Stay with us. We'll be right back.
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WHITFIELD: Now to the war in Iraq where U.S. troop casualties have dropped to their lowest point in more than a year. The military says at least 62 U.S. soldiers died in September. That's the lowest monthly toll since August 2006 when 65 American forces were killed.
The military spokesman calls it a positive sign, but says the figure is, quote, still to high since the war began, 3,803 U.S. troops have died in Iraq.
A bloody overnight attack by rebels in Darfur left a dozen African union peacekeepers dead. At least eight were injured and dozens of others are missing. Sudanese rebels says rebel groups were invited to join peace talks next month, but only one group signed peace pact with the AU, the African Union. The pact has done little to stop the bloodshed between government militias and rebel groups. Today's attack is the single deadliest since the mission in Sudan began three years ago.
Former president Bill Clinton is still focused on tackling the world's problems. Last night he held a star-studded event in Harlem's famed Apollo Theater to get young people to react. There's Bono, Shakira and Alicia Keys joins comedian Chris Rock onstage. He calls on audience members to get involved in youth activism and he also announced the plan youth summit for next year. He's expected to be patterned after his global initiative summit held last week in New York.
And he's attracted millions of dollars in pledges of support, but Newt Gingrich says he has no regrets about skipping the presidential race. The former house speaker says he's not going after the Republican presidential nomination. He says he can't run and keep his job as head of his tax-exempt political organization. But Gingrich insists that if he had launched a campaign it would have been competitive. And sad news from the film world today. The woman who played Miss Moneypenny has died. Canadian-born actress Lois Maxwell appeared in 14 James Bond movies. She was secretary to M, the head of the British secret service. Maxwell also did TV appearing with Bond co-star Roger Moore in the show "The Saint." Moore says Maxwell was suffering from cancer. She died yesterday in Australia. She was 80 years old.
And you've heard of first class and business class, but family class? Making the friendly skies more kid friendly. Straight ahead in THE NEWSROOM.
But first, how well do you know your U.S. History? Today's news quiz question comes from the new U.S. Citizenship test, why does the U.S. flag have 13 stripes? The answer when we come right back.
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WHITFIELD: Our news quiz question again. Why does the American flag have 13 stripes? The answer, the stripes represent the 13 original colonies.
Talk about a captive audience, when you're on an airplane you can't exactly walk out on a movie you don't like or don't find appropriate for your kids, so CNN's Alina Cho looks at the fight for family- friendly in-flight entertainment.
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ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): You wouldn't take your kids to see an r-rated film like "Shooter," but get on a plane and there it is.
TOM FINE, PARENT: I was very annoyed and frustrated that this kind of movie was being shown where my son and lots of other kids could see it. And, you know, we had no control to be able to do anything about it.
CHO: Tom Fine, his wife and 6-year-old son Zachary were on a flight from Denver to Boston.
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): On target.
CHO: When he looked up he couldn't believe his eyes and for the duration of the movie he shielded Zachary's eyes, something a growing number of parents say they're tired of doing.
JESSE KALISHER, KIDSAFEFILMS.ORG: We don't take our kids to films that are rated pg-13 for violence and suddenly you're on the airplane and the choice is no longer ours.
CHO: Now Congress is taking action, a bill introduced just this week would require airlines to provide child-safe viewing areas where children under 13 can sit and not be exposed to violent or adult- themed films. Research shows kids who watch violence tend to be more violent. The Airline Transport Association which represents the airlines had no comment. In-flight movies are censored; sex, nudity, profanity and plane crashes are edited out. Violence, in many cases, stays in, but if the bill passes Congress, it could mean one less hassle for parents flying with young kids.
FINE: If I had a section where I could sit and know that I didn't have to worry about this I'd be happy.
CHO: Alina Cho, CNN, New York.
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WHITFIELD: The next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM begins right now.
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(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): They should be a shamed. They're poorer than me.
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WHITFIELD: He saved $59,000 washing dishes for more than a decade and then Uncle Sam cleaned him out. The outrage coming up next in THE NEWSROOM.
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(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): Yeah, he down.
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): He fell down?
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WHITFIELD: Plus he says he witnessed a killing in Myanmar and now he's hiding for his life.
Our top story, arrest in the Nevada sex tape case, but a principal player is still free. You're in THE NEWSROOM. I'm Fredericka Whitfield. News coming out of Nevada this hour on the hunt for people linked to a disturbing videotape shows a 3-year-old girl being sexually assaulted. Let's go quickly to Kara Finnstrom she is live in Las Vegas. One arrest, but authorities say this is not the main player.
FINNSTROM: No, we should really stress this is not the chief suspect. This is someone that authorities wanted to talk with more. Darren Tuck is a man who originally found this videotape. He says he found it out in the desert. Police earlier in the investigation arrested him and questioned him and they held him initially on charges of possessing and distributing child pornography and then released him, but they thought the information he gave them didn't add up so last week they issued new warrants for his arrest. They've been looking for him. He was under ground and today just a short while ago he turned himself into authorities. They do hope he may have information that could help lead to the chief suspect in this case and that is a man by the name Chester Stiles.
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